Thursday’s Portugal-Mexico game on ESPNU and Galavision shapes up as one of the best first-round games at the Under-20 World Cup. For the complete Under-20 World Cup schedule …
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[REGION III FINALS] The Dallas Texans once again dominated the US Youth Soccer Region III Championships. Last year, they captured six regional titles. This year, four Texan teams went home with trophies. The U-19 Texans boys are defending national champions in their age group. The three girls champions are the U-15 and U-16 Texans, both regional champions in 2006, and the U-17 team. Two other Texans teams finished second in Wednesday’s finals in Oklahoma City, Okla. Nine of the 12 teams advancing to the US Youth Soccer National Championships in Frisco, Texas, July 24-29 at Pizza Hut Park, hail from Texas. Rounding out the championship mix were two teams from North Carolina (CASL U-19 girls and U-14 boys) and one from Georgia (Atlanta Fire United).
Brazilian Luciano Emilio moved to within a goal of MLS leadings scorers Juan Pablo Angel (New York) and Eddie Johnson (Kansas City) with his eighth strike, the decider in D.C. United’s 1-0 win at Kansas City. Toronto won its first road game of the season, over hapless Real Salt Lake, 2-1. Landon Donovan struck twice from the penalty spot as Los Angeles downed Chicago, 2-0, in front of the biggest Fourth of July crowd (24,333). FC Dallas notched its fourth shutout in five games with a 2-0 win over Chivas USA. Colorado and Columbus played to a scoreless tie.
Robb Rolfing, who played for the Sioux Falls SpitFire of USL’s Premier Development League in 2001, was killed last weekend by enemy small arms fire while serving as a special forces engineer. Staff Sgt. Rolfing, 29, was an original member of the inaugural SpitFire team and also played soccer at Vassar College.
Five games on Independence Day and a Thursday night ESPN2 matchup gives every MLS team except New England a slice of midweek action. Of course, why would the Revolution, of all teams, play at home on Independence Day? Ridge Mahoney previews the action …
A consortium led by former Fire player Frank Klopas is just one of two groups seriously interested in buying the Fire from the Anschutz Entertainment Group, says a source close to the discussions being held. Of the two groups, the out-of-town group not fronted by Klopas has been performing due diligence for a couple of months, examining financial documents at the team and league level.
[VIDEO] American goalkeeper Adin Brown scored on a header off a corner kick in stoppage time to earn his Norwegian club Aalesund a 2-2 tie with Rosenborg.
New Jersey’s PDA, Pennsylvania’s FC Delco and the Baltimore Casa Mia Bays all had two boys teams crowned champions on Tuesday at the US Youth Soccer Region I Championships. On the girls side, Virginia led all state associations with four champions: VSA Heat (U-12), McLean Freedom (U-16), Richmond Strikers Elite (U-17) and PWSI Cardinals (U-19). PDA added a third Region I title when it won the U-15 girls crown. For complete Region I results and goalscorers …
[NORDIC CUP ROSTER] Coach Bill Irwin named 18 players who will represent the USA in Vassa, Finland, at the 2007 Nordic Cup, being held from July 18-24.
The U.S. roster features numerous college stars and others who have completed their college eligibility and are playing in the W-League or WPSL.
Venezuela, Uruguay and Peru joined Mexico, Argentina and Paraguay in the quarterfinals of the Copa America when they finished 1-2-3 in Group A. Venezuela clinched the Group A title and a place in the quarterfinals — for the first time in Copa America history — when it held Uruguay to a 0-0 tie Tuesday in the final group match. Striker Claudio Pizarro‘s second goal of the game with five minutes remaining gave 10-man Peru a 2-2 tie with Bolivia in the first game, in which D.C. United’s Jaime Moreno scored his second goal of the tournament.
The USA will be cheering for Mexico to beat Chile or Ecuador to beat Brazil on Wednesday to remain alive at the Copa America. For the complete Copa America TV schedule …
The Under-20 World Cup continues on July 4 with four games in Victoria and Burnaby. All four games will be televised on ESPN360.com (broadband) and Costa Rica-Japan will be shown on Fox Sports en Espanol. For the complete Under-20 World Cup schedule …
Defending champion Argentina matched the USA on Tuesday, scoring six goals in a 6-0 victory over Panama at the Under-20 World Cup. Brazil, the 2007 South American champion, recovered from a stunning 1-0 loss to Poland in its first game to beat South Korea, 3-2.
[VIDEO] A Freddy Adu hat trick, two excellent goals by Danny Szetela, and a nice finish from Jozy Altidore destroyed Poland, 6-1, and moved the USA atop Group D with four points in the U-20 World Cup.
[YOUTH] U.S. Soccer’s Development Academy, which is accepting applications from youth clubs through the end of July for its inaugural season, has added 10 more teams, including the youth clubs of MLS’s D.C. United, Chicago Fire and Red Bull New York, and USL’s Richmond Kickers. Those additions, plus the Colorado Rush, Potomac Soccer (Md.), Real Colorado (Colorado), Richmond Strikers (Va.), VA Rush Soccer Club (Va.) and Washington Premier FC raised the number of accepted clubs to 31.
[LIST] U.S. Soccer coaches will be selecting qualified clubs for the U.S. Soccer Development Academy Clubs on a rolling basis until Aug. 1. The first 31 clubs accepted to the academy represent 16 states and the District of Columbia.
The Fernando Torres-Liverpool deal is being sewn up as we speak, according to the Guardian. The Atletico striker cut short his vacation in Polynesia to head to Liverpool to complete a medical exam, which he passed. The Atletico striker will now join Liverpool for $53 million, pending issuance of a work permit. Luis Garcia has […]
As expected, Sheffield United lost its legal dispute with the English Premier League and West Ham United over the Carlos Tevez affair. The Blades, relegated on the last day of the EPL season nearly two months ago, had two claims dismissed by a sports tribunal, both regarding the legality of Carlos Tevez’s appearances for West […]
The sacking of Coach Fabio Capello at Real Madrid causes Paul Gardner of the New York Sun to revisit an old issue: what’s a contract to a big club, anyways? Years ago, after being fired just three months into his new job, Atletico Madrid coach Alfio Basile (who’s now in charge of Argentina) explained: “My […]
Its big guns may not be there, but a familiar story is brewing for the USA at the 2007 Copa America: its performances are better than the score line would indicate, but soccer’s a zero-sum game and the final score is all that matters. The USA may have dominated midfield, won the majority of 50-50s […]
Even if it didn’t come out quite right, many in the U.S. soccer industry understood exactly what Los Angeles Galaxy President/General Manager Alexi Lalas was trying to get at when he recently defended MLS against some critical Brits: Beckham is a great signing – but the league is not in need of a savior.
Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney grades the U.S. players’ performance in their 3-1 Copa America loss to Paraguay …
Barcelona’s Giovanni Dos Santos lived up to his billing as one of the players to watch at the U-20 World Cup, scoring on a volley from 25 yards for Mexico to start it on its way to a 3-0 win over Gambia in their opening Group C game. Portugal opened with a 2-0 win over New Zealand thanks to a pair of goals by Bruno Gama. In Monday’s only other game, Austria and Congo tied, 1-1.
[COPA AMERICA STANDINGS] With two losses in two games, the USA is a longshot to reach the quarterfinals of the Copa America as one of the two third-place teams with the best record. First, it must beat Colombia in their final Group C game on Thursday. Then, it must get help in one of the other groups. Its best shot is if Peru beats or ties Bolivia, the USA would probably advance if it beats Colombia and host Venezuela beats Uruguay by a combined margin of three goals. The USA could also advance if it beats Colombia and Mexico beats Chile by a combined margin of four goals.
The USA plays its second game at the Under-20 World Cup on Tuesday when it meets Poland in Montreal. Coverage begins at 4:45 pm ET on ESPNU and at 5 pm ET on Galavision. For the complete Under-20 World Cup schedule …
