How about this great news for the American game and the American player.
U.S. defender Oguchi Onyewu has signed with Italian giants A.C. Milan and will now be plying his trade at the San Siro.
So how does this make you feel as an American soccer fan? We always clamor and hope for U.S. players to get a shot at bigger clubs, well this is big!!!
Onyewu goes to Milan as a bargain on a free transfer as he played out his contract in Belgium at Standard Liege. For Milan Onyewu comes at a bargain price!

Who knows if this move even occurs if it wasn’t for the great performance of the U.S. national team at the back end of the Confederations Cup when they knocked off #1 Spain and pushed Brazil in the final though losing 3-2?

Alexi Lalas who formerly play in Italy at Padova brings up a good point in that Onyewu will match up with bigger , target type forwards in Italy just fine.
“Most Italian clubs have at least one big forward, an Ibrahimovic, a Iaquinta or whoever, and I think he’ll match up very well against those big forwards that alot of teams have,” said Lalas who played in Italy with Padova. ” As a matter of fact, I think he will gobble them up.”

Alexi may be just jumping the gun a little bit. I say lets wait and see how Onyewu does as only the second ever American to play in the Serie “A”. Lets give him a chance to play a game before we annoit the move a success though I do agree that Onyewu will obviously be more comfortable playing against strong, aggressive, target man type forwards.
It’s those quick little strikers that can be pests…….Great move for Onyewu and I look forward to see him in the famed strip of AC Milan.

CRISTIANO RONALDO……Soccer player ? Celebrity? Or both?

When is the last time in any major sport in America where 80,000 people turned out to the signing of an NBA, NFL or MLB player?
It just doesn’t happen. But in the world of soccer yesterday 80,000 fans turned out to see Real Madrid’s new signing. Simply amazing, and simply amazing the expectations now on Real Madrid. And we thought the 30,000 who came out to see Kaka was a big deal?
Still I am not convinced Manuel Pelligrini the new Real Madrid coach will be able to control this star-laden squad, are you?

DYNAMO AT CHARLESTON
The Dynamo take on the Charleston Battery tonite in the U.S. Open Cup . The Battery feature former Strake Jesuit high school player Nelson Akwari who also played in MLS with the Metrostars, Columbus Crew and Real Salt Lake. Akwari is a wonderful young man and has been on the radio show here in Houston a number of times dating back to when I launched a soccer program on 90.1 KPFT. Rest assured that USL clubs circle their calendar to play MLS teams and this will not be an easy game. The Battery will be motivated and hungry to prove and measure themselves against the Dynamo. Catch it on the radio tonite on 790 The Sports Animal.
The Dynamo then head to Seattle to play the Sounders at a sold out Qwest Field in downtown Seattle on Saturday afternoon . Catch it and Dynamo All Access with Glenn Davis the tv show on KHOU 11.2. The Dynamo game airs at 1pm with pre-game at 12:30.

PRIZE MONEY
By the way here is the break-down of prize money awarded to teams in various competitions, remember this is per team and the winnings then divided amongst players and staff:

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup: $100,000
MLS CUP : $200,000 might be a bit more
Superliga: $300,000
Concacaf Champions League $36,000 is my understanding.

So what is wrong with this picture and as a player wouldn’t you be more interested in being in the Superliga with the potential of winning $300,000 in a reasonably short tournament?
The Champions league in Concacaf brings prestige and as shot at going to the World Club Championships but includes far more travel and wear and tear.
MLS teams have their own way of dividing their prize money if they win.

What do you think of these incentives?

SOCCER MATTERS WITH GLENN DAVIS ON FOX SPORTS HOUSTON

I quietly mentioned at the end of Dynamo All Access with Glenn Davis last night that in partnership with Fox Sports Houston we will debut a new soccer program on Saturday mornings called “Soccer Matters with Glenn Davis”.
The show will cover all the tiers of the game and will focus on community pieces, the Dynamo and MLS, EPL, Mexican League, Champions League and the international game.
It will be lively, energetic, informative and will honor those working on the sport in our community as well as the top stories from around the world.
If you have story ideas please pass them on to me but I consider this a huge opportunity to grow the awareness and enjoyment of the sport.
You the viewer will have input that I will gladly receive and segments will include highlights, interviews, viewer mail, tips segments, red card and lots of passion and opinion.
Fox Sports Houston reaches close to a million homes and has a footprint of 4 million into Louisiana, and New Mexico.
The show in a sense is national as well since FSH also reaches around the country on Direct tv and Dish tv sports packages.
The program will air on Saturday mornings at 9am and will re-air three times per week.
You the soccer fan have helped to get this on the air. Look for a press release coming out this week and get ready fanaticos for this magazine style show!!

FIESTA UNSUNG SOCCER HERO AWARD WINNER

Danny Foster of Kickoff Magazine!