Author Archives: Soccer America

In what is becoming an increasingly familiar but equally alarming phenomenon, young Jozy Altidore is yet another U.S. player who while considered among the best talent America has to offer, can’t seem to find the field while plying his trade overseas in Europe. The notion “sounds crazy,” writes MLSnet.com’s Michael Lewis, but that’s just the […]

“A big strength of our team is our camaraderie, on and off the field. We have a fairly young group of guys, and we all get along well. I think our game plan for the most part proves that we have good chemistry throughout the team. The coach has tried to instill that in us, […]

FIFA announced on Wednesday it had received more than 1.6 million ticket requests from over 200 countries for the 2010 World Cup as part of the first phase of online sales, which closed Tuesday night. This first group of tickets will be allocated in a lottery to take place on April 15, which I'm sure […]

"His career is going down the pan and it's upsetting me. I'm Michael Owen's biggest fan but, at the moment, I'm his biggest critic. I'm waiting to see Michael on TV, or read about him in the press, saying how tough it is not being involved in the England team. But this interview doesn't seem […]

"I think that if they have quality and a Mexican passport, they have to be in the Mexican national team. Nobody told me this was prohibited. It's a little bit difficult for me to understand all this. If I don't select (Argentine-born Matias) Vuoso or (Brazilian-born Anthony) Naelson, they criticize me; if I pick Lucas […]

"If we were to scrap the name, the most devastated guy would be yours truly. [General manager Denny Veitch] was driving into Vancouver over the Lions Gate Bridge and looked at the snow-capped mountains and the sea below and thought, 'whitecaps,' [Owner] Herb [Capozzi] said they got the name from the caps on his teeth. […]

Solid defense, scoring and solitude: these are apparently the three keys to success for Turkish team Sivasspor, which is the surprise leader of the Super League, ahead of perennial powers Galatasaray and Fenerbache, which each hold the record of 17 titles. "Located in Anatolia's bleak central heartland" and "a tortuous 12-hour drive from the temptations […]

Assuming that South American powers Argentina and Brazil, as well as CONMEBOL standings leader Paraguay, are all but assured of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup, SI.com's Tim Vickery predicts that the race for the fourth and final (full) berth from the region will come down to Chile and Uruguay, which face off in a […]

According to an AP report, Central Michigan University has agreed to pay just over $450,000 to settle an “inappropriate sexual activity” suit brought by two varsity soccer players against former coach Tony DiTucci, who resigned back in October 2008. The deal, which was signed on Monday, earmarks $150,000 for each player with the final third […]

Determined to do their part in making good on late owner Lamar Hunt‘s vision to build soccer into the “No. 2 sport in the United States,” executives at the Kansas City Wizards ownership group, OnGoal LLC, continue to search for the perfect site for their own soccer-specific stadium. According to the KC Star’s Alan Goforth, […]

"All it took was one shaky performance" in a 2-2 tie at El Salvador for the U.S. men's national team to go from an "unstoppable force that should cruise to a place in the 2010 World Cup" to a "flawed power with some problems that need correcting" heading into Wednesday's home match with Trinidad & […]

With injured right back Steve Cherundolo unavailable for U.S. duty, a familiar face (and ratty mane) has stepped in to fill the void for the U.S. defense: one Frankie Hejduk, who even at 34 has outperformed other replacement options like Frank Simek, Jonathan Spector, John Thorrington and Marvell Wynne to earn starts in both U.S. […]

"Building for their future on a brown field of dreams in this downtrodden industrial city," the N.Y. Red Bulls and their new arena will finally have fulfilled "the long-delayed promise of a soccer palace on the Passaic River" after being in discussion for almost a decade, writes Jack Bell of the New York Times. Expected […]

The U.S. World Cup bids for 2018 and 2022 got a big boost of political power today as former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger joined the organizing committee's board, hopefully bringing with him the same "Kissinger Bump" that he did as committee chairman in 1988 to help the U.S. earn the right to host the […]

In spite of, or perhaps because, his many accomplishments in a still fairly young career, across the last few years it's become abundantly clear that while Landon Donovan is "the most celebrated active player in American soccer," the 27-year-old U.S. Soccer poster boy who led MLS in scoring last season "is also the most scorned," […]