Category: Section 2 Around the Net

Even if D.C. United brings its “A game” to RFK Stadium Thursday night when it plays the New England Revolution (ESPN 2, Live 7 pm ET), the Screaming Eagles would be forgiven for wondering if that even makes their side the favorite anymore. The Revs are a team in good form (2-1-1), while United is […]

Milan’s 3-0 victory over “the big man of English football” descended upon Italy Wednesday night like a holy vindication. Indeed, since the national team lifted the World Cup last July, Italian soccer has been through trying times, including a series of match-fixing scandals, poor attendance, the riots in Sicily and the resulting stadium bans and […]

Sir Alex Ferguson was a little more gracious in defeat than Jose Mourinho after Manchester United followed Chelsea out of the Champions League, but excuses still had to be made and blame still had to be placed. For not the first time, Fergie blamed the English Premier League for its scheduling, which burned out his […]

Kenya Brown of Yanks Abroad says the U.S. national team’s dominance of the CONCACAF region is getting a little tiresome. Notwithstanding the team’s respectable 3-0-1 record in international friendlies this year, these meaningless games are made all the more so by the fact that each of them has been played at home. In fact, the […]

Two days after revealing FIFA’s backup plan for South Africa 2010 on BBC television, FIFA President Sepp Blatter has come out insisting that the 2010 World Cup would be staged in South Africa. “It will take place in South Africa … I have no doubts,” he said, adding, “The plan B is South Africa, plan […]

In 2005, DaMarcus Beasley became the first U.S. international to play in a Champions League semifinal with the Dutch club PSV Eindhoven; he was also the club’s leading scorer in the competition with four goals. Now, two injury-hit seasons later, Beasley is faced with the prospect of having to find a new club at season’s […]

Where or where will MLS go next? League commissioner Don Garber is touring the nation in search of the destinations for its next set of expansion teams. Local dailies across the country are reporting talks between MLS and investors in various cities, including Philadelphia, Atlanta, the Bay Area, Cleveland, Miami, St. Louis, Portland and Seattle. […]

It was a mixed night for Liverpool hero Pepe Reina. After the 24-year-old Spanish goalkeeper guided his team to the Champions League final with two fantastic saves in a penalty kick shootout, Reina returned home to find his house had been robbed. Among the missing items, were a Bang & Olufsen entertainment system, some jewelry, […]

If there is a consensus among British sports writers following Chelsea’s Champions League exit at Anfield Tuesday night, it’s that the better team won despite the outcome being decided by penalties. Yet after the match, a defiant, sour-faced, sore-losing Jose Mourinho accused Liverpool of playing for penalties. “Chelsea tried to win it in 90 minutes,” […]

Following Real Madrid’s comprehensive 4-1 victory away to Athletic Bilbao, murmurings in the Spanish press about the Merengues’ resurgence have given way to sweeping proclamations that the Spanish giant — on current form anyway — is now the favorite to win La Liga. ESPN Soccernet’s Phil Ball says the Spanish dailies, La Marca included, are […]

It’s hard to know why Barcelona coach Franck Rijkaard has relegated little Javier Saviola to the bench — and in some cases, the stands — yet again. The Argentine striker’s goals all but carried Barcelona during its goal-scoring crisis in January and February, when both Leo Messi and Samuel Eto’o were injured. Now that they’re […]

It’s no coincidence that five of the 16 teams that qualified for the Copa Libertadores second round are Brazilian, writes Tim Vickery of SI.com. Brazilian teams have dominated the South American competition over the last few years, and aside from the shock first-round exit of Internacional, last year’s champion, things have gone according to plan […]

There is “no chance” of Zinedine Zidane joining David Beckham at the Los Angeles Galaxy, Coach Frank Yallop tells Andrea Canales of L.A. Soccer News. The rumors have resurfaced time and again that the former World and European Player of the Year would make his way to Major League Soccer to rejoin his former Real […]

In the wake of what's been an awful season for Italian soccer since the national team lifted the World Cup last July, AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti said Tuesday that a win in Wednesday's Champions League semifinal against Manchester United would complete the club and the nation's comeback. Indeed, a place in the Champions League […]

In light of media speculation surrounding the poor state of World Cup preparations in South Africa, FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who has repeatedly backed the African country to host the finals for the first time in the continent’s history, admitted that FIFA has a backup plan. The United States is included in the organization’s contingency […]

In his roundup of results across Europe, Reuters’ Timothy Collings says that this past weekend in particular underscores Africa’s spreading influence across the continent’s biggest leagues. The biggest goal of them all came from Barcelona’s Cameroonian striker Samuel Eto’o, whose goal against Levante, a team featuring several African players, carried La Liga’s laboring champions to […]

As close as the title races in England’s Premiership and Spain’s La Liga have been, there’s no way the final day of the season in either league will be cut as close as the finale in the Dutch Eredivisie on Sunday. Heading into the final day, AZ Alkmaar, Ajax and PSV Eindhoven were level on […]

It’s no more than he deserves: now that Chelsea’s Premiership hopes have been almost completely derailed, Liverpool’s Rafael Benitez has turned up the pressure on Jose Mourinho, whose team travels to Anfield Tuesday to play Rafa’s Reds in the second leg of the Champions League semifinals. “It’s clear they will be under pressure because they […]

Former Manchester United center half Gary Pallister says it’s no coincidence that former teammates Roy Keane and Steve Bruce will be rejoining their legendary boss as managers in the Premiership next season. Both Bruce’s Birmingham City and Keane’s Sunderland won automatic promotion to the English Premier League by finishing first and second, respectively, before this […]

To everyone’s surprise, the New York Red Bulls, $14 million in the hole last season (according to various reports), synonymous for years with underachieving, are looking like the best team in Major League Soccer in 2007. For that, a huge shout out has to go to Coach Bruce Arena, and for several reasons. The additions […]

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune pointedly says what many in the press have been thinking but few have been saying: Jose Mourinho is either insane or he’s just a jerk. Where many coaches might have been satisfied with a thoroughly professional 1-0 Champions League semifinal victory against Liverpool, Mourinho could only whine about […]

You have to wonder after West Ham United was slapped with a record fine but no point deduction for deceiving the English Premier League if the presiding commission simply didn’t want to disturb the good ole fashioned relegation fight taking place at the bottom of the league table. Had there been a point-deduction, as many […]

Andrea Canales of L.A. Soccer News says that it’s time the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup got a little more respect. The granddaddy of all soccer tournaments in the United States is similar to the English FA Cup in that the competition includes teams of all levels: any team registered with the U.S. Soccer Federation, […]

Toronto FC hosts its first home game at the new BMO Field tomorrow, and with a great deal of fanfare, despite the team’s 0-3-0 record. Fittingly, or perhaps worryingly, the home side will get the opportunity to exact its revenge on Kansas City, which beat the Canadians, 3-0, at Arrowhead Stadium on Wednesday night. Toronto […]

On a night after Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo and AC Milan’s Kaka cemented their claim to being the two best players in world soccer with a pair of spellbinding performances at Old Trafford, Chelsea’s Didier Drogba showed why he, at the very least, deserves to be mentioned in the same breath. The Ivory Coast striker […]