USSoccerPlayers

The 1989 US Under-20 National Team

When American soccer fans think back to 1989, most everyone associates that year with Paul Caligiuri's "Goal Heard Around the World."  That was the US National Team's victory over Trinidad & Tobago in Port of Spain in November, clinching a berth in the 1990 World Cup for Bob Gansler's young side.

Though Caligiuri's strike was arguably the most important goal scored in modern US history, it was not the only extraordinary accomplishment of that year. Despite not being very well-known and on the tips of the tongues of soccer fans in the US, the success of the Under-20 National Team in 1989 marked one of the proud and influential moments in US soccer history.

Tell Me About: The Confederations Cup

The FIFA Confederations Cup was organized as an opportunity for regional champions to come together and compete against one another for a world title in non-World Cup years. Historically less-recognized confederations have a chance to compete with the more renowned confederations in a smaller format than the actual World Cup.

Since including all Confederations and changing its name to the Confederations Cup in 1997, there have been winners from three different confederations.

The 2009 Confederations Cup will run from June 14th to the 28th in South Africa.  Johannesburg's Ellis Park Stadium, Pretoria's Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Bloemfontein's Free State Stadium, and Rustenburg's Royal Bafokeng Stadium are the host venues.  All will be used for the 2010 World Cup.

As Gold Cup champions, the United States were drawn into Group B along with Italy, Brazil, and Egypt.  The US opens play against Italy on June 15th.

Tell Me About: The Away Goals Rule

The Away Goals Rule is a simple idea in theory, that gets confusing in practice.  Normally, it only applies in a home-and-home series like the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League and is used as a series tie-breaker.  Away goals are goals scored away from your home stadium.  If a series is tied on aggregate score (the combined score from both games) at the end of the second-leg, the team that scored the most away goals wins.

Tell Me About: Relegation

With the European seasons closing in on their final matchdays, here's a primer on the ideas behind relegation and why it's such a topic among American soccer fans.

Simply put, promotion and relegation allows for teams to move up and down between professional divisions.  No team is guaranteed a place in the top league season-to-season.  They have to finish out of the relegation slots to maintain their status. 

Though the number of teams in the biggest European leagues differs, the relegation slots are almost always three up and three down.  That means at the end of every English Premier League season, three teams are relegated to the Championship and replaced by the two teams that finished top of the Championship and a third playoff winner among the team finishing third through sixth. In the Bundesliga, the third from bottom team plays off against the third-place team from the second division.  In Italy, the third place Serie B team needs to finish ten points ahead of the fourth-place team to avoid a playoff. 

For all of these variants, the result is still the same: clubs moving between divisions. So why doesn't this happen in North American sports?

Tell Me About: National Team Nicknames

The US National Team doesn't happen to have an official nickname, though the "Yanks" and the "Red, White and Blue" have been used at times throughout the years. Most every other country around the world's national team does have a nickname, with many of the best ones coming from both the CONCACAF region (Grenada is the "Spice Boyz") and from African nations (Cameroon is the "Indomitable Lions").

Here is a look at some of the more creative and well-known nicknames from countries around the world:

Tell Me About: InterLiga

Soccer in the United States in early January? Apparently, that's the perfect time for the InterLiga.  With the Mexican Fall league ending in December and the Spring season yet to start, this is when the elite clubs of Mexico decide who will represent the league in the Copa Libertadores.  Yes, that is South American's top club competition, and yes, the MExican clubs playoff in the United States.

Eight teams will be competing in groups of four for two spots in the 36-team Copa Libertadores, the South American club championship which is similar to the format of the European Champions League.

Tell Me About: The Silver Goal

Leave it to soccer to come up with another color to dictate its rules on the field. There are already red, yellow and blue (indoor soccer) cards to discipline players. Now, in a sport where players play for teams called the Reds, Blues or Whites, they can play for silver.  Well, they could.  Like a few other soccer experiments, this one didn't last.

Tell Me About: The Transfer Window

The transfer window is the only mandated time of the year when clubs around the world can buy and sell players. The window was put in place for the 2002-03 season by FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, to regulate the transfer market which had gotten out of control in the late 90's. It also sets a uniform period of time for the top European leagues to do their business.

In 2008-09, the European transfer window is the months of July and August and the month of January.  Major League Soccer's window is January 15th-April 15th and June 15th-August 15th.  The Scandinavian leagues also use a different transfer window to coincide with their schedules. 

In the past, players could be sold until almost the end of the season. England had a deadline of the end of March to transfer players to clubs for the final two months of the season.

FIFA Club World Cup Primer

WASHINGTON, DC (Dec 12, 2008) USSoccerPlayers -- With the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup underway, here's what you need to know about the tournament.

History

FIFA started the Club Championship idea as a replacement for the old Toyota Cup, a competition limited to UEFA and CONMEBOL. It launched officially in January of 2000 in Brazil. FIFA followed the World Cup practice of allowing the host country automatic entry. Brazil chose Corinthians, who won the tournament over CONMEBOL champions Vasco da Gama in an all-Brazil final. Necaxa beat Real Madrid (defending Intercontinental champion) to finish third. Both games went to penalties. Defending Champions League winner Manchester United didn't make it out of the group stage.

Serie A

What’s Calcio, and for that matter what’s Serie A mean?

It’s the Italian word for soccer, but it also carries with it the Italian style of soccer. Serie A (pronounced Ah) literally means A Series, as in the A level of competition. Though there is a move to totally revamp the structure, there is also Serie B and Serie C1 and C2.

Who are the seven sisters?

The teams considered to be the core of Italian soccer, Parma, Lazio, AC Milan, Fiorentina, Inter Milan, Juventus, and AS Roma. Even before Fiorentina went bankrupt, the landscape of Serie A had changed to the point that this title carried little meaning. Name the biggest teams in Italy, and you’ll likely have gotten all of them.

Tell Me About: The Mexican League

Season

Like a lot of Central and South American domestic leagues, the Mexican Football League has two separate seasons every 12 months.  The first is the Apertura (opening), the Fall league that runs from late summer to late December.  The second is the Clausura (closing), running from January until late May/early June. 

Tell Me About: Memorable MLS Cup Games

It's a lot more difficult to go through the past 10 years and find an MLS Cup game that wasn't memorable than it is to find ones that did not live up to expectations. Even the more ho-hum affairs, such as the Los Angeles Galaxy's two Golden Goal victories over New England in 2002 and 2005, have featured quality finishes.

Here is a look at five of the most exciting MLS Cup games:

Tell Me About: Caps

You hear the term "cap" thrown around all the time in soccer parlance. Often times, it'll be mentioned in an article or said by one of the television announcers:

Sean Franklin could win his first cap with the US National Team on Wednesday.

Joe-Max Moore announced his retirement from soccer with 100 caps with the US National Team.

Cobi Jones has more caps than any US player.

In each example, using the term "cap" is just another way to recognize a player for making an appearance for his/her respective National Team. So if a player has earned five caps for the US National Team, it means that the player has seen action in five games for the US.

Tell Me About: US Player Of The Year Awards

Each year, the best performers on National Team are honored by two separate awards, the Chevrolet Male Athlete of the Year and the Honda US Player of the Year.

While there is often a consensus between the two awards, there have been six years so far where they have recognized two players who had standout seasons for the US National Team.

Tell Me About: The Supporters' Shield

Soccer leagues around the world crown their champions in one of two methods: play-offs (Mexico) or straight league play (England). In Major League Soccer,  teams compete in the post-season for the MLS Cup, the league's championship. Specifically, the trophy teams win is the Phillip Anschutz Cup, replacing the Alan I. Rothenberg Trophy that was used in two versions until the 2008 season.