- Have I mentioned how much I dislike ManU? Go AC Milan! #
Monthly Archives: February 2010
Terry Michler Youth Coaching Clinic Saturday March 6th
Youth Coaches, get ready for the upcoming Spring season with Terry Michler, twice the NSCAA National Coach of the Year. On Saturday, March 6th, Coach Michler will offer a 6 1/2 hour session entitled “Team Building”, the perfect kick start to help you either begin your planning for the season or help answer questions you might have about your approach. Here’s the agenda for the day:
Agenda:
9:00 – Philosophy of Team Building
9:30 — Off The Field factors
10:00 — On the Field factors
10:45 — Building Blocks
Lunch (Sandwiches from Big Momma’s)
1:00 — 4 v 4 as a Model
2:30 — Practical Application
3:00 — Closing Remarks
Recommended for Coaches of Youth Players, age 8 to 18. Come alone or with your Club Coaches for this fantastic opportunity to learn from one of the best.
Cost is $20 for the day and includes lunch from Big Momma’s coffee shop, located on Commercial Street in Springfield. Orders will be placed during the morning session. The event will be held at Lake Country Soccer and we invite coaches to attend the full session or to sit in a portion of the session in between games (the Champions Challenge Tournament is being hosted this weekend as well)
When: Saturday March 6th
9:00 am until 3:30 pm
Where: Lake Country Soccer
Conference Room & Futsal field
Who: Youth Coaches!
Register by calling Ole at 417-597-4314 or email him – Ole @ SGFsoccer.com
Download the CBC Dutch Touch Coaching Clinic Flyer
Terry Michler is the all-time Winningest high school soccer coach in the United States. In his 39 seasons he has won over 800 games and six state championships, including the 2009 Large School title. More than 200 of his players have played college soccer and more than 30 have played professionally. He has been named the NSCAA National Coach of the Year twice. Come learn from the best!
SGFsoccer.com Tweets on 2010-02-16
- Worth reading @fakesigi on the "vaporization of the National Soccer Hall of Fame" ~ http://bit.ly/bsKrwU /via @pitchinvasion #
- Tonight watch Fox Football Fone-in! AC STL's Steve Ralston will be on tonight's show with Nick Webster / Eric Wynalda. /via @ACStLouis #
Champions League Returns Tuesday!
As much fun as the FA Cup has been recently, it’s time for the big boys and that means Champions League. It’s the Final 16, or as it ‘s known, the knock out rounds and we open with some serious competition in what will be home-and-away series. In a move designed to allow more fans to see the matches on television, the round of 16 will be played on eight different evenings spread over a month featuring two games a night, rather than four evenings with four matches a night.
Tuesday February 16th, 1:30 pm – Olympique Lyonnais vs Real Madrid CF
Tuesday February 16th, 4:00 pm – AC Milan vs Manchester United FC
For Manchester United (#2 in EPL), the experience of losing last season’s Champions League final is all the incentive they need to go one step further in their pursuit of the club’s fourth European Cup, according to Sir Alex Ferguson. The draw also offers Ferguson the chance for revenge the 5-3 aggregate defeat to Milan (#3 in La Liga) at the semi-final stage in 2007 – the last time the two clubs met. Oh, and did I mention it means Beckham facing his former teammates?
Real Madrid are looking for a first win over Lyon after losing on the two occasions the clubs have met in France and drawing twice at home, although the Spanish giants are unbeaten away in this season’s Champions League.
This year’s competition has a special edge for nine-times European champions Real as the May final is at their own Santiago Bernabeu stadium.
Wednesday February 17th, 1:00 pm – FC Porto vs Arsenal FC
Wednesday February 17th, – FC Bayern München vs ACF Fiorentina
SGFsoccer.com Tweets on 2010-02-14
- Total Demize sends 10 teams to #SuperF National Futsal Championships. Stay tuned for results. /via @DemizeSoccer #
Move Aside Baseball, We’re Watching The Champions League Final
I don’t watch baseball anymore so maybe someone who is current can help me out here, but it appears that Fox will not be showing baseball on Saturday May 22nd. Instead we’ll all get to enjoy the Champions League Final that afternoon according to this story
Fox will air its first soccer match on May 22, with the telecast from Madrid beginning at 2:30 p.m. (ET) and kickoff set for 2:45 p.m. The match marks the first time the Champions League final will be played on a Saturday. The story was first reported by the Sports Business Journal.
When Fox Soccer Channel wrested the U.S. TV rights to the top European club competition from ESPN2 last April, it announced that FX, which counts some 95 million subscribers, would host the finale.
Simply put, the UEFA Champions League Final is one of international soccer’s most prestigious and competitive events,” said Fox Sports chairman David Hill in announcing the scheduling change. “There’s no doubt that soccer aficionados in the U.S. will welcome the opportunity to see this game live, and we’re excited to work with our colleagues at Fox Sports International to make it available to every household in America via FOX Sports.”
“This year, for the first time, the UEFA Champions League Final will be played on a Saturday,” said UEFA president Michel Platini. “This is an important change for European football as it is a strong desire for UEFA to engage with more families and children and to see them attend inside the stadium. Outside of Europe we also want to allow the greatest number of people possible the chance to follow the showpiece final of the best club football competition in the world. I am delighted that thanks to Fox Sports this will now be possible, as for the first time ever, the UEFA Champions League final will be live on a nationwide broadcast channel right across the USA.”
Again, to reinforce this message, it is the local Fox station that will be broadcasting the game, not Fox Soccer Channel. On a related note, FSC will launch premium service Fox Soccer Plus on March 1, and will begin its coverage of the Champions League’s knockout stage, with round of 16 coverage on Feb. 16-17 and Feb. 23-24 (next week!).
SGFsoccer.com Tweets on 2010-02-12
- USA women's star and St Louis Athletica captain, Lori Chalupny sidelined indefinitely with concussion issues #wps #uswnt /via @SoccerInsider #
- AC St. Louis signs nine players! check it out -> http://bit.ly/buXpcJ #fb /via @ACStLouis #
AC St Louis Opens Season April 10th, Home Opener April 17th
CHICAGO (Feb. 8, 2010) — The U.S. Soccer Federation has announced the schedule for the 2010 Division 2 Professional League. The regular season will open in the second weekend of April and run until early October, with the playoffs to be contested during the following weeks.
Each of the 12 teams participating in the league will play 30 regular season games for a total of 180 games. The kickoff times for each match will be determined and announced in the near future. The 12 teams are divided into two conferences – the USL Conference and the NASL Conference. The USL Conference includes Austin Aztex, NSC Minnesota, Portland Timbers, Puerto Rico Islanders, Rochester Rhinos and Tampa Bay Rowdies. The NASL Conference will consist of Crystal Palace Baltimore, Carolina RailHawks, Miami FC, Montreal Impact, AC St. Louis and Vancouver Whitecaps. View full schedule
Eight teams will advance to the postseason, with the winners of each conference earning the top two seeds. The next six teams with the most points during the regular season from either conference will also move on to the playoffs. The four teams with the fewest points will be eliminated from post-season play.
Due to travel considerations, the 12 teams were divided into three geographical pods of four teams each to determine the schedule. The teams in Pod 1 are Vancouver, Portland, Minnesota and St. Louis; Pod 2 includes Montreal, Rochester, Baltimore and Carolina; and Pod 3 includes Austin, Tampa Bay, Miami and Puerto Rico.
Within its pod, each team will play the other three teams twice at home and twice away for a total of 12 matches. Each team will also compete against the eight teams from the other two pods twice, one home and once away for a total of 16 matches. To get to a total of 30 matches for each team (15 home and 15 away), each team was paired with a team from a different pod for a final home-and-away series.
The opening two matches of the season will take place on Saturday, April 10, with Miami FC hosting the Rochester Rhinos and the Carolina RailHawks hosting AC St. Louis. The opening weekend will continue with two more matches on Sunday, April 11, with NSC Minnesota visiting the Vancouver Whitecaps and the Montreal Impact traveling to face the Austin Aztex.
The season will come to an end on Oct. 3, with the playoffs will beginning the following week. The first round, semifinal round and championship will be home-and-away series determined by aggregate goals. The final details for the playoff dates and location of the championship match will be announced at a later date.
Ticket information and schedules for AC St Louis are available on their website. All home games will be played at the Soccer Park in Fenton, an easy drive up I-44 for all of us.
US WNT Open Play In Algarve Cup February 24th
CHICAGO (Feb. 11, 2009) – Following a 20-day training camp at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., U.S. Women’s National Team head coach Pia Sundhage has named a 19-player roster for the 2010 Algarve Cup in Portugal.
This year’s tournament is being staged a week earlier than normal and will run from Feb. 24 through March 3. The U.S. team will depart for Europe on Feb. 18. The venues and kickoff times have yet to be confirmed.
All the games will be played at small venues spread across the Algarve region on the southern coast of the country, and the placement matches will take place on March 3. Fans can follow the USA’s intense schedule of four games in eight days online via ussoccer.com’s MatchTracker and watch highlights on ussoccer.com.
The U.S. team, which has been placed into Group B at the annual tournament, will open play on Feb. 24 against Iceland, face Norway on Feb. 26 and finish the first-round on March 1 against Sweden, home country of U.S. head coach Sundhage. Group A features Germany, China, Finland and Denmark. The eight teams in Groups A and B are the same as in last year’s tournament with the groupings also virtually the same, the only difference being that Denmark and Sweden have swapped groups. Group C features host Portugal, Austria and first-time Algarve Cup participants Romania and the Faroe Islands.
This will be the 15th trip to the Algarve Cup for the U.S. Women, who have won the tournament six times, including an unprecedented three straight championships from 2003-05 at what has become one of the world’s most competitive international women’s events. Last year, the USA made its seventh consecutive Algarve Cup final but after scoring a late goal in regulation to tie the match at 1-1, fell to Sweden in penalty kicks. In the two previous tournaments, the USA defeated Denmark for the title, winning 2-0 in 2007 on goals from Kristine Lilly and Carli Lloyd and 2-1 in 2008 on goals from Natasha Kai and Abby Wambach. The USA advanced to the championship game of the 2006 Algarve Cup but fell in penalty kicks to Germany.
US Women’s National Team Adds Two Exhibition Matches
CHICAGO (Feb. 9, 2010) — The U.S. Women’s National Team will play its first two domestic matches of 2010 against Mexico on March 28 at Torero Stadium on the campus of the University of San Diego and March 31 at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah, the home of reigning Major League Soccer champion Real Salt Lake.
The match in San Diego will kick off at 4 p.m. CT and will be televised live on Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Sports en Español. The match in Utah will kick off at 8 p.m. CT and be televised live on ESPN2. Fans can follow both matches online via ussoccer.com MatchTracker and at twitter.com/ussoccer.
The U.S. players will be called up from WPS pre-season training camps for what will be the final internationals for the U.S. team before the pro league kicks off on the weekend of April 10 and 11. The USA will open its 2010 schedule at the Algarve Cup in Portugal in late February.
The Mexico matches will mark the 24th and 25th meetings between the neighbors, but first since the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, in April of 2008. During that tournament, the USA defeated Mexico 3-1 in front of a sell-out crowd of 22,280, during the group finale. The match featured a wild first half in which all four goals were scored.
Like the U.S., Mexico is preparing for CONCACAF qualifying for the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Qualifying is tentatively scheduled for the fall of this year, but the host country and dates have yet to be finalized.
