HERE"S A FRESH IDEA - NORTH AMERICAN SOCCER LEAGUE

Here's the release:

NEW MEN’S SECOND DIVISION PROFESSIONAL SOCCER LEAGUE ANNOUNCES NAME: NORTH AMERICAN SOCCER LEAGUE

VANCOUVER, BC - Formally announced two weeks ago, the new men’s second division professional soccer league slated to begin play next spring has announced its name, and it is a familiar one to soccer fans and players in the United States and Canada – the North American Soccer League (NASL).

NASL was the name of the men’s outdoor professional league that operated in the United States and Canada from 1968 to 1984, which played its final match 25 years ago last month and generated historic moments and memories for players and fans alike throughout its 16-year run. Legends such as Pele, Franz Beckenbauer, Giorgio Chinaglia, Johan Cruyff and Karl Heinz-Granitza played in the NASL, which served as the birthplace for numerous men’s professional outdoor franchises still in action today.

"By becoming the NASL, we are paying respect to the players, coaches and leaders who were pioneers for men’s professional soccer in North America, many of whom remain involved and committed to the growth of our game in various capacities throughout the U.S. and Canada," said Selby Wellman, principal owner of the Carolina RailHawks and newly appointed president of NASL, LLC. "For that, we honor and thank them with a new era for the NASL.

"Further, by going with NASL, we’re obligated to operate our league at a high standard befitting a name that means so much to the soccer community throughout North America. Our intention is to offer an elite brand of soccer and outstanding experience for our partners and fans, something the old NASL did very well during its day. We will do the same in the new NASL."

Currently comprised of nine teams – the Atlanta Silverbacks, Carolina RailHawks, Crystal Palace Baltimore, Miami FC, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact, St. Louis Soccer United, Tampa Bay Rowdies and Vancouver Whitecaps FC – the league has submitted an application to the United States Soccer Federation for sanctioning as a Division II Men’s Outdoor Professional League.

NASL is also active in its search for a full-time commissioner and will introduce an extensive marketing campaign in the coming months.

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TORONTO FC NAMES PREKI NEW HEAD COACH

As we told you on the show on Sunday night. Preki is the new coach of TFC. Toronto FC made the official announcement today.

Here's the official release:

Toronto FC announced Thursday, that Predrag “Preki” Radosavlijevic has been named the team’s fourth head coach in its history, signing a three year deal. The 46 year old Yugoslavian-born American joins Toronto after spending three seasons as the head coach at Chivas USA. As per league and team policy, financial details were not released.

“We are very excited to make this announcement today,” said director of soccer Mo Johnston. “Preki has everything we were looking for, and we feel he will be a perfect fit with our club. His resume with Chivas is impressive – having made it to the playoffs in every season he was there. His experience is what we need to take this club to the next level, and we can’t wait to get started.”

Radosavlijevic’s contract with Chivas USA expired at the end of this past MLS season leaving him open to explore new opportunities. He posted a career record of 40-29-21 (W-L-T) and a winning percentage of .561, the top mark in Chivas club history. He guided his team to top spot in the Western Conference in the 2007 regular season, with a 15-7-8 record, missing out on the Supporters Shield by only two points.

Named the Coach of the Year by MLS in 2007, he has also guided some the league’s top players including goalkeeper Brad Guzan, Sacha Kljestan and Zach Thornton (the 2009 Goalkeeper of the Year and Comeback Player of the Year).

As a player, Preki has a wealth of experience. He served a short stint with Red Star Belgrade in the old Yugoslav First League and from there went on to play indoor soccer in the U.S. for Tacoma Stars and St. Louis Storm before being bought by English Premier League side Everton in the summer of 1992. He spent two seasons with the Liverpool based club where he played with current Toronto FC director of soccer Mo Johnston. After a move to Portsmouth in July of 1994, Preki joined MLS in 1996 when he became a member of the Kansas City Wizards. He played every season in Kansas except for one year with the Miami Fusion in 2001. The Wizards brought him back the next season and it was there he won an MLS Cup in 2000, along with teammate Mo Johnston.

Preki is the only player to be awarded the MLS MVP Award and the MLS Scoring Champion twice, winning both in 1997 and 2003. He still holds the record for all-time league leader in points scored (270 on 79 goals and 112 assists, plus an additional 25 points on 10 goals and 5 assists in the playoffs). He played his last competitive game at the age of 42.

Internationally, he wore the colors of the U.S after obtaining citizenship in 1996. He played a total of 28 games, scoring four goals – one of the most memorable was a goal in the 1998 Gold Cup which beat Brazil.

Preki will travel to MLS Cup with Toronto FC director of soccer Mo Johnston later today.

European World Cup Wrap-Up

Greece v Ukraine

Dimitris Salpigidis scored the only goal as Greece clinched a place at the 2010 World Cup courtesy of a narrow victory over Ukraine at the Donbass Arena in Donetsk.

Slovenia v Russia

Zlatko Dedic scored just before the end of the first half to make sure that Slovenia booked their spot for South Africa. Slovenia won 1-0 over Russia, in the 2nd leg. It ended 2-2 with Slovenia going through on a crucial away goal from Nejc Pecnik in the 1st leg.

Portugal v Bosnia-Herzegovina

Raul Meireles scored early in the 2nd half to seal a spot for Portugal in the World Cup 2010 as they beat Bosnia-Herzegovina 2-0 over the two games. Just like the rest of his former Canadian teammates, Asmir Begovic will have to wait until 2014 for another attempt at making it to a World Cup.

Ireland v France

France booked their trip to South Africa today after a 1-1 draw against Ireland today. Robbie Keane had opened the scoring against France in the 33rd to bring things on level terms over the 2 leg affair. William Gallas gave the french a leg up in the 104th minute drawing the game level at 1-1 and giving France a 2-1 win on aggregate.

Algeria seal last African place

Anthar Yahia scored a cracking volley for Algeria to give them a 1-0 win in their crucial sudden death play-off with Egypt for the final African place at the World Cup. Wild scenes were sparked at the final whistle as they ended a 23-year wait for glory.

I love it... I knew "The Desert Foxes" had it in them to beat "The Pharaohs" and claim the last spot. Mainly due to the sweet nickname. Algeria is going to South Africa.

2009 CIS women's soccer championship Spartans repeat as national champions

TORONTO (CIS) - The Trinity Western Spartans were crowned national champions for the second consecutive season as they defeated the Montreal Carabins 1-0 (4-2 in penalty kicks) in the gold-medal match of the 2009 CIS women's soccer championship at Varsity Centre, Sunday night.

Following two glorious saves by all-tournament goalkeeper Kristen Funk, the Spartans fifth shooter, first-year defender and fellow Calgary native Colleen Webber, sealed the victory as she sent her shot past a diving Sarah Thérien (Montreal) and into the back of the net. Funk had opened the scoring herself in the PK session.

With the win the 2009 Canada West champion Spartans improve their national championship all-time record to 10-1-1 and earn their third Gladys Bean memorial trophy in six years. They had also prevailed in penalty kicks in 2004, that time over McGill.

"Three in six years!" said Spartans head coach Graham Roxburgh. "It's pretty unbelievable! In fairness, we didn't play our best soccer this weekend but I think our hard work showed. It was tough playing against a team as good as Montreal."

Second-year midfielder Tessa Meyer (Surrey, B.C.) was named the CIS tournament most valuable player.

"I'm so honoured [and] we worked so hard as a team." said Meyer. "Our goalkeeper Kristin Funk is outstanding and to me she was the most valuable today. Just to be named that, I'm honoured and humbled because I worked hard and it's great to have."

This was the Carabins first appearance in a CIS final, earning their first national silver medal in school history. Montreal's only other CIS medal came at last year's tournament where they took bronze after a disappointing loss to the Brock Badgers in semi-final action.

Montreal outshot Trinity Western 15-8 throughout 120 minutes of action, however the Spartans recorded more solid scoring opportunities throughout the night with five shots on goal.

After a scoreless first half, 2009 CIS rookie of the year and tournament all-star Alicia Tesan had a good chance to open the scoring, however the Vancouver, B.C. native missed the wide open net, sending the ball over the cross bar in the 49th minute.

Montreal's best chance to score came in the 78th minute as the Carabins caught Funk out of her net, however the Spartans defensive line were there to keep the game scoreless.

Both teams posted solid defensive efforts throughout overtime as neither were able to create good scoring opportunities.

Funk, Melissa Mobilio (Coquitlam, B.C.), Meghan McKinnon (Langley, B.C.) and Webber were Trinity's four goal scorers in penalty kicks. Funk also stopped Montreal's third shooter, Chloë Sabourin, to put the Spartans up for good.

SCORING SUMMARY

TWU: 0-0-0-0:1 (4-2 PK)
MON: 0-0-0-0:0

First Half
No scoring

Second Half
No scoring

Overtime
No scoring

Penalty Kicks
TWU, Kirsten Funk, goal
MON, Véronique Maranda, missed
TWU, Melissa Mobilio, goal
MON, Catherine Delmas-Frenette, goal
TWU, Daniele Gerig, saved
MON, Cholë Sabourin, saved
TWU, Meghan McKinnon, goal
MON, Virginie Lévesque, goal
TWU, Colleen Webber, goal

Goalkeepers:
TWU: Kristen Funk (W, 0 GA, 2 saves, 120:00 mins)
MON: Sarah Thérien (L, 0 GA, 5 saves, 120:00 mins)

Shots: TWU 8, MON 15
Shots on Net: TWU 5, MON 2
Corners: TWU 2, MON 2
Offsides: TWU 0, MON 0
Fouls: TWU 17, MON 7
Yellow Cards: None
Red Cards: None

Players of the game:
TWU: Tessa Meyer
MON: Émile Mercier

TOURNAMENT ALL-STAR TEAM

Tournament MVP:
Tessa Meyer - Trinity Western

Tournament All-Stars:
Goalkeeper: Kristen Funk - Trinity Western
Defence: Émilie Mercier - Montreal
Defence: Chelsea Stang - UBC
Defence: Colleen Webber - Trinity Western
Defence: Mikyla Kay - Queen's
Midfield: Véronique Maranda - Montreal
Midfield: Tessa Meyer - Trinity Western
Midfield: Riley Filion - Queen's
Forward: Alicia Tesan - Trinity Western
Forward: Veronique Laverdière - Montreal
Forward: Daniela Gerig - Trinity Western

R.W. Pugh Fair Play Award:
UPEI Panthers

TWU men's soccer wins CIS Bronze

LANGLEY, B.C. (CIS) - Trinity Western University keeper Andrew Kowan from Richmond, B.C., made a diving penalty kick save and defender Cardin Davis from Salt Spring Island, B.C. hit the penalty kick winner as the Spartans won the second CIS bronze medal in program history with a 2-1 victory (4-2 PK) over Toronto at the CIS men's soccer championship tournament in Langley, B.C., on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

The bronze medal win gives the Spartans four CIS championship medals in the last five years. TWU also won bronze in 2005 and silver in 2008 and 2006.

"There wasn't an issue of motivation when you get to a match like this. For the four months that we have been together over a month of that has been with the boots on practicing so there is no point in getting to a match like this and dropping short. There is no excuse for it and I thought on the day that we were a good team and were unlucky not to have scored three goals today," commented TWU head coach Pat Rohla.

"We said early in the year that we have lots to be thankful for and you to play in a bronze medal match you have to be thankful for that and repay it in kind. So I'm exceedingly proud of the boys and our staff and I'm proud of how we presented ourselves. From first man to last man it was a complete team effort all the way through."

The first half was physically played with each team having opportunities, but neither was able to find the back of the net as they finished the opening 45 minutes tied at 0-0.

Trinity Western's career goal scoring leader Nathan Pogue of Seaside, Ore opened the scoring in the 63rd minute. The Spartans were rewarded after sustained pressure inside the Varsity Blues penalty area. TWU's Jordan Whitehead of Surrey, B.C. took a point blank shot from the left side of the box. Toronto keeper Maximir Luburic of Oakville, Ont made a two handed save, but the ball went to Pogue who was on the right side of the goalie area. Pogue hit the ball hard through a number of Toronto defenders to put TWU up 1-0.

Toronto tied the match in the 80th minute after a strong run up the right side by midfielder Geoffrey Borgmann of Dixie, Ont. Borgmann beat TWU's outside back and sent a cross to the far side of the penalty area where Alexander Raphael of East York, Ont. went high to head the ball past a diving Kowan to tie the match at 1-1.

Both teams battled back and forth for the remainder of the half with no one finding the back of the net.

In the CIS championship bronze medal match the teams go straight to penalty kicks.

The Varsity Blues opened the penalty kicks with Gabe Gala of Brampton, Ont. missing high. TWU's Pogue, Toronto's Geoffrey Borgmann of Dixie, Ont. and TWU's Paul Hamilton of Calgary each made their attempts to give the Spartans a 2-1 lead after four shooters. On Toronto's next attempt by Alexander Raphael, Trinity Western's Kowan, who was an all-star at last year's championship, made a diving save to his right, teammate Shawn Parkes of Delta, B.C. followed with a goal to give TWU a 3-1 lead. Toronto's Nordo Gooden of Toronto hit his shot to keep Toronto alive, but the TWU's Davis found the lower left corner to give the win in front of its home crowd.

TWU's Kowan made one save in victory, while Toronto's Luburic made eight saves in the loss.

SCORING SUMMARY

TWU: 0-1-1:2 (4-2 PK)
TOR 0-1-0:1

First half
No scoring

Second half
1. TWU, Nathan Pogue (2) (Jordan Whitehead), 63rd
2. TOR, Alexander Raphael (2) (Geoffrey Borgmann), 80th

Overtime (no OT - straight to PK)

Penalty kicks
TOR, Gabe Gala, miss
TWU, Nathan Pogue, goal
TOR, Geoffrey Borgmann, goal
TWU, Paul Hamilton goal
TOR, Alexander Raphael, saved
TWU, Shawn Parkes, goal
TOR, Nordo Gooden, goal
TWU, Cardin Davis, goal

Goalkeepers:
TWU: Andrew Kowan (W, 1 GA, 1 saves, 90:00 mins)
TOR: Maximir Luburic (W, 1 GA, 8 saves, 90:00 mins)

Shots: TWU 27, TOR 8
Shots on goal: TWU 9, TOR 2
Corners: TWU 9, TOR 1
Offsides: TWU 2, TOR 2
Fouls: TWU 15, TOR 11
Yellow Cards: TWU (2) (Brayden Volkenant 18th, Liam McAllister 51st), TOR (2) (Federico Vaccaro 27th, Gabe Gala 82nd)
Red Cards: none

Players of the game:
TWU: Nathan Square-Briggs
TOR: Maximir Luduric

WHITECAPS SIGN MIDFIELDER RICARDO SÁNCHEZ

For Immediate Release: November 18, 2009

VANCOUVER, BC – Vancouver Whitecaps FC announced today the signing of free agent midfielder Ricardo Sánchez. The former Minnesota Thunder player has signed a one-year contract - plus an option - pending international clearance.

Sánchez, 27-years-old, joins the Whitecaps after spending the past two seasons with the Thunder. Last year, the 5-foot-11, 175-pound midfielder earned a spot in the United Soccer Leagues First Division (USL-1) All-League First Team after finishing fifth in the league scoring with 22 points. The set-piece specialist scored seven goals and shared the USL-1 lead in assists with eight, tying Whitecaps defender/midfielder Wes Knight. In 2008, Sánchez was named to the USL-1 All-League Second Team after scoring 10 goals and recording four assists in 28 regular season appearances for 2,161 minutes of action.

Prior to his move to Minnesota, the midfielder played the 2007 campaign with former USL-1 club California Victory. He had one goal and three assists in 25 league and Lamar Hunt US Open Cup appearances for the San Francisco-based outfit before the club folded at the end of the season.

In his three seasons in USL-1, Sánchez started all but one of his 80 total appearances for 6,368 minutes of action. He scored 17 goals and recorded 15 assists for 49 points during that time.

Before making the switch to North America, the native of Guadalajara, Mexico, started his career with Fútbol Club Atlas. He played with the Guadalajara-based outfit from 1995 to 2001 before having spells with Reboceros de la Piedad (2002), Club Celaya (2003), and Club Deportivo Irapuato (2004). The midfielder then joined Mexican giants Club Deportivo Guadalajara - better known as Chivas - for the 2004-05 season. In 2006, Sánchez split his time between Correcaminos UAT (Universidad Autonoma de Tamaulipas) and Club Tijuana.

A talented youngster, Sánchez represented Mexico at both the U-17 and U-20 international levels. In 1999, the midfielder was captain of the Mexican squad that appeared at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in New Zealand. He started all three matches in Group B versus Thailand, Ghana, and Spain before appearing in the 3-2 quarterfinal defeat to arch-rivals United States.

Meanwhile, Whitecaps men's team head coach Teitur Thordarson has offered trials to former Minnesota midfielder/striker Melvin Tarley and former Miami FC defender Zourab Tsiskaridze this week.