The big game – MLS Cup 2008 – is Sunday, but the big meeting is Friday and the big draw is set for Saturday. On Friday, the MLS Board of Governors will vote on many competition and scheduling issues for the 2009 season, and late in the afternoon Commissioner Don Garber will make many of those decisions public. On Saturday is the draw for the final round of Concacaf World Cup 2010 qualifying – the Hexagonal – in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Monthly Archives: November 2008
POLLS: NSCAA/adidas High School Rankings
Brentwood (N.Y.) High School claimed the No. 1 spot in the NSCAA/adidas High School Boys Rankings when last week’s No. 1, Sacramento Jesuit, fell to Davis in a shootout in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I semifinals. The Pennington School, whose season is finished, is the No. 1 team in the NSCAA/adidas High School Boys Rankings.
What They’re Saying
“I wrote on a piece of paper at the beginning of the season: 24-0.”
— Brentwood (N.Y.) High School coach Ron Eden, scripting the season for the Indians, who won their first boys state title since 1989 after a 2-1 victory over Clarence on Sunday and claimed the top spot in the national high school rankings. (Newsday)
U.S. kids battle Madrid’s future stars
The U.S. under-20 men’s national team took on some of Madrid’s top young talent. The Americans put three goals past Real Madrid C, but that total was matched by a 16-year-old Portuguese dubbed the new Cristiano Ronaldo, and the Madrid team won, 5-3. The next day, FC Dallas keeper Josh Lambo held off Atletico Madrid B and earned the U-20s a 0-0 tie.
Hawks soar in Michigan finals
For the third year in a row, teams from the Michigan Hawks reached the finals of every Michigan State Youth Soccer Association girls division from under-14 to under-18.
Historic Virginia state title for Charlottesville club
The Soccer Organization of Charlottesville-Albemarle became the first club team from West Central Virginia to win a state championship when it won the U-18 boys title at the Virginia Youth Soccer Association’s state tournament for boys and girls teams in the under-14 to under-18 divisions.
Arsenal FC cleans up in CSL Premier
Arsenal FC, the Southern California team that produced U.S. national team captain Carlos Bocanegra, cleaned up in the 2008 CSL Premier League, winning two boys and one girls championship. The boys won the U-19 and U-16 divisions in the Southern California superleague, while the U-16 girls were the only team with a perfect record, finishing 11-0-0. For all the U-19, U-17 and U-16 boys and girls final standings …
North American Finals kick off Friday
The Super Y-League’s North American Finals begin Friday with 136 American and Canadian youth teams competing in 10 boys and girls divisions at the Ed Radice Sports Complex in Tampa and Land O’Lakes Recreation Center in Land O’Lakes, Fla.
OBITUARY: Jonathan Manzo Chavez
Jonathan Manzo Chavez, 10, was on his way home from Santa Clara Sporting Club’s NorCal State Cup qualifier in Manteca, Calif., last Saturday when the mini-van his mother was driving was struck head-on by a car attempting to pass another car on Highway 84, a two-lane road. When rescue workers tried to take off Manzo’s Sporting green jersey and shorts and tend to his injuries, he pleaded, “Don’t cut them, don’t cut them, I have a game tomorrow.” Manzo later died of injuries suffered in the crash.
RISING STAR: U.S. U-20 Midfielder Becky Edwards
SOCCER AMERICA profiles Florida State’s Becky Edwards, a member the U.S. national team competing at the Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Chile. She started in midfield for the Americans in their 3-0 win over France in their opening game on Wednesday. She’s a Philly girl through and through. Edwards was ecstatic about the Phillies’ World Series and loves the Jersey Shore.
U.S. U-17 World Cup players are off to Thanksgiving Interregional
Two members of the U.S. national team that finished second at the Under-17 Women’s World Cup in New Zealand are headed to U.S. Youth Soccer ODP Girls Thanksgiving Interregional. Maddy Laddish will represent Region II in the 1992 division, while Morgan Brian is on the U.S. under-15 national team competing at the Interregional to be played at the North Community Park and Coral Glades High School Sportsplex in Coral Springs, Fla. Teams arrive Saturday for two days of training. The competition runs through next Friday. For all the 1992, 1993 and 1994 regional teams and U.S. under-15 national team …
MORNING BRIEFING: For LA bragging rights
The biggest third-round match in the NCAA Division I Women’s Tournament pits a pair of Olympic gold-medalists in action when Lauren Cheney’s UCLA hosts Amy Rodriguez‘s USC Saturday in Westwood. Last year, they met in the Women’s College Cup semifinals, where the Women of Troy prevailed, 2-1. The Bruins were crushed, having had their hopes of a title after five straight College Cup appearances dashed. USC went on to win the national championship two days later.
MORNING BRIEFING: Newcomers offer firepower
Columbus Crew coach Sigi Schmid will face a dilemma if the Crew wins the MLS Cup on Sunday at the Home Depot Center. Does he return with the Crew for its celebrations back home or does he stay in Southern California to watch his son, Kyle, play for Big West champion UC Irvine on Tuesday in the second round of the NCAA Division I Men’s Tournament? The Anteaters are one of three teams making their first appearance in the NCAA Division I Men’s Tournament. Atlantic-10 champ Dayton also earned an automatic berth, while Missouri Valley regular-season runner-up Drake took an at-large bid.
SCOREBOARD: NAIA Men & Women
The NAIA has introduced an opening round to its national championships for men’s and women’s soccer. Play gets underway Saturday with 15 first-round games for both the men and women. The men’s winners will advance the 50th annual NAIA National Men’s Championship Dec. 1-6 at Fresno Pacific. Winners of the opening-round women’s games will play at Embry-Riddle, the site of the National Women’s Championship Dec. 1-6 in Daytona Beach, Fla.
SCOREBOARD: NCAA Division I Women
Play resumes in the NCAA Division I Women’s Tournament with eight games this weekend. It begins Friday when No. 1 regional seeds Notre Dame and Stanford host unseeded Minnesota and Rutgers, respectively. For all the results and schedules …
SCOREBOARD: NCAA Division I Men
The NCAA Division I Men’s Tournament begins with first-round play Friday and Saturday. The 16 seeded teams move into action in the second round next Tuesday. The third round follows the weekend of Nov. 28-30. For the complete first- and second-round schedules …
SCOREBOARD: NJCAA Division I Men and Women
Defending champion Yavapai improved to 24-0-0 with a 3-1 win over Schoolcraft that moved it into the semifinals of the NJCAA Division I Men’s Tournament in Phoenix. Francis Khamis, Justin Meram and Gabriel Okito scored for the Roadrunners, who play Garden City of Kansas in Friday’s semifinals. The other semifinal pits Mercer County against San Jacinto. In the NJCAA Division I Women’s Tournament being played in nearby Chandler, Ariz., host Chandler-Gilbert faces top-seed Darton and Lewis & Clark of Illinois meets North Idaho in Friday’s semifinals.
Voting begins for U.S. Soccer Athletes of the Year
[AWARDS] U.S. Soccer has announced the finalists — six in each category — for its annual Athlete of the Year Awards – Male, Female, Young Male and Young Female.
Juventus unveils plan for new stadium
[ITALY] Juventus is to completely renovate the Stadio Delle Alpi and become the first Italian club to own its own stadium.
Crew’s Schelotto named MVP
[MLS] The Columbus Crew’s Guillermo Barros Schelotto became the second Argentine in three years to receive Major League Soccer’s top individual award when he was named the Volkswagen Most Valuable Player.
Donovan and Blanco strike loan deals
[MLS] After David Beckham, Landon Donovan and Cuauhtemoc Blanco will spend the offseason playing on loan to foreign teams. German champion Bayern Munich will have Donovan from Jan. 1 until the start of the MLS season in mid-March. Blanco will join Santos only for the Mexican league playoffs, which start this weekend with the first leg of the quarterfinals.
Angles abound for grand MLS Cup
There are too many variables to consider when assessing whether Columbus or New York holds the upper hand for their meeting Sunday in MLS Cup 2008 (TV, ABC, 3:30 p.m. ET). But when you examine the foreign influence, the young domestic talent and the old hands on both teams, one team clearly has an edge …
What They’re Saying
“I was sort of unemployed, so that probably helped.”
— Sigi Schmid on why left his home in Southern California to take over the Columbus Crew in 2006. He led the Los Angeles Galaxy to three MLS Cup finals and had the team in first place in the Western Conference when he was fired in 2004. He returns to the Home Depot Center Sunday to lead the Crew against the New York Red Bulls in MLS Cup ’08. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
Under-20 Women’s World Cup Scoreboard
Play continued Thursday at the Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Chile, where Brazil knocked off defending champion North Korea, 3-2, in a thrilling match. Japan was a comfortable 2-0 winner over Canada’s team of U.S. collegians, while Norway beat Mexico, 2-1. In the tournament’s first route, Germany beat the Democratic Republic of Congo, 5-0. The USA resumes play Saturday when it faces Argentina in Chillan. For all the results and schedules …
Never Mind MVP, Schelotto Wants A Title
Major League Soccer’s 2008 MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto plays “a graceful game, full of nuance and surprise,” writes Shawn Mitchell. “A touch just so on a free kick. A dribble through a gaggle of defenders, off-kilter and off-balance, that ends how it started: Schelotto, head up, searching the field for the best way to get […]
