Sporting Madness

Against the odds, the Canadian men's U-23 soccer team pulled off an amazing 5-0 win over group-leading Guatemala Sunday to keep their dreams of qualifying for this summer's Beijing Olympics alive. Although they were last in the group heading into the match, with only one point from two games, the win proved to be just enough to advance to the next stage. It came at the expense of perennial power Mexico, though, who scored five goals of their own in a win over Haiti that drew them level with the Canadians on points: the one goal the Mexicans gave up proved their undoing though, as Canada squeaked through with a +4 goal differential to Mexico's +3. It's impressive that the Canadians were able to produce so much offense. Usually, soccer teams from this country score a goal or two and then tenaciously defend, perhaps cautioned off from going for the jugular by fear of dispelling the "polite Canadians" stereotype. In international competitions like this tournamen...

The FIFA U-20 World Cup continues to provide quality soccer. Only eight teams remain in the competition, and by Sunday night, they'll be reduced to four. Without further ado (Freddy or other), here's my previews and predictions for the quarter-final clashes. Saturday: Austria vs. USA (BMO Field, Toronto, 2:15 P.M. ET) This should be an interesting tilt. The U.S. has had a strong tournament so far, defeating such South American powers as Brazil and Uruguay. Freddy Adu has shown why everyone rated him so highly several years ago, and has lived up to his tremendous potential. Danny Szetela has also been terrific, producing several goals in addition to his solid play as a defensive midfielder. Austria has also been strong, especially defensively, where they have only conceded two goals. Their attack has been reasonably one-dimensional though, with Erwin (Jimmy) Hoffer producing half of their goals. Surprisingly enough, the pre-match lineups have listed Hoffer as starting on the be...