Author Archives: Soccer America

Ex-Parma coach Claudio Ranieri was named head coach of Juventus on Monday. It had been rumored that the former Chelsea manager would start his next job at Manchester City, but few would argue that Juve is a better opportunity. Despite the club’s dramatic fall from grace last season, the head post at Juventus is still […]

UEFA issued a damning report on the behavior of Liverpool’s fans during the Champions League final in Athens nearly two weeks ago, saying Reds fans have consistently been the worst supporters in European soccer. “We know what happened in Athens, and Liverpool fans were the cause of most of the trouble there,” said William Gaillard, […]

David Beckham is playing too well to be heading toward Hollywood and should have never been dropped from the England squad in the first place, while Ronaldinho is out of shape and has lost his best-player-in-the-world status to compatriot Kaka — these were among the reactions to England’s 1-1 draw with Brazil at Wembley Stadium […]

Forget the hoopla surrounding the Fire’s courtship of Marcelo Salas, says the Daily Southtown’s Nick Firchau, the best move Chicago coach Dave Sarachan made last week was the introduction of the young Brazilian William Oliveira, who scored one and assisted one in a 3-2 home win against the Columbus Crew. On the heels of a […]

The L.A. Galaxy failed to score again Saturday night, drawing 0-0 at home against D.C. United. And to make matters worse, Landon Donovan, the team’s best player, now reports for international duty and may not return for more than six weeks. Frank Yallop’s men have now gone a dismal 220 minutes without scoring (310 minutes […]

The transfer season is only just underway, but there’s already been a flurry of activity, much of it involving Bayern Munich. As expected, center midfielder Owen Hargreaves completed his switch to English champion Manchester United. The German giant responded by adding 30-year-old Luca Toni of Fiorentina to its strike force. Later, Claudio Pizarro, who was […]

An unprecedented nine soccer players appear in this year’s Sports Illustrated’s International 20 list of the top earning non-American athletes. And while European-based soccer players don’t tend to earn as much as the best players in sports like tennis, auto racing or MotoGP, past performance and image seem to count more than current achievement, when […]

Thursday’s Deloitte report on the finances of English soccer also revealed the vast amount clubs pay agents for player transactions. Last year, English clubs paid agents nearly $100 million in commissions, up approximately $20 million from the previous year. Upon reading the report, FIFA President Sepp Blatter called agents’ compensation-which can be over 10 percent-“immoral,” […]

Chicago Fire President John Guppy showed up at the press conference beaming, after Chilean legend Marcelo Salas completed his first highly publicized workout with the Chicago Fire on Thursday. The 32-year-old Salas accepted an invitation from Guppy to train with the Fire with the possibility of securing a contract. ”He’s obviously in good shape,” Guppy […]

Several countries in Latin America are protesting FIFA’s decision to ban games at altitudes above 2,500 meters or 8,200 feet above sea level. In Bolivia, where the capital La Paz sits at nearly 12,000 feet, President Evo Morales said the ban was “not only a ruling against Bolivia, but against the universality of sport.” Said […]