Category: Story

Since moving to Spanish Second Division Xerex from La Liga-living Villarreal in January, it’s been a case of “different team, same story” for 19-year-old U.S. striker Jozy Altidore. Which is to say, lots of talk of potential, but not a lot of minutes on the field. None, to be exact.   Which is why he […]

Still stung from their surprising loss to the New York Red Bulls in last year’s semifinals, the Houston Dynamo is determined to get back into position to win their third MLS title in four years, and happy to open the 2009 season against the 2008 champ Columbus Crew on Saturday. But without key contributors like […]

Flamboyant Mexican forward Adolfo Bautista is entertaining thoughts of following in the footsteps of fellow famed star Cuauhtemoc Blanco by joining MLS this Summer, according to a report on mediotiempo.com.   While the colorful “Bofo” currently plays for Jaguares in the Mexican First Division, the team has yet to renew his contract for the 2009-10 […]

Not satisfied with recent Champions League results, Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho has successfully lobbied team owner Massimo Moratti for more spending cash and “has got the green light for a ($125 million) summer transfer assault on the Premier League,” according to The Daily Mirror. Mourinho is said to have his eye on six specific […]

In an effort to shed a recent past of being critical of the current national team coach and using verbal tirades to get his point across both on the field and in the locker room, midfielder Michael Ballack is slowly building back relationships with Joachim Loew and teammates alike as Germany attempts to qualify for […]

“I think we were all curious to see how he looked when he came in.  I’ve been very impressed with him. Tony has as much experience in U.S. soccer as anybody and he’s been around a long time. He’s played on big teams around the world and he really understands the league.”  L.A. Galaxy forward […]

“I believe it is over. Ronaldo, for his skills, can still play at a good level, but it will never be like before.  The national team is a different thing. We can’t be paternalistic or we would also call up Pele, Zagalo and Zico.”  Carlos Alberto Torres, who captained the Selecao to the World Cup […]

“I knew beforehand what the answer would be, but I called him anyway.” Dutch national team coach Bert Van Marwijk, who was expectedly unsuccessful in his attempt to lure 38-year-old keeper Edwin Van der Sar out of international retirement to help the Netherlands qualify for the 2010 World Cup.

MLS and its Commissioner Don Garber have come a long way in 10 years, writes Sport Business Journal’s Tripp Mickle, who reminds us that when Garber was named to the league’s top post in 1999, “the soccer press didn’t think he would last 10 months. He had no soccer background, attendance was in decline, two […]

Despite the fact they have yet to play an official game as part of Major League Soccer, Seattle co-owner Drew Carey will not let you refer to his Sounders as an expansion team. And when you think about it, they really aren’t, what with their multiple championship-winning coach, league-high season ticket-holding fan base, state-of-the-art stadium […]

The Puerto Rican Islanders’ success in the CONCACAF Champions League is almost as unexpected as the difficulty in finding a soccer field in the baseball and basketball-crazed, Spanish-speaking U.S. territory.  The five-year-old USL-1 team’s unlikely path to Tuesday’s semifinal against ancient Mexican club Cruz Azul is just another story in the sports history of “the […]