How about some love for soccer?

by Westwood Wizard on Jul 4, 2007 11:31 AM PDT

I know we're all geeked over Howland landing Holiday, and are getting ready for football season.

But chances are, you've been missing some talented Bruins making a big name for themselves the past few weeks.

Some of the hottest young players in American soccer are UCLA Bruins.

You might have heard that a few weeks ago the US won the Gold Cup, the regional tournament for North and Central America, and the Caribbean (the CONCACAF federation). Perhaps you saw Benny Feilhabers's amazing volley, which was the winner against Mexico in the final.

Feilhaber played for UCLA in 2003-2004, and impressed the German team Hamburg, who signed him. Also playing that day was defender Jonathan Bornstein, another recent UCLA player (2004-2005), who now plays for Chivas USA in Major League Soccer. Going even further back, the captain of the US team, Carlos Bocanegra, is also a Bruin (1997-1999, he currently plays for Fulham in England) and Frankie Hejduk (1993-1995, plays for Columbus Crew in MLS) was also on the Gold Cup roster.

Unfortunately, Feilhaber, joined by Bornstein and another former Bruin, Marvell Wynne, have not done very well--nor has the US team as a whole--in Venezuela for Copa America, currently on-going. But there's another international tournament where current Bruins are shining. The Under-20s World Cup, going on in Canada, and two UCLA juniors, Sal Zizzo and Tony Beltran, set up goals in the last game for the US, against Poland.

Freddy Adu will get all of the recognition for his goals, but Zizzo absolutely made the first two.

You can see how our Bruins perform--the US plays Colombia in the Copa America, Thursday at 3:30pm (TeleFutura and GolTV). This will likely be the last game for the Americans in Venezuela. More promisingly, the US under-20s play the final group game against Brazil on Friday at 4:30pm (Galavision and ESPNU), and will likely advance to the next round of the tournament.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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US missing some players in Copa America

The US is missing some players on their Copa America roster. Several starters are missing. That is one reason they are doing so badly.

by gilbert on Jul 4, 2007 12:32 PM PDT reply actions

Several Starters are missing?

nearly ALL the starters are missing. 18 of the players on their roster entered the tournament having played less than 8 games with the national team and 4 had never played a nation team game before. They had already won their region's championship (the Gold Cup) and this one doesn't matter much to them so they sent a bunch of youngsters to get them some experience against quality competition in a tough enviorment. Nobody actually expected them to play well. If you do watch them though the Bruins on the team are Jimmy Conrad, Jonathan Bornstein and Benny Feilhaber.

On to our U-20's who are playing in the U-20 World Cup in Canada. They tied S. Korea 1-1 in their first game and beat Poland yesterday 6-1. That gives them 4 points and has them in first place of their group, where the top 2 teams in each group advance to the knockout stages. As long as the US doesn't lose by more than 3 goals, they will advance with a loss if Poland and S. Korea tie or S. Korea wins. If Poland wins then US needs a tie or win to advance. The most consistant attacker for the US has been a current Bruin, Sal Zizzo. Zizzo has been amazing for the US and he made an amazing run yesterday down the right side to set up Freddy Adu for the team's 3rd goal. Other Bruins are the team are Tony Beltran and backup keeper Brian Perk.

by Ryan Rosenblatt on Jul 4, 2007 2:19 PM PDT reply actions

Nice post Wiz

Always enjoy Bruin soccer related posts on BN. Karkand actually did a great diary on the game against Mexico, which was bumped on to the home page.

Keep bringing the soccer posts here on BN.

GO BRUINS.

by Nestor on Jul 5, 2007 5:31 AM PDT reply actions

Thanks Nestor.

gilbert and ryebreadraz--I didn't know if there were any soccer fans on here, so I didn't want to go into too much detail. Glad to see I'm not the only one!

by Westwood Wizard on Jul 5, 2007 9:28 AM PDT reply actions

Keep 'em Coming

Nice work Wiz. You really covered all the bases, and video hightlights are always appreciated.

"I've got nothing against God; it's his fan club I can't stand."

by txbruin on Jul 5, 2007 5:56 PM PDT up reply actions

Chelsea FC showing some love

Chelsea is using UCLA as its home base during its American pre-season tour, which starts today.

For those interested, Chelsea will be playing matches against Club America (Mexico) on Saturday at Stanford Stadium, and LA Galaxy later this month (presumably in Carson/Home Depot Center).

by bruinhoo on Jul 9, 2007 4:42 PM PDT reply actions

Isn't that still during the MLS season?

Why play a friendly in the middle of the season?

by SuperBruinMan on Jul 9, 2007 6:17 PM PDT up reply actions

Timing, I imagine

or at least that the desire (exposure/cometition level/etc.) to play a major Premiership/Euro team is great enough to outweigh having to work the game into the MLS season. With the length of the overseas schedules, particularly that of the Premier League, late-June/July is the only chance to schedule the game.

The Galaxy/Chelsea game is scheduled for the 21st at the Home Depot Center.

by bruinhoo on Jul 10, 2007 1:05 AM PDT up reply actions

The big reason...

$$$

Plus Beckham's first game will be against Chelsea, so the promotional level is just immense.

by Westwood Wizard on Jul 10, 2007 9:54 AM PDT up reply actions

Same as last year...

...Chelsea were training at UCLA for about two days last summer. I remember that some of their biggest players did a signing at the Adidas store at the 3rd Street Promenade. I went up to campus to try to see them (wearing my Man Utd shirt), but I think I was there between their morning and afternoon sessions.

by Westwood Wizard on Jul 10, 2007 9:53 AM PDT up reply actions