Category: Section 2 Around the Net

Noted soccer author Wayne Rooney has discovered the perils of publishing after being ordered by a UK court to pay £500,000 to his former manager at Everton, David Moyes, over libelous comments made in the England and Manchester United striker’s autobiography ‘My Story So Far.’   Rooney signed a five-book deal with Harper & Collins […]

A regional lower league game in the Cologne area of Germany has attracted some attention after Rheinkassel-Langel Reserves beat their final day opponents DJK Loewe Reserves 54-1, and were consequently promoted on goal difference.   Before the final round of games, the team was in third place behind rival Germania Nippes Reserves, but with the […]

Last week, Major Indoor Soccer League’s commissioner Steve Ryan resigned after eight years in office. This week the league suspended operations. But officials at the Baltimore Blast, the reigning champion, insist the move is merely procedural, and that next winter will once again witness the glory that is professional indoor U.S. soccer.   “We’re going […]

Manchester United coach Sir Alex Ferguson has announced his intention to retire in 2010, and has also been looking back at the players he missed out on signing for the club. One was former England striker Alan Shearer, but his biggest regret was failing to land Paul Gascoigne, the most charismatic and skillful English player […]

Derby County and U.S. national team midfielder Benny Feilhaber underwent successful knee surgery on a torn meniscus in LA Monday, and is still hopeful of playing for his country at the Beijing Olympics in August.   “I had the surgery done yesterday and it was successful,” Feilhaber told Kevin Leyland. “I’m not sure yet how […]

The story of Scottish side Gretna FC’s remarkably quick rise and fall looks like ending in liquidation amid estimated debts of $16 million. It’s a cautionary tale for small clubs embracing rich benefactors with grandiose ambitions.   Six years ago, Gretna (a village close to the English border with a population of 2,705) moved from […]

Chicago Fire officials should have spent the team’s free weekend “holed up in some smoke-filled back room” figuring out the best way to secure the signature of Brian McBride. That’s the view of Steve Davis, who says the Fire has “a big, fat golden opportunity” to make themselves the hottest team in Major League Soccer. […]

In an open letter to new Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho, Gabriele Marcotti warns him of the task ahead at a club well known for being a “dysfunctional basketcase,” and says that “the special one” will really need to live up to his self-given moniker to succeed at the San Siro. After all, departing coach […]

CONCACAF President Jack Warner believes that the English Football Association must show more “warmth” if it wants to succeed in its bid to host the 2018 World Cup. Although England “has consistently had the best bid for hosting the World Cup,” Warner says that in his time as a FIFA vice president he has also […]

Our own Paul Gardner has said often enough that U.S. soccer must better exploit the potential of the country’s huge Latin American population. Now, writes Rob Hughes, the U.S. Soccer Federation has a president in Sunil Gulati who has realized that if soccer in the United States wants to reach a higher level, “it must […]

Coach Sigi Schmid took his Columbus Crew team to a South Bay German restaurant before Saturday’s game against Chivas USA, but that just meant things went from “wurst to bad to worst,” writes Grahame L Jones. After losing 2-0 to Chivas with 10 men on the field for most of the game, the Crew’s promising […]

One of Jose Mourinho’s rumored first transfer targets for Inter is Barcelona’s Cameroon striker, Samuel Eto’o, who scored a penalty for his country in Saturday’s 2-0 World Cup qualifying win over Cape Verde. The day before, however, he allegedly attacked a Cameroonian radio journalist.   Philippe Bonney of Radio Siantou told Reuters that Eto’o assaulted […]

It was announced this week that annual wages paid to English Premier League players now tops $2 billion, but as the usual off-season transfer speculation heats up, “some clubs are leaving themselves open to being financially crippled for years to come by over-spending,” according to the daily editorial at When Saturday Comes.   The manager […]

Soccer’s global governing body, FIFA, has set itself up for a clash with the European Union after its annual congress in Sydney Friday voted overwhelmingly to further explore a proposal to limit the number of foreign players in a club’s starting XI.   FIFA President Sepp Blatter hopes to introduce the scheme incrementally from 2010, […]

FIFA announced a profit of $49 million for 2007 at its annual congress, despite having to pay former sponsor MasterCard an astronomical $90 million as part of a legal settlement.   As an existing sponsor, MasterCard had had first refusal on the sponsorship rights to the 2010 and 2014 World Cups. When FIFA went ahead […]

Coaches will more often than not complain about the injustice of a defeat, or heap exaggerated praise upon their team when things go right. It was refreshing, then, to hear New England coach Steve Nicol admit that his team was fortunate to take a point in Thursday’s 2-2 tie with D.C. United.   “As a […]

J Hutcherson looks at the bigger picture around the U.S. national team in the aftermath of Wednesday’s 2-0 defeat to England, and the problems that Coach Bob Bradley has yet to solve. “National team soccer isn’t about picking an all-star team from whoever might be available and hoping they gel,” he writes, “but that’s looking […]

Now that he’s parted ways with Fulham, retired U.S. national team striker Brian McBride, 35, could well be set to join his hometown club, the Chicago Fire. But although it’s long been rumored that Illinois is McBride’s preferred destination, Toronto FC will be the team that owns his rights if he comes to Major League […]

The only interesting question raised by the “meandering, leaden-footed friendly” between England and the U.S. at Wembley on Wednesday was, “How close can a game of international football come to being completely pointless?” The question is posed by Barney Ronay, who had a sense of déjà vu watching Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard in the […]

The U.S. was simply not up to what Doug McIntyre calls the “huge task” of taking on a team that included seven starters from last week’s Champions League final. But in spite of the “predictable” 2-0 defeat, the “American players emerged from their plush dressing rooms … looking as though they’d just dropped a vital […]

D.C. United is lobbying the District of Columbia government for $225 million in public money for a new stadium at Poplar Point, east of the Anacostia River in an area of poverty and high unemployment. But the long-discussed project, first mooted almost a decade ago, is still several obstacles away from receiving any kind of […]

FIFA President Sepp Blatter opened the world soccer governing body’s 58th congress in Sydney on Thursday, and the main issue on the agenda is his proposed rule limiting the number of foreign players on club teams. Blatter wants to limit the number of foreigners starting a game for any one team to five by 2012. […]

The Seattle Sounders won’t join Major League Soccer until next year, but they’ve already secured Microsoft as a corporate sponsor, and will have the words Xbox 360 LIVE across the front of their shirts, writes Matthew Futterman. Under the terms of the deal, to be announced Wednesday, Microsoft will pay the Sounders roughly $4 million […]

The Columbus Crew beat Real Salt Lake, 2-0, Tuesday to make it through the first qualifying round of the U.S. Open Cup. But the fans were under almost as much scrutiny as the game after a YouTube clip from the Crew’s weekend loss at home to New England highlighted a racial slur yelled from the […]

England travels to the Caribbean this weekend to play in an exhibition match marking the Trinidad & Tobago Football Federation’s centenary. The English FA has admitted that the trip will be a loss-maker, but it’s prepared to sacrifice both money and its players’ time as it seeks CONCACAF General Secretary Jack Warner’s support for its […]