Category: Soccer America Daily

U.S. Soccer is running an under-14 girls development camp that concludes Sunday in Pomona, Calif., under the direction of U-14 Technical Director Mike Dickey. There are 100 players attending the weeklong identification camp.

Praise be given to The Worldwide Leader in Sports for adding the perceived MLS David Beckham debut Sunday against Toronto FC to its schedule, but between the lines, New England-Kansas City at Gillette Stadium on Thursday night is the marquee matchup of the week, if not the month.

MLS Primetime Thursday on ESPN2 features an Eastern Conference clash between leaders New England and Kansas City.

Three of MLS’s four teams advanced to the semifinals of the first SuperLiga. The Houston Dynamo beat D.C. United, 1-0, to move into the semifinals, and D.C. United finished second in Group B thanks to Club America’s 3-2 win over Morelia in the final group match played Wednesday night at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill.

DaMarcus Beasley didn’t off the bench in Scottish club Rangers’ first official match since he was transferred from Dutch champion PSV, a 2-0 win over FK Zeta of Montenegro in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League second round qualifying series.

There’s much more on the line than a spot in the SuperLiga semifinals when Houston hosts D.C. United Wednesday (8 p.m. ET, TeleFutura, mlslive.tv) as play concludes in Group B. Tied atop the group with four points, neither team is assured of advancing should this match end in a tie. If Morelia beats Club America (10 p.m. ET, TeleFutura, mlslive.tv), there would be a three-way logjam of teams with five points and tiebreakers would be needed to determine which two teams move on and which one does not.

U.S. Club Soccer crowded 2007 National Cup VI champions on Tuesday in Super Group and Premier divisions for U-15 to U-17 girls teams at Bryan Park in Greensboro, N.C. and U-12 to U-14 boys teams at Springwood Park in Burlington, N.C. U-15 to U-17 boys champions were crowned last week in Greensboro.

Group play in the SuperLiga concludes on Wednesday. All games of eight-team tournament are televised live by Spanish-language TeleFutura. ESPN2 has added live coverage of Sunday’s Toronto FC-Los Angeles game (blacked out in Los Angeles).

The Freddy phenomenon died here a long time ago. It’s only now begun in Lisbon, where a crowd of 100 fans and reporters greeted Freddy Adu upon his arrival at Portela Airport from Washington to finalize his contract with Portuguese giant Benfica.

“Have they stopped scoring yet?” Seldom is this heard in a high-class soccer game, but only the final whistle kept the Galaxy and FC Dallas from hitting double-digits — apiece — in their incredible SuperLiga match Tuesday night at Pizza Hut Park. Eleven goals, three of them in stoppage time: That’s entertainment.

U.S. Soccer is conducting a weeklong identification camp in its U-14 boys development program. There were 119 players were selected from the four regions across the United States to participate in the camp that began on Sunday at Middlesex School in Concord, Mass.

Three members of the regular-season champion Hampton Roads Piranhas — Evan Newton, David Horst and Andrew Wheeler — head the All-Premier Development League Team.

Former U.S. national team star Tiffeny Milbrett of the Vancouver Whitecaps heads the 2007 All-W-League team. The all-league team included players from Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Switzerland as well as the USA.

A Toronto police report released Monday concluded that officers acted appropriately during a clash with players and staff of the Chilean U-20 team after their semifinal match with Argentina on July 19 at the Under-20 World Cup.

Mexican international Nery Castillo, the revelation of Gold Cup and Copa America, is set to sign a lucrative deal with Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk in a $20.5 million transfer from Olympiakos, the Greek club at which he has been since he was 16.

The defending champion Michigan Bucks moved into the semifinals of the Premier Development League, where they are joined by the 2006 runner-up Laredo Heat, Brooklyn Knights and Fresno Fuego.

The Chicago Fire rolled to a 3-0 win in the MLS debut of Mexican attacker Cuauhtemoc Blanco and presented head coach Juan Carlos Osorio his first MLS victory. New England also won on the road, beating Real Salt Lake, 2-1. Spectacular goals by Kerry Zavagnin and Yuri Movsisyan propelled the Kansas City Wizards past Chivas USA, 3-2, and pushed them to within a point of the Eastern Conference lead now held by the Revs.

Iraq achieved one of the most dramatic victories in the modern history of soccer when it won the Asian Cup for the first time, beating Saudi Arabia, 1-0, in Sunday’s final in Jakarta, Indonesia, and setting off wild celebrations back home in war-torn Iraq.