Danny Cepero, who won a starting position as the New York Red Bulls goalkeeper last season, has suffered through a dismal 2009. He communicates some of his frustration in the New York Times’ “Goal” blog. Cepero says, “While I appreciate the ability of my friends, family and even fans, to sugarcoat the current embarrassment, sometimes […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Red Bulls to Overhaul Management After Season Ends
The New York Red Bulls need change. The team hasn’t won in more than three months (14 straight games) going into Sunday’s match against FC Dallas. The average attendance has dropped to all-time low of 12,487 as the team threatens to post the worst record in MLS history. Some fans wore paper bags over their […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Lucky Goals Give Arsenal Edge in Win Over Celtic
Playing away at Celtic, Arsenal capitalized on two lucky bounces to gain a 2-0 victory in the qualifying stages of the Champions League. At the end of the first half, William Gallas accidentally deflected home a 30-meter free kick by Cesc Fabregas. In the second half Celtic defender Gary Caldwell turned a cross from Arsenal […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Innocent Abroad: ‘Sports Guy’ Gives Take On USA-Mexico Qualifier
ESPN’s Bill Simmons, also known as the “Sports Guy,” serves as the snide and opinionated voice for millions of American sports fanatics. After spending his career so far musing on mainstream American sports, he’s turning to soccer, a sport that represents a strange new world for him. Reporting from Azteca on last week’s World Cup […]
Posted inSoccer on TV., Story
Soccer on TV
Houston starts its Concacaf Champions League group play on Wednesday. In MLS midweek action, it’s Chicago-Los Angeles on Wednesday and Seattle-New England on Thursday on EPSN2.
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Reporter
Volkswagen to send team to South Africa
Volkswagen has launched the Volkswagen Junior Masters, an international youth tournament that will take place in May 2010, prior to the World Cup in South Africa.
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Reporter
Surf heads National League field
San Diego Surf, winner of the 2009 U.S. Youth Soccer under-15 national championship, heads the entrants in the 2009-10 U.S. Youth Soccer National League. Four runners-up at the 2009 National Championships in Lancaster, Mass., will also participate.
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Reporter
Rush and SC del Sol romp at ECNL opener
Colorado Rush Nike and SC del Sol were the big winners at the Elite Clubs National League’s inaugural showcase with both clubs having two teams go 3-0 in weekend play.
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Reporter
Under-15 girls training at the HDC
U.S. U-15 girls national team coach Mike Dickey is holding a week-long training camp for 24 players at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Reporter
Fourth DiMartino enters girls national team program
Rosie DiMartino will become the fourth DiMartino to participate in the U.S. national team program when she participates in the U-14 national team camp, its only camp of the year, beginning Sunday at the Home Depot Center.
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Reporter
Indiana teen headed to Argentina
Eric Ramirez-Avila, who played this past season in the Indiana Premier League with the Southern Indiana Fusion, will leave Sunday for a three-month stint with Rosario Central’s youth division team in Argentina.
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Reporter
Wolves train at Derby County
Three members of the Derby County Wolves, who won the 2009 U.S. Soccer Development Academy U-15/16 age group, trained at English club Derby County’s academy program in late summer.
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Reporter
USA tunes up for U-17 World Cup
Playing without two key players, the USA tied Colombia twice (1-1 and 2-2) in a pair of tuneups played in Lauderhill, Fla., for this fall’s Under-17 Men’s World Cup in Nigeria.
Posted inYouth Soccer Reporter, Youth What They're Saying
What They’re Saying
“There has been some backlash for sure, but we try to be up front about it. We try to communicate that these are our goals, and hopefully club presidents, club boards, club coaches, club technical directors understand that it’s also an opportunity for a player to maybe one day play for what should be their hometown team, D.C. United, and this is an avenue for them. There is still some resistance, and club coaches don’t necessarily get that or care.”
— D.C. United General Manager Dave Kasper on conflicts that have risen between local clubs and his MLS club since it launched an advanced youth program. (Washington Post)
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
What They’re Saying
“It is the first time I read a national team coach, a person of great institutional responsibility, said the next championship will be won by a certain team, that is Juventus. Even if in his mind he wants this, I think just saying it is a lack of respect.”
— Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho gets hot under the collar because Italian national team coach Marcello Lippi predicted his former club Juventus would win Serie A this season. Said Lippi, “I’m sorry if Mourinho has given this interpretation. It was simply a prediction, one of a thousand hypothesis that are made before the start of the [season].” (Reuters)
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Heavy losses don’t deter women’s league
[WPS] Despite losses of as much as $2 million for some clubs, Women’s Professional Soccer Commissioner Tonya Antonucci expects the principal investors of all seven teams to return for Year 2.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Galaxy tests its success against East foes
[MLS PREDICTIONS] The ESPN networks present a rare midweek double dip, starting with a classic interconference clash between Chicago and Los Angeles at Toyota Park, where the Galaxy has yet to garner even a tie but comes in with an unbeaten record against Eastern Conference teams.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Tarley and Noviello earn top honors
[USL TEAMS OF THE WEEK] Melvin Tarley, whose goal gave the Minnesota Thunder a 1-0 victory at Miami FC for its first USL-1 road win of the season and who followed up with two goals in a 2-2 tie at Austin, and Jyler Noviello, who had the winning and tying goals for the Wilmington Hammerheads in a win and tie that gave them the USL Second Division title, are the USL Players of the Week. For the Teams of the Week …
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Late goals down D.C. United in Honduras
[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] United coach Tom Soehn used a few new faces and four in the back to extract a result out of San Pedro Sula, and it nearly worked. But a spirited effort fell short, and late goals five minutes apart by Jerry Palacios and Mario Berrios swept Honduran club Marathon past D.C. United, 3-1, in the Concacaf Champions’ League Group C opener Tuesday night.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Dallas gets ‘Son of the Wind’
[MLS] FC Dallas, which sits in second-to-last in the West with a 6-10-5 record, has aqcuired Honduran attacker Marvin Chavez, whose nickname is “El hijo del viento” (the son of the wind).
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Crew subs spark 2-0 win
[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] In German soccer, subs who score goals are known as “jokers,” and player moves by Crew coach Robert Warzycha – a native of bordering nation Poland — left him, his players and Columbus fans smiling Tuesday night.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Houston deals with congested schedule
[CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] When it comes to playing international games in the final one-third of the MLS season, Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear is as ambitious as he is realistic as his team faces six games in the next two months in the regional championship.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Texan businessman to buy Italy’s Bari
[AMERICANS ABROAD] Timothy Barton became the latest Texan to splurge on a European soccer club when he reached a preliminary deal to buy promoted Italian club Bari.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Soccer America Women’s Preseason All-Americans
[COLLEGE] Casey Nogueira, the 2008 Soccer America Women’s Player of the Year, heads the Soccer America Women’s Preseason All-American team, as selected by its editors. Nogueira, who helped North Carolina win the 2008 NCAA title and led the nation with 25 goals and 58 points, is one of three Tar Heels on the Preseason All-American first team along with fellow seniors Whitney Engen and Tobin Heath. Florida State, Notre Dame and UCLA are the only teams with two players named to the first and second teams. For all the Preseason All-American selections …
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Werder Bremen Signs Peru Striker Pizarro
Werder Bremen has signed Peru striker Claudio Pizarro on a permanent three-year deal from Chelsea, the Bundesliga club said on Tuesday. Pizarro joined Werder last season on loan, his second stint with the club. From 1999 to 2001, he helped Bremen win the German Cup and reach the UEFA Cup final. Pizarro’s new contract, running […]