Author Archives: Paul Kennedy

[HEXAGONAL] Mexico isn’t the only Concacaf team in a must-win situation on Wednesday. Honduras must beat Hexagonal leader Costa Rica to remain on course toward a berth at the 2010 South Africa. Security is expected to be heavy in the industrial city of San Pedro Sula following a coup that ousted Honduras President Manuel Zelaya.

[TELEVISION WATCH] How big is the Mexico-USA showdown in Azteca being treated? For the first time in the 30-year history of ESPN, it will offer a live pre-match show for a soccer event it is not televising.

[U.S. WOMEN] Two-time gold-medalist Lindsay Tarpley is sidelined after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee during training with WPS’s Chicago Red Stars last week. She joins a group of nine current U.S. pool players who have suffered ACL injuries. Surgeries generally require 8-10 months for a full recovery.

[WORLD CUP 2018/2022] Philip Anschutz, a founding investor of Major League Soccer who had at one time owned six of the 10 MLS teams through his sports and entertainment company AEG, has join the board of directors for the USA Bid Committee, which is striving to bring the World Cup to the United States in 2018 or 2022.

[PDL] Alfonso Motagalvan scored on a goalmouth scramble in stoppage time to give the Ventura County Fusion a 2-1 win over the Chicago Fire, making the California team the lowest seed ever to win the Premier Development League championship.

[W-LEAGUE] The Pali Blues became the first team to go undefeated and win back-to-back W-League championships, rallying to beat the host Washington Freedom, 2-1, in the final.

[BARCELONA TOUR] Guadalajara of Mexico held Barcelona to a 1-1 tie Saturday at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park before an announced crowd of 61,572 fans, handing La Liga champions their only blemish on their three-game West Coast tour. Chivas nearly pulled out a win when Mexican-American Jesus Padilla hit the post with two minutes left.

[UNDER-17 WORLD CUP] Despite a reign of terror brought on last month by the extremist Muslim sect known as Boko Haram, the 2009 Under-17 World Cup will go on in Kano, where the USA will face Spain on Oct. 26 and Malawi on Oct. 29 before moving to Ijebu-Ode to close out the first round against UAE on Nov. 1.

[REAL MADRID TOUR] Real Madrid put its new Galacticos on display for the first time in North America, but the Spanish club’s old hands did the bulk of the scoring in wins over Toronto (5-1) and D.C. United (3-0).

[WPS] The Washington Freedom clinched a playoff berth on the final weekend of the Women’s Professional Soccer regular season when it beat Sky Blue FC, 3-1, Saturday at the Maryland SoccerPlex. Sky Blue earned a playoff spot the next day when the Boston Breakers, needing a win, fell to the Los Angeles Sol, 2-1. The results set up a Freedom-Sky Blue rematch Saturday in the first round of the WPS playoffs.

[USL-1] Portland and Carolina moved into a tie for first place in the USL First Division, one point ahead of Charleston. In the week’s big match, the Timbers beat visiting Charleston, 3-1, before  9,477 fans. Guinean Mandjou Keita scored one goal and set up Alex Nimo and Ryan Pore for the others.

[USA-MEXICO] U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley named the 20 players — 13 based abroad and seven in MLS — whom he will take to Mexico City for Wednesday’s much-anticipated showdown with Mexico in World Cup 2010 qualifying.

[WPS] U.S. national team captain Christine Rampone won her first game as coach of Sky Blue FC — the team’s third coach of the season — as the New Jersey team kept its playoff hopes alive with a 2-0 win over FC Gold Pride Wednesday before a sellout crowd of 5,455 at Yurcak Field. Rampone’s first game didn’t exactly start smoothly as she had to replace goalkeeper Karen Bardsley for Jenni Branam in the starting lineup at the last minute, forcing Sky Blue FC to use one of its substitutions.

[USA-MEXICO] Mexico national team captain Rafael Marquez tore a muscle in his left calf in practice Wednesday morning before Barcelona’s game against MLS’s Seattle Sounders FC and will be out for about two weeks, meaning he will likely to miss the Tri’s crucial World Cup 2010 qualifier against the United States Aug. 12.

[BARCELONA TOUR] Argentine Lionel Messi showed a record Seattle soccer crowd of 66,848 at Qwest Field why he is the best player in the world at the moment, scoring two first goals to lead Barcelona to a 4-0 win over MLS’s Sounders.

[WPS] Foreigners — three from England, two from France and one each from Brazil and Canada — claimed seven of the 11 berths on Women’s Professional Soccer’s First XI. Brazilian Marta, who plays for regular-season champion Los Angeles, was the highest vote-getter. (The English and French players will miss the All-Star Game against Sweden’s Umea on Aug. 29 because of Euro ’09.)

[GERMANY] Mainz fired Norwegian Jorn Andersen on Monday, making him the first Bundesliga coach to ever be fired prior to the start of the season.

[TELEVISION WATCH] The USA-Mexico Gold Cup was a ratings bonanza for Fox Soccer Channel and Univision. It was the most-watched telecast on FSC since becoming a Nielsen-rated network in October 2008 but its audience was less than one-tenth of the 5.4 million viewers on Univision. Indicative of the huge clout of the Hispanic soccer market, KMEX Univision 34 in Los Angeles drew 1.1 million watchers — 47 percent greater than the same evening’s combined primetime viewership of ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX and three other network stations in that market.

[WPS] With one week remaining in the regular season, Saint Louis Athletica clinched second place in Women’s Professional Soccer and the home-field advantage in the Super Semifinal thanks to its 1-0 victory over the Boston Breakers and the Washington Freedom’s 3-2 loss to FC Gold Pride.

[MLS NAMES & NUMBERS] A day after losing star Kenny Cooper, who signed with German second division club 1860 Munich, FC Dallas exploded for a 6-0 rout of the Kansas City Wizards that featured four goals by Jeff Cunningham and two by Brazilian David Ferreira. After the best of his four goals, Cunningham, who has scored seven goals in his last four games, ran to the stands to beat on a fan’s drum.

[BARCELONA TOUR] Major League Soccer had a lot to be excited about Saturday’s Los Angeles Galaxy-Barcelona friendly at the Rose Bowl won by the Spanish champions, 2-1. The game drew a crowd of 93,137 — the largest ever for a game involving an MLS team and the largest U.S. crowd since the 1994 World Cup — and it featured a superb goal by David Beckham on a patented free kick — No. 1 on ESPN Sports Center’s top 10 plays of the day. Despite boos from the crowd throughout much of the game, Beckham said afterwards he intended to return next season for a fourth season with the Galaxy.

[HALL OF FAME] Jeff Agoos and Joy Fawcett received their red jackets as National Soccer Hall of Fame members at the Induction 2009 Ceremony Sunday in Oneonta, N.Y. Also honored was retired New York Times sports writer Alex Yannis, who received the Colin Jose Media Award for career excellence in soccer communications.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Goalie Brad Guzan stopped two shots to help Aston Villa win the Peace Cup with a shootout victory over Italian giant Juventus in the final in Seville, Spain. The final marked the third straight game 20-year-old defender Eric Lichaj started at right back for Villa.