Category: Section 2 Around the Net

FC Dallas is wasting no time following the announcement that David Beckham will join the L.A. Galaxy this summer. Michael Hitchcock, the club’s president and general manager, told the Dallas Morning News that the club is negotiating with English club Tottenham to bring Dutch midfielder Edgar Davids to the club, as its “designated player,” which […]

Indeed, Real Madrid can plan on a significant sales dent once David Beckham leaves Los Blancos for Galaxy of L.A, according to a Bloomberg report. Real Madrid’s revenue will take a particularly big hit in the Asian markets, financial analysts say, where sales of Beckham merchandise have helped make the Madrid club the richest by […]

What a great title from the L.A. Times: “A pair of stars, an L.A. sky, a happy Galaxy.” The paper that knows show business more than others understands exactly what David Beckham’s L.A. Galaxy deal means for he and his wife, Hollywood, and MLS. His five-year deal, worth potentially $275 million, according to various sources, […]

In the end, the Golden Boy (or Golden Balls as the British tabloids call him) got it exactly his way in moving on from Real Madrid, the most storied club in soccer history, to MLS for a deal estimated to be worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $250 million over five seasons. David Beckham, in […]

J Hutcherson of The United States National Team Soccer Players Association weighs in on the Beckham news with a heavier dose of skepticism than many of his fellow pundits across the U.S. soccer universe. Among the things he says to consider: while we know that Anschutz Entertainment Group, the owner of the L.A. Galaxy, is […]

The winter transfer season of discontent continues as Chelsea’s Jose Mourinho became the latest high-profile manager to complain about his current group of players. The brash Mourinho, however, went so far as to publicly criticize the team’s upper management for its failure to release the necessary funds to help him bolster his side for the […]

Real Madrid has made it clear that it wants to be rid of Ronaldo. In the last two seasons the Brazilian striker has looked a pale shadow of his former self: overweight, often injured, and at times looking absolutely disinterested. Spanish paper La Marca claimed he has two offers on the table, one from Saudi […]

The departure of David Beckham from Real Madrid is one of three major changes that Coach Fabio Capello hoped to implement this year. The other two are ageing Brazilian striker Ronaldo and the impetuous but brilliant Antonio Cassano, who can’t seem to get along with authority figures or keep his mouth shut. But while Ronaldo […]

Ian Plenderleith of the Guardian is at least one British pundit who praises David Beckham’s move to MLS, on both a personal and professional level. He points out, first of all, that was always a foregone conclusion that Beckham would one day wind up in MLS, and with the L.A. Galaxy. Over the years, he’s […]

By now, surely, if you’re any kind of soccer fan in America with access to the Internet, you’ve heard the news that David Beckham is on his way to Major League Soccer to play with the Los Angeles Galaxy. Rather like the war in Iraq, the big news has had an instantly polarizing effect in […]

Hooliganism, a problem that has plagued England and Germany in the past, is rapidly turning into a uniquely French problem, writes Paul Marshall of Soccernet. While English soccer is increasingly becoming a sport more for the middle and upper classes, French soccer stadiums are rapidly devolving into breeding grounds for gangs. Two months ago, a […]

While Paul Gardner uses his column in the New York Sun to bash England’s FA Cup as being meaningless to England’s top clubs, the New York Times’ Jack Bell lauds England’s domestic tournaments for their unique ability to pit near part-time teams against the giants of English soccer. Case in point: Wednesday’s League Cup meeting […]

Clint Dempsey was granted a work permit by England’s Home Office on Wednesday clearing the way for the American midfielder to complete his $3.9 million move to Fulham FC from the New England Revolution. It’s a fantastic move for a player who grew up in poverty in East Texas. “He has all the attributes to […]

David Beckham’s representatives may have thought they have the upper hand in negotiating the former England captain’s new contract, but in an astonishing about-face, Real Madrid’s sporting director, Pedrag Mijatovic, told Italian television’s Sky TG 24 that his contract would not be renewed. When asked the question directly, Mijatovic responded, “No, Beckham’s contract was not […]

Claudio Reyna will move to Major League Soccer and most likely the New York Red Bulls in a matter of days, writes Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald News. The Manchester City central midfielder has been thinking about returning to the States, Stuart Pearce told the Associated Press yesterday. Galarcep says the fact that […]

The MLS SuperDraft is this Friday in Indianapolis, and Frank Giase of the Newark Star-Ledger says the New York Red Bulls can’t afford to be too picky this year. Last year was perhaps something of an anomaly: not only did the then-MetroStars walk away with No. 1 draft pick Marvell Wynne from UCLA, but they […]

It’s now a matter for The Home Office tribunal in England to deal with, but Fulham Football Club and Major League Soccer have agreed to a transfer for Clint Dempsey worth $4 million, according to the Boston Globe. In order to get the required work permit, Dempsey must have played in at least 75 percent […]

The day after the Deseret Morning News tried to infuse a hint of optimism into the flagging Real Salt Lake stadium project, Utah House Speaker Greg Curtis pronounced the turbulent stadium project “dead.” This isn’t the first time the deal has been pronounced as such; Sandy mayor Tom Dolan said the same thing six months […]

U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati has said before that the appointment of Bob Bradley as national team coach is not the beginning of a new era. Rather, he says, we’re still in the midst of the “modern era” of U.S. soccer, which began when a rag-tag group of college soccer players qualified for the 1990 […]

The initial meeting that eventually led to the takeover of D.C. United by a motley crew of investors actually happened at last year’s World Cup final in Germany. At a hospitality tent outside Berlin’s Olympic Stadium, MLS Commissioner Don Garber met real estate mogul Victor MacFarlane; they were introduced by United President Kevin Payne, and […]

For Iraqis, soccer provides a much-needed respite from the ravages of their daily reality. Nowhere was this more in evidence than at the 2006 Asian Games, where the Iraqi soccer team finished in second place, narrowly losing out, 1-0, to Qatar in the final. En route to the Dec. 15 final, the Iraqis defeated somoe […]

If Real Salt Lake does indeed get the go-ahead to build its soccer stadium outside Salt Lake City, kudos will have to be handed out to RSL’s management and Tom Dolan, the mayor of Sandy, where the proposed stadium would be built. Dolan most recently met with local representative Greg Curtis R-Sandy to see if […]

ESPN Soccernet’s Kristian Dyer talks with American soccer legend Alexi Lalas about his event-filled 2006. From the sale of the MetroStars early in the year to Red Bull, the energy drink maker, to the move west to takeover as GM for the defending champ LA Galaxy. All in all, it was an up and mostly […]

It’s a strange fate for D.C. United, the most successful club in the history of Major League Soccer, but the giant Anschutz Entertainment Group has now sold the MLS club to a group investors, who include several former Duke University basketball stars, of all people. The investors, who include a San Francisco real estate mogul […]

It was seen as a major coup when Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson secured the services of former Sweden, Celtic and Barcelona star Henrik Larsson in an offseason loan deal late last year, but the BBC reports that Helsingborg, the player’s Swedish employer, may be willing to extend the 35-year old striker’s deal past […]