Panamanian striker Blas Perez led unfancied Colombian club Cucuta to a stunning 3-1 victory over Argentina’s Boca Juniors in the first leg of their Libertadores Cup semifinal series on Thursday.
Perez scored two spectacular goals to the delight of a sellout crowd of 45,000 fans at the General Santander Stadium. Gremio beat Brazilian rival Santos 2-0 in the first leg of the other semifinal on Wednesday.
The rebuilding of Brazil continues when it faces England at Wembley on Friday in a key test before the Copa America later this month. Coach Dunga’s squad for Friday’s game should include superstars Ronaldinho and Kaka, who have both asked not to go to Venezuela for the Copa America. Kaka and Ronaldinho are expected to play behind Vagner Love and Robinho of Real Madrid in the Brazil attack at Wembley. Jo could start for Robinho, giving Brazil a strike force of players based at Russian club CSKA Moscow. Gilberto Silva was outstanding in midfield for Arsenal and should join Elano of Ukraine club Shakhtar Donetsk as holding midfielders behind Ronaldinho and Kaka against England
Get an early start to your weekend soccer viewing with England’s friendly against Brazil (3 pm ET on Fox). Friday night’s USL’s game (Fox) is an all-Canadian affair. MLS action on Saturday overlaps with the USA’s friendly against China. Setanta USA and Fox Soccer Channel provide broadcasts of European Championship qualifying on Saturday.
One reason so many crosses don’t end up producing a scoring chance is because players too often send them in blindly. They figure that if they’re on the wing, just whip the ball into the middle. Even in the pros, you see this time after time. A player moves down the wing and launches a cross even if there are no teammates in front of the goal. If you haven’t got a forward waiting for the cross, then you’ve got to look for other options, like turning back and looking for a midfielder.
Is Toronto FC on the lookout for a designated player? If so, the club might want to take a second look at the sky-high prices its already paying the likes of Andy Welsh, Carl Robinson, Danny Dichio and now, Jeff Cunningham, the Toronto Star says. With the likes of Luis Figo, Rivaldo and Robbie Fowler […]
In separate interviews with U.S. national team star Landon Donovan and coach Bob Bradley, Andrea Canales of L.A. Soccer News reveals that Bradley and his star player have very different views about his plans for the summer, which is proving to be an especially tricky one given that the CONCACAF Gold Cup is immediately followed […]
The Chicago Fire isn’t quite expecting the Beckham-bounce from Cuauhtemoc Blanco the L.A. Galaxy and MLS will receive once David Beckham takes to the field in July, but club GM John Guppy expects Blanco’s presence to greatly increase the team’s visibility once the Mexico international takes the field for the first time this weekend. Corporate […]
Top Premier League clubs might be sinking further and further into financial debt, but the Guardian says the Deloitte report also indicates that second-tier clubs like Tottenham, Aston Villa, Newcastle and Everton also stand to benefit from the increased purchasing power brought in by inflated broadcasting revenues. The 50 percent increase in broadcast revenue over […]
BBC News takes a comprehensive look at the English Premier League’s finances as outlined by new report from the financial firm Deloitte. Expect league salaries and spending on players to increase next season as the EPL benefits from a new $5.34 billion television deal. Rises in international and domestic TV revenues mean the league will […]
Hollywood must truly be the land of make-believe, in sports as well as films. When asked if David Beckham, whose return to the English national team sparked a flurry of proclamations between FIFA and the Galaxy about his availability, might be loaned out to a European team during the MLS offseason, Galaxy president Alexi Lalas couldn’t pass up yet another chance to whip up the waters of controversy.
[W-LEAGUE RESULTS] The San Diego Sunwaves became the first team to record three wins when they improved to 3-0-0 with wins at Ft. Collins (3-2) and Mile High (4-0). Rebekah Patrick and Holly Grogan scored in both games. Mexican international Sophia Perez in goal got tremendous support from Mariette Boyce, Beth McNamara, Lisa Gomez, Ana Gutierrez and Patrick. For complete results and goalscorers …
Four years after signing 18-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo, then a relatively unknown winger at Portuguese club Sporting, Manchester United has spent big money on two young prospects from Portuguese clubs. United agreed to sign Sporting winger Nani, who has been compared to Cristiano Ronaldo, for $35 million and Porto’s Brazilian playmaker, Anderson, dubbed the new Ronaldinho, for a similar amount.
The U.S. Soccer Federation is creating a national youth league and academy program for teenage boys that will involve up to 2,400 players at both the U-15 and U-18 age groups, according to Washington Post reporter Steven Goff . “The federation plans to identify 60 to 80 youth clubs across the country,” reports Goff. “Those clubs will then select players from the under-15 and under-18 age groups to participate in the academy.”
Sepp Blatter‘s re-election to a third term as president of FIFA on Thursday was overshadowed by remarks by Scotsman John McBeth critical of corruption within FIFA countries that resulted in his being replaced by Geoff Thompson, chairman of the English FA, as Britain’s vice-president on FIFA’s executive committee. McBeth won his place in a vote of the four British associations earlier this year, but remarks about African and Caribbean nations to Scottish reporters last week sparked a swift reaction within FIFA.
Players such as Italian-based New Yorker Gabriel Ferrari have a chance to clinch a spot on the U.S. team that will compete in this summer’s U-20 World Cup when Coach Thomas Rongen assesses a 16-man squad during a dress rehearsal tour of Canada. Perhaps half of the players Rongen has taken north of the border for a pair of games against Canada in the next week won’t be on his final roster, yet in the Canadian contingent are several players Rongen has been anxious to observe up close as he makes his final roster decisions for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup (June 30-July 22 in Canada).
When word got out earlier this year that Vietnam’s head coach Alfred Riedl, 57, needed a kidney transplant, 80 Vietnamese soccer fans offered to donate one of theirs. A compatible donor was found, and the popular Austrian is recovering well. "I was really touched when I saw that so many people wanted to help me," Riedl told FIFA.com. "Vietnam now is even more a part of me.”
[VIDEO] MLS can be justly criticized for several facets of its play, and the current goalscoring rate of 2.55 goals per game isn’t spectacular, yet more than a few of the goals have been just that. Each of the five nominees for Goal of the Week last week deserved high praise: Toronto midfielder Jim Brennan belted a 35-yarder to take the prize, yet it only edged out Maykel Galindo‘s 30-yard smash after bouncing up from a midfield tackle and a great free kick by Christian Gomez.
[PDL RESULTS] The Kansas City Brass improved to 4-0-0 with a 1-0 win over Springfield and 3-1 victory at St. Louis. Joshua White had the lone goal in the win over the Demize, while he had the second goal against the Lions, who had a run of 15 games without a defeat going into the game. The Ocean City Barons are the only other unbeaten and untied team in the PDL. They improved to 4-0-0 with a 1-0 win over the Richmond Kickers Future on a goal by Byron Carmichael with a header off Sean Boyle‘s free kick in the second minute. For complete results and goalscorers …
Israeli striker Ben Sahar of Chelsea barely stepped foot on the field for the Blues last season; the talented 17-year-old striker made his debut on Jan. 6 against Macclesfield Town in an FA Cup match. He played in his first Premier League game against Wigan Athletic one week later. As the English season entered crunch […]
The Kansas City Wizards have come out of the gate on fire in this early stage of the MLS season, thanks in large part to the vastly improved play of young Eddie Johnson. He rightly earned Player of the Week honors for scoring three goals including the winner against then-league leader New England Revolution in […]
As ever, the action in La Liga has overshadowed the goings-on of the Spanish national team. And given the nail-biting finish to one of the most exciting La Liga seasons in years, this year’s June international break is being met with downright derision, says ESPN Soccernet’s Phil Ball. Why? On the one hand, Spain is […]
Because South America’s biggest clubs are constantly forced to export their best players to Europe, there is almost always one surprise package that makes it to the semifinals of the South America’s championship, the Copa Libertadores, writes SI.com’s Tim Vickery. Colombian club Cucuta is the team that fits that bill this year, he says. It […]
In an interview with Sky Sports, L.A. Galaxy general manager Alexi Lalas revealed that the club would be willing to release David Beckham on loan once the MLS season ends in November. The Daily Mail says several English clubs have already expressed interest, including Newcastle United, Arsenal, Tottenham, Blackburn and Everton. A loan return to […]
[GOLD CUP ROSTERS] CONCACAF released the final rosters for all 12 teams that will compete in the 2007 Gold Cup June 6-24 at six U.S. venues. The roster for each team consists of 23 players. A player may only be substituted in the event of a serious injury up until 24 hours before the team’s first match. For complete rosters …
[DRAW] The 2007 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup begins June 12-16 with 16 first-round matches involving teams from the USL-1, USL-2, PDL and USASA. The winners face off in the second round on June 26. The eight survivors meet the eight MLS entrants in the third round. For first-round matchups …
