[DESTINATIONS] What’s it like to spend extended time at a major English Premier League club’s youth academy? Dallas area youth star Alex Frankenfeld recently spent six weeks training at the Chelsea youth academy in London. He filled Soccer America’s Youth Soccer Reporter in on what it was like playing and living abroad.
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Reporter
Tennessee/Virginia clubs form Fusion FC
[MERGER] Five soccer organizations in the Greater Tri-Cities of Tennessee and Virginia have agreed to merge their competitive programs into Fusion FC.
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Reporter
U.S. U-17 boys earn another big win in South America
The U.S. under-17 boys national team got two first-half goals from Stefan Jerome and one in the second half from Carlos Martinez in a 3-1 win over Chile’s U-17 national team to finish its four-game trip to South America with a 3-1 record.
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Reporter
U.S. Soccer Development Academy’s Finals Week Results
[SCOREBOARD] The U-17/18 Baltimore Bays and U/15-16 PDA and Carmel United are the only teams with perfect records after two games at the U.S. Soccer Development Academy’s Finals Week at the Home Depot Center. For all the results and goal scorers …
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Reporter
Power kicked out of the McGuire Cup
Arizona’s Sereno White, the Region IV under-19 boys champion, has been disqualified from the 2008 U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships, scheduled to be played next week in North Little Rock, Ark. The Colorado Rush Nike will replace Sereno.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Arsenal Raises Ticket Prices
After a four-year freeze (presumably not the same one that has affected the team’s trophy cabinet), Arsenal has raised ticket prices to keep pace with “the substantial inflation in football.” The cheapest season ticket now costs a mere $1,850.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Ronaldinho Transfer Decision ‘Within 72 Hours’
Still awake out there? Don’t raise your hopes, but the Ronaldinho transfer saga may come to an end within the next 72 hours. If he sticks to his promise to make a decision.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Parkhurst For Beijing?
The “latest buzz in U.S. soccer circles” (wherever they may be) is that New England’s Michael Parkhurst will be in Peter Nowak’s Olympic squad, to be announced Thursday.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Revs’ Hilgenbrinck Responds To A Higher Calling
How important is soccer in the greater scheme of things? Sometimes external events cause both players and fans to adopt a more rational perspective on the relative importance of the game, a transitory state that usually lasts until the next kick-off. New England Revolution defender Chase Hilgenbrinck, however, has taken a more long-term view and […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Eto’o May be Next Barcelona Olympic Absentee
Soccer at the Beijing Olympics is threatening to become a showcase for Barcelona’s biggest names, albeit some of whom seem to be heading for the Nou Camp exit, writes Jack Bell. First Lionel Messi was called up by Argentina, then Ronaldinho was picked by Brazil, and now Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o has said he thinks […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Wizards’ Lopez Fitting In To ‘Fun’ MLS
It’s not been a brilliant season so far for the Kansas City Wizards, but it might have been even worse had the team not signed Argentine veteran Claudio Lopez, 34 this week. The forward has missed only 14 minutes of league action so far, is tied for the team lead with three assists, and is […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Investigation Exposes Nigerian Crooks
Slavery in soccer has little to do with Cristiano Ronaldo, but plenty to do with the exploitation of young players from Africa looking to make a career for themselves in Europe. The danger comes not just from exploitative clubs, but from fraudsters claiming that they can set up trials with clubs, then pocket a fee […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Why Fans Are Fed Up With Soccer Saturation
An editorial at the excellent U.K. webzine twohundredpercent analyzes an article in last Saturday’s Guardian by comedian David Mitchell. Although Mitchell’s anti-soccer piece displayed a typical lack of understanding of the game, it ought to strike chord with soccer fans who are sick of the year-round blanket media coverage that no longer even allows us […]
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
UMass and SLU dominate preseason all-conference team
Surprise NCAA Division I semifinalist Massachusetts landed four players, including 2007 Soccer America Men’s MVP goalie Zach Simmons, on the 2008 Atlantic-10 men’s preseason all-conference team.
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
NCAA Division I Men’s & Women’s Coaching Changes
Coaching changes at women’s programs have outnumbered those at men’s programs by more than 5-1. For all the NCAA Division I moves …
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
Notre Dame’s Waldrum coaches Concacaf U-17 qualifying host T&T
Notre Dame women’s coach Randy Waldrum is coaching the Trinidad and Tobago U-17 women’s team that is hosting the Concacaf U-17 qualifying tournament that begins Friday.
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
College Newsstand: Dividing up the money
There is the myth that women’s college soccer is rolling in dough. Indeed, the money available for Division I women’s programs (14 scholarships) far exceeds what is now permissible for men’s programs (9.9 scholarships). But there are many more than 14 players on Division I women’s teams, so players must share the aid, and money issues can get touchy …
Posted inCollege Soccer Reporter, Story
Legendary Clemson coach I.M. Ibrahim dies of heart attack
Dr. I.M. Ibrahim, one of the pioneering figures during the growth of college soccer in the 1970s and 1980s, died of a heart attack while playing golf Sunday in Seneca, S.C.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Nicol to summon Onstad, Ralston and Angel
[MLS ALL-STAR GAME] Of the five players All-Star coach Steve Nicol will add to his squad to face English club West Ham United next week in Toronto, three of them – according to a source — will be Red Bulls striker Juan Pablo Angel, Houston goalie Pat Onstad, and Revs’ attacker Steve Ralston. That leaves two more players to be named by Nicol and an additional two picks from Commissioner Don Garber to round out the 18-man roster.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Toronto FC shuffles the deck
[MLS] Regardless of where their team winds up in the MLS standings, Toronto FC’s managing duo of John Carver and Mo Johnston has set the pace regarding recent transactions. Filing discovery claims on strikers Paul Dickov and Darren Huckerby before anyone else yielded a contract with Dickov and a trade with San Jose for the rights to Huckerby, for which TFC received allocation money and an international player slot.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Club cuts fat by dismissing overweight player
[OFF THE POST] Michael Keane consumed one too many bowls of Irish stew, and it’s cost him his job. The midfielder was dismissed from Irish club St Patrick’s Athletic for being overweight. The club terminated its $6,000 a week contract with the 25-year-old.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Marseille fans start Drogba fundraiser
[OFF THE POST] Luiz Felipe Scolari may have recently claimed that Didier Drogba is “200 percent” part of his plans but that hasn’t stopped Marseille fans from raising enough money to buy themselves 6 percent of the player.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Revs lose player to priesthood
[MLS] Defender Chase Hilgenbrinck, 26, is leaving the New England Revolution to enter a seminary, where he’ll study for the next six years in order to be ordained as a Roman Catholic priest. Hilgenbrinck, an Illinois product who played college ball at Clemson, played four years in Chile before coming to MLS this season.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Euro 2008 hero Torres at 12
[VIDEO ARCHIVE] Here’s some footage of Fernando Torres‘ scoring exploits back when he really was “El Nino.”
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
What They’re Saying
“You don’t get information firsthand, because you are not allowed to get it. It would be a good idea to probably implement the same system that you have in the United States in Europe in terms of access.”
— Barcelona’s Cameroonian striker Samuel Eto’o, during a visit to the USA, says if media in Europe were given more access to players there’d be less inaccurate reporting. Unlike in Europe, American sports leagues allow journalists into the locker room. Major League Baseball locker rooms, for example, are open to media for at least two hours before games and one hour after games. (AP)