Total Futbol

CONCACAF Champions League Update

USL-1 soccer is competitive soccer. Don't believe me? Just ask Toronto FC, which fell to the Puerto Rico Islanders 1-0 in the first leg of the preliminary round of the CONCACAF Champions League Wednesday night.

Remember, Puerto Rico reached the semifinals of this hemisphere's top professional tournament last year.

Other winners Wednesday were San Francisco (Panama) and Liberia (Costa Rica).

MLS' All-Star streak snapped by Everton

From The Associated Press:

SANDY, Utah -- Landon Donovan is looking forward to playing with Tim Howard behind him again.

Facing Howard was a frustrating reminder of how good the U.S. national goaltender is.

Howard made six saves in regulation and stopped three shots on penalty kicks to lead Everton past the Major League Soccer team in the MLS All-Star game 4-3 in penalty kicks on Wednesday night. Howard kept the MLS club out of the goal time after time and forced the 1-1 game into two extra rounds of penalty kicks to decide it, before Seattle Sounders star Freddie Ljungberg was taken to hospital for a migraine headache.

"I wasn't surprised. I've seen it a lot of times in training and in games," said Donovan, who had a chip shot punched over the crossbar by Howard in the second half.

Want to see Zinho bald?

Miami FC coach Zinho is a lot of things. A World Cup champion. An accomplished pro player in Brazil. And a fiery coach here in the U.S.

But one thing he is not: A bad sport.

Zinho is willing to shave his head if Miami FC makes the playoffs for just the second time in the team's four-year history.

The whole story is available here.

CONCACAF Champions League opens up

Good soccer on our side of the Atlantic Tuesday. CONCACAF's biggest professional tournament, the Champions League, opened with preliminary round matches.

Remember, this is the event in which Miami FC would participate if the Blues could ever with the U.S. Open Cup.

A couple of headlines...

Mexico's Pachuca tops Guatemala's Jalapa 3-0

United, Firpo settle for 1-1 draw in CONCACAF play

Beasley + D.A. = Radio magic

Want to hear me spout off about Bob Bradley, the state of soccer in Miami and my stint as a soccer camp counselor?

I know you do.

I appeared on The D.A. Show Monday night with, well, D.A. Hilarity ensued.

Listen, if you dare.

UPDATE: To find my segment, go to the 1:02:00 mark in the show.

Araujo named to Team of the Week

Paulo Araujo Jr. hasn't become just one of Miami FC's most dangerous weapons. He's become one of the more explosive players in the league.

Araujo, who wasn't even in USL-1 to start the season, has been named to the league's Team of the Week after scoring twice in the Blues' 2-1 win over Minnesota.

MLS odds and ends

Lots of little stuff in the world of domestic soccer. Here are a few of the headlines ...

Lifetime ban rescinded for Beckham fan

ESPN to show MLS, European soccer in Britain

Houston to host 2010 MLS All-Star Game

RSL's Movsisyan secures MLS Player of the Week

Team D.A. Soccer Camp Redux

We're all about helping out our friends at Total Futbol, so when college buddy and local sports radio host Damon Amendolara needed an extra set of hands at his free soccer camp Saturday, you know we were there.

Great event, even with the monsoon that blew through.

Miami FC showed up in a big way, with current and past players Walter Ramirez, Reinier Alcantara, Nicky Torres, Danny Vasquez and Eric Vasquez dropping some knowledge on the two dozen or so kiddos at Rooftop Soccer in Brickell.

Special kudos to D.A. and FC PR dude Ignacio Rodriguez for pulling it all together.

Here are some pics from the event.

 

 

 

 

Reaction from U.S.-Mexico

Well, that was ugly yesterday. The United States suffered one its worst home losses ever Sunday, falling to Mexico 5-0 in the Gold Cup final.

Granted, it was against the Americans' JV team, but still, not exactly the showing you want.

Reaction? We've got your reaction right here.

Mexico Thumps U.S. to Win Gold Cup

Mexico Hammers U.S. To Take Gold Cup Final

Mexico 5, USA 0: A look back

Breaking Down the Debacle

Miami FC update

I'm baaaaaaack.

Two weeks of vacation, friends. That's where I've been. Missed me?

Not much has changed with Miami FC in the last fortnight. The Blues won Friday at Minnesota, then got stomped Sunday at Carolina.

What does that mean? They're essentially in the same place they've been for the last month or so: In a three-way race for the last two playoff spots.

Huge, huge match this Saturday, then the sixth-place Blues face Montreal, currently in seventh, which would make the Impact the last team in, should the season end today. However, Vancouver is just a point back in eighth, despite playing two fewer matches.

Much more on this later in the week.