Category: Soccer America Daily

[SIGN OF THE TIMES] According to Finans, a Russian business magazine, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has lost almost $10 billion in the economic collapse, but such have been the losses of Russia’s oligarchs that Abramovich is still second on the list of Russia’s most wealthy individuals with assets valued at $13.9 billion.

[SPAIN] Raul became Real Madrid’s all-time leading scorer when he scored twice in Real’s 4-0 win over Sporting Gijon to give him  309 goals, two more than Alfredo di Stefano‘s long-standing record of 307 goals. More importantly, Real Madrid picked up two points on Barcelona with its eighth straight win and moved within 10 points of La Liga leader. Barca had to come back from two goals down to tie Real Betis, 2-2.

[ENGLAND] Manchester United remained in contention for a record five trophies in a single season when it beat Derby County, 4-1, Sunday in the FA Cup fifth round.

[ITALY] Jose Mourinho downplayed Inter Milan’s lead after Sunday’s thrilling 2-1 win over AC Milan, but its ever-increasing margin over challengers Juventus and AC Milan makes the Nerazzurri likely winner of four straight Serie A titles.

[GERMANY] Hertha Berlin upset Bayern Munich, 2-1, thanks to two goals by Ukrainian Andriy Voronin to claim the Bundesliga lead after 20 rounds. Hertha’s move came a day after surprise leader Hoffenheim fell to Bayer Leverkusen, 4-1.

Celtic was held to a 0-0 tie by visiting Rangers in their Old Firm derby but held on to its two-point lead in Scotland. Oguchi Onyewu’s Standard Liege remained in first in Belgium. For all the weekend results in major European leagues and Mexico …

[AMERICANS IN GERMANY] Returning from midweek national team duty during which he bagged both goals in the USA’s 2-0 win over Mexico, Michael Bradley scored with his chest for Borussia Moenchengladbach in a 1-1 tie with Werder Bremen. Landon Donovan made his longest Bundesliga appearance since joining Bayern Munich but came up empty in a 2-1 loss to Hertha Berlin.

It was a big weekend for the San Jose Earthquakes, who defeated the Seattle Sounders FC and Houston Dynamo at the MLS Central Coast Showcase. Ryan Johnson was the star with two goals in the 3-2 win over the Sounders and a goal and an assist in the 2-0 win over the Dynamo. For all the weekend results …

[MLS] On the day AC Milan’s hopes of winning the Serie A title suffered a serious blow, the hopes of David Beckham staying with the Italian club rather than return to MLS took a another new twist.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Keepers Tim Howard and Brad Friedel faced off in the English FA Cup and Jay DeMerit battled against Chelsea. Jozy Altidore still hasn’t seen time for his new Spanish club. For how Americans fared in foreign leagues last weekend. …

[TELEVISION] Wednesday’s USA-Mexico broadcast on Univision was seen by 10.7 million viewers, making it the most watched sporting event in the history of Spanish-language television. The average audience of 5.9 million made it the most-watched sporting event for the season to date on Spanish-language television and the average audience of 1.2 million on ESPN2 made it the most-watched World Cup qualifier in history on that network.

[MLS] With five weeks to go before its MLS debut against New York, Seattle has traded one of the players it claimed in the expansion draft to the Red Bulls.

[U.S. SOCCER] Two older, larger stadiums and a smaller, newer facility will host the final three U.S. home matches in the Hexagonal.

[USA-MEXICO] After the USA’s 2-0 win over Mexico on Wednesday, U.S. defender Frankie Hejduk was slapped by  Mexico assistant coach Paco Ramirez, but Hejduk said he believes the hit was the result of a "misunderstanding."

There’s no shortage of explanations as to why Mexico can’t beat the United States national team in the USA, but two former internationals have very interesting perspectives, and one former U.S. coach refuses to call it dominance, per se.

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Late February isn’t the time to be opening the soccer season in Montreal, but the USL-1’s Impact has already sold 35,000 tickets for its biggest game ever, the first leg of the Concacaf Champions League quarterfinal series against Mexican club Santos.

[HEXAGONAL] Once again Mexico failed to scale its own psychological barrier, once again the Americans relied on their poise and experience to down their bitterest rival, and once again U.S. coach Bob Bradley proved that, at least some of the time, he knows what he’s doing.

[MLS] Bluff or bluster, or plenty of both? By issuing a statement that AEG and Milan must reach a transfer agreement regarding David Beckham by Friday or MLS won’t approve the deal, league Commissioner Don Garber has jumped into the fray with both feet and studs showing.

[HEXAGONAL] Costa Rico joined the USA in first place after Day 1 of the final round of qualifying in the Concacaf zone thanks to a 2-0 win over visiting Honduras. Trinidad & Tobago had to settle for a share of the points at El Salvador when the hosts came back from two goals down to earn a 2-2 tie with two late goals by Osa Romero, both on free kicks and the second on the last kick of the game four minutes into stoppage time.

[USA-MEXICO REPORT CARD] Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney grades the U.S. players and comments on their performance in Wednesday’s 2-0 victory over Mexico …

Wednesday was a big day on the international calendar. In Diego Maradona‘s second game at Argentina coach, he watched his team brush aside France, 2-0, on the road. Euro 2008 champion Spain beat England, 2-0, in a match that saw David Beckham get his 104th cap, equaling Bobby Moore‘s record for most appearances by an England player other than a goalkeeper. In World Cup 2010 qualifying, Robbie Keane scored twice in the last 20 minutes to lead Ireland past Georgia, 2-1.

[USA-MEXICO] U.S. coach final Bob Bradley and U.S. players Michael Bradley, Frankie Hekduk, Tim Howard, Carlos Bocanegra and Landon Donovan discuss the 2-0 win over Mexico.