Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story

Cheeky Advertising

[OFF THE POST] The German federation (DFB) bans uniform advertising below the belt, but a regional court ruled in favor of lower division team Arminia Hannover, which wishes to sell space on its players’ behinds. The club has been challenging DFB’s pants ad ban for four years.

Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story

MLS Must Raise its Pay

Millions may be pouring into Major League Soccer’s coffers through expansion clubs, but the players aren’t likely to receive raises anytime soon. That may seem unfair, but MLS Commissioner Don Garber reminds us that, “The league is doing better, but don’t forget that there has been massive amounts of money invested in this league to get to this point,” Garber tells Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise. “One good year does not a future make. We’ve got to ensure that we’ve got a good year this year and ensure that some of the teams we have that have struggled at the gate are able to pick it up.”

Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story

U.S. Soccer Development Academy Results

Met Oval, whose head coach is MLS star Giovanni Savarese, stayed on top of U-15/16 Northeast Conference with two wins, against Westchester and Albertson SC. “Our strength is definitely our team unity, and today we had a couple of lapses in concentration but the team came together and found a way to pull out a victory,” said Savarese after the Westchester win. For all the weekend U.S. Soccer Development Academy results and goalscorers …

Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying

What They’re Saying

“It’s win or go home and I think both teams know that. We don’t doubt that Costa Rica will throw everything they’ve got at us, but I know we are going to do everything in our power to get that berth to the Olympics.”

— U.S. forward Abby Wambach, who will lead the attack for the U.S. women when they face Costa Rica for a ticket to this summer’s Olympic Games. Costa Rica is winless so far in the Concacaf qualifying tournament. It lost, 1-0, to Canada and tied Trinidad & Tobago, 2-2. Mexico faces Canada for the other berth.

Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story

Youth team bounced from Arsenal stadium

[OFF THE POST] An under-15 team that won tickets to the Arsenal-Liverpool Champions League quarterfinal first-leg game last week was ejected from Emirates Stadium after they cheered Liverpool’s goal. The boys and their coaches were escorted out after being the victims of a torrent of abuse from Gunner supporters, according to the Skelmersdale Advertiser. “We were abused by grown men — men in suits,” said Ray Radford, the coach of the youth team, which was not allowed to reenter the stadium.

Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story

Injured Ronaldinho in Play

With a torn leg muscle ruling him idle, two-time FIFA World Player of the Year Ronaldinho might have his feet up, but his brother and agent Roberto De Assis can’t keep still. First he was spotted meeting with AC Milan GM Adriano Galliani in Italy last week, then come reports from England that Manchester City […]

Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story

MLS Week 2 Highlights

If Week 2 of the 2008 MLS season taught us anything, it’s to take over-hasty pronouncements of a team’s flight or failure after the first game of the season with a grain of salt, says ESPN’s Steve Davis. There are two glaring cases, in particular: New England, lauded as an instant title favorite following the […]

Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story

UNC men sign three under-17 World Cup players

[RECRUITING] Coming off a 7-8-5 season, the University of North Carolina men’s team was in need of a big recruiting class and got it with the signing of three players who represented the USA at the 2007 Under-17 World Cup in South Korea: forward Billy Schuler (Matchfit Academy), midfielder Kirk Urso (Sockers FC Chicago) and defender/forward Sheanon Williams (FC Greater Boston Bolts).

Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story

Soccer scholarship chase: fact & fiction

Soccer players and their families spend thousands of dollars each year on youth soccer in pursuit of athletic scholarships, but just what are the odds of landing a soccer scholarship? According to NCAA figures released recently by The New York Times, there is 1.4 women’s scholarships for every 100 high school players and half that — 0.7 scholarships for every 100 high school players — on the men’s side. The chase of athletic scholarships can come to preoccupy the families of aspiring stars, but the opportunities are often “overexaggerated,” according to the NCAA President Miles Brand.

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