Category: Section 2 Around the Net

Just about everybody, with the notable exception of Manchester United’s Sir Alex Ferguson and Chelsea’s Jose Mourinho, has been heaping praise on Arsene Wenger, Arsenal’s talented manager, who this week celebrated 10 years in charge of the Gunners. As ever, the tactician received effusive praise from his players on the eve of the anniversary, his […]

This will come as a surprise to no one: MLS is inflating the number of fans who attend matches. Mark Ziegler of the San Diego Union-Tribune wades through MLS documents that show that not only are game attendances inflated, but roughly one in four tickets for regular season matches are given away. The average paid […]

Major League Soccer will become the first major sports league in the U.S. to allow teams to sell sponsorships on their jerseys when the 2007 season starts next spring. Perhaps, as many hope, this is a sign that MLS is becoming more like Europe’s soccer leagues and less like America’s sports leagues. Or perhaps not. […]

He is the self-described, self-styled “special one,” the man who arrived at Stamford Bridge in 2004 fresh from having sewn up both the Portuguese league and far more prestigious European Champions League to take control of an English club that had suddenly found itself with an endless supply of funds to spend on the world’s […]

The Chicago Fire won its fourth U.S. Open Cup last night, beating the defending champ Los Angeles Galaxy 3-1 at Toyota Park. Nate Jaqua opened the scoring in the 10th minute, heading home after Andy Herron’s shot across the goalmouth deflected toward him. Six minutes later Herron added his name to the scoresheet, heading in […]

Some people just don’t think the “bung” scandal that has recently enveloped English soccer is all that surprising. Bungs are kickbacks, and Collin Gordon, close friend and agent of England manager Steve McClaren, says managers and agents take them all the time. Gordon called England “the dirty man of Europe” when it came to transfer […]

Major League Soccer downplayed speculation linking D.C. United’s teenage sensation Freddy Adu with Reading in the English Premiership. Whisperings in the press said that Reading was reportedly set to sign the 17-year old on loan in January after the MLS season concludes in November. However, D.C. United does not want to see him go. A […]

David Beckham’s contract dispute continues with Real Madrid. Both the club and the player have openly stated their intent to continue the relationship, but both sides still have yet to agree to an extension. At the moment, things aren’t going very well for David Beckham: he’s lost his place in Steve McClaren’s England squad, and […]

Discipline once again proved to be a major problem for Inter Milan, as the nine-man Nerazzurri fell 2-0 at home to German champion Bayern Munich. Forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic was sent off for a second yellow card in the 58th minute, and then Fabio Grosso later joined him for throwing out a harsh elbow in the […]

Peter Crouch put in the kind of goalscoring performance last night that coaches dream of. Never mind that Liverpool nearly gave up a three-goal lead and had to endure a nervy last 25 minutes in a crucial Champions League match at home to Galatasaray. The manner in which the Turks almost came back was reminiscent […]

In the past, FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, has never been shy about changing the rules of the game, its qualifying procedures, or even the manner in which games are decided. President Sepp Blatter admits that he’s never been a fan of ending crucial matches like the World Cup final with penalty kicks. Even though […]

Chivas USA was certainly the goat in MLS last year, after finishing dead last in its debut season. This year, Chivas finds itself in unfamiliar territory: the “other” team from LA is sitting pretty in second place in the Western Conference with one foot in the playoffs and just three games to go in the […]

Following the unprecedented punishment of Ashley Cole’s agent Jonathan Barnett by England’s Football Association, the FA is now urging FIFA and the Israeli Football Association to punish Pini Zahavi, the other agent who was present at the infamous London hotel gathering in which Cole illegally talked with Chelsea officials. Zahavi wasn’t punished by the English […]

Real Madrid recorded a strange win yesterday over Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League. The scoreboard shows that Los Merengues destroyed the Ukrainian side, 5-1, but if you saw the match you couldn’t help but notice how shaky Real Madrid looked in defense. Goalkeeper Iker Casillas had to rescue Real Madrid on several occasions yesterday, […]

Believe it or not, last night’s 1-0 win over Benfica at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon was Manchester United’s first away win in the Champions League since a Diego Forlan match-winner against Panathinaikos back in November 2003. That makes yesterday’s victory doubly sweet, because not only has it been a long time since United […]

Paul Gardner, writing for the New York Sun, talks about Warnergate, yet another scandal hanging over FIFA at the moment. Earlier this month, FIFA Vice President Jack Warner came under suspicion of making a lot of money scalping World Cup tickets. Associated with a travel company called Simpaul, run by his son Daryan, Warner was […]

It should be another fantastic weekend for Major League Soccer as the regular season inches closer to an end and just about every team with hopes of making the playoffs faces a do-or-die situation. With DC United, the Chicago Fire and FC Dallas the only teams to have booked safe passage into the next round, […]

Since his $57 million move to Chelsea, striker Andriy Shevchenko has looked a shadow of the player who netted 127 goals in 207 appearances for AC Milan. But as the Independent’s Glenn Moore points out, many of the EPL’s foreign legends started out their Premierships stumbling. Among them, Dennis Bergkamp and Robert Pires of Arsenal, […]

Another of English soccer’s lingering scandals came to resolution Tuesday after Jonathan Barnett, Ashley Cole’s agent, was fined $190,000 and had his license suspended for his part in the infamous “tapping-up” affair of 20 months ago. An independent Football Association committee found sufficient evidence that the secret meeting between Chelsea manager Mourinho, chief executive Peter […]

It seems like scandal revelation is becoming a daily occurrence at FIFA-affiliated soccer organizations across the globe. The biggest scandal of the day involves South American Confederation (Conmebol) President Nicolas Leoz, who has been accused of bribery in connection with the collapse of ISMM in 2001, FIFA’s former marketing partner. The collapse of the independent […]

Jaime Moreno came off the bench to lead D.C. United past New York’s Red Bulls in a game that sounded a lot closer than it actually was. The game tied, 1-1, after halftime, Moreno came off the bench and within three minutes set up Christian Gomez for United’s second. Then, just after United went down […]

Believe it or not, the Los Angeles Galaxy still isn’t out of contention for the MLS Cup Playoffs despite losing 2-1 to the Chicago Fire this weekend. How’s that? Because Real Salt Lake and the Colorado Rapids, which are both vying for the same fourth-place spot, managed to lose over the weekend, too. The Fire […]

You’d be forgiven for forgetting that Javier Saviola is still a Barcelona player, but last night, during Barca’s thrilling 1-1 draw at home to Valencia, Saviola made his first official appearance for the Catalan club in 854 days. That’s after 28 months and two loan spells, one to Monaco in France in 2004 and the […]

An astonishing defensive breakdown after conceding a dubious penalty with 15 minutes to go caused Inter Milan to concede three goals in the late going despite having led Chievo Verona, 4-0, after 70 minutes. Two fantastic goals from Hernan Crespo were the highlights of the 4-3 Inter victory that featured a solid team performance from […]

The FIGC, Italy’s soccer federation, is set to launch an investigation after former referee Massimo De Santis accused Inter Milan of tailing him after games and tapping his phone in 2002. De Santis was recently handed a four-year ban due to his involvement in the Calciopoli scandal, which was blown wide open once again by […]