Category: Section 2 Around the Net

Georgia may be embroiled in a violent geo-political conflict with Russia, but at least its soccer side managed a win, albeit against a struggling Wales team in an exhibition game.

Thursday’s matchup between the Chicago Fire and the L.A. Galaxy in California should have been a flagship game for Major League Soccer, writes Luis Arroyave. Bruce Arena makes his debut as Galaxy coach, pitching the western conference divas in desperate need of a win against the eastern high-fliers, with the league’s most prominent designated players […]

Toronto FC kept quiet during the past week’s press reports about midfielder Maurice Edu’s $5 million move to Glasgow Rangers. But on Tuesday the team made a flurry of announcements, waiving midfielder Laurent Robert, and signing L.A.’s much-traveled Guatemalan striker Carlos Ruiz. Edu’s move, meanwhile, will become official when the player receives a U.K. work […]

“Two red cards, defensive play, zero goals,” Grant Wahl helpfully pointed out to Brazilian coach Dunga after his side’s 3-0 Olympic semifinal defeat at the hands of Argentina Tuesday. “What happened to the Beautiful Game of Brazil?” His reward from the curator of what Wahl calls O Jogo Feio (the Ugly Game), was “the old […]

Manchester United’s long-serving defender Mikaël Silvestre, 31, is reportedly moving to Arsenal, becoming the first player to move from Old Trafford to the north London side for 34 years. Brian Kidd was the last player to head south from United to Arsenal, back in 1974. Arsenal coach Arsène Wenger set up the Silvestre deal after […]

A fan vote on the worst ever Premier League team has revealed a surprising number of Manchester United players in the losers’ lineup. Less surprisingly, former L.A. Galaxy defender Abel Xavier also made the cut. In goal for ‘Relegation United’ is United’s former shot-stopper Massimo Taibi, who polled a third of the vote. The defence […]

Will Dunga keep his job after Brazil’s Olympic semifinal mauling to South American rivals Argentina?

George Gorecki examines the future of men’s soccer as an Olympic event.

Chelsea’s Ukrainian striker Andriy Shevchenko is set to end his unsettled two-year spell in London with a one-year loan move to his previous club, AC Milan.

Forget the rumors, here’s a comprehensive list of all the Premier League transfers that have taken place this summer.

The modest terrace house in Belfast where Northern Ireland’s soccer legend George Best grew up is on the market at just over $300,000.

Luis Bueno takes the ‘glass half empty’ view of Arena’s coaching record.

“When I previously suggested Leiweke and AEG stick to arenas, I didn’t mean for him to take me quite so literally.” Columnist Steve Dilbeck on Bruce Arena’s appointment at the Galaxy.

Romanian striker Adrian Mutu will appeal the $27 million fine he has been ordered to pay his former club Chelsea, calling FIFA’s ruling “unjust” and “inhumane.” The world soccer governing body last week ruled that the player must make the compensation payment after testing positive for cocaine while at Chelsea in 2004. The club sacked […]

Guatemala has never qualified for the World Cup, but it only just missed out on making it to the 2006 tournament in Germany. As the team prepares for its semifinal round opening game against the U.S. Wednesday, Steven Goff in Guatemala City discovers that hopes are higher than ever before in a country of 13 […]

New L.A. Galaxy head coach and GM Bruce Arena took over at the New York Red Bulls two years ago and almost turned the team’s season around, taking them into the playoffs where they narrowly lost to D.C. United. In the short term, can Arena repeat that feat with L.A., asks Nick Green? The team […]

As England shapes up for an international friendly against the Czech Republic Wednesday, Middlesbrough winger Stewart Downing has praised new manager Fabio Capello for turning the England squad into a meritocracy. That is, he’s more confident that he’ll be picked under Capello than he would have been under predecessor Steve McClaren. Downing, who also played […]

The Seattle Sounders’ striker Sebastien Le Toux, 24, was the club’s first player to be signed for the MLS franchise-in-waiting’s roster for next year’s jump to the top flight. He would also rather play for the U.S. national team than for his native France because, he told Jon Naito, “I would want to play for […]

Looking at the best performances of the English Premier League’s opening day, Paul Doyle pinpoints Hull City’s Brazilian striker Geovanni, who scored in the newly promoted team’s 2-1 victory over Fulham. Spurned by Manchester City, where he was rarely used by previous manager Sven Goran Eriksson, Geovanni could turn out to be “the bargain of […]

Neven Subotic (Dortmund), Matt Taylor (Koblenz) and Grover Gibson (Ahlen) all scored in German first and second division action at the weekend.

Former teammate Xavi says that Ronaldinho’s partying lifestyle cost him his place at Barcelona.

Jonah Freedman spotted the New England Revolution’s Khano Smith throwing a bottle of Gatorade at two San Jose fans after Saturday’s 4-0 defeat.

Injury has dogged the career of U.S. national team defender Cory Gibbs, 28, but at the weekend he finally made his comeback to competitive soccer by making his debut for the Colorado Rapids in a 2-1 win over the Kansas City Wizards. He told Greg Lalas that all he wants to do now is “simply […]

The Columbus Crew entered "unfamiliar territory" after weekend play and its home win over FC Dallas, writes Shawn Mitchell, topping both the eastern and the overall rankings. But Coach Sigi Schmid is not thinking about titles yet, he just wants to make the playoffs. "I'm not all that focused on first, second or third," Schmid […]

A verbal fight has broken out between the men and the women in Canadian soccer, writes Gareth Wheeler. When TV color commentator Jason de Vos questioned the kick and rush tactics of women's team coach Even Pellerud in the Olympic quarterfinal loss to the U.S. last week, Canadian women's team captain Christine Sinclair responded by […]