Category: Section 2 Around the Net

Claudio Lopez is a household name to fans who have followed the global game for the past decade, but to most Kansas Citians and casual soccer fans, the Kansas City Star’s Bob Luder says it may take a while for them to get to know the man known as “El Piojo” (the Louse) in his […]

Domestic success remains elusive for Liverpool, currently fourth place in the English Premier League, but perhaps that’s because the English league is the strongest in the world. Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez and Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson both hailed the EPL as the best league in the world following Liverpool’s qualification for the Champions […]

Goal.com editor Marc Connolly, a voter for the National Soccer Hall of Fame, says he’s “embarrassed” at the outcome of yesterday’s results that only saw Anson Dorrance, the UNC women’s coach and former U.S. women’s national team coach, and Hugo Perez, a former NASL and U.S. men’s national team standout, inducted into U.S. Soccer’s Hall […]

As it turns out, goal-line technology will not be introduced into the modern game anytime soon. The technology, which had been given the provisional go-ahead by the International FA Board last year, will not be used, the Board opting instead to experiment with two additional linesmen. Line-technology such as the Hawk-Eye system is widely used […]

Swiss prosecutors opened their court case against ISL/ISMM, FIFA’s marketing partner for almost two decades, on Tuesday by alleging that six executives of the now-defunct company left an estimated debt of $300 million when it collapsed in 2001. The executives, who cannot be named due to Swiss privacy law, were charged with embezzlement, fraud, fraudulent […]

The New York Times’ Jack Bell has another story on the season ahead for Claudio Reyna, which will be closely scrutinized following a poor first season in MLS last year with the New York Red Bulls. Despite another injury-hit season, Bell says Reyna “often looked confused, out of place and languorous on the field,” in […]

The Guardian reports that Manchester United coaches Sir Alex Ferguson and Carlos Queiroz could face sanctions from the Football Association following comments the pair made about referee Martin Atkinson following United’s 1-0 FA Cup defeat by Portsmouth. Ferguson accused Atkinson of favoritism before launching a scathing tirade against Keith Hackett, head of the Professional Game […]

The United States can be considered something of a dark horse for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, says the New York Times’ Jack Bell. For the first time ever, the U.S. U-23 team will be made up exclusively of professional players, most of whom play in MLS. It’s also a young team made up of […]

After just seven months on the job, Benfica coach Jose Antonio Camacho resigned on Sunday, following a frustrating 2-2 draw with Leiria, the last-place club in the Portuguese Liga. That result left second-place Benfica 14 points behind leader FC Porto with eight games remaining. Three days earlier, the Lisbon club fell, 2-1, at home to […]

ESPN Soccernet columnist Ives Galarcep weighs in on the problems facing away fans at MLS stadiums. As the league adds more teams and more stadiums, and as fan bases become more solidified, the opportunity arises for large groups of fans to travel together to an opposing stadium, just like they do in Europe. Galarcep argues […]

After two weeks of the kind of frustrating deliberations that recalled the failed signing of countryman Juan Sebastian Veron by D.C. United, the Kansas City Wizards finally signed Argentine striker Claudio Lopez as the club’s first Designated Player. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the contract is for one year. Lopez, a veteran […]

For the first time in a dozen years, England’s Big Four will not feature in the FA Cup semifinals. Portsmouth opened another memorable weekend in the competition by shocking Manchester United, 1-0, at Old Trafford. That victory was later eclipsed by Barnsley’s improbable 1-0 win at home to Chelsea. It was the team’s second consecutive […]

Jozy Altidore and the U.S. U-23s begin Olympic qualifying against Cuba on Tuesday. The tournament hosts were placed in Group A alongside Honduras, Panama and Cuba. The top two go on to the semifinals along top two from Group B; the winners advance to the Beijing Olympics. The grueling tournament requires the finalists to play […]

The New York Red Bulls (or Red Bull New York, rather) defeated namesake Red Bull Salzburg, 3-2, in Austria on Thursday. All the goals came in the second half, with Salzburg taking a quick 2-0 lead after the restart. New York began its comeback in the 59th minute when Juan Pablo Angel put home the […]

Former Chelsea and Newcastle star Celestine Babayaro arrived at the Los Angeles Galaxy in February to a certain degree of fanfare. He departed after playing just 45 minutes, as Coach Ruud Gullit, whom Babayaro played for at both Chelsea and Newcastle, placed the Nigerian on waivers little more than a month after acquiring him. The […]

In the second part of Goal.com’s interview with Bruce Arena, the former Red Bulls and U.S. national team coach says he “giggles” when the media talks about whoever the “hot” managers are in world soccer. Like the NBA, Arena says that having a successful soccer team is more about having quality players than good tactics. […]

Maykel Galindo defected to the United States in 2005 while playing for the Cuban national team at the CONCACAF Gold Cup. The night after scoring Cuba’s only goal in a 3-1 loss to Costa Rica, Galindo snuck out of his hotel room and into the unknown streets of Seattle. The former Cuban national team star […]

Barring injury, David Beckham is on course to earn his 100th cap for England, national team coach Fabio Capello revealed on Wednesday. “He will get his 100th cap if he is fit and in form,” the England manager said, adding that either he or his assistant Franco Baldini would travel to the U.S. to see […]

Goal.com’s Pat Walsh picks Real Salt Lake as his dark horse for the 2008 MLS season. RSL is the only MLS club to have never made the playoffs. Only once in its short history did RSL finish above last place in the West, and that was 2005, the club’s first season. That year fellow expansion […]

Former New England Revolution midfielder Andy Dorman is enjoying a solid start to life in the Scottish Premiership, having firmly established himself in the starting lineup for new club St. Mirren. Since his January arrival, the 25-year-old has bagged some crucial goals, including the winner in a 1-0 win over Dundee United that sent St. […]

Former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, who expects to be coaching in either Spain or Italy next season, says he would relish the opportunity to meet his former club in the Champions League. “If I play them in the Champions League, I want to go there and kill them — that’s my message,” Mourinho told reporters. […]

In an interview with Goal.com, former U.S. national team coach Bruce Arena reflects on his time with the New York Red Bulls, which lasted for little more than a year. Arena complains that Red Bull, the team’s owner, for the most part “didn’t know anything about professional soccer in this country,” and that he inherited […]

Carlos Ruiz bagged a hat trick as the Los Angeles Galaxy defeated an East Asian “All-Star” team composed of players from second division club Shanghai Dongya and the Hong Kong national team, 3-0. Goal.com described the Chinese side as “disorganized” and “overmatched” for the MLS team. The Galaxy broke through just before the end of […]

“Milan: The End” — the headline from Wednesday’s Gazzetta dello Sport says it all. Tuesday’s 2-0 Champions League loss at home to Arsenal certainly signals the end of an era for the Rossoneri. As the Guardian’s Paolo Bandini points out, Milan’s starting XI had an average age of over 30, which means the time is […]

Following stern pronouncements in the Italian press that Milan’s current squad is now passed its sell-by date, Football Italia reports that the Rossoneri’s front office is already lining replacements for when the transfer window opens in June. Top of the list for Milan director general Ariedo Braida is Chelsea striker Didier Drogba. The 29-year-old Ivorian […]