The Offside

Unexpected Stars Shine in First Friendly

Matt — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 00:54:11 -0500

Two goals by Chris Killen and another by Koki Mizuno, along with a good performance by Paddy McCourt and *gasp* Lee Naylor led Celtic to a 3-0 victory in their first friendly of the season against the A-League's Brisbane Roar. Questions about Artur Boruc's fitness and whether or not he'd remain with Celtic were asked in the lead up ...

I huffed and I puffed...

Tom B — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 00:50:21 -0500

... and their house stayed intact. For once, I started the match almost as favourites went in with an unchanged team, and was quietly told them that they could win tonight. We got off to a flyer as Hector smashed the ball in from the corner of the area. I knew I quite liked him. All was going well, I'd managed ...

Touchdown In Auronzo

cathal — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 00:33:37 -0500

The players are now in the small resort of Auronzo di Cadore and have begun their preparation for the season ahead. All the mercato hype has detracted from the fact that our season starts in a measly four weeks and for this reason alone, it's good to see our players are actually working towards that fixture in Beijing on August ...

Ruin We Call Home

Mario — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 00:05:11 -0500

Maksimir is in ruins. No, better yet, Maksimir *IS* a ruin. It's mind boggling, the fact that this much money (approx. €50m) can be poured into rebuilding a ground and than have exactly zero evidence showing that some work has actually been done. Well it's less of an enigma once you find out who the players behind the curtain are, ...

Gámez Signs Until 2013

Anthony — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 00:04:11 -0500

Yesterday it was officially announced that Jesús Gámez was officially a property of Sevilla Fútbol Club as he arrived from Málaga in a deal which sees both Lolo and Duda head in the opposite direction. We have failed to have a solid right sided defender since the departure of Dani Alves about a year ago and it was clearly our weak ...

Maresca Waves his Final Goodbye

Anthony — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 22:45:55 -0500

Everyone knew it was coming and now it's official - Enzo Maresca has been transfered. The Italian was with us for four years and helped us reach the peak of the club's history where we won our back to back UEFA Cups, Copa del Rey, Supercopa de Europa and Supercopa de España. Maresca had a falling out with ...

2009 USL-1 “Normalized” Standings - Week #13

BoriQa — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 22:22:22 -0500

Another home win, the 2nd in a row, for the Puerto Rico Islanders in week-13 "normal" action. The Islanders terminated the Charleston Battery's undefeated season record with a last second 'alajuelazo' 1-0 win, in front of a 2,000 Thursday crowd! The Islanders (22 pts) remain in 4th place in the "normal" standings, 4 points behind the new (normal) league leading ...

New Transfer Rumors

Martin — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:30:50 -0500

Not much going on this weekend, really, but there are a couple new rumors floating around. First, we're reportedly interested in St. Etienne midfielder Blaise Matuidi. He's just 22, and relatively small (5'9), but is apparently a defensive midfielder, which is what we're in the market for. I've never seen him play, so I can't pass judgment on whether he ...

Premiership Experience? Don't you mean experience of Premiership relegation?

Toby — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:03:10 -0500

“We need to buy some experience”, “we need someone who’s been there and done it” I keep on hearing this whenever I talk to a Wolves fan about our summer recruitment campaign, that, while they’re happy so far with the likes of Doyle and Zubar, they want players who know the Premiership well and who’ve played in the league for ...

Video from City's Scrimmage vs. 1860 Munich

Thad — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 16:17:27 -0500

A youthful City side that also featured Ireland, Zabaleta, Petrov, and Bojinov battled 1860 Munich to a 1-1 draw on Saturday, with Bojinov collecting the City goal. Surprisingly extensive video highlights (totaling 30 minutes) are available. Here is the first half, and here is the second. City are in white. City's first full-scale friendly is in South Africa next weekend, and rumour ...

Chingy Tweets

Laurie — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 14:52:26 -0500

(Click to enlarge) Houston player and former USL Sounder Brian Ching (who wasn't even at the game, given that he was playing for the Nats on the other side of the country today) offers us a little tweet on today's match. ...

North Americans on the Move: Julian de Guzman, Charlie Davies, Freddy Adu, Jozy Altidore

Laurie — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 14:24:49 -0500

This was the week where North Americans got a little love in the transfer market. First we saw Gooch (Oguchi Onyewu) get picked up by AC Milan -- arguably the biggest move ever for an American outfield player. And now we've got a few other interesting moves or potential moves for players with North American roots. First, let's talk ...

Match 15: Austin Aztex 1-2 Portland Timbers

Bob Kellett — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:32:32 -0500

Bottom Line: Johan Claesson scored an improbably goal in stoppage time to lift the Portland Timbers to a 2-1 victory over the Austin Aztex in the first ever meeting between the two teams. Just seconds after Austin's Noel Williams leveled the score with a header in stoppage time, Claesson was able to find the goal to as the Timbers ...

Could it be? Might it be?

Kevin — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:10:20 -0500

Sport is reporting that the Monday meeting with Villa and Llorente et al, will almost certainly unlock the doors for Villa to make his move to us. Of course it is Sport, which has only a little bit of lean, right? El Mundo Deportivo is a little more reserved, saying there will be a meeting, in which Villa will meet with folks ...

Wolves 1 - 0 Perth Glory - Video Highlights

Toby — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 10:04:21 -0500

Ta-daaa Thanks to Perth Offside for finding these! ...

Post-Game Thoughts/Discussion

Steve — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 09:03:39 -0500

So what did everyone think of the game? Let us know. A few quick points/observations: - Seattle should have won this game. Houston was down 8 players and when that is the case, you have to take the points. Mission accomplished in that case. - Seattle played some very dominant soccer the second half and it started in the midfield ...

St Pauli fans demonstrate against the police

Mike — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 08:52:49 -0500

The above video covers the demonstration following the 2-0 victory against Hearts. By all reports, there were around 3000 fans at the demonstration, that went off peacefully, to the relief of about everyone. In fairness, I'd be peaceful too if there were that much bacon in one place. On the lighter side, the video below is of a recent friendly ...

Back on track (well, sort of)

Rolf — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 08:51:21 -0500

All right, I've been gone since March (as you'll hopefully have noticed). My absence has many reasons, and I won't bore you with them, but lack of time does account for quite a lot of it. Now however, I feel prepared for another go, one that hopefully will see a bit more contuinity on my part. This post won't feature much, except ...

New Signing: Oscar de Marcos

Paul — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 08:30:55 -0500

According to various Spanish news sources (such as this one- it's in Spanish), Athletic have bought Alavés midfielder Oscar de Marcos. Depending on where you read, the transfer fee is either free, 300,000 Euros, 360,000 Euros, or Alavés paid 350,000 Euros- or maybe my Spanish really sucks and Google Translate cannot help me. I don't know much about the player, ...

Play the Name Game!

Lee — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 07:07:42 -0500

As you might have heard, the name of the Vancouver MLS team is a bit in limbo. 99% of people I'm guessing want the Whitecaps name - and the history that it carries - make the jump as well. But hey, instead of me saying so, let's have a poll! What should the Vancouver MLS team be named? What should the Vancouver ...