Category: Soccer America Daily

[ITALY] Sampdoria, which hasn’t won the Serie A title since 1991, is the surprise of the Italian season, taking over first place with a 1-0 win over defending champion Inter Milan, its fifth victory in six games.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] After sitting out three straight league games, midfielder Michael Bradley came on as a halftime sub for Borussia Moenchengladbach, which gave up three second-half goals in a 3-0 loss to Freiburg. Aside from keeper Tim Howard winning with Everton in the Premier League, not much went well for Americans abroad last weekend.

[UNDER-20 WORLD CUP] Not much was expected of the USA at the 2009 Under-20 World Cup in Egypt, and it certainly did nothing to dispel its doubters with a horrendous display in the opening game. Germany got two goals two minutes apart on the half hour and cruised to a 3-0 win Saturday in Suez.

Under-20 World Cup:
Monday Updates

[UNDER-20 WORLD CUP] Soccer America’s Paul Kennedy grades the U.S. players in Saturday’s 3-0 loss to Germany at the Under-20 World Cup in Suez …

[MLS PLAYOFF WATCH] Defending champion Columbus secured a playoff spot by beating the Galaxy, 2-0, but the real news came from the other end of the standings. The bottom three teams – New York, FC Dallas, and San Jose – all dented the hopes of teams in the chase by refusing to lose, and in two cases, actually winning. Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney updates the playoff race …

[COLLEGE] No. 1 Akron, No. 9 Monmouth and No. 25 UMBC are the only unbeaten and untied teams left in the Soccer America Men’s Top 25. UCLA moved up to No. 2 with a pair of wins, while ACC teams Maryland, Wake Forest and North Carolina complete the top five. For the complete Soccer America Men’s Top 25 rankings …

[COLLEGE] Stanford and North Carolina both overcame close calls and remain 1-2 in the Soccer America Women’s Top 25. Portland, UCLA and Florida State all moved up one spot and complete the top five. For the complete Soccer America Women’s Top 25 rankings …

[UNDER-20 WORLD CUP] One of the most inexperienced U.S. teams opens play Saturday at the Under-20 World Cup in Egypt when it faces 2008 European champion Germany in their opening Group C game in the brand-new 40,000-seat Mubarak Stadium in Suez (TV: ESPN Classic, 9:55 am ET; Galavision, 9:55 am ET/PT).

UNDER-20 WORLD CUP:
Weekend Updates

COLLEGE:
Men’s Scoreboard
Women’s Scoreboard

[COLLEGE] No. 3 UCLA improved to 5-1-0 with a 3-0 win over  visiting Air Force. The Bruins got two second-half goals from senior Kyle Nakazawa. No. 4 California and No. 5 South Florida rebounded from losses on Friday night to pick up wins on Sunday over Air Force (3-0) and Pitt (2-1), respectively. Four more Top 25 teams fell to unranked teams, bringing the weekend total to 13. Portland edged No. 14 Creighton, 2-1. No. 17 N.C. State fell at Virginia Tech, 2-0. Penn State snapped No. 18 Michigan’s winning streak at seven games with a 2-0 win, while No. 25 Wisconsin-Green Bay lost for the first time this season when it fell at Butler, 2-1. For all the Sunday action …

[COLLEGE] Top-ranked Stanford improved to 10-0-0 with a 1-0 at St. Mary’s in a game played in 100-degree temperatures. No. 2 North Carolina rediscovered its scoring touch and made easy work of No. 17 Wake Forest, 4-0. In another ACC match involving Top 25 teams, No. 6 Florida State handed No. 3 Boston College its first loss of the season with a 3-2. The visiting Eagles twice came back from one-goal deficits, but sophomore Jessica Price won the game for the Seminoles with her seventh goal of the season in the 73rd minute. Top 25 teams to fall to unranked teams were No. 9 Maryland (2-0 at Miami, Fla.), No. 10 Santa Clara (2-0 at home to USC), No. 19 Indiana (3-2 at Wisconsin on sophomore Laurie Nosbusch‘s hat trick), No. 21 Texas A&M (3-2 at Oklahoma) and No. 25 UCF (1-0 at home to Memphis). For all Sunday’s action …

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Luciano Emilio, thwarted several times in the first half, scored twice after the break to lead D.C. United past Honduran club Marathon, 3-0, in the regional championship Thursday at RFK Stadium. By winning, United pulled into a second-place tie with Marathon in Group B. Both teams have 2-0-2 (W-T-L) records and six points with two games to play. Mexican club Toluca (4-0-0, 12 points) increased its lead atop the group Wednesday by slamming San Juan Jabloteh (0-0-4) of Trinidad & Tobago, 3-0.

[MLS] Perhaps the new marketing slogan for MLS should be, “If you sell tickets, TV will come.” Spectacular season-ticket sales in Seattle prompted MLS to open its season at Qwest Field last March on a Thursday night, and the league will return there next spring. Opening day of the 2010 season will set the Sounders — who are averaging 30,739 this season — against the expansion Philadelphia Union, whose own home opener on April 10 – and perhaps several other home games – will be played at Lincoln Financial Field while work is completed on its stadium in Chester, Pa.

[MLS PREDICTIONS] With five weeks of the season to go, no team has clinched a playoff spot. Western Conference leader Houston will sit idle as New England, Kansas City and Chivas USA get a chance to improve their playoff fortunes at home. Maybe this is the week the Galaxy can overtake the idle Dynamo for first place in the Western Conference, but only a win at defending champion Columbus can do the trick, and the Crew has yet to lose at home this season. Also needing results on the road are Real Salt Lake (Dallas), Toronto FC (Chicago), Colorado (Kansas City), and Seattle (New England). For an outline of the playoff race, Ridge Mahoney’s weekend predictions and TV info …

[USL-1] Defending champion Vancouver, Rochester and Montreal all took leads in their USL First Division quarterfinal series with victories in Thursday’s first legs.

[USL-1] The USL First Division playoffs begin Thursday with the first legs of the three quarterfinal round series: Carolina-Vancouver, Puerto Rico-Rochester, and Charleston-Montreal. Two of the three games the teams in each series played during the regular season ended in ties, so the series are all tossups. For a look at the three matchups …

[MLS] The team that had nothing to lose didn’t, and the team that needed to win also didn’t. Five days after a Conor Casey stoppage-time penalty kick resulted in a 1-1 tie between the Quakes and Rapids in California, the same scenario produced the same score in Colorado in front of a sparse crowd (6,234) smaller than the attendance (10,525) in San Jose last Friday night. The Rapids’ playoff quest, after getting only two points against the league’s second worst team in two games, looks a lot more challenging.

[COLLEGE] Penn State’s early struggles continued as it had to settle for a 0-0 tie at Bucknell on Wednesday. New Mexico improved to 8-0-2 with a 3-1 victory over Northern Colorado. For all Wednesday’s action …

[COLLEGE] The five Top 25 teams in action on Wednesday all won. No. 6 Harvard improved to 6-0-0 with a 1-0 victory at New Hampshire. Like the other Top 25 team from the ACC on Tuesday, No. 9 Wake Forest got a scare from Elon before prevailing, 2-1. JC transfer Justin Meram scored a hat trick to lead No. 18 Michigan past Bowling Green. For all the Wednesday action …

[TELEVISION WATCH] The USA’s three group games at the Under-20 World Cup will air live on television, beginning with Saturday’s game against Germany on ESPN Classic (9:55 am ET) and Spanish-language Galavision (9:55 am ET/PT). The ESPN networks will broadcast seven games live and Galavision will air 12 games live or delayed. In addition, all games will be available live online at espn360.com. For the complete schedule …

[SPAIN] Real Madrid remained perfect when it defeated short-handed Villarreal, 2-0, Wednesday night in Manuel Pellegrini‘s first trip back to El Madrigal since taking over as the Real coach. Real, which kept pace with Barcelona, a 4-1 winner over Racing Santander on Tuesday night, got a great solo goal from Cristiano Ronaldo — his fifth in four La Liga games — and a penalty kick from Kaka — his first goal with Real.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Freddy Adu made his debut for Portuguese club Belenenses in the League Cup and Eddie Johnson got rare action for Fulham in the English League Cup. Kenny Cooper helped second-tier 1860 Munich oust the Bundesliga’s Hertha Berlin in the German Cup.

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] The venue changed and the margin narrowed, but again Cruz Azul took the measure of the defending MLS champion. Concacaf Champions League finalist last year, Cruz Azul retained its hold atop Group C in the current competition by beating Columbus, 2-0, on the Crew’s home field.

[UNDER-20 WORLD CUP] Jozy Altidore and Freddy Adu are not in Egypt. Nor is Brazilian star Alexandre Pato. Or Spain’s Bojan Krkic. Or Italy’s Davide Santon. The Under-20 World Cup will kick off Thursday without many of the best players eligible for FIFA’s oldest world youth championship. Here’s a look at some of the stars who will on display …