Category: Soccer America Daily

[WORLD CUP 2010] The sale of the approximately 3 million tickets available for the 2010 World Cup begins Friday. For information on how fans can purchase tickets …

[MLS] With a month to go before New York opens the 2009 season in Seattle, head coach Juan Carlos Osorio took the time to scout talent in El Salvador.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Glasgow Rangers’ DaMarcus Beasley came close to scoring twice before being victimized by a vicious foul in Scottish Cup play. In England, Clint Dempsey‘s 90-minute effort couldn’t help Fulham improve on its dismal road record when it faced Manchester United. And two Americans saw UEFA Cup action.

[EUROPE] UEFA president Michel Platini issued a dire warning that European soccer was on the verge of a financial meltdown if measures to curb spending on salaries and transfers aren’t implemented. Speaking to the European Parliament, the former French star pointed out that American sports leagues were better positioned to handle the worldwide financial crisis and European clubs needed to learn from their example.

[MLS] Changing by the hour if not the minute, the David Beckham saga rolls, or lurches, on. A proposed meeting between AC Milan sporting director Umberto Gandini and Galaxy officials, set for Thursday and then pushed back to next week, may be back on.

[PAN-PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIP] The Los Angeles Galaxy got goals on either side of halftime from Edson Buddle and Jovan Kirovski and beat Japanese club Oita Trinita, 2-0, Wednesday night before a slim crowd of 5,624 at the Home Depot Center to advance to Saturday’s championship against South Korea’s Suwon Samsung Bluewings.

[U.S. UNDER-17 NATIONAL TEAM] The USA fell to Spain, 2-1, on a goal in the 90th minute of Wednesday’s clash of U-17 powers at the Spanish soccer federation’s Ciudad del Futbol.

[OFF THE POST] If remains to be seen how far Ben Wade gets on “Survivor: Tocantins,” but his college soccer coaching appears to be over. Wade says he plans on dedicating himself to acting after he was fired as head women’s soccer coach at Southwest Baptist University less than a week after he debuted on the 2009 CBS “Survivor” show. Wade was fired for leaving the team with two weeks left in the season and failing to tell the school where he was going. He said he would be gone a week; he only returned from the Brazilian Highlands eight weeks later.

AC Milan had to settle for a 1-1 tie at Werder Bremen in the first leg of their UEFA Cup round-of-32 series. David Beckham came on in the last minute for Ronaldinho. For all of Wednesday’s results and goal scorers …

[MLS] Another piece in the building of Seattle’s back line had been laid into place. Colombian center back Jhon Kennedy Hurtado has been signed and will join the team during its preseason trip to Argentina, which begins next week. For more on Hurtado’s signings and the other MLS moves …

[USL-1] Just eight days before they begin their Concacaf Champions League quarterfinal series, the Puerto Rico Islanders have signed Coach Colin Clarke to a three-year contract extension.

[COSTA RICA] Adrian Castro, president of Costa Rican First Division club, was gunned down Tuesday by gunmen on a motorcycle while driving his car on the Interamericana Norte freeway.<

[OFF THE POST] Fans of German club Schalke 04, fed up with the poor play of former German international Kevin Kuranyi, rejoiced when the club reported on its Web site next week that his contract had been terminated and he had been released. The story proved to be false when the club announced that a computer hacker had broken into the Web site and posted the phony story.

[PAN-PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIP] Opening without David Beckham and Landon Donovan and serving as host rather than as Hawaiian guest, the Los Angeles Galaxy begins its 2009 season Wednesday with semifinal play in the second Pan-Pacific Championship at Home Depot Center.

[MLS] FC Dallas upped its preseason record to 2-1-1 by beating Colorado, 1-0, Tuesday during its training camp in Sunrise, Fla.

[MAKING A LIST] FC Gold Pride has acquired Japanese national team striker Eriko Arakawa and Brazilian U-20 midfielder Adriane, while the expected signing of former WUSA star Kelly Smith (Boston) and the Chelsea Ladies duo of Emi Aluko (St. Louis) and Anita Asante (Sky Blue FC) brings to five the number of Englishwomen joining Women’s Professional Soccer.

D.C. United rolled out a few political backers and ambitious plans for a 24,000-seat stadium in Prince George’s County, Md., at a press conference on Monday. But given the on-again, off-again nature of United’s efforts to secure a stadium of its own, president Kevin Payne admitted, “I’m knocking on wood a lot.”

[MLS] Months of haggling and negotiations have ended with goalkeeper Joe Cannon signing a new deal with San Jose that gives him less money and more security.

[WPS] An agreement was reached between Women’s Professional Soccer and U.S. national team players on the terms of the standard contract players will sign with the new league, which will kick off on March 29. Players will earn an average of around $32,000 in 2009 for a seven-month playing contract.

[ENGLAND] After 358 days on the sidelines with a broken leg and ankle, Eduardo played his first game with Arsenal and celebrated with two goals in a 4-0 win over Cardiff City in their FA Cup fourth-round replay, prompting Gunners manager Arsene Wenger to proclaim that the Brazilian-born Croatian international could jumpstart the Gunners’ season.

[USL-1] Former MLS coach Fernando Clavijo has been named the director of soccer of Traffic Sports USA, the owner of USL First Division club Miami FC.

[OFF THE POST] Players from Spanish third division club Galactico Pegaso used its match against Real Madrid farm team Real Madrid C to protest that they had not been paid for three months. In warmups, they wore tee-shirts that read “Con el culo al aire” (“With our buttocks in the arm”). After Galactico Pegaso’s two forwards kicked off and knocked the ball deep into the Real Madrid C half, they joined their teammates on the edge of their penalty area, and they all dropped their pants.