Monthly Archives: September 2007

It is time for professional soccer to create a truly unique experience for its audience.

U.S. Women Humbled by North Korea in Opener

Billed by Nike as “the best team you’ve never heard of,” the post-Mia Hamm U.S. women’s national team looked anything but in a tepid performance in their World Cup opener against “mysterious” North Korea. In fact, the U.S. was fortunate to escape from the match with a 2-2 draw; the Koreans dominated possession and nearly […]

U.S. Soccer Talks to Capello

Allen Hopkins of ESPN weighs in on the latest MLS rumors and other assorted goings-on. Top of his list is the continuing talks between former Juventus and Real Madrid coach Fabio Capello and U.S. Soccer. According to Hopkins, Capello met with U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati and national team coach Bob Bradley in London last […]

MLS Needs More Latin American Players

Post-David Beckham — or more pointedly, post-David Beckham’s latest injury — Major League Soccer is in a familiar predicament: it has “a selling job to do,” says the New York Sun’s Paul Gardner, who says the league needs to realize that not only does it have to sell the rest of its players, it also […]

Mexico-Brazil Sequel Should be Even Better

Brazil is the best team in the world, says Luis Bueno, writing for the Press Enterprise, and it’s not often that both the U.S. and Mexican national teams get a chance to play the five-time World Cup champions mere days apart. The U.S. already turned in a respectable performance against the world No. 1 on […]

CROWD COUNT: College Soccer’s Largest Crowds

The second weekend of the regular season saw Creighton set a school record for the largest men’s soccer crowd for its showdown with UCLA. Maryland (men) and North Carolina (women) also drew large crowds.

Boilermakers keep cool and knock off Portland

Purdue’s 1-0 win over top-ranked women’s team Portland was all the more remarkable, considering the Boilermakers played the last 34 minutes with 10 players after defender Zarinah Blockton received a red card and was ejected for punching Portland’s Rachael Rapinoe in the face after they scuffled. For more on another women’s college shocker …

Edmans stands tall for Hokies

One of the most intriguing first-year players in college soccer is Virginia Tech’s Robert Edmans. At 6-foot-6, the Englishman is an imposing target whom Hokie fans believe will team up with Ghanaian star Patrick Nyarko to form one of the best 1-1 combinations in the country. But Edmans demonstrated that he is just as dangerous with his feet as he is with his head when he scored from 40 yards in the 2-1 win over ranked St. John’s on Sunday.

Big Ten Men’s Results

[MAKING A LIST] In the first four days of play, Big Ten men’s teams went 4-2-1, 5-1-1, 7-0-0 and 5-1-1.

West Virginia and UC Irvine earn shutout wins

[MONDAY ACTION] Senior Dan Stratford scored his second straight game-winning goal as West Virginia, No. 15 in the Soccer America Men’s Top 25, defeated Duquesne, 1-0, in the Mountaineers’ home opener at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium. No. 24 UC Irvine improved to 3-0-0 with a 3-0 win over first-year Division I program Cal State Bakersfield at Anteater Stadium.

OBITUARY: Former UCLA soccer coach Dennis Storer

Englishman Dennis Storer, who started the UCLA men’s soccer program and was also well known as a rugby coach at UCLA and with the U.S. national team, passed away at his home in Los Angeles on Saturday after a battle with cancer. He was 75 years old.

Big Ten men are off to flying starts

by Paul KennedySeptember 11, 2007

No men’s conference can match the Big Ten in terms of success over the first two weekends of the season. The five teams in the Soccer America Top 25 — No. 3 Indiana, No. 14 Ohio State, No. 17 Northwestern, No. 19 Michigan and No. 20 Wisconsin — are a combined 16-1-3. Add to that unranked Michigan State, which is 4-0-0, and you have six of the seven Big Ten teams off to flying starts. Not bad for a conference that only sent two teams to the NCAA Tournament in 2006!

New formula to Chicago’s Toyota Park deal

by Ridge MahoneySeptember 11, 2007

As a condition of the purchase of the Chicago Fire by Andell Holdings, AEG has relinquished all interest in Toyota Park as well as the team, and the financial formula under which the team’s ownership and the Village of Bridgeview operate has been revised.

Namibia and Zambia sneak into 2008 African Nations Cup finals

Namibia and Zambia qualified for the 2008 African Nations Cup in Ghana with wins over the weekend. Captain Chris Katongo scored a hat trick in the opening 20 minutes to lead Zambia past 2010 World Cup host South Africa, 3-1, in Cape Town and capture Group 11 on the final day of qualifying in the group. Namibia won Group 10 when it beat Ethiopia, 3-2, on the road, coming back from 2-1 down in the last minutes on goals by Rudolph Bester and Muna Katupose. The Democratic Republic of Congo appeared to have the group wrapped up, but it was held to a 1-1 tie at home by Libya. For all the finalists …

MLS Statistics (through Sept. 10)

D.C. United’s Luciano Emilio has pulled ahead in the MLS goalscoring race. He now has 18 goals, four more than New York’s Juan Pablo Angel and Kansas City’s Eddie Johnson.

Soccer America Daily, What They're Saying

What They’re Saying

“The message to the other teams is that they know we are in good shape now.”

— Silvia Neid, coach of defending Women’s World Cup champion Germany, after its record-setting 11-0 victory over Argentina in Monday’s opener in Shanghai.

German star Prinz unhappy after 11-0 win in Women’s World Cup opener

by Paul KennedySeptember 11, 2007

Defending champions Germany set a Women’s World Cup record when it beat Argentina, 11-0, for the biggest rout in the history of the tournament, but three-time World Player of the Year Birgit Prinz was not satisfied.

USL First Division moves into playoffs

The USL First Division begins its playoffs this weekend with four quarterfinal series. The top-seed Seattle Sounders face the expansion Carolina RailHawks. In other series, the No. 2 seed Portland Timbers meet the defending champion Vancouver Whitecaps. The Montreal Impact plays the Puerto Rico Islanders, while the Atlanta Silverbacks and Rochester Rhinos square off in a battle of No. 4 and No. 5 seeds. The second game of the Portland-Vancouver series will be televised Sunday at 8 pm ET on Fox Soccer Channel. Fans can also catch USL playoff action on usllive.com.

U.S. U-14 girls to play first competitive games

The U.S. under-14 girls national team will play its first ever competitive matches at the Nike Women’s Friendlies Sept. 20-23 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. It will give U-15 head coach Tad Bobak an early chance to evaluate the players, all born in 1993, in game competition.

Bobak names U-15 squad for Nike Women’s Friendlies

U.S. under-15 girls national team coach Tad Bobak has named a 23-player roster for the Nike Women’s Friendlies Sept. 20-23 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. The U-15s, all born in 1992, will play matches against U-17 club teams from across the country.

U.S. Soccer welcomes 26 new U-17 residents

by Paul KennedySeptember 11, 2007

U.S. Soccer’s under-17 residency program’s fall semester kicked off last week with 48 players enrolled in the program at IMG Academies in Bradenton, Fla. There are 26 players — 22 ’92s and four ’91s — beginning their first semester of training. The group in residency includes 14 players who recently represented the USA at the 2007 Under-17 World Cup in South Korea. All 10 players born in 1990 will finish up their high school education this semester while training in the program.

Grassroots Soccer Biz, Story

Understanding Sponsorship Basics

by Soccer AmericaSeptember 10, 2007

As a club, league or other grassroots soccer organization designing corporate and business sponsorship proposals, be aware these terms are different.