A lot of cities have laid claim to being the best U.S. soccer city. Only one is known as “Soccer City USA.” It’s hard to argue with Portland’s designation today: The Timbers, who will host MLS Cup against NYCFC on Saturday, are the only MLS team that’s drawn so well — a sellout streak of […]
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Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Watch (trailer): 'Big-Time Soccer: The Remarkable Rise & Fall of the NASL'
The lineup for the 12th annual The Kicking + Screening Soccer Film Festival (Oct. 12-15) is set and will include the world premiere of Rachel Viollet‘s NASL documentary. The trailer includes Clive Toye, Rodney Marsh and Thomas Rongen and montage of great highlights.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
Saturday morning: What we're reading (and listening to)
1. Super League rage, Ronaldo mania and the fight for the soul of Manchester United By Wright Thompson (ESPN) 2. ‘A truly abstract, different type of player’: Gerd Müller, the NASL’s quietest superstar By Pablo Maurer (The Athletic) 3. Illinois high school boys soccer team told by driver they can’t board bus, to ‘go back […]
Posted inSoccer America Confidential, Story
A chat with Seamus Malin: Part 2 — the NASL and the evolution of the American fan
In Part 1, we talked about how Seamus Malin came to the USA as a teenager, his love for Aston Villa, and the finer points of English FA coaching courses in the 1970s. This week, we move on to the North American Soccer League. SEAMUS MALIN: In the 70s was really when things started to […]
Posted inSoccer America Confidential, Story
A Chat with Seamus Malin: Part 1 — Harvard and UK coaching courses in the 1970s
When Soccer America published my piece about Pele‘s first away game in the North American Soccer League in 1975 a couple of weeks ago, former ABC and ESPN commentator Seamus Malin got in touch to say that he had some memories of his own from that night at Nickerson Field. He’d been working as a […]
Posted inSoccer America Confidential, Story
NASL Memories: The fan who caught Pele the night that soccer came of age
Sometimes the rewards from writing a soccer book only come years after it’s been published. I don’t mean in the form of belated royalty checks (though they would be nice), but in the emails out of the blue that express a thank you or an appreciation. One such message reached me a few weeks ago, […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
Monday morning: What we're reading (and listening to)
1. Boris Johnson finds himself in a quandary over racism and sports By Mark Landler (New York Times) 2. Jimmy Gabriel: The gift of the lift By Frank McDonald (Sounder at Heart) 3. People dumped their pets into lakes, officials say. Now football-size goldfish are taking over. By Reis Thebault (Washington Post)
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
Jimmy Gabriel leaves huge legacy in Seattle
Scotsman Jimmy Gabriel, whose family confirmed on Saturday that he passed away at the age of 80, won the English First Division title in 1963 and the FA Cup in 1966 with Everton, but he is perhaps best known for his pioneering career with the Seattle Sounders. Gabriel joined the Sounders for their first season […]
Posted inStory
Fascinating footnotes to the NASL's weird and wonderful history
“The Detroit Cougars have caused observers to take notice with their brilliant early play,” says the newsletter. “Coach Len Julians‘ lads, who are beginning to shape as one of the league’s best teams, registered an impressive four-game sweep over Jamaican opposition in launching their exhibition campaign.” It was March 1968, and the newsletter was published […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
SA Library: Julie DiCaro hits numerous areas where men in sports need to do better
From Ian Plenderleith‘s review of ‘Sidelined: Sports, Culture and Being a Woman in America‘ by Julie DiCaro: Julie DiCaro‘s inspiration for the book came “because I realized, somewhere around year two of my six years working in sports media, that whatever issues women have in society in general, they’re amplified by a factor of about […]