After the World Cup he says he's done.
"I cannot play when I am 50."
I thought he would. Though he's only 33, and I've been under the impression that he's been in his
40s for a while now.
Oh well, to the links:
- Scotland fires head coach. [FourFourTwo]
- Neville wants an elite pool of refs.
Click to continue reading...
WVHooligan 12 November @ 06:02 AM EST
Colin Clark and Conor Casey make up a big part of the Rapids. (Getty Images)
We are moving forward today in our expansion draft coverage. So far we've knocked out both the
Fire and Chivas USA, today we stay out west with a look at the Colorado Rapids. Now this is a club
that may go through a bit of a change this winter because of their collapse late in the season.
Click to continue reading...
Sad news out of Germany yesterday, as it appears star goalkeeper Robert Enke took his own life.
The 32 year old was apparently struck by a train. He is survived by his wife and their adopted
daughter.
The impact of this one will be felt a while over there.
Now to some links:
- Irish dude rips Raymond Domenech.
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...
Word is Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill and Nigel Reo-Coker are back on good terms. That took a
while.
A couple months ago the two had one of the biggest spats of the season, over the weekend the boss
named the player captain.
Kumbaya.
Now the links:
- Fergie escapes FA punishment (v.
Click to continue reading...
Photo credit: zz77 on Flickr
Does God care about soccer? There are certainly a good number of players, fans, and teams who
think it likely. Take Diego Maradona bringing "his Argentina squad to mass to pray for a World
Cup miracle."Â Or take Fred earning a yellow card for celebrating a DC United goal with the
message "Jesus Loves You.
Click to continue reading...
Elizabeth Lambert. Plays of the University of New Mexico.
She's brutal. Worse than Cantona or Gattuso or Materazzi or anyone you can think of.
Check out the highlights from SportsCenter.
Then check out some links:
- MLS Defender of the Year: Chad Marshall.
Click to continue reading...
Du Nord 04 November @ 05:22 PM EST
STARTERSGot this note yesterday from a great reader named Anthony who lives in Glasgow: Have you heard of
any fans making the trip to Bratislava for the Nov 14 game? I haven't heard anything and US Soccer
hasn't even released info about tickets, but I got a cheap flight from Edinburgh to Bratislava so
I'm going for the weekend in hopes I can get a ticket there and looking to meet up w any other US
fans before the game to march and sing to the stadium together.
Click to continue reading...
Kickette had this masterpiece last week and I just recently came across its glory. Word is this gal
is an ex-WAG, so it's still semi-soccer relevant.
She must be desperate for attention.
Now some other links:
- Mancini a possible Rafa replacement? [Daily Mail]
- A new world's top 25.
Click to continue reading...
Fox Soccer Channel today put out a press release on the growth of its ratings numbers over the
past year, its first as a Nielsen-rated channel.
Among reports of increases in Serie A and English Premiership viewers, the statement also points
out that "Major League Soccer audiences are up 89%, averaging 51,000 viewers last month vs.
Click to continue reading...
***Spoiler Alert***
Man United scored a late one through Antonio Valencia to beat CSKA Moscow 1-0 in Russia. The rest
of today's matches, including Kaka's return to AC Milan with Real Madrid are taking place right
now. If you can find a TV, tune it to Fox Soccer Channel or the sports section on DirecTV.
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...
From US Soccer: With a berth to the 2010 FIFA World Cup already secured, the U.S. Men's National
Team took care of one last piece of business during its 10th and final game of CONCACAF Qualifying,
mounting a furious comeback that finished with just 10 players on the field while earning a 2-2
draw with Costa Rica on a rainy night at RFK Stadium.
Click to continue reading...
There's still not a lot of new information coming in on the accident that Charlie Davies was
involved with early Tuesday morning. There is still no word on who the driver is or their
condition.
Steven Goff was reporting this morning that US coach Bob Bradley visited Charlie on Wednesday
morning and that he was responding to doctors but was still heavily sedated.
Click to continue reading...
There's not a lot of new information coming in on the accident that Charlie Davies was involved
with early Tuesday morning and still no word on who the driver is or their condition.
Steven Goff was reporting this morning that US coach Bob Bradley visited Charlie on Wednesday
morning and that he was responding to doctors but was still heavily sedated.
Click to continue reading...
Big Story
The biggest drama of a long and interesting day of World Cup qualification was reserved for RFK
Stadium in Washington DC. After a week that must have drained the U.S. players to
the core, with the terrible near-death experience for forward Charlie Davies,
Bob Bradley's boys somehow found it in them to pull out a 95th minute equaliser by
Jonathan Bornstein ("the ball just fell on my head and I put it away.
Click to continue reading...
Fabio Cannavaro -- the frustrated one -- has been cleared of his doping allegations.
Turns outs his bee sting alibi had legs.
I also heard he slammed Italian media and said he's retire if his country wins the World Cup
again.
Now the links:
- Argentina dudes asked Peru to throw game?
Click to continue reading...
There is a delicious sense of the absurd in the way Don Garber has gone about his MLS business in
the last few days, almost like a Steven Colbert satirizing the moronic "ideas" market of the
Blatter/Warner contingent in order to expose football's upper echelon time-wasters for what they
are.
First, we had Garber telling European clubs that MLS could be a model for wage sharing on the
continent, the equivalent of asking the Germans to slow down on the Autobahn or the French to
"clean up those unions so everything can run better in the country and there'd be less strikes and
stuff.
Click to continue reading...
The Offside 12 October @ 05:56 PM EST
Stuff to read while you see Argentina's World Cup chances saved by the bar (1:00)..... The
Barcelona blog returneth. Six times over. (Barca Offside) Discovering the internet via Ukraine
England. (Studs Up) MLS looking into the indoors. (USA Today) The phenom taking Germany by
storm...Diego who? (Deutsche Welle) Six injury times you're glad you waited for the whistle.
Click to continue reading...
Honduras 2 U.S. 3
Game story.
Former Galaxy striker Carlos Pavon proved once again why he failed so abysmally in MLS, missing
a crucial penalty in the 87th minute for Honduras that sealed the U.S. win. And then he missed
another sitter two minutes later.
Still, it looked to me a legitimate Honduras goal was called offside.
Click to continue reading...
It is one of the biggest games in the soccer history of both countries. Both squads must wait
four years to have another chance as good as the one that they will see this weekend as Honduras
hosts the United States in a critical World Cup Qualifier. A win will put both squads in Position
A for a spot in next years World Cup and a loss will make it that much more unlikely.
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...
I will come back tomorrow with my thoughts on the contest tomorrow, kicking off either a standard
prediction/line-ups/recap post or a LIVE if I can swing a home feed. I'm working on it.So off we go
to the Reading Room:- USMNT match notes- Coach Bradley's conference call quote sheet- FIFA match
preview- Michael C.
Click to continue reading...
A new look at Bayern Munich and Oktoberfest.
Kickette also has the pictures of booze and cleavage too.
If you're into that.
Now the links:
- Lotsa great high-quality goals. [101 Great Goals]
- Wicks suspended for Montero stomp. [Goff]
- USMNT ain't likely to get a W.
Click to continue reading...
One of America's more perceptive futbol journalists. Beau Dure, has a lengthy profile of Landon
Donovan in yesterday's USA Today. (No comments on our speed of motion please.)
Aside from the a vintage shot of Donovan with blond hair, I actually learned a couple of things
about the front-runner for the Honda Player of the Year award.
Click to continue reading...
Not sure I pictured this as a alternate career for Andres Iniesta.
Pretty awesome though.
On to the links:
- Three-year ban for Manchester pitch invader. [USA Today]
- W.C. stadiums are nearly finished. [SI]
- There's a hooligan-fighting unit in France.
Click to continue reading...
Du Nord 01 October @ 04:35 PM EST
QUESTION ON MY MIND1-888-388-2650 - This is the phone number of the dopes trying to sell the Honduras v USA game via
closed circuit in the USA. Call them and tell them that they are dopes. So far they have signed up
a whopping 5 places in the entire country to carry the game.
Click to continue reading...
Here are a few quick Fire-Galaxy themed links to start your day. I hope to be back with another
entry later on, so keep it here...The USA Today did a nice feature on Galaxy forward Landon
Donovan, which you can check out here. Donovan - who scored in the Galaxy's 2-0 win over the Fire
back on August 19th - is, in my mind, the best player in MLS and the Fire need to watch out
tomorrow night, because he can turn a match around in a hurry.
Click to continue reading...
Dirty Tackle is trying to figure if that's what Ghana U-20 team was trying to pull off in this
celebration.
I can see it. Except for the guy with heartburn.
Now the links:
- Former AEK Athens owner a fraud. [Yahoo!]
- Pep cleared in doping case. [SI]
- UEFA W.
Click to continue reading...
Hilarious shot found over at Off the Post.
Yes Fergie, you can have all the time you need.
To the links:
- FIFA wants to deter violent conduct. [BBC]
- Ref reports racism in Spain. [MLive]
- Cyberpolice after W.C. ticket fraud. [ESPN]
- West Ham and Millwall charged.
Click to continue reading...
Dirty Tackle 29 September @ 06:34 PM EST
At the weekend we discussed accusations of Serie A referees favoring bigger clubs and now we
have similar accusations of French referees favoring French clubs in the Champions League. Well,
not actual French clubs, because their success in the Champions League would be far too suspicious.
No, they're accused of favoring the one good club that's more French than Gerard Depardieu in a
beret Arsenal.
Click to continue reading...
Word is Seattle and Qwest Field might get the nationally-televised MLS opener against Philly in
2010.
Also, the MLS Cup this year is gonna get primetime treatment from ESPN.
Seattle rules.
Now the links:
- Bobby Robson tribute. [BBC]
- Does soccer need a visible game clock?
Click to continue reading...
In case you have missed anything, here are some recent links with Chicago pro soccer mention:
WPS expansion draft
• John Howell, Bleacher Report: Red Stars lose two subs to Philadelphia in WPS first expansion
draft
• Beau Dure, USA Today: Philly looks strong in WPS expansion draft
• Jeff Kassouf, The Equalizer: Grading the WPS expansion draft
Chicago Fire player development
• L.
Click to continue reading...
Du Nord 09 September @ 11:05 PM EST
STARTERSAfter yesterdays results things look like this for the USA to get in the World Cup: - Beat Honduras
(Oct 10) or Beat or Tie Costa Rica (Oct 14). There are several other ways to get in too, but they
are all slightly more complex. These 3 choices are straight up and doable.
Click to continue reading...
