One of those “things I came across while looking for something else” moments. The Guardian, my preferred site for news and soccer from a British publication, has posted a long story about diving — and when it became “football’s worst crime”. And along in there the 1990 World Cup came up, a tournament played in […]

[Read more →]

The two national soccer teams I follow had successful results today. The UAE got a brilliant goal from Omar Abdulrahman, the best player in the Mideast, as the Emiratis secured a place in the final round of Asia qualifying for the 2018 Russia World Cup with a 1-1 draw versus Saudi Arabia. Abdulrahman not only […]

[Read more →]

Of great interest to me, anyway. And this may be one of the more bizarre pairings among global soccer fans. Two of the three world countries with “United” in its name, and neither is the United Kingdom. –The United Arab Emirates, home to Saudi Arabia. –The United States, home to Guatemala. Both are tomorrow. The […]

[Read more →]

The United States plays in the soccer world’s cupcake federation. Concacaf, the North and Central American and Caribbean federation, is guaranteed three berths in the World Cup, and the Americans should earn one of those three berths Every Single Time. After Mexico, the only Concacaf side that can be anticipated to be reasonably competitive is […]

[Read more →]

U.S. soccer coaches and fans have often wondered who was going to win the ball and who was going to score, but one part of the field they never worried about was the man between the posts. Until now. The long line of often unbeatable U.S. goalkeepers may be at an end. The two veterans […]

[Read more →]

This must be tough for Major League Soccer clubs and their fans. The steady drumbeat of failure and defeat in the Concacaf Champions League. Tonight, it was the LA Galaxy crushed 4-0 by Santos Laguna (after a scoreless first leg in Carson) and DC United going down 3-1 on aggregate to Queretaro after the latter […]

[Read more →]

Talking about the weekend that just passed. The one after the Super Bowl but before pitchers and catchers report. It is a weekend, in American sports, anyway, that has pretty much nothing that matters. Or it seems that way to me. A former colleague and I had a bit of a discussion on this — […]

[Read more →]

Leave it to Lionel Messi to do something that will have soccer fans buzzing for a day or three. In this case, it was a semi-controversial move: A penalty kick that he did not aim at goal, instead knocking it sideways to Barcelona teammate Luis Suarez, who subsequently scored. Some were amazed and giddy at […]

[Read more →]

I have voted for the Futbol de Primera award — formerly the Honda Award — for most of two decades. The award, voted on by journalists, goes to the U.S. national team player judged to have been the best performer in a calendar year. Michael Bradley is the winner, for the first time, over Clint […]

[Read more →]

It was a game that made UAE soccer supporters nervous, but the senior national team got out of Kuala Lumpur with an unimpressive, 2-1 victory, as reported in The National, over a Malaysia team the Emiratis beat 10-0 two months ago. It means the UAE “golden generation” — which makes up most of the current […]

[Read more →]