Category: Story

[DIGICEL UNCAP CUP] Three-time defending champion Costa Rica moved into the semifinals of the UNCAF Cup with a 3-1 win over Guatemala on Sunday. Honduras also advanced with a 4-1 victory over Nicaragua on Saturday.

Oguchi Onyewu‘s Standard Liege, the defending champion in Belgium’s Juliper League, moved into first place, while Porto regained the lead in Portugal ahead of Benfica and Sporting, which both had to settle for ties. In Turkey, Sivas is the surprise leader. In the French Cup, seventh-division Schirrhein’s Cinderella story ended when it fell at home to Toulouse, 8-0, in the round of 32.

[USA-SWEDEN REPORT CARD] Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney grades the U.S. players’ performance in their 3-2 victory over Sweden on Saturday …

[HEXAGONAL COUNTDOWN] Be it a competitive match or a friendly, be it played in January or June or any other month, breaking down a bunkered defense is a difficult task. Several elements are essential for success in such situations and against Sweden on Saturday the U.S. men displayed enough of them to win their first match of 2009. In wowing a crowd of 9,918 at Home Depot Center by scoring all three goals in a 3-2 victory, Man of the Match Sacha Kljestan displayed one of those elements, a clinical finishing touch. He curled a free kick from 35 yards into the top corner, he confidently tucked away a penalty kick, and he polished off his hat trick with a crisp first-time strike.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Jay DeMerit connected on a fine volley for second-tier Watford in an FA Cup victory. In the same competition, keeper Tim Howard recovered after lapse against Liverpool. Oguchi Onyewu helped Standard Liege take a two-point lead in the Belgian Juliper League. For a wrapup of Americans Abroad. …

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Landon Donovan upped his scoring total to four goals in five friendly games for Bayern Munich as he struck twice after entering as a 60th minute sub in Bayern’s 5-0 win over second division Mainz. The 26-year-old, on loan from the Los Angeles Galaxy, is now Bayern’s leading scorer in midseason-break friendly games.

[HEXAGONAL] Less than three weeks before facing the USA in the first game of final-round World Cup qualifying, Mexico is plagued by suspensions, injuries problems and the fact that several key players aren’t seeing consistent action with their European club teams. Whether that’s good news for the USA is open to debate.

[OFF THE POST] Referee Gary Bailey ejected Me-Tu, a parrot, from the Hertfordshire Senior Centenary Trophy quarterfinal because his whistling kept bringing players to a standstill.

[HEXAGONAL COUNTDOWN] The revolving door has finally spun to a halt, so no longer will U.S. national team players wonder whom they might line up with Saturday when they face Sweden in the first match of a very busy 2009. Home Depot Center is the venue for the match (8:30 p.m. ET, Fox Soccer Channel, Galavision) that kicks off perhaps the most grueling year in the team’s history.

[MLS] The precise details won’t be known until all the paperwork and documentation is done, but Colombian attacker Fredy Montero has signed an MLS contract to play for Seattle Sounders FC.

[MLS] In its first two seasons, Toronto FC has consistently packed its stadium and turned a profit, which are two accomplishments much more established MLS teams can only dream about. In year three, it is committed to getting things right on the field, and completed a vital step in that process by signing attacker Dwyane De Rosario, a native of nearby Scarborough, Ont., to a new contract.

[DIGICEL UNCAF CUP] El Salvador, one of the USA’s opponents in the Hexagonal, the final round of 2010 World Cup qualifying, opened the Central American Championship with a 1-1 tie to regional minnow Nicaragua. Another U.S. Hexagonal opponent, Honduras, opened the UNCAF Cup with a 2-1 over Belize in which former MLS star Amado Guevara scored Honduras’ first from the penalty spot and was ejected with a yellow-red in the 90th minute.

[SIGN OF THE TIMES] AIG, the American insurance giant so closely identified with last September’s economic crisis, will not renew its sponsorship with English club Manchester United when it expires in May 2010 and is seeking to reduce expenditures related to its agreement between now and then.