Canada’s qualification route for the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup Germany 2010 is fast approaching. The eight-team confederation qualification – the 2010 CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championship – runs 18-31 January in Guatemala. Canada plays Costa Rica on 20 January, Cuba on 22 January and host Guatemala on 24 January.

The Canadian camp features six new players: goalkeeper Helena Brooke McCurdy from Peterborough, ON, forward Julie Casselman from Gatineau, QC, midfielder Catherine Charron-Delage from Longueuil, QC, defender Vanessa Legault-Cordisco of Boisbriand, QC, forward Adriana Leon from Maple, ON, and midfielder Christabel Odura from Brampton, ON. Of note, Leon was the Top Scorer at the 2009 Canada Games Women’s Soccer Tournament.

The 2010 CONCACAF Women’s Under-20 Championship will qualify three teams for the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup Germany 2010.

BACK ISSUE
Sept/Oct 2007

Entrance to Soccer Paradise
Alfons Rubbens
U-20 Now A World Attraction
Bob Koep
A Tournament To Remember
Bob Koep and Amanda Barrie
Futbol Factory
Paul S. Hendren
Sweat and Sour Chile
Paul S. Hendren
FIFA U-20 World Cup Tecnical Seminar Toronto
Matt Greenwood

Stephen Hart – PHOTO Wolf Ruck

Just under a hundred coaches from Ontario recently seized the opportunity to hear from FIFA’s Technical Committee at a presentation made at The Crescent School in Toronto. The event was hosted by Dick Howard who, as Chairman of the Technical Committee felt this was too good an opportunity for local coaches to miss. The Technical Committee presented at length on many aspects of the U20 tournament followed in the late afternoon by presentations from Stephen Hart (National U15 Coach), Jim Cannovan (Director Technical, OSA), Bryan Rosenfeld (Head of Player Development, OSA) and Dave Benning of The Canadian Soccer Association (CSA).

The FIFA Technical Committee attends every major tournament in an effort to review the current trends within the game. Topics covered at the seminar included:

• FIFA Overview – Jurg Nepfer
• Team Building – Mohases Morteza
• Tactical Play – Horst Kreite
• Star Players – Rodrigo Kenton
• Youth Development – Jim Selby

Jurg Nepfer gave a detailed overview of the FIFA organization and its different departments. Of interest was the fact that FIFA makes the majority of its money from the World Cup and between 1999 and 2006 invested approximately $874 million in its development program.

The development includes work in refereeing, coaching, administration, women and youth football as well as its technical centre’s.

Mohasses Morteza, FIFA Coaching Instructor and representative from the Asian Football Confederation gave a fascinating insight into the role of team building. Morteza spoke of the type of selection process, style of play and key elements that make a team. He stated ‘team building and coaching are two volumes of the same book’ and gave the delegates a excellent examples of U20 teams in training and the style of camaraderie that is built up with particular reference to the Argentinean and Austrian teams.

Horste Kreite, FIFA Coaching Instructor, currently based with the Chinese FA gave a broad tactical overview of the types of play seen in this years U20 competition. From the flare and technical excellence of Chile and Argentina to the discipline and counter attacking style of the Czech Republic and Austria. Kreite felt that ‘the players make a system but the system doesn’t make a player’ and that this was evident in the free role that some players were given.

A number of the Technical Committee had observed training sessions and even pre-tournament games that the competing teams had played. Kreite noted that Argentina were a good example of a team that took game examples and used them in training. Quoting from Arsene Wenger, Kreite stated ‘the game has to be at the heart of every training session’.

The morning session concluded with Rodrigo Kenton, FIFA Technical Committee Member and National Coach in Guatemala highlighting the technical and tactical abilities of the tournaments Star Players. Kentons presentation highlighted the stars of previous tournaments and how they have progressed but came back to the ongoing discussion of nature versus nurture.

Delegates got the chance to speak one-on-one with the FIFA panel during lunch before the seminar resumed with a detailed presentation from Jim Selby, Technical Director with the Oceania Football Federation who is based in New Zealand. Selby’s presentation focused on youth development and in particular how clubs identify and challenge their elite youth players. He challenged the coaches to raise their game so that they can be in a position to really support those players and in turn support the development of provincial and national squads.

The seminar then specifically addressed the activity going on within Canada right now.

Jim Cannovan began by identifying that the implications for Canadian Soccer affected everyone. To begin, soccer in Canada suffers from a lack of communication that runs from the CSA down to the local clubs. Cannovan felt this needed to change sooner rather than later because Canada has a grassroots club structure better than any other in the world. Every kid has the chance to play on a team, to have a ball, to get a kit but where we struggle is in our efforts to give every child a qualified coach. As a result The Ontario Soccer Association has designed a booklet which each delegate received. ‘Wellness to World Cup’ is an in depth look at the Long Term Player Development (LTPD) process and how it affects soccer players from the first time they become active through to national teams and even into Masters/Classics soccer.

Bryan Rosenfeld gave an overview of competitive opportunities for players who reach the end of a Provincial career and look to make the step-up to professionalism. It was identified that the introduction of Toronto FC had certainly been a positive step for the game in Ontario and another gateway for aspiring players. Bryan did give a clear example of how LTPD was impacting on Provincial and National teams.

The LTPD process recommends 10,000 hours of training within 10 years which equates to about 3 hours of training per day. He identified that current squads he was working with commonly hit about 3000 hours during the same 10 year time frame. There were also concerns over the amount of time a coach was able to work with provincial or National players over an extended period of time -training camps were severely limited and affected by travel time, injury and adjustments to a foreign country.

The presentation by Stephen Hart was made with a clear focus on aspects of the Canadian teams’ performance in the U20 World Cup. At the centre of his concerns was the lack of opportunity for players to learn on the international stage which was explained by the naivety that some players can show. This wasn’t a simple issue of being out played on the field but a bigger picture of players understanding the rules at the highest levels of the game. From a technical point of view Hart identified Canada’s lack of ability in front of the net with both the feet and head. There was concern that 20 years ago Canada’s ability in the air was well recognised but it has now become a dying art. The game against Congo reflected this with three or more clear cut heading chances that were not taken or missed the target. The ability of players, in particular the strikers, to shoot off either their left or right foot was disappointing and Hart felt a lot of scoring opportunities were lost due to players moving the ball to their stronger foot. Harts message appeared to be well accepted with the attendees who were reassured that problems they had identified were also at the top of the CSA’s list.

Dave Benning of The CSA reiterated many of the concerns identified by the previous speakers and again highlighted the lack of creative flair within the Canadian team compared with the play of eventual winners Argentina and group members Chile.

The FIFA Technical Seminar proved to be a great day for those coaches keen to learn more about the role of FIFA and how the work that club coach’s carryout everyday across Canada helps to serve the development and growth of the sport. The fact that the FIFA Delegates were so approachable and happy to answer questions in person made for an even more memorable day and one that may not come around again too soon!

“My officers were punched, kicked, spat on and kicked in the groin.”
Bill Blair Toronto Police Chief

“”I didn’t see any Chilean player hitting any officer except between all the struggling.”
Harold Mayne-Nicholls Chile Football Federation Chair

Top To Bottom

600,000,000 :: World television audience numbers
166,000,000 :: Economic impact numbers (in $$$)
105,000,000 :: Stadium construction numbers (in $$$)
45,000,000 :: Associated spending numbers (in $$$)
18,000,000 :: Event staging numbers (in $$$)
6,500,000 :: CBC viewer numbers
1,200,000 :: Attendance numbers
2007 :: Calendar year numbers
1,000 :: Accredited media numbers
52 :: Game numbers
22 :: Calendar final day numbers
20 :: Maximum player age numbers
6 :: Host numbers
2 :: Cup cycle numbers (in years)

By Bob Koep

It is beginning to get frightening.

For the 6th time Argentina picked up the Under-20 World Cup with a 2-1 victory over the Czech Republic at Toronto’d National Soccer Stadium.

Now is there only one consistent system in this world? Or are the Argentines better at producing one excellent group of youngsters after another?

As a rule a youngster only has one crack at the can, sometimes two, in the under 20 bracket, before he moves on to senior ranks. So coaches have to search near and far all the time to find new talent for this bi-annual tournament. And Argentine coach Hugo Tocalli said he regretted very much having to leave a number of great players behind as he is only allowed a roster of 21.

Well, here they were, a perfectly blended team, goal, defence, midfield, attack that was a puzzle to most opponents in the tournament. But in the final they almost had their come uppance.

The Czechs played a scrappy game throughout and their well organized defence kept the Argentines at bay. And then, after 60 minutes, their offence clicked as well when Martin Fenin blasted a shot behind Sergio Romero in the Argentine goal to take the lead.

That should have done the trick as the two had earlier played to a 0-0 tie in Group action and the Czechs are very stingy in defence. But maybe it was a mistake to arouse the anger of the South Americans.

In no time flat they shook off this shock, exploited a temporary lull in the Czech lines and Sergio Aguero found himself alone in front of the goal and pulled the trigger for the equalizer just a minute later.

They say the moments after an important goal has been scored are the most vulnerable and the Czechs proved this again as they were somewhat asleep and seemed still to be celebrating. But in the end, the Argentines had enough to cart home the title as Mauro Zarate rolled a rather harmless ball into the net for the winner just a few minutes from time.

Aguero, 19, probably the finest player in the loop and already a pro with Atletico Madrid, picked up the golden boot for his leading six goals and he also was voted the top player in the 23-day, 52 game tournament.

In the earlier consolation game on the same field, Chile worked out a 1-0 win over Austria to pick up third place.

In all, there were 12 games played at the Toronto Stadium and it seems a bit odd, that each and everyone was reported to have an attendance of exactly 19,526.

Now that is rather improbable especially as the VIP boxes were sometimes near empty and sometimes full. These people don’t pay admission, so were they counted or not? Especially the third place game had thousands of empty seats but was supposed to be a full house.

But how can you argue with statistics. They are there for all to see and let’s leave it at that.

National Teams
July (Times EDT)
14 :: Canada WNT [7] Uruguay [0]
Goals :: Sinclair 3, Hermus 2, Tancredi, Matheson

16 :: Canada WNT [4] Ecuador [0]
Goals::Lang 3, Neil

18 :: Canada WNT [11] Jamaica [1]
Goals :: Sinclair 4, Thorlakson 2, Kiss, Wilkinson, Vermeulen, Lang, Neil

20::Canada WNT [0] Brasil [7]
23::Canada WNT vs USA U-20 6:30 PM (Pan-Am games in Brasil)

Briefs
The Canadian Women’s team got a dose of reality as they lost 7-0 to the host Brasil at the Pan Am games. Despite the loss Canada will now play the USA U-20 team in the semi-finals on Monday. Marta Silva scored five goals for Brasil.

MLS
July
19 :: MLS All-Stars [2] Celtic FC [0]
(MLS De Rosario 65 O’Brien 80)

Scoring summary
MLS :: Juan Pablo Angel (Dwayne De Rosario)
MLS :: Juan Toja

22 :: Columbus Crew [2] Toronto FC [0]
(TFC Djekanovic 90 Brennan 90 Pozniak 90 Lombardo 63)

22 :: New England Revolution [3] Houston Dynamo [3]
(HOU Onstad 90 De Rosario 90) Goal::Dwayne De Rosario (4)

25 :: Toronto FC vs. Aston Villa 7:30 PM (FSC)

Briefs
TFC end their longest road trip of the season (6 games) with a 2-0 loss to the Crew. Now that the FIFA U20 World Cup is over, TFC will return to BMO field for 8 of their remaining 13 games as they push for a playoff position.

Dwayne De Rosario scored his 4th of the season. De Rosario’s production has improved since signing a contract extension with Houston.

Super Liga
July
24 :: FC Dallas vs Chivas de Guadalajara (Mexico) 9:00 PM
24 :: Los Angeles Galaxy vs CF Pachuca (Mexico) 11:00 PM
25 :: DC United vs Monarcas Morelia (Mexico) 8:00 PM
25 :: Houston Dynamo vs Club America (Mexico) 10:00 PM

Briefs
What is Superliga? It is a Mexico vs. USA competition aimed at stirring interest amongst Mexican-Americans in MLS. The eigth teams are divided into two divisions. With 2 Mexican and 2 American teams in each division with all games played in the USA.

The top two teams from each division advance to the semi-finals and the opportunity to play for the million dollar first prize. Three of the American teams have Canadian players on their rosters.

USL-1
July
18 :: Minnesota Thunder [1] Montreal Impact [1]
(MON Aaboubou 90 Gatti 90 Leduc 90 Ribiero 90 Palleschi 45 Biello 57 Marcina 33 Gbeke 64 Di Ioia 26)
Goal::Patrick Leduc (1)

19 :: Portland Timbers [2] Vancouver Whitecaps [1]
(VAN Morris 61 Nash 90 Cann 90 Kambere 75 Kindel 61 Lyall 90 Alberts 29 Jordan 29 POR J. Thompson 90)
Goal::Martin Nash (2)

21 :: Atlanta Silverbacks [0] Portland Timbers [1] (POR J. Thompson 90)

22 :: Charleston Battery [2] Portland Timbers [0]
(CHA Chin 90 J. Hughes 76 Bennett DNP POR J. Thompson DNP)

Briefs
Portland has moved into 1st place and is starting to pull away from the pack. If Vancouver and Montreal continue their slumps, they will be playing for playoff survival as opposed to their top ranking at the beginning of the season.

USL-2
July
20 :: Western Mass Pioneers [0] Crystal Palace Baltimore [1]
(CPB- Rowland 90) Shutout Brian Rowland (5)

21 :: New Hampshire Phantoms [0] Crystal Palace Baltimore [1]
(CPB- Rowland 90) Shutout Brian Rowland (6)

Briefs
Canadian keeper Rowland is leading Baltimore’s late season charge for a playoff spot. With 4 games remaining CBP is 6 points behind Harrisburg, currently sitting in the last playoff spot. In a key match-up, CPB faces Harrisburg at home on Wednesday. A victory will keep CPB in contention, a loss and 9 points in 3 games will be too much to make up.

CSL
July
20 :: London City [0] Serbian White Eagles [4]
Goals :: SWE- Dragan Radovic, Gabriel Pop 2, Sasa Viciknez

20 :: Toronto Croatia [1] Trois-Rivieres Attak [1]
Goals :: TC- Tiahoner Maletic TR- Ibrahim Baldeh

21 :: Windsor Border Stars [4] North York Astros [2]
Goals :: WBS – Woreth Sampson, Dominic Scicluna, Radik Papiez, Aaron Byrd NYA- Paulo Astorga 2

22 :: Canadian Lions [8] London City [1]
Goals :: CAN Evan Milward 2, Nordo Gooden, Joe Rini, Marko Jankovic, Lexton Hurlock, Jalani Smith, Own Goal LON Miguel Knox

22 :: St Catherines Wolves [0] Trois-Rivieres Attak [0]
25 :: St Catherines Wolves vs Windsor Border Stars

Briefs
The Canadian Lions made sure a late game goal would not keep them from their first victory of the season as they blasted London City 8-1.

Open Canada Cup
July
25 :: Italia Shooters vs GS United 8:45 PM (The Soccer Centre)
25 :: Serbian White Eagles vs North York Astros 8:45 PM (Birchmont Stadium)
27 :: Jean-Talon 2007 vs Trois Rivieres Attak 9:00 PM (Claude Robillard)

W-League
Northern Division
July
20 :: Rochester Raging Rhinos [2] Hamilton Avalanche [1]
21 :: Toronto Lady Lynx [1] Laval Comets [1]
21 :: Ottawa Fury [11] Vermont Lady Voltage [0]
22 :: Hamilton Avalanche [2] Rochester Raging Rhinos [4]

Western Conference
July
19 :: Seattle Sounders [3] Real Colorado Cougars [1]
20 :: San Diego Sunwaves [5] Fort Collins Force [2]
21 :: Vancouver Whitecaps [2] Real Colorado Cougars [0]
22 :: San Diego Sunwaves [2] Seattle Sounders [0]

Midwest Division
July
20 :: London Gryphons [3] Minnesota Lightning [2]
22 :: London Gryphons [2] Michigan Hawks [1]

Briefs
Two time W-league champions (2004 & 2006) Vancouver Whitecaps will miss out on the
playoffs for the first time in five years. The Ottawa Fury swamped Vermonts 11-0 to win the Northern Divison and clinch first overall in the Eastern conference. As a result, Ottawa will host the Conference finals next weekend.

Also in are the Washington Freedom. The winners of the Toronto-Laval and Jersey-Northern
Virginia semi-finals will also make the trip to Ottawa.

PDL
July
18 :: Vermont Voltage [1] Ottawa Fury [0]
20 :: Michigan Bucks [1] Toronto Lynx [3]
21 :: Ottawa Fury [4] Rhode Island Stingrays [0]
21 :: Abbotsford Rangers [4] Tacoma Tide [1]
22 :: Abbotsford Rangers [11] Spokane Spiders [0]

Heartland Division Schedule
July
20 :: Thunder Bay Chill [4] Des Moines Menace [0]
Scoring Summary
41st minute :: TB Swartzendruber (Oliveira)
45th minute :: TB Swartzendruber (Oliveira)
65th minute :: Red Card (Kevin Souter-DM)
81st minute :: TB Kawahara
90th minute :: TB Swartzendruber (Shapiro)

20 :: Ogden Outlaws [1] Colorado Rapids U-23 [1]
21 :: St Louis Lions [8] Springfield Demize [0]
21 :: Thunder Bay Chill [2] Des Moines Menace [1]
Scoring Summary
13th minute :: TB Swartzendruber (Oliveira)
25th minute :: DM Disang
63rd minute :: TB Swartzendruber (A Coronado)

21 :: BYU Cougars [1] Colorado Rapids U-23 [1]
22 :: Kansas City Brass [1] St Louis Lions [0]

Briefs
The Thunder Bay Chill scored an impressive 4-0 victory over PDL power-house the Des Moines Menace on Friday. The victory insures the Chill a place in the playoffs in the tough Heartland division of the PDL. Brandon Swartzendruber’s three goals lead the Chill to victory.

Swartzendruber from Grand Junction, Colorado now leads Thunder Bay with 13 goals on the season.

On Saturday the Chill completed their sweep of the Menace with a 2-1 win. The victory gives the Chill their first title. They now advance to the four team Conference finals in Michigan next weekend.

The other Canadian teams (Abbotsford, Toronto and Ottawa) fail to qualify for post season action.

2007 North American Championship Dates
W-League :: August 05
PDL :: August 12
USL-2 :: August 25
Open Canada Cup :: September 03
USL-1 :: September 29
US Open Cup :: October 02
CSL :: October 28
MLS :: November 18

Massive brawl between Chile U20 Squad and Toronto Police after semi-final match

By Kris Fernandes

Toronto — Members of the Chilean U20 national soccer team were pepper sprayed and 1 player was tasered in a fight with Toronto Police outside of the national soccer stadium after a match Thursday night.

The brawl started after a security guard at BMO field tried to prevent a player from signing autographs to some fans outside the stadium. The player, reported to be forward Alexis Sanchez, turned around and kicked the security guard.

According to numerous eye-witness accounts from Argentinean and Chilean fans about a half-dozen uniformed Toronto Police officers then brought a struggling Sanchez to the ground. Other Chilean players then jumped in to try and grab their teammate. A Chilean delegate told police that the player was suffering from a serious injury and were asked to take it easy on him.

“I saw and heard the Chilean team translator beg the police to not go too rough on him because he had a broken shoulder and the cop pushed him out of the way. The other players came out to try and grab Alexis then the police brought out the pepper spray and one player got tasered, I couldn’t see who, but he just dropped to the ground.” said a Chilean fan who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Chilean team bus suffered a smashed windshield and players were seen throwing projectiles at the police from opened windows while inside of the bus.

Many players including Sanchez were put in handcuffs and were questioned at the stadium. Toronto Police from 14 division said only 1 rowdy Chilean fan was brought in on charges.

Angry stems from an ugly performance
The players and fans were aggravated from a match that saw them eliminated by continental rivals Argentina 3-0 in their heated U20 Semi-final match that was marred by some questionable calls. German referee Wolfgang Stark issued 11 cards in total, 9 of which went to Chile including 2 reds. Infuriated Chilean supporters showed their displeasure throughout the match by throwing various items onto the pitch and one fan even attempted to run at the referee before being tackled by security.

Inside SOCCER photographer, Robert Pavone, said many media members were forced to stay inside the stadium and were then escorted by police to the parking lot opposite from the ruckus.

“A member of stadium security told me that ‘This was a great tournament throughout until tonight. That what happened here was an absolute travesty.’ I couldn’t even take out my camera to take shots of what was going on. You should’ve seen people’s faces inside the stadium. It was unreal.”

Over 50 Chilean fans anxiously waited for the return of their players outside of the team’s hotel.

Led by a massive police escort of 4 motorcycles and several cruisers the players arrived in tournament sponsored minivans at around 1:20am Friday morning. Defender Arturo Vidal limped out of the van and waved to the fans while midfielder Gary Medel looked severely injured and needed an assistant to help him up the stairs to the hotel lobby.

The Chilean Futbol Federation President, Harold Mayne-Nicholls, says an investigation is under way and that the security/police has no rights to touch a player who was signing autographs for fans.

This incident follows another fight on Canada Day when approximately 40 supporters of Chile and Canada violently duked it out in section 105 of the same stadium towards the end of their match. Only minor injuries were sustained in that melee.

Canadian Teams and Players in Action
Home team listed first

National Teams
July (Times EDT)
14 :: Canada WNT [7] Uruguay [0]
Goals :: Sinclair 3, Hermus 2, Tancredi, Matheson

16 :: Canada WNT [4] Ecuador [0]
Goals :: Lang 3, Neil

18 :: Canada WNT [11] Jamaica [1]
Goals :: Sinclair 4, Thorlakson 2, Kiss, Wilkinson, Vermeulen, Lang, Neil

20 :: Canada WNT vs Brasil 2:00 PM

Briefs
Canada easily defeated #76 ranked Jamaica and will now face the #8 ranked Brazil in their final preliminary round game at the Pan-Am games. As the top two teams in the division Brazil and Canada are already guaranteed to advance to the semi-finals.

MLS
July
19 :: MLS All-Stars vs Celtic FC @ Denver Colorado 9:00 PM (CBC Country Canada)
22 :: Columbus Crew vs Toronto FC 5:00PM (Rogers Sportsnet)
25 :: Toronto FC vs Aston Villa 7:30 PM (FSC)

Briefs
Last year’s All-Star game MVP, Canadian Dwayne DeRosario was voted to the All-Star team, while TFC’s Ronnie O’Brien was picked to the team by coach Steve Nicol.

Nicol has named both players to the starting line-up versus Celtic FC from Scotland. Toronto FC’s Jim Brennan, Jeff Cunningham and Danny Dichio were also named to the All-Star inactive roster.

USL-1
July
18 :: Minnesota Thunder [1] Montreal Impact [1]
(MON Aaboubou 90 Gatti 90 Leduc 90 Ribiero 90 Palleschi 45 Biello 57 Marcina 33 Gbeke 64 Di Ioia 26)
Goal :: Patrick Leduc (1)

19 :: Portland Timbers vs Vancouver Whitecaps 10:00 PM

USL-2
July
16 :: Bermuda Hogges [1] Crystal Palace Baltimore [2]
(CPB Rowland 90)

CSL
July
18 :: St Catherines Wolves [2] Canadian Lions [2]
Goals :: SCW Antonio Stranges, Tony Mermigas; CAN Evan Milward, Dragisa Klisara

20 :: London City vs Serbian White Eagles 8:30 PM
20 :: Toronto Croatia vs Trois-Rivieres Attak 8:30 Pm
21 :: Windsor Border Stars vs North York Astros 7:00 PM
22 :: Canadian Lions vs London City 8:00 PM
22 :: St Catherines Wolves vs Trois-Rivieres Attak
25 :: St Catherines Wolves vs Windsor Border Stars

Goal Scorers
9 :: Kadian Lecky (Italia Shooters)
9 :: Nicolas Lesage (Trois-Rivieres Attak)
8 :: Aaron Byrd (Windsor Border Stars)
7 :: Jason De Thomasis (Italia Shooters)
6 :: Evan Milward ( Canadian Lions)
5 :: Helio Pereira (Portuguese Supra)
5 :: Antonio Stranges (St Catherines Wolves)

Open Canada Cup
July
25 :: Italia Shooters vs GS United 8:45 PM (The Soccer Centre)
25 :: Serbian White Eagles vs North York Astros 8:45 PM (Birchmont Stadium)
27 :: Jean-Talon 2007 vs Trois Rivieres Attak 9:00 PM (Claude Robillard)

W-League
Northern Division
July
18 ::Toronto Lady Lynx [3] Rochester Raging Rhinos [1]
18 :: Vermont Lady Voltage [0] Ottawa Fury [5]
20 :: Rochester Raging Rhinos vs Hamilton Avalanche 7:35 PM
21 :: Toronto Lady Lynx vs Laval Comets 4:00 PM
21 :: Ottawa Fury vs Vermont Lady Voltage 6:00 PM
22 :: Hamilton Avalanche vs Rochester Raging Rhinos 5:00 PM

Western Conference
July
19 :: Seattle Sounders vs Real Colorado Cougars
20 :: San Diego Sunwaves vs Fort Collins Force
21 :: Vancouver Whitecaps vs Real Colorado Cougars
22 :: San Diego Sunwaves vs Seattle Sounders

Midwest Division
July
20 :: London Gryphons vs Minnesota Lightning 7:00 Pm
22 :: London Gryphons vs Michigan Hawks 4:00 PM

W-League Leading Goal Scorers

Goals GP Player Name Team
13 | 8 :: Lara Dickenmann (Jersey Sky Blue)
12 | 12 :: Ali M.Andrzejeski (Washington Freedom)
10 | 5 :: Danesha Adams (Cleveland Internationals)
10 | 9 :: Tiffeny Milbrett (Vancouver Whitecaps)
9 | 9 :: Emily Beans (Chicago Gaels)
9 | 9 :: Jennifer Parsons (Richmond Kickers Destiny)
8 | 6 :: Christie Welsh (Washington Freedom)
8 | 7 :: Gretchen Miller (Rochester Raging Rhinos)
8 | 9 :: LaurenHill (Michigan Hawks)
8 | 11 :: Aimee Legault (Laval Comets)
8 | 11 :: Adrienne Ruhe Lischke (Toronto Lady Lynx)

Briefs
Adrienne Ruhe Lischke’s team leading 7th and 8th goals of the season was enough to lead the Lady Lynx to a 3-1 victory over the Raging Rhinos.

With the win Toronto only needs a tie versus Laval on Saturday to clinch home field advantage for the division semi-final.

PDL

July
18 :: Vermont Voltage [1] Ottawa Fury [0]
20 :: Michigan Bucks vs Toronto Lynx 7:00 PM
21 :: Ottawa Fury vs Rhode Island Stingrays 3:30 PM
21 :: Abbotsford Rangers vs Tacoma Tide 9:05 PM
22 :: Abbotsford Rangers vs Spokane Spiders 3:00 PM

Heartland Division Schedule
July
20 :: Thunder Bay Chill vs Des Moines Menace 7:30 PM
20 :: Ogden Outlaws vs Colorado Rapids U-23 9:00 PM
21 :: St Louis Lions vs Springfield Demize 6:00PM
21 :: Thunder Bay Chill vs Des Moines Menace 7:30 PM
21 :: BYU Cougars vs Colorado Rapids U-23 9:30 PM
22 :: Kansas City Brass vs St Louis Lions 5:00 PM

Hearland Division Standings (Points-Games Played)
27-14 St Louis Lions
27-14 Thunder Bay Chill
26-15 Kansas City Brass
25-14 Des Moines Menace
23-14 Colorado Rapids U-23

2007 North American Championship Dates

W-League :: August 05
PDL :: August 12
USL-2 :: August 25
Open Canada Cup :: September 03
USL-1 :: September 29
US Open Cup :: October 02
CSL : October 28
MLS :: November 18

National Teams
July (Times EDT)
14 ::Canada WNT [7] Uruguay [0]
Goals (Sinclair 3, Hermus 2, Tancredi, Matheson)

16 :: Canada WNT vs Ecuador 02:30 PM
18 :: Canada WNT vs Jamaica 10:15 AM
20 :: Canada WNT vs Brasil 02:00 PM

Briefs
Canada opened the Pan-Am games with a 7-0 victory over Uruaguay, currently ranked 59th in the FIFA rankings. Canada was ranked 9th in the latest rankings, the highest ever placing for the Canadians. Canada plays 52nd ranked Ecuador tonight.

MLS
July
12 :: Houston Dynamo [4] Chicago Fire [0]
(HOU Onstad 90 DeRosario 9 Assist: DeRosario (1)

14 :: DC United [3] FC Dallas [3]
(FCD Serioux 66)

15 :: Houston Dynamo [0] Toronto FC [0]
(TFC Djekanovic 90 Brennan 90 Pozniak 46 Lombardo 34 HOU Onstad 90 De Rosario 90)

Briefs
Dwayne DeRosario picked up an assist on Chris Wondolowski’s 2nd career MLS goal. Wondolowski is the all-time MLS reserve league goal scorer with 24 goals.

Despite playing one man down for 48 minutes (red card to Edu) TFC managed a 0-0 tie with the red-hot Dynamo. Houston is undefeated in their last 10 games, the last seven have resulted in shutouts for the Houston keepers.

USL-1
July
12 :: Seattle Sounders [1] Vancouver Whitecaps [0]
(VAN Clarke 90 Kindel 90 Nash 90 Cann 83 Kambere 90 Lyall 66 Goddard 90 Alberts 4 Morris 7 Jordan 31)

13::Carolina Railhawks [0] Montreal Impact [1]
(MON Biello 90 Leduc 90 Ribeiro 90 Aaboubou 90 Fronimadis 22 Gatti 90 Gbeke 76 Marcina 21) Goal: Antonio Ribeiro (2)

13 :: Puerto Rico Islanders [3] Charleston Battery [1]
(CHA Chin 90 Bennett 24 Hughes 11) Goal: Gordon Chin (2)

13 :: Portland Timbers [1] California Victory [0]
(POR J Thompson 90)

14 :: Vancouver Whitecaps [1] Miami FC [2]
(VAN Clarke 62 Nash 90 Valente 79 Cann 90 Kindel 90 Jordan 58 Goddard 68 Morris 17 Alberts 11 Lyall 32 Kambere 28) Goal: Jason Jordan (1) Nash (4)

15 :: Minnesota Thunder [3] Montreal Impact [0]
(MON Leduc 90 Matondo 45 Ribeiro 90 Aaboubou 90 Gatti 73 Marcina 59 Biell0 45 Palleschi 17 Gbeke 31)

15 :: Puerto Rico Islanders [4] Charleston Battery [3]
(CHA Bennett 60 Chin 23)

18 :: Minnesota Thunder [3] Montreal Impact [0]

Briefs
Vancouver lost both games this week and have dropped from first place to third. The Montreal Impact are now fourth. In the tight race only 5 points seperate the top 5 teams.

Standings (Points-Games Played)
30-14 :: Portland Timbers
28-17 :: Seattle Sounders
27-18 :: Vancouver whitecaps
27-17 :: Montreal Impact
27-19 :: Rochester Raging Rhinos
25-16 :: Atlanta Silverbacks

USL-2
July
13 :: Harrisburg City Islanders [0] Crystal Palace Baltimore [0]
(CPB Rowland 90)

CSL
July
13 :: London City [2] Trois-Rivieres Attak [2]
Goals :: LON Garsel Hazel, Gentjan Dervishi TR Nicolas Lesage, Alex Surprenant

13 :: Toronto Croatia [2] St Catherines Wolves [1]
Goals :: TOR-Hugo Herrara 2, SCW-Tony Mermigas

14 :: Windsor Border Stars [1] Trois-Rivieres Attak [5]
Goals :: WBS-Aaron Byrd TR-Nicolas Lesage 3, Joe Di Buono, Alex Surprenant

15 :: Italia Shooters [1] North York Astros [1]
Goals :: IS-Denny Velastegui NYA-Own Goal

15 :: Canadian Lions [2] Portuguese Supra [5]
Goals :: CAN-Marko Jamjicek 2 POR-Winston Griffiths 3 Helio Pereira 2

18 :: St Catherines Wolves vs Canadian Lions 8:15 PM

Open Canada Cup
July
12 :: Portuguese Supra [2] Canadian Lions [1]
Goals: (POR Ryan Williams, Helio Pereira, CAN Evan Milward)

Briefs
Former Toronto Lynx players, Winston Griffiths and Helio Pereira led the Supra to a 5-2 victory over the Lions. A former Jamaican International Griffiths also played with 3 MLS teams in 2002, as well, he played one season with the Vancouver Whitecaps. The Supra also picked up a win in Open Canada Cup play to advance to the third round.

W-League
July
11 :: San Diego Sunwaves [4] Vancouver Whitecaps [1]
13 :: Laval Comets [2] Toronto Lady Lynx [0]
13 :: Chicago Gaels [3] London Gryphons [2]
14 :: Rochester Raging Rhinos [1] Ottawa Fury [3]
14 :: Vermont Lady Voltage [1] Toronto Lady Lynx [2]
14 :: Vancouver Whitecaps [1] Seattle Sounders [2]
15 :: Hamilton Avalanche [0] Ottawa Fury [1]
15 :: London Gryphons [0] Michigan Hawks [5]
18 :: Toronto Lady Lynx vs Rochester Raging Rhinos 12:00 PM
18 :: Vermont Lady Voltage vs Ottawa Fury 5:30 PM

Briefs
The once mighty Vancouver Whitecaps, 47 wins, 2 losses and 2 ties over the previous four seasons, dropped two games this week. The losses leave Vancouver in third place with one game remaining.

In the Northern Division, the Ottawa Fury have clinched first place and will face either the Toronto Lady Lynx or the Laval Comets in the Division final. Toronto and Laval are fighting for second and third place. The second place finisher will host the third place team in the division semi-final.

Western Conference Standings (Points-Games Played)
19-10 :: San Diego Sunwaves
19-10 :: Seattle Sounders
18-11 :: Vancouver Whitecaps

Remaining Schedule
July
19 :: Seattle Sounders vs Real Colorado Cougars
20 :: San Diego Sunwaves vs Fort Collins Force
21 :: Vancouver Whitecaps vs Real Colorado Cougars
22 :: San Diego Sunwaves vs Seattle Sounders

PDL
July
11 :: Toronto Lynx [5] Cleveland Internationals [1]
13 :: Toronto Lynx [2] Fort Wayne Fever [3]
13 :: Thunder Bay Chill [0] Sioux Falls Spitfire [1]
13 :: Albany Admirals [2] 0ttawa Fury [1]
14 :: Brooklyn Knights [0] Ottawa Fury [0]
14 :: Thunder Bay Chill [6] Sioux Falls Spitfire [0]
14 :: Abbotsford Rangers [4] Cascade Surge [0]
15 :: Abbotsford Rangers [3] Yakima Reds [0]
15 :: Toronto Lynx [1] Fort Wayne Fever [0]
18 :: Vermont Voltage vs. Ottawa Fury 7:30 PM

Briefs
The Thunder Bay Chill end the weekend tied in first place with the St Louis Lions. A late season collapse by the Kansas City Brass and a similar charge by the Des Moines Menace and the Colorado Rapids U-23 have resulted in a tight race in the Heartland Divsion. Going into the last weekend of play 5 teams are still in contention for the two playoff spots.

Heartland Division Standings (Points-Games Played)
27-14 :: St Louis Lions
27-14 :: Thunder Bay Chill
26-15 :: Kansas City Brass
25-14 :: Des Moines Menace
23-14 :: Colorado Rapids U-23

Remaining Schedule
July
20 :: Thunder Bay Chill vs Des Moines Menace 7:30 PM
20 :: Ogden Outlaws vs Colorado Rapids U-23 9:00 PM
21 :: St Louis Lions vs Springfield Demize 6:00PM
21 :: Thunder Bay Chill vs Des Moines Menace 7:30 PM
21 :: BYU Cougars vs Colorado Rapids U-23 9:30 PM
22 :: Kansas City Brass vs St Louis Lions 5:00 PM

By Tokunbo Ojo

Montreal — Four goals in extra-time were all that Chile needed to put an end to the Nigeria’s U-20 World Cup dream on Sunday afternoon at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium.

With the scoreline standing at 0-0 after regulation time, the third quarter-final game of the FIFA U-20 World Cup between Nigeria and Chile went into extra-time.

The 30 minute extra-time – 15 minutes each half – was barely six minutes old when Chile’s Hans Martinez beat Nigeria’s offside trap and lobbed the ball over the on-rushing goalkeeper, Ikechukwu Ezenwa. Jaime Grondona quickly ran into the ball and gently nodded it into the empty net.

The Flying Eagles furiously protested the referee’s decision to allow the goal, which they considered to be an offside goal. But English referee, Howard Webb, stood his ground and then gave Ezenwa the yellow card.

Ladan Bosso, Nigeria’s coach, shared the sentiment of his boys about the goal. At the post-match press conference, he called into question FIFA’s anti-racism campaign and indirectly his team’s defeat to aversive racism.

“When you are looking for something (an offside call) and you don’t get it, all your doubt becomes negativity and it becomes very hard to fight,” Bosso said.

“What I’m saying is that it’s good to fight racism but it’s important not only to bring in the idea, you have to follow it to the letter so that implementation is done.”

From the moment the goal was allowed, things started going bad for the Flying Eagles. The Nigerians had evenly matched their opponents in every department of the game.

Nigeria went on to concede three more goals against the Chileans. Chile’s confidence grew with lots of diagonal counter-attack runs into the Nigerian half after that first penetration through the tight Nigerian defence.

“When you concede a goal and you feel is not a goal, you feel you’ve been cheated. But you can’t do anything about it,” said Bala Ezekiel, Nigeria’s captain.

Traditionally, Nigeria has a poor record against South American teams at the FIFA U-20 level. Prior to the Sunday’s encounter, Nigeria had played South American teams six times in the U-20 World Cup and lost five times. Nigeria tied against Brazil at the 2005 U-20 World Cup in Netherlands .

Sunday was the first time that Nigeria and Chile met in the U-20 level. The only previous meeting between both teams was in Sydney 2000 Olympic soccer tournament. Chile beat Nigeria 4-1 in that encounter. It was also at the quarter-final stage.

Chilean coach Jose Sulantay, who is now looking forward to his team’s semi-final against Argentina, in Toronto on Wednesday, does not believe racism was a factor in Sunday’s game. He believed that his team played well enough for the victory. But he clearly pointed out that “no one would have expected us to put four goals past such a solid team.”

The last time that Chile made it to semi-final stage of this tournament was 20 years ago when the country hosted the tournament. That fourth-place finish on the home soil, 20 years ago, was Chile ’s best performance so far in the U-20 World Cup.