Soccer America Archives

Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood has stressed that his club favors long-term sustainability over splashing out cash for huge transfer fees, and said he is "sure" that fans understand not winning the Premier League title if it means the club is kept on a stable financial footing. "We obviously can't compete with the money Manchester City […]

Ukraine Could Be Dropped as Euro 2012 Hosts

"What must Ukraine do to avoid losing Euro 2012?" Michel Platini asked, repeating a question posed by Simon Kuper. The UEFA President, writes Kuper, "puffs out his cheeks, drums a rhythm on the table with his fingers. What he says next implies that … Uefa may remove Ukraine as co-host of the 2012 European Championships." […]

Preferential Treatment For Beckham?

Does David Beckham receive preferential treatment from MLS referees? D.C. United defender Marc Burch seems to think so after being red-carded for kicking Beckham from behind Saturday night in L.A. Referee Terry Vaughn interpreted Burch's challenge, which occurred on the touchline, as "violent conduct." "I swung for the ball and hit the back of his […]

Busch: Time For The Men To Step Up

The Chicago Fire was booed off the field at halftime Sunday when it went in to the locker room 3-0 down at home to FC Dallas. Goalkeeper Jon Busch was no happier with the final 4-1 result than the jeering fans. “If I paid money to go to this game, I would be booing too,” […]

Donovan Thinking Of Europe Again

After his scintillating hat trick against D.C. United at the weekend, L.A. Galaxy striker Landon Donovan has Germany on his mind again, writes Andrea Canales. After two unsuccessful spells at Bayer Leverkusen earlier in his career, the U.S. national team's all-time record goalscorer can't help but think that now, at the peak of his career, […]

Soccer America Confidential, Story

Landon Donovan’s MVP obstacles

by Ridge MahoneySeptember 22, 2008

History is strongly against it, yet on stats and influence, this is the first season Landon Donovan truly deserves to win the MVP award.

POLLS: Soccer America Women’s Top 25

There was no movement at the top of the Soccer America Men’s Top 25 as the top eight teams all won. LSU, Texas A&M, Duke, Wake Forest and West Virginia each climbed two spots to claim the No. 9-13 spots in this week’s rankings. For this week’s Soccer America Women’s Top 25 rankings …

MORNING BRIEFING: Irish overcome adversity to win at Penn State

by Paul KennedySeptember 22, 2008

Top-ranked women’s team Notre Dame, which improved to 8-0-0 with its 3-1 win at Big Ten powerhouse Penn State on Sunday, was playing without Coach Randy Waldrum, who was not in attendance at Sunday’s game due to a death in his family. ALSO: Six teams lose perfect records, and UCLA sets shutout record.

CROWD COUNT: Battle of the champions draws

The crowd of 7,408 fans at UC Santa Barbara’s Harder Stadium on Sunday for the UCSB-Wake Forest game was the largest men’s crowd of the season. Maryland also drew a 6,000-plus crowd over the weekend for its ACC game with Duke. For the top men’s crowds …

POLLS: Soccer America Men’s Top 25

There is a shakeup among the teams immediately behind No. 1 Wake Forest. Connecticut moved into the No. 2 spot, and Maryland climbed three places to No. 3. For this week’s Soccer America Men’s Top 25 rankings …

MORNING BRIEFING: Wake Forest puts on show

by Paul KennedySeptember 22, 2008

If there were any doubts about who is the top team in men’s soccer, Wake Forest put them to rest Sunday when it won the battle of the last two national champions with a 6-2 win at UC Santa Barbara. ALSO: O’Brien White ends scoring slump.

Bradley debuts in Bundesliga

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Michael Bradley made his German Bundesliga debut. For more on how Americans fared in foreign leagues last weekend. …

MLS Results

For all the weekend results, standings, leading goal scorers and schedules …

Donovan revives Galaxy with hat trick

[MLS NAMES & NUMBERS/VIDEO] Coach Bruce Arena finally celebrated a win with the Los Angeles Galaxy thanks to an explosive performance by Landon Donovan. Real Salt Lake finally fell at home, and Jeff Cunningham added to his plus-100 career scoring tally. For the weekend’s MLS highlights. …

USL-1 Results

The Puerto Rico Islanders won their USL First Division regular-season title thanks to a 0-0 tie with the Montreal Impact — their fellow participant in the Concacaf Champions League — on the final day of the season. Minnesota’s 3-1 win over Montreal had clinched the Thunder the final playoff spot. For all the USL-1 results, the final standings and leading scores …

Markgraf scores (finally) with a little help from her teammates

[U.S. WOMEN] The U.S. women’s national team swept its three-game series against Ireland with a 2-0 win on Saturday at Toyota Park to set a record for wins in a calendar year with its 29th victory of the year. Perhaps even more remarkable was defender Kate Markgraf scoring her first-ever international goal — in her 193rd cap! as she pounded home a penalty kick in the 31st minute.

Barcelona quits showing mercy

[SPAIN] All those chances that Barcelona missed in its first two games of the season were just warm-up shots. On Sunday the Catalans quit showing mercy and hit Sporting Gijon for six, with Lionel Messi scoring twice.

Sumptuous Kaka goal highlights first Milan win

[ITALY] Relief for AC Milan as it finally won its first game of the season on the back of a sumptuous goal from Kaka. Ronaldinho only came off the bench once the game was effectively won.

Kaiser offers Klinsi some advice on Oktoberfest

[GERMANY] It was a wild weekend in the Bundesliga. Not only were there goals aplenty, but champion Bayern Munich was hammered 5-2 on its own turf by longtime rival Werder Bremen.

Fergie rues missed opportunity for big United win

[ENGLAND] This weekend’s big game in the English Premier League ended, predictably enough, in a stalemate. But Manchester United’s visit to Chelsea was never less than absorbing.

Soccer America Daily, What They're Saying

What They’re Saying

“It appears an error has been made and it will be reviewed by us. Nobody likes making errors and if it is a serious error, which we have got to review, then obviously he’ll regret it. … From his position and angle it appeared the ball had crossed the line for a goal. He has made a human error.”

— Paul Rejer, England’s assistant referees’ manager for Professional Game Match Officials, on the farcical incident on Saturday when linesman Nigel Bannister ruled a goal for Reading on a ball that was cleared at least two yards wide of the goal. (AFP)

SoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Story

Three Changes Soccer Needs

by Paul GardnerSeptember 22, 2008

LONDON — Here are three things that I have been banging on about for decades now, three straightforward things that could quickly and easily be introduced into soccer. By a freakish coincidence, examples of all three have featured prominently during the past week.

Soaring Prices At QPR

by Soccer AmericaSeptember 19, 2008

English second-tier club Queens Park Rangers, recently taken over by a consortium of wealthy businessmen, has shocked fans by increasing ticket prices to as high as $91 for games against teams like last year’s Premier League failures Derby County.

Australia’s World Cup Boost

by Soccer AmericaSeptember 19, 2008

Australia’s chances of hosting the 2018 World Cup have been given a boost by the appointment of Football Federation Australia chairman Frank Lowy to the World Cup Organizing Committee. The committee will decide where the 2018 event is held. Not that anyone’s suggesting Mr. Lowy will be anything but objective.