Author Archives: Soccer America

What was said to prompt Roberto Mancini’s turnaround? The Inter Milan manager reversed his decision to quit this summer after talking with club owner Massimo Moratti. According to the Gazzetta dello Sport, Mancini only agreed to stay if Luis Figo, Adriano and Alvaro Recoba were all sold immediately. Mancini has reportedly fallen out with these […]

There are only four teams in England with a realistic shot of winning the Premier League trophy every season. UEFA’s egalitarian president, Michel Platini, doesn’t like that very much, but the London Times’ Martin Samuel says he should probably be more concerned about the domestic game in Greece, for example, where Olympiakos has won 10 […]

Real Salt Lake is taking full advantage of the new MLS rule allowing teams to have more than eight international players. Former GM Steve Pastorino says that as many as seven players who played outside the U.S. last year could start in RSL’s season opener against the Chicago Fire on March 29. Two of them, […]

The Champions League quarterfinal draw pitted together some familiar foes: Arsenal will take on fellow English Premier League club Liverpool while Manchester United drew Italy’s Roma for the third time in two years. Barcelona and Chelsea were handed the easiest draws; they face Germany’s Schalke 04 and Turkey’s Fenerbahce, respectively. Across England, the Arsenal-Liverpool draw […]

Within 15 minutes of the Cuba U-23 team’s return to their hotel in Tampa, Florida, five players, in the words of one, had “slipped out a side entrance of the hotel and run for it.” None of the players were carrying their passports. The next day, two others disappeared, too, leaving Cuba shorthanded for the […]

Various reports are claiming that English Premier League also-ran West Ham United will be the featured European club in the MLS All-Star Game, making it the fourth straight year the All-Stars would face a British opponent for the mid-season spectacle. Glasgow Celtic was the visitor last year, losing, 2-0, to the visibly fitter and sharper […]

“As ever under Benitez, the mood has changed very quickly” at Liverpool, says the Independent’s Sam Wallace. Less than a month has passed since Rafael Benitez’s men bowed out of the FA Cup in embarrassing fashion to Barnsley of the English League Championship. That loss, which came at home, and a string of indifferent performances […]

Frank Lampard fired in a four-goal reminder Wednesday that Chelsea is still very much in the race for the English Premiership, as the Blues routed Derby County, 6-1, at Stamford Bridge. The emphatic win reduced the gap between Chelsea and second-place Manchester United to three points. Leader Arsenal is just four points ahead, but Chelsea […]

The San Jose Mercury News has the latest on Earthquakes owner Lew Wolff’s ongoing quest to secure the blessing of the city for a new soccer stadium. Wolff wants to rezone industrial and retail land in Edenvale, Calif. and turn it into 1,300 homes. The sale of that land would then help him finance a […]

New England Revolution pair Abdoulie Mansally and Sainey Nyassi lead “a golden generation” of Gambian soccer players who are coming of age abroad, says FIFA.com. Mansally and Nyassi were signed by the Revs after impressing at last summer’s U-20 World Cup in Canada, where the Baby Scorpions made it to the round of 16, losing […]