Repurposing condoms as soccer socks

Every now and then I read an article that catches me off guard and this is one such piece.

I turns out that the big soccer fashion trend in Cape Town, South Africa, these days is to wear condoms on your feet to keep your socks up.

The need for such an innovated way of using these prophylactics is the result of a lack of proper soccer gear, such as socks with elastic to hold them in place. Since condoms are distributed for free in order to help curb the spreading of HIV, it all makes sense.

Sivuyile Nqawe of the Lingelethu Football Association in Khayelitsha said it was to "ease matters for those who cannot afford expensive brands of football kit on their mission to sharpen their skills to become future soccer stars".

"It is just a creative method and it works to alleviate the situation. You just break a condom packet, grab and stretch it. Then you put it on your leg," Nqawe said.

"You will find that in most instances players bring a box of condoms to a match and share them among teammates for the same purpose."

Another example of necessity being the mother of invention.

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[Source: My Soccer Blog]

2008 US Open Cup - Second Round results

The second round of the US Open Cup is in the books and yet again the biggest factor is which team is in the higher division. During the first round, only one lower division team pulled off an upset, resulting in a 15-1 run for higher level clubs. Last night saw the higher division squad take 4 and lose 1, while 3 games involved clubs of the same level. That means that 86% of all games are won by the team higher up on the US Soccer pyrimid.

The Minnesota Thunder (USL-1) join the Portland Timbers (USL-1) as the only teams to lose to a lower division team as they lost 0-2 to the Cleveland City Stars (USL-2).

Here are the full results:
Harrisburg (USL-2) 2(1-3)2 CP Baltimore (USL-2)
Western Mass (USL-2) 1-2 Richmond (USL-2)
Rochester (USL-1) 3-0 Pittsburgh (USL-2)
Charleston (USL-1) 2-1 Charlotte (USL-2)

Carolina (USL-1) 1-0 Real Maryland (USL-2)
Minnesota (USL-1) 0-2 Cleveland (USL-2)
Miami (USL-1) 1-0 Atlanta (USL-1)
Seattle (USL-1) 6-0 Hollywood United (USASA)

The winners move on to round three where they will face a MLS team. If the 86% number holds, it means one MLS side will lose in round three. Who could it be?

Here is the schedule:
Houston Dynamo (MLS) at Charleston Battery (USL-1)
Blackbaud Stadium, Charleston, S.C., 7:30 PM

New York Red Bulls (MLS) at Crystal Palace Baltimore (USL-2)
UMBC, Catonsville, Md., 7:30 PM

Kansas City Wizards (MLS) at Carolina Railhawks (USL-1)
WakeMed Soccer Park - Cary, N.C., 7:30 PM

Rochester Rhinos (USL-1) at DC United (MLS)
Maryland SoccerPlex, Boyds, Md., 7:30 PM
Broadcast: English/Spanish Radio (DCU)

Richmond Kickers (USL-2) at New England Revolution (MLS)
Veterans Stadium - New Britain, Conn., Time TBD

Cleveland City Stars (USL-2) at Chicago Fire (MLS)
Toyota Park, Bridgeview, Ill., 8:30 PM

Miami FC (USL-1) at FC Dallas (MLS)
Pizza Hut Park, Frisco, Texas, 8:30 PM

Chivas USA (MLS) at Seattle Sounders (USL-1)
Starfire Sports Complex, Tukwila, Wash. - 10:00 PM

By the way, home pitch advantage is limited as home sides went 10-6 in round 1 and 3-5 in round two. In matches were the teams were in the same division, home teams only went 1 for 3.

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[Source: My Soccer Blog]

US WNT - Olympic roster has Hope but no Scurry

Hope Solo is returning to China while Briana Scurry is staying home.

Less then a year after coach Greg Ryan set off a goalkeeper firestorm by benching Solo ahead of their World Cup semifinal match against Brazil in favor of Scurry, Hope will finally get her chance to win a big tournament in China.

New coach Pia Sundhage has decided that Solo is the better keeper at this time and will likely be her number one between the posts in August. Sundhage said that Scurry's national team duty might not be finished depending on how she does in the new Women's Pro League.

Nicole Barnhart will act as backup keeper.

The full roster is:

GK: Nicole Barnhart, Hope Solo

D: Rachel Buehler, Lori Chalupny, Stephanie Cox, Kate Markgraf, Heather Mitts, Christie Rampone

M: Shannon Boxx, Tobin Heath, Angela Hucles, Carli Lloyd, Heather O'Reilly, Lindsay Tarpley, Aly Wagner

F: Natasha Kai, Amy Rodriguez, Abby Wambach

Half these players were on the 2004 squad that took gold in Athens.

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[Source: My Soccer Blog]

US starting lineup for Barbados World Cup Qualifier leg 2

US vs. Barbados
2:55p ET/ 11:55A PT
TV: ESPN classic, Galavision

Less then an hour to go till the US plays their second leg World Cup Qualifier against Barbados and Bob Bradley has released his lineup.

----------------Guzan---------------

Moor--DeMerit--Califf---Pearce

Kljestan-Bradley-Szetela-Lewis (c)

---------Adu---------Beasley--------

This is a very different lineup from last week with only four players starting both games (and only three are in the same position). With DeMerit and Califf taking over the center back and Moor out on the right, Pearce is now the experienced member of the defensive line.

The US will win this game, but expect Guzan to have a little more to do today.

Adu will have a lot of opportunities to open up on the offense front, but will he be able to turn his fancy footwork into goals?

By the way, this is the Word Cup Qualifying debut for Moor, DeMerit, Califf, Klejstan and Szetela.

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[Source: My Soccer Blog]

Clint Dempsey gives back to his Nacogdoches roots

US international Clint Dempsey, who is back home in Nacogdoches, Texas, played a friendly game of soccer at the Stephen F. Austin State University intramural field Wednesday.

This is a class move by Dempsey and a great way to help move soccer forward in the US. Nacodoches is a city of just 30,000 in East Texas, so Dempsey coming to play is big news.

Hopefully while in town, he can take it easy before he heads back to pre-season training with Fulham in July.

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[Source: My Soccer Blog]

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.

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[Source: My Soccer Blog]

Bob Bradley sends 10 players home

US coach Bob Bradley has released 10 players from camp ahead of their second leg match against Barbados. Most of the players are MLS based, so this is not much of a surprise, however I kind of thought he would keep Guzan around in case Howard is still having back issues (plus if Guzan still wants to move to England, he needs more international caps).

Here is the list:
Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC), Steve Cherundulo (Hannover 96), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy), Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids) and Matt Reis (New England Revolution)

So the players still in camp are:
GK: Dominic Cervi, Tim Howard
D: Carlos Bocanegra, Dan Califf, Jay DeMerit, Oguchi Onyewu, Heath Pearce
M: Freddy Adu, DaMarcus Beasley, Michael Bradley, Eddie Lewis
F: Eddie Johnson

Unless Bradley is really confident, it looks like he will need to call a few more folks in. Some players that I wouldn't mind see added to his roster are Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas), Edson Buddle (LA Galaxy), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew), Michael Orozco (San Luis), Chad Barrett (Chicago Fire), Sal Zizzo (Hannover 96), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake) or Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC).

These are many attacking players, which makes sense as it is the US's weakest area. Then again, evaluating their play against a team like Barbados is not going to give you much.

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[Source: My Soccer Blog]