What is it about Carlos Tevez that he loses his cool when he puts on the Argentina jersey? He was sent off today in the match against Paraguay for the second time in 3 matches as the match ended in a 1-1 draw. This is a great result for Paraguay as they continue to lead the South American qualifying group and got a vital result in Buenos Aires. Click to continue reading...

Wow, a huge upset in the first round of European World Cup qualifiers as Austria beat France 3-1. When you look at those lineups, there is no way that France should not at least have come out of Vienna without a draw, and even that would have to be considered an upset. I am sure that the pressure is now squarely on Raymond Domenech, but it really should be on the French FA for keeping Domenech after the debacle that was the French performance at Euro 2008. Click to continue reading...

ESPN is reporting in this article that Gianfranco Zola is emerging as the favorite to replace Alan Curbishley as manager of West Ham United. I must admit that I am amazed that West Ham would be able to interest a man like Zola in their managing position. I realize that West Ham are a fairly successful mid-level Premiership club, but what does Zola hope to accomplish with this move beyond managing the club for a couple of seasons in the hope of moving onto a bigger club? Click to continue reading...

For those of you who aren't as familiar with Mario Gomez here are some moments of inspiration courtesy of the man known as "Super Mario".
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Apparently, Robinho wasn't the only big name player that Manchester City tried to recruit on the deadline day of the transfer window as ESPN reports in this article that they placed a big for Mario Gomez as well. I wonder if they also tried to recruit Pele and Franz Beckenbauer out of retirement....

Anyway, it seems that "Super Mario" wants to move on to a bigger club after the success that he has had in recent years with all of the goals that he has scored in the Bundesliga. Click to continue reading...

Here is a link to another really good article by Tony Cascarino, the former Republic of Ireland forward from the London Times. Tony provides a good account of why Alan Curbishley had no chance of success at West Ham United and how now was the best time for him to leave.

The London Times also provides a listing of the candidates that West Ham are looking at to replace Curbishley. Click to continue reading...

Here is a link to an article in the London Times, which gives much more insight into the situation at Newcastle United and a good explanation of why Kevin Keegan quit. Personally, I think its a sad state of affairs when the prevailing thought at a club like Newcastle United is that Dennis Wise knows more about football then Kevin Keegan. Click to continue reading...

With soccer ever becoming affected by the amount of money in the game, and the changing of the older ways of doing things as shown by the mess at Newcastle United I thought that we could all use some inspiration about what a truly great game that soccer is. When you need the best you turn to the best and in this case its the goal that George Best scored for the San Jose Earthquakes back in his NASL days. Click to continue reading...

Why? Its a simple question and you can read the article on ESPN's website. What exactly are Ajax trying to accomplish? Are they going to build a team around Huntelaar so now all of a sudden they are refusing to sell their top players? What is the plan Marco Van Basten? Huntelaar is a great talent, but 40 million Euros buys a lot of young talent to build a squad around, which seems to be the direction that they are going after watching their moves on the transfer market. Click to continue reading...

You guide a team to their best start in the English Premiership for 9 years (granted it is early in the season) and what do you do... well why not quit the club. When you examine the details though as explained in this article by ESPN, you can understand why Alan Curbishley resigned from West Ham United. Click to continue reading...

Here is a link to an article written in the New York Times about how the New England Revolution and Chivas USA were knocked out of the CONCACAF Champions League at the preliminary round stage and they won't make the final 16 of the competition. At the end of the article the writer Jack Bell asks questions about whether the MLS teams are playing too many games, or whether the other clubs were better then they were originally given credit for. Click to continue reading...

D.C United won the U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday night by narrowly defeating the Charleston Battery from the United States Soccer League's First Division 2-1. More coverage can be obtained by clicking on this link as there is a story by Sports Illustrated.

As I've said before and I'll say it again, this Cup competition should be given a much more prestigious ranking within the world of United States soccer. Click to continue reading...

I just wanted to include a link to another article from former Republic of Ireland forward Tony Cascarino that he wrote for the London Times where he comments on Robbie Keane's move to Liverpool and Shaun Wright-Phillips' move back to Manchester City. Cascarino gives an excellent analysis of Keane's problems settling in at Liverpool that makes for a very interesting read. Click to continue reading...

Michael Bradley's move from Heerenveen in the Dutch League to Borussia Mönchengladbach in the German Bundesliga is a great move. It is a step up for Bradley in terms of competition, and after the success he had last season its the next logical step for him. Many Dutch players follow this path of moving to a club in the Bundesliga for this exact same reason. Click to continue reading...

Here is a link to a great article by Greg Lalas from Sports Illustrated about Oguchi Onyewu's success with Standard Liege in the Belgian League, and also the rumors that have surfaced about a move to a bigger club. I have always been very impressed with "Gooch" and felt that he would turn into a top class defender. Click to continue reading...