Monthly Archives: May 2009

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Jose Francisco Torres‘ Pachuca beat Marco Vidal‘s Indios, 2-0, in the first leg of their semifinal series in Mexico’s Torneo Clausura.

The decision of D.C. United lead partner Victor MacFarlane to sell out to partner William Chang represents MLS’s first major ownership change since the freezing of credit markets in September. The move follows several setbacks in United’s efforts to get a new stadium project off the ground and was necessitated by MacFarlane’s need to concentrate on his real estate interests.

[UNDER-17 WORLD CUP] It looks like Nigeria will lose the Under-17 World Cup, which it is scheduled to host in the fall. Following an inspection tour, Concacaf president Jack Warner, who serves as chairman of the U-17 organizing committee, said he would give local organizers a month to get four prospective venues ready. Only two of the nine venues — stadiums in Abuja and Lagos — passed inspection and three others were scratched from the list.

[CONFEDERATIONS CUP]  Ronaldinho won’t be playing in next month’s Confederations Cup. Nor will Ronaldo. But Brazil coach Dunga found room for three uncapped  players who will part of the 23-player squad for World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay and Paraguay and the Confederations Cup in South Africa.

[WORLD 2010 QUALIFYING] Chicago Fire defender Bakary Soumare has been recalled by Mali for a pair of World Cup qualifiers against Ghana and Benin June 7 and 21.

[MAKING A LIST] If you’ve been marking “X” on your 1-X-2 prediction card for MLS games this season, you’ve been doing well. Almost 40 percent of MLS games to date have ended in ties, making a tie almost as common as a home win. Tie results are significantly higher than they’ve been over the last nine years, while home wins and away wins have dropped correspondingly.

[CANADA] Vancouver moved into second place behind Toronto FC in the Canadian Nutrilite Championship, which determines Canada’s Concacaf Champions League qualifier, by stunning host Montreal with two early goals and winning, 2-0, at the Stade de Saputo on Wednesday.

[MLS] New York Red Bulls midfielder Jorge Rojas was fined $1,000 and suspended for one game, in addition to the automatic one-game red-card suspension, for an “egregious offense” and failure to leave the field in a timely and orderly manner after being issued a red card in the May 16 game vs. the Houston Dynamo.

[UEFA CUP] German and Ukrainian teams met in the championship of the 2009 UEFA Cup, but all the goalscorers were Brazilians. Jadson‘s goal in overtime was the difference as Shakhtar Donetsk beat Werder Bremen, 2-1, in the last UEFA Cup final on Wednesday and became the first Ukrainian team to win a major European trophy since the break up of the Soviet Union.

[U.S. OPEN CUP] For a change, the D.C. United fans were the ones agonizing over a dwindling lead. Rookie Chris Pontius scored twice in an eight-goal extravaganza as United blasted out to a 4-0 lead but had to scramble in the second half to walk out of RFK Stadium with a 5-3 U.S. Open Cup victory.

[WPS] Boston Breakers forward Christine Latham was handed a two-game suspension — the heaviest in Women’s Professional Soccer’s short history — and Washington Freedom midfielder Joanna Lohman was suspended one game for an elbow thrown in Sunday’s Boston-Washington game. Meanwhile, Breakers coach Tony DiCicco, the dean of WPS coaches, was fined and ordered to do “community service” for saying, among other things, WPS refs were “over their head” after the game.

[MLS] In the 2009 SuperDraft, the Los Angeles Galaxy selected Omar Gonzalez, who played two years at the University of Maryland and helped it win the 2008 NCAA title, as the third overall pick. This product of the Dallas Texans youth system is already playing a significant role for the Galaxy, which has lost just once this season. He has played all 810 minutes of Los Angeles’ nine games in central defense and even chipped a goal. Soccer America’s Bryan Alvarez profiles the 20-year-old defender in the MLS Rising Stars series.