Category: Soccer America Daily

[MLS] Chivas USA signed Cesar Zamora, an 18-year-old midfielder from Sylmar, Calif., and a product of the Chivas USA youth program, to a Developmental Contract. Zamora is the third player the club has promoted to the first team roster from its youth ranks.

[COSTA RICA] Gonzalo Segares of the Chicago Fire and former MLS players Andy Herron and Michael Umana are among the players who have called up for Costa Rica’s World Cup 2010 qualifier against the USA Wednesday at Saprissa Stadium in San Jose.

[HONDURAS] Former Los Angeles Galaxy striker Carlos Pavon and Carlos Costly, who combined for the three goals that neat Mexico, 3-1, in March and cost Tri coach Sven Goran Eriksson his job, will lead Honduras when the Catrachos face the USA June 6 in World Cup qualifying. MLS players in the Catrachos’ squad are Roger Espinoza and Amado Guevara.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] U.S. keeper Tim Howard hopes to win a second FA Cup when he lines up for Everton on Saturday (TV: 10 am ET, Setanta Sports USA) against Chelsea. In 2004, Howard became the first American to win the FA Cup when he helped Manchester United beat Millwall, 3-0.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] U.S. midfielder Jose Francisco Torres went the full 90 for Pachuca in a 1-0 loss to UNAM Pumas in the first-leg of the Mexican Clausura 2009 final. Pachuca hosts the second leg on Sunday (TV: 8 pm ET, Telefutura).

[MLS PREDICTIONS] Former Crew coach Sigi Schmid leads the Sounders against Columbus in a match to be presented on Fox Soccer Channel (Saturday, 10:30 p.m. ET), and is just one of five interconference tussles to be played on Weekend 11. Chicago (21 points) has widened its Eastern Conference lead and hosts Dallas Sunday on TeleFutura (3 p.m. ET), Kansas City travels to Los Angeles, Toronto is in Houston, and cellar-dweller New York winds up a four-game homestand against Colorado. The all-Western Conference matchup is in San Jose, where the last-place Quakes take on RSL, whose own playoff quest has stalled. This weekend’s Eastern showdown is at Gillette Stadium, where the Revs host a D.C. United team it led at RFK last month until a miraculous header by Ben Olsen in stoppage time pulled out a 1-1 tie. Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney breaks down all the weekend action.

[MLS] A clasico turned into a bit of a fiasco Thursday night at Home Depot Center, where amid a blizzard of yellow cards and penalty kicks, Chivas USA squandered a 2-1 lead and lost to Chicago, 3-2, in a showdown of conference leaders.

[MLS] For once, Crew fans didn’t have to sweat as much after their team took a second-half lead. Five times this season Columbus has conceded a goal in the last 10 minutes, and when Guillermo Barros Schelotto scored Wednesday to break a 1-1 tie, there were still 44 minutes and 32 seconds, plus stoppage time, still to be played. But the opponent this night was San Jose, and despite its desperate plight and the entry of recently signed striker Cornell Glen with 20 minutes to play, the Quakes seldom mustered a serious threat.

[USL TEAMS OF THE WEEK] Guinean Mandjou Keita, who scored his first two goals of the year to lead the Portland Timbers to a draw and their first-ever victory at Puerto Rico, and English rookie Yan Klukowski, who had a goal and an assist to lead Western Mass to its first win of the season with a 2-1 victory over previously unbeaten Wilmington, 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 …

[U.S. OPEN CUP] The 2009 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup begins on June 16 with 16 first-round games featuring two amateur teams, the St. Louis Lions (PDL) and Arizona Sahuaros (USASA), returning for their second consecutive U.S. Open Cup appearance. For the complete first-round schedule …

[MLS] They are years removed from their time in Chicago, yet the former Fire members now employed by Chivas USA are respectful of that past as well as the present. Chicago comes into its Thursday meeting with Chivas USA (10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2) at Home Depot Center as the league’s only unbeaten team (4-0-6) and atop the Eastern Conference. Chivas USA leads the West with the league’s best record (7-1-3) and four former Fire players on its roster, headed by Jesse Marsch and keeper Zach Thornton.

[UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Is Barcelona the greatest club ever? Real Madrid, winner of its fifth straight European Cup with a 7-3 win over Eintracht Frankfurt in 1960, is considered the greatest club ever, but that was another era. Playing without three starters and using two other starters out of position, Barcelona made Manchester United — the defending champion and winner of the English Premier League — look quite ordinary with a 2-0 win in Wednesday’s final.

[MLS PREDICTION] The excellent Chivas USA defensive record (six shutouts, six goals allowed) is tainted somewhat by the fact Zach Thornton leads the league with 41 saves, and quite of a few of them have tested the 6-foot-3 keeper. If it gives up a proportional number of chances to Brian McBride, Chris Rolfe, Cuauhtemoc Blanco, et al, it will be lucky to maintain its unbeaten (5-0-1) home record.

[UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Will the breakup of Manchester United begin? Soon after Wednesday’s loss to Barcelona, speculation began about the future of United’s big stars. Asked if he’d be back next season, star Cristiano Ronaldo said, “I don’t know.”

[WPS] Sky Blue FC, Women’s Professional Soccer’s New Jersey franchise, has suspended its head coach and general manager, Ian Sawyers. Assistant coach Kelly Lindsey was in charge in its 2-1 loss to the Washington Freedom on Saturday.

[MLS PREDICTION] Two teams with only one win each face off in Wednesday night action.

[TEAM OF THE WEEK] Players from the two teams — Toronto and Houston — stood out in last weekend’s play, including Amado Guevara, who struck twice for the Canadian club.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] San Francisco product Leo Krupnik, 29, who played college ball at Cal, helped Maccabi Haifa win the Israeli Premier League title.

[MLS] San Jose has bolstered its sputtering offense but will be without its best defender so far this season when it plays the Crew Wednesday in Columbus.

[U.S. OPEN CUP] Dreams of the double are alive and well in Seattle, thanks to the expansion Sounders beating Colorado, 1-0, in the U.S. Open Cup play-in round Tuesday in Tukwila, Wash.

[UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] In one of the most-awaited club matches in years, defending champion Manchester United will face Barcelona Wednesday in the final of the UEFA Champions League in Rome (TV: ESPN, live, 2:30 pm ET). Both teams are loaded with attacking stars, but the game is being billed as a battle between Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United and Lionel Messi of Barcelona. Who has the edge?

[GERMANY] Before the season, Coach Felix Magath didn’t believe his team his team had a chance of winning, but Wolfsburg won its first Bundesliga title when it beat Werder Bremen, 5-1, on the final day of the season and edged Bayern Munich by two points. Brazilian Grafite scored twice to finish as Bundesliga top scorer with 28 goals and Bosnian Edin Dzeko scored once to finish with 26, making Wolfsburg the first Bundesliga team to have two 20-plus goalscorers. Their 54 combined goals also set a new Bundesliga record.