For a moment, on a wet, cold, and blustery Memorial Saturday in the Bronx, Yankee Stadium became a soccer haven. For a moment, there were more international stars on the field than there are on the Yankees active roster. For a moment, two different shades of blue had priority over pinstripes and a diamond turned into a pitch (not referring to a thrown baseball). For a moment.
Major League Soccer has placed their chips in New York. As expected, the 20th member of America’s top tier of soccer will reside within the five boroughs, with many looking at Queens as a likely destination.
As is customary, teams are tested the greatest when they go on the road. The Fordham Women’s Soccer team felt the effects of this proven theory, falling to 2-2 in Atlantic Ten Conference play after a two-loss weekend in Virginia. They dropped a 6-0 decision to VCU and, with an unfortunate bounce, lost a heart-breaker to Richmond 1-0.
It was the first conference road trip for the girls and the travel was noticeable. Coach Ness Selmani knows all too well that road games are never easy.
The Fordham Women’s soccer team has had a bumpy start to its year but as the old adage goes, once conference play starts it’s a new season. The Lady Rams have momentum going into their A-10 opener against Duquesne tonight, winning their last two games against Fairfield and Loyola respectively. I talked to Head Coach Ness Selmani about the nature of his team, choosing captains, and the team’s new style of play.
What do you call a team that stands just 4-7-2 on the road, but 8-0-3 at home. An enigma? Maybe the Red Bulls are just home sick when they leave the friendly confines of Red Bull Arena.
As part of the relatively unknown World Football Challenge, two well-known European soccer giants, Real Madrid and A.C. Milan came to play on American soil. Although the friendly match may hold little significance, tell that to the sellout crowd of 49,474 strong, who filled Yankee Stadium with the raucous choir so reminiscent of the world’s biggest soccer arenas.
Ryan Meara saw no action this week after picking up a knock on his hip. Coach Backe said that the Fordham graduate could go, but the team did not want to risk further injuring the rookie keeper. Even though he missed the action, there’s still no doubt that he’s been very important to this club.
Spain vs. Italy
Winner: Italy
Analysis: Although I’m sure there are others who have been as lucky as me to predict the correct outcomes of every match since the quarterfinals, I still maintain that I deserve a little credit…but not too much. Yes, I picked Italy to pull out a victory against a heavily favored German team, but no one, including me could have foretold a mesmerizing and supreme two-goal performance from Italy’s Mario Balotelli. Even if Balotelli doesn’t quite match his last-game heroics, which is very possible given Spain’s robust duo of Gerard Piquè and Sergio Ramos in the central defense, Italy can still pull off a title win against “La Roja”. But what Balotelli can most certainly do is win you the match. The reason is because clinical finishers like “Super Mario”, are the ones who land on the score sheet, without them it can be very hard to put away that final ball off a beautiful pass.
Tommy Smyth, soccer analyst at ESPN, joined Alex Smith and Eric Mollo on One on One to discuss the surprising Italy team, Mario Balotelli, and his prediction for the final.
You wouldn’t expect the New York Red Bulls to have a commanding 3-2 victory over their opponents, having been scored upon 26 seconds into last Sunday’s game against the former conference leaders, D.C. United. But they did. However, before fans even had time to take a bite of their nachos, D.C. striker Chris Pontius headed the ball past a stunned Ryan Meara. A record crowd of 25,187 “D.C. Haters” had all of sudden lost their voice.
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