We all know the usual awards after a big game, right? MVP, Best Goal, blah blah blah. Those are so boring. So, instead, we bring you The Offside's Awards for the Eastern Conference Final: The Ones They Really Deserved. The "How Can I Miss You If You Won't Go Away?" Award to: [...] Click to continue reading...

This article from the New York Times where John Harkes outlines his concerns about the U.S National Team is very interesting, and also happens to echo a lot of the same things that I've been writing about. Basically the premise is that while the U.S. has gotten the results that it had needed, they still is room for improvement, especially in attack. Click to continue reading...

D.C. United has announced the 1998 D.C. United team will be returning to RFK Stadium to be honored at halftime on a night the club pays tribute to local military members and public servants during the Seventh Annual Hometown Heroes Night. Geoff Aunger, Judah Cooks, Marco Etcheverry, Scott Garlick, John Harkes, Brian Kamler, Roy Lassiter, Carlos Llamosa, Jaime Moreno, Ben Olsen, Eddie Pope, Tom Presthus, Mark Simpson and AJ Wood will all be in attendance on Saturday, September 13 when the Black-and-Red host FC Dallas. Click to continue reading...

Yesterday, we launched the newly revamped D.C. United Hall of Tradition. Current members include legends John Harkes and Marco Etcheverry and front office staffer Betty D'Anjollel who was an instrumental part of the club's early years.

This year, the Hall of Tradition will grow by one more, as either Jeff Agoos or Richie Williams will be enshrined.

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I just finished the new DVD from Major League Soccer and A&E Home Video titled, Game Breakers: The Stars of Major League Soccer and I've got to tell ya, I was quite impressed.

The DVD was just released on August 26th and so – like Kramer in Seinfeld – that practically makes me the premier! Click to continue reading...

Here is a link to a really good analysis by Fox Sports' Jaime Trecker of the U.S. Olympic team's performance after they lost to Nigeria and are out of the tournament. It really was an overall disappointing performance by the team. They should be looking to achieve better results at this point and I agree that its time for Peter Nowak to move on. Click to continue reading...

"The Bruce" as New Boss of Galaxy?

That's the rumor according to Glenn Davis:


"Word on the street and scuttlebut is that Bruce Arena could become the next coach of the LA Galaxy. Again this is rumor so nothing is confirmed but I am hearing this from a lot of places. Click to continue reading...

ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes will present live coverage of the international soccer match between FC Barcelona and the New York Red Bulls on Wednesday, August 6 at 7 p.m. ET from Giants Stadium in E. Rutherford, NJ. ESPN's Rob Stone (play-by-play) and John Harkes (analyst) will call the match on [.. Click to continue reading...

If your a Chicago fire fan then Cuauhtémoc Blanco must be a joy to watch week in and week out. His sublime back heal that freed Gomez for the tying goal was brilliant. Blanco is a football genius.The man with no neck makes up for it with two brains. The joy he must have created at America where he played his professional ball in Mexico gives me the impression everything we are seeing now is nothing by comparison to his younger days. Click to continue reading...

Post-1994 World Cup: Breaking Into First Division Soccer

After the 1994 World Cup in which the US team showed great progress from 1990, the European soccer establishment started to notice two things; that the Americans do indeed play soccer and that a few more of their players are worth signing. Click to continue reading...

ESPN's broadcast of Euro 2008 was the best production ever of a soccer tournament for TV viewers in the United States. While it wasn't perfect, it was clearly evident that ESPN had listened to the past criticism and corrected the annoying habits that had previously distanced diehard soccer fans from its network. Click to continue reading...

What was up last night during the Columbus v Kansas City game with announcer John Harkes calling Guillermo Barros Schelotto, "guh-LAIR-moe", the whole game. Was he kidding? Was it an inside joke? Did no one on the production staff tell this guy how to pronounce a name? His TV partner JP Dellacamera got it right. Click to continue reading...

Hey all, I know there has been some confusion about tonight's game. It will be on ESPN proper, one of only two games (next week's All-Star game being the other) on the channel this year. Two will be on ABC (well, one was...the LA/DC tilt prior to the Euro Final and MLS Cup in November) and the rest are on ESPN 2. Click to continue reading...

By JAMES CLARKNew Jersey has such a rich, wonderful history when it comes to American soccer. Names like John Harkes, Claudio Reyna, Tony Meola, Tab Ramos and Bob Bradley drip off the tongue, as do clubs and schools like Kearny Thistle and St. Click to continue reading...

Once upon a time a scrappy thirteen year-old with big dreams came to the city of big ideas for "The Cherry Blossom Festival Soccer Tournament." He was supposed to get to play soccer on The National Mall with a better-than-average club team. Let it be known that this kid was a bit excited at his prospects.

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I'm not one to leap to the defense of ESPN on too many occasions, but Jack Bell's excoriation of the network, occasioned by its use of British announcers during its Euro '08 telecasts, seems a little off-base too me, if I may use a baseball metaphor. This position strikes me as a logical outgrowth of Bell's larger objections to Anglophilia in the American game—the veneration of British coaches, teams and playing styles at the expense of other (specifically, Latin) influences. Click to continue reading...

Jack Bell rails at the preference of some for all things English.

My gripe about American announcers, however, is that too many of them are tied up in the insular soccer structure of the U.S. to have any independent opinions. It was painful to hear John Harkes try to be objective about DC United when commenting on their match versus the LA Galaxy. Click to continue reading...

Normally I don't condone talking about a players race, religion, sexuality or wife & children. But in the cae fo the photo above, the Screaming Eagles kind of have a point. Sorry Posh, but they can hit them highs in way that you can't...they are the Mariah Carey of supporters groups.
Depending on what part of the country you are in you'll need to either skip church, wake up early or not even go to sleep to watch Sunday's 12pm EST match between DC United and LA Galaxy, a game we're calling "The Nooner" here at TOR Towers. Click to continue reading...

Jon "Tapeworm" Carnill



Jon is he one with the red eyes that actually shoot laser beams at Man U and Spurs fans. You have been warned!!!

1. How long have you been in La Norte?

First year officialy

2.

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This is a subject near and dear to my heart due to my history of being in the broadcast world over the last few years. I've been working on coming up with some sort of guide for people for when it comes to who they will probably be listening to on a broadcast of a [...] Click to continue reading...

From an American perspective, the best part of Euro 2008 is the fact that all 31 games are airing live on the ESPN/ABC family of networks. Not since Euro '96 have American fans been able to enjoy the tournament on basic cable and the coverage will go a long way in raising the event's overall profile in the States. Click to continue reading...

*For those of you who watched last night's US-Mexico match, you just witnessed a star being born.

Thrown into the wolf den known as the fiercest rivalry in North America, the much-heralded Jozy Altidore shined. Even without the deft header he scored to put the States up 2-1, the 18-year-old looked like a man amongst boys many times. Click to continue reading...

ESPN and ABC have made the speculation official, Dave O'Brien and Eric Wynalda are no longer commentators for their soccer broadcasts. This includes MLS and US soccer matches.

Replacing them will be JP Dellacamera doing play by play and John Harkes with analyst. The rest of the team will be Allen Hopkins (sideline reporter), Julie Foudy (studio Analyst) and Rob Stone who will sub in for Dellacamera. Click to continue reading...

Dave O'Brien might be out of ESPN's booth if rumors from the MLS SuperDraft are to be believed. According to Soccer by Ives lead man, the buzz last night at the bar was a change a comin':

Another popular subject last night was word that Eric Wynalda and Dave O'Brien are being replaced as U.

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The New York Red Bulls have bid farewell to assistant coach John Harkes, choosing not to retain the former U.S. national team captain on the staff of new Red Bulls head coach Juan Carlos Osorio. Currently in Colombia looking at players, Osorio could not be reached for comment. Phone messages left for Harkes were not returned.

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