UPDATE: According to Sky Sports News, the agent of Tottenham
striker Roman Pavlyuchenko admitted that Roma are interested in
his client. Oliver Wendt told romagiallorossa.com:
"It is true, yesterday Daniele Prade was in London to better understand the situation of
Pavlyuchenko but we don't know the real intentions of the Giallorossi .
Click to continue reading...
Since the players aren't here yet, may as well eat at Dick's
View full size photo »
SEATTLE – Since it's mostly going to be an MLS Cup-centric week (after today's World Cup
qualifiers, which Richard Farley told you about in the previous post), we may as well get the
Pacific Northwest party started.
Click to continue reading...
According to ESPN Soccernet, Everton midfielder Mikel Arteta
admitted that he could see himself ending his career with the club. He told evertonTV,
"You never know how long you are going to spend with a club, but what I can say is that I can
see myself finishing my career at Everton .
Click to continue reading...
According to ESPN Soccernet, Tottenham striker Roman
Pavlyuchenko would love to return to Spartak Moscow if he is given the
chance. He told Sportbox,
"I have a huge desire to return ... If I receive a good offer, I'll be sure to accept it.
Click to continue reading...
According to ESPN Soccernet, Roma are not exchanging striker Julio
Baptista for Tottenham striker Roman
Pavlyuchenko. Baptista's agent Herminio Menendez told
romannews.eu,
"There is no truth in these reports claiming he is set for an exchange in January .
Click to continue reading...
According to ESPN Soccernet, Portsmouth chief executive Peter
Storrie expects the club's transfer ban to be lifted before the January transfer window.
He said,
"My understanding is that we would expect the transfer ban to be lifted in good time for us to
continue trading in January.
Click to continue reading...
I will have a piece up at ESPN Soccernet later today looking back at the pair of weekend
conference finals and gazing ahead at this weekend's MLS championship. Here's a little sneak peak
at the most interesting note:
It involved Landon Donovan and his ability to convert penalty kicks. And it involves
RealSaltLake goalkeeper Nick Rimando, whose heroic performance in Saturday's penalty kick
tiebreaker against Chicago is a big reason why the men of Utah remain alive today.
Click to continue reading...
Du Nord 11 November @ 04:39 PM EST
STARTERSThe Associated Press with an article on German goalkeeper Robert Enke who took his own life
yesterday. He had been suffering badly from depression, and left behind a suicide note. There are
quotes from the players wife, the German chancellor, his doctor and players & coaches.
Click to continue reading...
Du Nord 05 November @ 05:41 PM EST
STARTERSColumbus & Salt Lake square off in the 2nd leg of their first round playoff series. The winner
advances to the Semifinals.
dN
6 teams have already secured their spot in the Round of 16 knock out stage - Chelsea, Porto &
Sevilla, Bordeaux, Lyon & Manchester United.
Click to continue reading...
According to ESPN Soccernet, shareholder Stan Kroenke might be consider making
a full offer for Arsenal. In order to do so, he has to own 29.99% of the club and
he recently purchased more shares to increase his stake to 29.90%.
However the possibility of the team being bought by Kroenke has not affect boss Arsene
Wenger.
Click to continue reading...
Arsene Wenger and Arsenal may soon have a new owner at the club. Stan Kroenke, who already added
to his stock of shares in the North London club earlier this week, reportedly bought 200 more
shares today to draw his stake in the club to 29.9 percent -- just 0.09 percent away from the limit
where Kroenke would have to make a bid for the remaining shares.
Click to continue reading...
Arsene Wenger and Arsenal may soon have a new owner at the club. Stan Kroenke, who already added
to his stock of shares in the North London club earlier this week, reportedly bought 200 more
shares today to draw his stake in the club to 29.9 percent -- just 0.09 percent away from the limit
where Kroenke would have to make a bid for the remaining shares.
Click to continue reading...
As I mentioned on Monday with the release of our latest podcast, we are making some exciting
changes at MLS Talk. One of these changes will be our new "Legends of MLS" series on both our
podcast and website. Often times, MLS History is unknown or hardly written for the new fan. We seek
to bridge a gap in understanding and recognition of certain players, coaches and clubs.
Click to continue reading...
UPDATE: According to ESPN Soccernet, Andrea Dossena's agent
Roberto La Florio played down any rumor that his client is set to join
Napoli. He told tuttomercatoweb.it,
"We will wait until the international break to evaluate and talk to Andrea .
Click to continue reading...
Attackers Davy Arnaud and Claudio Lopez are both up twice for the AT&T Goal of the Year award. Davy
is nominated for his long-range, left-footed bomb in Week 1 and a give-and-go and give-and-go
effort in Week 13. Lopez is up for his free kick in Week 10 and his past-the-halfline bomb in Week
19.
Click to continue reading...
Du Nord 03 November @ 05:11 PM EST
STARTERSDC United announced that head coach Tom Soehn has resigned, so the team now join New York, Kansas
City and Toronto in the hunt for a new leader.
MLS PLAYOFF NEWSIt was great to see that New England had scrubbed their field of all football lines for Sunday's
game.
Click to continue reading...
Bruce Arena ... did he get out-coached?
View full size photo »
Alternate headline: Where Galaxy-Chivas USA, Captain Ramius and bids for good
journalism converge
There's a great moment in Hunt for Red October that always resonates in my life.
Click to continue reading...
I love that mistakes are being punished like so much naughtiness at a Catholic boys school.
I'll have more thorough reviews up later today at ESPN Soccernet and at MLSnet.com. For now,
here's a quick review, including a recap of a few killer mistakes:
Columbus vet Frankie Hejduk was snoozing momentarily and allowed too much room for
RealSaltLake's Yura Movsisyan, who fed Robbie Findley for a big goal in the RSL-Columbus
series.
Click to continue reading...
Du Nord 28 October @ 04:41 PM EST
Sign up now to follow us on Twitter: @dunord
STARTERSAmerican goalkeeper Brad Guzan had an absolutely HUGE game for Aston Villa last night in the
English League Cup. He saved a Penalty Kick during regulation time, then saved 3 more during the PK
Shoot Out to decide the winner!
Click to continue reading...
Du Nord 26 October @ 10:11 AM EST
The team kicks off their group stage matches today against Spain. The game is at 1pm Central time
and can be seen on ESPNU, Galavision and ESPN360.com.
dN
Paul Kennedy of Soccer America tells us about some of the top players on this USA team.
FIFA.com with a preview of the USA team.
Click to continue reading...
Anfield Talk 22 October @ 02:41 PM EST
Keith Harris is regarded as the No.1 mover and shaker on football club takeovers, coming close last
year to pulling off a Middle East deal to buy Liverpool, so there can be few greater authorities on
the current crisis gripping Anfield.
The boss of high flying City firm Seymour Pierce spoke to ESPN Soccernet about the situation
gripping the giant Premier League club on the eve of their critical clash with Manchester United at
Anfield on Sunday.
Click to continue reading...
Hey everybody, thought I'd share a few links with you before I talk with Fire Head Coach Denis
Hamlett later this afternoon (knock on wood...).Here's a piece the USA Today put together further
detailing the MLS playoff situation. It gives a pretty broad view of the postseason picture and
drops some valuable knowledge so you should check it out.
Click to continue reading...
Brent Latham from ESPN Soccernet checks in with a story on the U.S. U-17 team for the upcoming FIFA
U-17 World Cup in Nigeria. A good portion of the team the U.S. is taking to Africa played here at
our Swope Park Training Center last week, falling to a team made mostly of KCW Reserves 3-0.
In full national team news, Jermaine Jones has been cleared by FIFA to play for the United States
after initially representing Germany in three friendlies.
Click to continue reading...
The Offside 16 October @ 08:00 PM EST
Who's in charge of images at ESPN Soccernet? First they got confused about Oguchi Onyewu, and now
they can't identify Real Madrid legend Raúl either? The image above (from Raúl's stats page here)
appears to be Real's other Raúl, Albiol rather than González Blanco. Thanks to John for pointing
that out to us via tips[at]theoffside[dot]com.
Click to continue reading...
It has been revealed that Liverpool Manager Rafa Benitez has been charged by the woefully
out-of-touch FA for blatantly inoffensive glasses joke after the Spurs game at White Hart Lane in
August. I didn't think it was possible for the FA to become any more pedantic and pointless that it
already is, but I was wrong.
Click to continue reading...
Jimmy Conrad celebrating with his USA teammates after last night's tie.
I'm sure most of you saw the United States' dramatic come-from-behind tie last night against Costa
Rica in Washington, D.C. Ives Galarcep broke down the performance at ESPN Soccernet. The tie helped
the USA win the CONCACAF qualifying group and allowed Honduras to move into 3rd place and qualify
automatically to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
Click to continue reading...
Du Nord 09 October @ 03:40 PM EST
STARTERSThe last time the USA was in Honduras was late March of 2001. And while many things in American
soccer have changed in just 8 years, others have stayed remarkably the same. The game that night
was only shown in America via Pay Per View. (Sound familiar?) So, via the glory of Big Soccer, 8 of
us lost souls met up in a basement in St Paul.
Click to continue reading...
Du Nord 07 October @ 04:31 PM EST
STARTERSCan't wait to see many of you next Wednesday in DC. Drop me an email if you are going.
TEAM USAMichele Kaufman of the Miami Herald with an article on the teams preparations for Honduras.
dN
Kaufman also writes about coach Bob Bradley and son Michael.
Click to continue reading...
According to ESPN Soccernet, Wolverhampton have filed a complaint to the
Premier League and Football Association against
Bolton as they are accusing them of making an illegal approach for one of their
players. The player involved in this accusation is Mark Connolly who was purchased
by Bolton for a fee between £400,000 and £1.
Click to continue reading...
According to ESPN Soccernet, Carson Yeung and his company Grandtop
Holdings announced that they have purchased of 90% of shares in the Birmingham Club.
Grandtop made a statement saying,
"Grandtop is pleased to announce that, all conditions of the offer, having been satisfied or
waived, the offer is hereby declared unconditional in all respects.
Click to continue reading...
Head over to ESPN Soccernet and read a nice piece about one-time Rowdies midfielder, Hugo Perez.
The article is by Jeff Carlisle and details the career of one of the better US national team
players of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Before Claudio Reyna and Landon Donovan, there was
Hugo.
He played just two seasons with Tampa Bay and unfortunately his career coincided with the dark
years after the collapse of the NASL.
Click to continue reading...
It was a little over a year ago that I first began writing for the Manchester United Offside,
and what a year it has been. Another Premiership win, a Carling Cup victory, a semi-memorable
Champions League Final appearance, and a rather turbulent summer have all come and gone since I
first mocked John Terry way back on September 17, 2008.
Click to continue reading...
The backlash of Emmanuel Adebayor's raucous celebration was felt again today as the striker was
doled out more punishment from the FA. This time it was a £25,000 fine and a two match suspended
ban for his celebration in front of Arsenal fans. The suspension means that he will only serve the
ban if he violates FA rules again before December of next year.
Click to continue reading...
