Category: Section 2 Around the Net

Brazil is a heavy favorite ahead of the Under-20 World Cup, which kicks off this Thursday in Egypt. The four-time champions, however, has watched Argentina win five of the last seven tournaments, including 2007, when Brazil failed to reach the quarterfinals. Brazil can rest a little easier knowing that Argentina failed to qualify for this […]

Major League Soccer’s disciplinary committee has been busy this week. First, it doubled Chivas USA midfielder Marcelo Saragosa‘s suspension for his studs-to-face challenge of Seattle striker Fredy Montero during Saturday’s 0-0 draw. Houston Dynamo assistant coach John Spencer also had his suspension doubled to two games for a confrontation with officials that resulted in his […]

PGE Park, the new home of Portland's expansion MLS team, is adding 5,000 new seats below street level of the Southwest side of 18th Avenue. But those seats may not increase the current capacity of the stadium, around 17,000. San Francisco designers Ellerbe Becket told the Portland Design Commission that they plan to screen off […]

As quickly as he came to Notts County, Sol Campbell has left. After playing just one game for his new club, which Campbell joined earlier this month for a $66,000-a-week salary, the defender asked to be let go. Notts signed Campbell as part of an ambitious project to elevate the League Two team to Premier […]

As part of a joint World Cup bid, Belgium and the Netherlands will target smaller nations in their campaign to earn the vote for the 2018 or 2022 World Cup. "It should not be a monopoly of big countries. Small countries have a majority.” said Belgian bid director Alain Courtois. The decision to place the […]

Ronaldinho has denied speculation that he will hang up his cleats at the end of the season. The Brazilian star, twice FIFA World Player of the Year during his time at Barcelona, has fallen from grace while at AC Milan. His absence in the Rossoneri’s last two home games started rumors that the 29-year old […]

“Players and teams generally require comfort zones,” writes MLSnet’s Steve Davis. “Teams that haven’t settled into them by Week 27 are paying the price.” While Davis recognizes the “cause and effect cycle” in which failure causes tactical tacks, he points to this past weekend’s games as examples of the way teams with more defined roles […]

Nate Jaqua suffered a concussion on Aug. 29 against Toronto FC. Despite blurry vision and memory loss, he finished the game because Seattle had already used all three of its substitutes. The blow might explain Jaqua’s limited action recently for Sounders FC. After missing Seattle US Open Cup final, he missed his first regular season […]

After Manchester United's controversial derby win over Manchester City, in which Michael Owen scored the winning goal 90 ticks past the stoppage time indicted by the fourth official, The Guardian has crunched some numbers to reveal that the league's referees show the legendary club special favor when it is losing in extra time. "The Guardian […]

The longstanding feud between Adidas and Puma, companies started by rival brothers 60 years ago, simmered down with friendly soccer game. Employees of both companies shook hands and played a match in the Bavarian town of Herzogenaurach, where both are based. The match represented the first joint activity held by the two companies since 1948, […]

The MLS championship game has a new television slot. No longer airing on Sunday afternoon on ABC, the game will air at 8:30 pm ET on Nov. 22 on ESPN. Its first time on cable television, the game will go head-to-head with highly rated "Sunday Night Football" on NBC. League and network executives decided to […]

No matter how hard he tries, Diego Maradona can't stay out of the spotlight. After Argentina's 1-0 loss to Paraguay, which put Argentina close to missing next year's World Cup, Maradona flew to Italy to check into a weight loss clinic and avoid a showdown with Julio Grondona, president of the Argentine soccer federation and […]

The San Jose Earthquakes have yet to procure funding for their new stadium, but the team has still unveiled architectural renderings of its proposed 15,000-seat soccer stadium on a lot near Mineta San Jose International Airport. The drawings of the $60 million proposed project show a European-style, horseshoe-shaped stadium that hopes to have the closes […]

Sounders FC had a chance to solidify its playoff plans on Saturday at home against Chivas USA. Instead, it came away with a scoreless draw, marking the team’s fourth straight home game without a win. Despite a man advantage for over 20 minutes in the second half, Seattle couldn’t find the net against Chivas and […]

The Chicago Fire and Columbus Crew can't shake one another. In three games this season, they have played to three ties. The first time, Chicago fought back. The second ended in a scoreless draw. And on Sunday, the Crew fought back from two goals down. A pair of Peter Lowry goals put the Fire up […]

Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho has been dealt a one-match suspension for his outburst against the fourth official during Inter's 2-1 win over Cagliari on Sunday. Mourinho lambasted the official at the decision not to send off Davide Astori . The Lega Calcio confirmed the ban and a fine worth over $22,000. Mourninho will watch […]

The Los Angeles Galaxy posted a stellar defensive performance in a 2-0 win over Toronto FC a week after conceding six goals to FC Dallas. “The response from our players after last week was fabulous,” said L.A. coach Bruce Arena. “The effort by our guys, the concentration, the defending that needed to be done was […]

After Manchester United’s 4-3 derby win over Manchester City, United coach Alex Ferguson poked fun while City coach Mark Hughes vented his frustrations. “It’s been unusual for us to accept that they [City] are top dogs in terms of media attention but, you know, sometimes you have a noisy neighbor and you have to live […]

On Thursday, UEFA reported that almost a quarter of Europe's top division soccer clubs suffered major financial losses last year. Clubs' rising costs have offset increases in income. For example, while income rose five percent last year, player costs increased 9 percent. "The huge spending on players produces constantly an inflationary effect with consequences on […]

On Thursday, the Europa League implemented its experimental policy of using five match officials, using two extra assistants to help officiate incidents from behind the goals for the 24 first-round games. U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard got a shutout as Everton opened European soccer's second-tier cup competition with a 4-0 victory over AEK Athens in Group […]

Lionel Messi tacked a two-year extension onto his existing contract with European champion Barcelona. Barcelona says in a statement on its Web site that "the Argentina forward's new agreement runs until 2016 and has a buyout clause of [$368 million] included." The 22-year-old Messi's previous contract expired in 2014 with a buyout clause of $220 […]

In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, FutbolMLS.com/MLSnet.com is interviewing some of the league's top Latin players. 2008 MLS MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto speaks about the Crew's slow start, the quality of the league, and his native national team's struggles to qualify for the World Cup. Schelotto on the Crew's early struggles: "I believe that we […]

Preparing for the stretch run of the season, Chivas USA has made crucial moves to bolster its defense. Last week, Chivas acquired veteran goalkeeper Jon Conway from New York for a fourth-round draft pick in 2011. Conway will join Lance Parker as backup for Zach Thorton, Conway's former teammate in New York, who leads MLS […]

Julian de Guzman is itching to get on the field after spending a week training with his new club, Toronto FC. Toronto head coach Chris Cummins, normally tight-lipped about his starting lineups, has already penciled the club's most expensive player into the lineup against Saturday's opponent, the Los Angeles Galaxy. "If he feels good and […]

Philadelphia Union may not have its new stadium, currently under construction on Chester's waterfront, ready for its opening date next season. Prepared for such an event, the team is shopping for other venues, namely the Eagles' Lincoln Financial Field. "Right now everything is running on schedule construction-wise, but we are on a real tight schedule […]