It was a good run, Red Sox ... but now it's up to the Phillies to take the devil out of those Rays, I guess.  A rested Philadelphia team meets the Rays in Florida for game 1 on Wednesday night.  Here's hoping for either a good, exciting, long Series or (my personal favorite) a four [...] Click to continue reading...

LA coach Bruce Arena: "In the last five years of this league the L.A. Galaxy have the least amount of points of any team." See Nick Green's article in the Los Angeles Galaxy section.

~and~

Contributing more fuel to my theory that soccer is the Sport Of The Internet in America, Jack Bell of the New York Times sites this stat in his Extra Time column today: "According to an analysis of more than 100 million blogs, message boards, and postings on social Web sites performed with Zeta Interactive's RelevantNoise software technology, MLS was third worldwide in the total volume of soccer posts, at 16 percent. Click to continue reading...

Here's a great article from the New York Times on the history of soccer games that were played at Yankee Stadium during the years, including a classic one between Santos and Benfica in 1968, which features 2 of the all-time greats in Pele and Eusebio. I did some digging and found some footage of a game between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspurs from 1952. Click to continue reading...

To answer Jack Bell's question in this article from the New York Times, YES YES YES!!! Absolutely MLS should sign Ronaldo, he is still a huge star, is still only 31 years old, and when healthy is still one of best forwards in the world and most exciting players to watch. Granted, there are a lot of unanswered questions that Jack Bell raises in the article, but MLS must take this gamble if he is even willing to consider coming to the league. Click to continue reading...

According to this article from the New York Times its quite possible that within a few years MLS could expand to a total of 20 teams. Currently the Seattle Sounders will begin play next season and the Philadelphia team the following season. It has already been announced that 2 more teams will be added for the 2011 season and now it seem that MLS might add 2 more teams on top of that. Click to continue reading...

Not long after West Ham found out it's kit sponsor is failing, Manchester United might be in the same boat.

The New York based insurance group is suffering mightily, and the Red Devils might be the next team with a blank kit.

Some are calling it a curse.

Insurer American International Group Inc has made an unprecedented approach to the Federal Reserve seeking £22billion in short-term financing, the New York Times reported overnight.

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If you're visiting EPL Talk after reading the article in The New York Times or International Herald Tribune, welcome. The goal of EPL Talk is to provide you with daily news and analysis of the Premier League.  We have a team of more than a dozen writers who bring a unique perspective on the world's most [. 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...

I just wanted to pass along a link to this article in the New York Times, which describes a documentary movie called "Kicking It", which covers the 4th Homeless Games that were held in Cape Town, South Africa. The movie is narrated by Colin Farrell and covers the 48 teams who played in the competition through the eyes of 7 of the individuals who participated in the competition. Click to continue reading...

Here is a link to an article written in the New York Times about how the New England Revolution and Chivas USA were knocked out of the CONCACAF Champions League at the preliminary round stage and they won't make the final 16 of the competition. At the end of the article the writer Jack Bell asks questions about whether the MLS teams are playing too many games, or whether the other clubs were better then they were originally given credit for. Click to continue reading...

Much like the Open Cup, I wouldn't be surprised if the New England Revolution did NOT want to advance in the CONCACAF Champions League, so as to focus on the playoffs and MLS Cup. But its pathetic that the two teams who topped their respective divisions last year, were bounced by teams from Panama and T&T.

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Jozy Altidore has revealed quite a bit recently about the last few months and the start of the season on sunday.  We all wanted to see more of Jozy, but we were told he was injured, not the case as it turns out. Jozy revealed the following to the New York Times: And the Olympics. Man, it [...] Click to continue reading...

Photo by ISIphotos.com

Jozy Altidore will be staying with Villarreal for at least the first half of the upcoming La Liga season.

The U.S. national team striker and former Red Bulls standout revealed that he will not be going to another Spanish club on loan, which had long been expected, and will stay with Villarreal as the club deals with a rash of injuries at th forward position.

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Here is a link to an interesting article that Jozy Altidore has written for the New York Times. It describes the whirlwind of experiences that he is having going from playing in the recent Olympic games to playing for his new club Villareal. Jozy is trying to secure a place within the team as a regular forward and I wish him well. Click to continue reading...

Here is Jack Bell's article from the New York Times that reviews each player's performance in the game with a rating scale of 1-10, which is commonly done in soccer. To begin, I believe that Jack's ratings vary a bit too much. Its usually pretty rare that players on the same team get a score of 3 and also 8. Click to continue reading...

The Wizards are auctioning off a lot of different pre-game things for the upcoming game against the LA Galaxy. You can bid to be the pre-game entertainment, the national anthem singer, pick the charity to be the Kicks for Kids Donation, and the Color Guard Donation. Auctioning anything they can with the pregame has gotten the Wizards noticed by Freakonomics, a blog with the New York Times (thanks to Peter for sending this my way). Click to continue reading...

A few week's ago at an RBNY match I had a convo in the stands with the guy next to me about some hypothetical trades related to some of the current transfer rumors. The question was raised as to who would be a bigger loss for the team if they were to move on: Jeff Parke or Seth Stammler.

Without going into details of the seemingly endless beer-fueled debate, it was decided that while Jeff Parke is the heart of the clubs flawed defense and an all-around bad-ass it's Stammler and his versatility that would hurt the most. Click to continue reading...

I read this recent article in the New York Times about Chuck Culpepper, a relatively well known American sports reporter who moved to England and got caught up with the amount of interest in soccer over there so he decided to become attached to Portsmouth F.C., following them around and watching all of their games so that he could write a book about his experiences. Click to continue reading...

As reported in an article by the New York Times, it appears that Maurice Edu from Toronto F.C. and also recently on the U.S. Olympic team, is going to be transferred to Glasgow Rangers, possibly to replace Carlos Cueller who recently was sold to Aston Villa. Even I have to admit that this is a great move for Edu as Rangers are a very big club within the Scottish Premier League and even in the context of Europe (despite their recent setback of getting knocked out of the Champions League). Click to continue reading...

The Olympics kicked off with the expected spectacle but now the real show begins. For Liverpool fans there is the bonus of watching how Javier Mascherano, Ryan Babel and Lucas Leiva progress in the football tournament but obviously there's much more to it than that.

For anyone unable to get away from work to watch some of the action, the best solution lies with Eurovision. Click to continue reading...

Hi all: an anonymous poster suggested you guys up in New York have an opportunity to meet Barcelona up close and personal while benefiting a fantastic global cause. Of course Barca is known for their altruism (forgoing millions in kit sponsorships to advertise UNICEF, etc.) and they've picked New York as the kick off of their next global gesture. Click to continue reading...

... No one in their right mind would ever, ever, ever, show up to work looking like one of these three guys noted in the New York Times today. Click to continue reading...

Young Jozy (aka the player formerly known as The Boy King of New York & Jersey™) is out in Hong Kong at the moment training with the Olympic team and whatnot. But before he left for Dim Sum country he dished to FIFA.com about life at his new Spanish home, Villarreal.

And just in case you missed it he also wrote a lengthy post about Spanish life for the New York Times' Goal last week which is probably the most insightful guest-blogger post I've read in a long time. Click to continue reading...

The New York Times has an article about Kenny Cooper and Juan Toja leaving F.C. Dallas for Rosenborg and Steaua Bucharest respectively. I really think both players would be making mistakes, but especially Kenny Cooper. Kenny is on the verge of establishing himself as a top forward in MLS and is still young enough that there will be plenty of opportunities ahead for him if he stays in MLS. Click to continue reading...

Edgar Castillowas profiled in the New York Times on Wednesday.

If you're a regular reader of this blog, there may be little new information in there that you haven't already come across here. But his story is clearly of interest to more than just soccer fans as a whole new audience has now been exposed to his tale. Click to continue reading...

As you may have noticed (or perhaps you haven't), I haven't blogged much in July. That's partly due to a very busy schedule outside of the wonderful of European soccer (yes, I do have a life outside of The Soccer Haus, believe it or not), but mostly it's due to a surprisingly quiet summer in the transfer market. Click to continue reading...

The first link is to a nice story in the New York Times about Robbie Rogers from the Columbus Crew being named to the U.S. Olympic Team. Apparently, he didn't expect to be named, but has been doing so well this season and coach Peter Nowak couldn't ignore him.

The second link is to an article from Sports Illustrated, which contains the national team from Holland that the U. Click to continue reading...

This recent article by Billy Witz in the New York Times completely misses the whole point of why David Beckham is in MLS. How many fans showed up at Giants Stadium yesterday to watch the Los Angeles Galaxy play the New York Red Bulls? What is the average attendance for the New York Red Bulls' games? How many fans would have showed up if David Beckham wasn't playing for the Los Angeles Galaxy? Click to continue reading...

Just thought I'd include a link to an item that Jozy Altidore contributed to the New York Times blog. Its an interesting first hand account from him on his early time with his new club Villarreal. Click to continue reading...

I thought I'd share a few interesting links, one is the latest column from Brian Glanville, the famous English journalist who has been covering the game it seems like since the first time England played an international match.

Another is a recent interview published in the New York Times that contains an interview that Jack Bell did with Samuel Eto'o where he is pretty candid on some recent issues. Click to continue reading...

In light of yesterday's stupid, inane news item about Valencia in MARCA, I thought it would be wise to share where I get proper, legitimate Valencia news.

I'll also list where I connect with like-minded fans.

Forums and discussion groups can be wonderful places to get breaking news and connect with fellow Valencia supporters.

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Samuel Eto'o could become the third Barcelona player called up by his country to play in next month's Olympics. Eto'o, the Cameroon striker, hinted he could also be in Beijing next month when speaking to the New York Times while en route to a youth tournament in Blaine, Minnesota. Click to continue reading...

Jack Bell at The New York Times has written a short story on Josh Wolff's return to MLS.

Here is the key quote: "There was nothing for me in Germany. At the end of the run, they [1860 Munich] weren't going to re-sign me. My wife is pregnant, and we weighed the options. Coming back made a little more sense . Click to continue reading...

I just wanted to include a direct link to a recent interview in the New York Times that goes in depth into the reasons why Josh decided to return to MLS and play for the Kansas City Wizards. Its a really well done piece by Jack Bell and its nice to see this type of an article in the mass media. Bravo and please keep it coming! Click to continue reading...

There's a lot of strong feeling about Domenech avoiding the axe, with some considering it an injustice. If you've had steam emanating from your brow, angry about Domenech keeping his job, read what Steph, at the Steph and JP blog, wrote about some of the discussions at the FFF. None of it contradicts what some of us have said about Domenech keeping his job because he's in tight with the FFF, but it provides more context about their thinking in keeping him.

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