Author Archives: Soccer America

Jorge Vergara's straightforward but often defiant style, witnessed in small part by his refusal to wear socks (like, ever), "hasn't always played well in the button-down Mexican business world," but "it's not the only sector of Mexican society the iconoclastic Vergara is shaking up," claims Kevin Baxter on location in the capital of Jalisco. "In […]

While rival Barcelona has stolen the show of the Stateside "Summer of Soccer" so far, don't expect Real Madrid to play second fiddle on their North American tour like they were forced to in La Liga last season. With the free-spending Spanish giants having now reached our shores, it's clear that the super club wants […]

You'd think that starting a soccer team "that will have the same name and wear the same uniform as Mexico's most popular team" in a place like Southern California that happens to "home to more Mexicans than in 29 of the 31 Mexican states" would pretty much guarantee success, if not always on the field […]

Having not been together in three months' time (almost an eternity in international soccer scheduling), the U.S. men's national team's "2½-hour flight from Miami to Costa Rica marks the beginning of a summer-long world tour that will feature 14 matches on three continents and in four time zones," writes writer Wayne Dreh in the first […]

My, how time flies. It was just 10 years ago when Major League Soccer was three and a half years old and "suffering through some painful growing processes," writes Steve Davis, with "one, lone soccer-specific stadium" and most teams "treading water at best," where "'diversity of ownership' meant the three guys sitting around a small […]

In an effort to temper the hysteria (and no doubt, tremendous relief) that the Mexican national team felt after finally snapping a winless streak on U.S. soil, head coach Javier Aguirre has come out to contain the renewed country-wide enthusiasm in El Tri. "In Mexico we're prone to throw ourselves on the floor after a […]

An overmatched defense, a veritable firing range of opposing shots, and a lopsided 4-0 loss in front of a soldout crowd cheering on FC Barcelona? Seattle goalkeeper Kasey Keller had been there, done that. "I had my ass kicked once 5-1 at Camp Nou (Barcelona's 97,000-seat home stadium), so I've seen it before," admitted Keller, […]

There’s some serious talk being talked out of England today, and for his sake, Robinho better hope his expensive new teammates can walk the walk. Perhaps feeling like the spotlight had been stolen yet again by Xabi Alonso‘s signing on board at Real Madrid from Liverpool, the Brazilian forward boasted that with its own new […]

An old, but curious conversation has come out of Salt Lake City following the 2009 MLS All-Star Game and its climactic/anti-climactic (depending on who you ask, of course) penalty-kick shootout. According to the Deseret News, Real Salt Lake boss Dave Checketts "said he enjoyed the penalty-kick shootout so much in last week's MLS All-Star Game […]

The club vs. academy argument being had in youth soccer circles from the D.C. and northern Virginia area is, at least for now, being won by the side backed by the U.S. Soccer, as D.C. United's Under-17 team recently won its second SUM Cup in three years and made the U.S. Soccer Development Academy finals. […]

As further proof of the extent of the global financial crisis, the Aug. 14 opening of the Argentine First Division's Apertura season has been suspended indefinitely by the Argentine soccer federation (AFA) as it seeks "a solution to clubs' massive debts," according to Reuters. "The executive committee of the AFA resolved unanimously tonight (Tuesday) that […]

The season-long MLS success story that is Seattle Sounders FC still soldiers on, with substantial crowds still filing into Qwest Field despite a recent drop in play, and it’s in large part thanks to presence of superstar Freddie Ljungberg, whom Seattle Times columnist Steve Kelley calls “the perfect player, the perfect personality, exactly the right […]

Hoping to avoid the unfortunate scene this past March when all-night boozing at the team hotel followed by obscene gestures by Allan McGregor and Barry Ferguson from the bench during a defeat to the Netherlands resulted in lifetime bans for the veteran Scotland national team midfielders, officials have declared a ban on all alcohol surrounding […]

Nobody around Concacaf is looking for Mexico to rest on its laurels after serving up a humiliating 5-0 defeat to the USA in the Gold Cup final. While much of that squad was rewarded with call-ups for the Aug. 12 match at Azteca, captain Gerardo Torrado says they still know that they have a lot […]