US beats Italy; face Canada in the Championship

Congratulations the US Women's team who beat Italy 2-0 today to win their group and a spot in the Peace Queen Cup finals on Saturday.

The win mean the women took all three-group games, including a 1-0 win against Brazil (a little better then their World Cup result from last year). Also, their offense seems to be back as they out scored their opposition 5-1.

The final will be a rematch of 2006 as America's neighbor to the north will try to extract their revenge. The Canadians walk out of their group as undisputed masters as they took all 9 points with a +9 goal difference (10-1). As impressive as this is, it must be noted that the US faced the number 4,12 & 13 teams in the world while Canada faced off against the 23,24 and 27th.

This is the fourth final the US women have played in this year and the second involving Canada. So far the US is 3-0.

Roma and San Jose Earthquakes soon to be linked

MLS's own San Jose Earthquakes might be about to get a powerhouse corporate big brother as 'Quakes co-owner John J. Fisher has been linked again to a purchase of Italian heavyweights AS Roma. Fisher has been pursuing the club since last summer.

One of the main issues Fisher will need to overcome if he does moves to own Roma is the image American owners have thanks in large part to what has happened in the EPL. Although Italy is a very different league, Fisher would keep current club President Franco Sensi on as honorary President.

With $2.4 billion in wealth and a proven history in the game, Fisher might just be the person to prove that American ownership of a top soccer side does have to be horrible.

Confederations Cup spot earns US soccer $1.4 million

FIFA has placed $17.6 million into the prize fund for next year's Confederations Cup in South Africa.

"The winners will receive $3.75 million and the runners-up $3.25 million, while the team finishing third will get $2.75 million with $2.25-million going to the fourth-placed country. The other participants will each receive $1.4 million."

The US joins South Africa, Brazil, Italy, Egypt and Iraq in the Confederations Cup. The winner of Euro 2008 and the Oceania Nations Cup will fill the final two spots.

So where will this money go? Hopefully it will be used to improve the youth system in the US. The better the facilities, coaches and training are for the younger players, the better the national team will be in the next decade.

As far as the Confederations Cup, this will be a test run for South Africa. With five World Cup venues being used, we should have a better understanding of just how many glitches we can expect during 2010. Also, since fewer fans travel for the Confederations Cup, this should give the locals a great chance to see some top quality soccer.

US men to face top 5 team in June; World Cup Qualifying host city shortlist released

President of US Soccer Sunil Gulati announced that the US men will face a top 5 FIFA ranked team June 8th in the Northeast (edit note, the linked article says Northwest, but it is indeed the Northeast). Although he did not hint at the team, I think I have a good guess.

The current top 5 are Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Spain and Germany. Since all three European teams qualified for Euro 2008, which starts on 7 June, it is pretty safe to rule them out, which leaves the two South American powerhouses. The US men just played Brazil in the fall, and although I'm sure a lot of money was made out of it, I have a difficult time seeing the men in yellow back on US soil so soon. Which leaves me to guess the team for early June is Argentina.

As far as where? New York is the obvious choice provided they put down grass, but US Soccer loves Foxborough, which has no national games on the 2008 schedule. DC can also make a case, but US Soccer might be saving RFK for a qualifier. I would think Giants Stadium would land this one (combined with a Red Bulls game), but the Kraft family has a strong gravitational pull on the soccer federation.

Gulati also mentioned the possibility of adding another game in Europe ahead of their 4 June match against Spain (could this mean the training camp will be held in Europe?). After 2006, the federation promised harder tests for the men's team and it looks like they are delivering again on that promise.

The other bit of joy Gulati shared with us is the list of possible Wold Cup Qualifying sites for the semi-final round. RFK Stadium (DC), Pizza Hut Park (Dallas), Home Depot Center (LA), Dick's Sporting Goods Park (Denver), Qwest Field (Seattle), Toyota Park (Chicago) and Crew Stadium (Columbus) are the locations in the running for the three home games the US men will play if they advance to the semifinal round. Likely opposition is Trinidad and Tobago, Guatemala and Cuba.

US Men's 2008 schedule:
19 Jan - US 2-0 Sweden
06 Feb - US 2-2 Mexico
26 Mar - US at Poland
04 Jun - US at Spain
08 Jun - vs. someone
15 Jun - vs. Barbados-Dominica winner at LA (8pm ET/5pm PT)
21/22 Jun - at Barbados-Dominica winner

If they beat Barbados-Dominica winner
20 Aug - Away
06 Sep - Away
10 Sep - Home
11 Oct - Home
15 Oct - Home
19 Nov - Away

Looks like a very busy year.

2018 World Cup getting closer to England

Fifa boss Sepp Blatter as personally assured Prime Minister Gordon Brown that rules will be changed to do away with the rotational hosting idea, thus allowing England and just about anyone else the chance to bid on the 2018 World Cup finals.

In addition, it now appears that the new rule will say that only the most recent confederation to host the finals will be barred from bidding. In the past, Blatter had suggested that the last two host confederations would be barred. This means that a return to the one in Europe, one somewhere else, one in Europe rotation is very likely.

One interesting part of the article says that England will 'face competition from Russia, the Benelux nations, Italy, Australia, China, Mexico and possibly the United States.' I don't really understand the 'possibility' in front of the US as they have openly said that they will bid (especially since the 2018 rotation would have gone to Concacaf if FIFA actually played by their own rules).

So there you have it, all signs point to England in 2018, although wouldn't it be funny if Russia snuck in and won it at the end?

Italian match-fixing scandal returns - 39 matches fixed

I really thought match-fixing fever was over in Italy however it is back with a vengeance. Investigators now say that they have evidence to charge 48 people in the scandal. Of those 48, eight of them are match officials. In addition, they now believe that up to 39 matches were fixed.

So far only one match official, Gianluca Paparesta, had been suspended for his role in the scandal. Now it looks like he is about to get some company.

As if this news couldn't get any worse for Italian soccer, it now looks like they can add Messina to the list of teams that benefited from match fixing. If true, that means 6 teams, or 30% of the top level, were cheating the system with over 10% of the season's games fixed (39 out of 380).

On a side note, if Messina were involved in this mess, they might want to get their money back as they were relegated prior to the Juventus point deduction.