American soccer - Most popular for 2009
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It was a cool night in Newark as a few hundred soccer enthusists (and a handful of college
coaches) converged on the campus of New Jersey Institute of Technology to catch a glimpse of the
future of American soccer, and the show was worth the trip.
No, there weren't tons of highlight-reel plays, but some good, tough soccer between the U.
According to the Whitecaps website the TOA League is now 11 teams strong!
The addition of Tampa Bay and Baltimore brings the new league to nine teams, as they
join the owners of the Atlanta Silverbacks, Carolina RailHawks, Miami FC, Minnesota Thunder,
Montreal Impact, St. Louis Soccer United and Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
| INCOMING <--------------------------> OUTGOING |
Longtime, loyal readers of MLSR saw the dismissal of FSC's Fox Football Fone-In host Steve Cohen a
mile away. Back in May we published the following:
REPORT: World Soccer Daily's Steve Cohen in Hot Water as Sponsors Abandon Ship
Today we learn from that Eric Wynalda, will replace him
Wynald is a controversial figure himself.
USA fans, go ahead and savor this moment. This is a feeling to remember, it was a game to
never forget.
USA defeats Spain 2-0, advances to 2009 Confederations Cup Final
This win is huge for American soccer.
First, ESPN grabbed the rights to some La Liga games. Good move for ESPN Deportes and ESPN360, with
over 20 games also getting on the big boy networks. Then, the four letter drops an unexpected
preview of the Gold Cup final, which they weren't even televising.
Now, they've bought the rights to some English Premier League games.
Photo by ISIphotos.com
American soccer fans weren't the only ones watching the U.S. national team's run to the
Confederations Cup final, and the stellar performances from several American players to make it
happen.
When US National Team defender signed with Italian giants AC Milan July, it was rightly declared a
watershed moment in the history of American soccer. One of our boys had been snatched up by one
of...
In 2004 Pele named the FIFA 125 greatest living footballers as part of the celebration of FIFA's
100th Anniversary. If you were to believe everything you read in the European press about football
in this corner of the globe you'd believe we'd never seen good football or world class footballers
before David Beckham touched down in Carson.
Take a good look at that crest ladies and gentleman. We all remember it fondly as this was the
most famous name in all of football during the era of the North American Soccer League (NASL). We
remember the movie about the history of the New York Cosmos and how popular they were once famed
Brazilian International Striker Pele came to these shores and created a major buzz over in Downing
Stadium at Randalls Island (Which was torn down and rebuilt as Icahn Stadium), Hofstra University,
the first Yankee Stadium and finally calling Giants Stadium home at the Meadowlands in the late
70's thru the mid 80's.
Today's stunning American victory over the number one ranked team in the world deserves more than a
piddly recantation of my earlier call for Bob Bradley to resign. It deserves an opus, a glowing...
Blog of the Day
The blog of the day in American soccer has to be one made by an anonymous author on a popular
US-blog ripping the US Soccer federation in a quite wild, spectacular, and absolutely
unsubstantiated fashion.
Does soccer need more 'danger' to sell in the United States to the right demographic?
Comments made by former MLS Commissioner Doug Logan to the Oregonian in this regard
made waves recently. "Soccer audiences at their best have got to be a little dangerous," Logan
said. "It's three guys with a beer cursing at the guy on the field.
Around 3:30 Friday I got a call from Karik Krishnaiyer.
He sounded somewhat distraught and his tone of voice was not as energetic as it usually is when it
comes to stories that he scoops. This one he had not desire of sharing or even talking about.
World Soccer Daily was no more.
The Beauty: For a few years now, Bianca Kajlich has sort of been labeled the
only "real" American WAG. It's not because she is the only beautiful lady on a US Nat's arm. It's
because she's the only one with a profession (actress) in the public eye.
I've lost track of the number of times Americans ask me where I'm from, and I mention Wales only
to hear the next follow-up question, which is "Where is Wales? Is that part of England?"
While most US residents get an F in geography (not just from me, but from many scholars), I've
found that soccer fans living in the United States are far smarter than average Americans for the
following reasons:
- Time difference wizards.
In the aftermath of the still stunning US victory over Spain, I'm struck by the sudden about-face
that so many are doing in regards to American soccer's designated whipping boy, Landon Donovan. ...
The 1998 Chicago Fire MLS Cup and US Open Cup championship team included many talented hard
working players with good character including Piotr Nowak, Frank Klopas, Lubos Kubik, Chris Armas,
Diego Gutierrez, CJ Brown and Jesse Marsch.
Last week we discussed the keys to assembling and retaining good personnel for a successful
front office.
The impact of this signing cannot over emphasized. For years and years top European clubs have
shown no interest in American field players. Most European oriented American fans (eurosnobs as
they are often called) have laughed off any suggestion of an American field player playing for a
top European side.
Meet Bob. Bob is an American soccer fan, an avid supporter of the USMNT, and Liverpool FC on
weekends, with a soft spot for Barcelona. Bob's seen it all, Champions League group stages, FA Cup
replays, La Liga on Sundays. But Bob has never been able to "get into" MLS, for whatever reason. He
exactly the sort of character MLS chairman Don Garber was talking about when he told Grant Wahl,
"There are still far more soccer fans in this country than there are MLS fans.
Remember when I talked about the MLS strategy to win over its three target demographics? Yeah, Sean
Michelle reported in the Columbus Dispatch today that the strategy is working:
Tailgaiting outside of Crew Stadium, Matt Beaven resembled a typical American soccer
dad as he rounded up his kids an hour before a recent match.
It was a cool night in Newark as a few hundred soccer enthusists (and a handful of college
coaches) converged on the campus of New Jersey Institute of Technology to catch a glimpse of the
future of American soccer, and the show was worth the trip.
No, there weren't tons of highlight-reel plays, but some good, tough soccer between the U.
...my money was on fast food and guns. Shows what I know.
Let's face it Monday's loss to Italy was heartbreaking. The last thing we need right now is
another divisive article about the merits of Frankie Hejduk, Bob Bradley, and the 4-5-1 formation.
Now is a time for unity. I've been sitting on this article for quite some time now, waiting for a
day just like today.
No Heart? I'm All Heart Mother...
*As the U.S. National Team attempts to qualify for the World Cup in 2010, I will write a
series of pieces concentrating on the style, or lack of it, of American soccer. See the other three
here and here and here.
Lucky? Yeah. Holy shit, yeah.
Photo by
ISIphotos.com
Spain hadn't lost in 35 games, and had only tasted victory for 15 straight matches. Considered
the unquestioned best team in the world, the Spanish national team was supposed to steamroll a
U.
This is the man who is dividing soccer fans across America.
Those of us who read and write blogs, follow the message boards, and use the internet to keep up
with our soccer are a different breed than the casual fan. It's easy to forget and think that our
voice is the most important, but we're outnumbered.
On Wednesday August 12th of this year, the USA will play one of their biggest matches in several
years - a World Cup qualifier at loathed rival Mexico, and their daunting 120,000 person capacity
Estadio Azteca in the District Federal.
You know the script all too well. American soccer player with foreign roots gets a chance of a
lifetime and signs with a big English club. It is the basic premise behind the movie "Goal", but it
is also the story of California native Anton Peterlin.
A defensive midfielder at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo last fall, Peterlin scored a dream
opportunity to train with English club Everton this spring and made the most of it, impressing
Everton manager David Moyes enough to earn a contract offer he will sign this summer.
DC United Senior Vice-President Stephen Zack
In my second interview with influential, but beneath the radar figures in the U.S. soccer world,
I asked D.C. United Executive Vice-President Stephen Zack 11 questions. Stephen has been twice
honored as the MLS Marketing Executive of the Year and in 2006 received the prestigious Doug
Hamilton MLS Executive of the Year Award.
When American soccer fans think back to 1989, most everyone associates that year with Paul
Caligiuri's "Goal Heard Around the World." That was the US National Team's victory over Trinidad &
Tobago in Port of Spain in November, clinching a berth in the 1990 World Cup for Bob Gansler's
young side. Though Caligiuri's strike was arguably the most important goal scored in modern US
history, it was not the only extraordinary accomplishment of that year.
By Andrew Dixon - MIAMI, FL (Jul 14, 2009) USSoccerPlayers -- Don't get it twisted: the thing most
American soccer fans will remember about the summer of 2009 will be the Confederations Cup. Yes,
the Gold Cup is nice and I hope we win. The soap opera version of Major League Soccer is kinda fun
too. But to me the second event thus far is Oguchi Onyewu's signing with AC Milan.
A glut of stadium-related news has hit the American soccer scene in recent weeks; from Baltimore
potentially getting into the DC United business to the glory of grass, professional soccer
facilities...
U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati, CEO/Secretary General Dan Flynn and Professional Council
Chairman Don Garber met with representatives from both the United Soccer League and the North
American Soccer League in New York Dec. 6 to discuss the leagues' plans in 2010. "We had a
productive meeting and the discussions will continue," said Gulati.
Freddy Adu & Pele
On Saturday in Monaco, A.S. Monaco beat Stade Rennes, 3 to 1, giving Monaco 40 points on the
season thus far and securing a spot in the middle of the French Ligue 1 table. Sitting on Monaco's
bench, was one Freddy Adu, watching his team take on a Rennes' squad that included the captain of
the US National Team, Carlos Bocanegra.
I have no desire to write about Steven fucking Cohen, the co-host of the World Soccer Daily radio
show. The man is an embarrassment to American soccer fans, end of.
But, unfortunately, that prat is the face of the Prem in the US for many. And if I can convince
just one American to never listen to his show again, it's worth having a post with that malignant
fucker's name in it.
Americans Abroad / USMNT
Who Should The USMNT Start vs. Brazil? - Soccer By Ives
The Morning After: USA v Italy - Soucie On Soccer
Let's Pretend: How The USMNT Could Look - MLS Talk
New Jersey Soccer Star Giuseppe Rossi Is Living Out His Italian Dream - NY Daily News
Wolves Snap Up Hahnemann - Sky Sports
Should Jones Start Against Mexico?
My views on MLS on this website in the last week have been dissected and criticized. I think
this "summer of soccer" has yielded both good and bad for the American top flight. On the positive
side, MLS has higher attendance than football leagues in Spain, Italy, Holland and France, making
the league one of the best attended in the industrialized western world.
Our old friend Jamie Trecker is back at it, this time claiming a win in Mexico is a must. A
win would obviously be fabulous for the reasons highlighted in Trecker's article, among others, but
I'm with reader Josh (see comments in our last Trecker response) when he says he's a little tired
of people expecting a win in Mexico, as if some dramatic shift has occured in American soccer, now
making us favorites when we travel to Costa Rica and Mexico.
I was intrigued by Don Garber's comment a couple of weeks ago to Reuters Soccer Blog when asked
about the future of the relationship between MLS and the second-tier, independent USL: "USL is
going through some transition on their own. . . I am not sure what the future holds for that league
or our relationship with it.
Just picked this article up from USSoccerPlayers.com from the pitchinvasion.net twitter feed, and
it's an interesting read. The opening line certainly corroborates what I've been sensing in my
recent foray into the cultural side of North America's professional league:
"In August, Major League Soccer ticket sales dipped over 4% overall and dropped double digits up to
34% for six franchises while nationwide sales for international matches skyrocketed.
There were two big New York soccer rumors reported in the media this past week. The first was
that Pele may be recruited by newly minted New York Cosmos owner Paul Kemsley to serve as President
of the organization, which he intends to build into a lifestyle brand as well as a football club.
The second is that David Beckham is eyeing New York, Miami or Montreal as the location in which to
exercise his right to start a new MLS franchise.
