Monthly Archives: January 2008

Goal.com’s Kyle McCarthy asks the pertinent question: Why hasn’t the Chicago Fire named a successor for Juan Carlos Osorio yet? Two months after losing the Colombian to the New York Red Bulls, the Fire looks no closer to having a replacement. Even stranger, McCarthy says, is the decidedly weak list of potential successors. The Chicago […]

Unlicensed soccer academies are springing up across Africa, further impoverishing the region’s poor with false proclamations of ties with big European clubs. According to the Confederation of African Football, soccer’s governing body in Africa, all soccer academies must be registered with the local government or football association. The problem is, most poor families know nothing […]

Several European clubs, according to Chivas USA President Shawn Hunter, want Chivas USA’s Brad Guzan, the 2007 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year. Guzan, 24, is in the final year of his three-year contract with MLS. Some clubs want to sign him before the European transfer window closes at the end of January; others are prepared […]

Portuguese wizard Luis Figo has become the latest former Real Madrid Galactico to be linked with Major League Soccer. Last week, reports in Portugal linked the 35-year-old with a move to the Los Angeles Galaxy, but the rumor is already dying down, as both Figo and his agent have denied accelerated talks with MLS. Even […]

It is both a blessing and a curse that Europe has now taken notice of Major League Soccer, says the Toronto Star’s Cathal Kelly. On the surface, importing the likes of David Beckham while exporting the likes of Clint Dempsey looks like a transaction that clearly benefits both sides. However, Beckham, Kelly says, “is a […]

When will Liverpool overcome its title slump? Certainly not this year, says the Guardian’s Scott Murray. Rafael Benitez’s men sit an alarming 12 points behind league leader Arsenal, a gap that’s never been surmounted by a Premiership title winner at the same point in the season.   Despite Manchester United’s dominance of the 1990s and […]

Fourteen months have passed since Major League Soccer’s mandate that teams develop talent through league-sanctioned youth programs, but Chivas USA, the New York Red Bulls and D.C. United were already ahead of the curve. The three teams have had operational programs for more than two years, which now makes them eligible to sign players developed […]

Four days into the January transfer window, USSoccerPlayers’ J Hutcherson again takes a look at the situation at Derby County, where the futures of U.S. national teamers Eddie Lewis and Benny Feilhaber hang in the balance. Coach Paul Jewell, on the job now for less than a month, has repeatedly and publicly stated his desire […]

Yet another astonishing death rocked the soccer world last Saturday as Motherwell midfielder Phil O’Donnell collapsed from heart failure during his club’s match against Dundee United. O’Donnell joins the lamentably growing list of players who’ve collapsed and died on the field while playing in the prime of their lives. Antonio Puerta of Spanish club Sevilla […]