As important to a side's balance – attacking and defending – as the right back is, so too is his not so distant cousin, the marauding (at times) left back. If you missed Football Formations 101 in school, just keep in mind that what the right back does in regards to his footballing duties, the left back mirrors on […]

A massive apology for a lack of articles lately, I have recently started a master’s degree at University and I have also fractured my ankle (playing 5-a-side) as well as a number of other things that have been happening. But, I am back now and an article from Josh Ashdown of the Guardian recently appeared […]

Tonight, Ken Burns debuts his new documentary on PBS stations around the United States on the topic of baseball. The new documentary, "The Tenth Inning," examines the tumultuous story of the national pastime from the 1990s to the present day. But my question is, where is soccer version's of Ken Burns? As far as I […]

UEFA Champions League Real Madrid's offensive woes will not be aided when they travel to the Stade de l'Abbé Deschamps on Tuesday and face an Auxerre squad who gave up the fewest goals in Ligue 1 last season with a meager 29. While Auxerre's form has not carried over to this current season, where they […]

Who are the league's best teams, and does it matter? Given downturns in form from Columbus and Los Angeles, it's difficult to tell contenders from pretenders. Even if we could, will the playoffs change everything, one season after the eighth seed took home the hardware? On this edition of the Major League Soccer Talk Podcast, […]

Mainz have opened this new season in fantastic form, and have won all six of their first six Bundesliga matches. Manager Thomas Tuchel has absolutely no previous experience at the top level, and is one of the youngest managers in Europe, nevermind just Germany. Despite that, his enthusiasm has lifted Mainz to the top of […]

Chelsea may have dropped their first points of the Premier League season at the weekend, but the result will have taken little away from a supremely impressive start to their defence of the Premier League. One man who has been crucial to Carlo Ancelotti’s sides start has been Florent Malouda whose individual performances have very […]

EA Sports has released a video featuring a behind-the-scenes look at the making of their TV commercial for FIFA 11. The video stars Wayne Rooney, Andres Iniesta, Kaka, Mesut Ozil, the Arsenal ladies and more. If you haven't seen the FIFA 11 TV commercial yet, watch it now. And don't forget that FIFA 11 will […]

Flashback ten years ago to the year 2000. La Liga rose to the top spot of the UEFA coefficient rankings for the first time since 1966. The final of the UEFA Champions League featured two Spanish teams with Real Madrid defeating Valencia 3-0 at the Stade de France. Despite that Champions League victory, Real Madrid […]

Chicago Fire's Section 8 supporter's group created an incredible tribute to Mario Bros. this past Saturday in their game against Seattle Sounders. The supporters created a tifo, described as the name for any spectacular choreography displayed by supporters on the terraces of an arena or stadium in connection with a sport event. The tifo features […]

Los Angeles remains atop the league, though their 0-2, Friday loss to New York has continued to redefine the league's power structure. We'll talk about that, Real Salt Lake's struggles at Rio Tinto, and ... And whatever you want discussed. This is your chance. Use the comments, below, to let us know what you want […]

This week's team of the week is an impressive one. After some big weekend results, some of the league's less recognizable players have forced themselves into the limelight. In goal, I have Schalke's Manuel Neuer. If not for him, Schalke could have been 4-0 down at half-time against Gladbach. He made two excellent saves to […]

It’s not often a regular 20 goal a season Premier League striker isn’t seen as a regular for the England side, but Darren Bent has bucked the trend with his continued failure to break through on to the international scene. Since arriving at Sunderland last summer, Bent’s goal scoring record has been nothing short of […]

The Week 26 numbers look like this... 5 year comparison Week 26 Thru Week 26 YTD Avg +/- GP Avg +/- GP 2006 15,419 7 15,014 174 2007 23,104 49.84% 7 16,475 9.73% 174 2008 16,948 -26.64% 6 16,448 -0.16% 174 2009 14,973 -11.65% 8 15,748 -4.26% 183 2010 16,022 […]

Emphatic Wins in their Infancy While two massively different matches played out to identical score-lines on Saturday, the meaningful implications associated with those 1-0 wins by Manchester City and West Ham United may go somewhere over the rainbow in defining the seasons of the victors. While Roberto Mancini got his formation and personnel spot on […]