Soccer By Ives

Morning Ticker: Blanco leads Fire to SuperLiga final, Estudiantes wins Copa and more

  

The Chicago Fire moved one step closer to silverware on Wednesday night, riding a Cuauhtemoc Blanco free kick to knock off the New England Revolution, 2-1, in the SuperLiga semifinals.

The victory means the Fire will now face Mexican side Tigres in the SuperLiga final. Tigres defeated Santos Laguna, 3-2, in the second semifinal at Gillette Stadium. The SuperLiga final is set for Aug. 5 at Toyota Park.

Here is Blanco's free kick, which may have fooled Matt Reis just a bit (as you can tell by the above photo):

Here are some other stories to get your day going:

Mid-Day Musings: On Beckham, Copa Libertadores and the 2009 MLS Draft

 

                                                                 Photo by ISIphotos.com

In case you didn't know, the Beckham Circus has arrived in the New York area, and while there isn't exactly the type of buzz that existed during his first visit to the area with the Galaxy, there's still some excitement in the air.

Okay, so maybe not THAT much excitement.

Perhaps it would be different if the New York Red Bulls, Beckham and the Galaxy's opponent on Thursday night, weren't a dead team walking, and if Beckham hadn't already come through three times in the past few years (once with England, twice with LA). There'll be some media hysteria, but in terms of local soccer people really getting worked up about his visit to the area? Not so much.

Does that mean there won't be thousands and thousands of non-soccer types and casual soccer fans making the trek to Giants Stadium on Thursday night? No, there'll still be a horde of fans who don't normally go to MLS games, but palpable energy felt around previous Beckham visits is lacking these days.

Copa Libertadores Semi-final Preview

By NESTOR F. SEBASTIAN

South America will see its Copa Libertadores finalists determined this week when the second legs of the semifinals are sorted out with Club Nacional of Montevideo, Uruguay hosting Argentina's Estudiantes de la Plata in the first match-up tonight while tomorrow's all-Brazilian affair has Gremio welcoming Cruzeiro.

All four semifinalists aren't strangers to reaching the deep pools of competition in this tournament with Nacional and Estudiantes boasting three titles each while the Brazilians have won it twice apiece. Whoever wins the 2009 edition will still fall short of catching up to seven-time champs Independiente of Argentina.

Out of the four semifinalists, Cruzeiro looks like they have the easiest path to the final, nursing a 3-1 lead in the series while Estudiantes hold a narrow 1-0 edge.

Here is a preview of this week's 2nd semifinal legs:

Soccer Saturday: Your Running Commentary

It is a somewhat light day of soccer on the international calendar, as the Confederations Cup resumes and African World Cup qualifying takes center stage.

There will be a running commentary post for today's MLS action beginning at 4pm, so look out for that, but if you are following the international front (or South American soccer), feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.

Enjoy the action.

Copa Libertadores: Quarterfinal Preview

By NESTOR F. SEBASTIAN

Copa Libertadores returns to action and its semifinalists will be determined this week as the second legs of he quarterfinals get underway this week with all four matches pretty tight, making the away-goal rule crucial. Brazil has a great chance of having a champion with four of its representatives in the final eight, which would give it its first title since 2006 when Internacional won it.

Tonight, Nacional of Uruguay, which are strangely dealing with a bout of flu among 10 players, will host Brazil's Palmeiras (6:20pm ET) with one goal apiece entering the return match, thanks to an 80th-minute equalizer 18-year-old Santiago Garcia. However, Palmeiras has overcome adversity throughout the tournament and with top forward Keirrison and a solid back line, the Brazilians shouldn't be discounted.

World Cup Qualifying: CONMEBOL Rewind

 

By NESTOR F. SEBASTIAN

With four rounds left, and after almost three years of home-and-away matches among the 10-nation pool of countries in South America, the dust is closely settling on who will make it to South Africa next year and who will stay home and watch it on TV----and there's been little surprise at the outcome.

Brazil sits at the top of the table after 14 matches with 27 points, followed by a relentless Chile (26), who've been a revelation with the most wins so far in this campaign. Paraguay, which started out red-hot, hasn't won in its past four matches, but still sits in third with 24 points, while Argentina claims fourth with 22 points.

The fifth-place playoff spot that would take on CONCACAF's fourth-placed team now belongs to Ecuador (20) points, followed closely by Uruguay (18) and Colombia and Venezuela (both at 17). Bolivia (12) is close to being eliminated while Peru (7) was officially bounced from the competition.

Here's is a quick recap of this week's CONMEBOL's qualifying action:

A busy day in World Cup Qualifying

World Cup qualifying kicks off around the world today as the pressure to qualify for the 2010 World Cup grows and teams start securing their places in the 32-team field.

There are always surprises in qualifying, which makes the matches that much more exciting and unpredictable. Consider that Argentina sits in fourth place in CONMEBOL qualifying while Portugal and Sweden stand in danger of not even qualifying for the tournament. Then you have the positive surprises, such as Hungary and Chile, who are both enjoying strong qualifying campaigns.

What matches are the headliners today? Brazil-Paraguay and Finland-Russia are two of the better tilts, while U.S. national team fans will have a close eye on tonight's CONCACAF qualifiers.

Here is a closer look at today's World CUp qualifying action in Europe, South America and the CONCACAF region:

Morning Ticker: Crew top Quakes, Hejduk not ruled out vs. Costa Rica and Libertadores quarters begin

 

                                                                               Photo by ISIphotos.com

Goals from Eddie Gaven and Guillermo Barros Schelotto helped the Columbus fight back from an early deficit to top the San Jose Earthquakes, 2-1, on Wednesday night at Crew Stadium.

The victory helps the Crew edge out of its tie for last place in the East with the Red Bulls and moved past New England into fifth place in the conference.

Here are some other stories from this morning and Wednesday to get your day going:

Hejduk not ruled out vs. Costa Rica

According to a U.S. national team source, defender Frankie Hejduk has NOT been ruled out for next week's World Cup qualifier vs. Costa Rica because of the groin injury that kept him out of the Crew's win vs. San Jose.

A television report during the Crew's victory against the Earthquakes stated that Hejduk would miss the Costa Rica match, but Hejduk is expected to be re-evaluated by U.S. national team doctors before a decision is made on his availability for Wednesday. (UPDATE- Hejduk will remain in Columbus, where his progress will be tracked by the Crew medical staff and where a decision will be made on whether he can actually join the national team, be it in Miami or San Jose. So no, Hejduk hasn't been ruled out yet.)

If Hejduk cannot play, Jonathan Spector or Marvell Wynne would be expected to fill in for him.

Mexico cuts ties with CONMEBOL after Libertadores mess

By NESTOR F. SEBASTIAN

A little over a decade ago, CONMEBOL decided to start including Mexican teams in its club tournaments after noticing the caliber of the Mexican soccer league, its national team and the potential revenue it could bring in. The move paved the way for Libertadores to add further competitiveness.

While no Mexican team has won the most prestigious competition on this side of the hemisphere yet, they certainly came close on one occasion and have consistently had many of its teams advance past the group stages. Cruz Azul lost on penalties to Boca Juniors in the 2001 campaign while in 2006, Pachuca took home the Copa Sudamericana, the UEFA equivalent of South America. The Mexicans' displays in both tournaments showed the under-appreciative South American teams and fans that Mexico is a force to be dealt with and that it would not lay down so easily to the continent's heavyweights.

On Friday, after Brazil's Sao Paulo and Uruguay's Nacional announced their refusals to travel to Mexico last week for the Libertadores first-leg matches in the Round of 17 phase due to the swine flu scare, the Mexican soccer federation decided that Chivas and San Luis, the Mexican representatives in this year's tournament, would withdraw from play and also said it would sever all ties with CONMEBOL. The federation, in a press conference, blamed the negativity and unprofessional attitude displayed by the Brazilian and Uruguayan camps.

SBI's Mid-Day Musings

 

                                            Photo by ISIphotos.com

Good afternoon all. So it isn't quite "mid-day", well it is in California, but it's time to go over some topics of the day and some of the things that have been going on in the soccer world. Apologies for the slow posting day, but I will try to catch you all up on some of the day's topics. Let's get started.

If Oliver Stone were an MLS fan, he might be ready to write a JFK-like conspiracy flick on the 2009 LA Galaxy season. No team in MLS history has had more game-changing penalty kicks earned by opponent's handballs and while arguments can be made for the Seth Stammler penalty vs. New York, and for Will Johnson's call against RSL on Wednesday night, you throw in all these calls and also things such as Javier Morales' suspension, and the conspiracy theorists have a lot to work with.

Is there a conspiracy to help LA reach the playoffs? No, not really. At this point you can simply call the Galaxy lucky, something Bruce Arena might want to appreciate before he goes complaining about a penalty call against the Galaxy that was far more obvious than most of the penalty calls that have gone in the Galaxy's favor this season.

Copa Libertadores: Round of 16 Preview

 

By NESTOR F. SEBASTIAN

The Copa Libertadores Round of 16 phase got underway on Tuesday with an all-Brazilian affair that jumpstarted the home and away legs in all matches for the next two weeks. With the swine flu scare still hovering, both Mexican teams involved in this round could possibly host their ties here in the U.S. with reports in South America naming Chicago and L.A. as potential spots. Ecuador and Brazil have also offered their stadiums to the Mexicans, who were scheduled to host their first-leg tilts tonight.

Another match postponed as well was the Defensor Sporting-Boca Juniors scheduled for Thursday at the infamous Centenario Stadium in Uruguay. A concert involving a local band in that country is due to take place there on Thursday, pushing the Libertadores tilt to next week.

Here is an update to Libertadores action this week, which will be on Fox Sports en Espanol:

This weekend's Soccer on TV

It is the match La Liga fans have been waiting months for.

Real Madrid takes on Barcelona on Saturday in the weekend's marquee match-up and the game that will determine whether Real Madrid has any legitimate chance to catch Barcelona atop the Spanish First Division standings.

Barcelona's lead is four points, but with the Champion League semifinal second leg vs. Chelsea looming, head coach Pep Guardiola has some tough decisions to make with regards to his lineup and who he will rest vs. Real Madrid.

"El Clasico" is just one of several high-profile matches taking place this weekend. There are great matches from Europe to South America to North America as we head into the final month of the season for many leagues around the globe.

So what are the top matches to watch this weekend? Wondering what games you will have to choose from on TV this weekend? Find out both after the jump:

Copa Libertadores: Round of 16 is set

 

By NESTOR F. SEBASTIAN

The Copa Libertadores group stages ended last night with little surprise as Boca Juniors and Cuenca completed their schedules and advanced as the last two teams to complete the Round of 16 matchups, which will involve all of Brazil's five representatives, leaving little doubt on how strong of a league that country boasts.

Now that the knockout stages are set, CONMEBOL is still trying to figure out what to do with Mexico's two teams, Chivas and San Luis, in the midst of the rising swine flu epidemic that has swept that country as well as other parts around the world.

The South American federation attempted to enlist the city of Bogota, Colombia as the Mexican teams' "home" base but Colombian authorities wasted no time in shooting that notion down, leaving CONMEBOL scrambling to figure out its next move in anticipation of the Round of 16 games slated to start next week.

Although this is pure speculation, there have been murmurs that the Mexican teams could host their South American counterparts in Los Angeles. That in itself would be historic since Copa Libertadores has never been played outside of South America and Mexico.

Morning Ticker: Mexican clubs shunned, Tevez wants to leave Man Utd and Hamburg wins UEFA Cup semi

 

For Mexican clubs San Luis and Chivas de Guadalajara, reaching the knockout rounds of Copa Libertadores should have been reason to celebrate. It has instead become a cause for controversy.

The Swine Flu epidemic has led CONMEBOL to force both San Luis and Chivas to consider alternative options for holding its home legs of the Copa Libertadores outside of Mexico. Both teams were believed to have found a solution in Colombia, but nowthe South American nation has balked at playing host, citing public health concerns.

So what now? San Luis, which faces Uruguayan side Nacional, and Chivas, which is set to meet Brazilian club Sao Paolo, could be forced to play both legs in their opponents country, or both two-game series could be switched to one-game series.

Here are some other stories to get your Friday going.

South America: Ronaldo the Comeback Kid

 

By NESTOR F. SEBASTIAN

It doesn't seem too long ago when many were calling on Ronaldo Luis Nazario de Lima to call it quits after suffering a serious knee injury early last year while playing for A.C.Milan, who let his contract expire and released him. The injury was the third such setback he suffered in his illustrious career.

While there were those that speculated he would retire, O Fenomeno began quietly training with Flamengo in his home country upon his return home to recover from surgery. Little did everyone know that Ronaldo would add another successful outline to his resume.

The famous buck-toothed striker who is sporting a mild 'fro' is currently thriving with Flamengo rival's Corinthians, whom he signed for despite Flamengo's courting before the Brazilian championship began. The resurgence of Ronaldo has excited Corinthians administration that it's actually mulling making a movie about his return to soccer.

And not only are fans, media and the Brazilian federation calling for his return to the national team, Brazil president Lula da Silva also put pressure on national team boss Dunga to consider Ronaldo.

Copa Libertadores: Final round of group play set

By NESTOR F. SEBASTIAN

The final week of Copa Liberatores group-stage action is upon us and with 11 teams vying for the six remaining spots, there are still some chapters to be concluded for these squads who are also carrying the burden of representing a nation as well.

Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Chile have teams fighting for the remaining slots avilable into the Round of 16. Venezuela, Uruguay and Paraguay have one representative each into the next phase while Brazil has four teams through and could potentially have all five, pending this week's results. Argentina looks like it will have at least two teams qualify with three of its teams eliminated.

Here's a preview of the final week of group-stage matches: