The Columbus Crew entered "unfamiliar territory" after weekend play and its home win over FC Dallas, writes Shawn Mitchell, topping both the eastern and the overall rankings. But Coach Sigi Schmid is not thinking about titles yet, he just wants to make the playoffs. "I'm not all that focused on first, second or third," Schmid […]
Author Archives: Soccer America
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Gibbs Ready To ‘Simply Play Football’
Injury has dogged the career of U.S. national team defender Cory Gibbs, 28, but at the weekend he finally made his comeback to competitive soccer by making his debut for the Colorado Rapids in a 2-1 win over the Kansas City Wizards. He told Greg Lalas that all he wants to do now is “simply […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Smith Shows His Bottle
Jonah Freedman spotted the New England Revolution’s Khano Smith throwing a bottle of Gatorade at two San Jose fans after Saturday’s 4-0 defeat.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Ronaldinho’s Lifestyle Cost Him At Barca, Says Xavi
Former teammate Xavi says that Ronaldinho’s partying lifestyle cost him his place at Barcelona.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
U.S. Players Strike In Germany
Neven Subotic (Dortmund), Matt Taylor (Koblenz) and Grover Gibson (Ahlen) all scored in German first and second division action at the weekend.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Debutants Shine In EPL
Looking at the best performances of the English Premier League’s opening day, Paul Doyle pinpoints Hull City’s Brazilian striker Geovanni, who scored in the newly promoted team’s 2-1 victory over Fulham. Spurned by Manchester City, where he was rarely used by previous manager Sven Goran Eriksson, Geovanni could turn out to be “the bargain of […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Friedel wins with new team; Fulham falls
[AMERICANS IN ENGLAND] Goalkeeper Brad Friedel celebrated a 4-2 win with his new club, Aston Villa, over Manchester City in which Gabriel Agbonlahor hit a hat trick. Keeper Tim Howard fell with Everton. Fulham lost, 2-1, to EPL newcomer Hull as Clint Dempsey played the final nine minutes while Eddie Johnson was left out of the squad on the first weekend of the 2008-09 season.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Subotic scores winner in Dortmund debut
[AMERICANS IN GERMANY] Neven Subotic, a former U.S. U-17 national team player, scored the winning goal in his debut for German First Division club Borussia Dortmund in its 3-2 win over Bayer Leverkusen on the opening day of the 2008-09 Bundesliga season. Subotic, 19, joined Dortmund in the offseason from Second Division Mainz 05.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Rangers ready to pay $5 million for Edu
[AMERICANS ABROAD] Toronto FC’s 22-year-old midfielder Maurice Edu, a Southern California product who played in the central defense for the USA at this summer’s Olympic Games, is reportedly headed to Scottish club Glasgow Rangers on a $5 million transfer.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Quakes rock Revs; Red Bulls rise continues
[MLS NAMES & NUMBERS] The league’s worst team on points upset MLS’s top club when previously goal-shy San Jose exploded for four against New England. New York’s resurgence looks real. A fourth player hit the century mark in MLS goals. Defending champ Houston fired on all cylinders to take first place in the West. For the weekend’s MLS highlights. …
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Beasley returns to action and to U.S. squad
[AMERICANS ABROAD] DaMarcus Beasley, who missed most of the preseason with a hamstring injury, was a 62nd minute sub in Glasgow Rangers 2-0 win over Hearts and has been added to the USA’s roster for Wednesday’s World Cup qualifying game at Guatemala.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
What They’re Saying
“Well, we’re not at a stage anymore where there are moral victories in tournaments like this. We’re well past that. And so I think what’s really frustrating when I look at it is we didn’t lose to superior teams necessarily.”
— U.S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati on the U.S. men’s Olympic team’s first-round exit, after which Coach Peter Nowak said, “For me, they won a gold medal in this game [2-1 loss to Nigeria].” (SI.com)
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
MLS Results
The San Jose Earthquakes, averaging less than a goal per game, exploded with a 4-0 win over New England, which entered the game as the league leader in points but gave up first place in the East with the loss, combined with Columbus’s win over Dallas. For MLS game summaries, scoring leaders and this week’s TV schedule. …
Posted inSoccer on TV., Story
Soccer on TV
This week, 2008 Olympic soccer concludes with men’s and women’s semifinals, third-place matches and finals. The U.S. men’s national team continues its march toward World Cup 2010 with a qualifier in Guatemala. In the MLS Thursday night game, Los Angeles hosts Chicago.
Posted inSpecial Edition, Story
Olympic Women’s Soccer Scoreboard
The Germans, like the Americans in their 2-1 win over Canada, needed overtime to subdue Sweden, 2-0 in their quarterfinal. Brazil knocked off Norway, 2-1, to set up the rematch between the teams that met in last year’s Women’s World Cup final, which Germany won, 2-0. Japan advanced to a semifinal clash with the USA with a 2-0 win over host China. For all the results and goalscorers …
Posted inSpecial Edition, Story
Postgame from Shanghai
[REACTION] Coach Pia Sundhage and the U.S. players reflect on a very long day in China that ended well for the Americans. …
Posted inSpecial Edition, Story
What They’re Saying
“I had a plan, but I changed my mind because the players handled it very well. There was music in the locker room and happy smiles. They were ready to go. This team coached themselves in the locker room when it was raining outside. I am very proud of that.”
— U.S. women’s head coach Pia Sundhage on how her players handled a 99-minute rain delay during their 2-1 quarterfinal win over Canada.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
English Premier League Preview
As the English Premier League kicks off on Saturday, there’s more money, more hype, and more expensive imported players than ever before. Yet even before a ball’s been kicked, everyone knows there are only four teams that can realistically hope to lift the title. Most bets will be on Chelsea or Manchester United, with Arsenal […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
UEFA Cup Results
Scores from the first leg games of Thursday’s UEFA Cup second qualifying round.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Roma Star De Rossi’s Father-In-Law Shot In ‘Mafia Hit’
Italian World Cup winner Daniele De Rossi’s father-in-law was killed Thursday in a suspected Mafia hit.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Feilhaber Signs For Aarhus
Edu’s national team colleague Benny Feilhaber has firmed up his move from Derby County to Danish first division club AGF Aarhus.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Edu To Glasgow Rangers?
U.S. national team and Toronto FC midfielder Maurice Edu could be on his way to Glasgow Rangers for $5 million, reports Steven Goff.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
German Bundesliga Preview
The 46th Bundesliga season kicks off this weekend amid an as yet unsettled row about TV rights, reports Raphael Honigstein. The German Competition Commission looked into the league’s six-year, $4 billion deal running from 2009-2015 and found it “unacceptable,” concluding that centralized marketing was a de facto cartel, and that a free-to-air highlights program must […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Four Olympians but not Adu called in by Bob Bradley
[WORLD CUP 2010] Red-hot FC Dallas striker Kenny Cooper and Freddy Adu are notable omissions on U.S. coach Bob Bradley‘s 17-man roster for the first World Cup qualifying game of the semifinal group round, Aug. 20 at Guatemala. Adu played in the USA’s first two qualifying games, the two-leg win over Barbados. Cooper has 13 MLS goals this season. Bradley will add one more player to the roster.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
A very expensive snort
[CRIME & PUNISHMENT] FIFA has ordered Romania striker Adrian Mutu to pay Chelsea $25.6 million in compensation for failing a drug test in 2004 by testing positive for cocaine.