Monthly Archives: June 2008
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story

Polish tabloids get nasty

by Mike Woitalla

[OFF THE POST/EURO 2008] Poland’s national team coach has apologized to the German people after two Polish tabloids “declared war” on Germany in their preview of the nations’ European Championship clash on Sunday. In photo montages, Super Express depicted Poland’s Dutch coach Leo Beenhakker carrying the severed heads of German midfielder Michael Ballack and Coach Joachim Loew while Fakt turned Beenhakker into a sword-wielding warrior about to deliver a death blow to Ballack.

Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story

American teen joins Borussia Dortmund

by Mike Woitalla

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Neven Subotic, who was born in Bosnia before moving to Florida and representing the USA at the 2005 U-17 World Cup, has signed a five-year contract with German First Division club Borussia Dortmund. Subotic, who was discovered by the U.S. U-17 coaching staff while playing pickup games, spent his early childhood in Germany before his family immigrated to the USA.

Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story

Germany and Croatia test Group B favorite status

by Paul Kennedy

[EURO ’08 PREVIEW] Despite miserable showings at the last two European Championship, Germany is the heavy favorite to win Group B, which begins Sunday. Featuring talented playmaker Luka Modric, Croatia is considered a darkhorse, while co-Austria — arguably the worst team ever to host a major international tournament — and Poland — miserable in a 3-0 loss to the USA in March — are longshots. For a look at the Group B teams and their rosters …

Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story

Pressure On Iraq and Iran

by Soccer America

While the European Championship kicks off this weekend, World Cup 2010 qualifying continues in Asia, where Iraq and Iran play critical matches. Iraq faces Australia in Dubai, while Iran — without a competitive victory in almost a year  — travels to Al Ain to play the Group 5 leader United Arab Emirates. New Iran coach […]

Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story

Euro ’08 Is Big Event For ESPN

by Soccer America

What was for many years an event seen by only a handful of Americans on pay-per-view television will be available in its entirety on the ESPN family of networks. As part of its expanded commitment to soccer, the ESPN networks will broadcast all 31 European Championship matches, beginning Saturday and going through June 29 when […]

Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story

D.C. Stadium Fight Hits Vegas

by Soccer America

There’s a fight brewing between the District of Columbia and Prince George’s County in Washington’s Maryland suburbs to build a home for Major League Soccer’s D.C. United, and the Prince George’s folks speculate that D.C. was spurred in action after seeing a model of a soccer stadium as part of a town center developer Petrie […]

Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story

Sven Watches Mexico Get Pummeled

by Soccer America

With newly hired coach Sven-Goran Eriksson watching from a luxury box, Mexico was embarrassed by Argentina, 4-1,  on Wednesday before a record soccer crowd of  68,498 fans at San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium. El Tri was booed off the field at halftime after Argentina scored three goals. Lionel Messi scored one goal and helped set up […]

Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story

Freddy shines in USA loss to Spain

by Mike Woitalla

On Wednesday in Spain, the USA matched the performances of 2006 World Cup champ Italy and runner-up France when they went to Spain earlier this year for friendly games. The USA lost, 1-0. The game extended Spain’s undefeated streak to 16 games, but the Americans played an impressive first half in which teenager Freddy Adu demonstrated that he’s ready to become a force on the national team.

Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying

What They’re Saying

by Soccer America

“You have to feed the cow well to be able to get the milk. It’s not like school kids staying at a hostel.”

— German soccer federation (DFB) president Theo Zwanziger defending the $2.47 million price tag on the German national team’s hotel costs during the European Championship. Zwanziger pointed out that national team success has generated the income that has inabled the DFB to distribute $162.4 million over the last three years to its grass-roots organizations. (AP)

Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story

Rain, lighting halts play at RFK

by Soccer America

A head-to-head matchup of how well D.C. United and Houston have recovered from their early-season struggles will have to wait. They managed to play just 15 minutes Wednesday at RFK Stadium before heavy rain and lightning forced referee Ricardo Salazar to wave the teams off the field, which had been saturated in the past 24 hours by a series of thunderstorms. By the time play was suspended at 8:02 p.m. ET, large puddles had formed on many parts of the field and every kick of the ball sent water spraying as players slipped and slid.

Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story

MLS Teams of the Month for May

by Ridge Mahoney

May was a busy month for MLS teams, with all of them playing at least four matches, and it concluded with the 13th MLS season one-third completed. This facilitated the selection of several players, such as Revs forward Kheli Dube, who barely registered on the radar screen in the first month of play. For Ridge Mahoney‘s picks of MLS’s top performers. …

Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story

Villarreal’s Yellow Submarine is loaded

by Paul Kennedy

Jozy Altidore joins one of Europe’s hottest clubs in Spanish La Liga runner-up Villarreal, which beat out Barcelona for second place behind Real Madrid. With the guarantee of money from playing in the 2008-09 UEFA Champions League and the sale of 21-year-old Uruguayan defender Martin Caceres to Barcelona for a transfer fee estimated to be as high as $26 million, the Yellow Submarine is loaded with money to buy up young talent.

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