Category: Story

[TELEVISION] The UEFA Champions League, a staple of midweek viewing in ESPN2 since 1994, is headed to Fox Soccer Channel, starting next season, according to an AP report.

[HEXAGONAL] Nobody, including the player himself nor Coach Bob Bradley, is sure when and at which position Jonathan Spector will return to the national team. Yet he’s one of those players based overseas that the coach is tracking closely. Summoned to his first U.S. camp since last summer in advance of qualifiers against El Salvador (Saturday’s 2-2 tie) and Trinidad & Tobago (Wednesday, ESPN2, Galavision, 7:30 pm ET), Spector has edged his way into the scene at West Ham United, making six appearances since late December following a six-month injury absence.

[MLS] Two days after the normally stingy Houston defense surrendered three goals in a 3-2 loss at San Jose came official word of a signing to bolster the team’s attack. Ade Akinbiyi, 34, who has played for numerous clubs in several divisions of English soccer, visited Houston last weekend to take a physical and finalize contractual details. He was introduced to local media at a press conference Monday, then flew back to England to formally sever his ties to Burnley of the League Championship (second division) with a buyout.

[MLS] David Beckham, the Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder who is playing on loan with Italy’s AC Milan until July, is the world’s best paid soccer player according to a list published by France Football that estimates players’ income from salary and endorsements. …

[OFF THE POST] Goalkeeper Artur Boruc was kicked off the Polish national team after a nightmare performance in a 3-2 World Cup qualifying loss to Northern Ireland in which he was blamed for all three goals and looked particularly bad on the third goal. He whiffed on a harmless back pass from Michal Zewlakow.

[WORLD CUP 2018/2022 BID]. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the most famous American soccer fan of his generation, has joined the USA Bid Committee seeking the 2018 or 2022 FIFA World Cup.

[CANADA] Less than two years after he was hired, Dale Mitchell has been fired as Canada’s national team coach. Mitchell, whose contract was to run through 2010, was ousted following another humiliating World Cup qualifying campaign. Canada failed to win any of its six games and finished last in its semifinal qualifying group, behind Mexico, Honduras and Jamaica. His ouster is only the latest in a series of setbacks for the Canadian Soccer Association.

[WORLD CUP 2010 QUALIFYING] While Ivory Coast began three days of morning following the death of 19 fans in a stampede before Sunday’s World Cup qualifier between Ivory Coast and Malawi at Abidjan’s Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium, an investigation into the tragedy continued. Star Didier Drogba called it “a national drama,” adding that he and his Ivorian teammates did not learn about what happened until after the game, which ended in a 5-0 victory.

[MAKING A LIST] Sunday’s tragedy in Abidjan marked the ninth time this decade that fans were killed at a major soccer match in Africa — and the fifth time at a World Cup qualifier.

[WORLD CUP 2010 QUALIFYING-ASIA] Fans in the crowd of 100,000 at Tehran’s Azadi Football Stadium demanded Coach Ali Daei‘s resignation after Iran blew a 1-0 lead and fell to visiting Saudi Arabia, 2-1, in World Cup 2010 qualifying in the Asian zone.

[HEXAGONAL] With Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson‘s job on the line, Mexico snapped its four-game winless streak in World Cup qualifying with a 2-0 win over Costa Rica Saturday before 105,000 fans at Azteca Stadium. Trinidad & Tobago, which will face the USA Wednesday in Nashville, was lucky to escape with a 1-1 tie against Honduras in a battle of teams coached by Colombians.

[EL SALVADOR-USA REPORT CARD] Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney grades the U.S. players and comments on their performance in Saturday’s 2-2 tie with El Salvador. …

[MLS NAMES & NUMBERS] The Seattle Sounders drew another big crowd and its young Colombian star struck again. For highlights from Week 2 …

Chivas USA and Seattle are only one MLS teams to win their first two games. For all the MLS results, lineups and standings from Week 2 …

[WPS] The Women’s Professional Soccer inaugural game was supposed to spotlight the Los Angeles Sol’s Brazilian star, Marta, but teammates Alison Falk and Camille Abily stole the show with goals to give the Sol a 2-0 victory over the Washington Freedom in front of 14,832 fans Sunday at The Home Depot Center.

[WORLD CUP 2010 QUALIFYING-EUROPE] Spain, Germany and the Netherlands all won to maintain comfortable leads in their World Cup 2010 qualifying groups. Portugal’s troubles continued, though, when it could only tie Sweden, 0-0, in Oporto. Elsewhere, American Neven Subotic debuted for Group 7 leader Serbia in a 3-2 win at Romania.