Want improvement? A century ago as America's eastern cities overpopulated it was, "Go West, young man." For soccer a century later the trumpet sounds the same. Only going west means tracking back to the previous Western frontier. In mainland Europe. Or at least that's what Simon Kuper believes and writes in his and economist Stefan Szymanski's new book, Soccernomics.

Los Angeles artist Noe Valladolid continues his illustrated soccer biography

The TIAS Diary Project returns with the 2nd part of a series put together by a young man in Southern California. This is his life's story, his soccer story in words and pictures. Consider it a stab at a TIAS graphic novel.

foreign failure (and a blind date) nets New York DC a soccer film festival

What almost started in London, only to become a gift to New York, is now taking the show on the road with the second installment of the Kicking & Screening soccer film festival in Washington, DC, October 15-18.

Los Angeles illustrator and artist Noe Valladolid begins his illustrated soccer biography

The TIAS Diary Project returns with the first part of a series put together by a young man in Southern California. This is his life's story, his soccer story in words and pictures. Consider it a stab at a TIAS comic book.

Four days in Mexico City and nothing to complain about. Well, there is that one thing. And as a new friend told me after the US MNT lost 2-1 to Mexico at Azteca, these photos would look a lot better if we won...

But as should have been obvious in the previous post, there is more to life than winning.

so, you're going to mexico city for usa v mexico on august 12. now what gringo?

welcome to the TIAS and Du Nord travel special

Across the Rio Grande River, through the Sierra Madre Mountains, in the Basin of Mexico, next to the Volcano Popocatépetl, cultural beauty sits amid chaos, built layer upon layer through history.

If there was ever a sheen on David Beckham for the American soccer fan with a Y chromosome, if he was initially given a pass, if anybody believed anything he said, well, that patina is gone. Beckham can still build urban soccer fields and set up summer camps and buy a MLS franchise, but you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Grant Wahl discusses his new book, The Beckham Experiment, out now from Crown

Why do book reviews have to be summaries of the book? I never got that. I understand it but don't get it. I do get jacket blurbs, though. Those few sentences of praise on the back of a boo I'm always curious what names are there and what they say.

Lost in the whirlwind tour of South Africa and the Confederations Cup, which brought outlets from Harper's to Deadspin to what seemed like every newspaper in the country out for a week-long soccer columning festival, was the demise of Brad Friedel's once heralded (here at least) soccer academy in Ohio.

Steve Nash and friends throwdown for the showdown in chinatown, for charity, take 2

It's never as good as the first time. The rain, the grand stand bleachers, the wet turf, the steady cam man on the field, the crane cam hovering over the crowd. What was an underground experiment last year became the mainstream mainstay as Steve Nash and Claudio Reyna hosted their 2nd annual Showdown in Chinatown to benefit each of their namesake charities.

Steve Nash and friends throwdown for the showdown in chinatown, for charity, take 2

It's never as good as the first time. The rain, the grand stand bleachers, the wet turf, the steady cam man on the field, the crane cam hovering over the crowd. What was an underground experiment last year became the mainstream mainstay as Steve Nash and Claudio Reyna hosted their 2nd annual Showdown in Chinatown to benefit each of their namesake charities.

When Sports Illustrated Senior Editor Mark Mravic, 46, interviewed for an job at the magazine in 1996, they asked him what he was interested in. He said "soccer," to which the reply came: "Well, we really don't do a lot of soccer."

More than a decade later he's finally the soccer editor. Now will the coverage improve?

foreign failure (and a blind date) nets New York a soccer film festival in july

In a soccer game, as in a movie, a narrative unfolds for the viewer. There are action scenes and sad scenes, comedy and drama. But unlike other sports that stop and start, aiding in the collection of immense data, soccer builds a non-stop story that can challenge the viewer—full of dialogue that may seem meaningless until the entire tale unfolds.

foreign failure (and a blind date) nets New York a soccer film festival in july

In a soccer game, as in a movie, a narrative unfolds for the viewer. There are action scenes and sad scenes, comedy and drama. But unlike other sports that stop and start, aiding in the collection of immense data, soccer builds a non-stop story that can challenge the viewer—full of dialogue that may seem meaningless until the entire tale unfolds.