Category: Soccer America Daily

[COLLEGE] Freshman Alyssa Rich was the unlikely hero with the lone goal in No 1 North Carolina’s 1-0 win over Marquette 1-0. Senior reserve Kristin Stannard hat a hat trick in a 27-minute span of the second half to lead No. 2 Stanford to a 5-0 victory over Virginia Tech. Canadian Sophie Schmidt scored four goals for No. 3 Portland in its 5-1 win over Columbia. No. 8 UCLA won, 3-0, at No. 7 Florida. Other Top 25 teams to fall on Sunday were No. 10 Penn State, No. 18 St. John’s, No. 19 Utah, No. 21 Missouri, No. 22 Colorado. For all the Labor Day weekend’s Top 25 action …

[COLLEGE] In Top 25 action, No. 3 John’s beat No. 10 Notre Dame, 2-0, and No. 5 Wake Forest edged No. 4 Indiana, 2-1, at the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic, while No. 8 Maryland defeated No. 7 California, 2-1, on Jason Herrick‘s golden goal. For all the Labor Day weekend action …

[WORLD CUP QUALIFYING] Highlights of Mexico’s 3-0 win over Costa Rica. …

Brazil beat Argentina, 3-1, in Rosario to become the seventh team to qualify for the World Cup. In Europe, there were big wins for Italy and Spain, while France and Portugal had to settle for ties. For all Saturday’s results and updates …

[COLLEGE] In Saturday’s only game involving a Top 25 team, No. 12 Purdue improved to 4-0-0 with a 1-0 win over Valparaiso at the Boilermaker Challenge Cup. For all the Labor Day weekend’s Top 25 matches …

[USA-EL SALVADOR] For the second straight home qualifier, the USA made it hard on itself, falling behind in the half, but goals by Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore at the end of the first 45 minutes gave the Americans the goals they needed to beat El Salvador, 2-1, Saturday in Sandy, Utah.

[COLLEGE] No. 24 Boston University won the battle of New England Top 25 teams, handing No. 13 Connecticut its worst loss in three seasons with a 3-0 victory in Storrs. No. 19 George Mason also fell at home, losing to American, 2-1, on a pair of Daniel Shannon in the deciding game of the D.C. College Cup. For all the Labor Day weekend’s Top 25 matches …

[HEXAGONAL] With its 2-1 win over El Salvador, the USA’s path to the 2010 World Cup became clearer. It continues on to Port of Spain, where the need for a result against Trinidad & Tobago Wednesday became even more critical because of Mexico’s 3-0 win at Costa Rica on Saturday.

[HEXAGONAL] With young Giovani dos Santos in brilliant form for Mexico (one goal set up by Cuauhtemoc Blanco and two assists), the Tri beat Costa Rica, 3-0, in San Jose and dropped the Ticos, the first of the top four Hexagonal contenders to concede even one point at home, from first to fourth place in the Concacaf World Cup 2010 qualifying group.

[ARGENTINA-BRAZIL] Sixteen years to the day after its infamous 5-0 loss to Colombia in Buenos Aires, Argentina suffered another humiliating defeat at home. Brazil’s 3-1 win in Rosario kept its record intact of qualifying for every World Cup tournament and put Argentina’s hopes of qualifying in jeopardy. It also produced the unlikely sound of fans at the Estadio Gigante de Arroyito chanting the name of Brazil coach Dunga in protest to Argentina coach Diego Maradona.

[MLS] The Kansas City Wizards, which had gone four games without scoring and seven games without a win, beat New England, 4-2. D.C. United escaped from FC Dallas with a 2-2 tie. Conor Casey scored his 12th goal of the season to give Colorado a 1-0 home win over Toronto FC.

[WORLD CUP QUALIFYING] Highlights of the USA’s 2-1 win over El Salvador. …

[WPS] The expansion Philadelphia Independence has hired English native Paul Riley, who has had a distinguished career as a player and coach at the college and professional level, as its head coach for the 2010 season.

[EUROPEAN WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP] Two goals from Saint Louis Athletica forward Eniola Aluko — the second after she beat three defenders — helped England defeat host Finland, 3-2, before a sellout crowd in Turku and move into the semifinals of the 2009 European Women’s Championship.

[USA-EL SALVADOR] The game plan for the USA in its Hexagonal qualifier against El Salvador Saturday (TV: ESPN Classic, TeleFutura, live, 8 p.m. ET) seems simple enough: go at ’em from the word “go.” That’s what El Salvador did five months ago in San Salvador when it raced out to a 2-0 lead it eventually blew. The USA left it late before rallying for a 2-2 tie that was disappointing, but another draw would this time be disastrous.

Saturday’s World Cup qualifying scores

[TRIVIA] When was the last time the USA failed to beat El Salvador at home? Hint: It set up the most famous World Cup qualifier in U.S. history.

[TELEVISION WATCH] From 10 a.m. to midnight ET, it will be possible to watch non-stop World Cup 2010 qualifying action on cable or online. For the weekend’s complete World Cup 2010 qualifying schedule and viewing options …

Follow all the men’s and women’s action here:
Men’s Weekend College Scoreboard
Women’s Weekend College Scoreboard

[MLS] D.C. United announced, without details, that it will discipline its goalkeeper Josh Wicks, who set the team on the course to its U.S. Open Cup final loss to Seattle on Wednesday by getting red-carded for stomping on Fredy Montero after he scored in the 2-1 Sounders’ win. In United’s MLS game four days earlier, Wicks attacked teammate Marc Burch.

[WORLD CUP 2010 QUALIFYING] Qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa moves into the home stretch with the second-to-last Saturday-Wednesday fixtures in Europe and South America. For a look at how things stand in all the continental groups and the weekend’s television viewing schedule …

WEEKEND COVERAGE: Soccer America Daily will be published Saturday and Sunday with coverage of the key USA-El Salvador World Cup 2010 qualifier and all the other major soccer news. Watch for your Daily at the usual time …

[WORLD CUP 2010 QUALIFYING] Since the 2006 World Cup, the USA has tried to replace veterans whose poise and toughness in critical situations carried the team through some very precarious moments. More than three years later, and with less than a year to go until World Cup 2010, where stands the process of filling the voids left by Claudio Reyna, Brian McBride and Eddie Pope? Has the coaching staff unearthed in the current player pool their characteristics, and not just in the players who might fill similar positions or roles on the field? Qualities personified by those three players have yet to emerge on a regular basis, which is one reason a team that beat Egypt and Spain and stripped Brazil of some samba at the Confederations Cup could struggle against El Salvador Saturday in Sandy, Utah (ESPN Classic & Telefutura, 8 pm ET), and in Trinidad next Wednesday.

[USL-1] Errol McFarlane‘s second goal of the game in the 90th minute gave the Rochester Rhinos a 2-1 win over the Portland Timbers and snapped the Timbers’ USL First Division-record unbeaten streak at 24 games.