By definition, the Nelly Award goes to the player who is new to the team this year and has made the most significant positive impact. The award's namesake Ryan Nelsen emerged as a star defender in the MLS shortly after joining the team, and served as United's captain during the 2004 championship run. Click to continue reading...

Rovers are not averse to signing antipodeans, with Lucas Neill, Brett Emerton and Ryan Nelsen having all arrived at Ewood Park in previous seasons. It appears as though Paul Ince has just landed another Australian, and it's nice for the fans to see someone fairly decent coming into the club, ... Click to continue reading...

Right now 28-year-old midfielder Chris James is starring for Tampere United in the Finnish Veikkausliiga. So far this season, James has notched five goals in 14 appearances. The former Fulham player actually played in over 30 matches for the various English youth squads, but decided to play his senior international soccer for the country of his birth with the New Zealand All Whites. Click to continue reading...

Some of the players who will be on Olympic duty.
* Arsenal: Alexandre Song (Cameroon)
* Aston Villa: Brad Guzan (USA)
* Blackburn: Ryan Nelsen (New Zealand)
* Chelsea: Saloman Kalou (Ivory Coast)
* Everton: Victor Anichebe (Nigeria)
* Fulham: Adrian Leijer (Australia)
* Liverpool: Javier Mascherano (Argentina), Ryan Babel (Holland)
* Manchester City: Jo (Brazil)
* Manchester United: Anderson (Brazil)
* Portsmouth: Franck Songo'o (Cameroon)
* West Brom: Gianni Zuiverloon (Holland)
FIFA is having yet another meeting to review all that has already been reviewed so that the London 2012 games may be spared of a similar club vs country messi - ness.

Click to continue reading...

After a couple of days dominated by the departure of England cricket captain Michael Vaughan and the appointment of Kevin Pietersen it got me to thinking how important is the captain of a football side? In cricket the captain is vital to the success of the team, he picks the 11 players that go out to play and decides the tactics that side will use.

Click to continue reading...

Bobby Boswell had a stunning start to his MLS career. He went undrafted but immediately won a place in D.C. United's starting lineup, which was short on defenders after losing Ryan Nelsen to England. The next year, he was the MLS defender of the year. The next year, he was in and out of the lineup at D.

Click to continue reading...

The Olympic football competition runs from August 6th to 23rd and the Premiership season kicks off on the 16th. It is essentially an Under 23 event but each country can name up to 3 over-age players.

Coaches must released Under 23 yr players when requested to play for their national side, but since this is a non-Fifa tournament, team coaches can refuse to release players over 23. Click to continue reading...

Part 2 of Premiership Talk's season preview features Blackburn and Bolton.

Blackburn
Best Case: 8th place. Blackburn were lucky to squeeze into 7th place last season, and I don't think they can do it again. With aging stars such as Brad Friedel, Andre Ooijer, and Ryan Nelsen I can't see them doing better than last season's performance. Click to continue reading...

According to Steven Goff at the Washington Post D.C. United has once again traded the rights of an out of contract player, this time veteran defender Greg Vanney, to the Los Angeles Galaxy. Vanney returns to the club with which he spent the first six seasons of his career. In return, United has obtained 19 year old midfielder, Quavas Kirk. Click to continue reading...

CONVICT BARTON: Joey Barton has done it again. This time, I don't feel like commenting. So there. This to go with terrible Newcastle form, Big Sam Allardyce teetering on the edge of unemployment...Newcastle really does have some sort of curse. BIANCHI: Rolando Bianchi has hit out at English culture, cuisine, referees, and his teammates in his latest [. Click to continue reading...

Yeah, this one is a little bit late getting out, for those of you who like your coffee in the afternoon as well.

Diablo Tribute: There is more information on the match planned to honor DC United great, Marco Antonio Etcheverry. Marco will captain the 1997 DC United team while they play a Hollywood United team reinforced with past MLS stars, including Carlos Valderrama, Mauricio Cienfuegos, Tab Ramos, Eric Wynalda and Alex Pineda Chacon. Click to continue reading...