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As the US suits up to face Mexico in a cashcow friendly, one name will catch the eye: Julian Green, a prodigiously talented teenager playing for Bayern Munich. Julian's decision to play for the US encapsulates the current "open arms" era of US soccer. However, that hasn't always been the case. Rather, the US has always had a bipolar relationship with immigrants and soccer is no different. A look at the past shows the key role immigrants have played in many of US soccer's successes and why they've been so coveted and crucial to the Klinsmann era.

First, a primer on the complex relationship between the US and immigrants. On the one hand, all of us, except for Native Americans, are immigrants or the descendants of immigrants. The Statute of Liberty says "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses." For decades, immigrants from Europe waltzed through long lines at Ellis Island, filled out paperwork upon arrival, proved they didn't have tuberculosis (or worse, were trade unionists!), and then got a ticket to the American dream. Acceptance upon arrival with scant qualifications was the law. Yet, while the law reflected an open doors policy, simmering tensions existed between the early arrivers and newcomers. For example, Benjamin Franklin famously complained about German immigrants and their reluctance to learn English. Many folks' grandparents will recall the days when "Irish need not apply" signs dotted the windows of businesses up and down the East Coast.

If immigrants were accepted but then marginalized, then soccer in the US during the early 20th century followed a similar track. Dubbed an "immigrants' game", other so-called "native sports" like basketball, baseball, and football grew exponentially in popularity. The US fielded world class athletes that consistently won Olympic gold, but failed to qualify for a World Cup from 1954 to 1990. The roster for the 1950 team featured three Italian-Americans, Charlie Colombo, Frank Wallace, and Gino Pariani, from the Hill Neighborhood of St. Louis. In fact, Frank Wallace's birth name was Frank Valicenti but his family changed it (possibly due to discrimination or a desire to assimilate, or both). The US team also featured Joe Gaetjens, a Haitian of German descent who immigrated to the US, studied at Columbia University, and scored the winning goal vs. England off a header. Defender Joe Maca was also an immigrant from Belgium and Ed Mcllvenny was Scottish.


From 1950 to 1994, the number of immigrants on the US team increased exponentially. US Soccer welcomed with open arms players from Europe and South America. Bora instilled a remarkable team spirit and confidence, and the team went on a dazzling run at USA '94. Then, though, the disaster of 1998 happened. Despite veteran defender Jeff Agoos playing okay in qualifying, coach Steve Sampson heavily recruited French-American David Regis. Sampson swore he didn't promise him a starting spot, but Regis became a citizen just in time for the World Cup and started all three group games. He was joined by other immigrants Dooley, Wegerle, Ramos, and "Preki" Radosavljevic of Serbia. Unlike 94, Sampson failed to find the right team chemistry. The unexpected removal of John Harkes and arrival of Regis rubbed senior players, perhaps past their prime, the wrong way. The team lost all three games and finished last.

Then we enter the Bruce Arena era. MLS had been in existence since 1996, giving American-born talent a viable professional league to ply their trade. More importantly, Arena confirmed in an interview that he felt recruiting two-passport players with servicemen fathers was "against the spirit". For Korea/Japan 2002, the US roster featured only four immigrants: Pablo Mastroeni, an Argentine who grew up in the US and played in MLS, Carlos Llamosa, a Colombian who played in MLS, Regis, and Earnie Stewart. A cosmopolitan roster this was not. However, the team clicked, upsetting Portugal in the opening game and going on a run to the quarterfinals.

The 2006 roster featured only a single immigrant: Pablo Mastroeni. The team also lost two games, tied Italy, and exited in the group stages. More importantly, Arena will be remembered for the star player who got away: Giuseppe Rossi. At the time, Rossi was a promising star at Manchester United. He had not yet been capped by Italy, and was fair game. Bruce Arena faxed a request to United to allow Rossi to come to a friendly. He also called Rossi a few times and invited him to a camp, but no dice. Arena admitted that Rossi would have been a great addition to the '06 team and many feel Arena could have and should have done more.

So, the Arena era whimpered to an end with a one immigrant and zero loss showing at the World Cup. Then came Bob Bradley, an American with extensive experience in MLS. At the time, Rossi was still fair game. While Bruce was perhaps reticent to suck up to Rossi, Bradley at least gave it a second effort. He even attempted a classic coach recruiting trick: he spoke to Rossi's dad, a coach at Clifton High in New Jersey. Dad made it clear that Rossi respected the US, but his dream was to play for Italy. He soon got capped by Italy during World Cup qualifying, and that was that. Bradley, though, still expanded the reach of the US program. His roster for South Africa 2010 featured two players from the Mexican League, Francisco Torres and Herculez Gomez. He convinced Scotsman Stu Holden to play for the US. He convinced Torres to play for the US instead of possibly Mexico. Lastly, after the World Cup, Bradley convinced Jermain Jones to don the red, white and blue.

And then we entered the Klinsmann era. A look at the recent US friendly with the Ukraine shows a plethora of two passport players: Fabian Johnson, John Brooks, Aron Johannsson, Mix Diskerud, to name a few. If Bradley subtly worked behind the scenes to get dual passport players, then Klinsmann has been much more public. Like France 98, this initially rubbed player
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This summer's World Cup will bring together two things for which Brazil is internationally renowned: soccer and beautiful women.

While Brazil's reputation for sexy ladies and futebol are mixed together in the advertising leading up to the games, it's another story on the field. The struggles of women attempting to break into the male-dominated world of soccer reveals the darker side of the beautiful game.

For a country renowned for its passion and prowess in the sport, acceptance of women's participation in soccer has been frustratingly slow. It wasn't even legal for women to play in Brazil until the 1980s, and the view of soccer as a man's game has stubbornly persisted. Young girls are often discouraged to play by their parents, ostensibly to keep them from getting physically hurt, though more likely out of fear they will be ostracized.

At the professional level, Brazilian clubs and sponsors have been reluctant to spend resources on women's teams. Indeed, one of the country's most prominent clubs, Santos, had a women's squad but disbanded the team in 2012 after 15 years to free up funds for the men's salaries.

It' not just players who face barriers — female journalists, referees and even fans must overcome resistance to carve out a space for themselves in the realm of Brazilian soccer.

Despite these challenges, women's soccer has never been more prominent in Brazil. This is due in large measure to the success of Brazil's national team, which earned silver medals at the Athens and Beijing Olympics. Brazil's own Marta Vieira da Silva, known simply as "Marta," is now a household name after being crowned FIFA player of the year five consecutive times between 2006 and 2010.

These accomplishments have helped soften public opposition to girls entering the sport. Though top players like Marta will still find more professional opportunities abroad, there are signs that Brazil's clubs may finally be seeing the light. Last year was the first time since 2001 that Brazil held a women's national championship, which was funded by one of the country's largest banks.

But this newfound visibility has been a double-edged sword for women's soccer. Specifically, becoming more mainstream pressures players to be more feminine.

Caitlin Fisher is the founder of the Brazil-based Guerreiras Project, which educates and empowers women through athletics. , An American soccer player who briefly played for Santos a decade ago before continuing her career elsewhere, she was surprised by her teammates' transformation when she moved back to Brazil a few years later. Many had grown out their hair, for instance, which they said helped project a more socially acceptable image for their sport. Nowadays, "You enter the locker room and everyone is putting on eyeliner or powdering their faces to step onto the pitch," said Aline Pellegrino, former captain of the Brazilian women's national team.

FIFA touts the "exponential growth" of women players and leagues worldwide as a positive development. Nevertheless, FIFA President Sepp Blatter once said women's soccer could increase in popularity if its players wore shorter and tighter shorts like they do in volleyball. His comment drew widespread condemnation, but the insinuation that the sport would need to be feminine to succeed seems to have been borne out.

Brazil is hardly unique in this regard, but as the world leader in buttocks augmentation and vaginal "rejuvenation" surgeries, it could certainly benefit from greater consciousness around body image on and off the field.

In this light, the rise of women's soccer is especially important since it celebrates female bodies that are active and strong. For soccer to become a truly national pastime in Brazil, it is critical to make sure that women athletes do not need to conform to the same misogynistic notions of femininity that discouraged them from kicking around a ball in the first place.



The Dark Side of Brazil's Love for Women's Soccer - PolicyMic
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The soccer field can be a brutal place where rivalries run strong, but a player recently put these differences aside and quickly performed an action that might have saved an injured opponent’s life.

Oleh Husyev, captain of the Ukrainian team Dynamo Kiev, was accidentally kneed in the head and knocked unconscious by Dnipro goalie Denis Boyko on Sunday. Almost instantly, Dnipro midfielder Jaba Kankava noticed something was wrong and went rushing toward Kiev. He pried open Husyev’s mouth and cleared his airway to ensure he didn’t swallow his tongue.

Medics for both teams rushed onto the field to help Husyev, who was revived and helped onto a cart off the field.

Dynamo Kiev’s website (translated via Google Translate) said that Kankava “reacted as a professional ambulance surgeon.”

Watch Kankava step in to help make sure Husyev was able to breath: “I have been such cases, so I know what to do,” Kankava said, according to Dynamo Kiev.

Kankava added that he doesn’t consider his efforts heroic.

“Maybe without me, everything would be fine,” he said. “The main thing to Oleg everything was fine.”

Goal, a soccer news site, reported that Husyev suffered a concussion of medium severity, a bruised face and some damaged teeth.

The Toronto Sun noted that while swallowing one’s tongue while unconscious is rare, it occurred in 2007 during the Carling Cup after a player was kicked in the face.

This post has been updated.










Soccer Player Knocked Unconscious During Match — That’s When His Opponent Sprang Into Action and Did Something That Helped Save His Life | Video | TheBlaze-com
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Pele is widely recognized as the greatest soccer player of all time. And he developed his unparalleled skills playing against other shoeless kids on the dirt streets of Brazil with a ball made from old socks and newspapers.

But now Pele says the best grass-roots soccer programs in the world are not in Brazil, but in the U.S., where he is on tour publicizing his new book "Why Soccer Matters."

“People should be careful," Pele warned in a short phone interview. "Because I think here in the United States today, they play more soccer than they play in Brazil. It’s important the American kids know that. We don’t have the same support [that] they have in college, university.

"Soccer is becoming very, very big in the United States. The base, with the kids, is more organized than Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay. No doubt."

U.S. Youth Soccer say that more than 3 million kids are registered with U.S. Youth Soccer-affiliated teams -- and that doesn't included the millions more who are playing in high school, college and AYSO programs. And nearly half the players on U.S. Youth Soccer teams are girls.

"In the base, in the college, in the women, you already passed Brazil." Pele said. "The women in the United States play better than Brazil."

As for the World Cup, which will be played in Brazil this summer, Pele said it's time to focus on the sport and not the construction delays and political corruption that has left organizers unsure all 12 tournament venues will be completed in time for the first game June 12.

"The World Cup will be fantastic," he said. "The reality is there was a big problem to construct some stadiums. But the issue was not only with Brazil. In every country who had a World Cup – Korea was the same, [South] Africa was the same, Europe was the same. The only World Cup that was fantastic with every single game, was the best organized, was in the United States.

"The problem with the stadiums was not with the players, was not with the teams. That was political corruption. We must pay attention with the money, the public money. They stole, they made a lot of bad things. But we have to protect the football. The players don’t have nothing to do with this."

As for who has assumed his role as the world's best player, Pele said there are a number of candidates.

"At the moment we have Cristiano Ronaldo, [who] is the best scorer. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is another good player. [Lionel] Messi, of course. In Brazil we have Neymar."

Asked if any were as good as he was, Pele answered more matter-of-factly then boastfully.

"Better than me?" he repeated. "No."




Pele says youth soccer is better in U.S. than Brazil - latimes-com
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Manne wrote: Pele is widely recognized as the greatest soccer player of all time. And he developed his unparalleled skills playing against other shoeless kids on the dirt streets of Brazil with a ball made from old socks and newspapers.

But now Pele says the best grass-roots soccer programs in the world are not in Brazil, but in the U.S., where he is on tour publicizing his new book "Why Soccer Matters."

“People should be careful," Pele warned in a short phone interview. "Because I think here in the United States today, they play more soccer than they play in Brazil. It’s important the American kids know that. We don’t have the same support [that] they have in college, university.

"Soccer is becoming very, very big in the United States. The base, with the kids, is more organized than Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay. No doubt."

U.S. Youth Soccer say that more than 3 million kids are registered with U.S. Youth Soccer-affiliated teams -- and that doesn't included the millions more who are playing in high school, college and AYSO programs. And nearly half the players on U.S. Youth Soccer teams are girls.

"In the base, in the college, in the women, you already passed Brazil." Pele said. "The women in the United States play better than Brazil."

As for the World Cup, which will be played in Brazil this summer, Pele said it's time to focus on the sport and not the construction delays and political corruption that has left organizers unsure all 12 tournament venues will be completed in time for the first game June 12.

"The World Cup will be fantastic," he said. "The reality is there was a big problem to construct some stadiums. But the issue was not only with Brazil. In every country who had a World Cup – Korea was the same, [South] Africa was the same, Europe was the same. The only World Cup that was fantastic with every single game, was the best organized, was in the United States.

"The problem with the stadiums was not with the players, was not with the teams. That was political corruption. We must pay attention with the money, the public money. They stole, they made a lot of bad things. But we have to protect the football. The players don’t have nothing to do with this."

As for who has assumed his role as the world's best player, Pele said there are a number of candidates.

"At the moment we have Cristiano Ronaldo, [who] is the best scorer. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is another good player. [Lionel] Messi, of course. In Brazil we have Neymar."

Asked if any were as good as he was, Pele answered more matter-of-factly then boastfully.

"Better than me?" he repeated. "No."




Pele says youth soccer is better in U.S. than Brazil - latimes-com
When is Pele say something, you can believe in that!
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The retired midfielder was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of bone marrow cancer, in 2009, but had been co-managing IF Elfsborg since December of last year

IF Elfsborg have announced that coach Klas Ingesson has passed away at the age of 46.

The former Sweden international, who was capped 57 times by his country, had been fighting the effects of an incurable type of bone marrow cancer, multiple myeloma, since 2009.

"It is a very sad statement to make that Klas Ingesson this morning [Wednesday] passed away," read an Elfsborg statement.

"Our thoughts are foremost with his wife [Veronica] and children [Martin and David] who were with him at the end."

Ingesson, who enjoyed spells in Belgium, Netherlands, England, Italy and France during a peripatetic 15-year playing career, announced he was suffering from multiple myeloma in May 2009.

However, after undergoing a round of stem cell transplantation, he returned to the game the following year, taking charge of the Elfsborg Under-21s.

The former midfielder was forced to undergo a second round of treatment in January 2013 but he was nevertheless appointed co-manager of the senior squad in December.

Earlier this year, a wheelchair-bound Ingesson addressed the question of whether he should continue coaching in an open letter to his club's fans.

"The talk about my cancer has to end," he wrote. "Elfsborg and I have an agreement that I am manager for the first team.

"Physically and mentally I don't have a problem to do my job. I should be judged as anyone else to determine whether I am good enough for the job but then I should be judged on my competence, not my physical status.

"It is every person's right to be judged by who you are and what you do, not because you have an illness or a handicap."

Ingeson started his playing career in his native Sweden with Gothenberg before joining KV Mechelen in 1993. He enjoyed three years in Belgium before spending a season with PSV.

Two years at Sheffield Wednesday followed before a successful two-year stay in Bari earned him a move to Bologna in 1998.

Ingesson, who was a part of the Sweden side that finish third at the 1994 World Cup, left the Dall'Ara for Olympique de Marseille two years later but returned to Italy in 2001 to join Lecce, his final professional club.



Former Sweden international Ingesson passes away - Goal-com
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Manne wrote: The retired midfielder was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of bone marrow cancer, in 2009, but had been co-managing IF Elfsborg since December of last year

IF Elfsborg have announced that coach Klas Ingesson has passed away at the age of 46.

The former Sweden international, who was capped 57 times by his country, had been fighting the effects of an incurable type of bone marrow cancer, multiple myeloma, since 2009.

"It is a very sad statement to make that Klas Ingesson this morning [Wednesday] passed away," read an Elfsborg statement.

"Our thoughts are foremost with his wife [Veronica] and children [Martin and David] who were with him at the end."

Ingesson, who enjoyed spells in Belgium, Netherlands, England, Italy and France during a peripatetic 15-year playing career, announced he was suffering from multiple myeloma in May 2009.

However, after undergoing a round of stem cell transplantation, he returned to the game the following year, taking charge of the Elfsborg Under-21s.

The former midfielder was forced to undergo a second round of treatment in January 2013 but he was nevertheless appointed co-manager of the senior squad in December.

Earlier this year, a wheelchair-bound Ingesson addressed the question of whether he should continue coaching in an open letter to his club's fans.

"The talk about my cancer has to end," he wrote. "Elfsborg and I have an agreement that I am manager for the first team.

"Physically and mentally I don't have a problem to do my job. I should be judged as anyone else to determine whether I am good enough for the job but then I should be judged on my competence, not my physical status.

"It is every person's right to be judged by who you are and what you do, not because you have an illness or a handicap."

Ingeson started his playing career in his native Sweden with Gothenberg before joining KV Mechelen in 1993. He enjoyed three years in Belgium before spending a season with PSV.

Two years at Sheffield Wednesday followed before a successful two-year stay in Bari earned him a move to Bologna in 1998.

Ingesson, who was a part of the Sweden side that finish third at the 1994 World Cup, left the Dall'Ara for Olympique de Marseille two years later but returned to Italy in 2001 to join Lecce, his final professional club.



Former Sweden international Ingesson passes away - Goal-com
What a sad story😔 RIP
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Pictures wrote: What a sad story😔 RIP
If a man can bridge the gap between life and death, if he can live on after he's dead, then he was a great man!!
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vaom88 wrote: When is Pele say something, you can believe in that!
I also believe in him, but there is also a great scope of football in Brazil too. Some rally great players came from Brazil only like Pele himself,Ronaldo,Ronaldinho,etc. Butdue to lack of facility there we can agree to that Pele is right.
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Manne wrote: One of the world’s most famous soccer stars continued to build his case Monday for reshaping the world’s busiest cruise-ship port.

David Beckham swept back into the public eye to rally support for a stadium and development plan that would place both his soccer team and persona at the heart of PortMiami. He plans a trip to Tallahassee on Tuesday in a hunt for state subsidies, and on Monday told reporters he hopes to win over critics from the cruise-ship industry.

“I want to change their minds,’’ Beckham said at a well-attended afternoon press conference at Miami-Dade College’s downtown campus. “I don’t want to be an enemy to the people that are opposed to the stadium. I want to work with them.”

Beckham’s first public appearance in Miami since announcing his bid for a stadium at the county-owned port came after his negotiating team outlined both the vision for the facility and their case against traffic concerns raised by Royal Caribbean. The world’s second-largest cruise operator has a corporate campus that overlaps with Beckham’s proposed 25,000-seat stadium site, and top executives are warning elected officials that Beckham’s plan would hurt port operations.

At a morning press briefing, Beckham aide John Alschuler, a top real estate consultant in New York, revealed selected details from a traffic study he said is the most comprehensive ever performed at the port. He declined to release it, saying the final version would be made public in about a month.

The presentation showed a stadium heavily reliant on parking in downtown Miami, with thousands of fans walking a pedestrian bridge to the island port. He also insisted the soccer and cruising schedules were so distinct — with cruise ships boarding in the afternoon and spectators arriving in the evening — that the two uses have little chance of conflict.

Alschuler also said he expected about a third of the stadium’s spectators to bypass downtown and arrive through the new port tunnel scheduled to open in May. The nearly $700 million tunnel was designed to divert cargo trucks from downtown and make it easier for cruise passengers to get to the port.

Alschuler did acknowledge the parking plan as outlined wouldn’t hold up if Beckham’s team succeeds in recruiting the University of Miami’s football team as a tenant. While the deal would deliver UM’s political cachet to Beckham’s stadium bid, the college team would also bring requirements for at least 40,000 seats — making the soccer venue twice the size of the Heat’s 19,000-seat AmericanAirlines Arena. College football games also take place during Saturday mornings and afternoons — boarding and departure times for cruise ships.

The UM question highlighted just one moving part in Beckham’s soccer ambitions. While three other sites have been listed as fall-back options — land near the Miami International Airport, Florida International University’s western campus, and a site adjoining Marlins Park in Little Havana — Alschuler only presented renderings for a port stadium, and he said that remains Beckham’s top choice.

Funding is another question mark. Beckham pledged not to seek any local aid and to pay market rent for a 12-acre site that a port consultant said could lease for at least $3 million a year.

Beckham hired a lobbyist to pursue state aid for the stadium, citing existing subsidies for most Florida stadiums, including Sun Life and AmericanAirlines Arena, both of which receive $2 million a year from Tallahassee (Sun Life as compensation for a baseball retrofit in the 1990s).

“We want to be treated like every other franchise,” Beckham said Monday. “We’re not asking for anything more or anything less.”

Should Beckham persuade Miami-Dade leaders to lease him part of the port’s southwest corner, his development team could play a significant role in creating a new commercial district for downtown Miami.

In his presentation, Alschuler offered new details on a one-million square-foot commercial complex woven into their stadium site plan, a potentially lucrative new development opportunity that could have Beckham’s organization as the master developer. While he emphasized the plan was mostly a placeholder, Alschuler said two of the four proposed buildings would be hotels and the other two would be office complexes.

“There may be a role — and I stress may be — for the team as the developer and builder of the public spaces,’’ Alschuler said, referring to the plazas and outdoor gathering spots that were part of the larger stadium design. “We are open to any process that creates a kind of public realm and unity of the site. Our goal is to create a stadium that is inside a great urban destination.”

He said the development parcels should be opened up for bids, with Miami-Dade County earning all of the proceeds. But he did not say whether the Beckham group itself would be interested in competing for the sites. As the group creating the stadium and wanting to manage the surrounding plaza and other public areas, Beckham’s team could bring unique advantages to the bidding process.

The stadium renderings depict an open-air soccer stadium with the Miami skyline as a background and the kind of architectural flourishes sure to bring significant costs. With Beckham seeking a relatively modest operating subsidy from the state (the Heat receive more than $6 million a year from Miami-Dade, plus $2 million from Florida) and pledging to pay rent, the elaborate stadium design suggests he and his investors may need the kind of extra revenue that the surrounding land could bring.

“It would be very interesting to see their operating model…. They’re making some concessions you don’t see at this stage of the game,” said Irwin Raij, a stadium-finance attorney at Foley & Lardner in Miami. “That’s a beautiful building that has the potential to be an iconic building in the marketplace. It’s going to have the price tag of an iconic building.”

Beckham’s backers describe the re
I also heard about this news from my friend about Beckham and I fully support him and agree to him. This port really needs a lot of work.
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vaom88 wrote: Thanks for the best infomations that you gave!
Really thanks for the information and I also believe that now a days Ibrahimovic is the greatest player. He is in terrific shape and playing great in all matches. His free kicks and penalties both are really awesome. On the other hand Bayern Munchen is a team, which i8s really unbeatable these days. We can see their past records. They defeated Ajax,MANC,MANU,FCB,Real Madrid. All these teams are great and consists of best star players in the world. really Bayern Munchen is in great form now a days.
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Manne wrote: Spain's El Clasico is Sunday: Real Madrid against Barcelona in the Spanish capital. Can Cristiano Ronaldo knock out Lionel Messi? Fans around the globe will flock to screens to see who owns the punch.

In the past 10 years, stamp the contest for the Spanish football crown as exclusive. Barca or Real is dominant. Spain's other clubs spar beneath the heavyweights, unable to get a shot at the title. This year is different. Another Madrid team, Atletico, is in the ring fighting for first, a rogue upsetting the balance. Mark the card for relief.

Europe's elite club soccer is an oligopoly's dream. A few sellers of football dominate the market forever and ever, amen. Occasionally, the odd upstart clambers up from below, prompting the superiors to purchase its valuable playing assets, snuffing out the threat for next season. Arrivistes can stick around if they can tap lines of credit from oligarchs, billionaires, sports magnates or oil wells.

In the lower divisions, teams struggle. But few die. There are always business interests willing to invest in the promise of miracles. Who knows? Perhaps a young player comes out of the sticks, leads the team to glory and then gets sold for a healthy profit.

Soccer's structure provides incentive. Interleague relegation and promotion, the trapdoor and the elevator, are integral to hope and fear for fans and money alike. See it as a free-market fight for a seat at the top table where the big boys eat. "Best to throw a crumb to the up and coming," the portly say. After all, they need teams to play and beat every week. (Note: Major League Soccer is a single entity without promotion and relegation.)

Soccer powers are global. On the TV news, witness riots in various countries and you might see a Molotov cocktail being thrown by a rebel wearing a Barca or Real jersey. The game's economy is also local, where the roots run deep. An English Twitter feed, Football Away Days, posts photographs of traveling supporters often in half-empty stadiums, wearing jerseys of teams that will not be appearing in the middle of a televised revolution in a febrile part of the world. These fans follow clubs that will win nothing, one generation passing down emptiness to the next. Call it loyalty to the local, the small-town economy keeping football alive beneath the elites.

Rallying the Quakes: Many witnessed the super performance of the Earthquakes on Saturday in their opening game of the MLS season against Salt Lake. Marvel at it. The Quakes fought back from 3-1 down and scored the equalizer in the 95th minute. The Earthquakes have 17 second-half stoppage-time goals in all competitions since 2012, 15 of which tied or won the game. Defy the laws of football math!

I watched the game standing in Section 109 at Buck Shaw Stadium, the manor of the 1906 Ultras, the Quakes' supporters group. Their rallying call ceaseless, a magnet, they pulled in the Quakes' attack like a tide. The players love it. You can see how much it means to them to score at the Ultras' end. It's pretty special. When the tying goal went in, the Ultras exploded behind the net. Proof that when the support is fierce and close to the action, the fans influence the result.

The Quakes would do well to integrate the Ultras into the plans at the new stadium - as close to the action as possible. Polish the 12th man cliche. At San Jose, it delivers wins.

(Sunday: Real Madrid vs. Barcelona, 1 p.m.)






Soccer's appeal runs international and local - SFGate
Soccer is a good game you can also play it on your pc and mobile. It is my favorite game and it is loved worldwide.
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The last whistle in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium brought unbridled joy for Xavi Hernández and unabashed tears from Andrea Pirlo.

Eventually, they found one another amid the bedlam on the field after Barcelona’s 3-1 victory over Juventus in the Champions League final. Xavi wrapped his arms around Pirlo, and to many of us watching that embrace, it felt like losing two friends, knowing that we won’t see either of them at the top of their game again.

Midnight was fast approaching, and with it Xavi, the Catalan playmaker, and Pirlo, the Italian virtuoso, would say their goodbyes to players with whom they have shared their lives and their triumphs.

Allow me to correct that: They said their goodbyes to players — some of them the greats of the game — whom they have directed through life.

Xavi, 35, will next play for Al Sadd, the Qatari club where he will wind down his career at a far slower tempo than Barcelona’s. He will also start building his coaching credentials and serve as an ambassador for the 2022 World Cup, which Qatar will host.

Read more: www-nytimes-com/2015/06/08/sports/soccer/european-soccer-bids-adieu-to-2-stalwarts-html?_r=0
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Alex Soosay, one of the most senior figures in Asian soccer, has resigned following allegations he tried to conceal evidence from a past investigation into corruption at the Asian Football Confederation.

The AFC, which last month suspended Mr. Soosay from his post as general secretary, said Wednesday he had tendered his resignation with immediate effect.

Mr. Soosay wasn’t immediately available for comment.

In April, the Malay Mail said it had obtained a video of an AFC official telling a FIFA investigator that Mr. Soosay had asked him to hide or tamper with documents that could potentially incriminate him in a 2012 investigation of the AFC under former president Mohamed bin Hammam.

In 2012, FIFA banned Mr. Hammam from all soccer-related activity for life for ethics violations. The Qatari official, who helped secure the 2022 World Cup for his homeland, had initially been banned in 2011 after being found guilty of bribing FIFA presidential election voters.

Read more: Under-Fire Soccer Official Alex Soosay Resigns From AFC - WSJ
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The 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup semi-finals match between the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) and Germany feels like a finals match-up. USWNT striker Alex Morgan has echoed that sentiment. If the USWNT can pull through with a win, it will set the team up with a manageable final against either Japan or England. A FIFA Women’s World Cup win will translate into money making opportunities for the stars on the team and likely lead to a boost in popularity of the game outside of the FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament.

I caught up with former USWNT star Julie Foudy near the start of the FIFA Women’s World Cup to discuss the popularity of women’s soccer and potential interest of corporate sponsors to associate with USWNT players. Foudy is the headliner for espnW’s coverage of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup and has the requisite background to speak to the aforesaid topics. The following contains our conversation:


Read here:FIFA Women's World Cup: The Growth Of U.S. Soccer And Sponsorship - Forbes
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Since the day Brandi Chastain took off her shirt 16 years ago, America has clothed its women's national soccer team with the sort of crazy unconditional love that somehow survived bad losses, lineup controversy, and the legal dossier of Hope Solo.

On Tuesday night, America was reminded why.

Megan Rapinoe flying, Alex Morgan dancing, Ali Krieger battering, Morgan Brian head-banging, Carli Lloyd creating, everyone screaming and flexing and surprising.

For all their flaws, this legacy-rich group of athletes still knows how to soar when the lights are brightest, dig deep when the stakes are highest, and sweatily survive when its demise appears imminent.

This time it was the 2015 Women's World Cup semifinal in Montreal against No. 1-ranked Germany, a game where the U.S. team, those nutty kids, followed five yawning games with one absolutely brilliant one.

Read more: U.S. women's soccer team is back on big stage, and America loves it - LA Times
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Soccer lover to watch Barcelona v Atlético Madrid Lionel Messi Fantasy Goal Highlight HD
Click below link www-youtube-com/watch?v=bHTRp7oSdo4
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In Iran, women are strongly discouraged from attending soccer matches in public. So those female soccer fans aren't sitting on the sidelines anymore -- they're playing the game themselves. Even in Iran's oppressive culture, revolution is happening. A generation of females is playing soccer as never before. That's no exaggeration: As recently as 2005, there were no Iranian women playing organized soccer in the country.

According to a new feature by Bill Spindle in The Wall Street Journal, that number is now up to 4,000 and growing.

At the heart of this change is an Iranian-American woman. Katyoun Khosrowyar, 27, is captain of the Iranian women's national soccer team. She has lived in Iran for 10 years and is constantly working to make soccer more accessible to the country's females.

Khosrowyar is also coach of the country's under-14 women's team, but she plays a large political role in the revolution. Recently, she helped argue against the wearing of headscarves when playing on the field.

The Iranian women's national team has not found much success on the international level, but it is helping spur rapid participation in the sport -- one that has many eager young players but a lack of coaches with their own experience.

"The biggest challenge we have is the lack of leader coaches," said Iran's head of women's soccer programs to the WSJ. "[Khosrowyar] is just one, but she’s got a great future."

Thanks to the impending nuclear deal with Iran, new opportunities may bring in sponsorship deals and other agreements between Iran's soccer programs and organizations in Europe and America, which could continue to foster women's soccer in the country.

For years, Iran's women were only able to compete in riflery -- a sport that they could do while fully covered, and individually.

But small soccer leagues and soccer-loving groups began to form, and the prospect of international competition began to attract more females to the sport.

Now, soccer is one of the biggest games among females in Iran -- and a possible key to further social progress in the country.




Soccer Catches On Among Iranian Women Despite Ban On Attending Matches | ThePostGame
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South Korea’s soccer chief Chung Mong-gyu will discuss reviving cross-border internationals with his North Korea counterparts on a visit to Pyongyang later this month, the Korea Football Association (KFA) said on Monday.

Relations between the states, who have remained technically at war since the 1950s, reached crisis point at the end of last month before a deal was struck to end a tense military standoff.

While teams of both genders have met when drawn against each other at various tournaments and in qualifying campaigns, the last friendly soccer internationals took place in 2005 to commemorate the anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan.

KFA president Chung will visit the North Korean capital from Sept. 18-20 for a meeting of the executive committee of the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) and will take the opportunity to press for more meetings between the neighbors.

“We expect this trip will go a long way toward revitalizing inter-Korean football exchanges,” a KFA official told the Yonhap News Agency.

The two states last played in the North in Pyongyang in 1990, when the North Korean men’s team secured their only victory in 15 attempts against their southern rivals.

The women’s national teams have never played in the North with China and South Korea hosting most of their meetings. North Korea have lost just once against the South.

The KFA official said the focus of Chung’s mission would initially be on women’s soccer.

“Given North Korea’s prowess in women’s football, it will help our women’s team to play them,” he said.

“There will also be discussions on holding matches between our women’s youth teams.”

The KFA also said on Monday that the South Korea men’s team would host a friendly with Gold Cup runners up Jamaica in Seoul on Oct 13, Yonhap said.
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