The Concorde Fire broke out with a 6-1 win over AFC Lightning and a 6-3 win over the Atlanta Fire against Georgia rivals in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy U17/18 division over the weekend. Brian Ownby scored his eighth and ninth goals of the season for the Richmond Strikers in their 3-1 victory over the Richmond Kickers in a battle of Atlantic Conference leaders. In U15/16 play, Justin Watson scored his league-leading eighth and ninth goals of the season to lead South Carolina’s Bridge FA to a 2-1 win at home against the Virginia Rush. For all the results, U.S. Soccer Development Academy goalscorers and lineups …
Category: Soccer America Daily
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Even without Ching, Dynamo has edge up front
[MLS CUP PREVIEW] In the first installment of our stories setting up the MLS championship game between New England and Houston at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney looks at the fowards.
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Swede takes charge of U.S. women’s coach
[THE SUNDHAGE FILE] Swede Pia Sundhage, 47, has been named U.S. women’s national team coach, becoming the first foreign coach to head the team in the 22-year history of the U.S. women’s national team program. Sundhage is charged with qualifying the USA for the 2008 Olympics and winning the gold medal a year after the Americans, under Coach Greg Ryan, finished a disappointing third-place at the 2007 Women’s World Cup. For facts and figures on Pia Sundhage. …
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‘It’s about dictating the tempo’
[AUDIO/TRANSCRIPTS] At Tuesday’s press conference announcing the hiring of Pia Sundhage, U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati explained why he believes the Swede is the right choice to get the USA back on track. Sundhage discussed how the USA can prevail in an increasingly competitive international arena: “The team is capable of keeping possession and finding the right moment to penetrate. The U.S. can be very successful this way, even playing against tough teams and organized teams. It’s about dictating the tempo; sometimes high tempo and sometimes low tempo. You have to expect that they want to keep the ball and to be comfortable with the ball.”
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
What They’re Saying
“I was out until late in a place where I should not have been. The other day I gave you an excuse, above all to take the pressure off the club.”
— Chris Coleman, the Welsh coach of Spanish club Real Sociedad, who first claimed he was 90 minutes late for a press conference because his washing machine flooded his apartment. Spanish newspapers however reported he’d been at a nightclub the night before until 5 a.m. (The Independent)
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Italian soccer descends into ‘pure madness’
Italy has canceled all pro soccer games next week in the aftermath of the shooting death of a Lazio fan on Sunday. Italy national team coach Roberto Donadoni said the rioting that followed across Italy was “pure madness.”
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U.S. Soccer to announce new women’s coach Tuesday
The U.S. Soccer Federation is holding a press conference at 3:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday to announce the new coach of the U.S. women’s national team. The Washington Post’s Steven Goff wrote on his Soccer Insider blog on Monday that a source told him Pia Sundhage would be the pick. The 47-year-old Swede, her country’s all-time leading scorer, was most recently assistant coach of the Chinese women’s national team.
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Florida woman arrested for stealing from youth league
Central Florida media outlets have reported that a board member of the Big Sun Soccer League has been arrested for engaging in a scheme to defraud the youth organization of more than $79,000. Police say Priscilla Bellcase, 40, allegedly wrote checks to cash, then endorsed them herself or forged the name of another board member to access the funds. The arrest came after a three-month-long investigation by the Ocala Police Dept. Economic Crimes Unit.
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Fan power and marching band for new MLS team
Comedian Drew Carey, a member of the ownership group of the Seattle franchise that will field an MLS team in 2009, promised that the team will have a marching band and that he wants to allow fans to buy memberships giving them a vote on club policy, such as the fate of the general manager. “If you don’t like the job he’s doing, if he doesn’t have a winning team, if you don’t like the product, if you don’t think the hot dogs taste good when you go to the stadium, you can just vote him out,” Carey told the Seattle Post Intelligencer .
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Farewell to Armas
Today’s the day Chris Armas officially hangs it up. At age 35, sent to the sidelines by a troublesome hip and the wear and tear of a dozen pro seasons, the MLS prototypical holding midfielder played 264 regular season games and 37 more in the playoffs with a zeal and hunger seemingly unaffected by fatigue, weather or circumstance. He’ll walk away reluctantly, happy and sad, as well he should. Nobody ever wore the colors of his club and country more humbly yet as proudly as did Armas. He played in four MLS Cups and helped the Fire, which he joined after two seasons in Los Angeles, win a league title and four U.S. Open
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Brazil takes Beach World Cup, again
Brazil claimed its second consecutive Beach World Cup on Sunday in Rio de Janeiro, with an 8-2 win over Mexico 8-2 in the final. Uruguay finished third by edging France 1-0 on penalties after a 2-2 draw in regulation.
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Arsenal puts three past Hahnemann
[AMERICANS IN ENGLAND] Reading goalkeeper Marcus Hahneman was beaten by Mathieu Flamini, Emmanuel Adebayor and Alexander Hleb as the Royals fell, 3-1, to Arsenal, which moved ahead of Manchester United atop the EPL standings on goals scored is now unbeaten in 27 straight games. Hahnemann has conceded 29 goals in 13 games. Only last-place Derby has given up more goals (31) than Reading. Midfielder Bobby Convey started for Reading and played the first 70 minutes.
Arsenal has 30 points from 12 games while Man U has 30 points from 13 games. Each have a goal difference of plus-17, but Arsenal has scored 27 goals to United’s 23.
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Puerto Rico Islanders romp, 7-1, in Caribbean quarterfinals
The USL-1’s Puerto Rico Islanders moved into the semifinals of the 2007 CFU Club Championship with a 7-1 win over SV Leo Victor of Suriname on Sunday in Macoya, Trinidad. Former Colorado Rapids player Fabrice Noel scored goals in the 18th and 22nd minute to put the Islanders ahead for good. The Haiti-born Noel now has scored seven goals in four games.
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MLS expands to Northwest; Seattle to field team in 2009
No surprise here: On Friday, the MLS Board of Governors approved a Seattle franchise to start play in 2009 as the league’s 15th franchise. MLS commissioner Don Garber will be in Seattle Tuesday for a formal announcement. The new team will play at Qwest Field, home of the NFL Seattle Seahawks, and might or not be called the Sounders, the nickname used by a popular but ultimately defunct North American Soccer League franchise (1974-83) as well as a current member of United Soccer Leagues.
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Altidore, Adu in USA roster for South Africa game
[ROSTER] Josmer Altidore, who turned 18 last week, has a chance to make his first full national team appearance in the USA’s Nov. 17 friendly in South Africa. He is among six MLS players called up by Coach Bob Bradley for the Nelson Mandela Challenge Cup game. Altidore scored nine goals for the New York Red Bulls in the 2007 MLS season. Also on the roster is Freddy Adu, who starred with Altidore on the USA’s 2007 U-20 World Cup team that reached the quarterfinals last summer. Landon Donovan is the most capped (96) player on the roster and is aiming to break the all-time national team scoring record.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
What They’re Saying
“I’m happy to be here as an assistant coach and to be able to say that I can actually work with Ruud Gullit. Obviously it will be a little bit of a change for me, but it’s something that I look forward to.”
— Cobi Jones, whose first job after retiring as a player will be as assistant coach to Ruud Gullit with the Los Angeles Galaxy, for which Jones played in its first 12 MLS seasons. (MLSnet)
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Cristiano Ronaldo make case with ‘stunning’ display
[INTERNATIONAL HEADLINERS/VIDEO] Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo may lose out to Brazilian Kaka and Argentine Lionel Messi in balloting for the two year-end international player of the year awards, but he is certainly the class of European soccer, as evidenced by his two superb goals for Manchester United against Blackburn on Saturday. Barcelona’s troubles on the road continued, while Bayern Munich’s slump has put Coach Ottmar Hitzfeld at odds with club president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. In Mexico, the Torneo Apertura’s regular season finished, and 10 teams moved into the playoffs.
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Beckham assists in Minnesota exhibition
The Los Angeles Galaxy again failed to beat a USL team in regulation time for the second time within a week, but at last this time marquee attraction David Beckham made an impact, assisting on Edson Buddle‘s goal in a 1-1 tie with Minnesota Thunder in front of 20,123 fans at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Last Wednesday, the Galaxy played to a scoreless tie with the Vancouver Whitecaps.
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American foes ‘combine’ on EPL goal
[AMERICANS IN BRITAIN] West Ham’s American defender Jonathan Spector celebrated his first English Premier League goal but later found out his strike against Derby County in a 5-0 win was credited as an own goal by countryman Eddie Lewis. The 21-year-old Spector moved in England in 2004 when he joined Manchester United. Goalkeeper Tim Howard helped Everton to a 1-1 tie with Chelsea by making an acrobatic save on an effort by Chelsea’s Shaun Wright-Phillips.
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Italian soccer in chaos
Italian soccer was thrown into chaos when three key matches were either postponed or suspended in the aftermath of the shooting death of a Lazio fan on Sunday. Gabriele Sandri, a 26-year-old disc-jockey, was shot by a police officer after Lazio and Juventus fans clashed at a gas station on the A-1 freeway near the town of Arezzo. As news of Sandri’s death spread across Italy, riots involving soccer fans broke out across Italy.
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Houston returns to MLS Cup
By tried-and-true methods — efficiency on set plays and the unerring daring of Dwayne DeRosario – Houston duly returned to the MLS Cup by beating Kansas City, 2-0, Saturday. But those elements are only part of a formula that for the past two seasons has proven tough to break down even under pressure. Nate Jaqua powered home a Richard Mulrooney corner kick late in the first half to break open a goalless game and DeRosario drilled a low shot with nine minutes left for the clinching goal as Houston won its fifth postseason match (out of seven) since the franchise moved from San Jose in December, 2005.
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UEFA Cup Results
It was a good evening for the clubs with Americans in the UEFA Cup. Goalie Tim Howard had a solid game in Everton’s 2-0 win at German club Nuremberg. Dan Califf went the entire way in AaB’s 1-1 tie with Belgian power Anderlecht. Ramiro Corrales didn’t get off the bench in Brann’s 1-1 tie at French club Rennes. Johann Smith didn’t suit up for Bolton Wanderers’ 2-2 tie at Bayern Munich. For all of Thursday’s results and goal scorers …
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
What They’re Saying
“I haven’t fallen off the wagon. I was walking funny in the airport because my hip hurts. They told me I was drunk. That’s why they didn’t let me on.”
— Former England star Paul Gascoigne, long troubled by alcohol problems, after Air Malta officials refused to let him board a plane to London because they deemed him intoxicated, reportedly because he also smelled of liquor and was slurring his words. Gascoigne was in Malta to take part in a charity game, in which he played 20 minutes. (The Sun)
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Man. United’s new problem: too many stars
[INTERNATIONAL HEADLINERS] With an embarrassment of riches, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is finding it hard to keep everyone happy. Lyon has two exciting new players in youngsters Hatem Ben Arfa and Karim Benzema, who helped it regain the French league lead. The miserable showing by German clubs in Europe has former great Lothar Matthaeus questioning the commitment of their players. Sunday’s top-of-the-table clash between Feyenoord and Ajax has Dutch authorities crossing their fingers that there will not be a repeat of the violence that has marred the Rotterdam-Amsterdam rivalry over the last 30 years.
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Revs’ resilience, Twellman’s brilliance down Chicago
If all 1-0 games featured the teams sharing 36 shots equally, dozens of crunching tackles, and a moment of flair a la Taylor Twellman on a chilly Thursday night, so much more popular in America MLS might be.