Category: Soccer America Daily

David Beckham and Cuauhtemoc Blanco will come later, but that doesn’t mean the first weekend of the MLS season lacks for excitement. Indeed, no other MLS season has opened with such enthusiasm. Week 1 features the opening of MLS’s fifth soccer-specific stadium, Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. Expansion Toronto FC play its first game. And three […]

By Paul Kennedy Managing Editor If you thought Tuesday’s Chivas-D.C. United game in Guadalajara offered great drama, that paled in comparison to what Pachuca and the Houston Dynamo offered up Thursday night at Pachuca’s Hidalgo Stadium. The CONCACAF Champions Cup doesn’t yet have the cache of the Champions League in Europe or the Libertadores Cup […]

“You can argue whether we are the best league in the world. But one thing I don’t think you can argue is that we are the most competitive. And when I say that, it’s because we don’t have the haves and the have-nots that exist all over the world.” — Los Angeles Galaxy president Alexi […]

Brazilian Pedro Ribeiro Lima, considered the oldest active professional player in the world at the age of 58, scored the first goal of his career when he converted a penalty for Perilima, the club he owns, in its 5-1 loss to Campinese last week in the Paraibano state championship. Perilima, the worst team in the […]

Southern California youth powerhouse Arsenal FC’s bid to reach the semifinals of the 2007 Dallas Cup’s Super Group ended when it fell to English club Chelsea, 5-1, on Wednesday. Arsenal, the three-time US Youth Soccer national champion, had beaten Japanese club Takigawa Dai-Ni, 3-1, and Mexico’s Guadalajara, 2-0, to set up a showdown with the […]

The first of three new MLS game telecasts begins Saturday when Fox Soccer Channel debuts “MLS Saturday on FSC,” MLS’s first-ever three-hour programming block, with live coverage of Chivas USA-Toronto FC beginning at 10 pm ET from the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.   FSC will produce a live 30-minute pre-game, 15-minute halftime, and […]

“We’ve won four championship. We had the best record in the league last season, and we look in very good shape for this year. And soccer is growing exponentially.” — Will Chang, a co-owner of baseball’s San Francisco Giants on why he bought into D.C. United, which he described as an opportunity comparable to buying […]

The managers of English clubs Manchester United and Chelsea both remained upbeat after their clubs producing disappointing results in the first legs of their UEFA Champions League quarterfinal series. Goals by Rodrigo Taddei and Mirko Vucinic gave Roma a 2-1 win over Premier League leader Manchester United, which played the last 56 minutes with 10 […]

By Mike Woitalla Executive Editor Let’s get this straight — the Houston Dynamo is aiming for its fourth MLS crown this season. The record books might not indicate that, because the first two titles, in 2001 and 2003, came when the team was the San Jose Earthquakes, whose feats MLS files away in its “Fact […]

By Ridge Mahoney Senior Editor There are no moral victories at D.C. United. Losses are just that, nothing more, yet at the Estadio Jalisco Tuesday night it attained some semblance of triumph for itself, its fans, and its league. A 2-1 decision sent Mexico’s Guadalajara into the CONCACAF Champions Cup final, 3-2, on aggregate and […]

Liverpool all but clinched a berth in the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League with a 3-0 win at PSV Tuesday in the first leg of their quarterfinal series. PSV, which upset Arsenal in the round of 16, was no contest for the visiting Reds, who scored on goals by Steven Gerrard in the 27th […]

By Mike Woitalla Senior Editor The uniform remains a red-and-white striped jersey that’s said to stir Mexican pride like the tricolor flag with the snake-chomping eagle. The players? Not so Mexican. Going into its third MLS season, Chivas USA’s key player signings are a Honduran, a Romanian, a Cuban and an Englishman. Its new head […]

Americans Jennifer Bennett, Kari Seitz and Sharon Wheeler have been nominated to serve as referees at the 2007 Women’s World Cup in China. The FIFA Referees Committee has drawn up a list of 51 women as candidates to referee at China 2007. The list is based on assessments carried out at the 2005, 2006 and […]

Bobby Smith, one of the most outstanding American players of the NASL in the 1970s, has been elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame as a Veteran Player. He will be honored at Induction 2007 ceremonies on Aug. 26 in Oneonta, N.Y. Smith started on the 1973 NASL champion Philadelphia Atoms in his rookie […]

WEDNESDAY: UEFA Champions League Quarterfinals CHELSEA-VALENCIA (TV: ESPN Deportes, live, 2:30 pm ET; ESPN Classic, delay, 5 pm ET) Chelsea remains alive in its bid for an unprecedented quadruple — it has already won the English League Cup and is still in contention in the English Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League — […]

WEDNESDAY: UEFA Champions League Quarterfinals ROMA-MAN. UNITED (TV: ESPN2, live, 2:30 pm ET, ESPN Deportes, delay 4:45 pm ET) After knocking off five-time French champion Lyon in the round of 16, Roma heads into Wednesday’s game against Manchester United at the Olympic Stadium brimming with confidence. “United have shown they are in great form in […]

“I think progress is really clear. We are very pleased with what has happened in South Africa in the past two months.” — FIFA general secretary Urs Linsi on work that had been done in South Africa on World Cup 2010 stadiums and related buildings since the beginning of the year. His optimistic remarks came […]

With hardly any notice, a crowd of 5,000 fans turned out at the Chicago Fire’s Toyota Park Monday night to get a glimpse of Mexican forward Cuauhtemoc Blanco, who arrived in Chicago to sign with the MLS club. Blanco will become the third player to join MLS under its “designated player rule” following England’s David […]

By Ridge Mahoney Senior Editor TUESDAY: CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinals GUADALAJARA-D.C. UNITED (TV: Fox Soccer Channel, live, 9:30 pm) D.C. United is counting on a top-notch performance by its rich cast of players and a somewhat subdued one by those of CD Guadalajara Tuesday to reach the CONCACAF Champions Cup finals. The chances are slim, […]

Tim Howard had giant Norwegian John Carew‘s number, but that didn’t prevent Aston Villa from coming from behind to earn a 1-1 tie with visiting Everton and deny the Toffees three crucial points in their bid for a spot in the UEFA Cup next season. Everton went ahead on Joleon Lescott’s early header and spent […]

By Ridge Mahoney Senior Editor The strengths of D.C. United are many and all too familiar, so how can it fail to win a fifth league title? Past history tells the tale. D.C. was probably the best team in 2005 as well as last year, when it finished 15-7-10. In neither case it reached the […]

“Without doubt there’s more buzz and anticipation with this team than any other in our history. We have not yet really seen an organization quite like Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment. They are very focused, they’re very committed. They make good decisions. They put tremendous resources against this project. And that’s led to just great […]

The U.S. under-16 national team began a week-long training camp on Saturday in Sunrise, Fla. Kazbek Tambi brought 24 players into the camp as he continues to form a pool from which he will choose a team that will attempt to qualify for the 2008 U-17 Women’s World Cup, to be held late next year […]

The U.S. U-16 boys national team will play in the 35th annual Mondial Minimes hosted by tiny French club FC Montaigu. The Americans are competing in the 12-team Challenge Nations, where they face England on Wednesday and Ireland on Thursday. U.S. Under-17 assistant coach Raul Diaz Arce, the former El Salvador and MLS star, will […]

TUESDAY: UEFA Champions League Quarterfinals PSV-LIVERPOOL (TV: ESPN2, live, 2:30 pm) PSV, the surprise winner over Arsenal in the round of 16, will be a heavy underdog again when it faces another English club, Liverpool, Tuesday in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League. PSV is riddled with injury problems. Brazilian defender Alex, the hero […]