[VIDEO] The British Web site “Who ate all the pies” hailed this free kick by New England’s Khano Smith against Kansas City as the worst ever taken by a pro – and Revs coach Steve Nicol seemed to agree.
Category: Soccer America Daily
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MLS STATISTICS: Who’s to blame for the goal dearth?
Kansas City’s 4-3 win over New England last Saturday was the highest scoring game of the 2007 season, but MLS goalscoring so far this year remains just barely over 2.5 goals per game. In fact, five teams have scored fewer than one goal per game. The lowest-scoring team in the league is none other than defending champ Houston, which has mustered just five goals in eight games. Just slightly worse in futility in front of the net are Columbus, Toronto, Real Salt Lake and Chicago. New England and Kansas City are tops, scoring at a rate of two goals per game. For up-to-date MLS standings, schedules, leading scorers, attendance and goalscoring averages …
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Tremors in San Jose; Fire eyes Chilean star
Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney provides the latest on efforts to bring back the Earthquakes and the Chicago Fire’s courtship with Chilean legend Marcelo Salas …
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China names team for friendly against USA
[CHINA ROSTER] China is headed to the United States to face the U.S. national team and two MLS clubs with a squad that will be without players from Shandong Luneng and Shanghai Shenhua. China play the USA in an international friendly on Saturday and will meet the Los Angeles Galaxy on June 5 and Colorado Rapids five days later.
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Nomads claim first Red Bull National League under-17 boys title
The Nomads of La Jolla, Calif., downed Southern California rival Arsenal FC, 3-2, Monday to win the first-ever Red Bull National League under-17 boys title. Jose Torres‘ half-volley opened the scoring in the 16th minute of the final and added a second in the 63rd minute. Jeo Sandez also scored for the Nomads. Rafa Baca and Norberto Ochoa scored for Arsenal in the second half, but a penalty-kick save by Nomads goalkeeper Chris Blais in the 75th minute sealed the victory.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
What They’re Saying
“We didn’t have the luck to be born anywhere else. We have to play sports wherever we are.”
— Bolivian soccer fan Ruben Cuenca reacts to FIFA’s ban on international games at venues above 8,200 feet sea level. The ban prevents Bolivia from playing World Cup qualifiers in La Paz, which lies 11,800 feet above sea level, and prohibits games in the capitals of Colombia and Ecuador and in the hometowns of major clubs in Mexico and Peru. (New York Times)
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Eddie Johnson hat trick highlights MLS Week 8
Eddie Johnson led the Wizards back from a 2-0 deficit with a hat trick to beat the Revs, 4-3. Toronto FC earned its first road goals and initial road point of the season by tying the Crew, 2-2. Reigning league MVP Christian Gomez awoke to lead D.C. United past Houston, 2-1, with a goal and an assist. Chivas USA strikers Maykel Galindo and Ante Razov each netted once to down FC Dallas, 2-0. Colorado took advantage of a Kyle Martino ejection to edge the Galaxy, 1-0. The Fire halted its four-game losing streak but did little else by lurching to a 0-0 home tie against Real Salt Lake. Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney recaps all the Memorial Day weekend MLS action …
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Cacho leads Pachuca to Mexican league title
Juan Carlos Cacho, whose two goals gave Pachuca a 2-1 victory over Club America on Friday in the first leg of Mexico’s Torneo Clausura finals, scored in the 82nd minute of the second leg to give the Tuzos a 1-1 tie and their second straight Clausura title. Playing his last game for America before joining MLS’s Chicago Fire, Cuauhtemoc Blanco scored in the 68th minute to pull America even on aggregate, but Cacho, called up for Mexico’s team for the Gold Cup and Copa America, once again came to the rescue and tallied his third goal in two games.
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Ronnie’s red potential blow to Barca’s title chances
Real Madrid, Barcelona and Sevilla all won to remain in contention for the 2007 La Liga title. Real beat Deportivo Coruna, 3-1, to remain in control of the race with two games to play. It is tied with Barcelona, 1-0 winner over Getafe, but has won the tie-breaker (head-to-head record). Barcelona’s title chances took a blow when star Ronaldinho was sent off late in the first half against Getafe and faces the prospect of missing the last two games of the season if Barcelona’s appeal isn’t upheld
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Chievo’s Flying Donkeys crash in Serie A finale
Chievo Verona, one of the best small clubs in recent European history, was relegated from Italy’s Serie A on Sunday, the final day of the season, after a 2-0 loss to Catania and Siena’s 2-1 win over Lazio. Five sides were battling to avoid the final relegation spot on the last day, but Chievo was the only team that failed to win and was thus condemned to the drop. Siena was five minutes from going down when Paolo Negro tapped in their winner. Parma (3-1 winner over Empoli) and Reggina (2-0 winner over a depleted AC Milan) also survived.
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Carolina snaps Vancouver’s 16-game USL unbeaten streak
[USL RESULTS] The expansion Carolina RailHawks handed the defending champion Vancouver Whitecaps their first loss of the season with a 1-0 win on Friday night. Carolina won on a Connally Edozien goal in the 57th minute. The loss snapped a 16-game unbeaten streak for the 4-1-2 Whitecaps. The Montreal Impact improved to 4-0-2 with a 1-0 win over Miami FC on Friday in front of 11,873 fans. Ivorian Charles Gbeke score the game’s only goal to beat Miami for the second time this season.
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Barcelona aims to get revenge against Getafe in key La Liga match
[TV PREVIEW] Which Barcelona team will show at the Camp Nou on Saturday against Getafe? The team that won at Atletico Madrid, 6-0, in La Liga last weekend? Or the team that fell to Getafe, 4-0, in the Copa del Rey a week and a half earlier?
Barcelona needs to win if it is to have any hope of keeping the Spanish league title. It is tied with Real Madrid with three games to play, but Madrid has already clinched the tiebreaker (head-to-head play).
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CSA names basketball exec Nykamp CEO
The Canadian Soccer Association hired Fred Nykamp as its new chief executive officer. Nykamp left Canada Basketball, where he spent three years, to accept the role.
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Riquelme rescues Boca in Libertadores Cup quarterfinals
Argentine star Juan Roman Riquelme scored a goal that began when he collected the ball in his own half to lead Boca Juniors to a 2-0 win over Paraguay’s Libertad and a place in the Libertadores Cup semifinals on Thursday. After being held to a 1-1 tie at home, Boca was in danger of falling to the Paraguayan champions, but Riquelme, who is on loan from Spain’s Villarreal rescued Boca with the deciding goal in the 62nd minute. He picked up the ball with his back to goal just inside his own half, turned inside Victor Caceres, cut inside a defender, worked an opening and scored with a low shot from the edge of the area.
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Real Madrid says no to foreign tours
Real Madrid, which became famous for its long preseason tours abroad, will not be doing a high-profile pre-season promotional tour to allow the team to focus on its preparations for next season. Under former president Florentino Perez, Real embarked on extensive pre-season tours of the Far East and the United States as part of the club’s policy to develop and expand its image across the globe. Real Madrid played in the United States in 2005 and 2006. David Beckham, who will leave Real Madrid for MLS’s Los Angeles Galaxy in July, was the central figure in Real’s promotion of its Galacticos in recent years.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
What They’re Saying
“I feel comfortable saying that it’s more than a handful of players – about 8 to 12 – that includes both MLS and European-based players, knowing that there are factors that can change that number. Whether those factors are injuries, or having to return to a club team earlier than expected.”
— U.S. coach Bob Bradley on how many players will represent the USA at the Gold Cup and the Copa America this summer.
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Bob Bradley tackles the big summer challenge
Only a few prominent names are missing from the 23-man U.S. squad named by Coach Bob Bradley for the Gold Cup, and it’s another team nearly evenly divided between players based overseas and those in MLS. It’s at least two deep at every position (assuming a 4-4-2 alignment or something similar) and good enough to win the Gold Cup. At least a few players will also be on hand for the Copa America, which kicks off for the U.S. against Argentina just a few days after the Gold Cup final June 24, but those details aren’t yet known except that Gold Cup keepers Kasey Keller and Tim Howard probably won’t be heading to South America.
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Angel soars and Red Bulls romp
Fire fans who believed their team had already hit rock-bottom were proved wrong Thursday night. Chicago conceded two goals in the first three minutes to the New York Red Bulls (5-1-2) in a 3-0 defeat. After opening the season with a four-game unbeaten streak, Chicago (3-4-1) has dropped four straight.
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Wizards-Revs clash highlights MLS Week 8 action
[TV PREVIEW]. One game this weekend features a clash between to teams with winning records: New England vs. Kansas City. Columbus hopes to recover from a rout when it hosts Toronto, which now has high-scoring Jeff Cunningham. Slow-starting D.C. United and Houston, preseason favorites to MLS Cup, meet in D.C., each with losing records so far. Los Angeles, still in its pre-Beckham phase of the season, looks for its second win in Colorado. Chivas USA hosts FC Dallas. Winless Real Salt Lake meets a Chicago team that has lost four straight. Ridge Mahoney previews all of this weekend’s MLS action:
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Colorado downs Real Salt Lake for U.S. Open Cup spot
A stoppage time goal by Jacob Peterson gave the Colorado Rapids a 2-1 home win over Real Salt Lake on Wednesday to qualify the Rapids for the round of 16 of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Peterson also scored the Rapids’ first goal of the play-in, which completed the octet of Open Cup MLS teams. Last year, Colorado eliminated Salt Lake in the fourth round of the U.S. Open Cup on a Peterson.
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Santos knocks Club America out of Libertadores Cup
Brazilian clubs Santos and Gremio and Colombian champion Cucuta are first three teams through to the semifinals of the Libertadores Cup. Santos came from behind on Wednesday against Mexico’s America to win the second leg of their quarterfinal series, 2-1, and win by the same score on aggregate. Goals by Tcheco and Teco gave Gremio a 2-0 win over Uruguay’s Defensor Sporting to even their series, 2-2, and the Brazilian club went through on penalties, 4-2. Cucuta, playing in the tournament for the first time in its 47-year history, twice came from behind to earn a 2-2 tie at Uruguayan club Nacional on Tuesday and win, 4-2, on aggregate.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
Article 22033
“Alecko Eskandarian is in shock. Just found out I got traded from TFC to Real Salt Lake. Definitely did NOT ask for this so I’m pretty devastated right now.”
— Alecko Eskandarian, breaking the news of his trade from Toronto FC to Real Salt Lake on his facebook.com page before the trade was even made public
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Inzaghi delivers for Milan in Champions League final
Filippo Inzaghi repaid AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti for his faith in him by leading Milan to a 2-1 victory over Liverpool Wednesday in the UEFA Champions League final. At 33, Inzaghi was considered washed up, having scored just two goals this season for Milan in Serie A, but he matched that total with two goals in the final to give Milan its seventh title in Europe’s most important club competition.
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OFF THE POST: Hard time for hard-up soccer fan
“I tried to take the satellite dish because I wanted to see the Champions League final,” an Italian man told the judge, who showed little sympathy and sentenced the foiled thief to six months in jail and fined him $500. The 46-year-old explained that the Italian Alps near his home in Lecco blocked the terrestrial signal told. But his attempt to remedy the problem by heisting the satellite dish from a campsite went awry when the owner of the campsite restaurant heard him as he tried to detach the equipment.
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FC Delco cleans up in Eastern Pennsylvania
[REGION I YOUTH CHAMPIONS] Three FC Delco boys teams going to the Region I championship won titles at last weekend’s Eastern Pennsylvania finals. The U-15s followed up on their Region I Premier League title with a 3-0 win over Lower Merion Velez in the EPYSA final. The U-17 Dynamo III needed double overtime to overcome LDC, 2-1. The U-14 Roadkill lead YMS, 4-0. The U-14 Girls Force won the first State Cup of the 2007 season for FC Delco on Saturday by beating Vincent United, 3-1. For Region I state-by-state champions …