Monthly Archives: June 2009

[CONFEDERATIONS CUP] Italy arrived in South Africa and immediately got down to work preparing for Monday’s opener against USA at the Confederations Cup in Pretoria. The defending World Cup champion’s squad is a mixture of veterans — including 12 2006 World Cup champions — and young players — notably American-born Giuseppe Rossi and 18-year-old defender Davide Santon.

[MLS BY THE NUMBERS] Columbus’ Argentine striker Guillermo Barros Schelotto took a share of the league scoring lead with his pair of strikes last weekend to down Kansas City. He is the only foreigner in the top seven. Houston’s Brad Davis leads the league in assists.

[MLS] Coping with international absences last week tested the depth of numerous MLS teams, and of those that passed the tests there was at least one major surprise. Despite being deprived of important players, Houston (Ricardo Clark, Brian Ching) and Chivas USA (Sacha Kljestan, Jonathan Bornstein) both won, by narrow 1-0 scores, against Chicago and Seattle, respectively, heading into their meeting Wednesday at Robertson Stadium.

[MLS BY THE NUMBERS] With last weekend’s 4-0 loss at New England, the New York Red Bulls tied the league record for consecutive road games without a win at 19, their 0-13-6 road record dating back to May 2008. This season, the Bulls are scoreless and 0-6-1 on the road. Two other teams are winless on the road.

[JAMAICA] Less than a month before the start of the Gold Cup, former England star John Barnes quit as Jamaica’s national team coach. Minutes after the Reggae Boyz’s 3-2 win over Panama on Sunday night in Kingston, Barnes announced that he was leaving to become manager of English third division club Tranmere Rovers.

[USA-HONDURAS REPORT CARD] Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney grades the U.S. players and comments on their performance in Saturday’s 2-1 win over  Honduras in Chicago.

[CONFEDERATIONS CUP] For his 23-man roster to face Italy, Brazil and Egypt at the World Cup rehearsal in South Africa next week, Coach Bob Bradley has selected five MLS players, 17 European-based men, and Jose Francisco Torres of the Mexican league. The roster includes players who ply their trade in 11 different nations.

[WORLD CUP QUALIFYING] The margin of victory might have been more, or there could have been no margin at all, as both the USA and Honduras came within whiskers of making plays that would have changed the result. Three days after their 3-1 loss at Costa Rica, the Americans proved that they could come back from an early goal.

[USL-1] Rarer than a first-minute goal is a first-minute red card, but the Austin Aztex recovered from the rapid dismissal of Michael Callahan for a late tackle on a Charleston player and earned a 1-1 tie with the undefeated Battery on Sunday.

[WPS] The inaugural Women’s Professional Soccer race is a runaway. The first-place Los Angeles Sol has double the point total of its closest rival after its 3-1 win over Washington left it with a 12-point lead over the second-place Freedom. The Sol, which got two goals from the league’s top scorer, Frenchwoman Camille Abily, is the only team in the league with a winning record (7-1-3) and positive goal difference (plus-11).

[MLS WINNERS & LOSERS] After being sidelined for all but 65 minutes of the 2009 season, Taylor Twellman hit the field on Sunday and made some history. Last year’s MVP indicated he’s even hotter this year. It was a bad week for the coach most likely to get the sack. And the red cards flew again around the league, including an ejection for a knee to the groin.

[HEXAGONAL] Javier Aguirre tried to reassure Mexico’s nervous supporters after his second stint as the Tri’s national team coach began with a 2-1 loss at El Salvador. Only Trinidad & Tobago’s 3-2 loss at home to leader Costa Rica kept Mexico from sinking to last place in Concacaf’s World Cup 2010 qualifying competition. It should be noted, though, the Tri was in worse shape eight years when Aguirre revived Mexico’s struggling national team and led it to the World Cup finals.

[WORLD CUP 2010 QUALIFYING] The Netherlands, Australia, Japan and South Korea became the first teams to join host South Africa at next year’s World Cup finals when they clinched berths on Saturday. South Korea returns to the seventh straight time, the Netherlands qualified for the finals for the sixth straight time, and Japan made it four in a row. Australia was playing in Asian qualifying for the first time. For a look at all the qualifying action in Europe, Asia, South America and Africa …