Category: Soccer America Daily

[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).

[WPS] First, Sky Blue FC knocked off Washington on the road. Next, it won at Saint Louis. After Wednesday’s convincing 1-0 victory over the Athletica in the Super Semifinal, there appears to be no stopping the bottom-seed Sky Blue FC, which moves into Saturday’s WPS championship against the Los Angeles Sol (TV: Fox Sports Net, Comcast Sports Net, live, 4 pm ET/1 pm PT).

[UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] After winning seven straight league titles, French club Lyon finished third in 2008-09, requiring it to enter the UEFA Champions League in the qualifying stage, where it crushed Belgium’s Anderlecht, 5-1, in the first leg on Wednesday. After Lyon lost Karim Benzema to Real Madrid and veteran Juninho to Qatari club Al-Gharafa, there were concerns about its attack, but a trio of new players came up big against Anderlecht.

[ENGLAND] Where are you, Cristiano Ronaldo, when Manchester United needs you? Burnley produced the first upset of the 2009-10 Premier League season when it knocked off defending champion Manchester United, 1-0, for its first win over United in 41 years. The loss underscored the concerns about United’s attacking prowess following the sale of Ronaldo to Real Madrid and United’s failure to secure a deal to keep Carlos Tevez.

[MLS] Eric Brunner started the 2008 season with the New York Red Bulls before a stint with the USL’s Miami FC. He’s finding his stride this season with the Columbus Crew and has contributed a goal, an assist and logged more than 1,400 minutes in 18 games. Get to know the 23-year-old in this profile by Soccer America’s Bryan Alvarez that covers on and off-field experiences.

[MLS] Maybe this one can be explained away by fatigue, or turmoil induced by the fining of locker room combatants Denis Hamlett and Bakary Soumare, or simply taking a shorthanded opponent too lightly. Yet championship aspirations require a solid footing, and Chicago gouged deeply into its own foundation by succumbing meekly to Los Angeles, 2-0, at Toyota Park Wednesday in front of a sellout crowd. An enthusiastic few hundred chanted to the end, but many more trudged up the steps to the exits during a depressing second half.

[MLS] The late-season signings continue. Columbus, riding a five-game winning streak in league play and a run of nine games unbeaten in all competitions, might seem well-set for the stretch run of defending its MLS title. Yet it has embarked in group play of Concacaf Champions’ League as well, and thus the signing of 24-year-old Venezuelan striker Emilio Renteria fills the last vacant spot on the 18-man roster as games are about to pile up.

[MLS PREDICTION] The second game of ESPN2’s midweek doubleheader is a case of East meets West, or more precisely, Northwest, as the Revs head to Washington state.

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] A combination that seems to work no matter what the circumstances produced again Wednesday night to earn a Concacaf Champions’ League victory for the Houston Dynamo. Teammates for club and country, and on this night, substitutes – yes, you read that right – Stuart Holden and Brian Ching combined midway through the second half for the only goal Houston needed to beat Salvadoran club Isidro Metapan, 1-0, at Robertston Stadium in the first group match for both teams.

[COLLEGE] Casey Nogueira, the 2008 Soccer America Women’s Player of the Year, heads the Soccer America Women’s Preseason All-American team, as selected by its editors. Nogueira, who helped North Carolina win the 2008 NCAA title and led the nation with 25 goals and 58 points, is one of three Tar Heels on the Preseason All-American first team along with fellow seniors Whitney Engen and Tobin Heath. Florida State, Notre Dame and UCLA are the only teams with two players named to the first and second teams. For all the Preseason All-American selections …

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Timothy Barton became the latest Texan to splurge on a European soccer club when he reached a preliminary deal to buy promoted Italian club Bari.

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] When it comes to playing international games in the final one-third of the MLS season, Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear is as ambitious as he is realistic as his team faces six games in the next two months in the regional championship.

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] In German soccer, subs who score goals are known as “jokers,” and player moves by Crew coach Robert Warzycha – a native of bordering nation Poland — left him, his players and Columbus fans smiling Tuesday night.

[MLS] FC Dallas, which sits in second-to-last in the West with a 6-10-5 record, has aqcuired Honduran attacker Marvin Chavez, whose nickname is “El hijo del viento” (the son of the wind).

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] United coach Tom Soehn used a few new faces and four in the back to extract a result out of San Pedro Sula, and it nearly worked. But a spirited effort fell short, and late goals five minutes apart by Jerry Palacios and Mario Berrios swept Honduran club Marathon past D.C. United, 3-1, in the Concacaf Champions’ League Group C opener Tuesday night.

[USL TEAMS OF THE WEEK] Melvin Tarley, whose goal gave the Minnesota Thunder a 1-0 victory at Miami FC for its first USL-1 road win of the season and who followed up with two goals in a 2-2 tie at Austin, and Jyler Noviello, who had the winning and tying goals for the Wilmington Hammerheads in a win and tie that gave them the USL Second Division title, are the USL Players of the Week. For the Teams of the Week …

[MLS PREDICTIONS] The ESPN networks present a rare midweek double dip, starting with a classic interconference clash between Chicago and Los Angeles at Toyota Park, where the Galaxy has yet to garner even a tie but comes in with an unbeaten record against Eastern Conference teams.

[WPS] Despite losses of as much as $2 million for some clubs,  Women’s Professional Soccer Commissioner Tonya Antonucci expects the principal investors of all seven teams to return for Year 2.

[MLS] Eric Brunner started the 2008 season with the New York Red Bulls before a stint with the USL’s Miami FC. He’s finding his stride this season with the Columbus Crew and has contributed a goal, an assist and logged more than 1,400 minutes in 18 games. Get to know the 23-year-old in this profile by Soccer America’s Bryan Alvarez that covers on and off-field experiences.

[COLLEGE] Defending champion North Carolina is No. 1 in the Soccer America Women’s Preseason Top 25 rankings, as selected by its editors. The Tar Heels, who return nine starters, including 2008 Soccer America Player of the Year Casey Nogueira, from last year’s College Cup championship team and welcome back two starters — Nikki Washington and Meghan Klingenberg — who missed the postseason because of their participation at the U-20 Women’s World Cup, are seeking their 20th national title in 28 years. Pac-10 rivals Stanford and UCLA are 2-3 in the Preseason Top 25, while Portland and Notre Dame round out the top 5. For the complete Soccer America Women’s Preseason Top 25 rankings …