Category: Soccer America Daily

[SPAIN] Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster has been given a vote of confidence by the team’s sporting director, Predrag Mijatovic, despite the team’s recent shaky form.

[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.

[MLS AWARDS] Colorado Rapids defender Jose Luis Burciaga Jr. is the is the recipient of the 2008 U.S. Soccer Foundation-MLS W.O.R.K.S. Humanitarian of the Year Award.

Maybe the gods of this game really are contrarians, as so often seems the case when one team plays the soccer and the other team gets the luck, when a fourth-year franchise playing just its fourth game in a new stadium packs the place yet sends a sellout crowd home unhappy. Reducing the Real Salt Lake-New York semifinal — won by the Red Bulls, 1-0, Saturday in a pulsating Rio Tinto Stadium — to that simple formula does an injustice to the resilient Red Bulls, scorers of an opportunistic goal in the 28th minute and stout fighters through numerous furious assaults.

[MLS] Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney grades the players’ performance in the New York Red Bulls’ 1-0 semifinal win at Real Salt Lake. …

[USA ROSTER] U.S. coach Bob Bradley has called in Freddy Adu and Jozy Altidore, two young Americans who are struggling for playing time with their European clubs, for the USA’s World Cup qualifier on Wednesday against Guatemala (ESPN Classic & Galavision, 8 pm ET) in Commerce City, Colo. The semifinal round qualifier has no implications for the USA, which has clinched passage to the final qualifying round. The Guatemalans, however, need a win.

[AMERICANS IN FRANCE] Defender Carlos Bocanegra went the full 90 for Rennes as it won at home, 2-1, against Monaco, for which Freddy Adu was a a 69th minute sub.

[AMERICANS IN MEXICO] The quarterfinals of the Apertura 2008 include a faceoff between young American defenders Edgar Castillo (Santos) and Michael Orozco (San Luis). And on the last day of regular season play, Daniel Hernandez received his third red card of the season.

[UNDER-17 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP] North Korea confirmed its status as the dominant power of women’s soccer at the youth level, beating the USA, 2-1, in overtime in the final of the inaugural U-17 Women’s World Cup in New Zealand. North Korea’s championship comes on the heels of its Under-20 Women’s World Cup title two years ago in Russia.

[ENGLAND] Brad Friedel and Aston Villa sprung the weekend’s big surprise with a 2-0 win at Arsenal, while Clint Dempsey helped Fulham break Harry Redknapp‘s unbeaten streak as Tottenham manager.

[GERMANY] Michael Bradley scored his first Bundesliga goal as Borussia Moenchengladbach came back to hold Bayern Munich. Defender Neven Subotic scored a brace as Dortmund downed Frankfurt 4-0.

[SPAIN] Barcelona opened up a three-point lead at the top of La Liga as Real Madrid fell to Real Valladolid and Valencia lost at home.

[ITALY] Inter stayed top thanks to a brace of cracking goals from Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Kaka gave Milan a narrow win, and a single goal also decided the Rome derby.

[MLS SEMIFINAL PREVIEW] The 2008 MLS playoffs have conjured up two wonderfully warm and fuzzy stories, but one of them must end in the Western Conference final on Saturday when Real Salt Lake hosts the New York Red Bulls (9:30 p.m., Fox Soccer Channel, Fox Sports en Espanol, HDNet).

[ITALY] In Serie A pre-weekend action, Juventus moved up to second spot after beating Genoa 4-1

[ENGLAND] England’s Italian manager Fabio Capello has tackled the unhealthy home diet by banning ketchup and fries from national team camps.

[MLS AWARD] Sean Franklin of the Los Angeles Galaxy, which led the league in goals conceded, has been named the 2008 MLS Rookie of the Year.

[UNDER-17 WOMEN’S WORLD] Since getting through the group stage — with great difficulty — the USA has found its stride at the Under-17 Women’s World Cup in New Zealand. The Americans moved into Sunday’s final in Auckland against North Korea with victories over group winners South Korea (4-2) and Germany (2-1). Here’s a look at Coach Kazbek Tambi‘s starters from the last two games.

Plaudits for Landon Donovan from Bayern Munich imply his 10-day training stint with the German power may yet turn into a long-term relationship. For his part, Donovan said, “I’m ready” and was quoted as saying some things his MLS colleagues might not be too happy about. The tabloid Bild, meanwhile, managed to invoke Barack Obama in its Donovan coverage.

Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney grades the players’ performance in Columbus’ 2-1 semifinal win over Chicago. …

[MLS AWARDS] A goal scored by a goalkeeper — Red Bulls’ Danny Cepero vs. Columbus – is among the five finalists in MLS Goal of the Year Voting. Fans will pick between his 80-yard free kick and strikes by Cuauhtémoc Blanco (last year’s winner), Geoff Cameron, Will Johnson and Robbie Rogers.

[UNDER-17 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP] Winner of the inaugural competitions at the Women’s World Cup in 1991, Women’s Olympic Soccer in 1996 and Under-19 (now Under-20) Women’s World Cup  in 2002, the United States is in position to make it 4-for 4. Kazbek Tambi‘s girls came back from a goal down in the last half hour to beat Germany, 2-1, Thursday night and move into the final of the first Under-17 Women’s World Cup Sunday against North Korea in New Zealand.