Host Club Urawa Red Diamonds win bronze at the 2007 FIFA Club World Cup

It may have been Etoile du Sahel, the African club from Tunisia, that shocked the world by defeating Mexico's Pachuca and eliminating them from the 2007 Club World Cup, but it was the Urawa Red Diamonds, the host team from Japan, that took third place in their match against the Tunisian club. However, the match proved that both the Asian and African confederations can be just as competetive as their European counterpart.

The African side was up 1-0 as early as the 5th minute after penalty kick by Sabeur Frej. Urawa's Washington responded with a goal 30 minutes later to tie it 1-1, which was the scoreline at the end of the first 45 minutes.

In the second half, Washington opened the scoring 25 minutes in at th 70th minute to score his second goal putting the Japanese hosts up 2-1. However, it didn't take long for Etoile to respond with a goal by Amine Chermiti five minutes later. The score was 2-2 at the end of regulation forcing the game into a penalty kick shootout which ended 4-2 in favor of the Urawa Red Diamonds.

For more information regarding htis match, click here.

Dynamo may get their own stadium after back-to-back MLS Cup win

The sport of soccer must have a big part in the city of Houston. After the Houston Dynamo defeated the New England Revolution for the second time in a row to win the most prestigious award in American soccer--the MLS Cup--the Houston Dynamo squad returned home from Washington DC after the match on November 18th with a hero's welcome. A celebration and rally took place on the steps of city hall and was attended by not only fans but also Houston city officials and politicians on Tuesday November 20th.



In front of thousands of fans, Houston mayor Bill White, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, and many city council members, including City Councilman Adrian Garcia, Houston Dynamo club president Oliver Luck thanked the fans for the success: "Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the effort, fight and lack of quit that epitomizes the Houston Dynamo squad and head coach Dominic Kinnear himself."

Hip-hop star Mike Jones also performend at the rally. Here is a video from youtube of his performance:



Latin band Orquesta Samerum performed as well.

Coach Kinnear gave all the credit for the repeat to his players: "I want to thank the players. Without the players, we're not here tonight celebrating two championships."

"You got to love it!" the coach shouted over the cheering of 2,500 fans (according to mls.net).

The celebration was marked by the announcement that plans are being drawn out regarding a soccer-specific stadium for the best team in Major League Soccer.

Before the announcements were officially made, many fans were one step ahead chanting ""Where's our stadium? Where's our stadium?" towards the politicans in attendance. It was councilman Adrian Garcia that stood up and gave them the answer they were looking for: "Let's make it happen!"

She then explained the negotiations that were already on the table between city hall and the Dynamo club.

The Dynamo stadium, which will be located on the east side of downtown Houston, is a big part of Major League Soccer's ongoing project: to get soccer more attention in a country where football is the sport of choice. Several MLS clubs have already made the move out of football stadiums to soccer-specific stadiums. These include the Colorado Rapids and DC United as well as other teams, The New York Red Bulls are currently building Red Bull Park in Harrison, New Jersey, and Toronto FC played their 2007 inaugural season in BMO Field-soccer-specific stadium in Toronto. A big goal od Major League soccer, as a part of this expansion project, is to increase the number of clubs to 18 by 2012 from the current 13. By 2009, they will already have 15clubs with the return of the San Jose Earthquakes in the 2008 season and the introduction of a Seattle-based team for the 2009 season. There is also a belief that another New York-New Jersey area club will be established in Queens and these rumors are currently on Wikipedia (see the "Expansion, contraction and relocation" section of this entry). There is also a rumor and hope from New York soccer fans who are upset about the commercialism that Red Bull brought to the old MetroStars franchise and are hoping that the new Queens-based club will take on the MetroStars name.

Dynamo forward Ngwenya, who scored the first goal against the New England Revolution at the the MLS Cup final and is currently on his way to Germany to try out for a team in their league's second divison, commented: "It's an honor to be here with the fans. They have been great all season."

Here is a youtube video with clips of the MLS Cup final:



Here is a video from youtube of the penalty kicks that gave Houston Dynamo the win over the New England Revolution the first time in the 2006 MLS Cup last year after tying it 1-1 after overtime:



Click here for the official 2007 MLS Cup Match Report.

923 Days Until South Africa 2010

923 days, according to FIFA's official countdown, may seem like an eternity, but the entire soccer world, most notably South Africa, is burning with anticipation as the early stages of the 2007-2010 World Cup season draws nearer with the preliminary/quaifying round draw in Durban, South Africa this past Sunday(look out for my future posts for my own analysis and predictions regarding the draw).

The final touranemnt may not be until 2010, but South America and Oceania have already started their qualifying campaigns and did not participate in the draw. Continental zones such as Africa and Asia have already their qualifying procedure by eliminating some of their lower ranked teams in time for the preliminary round draw. The rest of the world will begin there's at different times in 2008. Specific dates, however, have not been determined. However, European national teams will start their campaign very soon after next summer's Euro Cup final tournament.

For more information, check out FIFA's official 2010 world Cup website.

Euro 2008 Qualifiers

Only one more qualifier is left and that is the Serbia-Kazakhstan one that had to be postponed because of snowy conditions in Belgrade's Partizan Stadium. Even though the game will be played for sure, it doesn't make any difference at this point since neither team can qualify anyway.

In this entry, I would liek to list the teams that have qualified and will join co-hosts Austria and Swizterland in the finals. I will also make note of who qualified as first and second in the group as well. The W-L-T record thatI include is the teams' qualifying record only.

Group A

1. Poland (8-2-4, 24 goals scored, 12 conceded, 28 points)

Poland has a strong force in Europe for the past few years, but they have yet to qualify for a Euro Cup until now. At first glance, any soccer fan would see that they must have played a very good qualifying campaign in a group with Portugal, runner up in the 2004 Euro Cup, was in. Serbia also posed some serious threats to Poland's campaign as well.

2. Portugal (7-1-6, 24 goals scored, 10 conceded, 27 points)

Portugal played very good qualifying campaign, but was only able to come in second in group A. The reason for this was there struggle to get wins instead of ties later in the qualifying round.

Here are the final GROUP A STANDINGS

Group B

1. Italy (9-1-2, 22 goals scored, 9 conceded, 29 points)

The 2006 World Cup Champions had a slow start to their qualification campaign, but they were able to come and not only qualify, but also qualify at the top of their group. However, they have to do much more to convince me that they're the best in the world or even in Europe. I still feel that their World Cup win was a fluke because of the way they eliminated Australia in the Round of 16. Maybe I will change my mind but not yet. The main reason I feel this way is because their qualifying chances were in doubt until the very end when Scotland lost with a last gasp Italian goal that put Italy to the top. That is how close it was for Italy, France, and Scotland, the top three teams in this group.

2. France (8-2-2, 25 goals, 5 conceded, 26 points)

Another close call...same situation as Italy...almost didn't qualify because of the threat coming from Scotland. For a team that is runner up of the 2006 World Cup and only lost to Italy on penalty kicks, they can in no way be the best in Europe. Scotland defintely spoiled a lot for these teams until the very end.

Here are the final GROUP B standings.

Group C

1. Greece (10-1-1, 25 goals, 10 conceded, 31 points)

The 2004 Euro Cup champions did not qualify for the World Cup which eventually convinced me that their Euro Cup win was a fluke, but sudently their back in the Euro Cup and I have no idea how. Impressive record, but they still have yet to convince me that they are a superpower. Sorry Greece supporters! First, make it to a World Cup and make it to the round of 16, then I'll be convinced. Also, don't forget that the Greeks played a very close game that they won narrowly 3-2 against the Bosnians, who were also played very well at the beginning, but then started to lose a lot of games at the end. If greece was really that good, they shoudl beat Bosnia by a much larger goal differential, but the Bosnians were close to qualifying at one point and were even in second place at one point.

2. Turkey (7-2-3, 25 goals, 11 conceded, 24 points)

They are a good team. In the 2002 World Cup, they won third place, but then they suddenly fell into the shadows, only to come back now. They did lose once to Bosnia in Sarajevo 3-2, which they correctd at their home game in a 1-0 win later, ending the qualifiers with an aggragate score of 2-2 against the Bosnians. I do wish the Bosnians qualified over Turkey or Greece. They were so close at one point too!!

Here are the final standings for GROUP C.

GROUP D

1. Czech Republic (9-1-2, 27 goals, 5 conceded, 29 points)

I became a supporter of the Czech national team in 2004 when they qualified for the Euro Cup for the first time. They had an impressive 3-0-0 record in the group round and were then eliminated in their first game in the quarterfinals. In the 2006 World Cup, their first world cup, they humiliated the United States in their opening match and then lost to Ghana and Italy. I did not support the Czech Republic as much in this World Cup though as I was mor einterested in the US National Team. It seems as if they start off well in major competitions and then lose in the more important games later on.

2. Germany (8-1-3, 35 goals, 7 conceded, 27 points)

There are several facts that point at Germeny as the best team in Europe and possible Euro Cup favorites. First, they scored the most goals in qualifying. Secondly, they were the first team to qualify very early on. This is why I was extremely disspointed and surprised that they let the Czechs win in the game after they clinched the finals. This also costed them first place in the group. I will never understand this. However, I still believe that they are best in Europe. Best in the world is pushing it though. As a matter of fact, I don't feel as if any team really stands out with that title right now although I used to regard Brazil in that light but they really disspointed me in their early elimination in the 2006 World Cup.

Here are the final rankings for GROUP D

GROUP E

1. Croatia (9-1-2, 28 goals, 8 goals conceded,29 points)

EXCELLENT qualifying campaign this Euro Cup season. They are not exactly a world superpower yet, but they are close. They are, however, a stand out in the Balkans and went up a lot in the world rankings since qualifying began. I just wish Croatia didn't lose to Macedonia 2-0 the second time, giving them one loss and that they didn't remain undefeated. However, this Euro cup qualifying round proved to be very competetive with some really good teams not making it because the groups were so competetive, so it was somewhat expected that no team will come out without atleast one loss, but Croatia made a big achievement goign as far as they did without a loss until the second to last match. Israel, Russia, and Macedonia proved to be big spoliers. Russia was the biggest of them all, knocking out England and qualifying themselves. Just awesome. In my opinion, this was the only group that ended with a really surprising result. This could defintely be Croatia's new 1998, and it would awesome to be in Croatia for the event just like I was about ten years before for the 1998 World Cup.

2. Russia (7-2-3, 18 goals, 7 conceded, 24 points)

I'm still laughing at England's elimination. The "Three Lions" as teh team is nicknamed think they are the best in the world and that they can't make any mistakes. Good job Russia! You defintely deserve it! Gus Hindink from the Netherlands is one of the best coaches in the world and I think it is great of him to move from country to country transforming once rejects to respected national teams. In last ten years, he coached Netherlands (led his native national team in the 1998 world cup third place match where they lost to then underdog Croatia), South Korea (led the team to the round of 16 at the 2002 World Cup), Australia (led the team past the group stage in the 2006 world cup and helped Australians of Croatian descent playing for Australia get past the emotional struggles of having to play their childhood friends that used to live in Australia. he also led them to the round of 16 where they suffered an unfortunate controversial loss to Italy), and now Russia. However, being that Hindink is in demand by many countries, he might have to leave Russia before the Euro Cup beings next summer. The US needs a coach like him, but belive or not, the US Soccer Federation, being that soccer is not a very big sport in the United States, doe snot have enough money to pay a big named coach liek Hindink. Other than Macedonia and Israel, who fought hard against Croatia, Russia was the only other real threat to Croatia, giving Croatia their only ties--two 0-0 results.

Here are the final standings for GROUP E.

GROUP F

1. Spain (9-2-1, 23 goals, 8 conceded, 28 points)

Spain wsa always an overrated team in my opinion, but they have one impressive 3-0 shutout against Sweden. I don't really much else to say about Spain. I didn't watch too many of their games.

2. Sweden (8-2-2, 23 goals, 9 conceded, 26 points)

Sweden is one team that have always supported, and they usually play very well. However, there was one incident at one game involving a fan that I feel UEFA trated very unfairly. In a nail-biting match against Scandinavian rival Denmark, Sweden sscored 3 goals int he first half. Denamrk controlled the second half where the Dnaish scored three to tie it. With about a minute left in the match, the coach awarded Swden a penalty kick, fair enough, being that I support Sweden, I was actually about this, a hcance to win it 4-3. Suddenly, an angry Danish fan ran into the field and punched the ref forcing him to abandon the game. The disciplinary committee investigated and decided to reset Denmark's goals to 0 making the score 3-0Sweden win. This did not make a difference in the standings anyway, but if a tie breaker was necessary and went down to goal difference, Sweden would have won it making this extrememly unfair on UEFA's part. Denamrk, howeevr, did not do very well in its remaining games so it would not have mattered anyway.

Here are the final standings for GROUP F.

Group G

1. Romania (9-1-2, 26 goals,7 conceded, 29 points)

I never realized Romania was such a good team until now. Until this past Saturday's matches, Romania and Croatia were the only two teams that were undefeated in their qualifying matches, and after that day's matches, they each received a loss. I am really excite to see how romania does in the finals.

2. Netherlands (8-2-2, 15 goals, 5 conceded, 26 points)

Netherlands used to be a world superpower, but recently they have getting worse. In the 2006 World Cup, they were esurprisingly eliminated by a weaker team in the round of 16. Luckily, there future is really bright after their Under 21 national team won the most recent Under 21 Championship and with that qualified for the 2008 Olympics Soccer Tournament.

Here are the final standings for Group G

With 14 teams now qualified and joning the co-hosts Aistria and Switxerland in the 16team field, it is now time for the next step: the final drawing ceremony in Lucerne, Switzerland on Sunday December 2, 2007. At this event, the 16 teams are draw in to four groups of four in which they will play each member only once. The top 2 teams in each group then move into the elimination round. The winner of the 2008 Euro Cup represents UEFA in teh 2009 Confederations Cup in South Africa, a pre-World Cup tournament in which the champions of each continental tournament (Euro Cup, Asian Cup, Oceanian Cup, Cup of African Nations, the Gold Cup, and the Copa America), the current World Cup champion, and the host play in an 8 team competition to see if there were any major changes in the previous World Cup and see how the World Cup hosts are progressing in their preperations.

BREAKING NEWS: England Eliminated from Euro 2008, Croatia and Russia advance to final tournament

When the groups for the Euro 2008 Qualififying Round were drawn, everybody considered England and Croatia to be the favroites of the group. No one actually thought that England was actually not going to make it to the finals. It hasn't happened for more than 20 years. How can it happen now? Even after they lost to Croatia the first time, England's cockiness always peaked its ugly head, but a few months ago when Wayne rooney told Briitsh reporters that it would be devestating if England didn't qualify, the rest of th eplayers laughed at him. Well, it isn't impossible and that is exactly what happened--the almighty England will not be traveling to Austria and Switerland for Euro 2008 and England cannot turn to any one of the other UK-based national teams to cheer for although Northern Ireland did come the closest.

So what is next for England? Well, they are down and out, but that isn't the end of the world although that is probably how the fans feel, some of which are probably even getting ready to sell their "tears of sadness in a jar" on ebay. Yes, I said it. One fan did the same thign when England was eliminated from the 2006 World Cup after a penalty shootout against Portugal. How's that for "European football fever"? England should now schedule some friendlies and play the field while all of the other European teams that did qualify are getting ready to do the same thing as they warm up for next summer. As a matter of fact., this is a perfect time for England to sharpen their skills by playing teams that did qualify such as their archrival France or Germany.

The question that is probably on every soccer fan's mind: What will happen to Coach McClaren? According to FIFA, Coach McClaren is not considering resignation, but I think the English Football Federation has other plans as English fans call for McClaren's head on a platter. They did the same thing when England lost to Croatia 2-0 the first time last October. Yeah, there not very symathetic despite the fact that McClaren did not have much to play with as their best players, including rooney, were out due to injuries. The one stupid move of McCalren was his refusal to put Beckham in until the second half in which he posted at least one assist in the two goals taht England scored to get back into the game.

Croatia, whose nickname is the "vatreni", or "fiery ones", won the game 3-2 in dramatic fashion opening the scoring in the 8th minute by Krancjar, the former coach's son. England continued this nightmare with another Croatian goal at the 14th minute by Olic, one of Croatia's best strikers--that is before Eduardo arrived from Brazil and got Croatian citizenship. Then ended with Croatia up 2-0 improvng their aggragate goal againstt England in the qualifying round 4-0.

The second half got better for England scoring 2 goals to tie it up and quaickly increasing the aggragate to 4-2. A 2-2 score in this match would have been enough for England to advance alogn with Croatia, but Croatia wanted a win and it was Petric that gave it them at the 77th minute and England was not able to catch up to get back into the game.

Just because England lost this game, it did not automatically mena that they were eliminated because the Russia-Andorra game also ahd a lot to do with it, but Andorra isn't much of a national team to rely on as they have not won one game in their 12 game qualifyign campaign. Russia defeated Andorra 1-0 to take the three points to advance to the Euro finals next June.

After this match, the current all-time record for Croatia against England is equal with 2 wins, 2 losses, and 1 tie. Their total aggragate score is equal too at 8-8 in the five games (a 0-0 friendly tie, a 3-1 England friendly win, a 4-2 England win at the 2004 Euro Cup, a 2-0 win for Croatia and today's 3-2 win). This would be a perfect oppurtunity for the two teams to play a friednly sometime in the near future to break the overall tie.

What now for Croatia? First, Croatia should celebrate as much as they can before the national team gets back to business with scheduling some friendleis against some tough European compeititon and their individual players go back to play for their own clubs. In the near future, Croatia should schedule friendlies against France and Germany, who currently are two of the best teams in Europe right now. Czech Republic and rematch against Russia wouldn't be a bad idea either, maybe even a rematch against a South American team such as Brazil and Argentina, or maybe this might be a good time to play Montenegro or Slovenia, which would give the young Montenegrin national team some good experience before their first ever World Cup qualifying. I would love to see a USA-Croatia friendly as well. After beating a team like Switzerland, the United States could be a good contender for Croatia.

Croatia has once again reached their golden age, maybe even better than the 1998 team that won third place at the world cup, and they proved it by returuning to the top 10 in the international rankings. It took ten years to do, but with Slaven Bilic, a 1998 player himself, as coach and fresh young players in addition to Eduardo da Silva, Croatia is very close to becoming a European powerhouse and a 2008 Euro Cup run is defintely possible for this team, which contains young men that play for some of the greatest and most respected leagues in the world, most notably the English Premier League, the Scottish Premier League, Germany's Budesliga, Spain's La Liga, and Italy's Serie A.

In 2006, a song called "Srce Vatreno" ("Heart of Fire") was written, performed, and a music video was created for it, dedicated to he Croatian soccer team in the hopes that it would increase team morale for the World Cup. Instead, they were eliminated with a 0-1-2 record in the group phase only scoring two goals against Australia in an emotional game that saw a 2-2 tie while Australia and Brazil progressed into the next round in that group. However, since the song will most likely cause more energy now more than ever, I would like to end this post with the actual video from Youtube.



Here is another Youtube video of some fans at the Croaita-Brazil game at the World Cup. These pictures are proof that most Croatian fans gets along great with the fans of other countries--except for, sadly, with fans from Serbia and sometimes Bosnia:



GO HRVATSKA!!!!!

GO CROATIA!!!!

THIS JUST IN!!!!!!! ENGLAND JUST SCORED ANOTHER MAKING IT 2-2

Croatia may not win this game taht easily after all. Just minutes after I finished typing the other post, England's Crouch scored in the 56th minute. David Beckham asssits! At this point, Russia will not qualify if the scoreline stays like this not matter what happens in Andorra.

More updates to follow!

Croatia vs England: Halftime Update

This has been the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign from hell from England and it doesn't seem to be getting any better at this point. Most of it has to do with McClaren's coaching skills. Not one big name player is playing for England becaus etehy are all injured and McClaren has refused to put David Beckham into the game until the second half, but he playing as I type this right now.

The second half has already begun, according to UEFA'S game tracker on euro2008.com, and England is already down 2-0 putting down to a 4-0 aggraagte defecit in their two qualifying matches against the Croatians.

Kranjčar, the former Croatian coach's son, scored the first in the 8th minute--a goal that the game tracher called a "shock" to the Wembley crowd who put th egame of "football" so close to their hearts. This must be killing them!!

The second goal was scored by Olić, one of Croatia's best strikers aside from Eduardo da Silva, who has yet to score. This goal was scored at the 14th minute. he gametracker summarizes it as follows:

"Only 15 minutes have gone but Croatia have a 2-0 lead now to leave England facing a huge task. Eduardo's pass sprung the England offside trap and Ivica Olić rounded Scott Carson to tap the ball into an empty net."

It is now 15 minutes into the second half and England has finally scored off a penalty awarded because English player Defore was fouled by Šimunić. The goal was scored by Lampard at the 56th minute.

Meanwhile, in Andorra, Russia is being held to a tough match against a stubbornb Andorra. At this point, in the 58th minute, when Russia should be home with atleast 2or 3 goals already (maybe more), Russia has only scored one--they could have made it 2 but Russia missed one penalty.

If the scorlines stay like this, England will not qualify for the final tournament.

To track these two games and others, check out euro2008.com.

Euro 2008 Qualifying: Croatia-England match will make or break England's future

Okay okay, the title of this post seems a little dramatic, but by the end of today England just may be eliminated from Euro 2008 in their finale qualifying match against Croatia at Wembley Stadium in London. The last time these two sides met was in October of 2006 which saw England lose to Croatia 2-0 in a qualifying match Zagreb. A result that devestated Coach McClaren and his players.

Croatia has already qualified and has the chance to secure their postition as group winner if they win this match.

This is arguably the most anticipated match in Euro 2008 qualifying ever since Croatia's shocking win over England last October that caused a dissapointed David Beckham to come out of international retirement anbd England to eventually fall out of the top ten of FIFA's World Rankings after several other dissapointing performances. Ever since that loss, England has never been the same and the team that has not missed a Euro Cup finals in over twenty years may just find themeselves watching it at home on TV. That's right, the all-mighty England now faces a new reality that they never thought existed, atleast not so soon. A 2-1 defeat at the hands of Russia last month further dampened their qualifying hopes until Israel revived England's chances with a 2-1 defeat of Russia last week putting Russia a few steps back and giving England just a little bit more room in the group standings to take the second and last qualifying spot under Croatia.

England can still move on with a tie as well even if Russia defeats Andorra. This is because a tie would cause England and Russia to tie for the last qualifying spot. England would win the tie breaker because of the 4-2 win England has on aggragate in their two matches against the Russians (2-1 Russia win, 3-0 England win). In order for the Russians to qualify, they must win against Andorra and then pray that Croatia takes all three points against England.

I really think Croatia can win this one sinply becaus they have their secret weapon-Eduardo da Silva-who currently plays for Arsenal of the English Premier League-and England has also lost many of its best players to injury leaving Beckham as the only one to fall back on, but seeing that Beckham was not able to help the Los Angeles Galaxy qualify for the 2007 MLS Cup finals, it doesn't look to good for England. However, Croatia just came out of a dissapointing qualifying 2-0 loss to Macedonia on Saturday ending a 16 game unbeaten streak. The last match Croatia lost before the streak was on June 13, 2006--their 2006 World Cup opener against Brazil which they dropped 1-0--thiss match, hwowever, could have easily been a tie, as Croatia had several chances in the match. After this match, they tied Japan (0-0) and Australia (2-2), two matches that saw them eliminated from the World Cup followed by a defeat of World Cup Champions Italy in August 2006 ina friendly. Every since then, Croatia only tied twice (two scorless draws against Russia in qualifying).

My prediction is a 2-1 Croatia win. England will defintely score goals, but due to their loss of key players, they will not be able to defeat the Croatians, but this should defintely promise to be an extrememly good match.

Kickoff is at 3 pm eastern time/9 pm central european time which is a little less than half an hour from now. The game will not be televized live in the states, but will be shown by Fox Soccer Channel this Saturday night at 8 pm.

Please vote in my poll if you have not already done so. I have never used this poll feature so I'm currently experimenting with it. (Sorry for the late post by the way).

GO CROATIA and RUSSIA!!!!!!

For standings, starting lineups, and other information for this and other remaining macteh in Euro 2008 qualifying, check out euro2008.com.

After all qualifying matche sare finished, I will create a follow up posts with all of the official Euro Cup qualifiers most likely on Saturday after the Kazakhstan-Serbia match but I will also make some comments tonight regarding today's matches.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!

St. John's Red Storm fail to qualify for NCAA Soccer Championship

After the one goal scored by Notre Dame last Sunday that eliminated the St. John's Red Storm from the Big East Tournament, the St. John's soccer team waited patiently for the NCAA Slection committee to announce what teams will join the champions of each conference to complete the 48 team bracket. That time has come and gone and teh St. John's soccer team will be missing out on the national tournament for the first time in several years. That's right, the 2006 Big East champions have not qualified for the chance to win the 2007 College Cup!

Just a few hours ago, the 48 team field was announce and the Red Storm was a no show falling short of a national appearance with a 9-7-5 record (just one win short of "magic" number typically needed to convince the selection committee that a college team is among the top 48 in the country).

Despite, the Red Storm's failure to progress to the national championship, the Big East was the most successful conference with 2007 Big East champions Connecticut and six other teams. The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) was second with six teams.


The first round of the national tournament will played on November 23 and 24 at campus sites while all second-round action will take place on November 28. Below is the schedule for all first and second round match-ups according to ncaasports.org:

Amherst, Massachusetts
First round – Boston U. at Massachusetts (Nov. 23-Noon)
Second round – Winner at Boston College (Nov. 28-7 p.m.)

Boston, Massachusetts
First round – Central Connecticut at Harvard (Nov. 24-1 p.m.)
Second round – Winner at Tulsa (Nov. 28-7 p.m.)

St. Louis, Missouri
First round – Illinois-Chicago at Saint Louis (Nov. 23-7 p.m.)
Second round – Winner at Northwestern (Nov. 28-7 p.m.)

Dallas, Texas
First round – Gonzaga at SMU (Nov. 24-7 p.m.)
Second round – Winner at Creighton (Nov. 28-7 p.m.)

Louisville, Kentucky
First round – Duke at Louisville (Nov. 23-7 p.m.)
Second round – Winner at Ohio State (Nov. 28-7:30 p.m.)

Seattle, Washington
First round – Portland at Washington (Nov. 23-7 p.m.)
Second round – Winner at UC Santa Barbara (Nov. 28-7 p.m.)

Baltimore, Maryland
First round – Liberty at Loyola (Maryland) (Nov. 24-1 p.m.)
Second round – Winner at Maryland (Nov. 28-5 p.m.)

Peoria, Illinois
First round – DePaul at Bradley (Nov. 24-7 p.m.)
Second round – Winner at Indiana (Nov. 28-7 p.m.)

Hanover, New Hampshire
First round – Vermont at Dartmouth (Nov. 24-7 p.m.)
Second round – Winner at Connecticut (Nov. 28-7 p.m.)

Tampa, Florida
First round – Colgate at South Florida (Nov. 23-7:30 p.m.)
Second round – Winner at Akron (Nov. 28-7:30 p.m.)

Berkley, California
First round – UC Davis at California (Nov. 23-1:30 p.m.)
Second round – Winner at Virginia Tech (Nov. 28-7 p.m.)

Norfolk, Virginia
First round – Providence at Old Dominion (Nov. 24-7 p.m.)
Second round – Winner at Brown (Nov. 28-7 p.m.)

Los Angeles, California
First round– New Mexico at UCLA (Nov. 24-7 p.m.)
Second round – Winner at Santa Clara (Nov. 28-7 p.m.)

East Lansing, Michigan
First round – Oakland at Michigan State (TBD)
Second round – Winner at Notre Dame (Nov. 28-7:30 p.m.)

Charlottesville, Virginia
First round – St. Peter’s at Virginia (Nov. 23-5 p.m.)
Second round – Winner at West Virginia (Nov. 28-7 p.m.)

Greenville, South Carolina
First round – Campbell at Furman (Nov. 24-2 p.m.)
Second round – Winner at Wake Forest (Nov. 28-7 p.m.)

For more information regarding the NCAA Soccer Championships, click here.

Red Storm Soccer eliminated from Big East Tournament

After blogging quite a bit about intrnational soccer and Major League Soccer, it is time to talk a little bit about a team that is little a bit more local--the St. John's Red Storm.

As the 2006 Big East Tournament Champions, defeating West Virginia 1-0 last year, no one expected that the Red Storm's season would end so early. However, it was somewhat noticable that the Red Storm soccer team of today was different than of last year's victorious team by the way they narrowly past Seton Hall in the first round of this year's Big East tournament only to lose 1-0 to Notre Dame.

In their match against Seton Hall at home, St. John's tied the Pirates 2-2 but managed to sneak into the quarterfinals match-up against Notre Dame with a 3-2 win in penalty kicks.

It was only one goal scored by Notre Dame that made the difference between elimination and a possible repeat run. However, the Red Storm's season may not be over just yet. They may still join the winner of the Big East Championship in the 2007 NCAA Tournament, the first round of which will begin on November 23rd. Hopefully, the Johnnies don't end up playing Maryland again in the second or third round or else they may find themselves elimianted from the national scene just like the past three years. Now, we are just going to have to sit and wait until we find out whether or not the Red Storm will make an appearance in the national college soccer scene.

This was an unexpected and rather unfortunate loss for the Red Storm after they have been unbeaten with a 2-0-1 record in their last three matches against Notre Dame. The last time these two Big East opponents faced off was on November 5, 2005.

Despite the loss, head coach Dr. Dave Masur stated that he was proud of his team's effort and pointed out that Notre Dame was a tough and talented team to play. He also pointed out that both teams played very well with good chances from both teans. However, the Red Storm were outshot 15-2, but the Red Storm goalie managed to make six saves to keep the scoreline tight.

For more information regarding this match, check out this article from Red Storm Sports.

Chicago Fire eliminates DC United in Eastern Conference Semifinals, Advances to Conference Final, as DC United Questions their Fate

The Chicago Fire went in to the second leg of their two game series against DC United on Thursday night at Washington DC's RFK Stadium with a one goal advantage after defeating DC 1-0 in the first leg while the 2007 Supporters Shield champion DC United hoped to use their home field as an advantage to overturn the result.

The Fire started out the first half strong scoring two goals within two minutes. Chris Rolfe scored his second goal of the two game series in the 33rd minute while Chad Barret scored one in the 31st to open the scoring giving the Chicago Fire a comfortable 3-0 aggragate lead on DC United who had an embarrassing 45 minutes in the frist half of the second leg.

However, DC United did not give up that easy and increased the pressure on the Chicago Fire in the second half scoring two goals to equalize it making the aggragate score a much closer 3-2. This made it an extremely competetive second half--a big difference from the first 45 minutes- that gave DC United a chance taht many thought they wouldn't have after their horrible performance in the first half. These goals were scored for DC United in the 69th and 74th minute by Clyde Simms and Christian Gomez respectively.

With only one more goal needed for the home team to stay alive and force the match into extra time, DC United increased their pressure against Chicago. It appeared as if Christian Gomez scored the match winner to tie up the series aggragate 3-3 only to have the goal disallowed due to a hand ball.

With an aggragate score of 3-2, the Chicago Fire have not only eliminated the 2007 Supporters Shield winner and the best team in Major League Soccer, but they have also continued their playoff dominance over one of North America's most decorated clubs. The Fire are unbeaten in all seven of their postseason matches against United, winning six of them and one scoreless draw. This includes their surprising 1998 MLS Cup win in their inaugural season. During their last playoff visit to RFK Stadium in 2005, Chicago humiliated United 4-0.

Here is a youtube video with highlights of this exciting second leg between Chicago Fire and DC United:



Chicago Fire will now travel to Foxboro this Saturday to face off against the New England Revolution, who defeated the New York Red Bulls 1-0 to advance to the Eastern Conference Final. I will give a more in depth analysis of this match bteween these two archrivals in a later post.

DC United originally claimed home field advantage being the highest seed in the eastern conference, but since they were eliminated, the Chicago Fire had to wait for Saturday night's match between the New England Revolution (#2 seed) and the New York Red Bulls (#3 seed) to find out if they will be traveling to Foxboro or Giants Stadium for the conference final.

However, the end of DC United's season ended just like it started--with a winless streak. Despite an impressive comeback at the beginning of their season and accumulating enough regular season points to become the first MLS club to win the Supporters Shield in back to back seasons, DC United finished the season winless in six games. This included two regular season draws with the Fire and a 2-2 aggragate score against Mexico's Chivas de Guadelajara in Copa Sudamerica, which DC United was invited to due to winning the Supporters Shield in 2006. Chivas advanced to the next round of this South American club cup, despite the tied aggragate score, due to the South American Confederation's tiebreaking rule of doubling away goals instead of going into extra time or penalty kicks. DC United did have a chance to advance to the next round of the Copa Sudamerica after winning the first leg against Chivas 1-0 at home, but DC United was unable to keep this momentum going losing to Chivas in the second leg and eventually faced elimination at the hands of Chicago Fire, the #4 seed in the Eastern Conference.

DC United, despite their disspointing performance recently, will still join the winner of the 2007 MLS Cup in the 2008 CONCACAF Champions Cup after winning the 2007 Supporters Shield. This will give DC United a chance to prove that they are still team that they once were.

Montenegro named "Best Mover" in Latest FIFA Rankings

The Montenegrin national team has only been a FIFA member for four months having been approved entry by the governing body of world soccer this past June. Since it has not yet been able to play in any major competitions, they have scheduled friendlies with teams such as Japan, Colombia, Slovenia, Sweden, and most recently Estonia.

With only five games under its belt, Montenegro can hardly be known as one of the best teams in Europe, but it has proven that it can make a dent or spoil other national teams in major comeptitions. Montenegro's first major competition will be in the European Zone Qualifying Competition for the 2010 World Cup.

In its most recent friendly match against Estonia, Montenegro posted its first a win, defeating Estonia 1-0. A win against Estonia may not be the biggest proof that Montengro is heading where it should be, but atleast the team is getting somewhere. Monetengro did not score its first goal until they played Slovenia in August, a agem taht ended in a 1-1 draw. They then went on lose against Sweden 2-1.

In the most recent FIFA World Rankings, which was released on October 24th, Monetengro was labelled "best mover," moving 15 spots from 186 to 171. The team was first ranked 199 out of over 209 teams that are currently FIFA members when they first appeared in the world rankings in June where they stayed until August. In September, they moved up 13 spots to 186 and eventually to 171 where they are currently. This may not seem very impressive, but for a team that was just recently established, this is very good. A perfect example of a team that started out in a similar way was Croatia and it only took the Croatian national team elven months for them to hit the top 90 after starting out ranked at 117. Montengro is defintely on track to become a spolier for other European team. However, at this time no one should expect them to qualify for the 2010 World Cup just yet, but after scoring against Sweden in a 2-1 loss and being the first to score in that match in the first half until Sweden scored 2 in the second, they are defintely a team to look at as the 1010 World Cup qualifiers start in Europe.

If Montenegro was to prove that they can play tougher European countries, they should play teams such Croatia, Serbia, or Bosnia-Herzegovina--teams in there region that play in a similar type of style. Showing a good performance against these teams may give Montengro some respect as an independent national team. Croatia did offer a friendly that was to be scheduled this past August but the newly created Montenegrin Soccer Federation refused citing teteh fact that they had a match scheduled against Slovenia on August 22nd which was only two days away from the day Croatia wanted to play them.

For more information regarding the Montenegrin national team, check out their offical team profile on FIFA's website.

First Leg of Western Conference Semifinals in the books

Both Western Conference Semfinals took place on Saturday and the results proved to be surprising in both matches.

Houston Dynamo vs FC Dallas

FC Dallas managed to defeat defeinding MLS Cup champion 1-0 at home to take a one goal advantage in the two legged series. The only goal of th enight was socred in the 23rd minute by Clarence Goodson of FC Dallas. The goal came off a throw-in by Houston Dynao's Adrian Serioux. The ball deflected off of Dynamo defender Ryan Cochrane and Goodson was in the right location to kick it tight into the net. Houston did have several chances and pressure on FC Dallas but failed to capitalize on as Goodson's early goal gave FC Dallas the game winner.

The second leg will take place on Friday in Houston.

For more information regarding this match, click here for the official match report from Major League Soccer.

Kansas City Wizards vs Chivas USA

The Kansas City Wizards managed to upset Chivas USA, who finished first in the Western Conference regular season, with a 1-0 win at home and will therefore carry the one goal advantage into the second leg.

According the MAjor Lague Soccer match report, both teams created chances but neither team was able to greatly thereaten the other. However, the Wizards, now with the one goal advantage, have to take their lead the Home Depot Center next Saturday where Chivas USA has only lost once in 15 games this season and allowed only eight goals in those games. A draw, however, would be enough to send the Kansas Wizards to the Western Conference Championship and eliminate Chivas USA.

New England Revolution hold New York Red Bulls to scoreless draw in First Leg of Eastern Conference Semifinals

The New York Red Bulls dominated their regular season series against their Interstate 95 archrival New England Revolution but it was the Revolution that was lucky enough to win the series over the Red Bulls with 2 wins and a 1 tie. The Red Bulls were clearly the better team against their New England rivals but the Revolution was still able to come out with wins.

This past Saturday the Red Bulls had their chance for revenge as they hosted New England in the first leg of the two game eastern conference semifinals series with 14,165 fans in attendance. However, those in attendance, including myself, left extremely dissapointed.

Again, the Red Bulls dominated in both posession and a 10-2 advantage in shots the entire first half, but they were unable to find the back of the net in an extremely frustrating game for the Red Bulls. New England, on the other hand, had very few chances at goal. Red Bull Juan Pablo Angel, alone, had three chances in a span of only nine minutes.

Despite their great performance, the Red Bulls were unable to find a way to beat the Revolution in a scoreless draw and now relies on the second leg to be played in Foxboro next weekend for any chance to qualify for the Eastern Conference Final. However, this will be extrememly tough for the Red Bulls to pull off in an away match against a team that matches them so well in playoffs.

The second half was even worse for the Red Bulls as the New England Revolution stepped their game up and created some major chances as well.

The Red Bulls were also the victims of some bad calls from the ref as the score could have easily become 1-0 with the Red Bulls up after a possible penalty in the second half. One bad call took place in the 61st minute after Michael Parkhurst of the New England Revolution took down Angel in the penalty area, but the ref waved away New York's protests.

The second leg of the series will take place this Saturday November 3rd in Foxboro, Massachusetts. The match will be televized live on Fox Soccer Channel at 7:30 pm. I am going to have to miss this match since my friend as tickets to the Islanders hockey game that takes place at the same time, but I predict another close and fierce played match between these two archrivals. Basically, whoever wins this match will qualify for the conference championship in which they will play against either the Chicago Fire or DC United. However, if this match ends with another scoreless tie, their will be two 30 minute extra periods and possible penalty kicks if no goals are scored during extra time.

If the Red Bulls manage to defeat New England on the road and Chicago uses their one goal advantage to eliminate DC United, the Red Bulls (being the higher seed) will host the Chicago Fire at Giants Stadium in the Eastern Conference Championship game, a game that I will defintely attend.

For the complete match report, click here.

Chicago Fire defeats Supporter's Shield Winner DC United in first leg of two game series

Hot tempers, one goal, a lost contact lens, and a halftime report filled with World Series Baseball news (rather than soccer or extensive hightlights of the game) is what defined ESPN2's coverage of the 2007 MLS Cup Playoff opener between the Chicago Fire and DC United last Thursday night.

I didn't come home early enough to see the entire first half and therefore I missed the only goal of the match (which I had to rely on youtube to see due to ESPN2's lack of adequate highlight's during halftime), but according to the official match report from Major League Soccer, Chicago Fire player Chris Rolfe's goal in the 14th minute held up as the game winner to continue Chicago Fire's historical dominance over DC United in the playoffs giving them a 1-0 advantage that will carry over into the second leg this Thursday. Chicago Fire is not off the hook yet. They will only advance to the Eastern Conference Final if they can hold off DC United to atleast a tie (or a win) on the road. A scoreless tie will be enough for Chicago to advance.

Here is a youtube video covering the game's highlights:



The player of the match was defintely Chicago's Chris Rolfe, who was the one to score the only goal of the match as seen in the youtube video above.

The second half was not very memorable, in my opinion, with a few chances from DC United, but the Supporter's Shield winners could not take any kind of advantage. In addition, Cuauhtémoc Blanco, who is Chicago's team MVP and teh one responsible for much of the Fire's successes this year, played a horrible game in the second half with corner kick oppurtinities that hardly convert into goals.

It is sad that the only memorable part of this match was ESPN2's unqiue camera work to actually show Chris Rolfe's contact fly out of his eye in slow motion at the 80th minute (I wish that was on youtube!)

The second leg will take place this Thursday November 1st and will also be aired on ESPN 2 (now with the World Series over, there will be some proper highlights at halftime).

My prediction for the second leg is a scoreless tie (which will give Chicago a 1-0 advantage on aggragate and therefore qualification for the conference final) or DC United will finally get their act together and win it 1-0 to bring the aggregate to a 1-1 tie forcing two 30 minute extra time period and eventually penalty kicks. Either way, it will be a tough match for both teams and it will be an extremely tight game as Chicago Fire must step up their defense to keep their one goal advantage over DC while DC United will desperately attempt to score their first goal of the two game series.

US National Team makes history with 1-0 win against Switzerland

With Switzerland already secured a position for Euro 2008 as co-host, the Swiss national team uses the qualification matchdays as an oppurtunity to schedule friendlies with other national teams to warm up for the Euro Cup. On October 17th, Switzerland faced off with the US national team, a team that has a terrible record while playing on European soil.

However, the "stars and stripes" managed to make history with a 1-0 win against the Swiss in Basel, Switzerland on Wednesday October 17th.

The only goal of the match of the match was scored by American midfielder Michael Bradley, son of the national team coach Bob Bradley, when "he bundled the ball across the line in the 86th minute following a defensive mix-up."

Check out this youtube video of Bradley's goal.



This was also the first win by the US in seven attempts against Switzerland.

"There is nothing much good to say about that match and it hurts that we weren't able to get more of a grip on it," Switzerland coach Koebi Kuhn commented to reporters. "There are always going to be problems when you are missing some key players but it's not to say we should have lost this match because of that."

According to an article on FIFA's website, Switzerland was missing eight of their regular starting players due to injury including top scorer Alex Frei and central defenders Philippe Senderos and Patrick Mueller.

Meanwhile, US national team player Michael Bradley has finally ended months of accusations to his father regarding nepotism. Micahel Bradley also played a part in the 2007 Gold Cup this past summer but was unable to convince American soccer fans during that competition.

"It was a tough match with both teams making it difficult for the other," Coach Bradley commented. "What is important for us is we can find the way to win games like this."

Check out this youtube video containing highlights from the entire game as presented by Fox Soccer Channel.

LA Galaxy to play postseason tour

The Los Angeles will back to work after a short break as they finalize plans for a postseason international tour.

The Galaxy will return to training this Thursday and. the day after the charity game against Hollywood United. will be heading to Vancouver for the first of three friendlies in four different countries. In Vancouver, Landon Donovan, David BEckham, and the rest of the Los Angeles Galaxy will take on United Soccer League (USL) First Division club Vancouver Whitecaps at the 60,000 sear BC Place Stadium in downtown Vancouver on November 7th. After this match, the team will head back to the states to play the Minnesota Thunder, another USL First Division team, before departing North America for Australia and New Zealand to play Sydney FC and Wellington Phoenix FC of the Hyundai A-League at the end of the month.

The team's off-season will officially begin on December 3rd when they return to the United States.

For more information, check out this press release from the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Los Angeles Galaxy to play charity game for those affected by California wildfires

David Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy may have been eliminated from MLS Cup Playoff contention, but that isn't stopping from scheduling games fro the month of November.

The Galaxy's next match will be a charity game against local soccer club Hollywood United FC on Sunday November 4th. The charity friendly will be hosted by the two clubs as well as the Herbalife Family Foundation and will be played at teh Galaxy's home field--The Home Depot Center on the campus of California State University - Dominguez Hills at 5 p.m. on Sunday, November 4.

All proceeds, including donations collected on the day of the game, will go to the American Red Cross and The Salvation Army to aid in their efforts to assist those affected by the wildfires. One hundred percent of th eproceeds will go towards the relief effort, according to Galaxy President and General Manager Alexi Lalas. Tickets for th ematch will be $20 for general admission with the exception of alimited number of luxury seats availabe for $60. All firefighters will receive free admission.

The Herbalife Family Foundation will be underwriting this match so taht ticket sales can go directly to their wildfire relief fund while proceeds from the foundation's own fundraising efforts will be combined with this effort.

The Herbalife Family Foundation is a non-profit organization that was established in 1994 to enhance the quality of children's lives by creating programs and supporting nonprofit organizations in the community that feed at-risk children. The foundation also responds to natural disasters by establishing special funds, as it did for victims of the tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, and wildfires.

In addiiton to Herbalife, Red Cross and the Salvation Army will have collection booths set up on the stadium's main concourse and volunteers will be stationed at each of The Home Depot Center entrances collecting additional contributions.

Major League Soccer fans that are unable to attend the match can find more information on how to contribute to the relief effort online by visiting www.lagalaxy.com.

A silent auction will also be set up during the game by teh Los Angeles Gaalxy Foundation. The auction will feature autographed Galaxy memorabilia as well as items contributed by Hollywood United including a signed guitar from Vivian Campbell of Def Leppard, a "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" script signed by Michael Douglas,and a "Without a Trace" script signed by star Anthony LaPaglia.

Cobi Jones, an American soccer icon who was recently honored by the Galaxy because of his decision to retire this year, will join English international David Beckham and US National team captain and LA Galaxy player Landon Donovan as they face local club Hollywood United, a group of members from the film, music and television industries, as well as a number of past soccer legends. Some of the stars expected to take on the Galaxy are actors Anthony LaPaglia, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Costas Mandylor, musicians Steve Jones and Vivian Campbell, former World Cup stars Frank Leboeuf, Richard Gough, Joe-Max Moore, Eric Wynalda, as well as Galaxy President and General Manager Alexi Lalas, Galaxy legend Mauricio Cienfuegos and many more special guests.

This charity match will be the first since the Galaxy's Major League Soccer season was cut short by a single goal scored by the Chicago Fire last Sunday. However, the Galaxy will be back in action starting this Thursday when they return to training before the charity match and has scheduled four friendlies to be played in four different countries as part of a postseason tour (see my next post for details).

Click here for more details regarding the charity match.

2007 MLS Cup Playoffs: Round One Previews and Predictions

The 2007 MLS Cup Playoffs are kicking off tonight with a match between DC United and Chicago Fire which is airing on ESPN 2.

The first round of the playoffs (the Conference Semifinals)are played in two legs with the results from both legs added up to decide what team will qualify for the conference finals.

In this post, I would like to give a brief preview of the first legs of each of the first round matchups:

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Thursday October 25 (tonight): DC United @ Chicago Fire (8:30 PM on espn 2)

DC United has a tough match ahead of them tonight. They may be the best team in Major League Soccer right now, but they are playing away from home against a team that is currently on an eight game unbeaten streak. I believe that DC United will be the one to qualify for the Eastern Conference finalafter both legs are completed, but Chicago will defitnely give them a run for their money. My predicition for this leg: 1-1 tie.

Saturday October 27: New England Revolution @ New York Red Bulls (7:30 pm on Fox Soccer Channel)

This match between two out of the three "Interstate 95" rivals will deitnely be entertaining. Both teams have very good players: Altidore and Juan Pablo Angel from the Red Bulls and Taylor Twellman from teh Revolution (Twellman is best known for his part in the US National Team in this summer's Gold Cup (the official continental national team competition for North and Central America and the Carribean which the United States won). The Red Bulls are defintely the better of the two teams despite their regular season record being at New England's advantage. I just recently purchsed tockets for this game so I will defintely will be blogging baout it in the future (look out for it!).
My Prediction: 2-1 for the Red Bulls

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Saturday October 27: Houston Dynamo @ FC Dallas (8 pm)

This will deintely be a good match between the two Texas rivals. Houston Dynamo is the current MLS Cup champion and it will be very interesting to see if Houston can successfully defend their title. Houston's record against FC Dallas during the regular season was 2-0-1 and I think Houston will qualify for the Western Conference final once again this year, but it will not be an easy task againt FC Dallas.
My Prediction: 2-2

Saturday October 27: Chivas USA @ Kansas City Wizards(8 pm)

Kansas City is originally an Eastern Conference team but being that MAjor League Soccer has changed the seeding procedure from top four team from each conference qualifying to the top eight teams in general advancing to the playoffs, Kansas City managed to qualify as the last team and in order to fill the gap in teh Western Conference, the Wizards has to switch brackets and are tehrefor eplaying the top seeded Western Conference seeded Chivas USA. I'm not a big fan of Chivas USA because of their heated rivalry with the Los Angeles Galaxy, a team that I respect and my favorite Western Conference team. I'm also quite dissapointed with Chivas USA being that they continue to assist on playing at Home Depot Center, the Galaxy's home field, without paying any kind of territorial fee or rent to the Galaxy or stadium owners especially since the owners of Chivs USA, which also happen to be the owners of Mexico's Chivas de Guadalajara, have enough money to be build their own stadium, being that their Mexican club is extremely successful in both ticket sales and performance. However, I feel that Chivas USA will defintely win both legs and qualify for the Western Conference finals. My Prediction: 2-0 for Chivas USA

For more information regarding the 2007 MLS Cup Playoffs, check out the offical websbite.

MLS Regular Season Wrap-Up

The Major League Soccer regular season wrapped up Sunday and five out of the thirteen teams have been eliminated leaving eight to fight for the coveted MLS Cup.

In this post, I would like to summarize the regular season and give my analysis regarding each team.

1. DC United (16-7-7, 55 points) finished first in the league this season once again winning both the MLS Supporters Shield (trophy given to the team with the best regular season record)and clinching home field advantage in the Eastern Conference Championship. United had a long season playing their first game of the year on February 21st against Honduras club CD Olimpia in the CONCACAF Champions Cup (they qualified after winning Supporters Shield last season which gives them an automatic qualification spot in the most prestigious club cup in North and Central America and the Carribean. After beating them, they moved on to play Chivas de Guadalajara in two legs in the Champions Semifinals. In the first leg, they fought Mexican powerhouse to a 1-1 draw leaving alive to possibly make it to the cup final, but in the second leg, Guadalajara defeated the MLS powerhouse 2-1 causing Chivas to advance 3-2 on aggragate. DC United started their MLS regular season only four days later on Saturday April 7th losing to the Colorado Rapids 2-1 giving DC UNited an xtremely slow start after losing their next two games and a tie agaisnt Interstate 95 rival New England Revolution. United did not win their first game until May 6th, a 2-1 defeat against Chivas. Ever since then, their performance made an impressive turnaround and they were able to return back to the top of the standings with a 16-7-7 record. However, DC United may be in trouble while looking on into their first playoff game against the Chicago Fire. Even though, DC has won the Supporters Shield, their history in playing Chicago Fire in the first round of the playoffs is not a good one. As a matter of fact, Chicago has been the one to eliminate DC United, usually the highest seed in the Eastern Conference every season. Can DC United make a point and finally defeat Chicago after Chciago's successful and impressive run to qualify for the playoffs? At this point, anything can happen.

2. Chivas USA (15-7-8, 53 points) finished their regular season only two points away from DC United. vcen though they did not clinch the Supporters Shield, they did clinch best record in the Western Conference and therefore clinched home field advantage in the Western Conference final. Chivas USA was first established for the 2005 season as the siter team of the Mexican league's Chivas de Guadalajara. Ever since 2005, Chivas USA has shown impressive performances although they did not qualify for the playoffs until 2006 (last season). However, Chivas defintely improved this season bringing them to the top of the Western Conference and is second in the league only to DC United. Chivas had an easy start to the season playing Toronto FC (a club that was playign their inaugural season this year) who they defeated 2-0. However, they suffered their first loss pretty early in the season losing 1-0 against MLS Cup defending Champions Houston Dynamo. Chivas USA will take on Kansas City Wizards, fifth place finisher from the Eastern Conference in the first round of the playoffs.

3. MLS Cup defending champions Houston Dynamo finished third this season. Like DC United, they also started their season early as qualifiers of the CONCACAF Champion's Cup in whic they defeated Costa Rican team Puntarenas FC but were not able to defeat Pachuca, the eventual winners of the Champion's Cup trophy. Houston also started their season somewhat slow tying the Los Angeles Galaxy 0-0 in their regular season opener. In their next seven games, they only managed two wins and one their losses was against Major League Soccer newcomer Toronto FC. However, they did show an impressive performance in the inaugural season of the Superliga, the new tournament that is supposed to be a way of uniting Major League Soccer and the Mexican League. Houston Dynamo made it tot he seminfals of the competition nearly defeating Pachuca. The two teams battled through regulation time to a 2-2 draw forcing two 30 minute extra time periods and penalty kicks, in which Pachuca took the 4-3 advantage to qualify for the Superliga final. Between this matcha and the end, Houston played nine regular season match, only one of which was a loss. In the first roudn of the playoffs, Houston Dynamo will not have to travel very far in the first leg as they play fellow Texas rival FC Dallas.

4. New England Revolution finished fourth in the league and second in the Eastern Conference. Their opening match against Chicago Fire was a 1-0 loss followed by a seven game unbeaten streak. In addition to their regular season, the Revolution also played in the US Open Cup (teh only tournament in which both ameatur and professional soccer team in the United States take part). New England started their US Open Cup campaign, after automatically qualifying due to finishing in the top four in the 2006 MLS regular season, with a win against United Soccer League (USL) side Rochester Raging RHino, who they defeated 4-2. They continued in their US Open Cup run with a 2-0 sweep of the USL side Harrisburg City Islanders and a 2-1 win against USL side Carolina Railhawks, eventually making it to the final against felow MLS club FC Dallas who they defeated 3-2. With only three more matches left in their regular season, they lost two games and tied one, but still managed to clinch a spot in the playoffs. In the first round, they will play fellow Interstate 95 rivals New York Red Bulls in an away match at Giants Stadium this Saturday. This is a big game for the Revolution, not only because they have a chance to qualify for he conference championship game, but because they currently have soemthign to prove against their rival the New York Red Bulls. In their regular season series, the New England Revolution has the advantage over the Red Bulls with a 2-0-1 record in their three game series. However, the Red Bulls clearly dominated all three games making Red Bull fans call their team's rival a fluke. Even though I am a Red Bulls fan myself, I try to be as unbiased as possible in this arguement and I have to say that my fellow Red Bulls fans have a point. The Red Bulls had many more chances in all three games and dominated all three as well as majority of ball possession. The third game was the worst of the three as the New York Red Bulls were looking at a 1-1 tie in the final ten minutes of the match and were pretty much settling on a tie and pocketing one point, but when a Red Bulls player foudn the need to pass the ball back to his own goalies, the goalie misjudged the pass and an owl goal gave New England the win! In addition, after winning the US Open Cup, the Red Bulls are currently considered the best soccer club in the United States having just won the title. Even though the MLS Cup is way more prestigious, the US Open Cup is the only competition that allows all professional teams in the United States (Major League Soccer and United Soccer Leagues) to join all of the ameatur teams in the country that have registered with the United States Soccer Federation. Therefore, this is a very big deal for a New England taht is getting ready for a quest to win the prestigious MLS Cup, a trophy that they were so close to winning in the 2006 season after Houston Dynamo scored the equalizer literally seconds after the Revolution scored the first goal of the match. With the score 1-1 at the score 1-1 at the end, teh match went into extra time and eventualy Houston Dynamo won the title on penalty kick.

5. FC Dallas finished their regualr season off at fifth place. LIek teh New York Rd Bulls, FC Dallas will face off their biggest rivals in the first round of the plyoffs, defending MLS Cup Champions Houston Dynamo. The next few games will be extremely important for FC Dallas as they make their run for the cup as tehy also have somethign to prove. After losing to New England in the US Open Cup final, they had to settle for the second place and are therefore setting their sights at their more prestigious goal--the 2007 MLS Cup.

6. The New York Red Bulls, finishing the regular season insixth place, started the season off strong. They did not play any games before the regular season started and did not take part in the CONCACAF Champions Cup before the season started. That honor was only given to the 2006 Supporters Shield Champion and the 2006 MLS Cup Champion, DC United and Houston Dynamo who were the only two teams to qualify from the United States. However, not having to play any games in other competitions before the regular season and any side competitions, such as the US Open and Superliga, gave tehe Red Bulls the oppurtunity to concentrate on the regular season only, which is exactly what they did. Aside from a scoreless tie against the Columbus Crew in their opening match on the road, the Red Bulls started their season on a strong note winning all of their next three games against MLS Cup defending champion Houston Dynamo and two wins against FC Dallas (one home and one away).At this point in their season, the Red Bulls were on fire with awesome players, such as Altidore, who many think will be ready to play in a European club very soon, and Colombia international Juan Pablo Angel, who the Red Bulls have been relying on to score many of their goals. They were also at the top of the Eastern Conference standings at one point during the season but due to IS 95 rival DC United's sudden win streak that shot them to the top and disspointing losses and ties to teams such as Kansas City and DC United kept them from holding to position. Their biggest win of the season was against the Los Angeles Galaxy, a team that they lost to closer to the beginning of the season in a US Open qualifying match that that left the Red Bulls out of the competition due to the 3-1 loss against their western coast rival. This match did not have anything to do with MLS regular season and did not affect the standings in any way. However, the Red Bulls got their revenge on Saturday August 18th in a regular season match in front of a packed house of over 60,000 fans (the largest attendence at a regular season match in Red Bulls/MetroStars franchise history) that swarmed Giants Stadium to catch a glimpse of English international celebrity David Beckham as he made his MLS regular season debut for the Galaxy. However, Beckham was not the star as expected in this match. He played well in the first half and posted at least one assist but failed to score in any of his free kicks in the second half. I went to this match, but being that I was late, I was amazed to see that the Red Bulls were already up 2-1 in the middle of the first half. It may have been Beckham that teh crowd cameto see, but it was the home team Red Bulls that stole the show. While most of the peopel in the 66,237 in attendance hoped to see a perfect free kick from Beckham, it was another former English Premier League player that scored the game winner for the Red Bulls as Colombian international Juan Pablo Angel followed Clint Mathis' saved shot and pushed the ball in off Galaxy golaie Joe Cannon in the 88th minute for his second goal of the match. Angel was one of three players with a pair of goals on the night. Teammate Jozy Altidore also scored twice in the second half as the Red Bulls took a two-goal lead with 20 minutes left, snapping a 2-2 halftime tie. This may have been the most important match of the season for the Red Bulls increasing its New York/New Jersey area fan base and caused several regular season ticket packages to sell like crazy for the 2008 season after many, who were rather unfamiliar with soccer to begin with and were only their to catch a glimpse of Beckham,left the stadium in shoch at how good the Red Bulls actually played. The Red Bulls play their firsthome match of the playoffs this Saturday, a match that I will attend.

7. Chicago Fire, who finished the regular season at seventh place, have an important match ahead of them tonight against DC United. Even though Chicago earned the lowest seed in the Eastern Conference, they are currently one of the hottest teams in Major League Soccer just coming off an eight game unbeaten streak after defeating the Los Angeles Galaxy 1-0 and officially eliminating Beckham and the Galaxy from playoff contention. Chicago has also become known for defeating DC United, usually the higest seed in Major League Soccer, in the first round of the playoffs makign this an extremely tough match for the Supporters Shield winner. The first leg will be played tonight at 8:30 pm an dwill be televized on ESPN 2.

8. Kansas City Wizards rounded out the eight team playoff picture. The Wizards only scrapped qualifiaction after a last-gasp win over Dallas over the weekend.

The teams finishing ninth through thirteenth in the MLS standings did not qualify for the playoffs, but they are defitnely worth mentioning:

9. The Columbus Crew knew they were not going to qualify for the MLS Cup PLayoffs several weeks before the regular season ended, but that did not stop them from fighting for some last minute points. They were espeially impressive in their last two matches in which they defeated Supporters Shield winner DC United 3-2 as well as fourth place New England Revolution 3-2.

10. The Colorado Rapids had to wait until the last weekend to find out if they were to qualify for the MLS Cup playoffs. Even though they did not make it, they did make some big wind in their last few games this regular season. For eaxmple, they defeated Chivas USA 2-1 in their second to last game.

11. The Los Angeles Galaxy learned something this season--they leanred that David Beckham was extremely overrated. The only game that Los Angeles actually won with David Beckham on the field was against DC United in the Superliga semifinal, but this did not help them at all in their MLS regular season and as David Beckham was out of play due to various injuries, the US NAtional team Captain Landon Donvoan and his Los Angeles Galaxy teammate found themselves fighting for points. Before meeting Chiago Fire in a do or die match that Chciago eventually won with a last minute goal, the Galaxy was on a seven game unbeaten streak and unliek Chicago, who only neede a tie in order to qualify, the Galaxy need three points to punch a ticket for the post season. However, the Galaxy proved that they can play against the toughest opponents ewithout David Beckham on the field. They especially proved tyhis in this season's Superliga in which they made it to the final against Mexico's Pachuca, a club that has won atleast 3 or 4 BOrth American and South American titles within the last two years, including the 2007 CONCACAF Champion's Cup. LA Galaxy was losing in the Superliga final 1-0 up until the final minute when suddenly Galaxy player Troy Roberts made a beautiful and dramatic bicycle-kick goal to force the game into ovetime and eventually penalty kicks. They lost 4-3 in penalty kicks.

12. Real Salt Lake , despite not qualifying for the 2007 MLS Cup Playoffs, ended their season with a bang eliminating the Colorado Rapids from playoff contention and winning the 2007 Rocky Mountain Cup, a two team cup played between rivals Colorado Rapids and Real Salt Lake. The Rocky Mountain Cup winner is simply the winner of the three game series that the two Eastern Conference teams must play against each other as a part of the regular season. Salt Lake won the Rocky Mountain Cup Trophy for the first time the cup was established in 2005, which also happened to be the first year of play for Real Salt Lake.











13. Toronto FC which ended the 2007 MLS Regular Season in last place and a 6-17-7 record, did ave as terroble a seson as tehir record actually indicates. Being that this was their first year of play as part of Major League Soccer's expansion program, it is understandable taht they would not make it into the playoffs in their first year, but they have made some notable notable wins in their first MLS season despite losing their first four games of the season and not scoring their first goal until their fifth match, which was a 3-1 win against the Chicago Fire. Toronto FC proved to be the spoiler against many teams and delayed the clinching of many playoff spots for these teams. One of their biggest wins was against the New York Red Bulls in which they upset New York 2-1 in a game that could have given the Red Bulls an early shot at clinching the playoffs. They also sold out every game at their home stadium makimg it a successful inaugural season. In addition, Toronto FC's jersey was the second most sold MLS item this season after David Beckham's jersey.

New York Red Bulls heading to Playoffs, Playing New England Revolution in Eastern Conference Semfinals

The New York Red Bulls have defintely improved a lot since last season thanks to the help of the young Jozy Altidore and Colombian player Juan Pablo Angel. Last season they did not clinch a playoff spot until the last day of teh regular seaspn, but this season they clinched two weeks before the end.

At the beginning of October, the Red Bulls were not looking good and their playoff hopes were close to ending after their match against Toronto FC on Thursday October 4th. Toronto FC, at the time, was already eliminated from playoff contention so a 2-1 loss against the worst team in the Eastern Conference was a huge embarrasement. However, that weekend the Red Bulls were lucky enough to clinch the playoffs due to results from other games that took place that weekend. However, on Saturday October 13th, the Red Bulls set out to prove that they are worthy enough to play in the playoffs despite the loss and having to rely on other teams for qualification in a match against the Kansas City Wizards, a team that is not only a much tougher opponent than Toronto FC but also desperate for a win in order to clinch the playoffs themselves. HOwever, Juan Pablo Angel denied the Wiazards that win by scoring both Red Bulls goals that night in a 2-1 win over Kansas City. This was New York's first win since September 1st when the Red Bulls defeated Chicago after a loss against Chivas USA ob September 9th and series of 2-2 ties in three games followed by Tronto FC's 2-1 upset.

Although the Red Bulls were already secured a spot int he playoffs, winning this match sealed them a nuumber three seed in the Eastern Conference which therefore made New England Revolution their opponent for the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

As a result, the Kansas City Wizards had to wait untilt the final weekend of teh regular season to clinch a playoff seed, which they eventually did.

After a big home defeat of the Kansas City Wizards, the Red Bulls were able to travel across the country to Los Angeles for the last match of the season already gauranteed a spot int he postseason. The result of this match was a 1-1 draw with both goals scored in the 15th and 16th minute. Altidore scored in the 16th minute with equalizer only a minute after the Galaxy scored to make it 1-0.

Even though the Los Angeles Galaxy's playoff hopes were still alive with a tie which conitnued their unbeaten streak, a win would have clinched them a spot. The Los Angeles Galaxy had to win their final game of the regular season, an away match in Chicago, which took place this past Sunday, in order to clinch, but the Chicago Fire, which only needed a tie, denied them them any chances by scoring a last minute goal in the 90th minute and qualifying them for playoffs over the Galaxy.

The Red Bulls continue their season this Saturday playing host to the New England Revolution in the first leg of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

Since the visiting Red Bulls had already clinched a playoff position and an opponent set, they had nothing to play for. Despite this, the Red Bulls fielded a strong side as coach Bruce Arena did not rest any of his top available players. Goalkeeper Jon Conway started in goal after an impressive performance in Saturday's 2-1 win against Kansas City. Teh Red Bulls took command of the match from the start and dominated over the hosts. Several chances were presented tot he Red Bulls to win it, but they were unable to capitalize. Teh Red Bulls did not have any substantial possession of the ball or chances at goal until 15 minutes in, which gave them their early led, but as teh celebratory confetti rained down on the crowd and many supporters still on their feet after celebrating the goal, the Red Bulls scored to the tie it up. The play pretty much slowed down for the rest of the forst half with no memorable chances for either side.

David Beckham, who missed several weeks of play for the Galaxy, was deemed fit to play in this match and finally entered in the 70th minute. Initially, Beckham did not distinguish himself but the Red Bulls defense gave him plenty of opportunity to do so. In the 77th minute, Beckham took the first of three successive corner kicks but Re Bull goalie Conway stopped the Galaxy's best attempt.

The greatest chance for the Red Bulls to win it came as Altidore slipped a shot just wide of the post in the last minute of the game almost ending any hopes of a continued season for the Galaxy.

South American World Cup Qualifying: Brazil gets slow start in first match but plows through second

As most of the soccer world waits for the Preliminary Draw Ceremony in Durban, South Africa to find out their qualifying ties and groups for the 2010 World Cup, powerhouses Brazil and Argentina as well as the other eight South American nations have already started their quest for a spot at the final tournament in South Africa. South American qualification tournament is said to be one of the toughest and most competetive qualifying competiiton in the world after Europe. South America's competition is played in a single round with all ten teams playing in a single group. Every team plays each other team twice. The teams finishing in th etop four automatically qualify for the 2010 finals. The fifth place side plays a two-legged playoff against the fourth place team in the final round of the CONCACAF (Confederation of North/Central American/Carribean Associations of Football) qualifiers. Last year, the four teams to qualify were Brazil, Argentina, and Ecuador (placed in that order). The fifth place team wasn Uruguay who missed out on th e2006 World Cup after a disspointing loss again Australia who at the time was playing in the Oceanian Federation.

Even though Argentina currently holds the highest rank of all South American countries (#2) in FIFA's official world ranking, it is their biggest rival Brazil (#3) that is the favorite to end the qualifcation tournament in first place after successfully defending their Copa America (South America's official national team cup) title this summer.

Brazil started their qualifying campaign slower than usual with a frustrating scoreless tie against Colombia that saw both teams playing equally well, but the Brazilians were right back to their normal selves after crushing Ecuador 5-0. Brazil's Kaka (arguably the best young player in the world today) was the star of the match scoring two goals from far out.

Argentina, on the other hand, has a perfect record after their first two games beating Chile 2-0 and Venezeula 2-0.

So far, Ecuador has failed to impress fans in their opening game as they lost both of their first two games: 5-0 to Brazil and a disspointing 1-0 loss to Venezuela. Ecuador is currently the only team wihtout atleast a point in the standings right now and is therefore in last place. In th 2006 World Cup, Ecuador surprised the world by qualifying after defeating Brazil 1-0 in the captial of Quito. However, many Brazilian fans have blamed Ecuador's good performance in home games at the fact that their home stadium is located at a higher elevation than other South American nations, a condition that they got used to. Many even went as far as saying that their qualifying was a fluke, but Ecuador proved critics wrong by successfully making it out of the first round of the final tournament in 2006 in Germany. However, Ecuador's successes have been spiraling downward lately after a bad performance at this summer's Copa America and a dissapointing South American Qualifying opening match against Venezuela.

For news, standings, and other information regarding the world's quest to South Africa 2010, check out the official website.

DC United wins 2007 Supporters' Shield; Legend Marco Etcheverry to be Honored

With the first goal of clinching a spot in the 2007 MLS Cup Playoffs behind them, both DC United and Chivas USA, the top two teams in Major League Soccer this season , fought hard for their second goal: the 2007 MLS Supporters Shield--the award given to the team that ends the regular season with the most points. Even though both teams have one more match left to go, DC United was able to capture it early.



Despite a scoreless tie against the Chicago Fire on Saturday , DC United still managed to clinch this award for best regular season record after Chivas USA's loss to the Colorado Rapids on Sunday evening.

By winning this award, DC United has made Major League Soccer history in more ways than one. In addition to being the the first club to win it in back-to-back seasons, this is the club's fourth Supporters' Shield title and their 11th major domestic or international title in club history.

Now, DC United focuses on the big prize: the 2007 MLS Cup trophy. Although the Supporters' Shield winner is typically teh favorite going into the MLS Cup Playoffs, DC United does not want to make the same mistakes as last season-losing to the New England Revolution in the Eastern Conference final and therefore missign their chance to play for the cup trophy.

DC United has one more match to play before the regular season offciially comes to a close this month. DC will complete their MLS schedule playing host to the Columbus Crew, which just came off a 2-1 win against Chivas USA in a match that caused Chivas USA to lose to DC United in the race for the Suppoerters' Shield. However, for Columbus, it is a case of "too little too late" as they have already been eliminated from playoff contention despite their win.



DC United will officially be presented with the award at the same game at which
the club's 1997 MLS Cup championship squad will be honored. In addiiton, a pre-game tribute match celebrating the playing career of DC United legend Marco Etcheverry, a Bolvian player that signed with the club fort the first season of Major League Soccer in 1996, is set for 5:30 pm on the same day. Etcheverry is also considered the best Bolivian player of all time and led DC United to three MLS Cups and was the 1998 MLS MVP. In his eight years with the team, Etcheverry played 191 league games in which he scored 34 goals and 101 assists. He retired at the end of the 2003 season. In 2005, he was named to the MLS All-Time Best XI. DC United also honored this player on September 23, 2006 at a home game against Interstate 95 rival New York Red Bulls.



With a record of 16 wins, 6 losses, and 7 ties and 55 points with only one mroe match left in their regular season. DC United is currently running on a 13-game unbeaten streak. The most impressive fact regarding this season's DC United teams was that they started the season with a terrible 0-3 record in their first three games, but first year head coach Tom Soehn was able to spark an immediate turn-around that led DC United to the top of the MLS standings. United conitnued the season with only three more losses.

Below are the previous winners of the MLS Supporters' Shield award since the inaugral season of MLS in 1996:

1996: Tampa Bay Mutiny
1997: D.C. United
1998: Los Angeles Galaxy
1999: D.C. United
2000: Kansas City Wizards
2001: Miami Fusion
2002: Los Angeles Galaxy
2003: Chicago Fire
2004: Columbus Crew
2005: San Jose Earthquakes
2006: D.C. United