Category: Section 2 Around the Net

After being linked to nearly every big European club in need of added defensive cover (there are several at the moment), it looks like Oguchi Onyewu, the American central defender who gave up that crucial (questionable) penalty against Ghana in the World Cup last summer, is now headed to Newcastle United. According to the Press […]

Taking a page out of Chelsea’s playbook, Chivas USA, along with Major League Soccer and Univision, is set to launch a television reality competition featuring aspiring players hopeful of earning a contract with Chivas. Called Sueno MLS, and marketed specifically towards the L.A. area’s large Hispanic population, the tryout is open to any player age […]

Contrary to what was reported in last Thursday’s Section 2, Claudio Reyna broke into the first team at German giant Bayer Leverkusen, playing 26 Bundesliga games for the club. Contrary to the headline in Friday’s Section 2, Reyna did not criticize German physios in his interview with BigAppleSoccer.com. Mehdi Ballouchy, the Real Salt Lake midfielder, […]

The news media may keep harping on the “interim” moniker attached to his job, but that doesn’t seem to faze U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley, who sounded as like he was in it for the long haul during a news conference at the University of Phoenix Stadium. “As we begin the next cycle, looking […]

What happened to Lord Stevens’ inquiry into the bungs scandal that newspapers across Britain claimed was “rocking English football”? After a flurry of press reports and assertions from all sides that investigations would be ongoing, little if anything has been said publicly in the last few months. The BBC Panorama report, entitled “Undercover: Football’s Dirty […]

The possibility of booking 11 concerts a year or more is one of the big selling points for Dave Checketts and Real Salt Lake in the team’s bid to acquire the public funds necessarily to build a 20,000-seat capacity stadium in Sandy, a suburb of Salt Lake City. RSL expects the shows to average 17,500 […]

In an interview with New York-area prodigal son Claudio Reyna, BigAppleSoccer asks the former U.S. captain about one of his old bugaboos: injuries. The label “injury prone” doesn’t have the nicest of connotations, but there’s no doubt Reyna’s success in England was cut-short by a torn ACL at Sunderland, and a broken ankle and other […]

After a few words of thanks and an expression of gratitude for Lennart Johansson’s work over the years, new UEFA president Michel Platini wasted no time underlining the goals of his presidency. Among them are, reconciling soccer’s “special” status in European law, further developing UEFA competitions, including the Intertoto Cup, as well as youth and […]

Almost as soon as he stepped off the plane, Real Salt Lake coach John Ellinger handed 17-year old Freddy Adu the job of team playmaker, a move many felt signaled the end for Mehdi Ballouchy, the central midfielder RSL acquired last year with the No. 2 pick in the MLS draft. “Every team in the […]

Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald News takes a look back at the career of Claudio Reyna, which has now come full-circle now that the former U.S. national team captain has decided to return to North Jersey to be reunited with New York Reed Bulls coach Bruce Arena, the man who helped jump-start his […]

Major League Soccer lost any serious hopes of acquiring Real Madrid’s Ronaldo weeks ago, after reports surfaced that the out of favor striker and AC Milan were interested in a possible transfer. Now, barring any last minute difficulties, the deal looks to be all but done, as the three-time World Player of the Year touched […]

Once again, politics and scandal are on the verge of overshadowing the game in Italy, as Football Italia reveals that Inter and AC Milan have been indicted for false accounting practices prior to the 2004-2005 season. Federal Prosecutor Stefano Palazzi had been investigating a possible case against the Italian giants, and has now handed his […]

Tomorrow, the 52 national associations that make up UEFA, Europe’s presiding soccer association, vote for either France legend Michel Platini or the incumbent Swede Lennart Johansson in what will be the organization’s first presidential election for 17 years. The Independent believes Platini has the edge ahead of tomorrow’s crucial vote, after today receiving the public […]

At least the Chicago Fire is aiming high: Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune reports that in the last few weeks the team has vigorously been trying to sign three-time World Player of the Year Zinedine Zidane, who retired after the World Cup last summer. “We reached out to Zidane,” Fire GM John Guppy confirmed. […]

The U.S. U20’s qualified for this summer’s FIFA World Championship in Canada in style, knocking down Panama, the CONCACAF tournament host, 5-0, to finish first in a group that included Guatemala and Haiti, as well as the hosts. The spectacular team effort against Panama was preceded by tepid performances against the other two-Guatemala especially. Nevertheless, […]

The French sports newspaper L’Equipe also examines the English Premiership’s claim that it’s the best league in the world, saying it depends on what you mean by “best.” If Manchester United is 11-points ahead of the third place team, it would suggest that there’s a sizable gap between the leader, No. 2 Chelsea, and the […]

Deseret Morning News columnist Brad Rock weighs in on the RSL stadium controversy, asking readers the bigger question that hangs over the investment’s success or failure: is MLS worth it? The truth, he says, is that $30 million from the county and $15 million from the town of Sandy isn’t an awful lot of public […]

Soccer columnist Paul Gardner takes a breather from Beckham and MLS and has a look at the European game. In the past few weeks the English Premier League has made itself the world’s richest, securing a TV deal worth $1.2 billion for live rights to its games in 208 countries and territories. Gardner contends that […]

If you ask Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger or Liverpool’s Rafael Benitez, they’ll tell you the Premiership title race is now “wide-open,” after their clubs prevailed in respective home clashes this weekend against Manchester United and Chelsea. Following Arsenal’s last-gasp 2-1 win over Manchester United, Wenger declared, “Everybody still has a chance…We have maybe less than […]

American soccer columnist David Hirshey scored an interview with Sunday Times columnist Brian Glanville and Fulham new boy Clint Dempsey while in London this past weekend. The topic of discussion, of course, was Fulham. When asked why the London club is so high on American players, Glanville answered: “They’re cheap, they’re available and they speak […]

American teenager Giuseppe Rossi made a storming debut for Parma, the struggling Serie A club Manchester United loaned him to late last week, on Sunday, bagging the game’s only goal after a fantastic solo run and finish. Rossi has been brought back to the club he initially signed with as a boy in an attempt […]

The transfer window is still open and more Americans are on the move. As expected, Manchester City today said it had terminated Claudio Reyna’s contract, opening the way for “Captain America,” as he was referred to for so many years, to return home to Major League Soccer, where he’s expected to sign for the New […]

The New York Times tells the unlikely story of the Fugees, a team of former refugees playing in a poor suburb of Atlanta, and their remarkable coach Luma Mufleh, a woman who’s devoted her life to giving hope and guidance to this group of displaced children growing up against the odds. Mufleh is tough; in […]

Just as Ronaldo’s near-term MLS prospects looked to be coming to a close, Real Madrid and AC Milan have hit an impasse over the manner of the player’s likely transfer. Real wants a transfer fee, of course, since the striker still has a year-and-a-half left on his contract. Milan’s position is that the striker isn’t […]

Real Madrid sporting director Pedrag Mijatovic revealed that David Beckham will not be leaving the Bernabeu prior to the expiration of his contract, which ends June 30, under any circumstances. Speculation in the media suggested the L.A. Galaxy might try to buyout the remainder of his contract, or Real might loan the player to the […]