Footie News

bbc photo gallery: David Beckham enjoys a traditional Maori greeting as he arrives in Wellington, New Zealand, with the LA Galaxy
I always have to ease back into blogging after an absence. Easy topics like soccer.

Damarcus Beasley tore ligaments in his knee last weekend and is probably done for the SPL season. Hope he can rehab himself back into shape again.

Legendary women's soccer coach Anson Dorrance's sexual harassment trial scheduled for April 2008.

The groups for Euro 2008 were drawn this morning: Group C (Italy, France, Holland, Romania) nominated as "Group of Death".

The Guardian (uk) has a gallery of photoshopped pics of what the England players will be doing during Euro 2008.

No surprise here: Kaka wins the Ballon D'Or, Europe's top player; Christiano Ronaldo a distant second.

Mia Hamm and Nomar Garciaparra and their 8-month old twins visit the University of Texas. Cute!

Mia Hamm, Nomar Garciaparra and their 8-month-old daughters, Grace and Ava, with Mack Brown [UT head coach]

Foudy Induction Speech Video

It's excerpts filmed by someone who was there, with a little clip at the end of Mia Hamm being introduced onto the field as a sub during the Hall of Fame Game.

hat tip to USA Women's Soccer

2007 Soccer Hall of Fame Inductions

National Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum, Oneonta, New York


National Soccer Hall of Fame Induction 2007 Julie Foudy Highlights Video

National Soccer Hall of Fame Induction 2007 Mia Hamm Highlights Video



Coach Mom & I got to see the induction of Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy to the Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta, New York on Sunday. We got there about 11:00 a.m. for the noon time ceremony and the Hall of Fame was mobbed. In 2004 we attended Michelle Akers induction(the greatest player in the history of women's soccer -- Mia Hamm described her as the best ever in her speech), and got there at the same time & sat in the front row of the lobby where it was held then.

This year it was held outdoors on the grounds. We brought chairs and set up in the 10th row amid a bunch of grumbling people who were standing behind the last row of chairs. I wasn't going to set Coach Mom's chair behind a bunch of people standing up! One woman behind us asked, who's that other woman being inducted with Mia? Julie something? So I didn't feel bad about encroaching on their space.

Unlike Akers, who was inducted first in her class, the Hall of Fame did it right and inducted Foudy & Hamm last. Former National Team head coach Tony DiCicco & retired National Team captain Carla Overbeck inducted Julie Foudy, who then gave a great speech. Anson Dorrance inducted Mia Hamm, and they were both very inspiring. Julie Foudy talked about her daughter Izzy and the cameras panned over her while the crowd oohed. Mia Hamm thanked her husband Nomar Garciaparra and talked about their two daughters, Eva (Ava?) and Grace, but the cameras did not show them. I don't think those kids have ever been photographed and apparently Mia intends to keep it that way. Good for her.

But as usual it was a disorganized mess from an event planning perspective. The Hall of Fame was blocked off during and before the ceremony for the VIPs. You could get into the gift shop, but there was a long line. And they weren't selling Foudy and Hamm shirts. Or if they were, they ran out early. Morons. They should have had a stand up OUTSIDE and they would have sold at least 1000. They were selling David Beckham's Galaxy jersey and many girls appeared from the gift shop wearing those. But what a missed opportunity. Thousands of people there, soccer in their hearts, money in their pockets, and kids tugging on their sleeves. (The crowd was estimated at 5,000.)

The game was supposed to start half an hour after the ceremonies ended. I walked back to the car to dump off our chairs. We walked towards the field. Now it is after 2:00 and Coach Mom has to eat. But there are only two food concessions open. Two ines total. I got in the shorter line (the one that didn't sell french fries). After waiting 45 minutes in line (and missing the entire first half of the Hall of Fame game, when Hamm and Foudy played) they ran out of everything but nachos. So I got Coach Mom a plate of nachos, cheese crackers and a candy bar (so she wouldn't keel over) and told them they had to let me cut the line when they got real food. Luckily an old friend of ours spotted us as we got into line & I sent Mom to talk to her while I waited. Again, event planning 101, if you expect a crowd of thousands, more than half kids, you'd better have plenty of food concessions. The line I was in was being serviced by 6 women using an extra large home sized grill. A dozen burgers and a dozen hotdogs at a time. To feed thousands of people. Planning, people, planning!

So, we saw part of the second half of the Hall of Fame game, saw Christie Welsh score two goals, but missed Hamm, Foudy, Overbeck, & Tiffany Roberts play though. We saw a few more of Coach Mom's former players and students. Coach Mom won the Oneonta Soccer Club raffle and got a big basket of soccer shirts and ephemera. We left the game with 20 minutes left & went to Brooks's BBQ where we just got our takeout chicken before the hordes from the game descended.

Oneonta Daily Star: 5,000 greet soccer greats

Oneonta Daily Star: All eyes on Hamm and Foudy

Hall of Fame Magazine.com: Soccer Hall of Fame Induction Has Record Attendance

NYTimes: Hamm and Foudy Join Hall

Sports Roundup, Saturday, August 4, 2007

Chad Finn loves loves loves Kevin Garnett:

I guess it's still just surreal that perhaps the most likable NBA superstar of the last decade is on the Celtics, and I'm still savoring the whole thing, four days after the trade. It's funny, I've been trying to explain how significant this is to the lapsed Celtics fans I know, and I just keep coming back to the same point: Kevin Garnett will restore Celtic Pride. I guarantee it. He is the perfect player in the perfect place at the perfect time. He's a superstar who plays with the hunger and desperation of a 12th man. He's maniacal about winning.

Soccer Hall of Fame gets smart, will have two women's teams in the Hall of Fame Game on August 26th when Hamm & Foudy are inducted. Hamm, Foudy and Carla Overbeck will all play in the game.

Washington Post with an article about and interview with Freddy Adu who is now in Portugal training with Benfica; Grant Wahl of SI also interviewed Freddy.

Former Boston College striker and New Hampshire native Charlie Davies happy in Sweden.

Welcome to Boston, Eric Gagne. We'll go Ga-Ga for you.

Footie News

United States midfielder Leslie Osborne, right, turns toward the goal past Japan's Eriko Arakawa during the second half of an exhibition women's soccer match on Saturday, July 28, 2007, in San Jose, Calif. The USA won 4-1. (AP Photo/ Tony Avelar)

The US women defeated Japan 4-1 last night; game coverage from AP and ussoccer.com. Abby Wambach scored and is now tied with Cindy Partlow for #5 on the alltime US scoring list with 75 goals. Wambach scored her 75 in 94 games, an amazing strike rate; Partlow took 158. Captain America Kristine Lilly scored her 124th career Nats goal, still #2 on the all-time list, moving her one closer to Mia Hamm's record 158 goals.

From a few days ago, ussoccer.com with a Q&A with Abby Wambach.

The unfortunately named Pinkfootball.com has profiles of the teams going to the Women's World Cup in September.

Freddy Adu to Benfica (Portugal, the former club of Eusebio, among others). Good on ya, Freddy; European competition will raise your game. Your chances of making the 2010 World Cup team just leaped considerably.

Blackburn rumored to be after Eddie Johnson. Go east, young man.

American Eric Lichaj signed by Aston Villa. How exciting, to play for Martin O'Neill. Sal Zizzo of the U20 team signed a 3 year contract with Hannover 96.

Brian McBride interviewed by the Independent (uk).

And finally, we may be destroying their country, but we haven't destroyed their spirit: Miraculously, Iraq for the first time in its history wins the Asian Cup, a "fairytale ending".

The Ageless Wonder

NYTimes: Lilly, Matriarch of U.S. Team, Refuses to Fade to Gray

[Saturday, when the United States plays an exhibition against Brazil at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., Lilly is expected to make her 327th international appearance, unsurpassed by any man or woman. Only Hamm, with 158 international goals, has scored more than Lilly’s 122.]

When she began, the American women ate candy bars on the road in China and stayed in a Haitian hotel with no running water. Now Lilly forges on toward her fifth World Cup with a pioneer’s spirit and demand for excellence, even as her teammates jokingly call her Grandma, if not often to her face.

[]

While Chastain got all the attention for twirling her jersey above her head like a lasso after the winning penalty kick in the 1999 Women’s World Cup, there would have been no dramatic, victorious ending against China without Lilly’s fundamental perfection.

In overtime, with 90,000 on hand at the Rose Bowl and 40 million Americans watching on television, Lilly lined up at the near post, followed the indolent trajectory of a corner kick and rebuffed a Chinese shot with her head.

That header is probably the most important individual play in the history of U.S. women's soccer.

You Heard It Here First: Twin Girls Will Play For USA In 2027 World Cup

Not really that bold a prediction given their parents. Maybe Mom will coach?

Boston Globe (AP): Garciaparra, Hamm are parents of twins

Embarrassingly, the WaPo runs the same AP article accompanied by a picture of Nomar. Nomar only. Not Mia. Sheesh.

AOL Sports: Double Play: Nomar Garciaparra and Mia Hamm Have Twins

On Tuesday, Nomar Garciaparra and Mia Hamm became the proud parents of (I'm guessing) two of the most athletically-gifted newborn babies the world has ever seen:

"Both are healthy and over five pounds," Dodgers spokesman Josh Rawitch said, adding the births took place in the Los Angeles area.

Rawitch said Garciaparra left the team late Tuesday to be with his wife, but was in the air when the babies were born.

"He was on a speaker phone with the delivery room speaking with Mia during the births," Rawitch said.

I guess that whole "no cell phones on airplanes" thing doesn't apply to two-time batting champions. I'm putting the over/under on America's T-ball and youth soccer records being absolutely annihilated at five years ... and I'm taking the under.

In the meantime, for the sake of the babies, I'm hoping Nomar's OCD-like routine before every swing doesn't extend to feeding time, or else these kids might just go hungry.

Hamm, Foudy Elected to Soccer Hall of Fame; Fawcett Inexplicably Falls Short (Updated)

As in this picture, Hamm, Foudy & Fawcett should be going in to the Hall together
Hall of Fame Magazine: Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy Elected To National Soccer Hall Of Fame
First Ever Women-Only Induction Class

Four idiots didn't even vote for Mia Hamm. Jeez. That means 23 drooling morons didn't vote for Julie Foudy, the woman who captained the team to World Cup and Olympic gold glory (no US man in the Hall can claim either). And 46 knuckle-dragging ignoramuses didn't vote for Joy Fawcett, the best defender in the history of the US national team. Sheesh.

The top ten on the 2007 Hall of Fame Players' Ballot were:

Mia Hamm 137 Votes 97.16%
Julie Foudy 118 83.69%
Joy Fawcett 95 67.38%
Marco Etcheverry 82 58.16%
Thomas Dooley 73 51.77%
Joe-Max Moore 73 48.23%
Carlos Valderrama 68 48.23%
Peter Vermes 44 31.21%
Peter Nowak 40 28.37%
Mauricio Cienfuegos 35 24.82%

Joy Fawcett is the most-capped defender in the history of US soccer (male or female) with 239 appearances in the national team shirt; she scored 27 goals, which puts her at #13 on the US women's all-time list. If she were a man her 27 goals would put her #3 on the US men's all-time scoring list.

On the men's side, Cobi Jones leads all players with 164 appearances; Fawcett has 75 more AND SHE HAD THREE CHILDREN DURING HER CAREER, which certainly lowered her appearance total. Jeff Agoos leads defenders in caps with 134; he scored 4 goals. Marcelo Balboa comes after Agoos on the all-time men's list with 128 appearances and 13 goals. And here's the fact that proves my point. Marcelo Balboa, 128/13, was elected to the Soccer Hall of Fame on the first ballot.

Joy Fawcett isn't a first-ballot Hall of Famer with 239 appearances and 27 goals? A man gets in on the first ballot with less than half the goals? With almost half the appearances? And the woman who has twice as many is excluded? Sexism rules the Hall voters, clearly.

Hey, even ESPN (which hates soccer) agrees with me:

Andrea Canales, ESPN: Fawcett's exclusion a mistake

Although Fawcett usually maintained a low profile, her importance to the U.S. team during her playing days was obvious in one startling statistic -- she played every minute of every U.S. match in the last three World Cups and the last three Olympics.

Although in many ways Fawcett was an anchor to the squad, she also pulled off a regular disappearing act, leaving the squad regularly to have children. At a time when many female players put off having a family, fearful that the return to top form would be too difficult given the time off and the physical transformation involved, Fawcett gave birth to three girls, Katelyn Rose, Carli Jean and Madilyn Rae.

After each child, she fought her way back into the lineup by regaining her fitness through tough training, even when it meant her babies logged numerous miles in racing strollers.

If not for the time off involved with her pregnancies and recovery, Fawcett would no doubt be higher on the list of all-time caps for the U.S. women's team. As it is, she sits in fourth place with 239, behind only Kristine Lilly, Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy.

Fawcett also remains one of the squad's most accomplished two-way players, a defender with great ball control who could contribute to the attack. Her 27 goals and 23 assists in her career attest to her productivity at putting the ball in the net for her team rather than just keeping the ball out against opponents.

ESPN: Hamm and Foudy to be inducted into Hall of Fame

Orange County Register: Foudy named to soccer hall of fame

Monsters & Critics (uk): Hamm, Foudy voted into National Soccer Hall of Fame

Update: More articles

WaPo: Hamm and Foudy Have A Hall Pass Waiting

NYTimes: For Two Pioneers, Journey Ends at the Hall of Fame

LATimes: Hamm, Foudy join select group
Former stars of U.S. women's national team will be inducted Aug. 26

Happy Thanksgiving

Mia Hamm and Nomar Garciaparra are expecting -- twins! -- according to today's Boston Globe (scroll down to 4th item). This brings me to my favorite celebrity game, which kids of famous athletes will be the best athletes? I have my money on the Hamm-Garciaparra kids, over the Agassi-Graf kids, because of the combining of two sports.

Well, anyway, that's a little good news to contemplate at your Thanksgiving table. Back next week.

World Cup News

The US defeated Guatemala yesterday, 4-0. We are tied for 6th in the FIFA rankings and Guatemala is 58th, so it wasn't much of a test. The most significant part of the game was the welcome return of the GAM*, Eddie Johnson, who has missed much of the past year with a stress fracture in his foot and then a calf injury. And being Eddie Johnson, he scored less than two minutes after entering the game at the start of the second half.

Eddie Johnson scored 8 times in his first 8 international appearances, so in my book he better be on the US squad in Germany. He's young, and a work in progress, but he has that elusive skill so many Americans lack. He finishes. When he plays, he scores. The United States has never had a male player who is a natural finisher (the women have had three of the best, Michelle Akers, Mia Hamm, and Abby Wambach) and scoring goals is always the weakest part of our game. I want to see Eddie Johnson up front with Brian McBride in June.

Reportedly MLS turned down a $4 million or $5 million transfer fee offer from Portugese club Benfica for Johnson. For all the hype about Freddy Adu, Johnson could well be the real US superstar in soccer.

In other World Cup group news, Italy suffered a blow to its World Cup squad when star midfielder Francesco Totti broke his leg in Roma's game against Empoli this weekend. The injury is described as "a fractured fibula and ankle ligament damage", and early reports are that he will be out for three months. Totti is only 29 years old but recovery from a serious injury on such a tight timetable is never a guarantee.

"Health comes first, and I don't want to risk health," Totti told Italian news agency ANSA on Monday. "I strongly want (to play in) the World Cup ... but this is a hope more than a promise. I'll go only if I'm fully recovered."

Ghana will be without the services of Laryea Kingston, midfielder, who was given a four-game ban by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) after receiving a red card against Senegal in their Africa Nations Cup game.

Ghana's midfield did suffer a severe blow, however, when Laryea Kingston clashed – rather innocuously it must be said – with Senegal's Habib Beye in their group clash on Jan 27th and both players were sent off.

Kingston, a dynamo who plays his football in Russia for Lokomotiv Moscow and is one of Ghana's most potent attacking aces, received a stinging four-match ban which means he will miss their group games in Germany and can only return for the knockout stages.

The four-game ban was upheld by CAF, which means Kingston cannot play in any of Ghana's three group matches.


*GAM: Eddie Johnson was interviewed for a puff piece by US Soccer. When asked what video games he plays, he responded: "I don't play video games. I'm a grown ass man!"

Curse of the Bambino

Not exactly news, but farewell to Nomar Garciaparra, my favorite player on the Red Sox. Nomar always played the game the way it should be played. Plus he married Mia Hamm confirming his good taste in my book. (Real men marry athletes.) The writing was on the wall ever since his dumb agent Arn Tellem advised him to turn down the $60 million/4 year offer last year. And it was pretty much all she wrote when dumbf*** "I ate a bucket of steroids & now I think I'm a ballplayer" Kevin Millar went on Sportscenter during the A-Rod talks last year and said, I'd rather have A-Rod than Nomar. You know Nomar would never forget that. He never would have done that to one of his teammates, either. He had too much class for that.

But Theo? You just traded a first ballot Hall of Famer for two guys who are going to have to buy bus tickets to get to Cooperstown? Dude, get ready to be looking for another job in a few years. This one's gonna hurt us for a long time. Not that we thought you were a fine judge of horseflesh after you traded Shea Hillenbrand, .300 career hitter, for Byung Hyun Kim, pitcher & head case. Why would you trade for a pitcher who melted down against the Yankees in the World Serious? Ah, the eternal mystery & pain of being a Sox fan.

Good luck Nomar. If the Red Sox aren't going to win the World Series this year (they may not even get the wild card) I'll be rooting for the Cubbies.

LINK This was a bad deal: How could the Sox deal Nomar without getting a pitcher in return?

LINK (From El Guapo's Ghost blog) NOMAH FIVE IS NO MORE

LINK Jim Fennell:Don’t blame Nomar for this one, Sox fans

LINK (registration required) Trashing of Garciaparra continues in Boston

OK, this article is so good I will put it in in its entirety:

By RICK MORRISSEYChicago Tribune
CHICAGO - Day 4 of the attempted demolition of Nomar Garciaparra included an assertion by Red Sox owner John Henry that his former shortstop recently had to be talked out of demanding a trade.

This followed accusations in Boston that Garciaparra was a slacker, a malcontent, a clubhouse cancer, selfish, weird, an injury waiting to happen, a faker, a liar and anything else you can think of except a cheap tipper, although that's being nvestigated.

The way it's going, Day 6 will dawn with news that Garciaparra often wore lacy Yankees-logo undergarments and that close personal friend Osama bin Laden, though thinking the bra was a bit much, approved.

The Red Sox know they messed up. We know the Red Sox know they messed up because, ever since they dealt him to the Cubs, they have tried to tear him down. This is what you do to buildings that are dilapidated and lack character. You don't do it to one of the best players in team history.

But the Red Sox carry on, sledgehammer in hand, because they know they received the weaker part of the deal. They know their fans are upset about losing a Boston icon, a man with a career .323 batting average.

I'm not sure I can recall such a lengthy, all-out verbal assault on one player after he had been traded. Know this: The harsher the attacks, the more indignant the protests, the more likely it is that a team is doing the backstroke. The Red Sox have backstroked so much, they're halfway to Europe and spitting out saltwater.

Garciaparra is a Cub now, and although it's all that matters, he would need news conferences between innings to answer the onslaught of charges against him. Somehow he has managed to play well.

The most surprising thing is that his Achilles' tendon, the one that kept him out 57 games this year, hasn't turned into angel-hair pasta. The Red Sox seem to be waiting for that to happen. That, or they're waiting for his Pinocchio nose to take out about seven Cubs' kneecaps in the team clubhouse. They can't seem to decide whether he's delicate or disingenuous.

The Red Sox are getting heat for acquiring Doug Mientkiewicz and Orlando Cabrera in the four-team trade that sent Garciaparra to Chicago. You'd get blow-torched, too, if you made that deal. What they'd like everyone to know is: It's not our fault! That's what all this petulance is about.

The Red Sox weren't able to sign Nomar to a four-year, $60 million contract extension, presumably because Garciaparra didn't like the deferred money in the deal. The Red Sox didn't like their chances of signing him when he became a free agent after this season. So they traded him. Fine. But be adults and swallow it.

They aren't talking much about their role in the lead-up to the trade. They're the team that tried to acquire superstar Alex Rodriguez in the off-season. They're the team that would have traded Garciaparra if the Rangers had traded Rodriguez to Boston.

If you were trying to offend a man who considers himself one of the best shortstops in the game, the best way to go about it would be by trying to acquire Alex Rodriguez.

They expected a proud superstar to put it all behind him? To remember it's just business and to not take it personally? And yet, despite the slap in the face from the Red Sox, Garciaparra and his agent both have denied that he wanted out of Boston.

Trying to put the blame on Garciaparra for Saturday's trade is like blaming Hawaii for Pearl Harbor. This is about Red Sox officials Larry Lucchino and Boy Wonder Theo Epstein attempting to clean up their mess without getting dirty. The egg on their faces would seem to indicate they haven't succeeded.

So almost a week after the trade, Garciaparra is still defending himself against an extremely defensive franchise. Character witness Todd Walker, a former teammate in Boston and a current one in Chicago, said Garciaparra was well-liked in the Red Sox's clubhouse. That doesn't match up with the characterization in the Boston media of him as "cancer."

Wonder where that could have come from.

How the trade will be remembered will depend on how well Garciaparra plays and whether, perish the thought, he wins a World Series ring somewhere other than Boston. It won't be the curse of the Bambino, but it will feel like a close relative.

LINK From the ObeyPedro blog:

The best quote I've read so far concerning the Garciaparra trade has to be from Larry Mahnken:

Meanwhile the Red Sox pointed a shotgun at their face, pulled the trigger, and said, "I think we look better now." A lot of reports list the Red Sox as trade deadline winners, which is true only in the sense that everyone who participates in the Special Olympics is a winner.

I don't necessarily agree with him, especially now that Bellhorn is on the DL with a broken thumb, but it's funny nonetheless.