Soccer America Archives

Sacramento Jesuit, which took over first in the NSCAA/adidas high school boys national rankings, has earned out-of-state wins over Portland (Ore.) Jesuit (2-0), Albuquerque (N.M.) La Cueva (3-1) and Albuquerque (N.M.) St. Pius (5-1). Last week’s No. 1 Kansas City Rockhurst lost in a shootout to area rival St. Thomas Aquinas before a crowd estimated to be more than 4,000. For the complete Top 25 …

U.S. Club Soccer National Cup VIII Regional Sites

The 2009 National Cup VIII Regionals return to seven of the same locations as the 2008 event. Once again, the Modesto, Calif., and Pittsgrove, N.J., regionals will be divided into separate weekends for boys and girls. For the 2009 regionals …

Story, Youth Soccer Reporter

Merger mania hits Florida

The move for clubs to merge and form super clubs is gaining momentum in Florida.

Story, Youth Soccer Reporter

U.S. U-17 boys national team sweeps matches at Nomads

The U.S. U-17 boys national team swept matches at Southern California’s Nomads in the second of a series of stops at U.S. Soccer Development Academy clubs.

Story, Youth Soccer Reporter

Dallas powers kick off Academy play

by Paul KennedySeptember 25, 2008

The soccer hotbed missing from last year’s U.S. Soccer Development Academy was Dallas. Indeed, no Texas team took part in the inaugural season, but that has changed. The first games took place last weekend in the Central Conference’s Texas Division.

Youth Soccer Reporter, Youth What They're Saying

What They’re Saying

“The children adore reading it [match reports] and it genuinely thrills them. The local press is an enormous part of the community and we hope these reports encourage these children to read — and maybe read a bit more.”

— A coach in the Hunts (England) Mini-Soccer League, where coaches of under-7 and under-8 teams have been banned from sending game reports to the local newspaper for fear of making games too competitive. The decision, described by one coach as “politically correct madness” is an extension of the English FA’s ban on results being kept at younger ages. (Hunts Post)

FIFA Fines Croatia For Racist Abuse

The Croatian Football Association has been fined a paltry $28,000 by FIFA for the racist abuse its fans aimed at England striker Emile Heskey during a World Cup qualifier in Zagreb earlier this month.

Qatar Petroleum Signs Sponsorship Deal With AFC

Qatar Petroleum has signed a four-year, $10 million deal with the Asian Football Confederation, giving the Qatar company main sponsorship rights to the 2011 Asian Cup and AFC Champions League competitions until 2012.

Cervi On Verge Of Celtic Deal

U.S. goalkeeper Dominic Cervi, who turned down the Chicago Fire to try for a career in Europe instead, has completed a second trial at Scottish champions Celtic and is reportedly close to signing a three-year deal.

More Bad Decisions Ahead For Newcastle?

The daily online editorial at the U.K. soccer monthly ponders the wisdom of Newcastle United possibly taking on former England and Barcelona manager Terry Venables as its short-term manager. The troubled north-eastern wannabe giant, knocked out of the League Cup Wednesday by the Premier League’s bottom side Tottenham, has also been contemplating a sale to […]

MLS Gets Better Grade For Diversity

Its teams may not be able to buy a win in Concacaf Champions League play, but at least Major League Soccer is earning higher grades for its gender diversity employment practices. v A report card issued Wednesday by the Miami-based University of Central Florida’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport gave MLS a C+ […]

Hyndman’s ‘Favorite’ Promises More

When Schellas Hyndman arrived as FC Dallas coach this summer from Southern Methodist University, it wasn’t long before he brought SMU’s Brazilian playmaker Bruno Guarda along too. With more than a suspicion of favoritism as Guarda became part of a starting line-up producing few positive results, Guarda’s weekend goal in the 4-1 win at the […]

Magee Turns His Season Around

New York’s Mike Magee is the team’s longest serving player at just 24 years old. After being tipped as a future U.S. national team star in his teens, he had also disappeared off the radar these past two years thanks to a series of injuries, writes Chris Celletti. Now he’s returned to the starting lineup […]

Eleven Big Issues Facing MLS

The Web site for the U.S. national team players’ association sets out 11 issues that Major League Soccer needs to tackle in an editorial well worth reading in full. The list starts with player relations and pay, the league not having done “even the little things that a front office worker would expect” for its […]

NAIA: NSCAA/adidas Rankings

Rio Grande claimed the No. 1 spot in the NSCAA/adidas NAIA men’s rankings following Auburn-Montgomery’s 6-2 loss to Indiana Wesleyan. Unbeaten and untied Martin Methodist remained No. 1 in the NSCAA women’s rankings. For the NSCAA/adidas NAIA rankings …

SCOREBOARD: Soccer America Women’s Top 25

With conference play heating up in many parts of the country, Thursday becomes a big night in women’s soccer. Thursday matchups include Florida State-Virginia and Duke-Boston College. A non-conference match to watch: Santa Clara-UCLA. For this week’s Soccer America Women’s Top 25 results and schedules …

MORNING BRIEFING: Hagen is downright scary

by Paul KennedySeptember 25, 2008

This is quickly becoming the year of the freshman. The women’s ranks have seen an influx of high-scoring forwards, led by Sarah Hagen of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, who leads all freshmen with 11 goals.

SCOREBOARD: Soccer America Men’s Top 25

No. 1 Wake Forest travels to No. 3 Maryland Friday in one of the most anticipated matches of the season (TV: Fox Soccer Channel, live, 8 pm ET). No. 2 Connecticut also plays at No. 6 St. John’s. For this week’s Soccer America Men’s Top 25 results and schedules …

MORNING BRIEFING: Wake Forest gets scare

by Paul KennedySeptember 25, 2008

Freshman Luke Norman‘s goal in the 23rd minute was the only goal No. 1 Wake Forest scored on Wednesday night, but it was good enough for a 1-0 victory over Appalachian State at Spry Stadium.

D.C. downed; USL remains undefeated

by Ridge MahoneySeptember 25, 2008

[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] There was a silver lining to D.C. United’s latest defeat in international play. The Montreal Impact outshot Mexico’s Atlante but settled for a scoreless tie at home to keep USL clubs undefeated the regional championship.

Soccer America Daily, What They're Saying

What They’re Saying

“We have asked Calabria to clear up this particular investment. The region has until the 29th of this month to reply.”

— A European Commission spokesman on the use of $2.6 million of development aid by one of Italy’s poorest regions to sponsor the Italian national team. Calabria officials, who must prove the legitimacy of using European Union funds earmarked to alleviate poverty going to one of the world’s richest soccer federations, claim it’s to promote tourism to its region. (Reuters)

Packing heat at youth soccer games

[OFF THE POST] A Pennsylvania woman who had been bringing her loaded handgun to her 5-year-old daughter’s soccer games and practices has had her concealed-weapons permit revoked by the Lebanon County sheriff.

Adu’s first Monaco start ends with loss

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Freddy Adu finally earned his first start with French club Monaco, but it ended in defeat as it fell to defending champion Paris St. Germain, 1-0, in the round of 32 of the French League Cup. In English League Cup action, Brad Guzan made his debut for Aston Villa, which fell at home to QPR, 1-0.

SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Story

Horror Tackle Sends Another Player to Hospital

by Paul GardnerSeptember 25, 2008

Well, well, now here’s a surprise. On Tuesday evening, Middlesbrough’s Austrian midfielder Emmanuel Pogatetz committed an awful studs-up foul! On the receiving end of this shining example of how Pogatetz believes soccer should be played was Manchester United’s young Brazilian Rodrigo Possebon, who was making his first-team debut for the club. He ended up in the hospital where initial fears that he might have suffered a broken leg were happily proved to be wrong.