Soccer America Archives

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Jozy Altidore, who got an assist in his English Premier League debut for Hull City on Saturday, scored on a long-range shot in Hull’s 3-1 win on Tuesday over third-tier Southend in the second round of the English League Cup.

[MLS PREDICTION] The two expansion entrants of 2005 that met in last year’s playoffs square off for the second time this season, with host Real Salt Lake desperately in need of a win.

[MLS] At a transfer fee reported as $1.4 million and $2.1 million by various outlets, and said by a source to be $2 million, MLS and Chicago have agreed to sell defender Bakary Soumare to French club Boulogne. The club – along with a few other teams — had expressed interest in Soumare in June, shortly after the European season ended, but MLS and the Fire tamped down the inquiry though an offer was reportedly made. A native of Mali, Soumare, 23, moved to the Paris suburb of St. Denis at age 3 and to New York at age 15.

[MLS] With new teammates Jesus Padilla and Maicon Santos playing their first games for Chivas USA, midfielder Sacha Kljestan took advantage to play his best game of the season and continue a revival for the club that started off strong before a six week winless slump.

[OFF THE POST] When Peruvian referee Georges Buckley showed up in Chile to work a Copa Sudamericana game, he was taken into custody for a 1997 arrest in Chile for smoking marijuana in public as he was preparing to enter a concert, reports Reuters.

[COLLEGE] Harvard’s Andre Akpan, a 2007 selection to Soccer America’s MVPs first team and 2008 pick to the MVPs second team, heads the Soccer America Men’s Preseason All-American team, as selected by its editors.  For all the Preseason All-American selections …

[AMERICANS ABROAD] German club Hoffenheim, the surprise of the 2008-09 Bundesliga season, has pulled a coup, landing Joseph-Claude Gyau and midfielder Charles Renken in the highest-profile signings of U.S. U-17 players since German club Bayer Leverkusen signed Landon Donovan a decade ago. There’s a twist to the deal: Gyau and Renken will first spend time at the Vancouver Whitecaps residency program.

[WOMEN’S EURO ’09] With five WPS players in its squad, England came into the 2009 European Women’s Championship with high hopes, but it crashed to Italy, 2-1, Tuesday in its opening game.

[U.S. WOMEN] Four members of WPS champion Sky Blue FC were called up to the U.S. women’s national team camp that will take place Sept. 21-Oct. 2 at the Home Depot Center. Not included in the squad is Sky Blue FC player-coach Christie Rampone, the U.S. national team captain who is three months pregnant.

[COLLEGE] Casey Nogueira, the 2008 Soccer America Women’s Player of the Year who scored two goals in top-ranked North Carolina’s 7-2 win over No. 3 UCLA, is the Soccer America Women’s Player of the Week for games played Aug. 21-23. For the Soccer America Women’s Team of the Week …

[OFF THE POST] In Australia, South Melbourne’s Brazilian midfielder Fernando de Moraes did the sportsmanship thing after an opponent’s injury when he sent a throw-in to the Sunshine Georgies’ goalkeeper, who applauded the action. But then De Moraes chased down the throw, robbed the keeper, and stroked the ball into the net.

[USA-EL SALVADOR] Former U.S. U-20 Arturo Alvarez was among three MLS players called into El Salvador’s 22-player squad for its World Cup 2010 qualifier against the USA on Sept. 5 in Sandy, Utah.

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Kenny Cooper scored his second German Division Second goal in his third appearance for 1860 Munich, which gave up the lead he provided in the 18th minute one minute later and went down 3-1 to Karlsruhe.

[MLS] Which eight teams would qualify for the playoffs based on the current standings?