I won't be updating this site any more, as if that wasn't clear from several months of silence. Should you wish to read my ramblings on football elsewhere, my main home is at Pitch Invasion and I also write periodically for the Chicago Sports Weekly. Cheers, and thanks for coming by. Click to continue reading...

Three countries that stretch from the equator to the arctic, Canada, USA and Mexico, plus Guadaloupe (not Guatamala, as some keep insisting on mistaking them for): an odd lineup for the Gold Cup semi-finals, held last night at Soldier Field on Chicago's lakefront in an evening doubleheader. Click to continue reading...

I haven't posted here for a while, but now I do, it's to say go somewhere else: I've just launched a new site, pitchinvasion.net, which will cover and expand on many of the themes this blog has been looking at in recent months. As I explain in the introduction to the site, it's about fan [...] Click to continue reading...

From a few guys banging on plastic buckets and singing songs in the stands at the first few Portland Timbers games in 2001 to a figurative army today: hundreds pack the Woodshed end every home game to support a team a level below MLS, ensconced in the obscurity of the United Soccer League with no [...] Click to continue reading...

What attention the world does pay to American soccer has, in recent times, been devoted to MLS. The signing of David Beckham by the LA Galaxy has certainly perpetuated that. But what of the world of soccer below, or perhaps aside, that of MLS in the United States? After all, soccer really [...] Click to continue reading...

What attention the world does pay to American soccer has, in recent times, been devoted to MLS. The signing of David Beckham by the LA Galaxy has certainly perpetuated that. But what of the world of soccer below, or perhaps aside, that of MLS in the United States? After all, soccer really [...] Click to continue reading...

Away games in the land that I hail from, England - that traditional home of football - these days often consist of hours stuck on the M1, overpriced tickets and dodgy pies. Don't get me wrong: the passion, the pissing rain, the pride of supporting your team through thick-and-thin across the land has long [...] Click to continue reading...

Away games in the land that I hail from, England - that traditional home of football - these days often consist of hours stuck on the M1, overpriced tickets and dodgy pies. Don't get me wrong: the passion, the pissing rain, the pride of supporting your team through thick-and-thin across the land has long [...] Click to continue reading...

As a new fan of MLS, trying to love the league as I once did that of my home country, England, today I offer some incoherent and ill-judged thoughts on American soccer following the first month of the MLS season. MLS fandom This is my first year following MLS as closely as I used to follow English [...] Click to continue reading...

As a new fan of MLS, trying to love the league as I once did that of my home country, England, today I offer some incoherent and ill-judged thoughts on American soccer following the first month of the MLS season. MLS fandom This is my first year following MLS as closely as I used to follow English [...] Click to continue reading...

I've been planning, for a long time, a serious piece on FC United of Manchester, the team set-up by fans in the wake of the protests against the club's takeover by Malcolm Glazer. Several weeks ago, I sent some questions to Julian Spencer, who was part of the steering group that set-up FC United [...] Click to continue reading...

I've been planning, for a long time, a serious piece on FC United of Manchester, the team set-up by fans in the wake of the protests against the club's takeover by Malcolm Glazer. Several weeks ago, I sent some questions to Julian Spencer, who was part of the steering group that set-up FC United [...] Click to continue reading...

I've often discussed the importance of the Hispanic soccer community for the future of the game in the United States. Interestingly, in the April edition of World Soccer magazine, Paul Gardner makes much the same point regarding the arrival of David Beckham. Gardner believes that it will be more important that Beckham applies the [...] Click to continue reading...

I've often discussed the importance of the Hispanic soccer community for the future of the game in the United States. Interestingly, in the April edition of World Soccer magazine, Paul Gardner makes much the same point regarding the arrival of David Beckham. Gardner believes that it will be more important that Beckham applies the [...] Click to continue reading...

The Italian media and bookmakers around the world may have been shocked at today's announcement that EURO 2012 will be held in Poland and Ukraine, but it is a decision that makes sense politically and economically. Awarding a major international tournament to the Italians at this time would only have encouraged the lazy and [...] Click to continue reading...