- Well deserved, read his work – @pitchinvasion on the shortlist for @soccerlens Best Football Writer of 2009 award http://bit.ly/7EoDtF #
- Kids want to live up to your expectations, so give them some ~ http://bit.ly/83gdwx /via @sportMGTweet #
Monthly Archives: January 2010
Total Shriner Futsal Classic Brings Futsal Downtown
Vehr Factor U17 - HS Group Futsal Champions
With six different divisions, including Youth Exhibition, Boys Youth, Girls Youth, Intermediate, High School and Mens Open, there were 33 teams participating and 36 hours of play on the hardwood surface at the Abou Ben Adhem Temple at Jefferson and St Louis Street.
As part of the weekend’s activities, the Demize PASL squad hosted Piasa FC in a game played in front of a large crowd of partisan fans at Lake Country Soccer on Saturday.
Here’s a sample of some of the action seen at the Shrine this weekend, visit my YouTube Channel for several more clips:
SGFsoccer.com Tweets on 2010-01-18
- 144 days until the World Cup – Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass shares his thoughts http://bit.ly/6eSmmQ /via @SoccerMarketer #
Jessica Maerz Is A Fighting Knight
Jessica Maerz, Parkview Vikings
Maerz, a soon to be four year Varsity starter, has played sweeper, center mid, and striker for the Vikings in various years and circumstances. As noted, she is headed to Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida. The Lynn Fighting Knights ended their 2009 campaign in the Sunshine State Conference with a 9-9-0 record.
Maerz has accumulated 53 career goals in her first three years as a Viking, including 26 her Junior year. Her key piece of advice to players who are interested in playing soccer in college? Get started now! If you are a sophomore, it’s time to identify schools and coaches you might be interested in. Get together with your Club coach and they can help you put together a plan. Don’t delay!
AC St Louis Head Coach Claude Anelka Featured
Claude Anelka, AC St Louis by The Herald Scotland
Bad managers are two a penny – every club in the land could muster a lengthy list all their own. For this 10, then, run-of-the-mill ineptitude wasn’t enough
#9 – Claude Anelka
In 2004, tired of engineering transfers for his restless brother Nicolas and fed up with ‘the crazy things’ he saw managers do, agent and DJ Claude Anelka decided he wanted to be a boss himself. With a ‘mystery’ backer, he offered £300,000 to any lower-league club who would let him be manager, and got a bite at Raith Rovers, in Scottish Division One. Citing Cruyff, Wenger and the boss of Chinawhite nightclub as influences, his philosophy and signings – some from the Paris seven-a-side leagues – brought Rovers just one point from 24 before he stepped aside.
Now The Herald in Scotland offers some background on Anelka’s five months at Raith Rovers:
If there are two words that irk Raith Rovers supporters more than “Dunfermline” and “Athletic” then they are probably “Claude” and “Anelka”.
The Frenchman, brother of the Chelsea striker Nicolas, arrived at Stark’s Park in May 2004 as part of a curious arrangement in which he invested around £300,000 to effectively “buy” the manager’s job.
A DJ and agent with no history of coaching, Anelka decided he had had enough of “the crazy things” he believed managers did and decided to have a bash himself, vowing to turn Raith into the third force in Scottish football. As experiments go, it was an unmitigated disaster.
So who knows what Jeff Cooper has gotten himself into. It shouldn’t take long to find out it would seem. Even Claude’s brother Nicholas, who plays forward for Chelsea now, seems to have distanced himself. It seems to have worked as well
It is instructive that little is heard these days from Claude or the other Anelka brother, Didier. For the early years of Nicolas’s nomadic, often turbulent, career, the pair acted as his agents and advisers, engineering so many lucrative transfers that Nicolas has the distinction of being the most paid-for player in football history. More than £85million has been spent securing his services. A sizeable cut, and a fair amount of publicity, went to his siblings. Recently, Nicolas has become professionally distanced from Claude and Didier. In France it is not seen as a coincidence that the Chelsea striker has now emerged as a steadier, more laid-back person. He is even perceived as more open-minded. He is increasingly sociable. He has married and become a father. All in all, he is as settled as he has ever been.
The run continues this season, with Nicholas scoring a pair in a 7-0 win over Sutherland as he returns from a hamstring injury.
Seabolt Being Considered For Wisconsin-Milwaukee Head Coaching Position
Michael Seabolt, Asst Coach, Missouri State Bears
Meanwhile, two more possible candidates have come to light: Missouri State assistant Michael Seabolt and longtime UWM women’s assistant David Nikolic.
Seabolt was the coach at West Virginia from 2003-05, leading the Mountaineers to a 30-25-6 record and into the second round of the NCAA tournament in 2005 – it was the program’s first NCAA berth since 1992.
The Panther’s are an NCAA Division I program that plays in the Horizon League and has played in eight NCAA Tournaments, including a run of five-straight years. Former Head Coach Jon Coleman spent 17 years with UW-Milwaukee as a player, assistant coach and four years as Head Coach. He was an assistant on teams that won five regular season conference and four Horizon League Tournament titles. The announcement that Coleman would not continue as Head Coach after a 20-44-12 record over four years was made November 20th.
Seabolt is one of six candidates that have been identified by Wisconsin Soccer Central and offered the following feedback when contacted by the website:
“I’d rather not say,” Seabolt said Thursday when asked if he was interested in the UWM opening. “I’d rather just say that I know that it’s a great job and a great school, and certainly you always take a look at those things. … I’ve got a great job. But West Virginia was a great job. Certainly if there are good opportunities, you’re always open-minded.”
In a follow-up e-mail, Seabolt wrote: “I am open to a career move that can be fairly long-term, and to taking a head coaching position at a place where I can make a difference. I am confident that such an opportunity will come my way at the right time.”
These statements match what Seabolt has indicated to me during earlier conversations. I believe Seabolt has played a significant role in the development of the Missouri State Bears program during his three seasons on campus. The Bear’s reached the MVC Tournament Final in 2008 and followed that up in 2009 with the MVC Regular season title and their first NCAA invitation in 10 years. It’s not a question of if, but when, Seabolt finds an NCAA Division I program that is a good fit. I’m guessing this isn’t it.
Or maybe I’m hoping this isn’t the one. It would be nice to avail ourselves of Seabolt’s services for another year in Springfield.
SGFsoccer.com Tweets on 2010-01-16
- And now for another view or ~ Putting #ManU debt & bond issue into perspective http://bit.ly/8Az8e9 /via @sportMGTweet @sportsforyou #
Jozy Altidore Makes a Plea On Haitians Behalf
Jozy Altidore vs Mexico
My roots was just hit by an 5.9 earthquake, please have the people of Haiti in your heart.
Wikipedia indicates that Altidore’s parents, Joseph and Giselle, were both born in Haiti. Altidore is the youngest of four children.
In November 2006 Altidore, along with New York Red Bulls teammates Seth Stammler and fellow Haitian-American Jerrod Laventure, went on a six-day service trip to Haiti with Grammy Award winning musician Wyclef Jean and his charitable organization, Yele Haiti. During the halftime show of the Red Bulls home opener, Wyclef wore Altidore’s #17 jersey during his performance with Shakira. Here are Wyclef’s comments on the Haitian disaster:
“Haiti today faced a natural disaster of unprecedented proportion, an earthquake unlike anything the country has ever experienced. The magnitude 7.0 earthquake – and several very strong aftershocks – struck only 10 miles from Port-au-Prince.
I cannot stress enough what a human disaster this is, and idle hands will only make this tragedy worse. The over 2 million people in Port-au-Prince tonight face catastrophe alone. We must act now.
President Obama has already said that the U.S. stands ‘ready to assist’ the Haitian people. The U.S. Military is the only group trained and prepared to offer that assistance immediately. They must do so as soon as possible. The international community must also rise to the occasion and help the Haitian people in every way possible.”
Many people have already reached out to see what they can do right now. We are asking those interested to please do one of two things: Either you can use your cell phone to text “Yele” to 501501, which will automatically donate $5 to the Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund (it will be charged to your cell phone bill), or you can visit Yele.org and click on DONATE.
UPDATE – apparently Wyclef Jean’s organization is not doing an effective job with the cash donations.
FC Springfield Has Openings For Springfield Youth Teams
FC Springfield is accepting players on the following rosters for the 2010 spring outdoor season:
U7s – Boys or girls born 8/1/02 and 7/31/03
U8s – Boys or girls between 8/1/01 and 7/31/02
U9s – Boys born between 8/1/00 and 7/31/01
U11s – Boys born between 8/1/98 and 7/31/99
U12s – Boys born between 8/1/97 and 7/31/98
U13s – Boys born between 8/1/96 and 7/31/97.
The younger the player, the less important it is to already be a well-rounded player. What does matter in all players is their willingness to be a dedicated teammate and to do the work that leads to improvement.
FC Springfield is a competitive program. By that, we expect our players to be highly committed to playing the game of soccer while the season is in session. We expect players to attend virtually all practices and games, barring emergencies or major life events; to come to practice focused on learning the skills and tactics of the game; to have already decided that soccer is a game they love and want to play long term. We practice twice a week, play in leagues at Lake Country, and intend all of our teams to enter at least one tournament a season once we feel the team is ready to benefit from the experience of facing a more elite level of competition.
We believe in equitable playing time. Fees are kept as low as possible. We strive to have one permanent coach per team per season. We never dwell too long on our losses or our wins, but we do reflect on game experiences to guide our practice sessions. We aim to prepare our players so they can contribute solidly to their eventual high school (and–if they have the ambition–college) program. We leave June and July and November and December largely open on our calendars so players can pursue other activities, and we’re flexible during the transition windows between sports seasons.
If the above sounds appealing, click here to send us your contact information.
SGFsoccer.com Tweets on 2010-01-14
- RT @TaylorTwellman Crunch time now for Union/MLS labor talks. Players' are prepared and willing for a LOCKOUT. #
- Pitch Invasion with the sordid details of Glazer family take-down of ManU. Follow the links to the earlier story! http://bit.ly/8zmOgz #
