[U.S. WOMEN] Playing her first game as a striker in her international career, Tiny Ellertson scored to give the USA a 1-0 win over China on Saturday before 3,619 fans at the Home Depot Center.
Monthly Archives: December 2008
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
Feedback on Parent Behavior, Overcoaching …
Soccer America readers comment on recent editions of the Youth Soccer Insider e-letter.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Barca Ready For Revenge
"Hopefully it will be a great game and we can convince people that the 4-1 is forgotten. It's something that I don't like thinking back to and I understand people want revenge." Barcelona's Mexican defender Rafael Marquez hopes to banish the memory of last season's 4-1 defeat at Real Madrid in this Saturday's superclasico at […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Ahly Accuses Pachuca Of Spying
"Three spies from Pachuca came to inspect our practice today. It's not fair. We didn't watch their practice. It's not fair." More high jinx from the Club World Cup as Manuel Jose, the coach of Egyptian club Al Ahly, accused Mexican side Pachuca of spying on his team's practice. The two teams meet Saturday in […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Toronto Sells Out For 2009
"We're amazed at the support by our fans." Toronto FC's senior director of business operations, Paul Beirne, expresses the team's surprise that it has already sold out its quota of 16,000 season tickets for the 2009 season.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Champions League A Beast Bound By Money And Self-Interest
"The truth is that when Uefa brought in their Champions League they were not so much breaking new ground as buying time. They do know the nature of their beast. It is unbounded by any force but the one of self-interest. What happened this week was not football competition but money-spinning." James Lawton adds his […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Benitez Tries Reverse Psychology
“For us to win the league we need Chelsea, Man United and Arsenal to mess up their season. It is very rare that three teams all mess up. So there’s no point waiting for our direct adversaries to slip up because it won’t happen. They all have a lot greater financial means than us.” EPL-leading […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Boy Sells Memorabilia To Help Find Donor
Eleven-year-old Evan Mundine of Bastrop, Texas, is selling his autographed soccer memorabilia to help find a bone marrow donor for the wife of his favorite player, Real Salt Lake’s Andy Williams. Marcia Williams has leukemia. The fifth-grader broke his legs two years ago while playing soccer and, while recovering, received soccer balls, jerseys and photographs […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
UEFA To Deliver Rooney Verdict Monday
UEFA will decide Monday whether to punish Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney over his clash with Aalborg's Kasper Risgard at Old Trafford in Wednesday's Champions League group game. Any suspension would mean him missing at least one game when the competition's Round of 16 knockout phase begins in February. Risgard claimed Rooney deliberately stomped on […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
FIFA Reveals Player Of The Year Nominees
World soccer’s governing body FIFA has named the contenders for the 2008 World Player and FIFA Women’s World Player awards. The award will be presented January 12. There are no U.S. players on either list. The male nominees are Kaka (Brazil), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Fernando Torres (Spain) and Xavi (Spain). The women […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Platini: Euro 2012 Could Be Poland’s Alone
UEFA President Michel Platini has said that the 2012 European Championship, to be hosted jointly by Poland and the Ukraine, could take place solely in Poland if the stadium in the Ukrainian capital Kiev is not finished on time, according to Polish newspaper Dziennik. However, Platini is cool on a previously aired idea that Poland […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Sundhage Helps Boxx Get Back In The Groove
U.S. women's national team midfielder Shannon Boxx, 31, was close to quitting last year because she was emotionally drained, writes Corinna Knoll. But the Olympic gold medallist was re-energized by the appointment of Pia Sundhage as coach in November 2007. "I was close to being done," Boxx said. "It started to become a job. I […]
Posted inSoccer on TV., Story
Soccer on TV
The NCAA Division I men’s champion will be crowned this weekend; semifinals take place on Friday. Club World Cup games air Friday and Sunday. On Saturday, there’s the clasico of clasicos when Barcelona hosts Real Madrid. The second leg of the Mexican league final between Toluca and Cruz Azul takes place on Sunday, 1 pm ET (check local listings)
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
AWARDS: 2008 Men’s Conferences (Mid-American to WCC)
The rest of the the 2008 men’s all-conference teams and individual conference awards from the Mid-American to WCC …
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
AWARDS: 2008 Men’s Conferences (ACC to MAAC)
All the 2008 men’s all-conference teams and individual conference awards have been released. The Men’s College Cup will feature ACC Defensive Player of the Year Ike Opara (Wake Forest), Big East Defensive Player of the Year Joel Gustafsson (St. John’s) and Big East Midfielder of the Year Nelson Becerra (St. John’s). For all the conference awards (ACC to MAAC) …
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
UPDATE: Akron’s Porter awarded new deal
Akron’s Caleb Porter, one of the most-sought after coaches in college soccer, has been awarded his second new contract in less than a year. The new contract for the 2007 and 2008 Mid-American Coach of the Year is a five-year deal.
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
MEN’S COLLEGE CUP: Rematch of tournament foes
Maryland coach Sasho Cirovski says the 2008 Men’s College Cup has the potential to be one of the best ever. The four participants — Maryland, St. John’s, North Carolina and Wake Forest — have all won national titles in the last 12 years. Maryland takes a 14-game winning streak into its game against St. John’s (TV: ESPNU, live, 8 pm ET; ESPN2, Saturday, 11 am ET).
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
MEN’S COLLEGE CUP: ACC rivals meet in Frisco
Wake Forest and North Carolina are located only 85 miles apart, but the schools will be meeting Friday 1,100 miles away in Frisco, Texas, in the semifinals of the Men’s College Cup (TV: ESPN2, live, 5:30 pm ET). The Tar Heels lead the all-time series 19-10-7, but the Demon Deacons have enjoyed recent success, winning the last three meetings, most recently, 4-2, at Chapel Hill this fall in one of their most impressive performances of the season.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
MLS youngsters fall on London trip
[MLS] American representation on both sides of the field came into play Thursday when the MLS Select/Generation adidas team finished its three-game visit to London against the reserves of West Ham United.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Fined, but Lyon players laugh last
[REF WATCH] Two players from French club Lyon, knowing their club was assured passage into the knockout stage of the Champions League with one group game left, intentionally got yellow cards in Lyon’s penultimate group game so they’d serve their accumulated yellow-card suspension in a meaningless game and enter the round of 16 with clean slates. The scheme, despite yielding fines, achieved what they wanted.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Blanco’s caps go missing
[MEXICO] Mexican star Cuauhtemoc Blanco, who plays for MLS’s Chicago Fire, retired from his national team on Sept. 7 after making a cameo against Canada and celebrating his 100th cap – but now FIFA says he falls short of the century mark.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Red Devils take step toward title
[MEXICO] Toluca, the Diablos Rojos, beat host Cruz Azul, 2-0, on Thursday in the first leg of the Apertura 2008 final with first-half goals by Paulo Da Silva and Sergio Amaury Ponce.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Expansion players counting their chips
[MLS] Other leagues are trimming staff and cutting expenses as they buckle down for a bleak winter amid dire economic climes, but at MLS headquarters, the leaders are ready for another game of Expansion Poker. Commissioner Don Garber uttered mostly positive comments about the prospects in Portland, which is seeking a good chunk of public money to launch an expansion team in 2011 at a renovated PG&E Park. He made those comments while visiting the Rose City earlier this week, and so the statements should be liberally salted before being consumed. He also had effusive praise upon visiting Vancouver during his trip to the Northwest.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
What They’re Saying
“Without being derogatory, West Ham are a second-rate club. Let’s not kid ourselves … Once I have proved myself in a team such this, I can hope to make the step up to another club.”
— West Ham United defender Herita Ilunga, on loan from French Ligue 1 club Toulouse, endears himself at the London club. The Congo DR international later said he meant “second level” club. (TeamTalk.com)
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Club championship kicks off in Japan
[CLUB WORLD CUP] The 2008 Club World Cup began Thursday in Japan, where Adelaide United of Australia defeated Waitakere United of New Zealand, 2-1. Play continues Saturday with quarterfinal action between Mexico’s Pachuca (featuring young American international Francisco Torres) and Egyptian power Al Ahly (TV: Fox Soccer Channel, live, Saturday, 2:30 am ET, Friday, 11:30 pm ET).