So how exactly did Holland score the tying goal against the USA late into stoppage time on Sunday? Check out this photo and you will see who the culprit is. Of the 6 people in the wall for the USA, 5 did what they were supposed to do. 1 did not, and it cost them a clinched spot in the next round.~and~Thunder Bay Chill win the 2008 PDL championship. See details in USL PDL Championship section.USA Men's Olympic TeamGroup Stage Matches & Scores:
-Thu Aug 7
Japan 0-1 USA - USA goal by Stuart Holden.
Attendance: 37,177
Venue: Olympic Center Stadium, Tianjin
-Sun Aug 10
Netherlands 2-2 USA - Neth goals by Ryan Babel & Gerald Sibon. USA goals by Sacha Kljestan & Jozy Altidore.
Attendance: 45,016
Venue: Olympic Center Stadium, Tianjin
Match report from US Soccer.
Match report by Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet.
Post game analysis by Ives Galarcep of Soccer By Ives.
Post game notes by Jen Chang of Soccernet.
Post game quotes by USA coach & players from US Soccer.
Game photos from US Soccer.
Post game video interview of USA from US Soccer.
Post game audio press conference with USA coach & players from US Soccer.
-Wed Aug 13
Nigeria v USA - 4am central on USA Network
Attendance:
Venue: Workers Stadium, Beijing
~ ~ ~ ~ ~My notes from the USA v Netherlands game:
-Like I predicted the USA started the same 11 players from game 1.
-Neth dominated the first 15 minutes and got the goal they deserved.
-At that point I thought the USA was going to get blown out. It was a serious ass kicking.
-But the next 5 minutes were very even, and after minute 20 or so the USA began to dominate every facet of the game.
-The second half started even better for the USA and they got 2 great goals that came from hard teamwork. Holland had no answers at that point.
-Then two players took stupid Yellow Cards, Freddy Adu & Michael Bradley, that will suspend them from the Nigeria game.
-The TV commentator Marcelo Balboa was busy declaring the game over, the USA advanced and the 2 yellow cards irrelevant. What a bad omen all of that was. I thought he was former pro who knows better than any of this crap.
-As the final minutes approached the Dutch began lumping the ball forward into their offensive end, but it was never dangerous.
-The bad part at this point though was that the USA was not holding the ball at all. They would easily clear their lines, but then give it right back to the Netherpeople.
-It started to smell all wrong.
-The referee gave 4 minutes of stoppage time.
-We survived 3 minutes with minor threat(!).
-Then with the final 60 seconds going down the drain our defender converged on a Dutch player and hacked him to the ground right at the top of the box.
-I could not believe it.
-Gerald Sibon lined up to take it, then put it low under the wall leaving Guzan with no chance to stop it, and with only a few seconds left to play the USA had thrown 2 points and advancement to our 2 out the window.
-I was furious.
-And Marcelo Balboa sent me over the edge by saying the USA wall did exactly what they were supposed to do - jump. Are you kidding me? That is the first time I have ever heard someone say that who is supposed to know what they are talking about. I was always taught that from that range the fall holds their ground and if the guy can get the shot up over the wall and back down into the net then more power to them. But never ever jump when you are that close to goal.
-It turns out that 5 of the 6 guys in the wall did what they were supposed to do, and one guy did what Balboa said you should do. Guess which guy was responsible for the whole in the wall where the shot went through. Yeah.
-Game over. 1 point instead of 3. Two key players suspended for a do or die game against Nigeria.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~USA needs a tie or win over Nigeria to guarantee advancement.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet on
the loss of Bradley & Adu for group match 3.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~FIFA.com with an article in Group B as USA, Netherlands and Nigeria
battle it out for 2 spots in the knock out rounds. Having lost twice, Japan is already out.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~Group B Standings:
4 USA (GD +1 - GS 3)
4 Nigeria (GD +1 - GS 2)
2 Netherlands
0 Japan
~ ~ ~ ~ ~Quotes from some members of the USA team about
attending the opening ceremony. They were pretty excited. From
-
Video of the team from the ceremony, via US Soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~Official team blog~ ~ ~ ~ ~NBC Olympic soccer website~ ~ ~ ~ ~All Group Standings~ ~ ~ ~ ~MLS ScoreboardOnly 4 games this weekend.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~Week 20Matches & Scores:
-Sat Aug 9
Colorado 0-1 Toronto - TFC goal by Chad Barrett.
Attendance: 11,752, which on TV looked more like 1,752
Venue: Dicks Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City CO
Match report by Brian Forbes of the Denver Post.
Post game analysis by Ben Knight of the Toronto Globe & Mail blog On Soccer.
New England 1-2 Chicago - NER goal by Taylor Twellman. CF goals by Gonzalo Segares & Wilman Conde.
Attendance: 19,240 which on TV looked more like 9,240
Venue: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough MA
Match report by John Connolly of the Boston Herald.
Match report by Monique Walker of the Boston Globe.
Kansas City 3-2 Chivas USA - KCW goals by Sasha Victorine, Claudio Lopez & Davy Arnaud. CUSA goals by Carey Talley & Justin Braun.
Attendance: 9,597, its really sad every time that they can't sell out a place that holds less than 11,000.
Venue: Community America Ballpark, Kansas City KS
Match report by Bob Luder of the KC Star.
-Sun Aug 10
New York 4-1 DC - NYRB goals by Juan Pablo Angel(2), Mike Magee & Sinisa Ubiparipovic. DCU goal by Jaime Moreno.
Attendance: 15,038
Venue: Giants Stadium, East Rutherford NJ
Match report, post game notes, and DC player ratings by Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his blog Soccer Insider.
Match report by Stefan Bondy of the Herald News.
Match report by Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger.
Match report by Dylan Butler of Big Apple Soccer.
Post game analysis by Butler.
Post game analysis by Ives Galarcep of Soccer By Ives.
Post game analysis by Brian Lewis of the New York Post on his blog Extra Time.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~League Standings~ ~ ~ ~ ~MLS NewsCHICAGO FIREI had the pleasure of watching the Fire beat New England in an apartment jammed with maniacal Fire fans. They hooted and hollered at Matt Reis' butter fingered goal keeping that game Chicago the season sweep over their rivals from Boston. Lots of laughs were shared at others expense!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~COLORADO RAPIDSClass VI does a
Q & A with coach Fernando Clavijo.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~DC UNITEDJaime Moreno scored his MLS All Time leading 120th goal. But he also injured his back and came off at half time. Will he be healthy for the Open Cup semifinal on Tuesday?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~Steven Goff of the Washington Post, on his blog Soccer Insider, reports that
Ben Olsen has suffered yet another set back in his rehab from ankle surgery. I really hope that this is not the end.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~KANSAS CITY WIZARDSJimmy Conrad with his latest installment of wisdom writings for Soccernet.
Teach us brother Jim.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~After Davy Arnaud scored the 3rd goal (and almost blew it) for the Zards, TV announcer Sean Wheelock loudly pronounced. "Game! Set! Match!" But he almost had to eat his words as the American Goats stormed back to make it 3-2 and poured on the pressure for a tie.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~LOS ANGELES GALAXYTeam president/general manager Alexi Lalas and head coach Ruud Gullit were clearly not sexy enough and so they were fired today. Now I hate to see anyone fired, because it truly is painful, and I am no model of sexy myself, but I would like to think I know sexy when I see it, and those two were definitely not it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~One thing someone needs to explain to me is this, how do you get rid of these guys now, and not have someone lined up to replace them?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~I would assume the house cleaning in Carson is what has prevented the team from actually signing centerback Cory Gibbs. Either that or he did not pass the physical. Why else would they not sign the guy that they have the rights to?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTIONThe Fort was rocking as usual this past weekend. I have to give it to those people, cuz they are the only one putting in the effort to truly support what has been a great team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~New England played the old blame the referee game after losing to Chicago on Saturday. That is the most tired excuse in the book.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~Steve Ralston played in his MLS All Time leading 350th game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~RED BULL NEW YORKBrian Lewis of the New York Post on his blog Extra Time says NYRB left fullback Hunter Freeman has signed a deal with Start in Norway's 2nd Division that will begin in the January transfer window, but because he has the deal already in place for after his MLS contract runs out coach Juan Carlos Osorio has
shown Freeman the door!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~Jorge Rojas has played 3 games for his new team, and he has 3 assists. They need it badly.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~REAL SALT LAKEAYL Soccer is reporting that Argentine centerback
Matias Mantilla has left or been released by RSL. He is headed home. Someone also found some of his household items and his Hummer for sale on a local listings board! (thanks to Eric for the heads up)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~TORONTO FCHuge road win for TFC in Colorado on Saturday. Their chances of making the playoffs basically rest on their road form here in the last 1/3 of the season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~GENERALJuan Pablo Angel has been named MLS Player Of The Week. No surprise there, when the guy leads NYRB to an ass kicking of epic proportions over DCU.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his blog Soccer Insider with his excellent weekly round up -
The Good, The Bad & The Coyote Ugly.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~Steve Davis at Soccernet with
7 things to note from Week 20.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~Kyle McCarthy at Goal.com with his
weekend league review.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!Clint Mathis back to Salt Lake? For real? (Do ya like that one?)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~US Open CupSomething is very wrong that these two games are not on national television!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~Semifinals
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Aug 12
DC United v New England RevolutionAttendance:
Venue: RFK Stadium, Washington DC
Charleston Battery v Seattle SoundersAttendance:
Venue: Blackbaud Stadium, Charleston SC
~ ~ ~ ~ ~Marc Burch of DC United is suspended due to a Red Card in the previous round.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~Here are the 4 possible scenarios for the Final:
-Wed Sep 3 - Seattle v DC - Qwest Field, Seattle WA - 10pm central
-Wed Sep 3 - DC v Charleston - RFK Stadium, Washington DC - 6:30pm central
-Mon Sep 15 - Seattle v New England - Qwest Field, Seattle WA - 9pm central
-Mon Sep 22 - Charleston v New England - Blackbaud Stadium, Charleston SC - 6pm central
~ ~ ~ ~ ~USL First Division NewsMinnesota ThunderAnother quality win from our local team on Sunday night. They went down early to defending league champs Seattle, but then they stormed back with a serious hiding. Seattle came in all cocky and anticipating their Open Cup game on Tuesday and ended up getting their teeth knocked out. It was great to see our team with that much fire and quality. For once in a long while we all went home very happy. You could see the relief in the faces of the players.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~During the game us Thunder fans spotted Seattle owner Adrian Hanouer sitting near his teams bench, so we sang him a couple of ditties about being the league whipping boys next year in MLS. We later found out that he was flying his team on his private jet to Charleston so they would be well rested for the Open Cup semifinal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~USL First Division ScoreboardMatches & Scores:
-Thu Aug 7
Minnesota 2-1 Charleston BatteryPortland 0-1 Seattle-Fri Aug 8
Carolina 0-2 MontrealAtlanta 0-0 MiamiPuerto Rico 4-0 Rochester-Sat Aug 9
Portland 1-1 Charleston-Sun Aug 10
Rochester 1-1 Puerto RicoMinnesota 3-1 SeattleVancouver 3-2 Atlanta~ ~ ~ ~ ~USL First Division StandingsStandings (games played) (goal difference):
37 Puerto Rico (21) (GD +13)
37 Vancouver (21) (GD +2)
35 Charleston (22)
32 Seattle (23)
31 Atlanta (21)
29 Rochester (22)
27 Minnesota (22)
- - - - - - - - -
25 Portland (23)
24 Miami (22)
22 Montreal (19)
21 Carolina (22)
(The top 7 teams advance to the playoffs.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~USL PDL ChampionshipFinal
Match & Score:
-Sat Aug 9
Laredo Heat 1-1 Thunder Bay Chill - ends tied after extra time and Thunder Bay wins 4-1 on Penalty Kicks.
Attendance: 3,451
Venue: Texas A&M University International Sports Complex
Match report from USL.
Match report from the Laredo Morning Times.
Match report from the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal.
Post game analysis from the Laredo Morning Times.
Post game analysis & local flavor from the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~USA U20 News2 Friendlies this week in Sunrise FL
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Aug 12
USA v Guatemala-Thu Aug 14
USA v Guatemala~ ~ ~ ~ ~Americans In EuropeWEEKEND MATCHES
German League Cup/DFB Pokal-Bryan Arguez - Hertha Berlin - on the bench but did not play in his teams win, 1-3 at Eintracht Trier.
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - started and played the full 90 as the team won 0-2 at Neustrelitz.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - played the full 90 as they won 0-5 at Hallescher.
-Grover Gibson - Rot Weiss Ahlen - played the full game but they lost 3-4 on Penalty Kicks after drawing 0-0 at home to Nurnberg.
-Joshua Grenier - Koblenz - was not on the bench as they team lost 5-4 on Penalty Kicks after drawing 1-1 at Obereuland.
-Kamani Hill - Wolfsburg - did not suit up as they won 0-3 at Heidenheim.
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - on the bench but did not play in a 0-2 win at Holstein Kiel.
-Neven Subotic - Borussia Dortmund - went the distance as the team won 1-3 at Rot-Weiss Essen.
-David Yelldell - Koblenz - played the entire match in goal but they lost 5-4 on Penalty Kicks after drawing 1-1 at Obereuland.
-Sal Zizzo - Hannover - was not on the bench as they won 0-5 at Hallescher.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~Danish SAS Ligaen-Dan Califf - Midtjylland - played all 90 minutes, got a Yellow Card, and the team won 4-0 at home over Odense.
-Tally Hall - Esbjerg - drew 1-1 at Aalborg
-Lee Nguyen - Randers - did not play as they drew 1-1 at Nordsjaelland.
-Jeremiah White - Aarhus - came on as a sub in the 56th minute as they lost 1-0 at Copenhagen.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~Swedish Allsvenskan-Colin Burns - Ljungskile - lost 2-4 at home to Kalmar
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - away at the Olympics but the team won 1-2 at Sundsvall.
-Etchu Tabe - Ljungskile - lost 2-4 at home to Kalmar
~ ~ ~ ~ ~Norwegian Tippeligaen-Adin Brown - Aalesunds - lost 1-2 at home to Stabaek
-Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek - beat Aalesunds at home 2-1
Troy Perkins - Valerenga - drew 1-1 at Hamarkamaratene
Brian Waltrip - Molde - lost 3-1 at Rosenborg
Brian West - Fredrikstad - won 2-0 at home over Tromso
~ ~ ~ ~ ~Norwegian Adeccoligaen-Matthew Allen - Bryne - lost 7-0 at Notodden
-Clarence Goodson - Start - won 1-2 at Alta
-Joe Lapira - Nybergsund - lost 6-1 at Honefoss
-Jay Needham - Alta - lost 1-2 at home to Start
-Chris Rodd - Bryne - lost 7-0 at Notodden
-Kyle Veris - Hodd - lost 0-2 at Sandefjord
-Cam Weaver - Haugesund - drew 1-1 at Odd Grenland
~ ~ ~ ~ ~OPENING WEEKEND MATCHESEnglish Championship-Bobby Convey - Reading - played the whole match as they drew 0-0 at Nottingham Forest.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - went the full 90 as they drew 0-0 at Crystal Palace.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - in goal as always for a 0-0 tie at Nottingham Forest.
-Eddie Lewis - Derby County - did not suit up for the teams 0-1 home loss to Doncaster.
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - still out injured but his team smoke Burnley 4-1 at home.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~English League One-Jemal Johnson - MK Dons - came on in the 79th minute of a 2-0 loss at Leicester.
-Zak Whitbread - Millwall - went the full 90 as they lost 4-3 at Oldham. Whitbread got a Yellow Card.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~Scottish Premiership-DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - on the bench but did not play as they won 0-1 at Falkirk.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~French Ligue 1-Freddy Adu - Monaco - away at the Olympics but the team won 1-0 over Paris St Germain.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Rennes - played all 90 in his debut but they game up a ton of goals luckily drawing 4-4 at home against Olympique Marseille.
-Andrew Jacobsen - Lorient - was not on the bench as they won 0-1 at Le Mans.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~Dutch Erstedivisie-Charles Kazlauskas - TOP Oss - got the start and scored his teams only goal but they lost 2-1 at Haarlem.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~Americans in MexicoLuis Bueno of Sideline Views gives us the
rehash of Round 3 for our boys in the FMF Primera Clausura.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~Olympic Soccer NewsFIFA.com does a
Q & A with Ivorian midfielder Salomon Kalou.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~Argentina, Brazil & Italy have qualified for the Men's knock out rounds.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~Norway is the only Women's team to have qualified for the knock out rounds so far.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~FIFA's
Olympic News Site~ ~ ~ ~ ~Olympic Soccer ScoreboardMen's Olympic Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Thu Aug 7
Australia 1-1 SerbiaArgentina 2-1 Cote d'IvoireJapan 0-1 USANetherlands 0-0 NigeriaBelgium 1-0 BrazilChina 1-1 New ZealandHonduras 3-0 ItalyCameroon 1-1 S Korea-Sun Aug 10
Argentina 1-0 AustraliaCote d'Ivoire 4-2 SerbiaJapan 1-2 NigeriaNetherlands 2-2 USA - 6:45am central on USA Network
Brazil 5-0 New ZealandBelgium 2-0 ChinaCameroon 1-0 HondurasItaly 3-0 S Korea-Wed Aug 13
Argentina v SerbiaAustralia v Cote d'IvoireNigeria v USA - 4am central on USA Network
Japan v NetherlandsBrazil v ChinaBelgium v New ZealandHonduras v S KoreaCameroon v Italy~ ~ ~ ~ ~Men's
Group Standings~ ~ ~ ~ ~Women's Olympic Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Wed Aug 6
Argentina 1-2 CanadaChina 2-1 SwedenGermany 0-0 BrazilN Korea 1-0 NigeriaJapan 2-2 New ZealandNorway 2-0 USA-Sat Aug 9
Sweden 1-0 ArgentinaCanada 1-1 ChinaNigeria 0-1 GermanyBrazil 2-1 N KoreaUSA 1-0 JapanNew Zealand 0-1 Norway-Tue Aug 12
China v ArgentinaSweden v CanadaN Korea v GermanyNigeria v BrazilNorway v JapanUSA v New Zealand~ ~ ~ ~ ~Women's
Group Standings~ ~ ~ ~ ~England NewsThe Premiership got ready for their season by staging the annual Community Shield match on Sunday. It pits the previous years league champions against the FA Cup winner.
Match & Score:
-Sun Aug 10
Manchester United 0-0 Portsmouth - Man U win 3-1 on Penalty Kicks.
Attendance: 84,808
Venue: Wembley Stadium
~ ~ ~ ~ ~The Guardian with their Premiership team-by-team season previews:
-
Arsenal-
Aston Villa-
Blackburn-
Bolton-
Chelsea-
Everton-
Fulham-
Hull City-
Liverpool-
Manchester CityNEW-
Manchester UnitedNEW-
Middlesbrough~ ~ ~ ~ ~The Observer
sees the Premiership still striving to improve the overall quality of the league.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~European NewsGERMANYThe German League Cup or DFB Pokal is underway. Here are
all the matches & scores.
-First Round winners were: Koln, Freiburg, Bochum, Erzgebiorge, Kickers Offenbach, Frankfurt, Hertha Berlin, Werder Bremen, Hansa Rostock, Mainz, Borussia Dortmund, Hannover, Monchengladbach, Alemannia Aachen, Hamburg, Schalke, Eintracht Frankfurt, Energie Cottbus, Carl Zeiss Jena, Augsburg, Karlsruher, Duisburg, 1860 Munchen, Wolfsburg, Oberneuland, Arminia Bielefeld, Wehen Wiesbaden, Bayer Leverkusen, 1899 Hoffenhein, Stuttgart, Nurnberg & Bayern Munchen.
-The only real upset loser were: St Pauli, Kaiserslautern,
-The next round will be played on Sep 23/24.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ITALYFIFA.com has a
Q & A with Juventus striker David Trezeguet on the season ahead.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~Inter warmed up for the season last week by beating Bayern 1-0 (goal by Mancini), drawing with Sevilla 0-0 and beating Ajax 1-0 (goal by Adriano).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~UEFA Champions LeagueThird Qualifying Round - 1st leg
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Aug 12
Fiorentina v Slavia Praha-Wed Aug 13
Sparta Praha v PanathinaikosSpartak Moskva v Dynamo KyivLevski Sofia v BATEShakhtar Donetsk v Dinamo ZagrebAnorthosis Famagusta v OlympiacosAaB v KaunasGalatasaray v Steaua BuchurestiJuventus v ArtmediaBrann v Olympique MarseilleSchalke v Atletico MadridTwente v ArsenalPartizan Belgrade v FenerbahceStandard Liege v LiverpoolGuimaraes Vitoria v BaselBarcelona v Wisla Krakow~ ~ ~ ~ ~2nd leg matches on Aug 26/27
~ ~ ~ ~ ~UEFA CupSecond Qualifying Round - 1st leg matches Aug 14. 2nd leg matches on Aug 28. Here are
the matches.
