Monthly Archives: September 2006

In the past, FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, has never been shy about changing the rules of the game, its qualifying procedures, or even the manner in which games are decided. President Sepp Blatter admits that he’s never been a fan of ending crucial matches like the World Cup final with penalty kicks. Even though […]

Chivas USA: From Goat to Great

Chivas USA was certainly the goat in MLS last year, after finishing dead last in its debut season. This year, Chivas finds itself in unfamiliar territory: the “other” team from LA is sitting pretty in second place in the Western Conference with one foot in the playoffs and just three games to go in the […]

FA Urges FIFA to Investigate Israeli Agent Zahavi

Following the unprecedented punishment of Ashley Cole’s agent Jonathan Barnett by England’s Football Association, the FA is now urging FIFA and the Israeli Football Association to punish Pini Zahavi, the other agent who was present at the infamous London hotel gathering in which Cole illegally talked with Chelsea officials. Zahavi wasn’t punished by the English […]

Real’s Unconvincing 5-1 Win

Real Madrid recorded a strange win yesterday over Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League. The scoreboard shows that Los Merengues destroyed the Ukrainian side, 5-1, but if you saw the match you couldn’t help but notice how shaky Real Madrid looked in defense. Goalkeeper Iker Casillas had to rescue Real Madrid on several occasions yesterday, […]

United Snaps Champions League Away Slump

Believe it or not, last night’s 1-0 win over Benfica at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon was Manchester United’s first away win in the Champions League since a Diego Forlan match-winner against Panathinaikos back in November 2003. That makes yesterday’s victory doubly sweet, because not only has it been a long time since United […]

Soccer America Confidential, Story

Make BeLieve Soccer

The league is being called to task once again for its attendance figures and this time, the evidence is unquestioned. San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Mark Zeigler’s story appears in Wednesday’s edition of the newspaper. Confirmed by sources and backed by an MLS internal document, it tells a tale of grossly inflated crowd figures. The league […]

5. MLS: Big money for new Bull; a Whopper deal; Chivas Girls

The North Jersey Herald reports that the New York Red Bulls new signing, Austrian midfielder Markus Schopp, who arrived on loan from Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg, is being paid between $1.2 million and $1.5 million to play for New York for the rest of the season and the 2007 season, with $180,000 and $200,000 […]

4. OFF THE POST: The most stupid question ever?

As we saw at last summer’s World Cup, when English referee Graham Poll showed three yellow cards to Croatian Josip Simunic before sending him off, the guys in the middle sometimes loss track of their bookings. In a Scottish Premier League game last weekend, referee Alan Freeland actually asked Falkirk midfielder Stephen O’Donnell, upon showing […]

3. U.S. OPEN CUP: Galaxy eyes consolation prize

Los Angeles Galaxy president Alexi Lalas, on the eve of his team’s Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final on Wednesday against Chicago (live at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT on Fox Soccer Channel), told the Press Enterprise, “I took as much pride winning an Open Cup as an MLS Cup. They’re all championships and they’re […]

1. WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

"I didn’t get much sleep last night and it has been a long day after hooking up with the team. But I couldn’t be happier right now. I told my wife that I’d score tonight and in the end I got two." — Real Madrid’s Ruud van Nistelrooy, who spent the night before a 5-1 […]

4. WOMEN: Navy rolls to 11th win in a row

Navy, which shares the No. 25 spot in the Soccer America Women’s Top 25, extended its winning streak to 11 games Tuesday night, defeating visiting Mount St. Mary’s, 5-0. Freshman forward Brittany White had a fantastic night for Carin Gabarra’s Midshipmen, scoring two goals — the first two goals of her collegiate career — and […]

3. TUESDAY ACTION: ACC powers get scares

Junior Maurice Edu headed home his first goal of the season to give No. 3 Maryland a 1-0 victory against Loyola (Md.) on Tuesday. The Terps held possession in the Loyola half of the field for almost the entire match and took 20 shots, but they could only manage Edu’s goal, which came in the […]

2. AWARDS: UNC’s O’Reilly is honored

North Carolina’s Heather O’Reilly is the Soccer America Women’s Player of the Week for the two goals she scored to lead the Tar Heels past then-No. 1 Florida State, 2-1. The U.S. international opened the scoring with a 28-yard blast in the first half and followed that with the game-winner as she sent a bending […]

1. Maryland’s Zusi take men’s weekly honors

Sophomore Graham Zusi is the Soccer America Men’s Player of the Week after leading Maryland to a pair of wins. Zusi, a product of Longwood, Fla., was responsible for both game-winning goals in wins over Penn State and ranked Wake Forest. He scored the first goal in the 2-0 win over Penn State, then connected […]

EUROPE: Bayern ends drought in Italy

Bayern Munich ended an 18-year drought on Italian soil when the German champion beat Inter Milan, 2-0, Wednesday to go on top in Group B of the UEFA Champions League. Late goals by Peruvian striker Claudio Pizarro and German international Lukas Podolski gave Bayern its first win in Italy since it beat Inter in the […]

COLLEGE: 1. Maryland's Zusi takes men's weekly honors

Sophomore Graham Zusi is the Soccer America Men's Player of the Week after leading Maryland to a pair of wins. Zusi, a product of Longwood, Fla., was responsible for both game-winning goals in wins over Penn State and ranked Wake Forest. He scored the first goal in the 2-0 win over Penn State, then connected […]

COLLEGE WOMEN: UNC's O'Reilly is honored

North Carolina's Heather O'Reilly is the Soccer America Women's Player of the Week for the two goals she scored to lead the Tar Heels past then-No. 1 Florida State, 2-1. The U.S. international opened the scoring with a 28-yard blast in the first half and followed that with the game-winner as she sent a bending […]

TUESDAY ACTION: ACC powers get scares

COLLEGE: WOMEN'S TEAM OF THE WEEK-Week 5

G Lauren Mason (Purdue) D Carrie Dew (Notre Dame) D Stephanie Lopez (Portland) D Whitney Temple (Loyola Marymount) M Jenny Roehrig (Massachusetts) M Yolanda Odenyo (Oklahoma State) M Donna Mataya (William & Mary) F Heather O'Reilly (North Carolina) F Jess Rostedt (Virginia) F Meagan Snell (Santa Clara) F Treena Ferguson (Mississippi State) (For the week […]

COLLEGE: MEN'S TEAM OF THE WEEK-Week 5

G Tally Hall (San Diego State) D Alex Christlieb (St. Mary's) D Georgios Spanos (St. John's) M Scott Campbell (North Carolina) M Chris Mathews (Air Force) M James Stewart (Yale) F Eric Cervantes (UIC) F Scott Loesser (Richmond) F Ciaran O'Brien (San Diego) F Mike Sambursky (South Carolina) F Graham Zusi (Maryland) (For the week […]

2. EUROPE: United gets its revenge in Lisbon

Manchester United gained revenge for last year’s 2-1 loss to Benfica in Lisbon that knocked it out of the UEFA Champions League at the group stage with a 1-0 win at the Estadio da Luz on Tuesday night. United won the match on the second day of group play thanks to a stunning shot by […]

The Irony of Warnergate

Paul Gardner, writing for the New York Sun, talks about Warnergate, yet another scandal hanging over FIFA at the moment. Earlier this month, FIFA Vice President Jack Warner came under suspicion of making a lot of money scalping World Cup tickets. Associated with a travel company called Simpaul, run by his son Daryan, Warner was […]

MLS Postseason Possibilities Abound

It should be another fantastic weekend for Major League Soccer as the regular season inches closer to an end and just about every team with hopes of making the playoffs faces a do-or-die situation. With DC United, the Chicago Fire and FC Dallas the only teams to have booked safe passage into the next round, […]

Mourinho Patient with Shevchenko

Since his $57 million move to Chelsea, striker Andriy Shevchenko has looked a shadow of the player who netted 127 goals in 207 appearances for AC Milan. But as the Independent’s Glenn Moore points out, many of the EPL’s foreign legends started out their Premierships stumbling. Among them, Dennis Bergkamp and Robert Pires of Arsenal, […]

Cole Agent Slapped with Suspension, Fine