Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal has admitted that the fee paid for teenage French striker Anthony Martial was "a ridiculous amount of money", but added that it simply reflects the "crazy world" of football. Van Gaal said the 19-year-old, signed from Monaco for £36million up front and a possible total fee of £58.8million, had […]

Best starting XI For the starting XI the goalkeeper has to be Boaz Myhill out of pure necessity with Ben Foster unavailable. The Baggies have enlisted the help of Anders Lindegaard, but nobody really knows how good he actually is. For Manchester United to let him leave on a free would suggest not very, but […]

It was during a gruelling 2014-15 season that very nearly saw Newcastle United fall ignominiously through the Premier League trapdoor when already wafer-thin expectations and patience amongst the long-suffering Toon Army at St James' Park with the hierarchy finally snapped. The, frankly, dull and uninspiring fayre served up by what seemed to be an, at […]

After sputtering out of the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup in dreadful fashion, the calls for Jurgen Klinsmann's firing as Head Coach further intensified. A Jeckyl and Hyde performance against Peru and the shellacking at the hands of Brazil in suburban Boston only tossed kerosene on the flames. A large contingent of US fans and media […]

After a preseason of remarkable transfer activity on top of a new manager coming in, it’s tough to fully assess where Watford are headed at this early juncture. But despite going into the international break without a win in any of their four games, there seems to be a solid foundation upon which to go forth. […]

Four teams — two from the Premier League, two from Major League Soccer — meeting in a mid-summer, trans-Atlantic, trans-federation battle. And we're not just talking about random teams that volunteer for the task. No, we're talking about a partnership between MLS and the EPL, one that would see each circuit's league and cup winners […]

Don't know TV Azteca? For most of the U.S., there's a good reason for that. The Mexican broadcaster is a player in the FMF soccer world and will be broadcasting Oct. 10's Confederations Cup playoff between the United States and Mexico, but unless you're a Spanish speaker or a Liga MX diehard, you've probably never ventured […]

The topic of promotion and relegation in US soccer is a divisive one, but it doesn't have to be that way. I believe that it's possible to have an intelligent discussion regarding the topic without comments threads being plagued with soccer fans calling each other names. But what I am interested in hearing and reading is […]

On Tuesday, EA Sports released the demo for FIFA 16. However, based on what I've seen so far in the demos for FIFA 16 and PES 2016, EA will have to work very hard to keep its footy crown as PES 2016 has made a big step up, while FIFA 16 has plateaued compared to […]

We've entered year five of Jurgen Klinsmann's reign as U.S. men's national team coach, and his world remains a nebulous, volatile one. The progress fans were promised when he succeeded Bob Bradley has yet to arrive, and any hope that the program's reinforced foundations have a.) actually been reinforced, and b.) will offer a better […]

No, the soccer sky isn’t falling, even if it felt that way for some U.S. soccer supporters watching events unfold Tuesday night in Boston. This wasn’t Belize, after all, that was running circles around Jurgen Klinsmann’s experimental crew of miscasts and positional applicants. This was Brazil, where good players practically fall out of first-floor windows, […]

As per usual, we head into this weekend’s match between Juventus and Chievo Verona with one side dominating the top of the standings, the other perilously close to the relegation spots. Except this time it’s Chievo that’s firmly out in front, while Juventus are at the bottom, surrounded by Serie A’s freshly-promoted sides. This is […]

Eden Hazard says Chelsea are finding life as Premier League champions challenging as "everyone wants to kill you". The Blues are eight points adrift of leaders Manchester City after four points in four games and suffered a rare home loss – Jose Mourinho's second at home in 100 league matches – against Crystal Palace before […]

If it seems like many soccer writers in this country have been recycling the same game recaps, features and columns about the US Men’s National Team recently, your eyes are not deceiving you. After another harrowing performance against a team of pedigree in the international game, there are more questions than answers going into one […]

Underwhelming is one way to describe Manchester United’s start to the new Barclays Premier League season. Seven points after four games and three ahead of last season’s champions all looks good on paper, but the reality is something altogether different. Whilst the new signings have slotted into the team — Matteo Darmian and Morgan Schnederlin […]