By Jon Levy Royal Wedding kicked off the weekend but the soccer should be nearly as exciting as a Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen dress (I googled that, I promise), so let's just dive right in to your Americanized Weekend Preview and viewing guide. MLS This week's marquee MLS matchup pits buddy forwards Teal Bunbury [.

By Andrew Villegas In America, we're constantly splashed by images flying off the screen of men in plastic armor beating up other men in plastic armor. The two fight over an oblong ball that they throw from end to end, smashing, clothes-lining, up-ending each other in the process. They pay in bone breaks, brain-damage and [.

By Dr. Raf Crowley As all of my regular readers know, I am a red-blooded Liverpool fan. Given the choice, I never walk alone. As such, much was my dismay when earlier this year, my beloved Reds found themselves in the relegation zone during the first few months of the EPL season. At the same [...

By Neil W. Blackmon Last week was one of the more eventful seven day periods in the history of MLS thanks o Real Salt Lake's 2-2 draw at Monterrey, and with the return leg Wednesday night providing the Claret and Cobalt an opportunity to be the first MLS side to win the competition in its [...]

In New Orleans, we are left with a red bump commemorating a mosquito's feast on an arm or leg. A world away in Africa? Malaria. A child rendered lifeless every 45 seconds. Amidst life's inequities we come to take solace in the efforts of those selfless few like Jared Montz, a former professional soccer player, [.

By Puck Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome back into another Happy Hour. For those of you that have not heard, Landon Donovan has been missing in action for over 3 weeks with an "undisclosed illness" and "fatigue". I don't know about you, but I starting to get worried. Let's quickly examine the facts. Lanbro is an [.

by Dru Boyer Very limited action for the Yanks Abroad this week, however the EPL featured a couple Yank doubles. Until the magic of Wednesday night's CONCACAF Champions League Final, I was going to make Mo Edu my player of the week for putting in 180 minutes in Glasgow and propelling the Gers back to [.

By Neil W. Blackmon Nearly one year after a British announcer's call on a Californian's defining moment in a game played on a far away continent catapulted American soccer into coffee break and living room fodder and inspired a country, fate intervened. Fate intervened in the 89th minute and delivered the American soccer diehards, the [.

By Dr. Raf Crowley This past weekend, I had the pleasure of watching FC Barcelona dismantle Real Madrid. I know the score line said that the game ended 1-1, and much has been made of the "Special One" Jose Mourinho injecting confidence into his side by achieving a late draw (I find this funny—since when [.

By Andrew Villegas Is MLS becoming the "no-brainer" league for middling Americans abroad? In February, when Charlie Davies was deciding if he wanted to take his comeback tour to D.C., he called U.S. Men's National Team Coach Bob Bradley to see what Bradley had to say about joining D.C. United on loan.

By Dr. Raf Crowley Last week, fellow writer Jon Levy wrote an excellent piece chronicling MB90's career nosedive since his transfer to Villa earlier this year. Jon seems to take the following approach in his argument: Villa has a glut of central midfielders with similar skillsets to MB90's. According to Jon, Bradley really was never [.

Arrivederci, Yanks and Yankettes!! Yeah, I'm starting strong with Aldo Raine links. Welcome back into another Happy Hour. Before moving to the actual "Happy" part of the Happy Hour, I of course must mention the absolute dismantling that took place to my beloved Blankcheckster City at the hands of Liverpool last Monday.

By Jon Levy Five months ago I wrote a feature for this site entitled MB Donde: What's Next For US Soccer's Best Prospect? The piece was a relatively straightforward look into the club team future of a young Yank on the precipice of his playing prime. Now I'm no Plato or Kant, but in this [...]

By Andrew Villegas If MLS is to become a global brand, then this week's announcement that Stan Kroenke will take a controlling stake in Arsenal must have many mouths at MLS headquarters agape in anticipation. Kroenke – that Missouri businessman and part heir to the Wal-Mart family fortune – has a reputation, one that almost [.

The theme for the USMNT heroes abroad this week? Yellow, Mexican league goals galore, and of course, the endless effort to say "Goal" in Turkish. Many cards of that color were handed out, and several goals were scored. That said, Tim Howard's understudy Brad Guzan of the yellow clad Hull City Tigers is my Player of [.

By Neil W. Blackmon This piece is dedicated to my co-writers, Puck, who has sat through meaningless Bills games in the blistering cold, and Jon Levy, who faces a month and a half long fight of his own with his beloved West Ham; and to any American sports fan who has been on the wrong [...]

By Puck Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome back into another Happy Hour. I don't know about you, but I have been looking forward to this weekend for a long while. It's time for the Spring Football Game here in Gainesville, and it marks the first time Gator fans get to see what COACH BOOM has been [...]

By Dru Boyer The Yanks returned to their club teams over the weekend after a pair of USMNT matches on US soil. No goals, a few saves, and an assist or two later, the boys were back into the swing of things off the continent. The best news of the week? Club team coaches showing [...]

By Neil W. Blackmon Coasting past the international break, a busy week of EPL action and the first half of the Champions League quarterfinals, we've reached the "this time it's for the money" part of the European schedule. That makes for an exciting weekend overseas, and one that will definitely impact the future of several [.

By Jon Levy Our Jon Levy sat down this week with USMNT and Brondby center back Clarence Goodson, who recently returned to training after a month on the shelf with a broken toe that incidentally caused him to miss the two March friendlies. They talked about his health, the upcoming Gold Cup, the future of [.

By Neil W. Blackmon For about twenty minutes, you knew the goal was coming. Sure, Guatemala had scored first, but even great sides sometimes fail to properly mark a corner. The relentless attacking we'd witnessed since the deficit were enough to keep admittedly nervous onlookers cautiously confident.

By Andrew Villegas Even the most casual followers of soccer around country have heard this tune before: Startup sports league with huge eyes identifies niche, sees potential for growth, money, more TV coverage, better press and eventually a multi-tiered youth academy system that feeds a multi-tiered league system.

By Jon Levy Tonight is an important night for American soccer. Maybe not as important as last night congrats to Real Salt Lake and Major League Soccer, by the way but important. Our berth in the World Cup is on the line. Yes, it's the Under-20 World Cup, and no, you're not allowed to ignore it. [.

By Dr. Raf Crowley As I wrote a couple weeks ago, Chad Ocho Cinco was going to tryout with MLS' Sporting KC. Numerous media outlets have reported that he has managed to "make" the reserve squad. Briefly, I wanted to follow-up on that story. Many have argued that Chad's tryout was another publicity stunt.

By Puck This article was initially going to be a Puck's Friday Happy Hour piece, but my editor thought it warranted a different day, as it was "important given the current labor situation surrounding other sports", and useful given that MLS is one of only two leagues remotely stable in this country as I write.