Until Fabio Capello took the wheel at England FC, I had this vision of an England World Cup qualifier 40 years from now: England are facing Croatia (who else) in a must-win fixture. The Three Lions are playing with ten men, though nobody's been ejected. On 25 minutes, Luca Modric III goes in for an […]

A sixth place finish in La Liga and a place in next season’s Europa League may be satisfying on the face of things. But a limp end to the season, discontentment on the terraces, and growing financial problems only darkened the thick storm clouds already lurking above Valencia’s Mestalla Stadium. Their long-standing money troubles look […]

Burnley FC, the newest team promoted to the Premier League after beating Sheffield United in the Championship Play-Off Final, are coming to the United States this July to play three friendlies on the west coast. Managed by Owen Coyle, the team from Lancashire will kick off their American tour on July 20, 2009 when they […]

Sunderland have unveiled their new away kit for the 2009-2010 season. Pictured above, Sunderland's new away football kit is white with carbon-coloured sleeves and a yellow trim. The color scheme is completely different than the away strip Sunderland wore during the 08-09 season, which was blue and black. Sunderland's new away kit is designed and […]

Bob Bradley sprung a tactical surprise on all of us Wednesday night when the US shockingly came out at Saprissa Stadium in a 4-3-3. Bradley, for one night junked the 4-2-2-2 bucket that has earned the ire of so many American supporters in the last two years. This tactical change was just the latest in […]

Germany have been one of the most successful nations in the UEFA cup`s history, with German clubs having won six cups during the competitions history. The first German team to reach the final of the UEFA Cup were Borussia Mönchengladbach, in 1973. At the time, the final was held in two legs, with the team […]

One of the most frustrating games in recent US National Team History took place Wednesday night at Saprissa Stadium. Jamie Trecker of Fox Sports, Dave Denholm of 710 ESPN Radio, Chris Webb of United Mania and our own Mario Valdez discuss the match and the current state of the US National Team from every possible […]

Duane Rollins whose work I respect a great deal has stated that Toronto FC's failures hurt the growth of football in Canada. The other night Vancouver took a giant step towards becoming the second consecutive USL-1 side to represent Canada in the two year old CONCACAF champions League. You'd be hard pressed to find an […]

To those fans of the US National Team who have been around their was nothing surprising or alarming about this match or the scoreline. For newcomers to US Soccer who have begun to expect more or have been told to expect more. But for old veterans of the USMNT program nothing about this match was […]

Without a lot of herald or press coverage, UEFA announced at the start of the week that there will be five referees on the pitch for all Europa League matches next season. An additional pair of eyes will be stationed behind each goal, focusing on incidents in and around the penalty area. I'm 100% behind […]

As fans prepare for tonight's USMNT World Cup qualifier with Costa Rica, I had our MLS fans in mind as I was looking ahead to this week's matches. Several teams are shorthanded due to International callups. Nothing new for experienced MLS fans. For newbies there are plenty of stories, posts, opinions about the conflicts between […]

Costa Rican football has undergone a transition with the star players who led the Ticos to the 2002 and 2006 World Cup largely moving on and fresher blood coming in. Some of the fresh faces in Costa Rica's setup are not all that young however. The generation of Wanchope, Medford, Fonseca, etc have given way […]

Christophe Daum pulled off the biggest surprise of the early silly season, by quitting Cologne to return to Turkey via Fenerbahce. I would love to hear Jan’s input on this, but my take is that it could be a sucker punch for the Billy Goats as they face the sophomore curse. Daum had a somewhat […]

It wasn't so long ago, I was completely outraged by Chelsea FC's spending. 16.6m for Mekelele. 24.4m for Essien. 19.8m for Carvalho. 24m for Drogba. As a business, the club could sustain a 140m loss on a year because Roman Abramovich was there to bankroll the transfers. This was bad for football. The value of […]

My focus as announced last week is on the US National Team for the Summer. I apologize for the lack of MLS coverage. The site while called MLS Talk has created a niche where we cover all aspects of the American game from the national team, through MLS, USL, WPS right on down to the […]