CASL rallied for a 2-1 win over South Charlotte, its sixth victory in a row, and maintained ts lead atop the Atlantic Conference in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy’s U-17/18 Age Group. Other U-17/18 conference leaders: B/W Gottschee and FC Westchester (Northeast), New York Red Bulls (Mid-Atlantic), Columbus Crew (Great Lakes), Concorde Fire (Southeast), U.S. youth national team (Mid-America), Arsenal FC (So Cal) and Real Colorado (West).
Author Archives: Soccer America
Real Madrid’s all-time best player
[MAKING A LIST] Legendary Alfredo Di Stefano edged out Zinedine Zidane as Real Madrid’s all-time best player in a poll of Real Madrid fans conducted at the Spanish club’s Web site.
Crew signs Nigerian U-23 Ekpo
[MLS] The final day before the close of MLS’s main transfer window was relatively quiet as the only announced transfer was the Columbus Crew’s signing of Nigerian under-23 national team midfielder Emmanuel Ekpo from Enyimba International FC.
What They’re Saying
“If and when we pull it off, it is going to make me feel — well, at my age, that would be a great accomplishment. It would cap off a long time of development in San Jose.”
— San Jose Earthquakes co-owner Lew Wolff, 72, on the financial agreement his team of developers has reached with the city of San Jose on a $132 million deal that sets the stage for the construction of a soccer stadium and commercial project near San Jose’s airport. Wolff previously developed downtown San Jose’s Fairmont and Hilton hotels. (San Jose Mercury-News)
Hicks and Gillett Ruining Liverpool
The feud between Liverpool American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett “is making a laughing stock of an English institution,” writes Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune. It’s gotten to the point where the pair can’t even be in the same stadium, let alone meet in the same boardroom together. When Gillett tried to […]
Defiant Grant Blames Poor Finishing for Draw
A defensive-sounding Avram Grant insisted that Chelsea hadn’t yet ceded the title to Manchester United despite failing to collect three points at home against lowly Wigan Athletic on Monday. “We’re still in it and will keep on fighting,” said Grant, who was booed at the end of the 1-1 tie at Stamford Bridge. “We need […]
The State of MLS Attendance
What happened to MLS attendances this past week? For the eight matches played this past week, attendances were as follows: 8,096, 20,038, 8,309, 9,627, 11,564, 13,193 and 20,426 — an average of 12,248. Okay, so Toronto hasn’t played a home match yet, but still, 12,000 is well below last season’s average of 16,770. In a […]
Fire to Bring Back Former GM?
The Daily Southtown’s Nick Firchau reports that former Chicago Fire president and GM Peter Wilt will meet with team owner Andrew Hauptman in the coming weeks about possible replacements for the deposed John Guppy, who was fired as GM late last week. The question Wilt wouldn’t answer is whether he was meeting as a consultant […]
Chivas Searches for Mexican Star
Chivas USA, as ever, is on the lookout for a high-profile Mexican player to add to its roster. The Los Angeles club so far has only two — defender Claudio Suarez and midfielder Francisco Mendoza — but CEO Shawn Hunter tells the Los Angeles Times that Chivas may be getting ready to bring in a […]
‘Idiots’ cost Beitar cup with premature celebrations
[OFF THE POST] Beitar Jerusalem was leading Maccabi Herzliya, 1-0, with four minutes to play in Sunday’s Israeli Cup final when Beitar fans began celebrating the apparent victory. Thousands of fans rushed on to the field, and Maccabi was handed the cup by default when officials were unable to clear the field so play could continue and the referee suspended the match.
U.S. under-15 girls national team roster
[YOUTH] The U.S. under-15 girls national team opened a training camp Monday in Palo Alto, Calif., where it will play five matches against college teams — two full matches and three mini-matches — at the 2008 Stanford University Kicks Against Breast Cancer Tournament. For U.S. head coach Tad Bobak‘s roster …
What They’re Saying
“The big problem is the increase in traffic — this is what they should be focusing on. Then they can really call themselves climate protectors.”
— Lydia Matzka-Saboi, spokeswoman for Global 2000/Friends of the Earth Austria, critical of the impact of Euro ’08 on the environment in Austria. Environmental groups complain that extra road traffic and increased air traffic during Euro ’08 will have a significant impact. Co-host Austria prides itself on its pro-green policies with more than 70 percent of its electricity produced using renewable sources and is seeking corporate sponsors to fund programs to compensate for the 40,000 tons of harmful carbon dioxide emitted by the three-week event in Austria. (Reuters)
America in the dumps
[IN THE SPOTLIGHT] To the the delight of Tapatios and Chivas supporters everywhere, Guadalajara beat Club America, 3-2, Sunday night in Mexico’s Superclasico to pile on the misery for the Mexico City club. The loss dropped America’s record to 2-10-2 (W-L-T) in the Torneo Clausura and extended its winless streak to 10 games. America is assured of its worst half-season in history and its worst overall record for a full season in 30 years.
Lowly Wigan hands Man. United gift
[ENGLAND] Manchester United looks more and more likely to defend its English Premier League title following its 2-1 victory over Arsenal on Sunday and second-place Chelsea’s 1-1 tie at home against lowly Wigan on Monday. Emile Heskey‘s shock equalizer in stoppage time left Chelsea five points behind Manchester United with four games to play.
The ‘Surprisingly Palatable’ Earthquakes
Nine weeks is an incredibly short period of time to build a sports team from scratch, but nevertheless, San Jose Mercury News columnist Anne Killion says that San Jose’s “instant Earthquakes” have put together a “surprisingly palatable” on-field product. Indeed, the Quakes played well enough to beat Chicago in their home opener on Saturday, but […]
Revs’ Lineups Lack Consistency
The New England Revolution has played just four games of the 2008 Major League Soccer season, and yet only four players have played every minute of every game. The Boston Globe’s Frank Dell’Apa says this lack of continuity is to blame for the Revs’ lack of consistency on the field. Two great performances — 3-0 […]
Soehn’s Reserves Fall Badly in Salt Lake
D.C. coach Tom Soehn’s decision to bench several of his regulars backfired badly on Saturday as Real Salt Lake blanked United, 4-0, at Rice-Eccles Stadium. In the wake of United’s 2-1 midweek win against Mexican power Pachuca, Soehn decided to rest Marcelo Gallardo, Zach Wells, Gonzalo Martinez and Santino Quaranta. It was United’s fifth game […]
Phenom Balotelli Leading Inter’s Title Charge
For the second week in a row, Serie A title pretender Roma played before league-leading Inter Milan and won, closing the gap at the top of the standings to a single point. But for the second week in a row, Inter responded with a comfortable 2-0 win against potentially troublesome opposition. The Italian press was […]
Gullit Blames Poor Finishing for L.A. Loss
Los Angeles Galaxy fans endured a frustrating 3-2 loss to Toronto FC on Sunday. The L.A. Times Grahame L. Jones described it as a “strange” game because the Galaxy (read: Landon Donovan and David Beckham) looked brilliant at times, creating numerous chances in the first half, in particular. But when Donovan or Beckham couldn’t be […]
Soccer on TV
Midweek action includes the Copa Libertadores and domestic cup play in Portugal, Italy and Spain. In MLS’s Thursday night game, D.C. United hosts Columbus.
USL-1 Results
Rookie Dominic Cianciarulo scored his second goal of the game in stoppage time to give the Charleston Battery a 2-2 tie at the Miami FC Blues and spoil the coaching debut of Zinho, the 1994 Brazilian World Cup champion, on the opening day of the 2008 USL First Division season. The Vancouver Whitecaps opened the 2008 season with a 1-0 home victory over Canadians rival Montreal before a sellout crowd of 5,288.
Lapira scores first two professional goals
[AMERICANS ABROAD] Joe Lapira, the 2006 Hermann Trophy winner for Notre Dame, scored his first two goals for Norwegian second division club Nybergsund in a 4-0 win over Bryne FK.
McBride helps keep Fulham alive
[AMERICANS ABROAD] Brian McBride scored one goal and hit the woodwork on another shot as relegation candidate Fulham beat Reading, 2-0, for its first English Premier League on the road since September 2006.
What They’re Saying
“I don’t know if my heart can take all of them like this. Everybody should be made to watch this on TV and then say soccer is not exciting.”
— Columbus Crew coach Sigi Schmid after watching his team blow a 3-1 lead and then prevail, 4-3, over Chivas USA in a game that also featured eight yellow cards and two red cards. (Columbus Dispatch)
MLS Results
The third weekend of MLS action produced road victories for FC Dallas, Colorado and Toronto FC. For all the MLS summaries, standings, leading scorers and next week’s schedule …
