August 20, 2008
Luke Kreamalmayer's goal and an assist versus Minnesota on Saturday night landed him a spot on this week's USL 1st Division Team of the Week.
Luke was denied the player of the week award as Edson Elcock scored two goals when Puerto Rico went on the road to Seattle and won by a 3-0 score.
Kreamalmayer is now tied for 8th in scoring in the USL 1st Division this season with 15 points and only two assists behind Jonny Steele for the league lead.
US-Brazil for the gold
Technically, it is now game day for the US and Brazil as they will meet in just under 21 hours for the Olympic Gold Medal in women's soccer.
The US players are giving Brazil a lot of respect leading up to the match. Which is to be expected as they obviously don't want to provide any bulletin board material.
Grant Wahl's latest at SI.com asks the question of whether a victory over Brazil without Abby Wambach would be the greatest on-field accomplishment in the history of the USWNT program. Personally, I think that it would be. Especially given what happened in the semifinals of the World Cup last year.
But,I do think that head coach Pia Sundhage has this team in the right state of mind heading into the game. Big Apple Soccer.com's Michael Lewis talks about how Sundhage's positive attitude has meant a world of difference. And that has never been needed more than when Abby went down and then they got off to that bad start against Norway.
I also had to laugh at this post on Sideline Views. I don't know why Andrea Canales feels the need to almost apologize for picking Brazil to win.
Now if she was pulling for Brazil........
News & Notes:
- Ahead of tonight's World Cup qualifier between the US and Guatemala, Steven Goff checks in and Jamie Trecker overstates the importance of the match, IMO. While I would agree with the generality that every World Cup qualifier is important, I wouldn't go so far as to say this match is vital or that Freddy Ad's absence is a big deal.
Now if Landon Donovan was left off the roster...........
- Speaking of Landon, Ridge Mahoney talks to him about his new club coach at Soccer America.com .
- Steven Goff and SBI.net both have the breaking news that LA has sent Carlos Ruiz to Toronto FC to clear cap space to sign Eddie Lewis. It willbe interesting to see if Ruiz and Amado Guevara can create some chemistry in Toronto and if Eddie Lewis can help shore up the defensive mess that LA has been this season.
- The Evening Times has a story on Maurice Edu moving to Rangers. And Globe Sports.com is reporting that Mo Johnston may try and use Toronto FC's share of the $5 million transfer fee for Edu to get natural grass installed at BMO Field.
- Grant Wahl's recap of Argentina's big win over Brazil in the men's soccer semifinal in Beijing was harsh. But,what do you expect with Fat Ronaldinho showing up in place of the world superstar and Brazil turning into a bunch of hacks after going down 2-0?
My guess is that the Brazil-Belgium Bronze Medal Match will be closer than the Argentina-Nigeria Gold Medal Match.
The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.
