Author Archives: Soccer America

You may have lost count of the newspaper and internet columns hailing the arrival of English striker Darren Huckerby as the reason for San Jose’s turnaround this season. But Huckerby wasn’t coach Frank Yallop’s only signing. Midfielder Arturo Alvarez, who played for Yallop in the  Quakes’ earlier MLS incarnation, has also made a huge difference […]

“I’ve been listening to and have been enjoying their latest effort, Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever, so I’ll throw them on the list as the last record I’ve purchased.” Guest blogger and Kansas City defender Jimmy Conrad is a fan of U.K. band The Cribs, from the glorious town of Wakefield in Yorkshire. Not a […]

“It’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that the only thing preventing Celtic and their ilk winning more often on their travels are simple human frailties: insecurity and fear.” Barry Glendenning searches for clues to solve the mystery of Glasgow Celtic’s terrible Champions League road form.

“I know for a fact [Newcastle owner] Mike [Ashley] is talking to eight consortiums about [buying] the club,” says Newcastle’s interim manager Joe Kinnear.

Austin Kelley hopes that the still nameless L.A. team set to compete in Women’s Professional Soccer next year will pull out all the stops to sign Brazilian Marta, after winning the somewhat flimsy right to try and negotiate a deal with the player in the league’s ‘international draft’ last week. “Start the bidding war,” writes […]

In other alleged bribery news, Zenit St .Petersburg has denied allegations that it paid Bayern Munich to throw last season’s UEFA Cup semifinal. Spanish newspapers El Pais and ABC reported that a leading Spanish judge has heard a taped telephone conversation in which Russian criminal Gennadios Petrov claimed to have paid the German team “vast […]

The tell-all memoir of David Davies, the former executive director of the English Football Association, continues to leak its pre-publication scoops to the U.K. media. The latest revelation is that the FA was offered the chance to buy votes while bidding for the 2006 World Cup.   The call to the FA offering to set […]

Montreal Impact coach John Limniatis explained his team’s incredible 2-1 Concacaf Champions League away victory at Olimpia of Honduras with simple words. He said the win, which came in the middle of a seven-game stretch in 15 days, was a result of industry and self-belief. This is in stark contrast to the attitude of at […]

“By early 2002, the club had only played nine seasons of top flight football in 90-odd years of existence, and were in the third division drawing paltry crowds of around 200. Then Árpád Pászkány arrived.” Andy Clark tells the remarkable story of Romania’s unlikely Champions League participants, CFR Cluj.

“By playing like crap on Saturday we’ve put ourselves in a familiar situation where we’re forced to get a result.” Quakes goalkeeper Joe Cannon looks forward to his team’s game at FC Dallas Thursday.

“People aren’t happy in the France team. [Coach Raymond] Domenech plays with people but if you keep doing that, you stumble in the end. It’s ever so sad because there’s an amazing quality in that group and it’s all being wasted.” Goalkeeper Gregory Coupet burns his bridges with the French national team.

“If that happened to someone on a school team, you’d tell them, ‘Clear off and go play the piano or the flute’.” Franz Beckenbauer reacts to an own goal from Bayern Munich defender Martin Demichelis in Tuesday’s 1-1 Champions League draw with Olympique Lyon.

At the third attempt, Scotland has persuaded Argentina to play a friendly game at Hampden Park in Glasgow next month. The first request fell through when Argentina demanded 100 percent of the gate money and television revenue. The Scottish Football Association didn’t go for that at all. Then the SFA polled its own fans to […]

Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan bought the team eight years ago when he made $64 million from selling his mobile phone company. His team is close to the bottom of the Championship (England’s second tier), does not own its stadium, Selhurst Park, and is mortgaged to a hedge fund, Agilo, that caters for “distressed companies.” […]