Section 2 Around the Net

The David Beckham Academy, whose 2005 opening in Southern California pre-dated David Beckham‘s arrival to MLS by two years, closed late last year with no public announcement whileits handful of full-time employees were quietly laid off. Nick Green reports that the closure was announced in an undated and unsigned memo to some companyemployees from Michael […]

Guadalajara got goals from Omar Bravo and Javier Hernandez — his seventh of the season — in thesecond half to defeat previously unbeaten Queretaro, 2-0, on Sunday and equal its best start in club history. The last time Chivas opened with four wins was in the 1956-57 campaign.   The fast start is all the […]

Chelsea all but knocked Arsenal out of the English Premier League title race on Sunday with a 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge, and theBlues’ German midfielder, Michael Ballack, said afterwards that Arsenal has become too predictable.   “We knew the way Arsenal play,” he said. “We could see it in our first game against them […]

Robinho celebrated his first game back in Brazil, scoring the winning goal for Santos in its 2-1 win over Sao Pauloin the Sao Paulo state tournament on Sunday.   The striker, on loan from Manchester City, came on in the 57th minute and combined with 18-year-old star Neymar for several chances before scoring on back-heelafter […]

Unlike then-U.S. coach Steve Sampson, who dropped John Harkes from the 1998 World Cup team after learning that hiscaptain had an affair with teammate Eric Wynalda‘s wife, England coach Fabio Capello simply took John Terry‘s armband away in the aftermath ofrevelations that Terry had an affair with the mother of England teammate Wayne Bridge‘s son. […]

Daniel Taylor reports that Manchester City has held talks about a summer tour of the United States as part of their next step toward establishing a global brand andgaining ground on Manchester United’s worldwide popularity. The club’s chief executive, Garry Cook, is exploring ways of increasing City’s American fan base in a WorldCup year when […]

Togo midfielder Moustapha Salifou, who plays for England’s Aston Villa, recalled the machine-gun attack on the team bus upon entering Angola for the Africa Cup of Nations: “It wasterrifying. The goalkeeper, [Obilade Kossi, who was seriously wounded] had been dancing and the press assistant was taking pictures of him. They were shot. I didn’t feel […]

Martin Rogers writes that when Freddy Adu was launched to stardom in 2003, when Nike slapped a cool million dollars on the back of a precociously talentedninth-grade soccer sensation, Adu was earmarked for success in 2010. But with the World Cup just a few months away, Adu is fighting to revive his career in the […]

South African labor union COSATU, which has close ties to the ruling African National Congress, has protested that a figurine of World Cup mascot Zakumi is being produced in a Chinese sweatshop. Itdemanded an investigation into the allegations and threatened to disrupt the World Cup. “COSATU has consistently demanded that all World Cup paraphernalia must […]

Haiti’s under-17 women’s national team is carrying on despite the loss of its coach, Jean Yves Labaze, killed when the Haitian soccer federation’sheadquarters collapsed during last month’s earthquake. The Haitians qualified for the Under-17 Concacaf Women’s Championship in Costa Rica next month and they intend to playin the tournament, where they will open against the […]