Category: Soccer America Daily

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Striker Jozy Altidore, who earlier appeared headed to Greece on loan from his Spanish club Villarreal, will spend the next season in England with EPL club Hull. “First match is against Chelsea subject to a work permit *wink* *wink*,” announced the 19-year-old on his Twitter page.

[OFF THE POST] Sparta Rotterdam’s Tim Bakens came up with a solution to the corner stalling tactic. …

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Kenny Cooper‘s first practice with 1860 Munich attracted more than 400 fans, a crowd far higher than usual at a training session by the German second division club, according to newspaper Bild, which reported that “Super Cooper managed to perform despite the jetlag.”

[MLS PREDICTIONS] FC Dallas aims to keep its playoff hopes and home winning streak alive when Houston comes north for a Thursday night clash. Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney makes his prediction. …

[WPS] U.S. national team captain Christine Rampone won her first game as coach of Sky Blue FC — the team’s third coach of the season — as the New Jersey team kept its playoff hopes alive with a 2-0 win over FC Gold Pride Wednesday before a sellout crowd of 5,455 at Yurcak Field. Rampone’s first game didn’t exactly start smoothly as she had to replace goalkeeper Karen Bardsley for Jenni Branam in the starting lineup at the last minute, forcing Sky Blue FC to use one of its substitutions.

[SUPERLIGA] The Chicago Fire hosts Mexico’s UNL Tigres Wednesday at Toyota Park (8 p.m. ET, Galavision) in the SuperLiga final, aiming to lift its first trophy since its 2006 U.S. Open Cup win.

[OFF THE POST] After Cristiano Ronaldo was fouled 34 times in three preseason games with Real Madrid, which had paid Manchester United $132 million for the Portuguese star, Real purchased a $160 million insurance policy on his legs.

[WPS] Foreigners — three from England, two from France and one each from Brazil and Canada — claimed seven of the 11 berths on Women’s Professional Soccer’s First XI. Brazilian Marta, who plays for regular-season champion Los Angeles, was the highest vote-getter. (The English and French players will miss the All-Star Game against Sweden’s Umea on Aug. 29 because of Euro ’09.)

[GERMANY] Mainz fired Norwegian Jorn Andersen on Monday, making him the first Bundesliga coach to ever be fired prior to the start of the season.

[TRANSFER WATCH] The 2009-10 German season begins Friday when defending Bundesliga champion Wolfsburg hosts VfB Stuttgart (TV: Gol TV, live, 2:30 pm ET). Wolfsburg didn’t sit on its laurels, acquiring Nigerian Obafemi Martins from Newcastle for $14.7 million and Algerian Karim Ziani from Marseille for $9.8 million. Stuttgart will be without star Mario Gomez, who was sold to Bayern Munich for a German record $42 million.

[GERMANY] Two Americans were involved in moves involving clubs in the German First Division, which opens the 2009-10 season this weekend. Nurdin Hrustic became the latest Bosnian-American to join the Bundesliga when Bochum signed him out of the University of Jacksonville. Kamani Hill left champion Wolfsburg for Portuguese club Vitoria Guimaraes on a free transfer. For all the club-by-club Bundesliga summer moves …

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] The scorer of six goals against rival Montreal in its final Nutrilite Canadian Championship game couldn’t get the goal it needed to keep alive its hopes of reaching the group phase. Toronto FC, which lost the first leg at BMO Field, 1-0, last week, labored through a 0-0 tie in Bayamon Tuesday night and fell to Puerto Rico Islanders by that single goal. The USL-1 Islanders, which stunningly reached the semifinals last year, advance to group play that begins in two weeks.

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Since the advent of the Concacaf Champions League last year, D.C. United has failed to win a game in eight attempts. But by rallying from a 1-0 deficit in a hostile environment and fighting through fatigue during a draining overtime, United prevailed in a two-game series to reach the group phase.

[MLS] Curt Onalfo was one of five coaches who were in their third MLS seasons as head coaches. The Kansas City coach was the first to be fired, but two of the other coaches could find themselves on the way out if the downturns of their teams continue.

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Toronto FC and D.C. United need better performances and results than they attained in the first legs when they square off against Puerto Rico Islanders and Luis Angel Firpo, respectively, in the away matches of their Concacaf Champions League series Tuesday.

[TELEVISION WATCH] The USA-Mexico Gold Cup was a ratings bonanza for Fox Soccer Channel and Univision. It was the most-watched telecast on FSC since becoming a Nielsen-rated network in October 2008 but its audience was less than one-tenth of the 5.4 million viewers on Univision. Indicative of the huge clout of the Hispanic soccer market, KMEX Univision 34 in Los Angeles drew 1.1 million watchers — 47 percent greater than the same evening’s combined primetime viewership of ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX and three other network stations in that market.

[OFF THE POST] Hundreds of Russian fans are expected to travel to Cardiff for next month’s World Cup qualifier between Wales and Russia despite travel warnings advising Russians not to travel to Britain because of the swine full outbreak. The fans are being urged to take precautions by drinking Welsh whiskey.

[MLS] The soccer catchphrase — three and out — is routinely attached to teams that crash out of a competition after the first round, which often consists of a triad of games. For many well-known MLS coaches, it’s also been three and out — three seasons and they’re gone. The latest to fall at that hurdle is Curt Onalfo, whose tenure as Kansas City head coach blew up 18 games into his third season Saturday when FC Dallas pummeled the Wizards, 6-0, at Pizza Hut Park.

Columbus and Chicago stayed 1-2, separated by one point in the Eastern Conference, with wins over the weekend. Houston opened up a six-point lead in the Western Conference thanks to its 4-3 win over D.C. United and Seattle’s 4-0 loss at San Jose on Sunday. For all the game summaries, conference standings and leading scorers …

[BARCELONA TOUR] Major League Soccer had a lot to be excited about Saturday’s Los Angeles Galaxy-Barcelona friendly at the Rose Bowl won by the Spanish champions, 2-1. The game drew a crowd of 93,137 — the largest ever for a game involving an MLS team and the largest U.S. crowd since the 1994 World Cup — and it featured a superb goal by David Beckham on a patented free kick — No. 1 on ESPN Sports Center’s top 10 plays of the day. Despite boos from the crowd throughout much of the game, Beckham said afterwards he intended to return next season for a fourth season with the Galaxy.

[MLS NAMES & NUMBERS] A day after losing star Kenny Cooper, who signed with German second division club 1860 Munich, FC Dallas exploded for a 6-0 rout of the Kansas City Wizards that featured four goals by Jeff Cunningham and two by Brazilian David Ferreira. After the best of his four goals, Cunningham, who has scored seven goals in his last four games, ran to the stands to beat on a fan’s drum.

[WPS] With one week remaining in the regular season, Saint Louis Athletica clinched second place in Women’s Professional Soccer and the home-field advantage in the Super Semifinal thanks to its 1-0 victory over the Boston Breakers and the Washington Freedom’s 3-2 loss to FC Gold Pride.