SoccerBlogs

Tony Tchani (left) and Benny Feilhaber battle for position during the Crew's visit to Gillette Stadium on Jun. 16. (Photo: Kari Heistad/CapturedImages.biz)

Talk about a tale of two halves.

In the first 17 games of the season, the Revolution were a team with realistic playoff hopes. No, really.

It's a rainy Tuesday in New England. The perfect type of day to spend a little extra time poking around the internet and a little less time doing "work" or being "productive". What's that? You don't know where to go or what to read? Oh, well, here... let us help you with that...


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Decision to waive Mansally painful one for New England - MLSSoccer.

Photo: Courtesy of Seattle Sounders FC

In the latest installment of the Philly Soccer Show podcast,� are joined by Seattle Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid.

Sounders coach Sigi Schmid joins co-hosts Greg Orlandini of KYWNewsradio and PSP's Eli Pearlman-Storch to discuss the powerful Western Conference, including the surprising San Jose Earthquakes, Eddie Johnson and his return from Europe, Osvaldo Alonso's midfield dominance, as well as concerns about refereeing across the league.

Somewhat hilariously, I forgot that I had a long-planned dinner engagement last night, so missed both of yesterday's opening games of Euro 2012. I did remember to record them, but haven't had time to watch them as yet. Never mind though, I have seen the highlights, which makes me perfectly entitled to comment on what happened with considerable authority just like Alan Hansen does on Match of the Day.

By Chris Wright

Platini: Seen here with 'friend'

UEFA President Michel Platini was warned that any player who chooses to walk off the pitch in protest over racist abuse at Euro 2012 will be booked for their insolence specifically singling out Mario Balotelli, who has vowed to walk and/or kill any troglodyte fans that see fit to fling their filth at him during the tournament.

This article titled "Euro 2012: Michel Platini warns of bookings for racism protest players" was written by Dominic Fifield in Krakow, for The Guardian on Wednesday 6th June 2012 19.53 UTC

Michel Platini has warned players they will be booked if they walk off the pitch at Euro 2012 in protest at being racially abused, though the Uefa president has empowered referees to halt matches if the issue flares up during the tournament.

Thanks to the prevalence of racist incidents at domestic football matches in Poland and Ukraine, racism has been a hot topic in the build-up to Euro 2012. Italy's Mario Balotelli weighed in on the issue, saying he would simply walk off the pitch if he were subjected to racist abuse.

UEFA president Michel Platini, however, has insisted that Balotelli would have to stand there and take his racist abuse, or risk earning a yellow card for leaving the field.

Checkout PSPs match report and look for an analysis piece later today.

As the Sporting News said about last night's USMNT game, "It quickly became apparent...that Brazil is not Scotland."

On the surface, The New York Daily News headline says it all: "US soccer outclassed and out-executed in 4-1 friendly against Brazil at FedEx Field.

Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas believes that despite Chelsea's current inconsistent form, the Blues still remain a very difficult opponent to beat. Speaking during the pre-match press conference, Fabregas maintained that Barca's defense will have to be in top form if they are to stop Chelsea's counter attacks.

Some players have always gone down too easily, there is no denying that, and it happens on numerous occasions in every game but the spotlight comes in high profile situations.

Speculation has been rife in recent weeks, especially with the actions of Manchester United's Ashley Young. The pacy winger has won his side two crucial penalties in their title run-in despite clearly going to ground far too easily on both occasions.

This week's addition of Major Link Soccer should help you get caught up on some of the Seattle Sounders stories we haven't covered here yet. Somehow, despite writing at least three stories a day, multiple FanShots and occasional FanPosts there is still other amazing Sounders related content out there.

In the weekend leading up to the MLS All-Star Game, some teams showed their dominance, while others took steps in the wrong direction. Saturday saw Dallas FC make a complete mockery of the Portland Timbers, who have now lost four in a row. Meanwhile, the New York Red Bulls continued their impressive home lossless streak, dispatching the Union 2-0.

� By Chris Wright

And with the expulsion of several hundred kilos of confetti (UEFA bought a job-lot of silver tokens off Richard O'Brien when the Crystal Maze folded) into the night sky in Kiev after� 25 days, 31 games and 76 goals,� the carnival is over.

AC Milan's Zlatan Ibrahimovic was utterly disgusted by the refereeing at his side's 3-1 defeat to Barcelona at the Nou Camp last might and it is obvious to understand why. Milan were looking to make it to the semi final for the first time since 2007 when they were crowned European champions.

It's not usually the done thing on here to blame the referee for the result – it's the sort of thing that you like to leave for the club on the other side of town but last night's 0-0 draw at home to Lazio was pretty ridiculous.
If Clint Dempsey were voting here, he would probably argue that his goal was the most obvious,
"I thought I was level with the line, it was a good ball from Bale and as it went in I thought I'd opened my account but it was waved offside," he said.

One could blame poor refereeing. Or a lack of effort. Or that the Seattle Sounders played without passion. That would be passing off the blame. It wasn't in Seattle's head, or referee Mark Geiger's. Seattle was out played. Poor passing out from the backline compounded by poor passing in the middle.

Scott, Ted, and Chris discuss on the recent developments in MLS and review the first third of the season in MLS. Shawn Carroll also stops by to talk about the MLS Disciplinary Committee and the overall state of refereeing in Major League Soccer. Also Scott finally reveals some predictions for the rest of the season.