Category: Soccer America Daily

[USA] The celebratory mood in the U.S. national team camp on the eve of Wednesday’s World Cup 2010 qualifying finale against Costa Rica was extinguished in the middle of Tuesday with the news that Charlie Davies, who played an instrumental role in Saturday’s 3-2 win over Honduras that clinched a berth in the World Cup finals, was seriously injured in a one-car accident at 3:15 a.m. in which a young woman was killed. After being airlifted to Washington Hospital Center, Davies underwent several hours of surgery and was in serious but stable condition with a lacerated bladder, fractures to the tibia and femur bones in his right leg, facial fractures and a fracture of his left elbow. He faces additional surgeries and extensive rehabilitation during a recovery period of six to 12 months.

[UNDER-20 WORLD CUP] Traditional youth powers Brazil and Ghana will meet in Friday’s final at the Under-20 World Cup in Cairo.

[COLLEGE]  Ronnie Bouemboue, whose goal in the 110th minute gave N.C. State a 1-0 win at Duke, is the Soccer America Men’s Player of the Week for games played Oct. 5-11. For the Soccer America Men’s Team of the Week …

[COLLEGE] Portland sophomore Danielle Foxhoven scored a career-high four goals and an assist in 7-0 victory over Gonzaga, is the Soccer America Women’s Player of the Week for games played Oct. 5-11, her second Player of the Week award. For the Soccer America Women’s Team of the Week …

[MLS] D.C. United, which is struggling to win a playoff spot, has lost midfielder Santino Quaranta for the rest of the season because of a foot injury that sidelines him for four to six months.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Freddy Adu made his first league start for Portugal’s Belenenses but the 20-year-old came off at halftime of a 1-0 loss to Nacional. Adu suffered a foul from Nacional’s Bruno Patacas shortly before halftime that earned Patacas a yellow card and left Adu limping.

[REF WATCH] Referee Alan Wiley, whom Manchester United coach Alex Ferguson accused of not being fit enough after Man U’s 2-2 tie with Sunderland, ran 225 yards more than the average player and a total of 6.9 miles – the eighth most of all on the field. Ferguson, whom the English FA could charge with improper conduct for his comments, has issued an apology, which the head of the referees’ union called “half-hearted.”

[WORLD CUP 2010 QUALIFYING] The USA clinched a spot with its win at Honduras on Saturday, but Costa Rica needs to end a 24-year drought in World Cup qualifiers on U.S. soil to guarantee its ticket when the teams clash in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday (TV: 8 pm ET, ESPN2 & Galavision). A U.S. win would earn the Americans a first-place finish in the Hexagonal, which Coach Bob Bradley says could be important.

BREAKING NEWS:
USA to face Denmark

[WORLD CUP 2010 QUALIFYING] The USA played to its strengths and Honduras played to its weaknesses Saturday night in San Pedro Sula, and by the margin of a single goal did the Americans win, 3-2, to clinch their place in the 2010 World Cup. By using balls in the air effectively, the USA exploited a shaky central defensive pairing of Maynor Figueroa and Osman Chavez, and put enough pressure on keeper Noel Valladares that he misplayed all three goals to some extent.

[MY VIEW] From the closed-circuit broadcast in a restaurant filled with Honduran supporters and a handful of gringos to the game itself, Saturday night was special. Honduras-USA will go down as the greatest U.S. game few of us got to see and demonstrated that the attacking spirit Landon Donovan and the boys displayed at the Confederations Cup was no fluke.

[COLLEGE] Stanford, Portland, North Carolina and UCLA remain 1-2-3-4 in the Soccer America Women’s Top 25. For the rest of the Top 25 …

[COLLEGE] For the sixth straight week, Akron is No. 1 in the Soccer America Men’s Top 25. For the rest of the Top 25 …

With two weeks to play in the regular season, MLS’s top eight remained unchanged on an abbreviated World Cup qualifying weekend. The midweek win by FC Dallas in San Jose did move it a three-way tie for ninth place with DC United and Toronto FC. For all the MLS results, standings and leading scorers …

[WORLD CUP 2010 QUALIFYING] For postgame reactions from the U.S. contingent after qualifying for the 2010 World Cup. …

[HONDURAS-USA REPORT CARD] Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney graded the U.S. players in their 3-2 win over Honduras. Top marks went to Conor Casey and Landon Donovan.

[WORLD CUP 2010 QUALIFYING] For all the goals from the Honduras-USA game plus extended highlights and analysis of all the game’s key moments …

[WORLD CUP 2010 QUALIFYING] Forward Martin Palermo rewarded Argentina coach Diego Maradona for bringing him back into the national team after a 10-year absence by scoring the stoppage-time gamewinnner in a 2-1 victory over Peru that puts the Argentines back on track. “At the interval I told him to go out and win the game, though we never imagined it would happen like this. It was yet another miracle by Saint Palermo,” said Maradona, who celebrated Palermo’s goal with a face-first slide on the wet grass of Buenos Aires’s Estadio Monumental.

[WORLD CUP 2010 QUALIFYING] The USA was the  19th team to qualify for the 2010 World Cup when it beat Honduras, 3-2, on Saturday. An additional 31 teams are still alive. Four more teams — two from Europe and one each from Concacaf and South America — will clinch berths on Wednesday. But nine berths — four in Europe’s playoffs, three in Africa and one each in the Concacaf/South America and Asia/Oceania playoffs — won’t be decided until November.

[MLS NAMES & NUMBERS] The Revs’ gave up a costly fluke goal against Columbus that jeopardizes their playoff chances. Toronto FC failed to take greater advantage of the Revs’ slip-up by once again conceding a late goal, but Chivas USA got it right.

[WORLD CUP 2010 QUALIFYING] Mexico became the first Concacaf team to clinch a berth in the World Cup finals when it beat El Salvador, 4-1, on Saturday at Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium. The result eliminated El Salvador from contention, meaning that Honduras and Costa Rica have clinched no worse than fourth place — and a berth in next month’s Concacaf-South America playoff.

[WORLD CUP 2010 QUALIFYING] Chelsea star Didier Drogba came off the bench to score and earn Ivory Coast the 1-1 tie with Malawi it needed to clinch a berth in the 2010 World Cup finals.

[WORLD CUP 2010 QUALIFYING] For the sixth straight time — and the third time on the road — the USA qualified for the World Cup. In surely the wildest qualifier the USA has ever played, it came back after going 1-0 down seconds into the second half to beat Honduras, 3-2, at the Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano in San Pedro Sula. The second half featured five goals — two on free kicks — and at least a dozen clear chances for both teams, but the game wasn’t decided until Carlos Pavon — the former L.A. Galaxy striker and Catracho elder statesman — skied a penalty kick over the bar in the 87th minute. The surprise U.S. hero: Conor Casey with the tying and brilliantly taken go-ahead goals — his first two at the senior national team level …

U.S. Player Ratings

COLLEGE:
Men’s Weekend Scoreboard
Women’s Weekend Scoreboard

[UNDER-20 WORLD CUP] All four quarterfinals at the 2009 Under-20 World Cup in Egypt were decided by one goal — three in overtime — and when the dust settled Brazil, Costa Rica, Ghana and Hungary advanced to the final four. The Ticos completed the quartet when Marcos Urena scored in the 120th minute to give them a 2-1 win over the United Arab Emirates in Saturday’s late game.