Category: Soccer America Daily
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story

D.C. must overcome Chicago jinx

by Ridge Mahoney

Every team, even the most successful one in MLS history, has to have a bogey opponent, that nettlesome foe always capable of inflicting a painful result no matter what the setting or situation. Four-time league champion D.C. United opens its quest for a fifth title on Thursday against Chicago, a team it has never beaten or scored against in the postseason.

Outscored by Chicago 10-0 in five postseason meetings, of which it has lost four and tied one, United’s players must wash away memories of 2003 and 2005. (Of the current squad, only Ben Olsen and Jaime Moreno played in the 1998 MLS Cup that D.C. lost to Chicago, 2-0, in the Rose Bowl.

Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story

Colombian expected to be new U.S. U-17 coach

by Mike Woitalla

Two days after the dismissal of women’s national team coach Greg Ryan, the U.S. Soccer Federation announced that John Hackworth will no longer be head coach of the U.S. U-17 boys national team. Under Hackworth, the USA lost three games and won once at last summer’s U-17 World Cup. The leading candidate to replace Hackworth is former Colombian World Cup defender Wilmer Cabrera.

Hackworth has been named assistant coach to U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley and U.S. Soccer Development Academy Director.

Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story

Brazilian Luciano Emilio is MLS’s 2007 Goal King

by Soccer America

Luciano Emilio, the Brazilian striker who joined D.C. United this season from CD Olimpia of Honduras, won the MLS regular-season scoring title with 20 goals, edging another first-year player, Colombian Juan Pablo Angel of New York by a goal. The highest scoring American in MLS this season was New England’s Taylor Twellman. For final MLS scoring stats and MLS leading scorer history …

Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story

Happy birthday, Arsene!

by Paul Kennedy

[REACTION/VIDEO] A day after he celebrated his 58th birthday, Arsenal handed its manager, Frenchman Arsene Wenger, a birthday present with a record-tying 7-0 win over Slavia Prague in Champions League action on Tuesday. The Gunners were every bit as good as the score indicated, but Wenger said his young team still had room for improvement.

Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying

What They’re Saying

by Soccer America

“I am very proud of the bronze medal that we won in the 2007 World Cup. Playing in the most difficult group and on foreign soil, these players earned third place, matching the finish our team had in 2003 playing at home. … I understand and accept the criticisms that accompany the decisions I made in the World Cup. Soccer is a fluid game and not every decision or strategy always works as planned. In those cases, players, fans and the media have the right to express their opinions. As a coach, I understood that and accept it as a part of the job that was entrusted to me.”

— Greg Ryan, who was dismissed as U.S. women’s national team coach on Monday. (Associated Press)

Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story

Golden Ball goes global

by Soccer America

The Golden Ball (“Ballon d’Or”), which has been awarded to the European Player of the Year since 1956, has gone global. For the first time, the Golden Ball will awarded without regard to the country in which a player is playing. This year’s list of nominees includes four players competing on teams outside Europe including the Los Angeles Galaxy’s David Beckham.

Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story

Will MLS reduce Ricardo Clark suspension?

by Ridge Mahoney

[VIDEO] Houston is awaiting word from the league office regarding its appeal of the nine-game suspension meted out to midfielder Ricardo Clark for kicking Carlos Ruiz as he lay on the ground in a Sept. 30 match. Commissioner Don Garber reviewed numerous incidents, including the six-game suspensions handed out to Thomas Ravelli in 1998, Andy Herron in 2005, and Dario Sala last year in making his decision.

Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story

No second chance for Ryan

by Soccer America

[HISTORY] Greg Ryan‘s tenure as U.S. women’s national team coach was the shortest of all U.S. women’s head coaches since the creation of world championships for women’s soccer — World Cup and Olympics. He is also the first to have failed to win a world title while in charge of the U.S. women. Anson Dorrance resigned three years after guiding the USA to the first Women’s World Cup title in 1991. In Tony DiCicco‘s first championship in charge, the USA finished third at the World Cup, but DiCicco won gold a year later in the first women’s Olympic tournament in 1996 and lifted the World Cup in 1999. April Heinrichs failed to guide the USA to titles in her first two world championships but won Olympic gold in 2004. Ryan was dismissed after his first world championship in charge, this year’s third-place finish at the World Cup in China.

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