Category: Soccer America Site

The UEFA Champions League moves into the knockout phase with the first leg of the round of 16 on Tuesday and Wednesday. The good news for American fans is all eight games are available on television, including five live telecasts, and all games are available on a pay-per-view basis via the Internet on espnsoccernet.com. Tuesday's […]

AC Milan veteran Paolo Maldini should become the fifth player, and the first Italian, to make 100 appearances in the Champions League when he takes to the field against Celtic on Tuesday. GP PLAYER (CURRENT CLUB) 106 Raul (Real Madrid) 105 Robert Carlos (Real Madrid) 102 David Beckham (Real Madrid) 100 Oliver Kahn (Bayern Munich) […]

By Ridge Mahoney DWAYNE'S WORLD. Houston finished its preparation for its CONCACAF Champions Cup series against Puntarenas of Costa Rica by beating Chicago, 3-1, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., Saturday. Ryan Cochrane, Alejandro Moreno and Corey Ashe scored the goals for Dynamo, which plays Puntarenas away in the first leg Wednesday. Houston will host the […]

California-born Michael Orozco, 21, has started and played the full 90 minutes in Mexican First Division club San Luis' last two games, a 2-1 loss to Veracruz and a 1-0 win over Atlas. Orozco, who played youth ball for the Irvine Strikers and played on U.S. U-20 national team in 2004, has U.S. and Mexican […]

Former Cuban national team forward Maykel Galindo, 26, who defected to the USA a day after scoring for Cuba in a 3-1 Gold Cup '05 loss to Costa Rica in Seattle, has signed with Chivas USA. Galindo, who was granted political asylum, played a season and a half with USL First Division club Seattle Sounders, […]

Manchester United was the only team to win on the road in Tuesday's UEFA Champions League games, beating French club Lille, 1-0, in an incident-filled game played in the French city of Lens. Lille had had the better play until Ryan Giggs scored on a free kick in the 82nd minute while Lille keeper Tony […]

David Beckham continues to dominate the headlines in Spain. Last week it was for scoring on a free kick in his return to the Real Madrid starting lineup a month after being banished from the first team. On Saturday, Beckham made news for being sent off in Real Madrid's 0-0 tie with Real Betis. Beckham's […]

Striker Archie Thompson needed only 40 minutes to fulfill his prediction of scoring a hat trick in the Australian A-League grand final and then added two more goals in the second half as Melbourne Victory beat Adelaide United, 6-0, to win its first A-League title in front of a sellout crowd of 55,436, a record […]

Several news outlets including UPI have reported that U.S. immigration authorities have denied visas to the eight-member bodyguard crew for David and Victoria ''Posh Spice'' Beckham, who will be moving to California this summer. The inability to get work permits for the security team is based on U.S. policy not to grant them if U.S. […]

Blackburn's Brad Friedel made spectacular late-game saves on efforts by Arsenal's Tomas Rosicky, Thierry Henry and Justin Hoyte to earn a 0-0 tie for Rovers and set up a replay of the fifth round FA Cup clash. Also earning a replay against an EPL power (Manchester United), was Reading, whose regular starter in goal, Marcus […]

ENGLAND. Premier League leader Manchester United had to settle for a 1-1 tie at home with surprise Reading Saturday in the fifth round of the FA Cup at Old Trafford. Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester City, Watford and Plymouth Argyle of the second-level League Championship were the only teams to win berths in the quarterfinals, while Premier […]

Tiffany Roberts played on the U.S. team that won the gold medal at the 1996 Olympic women's soccer competition in Athens, Ga., and captured the 1999 Women's World Cup championship. Her husband, Tim Sahaydak, was one of the first players to enter MLS's Project-40 program. Roberts and Sahaydak, who met while attending the University of […]

Tim Hankinson is returning to the college ranks where he began his career. The globetrotting coach, who most recently served as the head coach of Guatemala's U-17 national team program, has been named the men's head coach at Division II power Ft. Lewis. Hankinson served as head coach of Alabama A&M during its heyday as […]

n Only seven months after being named Harvard women's coach, Erica Walsh is on the move again. Walsh has been named the women's head coach at Big Ten powerhouse Penn State following the decision of Paula Wilkins to take the vacant Wisconsin job. ''Becoming the head coach at Penn State is an extremely exciting opportunity […]

Soccer America Women's MVPs Christina DiMartino (UCLA), Ali Krieger (Penn State) and Kasey Moore (Texas) and Freshman of the Year Michele Weissenhofer (Notre Dame) are among the 24 players U.S. under-21 women's national team coach Bill Irwin will bring to a training camp at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., running Feb. 17-23. The […]

Liberty's Darryl Roberts is the latest collegian to head to Europe, signing an 18-month contract with Dutch club Sparta Rotterdam. Roberts, the all-time leading scorer in Liberty history (94 career points), recently played for Trinidad & Tobago at the 2007 Digicel Caribbean Cup. The Trincity, Trinidad native was a Soccer America All-Freshman selection in 2002 […]

Washington coach Dean Wurzberger landed Ellis McLoughlin, one of the top forward prospects on the U.S. U-17 national team, for the 2008 season. McLoughlin will join UW in January 2008 due to his academic schedule and his possible participation in the Under-17 World Cup Aug.18-Sept. 9 in South Korea. He is currently in the Under-17 […]

Surprise Reading faces one of the biggest tests of the season when it travels to Old Trafford to face Manchester United in the round of 16 of the English FA Cup on Saturday (TV: PPV-Setanta, delay, noon ET). The Royals are sixth in their first season in the Premier League and gave United a stuff […]

So you think there's no money to be made in soccer? Scottish champion Celtic announced profits of 17.9 million pounds (almost $36 million) for the first six months of its fiscal year. Celtic benefited from its participation in the UEFA Champions League, where it has reached next week's round of 16, and long-term sponsorship deals […]

Barcelona and Real Madrid are the only Spanish clubs with player discord. One of the closest La Liga races in years has been overshadowed by problems at Barcelona (where Cameroonian star Samuel Eto'o criticized Coach Frank Rijkaard and teammate Ronaldinho) and Real Madrid (where David Beckham spent a month off the first team). Fourth-place Valencia […]

As expected, Honduras claimed the 12th and final berth in the 2007 Gold Cup with a 9-1 victory over Nicaragua Thursday in the fifth-place game at the UNCAF Digicel Cup. Veteran Wilmer Velasquez had four goals, and former MLS and A-League striker Saul Martinez added three for the Catrachos, who join Digicel Cup  semifinals El […]

By Ridge Mahoney He may be flush with a new contract, yet Revs' striker Taylor Twellman is thinking of how to reward the lowest-paid players in MLS and ratchet up the intensity of league competition. Twellman signed a new four-year contract earlier this week that will pay him more than $300,000 per year. Yet Twellman […]

American goalie Brad Freidel could do nothing about a sublime finish by German international Bernd Schneider that gave German club Bayer Leverkusen a 3-2 win over Blackburn Rovers on Wednesday in the first leg of their UEFA Cup round-of-32 series in Leverkusen. Schneider back-heeled a cross from Gonzalo Castro to give Leverkusen the win after […]

Arsenal was given a scare at Bolton Wanderers before prevailing, 3-1, in overtime Wednesday to advance to the round of 16 of the English FA Cup. Swedish sub Fredrik Ljungberg scored the winning early in the second overtime after Bolton had tied the score on a 90th-minute equalizer from defender Abdoulaye Meite. Togolese striker Emmanuel […]

WHAT'S IN A NAME? Credit Colorado for jumping on the lucrative academy bandwagon and dressing it up with a prestigious name, as done in Los Angeles (David Beckham Academy) and Real Salt Lake (the Real Madrid Something-or-Other.) The Arsenal Centre of Excellence (note the clever ''English'' spelling) will be housed at Dick's Sporting Goods Park […]