Earl Reed

ESPN's feature match in America looked wearisome and sloppy after 45 minutes. West Bromwich responded though, by wresting the match away from a Birmingham City side that looked wistful at times. There were several changes for the Blues from the Carling Cup winning eleven. McLeish did lead off with the 4-4-2 formation that yielded the […]

TEAM: Philadelphia Union HEAD COACH: Piotr Nowak 2010 RESULTS: 31 pts, 8-15-7 record, 7th Eastern Conference The inaugural season for the Philadelphia Union epitomized the difficulties that can hamper a team trying to ensure a strong future while mixing and matching spare parts into holes for the interim. Many bright spots were found during the […]

TEAM: Houston Dynamo COACH: Dominic Kinnear 2010 SEASON RESULTS: 9-15-6, 33 points, 7th place in Western Conference Houston continues to retool their team, which two years ago finished first in the Western Conference. It seems not that long ago that they were busy winning their second MLS Cup after their move from California. But those […]

This odd season of English football continued today, as Birmingham City persisted and stole the Carling Cup from a more ambitious-yet snakebitten- Arsenal side, 2-1 at Wembley Stadium. Arsene Wenger lost Theo Walcott and Cesc Fabregas in their midweek match against Stoke City, so the 4-2-3-1 formation contained Andrei Arshavin and Tomas Rosicky instead. Since […]

TEAM: Colorado Rapids COACH: Gary Smith (ENG) 2010 LEAGUE RESULTS: 46 pts (12-8-10), 5th Western Conference, MLS Cup Champions 2010 REVIEW: In 2010, the Colorado Rapids became the 9th team to capture the MLS Cup. The unfortunate truth about their Championship season was that they became yet another talking point for Euro football purists. The […]

If you've checked out the site for the last two days, you've undoubtedly noticed that we have embarked on a new series. Robert Hay approached some of the frequent contributors to MLS Talk (Daniel Feuerstein, Kristan Heneage, and myself) with the idea for a daily preview leading up to the new season. While we all […]

The 4th Round replay of Chelsea and Everton at Stamford Bridge needed penalties to decide the outcome, with the Merseyside club pulling out the upset. I chose to cover this match because Chelsea had a dilemma; they have a midweek Champions League match at Copenhagen. How much would Chelsea play their first team? Everton has […]

With USSF's simultaneous announcement of the NASL's sanctioning as the D2 pyramid level, as well as their exclusion from the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup in 2011 (covered by our own Daniel Feuerstein), red flags started being raised. USSF President Sunil Gulati's assertion that it was "too late" for the NASL's 5 American teams to […]

You like the title of this? I took a little respite from the match reports this weekend, but in catching up on Fulham's draw with neighbor Chelsea, I thought I'd remark that this had 4 or 5 of the most entertaining stoppage-time minutes I've seen this season. The most notable development in this match was […]

In the relatively short span that I've being a fan of MLS, I have grown to consider the television coverage of MLS to be like the Snake Exhibit at your local zoo: isolated, thought of in a wide variety of fashions from cool to ambivalent to disgusting, and lacking the level of interaction that allows […]

A dismal day in Staffordshire didn't dampen the spirits at the Brittania, as Stoke City overwhelmed the Black Cats from Sunderland with two set-piece goals in the final 10 minutes. STOKE CITY FORM: In the first home game for newly-acquired John Carew, Tony Pulis paired him with Kenwyne Jones at the front of a 4-4-2 […]

The Gunners battled back from a controversial goal, and exploited two defensive assignment miscues to scrape out a 2-1 victory against visiting Everton. ARSENAL START FORM: In the absence of injured winger Samir Nasri, Arsene Wenger gave Tomas Rosicky a rare start on the left wing. Aside from that change, he ran out the 4-2-3-1 […]

While MLS has posted the early fixture list for each team, doesn't it seem odd that a release of the full schedule has been delayed? Is there some form of uncertainty at this point that leaves them concerned about publicizing the list? For instance, I was beginning to consider a trip for this summer. I […]

In a departure from what some may have expected, this FA Cup tie between Birmingham City and Coventry City turned into a goal fest. The home side clawed back from a two-goal deficit to end up the victors, 3-2. BIRMINGHAM FORM: For a side who has been busy in both the League as well as […]

Mid-July 2011. What is the significance of this date? That's when training camps for the 2011-12 NFL season would open. For the first time since 1987 however, the National Football League may experience a work stoppage due to the expiration of their Collective Bargaining Agreement with the NFL Players Association. There is always the chance […]