Just when we were beginning to wonder if this TOA league would really get off the ground with just seven clubs they go and add two more. Yup, now they are up to nine as Inside Minnesota Soccer has learned they have snatched two prime USL teams away with Tampa Bay rejoining the group and now a new addition in Crystal Palace Baltimore.

Click to continue reading...

After an extended vacation, I am back writing the blog. The coming week could turn out to be the most important week for FC Barcelona this season. After achieving a historic treble, no team would like to be thrown out of UEFA Champions League in the group stage, but the chances are pretty high for that to happen. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez would rather win the Premier League trophy than another Champions League title.
Following a disappointing start to the season which has seen them lose five league games already, many are ruling Liverpool out of the title race this term.
Nevertheless, Benítez, who brought the Champions League trophy to Anfield in 2005, is desperate to claim the domestic crown. Click to continue reading...

Photographs of the USA's home jersey for the 2010 World Cup have been leaked.

Designed and manufactured by Nike, the new design features a white shirt with a prominent diagonal line across the front of the shirt, which is a tribute to the 1950 US World Cup squad who famously defeated England 1-0 in one of the greatest shocks in world football.

Click to continue reading...

Doesn't the Iraqi Olympic Committee realize that soccer trumps everything? It brings every Shia, Sunni, Chaldean, and Kurd together.

After all what have they accomplished that can compare to the 2007 Asian Cup win. Now, they are busy trying to lord it over the Iraqi Football Association by dissolving it over '"financial irregularities and failure to hold elections.

Click to continue reading...

For many years Carlos Bilardo campaigned for his players from the 1986 World Cup to be brought as managers to all levels of the national team. These players who eventually became managers are refered to by the Argentine media as the "86 Generation".

Players like Jorge Luis Burruchaga, Hector Enrique, Sergio Batista, Jose Luis Brown, Nery Pumpido, Oscar Garre, Julio Olarticochea.

Click to continue reading...

In an interview with 'The Times' today, Rafa Benitez once again laid the blame for Robbie Keane's failure at Liverpool at the feet of the player himself, claiming that he was sold because 'he was not playing at the level we knew he could play'. In my view, Benitez's mis-managment was the real reason Keane did not prosper at Anfield. Click to continue reading...

Burley's assistants, Terry Butcher and Paul Hegarty, were also released, 48 hours after Scotland succumbed to a 3-0 friendly defeat by Wales. The SFA had decided against dismissing Burley last month following a review of the national squad's failure to reach the World Cup qualifying play-offs. But Saturday's humiliation in Cardiff proved . Click to continue reading...

The people linked with Newcastle United are either perpetually stupid or completely inept.

Barry Moat has finally broken his silence regarding the Newcastle United takeover and his failure to buy the club. In comments released yesterday Moat admitted that he too would consider selling the naming rights for St.

Click to continue reading...

Many Liverpool fans are distraught at the club's current predicament/failure to win any trophies for the last three years. After 1 win in 9 games, questions are rightly being asked about Rafa Benitez's future. However, The ‘Rafa can do no wrong' brigade come up with endless excuses/justifications for giving the manager more time, the most common of which is the ridiculous comparison between Benitez and Arsene Wenger. Click to continue reading...

As we saw once again against Birmingham on Monday, Glen Johnson's best work this season continues to come when he's playing higher up the field. Should Liverpool capitalise on this and convert him into a permanent right-winger?
In my view, the Birmingham game illustrated once again the occasional defensive lapses to which Johnson is prone; his failure to push out quick enough meant Christian Benitez was onside when he scored the equalising goal. Click to continue reading...

Landon Donovan has been regarded the best USA outfield player in the last few years. He's the all-time leading goalscorer for the national team and has been one of the top players in MLS for several years. While there are many who criticize Donovan, there's no denying that he has the ability to play in one of the top leagues in Europe.

Click to continue reading...

Rafa Benitez revealed he has held talks with Liverpool CEO Christian Purslow about the consequences of failure in the Champions League this season, about which Benitez said: "The first thing though is that we have confidence we can still reach the last 16 this season".
That is going to need already qualified Lyon to Beat Fiorentina away, not going to happen. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina has said that he does not believe an early European exit for the club would be a complete disaster.
Reina knows that his side must win their two remaining games and hope already-qualified Lyon can do them a favour against Italian side Fiorentina, but maintains that the Reds' rich European history makes up for this season's woes. Click to continue reading...

This week saw the news that Chelsea have joined Newcastle United in openly stating that they are considering selling the naming rights to one of England's  most established stadiums.

Opening myself to accusations of being overdramatic I believe that if today's announcement to tinker with the name of Stamford Bridge for commercial rights goes ahead it will be one of the biggest events in the clubs history.

Click to continue reading...

Former DC United Coach Tom Soehn

Earlier this morning came the news that DC United coach Tom Soehn would not seek to extend his current contract with the team. Set to expire at the end of this year, Soehn will instead leave the club he has been a part of for the past six seasons – three years as an assistant and three as the head coach.

Click to continue reading...

The Reds of Liverpool showed great promise early in the season going on a 6 match winning streak after dropping their first match to Tottenham. Then, over the last 4 matches...they've lost 3. Liverpool was so UPthat I considered doing a long interest piece on the team, then I got distracted with all the other mayhem and foolishness going on in the Premier League and now I look up and they've lost 3 of 4 matches.

Click to continue reading...

Real's humiliation brings back the faith in the game. These days I have been thinking whether Florentino Perez is just an amateur who thought he knows football or is it mere profit he is into.

Simply, no man would make the same mistake twice. Los Galacticos one were tragic but this other version looks like a group of clowns.

Click to continue reading...

Rafa Benitez's future at Liverpool will be determined over their next three games amid growing concern from potential investors.
Liverpool's defeat at Fulham on Saturday was the sixth in their last seven matches - the worst sequence of results for more than 50 years.
And Benitez takes his crisis-hit squad to Lyon on Wednesday knowing defeat could finish their Champions League campaign. Click to continue reading...

Nice bit of stimulus. 65,000 and 100,000 total new jobs would be created in the various host cities during the preparation and operation of the tournament in the year of the event. If the USA does get awarded the 2018 or 2022 World Cup, one of the goal will be to generate immediate tangible effects.

Click to continue reading...

Newcastle can fairly easily exist for one season out of the Premier League but any longer will necessarily see a further decline in the playing staff at the club. Alan Smith nio promotion this season would be failure The club is getting by this season essentially because it seems that Mike Ashley is willing to dip [. Click to continue reading...

---- -----------------"Can I get back to you in five years?"
One thing has become crystal clear over the last few days of post-season naval gazing at BMO Field. It doesn't matter, who the head coach is, it doesn't matter how the star player feels, it doesn't matter what the supporters want - Mo Johnston (Yes, the Scottish Hall of Famer! Click to continue reading...

[101 Great Goals] When Dr. Paul Morris laid out the ways and means of diving, giving referees the necessary tools to catch the culprit (failure thus far), he forgot two very, very important indicators: i. The delay between perceived foul and the criminal going to ground. ii. The "look back". We'll call this The Morten Gamst Pedersen (below). Click to continue reading...

--------------------That is some quality toad. Nice hole too.

Well, that's it then. 2009 is done and dusted with Toronto FC having nothing but a big wad of mediocrity to show for it. But have no fear brave TFC supporters - Mo Johnston is working feverishly to make everything better!

Click to continue reading...

In July I wrote a piece about Bruno Demichelis, a sports psychologist Ancelotti brought with him from Milan. Judging from his experience in setting up the venerated MilanLab, it seemed he had moved to London to help extend the careers of Chelsea's older players. The latest from Cobham suggests that he's turning to an unlikely source – meditation – to take the science much further.

Click to continue reading...

In July I wrote a piece about Bruno Demichelis, a sports psychologist Ancelotti brought with him from Milan. Judging from his experience in setting up the venerated MilanLab, it seemed he had moved to London to help extend the careers of Chelsea's older players. The latest from Cobham suggests that he's turning to an unlikely source – meditation – to take the science much further.

Click to continue reading...

"We need better players," said Smith. "What was very clear tonight was that some of the guys in that changing room are not good enough."
As of 5pm Tuesday, 27 responses to Jeff Plush's letter to fans on the Rapids' blog. When you address the fan's real needs, you get a response.
The coach's quote and the response to the GM speak volumes. Click to continue reading...

So Mo Johnston's big state of the no-union address was to remove the "interim" tag from head coach Chris Cummins title. He also removed the word "head" and "coach" from the affable Englishman's job description as well.
Yes, the ever-humble Johnston dispatched yet another manager from the TFC bench with Cummins being the convenient excuse for the mediocrity which Mo has taken nearly four years to build. Click to continue reading...

This is the famous burst and flattened beachball look. Priceless!

I am still celebrating even though I know it was only a battle we won and not the war. But still, how often have we felt this euphoria in the last, say, 20 years? Not so many times. Anyways, I bet many of us fans have had friends or collegues gone missing the past two days.

Click to continue reading...

Liverpool fear another season of failure could spark Fernando Torres' departure from Anfield.
Nobody doubts the brilliant Spaniard's commitment to the Anfield cause. But since arriving from Atletico Madrid in a £20 million move 28 months ago even Torres' goal-scoring brilliance has not inspired the Reds to lift a trophy. Click to continue reading...

BERLIN, Germany - It would be wrong to say that Berlin's main soccer team, Hertha BSC, has been a total failure... Click to continue reading...

Dull. Uninspiring. Inept.

All words than can some up tonight's performance. It's really gone beyond who scored for / against us anymore. It's now down to attitude and application. Sadly for Newcastle United fans, both our coaching staff and players are completely incapable of showing either.

Click to continue reading...

With the Ballon d'Or nominations finally releasing this weekend, the headlines have mostly been devoted to the fact that world champions Italy have no representation whatsoever. But why blame the press for paying excessive attention to an irrelevant detail? After all, the award itself is destined to be heading Lionel Messi's way, which means very little is there to be talked about in terms of debating the winner, right?

Click to continue reading...

This year's annual Supporters Direct conference found the organisation at something of a crossroads. The high profile failure of Supporters Trusts at Notts County and Stockport County have caused a deal of unwanted attention to be cast upon SD (even though they are obviously not for responsible for the goings on at specific trusts) and, with continuing concerns about the credentials of some of the owners coming into the game, this year's conference was always going to carry an underlying theme about two subjects: foreign ownership and the question of whether supporter ownership of clubs is always a good thing.

Click to continue reading...

In a Premier League full of seriously high stakes and grave financial ramifications for failure, it is easy to forget that football is just a game. And no player better embraced that philosophy - enjoying making a living playing the sport you love - than Dwight Yorke. For 15 Premier League seasons, the striker charmed English fans with his smiling demeanour and impressed them with his finishing prowess. Click to continue reading...