Monthly Archives: March 2008

[DALLAS CUP] Andromeda, the lone American entrant in this year’s Super Group at the Dallas Cup created a sensation on Sunday when it knocked off defending champion Sao Paulo of Brazil, 5-2, on the opening day of play at the famed international soccer tournament.

[ENGLAND] Michael Owen’s second-half goal gave Newcastle United a 1-1 tie at Birmingham City, but it left Manager Kevin Keegan still without a win in eight Premier League matches since rejoining the Magpies.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Kyle Veris, who played for the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007, became the 13th American who played in MLS in 2007 to sign this winter with a European club. For all the winter overseas transfers involving Americans …

After four years as an executive with the NFL Philadelphia Eagles, Bill Manning is returning to soccer as the president of Real Salt Lake. Manning, an All-American at the University of Bridgeport, worked in the CISL, A-League and MLS, where he was president and general manager for the last two years of the Tampa Bay Mutiny’s existence.

[MLS] The 2008 Major League Soccer opener is only 16 days away, yet Quakes head coach Frank Yallop insists there’s no rush to stock his 18-man roster. Midfielder Shea Salinas, taken in the SuperDraft with the first pick of the second round, has signed to bring the senior squad to 15. With five developmental players, Yallop doesn’t have enough bodies for a 11-v-11 scrimmage unless he and assistant coach Ian Russell join in, but he’s taking his time.

Hugo Sanchez always had a big ego. When he finally was given the job of Mexico national team coach — a job he had coveted for years — he promised he wouldn’t disappoint, boasting that Mexico would win the Gold Cup and earn an Olympic medal. Well, Mexico lost to the USA, 2-1, in last year’s Gold Cup final and won’t be going to Beijing Olympics. Following the U-23 Tri’s shock third-place finish, behind Guatemala and Canada, in the group stage of Concacaf qualifying, the Mexican press hammered Sanchez.

[EUROPEAN RACES] Manchester United regained the lead in the English Premier League when it won, 1-0, at win at Derby County, while Arsenal endured its fourth straight tie with a 1-1 draw at home against Middlesbrough. United now leads the Gunners on goal difference.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] For the first time ever, six Americans played in an English Premier League game when Fulham edged Everton, 1-0, on Sunday. Brian McBride scored for the Cottagers on a header in the second half, beating fellow Yank Tim Howard in the Everton goal for the game’s only tally. McBride, Kasey Keller and Eddie Johnson started for Fulham, and Carlos Bocanegra and Clint Dempsey came on as substitutes. Fulham’s five Americans were a record for one EPL team.

[MLS] New England closed out its preseason competitive schedule by playing a pair of scrimmages against Honduran club Marathon on Friday and Sunday in New Orleans.

[OLYMPIC QUALIFYING] It was an afternoon fans won’t quickly forget at the Home Depot Center. Canada, with its hastily assembled team of no names, and Mexico, with its Golden Generation, were in a race to run up the score and earn the second berth from Group B — and a date with the USA Thursday — in the all-important semifinals of Concacaf Olympic men’s qualifying. Canada beat group winner Guatemala, 5-0, to put the pressure on Hugo Sanchez‘s Mexico U-23s, who could only beat Haiti, 5-1, in the nightcap and were eliminated. Thus ended Mexico’s dream of its first Olympic medal. Its exit immediately sparked speculation that Sanchez will be gone by the end of the month.

[USA-HONDURAS GRADES] Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney grades the U.S. U-23 players in their 1-0 win over Honduras in Olympic qualifying on Saturday.

As it expected, the U.S. under-23 national team faces a showdown with a border rival for a spot at the 2008 Olympic Games, yet not expected is which neighbor that will be. The U.S. won Group A Saturday by squeezing past Honduras, 1-0, with a stoppage-time penalty kick from Eddie Gaven, and then it awaited the outcome in Group B, where to everyone’s amazement Canada captured second place ahead of Mexico.