[MLS] In the opening game of the Carolina Challenge Cup Sunday, D.C. United lost two players to red cards, and Real Salt Lake took advantage.
Monthly Archives: March 2009
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Beckham ‘split-season’ is official
[MLS] Becks will be back in MLS this season, but only for a few months. Under terms of an agreement in the works for more than a week and officially announced Sunday, David Beckham will stay with AC Milan until the end of the Serie A season May 31 and return to the United States to finish the 2009 season with the Galaxy.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Barcelona extends lead over Real Madrid
[SPAIN] Talk of a Barcelona collapse might have been premature as its defense, which had allowed eight goals in its previous three games, contained Athletic Bilbao, and the Catalan club cruised to a 2-0 win that lifted its lead over Real Madrid to six points. Real Madrid’s string of 10 wins ended on Saturday when it was held to a 1-1 draw at home by Atletico.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Manchester United’s drive to five continues
[ENGLAND] Argentine Carlos Tevez scored twice in the first half as Manchester United remained alive in its bid for five championships this season with a 4-0 win over Fulham in the FA Cup quarterfinals. The win set up a meeting with Everton in the semifinals.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Hiddink Will Start Cole Following Arrest
"I do not want to overact on this situation. Ashley [Cole] will be in the squad for tomorrow. He has publicly apologized about his conduct and behavior to the police officer, and it is a rather private matter. We have internal discipline, and this is to be considered internal. I have spoken firmly with him […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Kobe Meets Marta at Lakers-Sol Love-In
"Watching her play, the way that she plays with such passion, such energy, such a love for the game, and so much creativity, I found myself being glued to the TV set. There were three things I wanted to accomplish last summer when I was in Beijing. One was to win a gold medal. Two […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Beckham Deal Being Signed Today?
"There is a great probability that Beckham will stay at Milan until June. I am very optimistic. All that is missing is a signature and we need to iron out a couple of things. In any case we are almost there. We are on the right track and the signature could arrive in a few […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Cepero Back For More
While he enters the 2009 season as the Red Bulls incumbent keeper, having been between the posts for the last six games of a season that ended with an unlikely appearance in the MLS Cup final, 23-year-old Danny Cepero “doesn’t expect the starting job to be handed to him on a silver platter,” writes Michael […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Maradona Confident, Committed to Attacking
Former on-field legend Diego Maradona is committed to similar success just off the field as the new coach of the Argentina, speaking out Thursday to TyC TV to defend his credentials and praise both the players and former Argentina coach and current general manager Carlos Bilardo. “I have proved to myself that I can lead […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Saving Grace for Dynamo Backup Goalie Deric
In a feel-good story about “growth, discipline and the amazing healing power of the second chance,” the Houston Chronicle’s Richard Justice, um, chronicles the turnaround tale of Dynamo backup goalkeeper Tyler Deric. Signed by Houston as part of their Academy team, Deric’s MLS career was quickly derailed when a significant lack of commitment caused coach […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Galaxy Glad to Have ‘League’s Best Player’ Back
With his stint in Germany coming to a rather unceremonious end, Landon Donovan looks to be back in the USA by early next week, giving him just under two weeks to get re-acclimated to L.A. life (although that may only take lunch at Rubio’s and a walk down the Redondo Beach pier) before the Galaxy’s […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
MLS Expansion Options Down to Final Four
With a nod to “American Idol,” USA Today’s Beau Dure details the MLS expansion team selection process that has become a “months-long saga in which contenders are slowly but steadily eliminated” and breaks down the final four city bids that remain eligible for teams in 2011. With the recent removal of a Miami bid, and […]
Posted inSoccer on TV., Story
Soccer on TV
Fulham with Clint Dempsey square off against Manchester United in England’s FA Cup. Also on Saturday, Bayern Munich aims to end its slump when it faces Hannover 96 (with Steve Cherundolo)
Posted inSoccer America Confidential, Story
MLS braces for backlash of Beckham departure
The share-loan agreement between AC Milan and MLS regarding David Beckham will generate not a ripple effect, but rather a shockwave of changes and adjustments.
Still, don’t expect Beckham, nor AC Milan, to directly bear the brunt of financial burdens his departure will impose. The majority of the costs instead will be borne, and balanced, by those entities soon to be without him.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Kristine Lilly closes deal with Boston Breakers
[WPS] The world’s all-time leader in national team appearances with 342, two-time World Cup and Olympic champion Kristine Lilly came to terms on a multi-year contact with the Boston Breakers of Women’s Professional Soccer, which kicks off its inaugural season this spring with seven teams.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
USA kicks off against Young Boyz
[CONCACAF UNDER-20 CHAMPIONSHIP] The U.S. U-20 national team, coached by Thomas Rongen, meets Jamaica on Friday in Trinidad & Tobago to kick off its quest to qualify for the 2009 FIFA Under-20 World Cup. Rongen’s squad 20-man squad includes nine professionals, six of which play in MLS and three European-based players.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Santos comeback stuns Montreal [VIDEO]
[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Once every few years, soccer surpasses the limits and boundaries of rationale, and skews into the seemingly impossible. It happened again Thursday in Torreon, Mexico, just as it did six years ago in San Jose, when the original MLS Quakes rallied from a 4-0 aggregate deficit to beat Los Angeles, 5-4, in the MLS playoffs. By the same aggregate, and a similar scenario, Santos Laguna overturned a 4-1 deficit.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
What They’re Saying
“I am very excited to be returning home to my teammates and the LA Galaxy. I would like to thank Bayern Munich for the opportunity to play with one of the premier clubs in Europe, as well as all their coaches and players for welcoming me into the club. Although the results were not what we had hoped for, the time in Germany still was very positive for me. I am fit, motivated, and excited to be coming back as a better, more experienced player.”
— Landon Donovan‘s statement on his return to Los Angeles from a loan stint with Bayern Munich that he had hoped would turn into a transfer.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
English star swears at cops
[CRIME & PUNISHMENT] Chelsea and England defender Ashley Cole‘s evening started off admirably. He and teammates attended a fundraiser for two children’s charities with more than 300 charity workers. It ended with an arrest for drunkenly insulting police that resulted in a three-hour drunk-tank stint and a $113 fine.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Sounders bond on Argentina trip
[MLS] Team-bonding and good competition are two reasons MLS coaches take their teams on foreign trips during preseason. Such jaunts occasionally involve adjusting and adapting to changing circumstances dictated by weather and other factors, and on the final game of its Argentine tour Seattle encountered both a tough opponent and unexpected circumstances.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Chelsea players get Guus-ied Up
[OFF THE POST] Since Dutchman Guus Hiddink took over as Chelsea boss, he intensified the fitness regime, restricted cell phone use on the training grounds, cracked down on tardiness, and demanded that the players wear Armani suits during team travel.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
France Tells Italy, ‘No Thanks’
“We are going there to win and we are going for it alone. France, a great soccer nation with 2,500,000 registered footballers, must go it alone in this conquest. There is a common desire of everyone in soccer [in France] to do it and do it alone.” French soccer federation president Jean-Pierre Escalettes, emphatically (albeit […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
‘EPL More Difficult Than it Looked on TV’
“I watched the matches that were broadcast in Russia whenever possible. But to tell the truth, it seemed less difficult on TV. Only now do I understand how dynamic and hard the soccer is here. Now I would like to score as soon as possible. Everybody expected me to score in my very first match […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
A Call for Diversity in Anti-Racism Committees
br> "The people who are collected together to judge racist incidents maybe don’t attach a priority to it. Their own education as human beings is not sufficient to be sensitive to racism and firm enough against it. What is important is to have people with different horizons in the corridors of power.” Former French international […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Liverpool Sale to Kuwaitis in Doubt
Liverpool owners Tom Hicks and George Gillette are having a hard time convincing an investor consortium from Kuwait that the English Premier League team is worth the $625 million that the two American businessman have valued it at. According to an ESPN Soccernet report, consortium spokesman and possible investor Abdulla Al-Sager admitted that ongoing negotiations […]