It has been announced that since the takeover of Birmingham city by a Hong Kong businessman that David Gold was asked to take a role as Vice President of the club and the new owner, Carson Yeung, was going to bring in someone who heads one of his companies. Â At that idea, Gold quit.

Can you blame him?

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FC Dallas' slim playoff hopes gained more steam on Wednesday night after a Jeff Cunningham goal helped give Dallas a 1-0 victory against New England at Dallas Cowboys Stadium.

Cunningham headed home a Jair Benitez cross in the 71st minute to give FC Dallas its third win in four matches and move the Texas club closer to the playoff pack with three matches remaining.

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El grandioso nuevo estadio de los Dallas Cowboys le costo a su dueño Jerry Jones mas de un billon de dolares, cuenta con la pantalla HD mas grande del mundo y el pasado lunes en su sengundo partido oficial fue oficialmente bautizado como los grandes. Tambien hay video en el link de abajo pero advertencia que no lo debes ver si estas usando la computadora de tu trabajo. Click to continue reading...

Think Seattle is killing it in attendance this season?
Next season could be better, as one report says the club might open up the north-end bleachers (often referred to as the Hawk's Nest, where that Xbox banner is) for games next year.
That would add 2,200 seats to the capacity, making it 34,600. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool are pursuing a £240million naming rights deal to finally kickstart their troubled move to Stanley Park.
Carlsberg's 18-year shirt sponsorship with the Reds ends next year.
But the Danish beer brewers are prepared to match the £100m Arsenal received for a 15-year deal with Emirates. Click to continue reading...

Manchester United have been named the most valuable sports club in the world by highly respected American business magazine, Forbes.

They list us as being worth $1.87 billion (£1.14b) after having increased in worth by 4%.

This puts us above NFL team, Dallas Cowboys, who are worth $1.

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I'm back! But did I ever really leave?

I did. The shenanigans around the club bewitched, bothered and bewildered me to the point of becoming a simpering, whimpering child again.

Dalport, Vicente Soriano's heel turn, Colombian drug lords/lingerie salesmen, Juan Soler the Hutt and David Villa's impending transfer to one of either Real Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Liverpool, the New York Yankees or the Dallas Cowboys .

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Alan Palmer and Francis Gallagher have been appointed principals of the UK arm of HKS, the global architectural practice which built the Dallas Cowboys stadium and designed the new home for Liverpool FC.
Under the new London office structure, Palmer and Gallagher will lead the 90-person UK practice, overseeing architectural leadership, business development and operational management. Click to continue reading...

The weather was nasty in Dallas last night but thank goodness the soccer wasn't!

A few of my friends and players were at the game. Below is a pic of Jordan and Rob Gaudet. Jordan is one of the kids I coach in Shreveport, Louisiana and Rob is his Dad.

Another friend of mine Cameron Bielstein from Austin, Texas was there.

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STARTERS
Frank Dell'apa who covers soccer in our country as well as anyone over the past 20 years has started a blog, Soccer Confidential, to help us all keep tabs on the interesting stuff that only he can dig up. I love it. Welcome to blogland Frank. (Dell'apa's main gig was with the Boston Globe, where last year he was removed from the soccer beat to cover the Boston Celtics NBA team. Click to continue reading...

Two goals from Miguel Sabah in front of fiercely pro-Mexican crowd at Dallas Cowboys Stadium yesterday started El Tri's rout of Haiti in a 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup Quarter Final match. The Haitians were completely outplayed by an experimental Mexican side that also got goals from former Barcelona man Gio Dos Santos and upcoming forward Pablo [. Click to continue reading...

If this C-list United States team manages to make the Gold Cup final in New York – and that is a muy grande "if" – I'm thinking the Americans are going to struggle against Mexico. I was the Dallas Cowboys' spectacular new edifice to watch Mexico pick apart the overmatched side from Haiti. And this one [. Click to continue reading...

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While both CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinals on Saturday night were tightly contested, Sunday's quarterfinals were anything but.

Mexico and Costa Rica both scored blowout victories on Sunday in Dallas to set up a great semifinal match-up. Costa Rica rolled to a 5-1 victory against Guadeloupe, while the Mexicans were never troubled in posting 4-0 victory against Haiti in front of a sold-out crowd of 82,252 at Dallas Cowboys Stadium, the first event at the new stadium.

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While both CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinals on Saturday night were tightly contested, Sunday's quarterfinals were anything but.

Mexico and Costa Rica both scored blowout victories on Sunday in Dallas to set up a great semifinal match-up. Costa Rica rolled to a 5-1 victory against Guadeloupe, while the Mexicans were never troubled in posting 4-0 victory against Haiti in front of a sold-out crowd of 82,252 at Dallas Cowboys Stadium, the first event at the new stadium.

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The Chelsea squad touched down in Seattle yesterday afternoon after a long flight from London. After getting transferred to the team hotel in downtown Seattle, there was a traditional team stroll before some free time.

Today, Chelsea players will begin training. In fact, if you live in or near Seattle, their training session is open to the public at 4pm today at Qwest Field.

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I saw an ad the other day that the Premier League kicks off in about a month (August 15th).

Usually the pre-season is pretty boring, but for soccer fans in the U.S. the next 30 days is pure soccer magic.

To kick things off we have the World Football Challenge involving AC Milan, Inter Milan, Chelsea and Club America.

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Mexico topped Group C of the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup by beating Guadeloupe 2-0 in Glendale, Arizona yesterday. Mexico will now play Haiti at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium in Dallas, Texas in front of what is expected to be a predominantly pro-Mexico crowd. Guadeloupe will meet the formidable Costa Rica at the same venue. Click to continue reading...

So says notorious moneybags & Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones who just spent more money than is currently in circulation building the behemoth New Cowboys Stadium. Kinda fresh that the new shrine to pointyball --built in a state where football is most certainly king-- is going to get felt up for the first time by futbol, not football. Click to continue reading...

-Chelsea FC vs. Seattle Sounders
Saturday, July 18 2009 - 12:00 PM. Qwest Field (Seattle, Washington)
-Chelsea FC vs. Inter Milan
Tuesday, July 21 2009 - 8:00 PM. Rose Bowl (Pasadena, California)
-AC Milan vs. Chelsea
Tuesday, July 24 2009 - 8:00 PM. Click to continue reading...

The United States managed to turn some heads at the Confederations Cup in South Africa with convincing wins over Spain and Egypt to make it to the their first FIFA final before bowing out to Brazil in a hotly contested final. Whilst the United States didn't get the trophy they were looking for, they did manage to gain some new found respect.

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SportsPro magazine has published the world's first value ranking of sports properties in its July issue, out now. They have listed 200 properties. Here are the top ten.

1. National Football League (NFL) - $4.5 billion
2. Major League Baseball (MLB) - $3.9 billion
3. National Basketball Association (NBA) - $3.

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US Soccerwire-NEW YORK (June 16, 2009) – The USA Bid Committee today announced it has issued Requests for Proposals (RFPs) to officials representing 37 U.S. cities that currently qualify as potential host cities to FIFA World Cup™ in 2018 or 2022.

In the months ahead, the USA Bid Committee will work with these 37 cities/markets with the intention of announcing a final list of host cities/markets at the end of the year to be included in the Bid Book that will be delivered to FIFA in May 2010.

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US Soccerwire-NEW YORK (June 16, 2009) – The USA Bid Committee today announced it has issued Requests for Proposals (RFPs) to officials representing 37 U.S. cities that currently qualify as potential host cities to FIFA World Cup™ in 2018 or 2022.

In the months ahead, the USA Bid Committee will work with these 37 cities/markets with the intention of announcing a final list of host cities/markets at the end of the year to be included in the Bid Book that will be delivered to FIFA in May 2010.

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The bid committee overseeing the USA's push for the 2018 or 2022 FIFA World Cup has pared down its list of potential venues to 45 stadiums in 37 cities (37? In a row?) and has issued RFPs to them. The initial list had a lot of college stadiums and other stadiums that didn't have a chance in hell of hosting World Cup matches, and this one has a few as well.

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"There are no traffic jams along the extra mile"
-Roger Staubach, quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, 1969-1979 Click to continue reading...

And then there were 58.

Representatives from a total of 58 of th original 70 stadiums listed by U.S. Soccer's World Cup bid committee as potential sites for World Cup matches have expressed interest in hosting World Cup matches in either 2018 or 2022.

Representatives from Las Vegas and Raleigh-Durham markets have expressed interest in being considered as hosts for the World Cup as well (No, Las Vegas doesn't have a stadium now, but a proposed stadium project is in the works).

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The US Soccer Federation has identified 70 potential venues for its bid to host either the 2018 or 2022 World Cups and is giving them until next week to express their interest.

It's an interesting list and I think it's got some filler on it, because no way in hell does Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa host a World Cup match (and I'm a huge fan of Nile Kinnick, who likely would have been President of the United States at some point).

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Ripped straight from the CONCACAF press release, here's the Gold Cup schedule:
GROUP A: Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Jamaica
GROUP B: Grenada, Haiti, Honduras, USA
GROUP C: Guadeloupe, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama
SCHEDULE
First Round
Friday, July 3 – Los Angeles (The Home Depot Center)
Canada vs. Click to continue reading...

The Gold Cup schedule will be announced Thursday.
The dates and venues have already been announced and are as follows:
First Round
July 3 – The Home Depot Center (Los Angeles)
July 4 – Qwest Field (Seattle)
July 5 – Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (San Francisco)
July 7– Crew Stadium (Columbus, Ohio)
July 8 – RFK Stadium (Washington)
July 9 – Reliant Stadium (Houston)
July 10 – Florida International University Stadium (Miami)
July 11 – Gillette Stadium (Boston)
July 12 – University of Phoenix Stadium (Phoenix)
Quarterfinals
July 18 – Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia)
July 19 – Dallas Cowboys New Stadium (Dallas)
Semifinals
July 23 – Soldier Field (Chicago)
Final
July 26 – Giants Stadium (New York)
Now, I'm just guessing here, and I already did this in a way but wanted to do it again, but my guess is that Mexico will play in Oakland, Houston and Phoenix, while the US will play in Seattle, DC and Boston during the first round, respectively. Click to continue reading...

Forbes released its list of the world's 10 most valuable sports "franchises" (in quotes because I've never liked that word) last week. It's mostly American teams - six from NFL, plus the Yankees - but there are three European soccer teams in there too: Man Utd, Real Madrid and.. Arsenal? Yep. Despite the fact that they [. Click to continue reading...

On the NFL side of the football world, this bloke just can't keep his name and face out of the media. If a week or two goes by without reporters clamoring for his attention he just has to go do something stupid yet again to get onto the front page.
Owens undoubtedly is one of the most talented receivers ever to play in the NFL, so let's get that out up front so I don't get flamed for ignoring his footballing skills and athleticism. Click to continue reading...