Category: Soccer America Daily

[HEXAGONAL COUNTDOWN] The revolving door has finally spun to a halt, so no longer will U.S. national team players wonder whom they might line up with Saturday when they face Sweden in the first match of a very busy 2009. Home Depot Center is the venue for the match (8:30 p.m. ET, Fox Soccer Channel, Galavision) that kicks off perhaps the most grueling year in the team’s history.

[DIGICEL UNCAF CUP] Central America’s regional championship gets underway on Thursday with special attention on the three teams — Costa Rica, El Salvador and host Honduras — that will compete in the final round of World Cup qualifying.

The name of the team, the coach, and most of the players have changed, but the next stage of Mike Petke‘s career is taking him back to New York.

[MLS] Kansas City further revamped its roster for the 2009 season by re-signing attacker Davy Arnaud and midfielder Jack Jewsbury to new four-year contracts, a week after it had restructured the contract of Claudio Lopez and removed his Designated Player status.

As most observers anticipated, the San Jose Earthquakes failed to make the 2008 playoffs as an expansion team, yet their defense performed up to expectations. The team has retained the services of a key member of its back line.

[ITALY] Kaka will stay with AC Milan, which Manchester City claimed had agreed to sell him to the English club for $147 million. For his part, the Brazilian star said, “Not even for 30 seconds did I think about going to Manchester City. Milan is my home.”

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Sacha Kljestan, the 23-year-old Chivas USA midfielder and U.S. international, is in the midst of a one-week trial with Scottish Premier League leader Celtic, which is contemplating making MLS a $2.7 million for the California product.

[U.S WOMEN] Christine Nairn, a freshman redshirt at Penn State, has been called into the U.S. women’s national team’s 17-day training camp at U.S. Soccer’s National Training Center at The Home  Depot Center in Carson, Calif.

[SIGN OF THE TIMES] In a move called “an economic-type decision,” Shelton State has dropped Alabama’s only junior college to offer women’s soccer as a scholarship program.

[AWARDS] Soccer America executive editor Mike Woitalla received his seventh award in the NSCAA Writing Contest when he was selected as one of three winners in the 2008 contest.

[MLS] The pursuit of high-scoring Colombian forward Fredy Montero takes an interesting twist Wednesday when he joins the rest of Seattle Sounders FC for their first-ever MLS training session. But, no, he isn’t under contract, according to a team source.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] If English club Leeds doesn’t sign him, Mike Grella will wonder what it will take to land a job in England. The Duke star, who bypassed MLS for a shot in Europe, scored a hat trick in a 4-0 win for Leeds over Barnsley in a reserve game on Tuesday night at Elland Road.

[HEXAGONAL COUNTDOWN] Mexico coach Sven-Goran Eriksson called up U.S. products Carlos Ochoa (California prep and and college star) and Edgar Castillo (New Mexico youth star) for a three-day training camp before the Tri’s friendly international against Sweden in Oakland, Calif., next Wednesday.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Landon Donovan scored on a header in Bayern Munich’s 2-0 friendly win over Second Division leader Kaiserslautern in front of 42,604 fans at Fritz Walter Stadium on Monday. It was his second goal in four exhibition appearances for Bayern, to which Donovan is on loan until March 15.

[ANALYSIS] The news that the Thursday night time slot held for “MLS Primetime Thursday” on ESPN2 has been released is hardly the news MLS wanted to get out as the countdown to the 2009 season began in earnest. It could have major implications for MLS on several fronts.

[MLS EXPANSION] What had been billed as the first of perhaps many soccer games to be played at the new football stadium of Florida International  University in Miami never occurred.

[ITALY] Prospects of Kaka‘s departure from AC Milan to Manchester City in a $147 million deal sparked protests, but when the Brazilian approached a window with a Milan jersey in hand late Monday night and beat his hand three times on his heart, he sent 50 fans standing outside his house into delirium.

[ENGLAND] A late goal by Tim Cahill gave Everton a 1-1 tie at its city rival Liverpool and cost the Reds the outright lead in the Premier League. Afterwards, Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez, whose exit looked to be increasingly likely following the news he had rejected an offer of a contract extension, pleaded for patience.

[U.S. UNDER-18 NATIONAL TEAM] The U.S. under-18 men’s national team won its first tournament under new coach Mike Matkovich when it won the Australian Youth Olympic Festival on Monday with a 5-0 win over Australia in Sydney. That followed a 14-0 win over China in which Adam Jahn scored five goals — four in a span of six minutes.

[WORLD CUP 2018/2022] Spain and Portugal are the latest countries to enter the race to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup when they announced a joint bid to stage the tournament.

[ENGLAND] Chelsea remained in the Premier League race with a 2-1 win over Stoke City on goals by Juliano Belletti and Frank Lampard scored in the final four minutes, but the win was overshadowed by Didier Drogba‘s continuing absence from the lineup and the news that England midfielder Joe Cole will miss the remainder of the season after injuring his knee in Wednesday’s FA Cup replay against Southend United.

The Scottish Premier League race tightened as Rangers moved to within one point of Celtic, which fell at Aberdeen, 4-2. In France, Lyon and Bordeaux remained 1-2, while Monaco suffered another embarrassing collapse, this time without Freddy Adu on the field. It was winning, 2-0, at Caen when it gave up two late goals and had to settle for a 2-2 tie. For all the results of the major European leagues and the first day of play in Mexico …