[MARQUEE MATCHUP] Rangers and Barcelona play for the Group E lead when they meet Tuesday in the Champions League at Ibrox. Both teams won their first two games in group play, but they had contrasting fortunes over the weekend.
Category: Story
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
UEFA Champions League TV Schedule
The Rangers-Barcelona game will be one of four UEFA Champions League games on Tuesday to be broadcast live on U.S. television. For complete listings …
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‘Hope is not suspended from the team’
[AUDIO/TRANSCRIPTS] U.S. President Sunil Gulati fielded myriad questions regarding the future of the women’s national team program in Monday’s press conference announcing the dismissal of Coach Greg Ryan, including queries on the status of goalkeeper Hope Solo, criteria for the new hire and the importance of hiring a female coach.
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Will MLS reduce Ricardo Clark suspension?
[VIDEO] Houston is awaiting word from the league office regarding its appeal of the nine-game suspension meted out to midfielder Ricardo Clark for kicking Carlos Ruiz as he lay on the ground in a Sept. 30 match. Commissioner Don Garber reviewed numerous incidents, including the six-game suspensions handed out to Thomas Ravelli in 1998, Andy Herron in 2005, and Dario Sala last year in making his decision.
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No second chance for Ryan
[HISTORY] Greg Ryan‘s tenure as U.S. women’s national team coach was the shortest of all U.S. women’s head coaches since the creation of world championships for women’s soccer — World Cup and Olympics. He is also the first to have failed to win a world title while in charge of the U.S. women. Anson Dorrance resigned three years after guiding the USA to the first Women’s World Cup title in 1991. In Tony DiCicco‘s first championship in charge, the USA finished third at the World Cup, but DiCicco won gold a year later in the first women’s Olympic tournament in 1996 and lifted the World Cup in 1999. April Heinrichs failed to guide the USA to titles in her first two world championships but won Olympic gold in 2004. Ryan was dismissed after his first world championship in charge, this year’s third-place finish at the World Cup in China.
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Why U.S. Soccer sacked Greg Ryan
It wasn’t that the USA failed to win the Women’s World Cup last month in China, it was how it failed. An unnecessary goalkeeper controversy and an uninspiring brand of soccer is why U.S. Soccer needed to close the chapter on Coach Greg Ryan‘s two-and-a-half year tenure.
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Golden Ball goes global
The Golden Ball (“Ballon d’Or”), which has been awarded to the European Player of the Year since 1956, has gone global. For the first time, the Golden Ball will awarded without regard to the country in which a player is playing. This year’s list of nominees includes four players competing on teams outside Europe including the Los Angeles Galaxy’s David Beckham.
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BY THE NUMBERS: 2007 Golden Ball nominees
Italy leads all countries with eight players nominated for the 2007 Golden Ball, while AC Milan, Barcelona and Real Madrid lead all clubs with six players each on the list of 50 candidates.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Is that it for Beckhamania?
David Beckham (and by extension, MLS, Alexi Lalas and the L.A. Galaxy) have much to prove next year following the global icon’s disappointing first season in Major League Soccer. At the end of his five total years as a player in the American league, there will no doubt be an asterisk next to 2007, the […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Red Bulls’ Waterreus to Retire
He hasn’t been here long, but New York Red Bulls goalkeeper Ronald Waterreus has decided to retire from the game at the end of his debut season in Major League Soccer. The club made the announcement last Friday, following the Bulls’ 1-1 draw with the Los Angeles Galaxy, in which Jeff Conway was once again […]
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Liverpool-Everton Ref Forced to Sit
It’s not often that England’s Professional Game Match Board, the organization that allocates referees for games, hands out suspensions, which means that when it does, the performance of the referee in question must have been pretty awful, indeed. For his awful performance in the Merseyside derby on Saturday — awful to anyone who doesn’t support […]
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Villarreal, Espanyol Steal Headlines in Spain
Widely regarded as the second club of their city, Villarreal, a Valencia suburb, and Espanyol of Barcelona stole headlines in Spain this weekend by handing comprehensive defeats to FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, respectively. Villarreal routed Barcelona, 3-1, in the first half at El Madrigal and then held on to win by the same score […]
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What Does ‘Brazilian Soccer’ Mean, Anyway?
Thanks to globalization, Brazilian soccer in recent years has become an increasingly “vague” term, says BBC’s Tim Vickery, a concept that’s underscored by events in Brazil last week. On Wednesday, the Brazilian national team returned home to play a match in front of its own people for the first time in two years, during which […]
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Soccer On TV
The European Champions League hits Game Day 3 this week and games televised in the USA include Tuesday’s clash between Barcelona and Glasgow Rangers, for which American DaMarcus Beasley could see action. MLS playoffs kick off on Thursday when Chicago hosts D.C. United
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
Soccer America Men’s Top 25
SMU climbed to No. 2 behind No. 1 Wake Forest in the Soccer America Men’s Top 25. Connecticut, Brown and Santa Clara rounded out this week’s rankings for games played through Sunday, Oct. 21. For the complete Top 25 …
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Soccer America Men’s Top 25 Results
No. 1 Wake Forest, SMU, Creighton and Louisville were the only Soccer America Top 25 teams to sweep both games they played last week. For all the Top 25 weekend results …
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Soccer America Women’s Top 25 Results
Traditional powers Portland, North Carolina, Notre Dame and Florida State continued to inch their way up the Top 25 ladder with a pair of wins last week. For all the Top 25 weekend results …
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Soccer America Women’s Top 25
The top three in the Soccer America Women’s Top 25 remained the same: UCLA, Stanford and Virginia. Purdue and USC moved into the No. 4 and No. 5 spots — the highest rankings ever for both schools — for games played through Sunday, Oct. 21. For the complete Top 25 …
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Boilermakers extend unbeaten streak to 15 games
The 1-2 punch of Shauna Stapleton and Parrissa Eyorokon propelled Purdue to a 2-1 win over Illinois Sunday that extended the Boilermakers’ unbeaten streak to 15 games — the longest in the country — and moved them into first place in the Big Ten.
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Cheney leads No. 1 UCLA to Pac-10 sweep
U.S. international Lauren Cheney is making a strong case for Women’s Player of the Year honors. The sophomore scored one goal and set up another in a 2-0 win at No. 2 Stanford on Friday night and scored both goals two days later in another 2-0 victory at California on Sunday.
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West Virginia’s giant-killers strike again
West Virginia’s reputation as a giant-killer grew Friday night when the Mountaineers knocked off Connecticut, ranked No. 2 in the Soccer America Men’s Top 25, 1-0. Jason Bristol had been inserted into the starting lineup for his first collegiate start in order to help shut down the high-scoring UConn attack, but the 6-foot-4 sophomore was the scoring hero, striking his first collegiate goal for the Mountaineers, who beat a Top 5 team for the third time this season.
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Santos Laguna bounces back
[AMERICANS IN MEXICO] Santos Laguna, whose 11-game undefeated streak ended Oct. 12 while U.S. product Edgar Castillo was on Mexican national team duty, got back to winning ways with a 3-2 win over Morelia. Left back Castillo started and went the full 90 as Santos improved its record to 9-1-3 (win-loss-tie) in the Apertura 2007.
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WEEKEND WRAPUP: International Soccer Headliners
Liverpool edged Everton in their Merseyside derby marred by questionable refereeing. Alessandro Del Piero kept Juventus near the top of Italy’s Serie A, while AC Milan’s troubles at home continued. Defending Bundesliga champion Stuttgart hit a new low when it fell at Hamburg, 4-1.
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Fire & Blanco oust Beckham and Galaxy
The MLS playoff field is set after the Galaxy’s gallant quest falls short in Chicago; Kansas City finally gets it done in Dallas; Chivas thwarts Houston to win the Western Conference; and Colorado surrenders the Rocky Mountain Cup at home. Columbus and Toronto finish with encouraging results against D.C. United and New England, respectively. Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney looks at how the 2007 regular season wrapped up. …
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Greg Ryan, in or out?
U.S. Soccer has called a media conference call for Monday at 4 p.m. ET at which time President Sunil Gulati and Secretary General Dan Flynn will address the status of U.S. women’s national team coach Greg Ryan. Ryan’s absence from the conference call raises speculation that his contract will be not be renewed for 2008. The conference call comes two days after the USA tied Mexico, 1-1, in its final game of 2007.