Author Archives: Soccer America

American Steve Cherundolo and his Bundesliga club Hannover 96 take on Hansa Rostock on Friday. In Mexican league semifinals, Santos (with American Edgar Castillo) must overcome a three-goal first-leg deficit against Pumas. The European Championship draw is televised on Sunday. Fulham (with Americans Clint Dempsey and Carlos Bocanegra) travels to Manchester United on Monday.

Tampa and Franklin Pierce slay unbeatens

[NCAA DIVISION II WOMEN] Both unbeaten teams fell Thursday in the semifinals of the NCAA Division II Women’s Tournament in Orange Beach, Fla. Tampa knocked off top-ranked Grand Valley State, 2-1, while Franklin Pierce beat Seattle Pacific, 2-0. The Spartans and Ravens meet in Saturday’s final in Orange Beach, Ala., to be televised live on CSTV (kickoff: 1 pm ET).

NCAA Division II Men’s Final Four Preview

The NCAA Division II Men’s Tournament moves into the semifinals at the Orange Beach Sportsplex in Orange Beach, Ala., where there will be an international flavor. Lincoln Memorial and Montevallo could start as many as 10 Brazilians between them. In the other semifinal, Midwestern State takes on Franklin Pierce, which could start players from as many as nine difference countries, including Bishara Etienne, who plays for potential U.S. World Cup 2010 qualifying foe Dominica. Sunday’s final will be telecast live on CSTV (kickoff: 2 pm ET).

NCAA Division I Women’s Tournament Schedule

The only matchup of 1-2 seeds in Friday’s quarterfinals is UCLA-Portland in Westwood. The Bruins beat the Pilots, 2-1, when they met in late September. Since then, both teams have been perfect. UCLA has won 14 in a row. Portland has won 11 straight games — the last nine by shutouts — since the return of U.S. national team defender Stephanie Lopez from the Women’s World Cup. For all of the Friday matches …

McCrath backers counterattack in battle for coaching job

Legendary coach Cliff McCrath isn’t about to head into the sunset quietly. Ten days after Seattle Pacific University announced that the 71-year-old McCrath had resigned only nine wins short of tying the college record for wins held by Joe Bean of Wheaton College (where he had gotten his start in coaching in 1958), McCrath revealed he had received almost 900 e-mails of support.

NCAA Division I Men’s Tournament Schedule

For the second year in a row, unseeded Old Dominion has won two games to advance to the round of 16 in the NCAA Division I Men’s Tournament. The five other holdovers from last year’s Sweet 16 that are still alive are all seeds: No. 2 Wake Forest, No. 7 Santa Clara No. 10 Notre Dame, No 12 UC Santa Barbara No. 13 Maryland. Play resumes with two games Saturday and six on Sunday.

Massachusetts leads charge into Sweet 16

Paul Kennedy examines the upset of the year
Massachusetts’ 2-1 victory over No. 1 seed Boston College Wednesday night will go down as one of the biggest upsets in the history of the NCAA Division I Men’s Tournament, but it certainly wasn’t a fluke. The Minutemen came back from a 1-0 deficit at halftime and owned the second half. The victory was just reward for their coach, Sam Koch, who has preached the team concept and spent wisely.

UNAM stuns Santos in Mexican playoffs

Santos, the overall leader in the Mexican regular season, faces an uphill battle in its bid to make the Torneo Apertura final after being thrashed by UNAM, 3-0, in Thursday’s semifinal first leg in Mexico City.

ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes to broadcast Sunday’s Euro ’08 Draw

ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes will provide live coverage of the Final Draw for the 2008 European Championship Sunday at 6 a.m. ET.

Galaxy practice draws 15,000 in New Zealand

The Los Angeles Galaxy with David Beckham drew a crowd of 15,000 to its training session in Wellington, New Zealand ahead of its Saturday exhibition game against the Wellington Phoenix.

The Associated Press noted that the large crowd for a soccer practice is unprecedented in New Zealand, where the sport takes a backseat to rugby.

Hawaii Beckons Galaxy and Beckham

Ridge Mahoney reports on MLS’s expanding frontiers
A more apropos name might be “Becks Does Honolulu” for the Pan-Pacific Championship officially announced by MLS yesterday, but marketing issues aside, this event certainly offers some allure beyond that of David Beckham. The four-team tournament will match teams from MLS (the Galaxy and Houston), J-League (Gamba Osaka) and Australia’s A-League (TBA) in Honolulu Feb. 20 and 23.

Soccer America Daily, What They're Saying

What They’re Saying

“We would have the best team if we could go into every household and throw away every PlayStation, Xbox and video game.”

— West Ham goalkeeper Robert Green offers another explanation for England’s national team’s plight. (The Age)

UEFA Cup Results

Helsingborg of Sweden and Greece’s Panathinaikos became the first clubs to qualify for the knockout phase of the UEFA Cup. Tottenham remained unbeaten under new manager Juande Ramos, recovering from a two-goal deficit to beat AaB Aalborg, 3-2. American Dan Califf went the entire game for the Danish club. Ramiro Corrales, Califf’s teammate on the 2000 U.S. Olympic team, also played 90 minutes in Norwegian club Brann’s 2-1 win over Dinamo Zagreb. For all the results, goal scorers and standings …

Red Bull Park Back on Course

It’s been over a year since ground was broken on Red Bull Park in Harrison, N.J. Since then, design and construction delays have severely hampered the stadium’s progress, leaving the project pretty much where it started 14 months ago. However, Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger says the official word from Camp Red Bull […]

Salary Cap Doesn’t Restrict Spending on Coaches

Major League Soccer’s salary cap might be all about keeping close tabs on the books, but soccer columnist Frank Dell’Apa reminds us that the cap has nothing to do with coaches salaries. In the last few months, New York and L.A. have underscored that point by spending big money on coaches — although in NY’s […]

Garber: Becks Will Reach $250 Million

It looks like David Beckham will make his $250 million, after all. When the British tabloids splashed that figure around following Beckham’s landmark announcement to join MLS, the U.S. soccer press was quick to point out that Becks could earn up to $250 million over five years, depending on certain incentives. Despite making just five […]

Ferguson: Ronaldo the Best in My Time

You do a double-take when Sir Alex Ferguson says that Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player the Manchester United legend has ever had. Why? Because here we have Europe’s longest-serving manager for a big club, a man who’s won more domestic titles than any other coach of his era, so when he speaks, he speaks […]

Redknapp’s Disgrace Not a Shock

There’s already a (bad) joke circulating in Britain about Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp’s arrest on Wednesday night. Harry Redknapp got off the plane after watching a Champions League match in Germany and was told he was wanted. “By England?” he asked. No, in the end, it was the British authorities who wanted him to question […]

2007 Women’s Hermann Trophy Semifinalists

Notre Dame’s Kerri Hanks, winner of last year’s MAC Hermann Trophy, heads the list of 15 semifinalists for the 2007 award. Hanks is one of three Irish players to make the cut along with Brittany Bock and Amanda Cinalli. Three players from UCLA were also selected: Danesha Adams, Lauren Cheney and Christina DiMartino.

2007 Men’s Hermann Trophy Semifinalists

Notre Dame’s Joseph Lapira, winner of last year’s MAC Hermann Trophy, is one of the 15 semifinalists for the 2007 award. Lapira, who leads the Fighting Irish in points (25), goals (8) and assists (9) this season, will try to become the first back-to-back recipient of the award since Virginia’s Claudio Reyna took home the Hermann Trophy in 1992 and 1993.

‘The Nubber’ heads into the sunset

Legendary Seattle Pacific men’s coach Cliff McCrath, who led the Falcons to five NCAA championships and won 597 victories in his 49 years of college coaching, has announced his retirement at the age of 71.

NCAA Division II Women’s Final Four Preview

Seattle Pacific takes a 23-game winning streak into Thursday’s semifinal against Franklin Pierce in the NCAA Division II Women’s Tournament. In the other semifinal, last year’s runner-up Grand Valley State faces Tampa. Saturday’s final in Orange Beach, Fla., will be broadcast live on CSTV at 1 pm ET.

Top seeds tumble on night of huge upsets

Paul Kennedy recaps the stunning developments
1-4-6-9-14-16. It reads like the numbers on a lottery ticket. No, those are the seeds who fell Wednesday in the second round of the NCAA Division I Men’s Tournament.

NCAA Division I Men’s Tournament Results

Defending champion UC Santa Barbara moved into the third round of the NCAA Division I Men’s Tournament with a 1-0 win over Washington before 9,641 fans, the largest crowd ever for a match so early in the tournament. No. 2 seed Connecticut and No. 3 Wake Forest had early goals hold up in second-round wins. No. 7 Santa Clara extended its unbeaten streak to 18 games with a 3-1 win over former champion UCLA. For all of Wednesday’s results and goal scorers and the weekend matchups …

The MLS offseason really isn’t