North America
+ Manchester United defeated the MLS All-Stars 5-2 in Houston.
+ Jerome Soloman: Manchester United puts MLS in its rightful place.
+ The Vancouver Whitecaps won a coin toss Wednesday against the fellow 2011 expansion Portland Timbers, earning the right to pick first among eight different MLS player acquisition procedures.
+ The Whitecaps defeated the Impact 1-0 in Montreal last night.
+ The Yorkies: TFC midterm reports at Preki Jr high.
+ Mexico captain Rafael Marquez has refuted reports that he is set to retire from international football, revealing that he plans to play for his country for at least two more years and may even continue until the next World Cup.
+ Red Bull forward Macoumba Kandji has reportedly drawn interest from at least four teams in England, including the two he faced in the recent Barclays New York Challenge.
England
+ Mark Hughes set to be named Fulham manager within next 24 hours after agreeing to fill vacancy left by Roy Hodgson.
+ Daniel Taylor: Mark Hughes and Fulham a perfect fit.
+ Manchester City are set to unveil Mario Balotelli to take their summer spending past the £100million mark.
+ Bristol City have launched an audacious bid to sign David James.
+ Manchester City have begun trimming their squad by holding talks with Lazio over the sale of the left-back Javier Garrido for £2.5m.
+ Arsène Wenger has suggested that Cesc Fábregas and Robin van Persie will struggle to be fit for Arsenal’s opening game of the Premier League season, against Liverpool at Anfield two weeks on Sunday.
+ Newcastle United have confirmed that defender Steven Taylor is expected to be sidelined for the next three months.
+ Spurs are planning to offer Manchester City £4million for Craig Bellamy.
+ Chelsea have confirmed that their striker Didier Drogba is not for sale and also that the manager Carlo Ancelotti will be handed more transfer funds if the Italian asks for them.
+ Sir Alex Ferguson has defended the Glazer family, claiming Manchester United’s American owners have been treated unfairly by fans desperate to get them out of Old Trafford.
+ Supporters of Norwich City claim they have been plagued by bugs since their team switched to new bright yellow shirts.
Spain
+ Jose Mourinho has given the clearest indication yet that he will be reunited with Chelsea centre-back Ricardo Carvalho at Real Madrid before the start of the season.
+ Sami Khedira’s move to Real Madrid looks certain to go ahead after Stuttgart confirmed he has asked to leave the club.
+ Real Madrid hope to convince Mesut Ozil to snub a move to England and wait a year to clinch a move to the Bernabeu.
Italy
+ The Full 2010-11 Serie A fixtures are finally here!
+ Napoli have got a green light to sign Parma striker Cristiano Lucarelli after Udinese agreed to take German Denis off their hands.
+ Inter defender Nicolas Burdisso would like to join Roma amid interest from Juventus, according to his agent Fernando Hidalgo.
+ AC Milan vice president Adriano Galliani believes the club are unlikely to dip into the transfer market this summer, though he revealed that talks aimed at keeping veteran midfielder Gennaro Gattuso at the San Siro have been positive.
Germany
+ New St. Pauli frontman Gerald Asamoah could be out of action for around four weeks after being diagnosed with a partial tendon tear in his right thigh.
+ Mainz have yet to decide whether or not to sign Ghana international Dominic Adiyiah from AC Milan despite agreeing terms with both the player and the Italian club.
France
+ Ex-Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Edouard Cissé struck the winning penalty against his former club as Ligue 1 champions Marseille lifted the first trophy of the season, taking the shootout 5-4 in front of a new Champions Trophy record attendance of 55,000 in Radès, Tunisia after it finished goalless after 90 minutes.
Russia
+ Aleksandar Luković has left Udinese for FC Zenit St. Petersburg, who have also secured a new deal with their vice-captain Igor Denisov.
Greece
+ Olympiakos supporters are really excited about the Albert Riera signing.
Champions League
+ UEFA Champions League debutants SC Braga have one foot in the play-offs after a 3-0 victory in the first leg of their third qualifying round tie against Celtic FC.
+ PAOK FC gave new coach Pavlos Dermitzakis a night to savour by holding Ajax to a draw in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League third qualifying round tie.
+ An 89th-minute penalty from Moreno Costanzo earned BSC Young Boys a 2-2 draw with ten-man Fenerbahçe SK and prevented the Turkish club from taking a lead into next week.
Argentina
+ Outgoing Argentina coach Diego Maradona has launched a sensational attack on AFA president Julio Grondona and director of national teams Carlos Bilardo, claiming he was "lied to" and "betrayed" and effectively sacked from the role.
+ Tim Vickery: Maradona outmanoeuvred in Argentina battle of wills.
Brazil
+ Santos are increasingly confident they can see off Chelsea and West Ham’s interest in 18-year-old wonderkid Neymar. The Brazilians are ready to give him a pay hike.
Funny to see the critics of MLS out in full force after the 5-2 result.
I agree the league needs is improving, but in other ways they need a massive head shake. The NCAA -> professioal route is not good enough at developing talent. Their “allocation” and lottery rules are a farce. Half the time the teams come to gentleman’s agreements when new players come to the league just so they can end up in the proper location.
Think MLS would have stepped in if Columbus put a “discovery” claim in on Henry that prevented him from going to NYC?
To be clear, I watch more MLS soccer than any other league and I’m not negative on it… I’d just like them to push the product a little more aggressively that ways that don’t include becoming NASL part II.
Three designated players would be much better off becoming one and using the extra cash on things like academies and increased salaries on regular roster players.
Wow Milan not dipping into the transfer market, they were aging and creaky last year, guess more of the same this year!
DeRo made Brown and Van Der Sar look like fools, great goal!
“Former Dynamo star Dwayne De Rosario added a consolation for MLS in the 90th minute.”
Way to go DeRo, but “Former Dynamo star “?!? WTF? How about “Current Toronto FC star”.
Douches.
the allstar game highlight video doesn’t work any more. do you have another source Joe?
I’d leave a flaming bag of dog poo on Jerome Soloman’s porch. What a wanker.
To add to further Dyslexic Nam’s point, the constant mentioning of ESPN’s broadcasters to the reasoning that Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle were left on the bench because of the CCL game they had Tuesday Night. Where the hell was the mention that DeRosario was on the bench for the same reason? DeRo for sure wouldve of been on the field starting if it wasn’t for that.
the reason the espn commentators wouldnt mention De Rosario is because they dont give a shit about what happens to Toronto FC. And ESPN commentators are so high on Donovan that they always have excuses for his poor performances.
If someone is writing a “state of the MLS” article after that match, you now have another name for your “don’t need to read” list. Idiotic. the first goal alone reeked of a bunch of guys who don’t play with other enough (re: never). To use a classic miscommunication error as a benchmark for an entire league is silly.
The rest of the game had a similar feel to it – lot of guys who didn’t have the benefit of playing together before taking on one of the biggest clubs in the world. Figure out some set pieces, get a basic shape, make sure you talk a lot on the pitch. Not the best prep for playing against Manchester United!
it was fun to watch United score goals, especially the skilful ones and the fact that they were scored by a bunch of kids 22 or younger. Also good to see Giggsy show the class. Other than that, nothing really to take from it.
It doesn’t mean you’re useless just because you get beat by a giant of world football.
If Jerome Solomon wants to crap all over MLS, what does he have to say about Wigan, who got dumped for 5 TWICE vs. Manchester United, not to mention hit for 8 and 9 by Chelsea and Spurs? And what about the expansion MLS side that had the better chances, and the mid-table MLS side that BEAT this very team? Doesn’t fit the argument well, so say what you want to say and hope your audience is too dense to know different. Pathetic attempt at journalism.
SB
The MLS website has highlights for the game
http://www.mlssoccer.com/videos
“Where the hell was the mention that DeRosario was on the bench for the same reason? ”
Toronto FC no longer exists on ESPN. The team got some coverage in year two, but ESPN’s myopic sports coverage has basically reduced the team to invisible status.
This isn’t a good thing – look at the complaints of Americans on the Jays and Raptors who cite the lack of coverage in the US as reasons for not wanting to stay with the team. And don’t think MLS doesn’t know that Toronto being successful doesn’t help their US teams one iota.
That said, I’m still of the belief that a mixture of NCAA and Academy development is the best way to do things.
Ummm Alex. Columbus or any other team can’t put a discovery claim on an International superstar.