Category: Soccer America Daily

D.C. United forward Jaime Moreno played the last 61 minutes for Bolivia in its 2-0 friendly loss to Peru in Lima. Former MLS midfielder Joselito Vaca went the full 90 for the Bolivians.

U.S. Soccer’s under-17 residency program’s fall semester kicked off last week with 48 players enrolled in the program at IMG Academies in Bradenton, Fla. There are 26 players — 22 ’92s and four ’91s — beginning their first semester of training. The group in residency includes 14 players who recently represented the USA at the 2007 Under-17 World Cup in South Korea. All 10 players born in 1990 will finish up their high school education this semester while training in the program.

U.S. under-15 girls national team coach Tad Bobak has named a 23-player roster for the Nike Women’s Friendlies Sept. 20-23 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. The U-15s, all born in 1992, will play matches against U-17 club teams from across the country.

The U.S. under-14 girls national team will play its first ever competitive matches at the Nike Women’s Friendlies Sept. 20-23 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. It will give U-15 head coach Tad Bobak an early chance to evaluate the players, all born in 1993, in game competition.

The USL First Division begins its playoffs this weekend with four quarterfinal series. The top-seed Seattle Sounders face the expansion Carolina RailHawks. In other series, the No. 2 seed Portland Timbers meet the defending champion Vancouver Whitecaps. The Montreal Impact plays the Puerto Rico Islanders, while the Atlanta Silverbacks and Rochester Rhinos square off in a battle of No. 4 and No. 5 seeds. The second game of the Portland-Vancouver series will be televised Sunday at 8 pm ET on Fox Soccer Channel. Fans can also catch USL playoff action on usllive.com.

Defending champions Germany set a Women’s World Cup record when it beat Argentina, 11-0, for the biggest rout in the history of the tournament, but three-time World Player of the Year Birgit Prinz was not satisfied.

D.C. United’s Luciano Emilio has pulled ahead in the MLS goalscoring race. He now has 18 goals, four more than New York’s Juan Pablo Angel and Kansas City’s Eddie Johnson.

Namibia and Zambia qualified for the 2008 African Nations Cup in Ghana with wins over the weekend. Captain Chris Katongo scored a hat trick in the opening 20 minutes to lead Zambia past 2010 World Cup host South Africa, 3-1,  in Cape Town and capture Group 11 on the final day of qualifying in the group. Namibia won Group 10 when it beat Ethiopia, 3-2, on the road, coming back from 2-1 down in the last minutes on goals by Rudolph Bester and Muna Katupose. The Democratic Republic of Congo appeared to have the group wrapped up, but it was held to a 1-1 tie at home by Libya. For all the finalists …

As a condition of the purchase of the Chicago Fire by Andell Holdings, AEG has relinquished all interest in Toyota Park as well as the team, and the financial formula under which the team’s ownership and the Village of Bridgeview operate has been revised.

Germany, Croatia and Romania were the only group leaders to win their Euro 2008 qualifiers on Saturday. France and Poland stayed on top in their groups thanks to ties on the road. Sweden’s 0-0 tie at home with Denmark was enough to keep it in first place in Group F. Idle Greece stayed on top in Group B