The World Cup without the U.S. national team? Those who consider it a disastrous setback for soccer in America are badly mistaken. It’s 2017, not 1998! Soccer in the U.S., at the club level, is in fine shape and trending upward. If anything, sitting out Russia 2018 can serve as a wake-up call for the […]

[Read more →]

Reaching the quarterfinals of a Fifa tournament is pretty much the definition of success, on the male side of the U.S. national soccer realm, and the Under 17 team just did it, at the U17 World Cup in India. And what does it mean for the senior side to have the kids get to the […]

[Read more →]

Not long after Landon Donovan was pushed into giving up international soccer, by U.S. national soccer’s blundering coach Jurgen Klinsmann, I took a look at Landon’s record 57 goals for the U.S. national soccer team and broke them down by categories. That parsing of his production appeared on this blog on August 9, 2014 (along […]

[Read more →]

The United States and Mexico are set to resume the greatest rivalry in North American soccer, four days hence, in a 2018 World Cup qualifying match to be played in Mexico’s Estadio Azteca. And the thought of it prompted memories of the 1,800-mile road trip two of us took from Tijuana, Mexico, to Mexico City […]

[Read more →]

Wow. It feels like the American soccer world emerged, in a span of 24 hours, from a dark and forlorn place and back onto the light and airy part of the global stage. A changing of the guard even as a veteran was back in the coaching box. … The goal-laden return of Clint Dempsey. […]

[Read more →]

Well, yes, it appears Landon Donovan’s soccer playing career has ended without a formal declaration, which we suggested last month when a deal to play for Real Salt Lake fell through. Donovan now seems interested in the business side of the game, which would mark an obvious, prominent and perhaps lucrative move for him as […]

[Read more →]

Is Landon Donovan’s playing career over? It may be, and not necessarily because he prefers it that way. First, the LA Galaxy in December said Donovan had retired — after the club could not come to terms with him. Donovan remained quiet, however, and then came a reported offer from Real Salt Lake. That alleged […]

[Read more →]

This must be a time of some anxiety for Landon Donovan. The top scorer in the history of the U.S. national team, as well as Major League Soccer, is thought to be on the verge of extending his playing career with MLS side Real Salt Lake. But it has been nearly a month since it […]

[Read more →]

Landon Donovan apparently is considering continuing on in Major League Soccer. This, after a couple of months of interesting-but-not-scintillating play with the LA Galaxy at the end of the 2016 season. That he could keep up at all is impressive, in his nine games back, during the autumn. He is 34, will be 35 in […]

[Read more →]

It’s time. Jurgen Klinsmann must go. He now is inflicting real damage on the U.S. national soccer team. The U.S. Soccer Federation really has only One Job that fans insist it complete: Qualification for the Fifa World Cup. A limp and lifeless U.S. team was crushed 4-0 in Costa Rica tonight. The U.S. has lost […]

[Read more →]