Author Archives: Soccer America

UEFA held the draw for the quarterfinals and semifinals of the UEFA Champions League on Friday. The semifinal winners progress to the final on May 23 in Athens. Quarterfinal draw AC Milan vs. Bayern Munich PSV Eindhoven vs. Liverpool Roma vs. Manchester United Chelsea vs. Valencia (First legs: April 3-4; second legs: April 10-11.) Semifinal […]

Brad Friedel and Jay DeMerit both started in winning efforts as their clubs moved into the semifinals of the English FA Cup. Friedel recorded his fourth straight shutout in the FA Cup as Blackburn Rovers beat Manchester City, 2-0, in Sunday's quarterfinals. DaMarcus Beasley came on in the second half for City. DeMerit needed three […]

By Mike Woitalla Executive Editor The New York Red Bulls, whose youth program was considered one of the league's most advanced as MLS launched its Youth Development Initiative for the 2007 season, have fired their Director of Youth Soccer and Player Development, Giovanni Savarese. Savarese was hired by the club in 2005, two years after […]

Kerri Hanks, Michele Weissenhofer, Amanda Cinalli and Brittany Bock, who combined for 63 goals and 50 assists for NCAA Division I runner-up Notre Dame in 2006, will head the U.S. under-21 women's national team that travels to England on Friday for games against three English clubs. U.S. coach Bill Irwin is bringing 18 players for […]

Greg Paynter, the associate head women's coach at James Madison and a member of the JMU coaching staff for the last eight years, is leaving the Dukes to become the head women's coach at CAA rival Towson. Paynter succeeds Leslie Wray, who resigned in December after seven seasons as the Tigers head coach.

Two more collegians have bypassed MLS and signed with European clubs. Penn State's Simon Omekanda, picked by Chicago in the fourth round of the 2007 SuperDraft, signed with Swedish club IF Norrkoping. The two-time All-Big Ten First Team was born in Morocco and spent time in Belgium before moving to Rochester Hills, Mich., where he […]

Long-time college coach and former U.S. international Dieter Ficken is returning to college coaching one year after leaving Columbia University. Ficken was named the head men's coach at Division II C.W. Post. He had spent 27 years at Columbia, compiling a 252-139-53 record and leading the Lions to the final four twice. He had previously […]

Pizza Hut Park will become the third MLS soccer-specific stadium to host the NCAA Division I men's championship. The NCAA has approved SMU — the only NCAA Division I men's program in Texas — as the host of the 2008 Men's College Cup in partnership with FC Dallas at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Dec. […]

The German soccer federation's Kontrollausschuss, its disciplinary committee, handed American Gregg Berhalter a three-game suspension for an incident in 1860 Munich's 2-0 win over Eintracht Braunschweig on Sunday. Berhalter, who scored the second goal against Braunschweig from the penalty spot, was found to have kneed Braunschweig's Moldovan striker, Alexandru Golban, in the sixth minute of […]

(Note to Sunday morning TV viewers: Daylight savings time starts on Sunday, so remember to move your clocks forward an hour.) Manchester United and Chelsea, 1-2 in the English Premier League and both through to the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League, are in action on a third front this weekend when they play in […]