Category: Soccer America Daily

[MLS] A year after helping Maryland win the 2008 College Cup, Rodney Wallace finds himself contributing significant minutes (1,336 in 16 games) to a resurgent D.C. United. This Costa Rica native, who moved to the USA at age 9, has chipped in two goals and three assists. Get to know the 21-year-old in this profile by Soccer America’s Bryan Alvarez that covers on- and off-field experiences.

[USL TEAMS OF THE WEEK] Guinean Mandjou Keita, who helped the Portland Timbers extend their franchise-record unbeaten streak to 12 USL-1 games Sunday with two goals in a 4-0 victory over the Montreal Impact, and Richmond’s Matthew Delicate, who scored both goals for the Richmond Kickers in a 2-1 victory at Pittsburgh, earned the USL First Division and Second Division Player of the Week honors, respectively. For the USL-1 and USL-2 Teams of the Week …

[LIBERTADORES CUP] Mauro Boselli scored twice to give Argentina’s Estudiantes a 2-1 win at Uruguay’s Nacional and a 3-1 aggregate victory, booking a place in the final against one of the two Brazilian clubs, Gremio or Cruzeiro, which settle their semifinal series on Thursday.

[MLS] The Galaxy isn’t waiting for the arrival of David Beckham to accelerate its playoff pursuit.

[U.S. OPEN CUP] A rivalry born in the North American Soccer League and renewed in various forms turned another page Wednesday in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Seattle, formerly a fierce foe of Portland in the NASL as well as more recently in the A-League and United Soccer Leagues (USL), topped the Timbers, 2-1, at PGE Park in Portland.

[WPS] The Chicago Red Stars snapped a nine-game winless streak — the longest in Women’s Professional Soccer’s short history — and did it dramatic fashion, becoming the first team in WPS history to come from behind to win a game with a 2-1 over Washington

[WORLD CUP 2010] Indicative of the importance it places on the World Cup, ESPN will be sending a trio of top-tier ESPN hosts, Chris Fowler, Bob Ley and Mike Tirico to serve as on-site studio hosts from Johannesburg for next year’s World Cup.

[TV WATCH] The USA’s 3-2 Confederations Cup final loss to Brazil was watched on ESPN by 3.9 million people, making it the most-viewed non-World Cup game for the U.S. national team on ESPN. The figure doesn’t include viewers who watched Spanish-language Univision’s broadcast of the game.

[U.S. OPEN CUP SCOREBOARD] Four MLS clubs were toppled by lower-division clubs in round of 16 play on Tuesday.

[U.S. OPEN CUP] Four-time U.S. Open Cup champion Chicago didn’t get past the round of 16 this time around.

[U.S. OPEN CUP] Former Red Bull Randi Patterson scored two of the goals as the USL-1 Charleston Battery added another MLS team to its list of U.S. Open Cup victims by beating Chivas USA, 3-1, Tuesday at Blackbaud Stadium in round of 16 play.

[U.S. OPEN CUP] Penalties abounded as Kansas City outlasted Minnesota, 4-2, in a shootout following a 3-3 tie in regulation and overtime to win their U.S. Open Cup round of 16 match in Blaine, Minn.

[U.S. OPEN CUP] D.C. United fielded many of its reserves for a U.S. Open Cup match against the PDL (fourth-tier) Ocean City Barons, and encountered enough resistance that it needed one of its veterans to supply the breakthrough.

[U.S. OPEN CUP] They dressed only 15 players and incredibly ended the match with just eight on the field, yet still the New England Revs battled into overtime before losing, 2-1, to Harrisburg City Islanders (USL-2) in the U.S. Open Cup Tuesday in New Britian, Conn. The Revs were one of four MLS teams eliminated by lower-division clubs in the six round of 16 games played on Tuesday.

[U.S. OPEN CUP] Rochester advanced to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup Tuesday by beating Columbus, 5-3, in a shootout following a 1-1 tie through 120 minutes of regulation play and overtime.

[CONFEDERATIONS CUP] U.S. midfielder Clint Dempsey, who scored against Egypt, Spain and Brazil, won the adidas Bronze Ball. The USA’s Tim Howard was named the tournament’s top keeper (adidas Gold Glove). For Confederations Cup 2009 award winners …

[SUPERLIGA] Frequent playoff opponents New England and Chicago are set for a SuperLiga semifinal meeting following the conclusion of group play last weekend. Kenny Mansally‘s goal Sunday at Gillette Stadium carried the Revs to a 1-0 win over Altas, which hit the woodwork twice in the second half but finished the tournament without a goal and with a record of 0-1-2.

[U-21 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP] Germany, winner of the most recent U-17 and U-19 European titles, made it a triple by routing England, 4-0, in the U-21 final in Sweden. The Germans got a pair of goals from Bayern Munich’s Sandro Wagner and one apiece from Werder Bremen’s Mesut Ozil, the man of the match, and Bayer Leverkusen’s Gonzalo Castro.

[REF WATCH] Veteran referee Halil Ibrahim Dincdag has sued the Turkish soccer federation after it did not renew his license because he is gay. “They thought I was an ant that they could crush, they thought I would run away and hide in a corner,” Halil Ibrahim Dincdag said. “But they have destroyed my life and I will fight them to the end.”

[MLS] To the rigors of travel and summer heat comes the biennial player drain known as the Concacaf Gold Cup. Numerous changes to the Gold Cup rosters altered yet again the options and choices for MLS coaches.

Thanks to its 3-0 over Colorado, Seattle joined Western Conference rivals Houston and Chivas USA as the top three teams in the overall MLS standings. For all the game summaries, standings, leading scorers and this week’s schedule …

[CONFEDERATIONS CUP] European champion Spain and host South Africa served up a thriller in the third-place game, which the Spaniards won, 3-2, after a flurry of late goals.