Filed under: FIFA World Cup, International Soccer, U.S. Men’s National Team

Liverpool fans burned a Fernando Torres jersey on Monday night, furious that the striker their club pried from his hometown team in Madrid for tens of millions of pounds left Merseyside after three-plus seasons for Chelsea’s tens of millions of pounds.

Torres probably didn’t grow up dreaming of playing for the Reds or the Blues. His favorite team was Atl?tico, and he played at his boyhood club for a dozen years. Those ties were loosened only when Rafael Ben?tez came calling in 2007.

Liverpool fans may be angry, but Torres was never really theirs to begin with.

The final day of the European transfer window was yet another reminder that club soccer is a business first. Players are motivated largely by the trappings of the pro game — the money, the titles, endorsements and prestige. That’s not a criticism. It’s the nature of the beast.

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In Honor of Tadanari Lee, A History of International Championship Winning Goals

Filed under: FIFA World Cup, International Soccer, US Soccer

Remember back in high school when student government candidates would promise things they had absolutely no hope of delivering — a soda machine in the cafeteria, the extra parking spaces, early release on football Fridays?

Well, it appears that Jack Warner is running for class president.

The December World Cup vote exposed the CONCACAF chief and his fellow FIFA executive committee members, American Chuck Blazer and Guatemala’s Rafael Salguero, as nothing more than small-time gangsters, able to hold sway in their own little fiefdom but inconsequential at the varsity level.

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Impotent CONCACAF To Plead For Fourth World Cup Spot

Filed under: European Soccer, FIFA World Cup, English Premier League, Bundesliga (Germany), U.S. Men’s National Team, United States

Although the United States’ failed bid to host World Cup 2022 made this past week one to forget for stateside soccer supporters, the rare goal-scoring exploits of two American defenders abroad just might soften that substantial blow.

After U.S. right back Jonathan Spector bagged a midweek brace in West Ham’s 4-0 Carling Cup victory over his former club, Manchester United, American defender Carlos Bocanegra notched his first Ligue One goal in a St. Etienne uniform during the club’s 2-2 draw with Bordeaux on Sunday.

In the 69th minute, moments after St. Etienne had knotted the match at one, the U.S. captain rose to nod Dimitri Payet’s free kick through the legs of Bordeaux goalkeeper Cedric Carrasso.

Only a last-gasp equalizer from Fernando Menegazzo kept Bocanegra from claiming his strike – a vintage goal from the aerial specialist – as the game-winner. Bocanegra had not scored since doing so in March for his previous team, Rennes.

Midfielder Michael Bradley (photo above) made sure the scoring joy wasn’t just for members of the Yanks’ back line, finding net in the 17th minute of Borussia Monchengladbach’s 2-1 Bundesliga loss to Hannover 96 on Saturday.

Taking a long-range free kick from the left flank, Bradley launched his service into the penalty area and watched as it surprisingly skipped untouched past Hannover goalkeeper Florian Fromlowitz into the far side netting.

It was the 23-year-old’s third goal of the Bundesliga campaign. The loss, however, ensured Monchengladbach would stay in the league cellar with a 2-9-4 mark.

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Weekend Wrap-up: U.S. Players Help Take Away Sting of World Cup Bid Loss

Filed under: FIFA World Cup, International Soccer, US Soccer

WASHINGTON, DC — My second day at Al Jazeera’s TV studio here in the nation’s capital got off to a unexpectedly disheartening start.

At least an hour before FIFA overlord Sepp Blatter was scheduled to announce the hosts of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, Qatari bid chairman Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the son of the Emir, was pictured offering his congratulations to the people of Qatar.

“We have won,” he declared boldly.

I watched it all on the studio’s hi-def monitor.

About 90 minutes later, Al Thani was proven right. Qatar won easily, in fact, defeating the U.S. by a wide margin through four rounds of voting. (The moment sinks in, above). Qatar’s oil-soaked thumb print clearly was on the pulse of the FIFA executive committee. In contrast, the U.S. never found its rhythm.

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US Soccer President Sunil Gulati At a Loss as Qatar Wins 2022 World Cup Bid

Filed under: FIFA World Cup, US Soccer, U.S. Men’s National Team

The U.S. lost out on hosting the 2022 World Cup to Qatar Thursday, and reactions in the American soccer community were mostly of disbelief and disappointment.

The negative reactions to the announcement did not just have to do with the game of soccer, however. Many players and pundits were outraged at the perception that FIFA’s decision was heavily influenced by its own financial interests, while others were disappointed that a country as small and notoriously conservative as Qatar would be allowed to host the world’s biggest sporting event.

The following responses from the American soccer community were all posted to Twitter following Thursday’s announcement (sic for all quotes):

“There’s no way around it: I am disappointed. To come up short is very difficult to take.”
–United States Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati

“Natural gas and oil, that’s what has just won. They have just bought the World Cup.”
–Former U.S. national team star and FOX Soccer analyst Eric Wynalda on Qatar and Russia wins

“I can’t believe this, man. I’ve been to Qatar. Good ally and all, but NOT a place to party and celebrate the World Cup.”
–TV star and Seattle Sounders co-owner Drew Carey

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US Players, Pundits React to Losing 2022 World Cup Bid to Qatar

Filed under: FIFA World Cup, International Soccer, US Soccer

The United States finished second to Qatar in the race to host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, but the voting was never that close. The tiny Persian Gulf state routed its much larger rival, according to the totals released by soccer’s governing body following Thursday’s announcement.

The U.S. and Qatar were competing for the 2022 tournament along with Japan, South Korea and Australia.

The 22 members of FIFA’s all-powerful executive committee cast their votes via secret ballot, and if no country won an absolute majority, the bidder with the lowest vote total was eliminated. A new vote would then be conducted for the survivors.

All the Americans’ lobbying, including the speeches by former President Bill Clinton and Oscar-winning Nelson Mandela lookalike Morgan Freeman, had next to no impact. The U.S. received only three votes in the first round — likely from the three members of the committee representing CONCACAF.

Qatar almost won it in the first round, receiving 11 votes — one fewer than the magic number. Australia, with 1, was eliminated.

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Qatar Routs USA in 2022 World Cup Voting

Filed under: FIFA World Cup, England

Russia will host the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The announcement was made by FIFA president Sepp Blatter in Zurich, Switzerland.

Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov accepted the bid on behalf of the Russian delegation.

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Russia to Host 2018 World Cup

Filed under: FIFA World Cup, US Soccer, U.S. Men’s National Team

Whether it was at a press conference out at the U.S. national team’s Irene hotel or in a conversation with a foreign fan or journalist, the topic that kept coming up over and over during the World Cup in South Africa was the side’s incredible spirit and determination.

Granted, many of the opportunities to display those qualities resulted from the tendency to fall behind early. Or crappy refereeing. But we saw plenty of other teams yield or implode at the World Cup, while the U.S. was eliminated in the second round with about as much honor and respect as one could hope for.

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Video: Dramatic U.S. World Cup Montage ‘Dying Bravely’

Filed under: FIFA World Cup, International Soccer, U.S. Men’s National Team

Not everyone affiliated with FIFA spends the World Cup sipping champagne in a luxury suite, angling for a photo with Bill Clinton or Mick Jagger or telling people where they’re not allowed to go. Some are supposed to actually watch the games.

Those people comprise the Technical Study Group, a collection of 15 soccer experts who know far more about the sport than the rest of us and who are charged with identifying the important tactical trends and nuances that shaped the 32-team, 64-game tournament. The TSG also is supposed to tell us why the good teams were good, why the lousy ones were lousy and why World Cup referees can’t tell if the ball has crossed the goal line.

Among the TSG’s members this time around were former France and Liverpool (and perhaps future Aston Villa) coach G?rard Houllier, newly-appointed Australia coach Holger Osieck (who led Canada to its improbable 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup title), 1998 World Cup and two-time UEFA Champions League winner Christian Karembeu, Peruvian legend and famed Fort Lauderdale Striker Te?filo Cubillas and former Scotland coach and UEFA technical director Andy Roxburgh.

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FanHouse Presents FIFA’s World Cup Technical Report Distilled

Filed under: FIFA World Cup, France

PARIS (AP) — Nicolas Anelka’s profane tirade at the World Cup may have been his last act with the French national team.

He was suspended for 18 games Tuesday, one of four players banned by the French soccer federation for a World Cup mutiny that was criticized by President Nicolas Sarkozy and underlined an embarrassing first-round exit.

The federation also handed suspensions — subject to appeal — to former captain Patrice Evra (five games), Franck Ribery (three games) and Jeremy Toulalan (one game). Eric Abidal, the fifth player at the four-hour hearing, escaped punishment.

Anelka’s suspension is expected to last nearly two years. By the time the 2012 European Championship comes around, he will be 33 and possibly too old to make the team — if the French qualify.

“They (the players) are a bit bruised by the way things unfolded,” said Jean Mazzella, president of the disciplinary commission. “They didn’t think it would take on the proportions that it has, that’s for sure.”

The players already have been punished financially, with the federation withholding World Cup bonuses.

All 23 players on the World Cup squad boycotted a training session in South Africa to protest Anelka’s expulsion after he insulted then-coach Raymond Domenech during a 2-0 loss to Mexico.

The federation called only the five players who played a leading role in the strike. Ribery and Anelka — whose locker-room outburst triggered the protest — sent lawyers. Ribery, vice captain at the World Cup, did not attend the hearing because Bayern Munich refused to release him before its opening Bundesliga game Friday.

Only Evra, Abidal and Toulalan attended the hearing, federation official Yann Le Guillard said. Domenech was there along with then-federation president Jean-Pierre Escalettes and assistant coach Alain Boghossian.

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France Bans Players Involved in World Cup Mutiny