Category: Soccer America Daily

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Borussia Moenchengladbach, with Michael Bradley in midfield, fell, 2-1, to Bayern Munich to sink further into the relegation zone. But in Mexico, a U.S. product helped his team avoid the drop and defender Michael Orozco scored for the first time.

[UEFA CUP] A rare header by winger Piotr Trochowski gave Hamburg a 1-0 win at German rival Werder Bremen in the first leg of their UEFA Cup semifinal series on Thursday. The all-Ukrainian clash between Dynamo Kiev and Shakhtar Donetsk ended in a 1-1 tie.

[MLS PREDICTIONS] Seattle’s trip to undefeated Chicago promises to be one of the weekend’s most intriguing matchups. Toronto aims for its first win in club history over Columbus, the defending champ that hasn’t won yet this season. D.C. United hosts FC Dallas, which has yet to win on the road. Colorado hosts Real Salt Lake in the “Rocky Mountain Cup.” Coach Bruce Arena‘s Galaxy has a home game opportunity to get its first win of the season when it hosts struggling New York.  For all of Soccer America’s predictions, as well as TV viewing information, and to see how we fared last week …

[MEXICO] The Mexican soccer federation, which has already ordered all domestic games this weekend to be played behind closed doors in response to the influenza A outbreak, has agreed with Conmebol, the South American confederation, to move the next home games of San Luis and Guadalajara in the Libertadores Cup to Bogota, Colombia, on May 6.

[LIBERTADORES CUP] Five Brazilian clubs — including former champions Sao Paulo, Palmeiras, Gremio and Cruzeiro — advanced to the round of 16 of the Libertadores Cup, the South American club championship. Defending champion LDU Quito did not make it out of the group stage. Bolivia and Colombia were the only countries that did not have teams advance. For the 16 survivors …

[MLS] It took a more than a year longer than Frank Yallop thought it would, but finally a tall, rugged FC Dallas defender has been acquired to solidify the heart of the Quakes’ back line.

[WPS]  The Los Angeles Sol’s Marta and Boston Breakers’ Kelly Smith return to WPS action after missing last week’s play, and they meet for the first time Saturday at Harvard Stadium. For a look at all the WPS weekend action …

[MLS REF WATCH] No formal disciplinary action is being taken by the U.S. Soccer Federation against MLS referee Jair Marrufo after Cuauhtemoc Blanco gave the ref his jersey following the Chicago-Columbus game last Saturday. Marrufo, who was also seen chatting with Blanco before the game, has, however, been removed from his next scheduled game this weekend.

[USL-1] Two weeks ago, MLS’s Real Salt Lake loaned Chris Seitz to the Cleveland City Stars. On Thursday, the 22-year-old keeper played for the Portland Timbers. Only this time the result was different.

[UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Like Tuesday’s Barcelona-Chelsea game, the offensive explosion expected from Manchester United-Arsenal never materialized. United scored early on a goal by John O’Shea, but that was all the scoring Wednesday at Old Trafford, and United takes a narrow 1-0 lead into next Tuesday’s return leg in Arsenal.

[MLS] How far down the list of prospective All-Star Game candidates Everton may have been is no longer relevant, for the English Premier League team is headed to Salt Lake City to play in the annual exhibition July 29 at Rio Tinto Stadium.

[MLS] Toronto FC has hired as head coach former first assistant coach John Cummins to replace fellow Englishman John Carver, who resigned despite TFC being an East Conference leader.

[U.S. OPEN CUP] They had to cross the country to do it, but the Red Bulls ended their winless road run of 2009 on Wednesday. It won’t count in the league standings, but a 2-1 U.S. Open Cup victory against San Jose at Buck Shaw Stadium does count for something.

[MLS] A crowd of 17,342 showed at Chicago’s Toyota Park, which has seen an average of 11,208 for its MLS home games, and watched the Fire fall, 2-1, to Mexico’s Club America in a Wednesday friendly game. Because of Swine Flu outbreak that has killed more than a 150 people in Mexico, the game took place with several precautions.

[UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Barcelona promised much but delivered little against a packed Chelsea defense in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League semifinal series at the Camp Nou on Tuesday. Despite a huge edge in possession, Barca had to settle for a 0-0 tie. To make matters worse, Mexican star Rafael Marquez injured his knee and was lost for the season.

[UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Arsenal will be less than full strength up front, but Manager Arsene Wenger says the Gunners will be out to attack Manchester United when they meet at Old Trafford on Wednesday in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League semifinal series (TV: ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, 2:30 pm ET).

[AMERICANS ABROAD] U.S. national team defender Michael Orozco started for Mexican club San Luis, which earned an unlikely place in the in the knockout round of the Copa Libertadores thanks to the results on the last day of group play.

[MLS] Real Salt Lake has parlayed its five percent chance of landing U-20 midfielder Kyle Davies in a weighted lottery into a future draft pick. Davies, captain of the U.S. U-20 team that will compete for the world championship in Egypt later this year, is now a member of FC Dallas, which traded one of its three second-round picks in the 2010 SuperDraft.

[U.S. OPEN CUP] Seattle Sounders FC has yet to enter its third month of official competition, yet already it has twice beaten its nearest league rival. Sebastian Le Toux, the leading U.S. Open Cup scorer the past two seasons as a USL-1 Sounder, scored two goals and assisted on two others in a 4-1 drilling of Real Salt Lake, which Seattle had beaten, 2-0, in MLS play a month ago. LeToux, normally a midfielder this season, moved up front as Seattle dismantled a RSL team featuring many regulars at the Starfire Sports Complex, the team’s training site.

[USL] Englishman Eddie Johnson of the expansion Austin Aztex and Harrisburg’s Chad Severs are the USL First Division and Second Division Players of the Week. For the teams of the week …

[UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola says Tuesday’s semifinal against Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League (TV: ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, live, 2:30 pm ET)  is another chance for his players to show off their brand of attacking soccer.