Category: Section 2 Around the Net

The real “next Maradona” just stood up, so the countless Argentine pretenders out there may now sit down, and the press can stop crowning them as such. Leo’s Messi’s goal against Getafe at the Camp Nou Wednesday night was every bit as good as Diego’s highly touted winner against England in the 1986 quarterfinals. This […]

The Arsenal takeover situation got a little more interesting on Wednesday after major shareholder David Dein, Arsenal’s former vice chairman, vacated the club’s board with immediate effect. Dein has been involved with the North London club for 24 years; he’s also a prominent figure in European soccer politics, most recently chair of the G-14 group […]

Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona has spent the better part of three weeks in a hospital in Buenos Aires for a variety of health problems related to excessive eating and drinking. The 46-year-old Maradona is now officially being treated for “alcoholic hepatitis,” and will now be moved to a psychiatric clinic to treat his alcoholism. […]

Major League Soccer is once again making headlines for a recent spate of high-profile additions. One of these, Guillermo Barros Schelotto, is headed to the decidedly low-profile Columbus Crew, which Thursday hosts the New England Revolution in its only live match on ESPN2 this season (7 pm ET). Much has been made of the signing […]

The New England Revolution’s Shalrie Joseph never got that contract he wanted, and now the holding midfielder says his only recourse is to strike. “Sooner or later, I am going to have to make a decision whether to continue playing or to hold out,” Joseph told Soccer New England. “I hope it doesn’t come to […]

American sports tycoon Stan Kroenke has kept mum about whether the purchase of a 10 percent stake in Arsenal FC by his sports conglomerate heralds a future takeover attempt, but Arsenal’s Peter Hill-Wood has two words for him: go away. The Gunners’ chairman told the Guardian that the club’s shareholders had “no intention of selling […]

UEFA on Wednesday pulled off a shock decision in awarding the 2012 European Championship to joint-hosts Poland and Ukraine, a move that has already secured the legacy of new UEFA President Michel Platini, the Guardian’s Jonathan Wilson said. The “jaw-droppingly unexpected” decision was no doubt a “welcome” one, he said, as Platini and co. decided […]

The San Jose Earthquakes may not be resurrected after all, according to a San Jose Mercury news report. Property developer Lew Wolff, who wants to resurrect the MLS club, is at loggerheads with San Jose State University over how to share revenue from a new stadium, which both the university and the Earthquakes would use. […]

Following a series of last-minute, high-profile signings from the New York Red Bulls, Columbus Crew and Kansas City Wizards, New England Revolution coach Steve Nicol tells the Boston Globe that the Revs are out to capture a big star of their own. “We’re looking, but it’s always the same — it’s never done until it’s […]

In the wake of England’s dominance of the UEFA Champions League semifinals and then rumors linking Valencia’s David Villa and Barcelona’s Samuel Eto’o with moves to the Premiership, Phil Ball, Soccernet’s Spain columnist, wonders about the criteria for selecting a “best league in the world.” He claims it is “equally significant,” for example, that Spain […]

Simon Kuper of the Financial Times profiles Inter Milan wizard Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who’s on course to winning his fourth title (sort of) in as many years with three different clubs: Ajax in ’04 and ’05, Juventus in ’06 and now Inter in ’07. Juventus, of course, was later stripped of its ’06 title for fixing […]

It’s now official: Colombia striker Juan Pablo Angel is now a Red Bull. The New York club signed Angel from English club Aston Villa on Tuesday, utilizing its second designated player slot. Terms of the player’s contract were not disclosed. Angel could suit up for the Bulls in as little as two weeks, Red Bulls […]

Manchester City’s on-loan American midfielder, DaMarcus Beasley, must prove he’s worth keeping during the final five games of the season in order to secure a long-term contract with the Manchester club, coach Stuart Pearce told reporters on Tuesday. “I will probably decide on DaMarcus in the last week of the season,” he said. “If he […]

FIFA can’t seem to decide what it wants to do about rotating the World Cup. At a press conference on Sunday, President Sepp Blatter said the process of rotating the tournament between continents could change after 2014, which has been delegated to South America. “The FIFA executive committee has decided that the process of the […]

Fresh from a 3-0 home win over FC Dallas, the New York Red Bulls could be in for some more good news if Aston Villa striker Juan Pablo Angel is added to the club’s roster, as many expect. An unnamed source told Big Apple Soccer that the transfer has been completed, although once again the […]

Even if Chelsea manages to squeak passed Manchester United at the top of the English Premier League charts this year, it should come as little surprise that the shortlist for the annual Professional Football Association’s Player of Year and Young Player of the Year is dominated by United players — and more specifically, Cristiano Ronaldo […]

On the one hand, there are people complaining that the English game is starting to look like Scotland’s, where Rangers and Celtic dominate. Similarly, Manchester United and Chelsea have presided over a two-horse race in England’s domestic league and cup competitions this season, culminating in an EPL title-decider on May 9, the FA Cup final […]

Following D.C. United’s 4-2 loss in its home opener to the Kansas City Wizards, the Washington Post hit out at the local side, accusing the team of deciding “to revamp its attack and ignore its defensive needs” in the offseason. Indeed, Kansas City “tore apart” United’s back line in the first half, putting three goals […]

At the very least, Watford’s American defender, Jay DeMerit, says his club won’t make the same mistakes AS Roma made in the Champions League quarterfinal at Old Trafford on Tuesday. The 7-1 result will forever be a stain on the Roma record books unlikely to be repeated in any competition for a very long time. […]

You could argue that the odds are nearly even that Jose Mourinho won’t be back next season as Chelsea manager, after the Portuguese granted the Madrid-based sports daily La Marca a four-page interview in which he described his current club as “not at peace.” In Spain for Chelsea’s Champions League quarterfinal clash with Valencia, Mourinho […]

It’s hard to believe there was talk of a crisis less than five days ago, but Manchester United on Friday capped a remarkable week by securing the services of Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo-the man widely believed to be the game’s best player-for an additional five years. Over the past several month, the 22-year-old Ronaldo had been […]

Aston Villa’s out-of-favor striker Juan Pablo Angel is close on the brink of joining the New York Red Bulls, according to a report from the Manchester Guardian, which said that a salary has been agreed between the two parties and a deal could be finalized as early as today, though Villa and MLS still have […]

“It has begun,” says Grahame L. Jones of the L.A. Times. The Home Depot Center’s new life, that is. Never mind that the Galaxy lost last night’s home opener, little signs of David Beckham’s pending arrival were evident all around the stadium, says Jones. For instance, there’s a brand-new VIP entrance for David’s celebrity friends, […]

Only two and a half days remain before the MLS transfer deadline, and rumors are flying across the Web linking the New York Red Bulls to former Brazil striker Edmundo and the Columbus Crew to Boca Juniors’ forward/midfielder, Guillermo Barros Schelotto. Some would argue that Edmundo, 36, is way past his best, but Schelotto, 33, […]

Red Bulls forward Mike Magee has a right to feel shortchanged. Had his injured knee been diagnosed earlier, he’d be playing right now, instead of hoping for a mid-summer return at the earliest. Magee had to wait until Feb. 5 to have the MCL operation he says he should have had in August. “July can’t […]