[AMERICANS IN MEXICO] In the fourth game day of Mexican First Division Apertura 2008 action, 21-year-old California Jesus Padilla made his second appearance of the season for Chivas Guadalajara as a halftime sub but was red-carded in the 87th minute of of a 2-2 tie with Necaxa.
Category: Story
Posted inSpecial Edition, Story
USA-Japan Women’s Coverage
Americans to meet Brazil again for gold medal
The injury loss of Abby Wambach and a terrible start against Norway notwithstanding, anything less than a berth in the gold-medal match would have been a disappointment for the U.S. women. By beating Japan, 4-2, in its semifinal Monday the Americans have attained those expectations and set up a showdown with Brazil, which also came back after conceding the first goal to thrash Germany by nearly the same scoreline, 4-1. Brazil and the U.S. will play in the final, a rematch of the 2004 gold-medal match won by the Americans, on Thursday (USA Network, 9 a.m. ET).
Posted inSpecial Edition, Story
Hucles shines brightest
[USA-JAPAN REPORT CARD] Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney grades the U.S. players’ performances in their 4-2 win over Japan on Tuesday.
Posted inSpecial Edition, Story
What They’re Saying
“We’re pumped. Bring it on. We’ve played Brazil before and we know they’re a pretty awesome team with a lot of great personalities. But this team player for player is unified and strong, and we’re together. We’re looking forward to [playing Brazil].”
— U.S. midfielder Heather O’Reilly on the USA’s gold medal game on Thursday against Brazil, which eliminated the Americans from the 2007 Women’s World Cup with a 4-0 semifinal win.
Posted inSpecial Edition, Story
Postgame from Beijing
[REACTION] Coach Pia Sundhage and the U.S. women look back on their win over Japan and ahead to the gold-medal clash with Brazil.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Ronaldinho’s Lifestyle Cost Him At Barca, Says Xavi
Former teammate Xavi says that Ronaldinho’s partying lifestyle cost him his place at Barcelona.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Smith Shows His Bottle
Jonah Freedman spotted the New England Revolution’s Khano Smith throwing a bottle of Gatorade at two San Jose fans after Saturday’s 4-0 defeat.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Gibbs Ready To ‘Simply Play Football’
Injury has dogged the career of U.S. national team defender Cory Gibbs, 28, but at the weekend he finally made his comeback to competitive soccer by making his debut for the Colorado Rapids in a 2-1 win over the Kansas City Wizards. He told Greg Lalas that all he wants to do now is “simply […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Crew The Surprise Pacesetter
The Columbus Crew entered "unfamiliar territory" after weekend play and its home win over FC Dallas, writes Shawn Mitchell, topping both the eastern and the overall rankings. But Coach Sigi Schmid is not thinking about titles yet, he just wants to make the playoffs. "I'm not all that focused on first, second or third," Schmid […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Row Highlights Need Of Canada’s Men
A verbal fight has broken out between the men and the women in Canadian soccer, writes Gareth Wheeler. When TV color commentator Jason de Vos questioned the kick and rush tactics of women's team coach Even Pellerud in the Olympic quarterfinal loss to the U.S. last week, Canadian women's team captain Christine Sinclair responded by […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Debutants Shine In EPL
Looking at the best performances of the English Premier League’s opening day, Paul Doyle pinpoints Hull City’s Brazilian striker Geovanni, who scored in the newly promoted team’s 2-1 victory over Fulham. Spurned by Manchester City, where he was rarely used by previous manager Sven Goran Eriksson, Geovanni could turn out to be “the bargain of […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
U.S. Players Strike In Germany
Neven Subotic (Dortmund), Matt Taylor (Koblenz) and Grover Gibson (Ahlen) all scored in German first and second division action at the weekend.
Posted inSoccer America Confidential, Story
Why has USA been passing on Cooper?
Many folks are a bit puzzled as to why U.S. coach Bob Bradley didn’t pick FC Dallas forward Kenny Cooper for the qualifier in Guatemala City on Wednesday.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
MLS Results
The San Jose Earthquakes, averaging less than a goal per game, exploded with a 4-0 win over New England, which entered the game as the league leader in points but gave up first place in the East with the loss, combined with Columbus’s win over Dallas. For MLS game summaries, scoring leaders and this week’s TV schedule. …
Posted inSoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Story
The Dunga Style: Effective – but not Brazilian
A weekend simply stuffed full of TV soccer, impossible to watch it all, both because of overlaps and because soccer-fatigue sets in sooner or later. Of the 16 games available over two days, the pick of the bunch, no doubt about that, was the first one, early on Saturday: the Olympic semifinal between Brazil and Cameroon. And, wouldn’t you know, this plum, this sure-fire barn-burner, turned out to be the worst game I saw.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Men’s semis feature South American clasico
[OLYMPICS] Americans fans disappointed by the exit of their men’s team can take some solace in the quarterfinal accomplishments of Nigeria and the Netherlands, which finished ahead of the U.S. in Group B. Nigeria set up a semifinal meeting with Belgium by beating Ivory Coast, 2-0, and the Dutch stubbornly took Argentina into overtime before losing, 2-1.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Beasley returns to action and to U.S. squad
[AMERICANS ABROAD] DaMarcus Beasley, who missed most of the preseason with a hamstring injury, was a 62nd minute sub in Glasgow Rangers 2-0 win over Hearts and has been added to the USA’s roster for Wednesday’s World Cup qualifying game at Guatemala.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Quakes rock Revs; Red Bulls rise continues
[MLS NAMES & NUMBERS] The league’s worst team on points upset MLS’s top club when previously goal-shy San Jose exploded for four against New England. New York’s resurgence looks real. A fourth player hit the century mark in MLS goals. Defending champ Houston fired on all cylinders to take first place in the West. For the weekend’s MLS highlights. …
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Rangers ready to pay $5 million for Edu
[AMERICANS ABROAD] Toronto FC’s 22-year-old midfielder Maurice Edu, a Southern California product who played in the central defense for the USA at this summer’s Olympic Games, is reportedly headed to Scottish club Glasgow Rangers on a $5 million transfer.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Subotic scores winner in Dortmund debut
[AMERICANS IN GERMANY] Neven Subotic, a former U.S. U-17 national team player, scored the winning goal in his debut for German First Division club Borussia Dortmund in its 3-2 win over Bayer Leverkusen on the opening day of the 2008-09 Bundesliga season. Subotic, 19, joined Dortmund in the offseason from Second Division Mainz 05.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Friedel wins with new team; Fulham falls
[AMERICANS IN ENGLAND] Goalkeeper Brad Friedel celebrated a 4-2 win with his new club, Aston Villa, over Manchester City in which Gabriel Agbonlahor hit a hat trick. Keeper Tim Howard fell with Everton. Fulham lost, 2-1, to EPL newcomer Hull as Clint Dempsey played the final nine minutes while Eddie Johnson was left out of the squad on the first weekend of the 2008-09 season.
Posted inSoccer on TV., Story
Soccer on TV
This week, 2008 Olympic soccer concludes with men’s and women’s semifinals, third-place matches and finals. The U.S. men’s national team continues its march toward World Cup 2010 with a qualifier in Guatemala. In the MLS Thursday night game, Los Angeles hosts Chicago.
Posted inSpecial Edition, Story
O’Reilly, Boxx strong in midfield
[USA-CANADA REPORT CARD] Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney grades the U.S. players’ performance in their 2-1 quarterfinal win over Canada on Friday …
Posted inSpecial Edition, Story
What They’re Saying
“I had a plan, but I changed my mind because the players handled it very well. There was music in the locker room and happy smiles. They were ready to go. This team coached themselves in the locker room when it was raining outside. I am very proud of that.”
— U.S. women’s head coach Pia Sundhage on how her players handled a 99-minute rain delay during their 2-1 quarterfinal win over Canada.
Posted inSpecial Edition, Story
Postgame from Shanghai
[REACTION] Coach Pia Sundhage and the U.S. players reflect on a very long day in China that ended well for the Americans. …