“Wherever you can make love, you can play sports.”
— Bolivian President Evo Morales, who is leading the charge to get FIFA to reverse its ban on games at above 2,500 meters (8,200 feet). The ban would prevent Bolivia from hosting games in its capital, La Paz (11,811 feet). (The New York Sun)
Major League Soccer has launched a summer youth program, “Verano MLS,” that will provide 8- to 12-year-olds venues for twice-a-week pick-up-style soccer and “an opportunity to meet MLS players and coaches.” The six-week program, overseen by Colombian World Cup veteran Wilmer Cabrera, who is MLS’s Manager of Fan Development, debuts in Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. The program, part of the league’s outreach to the USA’s Hispanic community, offers children a Verano MLS adidas soccer ball, a Verano MLS adidas T-shirt and a complimentary MLS game ticket for themselves and members of their family.
The surprise of the Gold Cup has been Guadeloupe, the French department making its debut in the CONCACAF championship. The “Gwadaboys” have already beaten Canada and Honduras and meet Mexico Thursday in the quarterfinals. Here’s a look at some of its stars …
[TV PREVIEW] Houston and Chivas USA, both in the midst of three-game winning streaks, clash in ESPN2’s Thursday Night MLS game. Houston coach Dominic Kinnear figured he’d lose midfielders Dwayne DeRosario (Canada) and Ricardo Clark (USA) and forward Brian Ching (USA) during the Gold Cup, but he wasn’t expecting the emergency call-up of keeper Pat Onstad to the Canadian team.
The Gold Cup moves into the semifinals with two games on Thursday. The USA meets Canada at 7 pm ET on Fox Soccer Channel and TeleFutura followed by Mexico against surprise Guadeloupe on TeleFutura at 10 om ET …
The Columbus Crew picked up its first MLS win in almost two months Wednesday night when it beat the Kansas City Wizards, 2-1, for only the club’s second win of the season. Eddie Gaven and Stefani Miglioranzi scored goals — the first of the season for both players — to break a 0-0 deadlock in the second half.
[GOLD CUP PREVIEW] Two decades ago, the U.S. team beat Canada, 3-0, in an Olympic qualifying match and began to shed the label of underdogs. In the Gold Cup semifinals Thursday at Soldier Field in Chicago, it will be the Canadians seeking an upset. From Chicago, Ridge Mahoney previews the semifinal clash that airs on Fox Soccer Channel and Telefutura at 7 pm ET. …
The Chicago Fire, which won just one game in its last eight outings, has fired Coach Dave Sarachan. Denis Hamlett, an assistant coach for Chicago for 10 seasons, takes over as interim head. Sarachan coached the Fire since 2003, when the Fire finished MLS runner-up. The Fire missed the playoffs once during Sarachan’s four full seasons in charge, in 2004. It was eliminated last year in the quarterfinals on penalty kicks by New England. Sarachan guided the Fire to U.S. Open Cup titles in 2003 and 2006. “I don’t think this was a fair time to assess [Sarachan],” Chicago captain Chris Armas told the Chicago Tribune . “Why even re-sign him at the end of [last] year in the first place? He should have been given the year to get things back on track. We have injuries and guys at the national team camp. Our core group has been gone.”
The host Netherlands advanced to the final of the UEFA Under-21 Championship on Wednesday after beating England, 13-12, in a shootout that lasted 16 rounds, Heerenveen’s Gianni Zuiverloon converted the winning penalty in the shootout that took place after the two teams played to a 1-1 tie. Dutch goalkeeper Boy Waterman made three fine penalty saves before England’s Anton Ferdinand hit the top of the bar with his spot kick, setting up Zuiverloon’s decisive shot. The 25 goals in the shootout were a record for a UEFA competition.
“If you want to win, you have to pay up to £100,000 [$200,000] a week to a player who can hardly read or write and he earns four or five million pounds [$8 or $10 million]. It’s crazy.”
— Mohamed Al Fayed, the chairman of English Premier League club Fulham. (BBC)
[U.S. CLUB REGIONAL CHAMPIONS] Three clubs won a pair of titles at US Club Soccer’s National Cup VI Region H championships in Modesto, Calif. Mustang claimed the Super Group Girls U17 and Premier Boys U14 championships, while California Rush Nike triumphed in the Super Group Girls U16 and Premier Boys U16 divisions and Portuguese Athletic Club was victorious in the Super Group Boys U12 and Premier Girls U12 brackets. Four teams repeated as regional champions: Santa Rosa United’s U15 Super Group Boys, Mount Hamilton Lobitos’ U17 Super Group Boys, San Juan Spirits’ U13 Super Group Girls and USA 17 Academy’s U14 Super Group Girls. Winners from each of the eight regionals advance to the 2007 National Cup VI Finals later this summer in Greensboro, N.C., and Burlington, N.C. For complete list of regional champions …
[REGION IV SCORES] Three-time defending national champion Arsenal FC was one of five teams to win their first two games in the under-18 boys division at the US Youth Soccer Region IV Championships at the Bettye Wilson Soccer Complex and the Kellogg Zaher Sports Complex in Las Vegas, Nev. Arsenal FC, based in Alta Loma, Calif., beat Washington champion Emerald City FC Green, 3-0, thanks to goals by former U.S. U-17 resident Ryan Peterman, Cal recruit Davis Paul and an Emerald own goal. Also 2-0 were hometown favorite LV Premier, Real of Hawaii, San Diego Surf White and Colorado Nike Rush. For Region Day II scores …
[TRANSFER TALK] Honduran David Suazo, arguably the best striker ever to come out of Central America, is involved in a tug-of-war between Italian clubs AC Milan and Inter Milan. Days after the 27-year-old Suazo was reported to have joined Serie A champion Inter from Cagliari, AC Milan said it had signed Suazo.
[PHOTO] Bibiana Steinhaus, described by the German press as a pretty blond policewoman, is poised to become the first woman to referee in German men’s professional soccer. The 28-year-old, whose latest day-job assignment was shielding the G-8 Summit from anti-globalization protesters in Rostock, was promoted by the German soccer federation to the Second Division after six years of refereeing the men’s third division. Only two percent of Germany’s 80,000 referees are female. The only other female referee in German men’s pro soccer was Gertrud Gebhard, who lasted two games as a lineswoman in 1995.
[TV PREVIEW] Two teams coming off six-goal games last weekend figure to tighten things up, so there might be a repeat of their May 5 meeting (1-0). Jose Burciaga slalomed through the Crew to score the only goal of the game in the 90th minute to end a Crew three-game shutout streak. That was also the game in which Ricardo Virtuoso’s shoulder cracked the jaw of Wizards defender Jimmy Conrad and Guillermo Barros Schelotto debuted for the Crew. Columbus is a much different team than it was then, which it showed last week by rallying from two goals down to snatch a 3-3 tie with the Revs at Gillette Stadium.
Univision has been showing Mexico’s Gold Cup games for a reason. Rather than diverting the Tri’s first four matches to Galavision or TeleFutura, Univision aired them live. In the case of last Thursday’s primetime showing of Mexico-Panama, the game did a 20.1 household rating in the NHTI (Hispanic homes), delivering 2,343,000 Hispanic homes and 4,374,000 Hispanic persons 2+ for each average minute. Most impressive was the Gold Cup group match’s appeal to men 18-49. In that all-important demographic, the game drew 1,959,000 viewers, more than any other television program that evening on any U.S. TV network.
[REGION IV SCORES] Arsenal FC of Southern California continued its quest for a fourth straight national title in its age group with an 8-0 win over Utah’s Impact Black in the U-18 boys division on the opening day of play at the US Youth Soccer Region IV (West) Championships at the Bettye Wilson Soccer Complex and the Kellogg Zaher Sport Complex in Las Vegas, Nev. In one of the first upsets of the competition, local club LV Premier beat Cal South’s Valley United Blast, 2-0, in the U-15 boys division. The Blast has won the Region IV championships the past three years and won the national championship last year. For Region IV scores from Day 1 games .
[PDL RESULTS] One of the surprises of the 2007 PDL season has been the Hampton Roads Piranhas (7-0-1), who shut out the Richmond Kickers Future, 1-0, on Sunday at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex for eighth shutout in eight games. York College junior Andrew Wheeler scored in the 75th minute for his team-high eighth goal of the season. Former U.S. U-17 residency camper Evan Newton, who now plays for Old Dominion, earned the shutout for Hampton Roads, which leads the Mid Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference by four points over the Virginia Legacy. For complete PDL results and goalscorers …
[W-LEAGUE RESULTS] The Minnesota Lightning improved to 5-0-0 with two wins over Ft. Wayne (2-0 and 4-0) in 48 hours. Former Kansas University star Caroline Smith and Sarah Oligney, the former Horizon League Player of the Year at Wisconsin-Green Bay, scored in the 2-0 win over the Fever. Rising Northwestern senior Kelsey Hans and Smith both scored twice in the 4-0 win, which was played as part of a doubleheader with the USL-1 Thunder. For complete W-League results and goalscorers …
After a thrilling La Liga campaign in which Real Madrid edged Barcelona for the title, presidents of both clubs were quickly forced to turn to the future. Madrid president Ramon Calderon must decide what to do with Coach Fabio Capello. Barcelona president Joan Laporta said his club will undergo an overhaul during the offseason. For all the details on the possible moves Real and Barca will make …
[VIDEO] Concerns about goalscoring in MLS were allayed somewhat in a high-scoring weekend (27 goals in six games), as excellent finishes punished errors, some large, some small. All goals, many say, stem from errors, but mistakes this season seem to be more costly, and forwards last weekend were especially efficient on breakaways. Are teams punishing defensive errors more ruthlessly?
MLS’s Week 11 games drew crowds of more than 20,000 in Columbus, D.C., and Toronto as the season’s attendance surpassed the 1 million mark. The 72 games so far have drawn 1,107,199 fans for a 15,378 per game average. The three games that drew the 20,000-plus crowds all featured at least four goals, while the 19,225 at the Home Depot Center for Los Angeles’ clash with Real Salt Lake enjoyed a 3-2 home-team win. For complete MLS statistics …
Jeremiah White, a 25-year-old Pennsylvania product who played college ball at Wake Forest, helped AGF Aarhus clinch promotion to the top Danish league tier, the SAS Ligaen, with a 2-0 win over Kolding IF last weekend.
“There’s this delusion that if it’s English then it’s great. But a whole world exists outside of England. … You know, there’s no accounting for bad taste. The fact that a segment of the world worships an inferior product in the Premiership is their business.”
— Los Angeles Galaxy president Alexi Lalas lashes out at Brits who say David Beckham is “going into semi-retirement” by coming to MLS. Lalas added that “the Premiership has become so skilled in presentation. They took a page out of American football and now have Saturday Showdowns and Super Sundays. I love it. This is high-caliber marketing: taking an inferior product and improving it through packaging.” (The Guardian)
[USL RESULTS] The Rochester Rhinos opened up a two-point lead on idle Vancouver in the USL-1 thanks to a 5-2 win over Charleston on Sunday. Five different players scored for the Rhinos, who have played three more games than the Whitecaps. Seattle won, 1-0, at Carolina on Frenchman Sebastien Le Toux‘s goal to move into third place four points behind Rochester. In the USL-2, the expansion Bermuda Hogges remained winless with losses at Baltimore and Richmond.
