Tournament Alert:012 Charleston International Cup Memorial Day Weekend: May 26-28

2012 Charleston International Cup Memorial Day Weekend: May 26-28 After an exciting debut in 2011 with 66 teams from 7 states, the 2012 Charleston International Cup looks to grow its mission of becoming the most diverse adult futbol tournament in terms of international futbol cultures and range of divisions of play in the US. Blackbaud Stadium "Home of the Charleston Battery " will once again be the perfect setting for the tournament finale on Monday where the (4) Premier division finals will be played.   We invite *all adult amateur teams from all over the US to join us for this special weekend of futbol, comraderie and time to enjoy the beaches, historical heritage, Spoleto Festival USA, award winning southern cuisine, and so much more.       * USASA event. Non-affiliated teams may register with their state association for special Open Tournament weekend membership.    Tournament Features:   Premier Divisions (CASH AWARDS): Men's Open, Men's Masters 30 & 40 and Coed-these teams may be league select teams  Other Divisions: Men's (I & II), Men's Masters 30 (I), Men's Masters 40 (I), Men's Masters 50/55/60/65, Women's (I & II), Women's Masters 30/40, Coed (I), Coed Masters 30  Free tickets to USL Pro match: Charleston Battery vs LA Blues at Blackbaud Stadium-Family Package also available     3 matches guaranteed (Sat-Sun), Semis (Sun pm), Finals(Mon)   Tournament Party with food, music and Raffle on Sunday night Memorial Day Finale at Blackbaud Stadium: All (4) Premier Division finals played in stadium, gates open at 10am for public to enjoy a full day of food, futbol, and fun!!!   On behalf of Lowcountry Soccer and our staff, we look forward to helping your adult futbol team have a fantastic Memorial Day weekend. Thank you, Kenyon Cook Director Lowcountry Soccer.

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO REGISTER  CLICK HERE  PREMIER DIVISION FINALS PLAYED HERE ON MEMORIAL DAY COME SEE WHY CHARLESTON IS THE  #1 RATED DESTINATION IN NORTH AMERICA

Lowcountry Soccer LLC Charleston, SC www.lowcountrysoccer.net

Soccer Joke: What to do about a losing streak.

 The local soccer team were having a dreadful season. They hadn't won a game for 12 weeks and the manager was at the end of his tether. "Look," suggested a friend one evening, "why don't you take the whole squad out for a ten mile run every day?"

"What good will that do?" moaned the manager.

"Well," replied his friend, "today's Sunday. By next Saturday they'll be 60 miles away and you won't have to worry about them."

Americans in the FA Cup: Landon Donovan, Tim Howard and Clint Dempsey

In a match that pitted US soccer's two biggest stars against each other for the first time in six years, Landon Donovan's dual assists were decisive as Everton ousted Fulhum in the FA Cup 4^th round. A third American star—Tim Howard—kept the nets for Everton as usual.

Howard and Everton fell into a hole early when Dempsey's shot in the 12^th minute deflected off Everton defender Jonny Heitinga's hand, resulting in referee Howard Webb awarding Fulham a penalty kick. There was little question who would take the kick for Fulham, as Danny Murphy had been 11-for-11 from the penalty spot coming into the game. The streak continued, as Howard (Tim Howard, not Howard Webb—although that would be funny to see Webb ply his trade in goal) guessed the wrong way and Murphy's kick flew into the back of the net.

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After the goal, Everton appeared to awake from their sluggish start and came close to scoring, notably on Shane Duffy's open header. Minutes later, Everton equalized when Landon Donovan swung in a brilliant cross that was met by Denis Stracqulaurski who headed it home.

In the second half, Donovan again proved his worth to Everton when his expert cross was again headed into the net, this time by Marouane Fellaini and his unmistakable hairdo. Tim Howard shut the door several times late to seal Everton's victory, propelling them to the next round of England's most prestigious club tournament.

Although Donovan's team came out on top in this one, Clint Dempsey has made a strong case in recent weeks that he is the best American soccer player today. Despite usually being deployed on the wing or as a attacking midfielder, Dempsey's goal-scoring exploits have been invaluable for Fulham this season. He recently became the first American to ever score a hat trick in an EPL game in Fulham's 5-2 win over Newcastle. He has scored 15 goals in all competitions for Fulham this campaign and was recently named US Soccer's Male Athlete of the Year.

Who is the best American soccer player right now? Dempsey, Donovan, or someone else? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

More:

Top 10 Best Soccer Players in the World Today

Best Flow in the Premier League: Who Has the Coolest Hair in the EPL?

Americans Abroad: A Look at US Soccer Players on Premier League Teams

Counting Down the Best Defenders in Soccer

Sources: http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/story/_/id/7511629/fa-cup-landon-donovan-everton-beat-clint-dempsey-fulham

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/sports/soccer/for-us-womens-soccer-team-win-in-olympic-qualifying-proves-costly.html

Tournament Alert: Georgia FC Blue Men's 60's bracket Florida Classic Soccer tournament on Jan 16, 2012. .

Georgia FC Blue Men's 60's bracket Florida Classic Soccer Tournament Champions

Soccer Joke: Heaven vs. Hell

 Hours after the end of the world, a border dispute emerged between heaven and hell. God invited the devil for conversations to find a way to resolve this dispute quickly. Satan proposed a soccer game between heaven and earth. God, always fair, told the devil, 'the heat must be affecting your brain, the game would be so one sided, don't you know all the "good" players go to heaven?' The devil, smiling, responded 'yeah, but we've got all the refs'..."

Michael Bradley update: life at Chievo Verona

It's only natural that Michael Bradley has slipped a bit under our radar during his time at Chievo Verona, despite his indisputable and unprecedented success.

After all, in the sea of soccer news, sometimes it takes a little bit of controversy, a little bit of turmoil, or at least a few goals here and there to surface above the waves.

And Bradley has provided precious little of that since his transfer to Italy's Serie A in late August. All he's done is step into Chievo's starting lineup and grab firm hold of that spot, and despite his lack of goals and altercations, it's something that deserves to be talked about.

In Chievo's third Serie A game of the season against Napoli, Bradley became the first American to start a match in Italy's top-flight since Alexi Lalas did it for Padova in 1994. Chievo won the match 1-0, and Bradley has not left the field since.

Literally.

In Chievo's 16 subsequent Serie A matches since the Napoli victory, Bradley has started every game and has not been substituted once. He's up to 17 league starts in a row, going the full match in each and every one.

Halfway through the season, unfancied Chievo is tied for 8th in Serie A, only trailing a who's who of Italian soccer: Juventus, Milan, Udinese, Inter, Lazio, Roma and Napoli.

Bradley's spell at Chievo has flown a bit under the radar, not just because he has no goals and only one assist from a holding midfield role, but also because it has lacked the drama that was a fixture during tenures at his most-recent teams.

During his time at German side Borussia Monchengladbach, he frequently clashed with managers Michael Frontzeck and Lucien Favre, which eventually led him to a loan spell at English club Aston Villa for the second half of last season. At Villa, Bradley only managed three league appearances, all as a sub, leading some to question whether the 24-year-old had reached the ceiling of his footballing career.

Rough Patch | Bradley hardly saw the field during his half-season loan at Aston Villa

And lest we forget his time with the U.S. national team, where the majority of his 63 caps were earned while playing for his father, former coach Bob Bradley. As the coach's kid, Bradley was always disproportionately under the microscope, and any poor performances he turned in were inevitably greeted with cries of nepotism (which in Bradley's case, were wholly unjustified).

All of which has made Bradley something of an rarity: A young American who has established himself as a key performer in some of the best leagues in the world, yet has managed to stay relatively underrated.

Clint Dempsey is bagging goals and headlines left and right this season, but what Bradley has done in Italy is just as much of an accomplishment, albeit with a bit more pragmatism than panache.

Remember though: With 15 goals this season, Dempsey has a great chance to break the all-time record for single-season scoring by an American in a top-flight European league. The holder of that record? None other than Michael Bradley, who scored 20 in 2007-08 with Heerenveen of the Netherlands - a testament to his versatility, and a reminder that although he's in a holding midfield role now, there are goals in his game.

It's hard to believe, but Bradley is now in his seventh season in Europe, after being the youngest player ever sold by MLS at the age of 18 in 2006. He's proved he can cut it in some of the best leagues in the world, and has plenty of room to grow at just 24 years-old. Outside of Dempsey, there isn't a more accomplished outfield player amongst the Americans plying their trade abroad.

Yet, despite all of this, there has been something of a muted sense of appreciation for Bradley's career thus far.

According to a recent AP article, when Bradley was a kid, he and his father would watch Serie A together each week, and he became a fan of AC Milan. His favorite player wasn't prolific striker George Weah, or defensive stalwart Paolo Maldini, but instead, holding midfielder Demetrio Albertini.

Bradley is in the first year of a two-year deal with Chievo, which surely would like to keep him around if he keeps performing. Perhaps though, if he continues playing the way he has, his old favorite team would come calling, hoping he could fill the role once held by his favorite player.

If Michael Bradley were to start at the San Siro, then we'd all have no choice but to take noticeGoal.com

Concacaf Olympic qualifying semis determine Women's representatives

VANCOUVER -- It doesn't matter that the U.S. women's soccer team is clearly one of the best -- if not the best -- in the world. It doesn't matter that the Americans have outscored their opponents by a combined score of 31-0 so far in Olympic qualifying.

All that truly matters is one game. At least when it comes to earning a trip to London.

The setup of the CONCACAF qualifying tournament puts the onus on Friday's semifinals -- United States vs. Costa Rica and Canada vs. Mexico. The winners are Olympic-bound. The losers are not.

Surely there must be a better way.

"We are one of the best teams in the world," U.S. forward Abby Wambach said Thursday. "And if we don't qualify straightaway from our region, there's something wrong. And it might not be the team, it might be the system that's in place."

It's a setup that can certainly go haywire. Roger Clemens was hoping to join the U.S. baseball team and pitch in the 2004 Olympics, but he never had the chance because the Americans didn't qualify. They had one bad day -- a loss in a single-elimination quarter-final against Mexico -- and soon the national pastime was out of the Summer Games altogether.

Fourteen months ago, the U.S. women's soccer team lost a semifinal qualifying game to Mexico for a World Cup berth. At least that time there was a backdoor way in -- a home-and-away playoff with Italy that snagged the last spot available.

There's no backup plan this time. Everything rides on Friday.

"It's definite pressure," Canadian forward Christine Sinclair said. "Because you could be the best team and not win, and that's just the nature of the sport. It's hard when it comes down to one game."

Mexican coach Leonardo Cuellar said this week he'd like to see CONCACAF use the system that's in place for men's World Cup qualifying: group play with home-and-away matches with every team, with the teams at the top of the standings advancing to the big show. He feels such an arrangement would also boost women's soccer throughout the region.

"You see the scores that we have here -- it's almost like the two best teams are already in the World Cup and the other teams are trying to catch up," Cuellar said. "So hopefully pretty soon we can have that kind of system. And also I think it will make things a lot more even in some way."

Money and logistics stand in the way. It's easier to go to one place -- like Vancouver's BC Place -- and get it all done as quickly as possible. On Friday, the U.S. team will be playing its fourth game in eight days.

"We're not naive about why this is the way it is," Wambach said. "If there was a longer qualifying process, it would be home-and-away matches and first legs and second legs and aggregate scoring, but women's sports doesn't have that kind of money yet. The good news is because of the (popularity of last year's) World Cup, maybe that gives us an opportunity to make that argument."

That might take a while. Spokesman Ben Spencer said CONCACAF has not considered any format changes to the Olympic qualifying tournament.

Even if there were changes in the works, it wouldn't make a difference for Friday's match. The Americans are heavy favourites. They've beaten Costa Rica every time they've played, outscoring Las Ticas 34-0 in seven meetings. They certainly ought to win.

But that doesn't mean they will. After all, there is the memory of that first-ever loss to Mexico in 2010. After practice Thursday, the players reviewed video of Costa Rica's 5-1 loss to Canada from earlier this week, then made sure to point out the high quality of that one Costa Rican goal when talking to reporters.

"All of us are focused," U.S. coach Pia Sundhage said. "And we learned a lesson. You can imagine a team that is winning so much -- they did since '91 -- it is sometimes a challenge not to take things for granted."