Category: Soccer America Site

Monday, June 4 in Busan (7:30 am ET) Group D: SOUTH KOREA (0-0-0, 0 pts.) vs. POLAND (0-0-0, 0 pts.) (TV: Live, ESPN2, Univision 7:30 am ET; Tape, Telefutura, 3 pm ET/PT) After several impressive performances in warmups against European teams, optimism reigns throughout South Korea that Guus Hiddink's team will finally win a World […]

June 1 in Denver Colorado 3 Los Angeles 2. Goals: Chung (Carrieri, Stewart) 42, Valderrama (Palacios) 67, Chung (Stewart, Palacios) 76; Ruiz (Cienfuegos, Glinton) 32, Ruiz (Victorine, Vagenas) 65. Colorado — Garlick, Titus, Kotschau, Stewart, Fraser, Beckerman (Palacios, 59), Hart, Valderrama, Chung, Henderson, Carrieri (Baba, 83). Los Angeles — Reis, Lalas, Califf, Hendrickson (Waibel, 77), […]

MLS Standings EASTERN GP W L T P GF GA Chicago 10 5 3 2 17 19 13 Columbus 10 3 5 2 11 13 16 MetroStars 10 3 5 2 11 13 16 New England 9 3 5 1 10 14 19 D.C. United 9 3 5 1 10 11 14 WESTERN GP W […]

By Scott French, Senior Editor 'MVP' DONE. Philadelphia forward/midfielder Kelly Smith, our pick as MVP through eight weeks of the WUSA season, is finished for 2002. A magnetic-resonance imaging test on Monday confirmed the English star tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her her right knee during the Charge's 0-0 draw Saturday with visiting San […]

Three days before his teamÆs opener against Portugal, U.S. coach Bruce Arena discussed the strengths of Claudio Reyna, the tribulations of Jeff Agoos, speculation his starting lineup, and more: Bruce Arena, U.S. coach On whether he is close to deciding on his starters against Portugal, and on whether he will divulge the lineup: ''Yes, we […]

By Ridge Mahoney in Seoul Steeped in soccer he is, but not because he's an American playing for a Dutch team. And it was not because of USA '94 that he first dreamed of playing in the World Cup. U.S. midfielder John O'Brien left Southern California after his senior year in high school to test […]

Monday, June 4 in Gwangju (2:30 am ET) Group C: CHINA (0-0-0, 0 pts.) vs. COSTA RICA (0-0-0, 0 pts.) (TV: Live, ESPN2, Univision 2:30 am ET; Tape, Telefutura, 10 am ET/PT) The big day for China arrives. Thousands of Chinese fans flew to Korea for China's World Cup debut, and a TV audience of […]

Monday, June 3 in Ulsan (5 am ET) Group C: BRAZIL (0-0-0, 0 pts.) vs. TURKEY (0-0-0, 0 pts.) (TV: Live, ESPN2, Univision 5 am ET; Telefutura, 12:30 pm ET/PT) Brazil suffered a major blow on the eve of its opener when its captain, Emerson, was lost with a broken shoulder in training. Emerson, considered […]

GROUP F: Batistuta goal takes Argentina past Nigeria (1-0) * Argentina's dominance was finally translated to the scoreboard when Gabriel Batistuta nodded a 63rd-minute corner kick into the Eagles' goal. Batistuta, who got the start over Hernan Crespo, has scored in each of the three World Cups in which he has appeared, for a total […]

Monday, June 3 in Sapporo (7:30 am ET) Group G: ITALY (0-0-0, 0 pts.) vs. ECUADOR (0-0-0, 0 pts.) (TV: Live, ESPN2, Univision 7:30 am ET; Tape, Telefutura, 3 pm ET/PT) Italy is the big favorite in Group G. It has one of the best defenses in the tournament with Fabio Cannavaro, Alessandro Nesta and […]

BY RIDGE MAHONEY in Seoul Trickiness on the ball and fluidity up front are hallmarks of the Portugal team the USA faces in its World Cup opener Wednesday in Suwon. The Portuguese are a potent meld of European structure and Latin flair. They roared through their qualifying group — which included the Netherlands and Ireland […]

Monday, June 3 in Niigata (2:30 am ET) Group G: CROATIA (0-0-0, 0 pts.) vs. MEXICO (0-0-0, 0 pts.) (TV: Live, ESPN2, Univision 2:30 am ET; Tape, Telefutura, 10 am ET/PT) Mexico coach Javier Aguirre says the key against Croatia is to control the rhythm of the game. The loss of the suspended Jesus Arellano […]

Philadelphia's lead in the WUSA standings was trimmed to two points after a scoreless draw Saturday with visiting San Jose in which star English forward Kelly Smith suffered a knee injury. The defensive battle left the first-place Charge (5-1-1) with 16 points after seven games, just two ahead of Carolina (4-1-2, 14 points), which pulled […]

GROUP E: Ireland and Cameroon share spoils (1-1) * Taking a point from Group E favorite Cameroon puts an end to ''the worst week of my life'' for Ireland coach Mick McCarthy, who was referring to the saga of expelling Roy Keane from his team. * ''I was happy with our first-half performance but in […]

BY SCOTT FRENCH Soccer America Senior Editor The World Cup kicked off on Friday, and that means late-, late-night viewing for American soccer fans. Games will be played when this part of the globe is sleeping, but one can always tape the games to watch at more reasonable hours. That's what San Jose CyberRays coach […]

Sunday, June 2 in Gwangju (7:30 am ET) Group B: SPAIN (0-0-0, 0 pts.) vs. SLOVENIA (0-0-0, 0 pts.) (TV: Live, ESPN, Univision 7:30 am ET; Tape, Telefutura 4:30 pm ET/PT). Spain and Slovenia met two years ago in the first round of the European Championship. Spain won, 2-1, but Slovenia, playing in its first […]

By Paul Kennedy in Seoul Two years ago, Owen Hargreaves was an unknown, one of dozens of Canadian teenagers trying their luck in Europe. Now, he's going to start in the World Cup for … England. The 21-year-old Hargreaves, who helped German club Bayern Munich win the 2001 Championship League, got his break in the […]

By Paul Kennedy in Seoul If U.S. national team coach Bruce Arena has made a decision on his starting lineup for the World Cup opener against Portugal Wednesday, he's not telling. At Saturday's media conference here, Portuguese reporters wanted the U.S. plan for Portugal. ''You want to know how we are going to play against […]

After giving the players Friday off, the USA was back at practice on Saturday, which marked Kasey KellerÆs first full day of practice since hurting his elbow on Wednesday. After training, Coach Bruce Arena, defenders Gregg Berhalter and Jeff Agoos, and midfielder Claudio Reyna met the press. Bruce Arena, U.S. coach On SenegalÆs upset of […]

Sunday, June 2 in Ibaraki (1:30 am ET) Group F: ARGENTINA (0-0-0, 0 pts.) vs. NIGERIA (0-0-0, 0 pts.) (TV: Live, ESPN2, Univision 1:30 am ET; Tape, Telefutura, 10 am ET/PT) With France's loss to Senegal, Argentina is now the favorite to win the World Cup. It has experience (11 players have played in previous […]

Sunday, June 2 in Busan (3:30 am ET) Group B: PARAGUAY (0-0-0, 0 pts.) vs. SOUTH AFRICA (0-0-0, 0 pts.) (TV: Live, Univision, ESPN 3:30 am ET; Tape, Telefutura, 12:30 pm ET/PT) Paraguay is a difficult team to play. Its strength is in defense, where Ricard Tavarelli replaces the suspended Jose Luis Chilavert. The lanky […]

Sunday, June 2 in Saitama (5:30 am ET) Group F: ENGLAND (0-0-0, 0 pts.) vs. SWEDEN (0-0-0, 0 pts.) (TV: Live, Univision 5:30 am ET; Delay, ABC, 3:30 pm ET/PT; Tape, Telefutura, 2:30 pm ET/PT) English captain David Beckham is back, having recovered from a broken foot suffered in April. Sven Goran Eriksson continues his […]

According to World Cup tradition, the opening game of the 2002 tournament featured the defending champion. Senegal's 1-0 win over France resembled the 1990 opener. At Italy 90, title-holder Argentina also faced an African opponent, Cameroon, and fell 1-0. Cameroon went on to the best World Cup showing by an Africa nation, reaching the quarterfinals, […]

Saturday, June 1 in Niigata (2:30 am ET) Group D: IRELAND (0-0-0, 0 pts.) vs. CAMEROON (0-0-0, 0 pts.) (TV: Live, Univision, 2:30 am ET; Delay, ABC, 3:30 pm ET/PT; Tape, Telefutura, 10 am ET/PT) The pressure will be on Irish coach Mick McCarthy, who kicked star Roy Keane off the team on the eve […]

As World Cup openers go, the France-Senegal match lacked in terms of notable dignitaries. There was the Korean President Kim Dae Jung and the president of East Timor. There were prime ministers from Japan, Namibia, the Dominican Republic and St. Kitts & Nevis. Those pushing for a harmonization of Korean-Japanese relations hoped that Japan's Emperor […]