In the search for its first coach for the new USL-1 Tampa Bay Rowdies, the ownership in Tampa dipped into one of the storied families in European football when they hired Paul Dalglish, the son of former Liverpool and Scotland great Kenny Dalglish.
"This sport is my obsession," said Dalglish, who gets his first pro head coaching job. Click to continue reading...

There are different ways to manage players and teach and educate - no one style is the right way, as it has to fit each coach's personality.
Alan Black of Goal.com writes about the parenting style of Sir Alex Ferguson, and how that context of teaching and coaching appears to be a dying breed. Click to continue reading...

Brad Friedel's understudy Brad Guzan made the most of a rare appearance for Aston Villa, saving one penalty kick in regulation time and three PKs in the tiebreaker in a win over Sunderland that sends Villa to the English League Cup quarterfinals. In Scotland, DaMarcus Beasley saw his first action of the season. Click to continue reading...

Sir Alex Ferguson has won 33 trophies in 22 years at the helm of Manchester United, and he was recently recognized for his tremendous success. The makers of Football Manager 2010 had Ferguson topping their poll of the Greatest Manager of All-Time.
The poll features other Knights of the Realm such as the late, great Sir Bobby Robson, Sir Matt Busby and Sir Alf Ramsey but despite their fine records, none of them can match Sir Alex's two decade long domination of the English game. Click to continue reading...

Major League Soccer suffered a loss to it's coaching community this past week when Paul Mariner resigned from his position with the New England Revolution to take a similar position with Coca-Cola Championship club Plymouth Argyle.
Soccer America's Ridge Mahoney outlines his significance in New England, as well as in MLS. Click to continue reading...

I just wrote recently in my column in the Evansville Courier Press about how far American soccer has come since the 1990 World Cup, so it was a pleasant surprise to see Andrea Canales' column on the 1990 US team.
Since that World Cup, I have gotten the opportunity to know a number of the key members of that team. Click to continue reading...

John Wooden just celebrated his 99th birthday, and ESPN's Rick Reilly sat down with the coaching legend recently.
I like going to Wooden's house for the same reason people like going to church: It makes me want to be a better man.
The last time he swore? 1924. The last time he drank alcohol? Click to continue reading...

A trademark of the great Manchester United teams have always been the width in their attack, spearheaded by dynamic wingers. Chris Peterson of ESPN examines where United's current wingers stack up among the recent United teams of the past.
There was a time when Manchester United wingers struck fear into the hearts of their opponents. Click to continue reading...

Apparently New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi also feels that chess has helped him develop his tactics and decision-making...
The below video clip from the New York Times sheds some insight into how learning chess at an early age helped the Yankees skipper develop decision-making skills and foresight. Click to continue reading...

From the Evansville Courier Press, October 4, 2009
EVANSVILLE — My father bought my son a chess board last Christmas, and as we walked the boy through the ideas and concepts of playing chess, things seemed very familiar.
The familiarity was not only with the tactics on a battlefield but on a soccer field as well. Click to continue reading...

I have always been a firm believer in having my team(s) train together rather than on an individual basis. The commraderie that develops in a competitive training environment not only builds a positive team culture, but also allows the players to push each other by being challenged shoulder-to-shoulder with their teammates. Click to continue reading...

Bob Bradley is being dealt a dilemma for the final two World Cup qualifiers for the CONCACAF region - win 1 and your in, but with a number of players sitting on yellow cards, if any of them accumulate another card in a US loss in Honduras on Saturday, they would not be able to play in the all-important final qualifying match against Costa Rica the following week. Click to continue reading...

Former Sunderland standout Michael Gray (currently at Sheffield Wednesday) writes a blog for BBC Sport that gives insight into what life is like as a professional footballer. He had some really unique insight into what has helped extend Ryan Giggs' tremendous career.

If one person inspires me to keep playing it has to be Ryan Giggs. Click to continue reading...

Every team is beatable...even the 3-time defending English Premier League Champions. As hard as it is to defeat Manchester United, Andrew Jordan of the Bleacher Report breaks down the different ways that United wins and loses matches.
While watching the Manchester United-Wolfsburg Champions League match on September 30, I saw United controlling the match for most of the game—until Wolfsburg scored a goal to take the lead in the 56th minute. Click to continue reading...

Most coaches of younger youth players spend most of their training sessions with countless drills, and then finish their session with a 'scrimmage'.
At this age, most of the training session should be 'scrimmaging', replicating the game and giving them opportunities to play.
Soccer America's Mike Woitalla wrote a great article the other day in where he references that scrimmages shouldn't just be for 'dessert'. Click to continue reading...