Tonight on ESPN 2 at 9pm ET the two time defending champion Houston Dynamo will face the three time defending runners-up the New England Revolution. Sounds mouthwatering, right? Wrong! The following key players are missing thanks to World Cup qualifiers: HOUSTON: Brian Ching (USA) Dwayne DeRossario (Canada) Pat Onstad (Canada) NEW ENGLAND: Shalrie Joseph (Greneda) […]

Before I get to Scolari's appointment as Chelsea manager, I just want to announce that there will no Euro 2008 daily recaps from me for today's and tomorrow's action. I'm taking a five-week summer school class right now and had to record both games today and will do the same tomorrow because of my class schedule […]

Chelsea have just announced the Luis Felipe Scolari has been named as the new Chelsea manager as of July 1st. Scolari will be out of contract with the Portuguese FA on June 30th.Speculation had been rife that Scolari would take over for the last 3 weeks and this announcement doesn't come as too much of […]

With DC United and Houston receiving byes directly to group play in the CONCACAF Champions League, the other three representatives from the United States found out their draws today. Chivas USA (MLS Supporters Shield runners up) vs Tauro FC (Panama) Puerto Rico Islanders (Carribean area qualifiers) vs LD Alaujenlese (Costa Rica) NE Revs (US Open […]

Beginning with the first Barbados match we'll keep a running average of performances during qualifying. PLAYER Vs England Vs Spain Vs Argentina AVERAGE Tim Howard 6 6 9 7.0 Brad Guzan 6 6 X 6.0 Steve Cherdundolo 2 5 4 3.7 Oguchi Onyewu 5 5 6 5.3 Carlos Bocanegra 2 5 x 3.5 Heath Pearce […]

Thank god. Thank you Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thank you Lars Lagerberg. Thank you Sweden. Tonight you have re-affirmed my belief and love of football with your win over Greece. Watching Greece is the antithesis of why I love football, they make me hate the game, make me angry, burrow at my relationship with football and sportsmanship […]

An alarming trend is developing after one round of games at Euro 2008 — eight matches have been played so far, and only one of them has featured goals from both teams. Once a team takes the lead, they're basically a sure bet to hold on and win, and that doesn't make for compelling TV. […]

Eddie Johnson is one of only two true strikers on the US Squad. Brian Ching is the other. This squad is for both matches in the two leg tie with Barbados: June 15th in Los Angeles and June 22nd in Barbados. Goalkeepers– Tim Howard (Everton FC/ENG), Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Dominic Cervi (No club), Defenders– […]

So after getting both results spot on yesterday (I must have typed Italy when I really meant Holland!! Haha!), today gives us another great clash to look forward to with Spain's first game of Euro 2008. The perennial underachievers will be looking for their first trophy in 44 years, since winning Euro 64 and are […]

It's fair to say that the third day of Euro 2008 didn't necessarily provide us with entertaining soccer for the duration of both games (certainly not in the first one), but the results of those games were perhaps the most unexpected of the tournament so far. The favorites had won each of the previous four […]

Fifteen years ago today in Foxboro, MA the US National Team recorded one of its most important pre World Cup 1994 victories with a 2-0 win over England. For me personally as a US Soccer supporter, this was the match that proved to both myself and other die in wool US supporters that we could […]

So, after watching Croatia give a wonderful impression of England and Germany win their first game at Championships since 1996, today gives us the first day we've been waiting for. Group C is the Group of Death, where one of the big boys will definitely go out. Yet I think it will be worse than that, I […]

In front of what must be regarded as one of the largest and most ruckus pro US crowds in sometime, the national team drew 0-0 with Argentina, who is currently ranked #1 by the odd formula that constitutes the FIFA World Ranking. After two successive matches where the performance was subpar to be charitable last […]

UPDATE: US LINEUP ———————-Johnson———————- ———————-Donovan——————– Beasley———————————Dempsey ————–Bradley——Mastroeni————– Pearce—–Califf———-Onyewu—-Cherundolo ———————Howard——————– No Freddy Adu in the starting lineup and Landon Donovan is getting his 100th cap. Thoughts? Leave a comment here or join us for the game chat over at the Third Half. ################################################################################################## Perhaps it is home cooking or simply the stature of the opponent, but […]

So yesterday saw Portugal and the Czech Republic take massive strides to joining the last and their potential opponents all open their accounts today. We've two David and Goliath clashes here in terms of history and ability and we could see two very one sided games. First up, it's the co-hosts Austria, who begin with […]