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Vietnam Superstar

This is American Soccer 17 November @ 04:20 PM EST
QUICK PROGRAMMING NOTES: TIAS, Du Nord, The Original Winger, Soccer By Ives, and The Offside Rules will be hosting a party Friday night 9pm in downtown Seattle at Kell's Irish Pub (FYI - bar charges $5 cover, which is not going to us). It's a true soccer bar I'm told, should be a good time. Click to continue reading...

Recession Forces Taurine Fiends Into Criminal Lives!

The Offside - NY Red Bulls 11 November @ 01:07 PM EST

You have heard stories about how this economic downturn has effected people from all areas of life, from the financial district to the local McDonalds. But what about the caffeine addicts out there? Well, for those who feel coffee just isn't enough, but paying two dollars a can for Red Bull is too much, they have turned to the next best thing: a crime spree.

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Kicking And Screening, now in DC

This is American Soccer 08 October @ 02:06 PM EST

foreign failure (and a blind date) nets New York DC a soccer film festival

What almost started in London, only to become a gift to New York, is now taking the show on the road with the second installment of the Kicking & Screening soccer film festival in Washington, DC, October 15-18.

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more to life than winning

This is American Soccer 13 August @ 12:24 AM EST

Four days in Mexico City and nothing to complain about. Well, there is that one thing. And as a new friend told me after the US MNT lost 2-1 to Mexico at Azteca, these photos would look a lot better if we won...

But as should have been obvious in the previous post, there is more to life than winning.

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azteca in august

This is American Soccer 21 July @ 08:25 PM EST

so, you're going to mexico city for usa v mexico on august 12. now what gringo?

welcome to the TIAS and Du Nord travel special

Across the Rio Grande River, through the Sierra Madre Mountains, in the Basin of Mexico, next to the Volcano Popocatépetl, cultural beauty sits amid chaos, built layer upon layer through history.

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back in the bright lights, pt2

This is American Soccer 15 July @ 08:29 AM EST

If there was ever a sheen on David Beckham for the American soccer fan with a Y chromosome, if he was initially given a pass, if anybody believed anything he said, well, that patina is gone. Beckham can still build urban soccer fields and set up summer camps and buy a MLS franchise, but you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

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back in the bright lights

This is American Soccer 13 July @ 11:37 PM EST

Grant Wahl discusses his new book, The Beckham Experiment, out now from Crown

Why do book reviews have to be summaries of the book? I never got that. I understand it but don't get it. I do get jacket blurbs, though. Those few sentences of praise on the back of a boo I'm always curious what names are there and what they say.

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where have you gone brad friedel

This is American Soccer 08 July @ 10:20 AM EST
Laugh about it, shout about it / When you've got to choose / Every way you look at it, you lose
-

Lost in the whirlwind tour of South Africa and the Confederations Cup, which brought outlets from Harper's to Deadspin to what seemed like every newspaper in the country out for a week-long soccer columning festival, was the demise of Brad Friedel's once heralded (here at least) soccer academy in Ohio.

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the unchosen ones

This is American Soccer 10 June @ 10:52 AM EST

When Sports Illustrated Senior Editor Mark Mravic, 46, interviewed for an job at the magazine in 1996, they asked him what he was interested in. He said "soccer," to which the reply came: "Well, we really don't do a lot of soccer."

More than a decade later he's finally the soccer editor. Now will the coverage improve?

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diplomatch

This is American Soccer 28 April @ 11:25 AM EST

A group of ambassadors to the United Nations, including Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon of South Korea, played a little pick-up soccer at my home field of Pier 40 in New York over the weekend. Balls found the back of the net, but the real goals were to raise money for Play 31, a relief program in Sierra Leone, and awareness around the power or soccer to unify people after conflict.

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the curious case of devann yao

This is American Soccer 21 April @ 02:17 PM EST

Discovered at the age of 10 in New York. In an elite American residency program in Pennsylvania at age 11. Three seasons at FC Metz youth academy in France at 13. A year in Italy as an amateur on AS Livorno's reserves at 17m followed by a spell in Scotland at St. Mirren.

A soccer vagabond by the age of 19, Devann Yao is now back home in New York, and that's where he wants to stay.

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looking out

This is American Soccer 09 April @ 04:29 PM EST

The Third International Amateur Soccer Tournament- aka The Challenge for the Tiffany Trophy Cup - is going down in Washington, DC until April 11th for a select group of 17-year-olds. This year's roster includes the D.C. United Academy Team, Blackburn Rovers FC of England, El Deportivo Saprissa of Costa Rica, Chivas de Corazón of Mexico, Real Madrid CF of Spain, Pachuca FC USA Internationals (Potomac, Maryland), Freestate Soccer Alliance Elite (Bowie, Maryland), and Great Falls A ‘91 Elite (Great Falls, Virginia).

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a dream effective

This is American Soccer 02 April @ 01:22 PM EST
What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up / like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags / like a heavy load. Or does it explode? -Langston Hughes On Friday, April 3rd, [...] Click to continue reading...

remember, make it better

This is American Soccer 29 March @ 04:26 PM EST
SOUNDERS LOOK TO THE FUTURE IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE WITH RECENT HIRE Once the next generation comes along, the argument goes, American soccer will finally succeed—on the field and in the national consciousness. People been saying that for more than a few decades. But with each new crop of players and coaches and players who [. Click to continue reading...

a rainbow for portland

This is American Soccer 23 March @ 01:14 PM EST
"Springtime Portland weather is grumpy, almost schizophrenic. It loathes changing from rain to sunshine, instead lurching through contemptuously cranky storm fits in every shade of gray. Every now and then, however, bright lights and rainbows find their way to Oregon." Brian Costello was a witness. This is his account of history. Click to continue reading...

get on board pt.2

This is American Soccer 18 March @ 06:02 PM EST
brazil is 4000 miles and a world away from american soccer (even if you could beat them, join them) Almost a decade ago, and just one week after Manhattan Kickers FC president and director Curt Rosenthal moved to New York, he met his wife, Maria. Originally from Rio de Janeiro, Maria's presence suddenly made Brazil a big [. Click to continue reading...

get on board

This is American Soccer 18 March @ 02:27 PM EST
a young coach from ohio, a tiny club in new york, and the future of soccer in america New York City is an untapped market. You don't hear that phrase too often the media capital of the world is hardly off the radar. For soccer, though, it rings true. MLS is based here, the president of [...] Click to continue reading...

diamonds in the rough

This is American Soccer 25 February @ 11:45 AM EST
It was supposed to be FC Harlem versus a traveling team from Ghana (Peace FC), but the latter got stuck in Florida, so a windy and cold Saturday in upper Manhattan turned into a scrimmage. Hoping for an engaging game I instead turned my camera toward the individual style that exists on any team but [. Click to continue reading...

brave heart fctv

This is American Soccer 05 February @ 05:21 PM EST
Scotland's Bad News Bears to become America's Team for TV audiences It could be the best of TV. It could be the worst of TV. If Paul McDonald has his way, this summer fans will be making the calls on who plays and who doesn't on a small football club tucked in the highlands of western [...] Click to continue reading...

tias en espanol

This is American Soccer 27 January @ 10:46 AM EST
There's plenty of talk about how tapping into the Hispanic fanbase is key for MLS success in the competitive world of professional sports. Though besides some translated American news Hispanic coverage of MLS is slim. Inasmuch Jose Miguel Burgos, 26, took up the mission. Chilean-born, Chicago-based Burgos is the man behindf MLS en Espanol, a [. Click to continue reading...

grasping at straws

This is American Soccer 07 January @ 03:23 PM EST
Like a child breaking down and building back and breaking down and building back an antique before carving their own milestone, 2008 was a year of tinkering before making real progress. But that's not to say history wasn't made... The most common thing I wrote down in my notebook over the last year was two words attached [. Click to continue reading...

a view from another place

This is American Soccer 27 December @ 03:17 PM EST
Indoor is in a weird place. If you think soccer has it bad in the American sporting landscape, how bad is it for its little indoor brother, a wholly unique being known to most players as that crazy game that filled the cold winter months between club seasons? Better than you might think actually. I loved [. Click to continue reading...

a year in photos

This is American Soccer 22 December @ 01:19 PM EST
While a photo may be worth a thousand words, I hope I helped the case that they can't tell 10,000. And while I'll always take the best book over the best photo book, nothing is better than when the two are combined. That being said, I love photographs, in that they bring something no words [...] Click to continue reading...

talkin bout gettin on

This is American Soccer 09 December @ 11:58 PM EST
There is always something beyond the immediate. After every win there is a loss. Even when you win the championship, eventually you fall. That's life. But try telling that to a team of high school boys celebrating their day in the bright ligts of the big city after bringing home yet another title to Martin [. Click to continue reading...

biggest hat in the ring

This is American Soccer 12 November @ 06:26 PM EST
Maybe I am deluded. Maybe I tie my heartstrings to the newest soapbox too fast only to aid the ripping out of that engine which powers my body and soul when the platform is pulled out from beneath my feet. Hyperbole? Damn right; words can't tell how badly I want a Vanity Fair.com or a [...] Click to continue reading...

caribbean dream pt.3

This is American Soccer 31 October @ 08:15 AM EST
So you think you can be a professional soccer player? Keyvan Heydari thought he could too. Almost did. Now some 20 years after he first tried, after he covered six World Cups (starting with Mexico 1986) as a journalist and broadcaster, after he contributed to outlets such as NPR, The Miami Herald/El Nuevo Herald, The Washington [. Click to continue reading...

limited edition

This is American Soccer 14 October @ 12:34 PM EST
Just like soccer fans in this country, good soccer clothing you know, for us by us is limited. Beyond the jerseys and team swag there is little in the way of fashion that doesn't involve a synthetic warm-up suit. Thankfully, the boys over at The Original Winger are back with their Bumpy Pitch fashion line. Click to continue reading...

growing grassroots

This is American Soccer 04 October @ 02:51 PM EST
two ways to grow grassroots spread seed in manhattan So if there was any debate it is now officially over. I'm old. While I was thrilled to see the large turnout and overwhelming success of Grassroots Soccer's charity event at the popular nightclub Marquee last Thursday, there was no question which part of the week I [. Click to continue reading...

the game don’t care

This is American Soccer 17 September @ 07:22 AM EST
PART 5 Looking over photos back in New York, it's clear that the closest I ever got to being Clint Dempsey was on the golf course (and that probably will end once he puts in some practice). The flare that helped get Clint to where he is today might be lacking at the moment as he [...] Click to continue reading...

the game don’t care

This is American Soccer 15 September @ 08:03 AM EST
PART 4 It's dark out, time has gotten away. I didn't envision talking to Dempsey to be this easy, for him to be so engaged. I should probably let the guy get some rest. But he keeps asking questions, almost as many as me. He wants to compare our lives, proving his point that he's just [...] Click to continue reading...

the game don’t care

This is American Soccer 08 September @ 07:32 AM EST
PART 1 Ron Isley croons from the stereo of the Audi A6 Quattro Clint Dempsey purchased from sports agency-mate Ryan Nelson. "You fool one day you're here and then you're gone." But before the beat drops, before UGK's Pimp C and Bun B have a chance to trade verses about making the most of the Texas [. Click to continue reading...

the south will rise

This is American Soccer 12 August @ 11:19 PM EST
The Charleston Battery defeated the Seattle Sounders on penalty kicks Tuesday to advance to the Open Cup Finals against D.C. United, who beat the New England Revolution 2-1 in their half of the semi-finals. TIAS traveled to Battery's Blackbaud Stadium to take in the historic victory along with a crowd greatly thinned by rain. Click to continue reading...

getting in close

This is American Soccer 08 August @ 09:28 AM EST
nbc is banking on olympic soccer michael cohen is hedging that bet When we hear people talking about hiring staffs in American soccer, be it for front offices or broadcast booths, they talk about the need to hire soccer people. Well, you can't say NBC didn't do that for the Olympics. Almost a month ago I [. Click to continue reading...

summer sessions

This is American Soccer 04 August @ 12:59 PM EST
a local breath before the global exhale and the emulsifying late-summer light I love. - A nightly program for New York City teenagers started by MLK coach Martin Jacobson in 1999, Summer of Soccer aims to give the city's kids a place to play. Simple just like the beautiful game it promotes, the loose-knit summer sessions run from July [. Click to continue reading...

chasing tails

This is American Soccer 24 July @ 02:51 PM EST
an all-star break think piece Sometimes things have a weird way of coming together. Sometimes you hear something, see something, read something that inspires you. Maybe it pushes you further along your path or causes you to blaze a new trail. A couple of weeks ago I attended a concert at Lincoln Center—Honest Jon's Revue—put [. Click to continue reading...