Category: Section 2 Around the Net

Peter Grathoff of the Kansas City Star takes another close look at the great divide in MLS player salaries. He tells the story of Kansas City Wizards midfielder Jack Jewsbury-he’s having a great season by the way-who used to take home $380 every two weeks as a so-called developmental player. As Grathoff points out, “they […]

Oakland A’s owner Lew Wolff is still on the case for bringing the San Jose Earthquakes back to Major League Soccer. In an interview with USA Today, Wolff said he would like to have the team registered for the 2008 season-with or without a new stadium. Wolff and John Fisher, heir to the Gap, Inc. […]

With barely a month to go before the tournament’s opening, the South American soccer confederation (CSF) warned that Copa America host Venezuela might not have its stadiums ready in time. To Venezuela’s credit, the plan to build five new stadiums and host the 12-team tournament at nine different venues was always ambitious, CSF VP Eugenio […]

The New York Post summed it up nicely: “The Red Bulls keep losing players and winning games.” Missing Ronald Waterreus, right back Hunter Freeman, left back Todd Dunivant and captain Claudio Reyna for the fourth straight game (and looking admittedly shaky at times in defense), the Bulls still blanked the Chicago Fire, 3-0, thanks to […]

Looks like there’s going to be a summer clear out at Anfield, after all. An angry-sounding Rafael Benitez, still smarting perhaps from Liverpool’s 2-1 loss in the Champions League final on Wednesday, called on Liverpool’s board to release the necessary funds to attract the world’s top talent or the club would risk losing him. Benitez […]

The press is swarming over former England internationals Michael Owen and David Beckham before the upcoming international period, during which the Lions face mighty Brazil in their first international at the new Wembley stadium before traveling to Estonia for a must-win Euro 2008 qualifying match. After being out of action for nearly 10 months, Owen […]

Following Liverpool’s 2-1 loss to AC Milan in Wednesday’s Champions League final, the club’s new American owners said they’ve never seen anything like the passion exuded by Liverpool’s fans since buying the club in March. “There’s no way either of my two teams’ fans have the level of intense passion that Liverpool has,” co-owner Tom […]

It may be a little earlier than he wanted, but D.C. United coach Tommy Soehn says his team’s Copa Sudamericana draw against Chivas de Guadalajara gives D.C. the chance to attend to some unfinished business. United played Chivas less than two months ago in a closely contested tie in the CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinals, drawing […]

Real Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis had to do something. Winless in his first three matches as a rookie coach and coaching the only team left in MLS still without a victory, Kreis decided to trade star striker Jeff Cunningham to Toronto FC in exchange for fellow striker Alecko Eskandarian and a 2008 first-round draft […]

Wednesday night’s 2-1 loss to AC Milan in the Champions League final must have been a bitter pill for Liverpool and its manager, Rafael Benitez, to swallow. Probably the better team in a game where Benitez’s tactics dominated the flow (or lack thereof), Liverpool did a far better job of neutralizing Milan’s attack on Wednesday […]

Newcastle United looks set to be the next English Premier League club to be bought out after Mike Ashley, “one of Britain’s wealthiest and most secretive businessmen” according to the Independent, purchased a 41.6 percent stake in the club for approximately $110 million. The stake was purchased from the club’s biggest shareholder and life president […]

By any measure, it’s been a poor start to the season from MLS defending champ Houston Dynamo. A 2-4-1 record is bad enough, but the fact that Houston has netted just four goals and been shut out in five of the seven games is a worrying sign for Coach Dominic Kinnear. What happened to Brian […]

Things are going far, far smoother for the Red Bulls on the field than they are upstairs in management. After rather limply dismissing the club’s second-worst season attendance average on Tuesday, there came more bad news from Red Bulls managing director Marc de Grandpre, according to a New York Daily News report. The club’s 25,000-seat […]

Technically, there can be no question that AC Milan’s Rossoneri deserve to be in Wednesday’s Champions League final. Driven by the superb midfield trio of Andrea Pirlo, Clarence Seedorf and Kaka, the man who would undoubtedly be crowned this year’s World Player of the Year award if Milan wins, the team has only gotten better […]

If the British press wants to see Liverpool win Wednesday’s Champions League final (and you suspect that most would), it’s certainly not done the Reds any favors with the endless speculation about who’s going where in the offseason. Talk all you want about Man United, Carlos Tevez, Jose Mourinho and any of the other countless […]

Simon Kuper of the Financial Times gives writes entertaining portrait of AC Milan midfielder Clarence Seedorf, the man who after Kaka, perhaps, is most responsible for the Rossoneri reaching Wednesday’s Champions League final against Liverpool. “Well-meaning,” “intelligent,” self-righteous and supremely confident, Seedorf has one problem, according to his teammates: He won’t shut up. Former England […]

After the five luckless months Javier Mascherano endured at West Ham United, it’s little wonder the Argentine says. “I find it unbelievable to be involved in this final.” Indeed, nothing could have been more unlikely. Toiling away in the Hammers reserves as a club takeover and two different management regimes passed him by, Mascherano in […]

As he does every week, ESPN Soccernet’s Phil Ball gives his impression of the weekend in Spain — and what a weekend it was. From spectacular and unexpected one-sided thrashings to closely contested, edge-of-your-seat matches capped by late winners, it was a weekend showcasing everything that’s been so special about this season in La Liga. […]

Red Bulls managing director Marc de Grandpre admitted that the noticeable dramatic dip in attendance at games in Giants Stadium is disappointing, but management isn’t pulling the panic button yet. At 9,867 spectators per game, The Red Bulls are averaging the worst home attendance in the New York franchise’s history and the second-worst average in […]

Unfortunately, when British soccer fans think of wealthy Americans buying English soccer clubs, they think of the hostile scenes that marked the takeover of Manchester United by the unwanted Malcolm Glazer family. Years later, the Glazers largely kept their noses out of soccer matters, and the animosity has lessened, though the allegory for many still […]

Following a series of decidedly poor performances, an undermanned New York Red Bulls side put together a comprehensive team effort to blow by the Columbus Crew at home on Saturday. Regulars Claudio Reyna, Ronald Waterreus and Hunter Freeman were all injured, while 17-year old Jozy Altidore was at his high school prom, but in the […]

Three MLS games into BMO Field’s much-lauded existence, and Toronto FC owner Maple Leaf Sports Entertainment already had to make emergency repairs. Before TFC’s 2-1 loss at home to D.C. United, several bolts and fasteners snapped, though MLSE removed the debris and Saturday’s match ended up going off without a hitch. It was the club’s […]

To the surprise of no one, Owen Hargreaves will be moving to Old Trafford this summer from Bayern Munich. Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has been chasing the player for nearly a year now, and Hargreaves himself stated his desire to join the club. Bayern President Franz Beckenbauer said Hargreaves would move to the […]

During a press conference in which he reflected on his first season at Chelsea, Ukraine striker Andriy Shevchenko told reporters he’d like to play in Major League Soccer one day. “Soccer is growing in the US and I would like to be a part of that,” he said. “I played there last summer against the […]

Where or where will Carlos Tevez be next season? Chelsea is interested, so is Real Madrid, and there isn’t a thing West Ham United, his current, uh, employer, can do about it. Tevez representative (and part-owner, incidentally) Kia Joorabchian is set to meet this week with West Ham chairman Eggert Magnusson to discuss the player’s […]