Category: Soccer America Confidential

By the time he returns to Spain, surely, Jozy Altidore will be a must-use for his club Xerez, seeing as how he drilled four goals in two hours of action for the USA against El Salvador and Trinidad & Tobago in Hexagonal matches.

Though Columbus is the team that Hunt Sports Group is reportedly willing to sell, neither the defending champion Crew nor FC Dallas, the other HSG-property, is off to a great start at the gate.

For better or worse, Quakes coach Frank Yallop is doing something akin to what he tried to do with the Galaxy; i.e., transform a wing midfielder, Bobby Convey, into an effective central player. The same experiment failed miserably with David Beckham for many reasons, and though the situations are hardly similar, since so different are […]

Three goals a game, I’ll take it. But it’s probably not long for this world.

The only expansion choice that wouldn’t involve a gamble in these economic times would be to not to expand at all, but the MLS Board of Governors and the league’s Expansion Committee are forging ahead.

I don’t wish ill on anyone in MLS, though I may disagree with the tactics of a coach, the attitude of a player, or the sanity of a marketing campaign. If that means I’m someone who sees the glass more than half-full, well so be it.

I don’t believe the financials, any of them, being bandied about in the wake of David Beckham‘s extended loan deal. But I never really believed he would, or could, earn $250 million during his original five-year MLS deal, either.

The share-loan agreement between AC Milan and MLS regarding David Beckham will generate not a ripple effect, but rather a shockwave of changes and adjustments.

Still, don’t expect Beckham, nor AC Milan, to directly bear the brunt of financial burdens his departure will impose. The majority of the costs instead will be borne, and balanced, by those entities soon to be without him.

Is 2009 the season that an MLS team takes the plunge and hangs the Designated Player label on a U.S. player who hasn’t been to Europe in some shape or form?

Fans in Toronto, Washington, D.C., San Jose, Chicago and Columbus and a few other MLS cities are proving one tenet of the league that too many critics ignore; as good as soccer on TV can be, it is a sport that is best experienced live with a team to root and cheer and live and die for.

At a family function – the xxth birthday of my mom’s best friend, I am forbidden to supply specifics – over the weekend I got a few questions to the effect of, “So, what are you writing about in the soccer world?” To which I responded, “What else?” The saga of David Beckham in America, now more than two years old, just won’t go away as the Galaxy stubbornly tries to avoid not only financial losses, but public embarrassment.

I hope not just the executives and officials of MLS, but the fans and journalists who follow the league, are paying close attention to the offseason goings-on regarding Designated Players as the high-priced option comes into its third season of existence.

Should officials of Prince George County – that’s in Maryland, by the way – reach agreement with D.C. United and MLS to build a stadium, as is being discussed, fans might want to nickname it “FedUp Field.”

Now that it seems conditions for the USA-Mexico Hexagonal opener on Wednesday will be cool and wet rather than frigid and bitter, there’s been more questioning of U.S. Soccer’s decision to stage the match in Columbus.

A bit of a furor arose the other day when word came out that no longer will MLS coverage on the ESPN family of networks be confined to Thursdays, but rather be spread amongst several days of the week.

Like his Galaxy teammate David Beckham, Landon Donovan says he wants to stay in Europe.

Gee, what a shock, David Beckham getting injured his just his third Serie A game on loan with AC Milan. Serves him right.

Watching Sacha Kljestan take apart Sweden Saturday at Home Depot Center could convince anyone he’s primed and ready for a move overseas, yet success isn’t preordained for young Americans going to top-flight teams.

And it may not be the best move for Kljestan at this point in his career, unless Celtic sees in him the talents and attributes it needs in the next few months, not in a few years.

The SuperDraft annually reveals games within the game, moves that may interlock or interfere with others, perhaps logically, perhaps not.

Chivas USA coach Preki, to cite just one example, perplexed many of the “experts” attending the 2009 SuperDraft at the St. Louis Convention Center Thursday by passing on California goalkeeper Stefan Frei, whose Generation adidas status and exceptional college career triggered comparisons to 2005 Chivas USA rookie keeper Brad Guzan, now a U.S. national team player employed by English Premier League club Aston Villa.

Argentine defender Gonzalo Peralta has left D.C. United after just one season and returned home to play for second division Union de Santa Fe. Peralta made $199,000 last season, but was seemingly not interested in playing for less this year. He made 18 league  appearances (17 starts), scoring once, and missed much of the summer […]

Whatever Hunt Sports Group ends up doing with Kenny Cooper it is playing two very risky games. With European clubs trying to buy him, it is playing hardball. With Cooper himself, HSG is dealing low-ball. Since it holds the cards at both tables as well as the backing of MLS, HSG may win both games yet lose out in a third game, that of public opinion.

“Stewart’s been frustrated since the summer, really. When he signed his new contract he was assured that there would be significant investment in the squad. He feels that the club haven’t matched those expectations. He’s also frustrated that the team is once again struggling in the Premier League.” Stewart Downing Sr. explains why his son […]

Devout as they are to defense, it’s no surprise that most soccer coaches stress the need to “build from the back” when assembling, or dismantling, a team.

With the college season concluded and the MLS Combine and 2009 SuperDraft just a few weeks away, the time is ripe for the league to revise its policies regarding college players. But it won’t. A league that has coupled its SuperDraft with the NSCAA Convention to rake in a decent crowd for the proceedings has systemically and shamelessly hacked away at the college game.