Category: Soccer America Daily

There are too many variables to consider when assessing whether Columbus or New York holds the upper hand for their meeting Sunday in MLS Cup 2008 (TV, ABC, 3:30 p.m. ET). But when you examine the foreign influence, the young domestic talent and the old hands on both teams, one team clearly has an edge …

[MLS] After David Beckham, Landon Donovan and Cuauhtemoc Blanco will spend the offseason playing on loan to foreign teams. German champion Bayern Munich will have Donovan from Jan. 1 until the start of the MLS season in mid-March. Blanco will join Santos only for the Mexican league playoffs, which start this weekend with the first leg of the quarterfinals.

[MLS] The Columbus Crew’s Guillermo Barros Schelotto became the second Argentine in three years to receive Major League Soccer’s top individual award when he was named the Volkswagen Most Valuable Player.

[ITALY] Juventus is to completely renovate the Stadio Delle Alpi and become the first Italian club to own its own stadium.

[AWARDS] U.S. Soccer has announced the finalists — six in each category — for its annual Athlete of the Year Awards – Male, Female, Young Male and Young Female.

[WORLD CUP 2010 QUALIFYING] There were road wins for Australia, Japan and South Korea in the latest round of  Asian World Cup qualifying, making all three favorites to qualify for South Africa 2010.

[INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLIES] New Argentina coach Diego Maradona kicked off his career at the helm of the former world champion with a 1-0 win in Scotland. England and Germany fielded largely experimental teams in their Berlin match-up, but it was the experienced England captain John Terry, who scored the winner in the 2-1 game.

[WORLD CUP 2010 QUALIFYING] Next year’s Hexagonal field is set. Honduras, Mexico and Trinidad & Tobago completed the six-team group for next year’s final round of 2010 World Cup qualifying. Mexico edged out Jamaica on a tiebreaker after the Tri fell, 1-0, at Honduras and the Reggae Boyz beat Canada, 3-0.

[MLS] Real Salt Lake midfielder Will Johnson won the 2008 Sierra Mist Goal of the Year for his flick and volley, which struck the inside of the near post and beat FC Dallas goalkeeper Dario Sala, in RSL’s must-win away goal on Oct. 18.

[UNDER-20 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP] Sydney Leroux came off the bench to score two goals and set up a third and lead the USA to a 3-0 win over France in its opening game at the Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Chillan, Chile.

[WPS] FC Gold Pride, the Women’s Professional Soccer team in the Bay Area, will play its home games at Buck Shaw Stadium on the campus of Santa Clara University.

As he had promised, USA coach Bob Bradley called up mostly younger players for the final match of the Concacaf World Cup semifinal round, and they responded with a polished performance that blanked Guatemala, 2-0, on a brisk night at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.

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

[EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES] Soccer America provides the latest on employment opportunities for soccer-related positions. They include college coaching opportunities, as well as jobs in pro soccer, youth soccer, the soccer industry and television.

[USA-GUATEMALA] With a majority of its first team resting in Europe or preparing for Sunday’s MLS Cup, the USA concludes the semifinal round of World Cup 2010 qualifying in the Concacaf zone against Guatemala on Wednesday at Dick’s Sporting Good Park in Commerce, Colo. (TV: live, ESPN Classic, Galavision, 8 p.m. ET).

[MLS] Landing an MLS expansion team, even in these tough economic times, requires a strong lineup of financial and political backers, heavy hitters if you will. St. Louis has added power and prestige to its lineup, both figuratively and literally, and its bid by adding Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols to its proposed ownership group, which until recently had been virtually nonexistent, at least publicly.

[UNDER-20 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP] Tony DiCicco, who led the USA to the 1999 Women’s World Cup title, looks to add the Under-20 Women’s World Cup to his trophy case when the Americans compete at this year’s world championship, which begins Wednesday in Chile with a game against France (TV, live, ESPN2, 1 p.m. ET; delay, Galavision, 6 p.m. ET/PT).

[WORLD CUP 2010 QUALIFYING] It’s a longshot, but Mexico could be out of the World Cup. The Tri travels to San Pedro Sula to face Honduras with its place in next year’s Hexagonal still not assured. If Honduras beats Mexico, and Jamaica defeats Canada, Honduras will advance and it will come down to goal difference to separate Mexico (9-5) and Jamaica (3-6).

[AWARDS] U.S. Soccer has announced the finalists for the 2008 “Best of U.S. Soccer” awards in 12 categories. The seventh annual series, presented by SOCCER AMERICA, gives fans the opportunity to make their selections for the best in soccer in the United States. Fans can vote once a day from now until Monday, Dec. 8, on ussoccer.com’s “Best of U.S. Soccer” blog page.

[WORLD CUP 2010 QUALIFYING] Australia hopes to preserve its 100 percent record in the final group phase of Asian World Cup qualifying. In Group 2, unbeaten Saudi Arabia and South Korea face off in Riyadh.

[OFF THE POST] Fans of Argentine second division club Chacarita, fearing they’d be late to their team’s game against Talleres, hijacked a pair of a couple of buses and pointed knives at the drivers with instructions to drive faster.

A goalie, especially a young one, might be the worst player to ask about how a successful head coach manages and prepares a team. The tinkering of lineups and personnel and formations and tactics by Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio has attracted much notice and some disdain, but as keeper Danny Cepero notes, the Osorio Method that has sent the Red Bulls to the MLS final is as much about what a player is between the ears as what he does between the lines.