photo credit: youraddresshere
Well, the 2009/2010 American football season has officially come to an end. Last night's Super
Bowl was the cherry on top of another delicious season of bone-crunching action. Sadly, we will
now have to wait approximately half of a year for more college and pro games.
Major League Soccer to many is synonymous with the LA Galaxy, D.C. United or the now dissolved
New York Cosmos at least if you are not a keen follower of this league. Football or should i say
soccer still ranks lower compared to other national pass times baseball, basketball and American
Football.
In the past few years, MLS has been facing the Goldilocks issue: What makes a stadium too big? Too
small? Just right? Not too long ago, this seemed like a silly question. The goal was to move soccer
out of the cavernous American football venues and into smaller, cozier spots that [...]
Where it has been accepted to bash American soccer recently by members of the American media,
apparently Sir Alex Ferguson didn't get that memo.
As he prepares to bring his Manchester United team on a preseason tour of the US, Ferguson comments
on the state of the American game.
"American soccer is starting to make an impact and it is so improved, " he said.
Also file under: don't get carried away with Yura Movsisyan madness
We supporting members of the U.S. Soccer scene – officials, fans and media alike –can be a
funny breed sometime.
Far too often, the greatest U.S. soccer player ever to bend a blade of grass is the one we don't
have yet.
Thierry Henry's First MLS Practice
Today begins the reign of Henry with the New York Red Bulls. Above is some footage of Henry
walking to the training ground accompanied by the only other player at RBNY with some pedigree,
Angel. Again we watch the young MLS'rs joking about the circus just like they did in Los Angeles
with Beckham.
If I had to count the number of times that ESPN has ruined Premier League games for me this
season by running latest scores on their BottomLine Ticker while I'm recording games on Fox Soccer
Channel or Setanta Sports, it would be definitely number more than a dozen.
Yes, before the readers respond by saying that you should be lucky ESPN shows any games, let me
add that I appreciate everything ESPN has done this season in terms of Premier League coverage by
raising the bar.
I'm sure there are others who have criticized Landon Donovan more than me, but probably not many.
Few have overused the term Landycakes more than I have and few have berated his performance more
often that myself. I knew when Donovan joined Everton on loan it would cause me some inner
conflicts as my long establish dislike for him clashed with my love for the Toffees and those
wearing the blue shirt.
NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith: Unintentionally helping MLS?
National Football League fans will know what I mean when I say 2011 could be a very interesting
year. With the country's most popular sports league showing all the signs of heading for a lockout,
the possibility exists that there will be no fall Sundays spent watching enormous men battle it out
on the gridiron.
FIFA released bid evaluations on the nine countries vying for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups this
morning. In addition to information on stadiums and projected number of tickets available, each
report assessed the bidding nations on their ability to host an event the scale of the World Cup
and assigned a risk level; the previously reported US summary put FIFA's risk at "medium.
For the next ten weeks our focus at Major League Soccer Talk will be Landon Donovan.
We will cover other news, but the defining/signature player of American football is on his way to
conquering the world's most popular sports league: for us that is an overriding story. Perhaps
nothing has been more important for the potential respect level of the American player in Britain
since John Harkes walked on the Wembley pitch eighteen years ago for the League Cup
Final.
Arsenal-Everton is the one match today stills scheduled to take place despite the inclement
weather enveloping Southern England. Stay tuned to MLS Talk for the latest on American football
hero Landon Donovan's Premier League debut.
Related posts:
- Mission Merseyside Coming in January on MLS Talk!
Its been about 3 weeks since 2009 ended and looking back, it was a memorable year. We know the
events and the stars that made it memorable and people think about the team of the year, or player
of the year, or coach of the year, and so on. Its now time to crown Pep Guardiola with a bigger
title, the best coach/manager in all sports.
By Ollie Irish
It's not American Football, chaps. Still, I chuckled.
MORE
Photos: Man City 0-1 Tottenham – Spurs Qualify For Champions League
Man City Update Tevez ‘Welcome To Manchester' Sign
Perhaps you've been living in a nuclear fallout shelter for some reason, or have just avoided all
forms of mass media over the last two weeks or so and didn't know that the NFL season starts
tonight. Well, it does, and the super spectacular kickoff game features the defending Super Bowl
champions versus the Brett Favres.
Perhaps you've been living in a nuclear fallout shelter for some reason, or have just avoided all
forms of mass media over the last two weeks or so and didn't know that the NFL season starts
tonight. Well, it does, and the super spectacular kickoff game features the defending Super Bowl
champions versus the Brett Favres.
This topic was one I originally intended to tackle, and in much greater depth, months and months
ago. Unfortunately, that would require research I just don't have time for at the moment, and so
you get this fired-off ramble instead of a properly told story. Joy.
I'm fascinated by kit culture.
I recently got the opportunity to sit down and spend some time reviewing a few products that are
integral to the football viewing public across the globe. FoxSoccer.tv and ESPN360.com are both
online broadband sites that bring the beautiful game to the masses. ESPN360 is available only to
customers whose Internet Service Providers have paid ESPN for the service, thus making the service
free to certain cable and Internet customers.
Not sure if they are wearing this at the world cup but I do think this was a good idea
Puma African Unity shirt
"To celebrate the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa, Puma have teamed up with nine African
football federations to launch the African Unity kit – a revolutionary sporting concept designed
to promote harmony across the great continent.
USMNT Fans Cheer Their Team On To A Memorable Comeback Against Slovenia.
Many football fans around the world, when they think of football, do not immediately associate
it with USA. The game just doesn't seem to fit in with American sports. American football,
basketball, hockey: superhuman men playing at a level that is untouchable to us mere humans.
Great story over at First Team Football
Ordinarily big moves after the World Cup are reserved exclusively for players but reports are
coming in from England that Bob Bradley could be appointed manager of Fulham FC in the English
Premier League. Although reports are mixed between Bradley having his contract extended with US
Soccer as well I have it on good word that in depth discussions are being held between Bradley and
Fulham.
Originally spotting this at Off The Post, I thought it was Photoshop. It's not.
Julien Escude has gone the phonetic route on the back of his shirt this year, eschewing Escude
for SQD, which sounds like a half-decent knockoff watch being sold for €16 out of a milk crate at
a burrito stand.
Most kids like a good game of catch. To give players a fun alternative to soccer practice, turn
futbol practice into football practice. Pick quarterbacks and receivers and then have them run pass
patterns. The only difference is that instead of throwing the ball being thrown, kick the ball.
So perhaps it's time for you all to give up football for hockey. Iced hockey, not that dreadful
hook sport beloved in Pakistan and private girls schools.
First, let's put to bed any notion that England are somehow weak for not playing soccer in the
snow. It's just not on. It's football, not American football; you're not that hard.
photo credit: laszlo-photo
After a large snowfall caused the postponement of many Premier League matches the league is in a
tough position attempting to reschedule the matches and explain themselves as the "angry mob"
begins to form over how the league will handle its schedule.
I'm getting a lot of questions about the offside trap lately, so I thought I'd write a primer.
It has to be useful to someone, right?
The Offside Rule
The offside rule attempts to prevent soccer from descending into a game of long punts towards
crowds of players milling bout the goal, as is essentially equivalent to American Football's strict
rules on the forward pass.
I watch Fox Football Fone-In occasionally now. I used to watch it pretty faithfully, probably
because Stephen Cohen was a pretty interesting fellow to listen to. It's difficult to agree with
his rants all the time, but at least he has informed rants -- and he believes them.
Now I watch Eric Wynalda in Cohen's chair and I just don't see the fuss.
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Subscribe: Main Report
Each week on languagecaster's podcast we feature a main report and on this week's show we have
an interview with an expert on Mexican football, Juan Pablo Camargo, who tells us all about the
Primera División de México.
Kyle Rote Jr. is headed to the hall of fame, but not the one his dad had hoped for. Kyle's dad was
an All-American half-back, playing American football for Southern Methodist University. He was the
NFL's first overall draft pick, chosen by the New York Giants, in 1951. He went on to play 11
seasons in the NFL, making appearances in four pro-bowls.
After living in the USA for 5 years now after moving from Manchester, UK a few different things
frustrate and also offer optimism about the future of the game stateside.
Coaching various different squads at junior and adult level I have noticed the sleeping
opportunity in all major cities in America and that is the cities where the urban population,
namely schools where soccer is completely overlooked.
Title shamelessly stolen from the comments section, video courtesy of American Football...
[read more]
For those of you who follow South American football, to know Marcelo Bielsa, the enigmatic
Argentine in charge of Chile's World Cup squad, is to know a football intellectual. Coming from a
family involved in politics and law, Bielsa decided to break with tradition by dedicating his life
to the sport of football.
As Media Matters puts it, the old cliches about soccer in America are out in force on cue: "As
the 2010 World Cup begins in South Africa, conservative media figures have seized the opportunity
to attack the tournament and the sport of soccer. They have also used soccer as a proxy to attack
President Obama and progressives.
It's going to take the US football team to get to the semi-finals of the World Cup or better for
the US ever to become a real football nation. Of course it's not even called football in this
country it's soccer because there is American Football and when the Americans talk about football
[...]
World Cup 2010 has been a challenging tournament for fans of the beautiful game. There have been
beautiful goals, incredible teamwork and wonderful stories. But there has also been injustices and,
at the end of the day, the sport of soccer has been tarnished.
Whether it's Luis Suarez cheating to prevent Ghana from securing a quarter-final berth, or Frank
Lampard being denied a well-deserved equalizer against Germany, or the two goals called back, or
the two goals that the United States scored fairly but were pulled back, or Argentina's blatantly
offside goal against Mexico, and so on and so forth, the reality is that the game of soccer has
serious problems that need to be corrected or it'll risk turning people away from this sport.
Rafael Marquez, the former Barcelona center back, has signed on with the New York Red Bulls
just one day after being released from his contract by the La Liga giants. And Marquez will join
Henry in New York in very similar circumstances. Both men irregularly played for the treble
winners last season and both are considered to be in the later stages of their careers.
The big hullabaloo this summer and consequently this fall will be goal-line technology and
referee-related rule changes, which is all fine and dandy. It's also necessary and, on the grand
scale, will hopefully change the very fabric of the sport.
But sometimes it's about the small things.
By Joe Anthony Curtis, writing from Miami
"If you ain't first, you're last." These wise words from Will Farrell's
character Ricky Bobby in the 2006 film ‘Talladega Knights' sums up the Americans mentality
towards sports.
Chad and Ronaldinho - borrowed from The OffsideChad Ochocinco is a soccer fan. He pals around with
famous footballers, he owns a strong collections of soccer shirts, and he has stated repeatedly
that the game was his first sporting love. During a recent appearance on FSC's Soccer Talk Live,
Chad did what Chad does, when he stated something nearly impossible to take at face value and yet
seemingly plausible: that perhaps he would drop American football for the other kind of football,
and might do so as early as next year.
One of the things that people who don't know soccer very well sometimes ask me is why I care about
a game in which scoring is so low. Never mind that score totals in American football are
artificially inflated, but my answer typically is twofold. First, there's the elegance,
athleticism, creativity, and sheer beauty of the game.
