Author Archives: Soccer America

Pick the top American soccer story of 1999: For a year after a men's World Cup, 1999 was loaded with major stories. With that in mind, pick your top stories in American soccer in 1999.

HE’S GOING TO COLLEGE CUP ’99! Ryan Grezeszczak of Bethlehem, Penn., wins Soccer America contest, free trip to NCAA Men’s College Cup Lehigh University student Ryan Grezeszczak is the Grand Prize Winner of a free trip to College Cup, including round trip tickets for two to Charlotte, N.C., four nights accommodation at the Charlotte Marriott […]

The U.S. Pro-40 team kicked off its five-game tour of Portugal with a 3-0 loss to Benfica’s second team Dec. 1. Playing in front of a crowd of 1,500 at Benfica’s Stadium of Light reserve venue, U.S. Pro-40 faced a team that started several members of Benfica’s first squad, according to MLS. Three of U.S. […]

Joe Hamm St. Louis, Mo. This is in response to the question [Dec. 1] about why soccer died out in the 1930s in the United States. It did not really die, but was confined to urban areas such as St. Louis, where it was as popular as any game played in the schoolyard. Teams from […]

The U.S. national team closed out the year with a 2-1 loss in Morocco. Bruce Arena reflects on his first full year as coach, the year in MLS and the U-17 world championships. He also peeks ahead at American soccer in 2000. SOCCER AMERICA: How was Morocco? BRUCE ARENA: It was very good. It was […]

The MetroStars have waived Eduardo Hurtado, the Ecuador international who scored 17 goals and 17 assists in 55 games for the team since arriving from the L.A. Galaxy in April 1998. The MetroStars announced that they needed to trade or release an international player by Dec. 1 in order to comply with Major League Soccer’s […]

The first – and best – U.S. World Cup All Quiet on the Western Front” won the Oscar, Dashiell Hammett’s “The Maltese Falcon” hit the bookstands and C.W. Tombaugh discovered Pluto – the planet, not the dog. The Great Depression was underway, and so was the launch of a soccer world championship. In Hoboken, N.J., […]

Alex Scott Titirangi, New Zealand Why did soccer die out in America after the 1930 World Cup? It seems amazing to me that the U.S. did so well and then the sport just seemed to die out until the 1970’s. Mike Woitalla: The players who took the United States to the semifinals of the first […]

Thomas Gorman Bordeaux, France. Having just watched the Sky Sports highlight feed of the U.S.- Australia under-17 match, I would like to pose a general question to those people in the soccer community who are responsible for the formation of American talent. First, my observation that the young Americans were technically and physically outplayed by […]

But United reign begins to grate on rival fans FOXBORO, Mass. – All this talk of a D.C. dynasty is great fun, if somewhat premature, and it’s festering a few elements that any competition needs. Hatred, for one. Rival fans are sick and tired of seeing United – which they regard as a golden child […]

The MetroStars have named former L.A. Galaxy coach Octavio Zambrano their new head coach. The New England Revolution has hired Fernando Clavijo, who spent the 1999 season as MetroStars assistant coach to Bora Milutinovic. Zambrano, 41, compiled a league record of 39-18 record between 1997 and 1999. His .684 winning percentage as a head coach […]

D.C. UNITED Starters: Presthus (6) No mistakes. Agoos (6) Contained Hendrickson. Llamosa (7) Nearly flawless. Pope (6) Recovery almost complete. Talley (6) Adios, Diego. Williams (7) Limpet stuck to Cienfuegos. Etcheverry (6) Set up a goal with his hands. Olsen (7) Benny has the jets. Maessner (6) Rugged and lucky. Moreno (7) Always trouble. Lassiter […]

Godfrey Pereira Blacksburg, Va. Do you know if the roster for the Project-40 tour of Europe has been released yet? Mike Woitalla: Godfrey, 18 Pro-40 players and two guest players are on a five-game tour of Portuguese First Division reserve teams under the direction of Tampa Bay Mutiny coach Tim Hankinson and Chicago Fire assistant […]

Scores from quarterfinal NCAA womenÆs Division I playoff action: Santa Clara 3, Connecticut 0 Penn State 2, Hartford 0 North Carolina 2, Clemson 0 Notre Dame 0, Nebraska 0 (Notre Dame wins on PK, 4-3) Schedule Semifinals (in San Jose, Calif.) Friday, Dec. 3 Penn State vs. North Carolina (4 pm PT) Santa Clara vs. […]

Scores from second-round NCAA menÆs Division I playoff action: UAB 2, SMU 0 Santa Clara 4, Duke 2 Furman 4, Wake Forest 0 Connecticut 3, Yale 0 UCLA 2, St. Louis 0 Virginia 3, Brown 1 Penn State 2, St. John’s 1 (OT) Indiana 2, Washington 0 Quarterfinal Matchups UAB vs. Santa Clara Furman vs. […]

The USAÆs Landon Donovan was awarded the Golden Ball of the 1999 U-17 World Cup, at which the USA finished fourth, behind third-place Ghana, second-place Australia and champion Brazil. The adidas Golden Ball, voted on by local and international media covering the tournament, goes to the outstanding player of the competition. DonovanÆs teammate, DaMarcus Beasley, […]

Who could have believed a month ago that MLS would end its season on such a high note? MLS, suffering from disinterest in the national press, appeared to be a league in trouble. But that’s all changed. Don Garber has emerged as MLS’s apparent savior. The knock on Garber, a former executive with the National […]

The U.S. U-17 team fell, 2-0, to Ghana in the third-place game of the U-17 World Cup in New Zealand. The USAÆs fourth-place is the best finish for an American male team in a FIFA outdoor tournament since the Bob Gansler-coached U-20 team finished fourth in the 1989 U-20 World Cup. The summary of the […]

Charlie Stillitano is now famous among soccer fans in Germany. “Infamous may be a better word,” the MetroStars general manager said after spending two days giving lengthy interviews in the German press to deny reports that Lothar Matthaeus could stay with Bayern Munich until June. On Nov. 14, the 38-year-old Matthaeus, a veteran of five […]

The Miami Fusion has completed a trade with D.C. United that will bring forward Roy Lassiter, the all-time leading scorer in MLS, to South Florida. The acquisition of Lassiter completes a deal made in July that sent defender Brian Kamler and a first-round draft pick in the 2000 MLS College Draft (third overall) to the […]

Matt Bernhardt Columbus, Ohio In your “Best talent of 1999” (Nov. 29 issue of Soccer America Magazine) you nominate four members of the D.C. United defensive core and give honorable mention to a fifth — a group which finished sixth in goals allowed (43). Meanwhile, the Crew’s defense is mostly underrepresented (only Dougherty honored, no […]

A few new names crop up among the familiar standouts Unlike the MLS Best 11, which is selected at the end of the regular season, the Soccer America rankings incorporate the playoffs as well. What a player does for his national team has no bearing on his MLS rankings, but his club competitions outside of […]

Twenty-two players were placed on waivers Nov. 23. Only three were selected in the subsequent waiver draft. Former Kansas City forward Nino DaSilva was chosen by the MetroStars with the first overall pick; former Los Angeles defender Gabe Eastman was picked up by San Jose with the fourth overall pick; and former New England defender […]

Dennie Wendt Portland, Ore. The time on Ben Olsen’s goal in the MLS Cup is listed as 48+. When did this annoying habit of listing injury time goals in this fashion start? If he had scored three minutes into the second half, would it also have been 48+? Did MLS Cup ’99 last 93 minutes? […]

Overtime to replace shootout; refs grab the clock The dark clouds are lifting. The malaise is ending. MLS may be far behind the top foreign leagues in players and revenue, but it’s falling in line in at least a couple of ways. Starting next season, games will no longer be decided by shootout, and the […]