Soccer Tickets, News & Commentary
From the monthly archives:
MLS POWER RANKINGS (05/27):
U.S. national team winger DaMarcus Beasley started and played a vital role in Rangers’ 3-2 victory over Queen of the South in this past weekend’s Scottish Cup final. It was his first start since injuring his knee last year in the UEFA Champions League.
In the final, Beasley played 76 minutes and had a hand in all three goals scored by the Glasgow side. He set up Rangers’ opening goal after drawing a foul, scored the second, and delivered the corner kick that was headed home for the decisive goal.
Tickets have been released for the Mexico vs Belize World Cup qualifyer on Sunday, June 15 at Reliant Stadiumin Houston Texas.
The match will be the first FIFA World Cup qualifier to be played in Houston. The match is the first of a home-and-home series between the nations as they begin the quest to compete in the FIFA World Cup finals in South Africa in 2010. Interestingly, Belize will be the home team for the match, as the second leg will be played in Mexico on Saturday, June 21, 2008.
Co-host Switzerland defeated Slovakia 2-0 on Saturday in the first of their preparation matches for Euro 2008. In two weeks, all eyes will be on the Alpine country as Euro 2008 begins.
Valon Behrami scored the first goal and set up the second after the half. The S.S. Lazio defender/midfielder’s goal came in the 56th minute. In the 63rd minute, he set up captain Alex Frei who plays for Borussia Dortmund. The forward is now one goal away from tying the Swiss record for international goals scored. Kubilay Turkyilmaz owns the record with 34 goals.
Another great weekend of Major League Soccer action. It began with a rare San Jose Earthquakes victory and included a 70 yard David Beckham empty net goal. Here are summaries of this weekends games.
D.C. United 3, Toronto FC 2
Chelsea FC finally put Avram Grant out of his misery and officially announced what everyone had known for months. That he would not be coaching Chelsea next year. The contenders to replace Grant include Frank Rijkaard, Guus Hiddink and Roberto Mancini.
The official announcement reads:
“Chelsea can confirm that Avram Grant has had his contract as manager terminated today. This follows meetings over the last two days. Everybody at Chelsea FC would like to thank Avram for his contribution since taking over as manager last September. We will now be concentrating all our efforts on identifying a new manager for Chelsea and there will be no further comment until that appointment is made.”
The Mexico vs. Argentina game June 4 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego has been officially sold out. Fans lucky enough to have tickets are recommended to arrive early and enjoy the now-popular Futbol Fiesta, the interactive fan zone that spans more than 100,000 square feet. Starting at 4:00 p.m. fans can enjoy live music, promotional offers and FMF personalities courtesy of the FMF’s U.S. sponsors – adidas, Allstate, AT&T, Bud Light, Chase, Coca-Cola, Jose Cuervo, Makita, McDonald’s, NAPA, The Home Depot and Visa. A ticket is not needed to attend Futbol Fiesta.
In their first of three friendly matches, Russia dismantled a weak Kazakhstan squad 6-0 in Moscow on Friday. Kazakhstan held the Russians scoreless through the first 25 minutes of play until forward Pavel Pogrebnyak converted a penalty in the 26th minute. Pogrebnyak scored 10 goals during Zenit Saint Petersburg’s 2007-2008 UEFA Cup title run. Prior to half, midfielder Vladimir Bystrov extended the lead to 2-0. The right winger is renowned in Europe for his pace down the right-hand side. He plays for Spartak Moscow.
Chris Klein is not exactly the most well known player on the Galaxy. But, when you have the most well known player in the galaxy on the Galaxy, it’s tough to compete for attention.
Klein does have one thing Becks should value though - a complete and utter lack of fragility. This weekend, Klein will start his 94th consecutive MLS game, a span lasting approximately three years. Despite suffering severe injuries early in his career, Klein has enjoyed an oasis of health throughout the streak.
Some loyal STO readers may recall a Houston Dynamo fan blog, Nutmegged, challenged STO, as well as the other MLS Bloggers out there, to a friendly game of fantasy football (er, soccer), hosted by MFLS.com, the oldest and best MLS fantasy site on the web.
Well, one quarter of the season is now gone, and here is where STO stands in comparison to the rest of the blogosphere in the Fantasy League:
