[EUROPE] It was a bad night for European powerhouses in domestic cup competitions.
Category: Soccer America Daily
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MLS Offseason Player Moves
The Kansas City Wizards continued to clean out their backline when they dealt Jose Burciaga to Colorado for a second-round pick in the 2009 SuperDraft. The trade follows the deal that sent Nick Garcia to San Jose for the No. 1 pick in Friday’s SuperDraft. For all the team-by-team MLS offseason player moves …
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Team-by-team MLS SuperDraft Preview
Ridge Mahoney on the MLS SuperDraft
How can MLS teams give themselves a boost from Friday’s draft? Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney provides analyses of each club’s needs, their options and the possible moves they might make before the SuperDraft Friday in Baltimore. Here are the teams listed in reverse order of their regular-season finish in 2007, starting with the expansion Quakes, which Tuesday traded the top pick to Kansas City in exchange for defender Nick Garcia.
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What They’re Saying
“I got him a pair as a present, and he took a picture and sent it back to me, and I was like, ‘They look cool!’… We are talking about making a slipper together. So when I stop rapping and he stops soccer we can kick back and slip on a house shoe.”
— Rapper Snoop Dogg announces plans to design house shoes with pal David Beckham. (MTV UK)
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‘New’ Wizards taking shape
[MLS WATCH] Whether it improves or plummets from how it performed last season (11-12-7), Kansas City won’t be the same. Two days after striker Eddie Johnson left the U.S. training camp in Southern California to talk contract with English Premier League club Fulham came the announcement of Nick Garcia‘s departure. The team’s all-time leader in appearances is bound for San Jose in exchange for the No. 1 pick in the MLS SuperDraft. Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney examines the trade. …
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Liverpool ends Luton’s FA Cup dream
[ENGLAND] There was good news and bad news for struggling English club Luton. The bad news was that Liverpool ended the Hatters’ English FA Cup dream with a 5-0 demolition of the third division club on Tuesday. The good news, announced shortly before kickoff, was that a deal was concluded to save Luton, which has been in bankruptcy and unable to pay its players and staff.
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Soccer Job Openings
[EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES] Soccer America provides the latest on employment opportunities for soccer-related positions: college coaching opportunities, positions in the pros, youth soccer, the soccer industry, even television.
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U.S. Soccer Development Academy Results
U.S. Soccer Development Academy play in Southern California resumed last Saturday when Pateadores beat the Irvine Strikers, 3-2, in the U-15/16 age group. In the highlight of a busy weekend of action in the Mid-Atlantic, CASL won both games at the Richmond Kickers and Richmond Strikers in U-15/16 play. For all the results and goal scorers …
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2008 MLS SuperDraft Order
The Kansas City Wizards now hold (for now) the top pick in the 2008 MLS SuperDraft, which will be held next Friday at the NSCAA Convention in Baltimore (TV: ESPN2, 2 pm ET).
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What They’re Saying
“This is open-heart surgery. We’re hemorrhaging.”
— Martin Stringer, coach at Santa Ana Mater Dei in Southern California, where high schools are losing star players to elite clubs competing in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy. (Los Angeles Times)
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Who will be No. 1 draft pick?
Ridge Mahoney on the MLS Draft
Play at the MLS Combine in Ft. Lauderdale provided further clues on which players will be coveted during the MLS SuperDraft on Friday in Baltimore. Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney takes a position-by-position look at the top candidates to break into MLS …
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Why Ruud likes Ruiz
[MLS WATCH] They’ve squared off against each other for club and country, and circumstances swept one out of town to make room for the other. Now Landon Donovan and Carlos Ruiz, catalysts and protagonists in many a soccer drama, are teammates.
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MLS Offseason Player Moves
For all the team-by-team MLS offseason player moves …
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Agoos, Preki and Earnie Stewart on Hall of Fame ballot
[HALL OF FAME] Former U.S. national team players Jeff Agoos, Earnie Stewart and Preki Radosavljevic are among 13 former players on the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame ballot for the first time. Agoos is currently the New York Red Bulls’ sporting director, Stewart is technical director of Dutch club NAC Breda, and Preki is Chivas USA head coach. The three were teammates on the USA’s 1998 World Cup team. Stewart also played in the 1994 and 2002 World Cups, while Agoos played in the 2002 finals. For the ballot, whose other newcomers include Evan Whitfield, Shannon MacMillan and Troy Dayak …
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The Sundhage era begins
[U.S. WOMEN] The USA and Canada traveled halfway around the world to meet in new U.S. coach Pia Sundhage‘s debut on Wednesday. When the Americans left last Thursday for China, they were headed to Foshan, south of Guangzhou (Canton), but they learned in mid-flight that the Four Nations Tournament had been moved to Guangzhou itself. For a look at the USA and its first three opponents of 2008 …
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Barbados rallies for victory in warm-up
[WORLD CUP WATCH] Playmaker Norman Forde was the star, scoring once and setting up two other goals, as Barbados, the USA’s probable first opponent in 2010 World Cup qualifying, beat Antigua & Barbuda, 3-2, in its first warmup game of 2008 … Sweden, which faces the USA Saturday at the Home Depot Center, beat Costa Rica, 1-0, Sunday in a game that marked Paulo Cesar Wanchope‘s final match for the Ticos … Puerto Rico, coached by former MLS coach Colin Clarke, has called up a number of current and former MLS players for its qualifying campaign.
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Soccer Job Openings
[EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES] Soccer America provides the latest on employment opportunities for soccer-related positions: college coaching opportunities, positions in the pros, youth soccer, the soccer industry, even television.
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Dorrance suit ends with settlement and apology
[COURTS] Almost 10 years after the lawsuit was initiated, University of North Carolina women’s head coach Anson Dorrance settled a sexual harassment suit filed by former Tar Heel Melissa Jennings.
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What They’re Saying
“All managers have sentiment but they also need to take decisions. Beckham is important for England and can still give a lot, but as everybody knows, all the players are equally important to me and start from the same position, including David Beckham.”
— England’s new coach Fabio Capello warning David Beckham that he won’t be influenced by sentiment when he decides if the England midfielder deserves to win his 100th cap against Switzerland on Feb. 6. Beckham would be the fifth England player to reach the milestone, along with Billy Wright, Bobby Charlton, Bobby Moore and Peter Shilton (Ticker)
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Sagas of Johnson, Twellman intertwined
The exodus continues. Matt Pickens, Clarence Goodson and Eddie Johnson have left the U.S. camp in Southern California to chase overseas opportunities. Taylor Twellman hasn’t. Today’s lesson is the importance of foresight.
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David Beckham’s giant footprint
[OFF THE POST] David Beckham has the largest carbon footprint in human history according to British environmental group Carbon Trust. Having flown 250,000 miles last year, owning 15 gas-guzzling cars, and fueling mansions around the world has Carbon Trust calculating that the Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder is responsible for 163 tons of carbon dioxide, compared to the 9.4 tons of CO2 the average Brit “produces.”
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Brilliant debut for Milan’s ‘Ka-Pa-Ro’
[ITALY/VIDEO] How good were Kaka, Ronaldo and Pato Alexandre, their 18-year-old countryman, in their first game together? They combined for four goals — one more than Milan had scored all league season at home — in its 5-2 win over Napoli on Sunday.
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‘Incredible’ Cristiano Ronaldo leads Man. United back on top
[ENGLAND/VIDEO] Nothing in the first half indicated such brilliance, but star Cristiano Ronaldo put on a show in the second half to lead Manchester United to a 6-0 victory over manager-less Newcastle United on Saturday that took it back on top — on goal difference — in the English Premier League following Arsenal’s 1-1 tie with Birmingham City at home.
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MLS Offseason Player Moves
Clarence Goodson, picked up by San Jose from FC Dallas in the expansion draft, joined the growing list of MLS players headed to Norway when he signed with second-division Start. For all the team-by-team MLS offseason player moves …
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What They’re Saying
“When I ask MLS, they say the Revs rejected it. When I ask the Revs, they said it was MLS. Look, you’re not going to get more than that for a guy like me, who is not always with the national team. It’s a good offer. Anytime a team wants you that bad, of course you want to go. … I’m everywhere from confused to mad because I don’t know where we are on this.”
— New England’s Taylor Twellman, who told the Washington Post ‘s Steven Goff that MLS and/or New England rejected a $2.5 million offer from England’s Preston North End for the 27-year-old forward.