Category: Section 2 Around the Net

On and off the field, Christian Gomez’s transition to the Colorado Rapids has been a difficult one. For one thing, injuries to the likes of Connor Casey, Jovan Kirovski and Herculez Gomez mean that the Argentine playmaker has yet to play with the Rapids’ first-choice front line, and the results — the team is 2-3-0 […]

The Houston Dynamo, Major League Soccer’s two-time defending champion, is last place in the league with three points from its opening five matches. And yet, thanks to the weakness of the West, the Dynamo find themselves just five points outside of first place. That’s the good news. But the stat sheet doesn’t lie, says Bernardo […]

The Champions League final between Chelsea and Manchester United, which will be held at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on May 21, could prove to be the costliest ticket of many fans’ lives, after the Russian Foreign Ministry said that visitors from the UK would indeed need to obtain a visa in order to attend […]

Avram Grant may have led Chelsea to its first-ever Champions League final, but speculation continues to swirl around his future. Nevertheless, Grant maintains that his relationship with club owner Roman Abramovich is good. When asked if he had spoken to Abramovich following Chelsea’s 4-3 aggregate victory over Liverpool, Grant replied, “Yes, but it was a […]

Chelsea captain John Terry said he finds it “unbelievable” that Avram Grant’s position as head coach is still being questioned by critics after the Blues defeated Liverpool, 3-2, at Stamford Bridge and, 4-3, on aggregate to advance to the club’s first-ever Champions League final. Two goals from Didier Drogba and a penalty from Frank Lampard […]

Barcelona sporting director Txiki Begiristain confirmed there would be personnel changes as a result of the Catalan club’s failure to win a trophy for the second consecutive season. In an interview with Barca TV, Begiristain described Barcelona’s performances this season as “poor,” adding: “If we had got to [the Champions League final in] Moscow, almost […]

Ever since Juan Pablo Angel suffered an injury in the first game of the season, 18-year-old Jozy Altidore has been leading the Red Bulls’ front line. And he’s done so admirably, says Yahoo Sports Martin Rogers, scoring two goals in three starts in addition to drawing the decisive penalty in a 2-0 win over San […]

This weekend’s Milan derby is being touted as one of the most important in the city’s history: Milan, currently fifth in the Serie A standings, absolutely has to secure three points to maintain any hope of playing in the Champions League next season. Fiorentina is two points ahead of the Rossoneri in the coveted fourth-place […]

The 2008 MLS season is already throwing up several surprises. Among them: two-time defending champ Houston’s winless opening start, the fall from grace of Chivas USA keeper Brad Guzan and strikers Luciano Emilio (D.C. United) and Brian Ching (Houston), and finally, Toronto’s three-game winning streak after starting the season with two losses. However, Goal.com’s Pat […]

ESPN Soccernet’s Ives Galarcep sizes up the storylines for Thursday night’s prime-time match-up between the New York Red Bulls and Toronto FC. For starters, several former Red Bulls have moved to the Canadian club: there’s former New York coach Mo Johnston, who’s now in charge of building TFC; there’s former MLS MVP Amado Guevara, who […]

More than 15,000 Roma fans have signed a petition urging the club’s owners to sell the Italian soccer club to George Soros following reports that the American billionaire had backed out of talks. Italpetroli, Roma’s majority shareholder, met with representatives of Soros’ firm Inner Circle Sports about a possible sale last week, but media reports […]

The Spanish press is predicting that, starting with the coach, heads will roll at the Nou Camp now that Barcelona is guaranteed another trophy-less season, but following Tuesday’s Champions League semifinal defeat, the Dutch tactician said the thought of quitting hadn’t entered his head. “I have no intention of leaving,” Rijkaard affirmed. “It would be […]

In his weekly column for Goal.com, Colorado Rapids midfielder Kelly Gray weighs in on the issue of changes that MLS needs to make in order to grow soccer in America. In his opinion, it’s simple: it’s all about money. “I understand why the league was originally set up as a single entity, and think that […]

Sven Goran Eriksson is resigned to losing his job as manager of Manchester City, according to his agent, who claims that club owner Thaksin Shinawatra has all but made up his mind that Eriksson should be replaced after just one season in charge. Given that he has two years remaining on a contract worth $5 […]

Steve Davis lists his usual MLS notes from the previous weekend, doling out the compulsory kudos for Landon Donovan’s three-goal salvo versus Chivas USA, while also chiming in on the depreciation in form of Chivas goalkeeper Brad Guzan. Donovan, with eight goals in six games, looks to be on the way to at least a […]

The Newark Star Ledger’s Frank Giase says the untold story of the New York Red Bulls’ 2-0 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes was Mike Magee’s first goal for 21 months. “It feels longer, it feels a lot longer,” the long-time New York striker said after scoring the game-winning goal from the penalty spot on […]

With 38 goals in all competitions, and having scored most of them as an outside winger, Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo is the odds-on favorite to win the Ballon d’Or (Golden Ball) for 2008. His stiffest competition will be Bayern Munich’s Luca Toni, who is having an equally stunning campaign, having found the net 36 times […]

In an interview with the London Times, L.A. Galaxy Coach Ruud Gullit says he enjoys life in L.A. “The quality of life has nothing to do with all the stars living here or the fancy boutiques and restaurants. It’s something more simple: the nice weather, people not p*****-off all the time because it is raining. […]

The New York Times’ George Vecsey calls Major League Soccer’s New York Red Bulls “the distinctive sports franchise in town.” And that’s not a good thing, not when the “distinction” is being trophy-less from a region not known “to coddle second-raters.” It may be early days in the 2008 MLS season, but Vescey says Sunday’s […]

Enough talk about Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey, Goal.com’s Kyle McCarthy says “the past, present and future of American offensive creativity” were on display during the Los Angeles derby between the Galaxy and Chivas USA. They are Landon Donovan and Sacha Kljestan, easily the best players on the field for their respective teams during the […]

An ugly scene, dubbed the “Battle of the Bridge,” erupted at Stamford Bridge on Saturday following Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Manchester United. Patrice Evra, Gary Neville and Park Ji-Sung were warming down after the match, when the Stamford Bridge staff approached and asked them to move in a manner that the United players claim incited […]

Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo on Monday was named the Professional Footballer’s Association Player of the Year for the second consecutive season after another amazing campaign that has seen him score 28 goals in 29 league games for the Red Devils. Ronaldo beat the likes of Liverpool’s Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard and Arsenal’s Cesc […]

He’s not exactly tearing it up at Barcelona, but Thierry Henry’s addition to Major League Soccer could only be a good thing for soccer in America, writes Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports. The France international is unsettled in La Liga and could be poised for a move sooner rather than later, according to reports in […]

Steven Goff of The Washington Post says D.C. United’s early-season woes are “eerily similar” to last year’s. “An overcrowded schedule, a sluggish attack, an exposed defense and, most glaring, a dreary record” are all weighing down United’s season. “It feels like we are repeating history,” defender Bryan Namoff tells Goff. “We had hoped for it […]

Fulham midfielder Jimmy Bullard believes that victory away to Manchester City Saturday could take the Premiership relegation battle to the final day as fellow relegation fighter Birmingham City should be beatable at Craven Cottage next week. “This is a big opportunity. We’ve still got Birmingham to play which is a big bonus in our situation. […]