Geoff Cameron's Premier League debut will have to wait a week.
According to Stoke City's official website, Cameron won't be able to return to England until
early next week while finalizing his visa, and he is unavailable for the club's opener against
Reading on Sautrday.
No matter if it was right or wrong, Jamie Carragher was always going to start against Arsenal on
Saturday. Legend to some, a man who in his prime fuelled dreams of a cloned brood of Carraghers all
straining and screaming as they dragged the club to glory. To others a lately tarnished legacy of
behind the scenes politicking, his local's influence and friends in the press helping him hang on
to a starting role years after he should have joined Sami Hyypia in riding gracefully off into the
sunset as a fondly remembered hero.
Here is some team news for you Arsenal fans. Reports emerging claim that Arsenal manager Arsene
Wenger is considering playing midfielder Alexander Song in defense. Wenger who is looking for the
best possible formation to contain Milan, has been hit hard with injuries to key players in the
past few weeks and is considering ausing his trusty anchor as a centre back.
As the calendar gets set to turn to 2012, it's an obvious time to reflect and look back at the
year that was for U.S. Soccer.
While the year provided the ushering in of a new coaching era, a 6-8-3 international record and
a breakout stage for a number of players, it also saw some of the more familiar names rise to the
occasion on both the club and international levels.
Anchor in midfield, the transfer I want to see happen
When the transfer window opens, it spells opportunity for headlines to be created. It is also a
period where clubs and agents try to flocked off their players and to get into the market for new
ones. Some of which are based on actual contacts between clubs while many more are mere stories
making their rounds to just to get their player's name in the papers.
Bakary Soumare is officially back in MLS as a member of the Philadelphia Union.
The Vancouver Whitecaps and Philadelphia Union announced their trade Tuesday in which the
Whitecaps acquired allocation money and the Union's first-round pick in the 2013 MLS SuperDraft in
exchange for the top spot in the MLS allocation order and a 2013 SuperDraft second-round pick.
Acknowledging that "In this business, it is never easy to say goodbye," Peter Nowak confirmed at
a press conference on Wednesday that the Philadelphia Union and Chivas USA have agreed on the terms
of a deal that will see Danny Califf traded for an as yet unnamed player.
When he was drafted by the New England Revolution, defender A.J. Soares was regarded by many as
the most pro-ready defender in the MLS Draft and a player capable of stepping in and contributing
right away.
Soares has been just that for the Revs this season, and this past week was a strong example of
that.
After coming back to the studio after a gritty, urban-tinged England promo at half-time during
the Italy-Croatia match, BBC MotD anchor Gary Lineker attempted a little bit of street parlance
calling it 'sick' like the yoofs do these days, only to immediately regret it.
After coming back to the studio after a gritty, urban-tinged England promo at half-time during
the Italy-Croatia match, BBC MotD anchor Gary Lineker attempted a little bit of street parlance
calling it 'sick' like the yoofs do these days, only to immediately regret it.
Some teams are defined by a key player or two, others by a system that lasts between coaches, in
the Columbus Crew there is a team that was once a system/player team, but is now defined by its
coach. No player sticks our as an anchor, particularly with their injuries. Robert Warzycha takes a
little bit of tactics from his time with Sigi Schmid and supplements those with an attitude that is
pure Crew - hard working team on a budget.
A half time formation shift allowed Shalrie Joseph to venture forward and score the winning goal
against Boston College on Wednesday. (Photo: Chris Aduama/aduama.com)
Those familiar with seeing Shalrie Joseph pushing forward and becoming heavily involved in the
attack may see less of it in 2012, depending on the New England Revolution captain's midfield
partner.
-Yesterday DaMarcus Beasley tweeted, "Would love to come back to the club that gave me my first
chance! The Chicago Fire is like my family. #fireforlife". Many people took this tweet and ran with
it. he was only responding to a fans question and that is it. I don't think that the Puebla winger
is coming over any time soon.
Major League Soccer will hold its Re-Entry draft for the second year in a row. The first round
will take place on December 5 with the second round taking place on December 12. Players available
in this year's Re-Entry Draft include 69 players who had their options declined in addition to a
handful of players that are out of contract.
Almost across the line. United can add 6 more players before the roster spots fill up, and must
add at least two to the salary budget roster by compliance day in order to fulfill the MLS roster
regulations. Of course, it's impossible to tell (from the outside) just how much room remains under
the cap, but I think it's fairly safe to say that we'll be adding two of the four remaining
trialists and not pulling any surprise rabbits from Kasper-Payne's hat.
Still no left back, but the slight defensive midfield depth issue has been addressed with the
signing of Brazilian journeyman Marcelo Saragosa. Given that Kitchen will surely miss time for
Olympic qualifiers (and the big show in London if we qualify) and isn't exactly a sure thing as he
steps into his first year in the role for which he's being groomed, depth was a concern.
Kassey Kallman, the Woodbury, Minn. native who plays for Florida State and advanced as far as the
NCAA semifinals, has been called up again to the U.S. U-20 Women's National team. Kallman seems to
have solidified her job as anchor of the back line as the key central defender. Kallman and her
teammates just came off [.
Day before the big match. Derby. Rivalry. Just words. What this game is really about is simple
pride. Seattle and Portland have always had a thing, with and without soccer lending a hand. Soccer
is just the best way we can get the rivalry out in the open as it's the only sport shared between
the cities.
The Columbus Crew underwent a successcful rebuilding period in 2011, as they parted ways with
several veterans and brought in a group of new faces that exceeded expectations last season.
One of the few familiar faces to remain was Chad Marshall, and all he did was help anchor the
stingy Crew defense for yet another season.
There was a time during a tumultuous summer for the New England Revolution when it appeared that
Shalrie Joseph was as good as gone when the MLS offseason rolled around.
The Revolution captain isn't going anywhere, though, after the club re-signed him and made him
a Designated Player.
Shavar Thomas and Jamaica got their Gold Cup campaign off to a good start last night with a 4-0 win
of Craig Rocastle and Grenada. Both players started their game for their respective teams. Thomas
helped anchor the Jamaican defense which completely shut down Grenada. Rocastle on the other hand
was subbed at half time after getting injured in a collision in the first half of the game.
This is not an injury for antsWhat could be the worst way to repair a defence that
just saw itself ripped open for six goals this past weekend? How about losing the anchor of that
already porous backline for the remainder of the season? No?
Thanks to Demolition Man, a regular reader and sometime commentor at IMS, for creating and
uploading this video of FOX News 9 anchor Tim Blotz telling soccer fans to stop contacting the FOX
9 studio requesting that the storm coverage stop preempting the EUFA Champions League game.
Thanks to Demolition Man, a regular reader and sometime commentor at IMS, for creating and
uploading this video of FOX News 9 anchor Tim Blotz telling soccer fans to stop contacting the FOX
9 studio requesting that the storm coverage stop preempting the UEFA Champions League game.
The race for European Footballer of the year appears to be a two horse race: Messi and Ronaldo, but
maybe there is a third player that deserves a look.
Last season Andrea Pirlo left AC Milan to sign with fellow Italian League superpower Juventus. The
move paid off for the Old Lady and Pirlo.
Michael Parkhurst will be reporting to U.S. national team camp Thursday as a champion.
Parkhurst's FC Nordsjaelland put the finishing touches on their Danish Superliga title on
Wednesday, defeating Horsens 3-0 in the season finale to hold off FC Copenhagen and seal a place in
the UEFA Champions League.
Arsenal Do Not Like To Defend By JG Arsenal really could have used Per Mertesacker against Norwich
today. He would have provided the anchor in the defense that would have allowed Vermaelen to start
attacks every so often, but instead we had Koscielny who is basically an exact copy of Vermaelen
(without a killer [.
Has this joke run its course yet? No? Good because we are not halfway done. The set will all be
online before the season kicks off. Keep the comments coming as I've clearly learned that if I do
these again next season, I will be sure to make the cards of all the obvious ones I missed this
time around.
We are only four days from the culmination of the 2011 season and I don't know about all of you,
but I'm ready. Alas, we must be patient and in an attempt to give you something to focus on ahead
of the game, I figured it would be good to offer up my analysis of the two teams and who I see
having the advantage, at least on paper.
Ryan Miller will lookt to anchor Halmstad's backline in a game against second place Elfsborg while
Ljungskile's Nick Noble and Angelholm's Matt Pyzdrowski will face each other in a battle between
American goalkeepers
