Monthly Archives: May 2006

Brazilian Ronaldinho, currently the world's greatest, developed his brilliant skills with the help of his mutt, Bombom, while growing up in Porto Alegre. ''Bombom loved to play with me,'' Ronaldinho told Brazilian newspaper Zero Hora. ''When all my friends got bored, I would go play with him. We would stay battling for the ball all […]

(All times ET unless noted. Consult your regular television listings guides for availability in your area. Schedules are subject to change.) FRIDAY, May 5 SETANTA SPORTS USA England LEEDS-PRESTON NORTH END, League Championship Promotion Playoff, Semifinals, 1st Leg (live), 2:30 pm. TELEMUNDO Friendly MEXICO-VENEZUELA (live), 11 pm. SATURDAY, May 6 ESPN2 MLS NEW ENGLAND-LOS ANGELES […]

By Ridge Mahoney Believe Bruce Arena when he says there aren't any backups on his World Cup team. The players do. Doubtful may be the chances of Tim Howard, Jimmy Conrad, Ben Olsen or Brian Ching to start a game, but for months Arena has stressed every player could be called upon and no one […]

By Ridge Mahoney Senior Editor, Soccer America As a proposal to build a soccer stadium in suburban Sandy fell apart in the aftermath of leaked documents spelling out the team's financial status, rumors arose that perhaps Real Salt Lake operator-investor Dave Checketts would move the team. Phoenix and San Antonio were mentioned in news reports […]

Barcelona players were able to begin their celebrations at halftime of their 1-0 win over Celta on Wednesday because Valencia, the only team within reach of first place, had already fallen, 2-1, to Mallorca. The Catalan club coached by Dutchman Frank Rijkaard became the first team to repeat as La Liga champions since it pulled […]

Bruce Arena was the first coach to announce his 23-player roster for the 2006 World Cup. BrazilÆs Carlos Alberto Parreira was the first to announce his starting lineup. Barring last-minute injuries, the defending champions will open up June 13 against Croatia as follows: Goalkeeper-Dida. Right back-Cafu Center backs-Juan, Lucio. Left back-Roberto Carlos. Defensive midfielders-Emerson, Ze […]

Chris Albright has been added to the USAÆs 23-man roster for the 2006 World Cup, replacing defender Frankie Hejduk, who today was diagnosed with a torn ACL in his right knee. Albright will join the U.S. training camp on May 10 in Cary, N.C. Hejduk, a two-time World Cup veteran, suffered the injury during the […]

* The roster is comprised of 11 MLS players and 12 foreign-based players, matching the breakdown of the 2002 World Cup roster. The foreign-based players ply their trade in England (7), Germany (2), the Netherlands (2) and Belgium (1). * Eleven players have seen previous World Cup action (51 total games). Frankie Hejduk, Eddie Pope, […]

U.S. National Team Coach Bruce Arena ''As I stated in our press release, this has been a long process both in qualifying and the finally in narrowing our group down to 23 players. IÆd be remiss if I didnÆt take a brief moment to thank the players that are not part of this roster that […]

Chris Albright Pos.: Defender. Club: Los Angeles Galaxy. Age: 27. GP: 19. G: 1. DaMarcus Beasley Pos.: Midfielder. Club: PSV (Netherlands). Age: 24. GP: 55. G: 12. Carlos Bocanegra Pos.: Defender. Club: Fulham (England). Age: 27. GP: 39. G: 6. Steve Cherundolo Pos.: Defender. Club: Hanover 96 (Germany). Age: 27. GP: 33. G: 1. Brian […]

NCAA DIVISION I MEN AKRON Ken Lolla (Louisville coach) à Caleb Porter (Indiana assÆt) BUTLER Joe Sochacki (resigned) à Kelly Findley (Charlotte assÆt) CAL POLY SLO Wolfgang Gartner (contract not renewed) à Paul Holocher (UC Santa Cruz) CAL STATE FULLERTON Al Mistri (retiring)à Bob Ammann (Cal State Fullerton assÆt) CLEVELAND STATE Pete Curtis (contract not […]

Updates through May 3. With club affiliations (previous college for transfers is in parentheses). AKRON Elliot Bradbrook M England (Ashland) Vedran Ilic M Rockford, Ill. Chicago Magic Oscar Odoch M England Wigan Athletic Ben Zemanski M/F Cuyahoga Falls, OH Cleveland Force AMERICAN Cameron Petty D Manassas, VA Reston FC Karsten Smith D Huntington Station, NY […]

MLS STATISTICS (through April 30) STANDINGS Eastern Conference Team W-L-T PTS Kansas City 4-1-0 12 D.C. United 3-0-2 11 Chicago 1-1-2 5 New England 1-2-1 4 New York 0-1-4 4 Columbus 1-3-1 4 Western Conference Team W-L-T PTS FC Dallas 3-0-2 11 Houston 3-2-0 9 Los Angeles 2-2-1 7 Chivas USA 1-2-1 4 Colorado 1-2-1 […]

* The Chicago Fire, playing its first nine games on the road while awaiting the completion of its new stadium, notched its first win after a loss and two ties, downing 2005 runner-up New England, 2-1, on goals by Brazilian Thiago and Chris Rolfe. The Revs have scored just twice in four games. Attendance at […]

The U.S. under-14 boys national team is in Carson, Calif., April 29-May 5 for its second camp of the year. Coach Manny Schellscheidt has invited 37 players for the weeklong camp. U.S. Roster: GOALKEEPERS (4): Earl Edwards (San Diego, Calif.), Drew Hutchins (Morrisville, Pa.), Travis Ives (Bridgewater, N.J.), Eric Reyes (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) DEFENDERS (12): […]

U.S. boys national teams finished second and fourth at the Ballymena Cup (U-16s) and Slovakia Cup (U-18s), respectively, while the U.S. U-20s split three games during their stay in Argentina. Individual honors went to Crossfire Premier striker Ellis McLoughlin, who was named the Ballymena Cup MVP. For the second straight year, the USA fell to […]

In the English Premier League, Brad Friedel helped Blackburn down Charlton, 2-0, and edge closer to clinching a UEFA Cup spot. Fulham, with Brian McBride going the full 90, downed Manchester City, 2-1, for its first road win of the season. Claudio Reyna played the whole game for Man City. Fulham's Carlos Bocanegra has not […]

HereÆs our best guestimate at whom Coach Bruce Arena will name next week as his World Cup 23, along with whether the team is stronger or weaker at each position than in 2002. Arena's announcement will be televised, Tuesday, May 2, live at 6 pm ET/3 pm. PT on ESPNÆs SportsCenter. By Ridge Mahoney GOALKEEPERS […]

The U.S. Youth Soccer adidas Æ91 boys all-stars will travel to France and Italy to compete against youth teams May 13-22. The 18-player roster was selected from recent U.S. Youth ODP regional team player performances and from the U.S. Soccer U-15 national team pool. Dersu Abolfathi (Irvine Strikers, Calif.) Ade Akinsanya (Clash, Calif.) Eder Arreola […]

April 29 in Salt Lake City Real Salt Lake 2 Los Angeles 3. Goals: Kreis (Williams) 6, Harris (Kreis, Ballouchy) 74; Donovan 11, Jones (Albright, Donovan) 26, Gomez (Donovan, Nagamura) 60. Real Salt Lake — Garlick, Talley, Pope, Torres, Klein, Cutler, Sequeira, Williams (Brown, 46), Johnson (Ballouchy, 71), Kreis, Cunningham (Harris, 46). Los Angeles — […]

USL First Division Portland Timbers: AC Cony Konstin, AC John Galas. Toronto Lynx: M Osni Neto (Inter De Limeira – Brazil), M Gordon Chin (Vancouver Whitecaps), D Rick Titus (re-sign). Premier Development League Bakersfield Brigade: M Johnathon Solorzano (re-sign), G Vincent Licciardi (re-sign). Nashville Metros: F Richard Askey (re-sign), M Jaymi Bailey (re-sign), M Ben […]

USL First Division April 29 Charleston 3 (Glinton 9, 64, own goal 66) Virginia Beach 0. Vancouver 2 (Gjertsen 45, Matondo 82) Toronto 0. April 30 Puerto Rico 0 Montreal 1 (Salles 11). USL Second Division April 28 Charlotte 0 Western Mass 0. April 29 Harrisburg 0 Cincinnati 2 (Hughes 14, 35). Long Island 0 […]