Soccer archive

Former Manchester United and Newcastle winger Keith Gillespie has warned that gambling in football is as much as problem now as it has ever been.

The 38-year-old - now retired - has lifted the lid on his gambling problems in his new autobiography How Not To Be A Football Millionaire, serialised in the Daily Mirror.

Gillespie reveals in his book that he once lost £62,000 in the space of two days in October 1995, and he is concerned that gambling has become much easier now with online betting.

‘The same conditions that were there when I first started earning big money are still there now,’ Gillespie told the Daily Mirror’s Oliver Holt.

‘You finish training and in the afternoon you go home and, if you’re not married, you’re probably going home to an empty house or a hotel room.

‘You’re bored and you’ve got time on your hands, and a lot of money to play with.

‘In the old days, when you were physically going to a bookmaker’s shop, you could only lose what was in your pocket. Now, with internet accounts and telephone accounts, it is a lot easier to lose a lot more money a lot faster.

‘There has been plenty of publicity about players with gambling problems but I guarantee you that there are a lot more out there who have not been named yet.’

Tottenham and England winger Andros Townsend was suspended earlier this year for breaching betting regulations.

He revealed: ‘It all started while watching games in my hotel room.

Read more: Keith Gillespie has warned that gambling in football is as bad as ever | Mail Online
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook‘I was bored and there were TV ads promoting bets you could have on the matches I was watching.

‘So I downloaded the phone app and started having small wagers to make watching games as a neutral fun. It was like giving myself a team to support.’

Gillespie earned 86 caps for Northern Ireland between 1994 and 1998 and played for Blackburn, Leicester and Sheffield United in the Premier League as well as Man United and Newcastle.

Jaclyn Romano broke a tie game with nine minutes left in the game and sparked unbeaten Shenendehowa to a 2-1 win over Niskayuna in a Suburban Council girls' soccer game at Shenendehowa High School.

Romano scored on a free kick and Katherine Benson tallied the Plainsmen's (6-0-1, 6-0-1) first goal. Shenendehowa keeper Makala Foley stopped 11 shots.

Marika Contompasis scored the lone goal for the Silver Warriors (6-2, 6-2).

More girls' soccer: Kyle Gifford scored two goals to lead Broadalbin-Perth (6-1 league) to a 3-1 victory over Scotia (5-2 league). The victory gave the Braves sole possession of second place behind first-place Queensbury in the Foothills Council. Gifford scored five minutes into the game on a deflected shot. She broke through the defense and came in uncontested on Scotia keeper Carina Moran later in the half to give the Braves a 3-0 lead.

Boys' soccer: Ethan Daly scored at the nine-minute mark of overtime to give Saratoga a 3-2 victory over Burnt Hills. Matt Nocito scored two goals for the Spartans, who had an 8-1 advantage in corner kicks. ... Vince Grecco scored three times in the second half, and Ravena dropped Mechanicville 4-1 in a Colonial Council contest. Miles Lukens gave the Indians a 1-0 lead in the first half and Mechanicville drew even, 1-1, just before halftime on a goal by Colby DeMarco. ... Ryan Heslin scored two late goals as Catholic Central beat foundering CBA, 4-2, in a Big 10 game. Heslin broke a tie game with a goal in the 68th minute and then added an insurance marker two minutes later. CBA has lost three straight after opening the season 5-0. ... Shenendehowa and Niskayuna played to a 1-1 draw after a pair of overtimes. Tyler Hanft scored for the Silver Warriors and the Plainsmen were able to level the game in the second half on an own goal.

Girls' volleyball: Burnt Hills defeated Saratoga, 25-17, 25-15, 25-17 behind Jessica Dillon, who had 29 assists and two aces. Natalie Schuman added seven kills and 10 digs for the Spartans (11-2, 8-0). Sophie Levine had 11 kills for the Blue Streaks (6-2 league).

Field hockey: Carsen Williams had a hat trick and Ally Burdick added another goal as Hoosick Falls (8-0, 6-0) beat Schuylerville, 4-0, in a Wasaren-Adirondack League game. The Panthers have sole possession of first place in their bid to unseat three-time defending league champion Greenwich.

Boys' cross country: Justin Van Epps of CBA ran a course-record 14 minutes, 48 seconds at home to lead the Brothers to a pair of wins over Albany (15-54) and Troy (15-incomplete) in a Big 10 meet.



Shen still unbeaten in girls' soccer - Times Union

Eileen Bjarno can't go far in Glastonbury these days without seeing the reminders.

One day, she'll be at the local Dunkin' Donuts and hear a conversation about those orange bracelets everyone is wearing in support of her daughter, Morgan, a former junior varsity soccer player for the Tomahawks. Then the next day, she'll be lining up at a 5K road race and look over and see a group of kids with the shirts bearing Morgan's name.

They're everywhere, and that's fine.

To the Bjarno family, the shirts, the bracelets and even the conversations that touch on their daughter Morgan's battle with cancer are a constant reminder that the town and the Glastonbury athletic community are there for them.

"That's kind of just what the town does," Glastonbury High School junior Morgan Bjarno said Wednesday from her hospital bed at the Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford. "It's good to know you're not alone."

In July, after nearly 50 visits to CCMC, several rounds of chemotherapy, missing more than 30 days of school and the loss of her long blond hair, she was told the best news possible. Technically, she had beaten the disease, which is acute lymphocytic leukemia, the most common type of cancer in children.

She will continue her visits to the hospital until the start of next year, when her treatments are expected to be complete. The treatments are not easy on her. Bjarno is in the hospital now because of complications from treatments that she received last week and is expected to be released in two to three days.

Still, that July news for the family of six, which includes Morgan's three sisters, was a welcome relief, unlike April 12, when Morgan, who played girls soccer and was on the track team, was diagnosed.

"That was the worst day you could have as a parent," said her father, Arne Bjarno.

Morgan, then a sophomore, went into the hospital earlier that week after having trouble breathing and left knowing that she was to begin the most important battle of her life.

"Bless her — for the whole 15 minutes [the doctors] are spouting out stuff and saying they're going to do this, I'm looking in their eyes and can't even process what their saying, and the whole time Morgan sat there focusing on what they were saying and taking it in," Eileen Bjarno said. "I was like ready to die."

Only minutes after her parents were trying to come to grips with the news, Morgan stared into their eyes and said they would get through this. And they have.

"When you hear the word cancer," Morgan said, "you think it's going to be the scariest thing ever, and it is just a dreaded, crazy thing, and granted it was hard, but when you have so much support like I have, the amount of friends I have and so many people looking out for me, that just makes it so much easier."

The family, which is now getting back to its old routine, running from place to place, says the past six months have taught them plenty about each other, and maybe, most important, about how strong they can be together.

"We were able to take this and say, 'Bring it on,'" Arne Bjarno said. "We took it."

The fight has also shown the Bjarno family how powerful the backing of an entire community can be. Since the news first broke, those in the school and town have done everything to show their support, including those in Glastonbury athletics.

Bjarno, who was a center midfielder on the undefeated junior varsity girls soccer team last year, was honored Sept. 13 before a varsity game against Windsor and was named an honorary starter by coach Joe Finocchiaro. Her teammates, some of whom she had played with her during youth soccer, wore orange (the official color of childhood leukemia) and decorated the field in orange.

Bjarno said she will come back and help with the team as a manager for the rest of the season.

The soccer team wasn't the only one to honor Bjarno before a game. In the spring, Mark Landers, a family friend and the boys lacrosse and soccer coach, had his lacrosse team and Joel Barlow High School of Redding wear orange for a game. The softball team also gave Morgan a shirt.

"[Morgan Bjarno] is one of the most amazing people I have ever met," Landers said. "Her spirit and willpower are immeasurable. She is a positive role model for our community."

That drive can also been seen in her academics. As she fought the leukemia, Bjarno never fell behind in classes and kept her GPA at 4.08. She wasn't going to be beaten. And as a result, she has inspired more than just her family. She has inspired an entire town.

"Seeing her so strong makes me strong," Eileen Bjarno said.


High school soccer: Glastonbury High soccer player Morgan Bjarno fights battle against cancer. - Hartford Courant

If English soccer were a psychiatric patient, it would never be off the couch. "Crisis" is the favored word among the nattering classes. In August, at the start of the season, Arsenal was in crisis. By Week 4, Chelsea was reeling, quickly followed by Manchester United facing calamity.

Take United's woe. Last weekend, the English champion visited its neighbor's yard, Manchester City, and was whacked 4-1. The newspapers, those great enablers of despair, pictured United's coach, David Moyes, with his head in his hands, wrinkles forming on his face as the game plowed on. The press stormed, "Moyes must take the blame!" One can imagine him opening his medicine chest for Ambien later that night.

Fear is the side effect of losing a couple of games. This is compounded when a team has an injury crisis or the dreaded crisis of confidence; the fans drink too much and chew their nails. Add to this, the players having personal crises - should I buy the Ferrari or the Rolls Royce? - and the club in debt facing a financial crisis.

Ready to lie down? Not so fast, there's more!

Globally, FIFA lives on crises. Match fixing is high on the C-list. Add to it the hour of decision on dealing with internal corruption and re-scheduling the 2022 World Cup - set for the blistering heat of a Qatari summer, it could provoke a medical crisis. South of the border, Mexico faces the possible trauma of not making it to the World Cup Finals in Brazil next year. That's more than a crisis; that's the ultimate national disaster. Perhaps the drug companies could spend a chemical dime to find a cure for soccer mania.

Thankfully, U.S. soccer is not in crisis. The women's national team is at the top of the world. The men are choosing their luggage for the World Cup next summer, having already qualified. Major League Soccer is building stadiums while gathering converts and producing a competitive league. When an MLS team's fortunes wane, there's no mad hatter to be found hopping around panic stricken. Heads come together to find a way to make changes for next season, to improve. Call that sanity.

Pop culture: Usually, statues outside sports stadiums are solid heralds to icons populating the team's lore. Willie Mays is honored at AT&T Park. Sir Alex Ferguson, former manager of Manchester United, is cast in bronze outside Old Trafford, the club's home. At Fulham FC, a London-based English Premier League club, it's Michael Jackson. Yes, that Michael Jackson. He never dressed for Fulham.

On Wednesday, the late King of Pop was removed from his plinth. Don't think Fulham fans showed up to topple Jackson as if he were a deposed dictator of a cruel and unusual nature. This was not a political thriller.

Fulham's previous owner, Mohamed Al-Fayed, commissioned the work three years ago. His reason at the time - "Michael was a friend of mine." When Fulham's fans objected en masse, Al-Fayed commented, "If some stupid fans don't understand or appreciate such a gift, they can go to hell," or go and support another team without an 8-foot statue of Michael Jackson outside their stadium.

The new owner of Fulham, Shahid Khan, proprietor of the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, took a moonwalk over the previous landlord's quirk. Jackson left Fulham's stage in the back of a truck. Maybe he'll show up on E-Bay.

Hats off to Cal: This week, the 107-year old men's program marked the distinction of being ranked No. 1 in the country in two key soccer polls (Soccer America and Soccer Times, as well as TopDrawerSoccer-com). Coach Kevin Grimes, a 14-year veteran, credits the ranking to good results against some of the top teams in the country. "To see something that hasn't happened before in the 107-year old history (of soccer at Cal) is fantastic for our administration, alumni and soccer community," he said.



Soccer in crisis is merely way of world - SFGate

On Saturday, North London-based soccer team Tottenham Hotspur face an old cross-town rival, Chelsea. Fans of Tottenham (or Spurs), have endured a barrage of abuse over the years—including from Chelsea fans. Traditionally renowned for its large number of Jewish supporters, Tottenham fans once contended with the collective hissing of rival supporters in the uglier days of English football — the hissing is meant to mimic the cyanide being released at Nazi concentration camps — and relentless, anti-Semitic chants using the derogatory Y-word in a sort of mass snarl: “Yiddo! Yiddo!”

At some point over a period of time, a strange shift happened: Spurs fans — only about 5% of whom are thought to be Jewish today — began to refer to themselves as “Yids”. They appropriated the term to the extent that they self-identified as the “Yid Army” and chanted the word “Yiddo” in a spirit of unity and exultation. The word has been reclaimed — in a similar way to how some black rap and hip-hop artists have reclaimed the offensive racial slurs aimed at blacks.

But over the past couple of years the use of the Y-word has provoked fresh debate, roping in even the country’s top politician. The English Football Association (FA) made a statement on Sept. 11 that labeled the term “derogatory” and warned that any fan chanting it on the soccer terraces could face criminal charges. Then in a somewhat surprising move British Prime Minister David Cameron weighed in on the row, contradicting the FA. Speaking to the Jewish Chronicle on Sept. 17, he insisted that Spurs supporters should not be prosecuted for using the Y-word as they are not “motivated by hate.”

Ellis Cashmore, a professor of culture, media and sport at Staffordshire University in the U.K., agrees with the Prime Minister, arguing that language ought to be interpreted in context. “Here is a term that was designed as an insult but over a period of time its meaning has changed,” he says. “As a general philosophy, I think it’s a very good thing if you take terms that have been used in a malicious way and change their meaning to the point where there is no longer any stigma attached to it.” It is this last point, however, that generates debate: Has the meaning of the Y-word really changed to the extent that it no longer has any stigma?

Ivor Baddiel, a London-based Jewish writer and producer, believes that it is totally unacceptable for Spurs fans to use the Y-word. He is currently campaigning with Kick It Out – a U.K.-based soccer equality and inclusion advocacy group – to raise awareness about anti-Semitism in football. “In the same way as the N-word, the Y-word is a race hate word,” he says. “And the so-called reclaiming of the term hasn’t worked because it has made fans from other teams chant it back to them even more ******– it’s made things worse.” Baddiel adds that it also causes “ridiculous confusion” as the vast majority of Spurs supporters chanting the word are not Jewish.

Baddiel’s views are backed up by the Board of Deputies of British Jews (BDBJ), the main representative body of Jews in the U.K. A recent post on the BDBJ’s website read: “Even if [Tottenham fans] are using the term endearingly, it still has no place in a football stadium. And by using it, they encourage other fans to respond, often in highly unpleasant ways.” They are not the only organization to take this stance: back in Nov. 2012, the Society of Black Lawyers announced that they would report Tottenham fans to the police if fans continued to refer to themselves as “Yids.”

Not all Jewish people oppose the use of the term, though. Frank Furedi, a professor of sociology at the University of Kent in England, is both Jewish and a lifelong Spurs supporter. While he says he makes no compromises in the fight against anti-Semitism, he tells TIME that he resents the way the current debate is causing problems where he thinks there aren’t any – and creating a backlash as a result. “When you go to a match and the fans start chanting ‘Yiddo, Yiddo’, it’s quite electrifying and a defiant gesture of who we are,” he says. “People who think it’s a problem just don’t understand football and don’t understand the context.”

Darren Alexander, chairman of the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust, told the Telegraph on Sept. 16 that the club will be sending out questionnaires to fans to gauge their opinions on the controversial chants. For now, an air of defiance reigns: at a recent match against Norwich City deafening chants filled White Hart Lane, the team’s venerable stadium: “We’re Tottenham Hotspur and we’ll sing what we want.” The debate, along with the moral and political controversy it causes, is set to continue.

Read more: Should These English Soccer Fans Use the Y-Word? | TIME-com

Spain rallied to hand powerhouse Brazil a shocking extra time 2-1 defeat in the semifinals of the 2013 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup on Sunday in Papeete, on the French Polynesian island of Tahiti.

Spain was competing in just its second semifinal, while the Brazilians will miss out on the final for the first time in eight years.

Defending world champion Russia also earned a spot in the gold medal match with a 5-3 win over Tahiti in the other semifinal.

Bruno Xavier opened the scoring for Brazil, but the Spaniards replied in the second period with Juanma's strong finish.

Spain withstood a barrage of Brazilian chances in the later stages of the match, but the former prevailed in extra time when captain Nico rescued his squad with two minutes, 32 seconds remaining and found the back of the net for the deciding goal.

Catch the final between Russia and Spain right after the bronze medal match featuring Brazil and Tahiti late Sunday night on CBC (11 p.m.-1 a.m. local in Windsor and Saskatchewan, 11:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m. local in the Maritimes, Manitoba and North, 12 a.m.-2 a.m. local in Newfoundland, Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and B.C.).


Spain shocks Brazil in FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup semis - CBC Sports - Soccer

Online poker is huge in Europe and other parts of the world and the competition in the industry is fierce. The way that poker rooms attract their cliental costs these firms big money but at the same time through sponsorships of various sports they keep the events coming.
Online poker companies are using football matches as the venue for their advertizing. Not that the sports books aren’t contributing to the team but the online poker operators sometimes the same company are doing it too. The global reach that the game of football has is enormous being one of the most followed and gambled on sports in the world.

Examples of how this world of football is associated with that of online poker include the likes of French football club St. Etienne. Although the team hasn’t been a first run club in some time Winamax Poker is still a key sponsor for the club. Winamax is currently eighth on the overall online poker traffic list, with a seven-day average of 1,320 players showing positive results from the football backing.

Winamax Poker’s largest rival in France is PokerStars, which signed a media deal with Lyon at the beginning of this year as part of its goal of supremacy in the poker sector. Commercial spots for PokerStars’ will be aired on Lyon’s official television channel and website, and PokerStars’ advertising is on display at Stade Gerland, the home turf of the team.

Bodog has been focusing its efforts on the Asian market and sees the signing with the iconic football team Arsenal in August. The deal makes Bodog Arsenal’s “official Asian betting partner,” which will capitalize on the new interest in premier league football seen in the Asian jurisdictions. Arsenal is at the top of the Premier League with five games played in the current season which is sure to keep Bodog in the spotlight in Asia.


Online Poker Operators Sponsoring Football Clubs

Sweden — I am often asked if I am like so many other Americans who think Europe is one big country and who do not bother to differentiate between its various nations and cities. Ah, no. I do realize Europe is home to a variety of people with vastly different lifestyles living in vastly different cities. And as an American in Europe, I have noted an aura that sets this place apart from any American city and from other places I have visited.

My experience living in Gothenburg has been distinctly European. The European identity can be felt in the coffee shops, the baked goods, the fashion styles and the music played. It permeates the faucets, the doorknobs and the light switches. Even the beds have a European identity. It also crops up in traffic patterns and laundry systems, in locker rooms and teammates’ hairstyling techniques. It supersedes language or nationality. It is a general way of being. And a large part of that way of life is defined by football/soccer.

Football culture is pervasive in the lives of most Europeans in a way that would possibly best correlate to “Monday Night Football” (American football, that is) in the United States. Not everyone follows it, but it runs deeper than the game. It is generally not easy to move somewhere new and create a life for yourself that is rich and meaningful. For me, football has been the tie that binds. It is the driving force behind so many moments that have shaped my journey and will forever change how I view the world.

A couple of weeks ago I walked with my American teammate Cami Levin among thousands of fans in Copenhagen. We navigated the cobblestone, slowly leaving the lights of the stadium behind us. But the images of the game we attended remained imprinted in my mind. I will not claim to be a true Juventus supporter, but I have followed the team for the last few seasons and jumped at the chance to see them face Copenhagen in UEFA Champions League.

Copenhagen is a three-hour drive from Gothenburg, so when the club rented a small car for us about a week before the game, I quickly learned to drive the manual transmission in preparation for the trip. Nothing like true motivation to trump my fear of changing gears through the city while navigating trams, buses and cyclists!

I insisted that we get to the stadium an hour before kickoff so we would not miss one minute of the warm-up. I watched, in part, as a professional admiring the proficiency and speed at which the men were performing the same skills I train every day. The other half of me was just a participant in a much bigger scene, though. I was taking part in the experience of total football immersion. On game day in Europe, people stream in from the streets of the city to the stadium, rather than tailgating in a huge parking lot. During important competitions you can hear cheers as you walk by sports bars on the street. After the game, my Juventus scarf raised questions and started conversations in the tiny restaurant where we ate.

I felt not like an outsider, taking in this spectacle, but instead like a European sharing in a communal experience. It has taken me nearly a year to feel like I live in Gothenburg, but slowly my extended soccer trip gave way to what I consider a new home. I have bonded with teammates from parts of the world that once seemed like only blips on a map, watched games live that were usually events only TV channels could connect me with, and lived my life in a way that never would have been possible for me in the United States.

Once more, the game I love has enriched my existence in ways I could not have dreamed.



www-nytimes-com/2013/10/01/sports/soccer/totally-immersed-in-european-soccer-html

EA Sports has released FIFA 14 and with it, many soccer fans will say goodbye to their free time. Yet Konami is also looking to take the path back to their successful past with Pro Evolution Soccer 14 (PES 14), and have used Metal Gear Solid 5′s Fox Engine to do so.

With two games boasting equally promising experiences, which one should you buy? Here’s a quick comparison between the two games.

Presentation

Through the use of the Fox Engine, PES 14 is a much improved game visually and the licensed players look and act as close to their real life counter-parts as possible. The problem is that not all players and teams are licensed.

Aside from Manchester United, the teams from the Barclays Premier League do not appear in the game as themselves and instead are renamed. For example, Arsenal is called North London, and while the team’s players are in the game, with the same stats as their real-life counterparts, only their last names are used. FIFA 14 on the other hand, has full licenses for teams from virtually every league in the world and even the teams from the second and third divisions of the English league, are included. So if you’re a fan of Hartlepool in NPower League Two, you can go nuts.

Of course the inclusion of teams isn’t the only thing that factors into the overall presentation of a sports game. FIFA 14 has the license to over 60 stadiums, while PES 14 has the license to the UEFA Champions League as well as the Europa League.

I have to give the musical advantage to PES 14 though; Nessun Dorma is a pretty hype track to listen to right before a soccer game.


Gameplay

The preferences in game-play will all depend on the style of offence that you want to use.

With FIFA 14, it’s much easier to pick up a controller and play the game against a friend or a computer. The direct passing in this game is much easier to execute and lends itself to a tiki-taka style of play, with short passing and pulling off more tricks with the ball. PES 14 is a grittier soccer game. When passing, the player has to get control of the ball before passing it away, effectively negating a fast-paced, free-flowing style of soccer.

Defending is pretty physical in both games, but with the new ball physics in PES 14, there is more weight to the tackles. In fact, there is more weight to just about everything in PES 14, and it provides a bit more of a challenging simulation of a soccer game.

This didn’t stop me from getting destroyed in both games, on Easy Mode, by the AI.


Services

EA Sports has put a lot of time into making their Ultimate Team feature better since its conception. The most important change is the introduction of team chemistry to the experience. Each squad-member has a different style, which allows the player to build a team of people that complement each other well. New additions to the game include the legends that can be unlocked by buying booster packs.

Konami has brought back the Football Life mode, which allows the player to take over the managerial reins of a club or national team. Like with FIFA 14, you can go through career mode in any position in the game, and see how far you can take your character.

Each game has its own advantages and short-comings. Which ones are you willing to over look, and which game are you willing to buy?

Stay tuned for the full reviews of both games over the next couple weeks. FIFA 14 and PES 14 were released on Sept. 24 on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The next-generation Xbox One version of FIFA 14 comes out on Nov. 22 and the PS4 version is set to be released on Nov. 14. PES 14 won’t be recieving and Xbox One or PS4 release.


FIFA 14 vs. Pro Evolution Soccer 14: Which game is better? | canada-com

Time to get your kicks at Busch Stadium again, this time during a pre-Thanksgiving match between the Argentina national team and Bosnia-Herzegovinia.

Cardinals President Bill DeWitt III, said unlike the recent college football game at Busch he anticipates no problems for the November 18th friendly.

“This should be no problem, no sweat,” he said. “Baseball will be over by the time of the game.”

The Argentine national team features striker Lionel Messi, the only currently playing member of World Soccer magazine’s Top 11 players of All-Time.

“If you haven’t had the chance, which is almost impossible not to see him play on television, he is coming to our city, Lionel Messi, is coming to St. Louis to play soccer,” soccer announcer Bill McDermott said during the press conference Wednesday.

Tickets go on sale October 10th at 10 a.m. on the Cardinals website: (Soccer at Busch Stadium | cardinals-com: Tickets), the Busch Stadium box office and 314.345.9000.

A special pre-sale for Cardinals season ticket holders and club VIPs will begin on Tuesday, October 8th.

The match marks the second soccer match at Busch Stadium and the third match in St. Louis this year.

If Bosnia-Herzegovinia fails to qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, it will be replaced by a team to be determined. Bosnia-Herzegovinia currently leads Greece in Group G of UEFA World Cup qualifying on goal-differential as both teams are tied on 19 points. The Bosnians host Lichtenstein on October 11th before traveling to Lithuania on October 15th to close out the final round of qualifying.



Another International Soccer Match Planned at Busch Stadium in St. Louis « CBS St. Louis

The decision by FIFA’s executive committee three years ago to award the 2022 World Cup to the tiny, gas-rich emirate of Qatar was to many outsiders the perfect example of the secretive and insular way major decisions are made at the top levels of world soccer’s governing body.

But according to a governance expert brought in as a result of the widely criticized decision, the matter has been a positive overall, producing the most meaningful changes to FIFA’s leadership in decades.

“Those people who have left the ExCo over allegations of some kind or other have been replaced by people closer to understanding the importance of governance issues,” said Mark Pieth, a law professor who was appointed by FIFA president Sepp Blatter in 2011 to lead an independent governance committee to examine the way FIFA ran itself.

Long-time executives, including at least two who were found to have accepted bribes in a previous scandal, have been replaced by several new faces, including the president of the U.S. Soccer Federation, Sunil Gulati, and the executive committee’s first woman, Lydia Nsekera of Burundi.

“Suddenly, we have five governance champions replacing them in the ExCo,” said Pieth, a professor of criminal law at Basel University in Switzerland, who in his previous work delved into the murky world of organized crime, investigated drug cartels and examined wrongdoings in Iraq’s oil-for-food program. “There are still people from the old regime, of course.” Pieth recently resigned from his role, but not before pushing for even more of his goals. At the FIFA congress in May, he publicly challenged Blatter and FIFA to release details of the salaries and expenses of top officials. “I turned around and said, ‘You could stun everyone,’” Pieth said. “I was saying: ‘Be bold. Show our critics that.’”

Then, came the but.

“They didn’t take up the challenge; these guys are too stuck in their traditional ways,” he said, adding: “We underestimated that this is a purely self-regulated body. They are bit like the Vatican. No one can force them to change.”

On Thursday, the 24 men and three women who make up the executive committee will meet at FIFA headquarters for a twice-yearly get-together that, for much of the past few decades, has rarely caused much excitement. The biggest question: Should the 2022 World Cup in Qatar be moved from summer to winter?

Momentum appears to be shifting toward a vote to study a move rather than order one. But officials from Qatar have arrived prepared to defend their role as host, regardless of when the tournament is played.

“We bid for the FIFA World Cup in summer, because we saw the opportunity to present solutions for players and fans in our country, and others with similar climates, to enjoy the outdoors in cool, safe and comfortable conditions in the summer months,” Qatari World Cup officials said in a statement. “We committed significant time and resources toward proving that we could host the tournament in summer in cool, comfortable and safe conditions.

“If the international football community reaches a consensus to move the event to an alternate date, we are able to accommodate that change. This would not affect our planning and preparation. Our commitment to cooling technologies will continue, for without it certain parts of the world will be denied the right to host such events.”

In recent weeks, criticisms more troubling than the heat have called the idea of a Qatar World Cup into question. The spotlight has fallen on Qatar’s huge migrant labourers, many of whom, according to Human Rights Watch, “work under conditions of abuse.” trapped within a system of sponsorship known as kafala.

The Guardian reported last week dozens of Nepalese workers building a new city in Qatar that will eventually host the 2022 World Cup final have died this year. Further allegations were made about workers’ pay being withheld, their passports being confiscated and drinking water not being provided despite the stifling heat.

Several high-profile soccer players have also been caught up in the kafala system. Zahir Belounis, a French player who moved to Qatar to play for El Jaish, the army club, said his wages were stopped two years ago, and that when he complained, he was refused an exit visa until he dropped his claim. “I’m crying like a girl every night,” he said.

Belounis says he has been living on handouts from the French community in Qatar ever since. This summer, President François Hollande visited him in Doha and promised to do everything he could to get him home. But even he has been unable to secure Belounis’s return home.

“I told him that I am here just because I complained,” Belounis said of the meeting, but he remains in limbo.

Such has been the outcry an additional item on worker rights in Qatar has been added to the executive committee’s agenda at the behest of UEFA president Michel Platini.

Platini has played down the chances of an agreement this week on a winter shift for the 2022 World Cup, saying in his view the reports about worker conditions in Qatar were more pressing.

“I’m much more concerned about that,” he said, “than the discussion about summer and winter.”



Change comes slowly to soccer

The US Soccer Federation has reportedly invited Iran's national soccer team to a friendly match slated to be held on American soil in April, the Iranian media reported Saturday.

The Portuguese head coach of the Iranian side, Carlos Quiroz, welcomed the prospect on Saturday of a US-Iran friendly ahead of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Iran's Tasnim News Agency reported.

The match was reportedly slated to be held in the US during the last week of April 2014, if conditions for the match were upheld.

The head of Iran's soccer federation, Ali Kaffashian, has also reportedly confirmed the proposal of a match between Iran and the US, stating that the two sides still had to configure some details before the game could become a reality on the field.

According to Kaffashian, four countries - Iran, the US, a European country and a South American country - would participate in the event comprising of a series of friendlies.

Such a match would be the third played between the Iranian and US teams. At the 1998 World Cup in France, Iran defeated the contending US team 2-1. The two teams played a draw (1-1) match in Pasadena, California in 2000.

The United States and Iran have both qualified for the 2014 World Cup.


Report: US invites Iran to play soccer friendly | JPost | Israel News

The tables have turned.

Coming off of a win against Drexel that snapped a six-game losing streak, Penn surprised 2012 Ivy champion Cornell at Rhodes Field, 1-0.

The Quakers (4-6, 1-0 Ivy) have already won more games than they racked up all of last season, when they went just 3-13 overall. The win marked Penn’s first clean sheet in Ivy play since 2010.

And defending Ivy champion Cornell (6-2-2, 0-1) learned this weekend that Penn is not the same team it was a year ago.

“They really kind of are a team that plays to one of our weaknesses … and I thought our guys stood tall and dealt with it really well and deserved to win,” coach Rudy Fuller said.

The match lasted for 80 minutes without a score — both the Red and Blue and the Big Red had many opportunities, yet none proved successful.

In the 81st minute, off of a corner kick from junior captain Duke Lacroix, senior defender Jonny Dolezal posted the only goal of the match and his first of the season.

“It’s great and the guy that got it — Jonny Dolezal — you can’t say enough about that kid,” Fuller said. “He’s a warrior. He’s a captain. He is one of the hardest working guys on our team.”

For the entire game, Cornell outshot Penn, 14-7, but Quakers goalie Max Polkinhorne stood tall in the net, securing his second clean sheet of 2013 and his first ever in Ivy play.

“It’s a dead heat with him and [senior goalkeeper Tyler Kinn],” Fuller said. “We feel very comfortable with either one of them in goal, and I think you will see that in the remainder of the season — you might see Max, you might see Tyler depending on form, health, whatever.

“It was simply a case of … he got his shot against Drexel and we won the game so we wanted to ride that momentum.”

However, Polkinhorne wasn’t the only change in the Red and Blue lineup.

“There are a number of guys that weren’t regular starters,” Fuller said. “Mariano Gonzalez, Alex Reddy, Kamar Saint-Louis, Matt Poplawski … got a start tonight because of how well they did Wednesday.”

“You can rely on almost anyone on the team to come in and play their part, and I think that is really important going forward,” Dolezal said.

One of the regulars, senior forward Stephen Baker, had several chances to put the Quakers on the board early in the game, but he couldn’t finish the job.

As the second half progressed, the Red and Blue began to find their stride, keeping the ball on Cornell’s side and making the Big Red defenders work hard to keep them from putting points on the board.

“Well I think it is really difficult for a team to play the way they play for 90 minutes,” Fuller said. “The first half was very difficult. They were fully juiced. They were putting balls in our box, making us defend really difficult plays.

“But the way they press, the way they attack you with speed, we knew that at some point the game was going to slow down.”

After losing multiple games this season by allowing late goals, Penn finally got to experience what it feels like to be clutch. Dolezal’s late goal was just what the Quakers needed to shut down Cornell and notch their first Ivy victory.

“It’s a great feeling. Usually we’ve been letting up goals late in the game and on the losing end, but it’s finally good to be on the winning side of things,” Dolezal said.

Penn men’s soccer surprised a lot of people on Saturday. But surprise isn’t consistency. Fans will find out how threatening a competitor the Quakers will be in Ivy play next Saturday at Columbia.



The Daily Pennsylvanian :: Penn men's soccer trumps defending Ivy champ Cornell

Orlando leaders unanimously approved a plan to build a new professional soccer stadium Monday, leaving one final hurdle in the quest to bring Major League Soccer to town.

The spending plan — if it's also approved by the Orange County Commission on Oct. 22 — would clear the way for the new stadium to open during Orlando City Soccer Club's 2015 season. By that time, the minor league team hopes to become the newest MLS expansion franchise.

"It's fantastic. To have that support, a unanimous vote, was a great result today," Orlando Lions president Phil Rawlins said. "The marketplace has more than proven itself. It's a soccer city that's more than ready to support MLS." The $94.5 million agreement approved by a 7-0 vote of the Orlando City Council also includes another $25 million in tourist tax funding for the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center; $12 million for the Citrus Bowl; $27.5 million for tourism ads; and $10 million for improvements to the Orange County Convention Center.

Construction of arts center is already underway, but the center's nonprofit board still is raising money for the last of three performance halls.

"It's taken us decades to get to this point," arts center president Kathy Ramsberger said.

The soccer stadium was the most closely watched issue, and about 50 Orlando Lions fans and employees wore purple to the council meeting to show their support.

The push for a stadium first became public knowledge just over a year ago. The USL Pro team now plays in the Citrus Bowl, but MLS has all but promised a franchise for Orlando — if it builds a soccer-specific stadium.

The council also approved the terms that would allow the soccer team to be the main tenant of the city-owned stadium. The stadium would have a construction budget of $69 million; with the cost of land and infrastructure, the final price tag would be an estimated $84 million.

The team wouldn't pay rent to use the stadium. But it would pay $30 million toward construction, and annual payments for the next 25 years.

The plan provides $20 million in tourist taxes for the stadium, and the remaining funds include $20 million from the city and smaller amounts from other jurisdictions, including $2 million from Seminole County.

"There are significant days in the history of our community," Mayor Buddy Dyer said. "This is one of those significant days."

The plan needs approval of the County Commission in two weeks. Some commissioners have been pressuring the Orlando City Soccer Club for concessions, but Rawlins predicted the plan will win approval and MLS will award a franchise next month.

"I feel confident that if we can sit down and explain the benefits that we bring then we'll get another unanimous vote from the county," he said.



Orlando leaders approve Major League Soccer stadium - Orlando Sentinel

Haha, Buffon in PES looks like one of the aliens from District 9.
Fifa always better than PES

The players are playing for their jobs…that’s fine, but do we have to watch this real-time soccer version of Glengarry Glen Ross? Second place is a set of steak knives, third place is you’re fired … we are currently in 19th place. What’s the prize for that? A sack full of diseased rats?

Most of the players who won the U.S. Open Cup start on the bench tonight. The lineup is: Willis | Riley, Woolard, Kitchen, Nyassi | Martin, Thorrington, Jeffrey, DeLeon | Silva, Doyle. I’ve argued that United’s Open Cup win makes it more likely that Ben will come back next year. If United can show some late-season improvement while fielding a lineup that is essentially Richmond Kickers Platinum, Ben’s return will become more likely still.

Here’s kickoff from RFK. I have to say: pretty good turnout for a Friday night game. Maybe it helps that RFK is the only thing in town that’s open.

1’ - Nice to see that referee Ricardo Salazar could squeeze this match in between sets of bicep curls. The dude is jacked.

5’ - Willis looked to be beaten on a cross but he smothers the shot! United started well but almost went behind anyway, which is very United-y of them.

6’ - I just learned that there are six Gambians in MLS (United’s Sainey Nyassi is one of them). Google tells me that there are no current MLS players from Senegal. Must be nice for the Gambians to not be surrounded by Senegalese for once.

7’ - Yes, that was an African geography joke. I’m really reaching at this point in the season.

14’ - Right after Silva forces a save out of Johnson, Jeffrey hits the post! At least we have players who know roughly where the goal is these days.

18’ - The field has pink nets and pink corner flags tonight. Susan G. Komen Foundation, you’re thinking? Wrong: Code Pink. Stop the Iraq war!

24’ - Goal Chicago! It’s Ron Howard – I’m sorry, Jeff Larentowicz – with the goal! Juan Anangono turned Woolard inside out before finding Larentowicz, who finished from close range. That’s a nifty magic trick the way United can turn 65 percent possession into a one goal deficit.

26’ - Correction: two-goal deficit. Chicago score off a set piece. Idea: United gets together with the Mexican national team in a special event to determine which is the worst set piece defending team of all-time.

28’ - Kitchen finds DeLeon, but Johnson makes the save! The young players are showing well, but the most impressive young player so far is Chicago’s Sean Johnson.

32’ - United is winning this game of keep-ball but losing this game of soccer. One big problem: United plays very narrow, which means the fullbacks need to get forward and provide offense. But Riley and Korb (and tonight Nyassi) are some of the weaker offensive players on the team. So the ball tends to fall to a weak link at the crucial moment of an attack.

36’ - Salazar gives Chicago a free kick right next to United’s technical area, which allows Ben to shout right in his ear for 40 seconds. If I’m Salazar, I’d maybe just avoid giving free kicks in that part of the field.

40’ - John Thorrington is down; he signaled for a sub practically before he hit the ground. That’s bad. With Thorrington out, United’s veteran midfield presence becomes 26-year-old Chris Pontius. Think about that: 26. If he worked in your office, his entire job would be managing a Twitter account and teaching shortcut keys to older employees.

Halftime: 2-0 Chicago. It’s a shame that they can’t divide the “possession” stat into “dangerous possession” and “pointless possession.”

46’ - Here’s something positive: United still has the coolest MLS shirt sponsor. Chicago is sponsored by Quaker oats. Columbus is sponsored by Barbasol. Chivas are sponsored by Neat & Tidy Piano Movers of Encino, California. Even the league’s most well-known team – the Galaxy – is sponsored by Herbalife, which is either a weed killer or something that helps old people avoid constipation. Possibly both.

58’ - DeRo enters the game and immediately creates a chance for DeLeon, but Johnson makes another good save. A goal there could have made the game interesting, or at least interesting by the standards of what this game is capable of being.

62’ - Our crossing is collectively the worst in the history of soccer. If I was a masochist, I would put together a YouTube video of every cross United has played in 2013. It would just be 40 minutes of first defenders clearing balls with their feet and Korb Orbs (trademark) sailing harmlessly into the VW pavilion.

73’ - United has been arguably the better team, but Chicago is going to win comfortably. How do we keep doing this? To paraphrase Dave Attell: Did somebody mug a leprechaun?

75’ - Johnson makes another save on DeLeon. With mediocre goalkeeping, DeLeon could have a hat trick tonight. Johnson might as well key DeLeon’s car and sneeze in his dinner just to completely ruin his night.

76’ - United wins its 11th corner, but United hasn’t scored on a corner since Obama had no gray hairs. I don’t even remember the last time we scored off a corner, but I’ll bet the clip is in black and white and accompanied by ragtime piano music.

89’ - United has been pressing, and the goal finally arrives! For Chicago. 3-0.

Full time: 3-0 Chicago. United played well but have obviously attended Tony Romo’s Uncanny Knack for Losing seminar.



Soccer Outsider: United-Fire match diary, player ratings

It has been three years, but FIFA’s decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar still smarts for Sunil Gulati. Gulati, the president of U.S. Soccer, the national governing body in the United States, and a newly elected member of FIFA’s executive committee, spoke in London on Wednesday at the Leaders in Football conference.

The United States, which hosted the tournament in 1994 (an event that still remains the most widely attended in World Cup history), finished second to Qatar in a secret vote taken by the executive committee in 2010. Since then, several members of that committee have been accused of financial irregularities, a list that includes two committee members from Concacaf, the North and Central American and Caribbean federation: Jack Warner of Trinidad and Tobago and Chuck Blazer of the United States.

“The rules, the procedures, need to be very different than they are now,” Gulati said. “It’s a unique situation that the Olympics and the World Cup have become so important to countries that nation-states are now essentially bidding; it’s no longer bid committees.

“That’s a very difficult situation for countries like England or the United States, frankly, which operate differently. We are not going to conduct a foreign policy based on hosting a World Cup.” He added, “It’s just never going to be important.”

Gulati asserted that the United States’ 2022 bid had been based solely on sporting objectives, adding that if FIFA was more interested in spreading the game, that should have been made clear before the bidding process. It is notable that the decision to take the World Cup to the United States in 1994 was one such gambit, as was the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

“Would we be interested in bidding for 2026?” Gulati said. “The procedures would need to be very different to what they are now. If the critical issue is taking it to new lands, then tell us in advance, because we won’t bother.

“The rules need to be clearer and tighter. And the process needs to be better. If you are stepping on to a field of play, you know what the rules are.”

“We’d want more clarity on the bidding and the whole process,” said Gulati, who was the head of the American bid for the 2022 World Cup. “For instance, is there going to be a system of rotation, or not? This needs to be established well enough in advance so people know.

“Also, my personal view is that it should also be a public vote. And the technical report should matter in some concrete way; otherwise, it’s an unnecessary expenditure of funds and time.”



www-nytimes-com/2013/10/10/sports/soccer/loss-of-22-world-cup-bid-still-rankles-gulati-html?_r=0

Italy is no longer the final destination for the world's top players and the country's leading clubs will struggle to keep the ones they do have unless big improvements are made in Serie A, Juventus president Andrea Agnelli said on Thursday.

Agnelli, 37, the fourth member of his family to run Italy's most successful domestic club, said Italy had stagnated as a football country in the last year and Serie A was now a shadow of the glittering jewel it once was.

"If you go back about 10 or 15 years, it was the dream of every international footballer to come to Serie A," he told delegates at the Leaders in Soccer conference at Stamford Bridge.

"It was the destination for top players. When I was a kid studying here in England you used to watch live Serie A games broadcast here. The English League was not what it is today.

"Now the German League is building on what it has achieved in the last 10 years, the Spanish League has its own unique environment and has two of the world's most successful worldwide global brands, Real Madrid and Barcelona.

"France has benefited from overseas investments."

Agnelli said that from a football point of view Serie A was no longer the final destination for players but a transitory destination.

ECONOMIC STRENGTH

"Where will we be in two or three years, will we be able to keep players like Paul Pogba, for example? I don't think we have the economic strength to retain such a player.

"Look at AC Milan, they had to give away (Zlatan) Ibrahimovic. We need to have greater economic strength."

Italy has slipped from second to fourth in the UEFA coefficient ranking system since 2006, meaning it has only three clubs in the Champions League instead of four.

Last season they only had two teams in the competition proper because Udinese lost in the qualifying rounds, and although Juventus reached the quarter-finals and earned 65.6 million euros ($88.7 million), Agnelli is still worried about the future.

"It was an anomaly that we earned that much as the Italian market pool is so big and was set up when we had four teams but last season was split between two teams (Juventus and AC Milan)," he said.

"But you must be in the Champions League because that is where you have the international exposure.

"However, we need reforms in Italy. We have to look at our stadiums, that is where the difference is made, on ticketing and on income streams. That is our No.1 reform, and that is where the broadcasters come in.

"If we have a good show in the stadium and show it off to the full, that is the way to increase the broadcasting income, and that is just the start."

Agnelli has overseen the transformation of Juventus's home ground from the unloved Stadio delle Alpi which was built for the 1990 World Cup but demolished to make way for the 41,000-capacity Juventus Stadium on the same site.

The year 1990 is a pivotal moment in Italy's soccer story.

Although they have since won the World Cup for a fourth time, in Germany in 2006, Serie A and the game have rarely generated the levels of optimism that existed around the time when the Italians hosted the 1990 World Cup.

In 2007 Italy bid to host Euro 2012 but lost out to Ukraine and Poland, and Agnelli is convinced it will be some time before the country is again seen as a soccer powerhouse.

"We were not effective in UEFA and our bid was not good enough," he said. "It was a chance missed to regenerate our stadiums and our game.

"If Italy goes and bids for something, Italy should get it. "But our federation needs to increase its standing. Italy has lost its leadership. England, Germany and Spain are ahead of us.

"Our League has lost its drive and we need to spend a lot more time thinking about how we can improve domestically and internationally."




Y! SPORTS

The anger and disappointment has gone, to be replaced now by simple disdain, contempt and a measure of pity.

Australia is becoming a joke on the world soccer stage, shipping goals by the minute, its limitations brutally exposed as it flounders from one incompetent display to another when pitched against high class opposition.

If this is the best Australia can manage, then soccer fans, and anyone with a passing interest in the performance of the country's national teams, had better dig in for a long, dark period of despair.
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Yes, Holger Osieck, the now ex-coach, has to take a large share of the blame. He was the man in charge, he was handsomely paid, and

he had to carry the can and has paid with his job.

But the players also have to put their hands up for two spineless performances that have damaged the reputation of the national team abroad and the status of soccer in Australia.

Aurelio Vidmar will take charge of the Socceroos for their friendly against Canada on Tuesday following the sacking of national team boss Holger Osieck in the the wake of the 6-0 humiliation in Paris.

FFA chief executive David Gallop travelled to the French capital and acted ruthlessly and swiftly after the heavy defeat early Saturday morning.

The heavy defeat comes barely a month after the capitulation by the same scoreline against Brazil.

FFA officials are seeking guidance from leading European coaches - believed to include Gérard Houllier - as to who should replace Osieck.

How many travel agents will be fielding calls cancelling tickets for the World Cup in Brazil on Monday morning as fans calculate the price of a journey to South America with the guarantee of disappointment when they get there.

Reaching the World Cup is a fine achievement, but in the sort of state Australia is in now they risk being an embarrassment to the fine sporting traditions of the nation. It's not a rebuild that the Socceroos require. The edifice of the national team needs to be razed to the ground with a complete redesign and reconstruction commissioned as soon as possible.

If the first stage of finding a cure is to recognise that you are in fact ill, then any doubts over the diagnosis should have been completely dispelled by now following the 6-0 thrashing at the hands of Brazil in September and the destruction by a similar scoreline in Paris on Saturday morning.

We can rant and rave all we want, slag the coaching staff and howl into the early morning light as the humiliation unfolds on our television screens.

The simple fact is that Australia is too old, too slow and simply not good enough. And the country is no longer producing enough quality players to replenish the stocks at the required rate. The past two performances have exposed a team playing with little heart, fight or spirit _ qualities that, even when Australia was a battling, developing soccer nation, it could always rely on to at least make it competitive against high quality opposition.

The writing has been on the wall for a very long time. The only ''positive'' that may come out of it is that the boosterism, which has been so prevalent in recent years, may finally now stop and the realisation that Australia is simply not that good may be admitted.

Australia struggled and only just made it to the World Cup through the Asian group, getting past what was basically Iraq's under 20 team with a late goal in the final game to seal qualification in the dying moments of a two year campaign.

Holger Osieck authored his own demise with these two performances. The German can stiffly proclaim that he satisfied his contractual requirements by guiding the team to the World Cup, but that was not enough. He was also charged with rebuilding the squad, preparing it not just to be competitive in Brazil but also to host the Asian Cup six months later, in January 2015. Osieck's concentration on qualification at the expense of everything else meant he stuck too long with the old guard of players.

A sense of entitlement and a culture of complacency has grown up within the establishment of the Australian team: one FFA official told me how concerned he was about a poor attitude and a sense of arrogance within the playing group more than a year ago when Australia lost a crucial World Cup qualifier in Amman against Jordan, and he believed that the problems were deep seated and major surgery would be needed to fix them.

Guus Hiddink made it clear in June 2006, when the Socceroos went down to Italy in the round of 16 in Germany, that a total rebuild would be necessary before the 2010 World Cup. He believed that even then many of his critical players were ageing and would need to be replaced if the team was to be competitive in South Africa.

Seven years later, far too many of those players who played such an heroic role in that campaign are still there when they should not be. Pim Verbeek, Osieck's predecessor, should, to a lesser extent, have begun the process. Osieck should certainly have been working on the remake and remodel that Hiddink declared was so necessary right from the beginning of his tenure. But he didn't.

Sure, the players coming through might not look to have the talent of the golden generation, but if they had been brought through, given a chance and taught to play as a team then it is highly unlikely they would have capitulated in the manner the current Australian side is doing.

In the southern hemisphere June and July, when the World Cup will be staged, are the months when the weather closes in and darkness descends. On the evidence of the last two games, for soccer fans it will surely be a winter of discontent.

Read more: Australia becoming the joke of the soccer world

A spokesman for Major League Soccer said on Monday that while the league is weighing the possibility of potential changes to its schedule in the future, a shift to a more European-like schedule in 2014 is not a possibility.

A report published Monday in the New York Daily News citing league sources indicated that the league is considering a schedule that would begin in late July or early August and include a six- to eight-week winter break before wrapping up with MLS cup in May or June, beginning as early as next year.

The MLS spokesman, however, denied that any major changes are on hand for next season.

“We recently conducted a survey and it had some questions about possibly moving the schedule, the MLS spokesman told MLSsoccer-com via e-mail on Monday. “We regularly conduct market research on a variety of topics. Our fans’ preferences are important to us and we’ve proven to be good listeners.

“We will announce plans for the 2014 season before MLS Cup. The timing of the 2014 schedule will be very similar to the current season.” MLS executive vice president of communications Dan Courtemanche took to Twitter on Monday to respond to rumors about a scheduling change following the report in the Daily News.

“'Rumors’ is an appropriate way to classify it,” Courtemanche responded via Twitter. “MLS has reviewed many possible schedule formats throughout the years.

“We hope to announce soon, but the timing will be very similar to the current season. Many options have been considered, and the fans will have a voice IF the schedule format ever changes.”

The league schedule currently runs uninterrupted from early March through early December, with this year’s final falling on Dec. 7, the latest date for an MLS Cup in the league’s 18-year history.



Major League Soccer says no major changes to schedule in 2014 | MLSsoccer-com