Another US goalkeeper bites the dust…
Picking up where we left off yesterday with the news that Hope Solo and Jill Loyden are out of the WNT picture with injuries, it was learned today that Tim Howard is now also bitten by the injury bug with a pair of fractured bones in his back will keep him out of the lineup for a while, including the March MNT qualifiers. Howard likely will not have surgery as the bones are non weight-bearing are usually mended via rest. Meanwhile, Solo's surgery Thursday revealed her injury was worse than expected and she will now miss 3-4 months.
US, Canada women win again
The United States continued its domination at the Algarve Cup despite a younger roster with stars like Abby Wambach on the sideline, topping the continually dropping Chinese women, 5-0. Sweden won the other match in their group and Germany blanked Japan 2-0 in a showdown of powers while Norway and Denmark went scoreless. Mexico dropped a narrow 1-0 contest to Wales in the third group as Hungary downed Portugal.
Meanwhile, at the Cyprus Cup, Canada needed to come from behind to defeat Finland, 2-1, and reach the tournament final. And in her return from suspension, it was, of course, Christine Sinclair getting the winner, though it was from the spot. They will face either New Zealand or England depending on Monday's results. The Kiwis fell to Italy 2-0 while the English played to a wild 4-4 result in a surprising performance from Scotland. Check out the video highlights: a mix of good and poor play by both sides.
BBC Gives Ladies a Boost
Sticking with the women's soccer topic, news came out Friday that the BBC is expanding its women's soccer coverage on channel BBC Two and online with match broadcasts and additional programming.
Weathering MLS in Week 2
Bringing things back stateside, the story of the weekend is going to be weather. As noted yesterday, Colorado is expecting a major storm to roll through right during match time today. That's left the club with a morning decision on whether or not to postpone. Fortunately, they have coordinated with Philadelphia that should they make the decision to move the game for fan safety on the roads, the match will be played Sunday afternoon beneath what are expected to be sunny skies.
That potential decision could slightly delay the first Rapids game in front of a newly united fanbase that has seen three supporters group merge into one, the newly named Centennial 38.
While Colorado is awaiting their potential foot or more of snow, the Chicago Fire are digging out for their home opener against the season opening New England Revolution, who were idle last week, after getting a few inches earlier this week. The club's staff were out shoveling the stands, as was caught on film by my fellow former USL coworker Jeff Crandall, who is now a writer with the Fire's website.
Crandall could be included as part of this story that discusses the increased investment by the Fire, which has long been a leader player development investing (PDL, Super Y-League, etc), in off the field staff and marketing to reach fans. The team has put a new emphasis on reaching out over the past five years or so as this story touches on.
MLS in Elk Grove?
Well, Sacramento to be a little less specific. On the verge of losing their NBA franchise to Seattle, the city is now pondering building a soccer stadium and complex. It is, to be honest, quite a longshot for the capital of California, but as the story says, they are also considering a scaled down stadium for a lower division franchise as well.
stadium
Foot in Mouth?
Things may be going well in much of MLS but apparently New York's Thierry Henry isn't exactly in a good mood. First, he was upset last weekend with the travel situation caused by a cancelled flight (which happened again this week). Then a story came out in Sports Illustrated by Grant Wahl in which he says it is much harder to win the MLS championship. Normally, that would be a fantastic compliment to the league, but he continued, saying that it was harder to win because the players around him were not as good as those he played with in Europe. Ouch!.
MLS vs the World
Well, Henry's statements, which have merit, may be the perfect rationale why comparing statistics alone, done in this MLSsoccer feature, does not explain everything. Sure, the numbers like goals per game, shooting rates and passing percentages may be similar between MLS and the world's top leagues, but that doesn't tell what the quality level is. For example, if defenses aren't as good poorer strikers are going to score more frequently.
Chivas vs Chivas
After a week of ridicule for their attendance figures last week, it was announced that Chivas USA will be heading over the border to play a friendly against the big club, Chivas Guadalajara, for charity.
Justice vs Athlete Stardom
Star Brazilian goalkeeper Bruno Fernandes, a candidate for the World Cup squad, was sentenced to 22 years in prison after being convicted of ordering the murder of his former girlfriend - details of which are gruesome and I will leave to the linked story. The case, being compared to that of OJ Simpson by media, was quite complicated, and also involved the kidnapping of the woman's son and a previous incident in which he was jailed for abducting and assaulting her a year prior to her disappearance and murder.
And Now for Something Completely Different
After that horrific news, here's some recent funny video courtesy of KickTV and former US international Jimmy Conrad. First up, Conrad has a little fun with league MVP Chris Wondolowski. Second, a clip of the already viral goat video merged into with some goal calls - perfect for Chivas USA fans (if they score any goals this year).
'Soccer with Breakfast' is a quick recap of interesting, underreported, or top soccer news items - sometimes accompanied by some commentary - to give readers in the Inland Northwest area (or beyond) a brief look around the North American news scene.
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