Clubs around the world might do well to seriously consider former New England Revolution players in their coaching searches.
Walter Zenga blazed the trail, guiding Steaua Bucharest to the Romanian title in 2005. The next year, Zenga coached Red Star Belgrade to the Serbia championship.
Last year, three former Revolution players -- Leonel Alvarez, Chiquinho Conde and Mauricio Wright -- coached championship teams in their home countries:
-- Alvarez (Deportivo Independiente Medellin) performed for the Revolution from 1999-2001;
-- Conde, who scored six goals in 17 Revolution appearances in 1997, took over Ferroviario with 13 games remaining in the season and guided it to both the Mozambique cup and league titles;
-- Wright, a Revolution defender in 2000-01, led Brujas FC to the Costa Rica championship.

Outside Haiti, the name Sylvio Cator means little. To Haitians, though, he is the namesake of their national stadium. Mention Stade Sylvio Cator to Haitians and they will usually smile, remembering a place which served as a platform to launch the country into the world's sporting consciousness in the 1970s.

The U.S. has set up a World Cup warmup game Feb. 20 against El Salvador, according to a story in El Diario de Hoy. The report quotes El Salvador federation president Reynaldo Vasquez.
The U.S. Soccer Federation has yet to announce the match, indicating it has not been finalized. The U.S. is attempting to find opponents similar in style to their World Cup group foes -- Algeria, England, and Slovenia.

Interesting photo of Ruben Hector Sosa on the cover of the Sunday Globe sports section. Sosa appears to be shooting on goal while playing for the Boston Beacons at Fenway Park in a 1968 North American Soccer League game. Utilizing Colin Jose's NASL history book, I figured it was probably a June 21, 1968 game in which the Chicago Mustangs took a 6-5 win.

Brujas FC es campeon -- on penalty kicks against Puntarenas in the Costa Rican title game.
Mauricio Wright, a central defender for San Jose and New England in the MLS through 2001, coached Brujas, a club in the Desamparados section of San Jose, to its first championship, a week after his 39th birthday.

The final game as members of the New England Revolution for Leonel Alvarez and Mauricio Wright was the 2001 U.S. Open Cup. They were performing for the Revolution in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Galaxy in Fullerton, Calif.
Alvarez would return to Colombia to conclude his playing career and Wright would go on to play for Costa Rica in the 2002 World Cup finals in Japan and also to deliver some impressive performances for AEK in the UEFA Champions League.

Next up for the U.S. could be a game against Honduras in Los Angeles.
The U.S. Soccer Federation has yet to announce the game, indicating it has not been finalized. La Prensa reported Monday that Honduras would be meeting the U.S. in Los Angeles Jan. 24.
The La Prensa site also has a story quoting David Suazo's brother as saying the Catrachos would not be able to defeat Spain "even with 22 players.

LEXINGTON, Mass. -- Biggest upset of the weekend? We have to nominate a local game – Canton United-Stoneham Spartans 1-1 (4-2 penalty kicks) for the Over-50 first division championship in the Over The Hill League Sunday morning. (Full disclosure: this blogging person plays for Canton United).

Canton took the lead midway through first half (Jerry Casteneda breakaway), then we held on and continued to counterattack.

The Los Angeles Galaxy's 2-1 win over the New England Revolution Saturday night featured a highlight goal by Landon Donovan, a left-foot volley off a botched clearance. The second Galaxy goal was converted by Jovan Kirovski, and the fact Kirovski was the first U.S. player on the roster of Champions League team in Europe, it reminded me there was a unique combination of players on the Gillette Stadium field.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic's American adventure ended Thursday as he departed Inter's training camp to return to Sweden, according to a source.
Ibrahimovic spent two days in Boston, going for an examination of his left wrist (diagnosed as a strain) at Massachusetts General Hospital Wednesday. Ibrahimovic did not attend Inter's workouts at Harvard University Wednesday or Thursday.

AS Livorno plans to offer 10 million euros for the Los Angeles Galaxy's Landon Donovan, according to La Gazzetta Dello Sport, which would break the MLS transfer record. Striker Jozy Altidore went from the New York Red Bulls to Villareal for $10 million last year.
Donovan would finish the season with the Galaxy, then join Livorno during the December transfer session.

It seemed Panama coach Gary Stempel and the Canalero players were protesting too much after falling, 2-1, to the U.S. in the quarterfinals of the Gold Cup Saturday.
But they might have been justified in disputing Mexican referee Benito Archundia's awarding of a penalty kick to the U.S. late during extra time in the match in Philadelphia.

Nurdin Hrustic is following a path similar to the one Neven Subotic took to Germany and, possibly, the Bosnian national team.
Hrustic, who attended Wolfson High School in Jacksonville, Fla., left Jacksonville University after one season to sign a contract with VfL Bochum in Germany. Like Subotic, a former U.

Giuseppe Rossi is providing the latest evidence that there is plenty of soccer-playing talent in the U.S. The downfall of the national team, and the MLS, though, is a lack of ability to identify and develop young players.
U.S. administrators and coaches often fail to project the future of players.

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez apparently has the financial resources to pay record transfer fees. Perez' Grupo ACS (Actividades de construccion y servicios) provides infrastructure improvements globally. Among ACS' latest projects is rebuilding the entire high tension wiring system of the United Arab Emirates.