Monthly Archives: May 2009

[REF WATCH] After his team’s 1-1 tie with the Washington Freedom on Sunday, Boston Breakers coach Tony DiCicco said officiating in the new Women’s Professional Soccer League is “getting scary now.”

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann was among a group of players released by Reading after it was knocked out of the playoffs for promotion to the English Premier League. The 36-year-old played 282 games for Reading, including 38 English Premier League games during the Royals’ one season in the top flight, in 2007-08.

[U.S. UNDER-23 WOMEN] The U.S. under-23 women’s national team dominated Northern Ireland’s national team but had to settle for a 0-0 tie in Belfast.

[OFF THE POST] Manchester City will earn $45 million in a multi-year shirt sponsorship deal with Etihad Airways, the carrier airline of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. But the deal might offend its fans.

[MLS] Last weekend was a good one for some of the thirtysomethings in MLS who are edging into the second half of that decade as well as a few on the lower end. A hustling, physical league will always be dependent on young legs but a few of the older (can’t say old!) guard proved they can still get it done at critical moments.

Charlotte Moran, who played an important leadership role in the growth of women’s soccer, died early Monday morning after a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer. Moran was involved in soccer at many levels for more than 30 years. She was the longtime executive director of the Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer Association and administrator for the Region 1 Olympic Development Program.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Hopes remain alive for Americans to lift titles in Mexico, Scotland and Belgium while, despite a big loss, Michael Bradley‘s chances of staying in the top tier in Germany look very good.

[MLS WINNERS & LOSERS] Undefeated Chicago Fire made its streak look better in Toronto, but Los Angeles settled for another stalemate. The Red Bulls’ red-card problem continued while FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake disappointed at home.

[EUROPEAN RACES] Manchester United, Barcelona and Inter Milan all clinched their respective league titles on Saturday without winning a game. In close races, Wolfsburg (Germany), Bordeaux (France) and Rangers (Scotland) have opened up leads in their respective leagues.

[MEXICO] New national team coach Javier Aguirre has recalled Chicago Fire forward Cuauhtemoc Blanco, who retired from international play last year, for Mexico’s World Cup qualifiers against El Salvador on June 6 and Trinidad & Tobago on June 10.

Titles were decided in England, Italy and Spain, while the race tightened in France. For all the results in Europe’s major leagues and Mexico …

MLS teams continue to rack up the ties, five in seven games in weekend action. The other two games ended 2-0 away wins for Chicago and Kansas City over Toronto FC and Real Salt Lake, respectively. For all the game summaries, standings, leading scorers and this week’s schedule …

[WPS] Brazilian star Marta‘s first goal in four weeks gave Los Angeles a 1-0 win over Sky Blue FC, and the Sol opened up a three-point lead at the top of the Women’s Professional Soccer standings.