Category: Soccer America Daily

[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 …

[MLS] With a guest player, one making his first appearance for the team, and another recently waived by an MLS rival, Seattle tied CED Rosario, 1-1, in a 70-minute game played in Buenos Aires Saturday.

[MLS PRESEASON] They aren’t likely to set any scoring records, but the Earthquakes – who netted a league-lowest 32 goals last year – are hitting the net consistently in preseason while retaining a solid defensive record.

[MLS PRESEASON] The Canadian and American representatives still alive in the Concacaf Champions’ League merged their schedules to play a testy, 70-minute preseason game on Saturday, with the MLS Houston Dynamo beating USL-1 Montreal, 3-2, before about 2,000 fans in Robertson Stadium.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Michael Bradley scored his third Bundesliga goal of the season in a losing effort that keeps Borussia M’Gladbach in last place. Landon Donovan‘s fifth appearance a sub failed to spark Bayern Munich and he got harsh reviews from the German press. Maurice Edu made his first Scottish Premier League appearance since September. For a wrapup of Americans abroad. …

[SPAIN] Barcelona’s lead over Real Madrid, which was 12 points two weeks ago, is down to four points after Atletico Madrid twice came from behind and beat Barca, 4-3, on Sunday.

[UEFA CUP] If David Beckham is to stay at AC Milan through the end of the 2008-09 season, he’ll only need to worry about Serie A. Milan’s European season came to a shocking end when it blew an early 2-0 lead at home against Werder Bremen, giving up two late goals, both on headers by Claudio Pizarro and exited on away goals.

Four Americans were eliminated from the UEFA Cup on Thursday. With Brad Friedel one of several starters left home, Brad Guzan was in goal for Aston Villa in its 2-0 loss at CSKA Moscow. (Eric Lichaj, 20, was one of several Villa reserves to dress for the game.) The European campaign of Oguchi Onyewu‘s Standard Liege ended with a 1-1 tie against Sporting Braga that resulted in the Belgian champion going out, 4-1, on aggregate. (Recent signing Marcus Tracy did not dress for AaB in its 3-1 win at Deportivo Coruna that sent the Danish club through to the round of 16.) For all the results and goalscorers, as well as the round-of-16 draw …

[MLS] Among the more anticipated meetings of the 2008 MLS season were matches between New York and D.C. United that matched former River Plate players Juan Pablo Angel and Marcelo Gallardo. Their 2009 teams met on Thursday. Angel is starting his third season with the Red Bulls, but didn’t play in this preseason match; Gallardo lined up for the River Plate reserves, who were beaten, 2-1 at Mapuche Country Club in Pilar, Argentina.

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] USL club Puerto Rico followed in the path of league compatriot Montreal to capture the first leg of its Concacaf Champions League quarterfinal at home. But unlike the Impact, which scored early and late to beat Santos Laguna, 2-0, the Islanders needed to rally, and did.

[REF WATCH] Vanderlei Luxemburgo, coach of Brazilian club Palmeiras, praised three of his players for intentionally getting yellow cards so they would serve an accumulated-caution suspension against a modest opponent.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Bayern Munich will aim to pull itself out of its Bundesliga slump when it clashes with Werder Bremen on Sunday (GolTV, 11 am ET), one of three games before Landon Donovan is scheduled to return to the Los Angeles Galaxy.

[MLS] Chicago won the second of its two preseason games in Mexico, beating Morelia, 3-1, Tuesday with goals by Brian McBride, Austin Washington and Mike Banner.

[OFF THE POST] A Chinese company that sells a Viagra-like male potency drug pirated David Beckham‘s image for a commercial in which a fake voiceover attributed to the England star claims he has used the pills.

[MLS] Last autumn, a month or two after Bruce Arena had replaced Ruud Gullit as Galaxy head coach, a colleague of mine talked about his recent trip to LA and predicted darkly of its fate.

[UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] With American Landon Donovan only a spectator, Bayern Munich put aside its Bundesliga problems, pounding Sporting Lisbon, 5-0, in Lisbon in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League round-of-16 series. English clubs Liverpool and Chelsea were also winners on Wednesday, while Villarreal needed a penalty kick from Italian-American Giuseppe Rossi to tie Greek club Panathinaikos, 1-1.

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Four years after he left the Montreal Impact, Eduardo Sebrango paid back the team that brought him back.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] A goal by Clint Dempsey in the 77th minute started a comeback as Fulham beat League Championship (second division) Swansea City, 2-1, Tuesday night in their English FA Cup fifth-round replay and moved into the quarterfinals, where the Cottagers will host Manchester United on March 7.

[UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Arsenal survived a bizarre incident when its two center backs were missing at the start of the second half to beat Roma, 1-0, in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League round-of-16 series. The Gunners were the only team to win on Tuesday as the other three matches ended in draws.

Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League action features two games available live on television: Chelsea-Juventus and Real Madrid-Liverpool. ESPN Deportes will air eight and a half hours of continuous coverage of all four games. For all the matchups and broadcast times …

[WPS] Women’s Professional Soccer took one more step toward its launch with the unveiling of the Puma uniforms worn by players from the league’s seven teams at a high-profile fashion presentation Tuesday in New York.