SPENCER OWEN’S ‘SPENCER FC’ YouTube channel boasts almost two million subscribers. That’s a lot of people. The online activities of this charismatic West Ham fan include video blogs based around the loyal…
Tag: mls
IN ACT 1 OF SHAKESPEARE’S TWELFTH NIGHT, we’re introduced to the character of Orsino, and the pursuit of his idealised Olivia. In a noble speech, Orsino’s love of Olivia seems to be…
FOR THE AMERICAN GAME AT-LARGE – from every conceivable angle – nothing is what it seems. A diverse country with vast amounts of resources and a well-established sporting infrastructure has ensured these…
WHO IS THE ONLY SCOTSMAN TO SCORE IN A WORLD CUP SEMI-FINAL? It wasn’t Kenny Dalglish, who despite his God-given talent could never take his country past the group stages. Nor was it…
On the day that legendary Manchester United youth coach Eric Harrison was formally honoured for his extraordinary developmental work with young footballers – most notably his discovery and nurturing of the Class of…
Confined to his hospital bed, all he could do was stare helplessly at the television. The faint sound of music was still audible, but the match encompassing his eyes had him transfixed.…
Johan Cruyff’s impact on football was far-reaching to say the least. His influence on the game in the Netherlands and Spain has been rightly lauded, and his role in the revolutionary Total…
In July 2014, goalkeeper Tim Howard became a worldwide sensation overnight after more than 10 years as one of America’s leading elite athletes. His record-breaking 15 saves for the United States in…
In 2007, David Beckham left Real Madrid. He had regained his place in Fabio Capello’s starting line-up and played an integral part in Los Blancos’ return to the pinnacle of Spanish Football,…
It is often the players who seek the elusive who find the ‘what might have been’ in football. Some players are simply part of the wrong generation. This generation is one where club…
The announcement was inevitable. Seeing Landon Donovan score against Bayern Munich in a meaningless game somehow signified a type of finality reserved for movie scripts. When Donovan announced his plans to retire…
THE PRINCIPLE OF OCCAM’S RAZOR states that “entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily” and is popularly interpreted as suggesting that among competing hypotheses the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected.…
AMERICA IS A COUNTRY WITH A GREAT PASSION FOR SPORT. They have the largest leagues for basketball, baseball, ice hockey and American football. However, soccer has never been the most popular of…
THINK OF AMERICAN SOCCER the way people viewed cars and technology in 1950s science fiction mail-order catalogues. Everyone thought we’d have our flying car by now, right? In essence, the quandary morphs…
IT’S A RARE THING in football that a player who only appeared 30 times for a club becomes an unquestioned legend. But then again, Stuart Holden is rare and special altogether. He…
US Soccer’s concept of professional league divisions is a farce and a red herring, because it masks Major League Soccer’s real agenda and intention. • • • • MLS’s real agenda and intention is simple: what…
WHY HASN’T THE UNITED STATES produced a world-class player in the men’s game? That question might as well read like Enrico Fermi’s intergalactic quandary, “Where is everyone?” I imagine physicists and astronomers…
When players move to Major League Soccer in the twilight of their career, there’s a common assumption that they’ll have it easy in the retirement home of football. The success of the Beckham…