Category: Soccer America Daily

[MLS] Which eight teams would qualify for the playoffs based on the current standings?

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Kenny Cooper scored his second German Division Second goal in his third appearance for 1860 Munich, which gave up the lead he provided in the 18th minute one minute later and went down 3-1 to Karlsruhe.

[USA-EL SALVADOR] Former U.S. U-20 Arturo Alvarez was among three MLS players called into El Salvador’s 22-player squad for its World Cup 2010 qualifier against the USA on Sept. 5 in Sandy, Utah.

[OFF THE POST] In Australia, South Melbourne’s Brazilian midfielder Fernando de Moraes did the sportsmanship thing after an opponent’s injury when he sent a throw-in to the Sunshine Georgies’ goalkeeper, who applauded the action. But then De Moraes chased down the throw, robbed the keeper, and stroked the ball into the net.

[COLLEGE] Casey Nogueira, the 2008 Soccer America Women’s Player of the Year who scored two goals in top-ranked North Carolina’s 7-2 win over No. 3 UCLA, is the Soccer America Women’s Player of the Week for games played Aug. 21-23. For the Soccer America Women’s Team of the Week …

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Michael Bradley and Steve Cherundolo, who had been quarantined by their German clubs because of U.S. teammate Landon Donovan‘s bout with swine flu, returned to action with mixed results. In France, Charlie Davies had another solid outing. For a wrapup of U.S. players in foreign leagues. …

New England improved its playoff chances with a 3-1 win over Real Salt Lake thanks to Kheli Dube‘s hat trick. The win moved the Revs into a tie for seventh place overall with Toronto FC and Colorado and has two games and one game in hand on them. Chivas USA won, 2-0, over Toronto FC in Jesus Padilla‘s debut and moved into a tie for third place with slumping Seattle in the Western Conference — and fifth place in the league-wide standings. For all MLS game summaries, standings and leading scorers …

The arrival of veteran Dutch coach Louis Van Gaal was intended to bring some order that was supposedly lacking at Bayern Munich during Juergen Klinsmann‘s short tenure, but the German giant lost, 2-1, to Mainz, leaving it with two points in three games. Defending champion Inter Milan was held to a 1-1 tie by promoted Bari — about to be bought by American Timothy Barton — in its Italian league opener. For the international league results and standings …

[USL] The Portland Timbers became the first team to clinch a playoff berth in the US: First Division with a 3-1 win over Miami FC that extended its unbeaten streak to 23 games and their winning streak to five. The Richmond Kickers will host the Charlotte Eagles for the USL Second Division championship Saturday (TV: Fox Soccer Channel, delay, 11 pm ET) after they won 1-0 decisions in the semifinals.

[COLLEGE] Defending champion North Carolina left no doubt who is the team to beat in 2009, scoring three times in the first 13 minutes and pummeling No. 3 UCLA, 7-2, Saturday. No. 2 Stanford almost matched the Heels’ output in Honolulu Sunday night, beating up on Hawaii, 6-2. The weekend’s big surprise was then-No. 15 San Diego’s 2-1 loss at unfancied Cal State Bakersfield. For this week’s Top 25 rankings and all the weekend Top 25 results and goal scorers …

[WPS] Women’s Professional Soccer’s unique playoff format will certainly spark a lot of debate in the postseason, but there’s no doubt who was the best team in the playoffs. Sky Blue FC won its third game in eight days — all on the road — with a 1-0 win over the Los Angeles Sol Saturday to complete its improbable run to the league championship.

[LOS ANGELES-SKY BLUE FC REPORT CARD] Soccer America’s Editor in Chief Paul Kennedy grades the players in Saturday’s Women’s Professional Soccer championship won by Sky Blue FC over Los Angeles, 1-0.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] After a week of tweeting his frustrations about being stuck in New York, U.S. teenager Jozy Altidore put them behind him and made his English Premier League debut a little more than 24 hours after arriving in England. And quite a debut it was … With his first touch of the ball for Hull City, Jozy Altidore lifted a nifty lob over Bolton Wanderers defender Zat Knight into the path of Algerian Kamel Ghilas, who scored to give the Tigers a 1-0 win on Saturday. In the half hour he was on the field, Altidore had three clear chances but could not score.

[MLS NAMES & NUMBERS] The Chicago Fire staged a dramatic comeback. A hat trick in New England created sweet revenge for the Revs. In D.C.,David Beckham and the Galaxy served up a stalemate. Richie Williams celebrated a return to interim coaching with the Red Bulls. It’s only getting worse for the Wizards. A Chivas USA midfielder finally found the goal again. Seattle’s tie at Houston included a miss for the blooper reels.

[ENGLAND] In his enthusiasm over his club’s best start in 39 years, you can forgive Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp for forgetting that he recently signed 6-foot-7 Peter Crouch. After Spurs’ 2-1 win at West Ham gave it three straight wins and first place in the Premier League, he waxed poetic about his “tiny lads,” who form what he called the smallest frontline in the world. Read also about the horrifying attack on West Ham defender Calum Davenport, garbage-man William Gallas and Arsenal’s new Patrick Vieira, as well as surprise Burnley …

[MLS] Well, it finally happened. His team mired in a winless streak dating back more than three months, an apologetic Juan Carlos Osorio resigned as head coach of the New York Red Bulls. For the second time in four seasons, assistant coach Richie Williams has taken over as the interim head coach, this time for the remainder of the 2009 season.

[COLLEGE] No. 2 Stanford clobbered Hawaii in Honolulu, 6-2, Sunday night to open its 2009 campaign. Sunday’s big loser was No. 15 San Diego, which was stunned by Cal State Bakersfield, 2-1. For all Sunday’s Top 25 results …

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Facing a fight for his starting job with the arrival of Irish veteran Damien Duff, U.S. midfielder Clint Dempsey came through with a goal on a 25-yard shot that helped Fulham win, 3-1, against Russia’s Amkar Perm in the first leg of their Europa League preliminary-round series.

[ITALY] Oguchi Onyewu became the first American since Alexi Lalas to sign with an Italian First Division club when he joined legendary AC Milan as a free agent. Onyewu is one of four foreign imports for Milan, which hopes to unseat defending champion Inter Milan. For all the Serie A moves …

[TRANSFER WATCH] Nowhere has the downturn in the transfer market been more evident than in Italy’s Serie A, where only six permanent transfer deals exceeded $10 million in value. Juventus was the big spender, Inter Milan and AC Milan dealed modestly, while Fiorentina, Roma and Lazio spent little. Eight of the 20 teams did not import a single player.

[MLS PREDICTIONS] After thinning out its schedule in June and July to accommodate other competitions, MLS stages a full schedule of seven weekend games on the heels of two midweek contests. Most games feature teams placed close together in the overall standings, with only three games matching teams separated by more than one win. For all of Soccer America’s predictions, as well as TV viewing information, and to see how Ridge Mahoney fared so far this season …

[WPS] A month ago, it would have been hard to find anyone taking odds against the Los Angeles Sol winning the inaugural Women’s Professional Soccer title. But the oddities of the regular-season schedule (only three Sol games in the last six weeks) and playoff format (a bye for the regular-season champion Sol into the final) mean that the Sol will go in cold against red-hot Sky Blue FC (winner of back-to-back playoff games on the road) in Saturday’s championship game at the Home Depot Center (TV: Fox Sports Net, Comcast Sports Net, live, 4 pm ET/1 pm PT).

[MLS] A team that has taken pride in winning titles with few foreign players and no Designated Players has changed tack. A long-rumored move of Mexican forward Luis Angel Landin to Houston has been completed. The Dynamo announced Thursday Landin, 24, will join the team on loan from Cruz Azul. He will be contracted until the end of 2010, with Houston accorded an option to acquire his rights.