Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho supports UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules, and he  has warned
the new breed of cash-rich clubs that difficult times lie ahead.
Mourinho believes that it is Real Madrid's heritage, and that of other European giants, that
will protect them club from any negative repercussions when the new regulations are applied.
Bayern Munich have a date with destiny this Saturday as they face Chelsea in the Champions
League final. The Bavarian side have been eyeing this year's tournament since the venue of the
Allianz Arena was decided, and smart football betting tips have the Germans as favourites. Despite
a determined opponent in the form of Roberto Di Matteo's men, here are five reasons why the
Bundesliga giants should be victorious.
When the Philadelphia Union hosted FC Schalke 04 in an international friendly on Wednesday
night, the talk was centered around a player, but it wasn't the one who had scored 48 goals in 49
games in 2011-2012.
Instead the hype surrounded Raul, who was supposed to be playing in his last game for
Schalke.
Manchester United have been named the most valuable football club in the world for the eight
consecutive year by Forbes.
United are also ranked as the most valuable team in any sport, worth $2.24billion (£1.4bn),
$385million more than baseball's New York Yankees and the NFL's Dallas Cowboys.
Manchester United have been named the most valuable football club in the world for the eight
consecutive year by Forbes.
United are also ranked as the most valuable team in any sport, worth $2.24billion (£1.4bn),
$385million more than baseball's New York Yankees and the NFL's Dallas Cowboys.
Setting: Saturday, September 1 at Gillette Stadium in
Foxborough, Mass.; kickoff scheduled for 7:36:30 PM Eastern
Broadcast Information: Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia (JP
Dellacamera, Bob Rigby), with coverage beginning at 7:00 PM Eastern with a pre-game show / Comcast
SportsNet New England and The Sports Hub 98.
The Philadelphia Union's tumultuous season has reportedly reached its breaking point.
According to the Philadelphia Daily News, Peter Nowak is out as coach of the Union. Club CEO
Nick Sakiewicz is expected to officially announce the decision at a press conference at PPL Park on
Wednesday afternoon.
At Wednesday's press conference in which Peter Nowak announced that a deal was in place to trade
Danny Califf, the spin was that the former Union captain was ready to go "home" to Southern
California. Kerith Gabriel reports Califf's reaction when listening to the press conference was,
"It made me want to throw up.
We are six weeks into the Apertura 2012 in Liga MX, and we're finally starting to see a few
teams separate themselves in the league table. While some have risen, others have fallen and now
we're starting to see the normal carousel of managers Mexican fans are accustomed too. Three
managers are out of work and there are a few more that are walking thin lines.
Below are some of the responses that I received on Twitter and in the comments of my post on the
opening arguments on the question of whether Sporting KC fans are becoming cocky and over confident
in the team. Seems a lot of people believe I am overreacting in ways, but there were quite a few
that have agreed with me that there are fans that are starting to get over confident in the team.
Fair Comment VS Unfair Criticsm Where do we draw the line by CS Over the last couple of Seasons,
the ambitions of Arsenal Football Club has been attacked from ALL Quarters The Media, (Online,
Printed Press, TV Pundits) unhappy / disloyal departing Players AND Large Parts of its OWN Fanbase.
Personally, I couldn't [.
Who can still remember the laughter and angry reactions in some parts of the Arsenal fanbase
when Wenger paid a nice sum of money for Laurent Koscielny now two summers ago. Another unknown and
unproven young Frenchman. He was too short, too small, too thin, too not good at all.
The New England Revolution are all about doubleheaders these days.
Sunday's Eastern Conference matchup against the Montreal Impact will be followed up by a
three-bout boxing card in the stadium, headlined by an eight-round battle between Framingham native
"Irish" Danny O'Connor and Eddie Soto of Pawtucket.
The Major League Soccer secondary transfer window opens in less than a month (27 June to 27
July). The rumors, speculation and other ideation for potential Designated Players is ramping up.
The Montreal Impact seem quite likely to sign Alessandro Del Piero and have already signed Marco Di
Vaio. There's speculation that Ronaldhino will re-explore a move to MLS, or that an MLS team should
explore bringing him here.
This started out with different intent. I was going to push myself into a kind of humorous
hyperbolic demand for huge name Designated Players signed in this Summer Transfer Window. The
set-up was going to be an either/or situation revolving around shiny DPs or shiny trophies.
Tuesday's US Open Cup matches brought with them a fantastic set of talking points. Eric Wynalda's
Cal FC advancing, the Carolina Railhawks to host the LA Galaxy and the Ventura County Fusion
defeating the LA Blues all take deserved headlines.
However there is one issue that seems to be ranking above all others among fans.
Tuesday's US Open Cup matches brought with them a fantastic set of talking points. Eric Wynalda's
Cal FC advancing, the Carolina Railhawks to host the LA Galaxy and the Ventura County Fusion
defeating the LA Blues all take deserved headlines.
However there is one issue that seems to be ranking above all others among fans.
The Chicago Fire are transitioning from a team with significant issues to one with some hope of
the playoffs. There move last year to have Frank Klopas as an interim coach and technical director
is now permanent. While the rebuild isn't complete this fairly unique in MLS structure means that
one man is purely in charge.
It has to be one of the strangest stories of the year, if not the decade, buried slightly under
the weight of Euro 2012 news but still standing out like a sore thumb. Scottish titans Rangers FC,
crippled by debt and forced to continue life as a "newco" (which meant possibly starting life anew
in the fourth tier of the league) were supposedly considering buying out League One outfit
Bury.
Euro 2012 News: Fab to the rescue for Spain and England ready for France test - originally
posted on Soccerlens.com
England enter the Euro 2012 tournament on Match Day 4, with a mouth-watering clash against old
enemies France sure to enthral, whilst co-hosts Ukraine are the last to feature as they entertain
Sweden to complete a full round of fixtures.
FSG are genius saviours returning the club to glory, they have a plan in place, and the
slightest doubt or skepticism means you're a fool for daring to question them. Just never mind
they've been at the club for eighteen months now and are currently looking to sort their second
managerial and director of football hires, while the man presumed to have the most sway in the
matter will be overseeing a move to his fourth manager in two years.
A few hours ago, news emerged that Damien Comolli's time at Liverpool had ended by "mutual
consent." The only surprising thing about it is the timing. Though some of the more blindly loyal
amongst the fanbase had continued to argue that there was a solid plan in place and that the club
was on the right track, to most it had become clear that somebody was going to have to take the
blame for a thoroughly underwhelming league campaign.
Here's the official announcement, the Rapids get a conditional draft pick from Chicago in exchange
for Wells Thompson.
There's a good deal of consternation in the on-line Rapids fanbase about wells asking to be traded
to find playing time, but it doesn't bother me. Look at what's happened this season:
*Wells was on pace for 727 minutes this year, his lowest season total of his career.
Caleb Porter is making the jump to the professional ranks, but not until December.Â
Porter was named the new coach of the Portland Timbers Wednesday, where he will take over
full-time duties from interim coach and general manager Gavin Wilkinson, who took over for the
ousted John Spencer.
Setting: Sunday, August 19 at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.;
kickoff scheduled for 5:19 PM Eastern
Broadcast Information: NBC Sports Network/TSN2 (Arlo White,
Kyle Martino) and RDS2 in the U.S. and Canada, and SportsRadio 610 WIP (Tony Limarzi, Peter Pappas)
locally / La Nueva 87.
After Kerry Andrew opened our Unexpected Rivalries series back in March, we are delighted to
welcome back Andrew Harding, deviser of an eponymous blog and a man we have invited to muse on
those clubs likely to get the goat of the average Shrew. True, Hereford remain the most indelible
foe, but in the spirit of the series, Andrew, who can be followed on Twitter here, spreads the net
wider, clearly spoiling for disagreement.
If you thought that yesterday the dust might settle a bit in the wake of Robin van Persie's
statement you couldn't have been more wrong.
There were whispers of a forthcoming statement from Red and White (Alisher Usmanov and that
other bloke nobody really cares about) and when it emerged it was really quite extraordinary.
The Seattle Sounders square off against the Chicago Fire at Toyota Park
on Saturday at 7:30 PM CST. We turned to Dave Clark of Sounder at Heart for some insider
perspective. The answer to the first question in the exchange is below and the rest of the
questions in the exchange are after the break.
Time to sift through the aftermath of that game between Dortmund and Bayern. And since the other
16 teams in the league decided to do nothing particularly unexpected, it'll be in a bit more
detail.
The title hasn't been decided yet, but the near future.
Dortmund have apparently been handed the title already by pretty much everybody, who has anything
to say about football.
It's been a while since I last posted. A long while. I originally started this website shortly
after the 2006 World Cup when blogs were relatively new things and soccer coverage, particularly
from North America, was just beginning to explode. I kept Culture of Soccer going for close to 2
years continually and loved every minute of it.
