Soccer outside Europe has gained in popularity in recent years, with David Beckham making a high profile move to the MLS in North America, a transfer that transformed soccer into a sport with a widespread global profile and exposed a new generation of potential players to the game, but the latest FIFA tournament, the African Cup Of Nations, has failed to catch the public's imagination.

Fabio Cannavaro. Sought after wherever he goes, apparently. Here, he's attracting a bit of interest from local kids in Phnom Penh on January 9th. Image: STR/AFP/Getty Images.

We're not going to get wrapped in the complexities of the newly founded Premier League Soccer tournament in India for two reasons.

By Alan Duffy

"F**king kick him, you ponce" Peter Reid, bringing the beautiful game to the India

Trying to break the massive, all-conquering hold cricket has on India ain't gonna be easy, but the organisers of the new Indian Premier League Soccer tournament are doing their best to get the locals interested by getting a number of ex-greats involved.

Milan - Lazio 2:30pm - ESPN3.com We normally don't promote online-only options with limited distribution, but if you have access to ESPN3 this is a good alternative on a slow day for live soccer. Milan host Lazio in the quarterfinal stage of the Coppa Italia. Credit soccer tournament creativity, the round of 16 and semifinal stages of the Coppa are single elimination, switching to two-legs for the semifinals, and then back to a single game.

Photo: Nicolae Stoian

Philadelphia Union got the MLS All-Star game for PPL Park.

So why aren't you excited?

Why was there a collective yawn in response to Tuesday's announcement when there could have been rapturous joy?

Was it because word had leaked out early and killed the surprise factor?

Photo by Howard C. Smith/ISIphotos.com

Major League Soccer made official Tuesday what was reported on Monday, awarding the 2012 MLS All-Star Game to PPL Park at an announcement at Philadelphia's City Hall Tuesday morning.

The game will take place Wednesday, July 25, at 8 p.

Photo: Paul Rudderow

It's official, PPL Park will be the site of the 2012 MLS All-Star Game on July 25.

The opponent, "a renowned international club," will be announced at a later date.

MLS Commissioner Don Garber, Philadelphia Union CEO Nick Sackiewicz, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and Chester Mayor John Linder were on hand at the press conference at Philadelphia's City Hall on Tuesday morning for the announcement.

Here are the highlights of the USA vs Dominican Republic CONCACAF Olympics match played in Vancouver, BC. Abby Wambach and Co., made mincemeat of 88th seeded Dominican Republic. Amy Rodriguez scored five, Heather O' Reilly poured in another three as the US Women scored a record 14 goals to nil.

Liverpool FC might be coming to Fenway Park next summer. The Boston Globe reports the Reds are in talks with Italian club AS Roma about playing a preseason friendly at the historic park in late June or early July.
"Throughout its 100-year history, Fenway Park has seen some of the best in athletic competition," Fenway Sports Management president Sam Kennedy said.

The Home Internationals Soccer Tournament, 1946-84, A Complete Record by Gary Watton is a match-by-match record of this annual tournament, once played amongst the four national teams of the United Kingdom - England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Each match gets its own page and the details include lineup (interestingly including which club the player played for at the time, a great touch), scorers, and a brief summary to give it context.

Ted and Chris return to talk about the Kenny Cooper trade to the New York Red Bulls and have special guest Travis Clark from MLSSoccer.com to break down the 2012 MLS Superdraft. Also, we go through some big changes coming to America's oldest running soccer tournament, the U.S. Open Cup.

By FRANCO PANIZO

The 2012 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup will much different than any of its predecessors.

U.S. Soccer announced a number of changes for the 99th edition of the tournament. Those changes include a 64-team field (the largest in the modern era), a random selection process for determining home teams from the opening round until the quarterfinals, and the inclusion of all professional teams from the top three divisions, meaning the MLS qualifying bracket is no more.

Ives Galarcep gives a detailed look at Caleb Porter's pool for the US Under-23 team-
Caleb Porter's first camp as US Under-23 national team coach has been a competitive one - a productive one for the talented group under his command. There have been some impressive performances put in by some of the players you would expect, but also some pleasant surprises from players lower on the depth chart.

The 2011 College Cup invades Hoover, Alabama this weekend. (Photo via UNC Athletics)

Four schools remain in this year's NCAA men's soccer tournament. The College Cup has three schools that most expected to be here and one that no one saw coming. The tournament's top two seeds remain in UNC and Creighton while pre-season favorite UCLA the 13th seed and unseeded UNC Charlotte hope to spoil the fun.

Here is what we don't need. In the summer the CONCACAF region was right in the midst of the Mohammed Bin Hammam scandal after Chuck Blazer revealed a money for votes rigging scheme that involved officials of the Caribbean Football Union receiving wads of cash from Bin Hammam for their support to replace Sepp Blatter as FIFA president.

Brother and sister Brent and Kassey Kallman each will see at least one more game of post season action after this weekends NCAA D1 soccer tournament matches. Kassey's Florida State University Seminoles (18-6-1) defeated the University of Virginia last Friday by a score of 3-0. The win propels them to the semifinals of the College [.

Junior midfielder Andrew Ribeiro (Green Bay Notre Dame) scored his fourth goal of the season – and fourth game-winner – as second-ranked Creighton scored twice in the opening 20 minutes and held off No. 13 UC Santa Barbara 2-1 Sunday in Omaha, Neb., to advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament.

In a single NCAA Men's D1 soccer tournament match, two Minnesotan's were eliminated and two others advanced in this years contest. Eric Miller and Brent Kallman, both Woodbury, Minn. natives and both members of the Creighton Bluejays will advance to next weekends Sweet 16 round of play after blanking Northern Illinois 2-0 on Sunday.

Only one women soccer player with ties to Minnesota remains in the NCAA D1 Women's soccer tournament after this past weekend. Kassey Kallmans' (Woodbury, Minn., Woodbury HS) FSU will advance to the final 8 teams in the country who are vying for the national NCAA Championship after defeating the University of Louisville on Sunday, 2-0 as [.

By Joe Stevenson
Northwest Herald
Erin Holland has played soccer at an elite level since joining the Eclipse Select Soccer club when she was 11 years old.
Holland, a Cary resident and junior at Cary-Grove, made sure she will be playing with another elite team when she goes to college in two years.

Brittany Walder (Waukesha West) turned in another impressive performance, but it wasn't enough to extend UW-Oshkosh's season.

The senior goalkeeper made 10 saves as the Titans lost to No. 12 Washington-St. Louis 2-0 in a second-round match of the NCAA Division III women's soccer tournament Sunday night in St.

There are some big time matches in the 2011 NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament. The 48-team bracket was revealed today with UNC tabbed as the top seed in the tournament. The Tar Heels went 17-2-2 on the season. Creighton, UCONN and Boston College were the other top four seeds.

Here is how the field breaks down (seeded teams have first-round byes, first-round games to be played on Nov.

The 48-team field was announced for the 2011 NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament, and as is the case every year, there were some surprises as well as some surprising omissions.

Here is how the field breaks down (seeded teams have first-round byes:

BRACKET 1

(1) North Carolina vs 1st-round winner of Elon vs.

The 48-team field for the NCAA men's soccer tournament will be announced this afternoon, and there will be several teams sweating out the next few hours as they wait to see if they made the cut.

With a total of 22 automatic bids awarded to conference champions, there are 26 spots at-large bids available.

Three Wisconsin teams qualified for the NCAA women's soccer tournament, and all three will be looking for their first NCAA victories when the 64-team event kicks off with first-round matches Friday and Saturday.

Meanwhile, UW-Parkside – the state's lone NCAA Division II program – earned its second straight berth in that division and faces a potentially intriguing weekend.

Three Wisconsin teams qualified for the NCAA Division III men's soccer tournament, two earning automatic berths by winning their respective conference tournaments last Saturday and the other landing an at-large bid in the 61-team championship.

Here's a look at the state sides that will be in action in first-round matches Thursday, Friday and Saturday:

The way things are shaking out for Creighton, it would appear that the Bluejays are well on their way to a top seed in the NCAA men's soccer tournament.

After finishing the regular season as Missouri Valley Conference co-champions, the Bluejays, who are a perfect 9-0 at home this season, are set to host the league's tournament this week.

In total 9 players tied to Minnesota will compete in the 2011 NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament. Leading the way is Florida State sophomore defender and Woodbury, Minn. native Kassey Kallman. Kallman, Minnesota's Ms. Soccer in 2009, has started in all 43 games of her college career, playing a team-leading 2022 minutes while garnering All-ACC and [.

I'll be live blogging today from the MOA Field where the 2011 MN State High School Soccer Tournament is taking place. Check out the Live Blog and join in on the discussion. Click Here

I'll be live blogging today from the MOA Field or as we Minnesotans call it, the Metrodome, where the 2010 MN State High School Soccer Tournament is taking place. Check out the Live Blog and join in on the discussion. Click Here

On the last day of the quarterfinals of the 2011 Minnesota State High School League Soccer Tournament, 4 games were played. Two girls 1A and two 2A games. Girls 1A Quarterfinals Benilde-St. Margaret's 3-1 South Saint Paul At Roseveille High School, #1 ranked Benilde-St. Margaret's Red Knights, (16-0-3) defeated the South Saint Paul Packers (10-9-0) [.

There's plenty of state tournament experience – and familiarity – among the four teams in the field for the WIAA Division 2 state boys soccer tournament.

One semifinal pits the two teams that have met in the state final each of the past two years, two matches that weren't decided until the second overtime.

The defending state champion, the state's leading scorer, teams riding long unbeaten or winning streaks and conference rivals.

Yes, there are plenty of story lines for the WIAA Division 3 state boys soccer tournament, which starts with the semifinals Friday morning at Time Warner Cable Stadium at Milwaukee's Uihlein Soccer Park.

The field for this year's WIAA state boys soccer tournament could look a lot like last year's.

Twelve of the 16 sides that played at state last fall advanced to Saturday's sectional finals, including the defending champions in all three divisions.

In Division 1, reigning champion Milwaukee Marquette (20-0-1) – ranked first in the Wisconsin Soccer Coaches Association state poll all year – leads a group of six 2010 state qualifiers that are one step away from return trips to Milwaukee's Uihlein Soccer Park.

Peter Nowak (right) led the U-23 team in 2008 and coached Jozy Altidore (left) at the Beijing Olympics.

Up until and including the 1988 Seoul Games, the Olympic soccer tournament was an unrestricted event, and thus the U.S. Olympic Soccer Team was essentially the U.S. National Team.

Turkey is not top seeded team in the playoffs !
Turkish Football Federation web site(www.tff.org) made a huge error yesterday, announcing Turkey as a top seeded team in the play-offs!
Well that was not truth and it was bogus news from TFF!
UEFA have announced the seeds for the Euro 2012 playoffs, after the final round of qualifying matches were completed on Tuesday.

Photo by John Todd/ISIphotos.com

As the U.S. men's national team continues its winless stretch, the team keeps tumbling down the FIFA rankings.

The United States is No. 31 in the latest rankings, down three spots after losses to Costa Rica and Belgium earlier this month.

They made not be going to the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup after being banned due to the positive drug tests this summer in Germany, but North Korea will be at the Olympics in London next summer after finishing second behind Japan in the AFC Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

North Korea just needed to avoid defeat against Thailand in its final match to join the already-qualified Japanese in London and ended up winning 5-0.

This past weekend my U9 girls team participated in their first ever travel soccer tournament, the 2011 FPYC Patriot Cup. The Patriot Cup was touted as a great pre-season warm-up tournament due to...
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"It's been great. Just seeing Sally Pearson win her Gold Medal race at the World Championships has really inspired everyone involved in Primary School Soccer this week," said young Athletics Coach Tiny Passmore.
The Primary School Soccer Tournament is on in Canberra all week and despite all the talk of FFA's revolution of Small Sided Games the girls are playing on the biggest pitch at the recently and more appropriately renamed Hawker Junior Athletics Centre.