Category: Section 2 Around the Net

After sitting out most of England’s miserable 2-0 win in Andorra on the bench Saturday, L.A. Galaxy’s right-sided midfielder David Beckham says the team needs “experience” for Wednesday’s game in Croatia. Teenager Theo Walcott had started the game in Beckham’s place.

David Beckham only played the final 10 minutes of his country’s World Cup qualifying game in Andorra at the weekend, and his international career isn’t the only thing on the slide. Compared with last season, ticket sales for his appearance with the L.A. Galaxy at the Kansas City Wizards this Saturday are down too, writes […]

Considering that the top two teams in Major League Soccer were matching up, Saturday’s contest between the Columbus Crew and the New England Revolution was somewhat one-sided. As the Crew won 4-0, writes Michael Arace, it “toyed with” its opponent and finally laid to rest the curse of the October 2004 playoff game that had […]

The Revs, meanwhile, have now been outscored 8-0 in their last two matches, and are 1-3-2 in MLS play since August 5.   New England coach Steve Nicol said he is “not concerned about the confidence of his experienced players during this challenging stretch [to the end of the season],” reports Monique Walker, but he […]

It was bound to happen sometime — a player getting injured while indulging in an elaborate goal celebration. Even worse for Real Salt Lake’s striker Fabian Espindola was that while he was injuring his ankle with a somersault to celebrate what he thought was his team’s go-ahead goal against L.A., the officials were busy consulting […]

Toronto FC coach John Carver has been vocal these past few months about the obstacles he has faced as an MLS coach, but this does not mean the Englishman is ready to give up on the league. Even after losing at home to Chivas USA at the weekend when missing nine players on international duty, […]

Vancouver Whitecaps’ fans are keen to bring Major League Soccer to their city, reports Marc Weber.

Part-owner of the Houston Dynamo, boxer Oscar De La Hoya, watched the team’s 3-1 win over the Kansas City Wizards Sunday. His thoughts on a stadium deal for the team: “It’s getting closer and closer. Will we have a stadium? Absolutely. That’s the goal.”

The U.S. did “just enough to win” against Cuba at the weekend, writes Doug McIntyre and “if it wasn’t an overly impressive performance from the Yanks, it was a thoroughly professional and effective one.”

Cuban national team coach Reinhold Fanz thinks his team can beat the United States in Saturday’s World Cup qualifier, but “you need a little bit of luck,” he told Doug McIntyre in Havana. Fanz added that “we had no luck against Trinidad” in the semifinal round’s opening game, and consequently they lost 3-1.   True, […]

The teething woes of FC Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman continued in the suburb of Frisco Thursday when his inexperienced team lost 1-0 at home to Colorado Rapids. If it’s any consolation, once you’ve lost at home to the Rapids, things usually can’t get any worse.   “The one potential positive for FC Dallas could be […]

Tickets for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa will go on sale early next year, tournament organizers said Thursday. They will be sold in phases, with some available when qualification for the 32-team tournament is complete in late 2009.   The first batch of tickets will be sold in host cities, at airport terminals […]

Spanish giant Barcelona is considering a sister team in Miami, according to broadcaster  Univision. It reported that Barcelona’s president, Joan Laporta, has traveled to Florida to meet with MLS officials and local businessmen to discuss the “Barcelona USA” project, but there is as yet no timetable in place. Barcelona has played several preseason tours in […]

“It is depressing that in a society where there is supposed to be more sexual freedom, some popular newspapers and magazines continue to dress their interest in it as some form of moral indignation when what they are actually doing is making money from their readers’ interest in sex and salacious gossip.” Part of the […]

Croatian coach Slaven Bilic says he’s not keen on taking the vacant managerial post at his former side West Ham United.

James Montague says that Bahrain, the poorest state in the Gulf, could be the region’s surprise qualifier for the World Cup.

U.S. striker Preston Zimmermann has completed a move from SV Hamburg to Austrian first division side SV Kapfenberg.

Major League Soccer is going to examine a change in its rules to avoid the schedule conflicts that have lead to several clubs missing key players for games this weekend because of international duty, reports Dean McNulty.   He quotes “sources inside the MLS office in New York” as saying that the league’s competition committee […]

The top two teams in MLS will meet at Crew Stadium this weekend when Columbus hosts the New England Revolution. Shawn Mitchell generously labels it “the most anticipated Major League Soccer game of the week, perhaps even the season,” although New England, who will  head to Ohio trying to forget the 4-0 home spanking by […]

Merritt Paulson launched his plan Wednesday for bringing MLS to Portland, Ore. It involves a $75 million project to take the Portland Beavers baseball team out of PGE Park and into a new stadium, while converting PGE Park into a soccer facility.   Where would the cash come from? Paulson, who owns both the minor […]

That “great little competition,” the U.S. Open Cup, produced a dandy final Wednesday night when D.C. United topped the USL’s Charleston Battery 2-1 at RFK Stadium, writes Steve Davis. “The home team prevailed in a classic clash of a splashy MLS side against a smaller but impressive USL outfit, one that gave Tom Soehn’s home […]

Dr. Sulaiman Al Fahim is the front man of Manchester City’s likely new owners, the Abu Dhabi United Group, and he has already mentioned the possibility of paying in the region of $250 million for Cristiano Ronaldo because City “is going to be the biggest club in the world.” Splashing out cash like that, writes […]

“Basketball is so awesome because you can influence the game, you get so many touches on the ball, and I miss that.” Michelle Kaufman interviews U.S. national team goalkeeper Tim Howard.

“The league has fallen into the same trap as the Galaxy — trying to run before it can walk, trying to be global before it is even local.” Grahame L. Jones proposes easy solutions to Major League Soccer’s clogged schedule.

San Jose midfielder and columnist Kelly Gray says that one of the great things about MLS is the camaraderie among players of different teams. Although he doesn’t mention if he’s yet spotted Dema Kovalenko and Ronnie O’Brien sharing a beer.