[EUROPEAN RACES] Manchester United knocked Arsenal out of the English Premier League race with a 2-1 win over Arsenal at Old Trafford on Sunday. Real Madrid (Spain) and Inter Milan (Italy) also moved closer to repeating as league champions, while Bayern Munich (Germany) opened up a double-digit lead in its bid to win the Bundesliga title. Lyon, winner of the last six French league titles, saw its lead over second-place Bordeaux fall to four points.
Author Archives: Soccer America
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
USA edges Canada in shootout
[OLYMPIC WOMEN’S QUALIFYING] For the first time in 11 games since Pia Sundhage took over as head coach, the U.S. women’s national team didn’t earn an outright victory, but it managed to beat Canada in a shootout Saturday to win the 2008 Concacaf Olympic women’s qualifying tournament in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The battle of Olympic finalists ended in a 1-1 tie (0-0 after 90 minutes), and the Americans prevailed, 6-5, on penalty kicks. The result ended the Americans’ perfect record of 27 wins in Concacaf competitions dating back to 1991.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
MLS in International Competitions: Garber Could Help, Too
SoccerTimes’ Robert Wagman hits out at comments made by MLS Commissioner Don Garber in a recent Soccer America report. After watching D.C. lose 2-0 to Pachuca in Mexico, Garber said, “Boy, we’ve got to do better. For this league to win over the core audience, we’ve got to be able to be among the best […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Hahnemann Not Relishing Fulham Contest
Reading goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann is heavyhearted about this weekend’s match-up against Fulham FC. The Cottagers, Hahnemann’s former team and the current employer of five of his American compatriots, are teetering on the brink of relegation; defeat would almost certainly send them down. Reading is also hovering near the relegation zone, and will be looking to […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Cuban Trio in Galaxy Tryout
Three of the six Cuban players who defected to the U.S. last month have been given a tryout with the Los Angeles Galaxy, the L.A. Times Grahame L. Jones reports. Jose Manuel Miranda, Yenier Bermudez and Yordany Alvarez were members of the Cuba U-23 team that saw six players and one assistant coach defect while […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Reports: Ronaldinho Headed to Milan
Reports all over the place are claiming that Ronaldinho’s transfer to AC Milan is an all but done deal. Spanish paper El Mundo Deportivo reported that the Barcelona playmaker would sign with Milan for about $47.4 million, after the two sides reached what Bloomberg News described as an “outline agreement” for the player’s transfer when […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
MLS Clubs Far From Embarrassing in CCC
Goal.com’s Pat Walsh tries to look on the bright side of D.C. United and the Houston Dynamo’s failure to advance to the Champions Cup semifinals. He says that American teams are no longer the embarrassment they used to be in international competitions. “Gone are the days where American sides are dispatched in the way that […]
Posted inSoccer on TV., Story
Soccer on TV
The weekend’s MLS action starts on Saturday when Fox Soccer Channel broadcasts the reborn San Jose Earthquakes home opener, against Chicago. Americans meet in the English Premier League when Reading hosts Fulham on Saturday. Major international clashes on tap include Manchester United-Arsenal. Mexico’s “superclasico” takes place Sunday when Chivas Guadalajara hosts Club America. The season’s first USL-1 action is available on line at www.USLlive.com
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
UEFA Cup Results
With five minutes left in overtime, Bayern Munich needed two goals against Spain’s Getafe to advance to the semifinals, and got them, from Italian striker Luca Toni. The 3-3 tie, against a Getafe team playing a man-down from the sixth minutes because of Ruben De la Red‘s red card, gave Bayern the win on away goals. Also advancing are Glasgow Rangers, Fiorentina and Zenit St Petersburg. For all the results and goal scorers …
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
MLS TV SCHEDULE
The reborn San Jose Earthquakes play their home opener against the undefeated Chicago Fire. … Two defeated teams clash when FC Dallas hosts New York. … The league’s other team without a loss, Chivas USA, travels to Columbus. … Los Angeles, coming off a win against San Jose, hosts Toronto, which was been outscored 6-1 while opening its season with two losses. For all the weekend MLS action on TV …
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Miami and Vancouver host season openers
[USL-1] The 11-team USL First Division, the USA’s second-tier pro league, kicks off the season with two games this weekend. The league’s clubs, which include Canada’s Vancouver Whitecaps and Montreal Impact, and Puerto Rico’s Islanders, have players from more than 35 nations on its rosters. In addition to Friday night games on Fox Sports World (beginning on April 25), USL-1 games are broadcast live on the Web by www.USLlive.com . For previews of the four teams in action this weekend …
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
What They’re Saying
“I could commute from my cabin. We [his family] have always thought eventually when we’re done that we would go back, but you never know when that will be. We always talked about if a team did start up in Seattle then we’d want to go back at some stage.”
— Goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann, 35, who has another season on his contract with English Premier League club Reading, hints at a return to MLS now that his hometown Seattle has a team, which begins play in 2009. (GetReading)
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Player kicked off team for insulting female referee
[REF WATCH] Peru’s defending champion, Deportivo San Martin, has kicked off its team Uruguayan striker Mario Leguizamon for crude comments with sexual connotations in a TV interview about referee Silvia Reyes, who red-carded Leguizamon in a game last Sunday against Alianza Atletico. So offensive were Leguizamon that Reyes would not accept his apology.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Champions League Deja Vu
There’s something oddly familiar about this year’s Champions League semifinal lineup: it looks a lot like last year’s. Three of four teams are English, the same three teams that featured at this stage last year. One of the matchups is exactly the same, and has been now for three of the last four years. UEFA […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Roman Heads Held High Despite Sound Defeat
Despite being soundly beaten, 3-0, on aggregate over two legs, AS Roma coach Luciano Spalletti believes that Manchester United was superior to his team only in its finishing. “I didn’t see United create much more than we did over the two legs,” Spalletti told reporters of Roma’s Champions League quarterfinal defeat, adding that overall, Roma […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
U.S. Up Seven, Approaches FIFA Top 20
The U.S. national team moved up seven spots in FIFA's World Rankings to 21, thanks to that impressive 3-0 win over Poland in Krakow last month. The loss set the Poles back four places to No. 28. This is the highest the U.S. men have been ranked since coming in at No. 20 last December. […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Few Answers as MLS Clubs Fall
It wasn’t particularly surprising that D.C. United and the Houston Dynamo failed to advance to the Champions Cup final, given the huge hole these teams dug for themselves in their first-leg matches, but “at least United can rightly claim to have made a game of it,” says ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle. Indeed, it was a little […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Man U rests big guns and beats Roma
[UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Having won the first leg, 2-0, Manchester United rested Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney and still came away with a 1-0 win over Roma to advance to the semifinals and set a Champions League record with its 11th straight home win.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Barcelona puts domestic woes aside
[UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] A goal by 24-year-old Yaya Toure of the Ivory Coast gave Barcelona a 1-0 home win over Schalke 04 for a 2-0 quarterfinal win on aggregate to reach the semifinals, where Barca will meet Manchester United. It was a sorely needed win for Barcelona, whose La Liga title hopes are slim at best.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Teens shine for New England
[MLS] New England became the first team to win on the road this season when it downed Kansas City, 3-1. The first Revs’ goal came on an own goal by Jack Jewsbury, who deflected a teammate’s header into the net. Jewsbury made amends by scoring from the penalty spot at the other end, but goals by Gambian teenagers Sainey Nyassi and Kenny Mansally provided the win for New England, which was missing injured attackers Taylor Twellman and Steve Ralston
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Red Bulls boss resigns
[MLS] Marc de Grandpre, who, despite having no soccer experience, became Managing Director of the New York Red Bulls when the energy drink brought the franchise in 2006, has resigned. De Grandpre’s tenure was marked by the release of Coach Bruce Arena, who was at the helm for less than two seasons, and Giovanni Savarese, the popular and successful youth development director.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
U.S. women down Costa Rica for China ticket
[OLYMPICS] A 3-0 win over Costa Rica in the semifinals of the Concacaf Olympic qualifying tournament sends the U.S. women’s national team to the Summer Games in China, where it will defend its gold medal title of 2004. After the Ticas stifled the USA in the first half, Natasha Kai struck twice and Heather O’Reilly scored once. Canada defeated host Mexico, 1-0, to claim the region’s other spot.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Eight qualify for USYSA National Championships
[YOUTH] Eight teams have qualified for the 2008 U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships through play in the U.S. Youth Soccer National League season.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Cristiano Ronaldo: Entertaining even in warmup
[VIDEO] Cristiano Ronaldo, who has scored 37 goals in all competitions this season, nutmegs Manchester United’s equipment manager.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
What They’re Saying
“The first goal was to qualify for the Olympics and then do great in the Olympics, but another very important goal is to change the attacking style a little bit, which we have done. Of course, it’s a fine line keeping possession and being boring and keeping possession and penetrating at the right time, but the second half was pretty good today.”
— U.S. women’s coach Pia Sundhage after her team recovered from a scoreless first half to beat Costa Rica, 3-0, to qualify for the 2008 Olympic Games.