Blackburn upsets Manchester United, 3-2

By The Associated Press
December 31, 2011


MANCHESTER, England — Alex Ferguson's 70th birthday was ruined by Manchester United's stunning loss to struggling Blackburn and Chelsea slipped out of the Premier League's top four with a home defeat by Aston Villa on Saturday.

Goalkeeper David de Gea's mistake allowed Grant Hanley to pounce in the 80th minute and give Blackburn a 3-2 win at Old Trafford.

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Terry to face criminal charge over racism claim

By The Associated Press
December 21, 2011


LONDON — England captain John Terry will be the first footballer to face a court in Britain on a charge of racially abusing an opponent, the most serious step yet in a crackdown on racism in the sport.

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It's still early in MLS offseason

By Steve Davis
December 12, 2011


We're still early in the MLS offseason. The re-entry draft process for players out of contract or with options declined is only now at the halfway point; Stage 2 takes place Monday, but negotiations for any players selected from a less-than-inspiring list will be ongoing. Meanwhile, the college draft and transfer market await.

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Galaxy knows where pressure is in MLS Cup

By Kevin Baxter
November 16, 2011


The MLS Cup at the Home Depot Center on Sunday could be something of a comparison in contrasts.

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Ronaldo wins the Golden Boot,
but Messi comparisons raised yet again

By Sid Lowe
November 10, 2011


MADRID — They'd make quite a five-a-side team. The only question is which one of them would draw the short straw and be forced to play in goal. A Friday afternoon at the Intercontinental Hotel in Madrid and the ESM group was presenting the Golden Boot to Cristiano Ronaldo as the continent's top scorer in 2010-2011. Alongside him on the stage sat Alfredo di Stéfano, the man many Spaniards consider the greatest player of all time, and Eusebio. In the front row, Zinedine Zidane and a couple of rows back Paulo Futre.

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Van Persie, Van der Vaart in fine form

By Georgina Turner
November 1, 2011


We're a quarter of the way into the season, which seems a good time to raise a few points about some of the players who've been thrilling or spilling so far in the Barclays Premier League:

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MLS playoff preview: Los Angeles Galaxy favored

By Steve Davis
October 24, 2011


Playoffs begin quickly for teams in Major League Soccer's new wild-card round; the postseason opener is Wednesday. The favorites (Los Angeles foremost, followed closely by Seattle) join this weekend. Every side has Nov. 20 circled on the calendar, date of the MLS Cup final at the Home Depot Center outside Los Angeles. Here, then, is a team-by-team look at the 10 playoff qualifiers. (Listed in order of total points.)

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World Cup bidding rights has major implications for U.S. soccer

By Grant Wahl
October 13, 2011


ZURICH, Switzerland — Next Wednesday is one of the most important days of the next decade for soccer in the United States. That's when bids are due in Zürich, Switzerland, for the U.S. broadcast rights for World Cups '18 and '22. ESPN, NBC and Fox are expected to bid for the English-language rights, while Univisión and NBC-owned Telemundo are expected to be in competition for the Spanish-language rights.

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Manchester United tops Chelsea with a decisive 3-1

By Johathan Wilson
September 18, 2011


In many ways, soccer is the simplest sport: it requires minimal equipment, and the laws are readily understandable. Even offside, the most difficult of the laws, is uncomplicated beside rugby's laws on the breakdown or the lbw law in cricket. And yet, at the same time, soccer evades statistical analysis like no other game. There is no statistic that, taken in isolation, will tell you who has dominated. Even the score line can be deceptive; over a series of games, the best team will usually prevail. In a one-off, though, anybody can beat anybody. That is the beauty of soccer, but it is also what must make it a desperately frustrating game for coaches. In most respects Chelsea was the better side; but it was Manchester United who won, 3-1.

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English Premier League transfers' winners and losers

By Peter Berlin
September 5, 2011


MANCHESTER, England — The summer transfer window in the Premier League slammed shut on Wednesday night after the usual deadline day shopping carnage. According to Deloitte, the management consultants, whose figures, it must be said, include an element of guesswork; the 20 clubs spent a total of £485 million ($786M). That is a leap of 33 percent on last summer.

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A couple of scary reminders and Suarez's weight

By Peter Berlin
August 27, 2011


Five things we learned from Saturday's action in the Barclays Premier League:

1. Soccer can be dangerous

When Chris Herd, the Aston Villa fullback, lunged for a header Saturday, missed and crashed head first into a goal post, the terrifying incident was instantly replayed in high definition from several different angles. After a couple of minutes, the young Australian climbed groggily to his feet and played on. He seemed all right, even coming close to scoring when he did manage to strike the ball with his forehead in the second half. But it was a scary reminder that soccer, like any sport where fit young men hurl themselves around, carries risks.

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Bad blood between Barcelona and Real Madrid

By Sid Lowe
August 18, 2011


The new season started the way the old one ended: with Real Madrid and Barcelona taking center stage, eclipsing everyone else as they fought it out for a trophy. And by the end, "fought" was the word. Those who hoped that passions would have cooled over the summer were disappointed. The fact that the Super Copa is, to use Jose Mourinho's words, "the most important of the preseason games, the least important of the actual season games" made no difference. This was no friendly. How could it be?

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Mirko Vucinic signs with Juventus

By Adam Digby
August 6, 2010


TURIN, IT — Mirko Vucinic is a brilliant goal-scoring forward, capable of terrorizing the world's best defenses. His strike-rate for club and country makes for impressive reading and, at 27 years of age, he is just on the cusp of his peak years as a professional.

Mirko Vucinic is a tough player to manage, a difficult character and one who -- when not feeling appreciated and respected -- is capable of lashing out at coaches and club management or simply disappearing during matches.

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MLS All-Star Game thoughts

By Steve Davis
July 20, 2011


A rather relaxed approach to this unique All-Star format had worked fine for Major League Soccer -- until mighty Manchester United put a 5-2 beatdown on the backpedaling MLS squad a year ago. Now the league seems to be throwing a little more determination into its All-Star act. Hans Backe, the New York Red Bulls coach overseeing this year's team, seems to have something up his Swedish sleeve. But let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet. First, here is a 10-point primer for the July 27 All-Star contest at Red Bull Arena, where Manchester United once again provides the opposition.

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U.S. to face Canada at full strength

By Steve Davis
June 6, 2011


There's only one sure cure for the raging Spanish hangover currently pounding in the temples of Bob Bradley's U.S. national team: a better night against Canada to open a tournament that the coach and his men have pointed toward all spring.

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Barcelona vs. Man United player matchups

By Ben Lyttleton
May 27, 2011


On the eve of the Champions League final, here's how Barcelona and Manchester United's projected starting lineups stack up against each other:

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Man United seeks revenge for '09 loss to Barca

By Georgina Turner
May 25, 2011


We really should know better by now. From the "Ta ra Fergie" banner of 1989, to Alan Hansen's insistence that "you'll win nothing with kids" in the mid-1990s, to the epilogues penned after three seasons trailing in Arsenal's and Chelsea's wake in the noughties, the lesson is clear: write off Sir Alex Ferguson at your peril.

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Barcelona next for Manchester United

By Rob Harris, AP
May 4, 2011


MANCHESTER, England — A rare double from Anderson after goals from Antonio Valencia and Darron Gibson clinched a 4-1 victory to send United through to its third final in four years with a crushing 6-1 aggregate win.

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Arsenal’s title hopes fade with 2-1 loss at Bolton

By The Associated Press
April 24, 2011


BOLTON, England — Arsenal’s slim hopes of winning the Premier League were virtually extinguished on Sunday, conceding a last-minute goal by Bolton substitute Tamir Cohen to lose 2-1 at the Reebok Stadium.

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Five things you should know about MLS Week 5

By Steve Davis
April 18, 2011


1. Setting new standards in Stumptown: In years to come no one will remember how Portland's inaugural home date grew so dicey before Kenny Cooper and a kidlike cluster bundled in a late insurance goal in a 4-2 win over Chicago. And they probably won't remember that FC Dallas nearly ruined the next match, just three days later, with two late goals and one final effort off the crossbar in a 3-2 Timbers' win.

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All eyes focused on Barcelona, Madrid clásico series

By Sid Lowe
April 13. 2011


Here we go, then. Barcelona and Real's very own World Series starts now, the most exciting run of games in living memory or definitive and depressing proof that no one else in Spain matters -- great clubs, superb teams and talented players, relegated to an irrelevance, in the shadow of two footballing behemoths. For a two weeks, at least.

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Serie A title is AC Milan's to lose

By Jonathan Wilson
April 5, 2011


What makes a great season? If it's the quality of soccer played, then this has been a dismal year for Serie A, something shown up by the performances of Italian clubs in European competition. Internazionale limps on in the Champions League, somehow in the last eight despite a back line about as well-drilled as a class of 5-year-olds on their first school trip. However, AC Milan and Roma went out in the last 16 and Italian interest in the Europa League ended when Napoli lost to Villarreal in the last 32. Juventus and Palermo didn't even make it out of the groups.

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Australia rallies to upset Germany 2-1 in friendly

By The Associated Press
March 29, 2011


MOENCHENGLADBACH, Germany — Australia scored two goals in four second-half minutes to come from behind and beat Germany 2-1 in an international friendly on Tuesday.

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Questions for Sounders; newcomers shine in Week 1

By Steve Davis
March 21, 2011


Know your Major League Soccer -- Five things you should know about Week 1:

1. Questions at Qwest: Everyone loves Sigi Schmid and his Sounders. (Well, almost everyone. You folks in Portland and Vancouver may raise a hand of objection here.)

Generally, if you like MLS then you have to respect the young, innovative organization's accomplishments. The Sounders raised the marketing bar for everyone, and you certainly can't help but appreciate Qwest Field on game day.

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MLS: Red Bulls, Dynamo teams to beat

By Steve Davis
March 14, 2011


With an already loaded roster featuring Thierry Henry, the Red Bulls fortified their squad further with the addition of some new Scandinavian midfield imports in the offseason. With the moves, the Red Bulls appear to be the strong favorite in this season's MLS' Eastern Conference. Elsewhere, it's a time of uncerainty for several teams. D.C. United and Toronto have dynamic new young coaches in Ben Olsen and Aron Winter respectively, while Columbus has gambled by undertaking a radical makeover of the squad that won the 2008 MLS Cup.

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Bundesliga and La Liga going in opposite directions

By Raphael Honigstein
March 2, 2011


Villarreal beat Napoli 2-1 in the Europa League Round of 32 a week ago, and though it was hardly a match that gripped the whole of Europe, the result will reverberate around the continent for many years to come. With Napoli's loss, Italy slipped to fourth place in UEFA's league coefficient ranking and will be able to send only three teams to the Champions League in 2012-13. The Bundesliga, now third in the rankings behind England's Premier League and Spain's La Liga, will pick up Serie A's vacated spot, meaning Germany can once again send four clubs to Europe's premier competition after having to make do with three since 2002-03.

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Sao Paulo's Lucas duo potentially the next great Brazilian exports

By Tim Vickery
February 23, 2011


Soccer said farewell to one of its all-time greats last week when Ronaldo announced his retirement. Brazil was awash with reflections on the career of the man with more World Cup goals than anyone else -- and Ronaldo was asked to contribute. Where would he place himself in the pantheon of Brazilian strikers?

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Tottenham beats AC Milan 1-0

By Jeremy Inson, AP
February 15, 2011


MILAN, Italy — Tottenham Hotspur headed home from Italy with a valuable away goal, putting Spurs in decent position to reach the European Champions League quarterfinals.

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Beckham reinforces his lack of commitment to MLS

By Grant Wahl
February 9, 2011


With the cancellation of Wednesday's friendly between the U.S. and Egypt in Cairo, it's an unplanned slow day in the world of American soccer. So let's open the mailbag and answer some of your questions:

Why is David Beckham so special that he doesn't have to be with the L.A. Galaxy during preseason?

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Chelsea needs to tweak to accomodate Drogba and Torres

By Jonathan Wilson
February 1, 2011


When Carlo Ancelotti arrived at Chelsea in summer 2009, he started off playing 4-4-2 with a midfield diamond. That paired Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba as strike partners, with Frank Lampard tucked behind. It rapidly became apparent that Lampard is far better played with the ball in front of him than playing with his back to goal.

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Chelsea needs win streak before thinking about title

By Grant Wahl
January 19, 2011


It has been exactly one year since I traveled 44 hours to Angola to interview Didier Drogba, the Chelsea and Ivory Coast superstar, for a story in Sports Illustrated magazine leading up to last year's World Cup. He couldn't have been more accommodating, spending 90 minutes talking to me in his private bungalow on the heavily fortified Ivory Coast team base in Cabinda during the African Cup of Nations.

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Uzbeks spoil Qatar Asian Cup party

By Martin Parry
January 7, 2011


DOHA, Qatar — Odil Akhmedov and Server Djeparov shattered Qatari dreams with second-half goals to hand Uzbekistan a 2-0 win over the below-par hosts in the opening game of the Asian Cup on Friday.

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