Soccer Source

With Tim Ream, Bolton's Defense Gets Some Sorely-Needed Help

2012-01-26T18:20:00.000-05:00

Tim Ream, whom Bolton acquired from the New York Red Bulls this week, is a quality defender and very nice young man who should help the team in its struggle against relegation. Bolton fans should just be advised against expecting too much, too soon. I watched Ream closely the last two seasons at...

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Suddenly, Man City's Season is on the Brink

2011-11-23T15:19:00.001-05:00

Yesterday's 2-1 loss at Napoli has left Manchester City in a very precarious position in their Champions League group. Citizens now have to defeat Bayern Munich in the final matchday and hope Napoli somehow draw or lose at Villareal. The same Villareal that have a whopping zero (0) points from five...

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About That Beckham Effect...

2011-11-18T15:51:00.007-05:00

"Major League Soccer's big investment seems to have paid off." So begins a piece from the Economist arguing, effectively, that the $250 million the league invested to bring David Beckham to MLS was worth the cost. "Mr Beckham’s star power has helped legitimise the league, encouraging other stars...

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Seriously, why CAN'T the U.S. Produce a Soccer Star?

2011-06-22T16:57:00.004-04:00

Why can't the U.S. build a soccer star? This was the title of a recent Wall Street Journal article. It's a compelling question and one that deserves our attention. In the past month or two we've had a Chinese woman win the French Open, a German win the NBA Championship and a Northern Irishman (are...

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Argentina World Cup squad named or Diego Maradona has completely lost his mind

2010-05-19T19:34:00.005-04:00

Few people would mistake Diego Armando Maradona for a sane man. That has been clear for some time now--probably since he first entered the public conscience nearly 30 years ago. How else to describe somebody who supports the political regimes of Venezuela, Cuba and Iran (while dodging taxes, or...

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Capello’s World Cup Squad – Is It Strong Enough?

2010-05-17T10:50:00.001-04:00

The list of 30 players named by Capello for the squad has created quite a stir among England’s football faithful. Sure, everyone has their own views about who the best players are and who should be up for inclusion or exclusion but won’t a lot of fans be surprised that 10 of the 30 played no part...

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Sizing up Fulham Europa League final opponent Atletico Madrid

2010-05-12T12:56:00.002-04:00

The "other" club from Spain's capital city is all that stands between Fulham FC and an unprecedented European triumph. Yes, Fulham are in the Europa League final, just like we had predicted, which at the time prompted the inevitable scoffing from haters worldwide. But let's not bask in the glory...

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Europa League roundup

2010-04-13T08:05:00.001-04:00

After the conclusion of the quarter final stage that saw Liverpool, Fulham, Athletico Madrid and Hamburg progress to the next stage of the Europa League, football fans and online betting enthusiasts alike will be looking forward to the prospect of the semi-final games at the end of April. Athletico...

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Props to Bayern but the Premiership is still the best league in the world

2010-04-07T17:22:00.007-04:00

Bayern Munich showed remarkable resilience today coming back from a 3-0 deficit at Old Trafford to advance to the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League. In fact, one could almost say Bayern today slayed the ghosts of the 1999 final at Camp Nou. Well, maybe not. But you've got to give the German...

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Ranking the world's soccer meccas: No. 3 Old Trafford and Anfield (a draw)

2010-04-01T14:16:00.001-04:00

For ranking methodology and other information about the series, see the original post. To read the about the No. 4-rated stadium, the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo, Uruguay, click here. To see all "soccer mecca" entries click here. No. 3 Old Trafford, Manchester and Anfield, Liverpool Open...

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The world's top 25 soccer clubs, March 22, 2010

2010-03-22T00:45:00.004-04:00

If you liked last week's shakeout, you're going to love this; four teams have been dropped from the Top 25 altogether, including one that was earlier making pretensions (appropriate choice of word) at a top 10 spot. Chelsea were swiftly punished for their Champions League exit while the fortunes of...

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The 'grand opening' of 'Red Bull Arena'

2010-03-21T21:16:00.005-04:00

I was there. It was awesome. Felt like a real, honest-to-goodness European football ground. The only thing that was missing was cigarette smoke (and that's not a bad thing. For whatever reason the scientific view that smoking kills people is not yet accepted in Europe). Coming on the day Major...

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Fulham have an easy path to the Europa League final. Okay, relatively easy

2010-03-19T11:43:00.005-04:00

Clint Dempsey's super goal (click link for YouTube video) put Fulham FC past Juventus in the return leg of their round of 16 Europa League matchup yesterday. From an American point of view, the dramatic goal re-establishes Dempsey as a first rate star after a lengthy break from injury. It also...

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The world's top 25 soccer clubs, March 15, 2010

2010-03-15T00:25:00.006-04:00

Welcome back! This week comes our first big shakeup of the season, as two clubs from the top half of our table were eliminated from European competition. One of these teams had very real pretensions of making a run at the final season top spot. Or so they thought. They were exposed as mere...

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Marat Safin goes Brazilian, joins Zico at Maracana in Rio

2010-03-12T10:15:00.008-05:00

Russian tennis player Marat Safin apparently harbors a desire to become a soccer pro and change his nationality to Brazilian. At least that is how it might appear judging by these photos supplied by our friends at InsideOut Sports Entertainment. The former U.S. Open champ recently joined former...

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Galacticos go bye-bye (from Champions League)

2010-03-10T16:47:00.004-05:00

Just like that, Real Madrid's $400 million gamble goes up in smoke. Oh sure, los blancos could still win the Spanish league. In fact, at this point they'd have to be favorites given that they sit first (on goal difference at least) and happen to host the season's last game with Barcelona. But that...

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Checking in on local (as in NYC) soccer stuff

2010-03-04T12:11:00.003-05:00

I go to great lengths on this blog not to offend, frustrate, bore or otherwise upset the "Eurosnobs"* of the world. This is not necessarily because I agree with or support their views, but simply because they make up the bulk of the readership (with another sizable chunk made up of "LatAmsnobs")....

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The world's top 25 soccer clubs, March 1, 2010

2010-03-01T00:25:00.007-05:00

We are on the precipice of a crucial period of the season in world club soccer, where the pretenders are separated from the contenders. So pay close attention to this week's rankings because they may be about to be shaken, not stirred. Remember that we only count two-leg matchups as one result, so...

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Just how viable are the Soccer Source rankings?

2010-02-26T12:38:00.004-05:00

This post grew out of an ongoing discussion on the BigSoccer sewing circle. The idea is to gauge exactly how accurate (or not) our Top 25 rankings are as an indicator of future results. We got into this a little bit with our initial prediction of the Champions League round of 16, but those rankings...

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What to make of today's Champions League results?

2010-02-16T18:20:00.004-05:00

As you may have heard by now, Manchester United defeated AC Milan today 3-2 at the San Siro, while Olympique Lyon dropped Real Madrid 1-0 at the Stade Gerland in the first leg of their Champions League Round of 16 match-ups. What do these results mean in the broader realm of European soccer? First...

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The world's top 25 soccer clubs, Feb. 15, 2010

2010-02-15T00:25:00.003-05:00

Welcome back! It's been an interesting couple of weeks. Barca suddenly looked mortal yesterday, losing at Atletico Madrid. So did Chelsea, thanks to Landon Donovan and Everton a week ago, and Inter Milan, after draws to Parma and Napoli. With the leaders of the "big three" leagues all effectively...

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The new power structure in English football

2010-02-05T17:30:00.003-05:00

Yes I called it football, which I assure you has absolutely nothing to do with my desire to attract search engine traffic from outside the U.S. Anyway, it is clear that the era of the "big four" in the English Premiership is over almost as quickly as it started. In its wake a three-tiered...

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The only reason England might defeat the U.S. on June 12...

2010-02-03T10:17:00.003-05:00

...is this man: Wayne Mark Rooney. Yes, we know: Rooney is actually Irish and could just as easily be playing for The Republic like his brother. But there are two problems with this: 1. Ireland were cheated out of a World Cup spot and 2. Rooney, for whatever reason, chose to represent the three...

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The world's top 25 soccer clubs, Feb. 1, 2010

2010-02-01T00:25:00.004-05:00

Well, well. The very top of the rankings should not be in very much doubt at this point, as neither Barcelona nor Chelsea dropped any points in the last fortnight. But then things get interesting. How interesting? You'll have to read on to find out: 1. Barcelona Last ranking: 1 Record...

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Ranking the world's soccer meccas: No. 4, Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay

2010-01-27T12:08:00.004-05:00

For ranking methodology and other information about the series, see the original post. To read the about the No. 5-rated stadium, the Hampden Park in Glasgow, click here. To see all "soccer mecca" entries click here. No. 4 Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay Open since: 1930 Capacity:...

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