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Morning Ticker: D.C. United wins in CCL, Huckerby close to retiring and more

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D.C. United finally broke through on CONCACAF Champions League play on Tuesday night, posting a 1-0 victory against San Juan Jabloteh in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

Christian Gomez converted a penalty kick in the 14th minute after a handball in the penalty area by Noel Williams. D.C. goalkeeper Milos Kocic made the goal stand up with several crucial saves as D.C. posted its first victory and shutout in Champions League group play this year.

D.C. United brought just 16 players to Trinidad, leaving behind several key players, but still came away with a win that improves D.C. United to 1-2 in group play. It's next match is on Sept. 24 vs. CD Marathon of Honduras.

In other Champions League action, the USL Puerto Rico Islanders squandered a 3-1 halftime lead and settled for a 3-3 tie vs. Cruz Azul.

Here are some other stories to get your Wednesday going:

HUCKERBY ON VERGE OF RETIRING

San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Darren Huckerby underwent season-ending hip surgery recently and now it appears that the surgery may end more than the 2009 season for the English winger.

Huckerby told the Norwich Evening News that he is "99 percent sure" he will retire after his recent surgery.

Huckerby joined the Earthquakes a year ago and quickly became one of the best midfielders in MLS for that half season. He was unable to duplicate that success this season as injuries limited him to 14 games this season. He recorded three goals and two assists this season after posting six goals and four assists in the same number of matches in 2008.

CHICAGO SIGNS COSTA RICAN DEFENDER

Since losing MLS Best XI defender Bakary Soumare to a summer transfer to France, the Chicago Fire has been looking for some defensive cover heading into the playoff stretch drive. The Fire found a defender in Costa Rican youngster David Myrie, signing him on Tuesday.

The 21-year-old defender comes from Alajuelense and is expected to provide cover in central defense and at fullback. Chicago still boasts central defenders Wilman Conde, Dasan Robinson and C.J. Brown, but Conde has been battling injuries this season while the team's fullbacks have also endured a variety of injuries.

WPS HOLDS EXPANSION DRAFT

The expansion Philadelphia Independence and Atlanta Beat took their first steps toward fielding teams on Tuesday by taking part in the WPS Expansion Draft. The Beat selected Leigh Ann Robinson, former of FC Gold Pride, with the first pick. Philadelphia selected Lori Lindsey, formerly of the Washington Freedom, with its first pick.

Philadelphia and Atlanta will begin play in 2010, bringing the number of teams in Women's Professional Soccer to nine.

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What do you think of these developments? Surprised that D.C. pulled out a win with such a bare-bones squad? Disappointed to see Huckerby retiring? Think Myrie will help Chicago move a step closer to challenge the Columbus Crew in the East?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. DC won, but let’s not kid ourselves: we looked like ass on a stick. SJJ just looked worse, is all.

    Posted by: Bootsy | September 16, 2009 at 10:49 AM

    I like your poetic commentary. Not only is it accurate, but it is just a beautiful description.

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  2. First gripe from me re: Fox’s ownership of UEFA CL: Inter Milan / Barcelona not Setanta or FSC and you can’t get this marquee game in HIGH DEFINITION on the DirecTV mix of games.

    Still far superior to any footie production from ESPN.

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  3. Sucks about Huckerby retiring. He was awesome at Norwich City (put up great numbers for my Fantasy Premier League team!) so I was psyched when he joined the Earthquakes. Hopefully MLS will recruit more European players like him.

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  4. IMO winning in the CCL does matter. Yes MLS games are first priority however if the DC United performance last night is not typical MLS’s reputation will never rise.

    The DC game last night was a much better showing than their previous CCL games. Passes were much more accurate and ball possesion much improved. They played like a better team although not dominating.

    I still ask, why is it that the same guys can pass and receive the ball like pros in one game and play like a bungling high school team in another? Is the team focus and desire the reason or is it just a tired team?

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  5. “…free signing of a potential youth player, or pay a TF for a USL product??”

    @Brett: Most MLS clubs don’t offer the USL clubs more than a bag full of soccer balls and a promise of a friendly @ the USL club.

    That is one of the biggest scams going. The USL clubs usually don’t want to “stand in the way of a player progressing” in their career so they get the shaft, time and time again. More of then need to make like Atlanta/Carolina did in the Khandji deal and get something (I’m still amazed that they mangaged to get the record price from Red Bulls that they did for the kid).

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  6. Too bad Huckerby is retiring. He added a lot of quality to this league. Hopefully some other players of his caliber decide to play in the MLS as well.

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  7. Damn. Huckerby was absolutely electrifying last year. In a sense his skill was limited – his greatest gift was his ability to dribble at speed with the ball under tight control. Everything else was sheer guts, drive and determination. He showed up here and when he scored the first time you’d of thought he’d won a cup final and vindicated his entire existence. He’d run at the Ultras (the supporters section down his left wing in most first halves) and just frickin’ ROAR. It’s a shame we only got half a season of that, but for those of us lucky to see him he was one of the highlights of MLS history. Damn, I’ll miss him.

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  8. Sad to see Huckerby retire like this. He was by far the brightest spot for San Jose last year and they will have trouble replacing him.

    The DC game was very rough but they deserved the win and had a majority of the possession. Nice to see Danny go 90 minutes on the flank hopefully he found his way out of Soehn’s doghouse last night.

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  9. Watched last night’s game and it was rough. DC did not play well but it’s great they got 3 points. Most of the players deserved a 3 or 4 rating. Pontius was the most effective. They were very lucky.

    Sorry to see Huckerby. If indeed he retires, it will be interesting to watch Bobby Convey in his natural position next season. It remains to be seen whether, after he finally gets an “off-season” rest whether he can come back and play anywhere near his former level. This assumes of course that Yallop keeps Convey which given this development would make sense.

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  10. @Branch: those were planned expansions. They were anounced before the first season ever kicked off. Now if they came completely out of the blue and didn’t have big committed buck$ behid them, I would be sharing your alarm…

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  11. Angela- free signing of a potential youth player, or pay a TF for a USL product??

    i’ll side with Klopas on this one… its not a slight against the setup here in the states, its finding the best option for the foreign slots as we can. i highly doubt this kid is costing the Fire that much in the form of cap.

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  12. @Angela–If the transfer windo wasn’t closed then they could get a Yank from Europe. Most of Yanks there are attached already. But sometime a club will say, your’e just not in our plans.

    I get your point though.

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  13. also- the fact that MLs teams have to go to Costa Rica for a 21-year old shows all that’s wrong with American soccer develpment at this point

    It would be great for an American to fill that spot but where would one come from at this point, unless USL?

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  14. nice to see DC get a win – they’re in between trying in the CCL and not, seem to have decided not to try, and won, so we’ll see where they go from here

    Houston and Colombus are better hopes, let’s hope they can get results on the road tonight

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  15. I was indeed shocked when I saw the DC CCL scoreline this morning. I’m pretty sure it is their first win in two years of group play. Considering MLS teams finish this competition with a completely different team than the year before, since they have the off-season in the middle of it, the competition is meaningless to me. All that matters is the MLS.

    It’s sad to see Huckerby considering retirement. He is a great player and works hard. I’ve enjoyed his interviews I’ve seen and heard. San Jose is just that much worst without him.

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  16. Last night was kind of complicated. I was thrilled with DC managing to get the three points. That was very encouraging after going to RFK to suffer by seeing the Black and Red being beat by Seattle twice in 11 days…

    All I’m going to say about the Islanders-Cruz Azul game is that I’m very, very disappointed. PRI had another wonderful opportunity to get 3 points at home and get back into the Champions League mix. I have no idea how we are going to make those points up.

    Last night, a tie felt like a big loss. Sure, we are a second division club facing a juggernaut with way more resources than we will ever have but you have to get the result, especially when you are playing at home and need it desperately.

    It just brought back the trauma from the DF leg of the CCL semis last spring.

    It was one of those results that jacked up my sleep last night. It really stung.

    Reply

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