Ajax Cape Town have announced the appointment of Foppe de Haan as their new head coach following the departure of Muhsin Ertugral for Turkish Super League side Sivasspor.

The Right Man for the Urban Warriors

Urban Warriors CEO George Comitis revealed in a statement on Thursday afternoon: "After a long deliberation and thorough analysis of all the applications that we have received, we believe that we have found the right man to steer us forward.

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... that, when considering levels Under-20 and above, the U.S. Men's National Teams have surrendered three penalty kick goals and seen eight men sent off in their last 19 FIFA cup matches?That includes World Cup 2006, the 2007 Under-20 World Cup, the 2008 Summer Olympics, Confederations Cup and the ongoing 2009 Under-20 World Cup. Click to continue reading...

...but am not a good enough writer to communicate. Here you go, I suggest checking it out.
He's right you know. Commentator Marcelo Balboa said during the Dutch telecast something to the effect of "get your yellow card suspension over with now before the quarterfinals" I have to respectfully disagree. Click to continue reading...

Brazil are second-favourites to win the Gold medal in the men's football at the 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing after they eased to the top of the standings in Group C. Victories in their three group matches meant they advanced to the quarter-finals in a storming fashion. The 2007 South American Youth Championship victors eased past the hosts China 3-0 in their final match and they will now face Cameroon, who finished runners-up in Group D behind Italy.

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I got up early again to rev up the DVR and watch the US take on Nigeria. The US needed a win or tie against a good Nigerian squad. I'm ready, I'm pumped. What happens next? The worst thing possible, the thing I didn't want to see, heartbreak...
A red card in the 4th minute. Michael Orozco makes a stupid mistake and elbows a Nigerian player while tussling for a ball. Click to continue reading...

I was out of town Sunday morning when the US kicked off their all important Olympic match against Holland. Why do I say 'all important'? Going into the match the US was the only team in the group with three points. Nigeria and Holland had one point based on their draw while Japan had none. Furthermore, this is The Netherlands. Click to continue reading...

Italy defeated Honduras 3-0 in their first group match of the 2008 Summer Olympics and got off to a great start. Pierluigi Casiraghi actually surprised many with his starting XI, as Salvatore Bocchetti started alongside Domenico Criscito in the center of defense, Lorenzo De Silvestri started over Marco Motta on the right, and probably the most surprising change was Robert Acquafresca starting in front of Giovinco and Rossi instead of Tommaso Rocchi.

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I am going to do my best to recreate the "magic" of the 2002 World Cup by waking up early tomorrow morning to catch the US vs. Japan. No, not 3 am early, but maybe 5:30 so I can start up the DVR and see the entire match before heading to work. We'll see if my ambitions match my ability.
Check out today's US Soccer Studio 90 post. Click to continue reading...

US Soccer posted the schedules for both Men's and Women's Olympic soccer on NBC. I am happy to report you don't have to get the special NBC Olympic soccer channel to watch all the games, so long as you do have cable.
The US kicks off their Olympic journey Thursday...yes in two days!
Aug. Click to continue reading...

Not too long ago the US Olympic team was made up of exclusively college players. 1996 was the first year of MLS and MLS players did make that team. Since 1996 the Olympics have been a goal of American MLS based players looking to move up to the first team if they haven't already made a spot for themselves. Click to continue reading...

Columbus Crew left midfielder, Robbie Rogers, is leading his team to the top of MLS and wants to prove a point. He didn't get to help the US qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympics but his early season form should help punch a ticket to China this summer. U-23 coach Nowak can not afford to ignore 5 goals in his first 7 starts, especially when wing play was one of the poorest parts of the team that qualified. Click to continue reading...

The US Olympic team will play Japan, the Netherlands and Nigeria this summer at the Bejing Summer Olympics. The young Americans will have to place in the top two of the group in order to move onto the Quarterfinals. Matches kick off in August.
This is certainly a difficult group, one the US will need to improve to succeed in. Click to continue reading...

But who is going to score the goals? Yesterday the US fell to fellow CONCACAF qualifier Honduras. All that was at stake in the final of the tournament was pride. With the 1-0 overtime loss to Honduras, I guess the US walked away with less pride. The scoreline brings up the bigger issue. The US U-23 men, head and shoulders above their opponents for long periods of time in each game, were taken to overtime scoreless . Click to continue reading...

The US over matched Canada at every position this evening to win their semi-final match-up. That means they'll be heading to China for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Freddy Adu showed he's learned some free kick tricks scoring both of the first two American goals. A great play by Holden saw him get free on the left wing to slot a ball into wide open Sacha Kljestan who calmly sent his shot past the sprawling Canadian keeper. Click to continue reading...

I know, I'm tardy with my report. Please accept my apologies for going to a good friend's wedding in Austin this weekend. I won't let it happen again. :)
I haven't had a chance to watch the DVR of Saturday's game, so I'm going based on other people's game summaries. It sounds like the team played similar to how they had in the first two games. Click to continue reading...

The next game in CONCACAF qualifying for the US is tonight. They'll face off against Panama at 8 pm edt, live on FSC. Don't forget to tune in. I hope to see a better formation put on the field by Coach Nowak with a second striker for Jozy to pair with. Jozy showed he can't do it all without good support. Click to continue reading...

I was wondering if this would happen with the Cuban team playing their Olympic Qualifiers in the US. Now a total of seven players have left the team, leaving their countrymen in the lurch. The team will only have 10 players who are eligible to play tonight after the red card in the US match ruled out one forward. Click to continue reading...

Seriously, doesn't the title tell the story? If you watched the game, you no doubt agree. If you didn't, don't bother watching from minutes 20 - 65. The US completely left the game and it isn't worth wasting your time. Plenty of other bloggers have basically the same things to say as me. So I'll point them out first. Click to continue reading...

The American road to China begins tonight, and you can watch live on Fox Soccer Channel. 4 years ago I don't think that was the case as I remember having to travel to a Mexican bar to see the US lose and not qualify in '04.
I know I've mentioned it before, but don't you love the fact that there are no college players on the roster? Click to continue reading...

The US is preparing to qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympics. They're holding a camp this weekend in Florida and their first match is 10 days later against Cuba. The most interesting thing to me? Not a college player in the group. That is a real evolution for the US. All players trying to get us into the Olympics are professional soccer players. Click to continue reading...