Category: Soccer America Daily

[UNDER-20 WORLD CUP] Costa Rica pulled the biggest upset yet at the 2009 Under-20 World Cup when the Ticos knocked out host Egypt, 2-0, on Tuesday. Ghana and Hungary also advanced to the quarterfinals. For more on Tuesday’s games and the complete schedule with viewing information …

[MLS PREDICTION] They may be the bottom-two teams in the Western Conference, and might finish the season there, yet San Jose and FC Dallas have plenty to prove when they meet at Buck Shaw Stadium Wednesday night.

[BOLIVIA] Marco Etcheverry, arguably MLS’s greatest player, has been named head coach of Bolivian first division club Oriente Petrolero. Etcheverry was D.C. United’s playmaker from 1996 to 2003 when it won three MLS titles, a U.S. Open Cup, and two international titles.

[MLS] A year removed from reaching MLS Cup 2008, Red Bulls’ forward Juan Pablo Angel will gladly put the disastrous 2009 season behind him. “We weren’t good enough this year in every way,” said Angel Saturday, after a 1-0 loss to San Jose snuffed the faint hopes that the Red Bulls (4-18-6) might catch the second-worst Quakes in overall points. “Hopefully this is a learning experience for us as players and for everybody, so that we don’t repeat this next year.

WEDNESDAY ACTION:
Men’s College Scoreboard

[UNDER-20 WORLD CUP] Italy upset Spain, the only team to win all three games during the group phase, when the Azzurrini prevailed, 3-1, Monday in the round of 16 at the Under-20 World Cup. South Korea also advanced, beating Paraguay by the same 3-0 scoreline that it had beaten the USA on Friday. For more on Monday’s games and the complete schedule with viewing information …

[COLLEGE] Senior Kyle Nakazawa, who scored twice on free kicks, added a third goal and had an assist in a pair of Pac-10 road games for UCLA, is the Soccer America Men’s Player of the Week for games played Sept. 28-Oct. 4. For the Soccer America Men’s Team of the Week …

[COLLEGE] Nikki Marshall, who scored four goals and added an assist for a school-record nine points in Colorado’s 5-1 Big 12 win over Oklahoma, is the Soccer America Women’s Player of the Week for games played Sept. 28-Oct. 4. For the Soccer America Women’s Team of the Week …

[WORLD CUP 2010 QUALIFYING] Add a Clint Dempsey shoulder injury to the factors complicating the selection decisions faced by U.S. coach Bob Bradley. Dempsey underwent an MRI evaluation Monday and has been diagnosed with a shoulder sprain, which rules him out of the Hexagonal match Saturday against Honduras in San Pedro Sula. Further evaluation will determine his status for the final Hexagonal game a week from Wednesday against Costa Rica in Washington, D.C.

TUESDAY ACTION:
Men’s College Scoreboard

[U.S. WOMEN] U.S. women’s national team head coach Pia Sundhage called up 18 players from the friendly against recently crowned European champion Germany on Oct. 29 at the newly constructed Impuls Arena in Augsburg, one of nine venues for the 2011 Women’s World Cup.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Manchester City dropped points for only the second time this season when it was held to a 1-1 tie by Aston Villa, whose keeper Brad Friedel contributed by coming off his line to snuff an Man City opportunity at the feet of Emmanuel Adebayor.

[U.S. OPEN CUP] The USSF added four games to the suspension of D.C. United goalkeeper Josh Wicks, who during the 2-1 Open Cup final loss was red-carded for stomping on Seattle goalscorer Fredy Montero and then berated the officials. The five-game ban, not effective for MLS games, means Wicks will miss the entire Open Cup next year.

[MLS] After being drafted by the Chicago Fire out of the University of Maryland and playing 20 games in his rookie year, Stephen King moved to the Seattle Sounders in the expansion draft for the 2009 season. Get to know the 23-year-old in this profile by Soccer America’s Bryan Alvarez that covers on and off-field experiences.

[USL-1] The USL First Division trophy will remain in Canada. The defending champion Vancouver Whitecaps, held on for a 3-3 tie with regular-season champion Portland in a wild game before 14,283 fans Sunday afternoon and won their semifinal series, 5-4, on aggregate. The Whitecaps will meet the Montreal Impact, which made it four wins in four playoff games with a 2-1 win at Puerto Rico.

[UNDER-20 WORLD CUP] One good outing (against an albeit weak opponent) couldn’t make up for two horrendous performances, and the USA exited the Under-20 World Cup in Egypt on Saturday, marking the first time since 1987 that the Americans didn’t make it out of the first round.

The field for the round of 16 at the Under-20 World Cup is set: five teams from Europe (all but hapless England), four from Africa (all but U.S. victim Cameroon), all four from South America, two from Asia (South Korea and UAE) and only one (out of four) from Concacaf (Costa Rica). For all the results and and complete Under-20 World Cup schedule, including viewing information …

[UNDER-20 WORLD CUP] Soccer America’s Paul Kennedy grades the U.S. players in Friday’s 3-0 loss to South Korea at the Under-20 World Cup in Suez.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Carlos Bocanegra (France) and Michael Orozco (Mexico) were red-carded. Michael Bradley got his first Bundesliga start since late August. Freddy Adu made his league debut for Belenenses and Eddie Johnson got a rare few minutes of action for Fulham.

The MLS playoff race was largely unchanged from last week. The key results were Seattle’s 1-0 win at Columbus and Chivas USA’s 2-0 win at D.C. United. Seattle and Chivas opened up a five-point gap on ninth-place D.C. United in the  wild-card race. For all the weekend summaries current standings and leading scorers …

Chelsea took the lead in the English Premier League when it won for the seventh time in eight games with a 2-0 victory over Liverpool and defending champion Manchester United was held to a 2-2 tie by surprise Sunderland. Inter Milan regained a share of the lead in Italy’s Serie A with Sampdoria, while Hamburg and Bayer Leverkusen remained tied for the top spot in Germany’s Bundesliga. For the weekend results and current standings …

[MLS] Los Angeles, which hasn’t reached the playoffs since 2005, and Houston, joined defending champ Columbus as postseason qualifiers. Five spots are still up for grabs. …

[MLS NAMES & NUMBERS] Landon Donovan finished off a nice sequence of counterattack passing to send the Galaxy past Chicago. Seattle ended Columbus’ home unbeaten streak. A couple of midseason signings scored their first goals. And San Jose made sure it wouldn’t finish rock bottom in 2009. For MLS’s weekend highlights. …

[COLLEGE] Stanford remained No. 1 in the Soccer America Women’s Top 25 for the third straight week, but North Carolina, the Preseason No. 1, fell to No. 3 and was replaced at No. 2 by Portland. Virginia Tech, which beat North Carolina, 1-0, on Sunday for its second win against a Top 25 team in four days, moved into the Top 25 at No. 6. For the complete Women’s Top 25 …