Soccer By Ives

Chivas USA 1, Earthquakes 0: A Supporter View

It took a lot longer than some might have expected, but Chivas USA has made the rugged climb from near the West basement to first place in the conference. Sure, the gap between first place and sixth place is only three points, but for the Goats, the climb was a victory of sorts.

Moral victories is all the Earthquakes seem to have these days, and even those are hard to come by. The expansion club figured to struggle this season, but things are starting to get ugly.

SBI correspondents John Sandate and Kevin Matthiessen took in the action last Saturday and shared their thoughts with us.

Fire 2, Crew 2: A Supporter's View

The Chicago Fire still hasn't won an MLS match in a month, so you would think a road point against the Columbus Crew would be a moral victory of sorts.

Well, it wasn't. Not when Chicago held a two-goal lead early on and looked like it might find that long-awaited victory. The Crew didn't let that happen, rallying with two goals to salvage a 2-2 tie on Saturday and keep up a recent run of good attacking soccer to stay near the top of the Eastern Conference standings.

SBI correspondents Stephen Wattles and Brant Guillory watched the action and shared their thoughts with us.

Wednesday West Coast Roundup

                                                             Photo by ISIphotos.com

With the number of West Coast readers growing by the month, SBI will make it a point to start providing more coverage of all things on the West side of the USA map. With that in mind, here is the first installment of the West Coast Roundup, with SBI correspondent Odeen Domingo filling us in on the happenings over on the left coast, providing his own spin on the stories people in the Pacific and Mountain time zone want to read about. Enjoy

SBI’s East Coast bias is officially over.

Ives will still continue to break news on Western Conference MLS teams for us left siders. But I, your humble SBI lieutenant, will try to keep you up with news and notes on teams west of any current MLS club holding a winning record.

Every other day or so, the West Coast Roundup will try, as much as it can, to fill the soccer void for the SBI Mafia faction established in the West.

SBI’s West Coast bias has begun.

Morning Ticker: FIFA to clarify Olympic regs, Trezeguet retires from France and the Lampard-Chelsea battle continues

Since the 1992 Olympic games, European clubs have heeded FIFA's call for allowing Olympic eligible players (age 23 and under) to compete in the Olympics without objections.

The times, they are a changing.

German clubs Werder Bremen and Schalke 04 have refused to release Brazilians Diego and Rafinha for the tournament, prompting FIFA to prepare to clarify its own rules on Olympic call-ups.

What is going to happen? Well, if FIFA doesn't want the Olympics to become a joke with mass rejections of player call-ups then it will do what FIFA does well, impose its rules with an iron fist. The Olympics are either an important tournament or not and failure to enforce a rule making teams release Olympic age playes would send a terrible message to European clubs and to players considering representing their countries.

Two MLS and two USL teams reach U.S. Open Cup semis

                                                                                Photo by ISIphotos.com

The U.S. Open Cup final will feature an MLS team against a USL team. This became guaranteed after the results of last night's quarterfinals, when two MLS and two USL teams won to set up semifinal meetings.

Two of four quarterfinals meetings were decided by penalty kicks on Tuesday, with New England edging Crystal Palace Baltimore and Seattle beating Kansas City.

The Charleston Battery scored three unanswered goals to knock out FC Dallas while D.C. United eliminated the Chicago Fire with an overtime goal from Bryan Namoff.

The results set up a dream MLS semifinal between New England and D.C. United, as well as a battle of top USL teams with Charleston and Seattle set to face off. Both semifinals are set for Aug. 12, with the U.S. Open Cup final scheduled for Aug. 26.

What did you think of last night's results? Who do you see reaching the final? Share your thoughts below.