“What could — and should — have been a feverishly anticipated clash between two of football’s grandest foes has become an albatross, a fixture that nobody — from the players, to their club managers, to their fans — wants, or worse, even cares about.” Dan Silver looks forward to Wednesday’s Germany-England game in Berlin.
Monthly Archives: November 2008
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Drogba Handed Three-Game Ban
The English FA has handed Chelsea striker Didier Drogba a three-game ban for throwing a coin back into the crowd during last week’s League Cup tie against Burnley. He will miss forthcoming league games against Arsenal, Newcastle United and Bolton Wanderers.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Fire Forward Frankowski Slams Hamlett
“Honestly, I have a lot of respect for the team but not the coach. [Denis Hamlett] wasn’t honest with me. I wanted to know why I wasn’t playing but he wouldn’t talk to me about it. He’s a very closed off coach. He never talked to me face-to-face.” Chicago Fire forward Tomasz Frankowski is sour […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Uruguayan League Suspended After Violence
The Uruguayan FA has suspended the national championship until further notice after fans fought a pitched battle following a game between the league’s top two sides. When Danubio beat Nacional 1-0 to overtake its opponent and go top of the Apertura (opening) Championship on Sunday, Nacional fans broke down the fencing at the Jardines del […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Warner: Caribbean Players Born With ‘Natural Talent’
FIFA Vice President Jack Warner has not only accused English clubs of disrespecting the Caribbean game, but also claimed that Caribbean players are born with a “natural talent” for soccer. “African-Caribbean footballers will continue to do better and better because they have natural talent,” said Warner, who is also Concacaf President and “special advisor” to […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Ljungberg Looking Good For Seattle
The Seattle Sounders FC will hopefully get more than just another highly paid underwear model with tattoos when its designated player Freddie Ljungberg takes to the field next season. But as Ravi Ubha writes, if you put the player’s name in google “the first thing that pops up is four pictures of the 31-year-old clad […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Light Schedule Key To Playoff Success
The regular season stats of the Columbus Crew and RB New York may not have had much in common, writes Jack Bell, with the Crew superior in every department. But one thing the two MLS Cup finalists shared these past seven months was a light schedule that left them both in good shape to tackle […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Sigi’s California Dreaming
It’s not just the fact that he grew up in California that will make this weekend’s return to the state for MLS Cup so special for Columbus Crew Coach Sigi Schmid. There’s also the fact that the game will be played in Carson at the home stadium of the team — the L.A. Galaxy — […]
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
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 …
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
MORNING BRIEFING: UCLA squeaks through
Unbeaten UCLA moved into the third round of the NCAA Division I Women’s Tournament with a tense 1-0 victory over San Diego in a match postponed until Monday because of poor air quality caused by the Southern California fires. The win set up a date with cross-town rival USC Saturday in Westwood in a rematch of last year’s Women’s College Cup semifinal the Women of Troy won.
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
AWARDS: Soccer America Men’s Team of the Week
Kwame Adjeman-Pamboe, who led streaking George Mason to the CAA title, is the Soccer America Men’s Player of the Week. For all the Soccer America Men’s Team of the Week selections for games played Nov. 10-16 …
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
SPOTLIGHT: Soccer unites Westmont after fire
Four days after the devastation of the Tea Fire in Montecito, Calif., that destroyed more than 100 homes, including the home of head coach Dave Wolf, and closed down the school, Westmont College regrouped and won the Golden State Athletic Conference men’s championship with a 2-0 win at defending national champion Azusa Pacific on Monday that earned the Warriors a berth in the 50th annual NAIA national championship that begins Saturday.
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
MORNING BRIEFING: Wake heads men’s field
Defending champion Wake Forest is the top seed in the 48-team NCAA Division I Men’s Tournament field announced on Monday. The Demon Deacons, whose 25-game unbeaten streak was stopped by Virginia in Saturday’s ACC semifinals, were joined by two other teams from last year’s Men’s College Cup, Massachusetts and Ohio State, which nabbed at-large bids ahead of several teams disappointed to be left out.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Australia guards against complacency
[WORLD CUP 2010 QUALIFYING] Australia hopes to preserve its 100 percent record in the final group phase of Asian World Cup qualifying. In Group 2, unbeaten Saudi Arabia and South Korea face off in Riyadh.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Madrid backs coach Schuster
[SPAIN] Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster has been given a vote of confidence by the team’s sporting director, Predrag Mijatovic, despite the team’s recent shaky form.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Guatemala replaces coach, drops Ruiz for deciding match
[USA-GUATEMALA] Guatemala will face the United States Wednesday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo., with a new coach, Benjamin Monterroso, but without its longtime star, MLS veteran Carlos Ruiz.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Osorio method forges Red Bulls’ winning mentality
A goalie, especially a young one, might be the worst player to ask about how a successful head coach manages and prepares a team. The tinkering of lineups and personnel and formations and tactics by Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio has attracted much notice and some disdain, but as keeper Danny Cepero notes, the Osorio Method that has sent the Red Bulls to the MLS final is as much about what a player is between the ears as what he does between the lines.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
What They’re Saying
“A trick? I wouldn’t say so. It’s up to the referee to decide if it should be penalized, otherwise I don’t see where the problem is … Good taste is relative.”
— Pietro Lo Monaco, chief executive of Italian Serie A club Catania, whose coach, the former MLS goalie and coach Walter Zenga, has been accused of using dirty tricks in having his players dropped their shorts to block the sight of the opposing goalie on free kicks. The Sicilian team carried out the maneuver to perfection Sunday when three players dropped their shorts practically to their knees so Torino goalie Matteo Sereni couldn’t see the kick by Giuseppe Mascara, who scored during Catania’s 3-2 victory. (AP)
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
A bit too fanatic
[OFF THE POST] Fans of Argentine second division club Chacarita, fearing they’d be late to their team’s game against Talleres, hijacked a pair of a couple of buses and pointed knives at the drivers with instructions to drive faster.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Arsenal Fears WPS Exodus
“I told the players that they had until this Monday [November 17] to let me know if they were going or staying. If they decide to go they’ll have to leave for America in January and that doesn’t give me much time to bring in replacements.” Arsenal women’s team Manager Vic Akers has given his […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Fumbling In The Dark With Maradona
“Having Maradona as our coach creates anticipation like your wedding night. It’s tremendously exciting, and you really hope that it will be wonderful, but you never actually know what’s going to happen.” Julio Grondona, the President of the Argentine FA, knows it won’t be easy going with Diego Maradona as national team coach.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Blame The System For NY Success
“Ten wins in 30 games. A goal differential of minus 6. A team with only one road win in the regular season. Your 2008 MLS Cup winner? It might just be the New York Red Bulls.” Gareth Wheeler says don’t blame New York, blame the system.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Miami Decision ‘Within Next Month’
“We have always stated that one of the conditions for us was starting in March, 2010. We will not negotiate on that, and MLS understands our position. Therefore, because the timeframe is relatively short, we expect MLS will make a decision about our franchise in the very near future … say the next month or […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Why Beckham Missed England Call-Up
“This is my system. If you are fit and you are playing, it’s possible to be in the squad. He played his last game three weeks ago. If he had played in the [MLS] playoffs, it would have been OK.” England Manager Fabio Capello explains David Beckham’s omission from the England squad to play Germany […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
The Impossible Demands On Flawed Referees
“Premier League managers will never respect referees,” writes Simon Barnes. “Respect is an impossible idea and the worthy campaign intended to inspire it is doomed to failure.” He cites the weekend red card shown to Emmerson Boyce of Wigan Athletic for his foul on Newcastle’s Shola Ameobi, which replays showed was clearly not a foul, […]