May 9, 2007
If fans want to come out and see some of the best young soccer talent the US and Argentina has to offer, then head down to PAETEC Park on Sunday or Monday to watch practice. The practices are free and open to the public.
Other news and notes from around the soccer world:
- Rhinos Women announce changes to their schedule. With their first game on Saturday, it's going to be interesting to see if Peter Amos' squad has the big name player he was trying to land in the fold by then or not.
- Freddy Adu got hit in the head with a golf ball recently.Don't worry, he's OK and he is still slated to be in town next Tuesday night as the US U-20s take on Argentina.
- Abby Wambach was named to the US team that will take on Canada Saturday night at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas. The match will be broadcast live at 7:30pm on Fox Soccer Channel.
- The New York Sun is reporting that Bob Bradley is likely to be Sunil Gulati's choice for the permanent head coach of the US Men's National Team. Personally, I'm not getting my hopes up just yet as I'm not sure how reliable Paul Gardner is. If it was Steven Goff from the Washington Post or Grant Wahl from Sports Illustrated, I'd feel a lot better about the report.
- MLSNet.com, Big Apple Soccer.com, and Soccer by Ives have reports on Juan Pablo Angel's Red Bull debut in LA where the match was scoreless after 90 minutes and the Galaxy went on to win 3-1 in double OT. LA got goals from Landon Donovan, Kyle Martino, and Santino Quaranta and Angel tallied NY's lone goal.
- Apparently MLS is not thrilled that the Players Union went public with the listing of what players are getting paid, especially those on the low end of the MLS pay scale. If there is nothing to be embarrassed about, then why worry if the information is made public?
- Kansas City Wizards defender Jimmy Conrad is out at least 9 days with a hairline fracture of his jaw. The big question is will this cause issues for Conrad's media career?
- MLS Underground is reporting that the Houston Dynamo are sending Alejandro Moreno to Columbus for Joseph Ngwenya. Ngwenya has bounced around a bit, but I like the pick up for the defending champs.
- More good news for MLS' newest club. Reportedly Toronto FC merchandise is flying off the shelves so fast that adidas is having a hard time keeping up with demand. It's too bad that strong fan bases like they have in Toronto and Salt Lake aren't being rewarded on the field as of yet. Hopefully that won't have a negative effect on fan support, but you do have to wonder how long each club can sustain things without improved results. Toronto obviously is in great shape for the remainder of the season with 14,000 season tickets sold.
- Plan B in San Jose is getting some ink. With the deal to get a new stadium built at San Jose State falling apart, a location near the airport is now being discussed. Oakland A's owner Lew Wolff is still working to try and bring the Earthquakes back yet again. It will be interesting to see how this plan goes. The tough part may be if he has to lean on local government for the type of financial support that San Jose State would have been providing in Plan A.
- Despite the fact that he wants to stay in Manchester, it looks like Manchester City will not be bringing DeMarcus Beasley back for the 2007-08 season. With PSV Eindhoven owning the US International's contract, it will be interesting to see what happens. Could Fulham use another American?
- The Carolina RailHawks got the first win ever in club history with a 2-0 victory in a friendly with Chivas USA of MLS. Although, like many USL-MLS friendlies, Chivas USA used a squad full of reserves.
- Could this be the most famous name in the USL this season?
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.
