Gruffgoat followers, in much the same spirit that the iconic former Speaker of the House, Tip O'
Neil said, "all politics is local," so too have the writers at Gruffgoat taken the approach that
"soccer is local" as well.
As such, all new soccer updates, news stories, and editorials (even national and international) are
now under our local brand:
Peach State Soccer
So join us!
Ok, so maybe this is one of those true rare Cinderalla stories. Anton Peterlin spent his last
season playing in the top flight of – brace for it – US Amateur football!
Yes, I said amateur. Peterlin spent his pitch time for the Ventura County Fusion in southern
California. Fusion play in the PDL's Southwest division and for those still learning about the
layers of football in America, the Premier Development League is the nation's 4th tier of soccer,
behind MLS, USL Div 1, and USL Div 2.
Who better to take Paolo Maldini's place in central defense at A.C. Milan than America's own Oguchi
Onyewu!
Read the full article from Yank's Abroad here.
Reprinted From Goal.com:
Macoumba Kandji has won Goal.com's Major League Soccer player of the week for round eight.
The Senegalese striker dominated the New York Red Bulls' 4-1 drubbing of the San Jose Earthquakes.
He won the free kick for the first goal, assisted the next two, and scored the last.
It was always going to be an uphill battle for Arsenal, coming in to the second leg – even at The
Emirates - a goal down.
And as Arsen Wenger aptly pointed out in the post match interview, the game was over in 11 minutes
really as Park and Ronaldo notched one a peice for the Red Devils.
My guess is, like many thinks related to Joey Barton, is that he wasn't thinking.
His reckless lunging tackle which sent Xabi Alonso out of the match and earned him a straight red
card was the epitome of unprofessional. No, wait. The tackle was the epitome of short sighted and
dangerous football, his "what did I do wrong" reaction afterward was unprofessional.
The rain gods were pleased with soccer yesterday and let matches be played all over the metro
Atlanta area. Among the matches allowed was our men's over 35 match. Unfortunately for us however,
the attendance gods were not pleased and we started the match with 8 men against a fully loaded
plus subs Express.
I caught the last 40 minutes of the Friday night match between DCU and New England and it did not
disappoint.
New England went up in the first half on a Shalrie Joseph header and looked like they would hang on
to the 1-0 margin until the end in spite of some heavy DC United pressure.
Ben Olsen mixed it up with Wells Thompson after Wells helped Ben out of the touchline by a generous
shoulder.
(Summary is not available.)
From far too many discussions on message boards, I have determined that there are three types of
"anti soccer fans", if it's possible to be an anti fan of anything. Here they are:
1. The Soccer Hater: this is your sports fan who understands the basic rules of soccer, but was
most likely humiliated playing it as a kid.
Will Everton play the role of Manchester United trophy hunt spoiler?
It took a halftime verbal lashing to get Everton going, but after coming back from a 1-0 deficit to
defeat Middlesborough 2-1 over the weekend - Everton will now face hardware hungry Manchester
United in the next round of the FA Cup.
Soccer with a Southern Accent has found a new voice. After 300 posts which meandered through all
areas of football, we're excited to announce the pre-launch of Peach State Soccer Magazine.
Peach State Soccer, currently only available online at http://georgiasoccer.blogspot.com, will be
the new home for all of the Atlanta area soccer news that you found on Gruffgoat.
In a match that didn't move the needle on the table very much either way for Everton, but did
introduce transfer window signer Jo to the team, the Toffees dominated Bolton at Goodison Park.
Everton looked very much on form against Bolton as attacks came from all sides but nothing fell
until Jo was tripped up in the box to draw the Penalty Kick.
It took a little divine intervention and a lot of grit, but Everton finally pulled off the
Merseyside derby victory against Liverpool to see themselves through to the FA Cup round of 16 for
the first time in four years!
Liverpool playmaker and lynchpin Stephen Gerrard went out at 15 minutes with a hamstring pull
– a very painful injury and usually a minimum of three weeks to recover, I know a lot about
those mind you – and then Lucas Lieva went on to earn two foolish yellow cards which left the
Reds down a man against the Toffees from about 65 minutes on.
Tomorrow, an Everton very light on strikers will do its best at Goodison park against a relatively
injury free Liverpool for yet another Merseyside FA Cup derby. Most likely the scoring duty will
once again fall to Everton's Tim Cahill, while Liverpool have quite a few tried and true goal
scorers at their disposal with Gerrard, Torres, and Kuyt all ready to send the Toffees packing.
