Despite an ambiguously optimistic pronouncement from the surgeon, it seems likely that Colombia's Radamel Falcao, now recovering from an operation to repair a torn ACL, will not be fit in time to play in the World Cup.

A pair of soccer names that once meant a lot to me recently turned up in the obit columns. Bert Williams and Eusebio. I never met Williams. I did have a short interview with Eusebio during his short stint with the Boston Minutemen in 1975.

A weekend of English FA Cup games, it seems to me, has done nothing to showcase all that glamour and excitement that we are told, relentlessly, is the hallmark of this oldest-of-all soccer competitions.

A brief look back at the progress of American soccer in 2013. As usual, it's a pretty incoherent sort of progress, but progress it is, I'm sure of that.