Three European teams joined the USA as winners on Wednesday in the round of 16 at the Under-20 World Cup. European champion Spain knocked out South American champion Brazil, 4-2, in overtime, while the Czech Republic and Austria both moved into the final eight.
Author Archives: Paul Kennedy
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Brazil moves into Copa America final with shootout victory
Defending champion Brazil was spared being eliminated by Uruguay in the semifinals of the Copa America when Pablo Garcia missed his penalty kick with a chance to put the Celeste into the final. Instead, Brazil prevailed, 5-4, in the shootout after their game ended, 2-2.
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Galaxy and Dynamo fall in Open Cup to USL clubs
We won’t be seeing David Beckham in the U.S. Open Cup this year. The Richmond Kickers of the USL Second Division cleared room on the Los Angeles Galaxy’s crowded summer-fall schedule, pulling off the biggest upset in their franchise history with a 1-0 win over the MLS club. The Charleston Battery eliminated the defending MLS champion Houston Dynamo, 1-0, in overtime on a rebound of a penalty kick by former MLS player Stephen Armstrong. The New England Revolution and Colorado Rapids were the only MLS winners on Tuesday.
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Colombian Osorio, fitness specialist, named Chicago Fire head coach
New Fire head coach Juan Carlos Osorio will be officially introduced Monday at a press conference. The former Manchester City assistant manager, replaces Dave Sarachan, who was fired on June 20. Longtime Fire assistant Dennis Hamlett coached the team on an interim basis for the last three games — two ties and a loss.
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Canada bombs at the Under-20 World Cup
Host Canada was ignominiously dumped from the Under-20 World Cup when it lost to Congo, 2-0, for its third straight shutout loss of the competition. Canada is the first host team in the 30-year history of the U-20 competition not to score a goal. All four African entrants and all four South American teams advanced to the U-20 World Cup. Scotland — winless in all three games — was the only European team not to advance.
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All four Copa America quarterfinals are blowouts
The four semifinalists breezed into the final week of play at the Copa America by beating their opponents by a margin of 20-1 in the quarterfinals. Mexico produced the most one-sided victory, clobbering Paraguay, 6-0. Argentina routed Peru, 4-0, on Sunday with all four goals coming in the second half — two from playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme. On Saturday, Uruguay ended host Venezuela’s dream to reaching the semifinals for the first time with a 4-1 win in the weekend’s only close game. The Celeste led by only a goal until it added two goals in the final three minutes. Brazil thumped Chile, 6-1, to silence the critics of Coach Dunga for his defensive tactics in the first stage of the competition.
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More disappointment for Canada at U-20 World Cup
There was more bad news for host Canada at the Under-20 World Cup. Canada’s U-20s dropped their second straight match at the Under-20 World Cup, falling to Austria, 1-0, on a header by Rubin Okotie in the 47th minute. The Canada-Austria game drew 31,000 fans in Edmonton as the U-20 event continued to generate extraordinary interest in Canada. Six of the first nine dates were sellouts, including the Poland-Brazil and USA-South Korea doubleheader in Montreal that drew 55,800 fans. The U-20 World Cup in Canada is on track to break the record turnout of 1,155,160 in Mexico in 1983 — and double the turnout two years ago in the Netherlands.
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Japan and Nigeria advance at Under-20 World Cup
Japan and Nigeria became the first teams to clinch berths in the round of 16 of the Under-20 World Cup when they both won their second straight Group F games with wins over Costa Rica (1-0) and Scotland (2-0 on a pair of goals by captain Ezekiel Bala), respectively, on Wednesday in Victoria, B.C. European champion Spain survived a scare to beat Zambia, 2-1, in Group B action. In other game in Burnaby, Edison Cavani of Italian club Palermo scored to give Uruguay a 1-0 win over Jordan.
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Argentina matches USA with six goals in win at the Under-20 World Cup
Defending champion Argentina matched the USA on Tuesday, scoring six goals in a 6-0 victory over Panama at the Under-20 World Cup. Brazil, the 2007 South American champion, recovered from a stunning 1-0 loss to Poland in its first game to beat South Korea, 3-2.
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Argentina beats Colombia, loses Crespo for tournament
For the second straight game, Argentina brushed aside the minor inconvenience of falling behind on a early goal and recovered to score four goals. Against the USA, the Argentines conceded a penalty kick by Eddie Johnson in the 9th minute yet prevailed, 4-1. Against Colombia on Monday night in Maracaibo, a clever back heel by Edixon Perea put the Argentines in a hole in the 10th minute, but they again recovered to win, 4-2, and join Paraguay and Mexico in the quarterfinals.
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Mexico is first team to reach Copa America quarterfinals
Mexico became the first team to clinch a berth in the quarterfinals of the Copa America when it beat Ecuador, 2-1, on Sunday in Group B. The win was the second in a row for the Mexicans, who opened with a 2-0 win over defending champion and are on top of the group with the six points. Brazil beat Chile, 3-0, thanks to a Robinho hat trick earlier on Sunday to move into a tie for second place with Chile. Venezuela registered its first victory in the Copa America in 40 years when it beat Peru, 2-0, on Saturday. In Saturday’s other Group A game, Uruguay beat Bolivia, 1-0.
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No festivities in Toronto on Canada Day
The U.S. U-20s should take heart. As bad as they played in their 1-1 tie with South Korea on Saturday in Montreal, it could have been worse. Host Canada opened play before a sellout crowd of almost 20,000 fans at Toronto’s BMO Field — on July 1, Canada Day no less — and bombed. Dale Mitchell‘s U-20s fell to Chile, 3-0, in a match they were outshot 19-2.
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Paraguay’s Santa Cruz regains form at right (wrong?) time
The USA is unbeaten in four games against Paraguay — including a 3-0 victory at the 1930 World Cup in Uruguay — but Bob Bradley‘s team will be the underdog when they meet Monday in Barinas at the Copa America. Paraguay’s No. 1 threat is Roque Santa Cruz, who scored its first three goals in its 5-0 demolition of Paraguay on Thursday night.
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U.S. U-20s open against Asia power South Korea
The USA opens play at the U-20 World Cup Saturday in Montreal against South Korea. It has faced the Koreans twice before at the World Youth Championship and come away with good results both times. For more on the USA-South Korea rivalry and how the ’07 Koreans look …
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
Fifteen collegians selected to play in Under-20 World Cup
Fifteen prospective ’07 U.S.-based collegians — seven for the USA, six for New Zealand and two for Canada — will be playing at the Under-20 World Cup, which starts Saturday in Canada. UCLA leads all teams with three players, and defending champion UC Santa Barbara and Dartmouth have two. Soccer America MVPs Julian Valentin (Wake Forest) and Sal Zizzo (UCLA) were among seven prospective ’07 collegians who were called up by U.S. under-20 men’s national team coach Thomas Rongen. Three other ’06 collegians — MVP Chris Seitz (Maryland), Anthony Wallace (South Florida) and Amaechi Igwe (Santa Clara) — signed with MLS clubs in January.
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Soccer fever hits Canada in a big way
The Under-20 World Cup begins Saturday as 24 teams, including the USA, compete in six Canadian cities, and ticket sales have stunned organizers. More than 750,000 tickets have been sold, and final attendance figures could surpass 1 million, double original estimates. Canada’s opening game on Sunday and the final on June 22, both in Toronto, are already sold out. The USA opener on Saturday against South Korea could sell out the 55,000 Olympic Stadium in Montreal — the main venue for the 1976 Olympic Games. Five of the six opening doubleheaders could be sellouts.
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Argentina and Brazil head U-20 World Cup favorites
Argentina the defending champion, and Brazil, the South American champion, are the favorites, along with European champion Spain, at the 2007 Under-20 World Cup, which begins Saturday in Canada. They have combined to win the last seven U-20 world championships. Argentina’s 2005 victory in the Netherlands gave it five titles, one more than Brazil. Other teams to watch include Mexico and Nigeria. Here’s a look at the favorites.
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Argentina leads with Messi and the Monsters
Alfio Basile knows something about winning at the Copa America. He coached Argentina at the South American championship twice, and it won both times, in 1991 and 1993. He is downplaying, however, any comparisons between those teams and his current team that opens play in Group C against the USA on Thursday in Maracaibo, saying it will be difficult to play at the level of those teams. But with a team that includes Lionel Messi and Hernan Crespo in attack, Juan Roman Riquelme in midfield and Carlos Tevez probably on the bench, Argentina will be formidable.
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Mexico stuns Brazil with spectacular goals from Castillo and Morales
After losing to the USA at the Gold Cup, Brazil looked downright easy. Mexico got spectacular goals from striker Nery Castillo and midfielder Ramon Morales midway through the first half and held off a second-half onslaught to earn a 2-0 win over the defending champion in their opening Group B game Tuesday. In the other Group B opener, Chile twice came from one-goal deficits on goals by Humberto Suazo, then got a goal from substitute Carlos Villanueva on an 87th-minute free kick to beat Ecuador, 3-2.
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Once-discredited Valcke resurfaces as FIFA’s new general secretary
FIFA named Frenchman Jerome Valcke as its new general secretary on Wednesday — less than eight months after it had “parted company” with Valcke and three other employees in its Marketing & TV Division he headed after being discredited in a multi-million dollar lawsuit with long-time sponsor MasterCard.
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Mexico’s Sanchez is under the gun at Copa America
[PREVIEW] Gold Cup runner-up Mexico will be jumping out of the frying pan into the fire when it opens Group B play on Wednesday in Puerto Ordaz. After losing yet again to the United States, Mexico must face defending champion Brazil to open the Copa America (TV: Univision, Gol TV-English, live, 8:30 pm ET). Mexico will be without five starters from the Gold Cup final. To make matters worse, Coach Hugo Sanchez is under intense criticism from the press in both Mexico and the United States.
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Bayern Munich goes on spending spree
[TRANSFER TALK] No team has been as aggressive on the transfer market as Bayern Munich, which was dethroned as German champion and failed to qualify for next season’s Champions League. Its signing of Germany striker Miroslav Klose from Bundesliga rival Werder Bremen took its spending on players during the offseason to more than $94 million. Here’s a look at the Bayern signees …
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Pressure is on host Venezuela in Copa America opener
[PREVIEW] Venezuela’s record in the Copa America isn’t just bad. It’s horrible — only one win in 12 appearances dating back to 1967. Still, the pressure will be on the hosts on Tuesday when they open the 12-team South American championship against Bolivia. President Hugo Chavez has spent $1 billion on the construction and renovation of the tournament’ nine stadiums and infrastructure aimed at putting his government in a positive light abroad.
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USA-Mexico game is third most-viewed sports event in Univision history
The Univision broadcast of the USA-Mexico Gold Cup final was third most-viewed Spanish-language sports telecast of all time with 5,340,000 viewers, according to the “fast national” ratings of U.S. households from Nielsen. Only last summer’s Mexico-Argentina match at the World Cup and February’s Mexico-USA game in Arizona had a larger audience on Univision. Last Thursday’s Mexico-Guadeloupe in the Gold Cup semifinals was viewed by 4,024,000 persons age 2+ on TeleFutura, making the most-viewed program of any kind on that network.
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Davis powers Houston past Chivas USA with second-half hat trick
The hat tricks keep on coming! Brad Davis scored three goals in the second half for his first career hat trick to lead the Houston Dynamo past Chivas USA, 4-0, Thursday night at Robertson Stadium. Both teams went into the game with three-game winning streaks, but the Dynamo prevailed to move ahead of Chivas into second place in the Western Conference, three points behind leader FC Dallas, which has played two more games.