Author Archives: Paul Kennedy

[GOLD CUP] For five teams, including the USA, the 2009 Gold Cup is a brief interlude between the year’s most important competition — the final stage of World Cup 2010 qualifying. Here’s how the USA’s four Hexagonal opponents are approaching the Concacaf championship.

[TRANSFER WATCH] Former great Zinedine Zidane has left his first mark on Real Madrid since returning to the club as a senior advisor. On his recommendation, the Spanish club shelled out almost $50 million to sign 21-year-old forward Karim Benzema, who like Zidane was born and raised in France to Algerian immigrants.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Tim Hankinson, who has coached in MLS, the USL and the collegiate ranks and whose globetrotting has taken him to Iceland and Guatemala, is off to India to coach Goa’s Salgaocar FC, which won promotion to the 2009-10 I-League First Division.

[WPS] The Chicago Red Stars snapped a nine-game winless streak — the longest in Women’s Professional Soccer’s short history — and did it dramatic fashion, becoming the first team in WPS history to come from behind to win a game with a 2-1 over Washington

[WORLD CUP 2010] Indicative of the importance it places on the World Cup, ESPN will be sending a trio of top-tier ESPN hosts, Chris Fowler, Bob Ley and Mike Tirico to serve as on-site studio hosts from Johannesburg for next year’s World Cup.

[WPS] In a rare match with a 10 a.m. kickoff, the WPS leading Los Angeles Sol — no surprise here — routed the last-place Chicago Red Stars, 4-0, to move closer to clinching the first playoff berth in the playoffs.

[USL-1] The Puerto Rico Islanders split on their trip through the Carolinas, winning 2-1 at Carolina two days after they fell at Charleston, 1-0. Their win over the RailHawks was good enough to move them back into first place, one point ahead of the Battery.

Like against Spain in the semifinals, the USA took a 2-0 lead against Brazil in the final of the Confederations Cup. But the lead came too quickly Sunday, giving Brazil plenty of time to recover. The Brazilians got back in the game on a goal by Luis Fabiano seconds after played resumed and rallied to win, 3-2, on late headers by Luis Fabiano and Lucio.

[WPS] The first  Women’s Professional Soccer All-Star Game will be played at the Anheuser-Busch Soccer Park in Fenton, Mo., on Aug. 30, eight days after the WPS championship.

[WPS] The Los Angeles Sol extended its lead at the top of Women’s Professional  Soccer to 13 points, its largest lead of the season, with a 2-1 win at the Saint Louis Athletica. In Wednesday’s other game, Boston moved into second place with a 1-0 win over the Washington Freedom.

[CONFEDERATIONS CUP] The USA didn’t just need to beat Egypt by three goals. It needed a three-goal Brazil victory over Italy in the other Group B game on Sunday — which it got, thanks to three Brazilian goals scored in the last eight minutes of the first half. Italy’s early exit immediately put Coach Marcello Lippi on the defensive.

[CONFEDERATIONS CUP] South Africa’s Brazilian coach, Joel Santana, could breathe a sigh of relief. Even though the Bafana Bafana fell to Spain, 2-0, in Saturday’s Group A finale, they advanced to the semifinals when Iraq could only tie New Zealand, 0-0.

[WPS] It took 11 games, but Amy Rodriguez, the No. 1 pick in the 2009 WPS Draft, finally got her first goal, scoring in the Boston Breakers’ 2-0 win over the struggling Chicago Red Stars. Frenchwoman Camille Abily added to her leading-league tally, scoring in the leader Los Angeles Sol’s 2-0 win over FC Gold Pride.

[USL-1] The Puerto Rico Islanders, last year’s USL First Division regular-season champions, are back on top in the USL-1 following a pair of 1-0 wins over the Charleston Battery.

[WPS] The first Saint Louis-Washington match remains the most-discussed game in WPS’s short history, producing six goals, two suspensions and a season-ending injury to Athletica’s Brazilian midfielder Daniela on a foul from the Freedom’s Abby Wambach. The rematch takes place Saturday at the Soccer Park. For a look at all the weekend action …

[CONFEDERATIONS CUP] In beating Italy, 1-0, on Thursday, Egypt produced a performance one would have hoped from the USA — plenty of good soccer, spirited play and spectacular goalkeeping. The result kept all four teams contending for Group B’s two spots in the semifinals — though the USA is a longshot even if it beats the Pharaohs on Sunday.

[WPS] Atlanta was confirmed as Women’s Professional Soccer ‘s ninth team. The Beat — named after the WUSA team of the same name — will begin play in 2010 along with the Philadelphia Independence as expansion teams. The Beat, owned by Atlanta businessman Fitz Johnson, named former FC Dallas front-office executive and SMU associate athletic director Shawn McGee its general manager.

[CONFEDERATIONS CUP] Everyone seemed to come out of Wednesday’s Spain-Iraq match a winner. Spain won, 1-0, to move into the Confederations Cup semifinals and it extended its streaks to 14 straight wins and 34 games without a defeat. Iraq coach Bora Milutinovic could also claim personal victory, saying he was delighted Iraq held the heavily favored Spaniards to one goal — a feat that should impress teams looking for an emergency coach at World Cup, where he has already taken five different teams.

[WORLD CUP 2010 QUALIFYING] One of the most dramatic World Cup games in recent memory ended in heartbreak for Iran Wednesday. For Iran’s deciding Group B qualifier against South Korea in Seoul, seven Iranian starters wore green tape in support of opposition leader Mir Hossain Mousavi, a symbolic protest to the controversial presidential election visible on Iranian television. Coached by Iranian-American Afshin Qotbi, Iran was nine minutes away from qualifying for the World Cup 2010 finals when …

[WPS] Sky Blue FC escaped from the Women’s Professional Soccer cellar  with a 1-0 win over the Chicago Red Stars on Wednesday. The loss, combined with FC Gold Pride’s 1-1 tie at Boston, left the Red Stars, winless in their last seven games, in last place.