Injuries forced Vicente del Bosque to alter his standard squad for Spain's forthcoming Euro 2012 fixtures against Lithuania on Friday and Scotland on Tuesday. Xavi Hernández is suffering from tendinitis, Cesc Fábregas has an ankle injury, Jesús Navas is dealing with a thigh strain, Fernando Torres limped off against Blackpool on Sunday with a groin problem […]

Bloody Exchange Rate So this is it, my last day Stateside for some time. Months of planning and preparation have led to one final day in Lexington before an overnight flight delivers me and the Mrs. to Heathrow and the United Kingdom. It's sure to be an incredible journey, one of which will be adventurous, rewarding, […]

International breaks; like taxes and the poor, they are always with us; always hanging around the street corner waiting to disrupt our domestic contentment. Just when things have settled into a nice groove; just when the season’s drama is beginning to unfold its latest plot twists, along comes the International Break to spoil it all, […]

As we enter the final month of the regular season, the league seems to have finally reached its equilibrium. While the standings my not reflect it, there are two teams who have distinguished themselves (Real Salt Lake, Dallas) with a small group who have shown the potential to threaten (Los Angeles, New York, Seattle). On […]

With an international break approaching, we get a chance to analyze the new Italy team which Prandelli is building. While he didn't decide to call up Totti, he has included a player from the Lippi-days. Here's the list of 23 players which Cesare Prandelli has called up: Goalkeepers: Mirante, Sirigu, Viviano Defenders: Cassani, Zambrotta, Bonucci, Bovo, […]

Saturday night in South Florida saw Miami FC play its last game. The team next season will be renamed the Strikers, the name that graced one of the most famous soccer institutions in U.S. soccer history, the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. But success is far from guaranteed. A crowd of 1,684 came out to Lockhart Stadium […]

During a break in the action on this past Saturday's broadcast of Sunderland against Manchester United, ESPN's commentator Ian Darke mentioned that Clint Dempsey had just scored a goal for Fulham away at West Ham United. At first, I was ready to cry blasphemy at Darke's decision to break one of the cardinal rules of […]

The Week 27 numbers look like this... 5 year comparison Week 27 Thru Week 27 YTD Avg +/- GP Avg +/- GP 2006 18,083 6 15,116 180 2007 18,241 0.87% 7 16,593 9.77% 181 2008 15,291 -16.17% 7 16,946 2.13% 181 2009 16,844 10.15% 7 15,748 -7.07% 190 2010 17,636 […]

Gregorio Manzano took the reins of Sevilla FC one week ago from the sacked Antonio Álvarez, and he did not inherit a club that inspired any confidence from los nervionenses that filled the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán on Sunday afternoon. Although the Andalusians only lost one of their first five matches in La Liga, two […]

Seeing Kevin Davies name in an England squad may be a shock to some people, indeed it may be a shock to Kev himself. Is it some sort of madness by Capello? Is he really so desperate for strikers that he has to select this Bolton Wanderers journeyman? Well, yes. At 33 years of age, […]

Jesse Chula is busy packing suitcases for his upcoming journey to England to watch some of the best soccer in person, so he asked me to step in today to write the Premier League Footballer Of The Week post. And he sure left me with a tough feat to pick out one footballer especially on […]

I know. I know. It’s only seven games into the season, but I guarantee there wasn’t anyone predicting that after seven matches Liverpool and Everton would be desperately trying to keep their noses ahead of Wolves and West Ham. At some point you have to the stop the “It’s only [insert number of matches] into […]

Borussia Dortmund were filled with the confidence of knowing that a win against Bayern Munich tonight would mean a massive dent in the champions' title hopes; Stuttgart were under pressure at home to Frankfurt after a start that leaves them bottom of the league with just three points; and Werder Bremen had the task of […]

Chelsea's bounce-back from their Manchester City loss is complete, though the same questions about Arsenal have resurfaced. On this edition of the EPL Talk Podcast, myself, Kartik Krishnaiyer and Laurence McKenna review Sunday's match at Stamford Bridge, Liverpool's new low, Nigel de Jong and Karl Henry's antics, and the rest of the action from around […]

Liverpool are, quite frankly, terrible. Seven games into the season, they have played exactly two halves of Champions League caliber football. Ten men against Arsenal was riveting, and the comeback against Manchester United raised some hopes, although in retrospect that is probably made to look better than it was by the score sheet. Now, how […]