“It’s been an incredible experience but all I remember now is the great things. Winning this tonight now puts to bed everything else.”
— Los Angeles-bound David Beckham after winning the Spanish La Liga title with Real Madrid, which he joined in 2003. The 2007 league title was Real Madrid’s first major trophy since Beckham arrived. The team went through six different coaches while Beckham was with the club. (Associated Press)
Abby Wambach scored two goals with headers off set plays in the second half to lead the USA to a 2-0 victory over China before 8,888 fans Sunday at Cleveland Browns Stadium as the countdown to the 2007 Women’s World Cup began with the opening game of U.S. Soccer’s Sendoff Series. Wambach’s double upped her international goal total to 73 in 91 international games. The win over China was the USA’s third of the year and upped the team’s record in 2007 to 8-0-2.
Eastern Conference teams scored 20 goals in their four games as D.C. United belted Chicago, Toronto derailed Dallas in a battle of the FCs, and six-goal deadlocks resulted from the New York-Kansas City and New England-Columbus tussles. In the West, Chivas USA extended Colorado’s losing streak to three matches, and the Galaxy knocked off RSL in the battle of the basement. Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney reports on last weekend’s MLS action.
Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney grades the U.S. players’ performance in their 2-1 Gold Cup quarterfinal win over Panama.
This game could have been over by halftime, or at the very least put away with eight minutes left; instead the USA sweated out several minutes of stoppage time before the referee’s whistle extinguished the flickering hopes of Panama, 2-1, in the Gold Cup quarterfinals at Gillette Stadium Saturday afternoon.
United States U-20 national team coach Thomas Rongen named the 21-player roster that will represent the U.S. at the Under-20 World Cup in Canada June 30-July 22. Rongen’s squad features 14 pro players, the most ever for a U.S. Under-20 World Cup team. It includes Michael Bradley, who is playing for the senior national team at the Gold Cup, Freddy Adu, who has already played in two U-20 world championships, and Josmer Altidore, the youngest player on the team at age 17. For the complete U-20 roster …
Cameroon headed a group of four countries that qualified this weekend for next January’s African Nations Cup in Ghana. The Indomitable Lion beat Rwanda, 2-1, on Sunday for their fifth win in five games. Also through to the finals are Angola, the easy winner in Group 6, and Morocco and Tunisia, which made sure of their place with wins on Saturday. For complete African Nations Cup qualifying results and goalscorers …
Jocelyn Angloma, the 41-year-old former French international, did it again, scoring his second goal of the Gold Cup to help tiny French department Guadeloupe knock off Honduras, 2-1, and advance to the semifinals, where it faces Mexico on Thursday at Chicago’s Soldier Field. Once again, Mexico put on a subpar performance, but it escaped from Houston’s Reliant Stadium with a 1-0 win in overtime over Costa Rica, which finished the game with eight players. In the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader at Foxboro’s Gillette Stadium, Canada cruised past Guatemala, 3-0.
The first group of clubs that will field U-16 and U-18 in the inaugural season of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy , which kicks off this fall, have been chosen. The first 11 are: Atlanta Fire United Soccer Association (Georgia), B/W Gottschee (New York), Capitol Area Soccer League (North Carolina), De Anza Force Soccer Club (Northern California), FC DELCO (Pennsylvania), FC Greater Boston Bolts (Massachusetts), Michigan Wolves (Michigan), Nomads Soccer Club (Southern California), Players Development Academy (New Jersey), Seacoast United (New Hampshire) and FC Westchester (New York).
[USL RESULTS] The Rochester Rhinos opened up a two-point lead on idle Vancouver in the USL-1 thanks to a 5-2 win over Charleston on Sunday. Five different players scored for the Rhinos, who have played three more games than the Whitecaps. Seattle won, 1-0, at Carolina on Frenchman Sebastien Le Toux‘s goal to move into third place four points behind Rochester. In the USL-2, the expansion Bermuda Hogges remained winless with losses at Baltimore and Richmond.
Without question, 22-year-old Benny Feilhaber has been one of the biggest revelations since Bob Bradley took charge of the U.S. national team late last year. In just four topsy-turvy years, Feilhaber has gone from being a walk-on at UCLA to becoming a starting central midfielder for the U.S. national team. However, his national team success […]
When Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard actually used him, Javier Saviola played quite well this season, but the Argentine striker has now made it clear he’ll be departing the Nou Camp this summer. Adored by the Catalan fans, Saviola was unappreciated by Barca’s management and Rijkaard in particular, who reacted with indifference when the 25-year-old said […]
Speculation is rife in England that Arsenal legend Thierry Henry will be heading to the Nou Camp this summer, possibly in exchange for Samuel Eto’o, while Chelsea’s Andriy Shevchenko is close to making a shocking return to European Champion AC Milan, the club that sold him to the Blues for nearly $60 million just last […]
Remember the so-called “bungs” scandal that threatened to bring the English Premier League’s shady transfer system to its knees? Well, former Police Commissioner Lord Stevens has now finished his inquiry into alleged illegal payments made between clubs and players’ agents in some 17 transfers. Chelsea, Newcastle, Bolton, Middlesbrough and Portsmouth were all named in Stevens’ […]
It’s taken nearly three years, but American goalkeeper Tim Howard is once again on top of his game: first choice at Everton and now, first choice for the U.S. national team. The 28-year-old’s career is rising again, but this time he’s learned not to take it for granted. “I still feel I have to prove […]
David Beckham will play the final game of his European club career on Sunday when Real Madrid hosts Real Mallorca with the Spanish league title on the line (TV: GolTV, live, 3 pm). Despite an ankle injury that kept him out practice, Beckham should play in what concludes a four-year career with Real Madrid. A victory would give Real Madrid the title and end a four-year title drought, its longest in more than a half a century.
“I haven’t been in good shape this season. I can work much harder and I want to make sure that I’m at the same level as the rest of the team next season.”
— Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho acknowledging that he let his Spanish club, Barcelona, down because of his lack of fitness.
[MLS WEEKEND PREVIEWS] The top two teams in the Eastern Conference square off after playing each other two weeks ago, reeling Chicago visits resurgent D.C. United, Toronto and Los Angeles play home games after swinging yet another trade, the Revs and Crew round off a triple-header, and with Houston off this week, Colorado heads to Home Depot Center for a crucial Western Conference encounter with Chivas USA.
Whoops, they did it again. For the third time this season, Real Salt Lake and FC Dallas fought a close game, and once again, a slice of superb finishing denied RSL the result it knew it deserved. Dominic Oduro drilled a low shot just inside the far post two minutes into stoppage time to beat RSL, 1-0, Thursday night at Rice-Eccles Stadium. RSL coach Jason Kreis was ejected for vehemently protesting a collision he believed merited at least a RSL free kick
Twice in the recent past Panama has stretched the United States nearly to the breaking point. Saturday at Gillette Stadium (4 p.m. ET, Fox Soccer Channel, Univision) Panama will get a chance to finally snap the American hex against it in the first big competitive test of the U.S. national team under Bob Bradley. The U.S. is 4-0-2 against Panama and has won the last four games by shutout. Yet there have been a few close calls.
It was not a good Gold Cup for Cuba. After Cuba was unceremoniously dumped from the tournament with a 5-0 loss to Honduras in Houston on Wednesday night, it was revealed that two players, veteran striker Lester More and Osvaldo Alonso, may have tried to defect.
There was a bizarre twist to one of soccer’s great success stories of the year when 13 members of Haiti’s U-17 team vanished, then reappeared at New York’s Kennedy International Airport, where they were scheduled to fly to South Korea for an international tournament in preparation for the U-17 World Cup there later in the summer. After Haitian Football Federation president Yves Jean-Bart appealed on a Haitian Creole-language radio station in New York to the players to “reinstate themselves as soon as possible,” the players all returned to the team.
The Gold Cup moves into the quarterfinals with two games Saturday and two on Sunday. The USA meets Panama in a replay of the 2005 final on Saturday at 4 pm on Fox Soccer Channel and Univision …
David Beckham quashed rumors linking him to a dramatic return to Real Madrid next season, telling reporters that there is no buyout clause in his contract and that he doesn’t wish to return to the club after his final match against Mallorca on Sunday. “I first realized I would be leaving Real in January when […]
It was the Carlos Pavon show at Reliant Stadium on Wednesday as a highly impressive Honduras pummeled Cuba 5-0 to finish top of Gold Cup Group C, ahead of Mexico and Panama, the previous leader, which had to settle for third after narrowly losing 1-0 to the Mexicans. Pavon hit the net four times, including […]
