Player of the Year – Michelle Auer, Notre Dame STL
Offensive Player of the Year – Courtney Young, Visitation
Defensive Player of the Year – Haley Fritzlen, Notre Dame de Sion
Goalkeeper of the Year – Jill Szumigala, Helias
Coach of the Year, Private – Dick Westbrook, Visitation
Coach of the Year, Public – Ashlyn Brantley, Platte Co.
Dana Wilhelm, Notre Dame St Louis, is headed for Missouri Southern in the Fall
L to R: Natalie Smid, Shelby Hatz, Carsen Baron, Bekah Bade, Ronnie Renner, Rebecca Mayus, Erin Fitzgerald
The Missouri Soccer Coaches Association has release their 2010 Girls Class 1 All-State recognition.
Player of the Year – Tillie Bill, Southern Boone
Offensive Player of the Year – Abby Lappe, St. Vincent
Co-Defensive Player of the Year – Carsen Baron and Rebecca Mayus, Springfield Catholic
Goalkeeper of the Year – Taylor Zerbe, Trinity
Coach of the Year, Private – Ben Timson, Springfield Catholic
Coach of the Year, Public – Chris Miller, Southern Boone
Big day Sunday. Honor your father by spending time with him. That’s what I’ll miss most about the day, not being able to get a round of golf in with him beside me on the course.
Brazil sits atop Group G, and is relishing the opportunity to face its major competition in the “Group of Death.”
The South Americans meet Ivory Coast for the first time Sunday night in Johannesburg, and the Ivorians may give injured Didier Drogba his first start.
Brazil is favored to win the difficult group, but didn’t start off strong with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over North Korea on Tuesday. The Selecao had trouble breaking down the resolute defense of the Asian underdogs, and are looking forward to playing the more talented African nation.
The Ivory Coast opened with a scoreless draw against Portugal on Tuesday, leaving both teams tied for second place. Drogba, who broke his right arm in an exhibition match against Japan on June 4, entered as a substitute in the 66th minute after questions about whether he would see action.
Here’s a look at the various scenarios for the US, or any team in Group C at this point, to advance to the knockout round. One of them needs to happen:
USA advances with:
(a) Win versus Algeria on Wednesday
(b) Tie and Slovenia-England tie IF England does not outscore USA by 2+ goals
(c) Tie and England loss
Slovenia advances with:
(a) Win or tie versus England
(b) Loss AND USA tie vs Algeria
(c) Loss and Algeria win as long as Algeria doesn’t make up tiebreakers*
England advances with:
(a) Win versus Slovenia
(b) Tie AND USA-Algeria tie AND outscore USA by 3 goals
Algeria advances with:
(a) Win versus USA AND Slovenia win/tie versus England
(b) Win versus USA AND Slovenia loss versus England AND makes up tiebreakers on Slovenia
Note: If the U.S. draws with Algeria and England draws with Slovenia, and England scores exactly two more goals than the U.S., the U.S. and England would be even on all tiebreakers for second place. The tie would be broken by drawing lots … aka, a coin flip.
* Tiebreaker order: (1) Goal differential in all group matches (Algeria is -1, Slovenia is +1); (2) greatest number of goals scored (Slovenia has 3 goals, Algeria none); (3) greatest number of points obtained in group matches between the teams concerned; (4) goal differential resulting from group matches between the teams concerned; (5) greater number of goals scored in all group matches between the teams concerned.
Th only way both USA and England advance is if both win.
How’s that for the message of controlling your own destiny. Advancing may be determined by the flip of a coin essentially! Algeria will not be an easy win, like many teams they are growing stronger as the games progress and they stay close.
I’m not a referee but it’s apparent to me from the replays that Carlos Bocanegra interfered with the Slovenian defender which in turn provided a means by which Maurice Edu was able to run onto the ball the he buried into the net. It was a foul the referee was in position to see, to his credit. In talking to a pair of local referees, I have learned that there is no rule that requires the referee to tell the players, or even the coaches, what was called. Game management often leads a referee to address those questions but I wonder whether Koman Coulibaly knows English. That is not a requirement for the World Cup. To say that the USA was robbed by one call, that happened to occur on a play when the ball actually hit the back of the net is an easy and convenient story for the media to wrap it’s arms around. It’s also a load of rubbish. Much like the play of the American’s in the first half. That’s the real story.
UPDATE – the opinions are beginning to come in. I’ll remind you that I have two primary policies for comments on this website. If you want your voice to be hear, then pay attention to them. And show some intelligence – swear words only make you look like an idiot.
Kurt Austin at World Cup 2010
I have more to share with you on this topic. A hat tip goes out to Kurt Austin (pictured at right), a former teammate of several Glendale Falcon players who went on to win a National Club championship with Kurt on Mizzou’s team and a regular contributor to this site. Here are his thoughts on the story and a pair of important links included in his thoughts below:
I am a referee. I am also a US soccer fan. And today I am torn on which side to support.
To be fair to both, neither comes as an easy task. US fans have been hard done by referee decisions at the World Cup stage time and time again, with their last two Cup runs ending in controversial fashion: an uncalled handball on the goalline in the 2002 quarterfinal against Germany and a dubious penalty in the decisive loss to Ghana in 2006. Meanwhile, the US is still patiently awaiting their first penalty attempt in a World Cup match.
Nor has the US ever come back from a deficit in a World Cup contest. Heck, no country had ever come back from a 2-0 halftime scoreline to win in World Cup history. Those were the stakes when Koman Coulibaly disallowed Maurice Edu’s dramatic go ahead goal in the 86th minute of the USA’s 2-2 comeback draw with Slovenia on Friday.
The predictably adamant outcry that followed isn’t unwarranted. Referees, like fans and players, are no different than the rest of us. Mistakes are made, even in the best of efforts. Just ask England goalkeeper Robert Green.
Of course, it doesn’t help that the referee in question was in the middle of his first ever World Cup match as Landon Donovan conveniently reminded us in his post-game comments. Similarly, though somewhat inexplicably, the fact that he comes from one of the poorest countries in the world, Mali, seems to suffice for some as a contributing factor.
At the end of the day, all that matters is whether Coulibaly got it right. Alas, on a perpetually problematic situation such as a set piece scramble, his judgment can’t be definitively doubted. Photos of the incident suggest a multitude of potential fouls, at least two of which were committed by US players, Carlos Bocanegra and Jay DeMerit.
Moreover, it’s narrow-sighted of US fans to single out that decision as the one that cost the US a win. Easily overlooked amidst the righteous indignation is an equally influential call made some 85 minutes earlier to which the US greatly benefited. Video replay and still images show Clint Dempsey clearly delivering an elbow to the face of Slovenia’s Zlatan Ljubijankic less than a minute into the match, a “serious foul play” that could have compelled many referees to send off the key American attacker. No card was shown and the US dodged the nightmare scenario of playing short-handed from the start.
In hindsight, perhaps that should have been the first warning signal of trouble ahead. If not that, then surely the caution for a deliberate handball on Robbie Findley that video replays show came off his face instead. Those three calls, and some might argue the lenient decision to show yellow rather than red to Slovenia’s Marco Suler for his last-ditch tackle on Jozy Altidore, have stolen the spotlight from an otherwise great game. One English paper headline read “a classic in every sense,” and called it the first scintillating match of its kind in the 2010 World Cup.
Which brings us to the bottom line. Though Friday was likely Coulibaly’s last at this World Cup, the US team lives on still in sufficient shape. Ireland only wishes they could say the same.
Player of the Year – Lauren Moats, Nixa
Offensive Player of the Year – Emily Cline, Glendale
Defensive Player of the Year – Kristin Miller, Nixa
Goalkeeper of the Year – Paige Hemphill, Ozark
Another great crowd came out this morning for the USA vs Slovenia Group C match. After drawing a standing-room only crowd last Saturday for the game against England, today’s match was counted at 92 and it was as lively as the last one. With a wide range of fans, from the new American Outlaws US fan group (pictured) to the three largest club programs in the area, including Springfield SC, Total Demize SC and the newly renamed Legends (formerly FC Springfield). Nice seeing the whole community in one place supporting the game.
Look for a report in the News-Leader tomorrow as well, they had a reporter and a photographer on-site to document the great soccer community we have here in the Ozarks.
From US Soccer: After sharing the spoils from the opening match against England, the U.S. confronts the match which has been considered for months to be a likely pivotal encounter against Slovenia. The picture is fairly clear going in: a win would give the United States one foot in the door to the knockout phase, a tie keeps the hopes alive, and a loss would nearly close the window on any chances of advancing. They face a Slovenia team brimming with confidence after its 1-0 win against Algeria put them on top of Group C and knowing a victory Friday would guarantee a first ever trip to the second round.
The game will be difficult as the Slovenian’s will come out in a defensive set, a model that will make it that much harder for the American’s. Soccer America offers some background in Slovenia Will Be A Tricky Foe
If Slovenia, as Landon Donovan proclaimed to the world a few days ago, is indeed a team the U.S. should — and must — beat on Friday in Johannesburg, therein lies a problem. In World Cup qualifying, in the Gold Cup and occasionally in friendlies, the Americans struggle when the opponent sits back and dares them to make the game, which Slovenia can do as group leader.
And despite Donovan’s assertion, there’s not much grounding for confidence when the opposition is from Europe.
Join us Friday morning at Farmer’s Gastropub and cheer on the USA as they face Slovenia in a must win game. It’s important the team earn a full three points from this game in order to ensure they go through to the knockout round. The best way to watch soccer is with fellow fans and no one in town had a crowd like we did last Saturday! Check out my story under the US Men’s Team category for more on Slovenia and the US.
What: USA vs Slovenia World Cup match
When: 9:00 am Friday June 18, 2010
Where: Farmers Gastropub, downtown Springfield
I’ve partnered with Farmers Gastropub this year to promote his British-style pub and restaurant for one reason – the pub is open daily (except Monday’s) at 9am AND Bill Griffiths, the owner, is committed to showing every game with audio for the entire month.
That mean’s you can come and enjoy a simple breakfast and catch the 9:00 am games or a great lunch for the 1:30 pm matches. You’ll be part of an international community of fans of the beautiful game and you won’t have to worry about a baseball game or other event interfering with your enjoyment of the game at hand. Earlier games will be shown later courtesy of DVR’s and it’s in High Definition.
England kicks off at 1:30 pm on Friday against Algeria with pre-game starting at 12:30 pm. Make a day of it at the Pub!
Farmer’s Gastropub is located downtown, in the Wilhoit Building. That is directly South of the YMCA. Ample parking in the lot on Elm at Jefferson Avenue. You’ll see the umbrella’s of the outdoor patio directly ahead of you when you drive in, the walkway entrance is on either side of the patio area.
The Missouri Soccer Coaches Association has released their All-Conference Honors for the Small School division of the Central Ozark Conference. The division includes the Class 1 and Class 2 schools that compete in the Central Ozark Conference in Girls soccer. It includes Bolivar, Springfield Catholic, Logan-Rogersville, Marshfield,
