Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story

Pachuca, Galaxy square off for $1 million prize

by Ridge Mahoney

[SUPERLIGA PREVIEW] The Galaxy is so badly banged up for the SuperLiga final Wednesday (11 p.m. ET, TeleFutura, MLSnet.com) against Pachuca it can’t draw any confidence from its feat in the first round, when it beat Pachuca, 2-1, despite being outshot, 23-9. It didn’t have David Beckham for that game, but it did roll out Landon Donovan and a suddenly sharp Alan Gordon. They scored the goals that downed the defending Mexican champion at Home Depot Center.

After losing to Guadalajara, an incredible 6-5 win over FC Dallas propelled the Galaxy to the semifinals against D.C. United. Beckham whipped in a free kick and sent Donovan free to score the clincher in a 2-0 victory. Ole!

Unfortunately …

Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story

USL Weekend Results

by Soccer America

The Harrisburg City Islanders won the USL-2 title for the first title when it edged the Richmond Kickers, 8-7, in a shootout after their game ended in a 1-1 tie. Harrisburg goalie Matt Nelson, who made one stop in the shootout, now heads to Vancouver for the remainder of the USL-1 season. The defending champion Whitecaps are in seventh place and face a fight in their bid to return to the playoffs. Atlanta and Puerto Rico clinched USL-1 playoff berths last week.

Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story

Young Spaniard Puerta dies three days after collapsing

by Soccer America

Sevilla midfielder Antonio Puerta, one of Spain’s most promising left-sided players, died on Tuesday three days after collapsing during the opening game of the season. Only hours after Puerta’s death, an English League Cup match between Nottingham Forest and Leicester City was called off at halftime after Leicester defender Clive Clarke collapsed in the locker room. The Irishman was reported to be in a stable condition in a Nottingham area hospital.

Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story

U.S. keeper shelled in Norway; Bradley in loss Ajax

by Soccer America

[AMERICANS ABROAD] American goalkeeper Adin Brown took a shelling as his 10th place Norwegian club fell 7-0 to Lillestroem. Midfielder Michael Bradley played the whole game for his Dutch Eredivisie club Heerenveen in its 4-1 loss on Saturday to Ajax Amsterdam. Last week in Heerenveen’s season opener, Bradley had also gone the distance, and received a yellow card in a scoreless tie with Willem II. The 20-year-old midfielder made 21 appearances last season, mainly as a sub.

Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story

OFF THE POST: Soccer-ball goodwill gesture backfires

by Soccer America

The U.S. military had hoped to foster goodwill and bring joy to Afghanistan children when it dropped soccer balls from a helicopter in the Khost province. But at least one of the balls had a small picture of the Saudi Arabian flag, which includes script with the words Allah and the Prophet Muhammad. Villagers were upset and angry, pointing out they found kicking something with the names of the Muslim icons on it offensive. The U.S. military spokesman said it regretted the incident. The balls were reportedly manufactured in China and bought by the U.S. military in a market in Kabul.

Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story

FC Dallas’ bet on Denilson makes sense

by Ridge Mahoney

Remember the wails of anguish from FC Dallas fans and a few pundits back in March when “negotiations” broke off with Dutch midfielder Edgar Davids? The two sides never got very close, according to a source. FC Dallas had offered in the neighborhood of $800,000; Davids had a sum closer to $2.5 million in mind, give or take a few guilders. There were some who believed Davids could be the missing piece to the puzzle of FCD finally reaching an MLS Cup. That was wishful thinking, since at the time, perhaps only Coach Steve Morrow had an idea what that puzzle might eventually look like.

A drastic revamping of the team’s midfield had already begun and would soon accelerate: Ronnie O’Brien and Simo Valakari, and eventually, Richard Mulrooney and Ramon Nunez, out; Juan Toja and Pablo Ricchetti, and just last week, Denilson, in.

Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story

Adu waits for league debut; club signs more midfielders

by Soccer America

Freddy Adu stayed on Benfica’s bench again in his Portuguese club’s second game of the season, a 0-0 tie with Guimaraes that was the debut of new coach Jose Antonio Camacho. As was the case when Adu moved to Real Salt Lake, the coach who brought him was fired after the American attacker’s arrival. Fernando Santos was sacked as Benfica coach after the first league game. Shortly after Camacho was hired, Benfica signed two Uruguayan national team midfielders.

Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying

What They’re Saying

by Soccer America

“This ridiculous schedule that we have been saddled with in an effort to appease everybody, on and off the field, has taken its toll. We have bent over backwards to help everybody but the Galaxy. A lot of people have made a tremendous amount of money on the back of what the Galaxy, with David, has brought to their markets this year and I hope that they remember that. The traveling, the number of games, the lack of consistent scheduling – no other team has had to put up with that.”

— Los Angeles Galaxy President Alexi Lalas, after his team’s fifth straight MLS loss, complains about a schedule that bunched Galaxy games into the latter part of the season in order to exploit David Beckham‘s drawing power throughout the league. (Times of London)

Posted inSoccer on TV., Story

Soccer on TV

by Soccer America

David Beckham hopes to be back to the field for Los Angeles when it faces Pachuca in the SuperLiga final on Wednesday (TeleFutura). The USA faces Germany in the round of 16 of the U-17 World Cup on Thursday, early morning U.S. time (ESPNU).

Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story

Rossi scores in La Liga debut; Barca draws

by Soccer America

[SPAIN] Giuseppe Rossi, a 20-year-old New Jersey product who now represents Italy, scored in his Spanish La Liga debut for Villarreal, converting a penalty kick in a 3-0 win over regional rival Valencia. Rossi left the USA at age 13 for the youth program of Italian club Parma, which sold him in 2004 to Manchester United. Last season he was back in Parma, saving it from relegation with nine goals in 19 games. Also on the first weekend of the La Liga season Sevilla defender Antonio Puerta suffered two cardiac arrests during his team’s 4-1 win over Getafe. And Barcelona disappointed.

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