New Ottawa NASL franchise won’t be affiliated with Impact 16 Jun 2011 Jeff Hunt and the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group are preparing for a press conference Monday to announce an NASL expansion club for the Capital region. And, like FC Edmonton, the Ottawa side won’t have any affiliation to another Canadian pro club. That was confirmed by league sources Thursday.
Fit to be tied: Number of draws skyrocketing in MLS 16 Jun 2011 Forget about the power rankings. If you are betting on MLS games, and aren’t putting money on draws, you aren’t looking at the stats. The combined record of MLS teams this season is 78-78-100. Of the 128 games played this season, 50 have ended in ties.
Labbe in, Booth out as Canada names women’s World Cup roster 16 Jun 2011 Stephanie Labbe has won her race to be fit in time for the Women’s World Cup. Labbe, who hurt her knee in Swedish league play and didn’t play in Canada’s friendlies leading up to the World Cup, was named to the women’s national-team roster on Thursday.
Edmonton fans have chance to return charitable favour to NSC Minnesota supporters 16 Jun 2011 At the end of May, the Dark Clouds, a band of NSC Minnesota Stars supporters, collected money to send to the Red Cross to help the victims of the Slave Lake wildfire in northern Alberta. They had found out about the fire, which destroyed 374 homes in the town, as their club traveled to Alberta to face FC Edmonton in NASL play for the first time. Now, FC Edmonton fans have the chance to return the favour.
FC Edmonton dominates Puerto Rico at Foote Field 16 Jun 2011 FC Edmonton took advantage of a travel-weary Puerto Rico Islanders side, winning 3-0 Wednesday at Foote Field. FCE simply dominated, outnumbering Puerto Rico midfield and bossing possession. Puerto Rico, which played Sunday night and then had to make the 5,600-km trek from the Caribbean to Edmonton, didn’t look like it could keep up with Edmonton’s pace.
All zeroes between TFC and the Revolution 16 Jun 2011 Toronto FC has played some poor games in its four-year history. It has had (a few) bright moments, too. But, if you’ve already forgotten Wednesday’s 0-0 draw on the road to the New England Revolution, you’re forgiven. A game between a Toronto FC squad that struggles to score and a New England Revolution team that’s anonymous outside of midfield star Shalrie Joseph didn’t make for compelling viewing, especially when sports fans in the Boston area had something better to do — something about a hockey game and a Cup.
Canada pays for not putting Panama away when it had the chance 15 Jun 2011 Luis Tejada scored in injury time to give Panama a 1-1 draw with Canada in their final group-stage game at the Gold Cup in Kansas City. With the U.S. beating Guadeloupe 1-0 in the second half of the doubleheader, the draw relegated Canada to the role of the worst-positioned third-place side of the three groups — and the players and coaches earned tickets home.
BMO, Impact enter into five-year sponsorship pact 14 Jun 2011 It promotes itself as the “Bank of Soccer in Canada.” And so, BMO has added one more notch on that belt in teaming up with the Major League Soccer-bound Montreal Impact. The financial institution and soccer franchise came together at Saputo Stadium on Tuesday to announce a five-year partnership in which BMO becomes the organization’s premier sponsor when it makes its MLS debut in 2012.
FC Edmonton fears hernia could cost Matthijs the rest of the season 14 Jun 2011 FC Edmonton has more bad news on the injury front. The club will now have to cope without veteran central defender Paul Matthijs for the long term. There are fears that the Dutch defender could miss the rest of the NASL season with a hernia
Whitecaps give trial to son of former Newcastle manager Chris Hughton 14 Jun 2011 The Vancouver Whitecaps are trying to use their strong links with Tottenham to their benefit. The MLS club confirmed today that Irish fullback Cian Hughton is on a 10-day trial. He’s the son of former Newcastle United manager Chris Hughton, who was sacked during the 2010-11 campaign.