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The Soccer Source
Because soccer is like life, only more important.
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Revs Devastated After Fourth MLS Cup Loss
2007-11-18 21:52:00
Closing up shop here at RFK Stadium and about to begin the long ride back to the Big Apple. My official report on the game will be up on AmericanSoccerNews.net later but as a "sneak preview" let me give you some post game sound bytes from the Revs:“We lost because we didn’t take our chances...We probably could have scored three or four. We didn’t and that’s why we lost the game. If you don’t take your chances and you leave a team hanging around, it comes back and bites you—and that’s exactly what happened today.”--Steve Nicol “I wish I could put into words how tough it feels...they’ve all been tough, but I think this is tough just because it was our opportunity and we looked forward to getting back here.”--Jay Heaps“I’m really down right now...I just can’t believe it. We played well but we’ve got to take our chances. We could have put the game away on a couple of occasions but we let them back in. It’s so frustrating. We’re all devastated right now ...
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Angel Gets Shafted As Luci Wins MLS Newcomer Award
2007-11-18 18:24:00
I honestly didn't think the league would give two of its most prestigious awards to the same guy. When Luciano Emilio won the MVP award a few days ago, I figured Angel would surely be recognized as its Newcomer of the Year. Nope. Emilio took the newcomer award last night too. I'm not dissing Emilio's impact and you could certainly argue his case for either one of these awards. But both? I've gone on about Angel's qualities before and don't want to repeat myself, especially as I am trying to focus on what is happening on the field right now (the field at RFK stadium, that is. Be sure to check AmericanSoccerNews.net for reports from the game, photos, quotes and more).
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Angel
Award
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Schopp DNP As Austria Bows To England In Friendly
2007-11-17 01:29:00
I was debating if this was worth posting on and finally decided to throw it up here. The headline says it all. That is, if you were even aware that Markus Schopp, the oft-injured/virtually never-used Red Bulls midfielder had been called into the Austrian national team for tonight's friendly with England in the first place. I didn't know myself until this Eurosport/Yahoo! story mentioned it in passing. Point is, he didn't play according to the Austrian FA's report of the game (it's in German but you don't need to know the language to look at the lineups on the bottom of the page and see Schopp's name is nowhere to be found. Which actually makes me a little skeptical if he was even there to begin with. Did anybody in Austria or England see this game on TV and happen to notice if he was on the bench?). England won the game 1-0 on a goal by Peter Crouch right before half-time.I spoke to Schopp after a RB game this season and he told me he fully expected to play for the Austrian national te ...
Austria
England
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MLS, Bundesliga To Meet This Weekend, Solidify Summer Plans
2007-11-16 18:45:00
Representatives from Major League Soccer will meet with Christian Seifert and other representatives of Germany's Deutsche Fußball-Liga (or DFL, the administrative arm of the Bundesliga) this weekend to solidify plans that call for one or more Bundesliga teams to tour the U.S. and play exhibition games against MLS sides next summer. So says the German soccer Web site kicker.de (it's in German. Trust me on this one. My German is a lot better than my Spanish. Like lightyears better).Updating an earlier entry on the matter, it looks like DFL have sweetened the pot a bit, because they are now talking about teams (plural) holding entire training camps stateside, while before the talk was of one team playing a few games, tops. It's all part of the nebulous partnership MLS and DFL signed in March.Seifert is some bigshot at DFL. Hard to say exactly what his title (Vorsitzende der DFL-Geschäftsführung, if you must know) translates as. Something corporate.
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Plans
Summer
Weekend
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Real, Atletico Seen In Pursuit Of Altidore
2007-11-16 15:17:00
Madrid's two biggest clubs are apparently interested in New York Red Bulls forward Jozy Altidore. There have been a few media reports on this: As.com has the most extensive story, but it's in Spanish, which I barely understand. Setanta Sports reports (in English) that Real have already approached the 18 year old. Sky Sports mentions Atletico's interest almost in passing.I have mixed feelings about this. Yeah it would be great if Jozy played for either of these storied clubs. Key word being play. If he's just going to go there to ride the bench and participate in reserve games I'm not sure it will be worth his while. On the other hand, he's due to outgrow MLS real soon. Like next year. At that point it would probably hurt his development to not play in Europe--much the way it's held back Landon Donovan though the two are completely different players and have completely different attitudes. I mean that as a compliment to Jozy.
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Pursuit
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Bayern Munich Mull Bid For Sao Paulo's Breno
2007-11-16 13:04:00
I told you to watch the Copa Sudamericana and specifically mentioned this kid (he's all of 18) as one you'd be hearing about soon. Real Madrid have expressed interest and now so have Bayern, according to German soccer 'zine kicker.de. The Bavarian juggernaut apparently want Breno as soon as the winter break, but Sao Paulo are not willing to negotiate before next summer. Actually kicker reports that AC Milan, Fiorentina and Juventus are interested as well. Apparently Sao Paulo are asking €14 million for his services. Thanks to Breno, the Sao Paulo defense was nearly impenetrable this season, yielding only 15 goals in 36 games and at one point stringing together 998 minutes without being scored on . He can play both center and right back.
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Boca Juniors To Expand Bombonera
2007-11-16 12:23:00
Boca Junior's board has approved redevelopment work at its stadium that will take the capacity of the Estadio Alberto J. Armando beyond 60,000 from its current 57,395. The six-month project will add 2,800 private boxes to the legendary Buenos Aires ground, reports Soccerex Business News.With the original Wembley gone and plans afoot to replace Anfield and the Maracana in Rio, the Bombonera is fast becoming one of the few remaining true soccer meccas. (The others? Off the top of my head, Camp Nou and Bernabeu in Spain, Old Trafford, the Azteca in Mexico City and of course Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. Yeah the last one's a joke). Hopefully, this expansion means the Bombonera won't suffer the same fate anytime soon. I do view it as my duty as a soccer fan to take in a match at each of these stadiums at least once in my lifetime. So far I've only got the Azteca. If anybody wants to send me to see the others I will tender a piece of my soul in return. Okay that's a joke too, but ...
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Friday Footie Links, Pre-MLS Cup Special
2007-11-16 08:56:00
What is this man doing at MLS Cup? I haven't the foggiest idea. I cannot fathom him being interested in a coaching gig in this country. He's probably just on vacation. Credit to Soccer Insider (fast becoming my favorite soccer blog) for breaking the story.Speaking of favorite soccer blogs, vote for yours at ussoccer.com's 2007 Best of U.S. Soccer awards. Sadly, but unsurprisingly seeing I've only been doing this for a month and a half, Soccer Source did not make the list of nominees. Maybe next year. Blogs that were nominated include The DCenters, duNord, Hudsonia, MNT Blog, Soccer by Ives, the aforementioned Soccer Insider, Throughball.com, thisisamericansoccer.com, U.S. Soccer Global and WNT Blog. Can't argue with those choices.World Club Rankings applies his algorithms to national teams (hitherto it's been all about the clubs. Speaking of, WCR and I are supposed to be creating a "bloggers poll" Top 25 that works as a democratic consensus of the soccer blogosphere's views on the top ...
Links
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True To His Word, Passarella Resigns From River. What Now?
2007-11-16 00:15:00
Daniel Passarella handed in his resignation at River Plate today, fulfilling a promise made at the start of the season to quit if his team failed to win a championship. River's last chance for a trophy went down the drain when they were eliminated from the Copa Sudamericana last night. The timing of Passarella's departure is still being worked out with the team's front office, according to the AP.Passarella had an illustrious career as a player, culminating with his captaincy of Argentina's 1978 World Cup-winning squad. His coaching career started with a lot of promise but has ultimately not been as illustrious. After retiring as a player in 1989, he took over coaching duties at River, winning three titles in four years. He then managed the Argentine national team for four years, winning the South American Coach of the Year accolate in 1997. A disappointing run at the 1998 World Cup led to his resignation, soon followed by another disappointing stint as the national coach of Uruguay. A ...
River
Word
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Emilio Snags MLS MVP
2007-11-15 23:12:00
D.C. United's Luciano Emilio won Major League Soccer's Most Valuable Player award, the league announced today. You've probably heard this by now--it was first reported by Steven Goff at Soccer Insider--but I'm on deadline at my dayjob on Thursdays and unfortunately do not have much time to tend to this blog. But the news itself is rather blah anyway, especially from a Red Bulls' perspective. Is Emilio more deserving than Juan Pablo Angel (who won the MVP vote on this Web site)? I don't know. Statistically, Emilio had (barely!) the better season--but he played in five games more than Angel.There shouldn't be a question that Angel was more valuable to his team, though. Obviously D.C. would have been a worse team without Emilio, but I think they still could have made the playoffs. The Red Bulls without Angel? I shudder to think about it. Angel did not only anchor this team, he carried it on his back. The dude is all class, too and seems really intelligent and well-spoken (and that's in E ...
Emilio
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Cheers, Mate! Fancy Some Soccer?
2007-11-15 15:20:00
I wrote this piece for my pals at Caught Offside. It's a primer on this weekend's MLS Cup game and geared to a U.K./Continental football (not soccer) audience, which is why I'm not re-running it here (while Soccer Source has plenty of readers from all parts of the globe, its core audience are U.S. Major League Soccer fans who need no such introduction. We all know that Steve Nicol coaches the Revolution, for example). Speaking of MLS Cup, I will be at RFK reporting that game for AmericanSoccerNews.net. More on that to follow.
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Soccer
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Copa Sudamericana: River Plate Eliminado
2007-11-15 04:28:00
That was the graphic on Fox Sports en Espanol this evening. I wasn't able to catch the game (every once in a while I actually do things that normal people do, like go out for dinner or whatever. Tonight was one of those nights. I promise it won't happen again soon) but when I got home and turned on the TV it told me everything I needed to know. A quick check of my favorite blogs yielded the following match report from Hasta el gol siempre. Since they--having seen the match, and being able to speak Spanish to boot--are more qualified than me to supply that, I will gladly yield to them.So now it's Arsenal de Sarandi against Club America in the finals. The first leg is at Estadio Azteca Nov. 28, with the return leg at whatever Arsenal's stadium is in Argentina (I think it's in some Buenos Aires suburb?) a fortnight thereafter. Obviously the Aguillas will be heavily favored. Arsenal is somewhere in the nether regions of the Argentine Apertura table and on a player-by-player basis don't app ...
River
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Dane Richards Gets Jamaica Call-Up
2007-11-14 16:54:00
New York Red Bulls winger Dane Richards has been called into camp for the Jamaican national team squad that will host friendlies against El Salvador Nov. 18 and Guatemala Nov. 21, according to a statement by the Red Bulls.Richards was a second round pick at this year's MLS SuperDraft and made a quick impact, starting 27 of 30 games and being one of three nominees for the Rookie of the Year award that was ultimately won by Maurice Edu. Richards, from Montego Bay, Jamaica, has already earned three caps with the "Reggae Boyz."
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Richards
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Club America Advance To Copa Sudamericana Final
2007-11-14 04:57:00
It wasn't much of a game at the Nemesio Diaz, as Mexico City's Club America beat 10-man Millonarios 2-0 to advance to the final of the Copa Sudamericana, a.k.a. the "UEFA Cup of the Americas." Rodrigo Lopez scored for the Aguillas after only seven minutes and a questionable red card to Millos' Wilson Villagra 10 minutes later basically sealed the deal, as America's 3-2 lead from the first leg would have required the Colombian side to score three goals to advance. Lopez completed his brace late 10 minutes from time for good measure. A bit of a shame about the red card, but America looked the vastly superior side and deserved to advance.America will host the first leg of the final Nov. 28 at the Azteca where they'll face either River Plate or Arsenal de Sarandi, who played to a scoreless draw in the first leg of their semifinal last week and meet again tomorrow (7:15pm, Fox Sports en Espanol) to settle matters.With the victory, America become the third Mexican side to play in the Copa's ...
America
Club
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India, The Final (Soccer) Frontier
2007-11-13 20:57:00
If you thought U.S. soccer was bad, you may not necessarily be wrong, but there is a place with even more squandered soccer resources--1.3 billion of them, to be exact. Check out India's soccer accomplishments (or severe lack thereof) since independence in 1947: In 1956, an Indian scored the first hat trick in Olympic soccer. And that's it--we're done already.The world's largest democracy is currently placed 145th in FIFA's world rankings. It has never produced a player capable of earning his keep with a European pro team and only once qualified for a world cup (in 1950, though it did not attend due to lack of funding. Wait a tick. Did teams even need to qualify then?). In India, cricket and field hockey rule the roost, much like baseball, basketball and (American) football did--and to large extent still do--in the U.S.My friends at Breaking News Online recently alerted me to a feature they did on Indian soccer, which is where I got the background for this post. I recommend checking it ...
India
Soccer
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Copa Sudamericana Semis: Millonarios Face Tough Task In Return Leg
2007-11-13 18:59:00
Bogotá's Millonarios have their work cut out for them in tonight's return leg of the Copa Sudamericana semifinals, as they travel to face Mexico City's Club America with a 3-2 deficit from the Nov. 6 first leg. For U.S. audiences, the game will air at 9pm EST on Fox Sports en Español. The game is being played in Toluca because America's home grounds, the legendary Estadio Azteca, is hosting some kind of religious festivity, if I understood the Spanish from this ESPNdeportes.com article correctly (and I probably didn't).Millonarios will be without their captain, midfielder Gerardo Bedoya, who injured himself in the first leg. From what I understand he's their only key absence. Club América will be short at least two key players, as Salvador Cabañas and Federico Insúa were called to duty by the Paraguayan and Argentine national teams, respectively. Beyond that, the Mexico City side have another game less than 48 hours after the conclusion of this one (against Morelia in the Liguill ...
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Poll Update: Angel Leads MVP, Newcomer Tallies
2007-11-13 17:44:00
Major League Soccer is due to announce the winners of its last two player awards, the Most Valuable Player and MLS Newcomer of the Year, later this week. As might be expected from a blog that is in large part (though by no means exclusively!) focused on the New York Red Bulls, Juan Pablo Angel leads the Soccer Source run-off by a wide margin. But there is still time to vote so cast your ballot now!Competing with Angel are other nominees Cuauhtemoc Blanco of the Chicago Fire and Luciano Emilio of D.C. United. In the MVP tally, Angel has 46 votes, or 56%, with Blanco and Emilio deadlocked at 16 (19%) and 15 (18%), respectively. The remaining 4% (four votes) went to an option (David Beckham) that was added partly in jest and partly as a preemptive measure to avoid having to read idiotic emails that asked why he wasn't nominated.In the Newcomer of the Year category, Angel has 36 votes (57%), Emilio 12 (19%), Beckham 8 (12%) and Blanco 7 (11%). There too, Beckham was not on the real MLS bal ...
Angel
Poll
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Soccer Quote of the Day, Nov. 13, 2007
2007-11-13 13:20:00
“Alex Ferguson is the best manager I've ever had at this level. Well, he's the only manager I've actually had at this level. But he's the best manager I've ever had.”--David Beckham
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Soccer
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Euro Qualifiers: Where Things Stand For Penultimate Match Day
2007-11-12 17:32:00
First things first: England's chances. Thanks to the loss in Moscow, the Three Lions need help from one of two sources this weekend: 1) Israel, which must tie or beat Russia or 2) FYR Macedonia, which must beat Croatia. What are the chances of #1? Liverpool striker Yossi Benayoun is missing the game for Israel, which does not bode well. Still, Israel did manage a 1-1 draw the first time these teams met. If they can do it again, England are back in the driver's seat. What about #2?Macedonia is without its star striker Goran Pandev. In four EURO qualifying games at home the former Yugoslav republic has managed one lousy point (against Estonia). I think chances are pretty good Croatia will manage at least a draw here, so England fans should probably focus on the Israel match.In Group B, Scotland play their final qualifier against Italy at Hampden Park Saturday. If they win, they're in. A tie, and they have to pray for France lose their last game at Kiev Nov. 21. A loss against Italy and i ...
Euro
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Soccer Quote of the Day, Nov. 12, 2007
2007-11-12 16:11:00
"The truth is that I achieved much more than I ever thought I would when I turned professional. I played at two World Cup finals, and I'm proud to say that I gave my all every time I took to the field. I know I didn't play for clubs like Juventus or FC Barcelona, but it would be wrong of me to complain about that after everything football has given me."--Enzo Francescoli, born on this date, 1961.
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Soccer
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The World's Top 25 Clubs, Nov. 12, 2007
2007-11-12 06:41:00
Lots of action last week, as the Champions League, UEFA Cup and Copa Sudamericana all held full slates of games. There were several upsets, especially in Saturday's domestic action. How did that affect things? Let's take a look:1. (1) Inter Milan. Retained the top spot by virtue of their defeat of CSKA Moscow in midweek Champions League action. Their weekend Serie A clash with Lazio was cancelled due to the tragic death of a fan. This team is one of very few unbeaten teams left. Up after the internationals break: Atalanta, on Nov. 24. Not sure when the Lazio game will be replayed.2.(3) Manchester United. Beat up on Dynamo Kiev and had no problem with Blackburn, both at home. Two games, two victories. Took over first place in the Premiership, though Arsenal has a game in hand. Next game Nov. 24 at Bolton.3. (2) Arsenal. A disappointing scoreless draw at Slavia Prague was still enough to see them through to the round of 16 in the Champions League. As that was their only game, they lose a ...
Clubs
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Joy At The Millerntor As Ian Scores For St. Pauli
2007-11-12 05:16:00
San Diego native Ian Joy scored his first career goal for St. Pauli, as the 2nd Bundesliga club beat Augsburg 2-0 today. A defender, Joy got his start at Tranmere a decade ago as a 16 year old. Along the way he has played at Montrose and Kidderminster in Scotland, Columbus Crew, Chester City and Pauli's crosstown rival Hamburg SV. He's also represented the U.S. at several youth international levels (this information all courtesy of Yanks Abroad).Germany's kicker.de reports Joy struck a left-footed volley from the side of the penalty box that left Augsburg goalkeeper Sven Neuhaus no chance. This in the 17th minute. St. Pauli doubled up in the second half. Newly-promoted Pauli, who literally play at a fairgrounds (I've been there) and have a rather eclectic following, now sit 1oth in the second Bundesliga. Read more about the "cult" phenomenon of the "Kiez club" at their Wikipedia entry.Joy wasn't the only American to score in European leagues this weekend.Yesterday we told you about Jon ...
Scores
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Zenit St. Petersburg Clinch Russian Title--Wither Advocaat?
2007-11-12 04:35:00
Numerous media reported this today, but more interesting from a Western perspective is where its coach, Dutchman Dick Advocaat, will end up. ESPNSoccernet reports the former Rangers manager, widely tipped to take over Australia's national team, would be announcing his future in the next few days. "I've already made up my mind where I'm going to coach next but you'll have to wait a bit," the Dutchman told reporters per ESPNSoccernet. Hmmm. Could Advocaat be the next Red Bulls coach? Any takers on that bet?
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Call To Footy Bloggers: Participate In A New Top 25 Consensus Poll!
2007-11-11 18:52:00
Readers of this blog are of course familiar with its signature piece (or one of them), the weekly ranking of the world's top 25 soccer clubs. It turns out mine is not the only such list in the blogosphere. Rankings of the top European clubs abound (if you're a soccer fan in New York you're no doubt familiar with Ives' site, which does one such table each week). But I recently came across worldclubrankings.com, which has a mandate identical thing to mine, namely to rank the top 25 clubs worldwide. Check out their rankings from last week here. Unlike me, they try to actually make their rankings objective, by basing them on a quantitative algorithm rather than their own knowledge, expertise and research like I do.Okay, so now we have a quant model and a fundamental one (to get all financial one you for a second). But what about a consensus poll of all the soccer experts out there in the blogosphere? The worldclubrankings.com folks have already put out a call for such an idea on their blog ...
Bloggers
Poll
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Soccer Quote of the Day, Nov. 11, 2007
2007-11-11 08:42:00
“We learnt that it’s not the winning that counts. Wherever you go, playing football can be used to improve diplomatic relations and promote peace.”--a member of North Korea's 1966 World Cup team, discussing that experience.Given today's date, I figured it appropriate.
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Soccer
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