A summary of Wednesday’s action in round two of England’s League Cup, with wins for Fulham and West Ham United.
Monthly Archives: August 2008
Goalkeeper’s Escape From Dictatorship Into Philosophy
John Turnbull tells the extraordinary story of Claudio Tamburrini, a goalkeeper with Argentine second division side Almagro in the 1970s who was abducted by the military authorities, only to escape and become a philosophy professor in Sweden.
UEFA Champions League Draw
Celtic gets another shot at Man. United in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League, whose draw took place Thursday in Monaco.
Serie A ‘A Retirement Home
When Italian players such as Gianluca Vialli and Gianfranco Zola started moving to the English Premier League in the mid-1990s, their compatriots dismissed the EPL “as a retirement home for ageing footballers or a get-rich-quick scheme for those who lacked ambition,” writes Oliver Kay. With a change in the balance of power and money there […]
Dallas Dispute ‘Resolved’
FC Dallas midfielder Andre Rocha was not happy at being substituted out of Saturday’s game at the Kansas City Wizards, and refused to sit on the bench after coach Schellas Hyndman withdrew him in the game’s 66th minute for rookie Bruno Guarda. Rocha missed training Monday (it’s not clear if he was suspended or AWOL), […]
‘We Were Wrong About Blanco’
There were many skeptics who thought that Cuauhtemoc Blanco would not cut it in MLS when he arrived to play for the Chicago Fire a year ago, and Bernardo Fallas admits that he was one of them. Now he’s happy to concede that he was wrong on all counts — about Blanco being too old, […]
Crew Must Give Schmid A New Contract
The Columbus Crew’s 11-6-4 record, tied for the best in MLS this year, is the result of coach Sigi Schmid’s “soccer mind and his eye for talent,” writes Michael Arace. That’s why he deserves a new contract. “He has completely overhauled the team in three years,” Arace says. “Of the 30 men on the Crew’s […]
Will St. Louis Be Priced Out Of MLS?
St. Louis’ bid to land a Major League Soccer team “looks to be entering the home stretch,” Tom Timmermann reports, but he qualifies the statement by adding “again.” The deadline is mid-October, and prime mover Jeff Cooper, who heads an investment group that has proposed a stadium, housing, office and retail space complex in Collinsville, […]
TELEVISION: FSC to air eight women’s clashes
Fox Soccer Channel will broadcast the Women’s College Game of the Week in conjunction with the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. The eight games will all be broadcast on Thursdays, beginning with the Sept. 11 match between West Virginia and Kentucky.
MORNING BRIEFING: Milwaukee beats up on Big Ten foes
For the second time in less than a week, Wisconsin-Milwaukee beat a Big Ten opponent. Nicole Sperl scored on a penalty kick in the 88th minute to give the Panthers a 4-3 win over Ohio State in a wild game in Milwaukee. AND: Hawaii-LBSU barnburner and new Virginia keeper.
SMALL COLLEGES: Previewing the men’s favorites
Favorites Franklin Pierce (NCAA Division II) must overcome heavy losses, Middlebury (NCAA Division III) will again be led by goalie Brian Bush (623 scoreless minutes and counting), and Azusa Pacific (NAIA) must overcome the loss of Steven Lenhart, now with MLS’s Columbus Crew. For a look at the top five teams in each of the three small college divisions …
TELEVISION: FSC men’s coverage kicks off Friday
Fox Soccer Channel will again air men’s college action in conjunction with the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. The 12-game schedule begins with Friday’s match between No. 11 UCLA and No. 4 Maryland from the Home Depot Center.
CONFERENCE WATCH: Men’s Preseason Polls
NCAA Division I men’s conference polls are out. For the preseason conference ranking of your favorite D1 program …
MORNING BRIEFING: Injuries wipe out UCSB’s backline
Six minutes into UC Santa Barbara’s exhibition against Westmont, senior defender Kyle Kaveny fractured his left ankle, and last week junior midfielder C.J. Cintas broke his left foot during practice. Both are lost for the season. AND: ODU’s injury loss and colleges take on pros.
England likely to lose Gerrard for two qualifiers
[WORLD CUP 2010] Midfielder Steven Gerrard, who played in Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Standard Liege on Wednesday to earn Liverpool a spot in UEFA Champions League group play, is scheduled for groin surgery that will likely force him out of England’s two World Cup qualifiers next month.
Bundesliga set to earn more than Italian Serie A
[GERMANY] According to a study by the StageUp sport business research firm, the Germany Bundesliga is likely to over take the Italian Serie A as the world’s second richest league. First is the English Premier League, whose revenues for the 2008-09 are estimated to be $3.5 billion.
FC Dallas’ new midfielder sidelined
[MLS] Dutch midfielder Victor Sikora, whom FC Dallas signed earlier this month, will be sidelined for four to six weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a torn lateral meniscus in his right knee. He suffered the injury during his second start for Dallas, a 1-1 tie with Kansas City on Saturday.
MAKING A LIST: WPS head coaches
Jorge Barcellos, who coached Brazil to second place at the 2007 Women’s World Cup and the silver medal in the 2008 Olympic women’s soccer competition, is headed to Women’s Professional Soccer, where he will serve as the St. Louis head coach. Dallas and Los Angeles have yet to hire coaches with only weeks to go before the first player selections take place for the WPS’s 2009 launch.
USL-1 teams fare better than MLS counterparts
[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] The USL-1’s Puerto Rico Islanders accomplished what MLS teams failed to do on three occasions — get a result at Costa Rican club Alajuelense. Their 1-1 tie in Alajuela on Wednesday night and the Montreal Impact’s 1-0 win over Nicaragua’s Real Esteli before a sellout crowd of 13,034 fans left the two USL First Division sides unbeaten in Concacaf Champions League qualifying a night after both MLS teams, Chivas USA and New England, lost.
What They’re Saying
“We’re absolutely convinced that we have the right man for the job and that we’re heading in the right direction. We have absolute patience. I’m not worked up all. I’m completely calm. We drew 10 times last year and we ended up champions by 10 points.”
— Bayern Munich president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge delivers a vote of confidence to Coach Juergen Klinsmann after Bayern started the Bundesliga season with two ties. (Reuters)
Firsts for Cyprus and Belarus
[UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Barcelona (surviving without Olympic gold-medalist Lionel Messi), Liverpool (needing a goal in the 118th minute to beat Standard Liege and its American star, Oguchi Onyewu), Arsenal and Juventus all won as expected their Champions League qualifying series, while upstarts Aalborg (Denmark), Anorthosis Famagusta (Cyprus) and BATE Borisov (Belarus) qualified to enter Thursday’s group stage draw in Monaco.
Del Bosque tells Serbia, ‘Hands Off Bojan’
Spain national team coach Vicente del Bosque has warned Serbia off attempting to lure teenage star Bojan Krkic to play for Serbia. Krkic’s father is Serbian, his mother Catalan, and he was born and raised in Spain.
Vidic Not Keen On The Manchester Rain
Manchester United central defender Nemanja Vidic has said that he would not want to stay in England long term because of the Manchester rain, and because all people do in the evening is watch TV. Well what do you expect when it’s raining outside?
Kljestan Awakes Dutch Interest
An unnamed Dutch team is interested in signing Chivas USA’s midfielder Sacha Kljestan after his displays for the U.S. Olympic team.
Manchester City Borrowed Millions From Former Chairman
Former City Chairman John Wardle has loaned the team a total $12 million over the past year, reports David Conn, raising new doubts about the financial stability of the team’s owner, the Human Rights Watch-condemned former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
