Soccer By Ives

Monday Morning Center Back: The hangover

Oglooni mend everybody (That's Mongolian if you were wondering. SBI has at least one reader there so I decided to show him some love.)

The American soccer news front has slowed to a crawl. No, Juan Carlos Osorio still isn't officially the Red Bulls head coach and yes, Juan Veron really did leave D.C. United at the altar. The U.S. Under-23 team posted its second tie in two matches against China (and please, no sky is falling commentary, they were friendlies) and well, that's really it.

If you are wondering about the headline, no, I didn't go on a drinking binge this weekend. It is just in reference to a weekend chock full of high-quality soccer action. Whether it was the intense EPL clashes, the entertaining La Liga fixtures, AC Milan's masterful victory against Boca Juniors in the Club World Cup, or Wake Forest's NCAA title-clinching comeback on Sunday, there was something for everybody.

Here is a look back at the weekend:

This weekend's soccer on TV

 

The weekend is almost here and if you are starving for some high-profile matches, this is your weekend.

English Premier League fans will be downright giddy as the top four square off in a pair of Sunday blockbusters. Manchester United travels to Liverpool while Chelsea make the trip across London to face arch-rival Arsenal. It doesn't get much better than that.

There are quality games elsewhere as well. Red-hot Bayer Leverkusen meets a reeling Werder Bremen side in a Saturday morning tilt while Juventus faces Lazio in another quality encounter.

Before we get to the weekend though, there are matches this evening. The NCAA Final Four is tonight on ESPNU and if you have that channel you have no excuse for not at least TIVOing and watching them later.

Here are this weekend's matches on TV:

MLS selects seniors for MLS Combine

Major League Soccer announced the 54 college seniors who will take part in the MLS Combine in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida from Jan. 11-15.

Here they are (Players to watch in bold):

2008 ADIDAS MLS PLAYER COMBINE LIST BY POSITION

GOALKEEPERS (5): Dominic Cervi (University of Tulsa); Brian Edwards (Wake Forest University); Andrew Kartunen (Stanford University); Casey Latchem (Ohio State University); Steve Sandbo (Southern Methodist University);

DEFENDERS (19): Scott Bolkan (Stanford University); Matthew Britner (Brown University); Eric Brunner (Ohio State University); Adrian Chevannes (Southern Methodist University); Sean Franklin (California State University Northridge); Matt Hatzke (Santa Clara University); David Horst (Old Dominion University); Andy Iro (University of California - Santa Barbara); Julius James (University of Connecticut); Jonathan Leathers (Furman University); Rauwshan McKenzie (Michigan State University); Ryan Miller (University of Notre Dame); Brandon Owens (University of California - Los Angeles); Andre Sherard (University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill); Julian Valentin (Wake Forest University); Yomby William (Old Dominion University); David Worthen (University of North Carolina - Greensboro); Mike Zaher (University of Tulsa); Geoff Cameron (University of Rhode Island);

MIDFIELDERS (23): Jeremy Barlow (University of Virginia); Eric Burkholder (University of Tulsa); El Hadj Cisse (North Carolina State University); Hugh Cronin (North Carolina State University); Pavle Dundjer  (University of Illinois - Chicago); Joe Germanese (Duke University); Brian Grazier (Saint Louis University); Pat Healy (Towson University); Andrew Jacobson (University of California); George Josten (Gonzaga University); Stephen King (University of Maryland); AJ Kulp (Old Dominion University); Peter Lowry (Santa Clara University); Ryan Maduro (Providence College); Pat Phelan (Wake Forest University); David Roth (Northwestern University); Shea Salinas (Furman University); Luke Sassano (University of California); Ben Shuleva (Southern Methodist University); Dan Stratford (West Virginia University); Michael Videira (Duke University); Andy Wright (University of West Virginia); Cesar Zambrano (University of Illinois -Chicago);

FORWARDS (7): Ely Allen (University of Washington); Xavier Balc (Ohio State University); Ryan Cordeiro (University of Connecticut); Kevin Forrest (University of Washington); Joseph Lapira (University of Notre Dame); Sherron Manswell (Boston College); Lukasz Turnicz (University of Rhode Island)

What do you think of this group? Share your thoughts below.

Morning Ticker: Arena wants a job, Lippi eyeing England, USC women win title

Bruce Arena wants a job.

The former U.S. national team and Red Bulls coach has expressed his interest in the vacant Scotland job. It is a pretty smart move by Arena because coaching a UK national team is one way to score a club manager job in England, which I believe is Arena's ultimate goal.

Does he have a real chance of getting the job? I really don't think so. Not because he doesn't have the credentials, but because one thing Scotland doesn't have a shortage of is coaches. The tiny nation must produce the most soccer coaches/managers per capita of any top soccer nation.

You have to wonder whether Arena's interest in the Scotland gig will lead New England coach Steve Nicol to throw his hat into the ring. Why shouldn't he?

NCAA Tournament: Bradley, UMass leading the Cinderellas into the Elite Eight

The University of Massachusetts, Bradley University and Illinois-Chicago advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA men's soccer tournament this weekend, making it three unseeded squads left with national title aspirations.

Here is a rundown of the weekend's Sweet 16 action:

NCAA Tournament: No. 1 seed Boston College toppled

The Men's NCAA Tournament moved to the Sweet 16 after Wednesday's second round matches and No. 1 Boston College won't be coming along for the ride.

The Eagles were knocked off by local rival UMass, 2-1, on Wednesday night, making BC one of six higher seeds to lose second-round match-ups. Bradley beat No. 4 seed Indiana in penalty kicks while Old Dominion beat No. 6 seed Brown, 2-1. South Florida (pictured above) knocked off No. 14 Akron, 1-0.

Here are Sweet 16 match-ups, along with the second-round results the teams used to get there:

Spotlight: St. John's midfielder Nelson Becerra

Hello all. For those of you who didn't see it, I wrote a profile on St. John's midfielder Nelson Becerra for the Herald News. It's a pretty interesting story on a kid who could eventually emerge as the next top midfielder to come from North Jersey.

Enjoy and share any feedback you'd like.

TGIF: On MLS Trades

Good morning all, it's a busy day for yours truly. I'm wrapping up my ESPN column and heading to my alma mater, Ramapo College, to speak to a class.

I wasn't going to forget TGIF though, and here it is. The topic is MLS trades. My ESPN column, which should be up later today, focused on the five most lopsided trades of the 2007 MLS season. Now lopsided might make you think of these big blockbuster trades, but I use the term to describe trades that worked out far more for one side than the other.