Category: Section 2 Around the Net

Kaka may be the favorite to win this year’s Golden Ball and FIFA World Player of the Year awards, but he certainly won’t be soccer’s highest- paid player. It looks like that title will be going to Inter Milan’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Football Italia says the Swede is now lining up a deal worth $16 million […]

There’s been no official announcement yet, but word on the street is that CONCACAF, the North and Central American soccer federation, is planning to overhaul its existing club champions’ competition to make it look (and sound) more like UEFA’s Champions League. According to the Washington Post’s Stephen Goff, the new tournament will in fact be […]

Soccer columnist Ives Galarcep updates us on the New York Red Bulls’ hunt for a new coach, saying that early signs show that club owner Red Bull is not looking to bring in a high-profile foreign coach, as many expected. Unnamed sources tell him the team is instead scouring the pool of top MLS assistant […]

According to various media reports, Steve McClaren has dropped both David Beckham and Paul Robinson for Wednesday’s crucial Euro 2008 qualifier between England and Croatia. The England coach revealed his starting lineup to the players Tuesday night but wouldn’t formally tell the media ahead of today’s game. Plenty has been said about the significance of […]

The tenets of capitalism dictate that money and power go hand-in-hand, resulting in the worldwide trend known as globalization. As the business of soccer follows that same inexorable progression, FIFA, the nonprofit international organization that governs the game, is losing its influence. Soccer guru Paul Gardner sheds light on the topic in a New York […]

Three members of U.S. women’s soccer team, vacationing in Italy, were on their way to Rome’s Stadio Olimpico to view the Serie A match between Roma and Cagliari two Sundays ago when rocks started pelting their bus. The rocks were being thrown by irate fans protesting the death of a Lazio supporter who was shot and […]

The Boston Globe’s Frank Dell’Apa talks to a depressed New England Revolution squad after losing its third-straight MLS Cup final. For defender Jay Heaps, midfielder Steve Ralston and striker Taylor Twellman it was actually their fourth MLS Cup final loss. “They have all been tough,” Heaps said. “We believed this was our opportunity and we […]

Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder David Beckham has been identified as the danger man in England’s final European Championship qualifier Wednesday  against Croatia. England needs a draw or a win to advance to the finals next summer. According to Croatia scout Goran Vucevic, who was on hand Friday as England beat Austria, 1-0, Steve McClaren’s Lions […]

It’s awards season in the soccer world. On Dec. 2, France Football’s Golden Ball (the former European Player of the Year award now open to players from any league in the world) will be handed out followed soon thereafter by FIFA’s World Player of the Year. AC Milan forward Kaka is widely expected to sweep […]

It looks like the L.A. Galaxy will be able to keep Landon Donovan after all: the MLS Board of Governors on Friday voted to allow Donovan, Kansas City’s Eddie Johnson, and FC Dallas’ Carlos Ruiz to remain with their respective clubs without having to use a designated player slot, as had been previously decided. These […]

Less than a week after teammate Chris Armas announced his retirement, Chicago Fire forward Paulo Wanchope followed suit, retiring from the game at the age of 31. He cited chronic injury and fatigue as the main reasons for his decision. Wanchcope played in several leagues across the globe, including Costa Rica, England, Qatar, Spain, Argentina […]

Israel handed England a serious lifeline over the weekend by beating Russia, 2-1. Qualification for the Euro 2008 Championships is now firmly in England’s hands. A win or a draw against Croatia, which has already qualified, would do the trick. However, England’s good fortune follows a dismal performance against Austria on Friday. The meaningless friendly […]

Aside from that bright orange jersey, the Houston Dynamo is arguably the least flashy team in MLS. There was no big-name designated player, no hot new foreign talent, or no brand new stadium for Houston this year, but the only result that matters stayed the same: the Dynamo, in beating New England 2-1 on Sunday, […]

New England Revolution Coach Steve Nicol was typically pragmatic in his assessment of the Revs’ 2-1 MLS Cup final loss to the Houston Dynamo: “They had two chances in the game and scored. We had numerous chances and no score.” For Nicol, that’s what separated the two teams on Sunday, not some “curse” that many […]

Business Week has a lengthy article about Major League Soccer’s recent success. In 2007, the league saw attendances rise 8.2 percent to an average of 16,770. TV ratings were also up, helping the league secure its first national broadcasting fee in its history. The biggest jump came in sponsorship revenue, a 25 percent increase, and […]

The general consensus is that 2007 was the best ever season for MLS. Game attendance was up, TV viewership was up, Beckham and — to a far lesser extent, Blanco — drew all kinds of media buzz, and some teams found a new revenue source in shirt sponsorship. Overshadowed by all these positives is the […]

When D.C. United’s Luciano Emilio was named Major League Soccer’s Most Valuable Player on Thursday, there were always going to be a few disappointed rumblings in the press that the award didn’t go to New York’s Juan Pablo Angel, the other hot favorite to win the prestigious award. In the end, Emilio’s 20 goals, which […]

GreenPitch.com has an exclusive interview with new U.S. women’s head coach Pia Sundhage, who just signed a one-year contract that will see her coach the team through the Beijing Olympics next summer. Sundhage says “very, very” excited about the opportunity. “We have to work as a team and show that we are the best again […]

A campaign is underway in Austria to withdraw the team from next summer’s European Championship. Austria, along with co-host Switzerland, has automatically qualified for the finals as host. More than 10,000 supporters, however, have now signed a petition urging the team to withdraw from its own tournament. Why? Simply put, “it is the worst Austrian […]

After 12 years of being one of Major League Soccer’s most important players, the Los Angeles Galaxy’s Cobi Jones thought it was time for “a long vacation.” But then Dutch tactician Ruud Gullit was put in charge of his former team, and opportunity came knocking. Gullit needed an assistant coach; Jones moved to the front […]

Taylor Twellman scored his 100th Major League Soccer goal (regular season and playoffs) in spectacular fashion last Thursday: turning his back to high looping deflection, Twellman executed a perfect bicycle kick in between two Chicago defenders. The goal, his 100th in 176 regular-season and playoff matches, was enough to see the New England Revolution through […]

Columbus Crew wizard Guillermo Barros Schelotto may not return to MLS next season, according to reports in Argentina. Schelotto, currently on vacation in La Plata, told Radio Provincia that he’s homesick and would consider returning to Argentina to play for either of his former clubs, Boca Juniors or Gimnasia de La Plata. “Columbus offered me […]

World Cup 2010 host South Africa suffered setbacks this week as construction workers in Durban, the country’s second largest city, stopped work on the Moses Mabhida stadium in protest over poor pay. Hundreds then marched on the town hall demanding a salary raise. “We must share part of the 2010 pie,” a local organizer proclaimed […]

Players, ex-players and the Italian media will continue to debate whether the shooting death of Lazio fan Gabriele Sandri should result in the indefinite suspension of play in Italy, but Italian soccer federation president Giancarlo Abete says the organization expects play to resume as scheduled on Nov. 25. “We were clear yesterday. We decided unanimously […]

A quick look back at New York’s MLS past reveals that history keeps repeating itself. First, a big-name coach is brought in, then promises are made about the team reaching the MLS Cup final, and finally, when that doesn’t happen, the coach is either fired or mutually agrees to leave. Then the process starts all […]