Category: Section 2 Around the Net

Two “positive” team performances saw a pair of underdogs through to the Major League Soccer Western Conference final, writes Jeff Carlyle of ESPN Soccernet. The Houston Dynamo and the Colorado Rapids both entered their semifinal clashes over the weekend trailing after the first leg, but were able to produce the goods to see them through […]

Outplayed and out-coached, D.C. United looked like it could be heading out of the first round of the Major League Soccer playoffs for the second year and row, but Christian Gomez, who will likely be named the MLS MVP in two week’s time, managed to bail out his team and his coach for the second […]

South Africa’s 2010 World Cup budget is bloated; the most recent count for new stadiums, personnel and administrative costs is $2 billion, the National Treasury said on Wednesday. A little more than half the total will go toward the construction and upgrading of the nation’s stadiums, as well as the development of the surrounding precincts. […]

Juventus was fortunate not to be demoted to Serie C for its part in Calcipoli, according to Juve lawyer Cesare Zacarone. “Probably someone in this meeting doesn’t understand the situation we were in,” said the lawyer. “The dossier that was given to us included so many infractions made by Luciano Moggi and Antonio Giraudo, who […]

Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson was spotted having dinner with Eli Papouchado, one of the men said to be involved in a prospective takeover bid for West Ham United, and Israeli super-agent Pini Zahavi in Tel Aviv on Sunday, sparking rumors that Papouchado and Zahavi may be courting Eriksson for the coaching job at West […]

After issuing a strong denial that he plans to return to England as coach of West Ham United, Sven-Goran Eriksson has made it clear that he wants to return to coaching. Athole Still, Eriksson’s agent, said his client wants to return to work in early January. Newcastle United and West Ham United are thought to […]

Leave it to hedge funds to come up with new ways to invest. Whether it be wine, whiskey, commodities, or soccer players, if there’s a high risk reward, you can bet there’s a hedge fund out there willing to put money down on it. That’s right, we said soccer players. For $470,000, two UK-registered hedge […]

D.C. United and U.S. national team midfielder Ben Olsen remembers when Christian Gomez arrived at D.C. United in August 2004. “The first couple of days he was out of shape, from Argentina,” Olsen said. “And I remember having conversations with guys, saying ‘Where did we get this guy?’ ‘How much are they paying this guy?’ […]

Diego Maradona could possibly return to coaching as the manager of Honduras, according to BBC News. At the very least, the Honduran soccer federation has held talks with the Argentine legend, who told reporters, “I’m sure we could form a good team. I have spoken with many people who say this soccer team is good.” […]

FIFA vice president Jack Warner was purring after a tour of Toronto’s new BMO Field, the stadium where Major League Soccer’s expansion Toronto FC will play its home matches, The Canadian Press reported Thursday. “I get goose pimples looking at this,” Warner said. “When I left here [in April], it was a bare piece of […]

AC Milan’s Brazilian midfielder Kaka declared that this weekend’s derby between his team and Inter Milan is to be worth six points. The Rossoneri are currently 12th in the Serie A standings, 11 points behind leader Inter, with 7 points after the club’s 8-point deduction for its part in last season’s Calciopoli scandal. Milan returned […]

In his column in today’s La Gazzetta Dello Sport former Italy manager Arrigo Sacchi drops his two cents on why Serie A’s attendances have dropped to a 35-year low. He contends that the problem is beyond a single cause, but among the problems he sees are “tired, inhospitable,” deteriorating stadiums, as well as an increase […]

If you had any doubt as to the authenticity of the myriad injuries audiences around the world had to sit through during the World Cup, doubt no more: FIFA has just issued an internal report detailing the extent of the histrionics at this summer’s tournament in Germany. The chief finding-not surprisingly-is that players who fell […]

League officials in Italy, hoping for renewed enthusiasm in the country’s domestic soccer league following this summer’s World Cup triumph, will be disappointed to hear that fewer and fewer spectators are attending Serie A matches, according to a study conducted by Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport. The average crowd for a Serie A match […]

Oh, how quickly the fortunes of West Ham United have changed: two months ago, manager Alan Pardew and his Hammers had started the season with a respectable 4 points from 3 games. It didn’t help that record-signing Dean Ashton managed to break his leg while training with England for a friendly against Greece, but then […]

FC Dallas forward Carlos Ruiz, winner of Major League Soccer’s Most Valuable Player award in 2002 when he won the title with the Los Angeles Galaxy, lifted the Hoops to victory with a first-half goal against the Colorado Rapids in the first-leg of the Eastern Conference semifinal. The New York Times spoke with the talented […]

Major League Soccer lost credibility in soccer columnist Frank Dell’Apa’s eyes following the suspension of New England’s holding midfielder Shalrie Joseph for the home leg of the Revolution’s Eastern Conference semifinal against the Chicago Fire. Dell’Apa says referee Tim Weyland handled the situation correctly when he allowed play to proceed after Ivan Guerrero had held […]

In Italy’s Serie A, the big guys are stumbling. Inter Milan, the favorite for this year’s Scudetto, is managing good results without ever having looked like a champion, AS Roma looks at times unbeatable and absolutely indifferent at others, and AC Milan can’t score, while still needing to compensate for an 8-point match-fixing penalty. As […]

Former AC Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko may be struggling to find goals in his first season at Chelsea, but his struggles are nothing compared to the problems his old club is collectively having in front of goal. Milan, consistently regarded as one of the world’s top clubs, has scored just 10 goals in ten matches […]

Much has been made in the Spanish press about the instant turnaround of Real Madrid after its Oct. 14 loss to Getafe. Since then, Los Merengues have recorded emphatic wins against Steaua Bucharest in the Champions League and then Barcelona in the La Liga clasico. There were whisperings prior to those matches that coach Fabio […]

Paul Gardner isn’t the only pundit who wasn’t impressed by the opening weekend of the Major League Soccer Playoffs. Grahame L. Jones, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, writes: “Major League Soccer received the clearest of possible signals over the weekend that its playoff format needs rethinking as a total of only 38,133 fans […]

Soccer columnist Paul Gardner laments that the 2006 Major League Soccer playoffs opened with poor officiating and few goals. The four nationally televised first-leg games produced just eight goals, or 2.0 per game, which he said is even fewer, expectedly, than the 2.62 goals per game the league averaged this regular season (the second lowest […]

With one point from its last three English Premier League games, things are starting to look desperate at Liverpool Football Club. Reds coach Rafael Benitez responded to Sunday’s deflating 2-0 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford by telling his players they now need to start proving themselves. Benitez has maintained all season that this […]

Marcello Lippi, Italy’s World Cup-winning coach, says he will return to the game in the New Year, according to Football Italia. The former Italy coach was linked with a move to Manchester United as a possible replacement for Sir Alex Ferguson, who is expected to retire after his 20th season in charge of the Red […]

New England manager Steve Nicol, whose Revs just lost the opening leg of Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference semis 1-0 to the Chicago Fire, sat down with BBC News to discuss life as an MLS coach-and the possibility of becoming coach of the U.S. National Team. BBC Sport claims he’s on Sunil Gulati’s shortlist to […]