It is hard to see England overcome Brazil even if they were at full strength with Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, and Glen Johnson given how the Brazilians moved with ease around the pitch. Meanwhile, the English attack was barely able to make a dent.

Fabio Capello probably knows by now that Brazil is the team to beat.

Click to continue reading...

Tom Anselmi defended his decision to extend Mo Johnston's contract by saying, and I quote: "Our expectation was to not make the playoffs the first three years. We didn't think we would."
Bra. Vo.
Not expecting Toronto FC to qualify for the playoffs? In a league where half the teams move on to the post season? Click to continue reading...

Originally part of the Soviet Union, Ukraine played their first official match in 1992. But for their first few years as a national squad many of the best Ukrainian players decided to play for Russia (since it was the major Soviet Union country) and playing for the Ukraine squad was often considered an afterthought for players that were not good enough to make Russia's squad.

Click to continue reading...

It was meant to be the night when Gareth Barry showed Aston Villa just how much they are missing him.

But instead it was Richard Dunne, cast aside by Manchester City almost as an afterthought after Barry's arrival at the City of Manchester Stadium, who proved how strong a character Martin O'Neill has gained.

Click to continue reading...

Ramón Morales and Chivas only have 5 points in 8 games
Before the Mexican Clausura started this season, the consensus was that one of the Ramirez coaches, either Paco (Guadalajara) or Jesus (America) would be gone by mid-season. Neither of them have the pedigree to lead such prestigious teams is what the pundits cried. Click to continue reading...

Couple of fast switches here.

Alberto Aquilani moves to the Reds on a 20m transfer. He will come with a reputation as an exciting playmaker, a long range threat, and an excellent deadball expert. Rafa on Aquilani:

"He can play a little bit higher than Javier Mascherano - maybe between him and Steven Gerrard.

Click to continue reading...

Not a bad showing by Club America, eh?
The Mexican side is now 2-0 -- with wins over Chelsea Inter Milan a couple days ago and AC Milan last night -- in a tournament in which they were considered an afterthought.
Wednesday night was also the AC Milan debut for American stud Oguchi Onyewu. Click to continue reading...

Photographs of the new Stoke City home jersey for the 2009-2010 season have been revealed on the club'a web site featuring the familiar red and white stripe design of one of the most historic clubs in English football.

Designed and manufactured by Le Coq Sportif, the new design is the perfect balance between tradition and style with a neat V-neck collar, and shirt sponsorship that fits in with the design rather than looking like an afterthought.

Click to continue reading...

The Wizards continue their schedule of playing 2 games in a week again tomorrow night when they play the Seattle Sounders at Starfire Sports Complex outside Seattle. Seattle had this past weekend off from league play, so they come into the game tomorrow night more rested than the Wizards. The Sounders last game was their 3rd round Open Cup game against the Portland Timbers. Click to continue reading...

Earlier this week, Planet Football opened its doors to the circus that is the transfer window.

From now until the end of August, the ring master, in the guise of Manchester City and Real Madrid, will be orchestrating the greatest show of them all.

There is no price is too dear for the big boys to pay anymore, while back in the real world, regular people face the threat of redundancy and trying to work out where the next pay cheque is coming from.

Click to continue reading...

In a sign that the US Open Cup has become more of an afterthought than ever to MLS clubs, four of the top-flight's six teams in action on Tuesday night were unceremoniously dumped out of the tournament in the third round. It's gotten to the point where it could be considered an upset when a lower-division opponent actually loses to an MLS club. Click to continue reading...

The third annual SuperLiga Tournament is set to kick off this weekend and what was once a tournament with so much promise has turned into a bit of an afterthought that isn't getting much in the way of attention.

Some of the best teams in MLS and the Mexican First Division are set to do battle in a tournament that has provided some entertaining, as well as feisty, matches.

Click to continue reading...

The third annual SuperLiga Tournament is set to kick off this weekend and what was once a tournament with so much promise has turned into a bit of an afterthought that isn't getting much in the way of attention.

Some of the best teams in MLS and the Mexican First Division are set to do battle in a tournament that has provided some entertaining, as well as feisty, matches.

Click to continue reading...

Â

                                                 Photo by ISIphotos.com

Admit it, you hate Giuseppe Rossi.

If you are a U.S. national team fan this morning you are cursing Rossi and have included him in the group along with Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Oswaldo Sanchez and Jared Borghetti in the pantheon of most hated U.

Click to continue reading...

Â

                                                 Photo by ISIphotos.com

Admit it, you hate Giuseppe Rossi.

If you are a U.S. national team fan this morning you are cursing Rossi and have included him in the group along with Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Oswaldo Sanchez and Jared Borghetti in the pantheon of most hated U.

Click to continue reading...

Some Australia named Scott O'Donell was the coach of the Cambodia national soccer team.
Well, until the sponsors that paid his salary suddenly stopped and he had to become a TV pundit to pay the bills.
Turns out the grassroots program raised some money and got their man back!

"I'm happy to be back," O'Donell told Reuters.

Click to continue reading...

by Jason Davis - Match Fit USA
Yesterday, as reported by MLS Daily, Major League Soccer released the schedule for this year's SuperLiga competition. Changes in the qualification process mean that this year's participating teams are the "second tier" of MLS clubs, teams that did not qualify for the next edition of the CONCACAF Champions League. Click to continue reading...

I've been thinking about Barcelona-Chelsea for the last two days, including during most of the time when I was ostensibly watching the Man Utd-Arsenal match. That second game played out like an afterthought to the first game in any case, not just because it felt less vital as it was happening but because of the way it seemed to present the principles of Barça-Chelsea in a compromised and depreciated form, as if Arsenal were what happened when the mind that first imagined Barcelona had a moment to think "Oh, but.

Click to continue reading...

In the 2004 Euro Cup tournament Greece surprised everyone when their workmanlike and well-coached team made it all the way to the finals and managed to defeat the host nation Portugal to win the whole shebang. Their uniforms for 2004 were mostly an afterthought. They were almost a straight-off-the-rack job with a Greek flag and some numbers slapped on. Click to continue reading...

The release of Ricardinho, the latest in a long line of flameouts in the Dallas #10 jersey, is just another sign that most important number in soccer has been cursed for FC Dallas. Ricardinho is the latest in a long line of promise and busts leading deep into the history of FCD. The 10, the number of the soccer gods Pele and Maradona; The Man, the playmaker, the striker, the key player in each and every team. Click to continue reading...

Now seems as good a time as any to bring Things & Stuff out of it's post Euros hibernation. It has to be said I'd hoped there'd be lots of Everton signings to get excited about...nope. Nothing to report really apart from the perplexing and slightly worrying departure of Andy Johnson. We'll see how good Yakubu looks without AJ's darting runs taking defenders away. Click to continue reading...

Since both reviews ended 2-2, I thought saving these for the second part of my review would fit the bill.

New York Red Bulls v Los Angeles Galaxy
In a game with more twists and turns than quality play on the plastic of Giants Stadium, LA went from 2-1 in injury time and thanks to Landon Donovan finished the game 2-2 and were unfortunate they didn't win with Donovan's last second volley that thundered off the cross bar.

Click to continue reading...

Some good action over the past weekend. Not a whole lot of change though in the rankings as this is a ranking system over the course of the season. 1. (2) FC Dallas (36 pt.) - I wonder if this will stay but the Hoops are one of the best clubs in the league now. A [...] Click to continue reading...