Category: Section 2 Around the Net

Tim Rich of the Telegraph on the golden rule for ‘special ones’: “They are eventually humbled by people less special but more numerous than themselves.” In the situation at Chelsea, the more numerous but less special would be Roman Abramovich and the Chelsea board versus coach Jose Mourinho. After going on and on for weeks […]

U.S. national team stars Landon Donovan and Pablo Mastroeni talk with USA Today about their experience training with interim national team coach Bob Bradley. They say his training sessions are marked by intensity, competitiveness and physical play. “He wants to make sure that this isn’t a Club Med gathering,” Mastroeni says. “Everyone’s got to earn […]

If nothing else, Real Madrid’s players are united in contempt of Ramon Calderon, after the club’s president delivered a loose-lipped speech at a local university where he harshly criticized Real’s players-David Beckham in particular. In an hour-long meeting arranged by club captains Raul, Guti and Roberto Carlos, Beckham and others dug into Calderon for the […]

For neutrals, it’s all about Liverpool-Chelsea at Anfield and Arsenal-Manchester United at Emirates Stadium in the Premiership this weekend. Man United and Chelsea are the EPL’s top two teams with 57 and 51 points, respectively; it will be more important for them not to lose these tough away fixtures than to walk away with three […]

It will be a decidedly green United States team that steps into the Home Depot Center in Carson Saturday to play Denmark (TV: ESPN2, 4:40 pm ET). Eleven of Bob Bradley’s squad of 28 players have yet to earn their first cap; only two in the squad-Landon Donovan and Pablo Mastroeni-are veterans of the last […]

Due to surging demand in Asia and the Middle East, the English Premier League is set to reel in some $1.2 billion from overseas television rights over the next three years. On Thursday, the English Football Association, which runs the 20-club league, said it had sold its broadcasting rights in 81 overseas blocs spanning 208 […]

The public feud between Andriy Shevchenko and Jose Mourinho is heating up to be almost as bad as the rift between David Beckham and Real Madrid’s management-and that one seems to be cooling already. Echoing the Beckham party’s stance against Real, Shevchenko today told ESPN Soccernet “‘I am being made a scapegoat for things that […]

For a manager who claims that no individual is greater than the team, and that not even he matters, only the club matters, it’s ironic to see Chelsea’s Jose Mourinho try to hold its owners hostage by declaring that he will only stay with the Stamford Bridge club if the board starts treating him to […]

Manchester United’s young American striker, Giuseppe Rossi, has been loaned to Serie A club Parma, which will be facing a stiff battle to avoid relegation for the remaining four months of the season. Rossi had only just returned to Old Trafford after a disappointing loan spell with Newcastle United, where the 19-year old started just […]

The Columbus Dispatch was displeased to report Thursday that Brian McBride will not be returning home to MLS and the Columbus Crew. The 34-year-old Fulham FC striker has surprised everyone by turning in what might be the best season of his three-and-a-half-year career with the club. McBride scored his ninth goal in all competitions on […]

Will Real Salt Lake ever get its stadium? The Deseret Morning News offered mixed news on Thursday, but the deal still only hangs by a thread. Officials from Sandy, the Salt Lake suburb where the stadium would be built, said it would put up money, but the $15 million initially pledged had been scaled back […]

English Premier League players, managers and referees are set to discuss a strange-sounding new idea designed to speed up matches, by letting physiotherapists on to the field to treat injuries without play being stopped. To avoid offsides, players would have to leave the game after being attended to and reenter from the halfway line. The […]

How about Javier Saviola? In the course of just six days, Barcelona’s diminutive Argentine striker, who at the beginning of the season was told in no uncertain terms he would be last on the team’s forward-line pecking order, has now made a serious bid to be considered Europe’s in-form striker of the moment, scoring six […]

Grant Wahl of SI.com does his homework on David Beckham’s blockbuster move to MLS, finding that it’s not quite as blockbuster as the papers would have us believe. Becks will not be getting the $250 million the deal was marketed as-“not even close,” according to Wahl, whose sources say his guaranteed salary over the five […]

Ramon Calderon’s harsh words about David Beckham’s move to Los Angeles were met with derision Wednesday by several major Spanish papers. Several actually called for Calderon’s resignation, describing the outburst as “unforgivable” and “the umpteenth time he has put his foot in his mouth.” In his defense, Real Madrid (of course) said his words had […]

The backlash in Spain against Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon and his coach, Fabio Capello, must have been much bigger than either one expected, as both Calderon and Capello seem to have been forced into semi-180-degree turnarounds from their previous statements regarding David Beckham’s move to the Los Angeles Galaxy. Three days after proclaiming, “He […]

British pundits are scrambling to explain the meltdown at Chelsea leading to reports that Manager Jose Mourinho will leave the club at the end of the season. Chelsea has steamrolled the competition over the last two seasons, making this year’s struggle look like an epic crisis. The Guardian’s Matt Scott says the mounting influence of […]

Finally, in non-Beckham-related (sort of) MLS news, expansion team Toronto FC said it’s sold more than 10,000 season tickets months for its debut season. That’s exactly half of the available seats at the new 20,000-capacity BMO Field, which is scheduled to open just in time for the club’s April 28 home opener against Kansas City. […]

With a yearly salary estimated at approximately $10 million, David Beckham is obviously set to become the Los Angeles Galaxy’s designated player under the so-called “Beckham Rule,” a reality that has implications for the Galaxy’s brightest U.S. star, Landon Donovan. The “Beckham Rule” once again allows any MLS club to sign one player for as […]

Real Madrid confirmed Tuesday that Ronaldo, like David Beckham, is surplus to requirements and will be allowed to leave the club as early as this month. Unlike Beckham, Ronaldo has another year left on his contract, so any move will require a transfer fee. Despite whisperings in the press of his possible unveiling with the […]

Let the mudslinging begin: Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon has hit back at the David Beckham camp after Fabio Capello’s decision to drop the MLS-bound player for the remainder of the season was met with a great deal of confusion by Becks’ representatives. Not only did Calderon proclaim that Beckham would become “an average movie […]

The Los Angeles Times’ Grahame L. Jones says it was a decidedly mixed reaction to David Beckham’s move to the Los Angeles Galaxy from Real Madrid from some of England’s most famous coaches. Sir Bobby Robson, who coached England at the 1986 and 1990 World Cups and managed in England for many years, wrote in […]

Maybe all that complaining has finally paid off: it looks like Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho will get to sign one defender this week to alleviate the crisis that’s been created by the long-term injuries to John Terry and Khalid Boulharouz. The question now is what kind of funds the Chelsea board has made available to […]

At midseason, the Serie B race for promotion is shaping up to be a lot closer than most expected. Juventus, the obvious favorite despite its nine-point penalty, fell to sixth place-the final slot for the promotion playoffs-after suffering its first Serie B defeat to Mantova, 1-0, on Saturday. Indeed, were it not for the points […]

Unless Real Madrid’s management undergoes a drastic change in the next two weeks — there have been suggestions in the press that Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho could be on his way to the Bernabeu along with Frank Lampard — David Beckham won’t be kicking a ball with the first team anymore this season. Coach Fabio […]