Category: Soccer America Daily

[MLS] A Canadian who has been playing in the Czech Republic may seem a strange source to shore up the back line of a top MLS team, but that’s the path defender Andrew Hainault has taken to Houston.

[UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] One of the most wide-open high-profile UEFA Champions League series ever ended with Chelsea reaching the semifinals for the fifth time in the last six years but not before the Blues got a scare from Liverpool, which rallied from 3-1 down after the first leg at home to take a 2-0 lead at halftime of Tuesday’s second leg. The second half produced six goals as the match ended in a 4-4 tie that gave Chelsea a 7-5 win on aggregate and a semifinal date with Barcelona, which beat Bayern Munich 5-1 on aggregate after their second leg ended with a more sedate 1-1 tie.

[UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Manchester United will probably need to accomplish what no other English club has done and win at Porto’s Dragao Stadium on Wednesday (TV: ESPN2, live, 2:30 pm ET) to advance to the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League. Five years ago, United fell to Porto, coached by Jose Mourinho, on a late goal that marked the beginning of the end of Tim Howard‘s stint as the United No. 1 keeper.

[UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Only fourth in the English Premier League, Arsenal nonetheless may be the hottest of the four EPL clubs in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals. The Gunners are favored to beat Villarreal Wednesday (TV: ESPN Deportes & Setanta Sports USA, live, 2:30 pm ET) and advance to the semifinals.

[CONCACAF] Clive Toye, one of the pioneers in American pro soccer, Nicaraguan soccer federation president Julio Rocha and former Jamaican Football Federation head Anthony James have been selected for induction into Concacaf’s Hall of Fame at ceremonies to take place on June 1 during the XXVI Concacaf Ordinary Congress in the Bahamas.

[OFF THE POST] In non-league English soccer, a Chorlton Villa player was shown a yellow card for passing gas as an International Manchester FC took a penalty kick, and missed. The referee said, “The player who made the noise was booked for ungentlemanly conduct – trying to put the other player off.” The penalty kick was retaken and converted.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Heath Pearce, the starting U.S. left back for the first two games of the final round of World Cup 2010 qualifying, has been dropped from German Second Division club Hansa Rostock’s first team by Coach Andreas Zachhuber “for performance reasons.”

[UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Down 3-1 after the first leg, Liverpool must score at least three goals in Tuesday’s second leg of its UEFA Champions League quarterfinal series with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge (TV: ESPN2, live, 2:30 pm ET) to have any chance of advancing. Impossible? Lowly Bolton scored three goals in eight minutes at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

[UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Barcelona won the first leg of its UEFA Champions League series with Bayern Munich by a margin of 4-0, but it is taking nothing for granted going into Tuesday’s second leg (TV: ESPN Deportes, Setanta Sports USA, live, 2:30 pm ET).

[VIEWING PARTIES] ESPN360.com, ESPN’s sports broadband network, and Verizon are hosting viewing parties, offering simultaneous viewing of both UEFA Champions League games on Tuesday and Wednesday in Boston, New York and Washington. For information on where to watch …

[COLLEGE] Trevor Adair, who has coached Clemson’s men’s team for the last 14 seasons, was placed on a leave of absence after being arrested early Saturday morning for allegedly assaulting his two daughters.

[OFF THE POST] Brazilian clubs Juventude and Caxias promoted their clash as a “peace match” and held a pregame “Fraternity Breakfast” that included fan club leaders, police officials and club presidents to discourage violence between supporters of the rival teams. The breakfast went fine, but the game featured five ejections.

[USL-1] The defending champion Vancouver Whitecaps had to settle for a 0-0 tie with the Charleston Battery at home Saturday on the opening of the 2009 USL-1 season. In the weekend’s only other game, revamped Carolina edged Minnesota, 2-1, thanks to former MLS striker Gavin Glinton‘s goal only four minutes after coming on in his RailHawks’ debut.

[EUROPEAN RACES] What could 17-year-old Italian Federico Macheda do for an encore? A week after coming off the bench and scoring in his debut to give Manchester United a 3-2 win over Aston Villa, Macheda came on as a substitute at Sunderland and scored to give United a 2-1 victory that kept it a point ahead of Liverpool and four ahead of Chelsea with a game in hand in the tight English Premier League race. For a look at the European races …

[MLS] Alberto Lopez, a 17-year-old midfielder from Aurora, Ill., won the Sueno MLS 2009 competition, MLS’s nationally televised player search that attracted 1,800 candidates at tryouts in Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Clint Dempsey equalized and tagged on the final goal in Fulham’s 3-1 win over Manchester City to up his EPL season total to seven goals. Two other Americans hit the net last weekend.

[WPS] Kelly Smith wavered before leaving the Arsenal Ladies and returning to the United States to play in WPS, and Boston Breakers fans are glad she came. Smith, who could rival Los Angeles star Marta for being the most dangerous striker in WPS, scored one goal and set up Kristine Lilly another to lead the Breakers to a 2-0 win over St. Louis in their home opener.

Yes, there’s parity in MLS. Five games ended in ties, and the other two were decided by one goal. For all the game summaries, standings leading scorers and next weekend’s schedule …

Marseille took over first place in France. Rangers moved to within one point of Celtic in Scotland. Anderlecht and Standard Liege remain tied in Belgium. For all the results in Europe’s major leagues and Mexico …

[MLS NAMES & NUMBERS] A flurry of red cards included ejections of two U.S. veterans. The 2008 MLS Cup finalists remained winless. FC Dallas got its first point thanks to a spectacular goal.

[MLS] D.C. United’s future in Washington does not look bright. Following another setback in its effort get a stadium project off the ground, MLS Commissioner Don Garber told the Washington Post’s Soccer Insider that the team will be moved if it can’t get a deal done soon.

[MLS PREDICTIONS] The expansion Seattle Sounders FC should make it four wins in four games, but will their shutout streak continue? The first SuperClasico pits unbeaten and untied Chivas USA against the struggling Galaxy at the HDC. For all of Soccer America’s predictions, as well as TV viewing information, and to see how we fared last week …

[SIGN OF THE TIMES] Despite record revenues of $371 million, Manchester United’s parent company, Red Football Joint Venture, suffered pre-tax losses of $65.6 million in 2007-08 in part because of interest payments on loans its owners are unable to restructure in the current economic environment.