[BARCELONA TOUR] Guadalajara of Mexico held Barcelona to a 1-1 tie Saturday at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park before an announced crowd of 61,572 fans, handing La Liga champions their only blemish on their three-game West Coast tour. Chivas nearly pulled out a win when Mexican-American Jesus Padilla hit the post with two minutes left.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Pali Blues make history
[W-LEAGUE] The Pali Blues became the first team to go undefeated and win back-to-back W-League championships, rallying to beat the host Washington Freedom, 2-1, in the final.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Fusion captures first championship
[PDL] Alfonso Motagalvan scored on a goalmouth scramble in stoppage time to give the Ventura County Fusion a 2-1 win over the Chicago Fire, making the California team the lowest seed ever to win the Premier Development League championship.
Posted inSoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Story
English youth tourney brings world to Darwin’s town
SHREWSBURY, England — The journey — it is a soccer journey — starts with a bunch of lovely names: Marylebone, Wrexham and Shropshire. Marylebone is the London railroad station where you board the train run by the Wrexham and Shropshire railway — a train with the atmosphere of the good old days when rail travel was the way to go. Three hours or so of rail comfort through some of England’s most enchanting greenery and you’re in the beautiful old town of Shrewsbury.
Posted inSoccer America Confidential, Story
League unfazed by changing ‘football’ landscape
There’s big news from the world of football, as in American indoor, as well as football played across the pond, as in the English Premier League.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
USA names roster for Azteca showdown
U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley named the 20 players — 13 based abroad and seven in MLS — whom he will take to Mexico City for Wednesday’s much-anticipated showdown with Mexico in World Cup 2010 qualifying (TV: 4 pm ET, mun2 & Telemundo). GOALKEEPERS (2): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa: 5/-), Tim Howard (Everton FC: […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Buoyant Beckham on Galaxy: Better, Deeper, More Confident
Somewhere in all the drama, tension and backlash surrounding "the book," "the handshake" and "the other handshake," David Beckham's mid-season arrival, while "still a circus" (according to the man himself), has been less of an off-field distraction and more of an on-field boon to the previously stagnant Galaxy, boosting them not just in spirit but […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Sounders Providing Some Boom to Seattle Economy
Honestly, is there anything the Sounders can't do this year? As if leading the league with average crowds of around 30,000 (almost twice the overall MLS mark), and serving up a second coming of expansion team-turned-overnight success (doing their best to following in the footsteps of the 1998 Chicago Fire) wasn't enough to make them […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Love Him or Hate Him, Vergara Still Charming Chivas
Jorge Vergara's straightforward but often defiant style, witnessed in small part by his refusal to wear socks (like, ever), "hasn't always played well in the button-down Mexican business world," but "it's not the only sector of Mexican society the iconoclastic Vergara is shaking up," claims Kevin Baxter on location in the capital of Jalisco. "In […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
‘Los Galacticos, Parte Dos’ to Debut in Toronto?
While rival Barcelona has stolen the show of the Stateside "Summer of Soccer" so far, don't expect Real Madrid to play second fiddle on their North American tour like they were forced to in La Liga last season. With the free-spending Spanish giants having now reached our shores, it's clear that the super club wants […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Chivas USA Still Looking to Make Its Mark
You'd think that starting a soccer team "that will have the same name and wear the same uniform as Mexico's most popular team" in a place like Southern California that happens to "home to more Mexicans than in 29 of the 31 Mexican states" would pretty much guarantee success, if not always on the field […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
U.S. Travel Log Details Torrid Year
Having not been together in three months' time (almost an eternity in international soccer scheduling), the U.S. men's national team's "2½-hour flight from Miami to Costa Rica marks the beginning of a summer-long world tour that will feature 14 matches on three continents and in four time zones," writes writer Wayne Dreh in the first […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
MLS Made Great Strides in the Garber Decade
My, how time flies. It was just 10 years ago when Major League Soccer was three and a half years old and "suffering through some painful growing processes," writes Steve Davis, with "one, lone soccer-specific stadium" and most teams "treading water at best," where "'diversity of ownership' meant the three guys sitting around a small […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Bradley names U.S. roster for Azteca showdown
[USA-MEXICO] U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley named the 20 players — 13 based abroad and seven in MLS — whom he will take to Mexico City for Wednesday’s much-anticipated showdown with Mexico in World Cup 2010 qualifying.
Posted inSoccer on TV., Story
Soccer on TV
Real Madrid faces MLS opponents on Friday (Toronto FC) and Sunday (D.C. United). On Friday, Vancouver hosts Charleston in USL action. MLS league action includes the clash of long-distance rivals New England and Los Angeles. In Europe, France and Germany begin their league seasons on the weekend.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Swede Johansson claims W-League MVP honors
[AWARDS] Swede Angelika Johansson (Hudson Valley Quickstrike Lady Blues) won the W-League MVP award, while teammate Brittany Taylor was named the league’s top defender. For all the W-League awards and all-league team …
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
PDL leading scorer Wheeler wins top accolade
[AWARDS] The Reading Rage’s Aaron Wheeler, who led the PDL in scoring, was named the league’s MVP. Former U.S. U-17 resident Christian Ibeagha (Cary Clarets) swept Defender of the Year and U-19 Player of the Year honors. For all the PDL awards and all-league team …
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Cooper gone, but Cunningham sparks FC Dallas revival
[MLS] There’s nothing about a lackluster season that a four-game winning streak won’t cure, or at least alleviate. About a month ago, the Galaxy went on a four-game blitz that lifted it into the playoff picture, and now the same can be said for FC Dallas. As it bid adieu to Kenny Cooper, striker Jeff Cunningham got red hot. He struck once again on Thursday evening to take Dallas past Texas rival Houston.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Top two in East head west
[MLS PREDICTIONS] Eastern Conference leader and defending champ Columbus travels to the Pacific Coast to play San Jose, and second-place Chicago takes on the Western leader in Houston. The Revs and Galaxy put their unbeaten streaks on the line head-to-head at Gillette Stadium, and Seattle gets a chance to improve its dismal record on grass at Rio Tinto Stadium. FSC offers up a tripleheader of two MLS games followed by the Barcelona-Guadalajara friendly (11 p.m. ET). For all of Soccer America’s predictions, as well as TV viewing information, and to see how Ridge Mahoney fared so far this season …
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
What They’re Saying
“Jozy is unproven at this level but we feel he has great potential and hopefully he can fill the void with goals from the front line. He is only 19 and we want to help him fulfill his potential here.”
— Phil Brown, coach of English Premier League club Hull City, on acquiring U.S. national team forward Jozy Altidore, who arrives on a one-year loan from Spanish La Liga club Villarreal. Altidore made six appearances and scored once for Villarreal, which he joined from the MLS’s New York Red Bulls in the summer of 2008. (hullcityafc.net)
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Club-by-club summer moves
One young American arrived in France, and another departed. Charlie Davies should be a better fit at Sochaux, in need of help up front, than Freddy Adu was at Monaco, where he was just one of a dozen or so prospects in the first team. For all the French league player moves …
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Biggest French league deals
[TRANSFER WATCH] The 2009-10 French season begins Saturday. The big winner on the French transfer market was Portuguese champion Porto, which earned more than $85 million in transfer fees from four separate deals. In an effort to regain the title it lost after seven seasons as champion, Lyon spent more than $100 million on players.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Not worth a try?
[OFF THE POST] When Tranmere Rovers hired Dornoch Capital to find a buyer for the club, this is not what it had mind: The U.S. firm put the third division club up for sale on eBay, with bidding starting at $10 million. “We were appalled,” said Tranmere chairman Peter Johnson, who ordered the listing removed. “This is not a second-hand bike we’re selling.”
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Aguirre Already Managing Expectations for Aug, 12
In an effort to temper the hysteria (and no doubt, tremendous relief) that the Mexican national team felt after finally snapping a winless streak on U.S. soil, head coach Javier Aguirre has come out to contain the renewed country-wide enthusiasm in El Tri. "In Mexico we're prone to throw ourselves on the floor after a […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Four-Goal Loss to Barca Not the First For Keller
An overmatched defense, a veritable firing range of opposing shots, and a lopsided 4-0 loss in front of a soldout crowd cheering on FC Barcelona? Seattle goalkeeper Kasey Keller had been there, done that. "I had my ass kicked once 5-1 at Camp Nou (Barcelona's 97,000-seat home stadium), so I've seen it before," admitted Keller, […]