FIFA Updates

By Mark Egan

PHILADELPHIA, July 21 (Reuters) – English soccer giants
Manchester United beat the Philadelphia Union 1-0 on Wednesday
in a scrappy game against Major League Soccer’s newest team.

United emerged with a victory at Lincoln Financial Field
but laboured in their second pre-season frenzy after beating
Scottish team Celtic 3-1 last week in Toronto.

The winning goal came in the 76th minute after Danny
Welbeck intercepted a sloppy pass in midfield and ran straight
through the defense before passing to Gabriel Obertan who
slotted the ball home.

Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov nearly extended United’s
lead, hitting the crossbar from close range in the 80th
minute.

United started the game with the novel attacking trio of
Federico Macheda, Welbeck and Obertan but while the first half
saw the English team dominate possession, their young strikers
failed to convert a series of good chances.

The best chance of the first half fell to Welbeck after 36
minutes but he hit his close-range shot directly at the
goalkeeper.

Five minutes later, Union’s in-form French striker
Sebastien Le Toux found himself through on goal but dragged his
effort wide.

The Union, in their first MLS season, pressed United hard
in the second half and had several chances to take the lead.

The Philadelphia team enjoyed an unexpected victory last
week when they beat Celtic 1-0.

With the game still goalless after an hour, United made
several substitutions, bringing on Berbatov for Macheda and
Darren Fletcher for veteran midfielder Paul Scholes.

The Union could have tied the game in the 89th minute when
Andrew Jacobson skied the ball over the bar from just a couple
of metres out.

The game’s final chance came in injury time to United’s
Ritchie De Laet, who tried to chip the keeper but saw his
effort saved.

(Editing by Steve Ginsburg; To query or comment on this
story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

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A seventh-minute goal by Eniola Aluko was all the expansion Atlanta Beat needed to get its first road win in Women’s Professional Soccer. Hope Solo did the rest, saving all four shots that reigning champs Sky Blue FC put on frame to give the Beat a 1-0 win at Yurcak Field in Piscataway, N.J., on Sunday night.

In the previous meeting, Sky Blue FC got the best of Atlanta, beating them 1-0 in the KSU Soccer Stadium opener. Sky Blue FC was outplayed by the Beat, but an own goal and 13 Karen Bardsley saves was enough to prevail on the road.

This time around, Atlanta came with the same offensive pressure, and they benefited from that pressure, early, with the Aluko goal.

“We played a very offensive style tonight and tried to play the ball to feet as much as possible,” said Beat coach Gareth O’Sullivan. “We tried to get forward and get in behind their back four.”

And Aluko did exactly that in the game’s lone goal. Aluko made a perfectly-timed run behind the Sky Blue FC (5-6-3, 18 points) defense, running onto an Angie Kerr through ball, and finishing with great precision past keeper Kristin Luckenbill.

Atlanta (2-7-4, 10 points) continued to put the pressure on for the duration of the first half, but couldn’t figure out a way to beat Luckenbill again, who made five saves on the night.

Despite the loss, Sky Blue FC saw the return of Tasha Kai, who took five shots on the night in her first game since the WPS All-Star Game.

“I always try to play with a lot of energy, and I know that rubs off on my teammates,” Kai said. “Unfortunately, we came up short tonight. We had our chances, but we have to do a better job of putting them away.”

Sky Blue FC came out in the second half of the game and brought the pressure to Atlanta, but Solo was up to the task. It has been a recurring theme for Sky Blue FC, playing in spurts. On Sunday, the defending champs started slow, and came on strong in the final 45 minutes. It wasn’t enough.

“It was truly a tale of two halves tonight,” said Sky Blue FC coach Pauliina Miettinen. “We had trouble getting it going in the first half, but we played with a lot of fire in the second half. What we have to do is get ourselves to play with that type of intensity for the full 90 minutes.”

Despite the loss, Sky Blue FC remains in third place in the WPS standings, three points behind Philadelphia and one point ahead of both Washington and Chicago; Atlanta remains in the WPS cellar, six points behind its nearest competitor, Boston.

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Women’s Professional Soccer’s week 14 ends with a pair of struggling teams meeting at Yurcak Field in Piscataway, N.J., when defending champion, and third-place Sky Blue FC hosts the last-place Atlanta Beat on Sunday night.

Sky Blue FC (5-5-3, 18 points) is struggling through a massive wave of injuries and national team call-ups while they fight for one of the four WPS playoff sports. Last week, the defending champs, with newly-appointed starting keeper Kristin Luckenbill in net, tied the Washington Freedom at home on July 7, 0-0, before going to the Chicago Red Stars and losing 2-0 on July 10.

As for the Atlanta Beat (1-7-4, 7 points), after putting together a three-game unbeaten streak into the All-Star Game, they have lost two and tied one since, the most recent, of which was a 3-1 road loss to the Boston Breakers on July 11. (Boston scored three second-half goals in five minutes to get the victory.)

“We lost two starting center backs against FC Gold Pride and actually played well for most of the second half a man down; we were happy with a point on the road against Chicago in a game where we lost another starter at half time in Lori Chalupny,” said Beat coach Gareth O’Sullivan of the team’s recent struggles. “The Boston five-minute craziness was disappointing but we will bounce back. We have two players back for our next game in Hope Solo and Tina Ellertson.”

And even though the Beat are in last place, six points behind their closest competitor (Boston), O’Sullivan still believes the playoffs are a legit possibility—with a healthy roster.

“We are very happy with our roster. We just need players available and fit,” O’Sullivan said. “We only had 15 available to travel to Boston so once we have everyone available things will improve. The playoffs are still on our agenda.”

Sky Blue FC coach Pauliina Miettinen agrees with O’Sullivan. “It’s pretty much anybody’s game (to make the playoffs),” said Miettinen. “Who knows what will happen. You have to be sharp against everybody.”

Sky Blue FC has been without starting keeper Karen Bardsley (season-ending shoulder injury), as well as Carli Lloyd (USA), Heather O’Reilly (USA), Meghan Schnur (USA), Christie Rampone (USA) among others, but have still played well enough to be in third halfway through the season.

Without Bardsley, Miettinen is still confident with her replacement keeper in Luckenbill.

“She has been strong in training. She has a big body which is a good thing when it comes to crosses,” said Miettinen. “I trust her.”

Sky Blue FC will have their United States national players back but, depending on the amount of minutes they get on Saturday night’s national game vs. Sweden in Hartford, may not be available to play.

“Their health is more important than anything else, so we have to be careful,” Miettinen said of her national players.

Whether they play or not, O’Sullivan’s game plan is to be similar as their May 9, 1-0 loss at home when they outplayed the reigning champs. If not for Bardsley’s 13 saves, the Beat could have been on the winning side.

“We need to move the ball quickly and produce a similar display to our first match against them in May,” said O’Sullivan.

Tasha Kai, who has been injured for the New Jersey-based team, should be in the lineup on Sunday night for Miettinen.

Kickoff at Yurcak Field is set for 7 p.m. ET.

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Atlanta Beat went into Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill., on Wednesday night and continued its successful season against the Chicago Red Stars, earning a 1-1 draw.

On the season, Atlanta (1-6-4, 7 points) and Chicago (3-5-5, 14 points) have met three times, with the expansion Beat earning two draws at Chicago, as well as its only victory of the season, a 1-0 home win on June 19.

“Chicago are one of the best offensive teams in the league; they can beat anyone,” said Beat coach Gareth O’Sullivan. “So to have taken our second point on the road against them is a plus.”

Atlanta picked up the point despite being without Tina Ellertson, sitting out after suffering a concussion in the Beat’s 4-0 home loss to FC Gold Pride on July 3, and Kia McNeil, who was serving the first of her three-game suspension for her tackle—and subsequent red card—on Pride keeper Nicole Barnhart.

Red Stars coach Omid Namazi would have been frustrating not being able to get a result no matter who was in the lineup for Atlanta. For the game, his club out-shot the opposition 18-6, including nine shots on target, with only one goal to show for it.

“It’s frustrating. I want to say over the last four games we’ve been playing very well, we’ve got the majority of the possession, and we’ve gotten chances. Unfortunately, we haven’t turned those chances into goals. That’s been the story.”

Of late, the only person who has been able to convert chances into goals is Ella Masar, and she did so in the 42nd minute to even the game up, after Johanna Rasmussen gave the Beat a 1-0 lead in the 30th minute.

“She’s been inserted into the starting lineup and has three goals in three games. We just need more from other people,” said Namazi. “We need production from [Casey] Nogueira, Kosa [Kosovare Asllani], and from Cristiane. Those are the players we count on scoring game in and game out.”

Masar’s tying goal came off a corner kick pass by midfielder Karen Carney to midfielder Formiga, who then crossed it in to forward Cristiane, as she laid off a header for Masar to finish it off with a header in the goal past Hope Solo.

Neither team could get an edge in the second half, however. Chicago dominated the half, with powerful shots from midfielders Formiga and Katie Chapman, and forwards Nogueira and Asllani, but no goals were scored.

“The important thing and what we are going to take away is that we’re dominating teams,” said Masar.

Atlanta will face the Boston Breakers on the road this Sunday at 6 p.m. ET; Chicago, now riding a three-game unbeaten streak, will stay at home to face defending WPS champion Sky Blue FC on Saturday at 5 p.m. ET.

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