Category: Story

[OFF THE POST] It’s been a tough year for European club bosses. Joaquin Bilbao, president of Spanish club Xerez, was arrested last month following a shootout at a brothel and resigned from his position. Now, Gigi Becali, owner of Romanian powerhouse Steaua Bucharest, has been jailed on kidnapping charges.

The Houston Dynamo could have believed its lousy fortune had run out. But instead of getting the breaks, the Dynamo is getting beat early in 2009, adding to a recent history of poor starts in MLS.

[REF WATCH] Not often does an MLS team incur an early red card and still go on to win, but by doing so last weekend, the Chicago Fire added another entry to the on-going debate of whether red-card procedures should be changed.

[SCOUTING REPORT] The USA will aim to win its group for the fourth straight time when it faces European champion Germany, African runner-up Cameroon and Asian semifinalist South Korea in Group C at the 2009 Under-20 World Cup, which will be played Sept. 24-Oct. 16 in Egypt.

[MEXICO] Changing coaches in the middle of qualifying or before the World Cup is nothing new for Mexico. But having four coaches in less than a year — Hugo Sanchez, Jesus Ramirez, Sven Goran Eriksson and now Javier Aguirre — is extreme. Aguirre returns to take over the Tri in remarkably similar circumstances to those that existed eight years.

[EUROPE] Italian teen Federico Macheda was such an unknown before Sunday’s game against Aston Villa that Manchester United captain Gary Neville admitted he had never seen him. All Macheda did was come off the bench and lead United to a 3-2 win over Villa with a stoppage-time goal that kept it in the lead in the English Premier League. For who’s up, who’s  down, who’s in and who’s out in Europe …

Chicago and New England are tied for first place in the Eastern Conference after registering wins over the weekend, while Chivas USA and Seattle won their third game in a row to remain in the lead in the Eastern Conference. For all the summaries …

The French race remained tight with five teams separated by only four points at the top of the standings. Celtic’s lead in Scotland was still three points, and Porto held on to its four-point advantage in Portugal. For all the results in Europe’s major leagues and Mexico …

[MLS NAMES & NUMBERS] Seattle and Chivas USA are 3-0. FC Dallas is 0-3. Los Angeles coach Bruce Arena was furious after the Galaxy fell, 3-2, at home to the Colorado Rapids on a Conor Casey hat trick that included the second-fastest goal in MLS history — off the Galaxy kickoff!

[MLS] The expansion Seattle Sounders FC captured their third game of the 2009 season with a 2-0 win at Toronto FC on Saturday, but the excitement of another big victory was tempered by the absence of young Colombian star Fredy Montero, who remained in Seattle because of an illness, according to the team. The game came two days after a report by the (web-only) Seattle Press-Intelligencer in which it stated Montero was a subject being investigated regarding two sexual assault cases.

[MLS] By beating Colorado, 2-1, Sunday at Home Depot Center, Chivas USA matched expansion Seattle atop the overall MLS standings at 3-0. The Sounders won their first away test Saturday, beating Toronto FC, 2-0, at BMO Field. They return home next week to play Kansas City and so perhaps only a road game on the grass – at Home Depot Center against Chivas USA April 18 as luck would have it – can expose the upstart.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] U.S. defender Jonathan Spector suffered another setback when he suffered a concussion in West Ham United’s 2-0 win over Sunderland on Saturday. He was treated for six minutes on the field after being hit going up for a header. “He couldn’t remember much of it but he was fine,” said Hammers manager Gianfranco Zola. “He doesn’t remember me — which is a good thing!”

[WPS] A last-minute goal by Tiffeny Milbrett gave FC Gold Pride a 2-1 win over the Boston Breakers and marked a storybook ending to the first full weekend of play in Women’s Professional Soccer. Milbrett, the former national team star with 100 goals for the USA, had been overlooked in each of the WPS drafts and allocations and only made the Pride after asking for a tryout. She came off the bench in the opener and scored in the 89th minute to cap an exciting game at Buck Shaw Stadium.