By Clemente Lisi – MONTREAL, CA (Jan 4, 2012) US Soccer Players – There is nothing like the start of a new year to fill one with hope and anticipation. For USA soccer fans, there's a lot to look forward to from the National Teams and Major League Soccer. The senior side starts their road to Brazil with World Cup Qualifying.

Akron's Caleb Porter was named head coach of the United States under-23 men's national team, which will try to qualify this spring for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
Porter now has to balance both jobs as he wears multiple hats, with his Akron Zips in the NCAA National Tournament and the US Under-23 team going through preparations for qualification for the next Olympics.

By John Nyen

Engels: Invariably

Friedrich Engel, Georg Cantor, Grete Hermann, and Jurgen Klinsmann are related in a very odd way. Of course they are all German.

However, this would miss the implicit point hidden in the Klinsmann way.

That is that they are all German mathematicians.

Slovenia vs USA Soccer Score 2-3 Highlights Video Goals 2011 Friendly Buddle Dempsey is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Slovenia vs USA Soccer Score 2-3 Highlights Video Goals 2011 Friendly Buddle Dempsey is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Slovenia vs USA 2011 ( Slovenia vs United States 2011 video below) Final score and result:- Slovenia vs USA 2-3 ( Matavz*2/ Buddle, Dempsey, Altidore pen) Stadio Stozice, Ljubljana, 15th November, [.

(Summary is not available.)

(Summary is not available.)

Robbie Rogers scored the goal.
The Klinsmann era began last night and fans were left with as many questions as there were answers. For the first 50 minutes of the game, the United States looked disjointed and broken. There was very little movement going forward and team unity was lacking.
The starting lineup held some interesting talking points as Michael Orozco started at centerback while Edgar Castillo lined up on the left side of the back line.

With the rain pouring down in buckets, the boys and girls of the West Philadelphia Hurricanes Youth Soccer Club probably thought practice would be called for the day. Yet, when they arrived at the Shepard Recreation Center at 57th Street and Haverford Avenue for an impromptu indoor training session, they received an unexpected surprise.

On Saturday I had the honor and pleasure of interviewing Ralph Perez from the University of Redlands. I am very grateful to Coach Perez for giving up some of his valuable time to pass on his advice and knowlege to our soccer coaching community here at www.soccercoachingblog.com.

The interview lasted over 30 mins and covered topics such as practice exercises, use of time and space, use of video, advice for college recruits, and ideas for recreational, club and high school coaches.

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Local beat reporter Scott French made the trip up to Vancouver to cover the Galaxy and was rewarded with Landon Donovan's first quotes on the USA coaching change. Kudos to French, a long-time veteran of the soccer scene, for the scoop.
Donovan's positive reaction to Jurgen Klinsmann's hire didn't surprise me, although he didn't always think so highly of the German coach, however.

Soccer fans in the United States had a lot of reasons to cheer for their national team over the last few years. Despite those highs, USA soccer coach Bob Bradley lost his job on Thursday. With expectations rising, the decision makers decided to go a different direction.

"During his time as the head coach of our men's national team he led the team to a number of accomplishments, but we felt now was the right time for us to make a change," said Sunil Gulati, the president of USA Soccer.

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The United States Women's National Team captured the hearts of their country and likely several more. In the course of their run to the World Cup final, they overcame many challenges including a double overtime PK shootout to Brazil. The team improved with each game, but in the end they fell just short to a resilient Japanese team.

Hot, er, Hope SoloWhat is it with American soccer goalkeepers? Is it because we can catch and the rest of the world cannot? Is it because our kids grow up watching quarterbacks and catchers lead and naturally, the goalie becomes the central figure on the football pitch because they're an equally solitary figure?

Japan are World Cup champions. The Japan women's soccer team won the World Cup Final on Sunday after defeating USA on penalty kicks in a closely fought game played in Frankfurt, Germany.

The United States women's national team created most of the chances but had to wait until the 67th minute when half-time substitute Alex Morgan slotted the ball into the back of the net against the advancing goalkeeper (see video below).

Artist Gary Finkler has been so inspired by US women's goalkeeper Hope Solo's heroics in front of goal for Team USA, that he created this fun cartoon featuring Hope Solo (dressed as Han Solo) battling off the evil force of FIFA (i.e. Darth Vader).

You can see more of Gary's cartoons on his website at http://7thinningsketch.

Known by USA soccer fans as the parent club of standout midfielder Michael Bradley, Borussia Mönchengladbach, is a German football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia. The team currently plays in the top-tier of German soccer the 1. Bundesliga. As the Die Fohlen (the Foals) prepare for next season, the Borussia Mönchengladbach Lotto 2011/12 away [.

Mary Luba snapped a tie in the 87th minute as the FC Milwaukee Under-18 girls team rallied past Kansas' KCFC Intensity 2-1 Tuesday morning to advance to the U.S. Youth Soccer Region II Championship at the USA Soccer Complex in Appleton.

The Nationals fell behind just two minutes into the semifinal match, but Jacie Jermier – a former McFarland High School standout – equalized in the 63rd.

Three Wisconsin teams, all from Milwaukee, won their groups and advanced to Tuesday's semifinals at the U.S. Youth Soccer Region II Championships in Appleton.

FC Milwaukee's Under-17 and Under-18 girls teams and the Bavarian SC Under-15 boys team made it to the final four in their respective divisions.

The U.S. Youth Soccer Region II Championships kicked off Saturday in Appleton and De Pere.

The tournament includes 14 Wisconsin teams, one in each of the seven boys and seven girls age groups from Under-13 to Under-19. Round-robin pool matches are being played at the USA Soccer Complex in Appleton and Southwest Park in De Pere, with the semifinals and finals Tuesday and Wednesday in Appleton.

Something happened in the 78th minute of Wednesday night's Gold Cup semifinal that most USA soccer fans thought would be common by this point in the team's development. Freddy Adu found Landon Donovan with a long pass, Donovan put a ball in front of the net, and Clint Dempsey finished it off for the 1-0 win over Panama.

The schedules and qualifiers are finalized for the U.S. Youth Soccer Region II Championships, which start Saturday in Appleton and De Pere.

The tournament includes 14 Wisconsin teams, one in each of the seven boys and seven girls age groups from Under-13 to Under-19. Matches will be played at the USA Soccer Complex in Appleton and Southwest Park in De Pere, with round-robin pool play Saturday, Sunday and next Monday.

OK, so I managed to pull it off this weekend and watch all the soccer that I wanted. I am blessed with the fact that my wife Jenn, is almost as soccer crazy as I am.

We hung out together and watched soccer on tv, she was led on the couch (9 months pregnant) while our 2 year old son ran around the living room.

Image from http://www.ussoccer.com

I know, I know...it's called football. I'm with you all on that, but sometimes doesn't a spot of alliteration just sound good despite it's accuracy to the sport that we love? Ok, you're right...that was inexcusable and I apologize.

You may have read my post last week about my buddy and I planning our trip to the World Cup in 2014.

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USA soccer legend Mia Hamm is now a co-founder and endorser of a new line of sun care products. The new line is called MISSION Athlete Care. Here are some more details on it: Who would have thought that Dwyane Wade, David Wright, Serena Williams and Mia Hamm would come together to help design a line of [.

(Summary is not available.)

Here's how American players did overseas over the weekend.

Goalkeepers:

Tim Howard made four saves and earned his seventh clean sheet of the season in Everton's 3-0 victory over Wolverhampton. Brad Friedel also got his sixth clean sheet of the season in Aston Villa's 1-0 win over Newcastle.

Known to USA soccer fans as the current club of American midfielder Benny Feilhaber, AGF Aarhus is one of the most successful football teams in Denmark. AGF holds record for the longest non-interrupted stay in the Danish top division and also holds the record for most number of cup wins. However, the club has struggled with [.

Sorry I have not posted this sooner. I've had one of the worst weeks in terms of schoolwork.

Bradley started off the game was a 4-2-3-1 formation that was mostly ineffective. I don't know why Bradley tries this formation. It has not worked well for us in the past, and Bradley still hasn't gotten the starting XI right.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

It's a time transition at the NASL.

The second-tier of American soccer revealed several changes this morning as David Downs was introduced as commissioner, a new logo was unveiled and a redesigned website was launched.

Downs is the former executive director of the unsuccessful USA World Cup bid and will officially take office on April 4th.

We have to admit. We are humbled that after 3+ years of writing about the beautiful game, people continue to search us out. Sadly, we have slowed to a snail's pace here over the last three months -- of course not counting the top-notch posting of Tom Mallows -- but overall our posts are down.
Now re-energized we will be breaking posts into four categories moving forward: Soccer World, Soccer USA, Soccer Games and Soccer Player.