Category: Section 2 Around the Net

David Beckham is injured for most of the rest of the Major League Soccer season, and the critics are once again out in full force against the former England captain’s decision to come to America. Among them is his former coach, Sir Alex Ferguson, who believes that Beckham’s pilgrimage to the States will be fruitless […]

The 1999 U.S. U-17 national team was loaded with future senior team stars like Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley, Oguchi Onyewu and Bobby Convey. Real Salt Lake’s Kyle Beckerman isn’t often mentioned in the same breath as these guys, but if recent performances are anything to go by, he may soon be, says ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle. […]

The L.A. Galaxy has certainly fallen victim to bad luck — bad luck that goes beyond even the series of injuries sustained by David Beckham, but that, more or less, is what you get when you bet the success of an entire league on one player, says ESPN’s Steve Davis. By Murphy’s Law, Becks was […]

Evidence might point to the contrary, but L.A. Galaxy striker Landon Donovan says his team isn’t that bad, and that the worst thing upper management could do between now and next season is to continue its policy of cleaning house when things don’t go well, the U.S. international told the L.A. Daily News. “There’s a […]

Wesley Sneijder arrived at the Bernabeu heralded as David Beckham’s replacement, and just two games into his La Liga career, the $37 million Dutchman has already hinted that he’ll be even more valuable to the Merengues than the former England captain. At least that’s what Real coach Bernd Schuster says. “Beckham was a right winger […]

Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald says that Danny Szetela’s transfer to Racing de Santander of Spain’s First Division was the right choice. The New Jersey native was widely tipped with a move to Serie A giant AS Roma, but later declined due to the more attractive prospect of first-team action with the La […]

All eyes were trained on Spain’s La Liga this weekend to see how one of the biggest leagues in Europe responded to the tragedy of Antonio Puerta’s death. Signs of solidarity were evident throughout Spain and even into the English Premier League, where several Spanish internationals now play. But the most encouraging signs, says ESPN’s […]

It’s a paradox that playing sports is supposed to be good for you, and yet some people die as a result of playing them, says Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune. Indeed, FC Sevilla’s Antonio Puerta was not the first soccer player to die from cardiac arrest while playing; he wasn’t even the only […]

FC Dallas’ new designated player Denilson received his work permit on Thursday, which means the 2002 World Cup winner could make his MLS debut as early as this Saturday against D.C. United. However, before Denilson is cleared to play, FCD has to release one of the four players currently occupying its international slots. The Brazilian’s […]

There has been no word yet that the Spanish league resolved its dispute with its television distributor, so don’t expect to see many La Liga games televised this weekend, but the show goes on, nevertheless. Without a doubt, this weekend’s headliner is the clash between Real Madrid and Villarreal at El Madrigal. The Yellow Submarine […]

English giant Arsenal, the club that famously said it would not be bought, is starting to look like a prime target for a takeover, says the Independent’s Sam Wallace. Earlier this week, the club’s former vice chairman, David Dein, sold his 14.58 percent stake in the club to an investment group in return for being […]

MLSNet.com, the official Web site of Major League Soccer, has seen a 117 percent boost in Web traffic over the previous year since the arrival of David Beckham to MLS, according to comScore Media Metrix, which chronicles the flow of traffic to Web sites. According to the measurement firm, traffic to MLSnet.com hovered at 230,000 […]

England and MLS are waiting with baited breath for the results of David Beckham’s latest injury, a twisted knee suffered against Pachuca in the SuperLiga final on Wednesday. “A ligament strain is four to six weeks but we’ll have to wait for the results of the scan on Friday,” the 32-year-old Beckham said. “If it […]

The UEFA Champions League draw was held in Monte Carlo on Thursday, delivering no easy groups but no visible “Group of Death,” either. Defending champion AC Milan received what was arguably the kindest draw, landing alongside Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine, Scottish champ Glasgow Celtic and Freddy Adu’s Benfica. The Portuguese giant took the second seed, […]

As Yahoo Sports’ Martin Rogers points out, it’s a lot easier to lure a big name designated player to New York or L.A. than it is to bring one to say, Denver. That presents something of a problem for Rapids GM Jeff Plush, who’s desperate to follow in the footsteps of New York, L.A., Chicago […]

It seems like yesterday that the great Peter Schmeichel was the No. 1 goalkeeper at Manchester City, but now, his son Kasper has stepped into the role that used to be his just four years ago. The young Schmeichel was thrust into a starting role for Sven-Goran Eriksson’s side at the beginning of the season […]

The David Beckham hype has generated wonderful returns for MLS thus far, but marketing executives would tell you it’s a no-brainer that the league needs to better appeal to the country’s millions of Latino fans to instill a longer-lasting, loyal fan base. It’s no secret that Mexican teams draw higher TV audiences and larger crowds […]

David Beckham and Landon Donovan are still recovering from injuries, although reports say that both players will play some part in tonight’s SuperLiga final against Pachuca at the Home Depot Center (Wednesday, 11 pm ET, live on TeleFutura). L.A. played the Mexican giant at the Home Depot Center in the first round of the SuperLiga, […]

The Times of London earlier this week speculated that the L.A. Galaxy might be lining up Juergen Klinsmann to replace Frank Yallop as head coach. The Boston Globe’s Frank Dell’Apa and others believe Klinsmann would not be enough to help save the beleaguered MLS outfit’s 2007 season — although adding him as coach would be […]

If you’re a GolTV subscriber, you may have noticed that the Madrid derby between Real and Atletico Madrid was blacked out this weekend. The only explanation that was offered was a vague reference to contract disputes in Spain. What actually happened is that the La Liga rights owners cut off services to many of its […]

Rumors are heating up across Europe as the transfer window comes to a close on Friday. First, reports in Spain claim that Argentine playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme finally found a home after Villarreal agreed to him to Atletico Madrid. The 29-year-old’s asking price was a hefty $20 million, although no fee was reported. Riquelme rejoins […]

“Things have unraveled spectacularly for Los Angeles,” says ESPN Soccernet’s Steve Davis, “and the foul-ups in Galaxy Valley have become too numerous to count.” Top of his list is an astonishing number of injuries brought on by a grueling end-of-season schedule that would test any of Europe’s biggest teams (note that they have the depth […]

Three days after suffering a series of cardiac arrests during FC Sevilla’s La Liga opener, Antonio Puerta died on Tuesday. The midfielder, a former Spanish international, was admitted to the Virgen del Rocio hospital in Seville on Saturday and had been in deteriorating condition since. He was just 22 years old. Puerta’s body will now […]

The English Football Association, wracked last year by a report that exposed the shady dealings of player agents and certain team managers, is set to make a fresh inquiry into the matter after agent Jess Learoyd-Hill pointed to the hidden money trails and mafia-like behavior of some of his peers. Learoyd-Hill added that some agents […]

Second only perhaps to the signing of David Beckham is FC Dallas’ unveiling of World Cup winner Denilson as its new designated player on Monday. Club owner Clark Hunt called the 30-year-old’s signing the most important in FC Dallas’ history and the second-most important in MLS history. Denilson was capped 60 times by Brazil, scoring […]