U.S. Open Cup Final: Chivas USA at Charleston Battery

Charleston Battery 3 Chivas USA 1

Notable:
*Jesse Marsch scored in the 28th minute for Chivas USA to tie the game at one apiece, but it wasn’t enough to see the club win a U.S. Open Cup game for the first time in four years.

*Chivas USA goalkeeper Lance Parker made his second start of year after playing last Saturday in SuperLiga against San Luis. Defender Bobby Burling saw his first minutes in 2009 after recovering from sports hernia surgery.

Quotable:

“Overall, I thought we were the better team the whole game,” said Chivas USA Coach Preki. “They got lucky breaks. … I thought we played really well. … We made them chase the game. … They just defended the second half and they didn’t want to play.”

Chivas USA XI: Lance Parker, Sasha Victorine, Jim Curtin, Carey Talley, Jorge Flores, Chukwudi Chijindu (Bobby Burling, 70′), Paulo Nagamura, Jesse Marsch, Bojan Stepanovic, Atiba Harris (Michael Lahoud 84), Eduardo Lillingston (Maykel Galindo, 58′).

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The Beckham Experiment: An Excerpt

Sports Illustrated has a sneak peek at the forthcoming book by writer Grant Wahl.

Looks like Galaxy fans aren’t the only ones unconvinced of David Beckham’s supposed commitment to the Galaxy.

Landon Donovan:

“He’s not. He’s not shown that. I can’t think of another guy where I’d say he wasn’t a good teammate, he didn’t give everything through all this, he didn’t still care. But with [Beckham] I’d say no, he wasn’t committed.”

Sounds like the Galaxy are going to have a splendid time when/if Beckham returns doesn’t it?

Read more here.

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Tuesday’s Column: U.S. Attitude Will Bring Victories, Respect

Almost as instructive as the U.S. loss to Brazil Sunday in the final of the Confederations Cup if we are looking forward to gauge the national team’s chances of future success on the world stage, was the Mexican scoreless draw with Guatemala in San Diego.

The U.S. goes down blazing against the world’s best; Mexico struggles to get anything out of a game with a modest soccer nation.

It’s all about attitude.

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U.S Open Cup: Chivas USA at Charleston Battery Tuesday

Briefly:

*The Battery, second in the USL First Division with a 7-2-6 record, lost in last year’s U.S. Open Cup final to D.C. United. They advanced to the third round with wins over Atlanta FC and Miami FC Blues. Charleston is unbeaten at Blackbaud Stadium in 2009 with five wins and three ties.

*Chivas USA haven’t won a U.S. Open Cup game in four years. Chivas USA has one win in the last nine games in all competitions. This is the first-ever meeting between the clubs.

*The game will be streamed live at 4:30 p.m. on USLlive.com.

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Sunday Soccer

Four links for Sunday:
*Chivas USA were dumped out of SuperLiga Saturday.

*Spain beat South Africa in the Confederations Cup today.

*U.S.-Brazil coverage begins at 11 a.m. Sunday live on ESPN. Freddy Adu tweeted at 9 a.m.: “bumping some eminem to get ready for this game. we are hyped right now.”

(Updated 11 a.m.: U.S. lineup.)

The Dynamo visit Home Depot Center at 7 p.m. riding a club-record 11 game winning streak against a Galaxy team that is tied for the fewest wins (with NYRB) in MLS – two. Yikes.

I plan to blog from the game.

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WPS Final: Chicago Red Stars at Sol

Sol 4 Chicago Red Stars 0

Torrance’s Shannon Boxx opened the scoring in the 14th minute, Camile Abily scored the second five minutes later and Marta added the third and fourth goals in the second half.

The 10-1-4 league-leading Sol are undefeated in 10 games; the Red Stars are winless in nine games.

Notable: Marta and Abily are tied for the WPS lead with eight goals apiece.

Quotable:

“It was a big challenge today as it was our third game in seven days, but I thought we played very well,” said Coach Abner Rogers. “Obviously, the result speaks for itself. The number of opportunities that we created was very satisfying.”

Announced attendance: 4,653

Sol Lineup: Karina LeBlanc; Stephanie Cox, Allison Falk, Marina Franko, Katie Larkin, McCall Zerboni (72: Aly Wagner), Shannon Boxx , Camille Abily (80: Maya Makoski), Aya Miyama, Han Duan, Marta.

Next: Sol hosts Saint Louis Athletica at noon Wednesday, July 8.

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