Author Archives: Soccer America

On Sunday, the Chicago Red Stars hosted Sky Blue FC at Toyota Park in the last home opener of the young WPS season. WPS League Commissioner Tanya Antonucci, on hand for the game, expressed her pleasure with Chicago and the league: "Chicago's been great. It was a little surprising that WUSA didn't pick Chicago for […]

After winning the the Copa Libertadores last season, Ecuador’s Liga de Quito is on the verge of getting eliminated from the competition after a 2-0 away loss to Brazilian club Palmeiras on Tuesday. Liga still has a mathematical chance of qualifying for the tournament’s last 16, but its advancing depends on an unlikely combination of […]

Arsenal’s Andrei Arshavin got four G’s against Liverpool yesterday, but he couldn’t find any Z’s afterward, according to his mother Tatyana. "I spoke with him this morning, when it was only 7 [o’clock] in London," Tatyana told uefa.com. "He couldn’t get to sleep after such a tense battle where the pressure was very high. I […]

Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell claims that he will give "serious consideration" to the newly proposed two-tier English Premier League that would include the Old Firm. Under the proposed structure, Scottish teams Celtic and Rangers would join the Championship, the second tier of the English Premier League, in 2013. "I think there is a very […]

"I never seen a police officer like him," says Nixon Rivera, 13. "He’s nice. He cares about us." Rivera is one of the many Latino youths that Al Cruz, an officer with the Fairfax County Police Department, reaches through soccer. When off duty, Cruz coaches scores of at-risk youth in his Northern, Va., community. Most […]

“The Milan 2009 Homeless World Cup is set in one of the most soccer-passionate cities and nations in the world,” Mel Young, the tournament’s founder and president, said in a statement. “This is a phenomenal opportunity for Italy and the city of Milan to unite and show the world the true, awesome power of soccer […]

Major League Soccer and CosmoGirl.com unveiled an online photo gallery where readers can check out MLS “hotties.” The site offers “serious dating dirt” on the players’ likes and dislikes — Columbus’ Robbie Rogers on kissing on the first date, “If you’re feeling the vibe, why not?” — and it encourages readers to leave their comments […]

Liverpool coach Rafa Benitez fears Steven Gerrard won't return to action for almost two weeks, leaving the captain with just four more games to play in the league. The England midfielder was already ruled out of today's game against Arsenal because of a groin injury. But Benitez now says it will be "difficult" for him […]

Martin O'Neill, Aston Villa's ever-eloquent manager, declared Monday that his club simply could not compete financially with the so-called "Big Four" clubs in English soccer. "We are in the same league as Manchester United, who have gates of 75,000 and are a different entity. We are in there against Arsenal, who house 60,000 fans every […]

The FCT Police Machine soccer team has qualified for the finals of the 2009 State Challenge Cup in Nigeria. Elated by the feat, Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro, has charged the team to "fly the baton to greater heights so as to hoist the Nigeria Police flag at the venues of any national football […]

Iranian state television says that just two weeks after getting appointed head coach, Mohammed Mayely-Kohan resigned. According to the head of Iran’s soccer federation, Ali Kafashian, the coach resigned after disputes with supporters of a prominent club team affected the national team. On Sunday, Mayely-Kohan called the supporters of Esteqlal “hooligans” and criticized the team’s […]

In 2002, Clint Mathis had the soccer world by the hair. He had been offered a contract by Bayern Munich, and had appeared on the covers of Sports Illustrated and ESPN the Magazine. He seemed on the verge of a breakthrough World Cup, in which he scored a goal in a 1-1 tie with the […]

The “No. 10’s,” creative attacking midfielders who should be slicing defenses apart, have started sluggishly in the young MLS season. Players like Christian Gomez, Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Sacha Kljestan, Mehdi Ballouchy, Stuart Holden, Steve Ralston, Jorge Rojas, Javier Morales, David Ferreira and Bobby Convey have all struggled to conjure the creativity and cutting-edge attacking expected of […]

“Club America, from urbane Mexico City, is the team of the nation’s elite. Owned by billionaire television mogul Emilio Azcarraga Jean, who inherited his fortune from his father, it is arguably the richest soccer team outside Europe, a wealth it flaunts by regularly signing big-name foreign talent.That stands in stark contrast to Chivas, based in […]

The success enjoyed by Premier League clubs in Europe has more to do with imported skill and cash than English superiority, Juventus coach and former Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri said on Friday. “There are very few English people in the English teams, what with the (foreign) owners, coaches and players,” he said. While no Serie […]