Category: Story

[GOLD CUP] The USA opens play at the 2009 Gold Cup on July 4 against Grenada at Qwest Field in Seattle. It also faces Honduras in Washington, D.C., on July 8 and Haiti at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., on July 11. The Honduras match comes a little more than a month after the USA faces the Catrachos in World Cup 2010 qualifying in Chicago. The Gold Cup follows a busy June for the USA, which is also playing at the Confederations Cup in South Africa. For a look at the three U.S. opponents …

[GOLD CUP] The longest and most expansive Gold Cup in history kicks off July 3 with a doubleheader — Canada-Jamaica and Costa Rica-El Salvador — at the Home Depot Center. The 12-team Concacaf event will be played in 13 cities — more than any other regional championship ever — over 21 days — including a week’s gap between group play and the quarterfinals — making it the longest Gold Cup ever. For the complete schedule …

[MEXICO] Mexico hiring the Swede Sven-Goran Eriksson, who had only modest success during a six-year stint as England coach, never made a lot of sense. But just how disastrous an appointment it was went beyond predictions. After Wednesday’s 3-1 loss at Honduras, which marked El Tri’s sixth loss under Eriksson in 13 games, he was finally fired.

[WPS] Women’s Professional Soccer moves into full gear with three games over the weekend. Marta’s drawing power will be put to the test when Los Angeles travels to Sky Blue FC. Chicago travels across Illinois to face St. Louis on the campus of SIU-Edwardsville, while FC Gold Pride hosts Boston in the WPS Game of the Week on FSC. For a look at this week’s games …

[MLS] With ties in its first two games, one at home and one on the road, one could give defending champion Columbus some benefit of the doubt.  But after a 4-1 thrashing inflicted by Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium Thursday, there may be some cause for doubting the Crew’s ability to defend that title.

[MLS PREDICTIONS] What will happen when the high-flying Sounders play their first road game? For all the predictions, as well as TV viewing information, and to see how we fared last week …

[OFF THE POST] The German soccer federation [DFB] says it won’t punish striker Lukas Podolski for lashing out at captain Michael Ballack during the team’s 2-0 World Cup qualifying win against Wales.

[TELEVISION] The UEFA Champions League’s move to Fox for the next three seasons gives it a chance to spread its coverage of Europe’s most important competition across a number of affiliated networks, including Fox Soccer Channel, FSN, FX and Fox Sports en Espanol, boosting midweek programming on FSC and showcasing international soccer on regional outlets and Fox’s general cable entertainment network.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] President Barack Obama, who played soccer as a boy while he was living in Indonesia but became a basketball enthusiast when he moved back to Hawaii, turned down a chance to chime in on World Cup qualifying at the G20 Summit in London.