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Beckham a hit in Oakland
The large crowd would have loved to get at least one goal. That was all that was missing from the San Jose Earthquakes 3-0 loss to the LA Galaxy in Oakland Saturday night. Sure a goal by Beckham and a Quakes win would have been perfect, but the way San Jose has been scoring this year, that is a lot to ask for.
Just one goal, San Jose had plenty of chances to score, would have sent the crowd home happy, with at least one chance to celebrate. Instead it was LA's Edson Buddle (above) doing all the goal scoring.
The first came early and it started from and innocent looking center pass from Beckham to Josh Tudela just to the right of the goal in the middle of the box. Tudela headed the ball back out of the box to a wide open Buddle.
Edson one timed a volley that beat Quakes keeper Joe Cannon and just like that the Galaxy was off and running. The loss dropped the Quakes to 3-7-1. They have been shut out a league high six times now.
It would be one thing if San Jose could not get any offense going, but they can. The Earthquakes do gain control of the ball and they have shown the ability to control the mid field for stretches of games.
They have not, however, figured out how to put the ball in the back of the net. It was sent across the front of LA's net a couple of time, but there was never anybody to put one of those chances home.
San Jose's Ryan Johnson and John Cunliffe had good scoring chances in the first half. The Quakes can thank the goal post for not being down two zero in the 19th minute.
LA's Ely Allen beat San Jose defense and Cannon, but he could not beat the left post from ten yards out.
Buddle put San Jose away with goals in the 63rd minute off a beautiful header that sent Cannon diving to his left as the ball went went by him and into the net.
Buddle capped off his hat trick with another head ball that slipped under the cross bar in the 68th minute.
The Bay finally got a chance to see Beckham. He was like a rock star as he walked off the field after the game. He did a lot without doing very much against San Jose.
Beckham has a great touch on the ball and he puts the ball in open space where people can do something with it. It is easy to see why Edson has eighth goals on the season, second only to teammate Landon Donovan's nine.
Beckham opens up the whole field for LA and he switches from one side to the other in his mid-field position making it harder to keep track of him.
The Quakes will now hit the road and play four straight away from the bay area starting with a game at Real Salt Lake June 18th.
San Jose will not be home until July 12th when they host Colorado in Santa Clara at 1pm.
Quakes shake up Dynamo 2-1 at home
They finally got a win in the books in front of the home crowd. The new San Jose Earthquakes welcome home the old Quakes turned Houston Dynamo to Buck Shaw Stadium by dropping a 2-1 loss on the defending MLS Champions.
The sold out crowd watched as the Quakes got second half goals from Kei Kamara in the 67th minute and Ivan Guerrero in the 80th minute. San Jose gave one back when Brian Ching, one of the 11 former Earthquakes still with Houston, beat Joe Cannon in the 88th minute.
Giving up late goals has been a theme for the Earthquakes this year, and the sold out crowd spent the last minutes of the game on the edge of their seats as the Dynamo pressed for the equalizer.
San Jose followed their usual script in the first half of this one. They had the two best chances to score early on. Kamara hooked up with Ramiro Corrales in the 16th minute, but Houston goalie Pat Onstad got his hand in the way.
The Dynamo tried to help out San Jose in the 25th minute. Houston defender Bobby Boswell tripped over the ball, gifting it to Ryan Johnson, but Onstad, showing why he has helped the old San Jose Earthquakes and the new Houston Dynamo win two MLS Championships each by cutting off Johnson's angle and tapping the shot over the cross bar.
The Quakes who collected their first win since beating Colorado 2-0 April 19th. San Jose will hit the road again over the next month.
The Quakes will not return home to Buck Shaw until Colorado comes calling July 12th. San Jose will host Los Angeles, but it will be in Oakland at the McAfee Coliseum.
San Jose plays seven of their next nine games on the road. It will be a big test for the young Quakes and they will need to start putting some of their first half chances into the back of the net if they are going win some games away from home.
Next up for San Jose is a trip to Utah and a date with Real Salt Lake May 31st starting at 6pm.
San Jose Earthquakes fall just short of Columbus
The Earthquakes learned another lesson in their 3-2 loss to the Columbus Crew Saturday night at Santa Clara's Buck Shaw Stadium. They learned that you can not let your guard down or mope around for even a second.
Why, because good teams will pounce on you, just like the now 6-1 Crew did late in the game. San Jose went ahead 1-0 when Ramiro Corrales headed a ball into the net.
That was the Earthquakes first goal since beating Colorado April 19th 2-0. The lead lasted until the 73rd minute when San Jose's D seemed to fall apart. The Crew scored three goals in a 11-minute span.
Midfielder Robbie Rogers scored two of them. Both times he out ran the Quakes defense to a through pass before beating Quakes goalie Joe Cannon to put San Jose down 2-1.
Brad Evans scored on one more one on one situation with Cannon in the 83rd minute and the Earthquakes were down 3-1. They did not quit. San Jose got motivated the last 12 or so minutes of the game.
They took advantage of their only second half corner kick in the 89th minute when Ryan Johnson was able to direct a header into the goal for the final score of the contest.
The Quakes are now tied with Houston at 1-4-1. Their play has been better then the record shows, but they have a hard time turning the chances they get into goals.
Scoring puts pressure on the other team. Not scoring despite having a lot of good chances starts to put pressure on your squad. The Quakes are young and we must remember that they are an expansion team.
Quakes draw in second home opener
The San Jose Earthquakes finally got to play a game on their true home field, Santa Clara University's Bronco Stadium. This was the Quakes fourth game of the season, but their first at home.
The game ended in a 0-0 tie, but to the packed crowd that sold out the stadium, it was great to to see their team back in the south bay again. The Casbah was rocking, letting FC Dallas goalie Dario Sala know exactly were he was the entire second half.
Buck Shaw is small by major leagues standards, but the Quakes will miss this little venue, especially when they start putting the back into the back of the net.
San Jose followed an all too familiar script in this one. Come out fast, control the ball and ply good defense and fail to score a goal. They are now 1-3-1 and the only game they scored in they won.
That is a fact that is not lost on any of the Earthquakes players.
Jean Philippe Peguero and rookie Shea Salinas got a chance to play in the second half and they looked good a the front of San Jose's offense. Peguero had two good chances to score after hitting the pitch in the 50th minute.
Salinas pushed the issue on the right wing and he should get more and more time as the season goes on. He did not look like a rookie out their against FC Dallas.
Quakes goalie Joe Cannon recorded his second shutout in three games.
You can't have one without the other
The new San Jose Earthquakes scored their first goals of the year helping them beat the first place Colorado 2-0 on the road Saturday. Ronnie O'Brien had the honor of posting the Quakes first goal of the season when he found the back of the Rapids net in the 44th minute.
Striker Kei Kamera added his first goal of the year in the 66th minute. The Quakes played great defense, holding Colorado to just a handful of real chances to score.
San Jose (1-2) can now relax after two tense game trying to get a goal and a win as they try and find their way in 2008. A win against the division leading Rapids, even if it is early, shows the team they can play with anybody.
Nick LaBrocca tried to get Colorado back into the contest in the 69th minute when he hit the post from 25-yards out. That was about as close as the Rapids got all night to scoring.
The Quakes have started off the season playing great defense. The shutout extended San Jose's defensive scoreless streak to just over a game and a half. When you are a new team playing together for the first time, that is something to hang your hat on.
Quakes fall 1-0 to Chi-Town
San Jose might still be looking for their first goal and their win, but at least this version shows signs of life. The Earthquakes did a good job of holding onto the ball against the Fire.
 San Jose did everything but score.
Gavin Glinton hit a rocket that Fire goalie Jon Busch had to do everything he could to get his left hand on the ball to keep it out of the goal.
The save seemed to pump Chicago up and the Fire hit back moments later. Many of the fans in the stand were here to see Mexican star Cuauhtemoc Blanco and he did not disappoint.
Blanco started the play that led to the games only goal with a nice little pass to forward Tomasz Frank inside the penalty box. Frank's point blank shot was blocked by Quakes goalie Joe Cannon, but Chicago's Chad Barrett beat the Quakes defense to the ball and he tapped it in.
San Jose keep up the pressure, but the Fire defense would not give in. Injury time saw San Jose almost score once again. Midfielder Ramiro Corrales hit the cross bar with a shot.
A minute later defender Ryan Cochrane found Kamara inside the box, but Kei Kamara's header found the post instead of the back of Chicago's goal. The rebound bounced right to rookie Shea Salinas who chipped the ball over a wide open goal.
Next up for the spunky Earthquakes is a road game at Colorado Saturday. San Jose will return home when they host FC Dallas at Santa Clara's Buck Shaw Stadium.
Bay Area set to welcome back the Earthquakes
The San Jose Earthquakes will begin their season back in Major league soccer opening up in Oakland and the are ready to start the 2008 season back in the bay area. The Quakes left in 2005, moving to Houston where they have won the last two MLS titles.
 There will be a couple of familiar faces sprinkled in with a lot of fresh faces when the Quake hit the field for their first game, an exhibition game against the former Earthquakes, now Houston Dynamo’s at PAL Stadium in San Jose Feb. 13th. Starting at 6:30pm.
The two teams will meet three days later (Feb. 16th) at San Francisco’s historic Kezar Stadium. Game time for that contest is 7pm.
The Quakes will open the 2008 regular season on the road in LA against the Los Angeles Galaxy April 3rd, renewing a rivalry that produced some classic moments in MLS history.
The Quakes make their official return to the Bay Area when they entertain the Chicago Fire Saturday April 12, 2008 against the Chicago Fire and Cuauhtémoc Blanco.
Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. PT at McAfee Coliseum in Oakland. Still without a permanent home, the Quakes will play 2008 and 2009 at Buck Shaw Stadium on the campus pf Santa Clara University, keeping in touch with their south bay roots.
The San Jose Earthquakes have made upgrades to Buck Shaw Stadium beginning in mid-November.
The project included renovating the full-sized practice field, adding approximately 5,000 temporary seats which increased Buck Shaw Stadium capacity to approximately 12,000 seats and a portable state-of-the-art digital video board was installed.
The project also reconfigured the lights specifically for soccer and the hospitality areas were expanded.
The San Jose Earthquakes are a Major League Soccer expansion franchise and will begin playing in April of 2008. Season ticket deposits for the 2008 Earthquakes season are on sale and can be purchased by calling (408) 556-7700 or online at sjearthquakes.com.
Olympic tune up in Oakland
Mexican Olympic team to play a friendly in Oakland The Mexican national Olympic team will kick off it’s bid to qualify for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing China with a friendly against the Australian National team March 2nd at the MacAfee Coliseum in Oakland, Ca..
The Mexican Olympic team coached by soccer legend Hugo Sanchez is expected to bring top stars such as goalkeeper Guillermo "Memo" Ochoa, Luis Angel Landin, Pablo Barrera and Cesar Villaluz. Tickets for the Mexico game will go on sale Friday February 1st and can be purchased by calling 1-800-225-2277, online at sjearthquakes.com or by visiting your local Raley's Tickets.com outlets.
There will also be a Visa pre sale online at sjearthquakes.com from January 28th through January 31st. Ticket prices range from $15 to $50. Groups and suites are also available by calling 1-877-QUAKE01.
Chelsea gets training underway with a win in the States
Chelsea's win might not have put them in position to win the Premiership or a Champions lead title, but it did give head coach José Mourinho some insight as to who his team will look like in 2007-08.
The same goes for Club America, who did not get a win, but they put on a show for their many fans who helped fill most of the seats at Stanford's new football stadium.
For some players, this is a chance to get back in top form before the season begins in less than a month. Take Joe Cole for instance. He made his way back to playing condition last season, earning a spot on the national squad, but he claimed he was only 70%.
This year is feels he is back in top form and ready to go once the season gets underway. The second half, Chelsea put more regulars on the pitch and they responded with two goals.
Didier Drogba and Shawn Wright-Phillips were two stars that sat in the first half, but5 they made a huge difference in the second half when the Blues dominated the play, holding the ball for a good portion of the final 45-minutes.
"I was pleased with the way the team responded in the second half. We tried out some new players in the first half and we fell down 1-0, but the team played well enough to win today and that shows we can come back against a good team." said Chelsea coach José Mourinho.
This was the first game for Club America as well. The order of the day was tired legs all around. "To play our first game and have a team like America to test ourselves, this was just what we needed to help us get ready for the season. America is a great team and they pushed us tonite." Mourinho went on to say.
Chelsea continued their American road trip with a 1-0 win over
Chelsea to play America at Stanford
That's right. The traveling all star squad that is Chelsea will make a stop at Stanford's new stadium to play a friendly against Mexican giant Club America July 14th at 6pm.
 Chelsea boost such international stars as Germany's Michael Ballack, Didier Drogba from the Ivory Coast and English international Frank Lampard to name a few stars.
Club America is one of the most beloved teams in the world. They have many fans among the millions of Mexicans that follow soccer. The game is a tune up for the following weeks World Series of Football the next week at Carson, Ca.
The four team format features Chelsea, Tigres (Mexico), The Suwon Bluewings (Korea) and the LA Galaxy being played July 17th and 21st. English star David Beckham, just given back his national team jersey, should play in the World Series of Football, making his LA Galaxy debut
Team USA gets drubbed in Copa America opener
It started out great. Forward Eddie Johnson scored on a penalty kick just nine minutes into their first round match up against Argentina at Copa America down in Venezuela.
It did not last long. Argentine forward Crespo scored on a put back from close range in the 11th minute and the game was tied before the Americans could even enjoy their lead. It is not often the USA soccer team gets ahead of a team like Argentina.
Team USA' s defense held up the rest of the first half, but in the second Argentina begin to show why they are world powers in soccer.
Crespo put his team ahead to stay in the 54th minute when he was on the money end of a give and go that put him in front of the goal and nothing beat the keeper to beat.
Carlos Aimar (78th) and Pablo Tevez (85th) found the back of the net to put the game away for Argentina. The US next faces a strong squad from Paraguay Tuesday.
Paraguay knocked off Colombia 5-0 in a bit of a shocker. Colombia usually has a decent team, but Paraguay had their way with them. Roque Santa Cruz scored three first half goals to lead the rout.
Kasey Keller will need some help from his defense against Paraguay. The US has a young team down in Venezuela and they got tired in the second half of their game against Argentina.
Keller made his 101st start in goal for the national team, breaking the record of Tony Meola.
Team USA knocks off Mexico to win Gold Cup, head off to Copa America
They did it again. It is becoming regular for Team USA to beat Mexico in Soccer these days and in the final of the 2007 Gold Cup the Americans beat the Tri Colors again.
This time it was a 2-1 victory for the US. Mexico got on the board first, but the Americans rebounded to score the last two goals to take their second straight Gold Cup.
They will get a short rest before heading off to Venezuela for Copa America the next two weeks. Copa America brings out the big boy's of South American soccer. Brazil and Argentina will be trying to win this one big time.
Can the US, flush off their big win over Mexico, do some damage down south. That remains to be seen. If team USA goes far in Copa America it will be a great showing for them.
Both Mexico and the US are invited guest to compete in Copa America, South America's prized jewel (beside the World Cup's) and Mexican head coach Hugo Sanchez might be looking for a new job if his Tri Colors have a bad showing.
Sanchez has failed to produce the exciting brand of winning soccer that he promised when he took the job last year. Mexico has not beaten the USA in nine matches, an eternity for Mexican fans, and there are calls for him to lose his job.
Team USA head coach is heading in the other direction. He has guided the USA to a 10-1 record since taking over after last year's World Cup disaster where the American's went in as the fourth seed only to get bounced in the first round after scoring just one goal in three games.
US kicks off Gold Cup quest with 1-0 win over Guatemala
The 2007 Gold Cup got underway with the US national squad getting off to a good start. Fresh off a 4-1 win over the Chinese national team last week Team USA got a first half goal from Clint Dempsey and they made that stand against Guatemala at the Home depot center in Carson, Ca.
This was the first real game since last years World Cup in which the US was rudely ousted in the first round of group play. Dempsey goal came by way of an assist from Taylor Twellman in the 26th minute of play.
This was the first victory for new head coach Bob Bradley. Bradley came into the game 4-0-1 in five exhibition games. The tie was against Guatemala. Bradley will now lead his team against Trinidad and Tobago as group play continues.
Happy with the win, Team USA seemed to play on their heels in the second half. Guatemala out played the Americans in the second half after controlling most of the play in the first half.
Defender Oguchi Onyewu got ejected in the second half after drawing a second yellow card in the match. He will not be able to play in Team USA’s next game. Striker Landon Donovan was bloodied by a blow to the fore head in a ruff and tumble second half.
Team USA is looking for their fourth Gold Cup and third in four years. The Gold Cup is similar to the UFEA Cup that is played in Europe. It is the championship for North, Central America and the Caribbean regions.
USA tops China 4-1 at San Jose St
The US National team made a rare appearance in San Jose's Spartan Stadium. They had little trouble beating China 4-1 in front of a sold out crowd showing once again how well San Jose and the bay area draws for soccer.
US women to face Japan at Stanford
The USA women's national team will hit the pitch July 28th when they play Japan in an international friendly at San Jose St's Spartan Stadium.
This comes as news of another shot at getting the Earthquakes back in San Jose took shape.
Mexico entertains Oakland with a 4-2 win over Ecuador
Ecuador did make a game of it. After Francisco's goal, Ecuador began to pick up steam. They started to slowly put more and more pressure on the Mexican defense, keeping the ball on the Mexican side of the field for most of the first half.
 Carlos Tenoria finally got Ecuador level in the 43rd minute when he got behind the defense and put the ball into the back of the net just before the half.
That put a damper on the crowd except for the few thousand fans rooting for Ecuador, and I do mean a few.
They were in the house, waving their flags as they watched Giovanni Espinoza put Ecuador ahead in the 55th minute. Mexico had done almost nothing since that quick goal in the first minute of the game, but Espinoza's goal woke up Mexico from their 35-minute slumber.
The crowd tried to do that when the Tri Colors walked back onto the field to start the second half. Everybody rooting for Mexico went wild. It got louder then a Raiders game, with less people in the stands for the soccer game. When Mount Davis is opened up 25,000 more fans can get into the place.
Mexico got their second goal off a beautiful free kick from the foot of Rafa Marquez 25-yards out in the 73rd minute of the match. The free kick beat the wall that was set up and the keeper, just inside the post.
Omar Bravo netted the winning goal just nine minutes later and when Adolfo scored three minutes later to make it a 4-2 game, the party was in full affect. It was only a friendly, but you would have thought it was a World Cup game by the noise the crowd was making.
The party continued in the parking lots, on the bart train's and all along International after the game and I am sure more then a few people were a little late for work Thursday mourning.
Azzurri victorious
in Germany
The best team won this World Cup. Italy had given up the
fewest goals during the whole Cup. In fact it took until the final before
anybody scored against the Italians. An own goal against the American
had been it against 11 goals leading into their match with a French team
that was looking to win their second Cup in eight years.
A penalty kick was all Italy gave up in their seven games
in the World Cup. Zinedine Zidane was the only opposing player to score
and nobody scored in the flow of play. That is impressive considering
the talent they played against.
When you shut out the leading scorer in the World Cup in
his home country, as Italy did against Miroslav Klose (he won the Golden
Boot with five goals in the finals) in their exciting 2-0 win over Germany
in the final four.
Zidane got his little PK early in the match when ........
was dropped in the box in the 7th minute in front of Italy's goal. Italy,
down for the first time responded like a champ, got on the board minutes
later when defender Marco Materazzi out leaped the defense and headed
in the equalizer.
The two goal scorers will be remember for what happened
in the 110 minute just outside Italy's box. The bal had just been cleared
away and Zidane and Materazzi were talking trash when Zidane turned to
face Marco before slamming his head into Materazzi's chest, sending him
crashing to the pitch.
The ref, running up field following the play, had to refer
to a side judge who was watching the big screen in the stadium. That was
World Cup justice in 2006, on of the most physical in history. A red card
for Zidane put an ugly stain on what was a bright career for the Frenchmen.
That happened with 20-minutes left but the first half scoring
was all they two teams could muster. Italy got revenge for 1998 when the
French beat Italy on their way to the title in a quarterfinal penalty
shootout.
The Italians. were 0-3 in World Cup shootouts, but in the
2006 final, they were money. Five for five. France was almost as good,
but when David Trezeguet (who's plays for Inter Milan in Italy) hit the
cross bar on Frances second attempt, their fate was sealed.
It robbed the game of some drama. Extra penalty kicks would
have restored some excitement to a game that had not seen a goal for the
last 100 minutes.
90 minutes not enough for Germany
v. Argentina
After a tense, but lackluster first half between two Cup
favorites the second half started quickly with Argentina scoring in the
50th minute. The Germany's trailed for the first time in this World Cup.
Argentina controlled the ball for much of the first half,
but the German's put more pressure on Argentina's goal. That all changed
at the start of the second half when the Argentinean's began to find holes
in the Germany defense.
Germany did not panic and a beautiful set play saw the ball
get played into the box, then headed across the box only to have Miroslav
Klose head the ball back across the goal passed a goalie that did not
know which way to turn. The ball found the back of the net letting the
German fans breath for the first time in the match.
That was it for the scoring until the end of overtime. Germany
put away their chances while Argentina was stopped twice by the German
keeper Jens Lehmann.
That set up a battle between two of the most passionate
soccer playing nations in the world. The Italy v. Germany match up on
the 4th of July will bring out all the color and excitement that the World
Cup is known for.
Hopefully the play on the field will match. Italy put away
upstart Ukraine 3-0 with relative ease. After getting through to final
8 with the help of the ref's Italy played their best game of the 2006
World Cup, scoring three goals and showing Germany that they can put some
balls into goal themselves.
All that remains between them getting into the 2006 World
Cup final is a little game against the host nation. The German's have
been to the final four four cups running now, but they have not won it
all since 1990 in, of all places, Italy.
The buck stops
in Frankfurt
It has been a great ride for Brazil. They have played in
every World Cup final since 1994, going 2-1 in the process. The one loss
was to France in Paris during the 1998 World Cup final. The stage was
almost as big and the setting was different, but in the teams rematch
the result was the same.
France's Thierry Henry found the back of the net early in
the second half and the France made it stand advancing to the final four
for the second time in three World Cups.
France won this game because they were the better team.
The first half saw France control most of the play and even through they
could not score, they keep the pressure on Brazil all half.
I want to know what happened to the "Beautiful Game"
Brazil plays. They should flashes of it in this World Cup, but against
France that game produced few real chances.
France, once left for dead in the group stages is just one
win away from a chance at their second World Cup in eight years. They
must get past a Portuguese team that is being led by Brazilian coach Luiz
Felipe Scolari, a coach who has not lost a World Cup Final's match in
a now record 12 in a row.
After not getting past the group stages since 1966, Portugal
is sitting pretty now. The years of frustration have been forgotten by
their fans.
Ref's continue to steal the show
as Cup play gets serious
Italy's 1-0 win over Australia was just another example
of what's wrong with soccer. Down a man for most of the second half due
to a shady red card, Italy stayed in the game and with a minute left in
stoppage time, drew a penalty kick on a play were there was no contact
what so ever.
The ref's have head phones and they can communicate with
other ref's. Why do they have them if they do not use them? The red card
Italy was giving was kind of a shame, but you have to give the Italians
credit for not giving up a goal down a player.
It should have been a no call. or a yellow could have been
given to the Italian player, but it just helped the Azzuri play through
to the round of 8.
Plays in the box should be replayed to see if a player dives
and he should get carded if he does. Nobody rooting for Italy cares how,
or why their team won. They just know that another game awaits.
The Beautiful game got a black eye in the game between Portugal
and Holland. a World Cup record 24 yellow cards were giving and four players
were red carded (two from each team) in Portugal's 1-0 victory.
A hard foul on Portugal's Christian Ronaldo early in the
match seemed to spark the rough and tumble game. They have England next
and that one could be a repeat as both teams have not been to the final
four of the World Cup in recent memory.
This is the first time Portugal has been past the group
stage since 1966 and England is looking to win their first World Cup since
that same year.
There have been some great moments in this year's World
Cup. The round of 16 saw some magic as Argentina and England got through
to the final 8 with goals that are the reason why the World Cup
is played.
Germany v. Argentina, England v. Portugal and France v.
Brazil and Italy v. Ukraine are all that's left of the 2006 World Cup.
Germany and Argentina have the most history between each other. They have
played against each other in two different finals, splitting the each
game.
Both games were 1-0 and they both were decided by the ref's.
A goal scored on a hand ball by Diego Maradona gave Argentina the Cup
back in 1986 and a terrible penalty given to Germany gave them a late
goal in the 1990 final in Italy.
This one could be for all the marbles. A spot in the final
four awaits the winner of each game. These two teams could win it al.
Brazil v. France is a repeat of the 1998 final which FRance won in Paris
setting off a party that lasted about four or five month's.
Brazil remembers and if they are to continue their streak
of making the World Cup final they will have to watch out for Frances
Zinedine Zidane who has come out of retirement to give France a spark.
Brazil has been in every World Cup Final since 1994 in America.
That is three in a row and counting, if they can make it that far in this
one. They are two and one in the final's. They beat Italy on penalty kick's.
They lost to France before beating the German's in South Korea.
USA fails to make it pass the group
stage in the 2006 World Cup
Scoring only one goal in three games is not going to get
it done. The USA's venture into the World Cup ended with a 2-1 loss to
Ghana in the two teams final game in group B. Ghana scored the winning
goal on a penalty kicked just before the half.
Questionable at best, the ref made the call and ...... calmly
put it home for the winning margin. It was a hard pill to swallow for
American soccer fans. Their trip into the final 8 in the last World Cup
was stopped due to a ref not calling a clear hand ball against Germany
that stopped a sure goal in their 1-0 loss and now this.
Team USA played a lot better in 2002, but hold over's Claudio
Reyna, Landon Donovan and DeMarcus Beasley failed to produce much offense
during their stay in the World Cup. Out of the three only Beasley did
something that lead to a goal when he jumped a lazy pass just out side
Ghana's box before he laid a pretty pass right to the feet of Clint Dempsey
That result sent Ghana through to the round of 16 in their
first trip to the World Cup finals. Ghana bounced back from their 2-0
loss to Italy in the opening round. They shocked the world when with a
2-0 win of their own over a Czech Republic team that was one of the favorites
to go far.
Team USA was done in by their inability to to find the back
of the net. The Italians showed the Americans some love when they scored
on themselves in the teams 1-1 draw.
Team USA was going to build off that game. Down nine men
to ten due to red cards, team USA played a scoreless second half in the
draw. That made some waves of it's own, especially in Italy were they
are just expected to beat the Americans.
Clint Dempsey finally put one in for the US when he evened
up the match in the ...... minute. The US could not get much space from
the fast Ghanaian team and a Brain McBride header that could not beat
the post was about the only solid chance they had in the second half.
World Cup gets under way as Soccer
takes over the world stage
A defensive lapse by Costa Rica set up what could be the
prettiest goal of the 2006 World Cup by Germany's Philipp Lahm and it
was on. The Germans gave their country some much needed hope by outlasting
Costa Rica 3-2 in the opening game.
Costa Rica's Paulo Cesar Wanchope did his best to upset
the hosts by scoring two goals, but they were not enough to get
by the German's who hit from long range twice. A blast by Torsten Frings
from 45-yards out turned a 2-1 game into 3-1 with just minutes left and
the home nation was on their way to 3pts.
The biggest surprise was tiny Trinidad and Tobago draw nil,
nil with Sweden. This result came after Trinidad lost a man due to a red
card just minutes into the second half. There seemed to be a glass wall
in front of Trinidad's goal, or maybe it was just their goalie ......
who managed to get in the way of every Swedish shot and there were many
of them.
It was a well deserved point for Trinidad while Sweden and
their fans must be wondering what happened after watching chance after
chance go by the way side.
Argentina got all they could handle with the Ivory Coast
in the 2-1 win to open the Cup for both teams. The Africans champions
held the ball for a good part of the match and they had several chances
to score, but it was the Argentines who put up the first two tallies before
the Ivory Coast's Didier . Drogba found the back of the net in the 82nd
minute to produce the final score.
A win is a win and in the first round of the World Cup where
you need points just about any way you can get them, England's 1-0 win
over a tough Paraguay team was just fine with England and their fans.
Playing without star striker Wayne Rooney, England got some
help from the head of Paraguayan defender Carlos Gamarra who tried to
clear a free kick in front of his own goal, but instead he headed the
ball just out of the reach of his own keeper and that was that, just three
minutes into the game and the scoring was done for the match.
USA ranked 4th in the world rankings
as the final round of the World Cup gets set to start
The Americans have not been playing up to their lofty status as the #4
team in the world according to the Fifa rankings. That could have been
the worst thing to happen to the US squad. I know that the space between
the soccer giants like Brazil, Germany, England, Argentina, Italy and
Holland has gotten smaller every year, but that ranking has put a target
on the backs of team USA.
Costa Rica tops Korea 1-0 in Oakland
Mexico 2 Norway 1
Story and photo by Eric Taylor
Over 40,000 green and white clad Mexican soccer fans and
a couple hundred people supporting Norway came out to a wet and windy
Monster Park to watch a Mexican National headed to the World Cup later
this year in Germany take on a Norway team that failed to make the finals,
but they are ranked 39th in the world.
Mexico got off to the start they wanted,
but Norway took advantage of some poor defense and Ole Martin Aarst scored
just 10-minutes into the game and it took Mexico until the last five minutes
of the game to retake the lead.
Francisco Fonseca evened the score when he fought off a
defender and slide the ball just past Norway's goalie and into the back
of the net from about ten yards out in the 37th minute.
That
is how the game stood until 19-year old Luis Ernesto Perez started and
finished a beautiful give and go play, getting the ball back just before
he cut behind the defense inside the box.
He hit a hard shot up into the net, easily beating Espen
Johnsen who had no chance in Norway's goal.
That sent the huge Mexican crowd home happy. Aarst almost
made 2-1 Norway in the 75th minute, but his sharp header from 15-yard
out was cleared over the cross bar by a quick reacting Mexican goal keeper
Jose de Jesus Corona.
U.S. TO
FACE WORLD CUP FINALISTS JAPAN ON FEB. 10 AT SBC PARK IN SAN FRANCISCO
ESPN2
To Broadcast Second Meeting vs. Japan in U.S. History at 8 p.m.
PT; MNT Returns to San Francisco For First Time in 26 Years
CHICAGO (December 1, 2005) - The U.S. Men's National Team will face fellow
FIFA World Cup finalists Japan on Feb.. 10, 2006 at SBC Park in San Francisco,
as both teams continue preparations for the FIFA World Cup 2006 in Germany.
Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. PT, and the match will be televised live on
ESPN2 and available online via ussoccer.com's MatchTracker.
"This will be a great opportunity for our domestic players to show
what they can do against a team that is headed to the World Cup,"
said U.S. Manager Bruce Arena. "We believe Japan will field a number
of first team players, so it will be a great game to evaluate players
and continue to formulate the roster that we will take to Germany."
This will be the first appearance for the U.S. MNT in San Francisco in
26 years and will feature two teams that qualified for the FIFA World
Cup Germany 2006 from their respective regions. Likewise, the match up
pits two regional champions, as the USA captured the CONCACAF Gold Cup
in July and Japan has won each of the last two Asian Nations Cup titles
(2004 and 2000).
Tickets will go on sale starting Tuesday, December 20, at 10 a.m. PT
on-line at ussoccer.com, at all San Francisco area Tickets.Com outlets
(including Giants Dugout Stores, Raley's, and Sportsmart) and by phone
at 1-800-225-2277. Groups of 20 or more can purchase tickets through SBC
Park by calling 415-972-2000 (Monday - Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.)
beginning Tuesday, December 20.
Both the U.S. and Japan boast impressive performances from the FIFA World
Cup Korea/Japan 2002 with eighth and ninth place finishes, respectively.
In 2002, the U.S. made the quarterfinals before falling to eventual
second-place finisher Germany, while Japan won their group before falling
in the Round of 16 to third-place Turkey. Next summer will be the fifth
consecutive trip to the World Cup for the U.S. and seventh overall, while
this will be the third consecutive appearance for Japan in the World Cup
Finals.
Each team continued its 2002 momentum into FIFA World Cup 2006 qualifying
as the first teams from their respective regions to book a ticket to Germany.
Both the U.S. and Japan won their respective qualifying groups in both
the final and semifinal rounds of qualifying, with Japan not suffering
a single loss with an 11-0-1 record, allowing just five goals. The U.S.
finished 2006 World Cup qualifying with a 12-2-4, record, allowing only
11 goals in 18 games.
The match will be just the second meeting between the nations, and the
first in the U.S. The only previous meeting came in 1993 when the U.S.
fell 3-1 in Tokyo. Overall, the U.S. has an all-time 7-7-5 record vs.
Asian Zone teams, including a 2 -1-2 record under Arena.
The U.S. has a 1-2-0 all-time record in San Francisco, with the last
appearance there coming in a 4-1 loss to the Soviet Union on February
11, 1979. The team has played in the Bay Area 14 times since then in Oakland,
San Jose and Palo Alto. Overall, the U.S. has posted an 8-6-3 record in
the Bay Area.
The U.S. is one of 32 finalists that will compete in the 2006 FIFA World
Cup, qualifying first from CONCACAF and finishing atop the group in CONCACAF
for the first time. The World Cup Draw, which will determine group pairings,
will take place Dec. 9 in Leipzig, Germany. The USA has chosen the northern
port city of Hamburg as its base of operations in Germany.
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