[EUROPEAN RACES] Last year it was Barcelona that blew a big lead, allowing to Real Madrid to overtake it and capture La Liga title. This year it’s Real Madrid that’s in danger of collapsing. On Sunday, Real Madrid lost to Madrid club Getafe, 1-0, at home, reducing its lead over Barcelona, a 5-1 winner over Levante, to two points from eight just a week ago. Spanish manager Juande Ramos, who won five cups at Sevilla, needed only five months to win his first cup title at Tottenham. Spurs edged defending champion Chelsea, 2-1, to win the English League Cup title on Sunday.
Category: Story
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
J-League team thumps MLS champ
[PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIP] An Aloha Stadium less than half-full seemed less than ideal for a rather remarkable final day of play of the inaugural Pan-Pacific Championship Saturday. Brazilian striker Bare embarrassed MLS champion Houston – which featured the league’s stingiest defense last year — by scoring four goals as Japanese club Gamba Osaka crushed the Dynamo, 6-1, in the PPC final. The Galaxy and David Beckham had a better day in the third-place game.
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Gomez debuts for Rapids against RSL
[MLS WATCH] Midfielder Christian Gomez got his first taste of the Rocky Mountain Cup rivalry since being traded to the Rapids by D.C. United; he played the last 30 minutes of a 2-2 tie in Lauderhill, Fla. on Friday.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Red Bulls Send Kovalenko to RSL
The New York Red Bulls made some significant changes to their roster on Thursday, trading midfielder Dema Kovalenko to Real Salt Lake and waiving Liberian forward Francis Doe. The moves clear up around $250,000 in cap room for the Bulls, who are still looking to add a central defender, a left-winger and an attacking midfielder. […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
FA Calls EPL Expansion Proposal ‘Unsustainable’
The English Premier League’s proposal to add to its schedule a 39th game that would be played in international arenas across the globe received its latest, and possibly last, blow on Thursday after the Football Association declared the scheme “unsustainable.” Following a five-hour meeting, the FA board told league CEO Richard Scudamore the matter needed […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Ronaldo Admits Future is Uncertain
AC Milan striker Ronaldo admitted that he does not know whether he will be able to play again after undergoing major knee surgery for the third time in his career. “I have the will to carry on playing, this is what my heart is telling me to do. But my body is giving me signs […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Preview: Carling Cup Final
The first major trophy of the English season is up for grabs this Sunday, as Chelsea takes on Tottenham Hotspur in the Carling Cup final at Wembley Stadium (Setanta Sports USA: 9:30 am EST). Chelsea is the competition’s holder, beating Arsenal in last year’s final, while Spurs has not won a major title since winning […]
Posted inSoccer on TV., Story
Soccer on TV
Americans could meet in EPL play when Fulham (Brian McBride, Carlos Bocanegra, Eddie Johnson, Kasey Keller) faces West Ham (Jonathan Spector) on Saturday. Houston takes on Japan’s Gamba Osaka for the Pan-Pacific Championship while Los Angeles and David Beckham compete in the consolation game against Sydney FC.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
UEFA Cup Results
With American Tim Howard in goal, Everton thumped Norwegian club Brann, 6-1, to advance to the UEFA Cup round of 16. Freddy Adu stayed on the bench for Benfica, which was headed toward elimination against FC Nuremberg until Oscar Rene Cardozo’s 90th minute goal rescued the Portuguese club.
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UEFA Cup Draw
[ROUND OF 16] The top four teams in the current German Bundesliga standings advanced to the UEFA Cup final 16. England’s Bolton upset Atletico Madrid of Spain, whose only round of 16 representative is Getafe.
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International Weekend TV Schedule
Tottenham faces Chelsea in the English League Cup final on Sunday. Also on Sunday, Barcelona hopes to continue shrinking the gap between it and leader Real Madrid when it faces Levante. In Germany, first-place Bayern Munich hosts third-place Hamburg SV. For televised weekend international action …
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U.S. keepers among EPL top savers
[AMERICANS ABROAD] Reading goalkeeper Marcus Hahemann may have given up 53 goals in 26 games – only last-place Derby has conceded more (55) – but the American also leads the English Premier League in saves. Compatriot Brad Friedel is the EPL’s third busiest keeper.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Gascoigne committed to psychiatric hospital
Former England star Paul Gascoigne was arrested and ordered into compulsory mental health custody after he refused to evacuate following a 3 a.m. fire alarm at the Gateshead Hilton Hotel. During his stay at the hotel, according to sources cited by the Telegraph, Gascoigne had wandered around with three battery-operated plastic parrots that said “Give us a kiss” to other guests; ordered plates of raw liver to his room; and answered his room door while naked.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
A tale of three stadiums
[MLS WATCH] Don Garber is about to get his wish. Oliver Luck is hopeful. Kevin Payne is probably as confused as the rest of us. That’s how the stadium game goes in MLS. Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney explains.
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Fire go Polish up top
[MLS] It only took a few preseason games for Polish striker Tomasz Frankowski to land an MLS contract, giving the Fire what it lacked last season: a box striker capable of consistently putting away chances. That’s the theory, anyway.
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
How to Talk to College Coaches
While coaches do a lot of calling, players don’t have to wait around for the phone to ring. Instead, pick up the phone, shake the nervousness out of your fingers and make the call. But then what?
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Feilhaber demands too much for MLS?
SI.com’s Jonah Freedman reports that the only thing standing between Benny Feilhaber and a move to MLS is … Benny Feilhaber. According to one of Freedman’s sources, Feilhaber (or Feilhaber’s agent, Henner Janzen) is demanding “designated-player like money” to return to the U.S., where he has never played professional soccer. The only way that would […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
MLS set to welcome Philly next week
Several news outlets are reporting that Philadelphia next Thursday will be unveiled as the 16th Major League Soccer franchise in a live news conference from Chester, Pa., site of a proposed 18,500-seat stadium to be built beside the Delaware River. The Philadelphia Inquirer broke the news, citing sources close to both MLS Commissioner Don Garber […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Pan-Pacific Poses Questions for Gullit, Answers for Kinnear
Ruud Gullit’s Los Angeles Galaxy was thoroughly outplayed by Gamba Osaka in Honolulu last night, losing by a 1-0 scoreline that flattered the MLS club. But things couldn’t have gone more differently for Dominic Kinnear’s Houston Dynamo, which strolled to a 3-0 win against Sydney FC. David Beckham went 90 minutes but forwards Landon Donovan […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Barca, Benzema Draw Praise
Barcelona played fantastic, free-flowing soccer in its 3-2 come-from-behind win at Celtic Park last night. The Hoops scored two goals from two chances, while the Blaugrana peppered the Celtic goal all night. It would have been a bigger scoreline but for some heroic goalkeeping from Artur Boruc. Celtic manager Gordon Strachan summed it up at […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Sheva’s Milan bus ride significant?
Chelsea striker Andriy Shevchenko, who’s fallen to third choice behind Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba in the Stamford Bridge pecking order, was spotted on the AC Milan bus following the Rossoneri’s 0-0 draw against Arsenal in the Champions League on Wednesday. Shevchenko attended the game and then left on the Italian team’s bus, prompting further […]
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Joao Pinto shows up but doesn’t suit up for Toronto
[MLS] Toronto FC wrapped up its match schedule in Florida by tying the Chicago Fire, 1-1, with a Jarrod Smith equalizer in the 78th minute, yet more intriguing to the TFC tale is a potential trialist who is apparently not on trial.
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Baby Scorpion Mansally strikes again for Revs
[MLS] Gambian Kenny Mansally only turned 19 three weeks ago, but he made quite an impression for the New England Revolution on its trip to Bermuda. Three days after he scored a hat trick in a 6-1 win over the Bermuda national team, Mansally added another goal in the Revs’ 2-0 victory over the Bermudan nationals on Wednesday in Hamilton.
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FC Dallas falls in Rio Grande Plate
[MLS] FC Dallas fell to Tigres of Mexico, 2-1, in the first leg of the third annual Rio Grande Plate on Wednesday night at the Estadio Universitario in Monterrey.
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Barca Fantastico!
[UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Of Barcelona’s 100 wins in European Cup play, few were as quite as exciting as its 3-2 win at Celtic on Wednesday. In a game that featured sensational goals by both teams, Barca twice rallied from one goal down to beat the Scottish champion.