Hulkamania will not be coming to FIU Stadium after all. Turns out the Hulkster canceled his South Florida dates. No further info was given.
While all the drama concerning USL's sale was going on, Miami FC signed a new player. He is Forward Aaron King who transferred last Friday. King, will be need up front as Miami's forwards have not been very efficient this year.

Yes folks! Red Bull Street Style is here! The event will be held at 5701 Sunset Drive tomorrow Friday September 18, 2009. Doors open at 6 pm and starts at 7 pm. There is no cost to register, participate or attend.
No idea what I'm talking about? Check the video out below.
Here is what it's all about from the Red Bull Street Style site:

Following the runaway success of 2008 culminating in the first ever World Finals in Sao Paulo, Red Bull Street Style returns for 2009/10 to keep the world freestyle elite on their toes and the tricks fresh.

Given the choice between watching a match in high-definition television or watching a game in standard definition, which one would you choose? What if the choice was, like last weekend, Liverpool against Burnley in HD on ESPN2 or Manchester City versus Arsenal in standard definition on Setanta Sports?

The University of Denver's Alex Tarnoczi, above in a scrimmage against Stanford, was named to Top Drawer Soccer's National Team of the Week for the week ending Sept. 13. (photo by George Tanner/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

Another roundup of notable news from the beautiful game in this beautiful state.

After a 2-1 victory over the Houston Dynamo, I must admit that Columbus is a very good team. They are very skilled at what they do. Unfortunately, flopping is one of the things they do very well.

I have been debating with myself whether soccer is even worth watching, especially now that football season has started.

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

OTTAWA, ONTARIO – Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG), in partnership with Ottawa Fury owner and CEO John Pugh, announced today they have applied for a United Soccer Leagues First Division (USL-1) franchise. The team would play and be based at a proposed new stadium at Lansdowne Park, which would be built as part of the Lansdowne project, subject to Ottawa City Council's approval.

September is National Youth Soccer Month. Head over to www.YouthSoccerMonth.org for more information on the events surround the beautiful game over the next 30 days.

A horror defensive display from Argentina saw the Albicelestes lose 3-1 to bitter rivals Brazil in Rosario on Saturday night, making their task of qualifying more difficult. Fortunately for manager Diego Maradona, Ecuador, who were two points behind Argentina, remain two behind after their 2-0 loss to Colombia.

"This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

What if the legend stops being fact? What if the legend not only stops being fact, but goes on being printed anyway, printed incessantly, at every opportunity, printed and duplicated and reprinted and reduplicated to the point that it becomes an inescapable atmospheric cliché?

The unadulterated thrill of witnessing a magical moment of attacking inspiration is what keeps many of us hooked on the beautiful game but let us never forget that at the heart of every great football team is always a truly world-class central defender.

Red Rants interviewee and Manchester United ‘rock' Nemanja Vidic unquestionably falls into that category, so I thought it was the perfect excuse to examine the world of defending in search of the best centre-backs around today.

Now, I know some of you may take a break from soccer on this first Sunday of the NFL season, but if you still have the urge to watch some of the 'beautiful game' then today isn't a bad day to watch.Some of today's better games include Fulham-Everton (10 a.m. on FSC), Genoa-Napoli (1:30 p.m. on FSC), New England-Chivas USA (2 p.

Perhaps my most powerful experience of soccer fandom, amidst years of following MLS, the English Premier League, and the World Cup, came in a college basketball arena at the University of Portland (UP) in the early winter of 2005. Along with a thousand locals, I watched a projected ESPN feed from Texas of a national championship game where my little University team (~3500 students) was playing the giants of UCLA (~38000 students).

I'm pretty sure that attire is classified as "t-shirts," right?

• Our Butt Buddies Soccer Pro are working closely with the Homeless World Cup and selling t-shirts for the event - all the proceeds will go directly to the Homeless World Cup. We love Soccer Pro because they combine their love for the beautiful game with a social consciousness and commitment to doing good.

It is perhaps the most vexing part of watching football, yes even more so than diving and simulation. I am talking about the negative tactics played by Europe's top clubs in some of the most anticipated matches every year.

This happens numerous times a year and we all got an early taste of it in the Manchester United vs Arsenal match over this past weekend.

I'm not sure if I previously revealed this but I am a mad bonkers Harry Potter fan.
Indeed until I discovered that football offers rewards on a much greater scale, my passion for the series of books was as visible as my new besotted love of the beautiful game.
How brilliant then to have had a light bulb moment yesterday, when it suddenly occurred to me that there is a particular feature of football which bears a remarkable similarity to the world of witches and wizards.

A Beautiful Game by Tom Watt is a collection of interviews with the world's leading players.
Excerpts ...
This is Messi reminiscing about how he first fell in love ......with the game.
"There was green around the house but no garden to play football in.

After a week layoff it's back to the Premier League and Week 5 would offer fans of the most beautiful game a chance to see some of the best squads face-off.

Burnley has been the strongest new club this year with surprising wins over top level talent, but it appears that playing Liverpool on their own pitch was too much of a challenge.

It's ironic that at a time when the 'grow your own' movement has never been more popular (at least amongst gardeners), the Premier League have decided to impose strict new rules on its clubs to ensure they, too, use home-grown produce. Sorry - 'talent'.
All very noble too, except when you look into the make-up of most Premier League clubs, you'll find they're already largely abiding by the rules anyway.

A colorful week in Colombia's capital for me, spiced up by snacking on the Beautiful Game. Like a medieval pilgrim seeking a shrine, the first thing I seek in a foreign capital is its stadium, and like my ancestors, I come home with tales and tacky trinkets. My family heirlooms will include a South Korea World Cup CD case, a Sparta Prague ashtray and an Atletico Madrid singing alarm clock with

The MLS has announced that during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa that there will be a two-week hiatus from any league matches. The 15 day timespan the American league gave for the break will be from June 11th to the 25th. During those weeks the World Cup group brackets will be played and the league also confirmed that no MLS games will be played during the semi-finals or finals of the World Cup as well.

Great result for Arsenal today at home against Wigan.
This type of match can divide opinion, because the performance wasn't always as good as the result.
The match will live in the memory for the performance of Arsenal's new central defender Thomas Vermaelen. He's a good player.

Teaching Ideas

Continuing in our series of interviews with people who just don't like football, we interview Peter from Scotland on some of the reasons why he has never been a fan of the 'beautiful game'. Listen to the first of our interviews on this topic here in. To help you understand there is a vocabulary list containing the words in bold at the foot of this post.

Diving is a skill like any other in football and should be embraced as such.
This might be heresy to some. Certain fans unappreciative of the skill think play-actors are ruining the game with their histrionics. Well, the simple truth is that they are wrong and need to wake up to the fact that diving has always been, has always worked and as such should be viewed as the important, valuable and integral part of the beautiful game.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

In one of the tougher races to call this season, Houston winger Brad Davis earned MLS Player of the week honors for his one-goal, two-assist performance in the Dynamo's 3-2 win vs.

Russian side want Andrey back, but they can't have him!

Zenit St Petersburg have announced their intentions to lure former star Andrey Arshavin away from Arsenal and back to Russia after a huge financial injection from billionaire gas giants, Gazprom.

Global fuel providers, Gazprom, have decided to substantially increase their investment in the 2008 UEFA Cup winners in an attempt to create a European super-force to compete with the like of Manchester United, Barcelona, and Real Madrid.

*written by Director / Player Davidinho*
MARKHAM - A certain sense of calm resonated on the field this past Sunday as PFC contended in a consolation game, representing third place in their group. The Pistolas took the field without the on-going pressures of trying to win - or searching for answers - but rather playing the beautiful game freely.

For ranking methodology and other information about the series, see the original post. To read the about the No. 10-rated stadium, the San Siro in Milan, go here. To see all "soccer mecca" entries click here or on the "topics covered here" link below right.
9. Estadio Alberto J. Armando (La Bombonera), Buenos Aires
Open since: 1940 (renovated 1995-96)
Capacity: 57,395
Tenant(s): Boca Juniors
World Cup hosts: Never
Closest U.

First off if you missed the match here are the full highlights. The lovely person who runs the Bolton Wanderers fan page on Facebook has begun posting the highlights to every game, so if you're on Facebook I highly recommend becoming a fan, and if you're not on Facebook, no worries you can still view the video.

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

OTTAWA, ONTARIO – Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG), in partnership with Ottawa Fury owner and CEO John Pugh, announced today they have applied for a United Soccer Leagues First Division (USL-1) franchise. The team would play and be based at a proposed new stadium at Lansdowne Park, which would be built as part of the Lansdowne project, subject to Ottawa City Council's approval.

As far as Player of the Week races go, this week's is as tough as they come.

Several standouts from the weekend have good claims for taking home this week's MLS Player of the Week honors, but only one will secure the prize.

Will it be Brad Davis, who set up two goals before scoring a beautiful game-winner for Houston vs.

Growing up playing soccer in the United States is both a blessing and a curse. Most of us became fans of the most popular sport in the entire world, yet in the United States the sport has a third tier status that receives only a fraction of coverage and attention of the major sports in the US. I am old enough to remember the rise and fall of the North American Soccer League.

The bad thing about having a "real job" is that I don't blog about the beautiful game as much as I'd like. There is a silver lining though, I get to ignore lots of topics that are only marginally interesting to me and rather focus on some more interesting theories.

I decided to sit down for a few minutes and think about an article that for blogger standards is ancient (August 26) but that struck a chord for me.

Every week he will be here to offer you statistical gems to make your day, impress your mates and, on occasion, to settle the odd bet.

Sky Sports' voice of football and his back-up team of experts are here to answer your questions and queries on all things statistical and historical from the beautiful game.

On Wednesday the home office of OTWT received a shocking call from Endy in Outfield. At first I could not believe what I was hearing, it sounded like something tragic had happened. After talking to him, I try to figure out what was going on.
Endy called me to let me know that my father, who is 60 and home recovering after being sick for two months, watched the first half of the Barcelona/Racing Santander match on ESPN.