Soccer Insider: September 23, 2007 - September 29, 2007
Toronto Postmatch: Off to Mexico
First, the quote of the night. We were going through all the reasons DCU looked like Toronto FC in the first half and in the second half: the substitutions, the change in tactics, the burst of energy and quickness. "Plus," Troy Perkins pointed out, "the fact that we got our...
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Dan Steinberg
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September 29, 2007; 10:59 PM ET |
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Matchday 27: Toronto FC at DCU
Apologies for late start. Wedding duties. Lineup: GK Perkins; Ds McTavish, Boswell, Vanney, Burch; MFs Fred, Gomez, Simms, Gros; Fs Emilio, Kpene. Also known as: Lineup you submit when a last-place team that cannot score visits a first-place team in the midst of an important international tournament. Reserves: Nolly, Carroll,...
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Dan Steinberg
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September 29, 2007; 7:17 PM ET |
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Breaking News: Solo Will Not Play
Hope Solo was not allowed to practice with the U.S. team today in Shanghai and will not be in uniform at Sunday's third-place game against Norway. The final decision was made by Coach Greg Ryan, who said he received input from the veterans following a players' meeting. Essentially, the players...
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Steve Goff
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September 29, 2007; 2:47 AM ET |
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Women
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USSF's Prospects to Host in 2018
If you want to read what USSF President Sunil Gulati had to say about the women's team, about Hope Solo and Greg Ryan, hop on down to the thread I created earlier. If you want a progress report on the USSF's plans to bid for the 2018 men's World...
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Steve Goff
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September 29, 2007; 1:08 AM ET |
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World
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Gulati's Turn
We heard from Hope Solo on Thursday. We got Greg Ryan's feedback Friday. Today was Sunil Gulati's turn. No, he did not fire Ryan. He did, however, address a wide-variety of issues during a 75-minute roundtable with a dozen reporters -- from the uproar of Solo's comments, to the USA's...
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Steve Goff
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September 28, 2007; 11:53 PM ET |
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Greg Ryan Speaks
Following the U.S. team's 4-0 semifinal debacle against Brazil on Thursday and the fallout from goalkeeper Hope Solo's comments, the U.S. Soccer Federation announced that neither Coach Greg Ryan nor any of his players would be available to the media Friday. But with fan and media criticism mounting against...
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Steve Goff
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September 28, 2007; 3:18 AM ET |
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World Cup Matchday: USA-Brazil
Greetings from Hangzhou, the spectacular city on West Lake a couple hours south of Shanghai. If you ever travel to eastern China, you must travel here. For the lake. For the cafes. For the mountains. For the Hyatt on the waterfront. For the historical sites. For the islands. It's a...
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Steve Goff
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September 27, 2007; 5:51 AM ET |
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Chivas Aftermath: Mo Quotes
Olsen on the second half: "Guys helped out [on defense], and even guys who aren't our defensive specialists put some work in....And on the back, they just gutted it out. They were under the gun, and we got a couple lucky bounces here and there, but that's what you get...
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Dan Steinberg
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September 27, 2007; 2:31 AM ET |
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Chivas Aftermath
Not to kill that previous thread, but I wanted to throw some notes and quotes up here. Namoff was visibly limping afterward. He said the injury came on the collision right before he exited, when a knee went into his left thigh. He described it as a left thigh contusion,...
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Dan Steinberg
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September 27, 2007; 1:00 AM ET |
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Matchday Sudamericana I: Chivas at DCU
Steinberg here. Apologies for the late beginning. Lots of traffic outside. Lots of Goats in the parking lot. Lots of humidity in the air. For the first time since I've been on this beat, I'm actually going to cover a D.C. United fixture. Amazing, right? Your lineup: GK Perkins; Ds...
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Dan Steinberg
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September 26, 2007; 7:54 PM ET |
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Convey Goal
Bobby Convey's superb strike against Liverpool in League Cup play:...
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Steve Goff
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September 26, 2007; 6:35 PM ET |
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U.S. men's national team
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World Best XI?
Don't want to clutter up this space and distract from all the other piping hot threads, so after the jump please find the nominees for FIFPRo's World Best XI awards. FIFPro is "the worldwide representative organization for all professional soccer players." (Basically, 45,000 players from 42 different players' unions, whose...
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Dan Steinberg
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September 26, 2007; 3:04 PM ET |
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More Chivas Quotes
But first, let me point out that United GM Dave Kasper appeared at RFK field level in his playing gear yesterday morning as Coach Tom Soehn spoke with the media. Soehn stopped speaking and stared. "I'm speechless right now," he said. "You've got to give me a second." Kasper played...
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Dan Steinberg
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September 26, 2007; 11:47 AM ET |
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USA Shakeup!
In a stunning move on the eve of his team's Women's World Cup semifinal against Brazil, U.S. Coach Greg Ryan has dropped starting goalkeeper Hope Solo and inserted veteran Briana Scurry. Solo has been the team's No. 1 keeper for two years and started the first four matches of this...
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Steve Goff
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September 26, 2007; 6:15 AM ET |
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Marco? Polo!
Greetings from Hangzhou, a city Marco Polo once described as "the most splendid and luxurious city in the world." Our man Mark might have changed his tune a bit today if he had to breathe the air in this metropolitan area of 6.6 million, but he was certainly onto something....
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Steve Goff
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September 26, 2007; 1:33 AM ET |
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About Chivas and the Copa Sudamericana
I can't tell if people in the threadprevious were serious about not knowing about tomorrow's match, or were mocking The Post for not having covered it yet. Regardless, here are a few details. The Copa Nissan Sudamericana is a South American club tournament run by CONMEBOL, the South American...
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Dan Steinberg
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September 25, 2007; 12:51 PM ET |
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Chivas Notes, in Translation
A loyal Spanish-speaking reader of the Insider has agreed to send occasional notes on what the Mexican media is saying about Chivas and DCU this month. I'll trust that the translations are accurate. I'm going to training today to ask where this rivalry ranks amid all the other tournaments and...
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Dan Steinberg
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September 25, 2007; 10:59 AM ET |
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World Cup Prize Money
For the first time, FIFA will pay out prize money at the Women's World Cup. Now isn't that nice of Sepp? The champion receives $1 million. The runner-up gets $800,000. Third place: $650,000. Fourth place: $550,000. 4 quarterfinal losers: $350,000 each. 4 first-round losers: $250,000 each. Not exactly on par...
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Steve Goff
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September 25, 2007; 4:34 AM ET |
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Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!
It's a big day in China and throughout Asia, a time when the moon is at its fullest during the the Autumn Equinox and people celebrate the abundance of the harvest. It's a tradition going back, oh, 3,000 years to the Zhou Dynasty. And what better to celebrate the moon...
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Steve Goff
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September 25, 2007; 3:54 AM ET |
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Fenty on the Stadium
(By Lateef Mangum -- Courtesy D.C. Mayor's Office) The pre-game parking lot at FedEx Field is perhaps not best suited to political discussions regarding land planning, so forgive me the tameness and generality of this brief conversation with D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty about the future of a soccer-specific stadium...
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Dan Steinberg
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September 24, 2007; 11:35 AM ET |
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Wambach Responds
Late in the first half of the USA's 3-0 quarterfinal victory over England on Saturday, Abby Wambach swung out her arm and caught English captain Faye White with an elbow to the nose. White was bloodied but returned to the match with what was later diagnosed as the fifth broken...
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Steve Goff
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September 23, 2007; 11:23 PM ET |
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Matchday 26: DCU at Chicago
Steinberg here. I'm at Estadio FedEx Field today; former Post intern Steve Yanda is in Chicago. Lineup will be posted about around 2 pm. The talk around RFK this week was that all focus now shifts toward the Supporters Shield and homefield in the playoffs; Tom Soehn, though, said that's...
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Dan Steinberg
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September 23, 2007; 10:01 AM ET |
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D.C. United
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Blanco and the DP Effect
My story in Sunday's dead-tree edition is about Blanco and the resurgent Fire. Many of you will deride me for covering hype over substance, and will argue that Blanco has occasionally--Thursday, for example--been a dud on the field. Well, maybe. And there are obviously lots of factors in play with...
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Dan Steinberg
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September 23, 2007; 12:01 AM ET |
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