What happened to MLS attendances this past week? For the eight matches played this past week, attendances were as follows: 8,096, 20,038, 8,309, 9,627, 11,564, 13,193 and 20,426 — an average of 12,248. Okay, so Toronto hasn’t played a home match yet, but still, 12,000 is well below last season’s average of 16,770. In a […]
Monthly Archives: April 2008
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Fire to Bring Back Former GM?
The Daily Southtown’s Nick Firchau reports that former Chicago Fire president and GM Peter Wilt will meet with team owner Andrew Hauptman in the coming weeks about possible replacements for the deposed John Guppy, who was fired as GM late last week. The question Wilt wouldn’t answer is whether he was meeting as a consultant […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Chivas Searches for Mexican Star
Chivas USA, as ever, is on the lookout for a high-profile Mexican player to add to its roster. The Los Angeles club so far has only two — defender Claudio Suarez and midfielder Francisco Mendoza — but CEO Shawn Hunter tells the Los Angeles Times that Chivas may be getting ready to bring in a […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
‘Idiots’ cost Beitar cup with premature celebrations
[OFF THE POST] Beitar Jerusalem was leading Maccabi Herzliya, 1-0, with four minutes to play in Sunday’s Israeli Cup final when Beitar fans began celebrating the apparent victory. Thousands of fans rushed on to the field, and Maccabi was handed the cup by default when officials were unable to clear the field so play could continue and the referee suspended the match.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
U.S. under-15 girls national team roster
[YOUTH] The U.S. under-15 girls national team opened a training camp Monday in Palo Alto, Calif., where it will play five matches against college teams — two full matches and three mini-matches — at the 2008 Stanford University Kicks Against Breast Cancer Tournament. For U.S. head coach Tad Bobak‘s roster …
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
What They’re Saying
“The big problem is the increase in traffic — this is what they should be focusing on. Then they can really call themselves climate protectors.”
— Lydia Matzka-Saboi, spokeswoman for Global 2000/Friends of the Earth Austria, critical of the impact of Euro ’08 on the environment in Austria. Environmental groups complain that extra road traffic and increased air traffic during Euro ’08 will have a significant impact. Co-host Austria prides itself on its pro-green policies with more than 70 percent of its electricity produced using renewable sources and is seeking corporate sponsors to fund programs to compensate for the 40,000 tons of harmful carbon dioxide emitted by the three-week event in Austria. (Reuters)
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
America in the dumps
[IN THE SPOTLIGHT] To the the delight of Tapatios and Chivas supporters everywhere, Guadalajara beat Club America, 3-2, Sunday night in Mexico’s Superclasico to pile on the misery for the Mexico City club. The loss dropped America’s record to 2-10-2 (W-L-T) in the Torneo Clausura and extended its winless streak to 10 games. America is assured of its worst half-season in history and its worst overall record for a full season in 30 years.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Lowly Wigan hands Man. United gift
[ENGLAND] Manchester United looks more and more likely to defend its English Premier League title following its 2-1 victory over Arsenal on Sunday and second-place Chelsea’s 1-1 tie at home against lowly Wigan on Monday. Emile Heskey‘s shock equalizer in stoppage time left Chelsea five points behind Manchester United with four games to play.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Crew’s fluid attack swirls around Schelotto
The Columbus Crew attack overran a vaunted Chivas USA defense last Saturday and rang up four goals — a mark it failed to reach in 30 games last year — to win, 4-3. Guillermo Barros Schelotto earned Player of the Week honors with a penalty-kick goal and two assists. All eyes will be on him this Thursday when he takes on Marcelo Gallardo and D.C. United in the first MLS matchup of these Argentine veterans, former stars for Boca Juniors and River Plate, respectively.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Where are the rookies?
[MLS] Major League Soccer isn’t like American leagues such as the NFL and NBA, which have ready-made stars emerge from their drafts each year. The lack of young impact players is the most glaring weakness of American soccer, leaving MLS clubs to struggle to make use of the annual player draft. For evidence, one needs to look no further than the first round of the MLS SuperDraft. To date, eight of the 14 players taken in the first round of the 2008 MLS SuperDraft have yet to play while three other players have played a combined 27 minutes.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
The ‘Surprisingly Palatable’ Earthquakes
Nine weeks is an incredibly short period of time to build a sports team from scratch, but nevertheless, San Jose Mercury News columnist Anne Killion says that San Jose’s “instant Earthquakes” have put together a “surprisingly palatable” on-field product. Indeed, the Quakes played well enough to beat Chicago in their home opener on Saturday, but […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Revs’ Lineups Lack Consistency
The New England Revolution has played just four games of the 2008 Major League Soccer season, and yet only four players have played every minute of every game. The Boston Globe’s Frank Dell’Apa says this lack of continuity is to blame for the Revs’ lack of consistency on the field. Two great performances — 3-0 […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Soehn’s Reserves Fall Badly in Salt Lake
D.C. coach Tom Soehn’s decision to bench several of his regulars backfired badly on Saturday as Real Salt Lake blanked United, 4-0, at Rice-Eccles Stadium. In the wake of United’s 2-1 midweek win against Mexican power Pachuca, Soehn decided to rest Marcelo Gallardo, Zach Wells, Gonzalo Martinez and Santino Quaranta. It was United’s fifth game […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Phenom Balotelli Leading Inter’s Title Charge
For the second week in a row, Serie A title pretender Roma played before league-leading Inter Milan and won, closing the gap at the top of the standings to a single point. But for the second week in a row, Inter responded with a comfortable 2-0 win against potentially troublesome opposition. The Italian press was […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Gullit Blames Poor Finishing for L.A. Loss
Los Angeles Galaxy fans endured a frustrating 3-2 loss to Toronto FC on Sunday. The L.A. Times Grahame L. Jones described it as a “strange” game because the Galaxy (read: Landon Donovan and David Beckham) looked brilliant at times, creating numerous chances in the first half, in particular. But when Donovan or Beckham couldn’t be […]
Posted inSoccer on TV., Story
Soccer on TV
Midweek action includes the Copa Libertadores and domestic cup play in Portugal, Italy and Spain. In MLS’s Thursday night game, D.C. United hosts Columbus.
Posted inSoccer America Confidential, Story
Galaxy is playing its role perfectly (badly)
Well, after a week of routs and upsets, flameouts and comebacks, who’s to pick on in MLS? The weak have become stronger, the traditionally strong are stumbling yet far from beaten, and those in the middle are where they are on merit.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
USL-1 Results
Rookie Dominic Cianciarulo scored his second goal of the game in stoppage time to give the Charleston Battery a 2-2 tie at the Miami FC Blues and spoil the coaching debut of Zinho, the 1994 Brazilian World Cup champion, on the opening day of the 2008 USL First Division season. The Vancouver Whitecaps opened the 2008 season with a 1-0 home victory over Canadians rival Montreal before a sellout crowd of 5,288.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Another MLS boss departs
[MLS] John Guppy, who served as the Fire’s president and general manager for four years, became the second MLS club boss to depart in three days when he left the Fire on Friday. Red Bull New York managing director Marc de Grandpre resigned on Wednesday.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Lapira scores first two professional goals
[AMERICANS ABROAD] Joe Lapira, the 2006 Hermann Trophy winner for Notre Dame, scored his first two goals for Norwegian second division club Nybergsund in a 4-0 win over Bryne FK.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
McBride helps keep Fulham alive
[AMERICANS ABROAD] Brian McBride scored one goal and hit the woodwork on another shot as relegation candidate Fulham beat Reading, 2-0, for its first English Premier League on the road since September 2006.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
What They’re Saying
“I don’t know if my heart can take all of them like this. Everybody should be made to watch this on TV and then say soccer is not exciting.”
— Columbus Crew coach Sigi Schmid after watching his team blow a 3-1 lead and then prevail, 4-3, over Chivas USA in a game that also featured eight yellow cards and two red cards. (Columbus Dispatch)
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
MLS Results
The third weekend of MLS action produced road victories for FC Dallas, Colorado and Toronto FC. For all the MLS summaries, standings, leading scorers and next week’s schedule …
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Arsenal falls by the wayside
[EUROPEAN RACES] Manchester United knocked Arsenal out of the English Premier League race with a 2-1 win over Arsenal at Old Trafford on Sunday. Real Madrid (Spain) and Inter Milan (Italy) also moved closer to repeating as league champions, while Bayern Munich (Germany) opened up a double-digit lead in its bid to win the Bundesliga title. Lyon, winner of the last six French league titles, saw its lead over second-place Bordeaux fall to four points.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Wild MLS weekend
[NAMES & NUMBERS] The third weekend of play in Major League Soccer produced several wild affairs. The smallest MLS crowd in Columbus home history saw the Crew prevail, 4-3, over Chivas USA in a match that featured four goals in 11 minutes — and a pair of red cards in the next two minutes. Frenchman Laurent Robert won the battle of former EPL long-ball specialists handily over David Beckham as Toronto FC stunned Los Angeles, 3-2, on Sunday. Real Salt Lake exploded for its biggest victory in its history when it crushed D.C. United, 4-0. For all the MLS developments …