Germany may have shut out the Brazilian women in successfully defending its second successive Women’s World Cup final, but the Brazilian team’s remarkable campaign — highlighted by the 4-0 shalacking it gave the U.S. women in the semifinal — could prove to be a watershed moment in the history of women’s soccer. It certainly went […]
Category: Story
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Messi Inspires Barca
It was a full week in Spain’s La Liga, and once again Phil Ball of ESPN Soccernet has the roundup. The story over the last seven days has been the dramatic fall of FC Sevilla and the return to prominence of the Leo Messi-inspired Barcelona. After a shaky start to the season, Barca has won […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
A Shameful Return for Botafogo
Brazilian fans are a notoriously fickle bunch: not only are their teams expected to win but they’re supposed to do it with style, and in the same week that the Brazilian women’s national team won new fans with beautiful flowing samba-style futebol, Botafogo, one of the country’s biggest clubs, saw its stock sink to a […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Big Crowds Highlight Week 27
The last month of the MLS regular season begins on the back of an outstanding week for crowds. According to Ian Plenderleith of USSoccerPlayers, there was an average of 23,100 for last week’s seven games, including two Beckham-less “Beckham” games and Cuauhtemoc Blanco’s Los Angeles debut against Chivas USA. Aside from these expected average boosters, […]
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
NCAA Division I Men’s Unbeaten Teams
[MAKING A LIST] Big Ten teams Michigan and Northwestern both lost for the first time this season, leaving only four unbeaten Division I men’s teams.
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
NCAA Division I Women’s Unbeaten Teams
[MAKING A LIST] Santa Clara was one of six unbeaten Division I women’s teams to lose this past week. Only three teams remain unbeaten.
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
Soccer America Women’s Top 25
Stanford climbs two spots into the top spot in the Soccer America Women’s Top 25 after Santa Clara and Portland (twice) lost. Texas and UCLA move up to No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. For the complete Top 25 rankings …
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
Soccer America Women’s Top 25 Results
Cal beat No. 1 Santa Clara. No. 2 Portland lost twice. Defending champion North Carolina lost for the third time this season. It was not a good weekend for women’s soccer’s traditional powers. For all the Top 25 results and goalscorers …
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
Soccer America Men’s Top 25 Results
No. 1 Wake Forest knocked Maryland out of the Top 25. Indiana handed Michigan its first loss. In other Top 25 showdowns, Virginia-Virginia Tech and Tulsa-SMU matches ended in ties, while West Virginia split a pair of games against Top 25 opponents. For complete Top 25 results and goalscorers …
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
CROWD COUNT: College Soccer’s Largest Crowds
The weekend drew some of the largest men’s crowds on record. Virginia set a Klockner Stadium attendance record for its game against Virginia Tech with 7,906 fans, the largest crowd of the season in men’s soccer. Saint Louis drew the second largest crowd in Hermann Stadium history, while Connecticut also drew more than 5,000 fans. Wake Forest and Clemson both attracted their largest crowds of the season.
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
Soccer America Men’s Top 25
Connecticut returns to No. 2 behind unbeaten and untied Wake Forest in the Soccer America Men’s Top 25. Villanova is the only new team in this week’s Top 25. For the complete Top 25 rankings …
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
Canadian Lang celebrates UCLA return in style
[COMEBACK] After missing all of last year with a knee injury and the first seven matches of this season while representing Canada at the Women’s World Cup in China, UCLA forward Kara Lang celebrated her return to college soccer with two goals in the Bruins’ 2-1 overtime win over No. 2 Portland Friday night.
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
Morgan propels Cal past depleted Santa Clara
[UPSET] California picked up the biggest win since Neil McGuire took over as women’s head coach on Sunday when the Golden Bears knocked off No. 1 Santa Clara, 2-0, on the road. Freshman forward Alex Morgan opened the scoring with her fourth goal of the weekend.
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
UConn’s Reid earns 300th win with emphatic victory
[MILESTONE] Ray Reid became the fourth Division I men’s coach to pick up his 300th win since the start of the 2007 season when Connecticut beat St. John’s, 3-0, Friday in a Big East match that drew a crowd of 5,116 fans at Morrone Stadium.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
USA dumps Hope and claims third
A meeting between U.S. players and head coach Greg Ryan resulted in goalkeeper Hope Solo being dropped from the team for the third-place match against Norway, in which the Americans romped, 4-1, to preserve their record of never finishing lower than third in a World Cup or Olympic Games. Abby Wambach scored twice and Lori Chaulpny and Heather O’Reilly tallied a minute apart in the second half as a rampant USA held its arch-nemesis Norway to just seven shots and peppered veteran keeper Bente Nordby with 23 of its own.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Germany downs Brazil; repeats as Women’s World Cup champ
So, Marta is mortal after all. And four years after winning its first Women’s World Cup, Germany is the first team to repeat as champion. Birgit Prinz and Simone Laudehr scored the goals, and keeper Nadine Angerer stopped Marta’s penalty kick as Germany reclaimed the trophy it won four years ago by beating Brazil, 2-0, in the final. The Brazilians at times mesmerized their foes but weren’t quite as efficient at the crucial moments.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Chivas dumps coach after D.C. United loss
Less than 48 hours after it lost to D.C. United, 2-1, in the Copa Sudamericana, Mexico’s Guadalajara fired Coach Jose Manuel de la Torre and replaced him with Efrain Flores, who worked in Chivas’ development program. Chivas owner Jorge Vergara, who is also co-owner of Chivas USA, complained about the team’s defensive style. Management was also concerned with Chivas’ drop in attendance for league games.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
WEEKEND WRAPUP: International Soccer Headliners
More trouble for Chelsea, which failed to score for the fourth straight game and lost England captain John Terry, who suffered a depressed fracture of his cheekbone after being elbowed by American Clint Dempsey. Sven-Goran Eriksson, meanwhile, is leading a revival at Manchester City. In Italy, Inter Milan regained the league in Serie A, while Thierry Henry broke out with a hat trick for Barcelona.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Galaxy crushes Crew; D.C. dazzles again
[MLS WEEKEND WRAPUP] Only one of the teams fighting for the eighth and final playoff slot was able to win, and the Galaxy’s 2-1 defeat of Columbus seriously mars the Crew’s chances. D.C. United and New England both won to clinch the top two spots, in either order, atop the Eastern Conference, and Houston’s 3-0 pasting of Dallas at Pizza Hut Park lifted it into a tie with Chivas USA atop the West. Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney provides his take on the weekend’s MLS action …
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Sounders claim record fourth USL First Division title
Amid reports that an MLS expansion team including their ownership group may be awarded to Seattle for the 2009 season, the Seattle Sounders won their record fourth USL First Division title Saturday with a 4-0 win over the Atlanta Silverbacks before a standing-room-only crowd of 4,893 at the Starfire Sports & Entertainment Complex. Seattle’s USL-1 MVP hails from the French Second Division, but its nucleus consists of college products, five of whom have spent time with MLS clubs.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Women’s World Cup Leading Scorers & Results
Brazil lost to Germany, 2-0, in the Women’s World Cup final, but Marta finished as the tournament’s top scorer.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Hahnemann gets hammered; Howard and Keller return
[AMERICANS IN BRITAIN] Reading goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann was on the wrong end of a 7-4 loss to Portsmouth. Goalkeeper Tim Howard made his first appearance for English Premier League Everton since dislocating a finger while playing for the USA against Brazil on Sept. 9 and celebrated a 2-0 win over Middlesbrough 2-0. Kasey Keller got his second league start since joining Fulham as the Cottagers held Chelsea to a scoreless tie. Also starting for Fulham were Carlos Bocanegra and Clint Dempsey, who broke Chelsea captain John Terry’s cheekbone with an elbow [VIDEO] .
Everton’s win moved it into fifth place. Fulham remained at 16th place, ahead of 17th place Reading on goal difference.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Freddy Adu makes league debut
[AMERICANS ABROAD] Freddy Adu, who had played in a UEFA Champions League preliminary round game and scored in a Portuguese Cup game, finally made his league debut for Benfica in a 0-0 tie with Sporting Lisbon.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Greg Ryan Speaks Out
Steven Goff of the Washington Post reports from Shanghai in his Soccer Insider that the intense media coverage of the USA’s 4-0 loss to Brazil in the Women’s World Cup semifinals and Hope Solo’s comments afterwards led to U.S. Soccer’s decision to make Coach Greg Ryan available to the media on Friday after first announcing that […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Will Ryan Suffer Grady Little’s Fate?
David Hirshey says Greg Ryan’s decision to drop Hope Solo for “the 136-year-old Brinna Scurry” was right out of the Grady Little playbook. For those of you who aren’t baseball fans, Grady Little was the Boston Red Sox manager whose decision to not take out ace pitcher Pedro Martinez late in Game 7 of the 2003 American […]