Category: Soccer America Daily

[MLS] FC Dallas scored early, on the hour, and late, yet those three goals weren’t quite enough to match the output of the team’s host in Brazil, Clube Atletico Paranaense, which defeated its MLS partner club, 4-3, Wednesday at the Arena da Baixada in Curitiba.

[MLS] No look at the calendar is needed to perceive that the MLS preseason is ebbing away. The marking is tighter, the pace is faster, and a team like Chivas USA, which played its first MLS opponent in 2009 Wednesday at Home Depot Center, finds out quickly what it’s been missing.

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] The venue changed, but the flow of play and result didn’t. Cruz Azul — leading its quarterfinal series with Mexico City rival UNAM, 1-0, from the first leg – dominated Pumas on their own field, and took the second leg by the same 1-0 score Wednesday at Estadio Olimpico Universitario.

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] The only MLS influence in the Concacaf Champions’ League semifinals will come from a few of its former employees. Ex-D.C. United striker Nicholas Addlery, former Crew goalie Bill Gaudette, and the first of two Northern Irish head coaches hired by Dallas, Colin Clarke, were among the celebrants in San Pedro Sula Wednesday after the USL’s Puerto Rico Islanders defeated CD Marathon, 1-0, in the second leg of their quarterfinal series.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Days before his loan spell comes to an end, Landon Donovan watched from the bench as Bayern Munich was ousted from the German Cup it was defending with a 4-2 loss at Bayer Leverkusen. The defeat, on the heels of a dismal league run, had German press speculating on Coach Juergen Klinsmann‘s job security.

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] One team had the polish and poise to turn opportunities into goals while blotting out its opponent at critical moments, and the other team didn’t. Atlante downed Houston, 3-0, Tuesday in the second leg of their Concacaf Champions League quarterfinal to win the series, 4-1, on aggregate while eliminating the last MLS team alive in the competition.

[OFF THE POST] Brazilian club Barueri’s experiment with three head coaches came to an end when it fired Toninho Moura, Diego Cerri and Luis Carlos Goiano, who had been given equal status as co-coaches.

[OFF THE POST] Jeroen Verhoeven has conceded 59 goals in 24 games for last-place Dutch club FC Volendam, whose foes fans have been having a go at the goalkeeper’s girth with an “Oooooooooh: PIZZA!” whenever he takes a goal kick.

[MLS] In the penultimate game of its Argentine tour New York Tuesday traded second-half goals with Argentinos Juniors in a 1-1 tie.

Women’s Professional Soccer’s seven teams have begun preseason work in preparation of the league’s inaugural season, which begins March 29. The Boston Breakers will open the preseason Friday when they face the University of Connecticut in a scrimmage in Storrs, Conn. For all the preseason matches …

MLS has released a statement that by mutual consent, MLS and prospective operator-investor Marcelo Claure have agreed to terminate Miami’s application to field an expansion team in 2010. The withdrawal of Miami leaves four possible expansion candidates, should MLS stick to its timetable and announce the two 2011 teams in the next few weeks.

[CONCACAF UNDER-20 CHAMPIONSHIP] The USA begins play at the the 2009 CONCACAF Men’s Under-20 Championship Friday when it faces Jamaica Friday at Dwight Yorke Stadium in Bacolet, Tobago. The Americans have qualified for the last six U-20 world championships, but they will face three ambitious national youth teams in Jamaica, Honduras and El Salvador.

[MAKING A LIST] The cutback in MLS roster sizes has created opportunities for USL-1 clubs to sign players with extensive professional experience. Steve Cronin, who started 22 games for the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2008, became the latest player to move to the USL-1 when he signed with the Portland Timbers. For 2008 MLS players headed to the USL-1 …

[U.S. WOMEN] Former Norwegian star Hege Riise has joined the U.S. women’s national team staff as an assistant coach.

[MLS] In his first MLS preseason as head coach, Schellas Hyndman is learning some vital lessons of the pro game. Among them is a reminder that each year is whole new ballgame.

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Seldom in its four seasons of play has the Houston Dynamo shown any reluctance to attack, but like any team, it has struggled through periods of slack finishing. That won’t be an option if it wants to prevail in the quarterfinal, second leg with Mexico’s Atlante in Cancun on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET, Fox Soccer Channel, Telefutura).

[ENGLAND] When Manchester United goalie Ben Foster dived to his left and stopped Jamie O’Hara‘s penalty kick en route to a 4-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur in Sunday’s English League Cup final, he wasn’t guessing. Only minutes earlier, Foster was studying clips on his iPod of Spurs’ penalty-takers prepared by United goalie coach Eric Steele and watched O’Hara shoot to the exact spot in an England U-21 game in November.

[MLS] Not to get too giddy about what’s going on in Seattle, but right now, the sky – if not an imposed capacity for Qwest Field – seems to be the only limit. Sales for its inaugural game March 19 against New York have been cut off at slightly more than 32,400, and team management has also announced plans to increase the maximum capacity for regular-season games to 27,700.

[MLS] All teams were required to comply with the 2009 roster limit of 24 players and salary cap, believed to be $2.35 million this season, by Tuesday. Not all teams were required to make moves, since teams are permitted to retain players on trial without restrictions. Here are the moves made by teams since Friday …

[GERMANY] Hertha Berlin went back on top in the Bundesliga with a 2-1 win over Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday and held the top spot when last week’s leader, Hamburg, fell at home to Wolfsburg, 3-1. Meanwhile, Bayern Munich’s troubles continued when it slipped to fifth place following its 0-0 tie at Werder Bremen.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] The ranks of American executives at major European clubs were reduced with Friday’s announcement by AS Monaco that its French-American president, Jerome de Bontin, was heading home for family reasons less than a year after taking the post.

Rangers and Celtic remained tied at the top of Scotland’s Premier League, while Anderlecht and Standard Liege and Porto and Benfica are both separated by two points in Belgium and Portugal, respectively. For all the results and standings of Europe’s major leagues and Mexico …