Football Fantasy

When Aston Villa chief executive Paul Faulkner issued a club statement Sunday afternoon announcing that the Midlands side had identified the two most important traits in the search for a new manager, US coach Bob Bradley was effectively ruled out of the running. The first trait was they wanted candidates with experience managing in the Premier League. The second trait was someone who could build on the existing strengths in their current squad. I understand Aston Villas reluctance to hire Bradley, but I wholeheartedly disagree with their insistence that the manager must have Premier League experience. To me, the club was essentially repeating what many of the Villa supporters were saying. But instead of kowtowing to its supporters, Villa needed to make a bold decision by hiring Bradley. Instead they have now narrowed their choices significantly by insisting that Premier League experience is a necessity. But is it that important? Football managers dont necessarily need Premier League m...

Bob Bradley has signed a contract extension to stay on as USA national team boss.Bradley has agreed to a four-year deal with US Soccer to remain in charge of the national team which he has overseen since 2006.The 52-year old has guided the national team to a record of 38 wins, 21 draws and 8 losses and led the US to a first FIFA tournament final at the 2009 Confederations Cup.Bradley had recently been linked with the job at English Premier League club Aston Villa but has decided to commit himself to the USA team who face Poland and Colombia in friendlies in October. World Soccer News | Video | Podcast | Gallery | Live Streaming

Reporting from Camp Nou (although belatedly) As Ronaldinho took to the field, the last player to do so for either team, 96,315 people cheered and applauded. A chant of Ronny, Ronny, Ronny started around the stadium. People smiled as he lined up with the Barcelona team for the photo just before the Joan Gamper trophy kicked off. Before the match Ronny had bowed to every corner of the stadium and did a few tricks with the ball before rattling the crossbar with a piledriver of a shot in the final shooting practice. The day was a fan day but it turned into Ronaldinhos swan song, in a much publicised letter Ronaldinho paid tribute to the fans he was leaving behind one last time. Ronaldinho had left two seasons previous, after an unsuccessful season. He moved to AC Milan and immediately professed his love for his previous club but his desire to win in Italy. In reality he was no longer needed at Barca as they got rid of Frank Rijkaard and promoted the Catalan Pep Guardiola as new manager. G...

Michel Platini Aims To Revolutionize The Transfer Market. UEFA President Michel Platini has today announced that UEFA, the European football governing body, will pass a law that states that clubs cannot spend more money than they make, and that the sugar daddy owners who have become so infamous in football, cannot inject massive amounts of cash into their clubs to provide for excessive transfer market spending. We have seen examples of what Platini is striving to prevent most recently with Chelsea and Manchester City, where billionaire owners buy a club and inject massive amoutns of cash into the club so that they can go out into the transfer market and purchase any player they choose to. We have also seen Mallorca of Spains La Liga continue to spend money to create a side that will compete for European football, just to be barred access to European competition because of their excessive debt situation. We have seen Leeds United and recently Portsmouth go through the same type of situ...

The kid is back. Throughout last season, Liverpool supporters groaned asFernando Torresfell again and again into the arms of Ol Mistress Injury. We groaned throughout the summers World Cup as he looked far from his best and couldnt find a single goal (although we also groaned when Pedro ignored a wide open Torres to take a fruitless chance of his own against Germany). And we nearly had a heart attack when Torres collapsed in the closing seconds of the final against the Netherlands. The kid made us feel a little better when he threw the Liverpool scarf around his neck before hoisting the World Cup trophy. But mostly we groaned. This season started slow for both Liverpool and Fernando Torres. (Maybe hes literally a different player: now that his hair is short and dark I cant always pick him out on the pitch when the cameras pulled back. Maybe its not Torres at all) Anyway: more groaning. I cantcomplain too heartily about the results themselves. A draw againstArsenal and a loss to Cityca...

Regular readers may have noticed that Taylor has been unable to post regularly for the past couple of weeks. He hasnt disappeared and he will be back. But he needs help. If you want to write for Manchester United Offside alongside Taylor, then read The Offside applications page and send us an email. Be warned that well only be accepting applications that meet a high standard. So please include a writing sample with your application, but make it good. No simple match reports or essays about how wonderful Ryan Giggs is. Send us something original. Something nice and short (around 400 words). Something that will attract readers. We look forward to hearing from you. International Soccer Clubs & Leagues News | Video | Commentary

Its often a question that football fans can never really answer, but why do certain players seem quite happy to sit on the bench? More often than not players are always wanting to play, so transfers to clubs where the opportunities are limited always confuses the fans. For example, one particular player is currently trying his very best to escape from Stoke City for no obvious reason. Asmir Begovic, the Bosnian international goalkeeper, has begun a war of words with the chairman and his manager at Stoke City. Seemingly the whole reason for this is that he wishes to join Chelsea as a reserve goalkeeper for the foreseeable future. Stoke City feel that Begovic has been tapped up but for the second time 8 months, hes involved in a transfer merry go round as deadline day comes around. In January, Begovic had agreed to join Tottenham as a double deal that saw Younes Kaboul also arrive at White Hart Lane. Spurs, convinced that the deal was done, actually paid 1 million to Portsmouth as part ...