Category: Soccer America Daily

If history is to repeat itself in the MLS playoff series between Chicago and New England, the Revs can’t lose, right? Not necessarily, for while New England has knocked off Chicago in the last three postseasons, and can do so again Thursday (ESPN2, 8:30 p.m. ET) when the teams meet at Toyota Park, who’s to say the Fire won’t duplicate its 2003 triumph?

[EPL REF WATCH] Seeing as it is virtually impossible to accidentally tug an opponent’s shirt, one would think it perfectly justifiable for referees to punish severely this insidious habit, yet a couple of English Premier League coaches have slammed a ref for calling the obvious infraction.

[OFF THE POST] When players from German Third Division club Dynamo Dresden hit their practice field on Monday, a day after losing their game against Paderborn, 3-0, they found 11 grave-shaped holes with wooden crosses. Dresden general manager Ralf Minge said the team’s fans had gone too far this time.

[UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Out-of-form Roma came to life by beating Chelsea, while Inter Milan was held to a tie by Anorthosis Famagusta of Cyprus in Tuesday night’s Champions League action.

[UNDER-17 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP] The USA squeaked into Sunday’s quarterfinals of the inaugural Under-17 Women’s World Cup in New Zealand thanks to a 1-1 tie with France on Wednesday.

[MLS] In deciding to accept a callup from Mali for its friendly later this month against Algeria, Chicago defender Bakary Soumare is paying homage to his homeland, not snubbing his adopted country.

[MLS REF WATCH] For the MLS referees in the quarterfinal, first legs, the bottom line read: One red card, certainly justified; the same for two disallowed goals; and no penalty kicks. Neither of those figures would be reassuring if officials had ignored a savage off-the-ball incident meriting an ejection, or somehow missed a stone-cold penalty, or whistled for a phantom infraction and pointed to the penalty spot. Fortunately, in most cases the officials rose to the occasion and performed at their own playoff caliber.

[ENGLAND] Brad Friedel and Aston Villa went down, 2-0, to Newcastle United in English Premier League action Monday.

Group play at the inaugural Under-17 Women’s World Cup concludes Wednesday in New Zealand. The USA needs at least a tie against France in Auckland to clinch a berth in the semifinals. For all the results and schedules …

UEFA Champions League continues with Day 4 of group play. Eleven of the 16 games will be available on cable. The big games are Roma-Chelsea and Liverpool-Atletico Madrid on Tuesday and Real Madrid-Juventus on Wednesday. For all the games on television …

[OFF THE POST] Theo Walcott, the 19-year-old Arsenal striker who has scored three goals in six England appearances, is supporting a DVD campaign encouraging mothers to breastfeed their babies. Walcott, whose mother is a midwife, said she’s “always telling me that one of the reasons I’m such a good footballer is because I was breastfed.”

[MLS] The goals may have been scarce in the three MLS quarterfinal first-leg games played Saturday, but their timing couldn’t be topped. Houston pulled out a 1-1 tie against New York on a Kei Kamara goal in the 85th minute, Real Salt Lake stunned Chivas USA when Yura Movsisyan struck the only goal with just seconds remaining in regulation; and Columbus shocked Kansas City with a Stephan Lenhart equalizer in the 92nd minute to tie the Wizards, 1-1.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Jozy Altidore scored his first La Liga goal. Steve Cherundolo celebrated a big win in the Bundesliga, where Michael Bradley and Gladbach suffered another loss and Neven Subotic notched an assist for Borussia Dortmund. For more on how Americans fared with foreign clubs last weekend. …

[MLS] Soccer America’s Paul Kennedy, Ridge Mahoney and Mike Woitalla grade the players’ performance in the four first-leg games of the MLS quarterfinals …

[UNDER-17 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP] The USA recovered from its 3-2 loss to Japan in its opening game at the Under-17 Women’s World Cup in New Zealand and defeated Paraguay, 3-1, on Sunday. In a game that saw Coach Kazbek Tambi make eight changes in his starting lineup from the opening game, the Americans fell behind at halftime but recovered to win with three second-half goals.

[U.S. WOMEN] The U.S. women’s national team opened a three-game series against South Korea with a 3-1 win on Saturday in Richmond, Va.

[ENGLAND] Liverpool lost at last, and Chelsea made up the difference at the top by hammering Sunderland. Stoke surprised Arsenal, while Hull gave Manchester United a run for its money.

[GERMANY] Bayern Munich continued its rise up the Bundesliga to third, but Hoffenheim and Leverkusen are still in the top two spots after home wins this weekend. Bremen hit Hertha for five.

[ITALY] AC Milan took over top spot in Serie A after winning the day’s big game against Napoli. A 2-0 win by Juventus over Roma sent the Champions League participant down to 17th place.

[SPAIN] Barcelona moved to the top of the Spanish Liga after Valencia fell at home to Racing Santander. Real Madrid was held 1-1 at Almeria.

[SPAIN] First Jozy Altidore‘s Villarreal, now league champion Real Madrid. It was not a good week for Spain’s top clubs in the Copa del Rey.