What a great week to be an MLS fan. As with much of what goes on in American soccer, 95% of the sportsnation population is of course entirely oblivious to the combine and subsequent draft, and as far as I'm concerned it's their loss. I waste no pity on the intentionally ignorant. For the rest of us – and despite the s************ing of the swath of fans Mr. Loney has rightfully designated as "Eurosnobs" –…
It breaks my tiny little heart to contradict Jimmy Conrad. I love the guy, and wish he played for my team. (Not simply because he would have won the Galaxy a double not just this year, but probably last year, even under Ruud Gullit, altering the course of human history in unfathomable ways.) He also knows more about the game than I do, what with, you know, living it for his entire adult life and…
All you who criticized Bruce Arena, said the game had passed him by, said he relied too much on old veterans…all you who said Dema Kovalenko was a one-dimensional hack…all you who said there was no way Ricketts or Berhalter would make it through the whole season…all you who said that Beckham and Donovan couldn't work together…all you who said a team starting two rookies in the back line couldn't win…well, where are you now?…
Being unable to make it to Seattle on Friday has more benefits than just the serene knowledge that someone flying standby out of Cleveland got a good break, one of them being that I watched the Supporters' Summit. I went to one once. It was nice. But I've never gone since, and I've always felt guilty about it. If you're right there anyway, it seems like your civic duty, sort of like voting only with…
Great news – we're even closer to being able to field a Hall of Fame team made up entirely of people who were disappointing for the Metrostars/Red Bulls. We already have Balboa, Agoos, Lalas and Dooley, with Ramos as his captain. It's just a matter of time before Meola, Reyna and Pope arrive. If the veterans take care of Vermes and Sorber, we're more than halfway there! Shame Sergio Galvan Rey isn't eligible. Yet. Unless…
Am I reading too much into Landon getting Dixie Dean's old jersey number? I realize they don't retire numbers in association football, but Brazil and Argentina don't give the backup goalkeeper #10, either. It's just that 9 is a very low number to give to a guy that's just going to be renting, is all. I'm probably reading too much into it. Landon's saying all the right things…except, if he changes his mind, they will…
Wow, after Kasey Keller, Peter Wilt, Bill, Kenn, Fake Sigi, and Ridge Mahoney, the last thing people need is my opinion.* But GOD, I hate dead horses. I see one, and I just gotta go Pacquiao on it. It's a quirk of mine. I love MLS players, I really do. I think the world of them. Cheering for and against them in their weekly bouts of skill and strength makes me happy. Were it up…
Since 2004, the FA and Premier League have introduced a ‘Fit and Proper Persons Test’, which anyone owning over 30% of any football club under the FA’s jurisdiction has to undertake. This is intended to ensure that any businessperson taking over, or heavily investing in a club has the correct credentials to do so. The original test’s rules are: A person shall be disqualified from acting as a director and no club shall be permitted…
I'm sure much has been made of Real Salt Lake being such a "team" team that, for the first time ever, there are no players for the MLS champs on the MLS Best XI. But there's a more prosaic answer to that – the Best XI was wrong. Olave should have been in the back line ahead of Conde (or better still, De Rosario – does anyone in the league even play a 3-5-2? So…
Egypt and Algeria will play it out for a spot The journey has taken almost three years, and it is finally at an end. When the final whistle blows tomorrow night at the Centenario (which hosted the first world cup final), the 32 team field will be complete. 2 short weeks later, we will all know our respective team’s path to the golden blob (it is certainly not a cup). But we have a few…