Ridge Mahoney doles out some props to the college game and those who have made it in the pro game both here and abroad. Normally I would just share this kind of thing for you to read on your own time (check the What Bonji Is Reading... link to the right) but this time I think I need to direct link it, this is a nice piece. Click to continue reading...

• If Christian Miles describes something as "courageous" one more time, I'll lose it. I'm definitely adding that to the Christian Miles Drinking Game. One drink for every time he says "courageous", finish your drink when he describes something as amazing when he sounds like he'd rather wear black and listen to Depeche Mode.

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I've never been a big Frankie Hejduk on the field; I think he's a liability for the national team (but really, who on our D isn't capable of being one at some point) and that rainbow he scored against RBNY doesn't help his cause.

But off the field I wish we had 100 players like him. Click to continue reading...

I've had at least 3 conversations this week about how there were no Americans playing in the UEFA Champions League. So while debating the positives of Villarreal leaving Young Jozy off of their CL roster (and I really think there are some) I totally spaced on the fact that in addition to Gooch and Timmy Howard, Carlos Bocanegra is playing in the UEFA Cup. Click to continue reading...

I don't know if Kyle Martino will be on the mic again for this week's MLS Primetime match on ESPN but I'd like to give him props for being totally not awful last week. He & Stoner are no Harkes & Dellacamera, but who is. Still I'd like to see him stick around, perhaps teamed up with Glen Davis as the permanent backup team. Click to continue reading...

WE NEEDED THAT. Big time.

Props to Terry Cooke on his service on that corner; he did a good job spotting the coverage lapses. It was probably more of a Dallas error than a Rapids play that scored, but a big part of soccer is capitalizing on errors. And Mike did just that.

Tight road games might be the best example of why the Rapids need Pablo so badly, so I'm glad he didn't go down to Cuba as a Rapids fan (although it's always a bit of a let down as an American.

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With the finish line in sight, the coach of the year award in MLS seems to be headed down towards two candidates. Many coaches have done well this year and there is still a huge portion of the season remaining, so perhaps someone else will distinguish themselves.

For now, though, we've narrowed it down to Sigi Schmid and Frank Yallop. Click to continue reading...

I came across this the other day but forgot to post it. Newly minted left back Matt Marquess gets some props from Jeff Carlisle at ESPNSoccernet.com for his play late in the year for our boys in blue. Carlisle says if he keeps it up, his name just might be in the mix for rookie of the year at season's end. Click to continue reading...

I used to know a thing or two about women. But then I got married and am now coming to the scary, scary, scary realization that I may not know as much as I once thought I did.

But I do know this. Women DO NOT have this fantasy. They also do not have the one below...unless they have a thing for men whose hair is so bleached that the sun won't look into it for fear of blindness. Click to continue reading...

Another game, another easy win at the Emirates. It was at times a pleasure to watch, and at other times, agonizing (ok, to an extent) to see the opportunities missed. The final score should have been 6-0. At least. Undue pessimism aside, it was a very good result for Wenger's kids. Important to note that it was Cesc's 200th Arsenal appearance - rather amazing for a 21 year old.

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Soccer by Ives is reporting that MLS has blocked the Red Bulls' purchase of Macoumba Kandji from the Silverbacks. Get the details here...

I think MLS really, really screwed up here. Who cares what league a quality player is in? Why should the fact that he's playing in the USL matter as to his value? Click to continue reading...

Full respect and props to the intrepid Inferno crew who road tripped up to Kansas City in support of FC Dallas. Well done. Click to continue reading...

Everyone has a blog now. Everyone from The Don to disreputable folks like me has there own platform with which they can be heard and I'm pretty down with it. Whether that is due to the fact that we just watched "Pump Up The Volume" in the office and I'm jacked up on pirate radio DJ-envy & the closing scene's egalitarian overtones, I can't say. Click to continue reading...

Image by goddam via Flickr well, if a fan needed any more proof that the new york red bulls have started to turn things around this season, yesterday's game was exactly what we wanted to see.

sure, we had a rough start to the first half, looking a bit disorganized, but that quickly faded, and we became a SOCCER team. Click to continue reading...

Hillcrest Road would like to welcome Thad Bell and his blog, The Back Post, to the KC Wizards blogroll. Thad has been running The Back Post for a couple of months now, and I have been remiss in not giving him props before. Thad comes out to practice pretty regularly and snaps some very good pictures. Click to continue reading...

Our man Ives from SBI just posted a rundown of how all of the Americans Outsourced to Europe™ fared on the continent over the weekend. One player was left off of the list an he probably had the biggest game of them all: Oguchi Onyewu.

The Standard Liege defender had a game a large as his body, scoring twice in a 3-1 over Anderlecht in the Belgian Super Cup. Click to continue reading...

Fantasy Soccer Bootroom is a weekly column devoted to the ins and outs of fantasy soccer, especially the game played on www.mfls.com, and the RevMFLS division. Gotta give props to my Revs for winning SuperLiga. What an incredible run, defeating 3 Mexican teams along the way, and an evenly fought final against a strong Houston team. Click to continue reading...

Behold Mo Edu's new FIFA 09 cover. Props to him for getting the Altidore replacement call this year ahead of someone like Becks, Blanco or Landon. And notice that Ronnie is wearing his Brazil kit...I guess his club team for this year was too close to call at the time of deadline. Click to continue reading...

Justin Timberlake's Beckham praise

Justin Timberlake has praised David Beckham for "singlehandedly" increasing the popularity of soccer in the US.The 'SexyBack' singer - who hosted the ESPY Awards, a sporting event, in Los Angeles last night (16.07.08) - repeatedly pointed to David and his wife Victoria, who were sitting in the front row of the Nokia Theatre, and thanked the sportsman for deciding to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy.

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Thanks to WildcatWizard on bigsoccer for bringing this to my attention. On the Wizards schedule on their website, they now have a symbol next to the game at home against the Galaxy. At the bottom of the schedule it says that the symbol means that the game will be played at Arrowhead. The game has also been moved to 4 pm on Saturday, up from the 7 pm start time that is listed on the schedule, this has likely been done to give Arrowhead staff more time to get the field ready for the Chiefs game the next day. Click to continue reading...

So, the KC Media Blue team defeated KC Media White team 1-0 last night on a Bob Rusert goal. Props to Mr. Brisendine for predicting the correct final and goal-scorer. We'll give Dynamo the assist on the goal, since he somewhat illegally took the goalkick for 810's Jake Gutierrez directly to Rusert. Gutierrez recovered to make a great save, but the rebound went back to Rusert for an easy tap in (that 810's Nate Bukaty tried to steal with a late touch on the ball). Click to continue reading...

If I was making commemorative t-shirts for our match in BC they'd read, 'We went to Vancouver and all we came back with was a lousy draw.' While it was lousy result it was far from a lousy match. It would have been a satisfactory result if we were playing a team like New England but the Whitecaps are far from it.

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That was a missed opportunity at three points. Wizards had control of most of the game - although Dallas had their chances, Kevin Hartman came up big - and looked solid enough to grab three points. Props to Abe Thompson for a beautiful run combined with a great finish. At least KC scored a goal themselves this game.

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Grahame Jones with Sunil Gulati
Nick Green spells out the dire situation for journalists, and specifically those who cover soccer, these days. As Nick mentions, the latest cuts at the LA Times put Grahame Jones at risk.
It's hard to explain what Grahame means to the local press corps. He's seen it all, basically. Click to continue reading...

Venezuelan Captain Jorge Rojas and Argentine defender / midfielder Juan Pietravallo will be announced as the newest Red Bulls come today, so says Big Apple Soccer (GREAT work boys).

An Argie? A Red Bull? Ill be the first one on line for that name on my jersey. Better do well .

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After a couple of underwhelming victories the past few weeks, this win was just what United needed to not only continue their unbeaten streak, but also gain some confidence going into Superliga. Recently, United has been beating lesser opponents while giving up too many goalscoring opportunities. But in this match, against inarguably one of the most talented offensive teams in the league, DC dominated possession, dominated the scoreline, and performed admirably well on defense. Click to continue reading...

Though Alexi Lalas has dismissed reports that the Galaxy tried to bring in Ronaldinho as "pure speculation", Barcelona isn't counting on him anymore and he's likely to be sold. Still, he gets props as the top soccer player in this report. Click to continue reading...

Jimmy Conrad is being recognized tonight by the Kansas City Sport Commission for his fine looks and overall outstandingness with a "Special Achievement in Professional Athletics" award at the PROPS (Party Recognizing Outstanding People in Sports) this evening. The event will air live on Metro Sports. Click to continue reading...

I've been waiting for this match a long time. I've really been looking forward to the Rapids participating in the USA – Mexico rivalry. For those who don't know, UANL is actually a collegiate club who participates in Mexico's Premier Division. It's been a long time since they've won the Mexican Championship, even with two chances a year to do so.

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Ruud! Ruud was just interviewed on ESPN about the Dutch team via a remote feed. Galaxy players train in the background. It's not a profound interview - he gets asked about his look back in the day and ruud jokingly calls it "porn star".
He also talks about the Galaxy this season, mentions difficulties of travel, altitude, heat and playing on turf. Click to continue reading...

The story has been kicking around for a while now but it's taken on a more definite hue with the ballsy words from new Barcelona coach, Pep Guardiola. Not afraid to mince words, he's come out and openly said star players Eto'o, Deco and old rabbit teeth himself, Ronaldinho, are all free to leave the Nou Camp. Click to continue reading...

Happy Father's Day to all the real daddy's out there...enjoy your big piece of chicken tonight.
A special and very sincere Happy Father's Day shout out goes out Santino Quaranta; big props to you cousin for maning-up and handling your business.

All you baby-daddy's out there who have been down take note, there is a way up. Click to continue reading...

It's hard to put into words just how bad the Wizards played last night. In front of an honest to god sell out crowd, the Wizards laid one of the biggest eggs in team history, with a 3-0 loss to the Crew. The Wizards looked unable to do the simplest of soccer basics like passing and marking. The Crew scored early and after that, the Wizards never looked like there were going to score. Click to continue reading...

Congratulations to Manchester United for completing the double then. Surely anyone likely to be reading this site watched the game for themselves, so there seems little point in transcribing the action, but suffice to say, it's a final we will be talking about for some time now.

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Happy Monday folks and back in the saddle again. Obvious focal point this weekend was at Old Trafford where Manchester United all but sealed the title in a superlative showing against Arsenal, coming from behind to put the final nail in Arsene Wenger's season. Chelsea play tonight and can stay in touch, but this display of resolve has surely signaled their very real intent to capture another Premier League/Champions league double. Click to continue reading...