Author Archives: Soccer America

In the wake of what's been an awful season for Italian soccer since the national team lifted the World Cup last July, AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti said Tuesday that a win in Wednesday's Champions League semifinal against Manchester United would complete the club and the nation's comeback. Indeed, a place in the Champions League […]

There is “no chance” of Zinedine Zidane joining David Beckham at the Los Angeles Galaxy, Coach Frank Yallop tells Andrea Canales of L.A. Soccer News. The rumors have resurfaced time and again that the former World and European Player of the Year would make his way to Major League Soccer to rejoin his former Real […]

It’s no coincidence that five of the 16 teams that qualified for the Copa Libertadores second round are Brazilian, writes Tim Vickery of SI.com. Brazilian teams have dominated the South American competition over the last few years, and aside from the shock first-round exit of Internacional, last year’s champion, things have gone according to plan […]

It’s hard to know why Barcelona coach Franck Rijkaard has relegated little Javier Saviola to the bench — and in some cases, the stands — yet again. The Argentine striker’s goals all but carried Barcelona during its goal-scoring crisis in January and February, when both Leo Messi and Samuel Eto’o were injured. Now that they’re […]

Following Real Madrid’s comprehensive 4-1 victory away to Athletic Bilbao, murmurings in the Spanish press about the Merengues’ resurgence have given way to sweeping proclamations that the Spanish giant — on current form anyway — is now the favorite to win La Liga. ESPN Soccernet’s Phil Ball says the Spanish dailies, La Marca included, are […]

Former Manchester United center half Gary Pallister says it’s no coincidence that former teammates Roy Keane and Steve Bruce will be rejoining their legendary boss as managers in the Premiership next season. Both Bruce’s Birmingham City and Keane’s Sunderland won automatic promotion to the English Premier League by finishing first and second, respectively, before this […]

It’s no more than he deserves: now that Chelsea’s Premiership hopes have been almost completely derailed, Liverpool’s Rafael Benitez has turned up the pressure on Jose Mourinho, whose team travels to Anfield Tuesday to play Rafa’s Reds in the second leg of the Champions League semifinals. “It’s clear they will be under pressure because they […]

As close as the title races in England’s Premiership and Spain’s La Liga have been, there’s no way the final day of the season in either league will be cut as close as the finale in the Dutch Eredivisie on Sunday. Heading into the final day, AZ Alkmaar, Ajax and PSV Eindhoven were level on […]

In his roundup of results across Europe, Reuters’ Timothy Collings says that this past weekend in particular underscores Africa’s spreading influence across the continent’s biggest leagues. The biggest goal of them all came from Barcelona’s Cameroonian striker Samuel Eto’o, whose goal against Levante, a team featuring several African players, carried La Liga’s laboring champions to […]

In light of media speculation surrounding the poor state of World Cup preparations in South Africa, FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who has repeatedly backed the African country to host the finals for the first time in the continent’s history, admitted that FIFA has a backup plan. The United States is included in the organization’s contingency […]