[AMERICANS ABROAD] The 2008 Norwegian season kicked off last weekend with a record 13 Americans on the rosters of pro clubs in the top two divisions. In the Eliteserien (First Division), keepers Troy Perkins (Valerenga) and Adin Brown (Aalesund) squared off, and Perkins emerged victorious with a 1-0 win in his Norwegian debut. The only other American to play in the First Division last weekend was recent Molde signing Willis Forko. The latest signing is 2006 Hermann Trophy winner Joe Lapira of Notre Dame. He signed Tuesday with Nybergsund of the Adeccoligaen (Second Division), which begins next weekend.
Posted inSoccer America Magazine, Story
JP takes the lead in MLS TV booth
Longtime play-by-play man JP Dellacamera goes full-time with MLS and U.S. Soccer
Posted inSoccer America Magazine, Story
Major League Soccer Gets a Kick
A steady stream of encouraging developments marked the latest MLS offseason.
Posted inSoccer America Magazine, Story
Measuring Youth Development Progress
MLS expansion challenges American youth soccer to produce exceptional players at a higher rate.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Roma, Barcelona without Key Players For CL Quarterfinals
Manchester United and Schalke will be lifted by the news that both Roma and Barcelona will be missing key players for their respective Champions League quarterfinal first-leg clashes. Roma will be without talismanic captain Francesco Totti, who tore a muscle against Cagliari over the weekend. “The team loses in percentage terms for the extraordinary things […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
United Forced to Fight the Odds Against Pachuca
D.C. United and the Houston Dynamo, Major League Soccer’s Concacaf Champions Cup representatives, had poor showings over the weekend in their league debut, losing 2-0 and 3-0, respectively. Of course, it’s no secret that both teams had bigger fish to fry: United has a Champions Cup semifinal date at 7,900 feet with the competition’s defending […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Revs’ Gambians Leave Favorable Impression
Saturday night was quite a coming out party for the New England Revolution’s Gambian pair, Kenny Mansally and Sainey Nyassi, says the Boston Globe’s Frank Dell’Apa. The 19-year-olds each played a part in the Revs’ 3-0 thumping of 2007 MLS champ Houston, and will likely retain their starting spot for Thursday’s visit to Chicago. Nyassi […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
McBride Interested in Olympic Return
Soccer By Ives is reporting that Fulham forward Brian McBride may come out of a two-year retirement with the U.S. national team in order to play with the U-23s at the Summer Olympics in Beijing. According to the report, McBride, 35, has been in discussions with Olympic team coach Peter Nowak about being one of […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
L.A.’s Galactic Mess
Along with his other opening weekend notes, ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle has plenty to say about the L.A. Galaxy’s humiliating 4-0 loss to what looked like a Colorado Rapids reserve squad. Sure, a poor penalty decision changed the game, but the greater problem, Carlisle says, is that L.A. quit. “If one bad call in Commerce City […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
USA splits at U-16 Mondial Minimes under new coach Cabrera
[YOUTH] In the first international tournament under new U.S. under-17 national team coach Wilmer Cabrera, the USA finished with two wins and two losses and captured seventh place at the 36th annual Mondial Minimes hosted by tiny French club FC Montaigu. Carlos Martinez led the Americans with three goals, including the winner against England. Luis Gil, who scored against China, and Alex Shinsky, who had an assist in the win over China, were the youngest members of the team at age 14.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Fenerbahce dances to samba beat
[IN THE SPOTLIGHT] Brazilians have long had a big impact in countries like Portugal, Spain, Italy and France, but their influence has now spread to countries like Turkey, where Fenerbahce, coached by former Brazilian great Zico, is expected to start five Brazilians on Wednesday when it hosts Chelsea in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarterfinal series.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
UEFA Champions League TV Schedule
The UEFA Champions League moves into the quarterfinals with games Tuesday and Wednesday this week and next. Action kicks off Tuesday with a pair of games: Roma-Manchester United and Schalke-Barcelona. For all this week’s Champions League action …
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
U.S. women headed to Juarez
[WOMEN’S OLYMPIC QUALIFYNG] U.S. women’s national team head coach Pia Sundhage named her 20-player roster for 2008 Concacaf Olympic women’s qualifying tournament that begins Wednesday in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The squad includes four relative newcomers who spent last fall playing in the U.S. college ranks — Rachel Buehler, Tobin Heath, Lauren Cheney and Amy Rodriguez — and Kacey White, whom Sundhage knows from having spent two years playing club ball in Sweden.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Beckham to appear on Jay Leno Show
[TV] David Beckham, who earlier in March was featured on “60 Minutes,” will appear on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” on Tuesday (NBC, 11:35 pm ET/PT)
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Hugo Sanchez gets the boot
[MEXICO] Hugo Sanchez, whose 16-month stint as Mexican national team coach included two losses to the USA and one tie with the archrival, has been fired. Sanchez’s ousting comes two weeks after he failed to qualify Mexico for the 2008 Olympic Games.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
What They’re Saying
"I don’t have to stand here like a rocket scientist and tell you what we need because I think it’s pretty obvious what we need. We need creative players who can put the ball in the back of the net. And we’re working tirelessly on bringing those players here."
— John Carver after his first game as Toronto FC coach, a 2-0 loss to Columbus on Saturday. (The Globe & Mail)
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Player attacks ball boy and fan
[OFF THE POST] Gustavo Semino of Chilean club Huachipato was red-carded for pushing a ball boy and then punched a field-invading fan. Semino, whose strike reportedly knocked a tooth out of the fan’s mouth, was apprehended by police and arrested, as was the fan.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
D.C. renews USA-Mexico club rivalry
Only one MLS team will face Mexican opposition in the Concacaf Champions’ Cup semifinals this year, with D.C. United drawing the short straw to face defending champion Pachuca on Tuesday. Houston, which was eliminated by Pachuca in last year’s semis, opens its two-game semifinal series against Deportivo Saprissa of Costa Rica Wednesday at Robertson Stadium, which is a formidable enough task. Yet D.C. is facing a tough opponent that plays at altitude and has been winning domestic and international trophies regularly for the past two years.
Posted inSoccer America Confidential, Story
The sport’s trickiest call
Players, executives, coaches and fans want the same thing on opening weekend that they want every week: preferably wins, but a tie if nothing else. Joe Machnik and Paul Tamberino want the same thing every week also, but rarely can they and their colleagues settle for a tie.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Manchester United Thrash Like Champions
Manchester United 4-0 drubbing of Aston Villa at Old Trafford on Saturday might have been best team performance by any club this season. It was certainly Manchester United’s best team performance. Striker Wayne Rooney, scorer of two of United’s four goals, said it best: “Growing up I used to love watching Brazil and the football […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Rome Could Lose ’09 Champions League Final
Soccer’s European governing body on Monday warned Roma fans that the 2009 UEFA Champions League final could be moved from their beloved Stadio Olimpico if any trouble arises when Roma faces Manchester United in the Champions League quarterfinal on Tuesday night. When the two sides met at the same stage in Rome last year, 10 […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Business as Usual is Bad for RSL
Real Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis cut an unhappy figure at the press conference after Cuauhtemoc Blanco and the Chicago Fire stole at the last minute what looked like a 1-0 home victory for the Royals. Before the first reporter could even finish asking his question after the game ended in a 1-1 tie, Kreis […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Galaxy Whines After Colorado Thrashing
Hours after his former Manchester United teammates put in a vintage 4-0 display at Old Trafford, David Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy found themselves on the receiving end of a thumping by the same score at the hands of the Colorado Rapids. Said the L.A. Times Grahame L. Jones: “The record 18,713 fans at […]