Owner: Try Gol URL:http://trygol.blogspot.com Join Date: Wed, 05 Sep 2007 10:36:12 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Your ultimate source for USA Rugby & Soccer news Site statistics:Click here
Inaki Basauri: "I believe we have the team that can take it to them" 2007-09-05 09:26:00 USA Eagle Flanker Inaki Basauri seems pretty confident heading into the RWC opener against England. Some odds makers have Eagles at a 5000-1 shot at winning the World Cup. I doubt I would even lay a buck on those odds, but I do feel the squad has something to prove in France."I believe
we have the team that can take it to them, as long as we play to our potential," said Basauri. "And I think the fans back at home are behind us. They expect us to play to our potential."Many USA supporters are looking at the glass nearly empty, rather than say, half full. Most fans believe the USA will go 0-4 and get spanked by England, Tonga, Samoa & South Africa. I feel differently. England enters the match Saturday limping a bit, so perhaps they will have a bit of a let down. The Eagles won't win, however, they could pull off a respectable performance. Then the Eagles take on Tonga & Samoa, both very winnable matches in my opinion. They then finish up against South Africa, which should be anothe
Bob Bradley Names "Clash of Champions" Squad 2007-09-05 07:58:00 Bob Bradley
has a great opportunity to show case USA's talent in front of millions of soccer fans this weekend, as the 2007 Gold Cup Champs host the 2007 Copa America Champs this Sunday in Chicago. Brazil will enter the match after recently re-claiming their #1 world ranking.Bradley has called up 19 players in what is being billed the "Clash
of Champions
". The USA squad will feature 14 European based players and 5 MLS based players. The squad will be captained again by Fulham defender Carlos Bocanegra. Landon Donovan will also look to become USA's all-time leading goal scorer.Brazil is bringing their "A" team, as Ronaldinho, Kaka, Robinho & Julio Baptista will all be on the roster. It should be a pretty exciting game and I'll have my prediction on Friday. Game time is 4pm Eastern and can be seen live on ESPN2 & Univision.USA RosterGoalkeepers (2): Tim Howard (Everton FC), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake)Defenders (7): Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham FC), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Ja Read more:Names
, Squad
Welcome To Try Gol 2007-09-04 22:33:00 A few months back I launched a rugby related blog named "Rugger Blog", which was located at http://rugger-blog.blogspot.com (and actually I believe it's still up despite the fact that I "deleted" it from Blogger.com...weird). Anyways, when I ran that blog I would sprinkle in some USA Soccer news and for whatever reason, that just pissed off rugby fans to no end. Not sure why. I mean, what is the harm featuring a little soccer news on a rugby blog? I'm a huge rugby fan and I love soccer as well. I know I can't be alone, so I said "fuck it" and began planning out this new blog.So...welcome to Try Gol. Guess this means I can score 2 different ways, whatever the hell that means. Bottom line is, this blog will feature both Rugby & Soccer news, with a big focus on the American game. If you are a hardcore rugby fan and want just rugby news & opinion, I'll have some great rugby blogs listed on the right side of this page very soon and you won't have any icky soccer news burning your e Read more:Welcome
GOOD LUCK BEARS...BEAT LAKESHORE!!! 2007-09-28 07:23:00 I understand this is a Rugby & Soccer related blog, however, being a big FOOTBALL fan as well and a proud alumni member, I want to wish St.Joseph the best of luck when they battle their arch rival Lakeshore in front of 8,000 fans tonight.My alma mater enters the game 5-0 and ranked #7 in the State of Michigan, while Lakeshore enters the game 4-1. Lakeshore have won 17 (regular season & playoffs) straight over the Bears, a streak that began when the team I played on lost to Lakeshore in 1992. Two rival communities, 8,000 fans packed into a 5,300 seat stadium...this is what high school football is all about.GO BEARS!!! BEAT LAKESHORE!!!
Churchill Cup: New Zealand Maori Pull Out Of Next Year's Tournament 2007-09-27 09:42:00 From American Rugby News: The International Rugby Board has confirmed that the New Zealand
Maori will replace the Junior All Blacks in the 2008 IRB Pacific Nations Cup. The decision also means the Maori will not compete in the 2008 Barclays Churchill
Cup. The move comes as a result of a review by the NZRU of the organization’s High Performance Strategy and will see the Maori compete alongside Fiji, Japan, Samoa and Tonga, as well as the Australia ‘A’ side.“The Junior All Blacks set the benchmark in the first two IRB Pacific Nations Cup tournaments, winning in 2006 and 2007,” said IRB head of rugby services Mark Egan. “However, the IRB understands the NZRU’s decision to replace the Junior All Blacks with the New Zealand
Maori and is delighted that a team with such a global reputation will be joining the tournament in 2008.” The New Zealand Maori participated in the Barclays Churchill Cup in 2004, 2006 and 2007. "The Maori have been a great a Read more:Tournament
So After the Rugby World Cup, Whats Next For This Blog? 2007-09-27 09:21:00 Glad you asked! Since I re-launched this site in September, the RugbyWorld
Cup & FIFA Women's World Cup has taken center stage here. However once those tournaments end, expect me to cover the upcoming MLS Playoffs (CHICAGO FIRE!!!), EPL, Champions League & UEFA 2008 as well as the Guinness Premiership, Heineken Cup, Currie Cup & Magners League in Rugby, not to mention any special international "friendlies" which may pop up from time to time involving the United States or a big rugby power. Plus let's not forget, the IRB 7's are about to kick off again and I LOVE 7's rugby.Rugby & Soccer are both basically year round sports and I will be here to cover it all, so please bookmark this blog and tell a few of your friends. It's a nice way to kill a minute or two when you are at work or while you're wife cooking dinner or whatever.
WWC: USA Suffers A Huge Upset 2007-09-27 09:00:00 The #1 ranked USA Women's soccer team was pounded in China today by Brazil 4-0. Unbelievable. We had defeated Brazil pretty easily in a friendly lead up to the World Cup and Brazil flat out embarrassed us today.I had a feeling this would happen as Hope Solo was replaced as our starting goal keeper yesterday in favor of Briana Scurry. Briana was a good goalie, however, Hope Solo played outstanding and for coach Greg Ryan to roll the dice and shake things up 24 hours before a big semi-final match was a dumb move. Way to screw with the team dynamics Greg!Brazil opened the scoring in the 20th minute (sorta, an OWN GOAL) and would tally goals in the 27th, 56th & 79th minute as well. The U.S. also played short handed for the entire second half as Shannon Boxx picked up her second yellow card in the 45th minute, earning her a seat on the bench.USA will take on Norway this Sunday with 3rd Place on the line. Read more:Upset
RWC: USA Starts Slow, Comes Up Short 2007-09-26 14:48:00 After a slow start which saw the Eagles trail 22-3 at the half, the U.S. played very well in the second half but fell short of their goal to secure their first victory of the RWC, losing to Samoa 25-21.So basically for the second straight match, a slow start doomed the Eagles. This is very frustrating. I'll have more to say tonight after I get off work and let my thoughts sink in a bit. Until then...grrrrrr.... Read more:Short
RWC: Georgia Wins For The First Time 2007-09-26 12:54:00 The Georgia
Rugby team has recorded their first World Cup victory today as they blanked Namibia 30-0. Georgia has played well and deserve the victory. I'm sure everyone in their country are celebrating now as we speak. Read more:First
, First Time
RWC: Romania Earns Victory; Eagles Look To Stun Samoa 2007-09-26 07:27:00 In what can only be called a very entertaining match, Romania defeated Portugal 14-10. Portugal was up 7-0 at halftime but Romania was able to score two tries in the second half and held off the pesky Portugal side for the remainder of the game.Portugal heads home 0-4 but earned some respect from many fans. Romania finishes their Rugby World Cup campaign versus the All Blacks this weekend. Good thing Romania beat Portugal huh?On the schedule for today, 2 more matches featuring winless sides as Georgia takes on Namibia and the USA Eagles take on Samoa. For the Eagles, this is their last real chance for a victory because they must face the mighty Springboks on Sunday, and don't look for Jake White to play mostly reserves in that match as that almost cost him against Tonga.The U.S. lost their previous 2 matches versus Samoa but in each case, the score was close. Despite 2 losses and some metal mistakes, this Eagle squad has still improved much since their lack luster showing at the Churc Read more:Victory
RWC: I Said Somebody's Gotta Win! 2007-09-25 13:07:00 I guess the players failed to read my blog post below as Canada & Japan fought to a 12-12 draw today at the Rugby World Cup. I'm off work today so I was able to watch the match. Canada played very crappy at times and looked...I dunno...tired or something. Japan looked...well...Japan-like. Canada had the win and in my opinion, gave it away late. Hats off to the Japanese boys though as they will not leave France empty handed. Same could be said for Canada as well I suppose, however, that had to feel like a loss.Up now is Romania & Portugal. The score is tied 0-0 about 10 minutes in. Could we end up with two draws today??? Read more:Somebody
, Gotta
RWC: Canada Hopes To Earn A Victory Today 2007-09-25 08:59:00 I'm going to dub today's matches at the Rugby World Cup as "Somebody's Gotta Win" day. Both matches today feature sides who have yet to taste victory, and unless an unusual "draw" happens, hell, Somebody's Gotta Win.The action begins with Canada
taking on Japan. The game can be seen live in the U.S. on Setanta Sports. Later on today, Romania will face Portugal and that game can be seen live on Setanta Sports as well. If you are living in the U.S. and you don't have access to Setanta Sports, you can catch the action "live" at Planet-Rugby.com.As for my predictions today, look for Canada & Romania to pick up their first victories of the tournament. Read more:Victory
, Today
Press Release: USA vs Catalonia Will Not Happen; USA vs South Africa Signed 2007-09-24 21:25:00 CHICAGO (September 21, 2007) – The U.S. Men’s National Team’s friendly against Catalonia has been cancelled after the Royal Spanish Football Federation voted not to approve the application to play the match. The teams were to have met on Oct. 14 in Barcelona. No replacement match will be scheduled, and the U.S. will face 2008 European Championship co-host Switzerland on Oct. 17 in Basel. Kickoff at St. Jakob Park is set for 8:30 p.m. local time (2:30 p.m. ET), and the match will be broadcast on Fox Soccer Channel and Galavision.U.S. Soccer spent two weeks negotiating with the Catalonian Federation and the RFEF trying to reach a positive resolution. The Spanish Federation, who has authority for sanctioning any match played in Spain, ultimately chose not to allow the match to take place."We are disappointed that the match will not be played, since we believe playing Catalonia would be an excellent experience for our players,” said U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati. “Nonet Read more:Press
, Release
, South
, Africa
, Signed
, Press Release
, South Africa
RWC: Eagle Squad Announced 2007-09-24 07:34:00 The Eagle
s return to the pitch this Wednesday to take on Samoa and the team has been announced. While the U.S. has looked very much improved, I still feel many supporters view the 2007 World Cup as being a disappointment. Hopefully the Eagles can pull off a good performance on Wednesday to help silence the critics.USA Eagles vs Samoa:1 Mike MacDonald2 Owen Lentz3 Chris Osentowski4 Alec Parker5 Hayden Mexted6 Louis Stanfill7 Todd Clever8 Fifita Mounga9 Chad Erskine10 Mike Hercus (c)11 Takudzwa Ngwenya12 Vahafolau Esikia13 Philip Eloff14 Salesi Sika15 Chris WylesReplacements:16 Blake Burdette17 Matekitonga Moeakiola18 Mark Aylor19 Henry Bloomfield20 Mike Petri21 Valenese Malifa22 Albert Tuipulotu Read more:Squad
RWC: New Zealand & Australia Win Big 2007-09-24 07:27:00 New Zealand
& Australia
both remained perfect in Rugby World Cup action, posting easy victories on Sunday. Australia disposed of Fiji 55-12 while the All Blacks beat Scotland 40-0.From all published reports, the All Blacks played sloppy at times. Must be nice to play like shit and still knock the crap out of a "tier 1" nation. Guess you gotta find negatives to complain about, otherwise, being an All Black supporter would be boring.Australia will finish pool play this Saturday versus Canada while the All Blacks take on Romania, also on Saturday. Read more:New Zealand
RWC: England Wins; Pumas Crush Namibia 2007-09-23 00:12:00 When I updated the England
vs Samoa match earlier today, the score was 26-22 in favor of England with about 20 minutes or so to go. I went to my son's youth football game (a 40-6 victory for the Bears, my son had an interception & ripped the ball away from the running back, causing a fumble, which he recovered. Good job my boy!) and when I got back home, I see that England ended up winning 44-22. Wow, that must have been a crazy 20 minute stretch!!! England will need to defeat Tonga to advance to the knockout stage, and that may not be as easy as it sounds.Argentina continued to impress as they easily defeated Namibia
63-3. Prior to the RWC, I stated in many Rugby forums that I felt Argentina could make it all the way to the semi-finals and most felt I was on drugs. I stand by that prediction, you will see the Pumas in the semi's.In Sunday action, Scotland takes on the mighty All Blacks while Australia takes on Fiji. New Zealand should win fairly easily and Australia will as well
Saturday Morning Update: USA Wins; Springboks Survive 2007-09-22 10:13:00 The U.S. Women's Soccer Team advanced to the semi-finals of the FIFA Women's World Cup earlier this morning with a 3 goal effort in the second half on route to a 3-0 victory over England.Abby Wambach, Shannon Boxx & Kristine Lilly scored the goals in a great 12 minute span to put the game away. The U.S. will take on the winner of Brazil vs Australia in the semi's.Meanwhile in France, the Springboks must have felt pretty confident they could beat Tonga, so confident in fact that Jake White decided to start his reserves. This nearly resulted in a disaster. The Springboks defeated Tonga 30-25 only after placing starters back into the game after about 55 minutes. A win is a win I suppose and South Africa picked up a bonus point, however, this proves that you can take NO ONE lightly in this year's Rugby World Cup. I'm going to assume that you will see a full strength Springbok squad when they take on the U.S. next Sunday.England is taking on Samoa right now and are up 26-22 with ab Read more:Saturday
, Morning
, Update
, Saturday Morning
RWC: France Dominate The Irish 2007-09-21 22:58:00 Ireland's lackluster World Cup continued earlier today as the host nation spanked the Irish
25-3 in Group D action. France
scored 2 tries and flat out dominated on defense. I feel this was a "must win" situation for both sides and France looked like the team everyone thought they would be prior to the World Cup. France improves to 10 points in the group while Ireland sits at 9 points.France takes on Georgia in their final group match while Ireland will take on Argentina. Bottom line is, this loss may keep Ireland from advancing to the knock out stage of the tournament.On tap for Saturday:South Africa vs Tonga (Setanta PPV-8:00 AM ET)England vs Samoa (Setanta PPV- 10:00 AM ET)Argentina vs Namibia (Setanta Sports-3:00 PM ET)I will have results of the USA vs England Women's World Cup match as soon as it ends tomorrow morning. Read more:Dominate
RWC: Wales Give Home Supporters Reason To Celebrate 2007-09-21 07:46:00 In front of their home supporters (both Wales
& Scotland got lucky at this year's RWC), Wales destroyed Japan 72-18 yesterday in Cardiff. Shane Williams scored twice as Wales improved their group point total to 10, which creates a temporary 3 way tie for first place in the group.On tap today, a clash between France & Ireland. France should beat Ireland as the Irish seem to be in a bit of a downward spiral despite two victories. I'm going to say France-35 Ireland-14. That match, much like many matches this weekend, can only be seen live on Pay Per View in the U.S., so I would suggest catching the game via the "live" link at Planet-Rugby.com. Even though I will miss the match today as well as the matches tomorrow involving South Africa and England (cuz I'm too cheap to shell out PPV dollars...to a point), this weekend will rock for me personally.Despite having a nasty cold, I'm going to head to Niles tonight to watch my alma mater, St.Joseph, try to improve their record to Read more:Supporters
, Reason
, Celebrate
RWC: Italy Defeats Portugal 2007-09-20 07:11:00 Well for the first time since the 2007 RWC began, I missed a match. I completely forgot that Italy
& Portugal
played yesterday so I'm a little bit pissed off at myself this morning.Italy won the match 31-5 behind a 3 try effort. Just by looking at the score, Portugal must have played well at times during this match. Today's match will pit Japan vs Wales. I believe the match starts at 2:30 pm here in the U.S.
RWC: Scotland Wins & Updated Group Standings 2007-09-19 07:45:00 Scotland's Ali Hogg scored 3 tries as the Scots defeated Romania 42-0 yesterday. Rory Lamont added 2 tries in the rout. Scotland sits at the top of the table with the All Blacks, who they will face this Sunday.We are now like a week and a half into the tournament so I figured I would take this opportunity to catch everyone up with the group standings. Your usual suspects top the groups, but there are a few suprises along the way. Here we go.Updated Group
StandingsGroup ASouth Africa- 9 pointsTonga- 8 pointsEngland-4 pointsSamoa- 1 pointUSA- 0 pointsGroup BAustralia- 10 pointsFiji- 10 pointsWales- 5 pointsJapan- 1 pointCanada- 0 pointsGroup CNew Zealand- 10 pointsScotland- 10 pointsItaly- 4 pointsRomania- 1 pointPortugal- 0 pointsGroup DArgentina- 9 pointsIreland- 9 pointsFrance- 6 pointsGeorgia- 1 pointNamibia- 0 pointsRemember, the top 2 from each group advance to the Quarter Finals while the Top 3 in each group will qualify for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. Read more:Scotland
WWC: USA Wins Group B 2007-09-18 11:13:00 USA's Women's soccer team will advance to the knockout stage of the Women's World Cup after defeating Nigeria 1-0 earlier today. The U.S. also clinched the top spot in the group with the victory. Lori Chalupny scored in the first minute and the U.S. held on for 89 more.The U.S. will take on England in the next round on September 22nd. Read more:Group
Rugby World Cup Matches This Week 2007-09-17 12:08:00 Check out this week's RugbyWorld
Cup Schedule. All times listed as U.S. Eastern:Rugby World CupTuesdayScotland vs Romania- 3:00 pm (Live on Setanta Xtra) Wednesday Italy v Portugal- 2:00 pm (Live on Setanta Xtra)ThursdayWales v Japan- 3:00 pm (Live on Setanta Sports)FridayFrance v Ireland- 3:00 pm (Live on PPV; Delayed on Setanta Sports)SaturdaySouth Africa v Tonga- 8:00 am (Live on PPV; Delayed on Setanta Sports)England v Samoa- 10:00 am (Live on PPV; Delayed on Setanta Sports)Argentina v Namibia- 3:00 pm (Live on Setanta Sports)SundayAustralia v Fiji- 8:30 am (Live on PPV; Delayed on Setanta Sports)Scotland v New Zealand- 11:00 am (Live on PPV; Delayed on Setanta Sports)
Sunday Rugby Results 2007-09-17 07:07:00 Rugby World CupTonga-19Samoa-15An outstanding match with Tonga pulling off a bit of an upset.Fiji-29Canada-16Fiji dominated the match but Canada hung around until the very end. Canada had a chance to win as they were driving down to the try line as time was about to expire, but a Fiji interception lead to their final try and the bonus point win.France-87Namibia-10France got back on track as they destroyed Namibia.Guinness PremiershipGloucester-49Leeds-24Leicester Tigers-26Bristol-13Newcastle-33Sale Sharks-12 Read more:Rugby
, Sunday
RWC: Friday & Saturday Results 2007-09-16 07:27:00 There were a couple of reasons I haven't posted since Friday
. One, my son is spending the weekend with me and I've been pretty busy, so I haven't had a chance to get online until now. Second, up until this morning, all the matches this past weekend have all been pay per view matches and I'm not to the point financially were I can spend $24.95 on like 4 or 6 matches. I will catch up today as the matches that was televised yesterday on pay per view will be on Setanta Sports today.With that being said, here's some quick results from Friday & Saturday
:South Africa-36England-0New Zealand-108Portugal-13Australia-32Wales-20And the shocker of the day...Ireland-14Georgia-10I can't wait to watch that Ireland vs Georgia match today. Just by looking at that final score you can tell that Georgia must have put up a real inspired effort.Also the Guinness Premiership got under way yesterday, so here are those results:Bath-29Worcester-15Harlequins-35London Irish- 27Saracens-29London Wasps-19R
RWC: Emerick To Remain Suspended 2007-09-14 11:34:00 USA's Paul Emerick's appeal has been denied, which means he must serve out his 5 week suspension, ending his World Cup campaign.Even though Emerick received a yellow card, the committee felt the spear tackle was still very dangerous and warranted the suspension.We will next see Paul Emerick in action when he suits up for his club, Newport Gwent, this fall.
WWC: Abby Wambach Shines In U.S. Victory 2007-09-14 08:42:00 USA's Abby Wambach scored two goals this morning to lead the U.S. to a 2-0 victory over Sweden in China at the Women's World Cup. She would score via a penalty kick in the 34th minute and would fire in a shot from about 20 yards out in the 58th minute to secure the victory.The U.S. now stands at 4 points to top the group. Nigeria and North Korea are currently playing in the other group game. The U.S. takes on Nigeria on Tuesday for the final group match. Read more:Victory
RWC: Weekend TV Schedule In The U.S. 2007-09-13 08:16:00 Unfortunately if you live in the United States, some of the top rugby matches this weekend will be shown live only on Pay Per View and then later on Setanta Sports on tape delay. So unless you have the funds to shell out $24.95 for each match, you may end up having to avoid "spoilers" and catch the matches when they re-air for free.Below I'm listing the PPV & Setanta Sports RWC schedules this weekend so you can get brought up to speed. First we got the pay per view schedule:SETANTA PAY PER VIEW-$24.95FridaySouth Africa vs England-LIVE-3pm ETSaturdayNew Zealand vs Portugal-LIVE-7am ETWales vs Australia-LIVE-9am ETIreland vs Georgia-LIVE-3pm ETAnd now the FREE option on Setanta Sports:SaturdaySouth Africa vs England-Tape Delay- 2:30 pm ETSundayFiji vs Canada-LIVE- 7:30 am ETSamoa vs Tonga-LIVE- 9:45 am ETFrance vs Namibia- LIVE- 2pm ETWales vs Australia- Tape Delay- 5:30 pm ETIreland vs Georgia- Tape Delay- 7:15 pm ETNew Zealand vs Portugal- Tape Delay- 9pm ETAlso looking ahead, the fin Read more:Weekend
, Schedule
Finally, My First MLS Post On The New Blog! 2007-10-02 07:30:00 Since the re-launch of this blog, I've been unable to spend a lot of time talking about Major League Soccer, mainly because the Rugby World Cup & FIFA Women's World Cup has been going on. My MLS coverage will be in full force next year with no real international tournaments I wish to cover.Anyways, I needed something to blog about and figured I would give everyone an update on the latest MLS Playoff Standings. It should be noted that I am a HUGE Chicago Fire fan and currently they are holding the 8th and final playoff spot. Man I hope they can hold on. Ever since Cuauhtemoc Blanco joined the club and Chris Rolfe returned from the injured list, Chicago has been...well...on Fire. They went from next to last place into the final playoff spot in a matter of weeks. The MLS playoffs begins later this month.Here are your MLS playoff standings:1. D.C. United- 53 points (clinched a playoff spot)2.New England- 49 points (clinched a playoff spot)3. Houston- 48 points (clinched a playoff sp Read more:Finally
, First
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