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.