Some of the things I’ve heard adults yell at children at soccer games are just downright hilarious. Like the coach who yelled at a 6-year-old, “Give him a target on the flank!”
The second leg of Thursday’s Coppa Italia final at the San Siro was always a formality after Roma thumped Serie A champ Inter Milan 6-2 in the first leg last week. Indeed, a 2-1 loss in Milan was more than enough for the Giallorossi to lift its first Italian Cup in 16 years, winning 7-4 […]
As was expected, Oguchi Onyewu has been released by Newcastle and will return to former club Standard Liege as part of the summer shakeout directed by Sam Allardyce, the Magpies new boss. Titus Bramble, Craig Moore, Pavel Srnicek and Olivier Bernard were also released, with Celestine Babayaro, Antoine Sibierski, Stephen Carr and Charles N’Zogbia expected […]
Toronto FC Wednesday night won its second in a row, beating 2006 MLS champ Houston, 1-0, at BMO Field. Most important, TFC coach Mo Johnston said, was the team’s first shutout of the year. “We had the clearer chances, but I’m more pleased at not giving up any goals, because we’ve worked hard, very hard, […]
It was some final at Hampden Park Wedenesday night, as La Liga pretender FC Sevilla overcame Espanyol of Barcelona, 3-1, on penalties to lift its second successive UEFA Cup. Sevilla controlled the play in an open, attack-minded game as the 10 men from Espanyol defended doggedly, twice battling back to draw the match level. Following […]
ESPN Soccernet columnist Jeff Carlisle takes the contrarian view in the permanent appointment of Bob Bradley as U.S. national team coach. Nothing to celebrate here, he says: “While this development will be praised in many quarters, the only good news I can make out of it is that this sad, tortured process has now reached […]
[BRADLEY AUDIO] Evoking the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team and the 2006 Italy World Cup team, Bob Bradley set about expressing what he considers important as a coach on his first day with the tag of interim U.S. men’s national team coach removed. Speaking to reporters at a press conference in New York and on a teleconference call shortly thereafter, Bradley talked about team-building as the USA sets forth on a busy summer with the Gold Cup and Copa America and 2010 World Cup qualifying beginning next year.
“Smiling sometimes is important. I haven’t thrown out any great jokes, but every now and then I may try.”
— U.S. men’s national team coach Bob Bradley, who has been criticized in the past for not smiling enough.
Goalkeeper Andres Palop was the hero as Sevilla became only the second team to win back-to-back UEAF Cup trophies. Palop saved three penalties in the shootout to give Sevilla a 3-1 victory over Spanish rival Espanyol in a shootout after their game ended in a 2-2 tie at Glasgow’s Hampden Park on Wednesday.
When he came off the field last Saturday as a raucous crowd celebrated Toronto FC’s first goal and first victory, captain Jim Brennan said he and his teammates wanted opponents “to be intimidated” when they played at BMO Field. Whether or not defending champion Houston (2-3-1) was intimidated when it played TFC Wednesday night at BMO, it certainly was ineffective despite outshooting the host, 13-7. Andy Welsh‘s headed goal from a Ronnie O’Brien corner kick earned TFC a 1-0 win on a rainy Toronto night, giving coach Mo Johnston and his team their second straight victory.
GolTV has secured the English-language broadcast rights to televise the 26 matches of the 2007 Copa America. GolTV acquired the rights from soccer agency Traffic Sports Marketing. Univision holds the U.S. Spanish-language rights.
Four Americans ranked in the final Actim Index of the 2006-07 English Premier League season : No. 16 Marcus Hahnemann (Reading), No. 21 Tim Howard (Everton), No. 33 Brad Friedel (Blackburn) and No. 79 Brian McBride (Fulham).
[TV PREVIEW] Let’s hope the Brimstone Cup rivalry livens up the ESPN2 national telecast more than the Rocky Mountain Séance between Colorado and Real Salt Lake, a 1-1 tie with no cautions and just about as much passion, did last week. Chances are, it will. Both FC Dallas-Chicago meetings last year were 3-2 thrillers, with FC Dallas winning both of them. The Fire has been beaten in its last two, 3-1, on the road, and is back at Toyota Park, where it has won both of its home games. Last year, though, it lost at home to Dallas.
Jose Mourinho, the pugnacious Chelsea manager, was arrested four days before the Blues’ FA Cup final against Manchester United, on charges of obstructing police. The incident took place after Mourinho rushed home from Chelsea’s team awards banquet after his wife, Tami, called, saying an animal health official and two police officers went to their central London home to place their dog into quarantine, believing it had been taken out of Britain and then brought back without the necessary shots.
MLS club Chivas USA has signed a jersey sponsorship deal with Comex Group, Mexico’s leading paint company. As part of the multiyear, multimillion-dollar agreement, Chivas USA’s jerseys will be emblazoned with the Comex logo, while Comex’s Frazee Paint brand becomes Chivas USA’s first ever presenting sponsor.
[MAKING A LIST] A day after U.S. Soccer confirmed Bob Bradley as men’s national team coach, Canada Soccer Association followed its lead and has called a press conference for Thursday in Toronto to announce the appointment of under-20 national team coach Dale Mitchell as men’s national team coach.
[W-LEAGUE RESULTS] Jersey Sky Blue, which will be a part of the new women’s pro league in 2008, made its W-League debut with a 4-0 win over Western Mass on Saturday. Casey Nogueira and Tobin Heath, who helped lead North Carolina to the 2006 NCAA Division women’s championship as freshmen, powered Sky Blue. Nogueira scored after four minutes, and Heath added two goals. Florida star Stacy Bishop also scored for Jersey.
[PDL RESULTS] The Carolina Dynamo extended its unbeaten run in PDL regular-season action to 19 games with a 3-0 win over Nashville. Richard Jata (Campbell), El-Hadj Cisse (N.C. State) and Eddie Ababio (North Carolina) scored for the Dynamo. Two-time PDL MVP Tomas Boltnar had a hat trick in the Des Moines Menace’s 5-0 win over Sioux Falls. The San Jose Frogs improved to 3-0-0 with wins over Southern California and Ventura County. Hampton Roads, Central Florida and St. Louis are all 2-0-0.
As Real Madrid captain Raul conceded after his side scored three unanswered goals to beat Espanyol at the Bernabeu Stadium, “Six months ago, we’d have lost that.” Indeed, as recently as three months ago, the whole world thought Barcelona, with the return of Leo Messi and Samuel Eto’o, was starting to hit its stride en […]
When Toronto FC hosts the Houston Dynamo Wednesday night, it will mark the first time that Dwayne De Rosario and Pat Onstad have played on home soil in a long time. Both players arrived in Toronto on Tuesday, in awe of the imposing new BMO Field, where an expected crowd of 20,000 Canadian fans will […]
SI.com’s Grant Wahl digs into U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati for the way he’s handled the Bob Bradley situation. Bradley, “a man who deserved better,” was forced to wait 160 days while Gulati mulled over his European options. In the end, Gulati couldn’t get his man (or men), and now, after all the waiting, Bradley […]
They say New York’s a soccer city. But that’s hard to believe when just 7,802 fans show up to watch the New York Red Bulls, one of the best looking teams in MLS so far this season, play the Colorado Rapids. The Bulls lost the match, 1-0, putting in what easily their worst performance of […]
Looks like we may finally have a long-term stadium location for Major League Soccer’s reigning champion, and it’s a nice one, too. Anschutz Entertainment Group, the Dynamo’s parent with the deep pockets, is set to enter into “an exclusive negotiating period” with Houston to develop a 21,000-22,000-capacity stadium near the city’s downtown, team president Oliver […]
Manchester City denied DaMarcus Beasley’s wish to extend his stay at the English Premier League club when it announced on Tuesday that the American star was one of eight first-team players to be released. Beasley made 13 starts for the Blues and scored four goals, most memorably his late strike at Upton Park giving City a 1-0 win over West Ham just after Christmas. He came to Man. City on loan from Dutch champion PSV, where he spent two seasons. He has one year left on his contract with PSV.
Los Angeles (24,437) and Toronto FC (20,095) are the only MLS teams averaging more than 20,000 fans a game. Two teams — New York (9,716) and Kansas City (8,335) — are drawing less than 10,000 a game. For up-to-date MLS standings, schedules, leading scorers, attendance and goal-scoring averages …
