Monthly Archives: February 2009

[USA-MEXICO COUNTDOWN] Mexico striker Carlos Ochoa, who played high school and college ball in Southern California, says criticism of his team’s recent poor form has united the squad, which he believes is better than the U.S. team and will overcome Ohio’s frigid conditions in the Hexagonal opener on Feb. 11.

[OFF THE POST] After Wolverhampton Wanderers fell, 1-0, to Reading last week in the English second division, Wolves coach Mick McCarthy turned the postgame press conference into an R-rated affair.

[HEXAGONAL] The second U.S. home game of final round World Cup qualifying will take place at LP Field in Nashville, Tenn., April 1. The match against Trinidad & Tobago will be the USA’s third of the Hexagonal, following its Feb. 11 clash with Mexico and its March 28 game at El Salvador.

[MLS] Of the many needs being addressed by Galaxy coach Bruce Arena, left back has been one of the more problematic.

Mike Randolph played some of his 20 games there as a rookie in 2008, and veteran Ante Jazic, limited by injuries to 15 games, has been traded to Chivas USA. When the Galaxy signed U.S. international Eddie Lewis – who played his college soccer at UCLA — last year, his name was added to list of possibilities to anchor the corner.

[MLS] Real Salt Lake attained so much in 2008 – opening a new stadium, reaching the playoffs for the first time, reaching the Western Conference final – that the offseason should have been the time to savor those accomplishments and look forward to an even better 2009. Instead, the team and community rallied around Marcia Williams, wife of RSL attacker Andy Williams, in her fight against leukemia. She was diagnosed with the disease last May and this month will undergo aggressive chemotherapy, at the end of which she will need a bone-marrow transplant to have her best chance of survival. The search for a suitable match continues.

[MAKING A LIST] FC Gold Pride of Women’s Professional Soccer signed its first foreigner when 30-year-old Brazilian Formiga, a veteran of four Women’s World Cups and four Olympic tournaments, agreed to a one-year contract. Formiga was the first overall draft pick at the WPS International Draft. Of the seven WPS teams, only the St. Louis Athletica has not concluded a deal with one of the foreigners to which it holds WPS rights. For all the foreign signings …

[2018/2022 WORLD CUP] Sunil Gulati‘s first act as chairman of the USA Bid Committee was to announce the hiring of David Downs, President of Univision Sports since 2001, as its executive director. Gulati also announced the other initial members of the bid committee: U.S. Soccer CEO Dan Flynn, MLS Commissioner Don Garber and Phil Murphy, the former National Finance Chair of the Democratic National Committee.

[2018/2002 WORLD CUP] The 2018/2022 World Cup bid process officially began on Monday, and one of the two World Cups is surely the USA’s to lose. But there is no certainty in a much more sophisticated soccer world than the one that existed 21 years ago when the USA was awarded the 1994 World Cup.

[MLS] Toronto FC posted a much better record in 2008 than it did in its expansion season, and judging by the enthusiasm of coaches and players, another quantum leap is not out of the question.

[USA-MEXICO COUNTDOWN] Mexico goes into the Feb. 11 World Cup qualifier against the USA in Columbus, Ohio without a win over the Americans on U.S. soil since 1999, and El Tri has won just one of its last six games, but midfielder Antonio Naelson “Sinha” is expressing confidence.

[HALL OF FAME] Coach Bruce Arena, widely considered the USA’s most successful coach for his achievements at the college, MLS and international level, finished first in voting among 2009 National Soccer Hall of Fame “Builder” candidates but failed to reach the 50 percent threshold needed for induction. Also, no “Veteran Players” tallied enough votes for 2009 induction.