Author Archives: Paul Kennedy

[UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Barcelona promised much but delivered little against a packed Chelsea defense in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League semifinal series at the Camp Nou on Tuesday. Despite a huge edge in possession, Barca had to settle for a 0-0 tie. To make matters worse, Mexican star Rafael Marquez injured his knee and was lost for the season.

[UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Arsenal will be less than full strength up front, but Manager Arsene Wenger says the Gunners will be out to attack Manchester United when they meet at Old Trafford on Wednesday in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League semifinal series (TV: ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, 2:30 pm ET).

[AMERICANS ABROAD] U.S. national team defender Michael Orozco started for Mexican club San Luis, which earned an unlikely place in the in the knockout round of the Copa Libertadores thanks to the results on the last day of group play.

[UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola says Tuesday’s semifinal against Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League (TV: ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, live, 2:30 pm ET)  is another chance for his players to show off their brand of attacking soccer.

[MEXICO] In response to the concerns about the outbreak of swine flu in Mexico, Concacaf canceled the knockout phase of the Under-17 Championship in Tijuana to safeguard the health of players, officials and fans. In addition, the second leg of the Concacaf Champions League final between Atlante and Cruz Azul has been postponed from Wednesday to May 12.

[UNDER-17 CONCACAF CHAMPIONSHIP] The USA completed group play at the Under-17 Concacaf Championship with another offensive display, scoring three first-half goals en route to a 3-0 victory over Honduras Saturday in Tijuana. It gave the Americans three wins and 12 goals in three outings.

[WPS] After failing to connect on her first 16 shots in her first three Women’s Professional Soccer games for the winless Washington, the pressure was mounting on American star Abby Wambach. But she finally came through for the Freedom, opening the scoring against FC Gold Pride on Sunday with a header off a Cat Whitehill cross and breaking a 3-3 tie in stoppage time when she again scored on a header off a Whitehill free kick. The goal sealed the 4-3 win for the Freedom and capped the most exciting game in WPS’s young history.

[USL] The Carolina RailHawks wrapped up a perfect three-game homestand with a 1-0 win over Minnesota on Sunday and are off to their best start in the team’s three-year history. With nine points, Carolina remains in first place.

[MEXICO] Three Mexican First Division games were played in empty games because of the swine flu epidemic has gripped Mexico City. Mexican soccer federation officials banned fans from the three games — Pachuca-Cruz Azul, played in Pachuca on Saturday, and UNAM-Guadalajara at the Olympic Stadium and Club America-UAG at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City on Sunday — on the recommendation of health officials to avoid large concentrations of people in which the virus could spread.

[EUROPEAN RACES] Spain’s La Liga race came alive as leader Barcelona, which had not allowed a goal in seven straight games, had to rally for a 2-2 tie at Valencia, allowing Real Madrid, a 4-2 winner over Sevilla, to move to within four points with five games to play. The goals kept on coming in England, where first-place Manchester United rallied to blitz Tottenham, 5-2, with five goals in 22 minutes in the second half.

[WPS] Women’s Professional Soccer faces its first week of play without many of its foreign stars on international duty abroad. Marta and four other WPS Brazilians are in Europe. They drew a European women’s soccer record crowd of 44,825 fans Wednesday in Frankfurt for their 1-1 tie with Germany and play Sweden on Saturday. For a look at this weekend’s WPS action …

[WORLD CUP 2018/2022 BID] The USA Bid Committee received positive responses from public officials and executives representing 58 major U.S. stadiums confirming interest in playing host to World Cup matches in 2018 or 2022. Three new candidates — Las Vegas, Nev., Raleigh-Durham, N.C., and Salt Lake City, Utah — also reached out to the USA Bid Committee to express their interest.

[UNDER-17 CONCACAF CHAMPIONSHIP] Jack McInerney continued where he left off in the opener, scoring two more goals — the first on the penalty kick in the 2nd minute and the second on a bomb from 30 yards on the half-hour mark — to lead the USA to a 4-2 victory over Canada Thursday at the Under-17 Concacaf Championship that clinched a berth in the 2009 Under-17 World Cup in Nigeria. It keeps alive the U.S. record of being the only country to played in every U-17 World Cup since its launch in 1985. The USA faces Honduras, a 6-0 winner over Cuba, Saturday and then moves next week into the Concacaf tournament’s knockout phase.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Iran has its third national team coach in less than a month — and its Afshin Ghotbi, an Iranian-born and U.S.-educated coach who has mostly recently been coaching in Iran for Persepolis in 2007 and 2008.

[UNDER-17 CONCACAF CHAMPIONSHIP] Mexico, winner of the Under-17 World Cup in 2005 but unable to qualify for the final two years later, very much means business at the 2009 Concacaf U-17 Championship, opening with a 7-0 over Trinidad & Tobago before 13,333 fans.

[ENGLAND] In a preview of next month’s FA Cup final, American Tim Howard was again in fine form for Everton as it held Chelsea to settle a 0-0 tie that all but knocked the Blues out of contention for the Premier League. Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink admitted as much after the result, along with leader Manchester United’s 2-0 victory over Portsmouth, left Chelsea six points behind United, which has a game in hand.

[UNDER-17 CONCACAF CHAMPIONSHIP] The USA took a giant step toward returning to the Under-17 World Cup with a 5-0 win over Cuba on Tuesday in their opening Group A game at the Concacaf Under-17 championship in Tijuana, Mexico. John McInerney had two goals and two assists, while Luis Gil, the youngest player on the U.S. team, had a goal and two assists.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] In his first season in France, Carlos Bocanegra will have a chance to win a trophy as Rennes moved into the final of the French Cup with a 1-0 win at Grenoble on Tuesday. The shutout was the fifth in five games — four against Ligue 1 teams — for Rennes, which earned a place in the French Cup final for the first time in 38 years.

[ENGLAND] A week earlier, Liverpool played to a 4-4 tie with Chelsea that knocked it out of the UEFA Champions League. On Tuesday, the Reds tied Arsenal, 4-4, in a wild match that saw Gunner Andrey Arshavin score four goals and seemingly ended Liverpool’s Premier League title hopes.

[SCOUTING REPORT] Wilmer Cabrera‘s Americans open against Caribbean champion Cuba Tuesday at the Concacaf U-17 Championship in Tijuana, Mexico. Canada, loaded with players from the Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps youth systems, and Honduras, featuring 15-year-old phenom Anthony Lozano, also stand in the way of the USA’s bid to keep intact its record of being only country to have qualified for every U-17 World Cup since FIFA initiated the tournament in 1985.

[ENGLAND] The turf at the old Wembley Stadium was considered the model of the perfectly manicured surface. The turf at the new Wembley Stadium has been relaid five times and was called “laughable” after a weekend of FA Cup play.

[USL-1] The Puerto Rico Islanders gained revenge for their loss to the Vancouver Islanders in last year’s USL-1 championship with a 2-1 victory on Saturday at Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium. Nicholas Addlery, who played the Whitecaps last season, scored both goals for Puerto Rico. Carolina took the early lead in the USL-1 with its second win, a 1-0 victory over Rochester. In its debut, expansion Austin tied Minnesota, 1-1, at home, while Cleveland, with Real Salt Lake keeper Chris Seitz playing on loan in goal, fell in its USL-1 debut at Miami FC, 3-1.