US Soccer Players

Quakes Sign Andre Luiz

Former Jaguares midfielder Andre Luiz Moreira is now a member of the San Jose Earthquakes.  “We are excited to add a player of the caliber of Andre Luiz to our roster,” said GM John Doyle. "He understands the game well and has great vision. The experience he gained in a number of top leagues around the world, as well as with the Brazilian national team, will be invaluable to our team. Along with Ramon Sanchez, we feel that we have really bolstered our midfield.”

Donovan Wins Player Of The Month

Los Angeles Galaxy forward Landon Donovan is Major League Soccer's Player of the Month for July.  Donovan returned from Confederations Cup duty with the US National Team to a Galaxy team that has since moved up to third in the Western Conference.  LA finished the month without a loss.   

Cooper Moves to 1860

Pending a medical, forward Kenny Cooper is on his way from FC Dallas to 1860 Munich in Germany's second division. 

"I would like to thank the Hunt family, my teammates and everyone at FC Dallas for everything over the last four years,” Cooper said. “To all of the wonderful fans, thank you so much for your support. I feel so privileged to have had the opportunity to play for my hometown team, in the same city where my father played for 11 years.  I am very excited and honored to join 1860 Munich. I am hungry and ready to give my all to the club."

Two For Ten

With J Hutcherson -- Big ticket weekend, with yet another Euro super club setting up shop. This time it's Barcelona, on track to sellout the Rose Bowl against the LA Galaxy on Saturday. Whatever number they lay down becomes the target for Real Madrid, playing DC at the biggest venue in the National Football League on August 9th.

For those keeping score at home, the Rose Bowl can hold just over 91,000. They're already over 70k in tickets sold. FedEx Field in suburban DC clocks in at just over 91,000. They're already over 55k.

With the World Football Challenge already demonstrating that these games can double the average Major League Soccer rating on the same network, it's an interesting time to be promoting MLS vs. MLS games. For all the prop up of having MLS teams as the opposition for two games that should end up at the top of the summer tour attendance table, nobody is pretending this has anything to do with the home club.

CCL: New York Gets Away Goals

Red Bull NY drew 2-2 against W Connection in their CONCACAF Champions League Qualifier on a humid night in Marabella, Trinidad.  Jonathan Fana put Connection up in the 40th minute and that lead held under pressure into half-time.  Picking up where they left off, Ernst Oebster equalized for New York in the 47th minute and Alfredo Pacheco put them in the lead in the 59th.  Connection wasn't finished, equalizing in the 71st when Hughtun Hector scored.  "I can't praise the guys enough," Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio said. "I thought it was great because it's not just coming back in any game."

American Abroad: Europa Qualifiers

Two games involving National Team players on Thursday, with Troy Perkins and Valerenga dropping their opening leg 2-1 to PAOK Salonika and Clint Dempsey getting time in Fulham's 3-0 win over FK Vetra.

RBNY Waives Smith

Midfielder Khano Smith is no longer a member of the New York Red Bulls.  The club announced on Thursday that he had been waived.  RBNY traded for Smith after Seattle picked him up from New England in the expansion draft.  HE had eight appearances for the Red Bulls in 2009.

Thursday's Daily: Risk/Reward

With J Hutcherson -- Here's how to simplify the free spending we're seeing from our European friends in a global economic downturn. Some of them believe that they'll recoup. Some of them believe they have to spend to compete regardless of debt. Some don't care.

Obviously, you don't want to be the club in that middle group, squeezed from both sides into committing to questionable financial moves. Unfortunately for European soccer, that ends up being the bulk of the clubs that have convinced themselves they should be Champions League contenders. In fact, relative to scale, it plays out for lesser prizes all the way down the leagues.

MLS All-Stars Follow Along

By Graig Carbino - ALBANY, NY (July 29, 2009) USSoccerPlayers -- Coming to you live from the land of perpetual downpours (aka upstate NY), this is Graig Carbino with follow along commentary of the 2009 Major League Soccer All-Star Game.

Houston Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear will lead the MLS contingent against English Premier League side Everton. Liverpool’s blue half is still early in their preseason training and will look to use this match as a continuation of their preparation for another new season in Liverpool.

The MLS team is trying to keep their international winning streak alive having played foreign opponents in five previous All-Star matches without defeat. Last year's event saw the All-Stars come out on top 3-2 over EPL side West Ham United courtesy of goals from Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Christian Gomez and Dwayne De Rosario.

We’ll assume that since you are here you know the MLS group and what they are about. Lineups to come in a few. Everton brings their typical contingent with US international Tim Howard in goal, Aussie Tim Cahill making plays down the middle and sometime French international Louis Saha and his sweet left foot up front. That said, lets get right into things.

MLS All-Stars: Everton Win On Penalties

Opting not to clear their bench, Everton took the 2009 MLS All-Star Game on penalties after drawing 1-1 in regulation Wednesday night at Rio Tinto Stadium.  Though the All-Stars remain unbeaten in regulation by foreign clubs, the real story of the night was the play of Everton and US National Team keeper Tim Howard.  Named the game's Most Valuable Player, Howard pulled off a couple of World class saves including a strong showing in the penalty phase of the game. 

"Once again Tim Howard has proved that he is certainly the best goalkeeper in America, and if he keeps playing the way he's doing at the moment, it might not just be America," Everton manager David Moyes said.

"If he plays like that, we're going to get through qualifying relatively easily," MLS All-Star and US National Team player Landon Donovan. "And we can do big things in the World Cup if he is playing like that."

CONCACAF Champions League: Toronto Down

Toronto FC setup a tough away leg in their CONCACAF Champions League qualifying series, losing 1-0 to Puerto Rico at BMO Field on Wednesday.  Kendall Jagdeosingh scored the only goal of the game in the 67th minute.  Toronto travels to Puerto Rico next week needing to win by at least two goals in regulation to take the series.  A 1-0 result would send the game to overtime.  Anything else, and Puerto Rico advances.

WPS Update: Boston 0 - Washington 1

The Washington Freedom improved their playoff chances at home on Wednesday night, moving into third-place with two games left on their schedule.  Washington finally took advantage of a 5th minute Boston red-card and got the only goal of the game when Abby Wambach scored in the 73rd minute.  Boston remains in the playoff hunt, currently fourth and trailing Washington by a point.

Four US Players Named To All-Tournament Team

Four US National Team Players were named to the All-Tournament Team for the 2009 Gold Cup.  Kenny Cooper, Clarence Goodson, Stuart Holden, and Chad Marshall received the honor, with the US National Team winning the Fair Play Award for the tournament.  Mexico's Giovani dos Santos won the MVP award, Mexico's Mighel Sabah won the Golden Boot, and Costa Rica's Keilor Navas was named best goalkeeper.

Mexico Roster For Aug 12th Qualifier

Goalkeepers (2): Guillermo Ochoa (América), José de Jesús Corona (Cruz Azul)
Defenders (8): José Antonio Castro (Tigres), Aarón Galindo (Guadalajara), Efraín Juárez (UNAM), Jonny Magallón (Guadalajara), Rafael Márquez (Barcelona), Ricardo Osorio (Stuttgart), Carlos Salcido (PSV Eindhoven), Oscar Rojas (América)
Midfielders (4): Cuauhtémoc Blanco (Chicago Fire), Israel Castro (UNAM), Andrés Guardado (Deportivo La Coruña), Gerardo Torrado (Cruz Azul)
Forwards (6): Nery Castillo (Shakhtar), Guillermo Franco (out of contract), Alberto Medina (Guadalajara), Giovani dos Santos (Tottenham), Miguel Sabah (Monarcas), Carlos Vela (Arsenal)

MLS Mid-Season Awards

By Brooke Tunstall - CHARLOTTE, NC (Jul 29, 2009) USSoccerPlayers -- With the Major League Soccer All-Star Game upon us tonight, it seems like an appropriate time to look at the front runners for the league’s various individual awards and who would win them if the league gave them out at the All-Star break.

Some years the choices for these awards are so obvious that writing a story like this almost seems superfluous. But this year, there are lots of candidates for most awards yet few obvious choices, thus making picking one winner very difficult.

Still, here’s one writer's attempt at doing just that…

The Soccer Daily: Working All-Star

With J Hutcherson -- I'm not one of those who dismisses Major League Soccer's All-Star game along with the club friendly schedule as not quite worth the intelligent soccer fan's time. Done right, those games can be a lot of fun to watch on TV or in person. However, I am of the opinion that the All-Star Game should be about the fans. After all, there's a reason that's the model.

Say what you will about baseball's version, but it's setup as an outward event. Same with the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League. Not so much for MLS, who have instead turned it inwards.  A destination for sponsors and once, current, and future League employees.  Everybody else, thanks for buying a ticket.

CONCACAF Champions League: Draw For DC

DC United drew 1-1 with Firpo last night at RFK Stadium, giving up an away goal with a team made up mainly of squad players.  "My assistant and I were surprised when we saw the lineup," Firpo coach Agustin Castillo said.  "We had prepared for a totally different team."

DC fell behind in the 26th minute when Mario Benitez took the ball off of DC's Greg Janicki and beat keeper Milos Klos.  "Just a stupid thing," Janicki said. "We were just talking about concentrating throughout a game and playing a full 90 minutes, and then I go out and do that."

United got that goal back when Jaime Moreno - one of three United regulars in the starting eleven - converted a penalty in the 42nd.  With United reloading against a Firpo team still in their preseason, Luciano Emilio was subbed in along with Christian Gomez.  It wasn't enough to get another goal. 

The second leg is scheduled for next Tuesday in San Salvador.

Rapids Swap Cooke For Smith

Former Aberdeen midfielder Jamie Smith is the newest member of the Colorado Rapids.  To make room for Smith, Colorado waived midfielder Terry Cooke.  Cooke had 106 games and four goals for the Rapids over five seasons.

El Khalifi Joins RSL

Real Salt Lake signed Dutch midfielder Rachid El Khalifi to a three-year contract on Wednesday.  "We liked Rachid in preseason and he fit in well with our group, but we weren't sure he was the perfect match as a tucked in midfielder in a diamond system,” RSL GM Garth Lagerwey said. “With our switch to a 4-3-3 formation we needed wide players, and Rachid has played in this system his entire career. Adding him for our stretch run gives us a reliable, committed, and veteran player who has excelled in big games."

Szetela: "To see the differences between playing in Europe and MLS was important."

By Graig Carbino - ALBANY, NY (July 28, 2009) USSoccerPlayers -- It has been a long road home for new DC United midfielder Danny Szetela.

Signed by Spanish club Racing Santander in August of 2007, the former Columbus Crew man spent a year and a half of his time across the Atlantic on loan to Serie B side Brescia. After two years in Europe he decided that his immediate professional future should continue back in Major League Soccer.

“A few injuries and off field issues helped make my decision to come back” said Szetela. “I am really excited to be back in the US, especially with DC, and grateful that coach Tom (Soehn) is giving me a chance.”