“I read parts of it, glanced at it more or less. If you gave me a quiz on it right now, I’d probably fail. That’s been the case in most of my educational career anyway. I didn’t read it all that seriously, to be honest with you.”
— Los Angeles Galaxy coach Bruce Arena on “The Beckham Experiment,” due out next week. Excerpts released from the book suggest that David Beckham‘s teammates questioned his commitment to the Galaxy. (goal.com)
The CONCACAF Gold Cup rolls on. The USA plays Haiti on Saturday. On the U.S. pro scene, catch Games of the Week: USL, Rochester-Puerto Rico (Friday), MLS, Chicago-Columbus (Saturday) and WPS, Boston-Sky Blue FC (Sunday).
Player absences and summer heat notwithstanding, can anything be gleaned by last weekend’s results, when teams aspiring to join the top-tier clubs and playing at home couldn’t beat said members of the elite?
Brazilian soccer club Cruzeiro wants to postpone this week’s Copa Libertadores match against Estudiantes because of the swine flu outbreak in Argentina. A spokesman for the club said on Monday that it made the request through Brazil’s soccer federation. The official said Cruzeiro wants the match postponed or moved to another location-in Argentina or another […]
Chelsea has completed the signing of Russian international Yuri Zhirkov from CSKA Moscow for a for year deal worth $29 million. The 25-year-old, who was impressive at Euro 2008, can play on the left wing or at left back and was given a ringing endorsement by temporary Blues boss Guus Hiddink, who has since returned […]
Oguchi Onyewu is hot property. The latest club to express interest in the defender’s services is Ajax. The 27-year-old’s agent, Lyle Yorks, confirmed to Goal.com that the free agent is in discussions with the Dutch giants. “[We’re] in discussions. That is it at this point,” Yorks confirmed. “We are in serious discussions with a few […]
Smaller clubs rose to the fore in the Argentinian Clausura 2009 season. Low-spending Velez Sarsfield won the title, while humble Huracan came agonizingly close. Lanus and Colon stayed in the hunt until the very end. Velez Sarsfield clinched the crown after a late Maximiliano Moralez goal over Huracan on the final day of competition. Velez […]
Alecko Eskandarian, who didn’t plan to start, scored a game-winning volley in his debut game to lift the Los Angeles Galaxy to a 1-0 win over the New England Revolution on Saturday. “When I was younger in my career, I probably wouldn’t have adapted well to this,” said Eskandarian, a former No. 1 overall draft […]
It’s been a tough year for DaMarcus Beasley. The fleet-footed winger has found himself frozen out at the club level, with Rangers in Scotland, and a series of dismal showings for the United States national team have seen his stock plummet. The former Chicago Fire player is back home in Indiana for the next three […]
I watched two rather different MLS games on Saturday. Both made enjoyable TV viewing: Columbus-D.C. United, for some intelligent soccer and for the ongoing attempt by both teams to play that way; while the Los Angeles-New England game, without offering much in the way of exalted soccer, created excitement from its physical qualities, its pace and commitment and so on.
Robert Louis-Dreyfus, one of the most influential businessmen in European soccer over the last 20 years, died Saturday of leukemia at the age of 63. The French-born Swiss billionaire, cousin of American actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus and a graduate of Harvard’s business school, was president of French club Marseille.
[USL-1] Dan Antoniuk‘s goal in the 68th minute gave Charleston a 1-0 win Sunday at Montreal that moved the Battery into first place in the USL First Division ahead of idle Puerto Rico. For all the USL-1 results and goal scorers …
[WPS] There’s no stopping Los Angeles. Marta‘s goal in stoppage time, her league-leading ninth of the season, gave the Sol a 1-0 win at Washington. Los Angeles maintained its 17-point lead over St. Louis, a 1-0 winner at last-place FC Gold Pride. The third holiday weekend game also ended 1-0. Sky Blue FC’s win over visiting Boston drew the lowest crowd of the season: 1,878.
A pair of road wins had a big impact on the conference races. The Chicago Fire moved into a tie with D.C. United in the Eastern Conference thanks to its 2-1 win at Colorado, while the Houston Dynamo opened up a four-point lead over Chivas USA with a 1-0 victory at Kansas City. For all the results …
[MLS NAMES & NUMBERS] The visiting Chicago Fire moved into a tie with D.C. United thanks to a 2-1 win at the Colorado Rapids before a record crowd of 19,680 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
[AMERICANS ABROAD] Charlie Davies appears to headed to French club Sochaux if it can reach an agreement with the young U.S. striker’s Swedish club, Hammarby.
[GOLD CUP] Mexico’s problems continued as it struggled to put away Nicaragua, playing for the first time at the Gold Cup, and lost young star Carlos Vela with an injury 10 minutes into the game in Oakland, Calif.
[USA-GRENADA REPORT CARD] Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney grades the U.S. players and comments on their performance in their 4-0 win over Grenada at the Gold Cup …
[USA-GRENADA] In beating Grenada, 4-0, in its Gold Cup opener Saturday, the USA showed just how simple the game can be.
“It’s very difficult right now with a world crisis in the economy.”
— Mexico national team coach Javier Aguirre explaining the less-than-capacity crowd of Tri supporters at Oakland Coliseum on Sunday for the Tri’s lackluster 2-0 win over Nicaragua. (San Jose Mercury News)
[GOLD CUP] The USA cruised to a 4-0 win over Grenada in their opening game at the Gold Cup. The win in Seattle marked the 10th win in 10 Gold Cup opening games for the Americans, who are 23-0-1 in group play in the Gold Cup.
Nightmare though it may be for MLS coaches, the Concacaf Gold Cup is a rich vein of opportunity for players and fans.
Michael Owen is on the verge of joining English champion Manchester United, a striking reversal of fortunes for an injury-plagued striker that many lower tier clubs had dismissed as past his best. United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, however, is willing to take a “calculated gamble,” as United’s web site says. The former Real Madrid and […]
UEFA approved new guidelines for match officials to deal with racist chants or other behavior during games. The rules allow the referee to first issue a warning over the public address system requesting that the behavior cease. If this doesn’t work, the referee can suspend the game for five to 10 minutes. “As a third […]
Fifa.com provides a brief history of the evolution of the football, which many people would consider mankind’s most important invention. 3,000 years ago, the Chinese filled animal skins with hair or feathers for a game of Tsu chu, an early forerunner of the football we know today. The very oldest balls still in existence today […]
