Category: Soccer America Daily

[COLLEGE] Venezuelan Bernardo Anor‘s goal 43 seconds into overtime gave No. 12 South Florida a 1-0 win over Valparaiso that improved the Bulls’ record to 3-0-0. For all of Tuesday’s results and goalscorers ..,

[COLLEGE] Harvard, which shared the 2008 Ivy League, got its first win of the season with a 1-0 victory over New Hampshire. For all the Tuesday women’s action …

[WORLD CUP QUALIFYING] In past Hexagonals, the USA has qualified for the World Cup as early as the seventh game in the 10-match campaign, or by the eighth game on other occasions. No such guarantee is available this time around. Even a victory against Trinidad & Tobago Wednesday in Port of Spain (kickoff at 7 p.m. ET, ESPN Classic, Telefutura) in Game 8 will assure only fourth place …

LINEUPS:
USA — Howard, Spector, Onyewu, Bocanegra, Bornstein, Clark, Bradley, Dempsey, Donovan, Altidore, Davies.
Trin. & Tobago — Ince, Edwards, Abu Bakr, Lawrence, Samuel, Tinto, Leon, Noel, Spann, Glenn, Jones.

WEDNESDAY’S World Cup Qualifying Results

[MLS] A lackluster 1-0 loss to Colorado last weekend gave credence to the belief that Toronto FC can’t play a pat hand and reach the MLS playoffs this season for the first time. Changes are in the works. The Toronto Globe and Mail is reporting that stalled negotiations with midfielder Julian De Guzman, who is out of contract and has yet to find a new club, have been revived and a deal could be announced sometime this week. He would take the roster spot of striker Danny Dichio, who has been bothered by injuries the past two seasons and is making his retirement from the club official at a press conference Wednesday.

[COLLEGE] No. 8 Purdue improved to 5-0-0 and won the Boilermaker Challenge Cup for the sixth time in 11 years with a 6-1 win over Ball State. Other winners on an abbreviated Labor Day schedule included Connecticut and BYU. For all the Monday action …

[EUROPEAN WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP] England moved into the European Women’s Championship for the first time since the inaugural tournament 25 years ago when it beat the Netherlands, 2-1, in overtime. It advanced to Thursday’s final in Helsinki against four-time defending champion Germany, a 3-1 winner over Norway Monday in the other semifinal.

[COLLEGE] DePaul handed No. 17 Northwestern its first loss of the season when it beat its Chicago area rival, 2-1. No. 8 UC Irvine improved to 3-0-0 when it beat Cleveland State, 2-0, to win its UC Irvine College Classic. For the second game in a row, Aaron O’Neal scored twice for No. 14 Boston University, leading the Terriers to a 3-0 win over Providence. For all of Monday’s results and goal scorers …

[COLLEGE] Penn State senior Jason Yeisley, who was sidelined with a knee injury since October 2007, began his comeback bid in spectacular fashion with three goals in his first two games and an assist on the lone goal in the third game, earning Soccer America Men’s Player of the Week honors for games played Sept. 1-6. For the Soccer America Men’s Team of the Week …

[COLLEGE] For the second week in a row, a Portland player is the Soccer America Women’s Player of the Week. After Danielle Foxhoven, Canadian Sophie Schmidt took top honors for games played Aug. 31-Sept. 6 thanks to her four goals in the No. 3 Pilots’ 5-1 win over Columbia. For the Soccer America Women’s Team of the Week …

[MLS] Only three league games were played last weekend yet each tweaked the wild-card picture, and this week MLS goes back to a full slate. Colorado won a game it couldn’t afford to lose, the Revs let one slip that they might not miss, and D.C. United got a point in Dallas that might prove to be as valuable as it was fortunate. Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney assesses the playoff race. …

[USA] U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati‘s statement at halftime of Saturday’s USA-El Salvador game that Edgar Castillo had been cleared by FIFA to represent the United States at the senior national team level was certainly coincidental. A poor outing at left back by Jonathan Bornstein — one of four players whom Coach Bob Bradley has used at the position in seven Hexagonal games — only increases the likelihood that Castillo, a natural left back, might get a shot.

WORLD CUP:
USA Qualifying Scenarios & TV
Europe Qualfying Scenarios & TV
South America Qualifying Scenarios & TV

[WORLD CUP QUALIFYING] After seeing its chances to reach South Africa 2010 take a hit with last weekend’s 1-0 loss at Peru, Uruguay is offering two tickets for the price of one to its home game on Wednesday against Colombia in the 60,000-capacity Centenario stadium.

Colorado helped its playoff cause and Toronto FC hurt its with the Rapids’ 1-0 win over MLS’s Canadian entry Saturday night. D.C. United’s 2-2 tie at FC Dallas and New England’s 4-2 loss to Kansas City left the Revs among four teams with 33 points — tied for seventh place in the overall standings. For all the weekend summaries and current standings …

[AMERICANS ABROAD] On a World Cup qualifying weekend, Mexico’s Primera Division was the only other major league besides MLS to hold games. New Mexico product Edgar Castillo, whom FIFA has cleared to represent the USA, played the entire 90 minutes in Tigres’ 1-1 against Club America, the club that loaned him to Tigres for the fall season.

[OFF THE POST] Georgia captain Kakha Kaladze, who plays his club ball with AC Milan, apologized for scoring two own goals in Georgia’s 2-0 World Cup qualifying loss to Italy.

[USL-1] Miami FC kept its very slim playoff hopes alive when it snapped its six-game losing streak Saturday night, by beating the Austin Aztex, 3-1.

North Carolina, Stanford and Portland remain 1-2-3 in the Soccer America Women’s Top 25, but there were lots of changes in the rest of the rankings. Nine teams, eight for the first time this season, climbed into the Top 25.

With 1-0 wins over SMU and host Tulsa, Akron climbed one spot and took over as No. 1 in the Soccer America Men’s Top 25. North Carolina, which was held to a 1-1 tie by Northern Illinois, dropped to No. 2. Northern Illinois moved into the Top 25 along with ACC teams N.C. State, Duke and Virginia, American and South Carolina.

[USA-EL SALVADOR REPORT CARD] Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney grades the U.S. players in their 2-1 win over El Salvador in World Cup qualifying on Saturday in Sandy, Utah.

Brazil and Ghana became the seventh and eighth teams — and the first from South America and Africa qualifying — to clinch berths in the World Cup over the weekend. For all weekend results …

[WORLD CUP QUALIFYING] For once, not all of the U.S. troubles against a supposedly overmatched Concacaf foe were of its own doing. Still, it fouled up on enough occasions to mar stretches of crisp, confident play while beating El Salvador, 2-1, in Sandy, Utah, Saturday. Goals by Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore late in the first half brought the USA back from a 1-0 deficit inflicted when Christian Castillo headed home a Rodolfo Zelaya cross in the 32nd minute.

[WORLD CUP 2010 QUALIFYING] Ghana became the eighth team to clinch a berth in the World Cup when it beat Sudan, 2-0, on Sunday. Elsewhere, Ivory Coast, Algeria and Tunisia won to remain in first place, while Cameroon’s 2-0 win at leader Gabon left Group A up for grabs.