Author Archives: Soccer America

English native Roger Faulkner was the president of the 1994 World Cup Detroit Host Committee when a natural grass surface was laid at the Silverdome and four games attracted average gates of over 70,000. "Since then, we've seen absolutely nothing," he told Jo-Ann Barnas. Without a professional team, Michigan soccer is "getting left behind in […]

Grass Not Greener For DeRo In Toronto?

As Canadian midfielder Dwayne De Rosario is traded to his hometown Toronto FC, Andrea Canales lauds a player who "spun the notion that North American soccer consisted just of the U.S. and Mexico on its head by becoming one of the very best in MLS." At the same time, she wonders if his recent slump […]

Blatter: No Plan B For South Africa

FIFA President Sepp Blatter has said there is no way the 2010 World Cup will be moved from South Africa, after admitting earlier this year that soccer's world governing body did have contingency plans to move the event. "There definitely is no plan B or C, the only plan is to make the South African […]

Ancelotti Ready To Welcome Beckham

AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti was initially not thought to be wildly enthused at the idea of taking L.A. Galaxy midfielder David Beckham on loan. Now, however, he thinks that Beckham will boost his injury-depleted squad when he arrives in January since Italian national team midfielder Gennaro Gattuso is out for the season with a […]

WPS Strikes $10 Million Deal With Puma

Women's Professional Soccer is set to announce Monday a three-year, $10-million deal with German company Puma to be its official equipment supplier, writes Matthew Futterman. "Women's soccer is on a tremendous growth pattern in the U.S.," said Jochen Zeitz, Puma's chief executive. "This is a huge opportunity for us." Its decision to join forces with […]

AWARDS: Nogueira, Hanks, DiMartino in Hermann hunt

Casey Nogueira, who led North Carolina to the 2008 NCAA Division I women’s title, Kerri Hanks, a four-time All-America, and Christina DiMartino, the Pac-10 Player of the Year, are the finalists for the 2008 Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy.

AWARDS: Cronin and Wake duo are Hermann finalists

Seniors Sam Cronin and Marcus Tracy of NCAA Division I semifinalist Wake Forest and Akron’s Steve Zakuani, the nation’s leading scorer, are the three finalists for the 2008 Missouri Athletic Club’s Hermann Trophy.

ALL-AMERICANS: NSCAA/adidas NAIA Men

Azusa Pacific (Jared Karkas, Eric Winblad and James Crawford) and Lindsey Wilson (Moses Aduny, Mikael Lunneryd and Frederick Were) led all teams with three selections each on the NSCAA/adidas NAIA Men’s All-America Team. For all the NAIA men’s selections …

ALL-AMERICANS: NSCAA/adidas NCAA Division III Men

Tyrone Petrakis of Trinity (Texas) and York’s Jon Ports each earned their third selection as an NSCAA/adidas Division III Men’s All-America. Three other Trinity players and two other York players were also honored. For all the selections …

ALL-AMERICANS: NSCAA/adidas NCAA Division II Men

Five teams — Lewis, Metro State, Rockhurst, Sonoma State and Tusculum — each had three players named to the 2008 NSCAA/adidas Division II Men’s All-America Team. For all the selections …

ALL-AMERICANS: NSCAA/adidas NCAA Division I Men

Wake Forest placed five players on the 2008 NSCAA/adidas Men’s Division I All-America Team, including three first-team selections — sophomore Corben Bone and seniors Sam Cronin and forward Marcus Tracy. Six other schools placed two players on the team: Akron, Creighton, Harvard, UIC, Loyola (Md.) and UC Davis. For all the selections …

Soccer America Daily, What They're Saying

What They’re Saying

“Women’s soccer is on a tremendous growth pattern in the U.S. This is a huge opportunity for us.”

— Jochen Zeitz, chief executive of Puma, on the three-year deal the German company is expected to announce Monday with Women’s Professional Soccer. Puma will pay roughly $10 million to become the official equipment supplier to WPS. (Wall Street Journal)

MLS stars help Reggae Boyz win Caribbean title

[DIGICEL CARIBBEAN CHAMPIONSHIP] Former England star John Barnes passed his first test as Jamaica’s national team coach with flying colors as the Reggae Boyz won the Digicel Caribbean Championship with a 2-0 win over Grenada in Sunday’s final played at Kingston’s National Stadium. Five MLS players — Shavar Thomas, Tyrone Marshall, Andrew Williams, Dane Richards and Omar Cummings — played for Jamaica.

Toluca closes in on mark held by Chivas and America

[MEXICO] Despite losing at home, 2-0, in the second leg of the Torneo Apertura final, Toluca won Mexico’s opening championship when it prevailed 7-6, over Cruz Azul on penalty kicks.

European Weekend Scores

Barcelona and Inter Milan opened up big leads in Spain and Italy, respectively. Hoffenheim and Bayern Munich are tied at the Bundesliga break. Liverpool and Chelsea remained 1-2 in England. Lyon’s lead in France was reduced to three points. AZ won at Feyenoord, 1-0, to remain on top in the Netherlands. For all the weekend results, standings and leading scorers …

Torres’ Pachuca advances with big comeback

[CLUB WORLD CUP] Jose Francisco Torres became the first American to play in the Club World Cup when he started for Mexico’s Pachuca in its 4-2 overtime win over Egypt’s Al Ahly on Saturday before more than 30,000 fans in Tokyo.

Barca Ready For Revenge

"Hopefully it will be a great game and we can convince people that the 4-1 is forgotten. It's something that I don't like thinking back to and I understand people want revenge." Barcelona's Mexican defender Rafael Marquez hopes to banish the memory of last season's 4-1 defeat at Real Madrid in this Saturday's superclasico at […]

Ahly Accuses Pachuca Of Spying

"Three spies from Pachuca came to inspect our practice today. It's not fair. We didn't watch their practice. It's not fair." More high jinx from the Club World Cup as Manuel Jose, the coach of Egyptian club Al Ahly, accused Mexican side Pachuca of spying on his team's practice. The two teams meet Saturday in […]

Toronto Sells Out For 2009

"We're amazed at the support by our fans." Toronto FC's senior director of business operations, Paul Beirne, expresses the team's surprise that it has already sold out its quota of 16,000 season tickets for the 2009 season.

Champions League A Beast Bound By Money And Self-Interest

"The truth is that when Uefa brought in their Champions League they were not so much breaking new ground as buying time. They do know the nature of their beast. It is unbounded by any force but the one of self-interest. What happened this week was not football competition but money-spinning." James Lawton adds his […]

Benitez Tries Reverse Psychology

“For us to win the league we need Chelsea, Man United and Arsenal to mess up their season. It is very rare that three teams all mess up. So there’s no point waiting for our direct adversaries to slip up because it won’t happen. They all have a lot greater financial means than us.” EPL-leading […]

Boy Sells Memorabilia To Help Find Donor

Eleven-year-old Evan Mundine of Bastrop, Texas, is selling his autographed soccer memorabilia to help find a bone marrow donor for the wife of his favorite player, Real Salt Lake’s Andy Williams. Marcia Williams has leukemia. The fifth-grader broke his legs two years ago while playing soccer and, while recovering, received soccer balls, jerseys and photographs […]

UEFA To Deliver Rooney Verdict Monday

UEFA will decide Monday whether to punish Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney over his clash with Aalborg's Kasper Risgard at Old Trafford in Wednesday's Champions League group game. Any suspension would mean him missing at least one game when the competition's Round of 16 knockout phase begins in February. Risgard claimed Rooney deliberately stomped on […]

FIFA Reveals Player Of The Year Nominees

World soccer’s governing body FIFA has named the contenders for the 2008 World Player and FIFA Women’s World Player awards. The award will be presented January 12. There are no U.S. players on either list. The male nominees are Kaka (Brazil), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Fernando Torres (Spain) and Xavi (Spain). The women […]

Platini: Euro 2012 Could Be Poland’s Alone