North America
+ Jason de Vos: Carl Robinson reveals reason for Toronto FC departure.
+ Paul James: TFC misses the mark against Charleston.
+ Mistake By the Lake: Charleston 0 – TFC 0 . Forgive and Forget?
+ From Me: Thoughts on TFC’s 0-0 draw with Charleston.
+ The Yorkies: The Starting eleven – uncomfortable things to overhear at BMO Field.
+ Montreal Gazette: Joey Saputo aims to build a successful sports business and put Montreal on the soccer map.
+ Ben Rycroft: NASL planning aggressive expansion into Canada.
+ Whitecaps video feature courtesy of Red Nation Online.
+ Reports in Germany have claimed that Jens Lehmann is mulling over a move to MLS.
+ Real Salt Lake has acquired Costa Rican striker Alvaro Saborio on loan from his Swiss club FC Sion.
+ Everton have confirmed that Landon Donovan’s loan spell has ended and that the US forward will return to Los Angeles Galaxy.
+ Tyler James: New Crew forward Sergio Herrera still under wraps.
+ The Wizards are reported to be making a move to sign Indian national team player Sunil Chhetri.
+ Buzz Carrick: Why a strike by MLS players won’t be effective.
+ Buzz Carrick: There’s a difference between voting to strike and what happened on Thursday.
+ Ben Knight: So strike already!
+ USSF Division II Pro Soccer will feature a service of live streaming webcasts this year according to Barclay Kruse, Chief Communications Officer for the NSC Minnesota Stars soccer team.
England
+ Phil Brown has been ‘relieved of managerial duties’ by Hull City. Brian Horton and Steve Parkin to take charge of first team
+ The surgeon who will operate on David Beckham’s torn Achilles’ tendon has written off the player’s chances of making the World Cup in South Africa.
+ Rob Smyth: Can we have some perspective please? The probable end of David Beckham’s career is a bitterly sad story, but it’s no more than a minor blow to Fabio Capello.
+ The Daily Mail: David Beckham highs and lows – from winning the double at United to World Cup heartache.
+ Liverpool are in talks with a private-equity firm, the Rhone Group, over a £118.5m deal to buy a controlling share of the club and halve their debts.
+ Fernando Torres has called on Liverpool’s owners to produce the funds for "four or five" top-class signings this summer.
+ Rafael Benítez believes Fernando Torres could seek to leave Anfield in the summer if they miss out on the Champions League.
+ Rafa Benitez will have £16million paid into his bank account if Liverpool sack him this summer. Benitez has a clause in his five-year contract that his £4m-a-season deal is paid up within 24 hours of him being sacked.
+ Portsmouth are on the brink of securing their fifth owner of a chaotic season with property tycoon Rob Lloyd fronting a consortium intending to buy the crisis-ridden club
+ Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp admits his winger Aaron Lennon is "quite a way off" being fit with the start of the World Cup now less than three months away.
+ Tottenham’s first-team coach Joe Jordan says there is no chance of Robbie Keane remaining at Celtic beyond the end of his loan period.
+ Arsenal’s Nicklas Bendtner has said that George Boateng’s challenge on Bacary Sagna, which earned the Hull midfielder a second yellow card yesterday, came as a direct result of him squaring up to the Hull captain after being poked in the eye.
+ Aston Villa are weighing up a move for Manchester United goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak as competition for 39- year-old Brad Friedel and his compatriot Brad Guzan.
+ Birmingham City midfielder Lee Carsley is due to return to training next week after being out for two months with an ankle injury.
+ Paul Hayward: Why Wayne Rooney is England’s most potent force since Bobby Charlton.
+ Duncan White: Wayne Rooney must temper his hyperactivity for England and Manchester United.
+ Mark Halsey: ‘When I beat cancer, I wept for five minutes’.
Spain
+ Barcelona beat Champions League hopefuls Valencia 3-0 at Camp Nou on Sunday thanks to a spectacular hat-trick from Lionel Messi.
+ Barcelona assistant coach Tito Vilanova hailed Thierry Henry as the key to their 3-0 win over Valencia at the Nou Camp.
+ Gonzalo Higuain hit a hat-trick as Real Madrid provided the ideal response to crashing out of the Champions League beating Real Valladolid 4-1.
+ Real Madrid have an "obsession" about signing Wayne Rooney, but would need to fork out £80 million or more to do so, according to former president Ramon Calderon.
+ Paul Wilson: Will Real Madrid ever realize that managerial stability brings trophies?
Italy
+ AS Roma failed to put extra pressure on stuttering leaders Inter Milan when they were held to a 3-3 draw at lowly Livorno.
+ AC Milan, however, did manage to move to within one point of the leaders as they snatched a dramatic 1-0 victory at home to Chievo.
+ AC Milan have confirmed defender Alessandro Nesta will have an operation on his knee today.
+ Paolo Bandini: Serie A title race blown wide open as Inter take eye off the ball.
+ Martin Samuel: Jose Mourinho, stop needling Chelsea and come clean.
Germany
+ Arjen Robben came to Bayern Munich’s rescue for the second time in four days as his side went back to the top of the Bundesliga after a 2-1 defeat of Freiburg.
+ Bayer Leverkusen rejoined the hunt for the Bundesliga title thanks to a 4-2 victory over Hamburg.
+ Dozens of angry Hertha Berlin fans, some armed with steel bars, stormed the Olympic stadium pitch on Saturday after a 2-1 loss to Nuremberg left the rock-bottom capital side contemplating relegation.
+ Franz Beckenbauer has raised concerns about the suitability of Rene Adler as Germany’s number one goalkeeper for this summer’s World Cup.
France
+ Bordeaux have taken a mere two points from their last three Ligue 1 games after a goalless draw at Monaco.
+ Montpellier drew 1-1 for the second game running, with Alberto Costa again the man to the rescue against Auxerre.
+ Fresh from their historic 1-0 win over Real Madrid in midweek, Lyon could only draw with bitter local rivals Saint-Etienne at a sold-out Stade Gerland on Saturday.
+ Lille capped an excellent week with a hard-fought win over Grenoble which moved them to within two points of the Ligue 1 summit.
+ Marseille missed the chance to go to within a point of Ligue 1 leaders Bordeaux as they were held by Toulouse.
+ New York Times: Saint Lloris, saviour of Les Bleus.
Portugal
+ Benfica won 1-0 at Nacional to remain in pole position in the Liga Sagres title race.
+ FC Porto’s attacking midfielder Mariano Gonzalez will miss the rest of the season after rupturing his cruciate ligament in his right knee against Academica on Saturday.
Russia
+ Portugal international Danny marked his comeback from a long injury absence in spectacular style with a fine individual goal to give Zenit Saint-Petersburg victory in the first game of the new Russian league season
Ivory Coast
+ Guus Hiddink has turned down repeated appeals from Didier Drogba to manage the Ivory Coast at this summer’s World Cup finals in South Africa.
Togo
+ Togo goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilale is planning to seek compensation from the Confederation of African Football, having acknowledged fears he may never play football again.
Brazil
+ Ronaldo will see out his career at Corinthians after announcing his latest two-year contract renewal will be his last.
Argentina
+ Boca Juniors’ horrendous start to the Clausura tournament continued on Sunday with a 3-0 thrashing at the hands of Tigre.
Farewell Phil Brown. We’ll miss your soundbites.
Nobody’s really surprised, though, except at the timing.
Have to wonder about Saputo’s insistence on buying his way into MLS – if there is a strike, he could probably have one of the struggling teams for much cheaper than 35 million [I think only TFC, NYRB and the Galaxy were valued at that level or higher by Forbes... and, well, who the hell knows what the Galaxy are worth now that Becks is gone for at least the season.]
Or maybe I’ve just been watching too much Dragon’s Den and have started thinking too much like Kevin O’Leary.
Shame about Becks. Somehow, I have a hunch he’ll still find ways to be tpic of conversation beyond today’s Footy Show podcast.
Phil Brown gone? How ironic that I’ve been calling for his head for over a year, then I’m caught out by his actual firing.
Not sure why people keep talking about Ottawa as a “strong soccer community Sure, the participation is very good, but when it comes to watching other play, Ottawa falls short regularly.
Had that Hertha Berlin riot occurred in England, there would be another Euro ban in a heartbeat.,
SB
Yeah, I don’t see the appeal of Ottawa either – worse weather than Southern Ontario, questionable stadium plans, and it’s not a great sports city [two failed CFL teams, a hockey team that couldn't sell out its home playoff games and / or had their home fans overwhelmed by road fans to the point that they passed bylawys banning people from wearing visiting teams' jerseys].
Hamilton is logical, especially as there’s likely going to be a new stadium built there for the Pan-Am games. Mind you, those are still a long way off – as bad as the turf in BMO was, I pity anyone trying to play on the Ivor Wynne carpet that makes old Veteran’s Stadium look like Old Trafford.
Have to wonder about Saputo’s insistence on buying his way into MLS – if there is a strike, he could probably have one of the struggling teams for much cheaper than 35 million [I think only TFC, NYRB and the Galaxy were valued at that level or higher by Forbes... and, well, who the hell knows what the Galaxy are worth now that Becks is gone for at least the season.]
Or maybe I’ve just been watching too much Dragon’s Den and have started thinking too much like Kevin O’Leary.
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You just read my mind because i was just about to write the same thing. Now here’s the real question: if you are a successful MLS team are you REALLY better off in MLS or if you can get some of your peers to come with you is NASL the better deal? Because right now with their slow progress MLS only looks like first division sales&marketing to me. Sure salaries are slightly highter, but there’s no development model which is bush league.
Ottawa has a fantastic (recreational) soccer community. I have my doubts it can support a pro-club but i’d love to be proven wrong.
Kevin O’Leary is completely awesome, there’s nothing wrong with thinking like he does. In a semi-related topic, I heart Amanda Lang *swoon*
“+ Ben Rycroft: NASL planning aggressive expansion into Canada.”
^ Pretty awesome news. If we could have six to eight legitimate pro teams in the country, it would be spectacular.
Okay, so with Ottawa…
NHL team: was poorly run for the first 5-8 years (some of that on ice, some off). way out in Kanata, which essentially cuts off half the city plus all of Gatineau. There’s only 1 true way in from the East, and that’s the highway. Which is clogged as of 4pm on gameday, if not earlier (I don’t drive, so I don’t know exactly when it plugs up)
CFL team: extremely poorly run into the ground the first time. Then when they brought it back, people were sort of iffy on the idea, so they didn’t spend as much as the team owners needed them to. Then the team was bought by the owners who ran the team into the ground the first time, and they did it again. They’re good at that.
Baseball team: For the first 5 or 6 years, they did very well. They were bringing in an average of around 10k0 people one year. That’s for about 60 home games. The reason they fell was a lack of interest in baseball which occurred around the strike season. It didn’t help that a lot of Montreal’s players went straight from AA to the MLB (see Guerrero, Vlad). But also, the important thing to remember is it was baseball. IT’S BORING!
OHL team: Has been pretty successful for 40 years. The team does well on the ice, and does pretty well in the stands. It’s a central location, not hard to get to from anywhere in Ottawa or Gatineau, and it’s not that expensive.
So in my opinion, if the location and marketing are good, and the cost low, the team will be fine. It may not get 15k people every game, but I think they can average similar numbers to the OHL.
Having said that, there are certainly stumbling blocks. Ottawa city council are a bunch of greedy fools, and there is no stadium, that I know of, at this time – other than the baseball one which would need significant modification.
Just a quick comment. Serie A was goals galore this weekend (39). Including a 5-3 Genoa win over Cagliari.
Goalfest in Coca-Cola league 2 as well. Burton Albion were up 5-3 in the 86th and lost to Cheltenham Town 6-5. 9 of the goals coming in the second half.
‘if you are a successful MLS team are you REALLY better off in MLS or if you can get some of your peers to come with you is NASL the better deal?’
Hm. I think it MIGHT make sense for the Canadian teams, but the US teams and, more importantly, their customers, really do see the MLS model as idea. I can’t blame ‘em; the NCAA has gone from producing virtually zero NHL players to approximately twenty percent of every draft class within 25 years [including absolute elite players like fellow MSU alum Ryan Miller], I can see it doing the same thing with soccer over the same time frame now that MLS has been established as a possible career option.
And I’m not even sure how feasible such a move would be given the MLS’ structure.
‘Goalfest in Coca-Cola league 2 as well. Burton Albion were up 5-3 in the 86th and lost to Cheltenham Town 6-5. 9 of the goals coming in the second half.’
Was driving on Saturday and heard the astonished commentators on the Fan recapping the goals. Any link to highlights would be appreciated, as all I’m ever able to grab is MOTD and they pass Championship highlights off to the followup show that never makes it to BitTorrent….
I agree NCAA soccer is far from perfect but it helps the league greatly. Going forward it will produce more players. My main concern is that unlike the other pro sports in north america, MLS has to worry about these kids signing for other leagues. This has already happened with several high profile players completely by-passing north america.
With the academy model, you pay a high up front cost but you get rewarded greatly when a talent comes through and gets sold on. While there are exceptions out there like Ryan Miller I think most people would still agree that Major Junior still runs the show for top tier talent.
I just think that at some point if MLS wants to live up to it’s name, it has to invest more in the product (not saying it turns into the EPL or anything, but make some progress). Because eventually what’s on the field right now will not hold people’s interest.
With Higuain in top form scoring hat-tricks Benzema’s gonna have trouble getting back in that line-up…
It will be interesting to see how Llorris does in the WC… I suspect even with a poor showing from France he will stand out… and will be at a bigger club one day in the near future
Not that any Englanders thought Beckham was gonna be the difference but sorry for him…. and it would be easier to get my girlfriend watching the WC if he was playing…
I spent some frustrating footy-less months in Ottawa recently…. I suspect you’re all correct in your evaluation…
I agree with Kevin’s assessment of the situation in Ottawa. The previous football plans have been quite poor. To give the city a chance to support a team it needs to have an accessible central location.
Glad to hear that Pompey might finally get an owner with some cash. The sooner we start getting things organised the sooner we can focus on avoiding the drop to League One next year.
It will be interesting to see who Hull grab as their new boss as they will likely be drawing out of the same managerial pool as Pompey once Grant leaves after the season.