Author Archives: Soccer America

ENGLAND * Tim Howard (Manchester United, PL) vs. Newcastle, 0-0. Started: 90 minutes. Howard was fortunate not to be whistled for a penalty-kick foul on Alan Shearer after arriving late to a weak back pass by Gary Neville. Referee Paul Durkin said later he should have called a penalty kick, admitting he was out of […]

2003 Soccer America's Men's Player of the Year Joseph Ngwenya (Coastal Carolina) The Zimbabwean striker put the Conway, S.C. school of 5,900 on college soccer's map by leading the nation in goals for second straight year. Amassed 21 goals and 14 assists in 22 games for the Chanticleers (20-3-0). Had 37 points in 12 non-league […]

Stanley Lover's latest strives for creating a better game of soccer. Why not make soccer players pass a test on the rules before allowing them to play? What's so appalling about letting referees use the TV replays that the whole world sees when making a crucial decision? Does it make sense that millionaire players are […]

Santos rallied from an early deficit to beat Toluca on Sunday and advance to the Interliga final against Atlas. Joahan Rodriguez and Hector Lopez scored second-half goals seven minutes apart as Santos claimed a 2-1 victory at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas to win Group A on total goals over Morelia and Toluca. Manuel Lopez […]

Uzziel Lozano and Miguel Zepeda scored first-half goals and Toluca held off Guadalajara, 2-1, Friday night in Houston to grab a three-point lead in Group A of the Interliga with one game to play. Lozano, who stepped in for injured Paraguayan forward Jose Saturnino Cardozo, scored in the 20th minute, and the recently acquired Zepeda […]

North Carolina's Catherine Reddick and St. John's Chris Wingert , both seniors, were announced as winners of the Missouri Athletic Club's Hermann Award — college soccer's version of the Heisman Trophy — during festivities Friday night in St. Louis. Reddick, a U.S. national-team defender, is a three-time All-American who earlier captured the Honda Award as […]

By Ridge Mahoney Soccer America Magazine Senior Editor Carlos Bocanegra, 24, won an appeal to be granted a work permit to play in the English Premier League, which freed him to sign a 3 1/2-year contract with London club Fulham. His MLS contract expired Dec. 31. Bocanegra signed a four-year contract with MLS after leaving […]

Tom Fitzgerald is leaving UCLA after two years of serving as head coach and announced he will coach at the University of Tampa, where he was head coach in 1987-95. Fitzgerald, who coached MLS's Columbus Crew for six seasons (1996-2001), guided UCLA to the 2002 NCAA Division I title. Last season, UCLA won its second […]

Lindsay Tarpley, who scored 23 goals with 27 assists to lead the University of North Carolina to a 27-0-0 record and its 18th national championship, is Soccer America's choice for 2003 College Women's Player of the Year. Tarpley, a sophomore forward-midfielder who orchestrated the Tar Heels' 113-goal attack, is one of four North Carolina players […]

Eight players, including five members of the U.S. U-20 team that reached the quarterfinals at the 2003 World Youth Championship, have signed Nike Project-40 contracts, joining Freddy Adu, who signed in November. All will be available in the 2004 MLS SuperDraft January 16. Nike Project-40 players receive an educational stipend in addition to their salary […]

ENGLAND * Claudio Reyna (Manchester City, PL) vs. Charlton, 1-1. Started: 19 minutes. Left the game with a calf injury. Charlton equalized in the 84th minute on a controversial penalty kick. Robbie Fowler scored for the Blues in the first half. Manchester City remains winless in 11 straight league games. The Sun rating (10 high; […]

Carlos Bocanegra, MLS's Rookie of the Year in 2000, has reached a deal with English Premier League club Fulham and has been granted a British work permit. Bocanegra, 24, left UCLA after his junior year and has played the past four seasons with the Chicago Fire, twice earning MLS Defender of the Year honors. He […]

A loop of Freddy Adu's goals played continuously on a big screen during the Nov. 19 press conference at Madison Square Garden announcing MLS's signing of the 14-year-old prodigy. National Public Radio reporter Robert Smith was amazed at the quickness of Adu's feet. Then he noticed that the highlight clip was slow-motion footage. In Adu, […]

D.C. United has hired Peter Nowak, the former Chicago Fire star who has no professional coaching experience, as head coach, replacing Ray Hudson, who was dismissed after the 2003 season following two years in charge. ''He has a wealth of experience in the game and knows what it takes to become successful in Major League […]

Reinaldo Navia netted his third goal in two Interliga matches, scoring in the 85th minute to complete Club America's comeback from a two-goal deficit in a 2-2 draw Tuesday night with Atlas before 12,235 fans in San Jose. UNL Tigres destroyed Atlante's Copa Libertadores prospects in the second game of the Spartan Stadium doubleheader, overcoming […]

There were two unfamiliar names among the players U.S. women's national team coach April Heinrichs has called in for a Jan. 13-23 camp in advance of China's Four Nations tournament — and one very familiar name missing from the list. Striker Tiffeny Milbrett, who last fall expressed uncertainty about her future in soccer, is not […]

WEST COAST HIGH SCHOOL CLASSIC NATIONAL SHOWCASE TOURNAMENT at Irvine Valley College (Irvine, Calif.) Group Play Jan. 1 Damien (LaVerne, Calif.) 4 Canyon (Anaheim, Calif.) 1 Paramount (Calif.) 3 Laguna Beach (Calif.) 0 La Serna (Whittier, Calif.) 1 Simi Valley (Calif.) 1 Servite (Anaheim, Calif.) 1 Schurr (Montebello, Calif.) 0 Villa Park (Calif.) 0 Lakewood […]

The following is a list of MLS player compensation figures for 2004 being circulated by the players' union and obtained by Soccer America. The figures include base salary and guaranteed salaries. See explanation below. These numbers are not the same as those calculated by the clubs for salary-cap purposes. Salary-cap figures are topped by a […]

By Ridge Mahoney Senior Editor Soccer America Magazine A list of MLS player compensation figures for 2004 being circulated by the Major League Soccer Players Union and obtained by Soccer America lists Freddy Adu as the highest paid player at $500,000 in 2004, although his base salary is listed at $300,000. The $500,000 figure includes […]

Reinaldo Navia, one of Club America's most recent signings, scored twice and set up fellow debutant Ariel Gonzalez's winner in a 3-2 triumph over Mexico City rival Atlante in an opening doubleheader in the 2004 Interliga. Navia, signed a week ago from Morelia, tallied in the 38th and 52nd minutes to lead America, which was […]

ENGLAND (FA Cup) * Brad Friedel (Blackburn, PL), at Birmingham (PL), 0-4. Started: 90 minutes. Three former Blackburn players — David Dunn, Jeff Kenna and Damien Johnson — were in Birmingham lineup. * Tim Howard (Manchester United, PL), at Aston Villa (PL), 2-1. Started: 90 minutes. Two big saves by Howard kept United in the […]

Former New England Revolution General Manager Todd Smith died Wednesday of complications from leukemia at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston. Smith had battled leukemia since the summer of 2002. He was 38. The Revs reached the U.S. Open Cup final in 2001 and final of MLS Cup 2002 during Smith's tenure. Smith also guided […]

Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley will join the U.S. U-23 national team, which is aiming to qualify for next summer's Olympic Games, for the team's two-week January training camp in Carson, Calif. Without Donovan and Beasley, the Americans downed St. Kitts & Nevis in the second round of CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying by an aggregate score […]

Less than a month after a quarterfinal run in the 2003 World Youth Championship, U.S. U-20 coach Thomas Rongen gets back to work with a new crop of players that begins preparations for qualifying for the 2005 U-20 World Cup. Freddy Adu is the lone holdover from the U-20s that played in the UAE. Arturo […]

The U.S. under-18 national team, which is formed every two years to begin a four-year cycle that concludes with the World Youth Championship, travels this weekend to the ODP Interregional Event at The Home Depot Center Jan. 2-9. The U-18s will play four matches in six games in their first gathering for the squad in […]