In addition to plenty of MLS and Mexican league action this weekend, Spanish power Barcelona faces Chivas Guadalajara in a friendly in Chicago on Sunday. The Emirates Cup on GOL TV features powers from Italy, Germany, England and Spain.
Category: Story
Bayern Munich’s Path to Enlightenment
Spiegel magazine takes a look how Juergen Klinsmann is starting his coaching tenure at Bayern Munich, which is by far Germany's most dominant club but hasn't had European success since its 2001 Champions League win. Among the characters in the in-depth piece are former Bayern greats Uli Hoeness and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, now in club management, […]
Now They Can Laugh About It
Craig Tornberg, general manager of the New England Revolution soccer team, who helped subdue a naked, threatening man when the team was flying from Boston to Los Angeles last month, talked about the incident and his 15 minutes of “superhero fame.” When Tornberg saw the nude made leaving the bathroom, he said he was shocked […]
Guzan Cleared To Play in EPL
U.S. goalkeeper Brad Guzan, who left MLS’s Chivas USA for Aston Villa, has been granted a work permit by UK’s Home Office. Now the 23-year-old’s only obstacle to getting on the field when he returns from Olympic duty is fellow American Brad Friedel, the 37-year-old veteran who was signed in the offseason from Blackburn. Friedel […]
Rooney Questioned About Spitting at Photographer
England and Manchester United star Wayne Rooney, 22, has been questioned by police after allegedly spitting at a photographer. “At 12:10 am on Wednesday we received a third-party allegation that a photographer had been spat at by an individual outside a restaurant in Hanway Street, W1,” a Metropolitan police spokesman said. “Officers established the incident […]
Blatter Clarifies ‘Slave’ Statement
FIFA president Sepp Blatter said he was misquoted in media reports citing him as calling Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo a “slave” in the midst of the tug-of-war for the Portuguese star between his EPL club and Real Madrid. “I have never said that Ronaldo is a slave,” Blatter said. “What I said is slavery […]
MLS TV Schedule
Kansas City defends a six-game unbeaten streak (2-0-4) at D.C. United, which is tied with the Wizards in fourth place of the East. … Chicago will be without suspended Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Diego Gutierrez when it hosts Chivas USA. … Columbus travels to defending champ Houston. … San Jose host Sunday’s game against Los Angeles in Oakland, where 39,872 watched David Beckham and Co., against the Quakes in June. The Galaxy is 0-3-3 in its last six games and the Quakes are 0-3-4 in their last seven. … Also on Sunday, Toronto FC and FC Dallas meet for the first time this season. For all of this weekend’s MLS action on TV and the standings. …
MLS’s Honor Roll
With about three months to go in Year 2 of the Designated Player, D.C. United and Kansas City are still waiting for Marcelo Gallardo and Claudio Lopez, respectively, to surpass their solid performances and attain the lofty heights attained last year by Juan Pablo Angel, who himself battled injuries for the first half of 2008. In Los Angeles, home of DP David Beckham and his “grandfathered” colleague, U.S. international Landon Donovan, the offense is sexy but the defense is sordid. On the other coast, New England has steadily chugged along without an injured Taylor Twellman and has added a prime Rookie of the Year candidate to its already deep squad. Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney provides a rundown of MLS’s top players in 2008 so far, including a league Best XI …
W-League Playoff Results
The regular-season champion Pali Blues and the 2007 WPSL champion FC Indiana moved into Saturday’s W-League championship game (TV: Fox Soccer Channel, Saturday, 11 pm ET) with semifinal wins on Thursday in Virginia Beach, Va.
Arsenal nets tidy profit on Spurs’ Bentley move
[TRANSFER TALK] Tottenham has completed the signing of England international David Bentley, whose move from Blackburn will net Spurs’ biggest rival, Arsenal, a tidy profit.
Ma bad news for Chinese women
[OLYMPIC COUNTDOWN] Chinese star Ma Xiaoxu, dubbed the “female Wayne Rooney,” reinjured her left knee in a scrimmage against the USA on Wednesday in Qinhuangdao and will likely miss the Olympic women’s tournament that begins on Wednesday.
Fan sues after team banned from Champions League
[OFF THE POST] When CSKA Sofia won the Bulgarian league title last season, fans eagerly anticipated a Champions League qualifying campaign. But the Bulgarian soccer federation stripped it of that right when it was revealed the club owed money to the National Social Security Institute, National Revenue Agency, and a host of other lenders.
Dynamo’s Waibel liable to receive NFL calls?
[MLS/VIDEO] The Houston Dynamo may have to fend off a few calls from NFL teams after defender Craig Waibel put on a field-goal show at the Houston Texans’ training center.
Argentine Men Favored To Keep Gold Medal
Jeff Carlisle ranks the 16 men’s Olympic teams and puts defending champ Argentina at the top of the list because the team is “flat out loaded.” “This is especially true in midfield, where Juan Roman Riquelme and Javier Mascherano should dominate,” writes Carlisle. “Up top, things are less certain with Lionel Messi’s participation still in […]
Chicago Fire Downs EPL’s Everton
The Chicago Fire beat Everton, 2-0, on goals by Chris Rolfe and Tomasz Frankowski. The friendly win over last season’s fifth-place finisher in the English Premier League was watched by 9,125 fans in Bridgeview, Ill. The Fire outshot Everton, 17-7. Rolfe scored in the 42nd minute off a cross from Gonzalo Segares. Rolfe controlled the […]
Hailing Fabregas’ Loyalty
Columnist James Lawton says Arsenal’s 21-year-old Spanish star Cesc Fabregas’ declaration of dedictation to his club amid transfer rumors is a breath of fresh air amid the “ingrate football stars sneering at the point of contracts and the loyalty that until now they have always implied.” “Fabregas’s astonishing statement of fealty to the club which […]
German Coach, Players Defend Runner-up Party
Germany coach Joachim Loew and his players have rejected criticism of a public party that drew an estimated 100,000 fans in Berlin to celebrate the team’s second-place finish at Euro 2008. The event was not a victory party, but a way of thanking fans, said Loew after German soccer federation technical director Matthias Sammer said […]
U.S. Women Promise New Style at Olympics
“Lost in the sturm und drang over the Hope Solo affair at last year’s Women’s World Cup was a painful truth: The U.S. was playing ugly soccer,” writes Sports Illustrated’s Grant Wahl, who looks forward to the American women playing a better brand of soccer under Coach Pia Sundhage, who took over after the third-place […]
How should young players warm-up?
For those of us who grew up as teenage athletes in the 1970s (or earlier), we are familiar with the old “stretching” routine: we typically began a training or pregame session with a series of somewhat contorted movements such as the hurdler’s stretch for the hamstrings, an Achilles stretch, butterfly, and a quadriceps stretch usually done with a partner.
Guzan saves U.S. men at ING Cup
[OLYMPIC COUNTDOWN] In the first of two tuneup games before the Olympics, which begin next Japan next Thursday, the USA tied Ivory Coast, 0-0, in the opening match of the ING Cup in steamy Hong Kong on Wednesday.
U.S. U-20s split at Milk Cup
[YOUTH] The U.S. under-20 national team got two goals from FC Dallas rookie Brek Shea and a goal apiece from the University of Michigan’s Peri Marosevic and UNLV’s Danny Cruz in a 4-0 win over Wales Wednesday to earn a split in its first two games at Northern Ireland’s Milk Cup, one of the world’s most prestigious summer youth tournaments.
Rangers faces early exit
[UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] Action heated up in the second round of UEFA Champions League qualifying, where Rangers, runner-up in last season’s UEFA Cup, was held to a scoreless draw by FBK Kaunas at home in Wednesday’s first leg. For all the second-round results …
Fulham undergoing Hodgson revolution
[TRANSFER TALK] Manager Roy Hodgson had a huge task ahead of him when was hired by Fulham in late December. The club, which had four Americans on its roster at the time, was languishing in the cellar of the Premier League standings and needed a serious turnaround to help avoid relegation.
The Worrying Case of Joey Barton
I’m not sure that the controversy surrounding the Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton could have happened anywhere else in the world. Only in England would Barton be rated a good enough player to be earning an incredible $140,000 a week, only in England would the coaches and clubs have put up with his incredibly violent anti-social behavior.
A Heckuva a Juggler
[VIDEO] A brilliant juggler shows off his “Around the World in 1 Minute.”
