The New York Red Bulls have responded to Atlético Madrid’s interest in teenage sensation Juan Agudelo after his recent trip with the Generation adidas squad to Spain: Hands off.
RBNY legend Juan Pablo Angel, who could wind up with a new club after today’s Re-Entry Draft Stage 2, says that he snubbed Club América of Mexico to join MLS four years ago. He also makes it clear that he’s contemplating a return to Argentina or Colombia. (SPANISH)
Ángel, along with Seattle’s Fredy Montero, were both recognized at Tuesday’s Fox Sports Awards in Miami and the two Colombians made sure to build awareness around the natural disaster in their native country. Here’s the Montero clip. (VIDEO)
Sporting Kansas City are expected to say goodbye to a couple of players in today’s Re-Entry Draft Stage 2 but one veteran already knows he’ll be back in 2011. He says he does not want to leave until he wins a title.
SKC fans must be wondering what it would have been like to see Eidur Gudjohnsen – a rumored KC target earlier in 2010 – and forward Teal Bunbury, who connected on more than one occasion in a Stoke City reserve match.
The Seattle Sounders hope to find the next Agudelo in the 2011 SuperDraft and they could get the ninth overall pick depending on what former Sounder Freddie Ljungberg does.
Another player rumored to be a target of MLS clubs is former Mexican national team forward Francisco “Kikín” Fonseca, who recently played for Tigres UANL. (SPANISH)
The Serbian press continues to report on links between the Chicago Fire and players based in the European country after a scouting trip to Serbia by Fire officials. One article says the interest may surround Partizan’s Almami Moreira, who recently played a Champions League match against Arsenal. (SERBIAN)
The Chicago Fire’s new president talks jersey sponsorships in this article and calls the record-breaking $200 million Qatar Foundation partnership with FC Barcelona “cheap.”
On a local Brazilian television show, Ronaldinho’s brother – who is also his agent – explains why the AC Milan star is contemplating a return to Brazil. No mention of LA.
Newsweek and MSNBC journalist Jonathan Alter is reporting that he has learned of a $10 million bribe for each vote in the awarding of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
It has finally happened. An English Premier League club is on record as saying that it is actually interested in having Argentine Diego Maradona as manager.
Maradona has never managed in the EPL and the now legendary face rub by Liverpool head coach Roy Hodgson (VIDEO) last weekend says it all about what it must be really like. But Hodgson says things are dandy although American owner John Henry calls recent Liverpool results “unacceptable.”
Argentina does not just export managers. It has surpassed Brazil as the top exporter of soccer players and this is not necessarily a good thing, according to one expert.
One US export to England, Jonathan Spector, appears to be nearing a contract deal to stay in the EPL, according to The Sun.
An American in England who rarely captures headlines is defender Frank Simek, who reflects on his time at Arsenal and how he struggled when he was thrown on the scrap heap.
The US-England connections appear again in a report that Colorado Rapids and Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke and the brass at the English club is conducting a feasibility study into constructing a full-blown Arsenal academy in the USA.
Will it be Italy’s Inter Milan or South Korea’s Seongnam Ilhwa to join TP Mazembe in the final of the FIFA Club World Cup (noon ET, Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Deportes)? The fifth-placed match will be played before as Mexicans Pachuca look to salvage some pride against locals Al Wahda (9 a.m. ET, Fox Deportes).
The Europa League concludes the group stage with 12 matches today and another dozen tomorrow. The most high profile match on Wednesday comes in Group J where Spain’s Sevilla take on the Bundesliga’s first-place team Borussia Dortmund (3 p.m. ET, GolTV) with a berth to the next stage at stake.
More drama will take place between Croatia’s Dinamo Zagreb and Greece’s PAOK (1 p.m. ET, GolTV) in Group D, with the winner in this match also earning a spot in the knockout rounds. Just how heated will that match be? Dinamo fans threw stones and torches at a PAOK fan bus on Tuesday.
In other TV news, the UEFA Champions League will be on Fox Soccer Channel and its family of networks through the 2014-15 edition after an extension was announced.
The first leg of the Colombian league final takes place tonight as former MLS head coach Juan Carlos Osorio leads Once Caldas on the road against Deportes Tolima (7 p.m. ET, GolTV).
The Colombian national team ranks No. 48 in the world in the latest edition of the FIFA World Rankings. The US are 30 spots above the South Americans.
He may be a finalist for the prestigious FIFA Ballon d’Or as Player of the Year, but that does not mean that Andrés Iniesta can’t have a bear as a friend (VIDEO).
Former MLS player and current Fox Soccer Channel analyst Kyle Martino will have an multi-day wedding event when he marries his fiancée, according to his mother-in-law in waiting Susan Sarandon.
MLSsoccer.com Must-Reads:
Philadelphia’s Danny Mwanga proud of Congolese side TP Mazembe
The Columbus Crew are not panicking over the club’s half-empty roster
Jay DeMerit and the Whitecaps establish chemistry in California camp
