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DENVER, Colorado -- Time to take your hand off the panic button, America. After a week in which we wondered who would win this game, collective spirit or Anonymous Source, the former won the day, albeit amidst farcical scenes. The U.S. beat a fe...

DENVER -- Michael Bradley is locked and loaded. On a typical day, the U.S. international midfielder appears to have the simmering intensity of Jean-Luc Picard, Yul Brynner, and Jason Statham compressed into a single human being. The 25-year-old is a ...

Perhaps inadvertently, our American sense of European football can be as skewed as Saul Steinberg's map of the "World As Seen From New York's 9th Avenue." The legendary New Yorker magazine cover gazes west toward a mostly vacant American continent po...

SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras -- "We did it! We did it!" chanted the delirious Honduran fans as they soaked themselves in beer, confetti and rice at the final whistle. Feeding off their raucous support, Los Catrachos had just outplayed, outmuscled and out...

SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras -- Against a backdrop of carnival frenzy, hysterical support, trumpets, beer, Drakkar Noir and swampy heat, the opening game of the Hexagonal offered Jurgen Klinsmann's U.S. men's national team a physical, hard-running challe...

SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras -- On the narrow roads to the Estadio Olimpico, fragile residences crush against corroding scrap yards and storefront churches. At every intersection along the way, kids battled each other and the Tuesday afternoon sun to sel...

SAN PEDRO SULA, HONDURAS -- When the U.S. plane landed at Ramon Villeda Morales International Airport, an inferno burned menacingly on the edge of the airfield, singeing the air with a whiff of sulphur. The U.S. men's national team deplaned amid arm...

Part 1: Whither Lionel? A cruel accusation is often lobbed at America's soccer powers that be: How can a nation blessed with a diverse population of over 315 million have failed to produce a single Lionel Messi? Or, for that matter, a few more Clint...

When I grew up in Liverpool in the 1980s, the journey to Manchester was 50 minutes by train. It was easy to sense when the halfway point had been reached. The crude graffiti spray painted along the railroad tracks suddenly flipped from menacing Mancu...

There is only one thing Frank Lampard has failed to win in his 12 seasons at Chelsea Football Club: the respect that is due to him. The 156 Premier League goals he has blasted home are the fifth-most all time -- an immense achievement for a midfielde...

Luis Suarez burnished his reputation this weekend as the English football player most akin to a silent movie villain. His controversial goal proved the difference in Liverpool's hard-fought 2-1 win over non-league charmers, Mansfield Town. The ...

The cavalry is coming. In the English Premier League, it always is. The rumor mill, which began to grind the second the summer transfer window shut in August, is about to crank into overdrive as the fleeting January window creaks open. Halfway t...

Few periods are more sacred than Christmas, for both the theologically inclined and those who believe in football as their religion. Games come thick and fast as teams charge through the schedule like they are playing blitz chess. Prepare for Sir Ian...

Ahead of this weekend's derby, I asked a Manchester City-supporting friend of mine to articulate the essence of his fandom. "To follow City is to be constantly asked what it is like to be a City fan" was his enigmatic reply. Admittedly, my inte...

When Rafa Benitez was appointed Chelsea's interim first team manager, I jotted down in my notes that the best thing the Spaniard had going for him was that he was not Avram Grant. I almost spoke too soon. Just three games into Benitez's regime,...

Has an athlete's star wattage ever eclipsed that of the league in the way David Beckham has Major League Soccer? Michael Jordan and the NBA, or Wayne Gretzky and the NHL, perhaps. Yet where those men transcended pro sports with their play, the 37-ye...