Soccer America Archives

Not to be outdone by its global rivals, Manchester United this week recruited 9-year-old Australian Rhain Davis after viewing a highlight DVD of him playing for Brisbane youth club Redlands United. Earlier this summer, Bayern Munich added 13-year-old Peruvian Pier Laurrari to its youth squad. The video, which was sent in by his grandfather, has […]

The David Beckham tidal wave is making Major League Soccer look like a good investment for entrepreneurs, according to Bloomberg. As one measure of its rising success, the 13-team league tripled its franchise fee this year to $30 million. The league plans to add three teams in the next three years, and is already generating […]

The SFA, Scotland’s soccer association, has become the first federation in world penalize players who dive or fake injury in games by using video evidence. Players caught cheating after the fact will be handed yellow cards. Similarly, wrongfully issued cards could be retracted after the fact. SFA Chief Executive Gordon Smith called simulation “one unhealthy […]

Brazilian soccer federation (CBF) President Ricardo Teixeira on Wednesday accused certain national team players of heavy drinking during the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Teixeira said the group, coached at the time by Carlos Alberto Parreira, lacked discipline: “There were players who arrived between 4 and 6 in the morning, drunk,” he told reporters from […]

Lots to catch up on in the transfer market this week: once again, Manchester City’s Sven Goran-Eriksson has been the busiest manager in the EPL, splashing down an estimated $34 million on three new players: Croatian international Vedran Corluka, Spaniard Javier Garrido and Brazilian Copa America star Elano. Bulgarian striker Valeri Bojinov is also rumored […]

After enduring four difficult, lesson-filled years in MLS, Freddy Adu is off to Portuguese giant Benfica. The New York Times’ Jack Bell reflects on the 18-year-old’s time in MLS with league deputy commission Ivan Gazidis, who concedes that the expectations heaped on the 14-year-old when he joined D.C. United were “unrealistic.” Few would argue that […]

American winger DaMarcus Beasley watched from the sidelines as his new club Glasgow Rangers’ struggled to beat tiny FK Zeta, 2-0, at Ibrox last night, in the first of a two-leg qualifier for this season’s UEFA Champions League. (If Rangers beats the tiny Montenegrin club, it moves into the third and round of qualifying for […]

Steve Davis of ESPN Soccernet points out that July was a month to savor for MLS — and not just because of David Beckham’s arrival, which has yet to have any tangible affect on the league. Davis points out that now is not typically a stressful time for MLS clubs: those comfortably positioned for the […]

Here’s an interesting contrast: Mark Ziegler of the San Diego Union-Tribune points out that MLS teams went a woeful 3-5 against other American soccer teams in the U.S. Open Cup third round, while Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald commends the league’s four SuperLiga participants for finishing 3-1-4 against Mexican powerhouses Pachuca, Chivas, Morelia and Club America.
 
It’s a bizarre showing of inconsistency: next week’s Open Cup quarterfinals feature five USL teams, two of which come from the league’s Second Division. On the one hand, USL COO Tim Holt says, “the gap between the various divisions of professional soccer in this country is not as great as is typically believed by the average fan.” On the other, Ziegler points out that MLS clubs don’t often take the competition seriously. Indeed, they often agree to play on the road — where they went 1-5 in the third round — so as not to lose money on a small home crowd.
 
Meanwhile, Galarcep says the L.A. Galaxy, FC Dallas, D.C. United and Houston Dynamo have more than held their own against Mexico’s top teams in the SuperLiga, proving worthy hosts of a tournament that continues to surprise most pundits. And somewhat ironically, perhaps, the best game by far was Tuesday night’s clash Dallas and L.A., which the Galaxy won, 6-5, to qualify for the semis.