Photo by Tony Quinn/ISIphotos.com

By THOMAS FLOYD

WASHINGTON -- This past fall, when D.C. United general manager Dave Kasper contemplated his goals heading into the offseason, two of the first priorities that came to mind were adding veteran leadership and strengthening his team's back line.

Mali made it to the semifinal of the Africa Cup of Nations after defeating the co-hosts Gabon on penalty kicks. Gabon played a good match with massive home support that included Gabon's long-time president Omar Bongo. It was an intense match where Gabon took the lead early in the second half by Eric Mouloungui.

Soccer is unique in contrast to other sports. The clock does count down having a set time for how long a period lasts. That means to the extent of maybe 20 minutes for hockey to count down until the next period or 15 minutes for football. With soccer, however, the clock tends to go up instead of down as anything could happen in a soccer game.

Soccer is unique in contrast to other sports. The clock does count down having a set time for how long a period lasts. That means to the extent of maybe 20 minutes for hockey to count down until the next period or 15 minutes for football. With soccer, however, the clock tends to go up instead of down as anything could happen in a soccer game.

Kenny Dalglish insists Luis Suarez has never been a disappointment for Liverpool, as the storm of controversy continues to surround the striker.
The Uruguayan started his club's 0-0 draw at Wigan on Wednesday less than 24 hours after being hit with a Football Association ban of eight matches and a fine of £40,000 for allegedly racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra.

Photo by Thomas Eisenhuth/ISIphotos.com

Abby Wambach's penchant for coming up big in the FIFA Women's World Cup this past summer has earned her more individual acclaim six months later.

Wambach was named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year Tuesday, becoming the first soccer player -- male or female -- to win an individual year-end award from the AP.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

No. 1 North Carolina and unseeded Charlotte share the same state geographically but that's about all these two teams have in common.

The Tar Heels are a perennial power participating in their fourth-straight College Cup. It is a team full of pro-ready talent, a team that has gelled remarkably fast under first-year head coach Carlos Somoano, who spent the better part of the decade as an assistant with North Carolina.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

The National Championship is headed back to North Carolina in one way or another.

It was a long yet dramatic night in Hoover, Alabama as both UNC and Charlotte booked their place in the final with the help of penalty kicks. Charlotte was never able to break down Creighton's record-breaking defense but were vastly superior in the penalty kick shootout that followed a dull 0-0 draw.

The Frank Lampard Appreciation Society proudly presents yet another chapter in the unedited, uncut version a of Frank Lampard's diary from this season. Read at your own risk. Warning this content may not be suitable for mature adults.

NOVEMBER 1, 2011

Genk.

The last two Minnesota D-3 soccer teams season came to an end this weekend in the NCAA Tournament. The two remaining teams, St. Benedict's and Concordia-Moorhead, both members of the MIAC women's soccer conference, were defeated in Friday's round of 16 match-ups. St. Benedict's who had previously defeated Carol in shootout penalty kicks and Loras [.

Photo by Howard C. Smith/ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

CARSON, Calif. - If there was any doubt as to whether David Beckham was going to play in the MLS Cup final, it should be gone now.

Having missed training the last couple of days with a cold, Beckham squashed any concerns over his health following the Los Angeles Galaxy's practice session inside a chilly Home Depot Center on Saturday afternoon.

By Alan Duffy

Everton 2-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers Premier League 19th November 2011

Both sides benefited from penalty kicks in this rather dour encounter at Goodison Park.

Wolves' Stephen Hunt opened the scoring from the penalty spot on 37 minutes after Marouane Fellaini fouled David Edwards in the Toffees' box.

Since yesterday's post dealt with a former Houston Dynamo player who was a member of the squads that won the 2006 and 2007 MLS Cups, a video, shown below, that I came across made me decide to do a post about another member of those Dynamo championship teams: Stuart Holden.

Holden, who grew up in Sugar Land, Texas, a suburb of Houston, joined the Dynamo in 2006 and made his MLS debut in a 1-1 draw at New England Revolution on May 27th.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

One round down in the NCAA Tournament and most of the heavy hitters relegated to the first round are still alive, with one notable exception.

2009 champions Virginia were shocked 1-0 at home by Colonial Athletic Champions Delaware in an overtime upset.

WVU faces a tough challenge in the opening round.. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo)

The 2011 College Cup kicks off later this week with plenty of good match-ups and potential second round pairings. With no clear cut favorite in this year's tournament, several teams could go the distance to win this year's tournament.

FC Basel ultras at Stade de Suisse Wankdorf, Bern, home of BSC Young Boys. The latter won on penalty kicks in the Swiss Cup semi-finals, April 2009.

Photo credit: Michael Mohr on Flickr

The Commonwealth Soccer League Fall 2011 season will come to an end this Sunday, November 13th, at Patriot Park in Spotsylvania, Va., during the Commonwealth SoccerFest. CSL, the Fredericksburg area's only sanctioned adult soccer league, and the youth soccer club FSCI Phoenix will be working together for a day of soccer and fundraising to close out the Fall 2011 season.

Sly goalkeeping sub Irish outfit Sligo Rovers secured victory in Sunday's FAI Cup Final against Shelbourne with an unorthodox stroke of tactical genius. Sligo chucked on substitute goalkeeper Ciaran Kelly, renowned as a bit of a penalty specialist, in the 119th minute of the match. With a penalty shootout looming, the gamble paid off.

If you need any evidence of the uneven season the Rapids have endured so far in 2011, look no further than this season's golden boot winner.

On a team with Conor Casey, Omar Cummings and Caleb Folan, it should have been that one of them would win the title as the team's top scorer.

Surprises: However, it was not to be.

Colorado's journey into the 2011 playoff starts at Dick's Sporting Goods Park at 8 Thursday night against the same foe the team edged on a successful run to the 2010 MLS Cup.

The Columbus Crew meet the Rapids in a one-shot wild card match the night after FC Dallas and the New York Red Bulls tangle in the other wild card match.

Today is a celebration to all of the people in Libya by the death of one of the worst criminals, not just in Libya, but in the whole Middle East. I remember once, I heard a historian describing him as craziest leader ever been in the Arab world in several hundreds of years. As I join celebration with the rest of world, I share few stories I heard either from TV, or read about them, on Gaddhafi family madness and crimes in football:
- 1982: Libya organized African Nations Cup, and Libyan team did the best in their history, reaching the final, only to lose to Ghana by penalty kicks after a 1-1 tie.

CONCACAF has announced that the draw for its 2012 Women's Olympic Qualifying tournament that will be held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, from Jan. 19-29, will be held on this coming Monday, October 24 at 2:00 PM ET. The draw will take place in Vancouver.
All matches of the tournament will be played at Vancouver's newly renovated BC Place Stadium with the top two teams qualifying for the 2012 Women's Olympic Football Tournament.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

For the second consecutive year, the Carolina Railhawks scored four goals in the return leg against the NSC Minnesota Stars. Only this time, it wasn't enough.

Minnesota advanced to the NASL championship series on penalty kicks despite losing a wild 4-3 game in Cary on Saturday.

By JOSE M. ROMERO

Parking and seats on the SkyTrain were probably more difficult to come by than Vancouver Whitecaps' goals Thursday night in downtown Vancouver.

With the NHL Canucks playing nearby in their regular-season opener, the Whitecaps still drew a big crowd of 20,113 fans to their brand new home, B.

Photo by Stephen Brashear/ISIphotos.com

By DAVID GUBALA

It was almost the perfect redemption to an unaccomplished season for the Chicago Fire. Winning the U.S. Open Cup for the fifth time in club history would have overshadowed all of the losses, unnecessary draws, and most importantly, potentially missing out on the playoffs.

There is no rest for the weary and no one knows that better than the quarterfinalists in the NASL playoffs.

Combine the physical toll of a long season with the pressure cooker of a win or go home match-up and fans are in for something special come Saturday. Florida will be the host for both quarterfinals as #6 Minnesota travels to #3 Tampa Bay and #4 Fort Lauderdale plays host to #5 Edmonton.

BARROW TOWN 1-2 (aet) OADBY TOWN Tuesday 27th September 2011 Leicestershire Senior Cup 1st Round Riverside Park, Barrow-upon-Soar
A week off from work fortunately coincided with a midweek fixture for Oadby Town and pitted probably the two best teams in the competition against each other in a 1st round tie.

I remember first watching Jamie Watson play for Real Salt Lake back in 2005. Back then RSL was a dismal side with little direction. You could almost say it's fitting that Watson began his professional career there. For two years Jamie battled for playing time and failed to find his groove. It's perfectly understandable; Watson entered the league as a young man who was legally able to drink.

Cristiano Ronaldo led Real Madrid to a 6-2 win over newly promoted Rayo Vallecano at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday in Spanish La Liga action. Ronaldo notched his opener in the 39th minute and converted penalty kicks in the 51st and 84th while Gonzalo Higuain, Raphael Varane and Karim Benzema score a goal apiece for [.

I can't even think the last time I called two penalty kicks against the same team - most of the time they're smart enough to avoid it. But there they were, both in the second half and within 15 minutes of each other. The oddest thing about it was that this was a men's game, and I issued no cards.
I'm rather fortunate that I let my instincts take over on the game, because as you could tell from my last entry, I was not in a good place emotionally to run the game.

Owen Hargreaves on target for Manchester City in their 2-0 Carling Cup win Michael Owen scored a couple in Manchester United's victory at Leeds It took Chelsea penalty kicks but they scraped by Fulham, losing defender Alex to a red ... Continue reading →

Charlie Davies has never done a thing to me. I promise. I have absolutely nothing against the man, although I have said several times that he needs to grow up a bit and make more "adult" choices about some things. And, of course, I hope he's learned his lessons about diving. Naughty, naughty.

Colorado Springs sides faced some extra work on Sunday, as the Mountain Lion men faced a naitonal power from Texas, while the women went into overtime against a side from Kansas.

For the men, a pair of penalty kicks was too much to overcome as Colorado Colorado Springs was beaten 2-0 by the No.

At a sold out Buck Shaw Stadium, the Quakes were finally able to end their 13 game winless streak last night against the Chicago Fire. In the third match against Chicago this season the Quakes triumphed where they had previously fallen short. The Fire beat the Quakes on penalty kicks in a US Open Cup game in June at home and in their first MLS meeting 4 days after the USOC match, the teams drew 2-2.

If the start of this season in League One has been notable for one thing, it has been for the under-achievement of those clubs which arguably over-achieved last season. After seven matches, the bottom four of Rochdale, Bournemouth, Leyton Orient and Exeter City are all clubs did extremely well when swimming against the current last season, but all are finding the going to be considerably more difficult this time around.

The Chicago Fire return to action tonight after a long break due to the FIFA International calendar. Their opponent is a familiar one as the Fire played the San Jose Earthquakes twice in the last week in May. The first game was the infamous U.S. Open Cup game where Chicago advanced thanks to San Jose's Scott Sealy hitting the crossbar on the last PK attempt.

Photo: Paul Rudderow

Union

The Union are still playing coy about whether or not Faryd Mondragon left the game because of a broken finger.

Reaction to the Union's dispiriting loss on Saturday to Real Salt Lake from MLSsoccer.com, the Inquirer, the Salt Lake Tribune, RSL Soapbox, SB Nation, the Brotherly Game, the IllegitimateS, Buzz on Broad, SBI.

Amanda, Shana, and Rachna start this week's show with a look at the MNT roster for the upcoming Costa Rica and Belgium friendlies. They are relieved to find Fabian Johnson on the list instead of Eddie Johnson, and welcome the return of Jose Francisco Torres, Jozy Altidore, and the Huntington Beach Bromance that is Robbie Rogers and Sacha Kljestan.

The WPS title was at stake on Saturday in Rochester, NY.

The Cheesesteak Supporters Club was in the house. A few of the stalwarts rented a giant conversion van.

They proceeded to decorate the van.

Note the yellow string of lights up top.

The Philly Soccer Page " Final report: WNY Flash 1 – 1 Independence (5-4 in PKs)
In a game worthy of a championship, the Western New York Flash defeated the Philadelphia Independence in a shootout 5-4 after the teams ended 120 minutes of soccer tied at one.

For Union, it's time to get the point(s) - delcotimes.