Throughout the years, American soccer fans have had to endure the snide remarks and abuse from the English football press and public towards America. We've all heard the cheap jokes at the expense of our "Mickey Mouse" league, the tiresome jibes about the term soccer and how Americans mispronounce it. As well as the jabs […]

One of the Bundesliga's funner 4-4-2's. GOALKEEPER Rene Adler Near Elder (if word about his back is true) DEFENDERS Paul Stalteri Ultra Pilates (perhaps, but what about Ultra defending?) Michael Gravgaard Alarm! Vice! Haggard! (Jol! Agrees! Some!) Daniel Van Buyten Banal, Even, Untidy (it's almost kind, even) Dino Drpic Drip In Cod (and on the […]

Episode 86 of the Major League Soccer Talk podcast features a review of Honduras-USA with Chris Riordan as well as a preview of the first round of US Open Cup matches. Here why host Kartik Krishnaiyer believes the US has a batter shot of getting a result versus Italy in the Confederations Cup than versus […]

When Fox Soccer Channel became Nielsen rated last October the hope at least on my end was that it provides evidence that more people were interested in Major League Soccer as spectator sport than the English Premier League. I even floated my theories two years ago in a running debate with Christopher Harris of EPL […]

In 2004, he left Liverpool for Real Madrid in search of Champions League glory. Early on, Madrid mostly shackled him to their bench and later ducked out to Juventus in the first knock-out round. The Liverpool players bounced on the big stage in Istanbul: lifting the trophy without him. The next season, after Liverpool didn't […]

On the same day that Kaka moved from AC Milan to Real Madrid for a world record transfer fee of £56 million, Newcastle United put a 'for sale' sign up on their website and put their entire squad up for sale. At the same time, Setanta Sports looks like it's heading for administration, Liverpool's financial […]

Average TV ratings for the different leagues that Fox Soccer Channel broadcasts have been made public this week, and the findings make very interesting reading. For the 2008/2009 season, the Premier League is Fox Soccer Channel's top league averaging 90,000 viewers per game. Second highest were FA Cup games which averaged 75,000 viewers. Serie A […]

Following a busy season, Raphael Honigstein of The Guardian and Footbo was kind enough to talk with me and address a few questions I had about the end of the season and the start to the silly season. Which player(s) surprised you the most this season? a) Misimovic. We knew he could play football, but […]

I think it is safe to assume that Alex Ferguson is a keen follower of all things football, to remain at the top for as long as he has you need to keep your finger on the footballing pulse. I wonder then if he took the time out during his summer holidays to keep up […]

Gulati-Garber photo by Kevin Joseph So we've passed the first day of what will be a long summer of MLS/MNT/FIFA fixture congestion. We've all heard the discussion before about the MLS schedule and its position that it is impossible for the league to avoid fixture congestion and unable honor FIFA international days. Without getting into […]

For those not emotionally invested, the sale of a prominent Premier League club is chum in the water. We want easily caricatured nutballs in charge, huge transfer budgets, grandiose schemes destined to fail and decimations of the club’s staff. We want entertainment. Given that context and the club’s unique penchant for disaster, West Ham’s sale […]

"Capello was exactly what we needed!" —Frank Lampard "He is one of those managers in that handful around the world who are the best!" —Steven Gerrard "He's given the players confidence and the team a huge amount of respect!" —David Beckham "Who knew?" —Steve McClaren Okay, so I made up that last one. And I […]

Burnley have unveiled their new home and away football kits for the 2009-2010 season. To say that they're unique is an understatement. Just as Aston Villa's decision to add the name of a charity to sponsor its shirts pleasantly surprised many football supporters, a similar goodwill decision has been made for Burnley's home kit. In […]

This week will be the most important in the history of Setanta, the Irish broadcaster who – according to the British press – could be forced into administration in the next few days. The implications of such a disaster would be massive for the Premier League and could also cause ripple effects throughout North America, […]

This week's eight matches averaged just over 13,100. Last year's week 12 included a visit by Beckham to San Jose. The game was at Oakland Alameda and drew over 39,800. After 92 matches, the league is drawing 1,479 fewer per game than the first 92 games last year, a 9.1% decrease. On the up side, […]