Category: Section 2 Around the Net

After Cristiano Ronaldo admitted uncertainty about his future at Manchester United, Real Madrid's likely future president Florentino Perez has suggested that the club will make a strong push for the superstar. "He's a player that would be very good if he came to Real Madrid," Perez is quoted as saying by Sky Sports. "What I […]

In wet conditions, Pumas took a 1-0 lead over Pachuca in the first leg of the Clausura championship. In the first half, Dante Lopez collected an errant clearance from the Pachuca goalkeeper and slotted home to give Pumas a 1-0 lead that it preserved in the second half. The two rivals will face off again […]

Goalkeeper Tim Howard thinks an FA Cup final win with Everton on Saturday would feel even better than the one he enjoyed with Manchester United five years ago. Howard became the first American to win the FA Cup when his United team routed lower-league Millwall 3-0 in the 2004 final. But that was just one […]

D.C. United announced Thursday that it will play a friendly match against Real Madrid on Aug. 9 at FedEx Field in Maryland. The match represents a rematch for the two squads, who played out a compelling 1-1 draw at Qwest Field in Seattle three years ago, entertaining a record-breaking crowd of 66,830. “A capacity crowd […]

The Philadelphia Union, MLS’s newest expansion team, will introduce Peter Nowak as its first head coach at a press conference on Friday, sources told Soccer By Ives on Wednesday. Nowak, the only man to ever win an MLS Cup as a player and head coach, will leave his post as U.S. national team assistant coach […]

Sacha Gaydamak, the owner of Portsmouth, has agreed to sell the club to Dubai-born businessman Sulaiman Al-Fahim. Al-Fahim brokered the buyout of Manchester City last August for the Abu Dhabi United Group, an investment vehicle owned by Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the billionaire member of the Abu Dhabi royal family. Al-Fahim said last […]

After grabbing titles like two-for-one specials in 2006 and 2007 – winning the Clausura and Copa Sudamericana titles in 2006, then the 2007 Clausura, Concacaf Champions League crown and SuperLiga title – Pachuca hit a dry spell. Struggles in the league translated to tournament struggles. But the club is back in the throes of a […]

Manchester United coach Alex Ferguson lamented his team's unusually slack defending against Barcelona: "In our best performances this season we have defended very well, but the defending was shoddy. "The first goal didn't help. It gave them the opportunity to keep possession. We didn't plan to lose a goal early and we didn't deal with […]

Sunderland released former Manchester United striker Dwight Yorke on Thursday. The Trinidad & Tobago international, 37, started just four league games last season. Yorke was one of seven players not offered new contracts by the club that narrowly avoided relegation.  

Sean Franklin, the 2008 MLS Rookie of the Year, is set to miss between four and six months after undergoing surgery to repair a torn right hamstring tendon. The Los Angeles Galaxy right back suffered the injury during the Galaxy's 1-1 tie vs. Columbus on May 17. He underwent successful surgery on Tuesday.  

Abdul Hamid and Samir Badr, two goalkeepers in the D.C. United development program, are among the nation's top goalkeeping prospects in the country. Both teenagers look poised to ink deals with European clubs this summer. Hamid, on the U-18 team, stands 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds. Hamid's size and talent have had him on the national […]

SC Cambuur, a Dutch club managed by Bethesda, Md., native Alex Pama, is close to gaining promotion to the Eredivise and playing in the Netherlands' top flight for the first time in nine years, reports Steven Goff of the Washington Post. Pama, who moved to the Netherlands with his family at age 5, returned to […]

Honduras' run to the final round of Concacaf 2010 World Cup qualifying has put Toronto FC midfielder Amado Guevara closer to his lifelong ambition of playing on soccer's greatest stage. "It's a dream for the whole country of Honduras. For the fans it's been such a long time that Honduras hasn't been in the World […]

A Manchester United fan in Rome for Wednesday's Champions League final has been discharged from the hospital after being treated for a stab wound and head injury, police and hospital staff said. Though police said it was unclear whether the man had been attacked by rival fans or muggers, the assault raised fears of further […]

A victory in Wednesday's Champions League final will net Manchester United or Barcelona at least $154 million, according to a new study. The loser will take home $91 million from a match that is worth more than $433 million to the European economy, $60 million more than last year's final in Moscow. The global economic […]

A group of furious Fluminense fans invaded a training session on Tuesday. Based on video of the event, one of the estimated 30 fans aimed a punch at midfielder Diguinho who hit back and tried to escape through a side door. Reports said fans retreated after a security guard fired two shots into the air. […]

Geordie legend Alan Shearer will sit down with Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley and managing director Derek Llambias on Tuesday to discuss his and the club's future. Following relegation from the Premier League on Sunday, Shearer said that the floundering Tyneside club required root-and-branch reform and Newcastle's former No. 9 will demand things get done […]

Ajax Amsterdam has appointed Martin Jol as its head coach, on a three-year contract, the Dutch club announced on Tuesday. Jol, who was under contract at Germany's Hamburg SV until 2010, will succeed Marco van Basten, who resigned a week before the end of the season. "I had a great time working for Hamburg, which […]

After a slow start, marketing for June's Confederations Cup has picked up, with private companies and government agencies joining various soccer-themed campaigns. The Local Organizing Committee (LOC), responsible for marketing the event, has increased its efforts within South Africa, the host nation that needs to produce most of the spectators. Billboards advertising the event have […]

Rio Ferdinand eased any lingering fears about his fitness ahead of the Champions League final (Wednesday, 2:30 pm ET, ESPN) by coming through his most arduous training session since suffering the calf injury that jeopardized his appearance in Rome. There was no apparent reaction to the problem that forced him to miss Manchester United's past […]

Houston Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear rarely throws around praise for any individual players in his starting XI. But Saturday night at Robertson Stadium, after the Dynamo pounded San Jose 3-1 to pull within one point of Seattle in the Western Conference standings, Kinnear heaped praise on longtime Dynamo midfielder Brad Davis. Davis’s precise passing on […]

Juventus has signed the Brazilian playmaker Diego from Werder Bremen for a $34 million transfer fee to a five-year deal, the Serie A club said on Tuesday. Diego had two years left on his contract with the Bundesliga team but had made it clear that he wanted a new challenge. Diego has been one of […]

On Thursday, members of the New York Red Bulls got a chance play a six-on-six game on the flight deck of the USS Intrepid against the crew of the USS Roosevelt, stationed in town for New York Fleet Week 2009. Originally built to serve during WWII, the Navy decommissioned the Intrepid in 1974. It is […]

Alan Shearer‘s Newcastle needs at least a point against Aston Villa on Sunday. But even a win might not ensure survival in the Premier League if Hull City beast Manchester City and Sunderland upends Chelsea. “It’s bigger than a cup final, a hell of a lot bigger than a cup final,” said Shearer. “The question […]

Pre-tournament favorite Boca Juniors crashed out of the Copa Libertadores in a surprise 1-0 loss to Uruguay visitor Defensor Sporting on Thursday. Diego De Souza scored with a fierce shot in the 28th minute in the Bombonera to lift Defensor into the quarterfinals, 3-2 on aggregate. That set up quarterfinals of Cruzeiro vs. Sao Paulo, […]