Category: Section 2 Around the Net

Manchester United assistant Carlos Queiroz addressed the press instead of his boss, United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, following the Red Devils’ 2-1 home defeat to Manchester City, blaming the midweek international matches on his players’ poor form. “We believe the team was affected by international call-ups,” said Queiroz. “But talking about that would be an […]

MLS Deputy Commissioner Ivan Gazidis talks to Sky Sports News about the Premier League’s plan for global expansion through an “international round” of matches, saying he would support the measure as long as it gets FIFA approval. However, Gazidis noted that the decision to tack on a 39th game played in international venues would have […]

ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle says that Los Angeles Galaxy general manager Alexi Lalas “is probably the happiest man in the league right now,” following the release of the 2008 MLS schedule, but it won’t be for some other clubs — notably those playing in the CONCACAF Champions League and the SuperLiga, two competitions which L.A. did […]

The U.S. Soccer has announced that it’s considering six venues for the three possible home matches in the semifinal stage of 2010 World Cup qualifying. Four of the six venues belong to Major League Soccer clubs: Toyota Park, home of the Chicago Fire, Crew Stadium, home of the Columbus Crew, Pizza Hut Park, home of […]

Fabio Capello said he would include a fit and match-tested David Beckham in his future England plans, starting with the Lions’ friendly against France next month, which comes three days before the start of the Major League Soccer season on March 29. Even though the Los Angeles Galaxy won’t have played an official match, Capello […]

European league play resumes this weekend, but an inordinate number of key players will be missing for some of the bigger clubs. AC Milan is arguably the hardest hit by the injury bug. Having already endured a terrible first half of the season, Milan will now be without World Player of the Year Kaka and […]

Soccer blogger Ives Galarcep responds to some of the negative press the U.S. national team received after its 2-2 draw with Mexico on Wednesday night. Galarcep says that having watched the game a second time, there’s no reason “to be in panic mode about any particular aspect of the U.S. team.” That said, some glaring […]

English Premier League managers were mixed in their reaction to the news that EPL officials were considering adding a 39th game to the regular season that would be played overseas. Under the new proposal, approved in principle by officials representing each of the league’s 20 clubs, EPL teams would share the revenue generated by these […]

A pair of former MLS players nabbed game-winning goals for their respective countries in two very important games recently. On Sunday, former Colorado and San Jose striker Junior Agogo sent Ghana into the African Nations Cup semifinals with a goal against Nigeria seven minutes from time. Then on Thursday, Alain Nkong, another former Rapids player, […]

Major League Soccer released its 2008 schedule on Thursday, once again ignoring the international calendar. U.S. and other internationals would now miss games the weekends of Sept. 6-7 and Oct. 11-12.  Each team plays a total of 30 games, playing home and away games against each of the league’s 13 teams in addition to an […]

The English Premier League’s 20 clubs on Thursday agreed to a proposal that would see each team play games in cities across the world over one weekend in January, beginning in 2011. This would be an extra match, bringing the total number of Premier League matches to 39. Teams would randomly draw a venue but […]

England coach Fabio Capello reiterated that caps won’t be handed out lightly after reporters questioned him on the omission of longtime England regulars David Beckham and Michael Owen from Wednesday night’s 2-1 victory over Switzerland at Wembley. England prevailed against Switzerland after a nervy opening half hour during which England’s fans booed the team and […]

Derby County’s new ownership situation looks increasingly unclear, says the Guardian’s David Conn. Detroit-based General Sports & Entertainment bought the club a few weeks ago, promising to turn Derby County into “a global brand.” The group’s president, Andy Appleby, owns 93 percent of the club’s shares “on behalf of GSE.” However, Appleby later said that […]

SI.com’s Grant Wahl offers five takeaways from Wednesday’s 2-2 draw between the USA and Mexico at Reliant Stadium in Houston. Firstly, Wahl says, the next generation has arrived — for both teams. Jozy Altidore, scorer of the Americans’ second goal with a brilliant header, “never looked out of place going the entire 90 minutes.” Altidore […]

As the Wizards begin training for the 2008 MLS season, The Kansas City Star’s Bob Luder asks the pertinent question: who’s going to score the goals? Top scorer Eddie Johnson has moved to Fulham, Yura Movsisyan was traded to Real Salt Lake late last summer, attacking midfielder Davy Arnaud has fractured his right knee and […]

The pressure might not be off the Los Angeles Galaxy this season — Ruud, Landon, Beckham and co. will still be expected “to win something,” as Beckham says — but the media “phalanx” that greeted Becks when he arrived at L.A.’s training ground last summer is gone, for the most part. The Press-Telegram’s Billy Witz […]

A few days after demoting him, ESPN has decided to severe ties with outspoken soccer analyst Eric Wynalda, according to Soccer By Ives, which reports that the parties couldn’t agree on a new role, so it’s believed that ESPN bought out the remaining year on Wynalda’s contract. Last week, the Walt Disney company decided to […]

Mexico has a name for up-and-coming stars like Barcelona’s Giovanni Dos Santos and Arsenal’s Carlos Vela: “La Generacion Dorada,” or “Golden Generation,” expected to usher in a new era of success for Mexican soccer. The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Mark Ziegler says they could start Wednesday night by helping the Tricolores defeat the U.S. for the […]

U.S. midfielder Benny Feilhaber, the man who’s spectacular volley downed Mexico and brought the U.S. its second consecutive Gold Cup trophy, admits he won’t be starting tonight’s Gold Cup final rematch against Mexico in Houston. “Just from intuition and what’s been going on, I don’t expect to be playing,” Feilhaber told the New York Times’ […]

Serie A title pretender Roma failed to take maximum points from Tuscan opposition for the fourth time this season, losing 3-0 away to Siena. On the other three occasions, the Giallorossi had managed to come away with a point. Unfortunately, says the Guardian’s Richard Aikman, nine dropped points against the likes of Empoli, Fiorentina, Livorno […]

Ruud Gullit’s Los Angeles Galaxy opened preseason training on Monday, and the Associated Press was on hand to interview — who else — star midfielder David Beckham. Asked what he wanted most this season, Becks responded, “To win something … We can’t afford to be in the position we were in, where we ended up […]

In an interview with Goal.com’s Kyle McCarthy, Garth Lagerway, the new general manager at Real Salt Lake, argues that his team is ready to make the jump from MLS playoff spoiler to perennial contender. A former goalkeeper with Kansas City, Miami and Dallas, Lagerwey, a lawyer, succeeded Steve Pastorino as RSL GM last year.   […]

As the dust settled last Friday, the day after the European transfer window closed, The Columbus Dispatch was all but certain the Crew would be naming Polish striker Maciej Zurawski as its new designated player. But then, “without warning,” the paper says the man they call “Magic” did an about-face and accepted a deal with […]

Kaka, AC Milan’s brilliant Brazilian playmaker, was universally recognized as the best player in world soccer in 2007, winning FIFA’s World Player of the Year, France Football’s Ballon d’Or and “Player of the Year” honors from FIFPro (the international organization of professional soccer players), UEFA (the European soccer federation) and Italy’s Serie A. Paul Gardner, […]

Will it be three strikes and out for Mexico coach Hugo Sanchez? The Tricolores have already played the United States in the United States twice during Sanchez’s short tenure, yet for all his talk about how Mexico is the better team with the better players, the USA bested Sanchez’s Mexico in both meetings last year. […]