As promised last week, here are my highlights from 2009 in American Soccer, in no particular order: U.S. National Team Beats Spain in Confederations Cup Semi-Finals: On June 24, 2009, in the Semi-Finals of the Confederations Cup, the U.S. National Team, which barely advanced out of the group stage, managed a stunning 2-0 victory over […]

For every Ronaldo, there's a Shevchenko. Sometimes, great reputations come at a great cost yet fail to deliver. Shevchenko is a great player to start with. Feared throughout Europe, his performances for Dynamo Kiev and A.C. Milan saw him become one of the most lethal strikers in the world. Once he arrived at Stamford Bridge, […]

Simon Kuper and Stefan Syzmanski titled the American version of their new book Soccernomics (review is here), but their title for the release in the UK is Why England Lose. In the book, Kuper and Syzmanski identified the US as a rising power in soccer and England as a permanent disappointment to their rabid fans. With […]

It is Friday, which means it is time to prepare for non-stop action from Spain with La Liga back in the fray. After an intense week of World Cup qualifying playoffs, the focus turns back to the domestic responsibilities. The times listed are Eastern Standard Time (EST) and include the pregame pleasantries, although sometimes the […]

If you were your country's top scorer with a healthy 35 goals in 73 appearances, chances are you'd be an established top league player in most countries in Europe. Add to that record a career that has seen you start out at Manchester United and take in spells at Leeds United, Sunderland and Fulham, you'd […]

Yesterday, I asked the question of implementing live video review in football. Today's question is: are our expectations too high for international football? I enjoyed your responses to yesterday's article. Please weigh in with your feelings on international football in the comment section below. It is easy to hold one's international side to an unfair […]

Wednesday's Confederations Cup semifinal between the United States and Spain had David v. Goliath written all over it. Coasting to the semis with three wins out of three, it looked like Spain was about to teach the US a lesson in tiki-taka. With the US advancing to the semis after shipping six goals to Italy […]

Now I'm certainly not going to start defending Chelsea's players or the reactions of certain fans after the final whistle back on May 6th. Yes, the referee had a nightmare, yes Chelsea should have had two penalties at least and yes to some people it was easy to understand the reactions of some of the […]

Few would have expected New Zealand to pull an upset over a Spain who entered the fray of the FIFA Confederations Cup boasting a 32 match unbeaten streak. But no one could have predicted that Liverpool's Fernando Torres would score a hat trick within the first seventeen minutes of play. Torres rapidly erases any doubt […]

I am kind of in limbo regarding the new Spain jersey. There are certain things that I like about it, but then I look at it in a different light and eventually change my mind. The first person I thought about was my friend Elisa. I some aspects it has personality, hell much more than […]

La Gent Blaugrana are once again following their “Unconditional Love” this season as they try to come back from two consecutive down years and obtain possible historic Spanish treble. The Nike Barcelona Long Sleeve Home Jersey for 2008-2009 is one of the most aesthetically pleasing jerseys in recent years and is most reminiscent of the […]

Goal.com and SI.com's South American guy Greg Sica will chat with the guys about the upcoming CONMEBOL qualifiers as we as the most recent developments in Copa Libertadores play. Juan also interviewed former ESPN International play-by-play man Randall Álvarez to talk about the upcoming CONCACAF quallies as well as his latest project back in his […]

Today's friendly between Spain and England will unfortunately not be on U.S. TV. Instead, Setanta Premium has the rights to the game and will be showing the match nationwide at select pubs. Coverage starts at 4pm ET. To find a venue closest to you, use Setanta's Venue Finder. In the UK, the game will be […]

Vicente del Bosque has named his squad for the February 11th friendly versus England in Sevilla. Barcelona players Gerard Piqué & Sergi Busquets got their 1st ever call up for La Furia. Piqué was called up to provide cover in case Valencia's Raúl Albiol & Barca's Carles Puyol are not fit. Busquets replaces injured Arsenal midfielder, Cesc […]

This is the reason why predictions should not be made as soon as the knockout stage ties are revealed. In a communicae sent out by Liverpool, they confirmed that their captain will bout for at least three weeks, thus keeping him out of the first leg of the Champions League tie against the nine-time European […]