18
Jun

United States defeat Hondruas, inch closer to 2014 World Cup

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With the 1-0 victory over Honduras, the United States now sits atop the qualifying group with 13 points. After scoring his 4th goal in the last 4 games, Jozy Altidore is the hero once again:

With 4 games remaining, the team is in prime position to book a trip to Brazil and qualify for the 2014 World Cup.

Costa Rica have put themselves in a good position as well; with their 2-0 defeat of Panama they trail the United States by just 1 point.

These top two teams square off Sept. 6 and will aim to give themselves a chance to take control of their qualifying destiny.

9
Jun

Jurgen Klinsmann talks to the gathered media at CenturyLink Field in Seattle, ahead of the US national team’s World Cup qualifying match against Panama on Tuesday.

A late goal from Brad Evans grabbed a precious win on the road in Jamaica. Klinsmann will be looking to build on that victory in the forthcoming match. He sheds light on injury concerns and comments on the fantastic support the team receives from the Seattle crowd.

Via 101GG

29
May

If you want to make it onto the Fox Soccer blog, there are pretty much only three 100% surefire ways of doing so, no questions asked (not counting, of course, anything outrageous done or said by Mario Balotelli or Sepp Blatter):

A) invading the pitch;

B) getting into a physical fight with a referee; or

C) scoring a goal on a scorpion kick.

Congratulations to France Under-21 player Alexandre Coeff, who went with option C against, sigh, the United States side at the Toulon Tournament, an international competition for under-21 sides. France won the game 4-1, and needless to say probably also recorded the goal of the tournament.

Cue to Arsene Wenger and Newcastle’s Alan Pardew frantically fighting over the young Frenchman’s signature!

28
May

Belgian national team too much of a good thing?

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Image: Action Images

By Leander Schaerlaeckens

CLEVELAND, OHIO

As far as national teams go, Belgium is perhaps the hottest one around. No other country that has achieved so little for so long generates quite as much buzz.

After the Belgian federation doubled down on youth development a decade or so ago, Belgium head coach Marc Wilmots – who played in the last four World Cup’s Belgium qualified for in 1990, 1994, 1998 and 2002 – now finds himself overwhelmed with great players and elite prospects.

Simply put, there isn’t enough room to play them.

Read More

30
Mar

Chelsea, Manchester City to play friendly at Busch Stadium

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By FOX Sports Midwest

Since opening in 2006, Busch Stadium has seen its fair share of activity. From Dave Mathews to Bono to oh yeah, those two St. Louis Cardinals World Series Championships mixed in with plenty of high-quality baseball, the iconic venue gets put to good use.  

On Thursday, May 23rd the Stadium will welcome a new sport onto the hallowed grounds of Baseball Heaven when Premier League clubs Chelsea and Manchester City square off in an international soccer friendly. The match marks the first professional, non-baseball sporting event hosted at the new Busch Stadium.

Read more here.

28
Mar

Exercise in Futility: Soccer Player Grades

By Leander Schaerlaeckens

On the press bus to the Estadio Azteca on Tuesday, a half-dozen or so American soccer writers had a lively discussion about postgame player grades. Also partaking was US Soccer’s Senior Manager of Communications Neil Buethe, who pointed out that the grades were typically all over the map. This underscored once more the senselessness of the entire exercise.

Mercifully, when I joined FOX Soccer, I was no longer required to do them, because as my editor Jamie Trecker puts it: “Player ratings are the bane of the soccer world. They are the rhetorical equivalent of giving every kid who shows up a trophy.”

Well said.

While I understand the utility of grades – they drive traffic, fill comment sections and give you a tool to superimpose a quasi-box score on a fluid sport – they remain highly unscientific and, to my belief, are prone to erode a writer’s credibility.

My issues with it:

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