Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson has dismissed renewed interest in proposals to play a 39th Premier League game abroad. "I don't think there will ever be a 39th game and I don't believe there should be," Ferguson told reporters Tuesday after his team's arrival in Japan for the Club World Cup. "Certainly I'm not in […]
Monthly Archives: December 2008
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Boos For The ‘Big Four’ Are Music To Many
"It is cheering to hear the boos" that have been greeting the home performances of league-leading Liverpool and Chelsea in recent weeks, writes Kevin McCarra. Although the EPL's Big Four' occupy four of the top five spots, their faltering form and the threat of financial insecurity that hangs over their debt-carrying heads are good news […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Holden Is DeRo’s Ready-Made Replacement
The Houston Dynamo let Dwayne De Rosario leave for Toronto FC last week because it knew his ideal replacement was already on the roster, writes Bernardo Fallas. That player is Stuart Holden, "the Scotland native and Houston-area product who has turned heads since his rookie season." "I've been waiting three years to earn a starting […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Friedel Could Have Saved Ince At Blackburn
The question is not so much whether Blackburn Rovers was right to sack manager Paul Ince on Tuesday, writes Paul Wilson. Rather, should the club have appointed him in the first place? Like the appointment of Roy Keane at Sunderland, Ince's recruitment was "risky," he says, because "in both cases the club boards seemed to […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Ziege Resigns At Moenchengladbach
Christian Ziege, assistant coach at Michael Bradley's Bundesliga team Borussia Moenchengladbach, has resigned just days after the team finished bottom of the German league at the season's halfway point. The former Liverpool and Bayern Munich player was reportedly unhappy at having too little say in team matters. Also, his head coach Hans Meyer, appointed in […]
Posted inSoccer America Confidential, Story
College policies need overhaul
With the college season concluded and the MLS Combine and 2009 SuperDraft just a few weeks away, the time is ripe for the league to revise its policies regarding college players. But it won’t. A league that has coupled its SuperDraft with the NSCAA Convention to rake in a decent crowd for the proceedings has systemically and shamelessly hacked away at the college game.
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
Stanford’s Taylor heads All-Freshman team
[SOCCER AMERICA AWARDS] Stanford forward Lindsay Taylor, who tied for the team lead with 16 goals for the NCAA Division I semifinalist, is the 2008 Soccer America Freshman of the Year. For the 2008 Soccer America All-Freshman teams …
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
Stanford’s Ratcliffe named Women’s Coach of the Year
[SOCCER AMERICA AWARDS] In his sixth season at Stanford, Coach Paul Ratcliffe has built the Cardinal program into one of the best in the country. Its 2008 performance earned him Soccer America Women’s Coach of the Year honors.
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
Soccer America Women’s MVPs
[SOCCER AMERICA AWARDS] Soccer America’s 2008 Women’s MVP awards are highlighted by four holdovers from the 2006 and 2007 teams. First-team picks Christina DiMartino (UCLA) and Kerri Hanks (Notre Dame) and second-team selections Yael Averbuch (North Carolina) and Kasey Moore (Texas) were selected for the third year in a row. For all the 2008 Soccer America MVPs …
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
Carolina’s Nogueira named Women’s Player of the Year
[SOCCER AMERICA AWARDS] Casey Nogueira, whose two goals gave North Carolina a 2-1 win over North Dame for her second national championship in three years, is the 2008 Soccer America Women’s Player of the Year. The daughter of indoor goalkeeping great Victor Nogueira becomes the 10th different Tar Heel to win Soccer America Women’s Player of the Year honors.
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
UPDATE: College Cup quartet called into under-20 national team camp
Four players who played at the 2008 Men’s College Cup have been called into the U.S. under-20 national team training camp that began Monday in Sunrise, Fla. Wake Forest’s Ike Opara and Daniel Wenzel and North Carolina’s Kirk Urso and Sheanon Williams were among the 26 players called into the camp that lasts through Dec. 22.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
First Best of U.S. Soccer awards announced
[AWARDS] U.S. Soccer has announced the first four winners of the 2008 Best of U.S. Soccer awards presented by Soccer America following nearly three weeks of fan voting online at ussoccer.com. For the choices of Best Soccer Specialty Store, Best Soccer Bar, Best Soccer Blog and Best Fan Photo …
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Italian duo gets callup
[U.S. UNDER-20 NATIONAL TEAM] A pair of Italian-based players, Vincenzo Bernardo of Napoli and Giuseppe Nazzani of Bologna, were among the five foreign-based players called into the U.S. under-20 national team training camp that began Monday in Sunrise, Fla. For the complete roster …
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Govou caught driving five times over alcohol limit
[FRANCE] French soccer folks like to look down on the drinking habits of English players, but that doesn’t mean Frenchmen are teetotalers. French international Sidney Govou had his driver’s license confiscated on the spot when he was found to be driving in Lyons at five times over the French alcohol limit.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo off the hook
[ENGLAND] Both Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo have escaped disciplinary action from UEFA and the English FA, respectively, after video examination of two recent incidents involving the players.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Women’s league lands major sponsor
[WPS] Women’s Professional Soccer unveiled its first major sponsorship with Monday’s announcement that Puma would be a founding partner of WPS and an official sponsor of all WPS teams. Amid a difficult economic climate, the deal is a coup for WPS, which kicks off its first season in 2009.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Sundhage signs four-year deal
[U.S. WOMEN] When she took the job as head coach of the U.S. women’s team 13 months ago, Pia Sundhage signed a deal that guaranteed her only nine months of employment. Upon an exhaustive review following the team’s gold-medal performance at the Olympic Games, which U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati indicated took about 30 seconds, negotiations began for a longer alliance. Monday came the official announcement that she will be in place until the next Olympics, scheduled for 2012 in London. In the meantime, Sundhage laid out plans for 2009 …
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Schmid and Seattle finally team up
The long, twisting saga of Seattle FC’s pursuit of Sigi Schmid will end Tuesday with the official announcement of his hiring, a day after MLS imposed a penalty on the expansion team for unspecified improprieties.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
What They’re Saying
I realized that the problem was in the mind of the players. Now we are better. We need time and we will continue to work. It is important to be a psychologist but we need good players to win. Good psychologist, bad players — it is impossible to win. We want to be better.”
— Italian coach Fabio Capello, who took over as England coach in 2008, saying his main success of the year was changing the mentality of the players, who often performed well for their clubs but not for the national team. (Reuters)
Posted inSoccer on TV., Story
Soccer on TV
Cup action rules the week. Catch the FA Cup, Coppa Italia, UEFA Cup and the final stages of the FIFA World Club Cup. European league action resumes on the weekend.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
U.K. National Football Museum Should Be At Wembley
“The capital [London] gets gridlock, unaffordable houses, overpopulation, pollution and a lousy standard of living, but, on the upside, if you want to stare at a Titian or the Rosetta Stone, it is the place to be. The National Football Museum, like all projects of historical worth, has to be based where it is accessible. […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Inter Insists It’s Not Interested In Drogba
"[Didier] Drogba has been at Chelsea for many years and is doing well there. We have our strikers who are also doing well here. It is just media speculation." Inter Milan Sporting Director Marco Branca insists his club will not be signing the Chelsea striker in the January transfer window.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Capello: England Door Still Open To Owen
"I always said the door of the national team is open for all the players. I will check him in January and after that I will decide if he is ready, if he is OK for the next squad." England manager Fabio Capello says that Newcastle's Michael Owen is still in contention for the national […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Internacional Rejected L.A. Offer For D’Alessandro
Copa Sudamericana champion Internacional of Brazil turned down an offer of more than $6.8 million from the L.A. Galaxy for Argentine midfielder Andres D'Alessandro, reports Brian Lewis. He takes this as meaning "Landon Donovan is surely leaving Los Angeles. His trial at Bayern Munich must be going well, because if the Galaxy are tossing around […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Report: European Clubs Chasing Kljestan
Glasgow Celtic "will battle it out with a host of European rivals to land American star Sacha Kljestan," writes a Scottish Sunday newspaper, without citing sources. It said the Chivas USA midfielder "is being tracked by Monaco, Heerenveen, FC Twente, Leverkusen, Schalke and Wolfsburg."