International soccer is the top of the game, even when it's forgotten
Jul 13, 2021
“Not a chance. These have been the best six weeks of my life.” - England backup center back Conor Coady, when asked if he regrets not playing a minute in the European Championships despite being part of the squad
Fussball ohne fans ist nichts
Jul 10, 2021
Tonight, Argentina meets Brazil in the Copa América final. Tomorrow, England meets Italy in the Euro 2020 final.
The Gold Cup, the hipster's choice
Jul 9, 2021
Man, Euro 2020 (*2021) was sure fun to watch. And Copa América was too! And we here in the United States now get to watch our own continental championship: the Gold Cup, which is a poor imitation.
Even if it's bad, we can't get enough international soccer
Jun 11, 2021
For all the talk about tactics, international soccer will never be a playground for the same smoothly-purring machines that we see in club soccer. The teams are one step beyond all-star teams, but the games are so meaningful that we love them anyway.
The European Super League is dead, and lives on
May 21, 2021
The European Super League would have concentrated all the money and all the power in the hands of a few elite superclubs in Europe. Now that it’s dead, possibly forever, we’re left with a system where… all of the money and all of the power are concentrated in the hands of a few elite superclubs.
MLS should consider moving to a Liga MX-like schedule
Jan 12, 2019
I don’t like that MLS plays games during international tournaments like the World Cup and Copa América and the Gold Cup, but its spring-to-fall schedule virtually requires it. The league needs a summer break for tournaments, and a winter break for weather - so I’m thinking it’s time to go to a two-seasons-per-year schedule, like Mexico.
Christian Pulisic Heads To Chelsea
Jan 5, 2019
Christian Pulisic is off to Chelsea, and Soccer Insider - back for 2019! - couldn’t be more excited.
The end (?) for Joe Mauer, the normal legend
Oct 1, 2018
On the way to Sunday’s Twins game with my brother, I mentioned something offhand, that I’m sure a lot of people were thinking on their way to Target Field: If this was going to be Joe Mauer’s last game, I was glad we were going to be there for it.
Football or soccer? Words are a proxy battleground
Sep 29, 2018
You can even find American soccer fans that insist on calling the sport football, not soccer, and talking about matches and tables and pitches instead of games and standings and fields. And that’s fine, call it what you want, but one word isn’t more proper than another. Soccer Insider is about our football / fútbol / futebol lexicon, how those words came to be - and why they matter so much to people.
A September bushel of posts
Sep 22, 2018
Fall is right around the corner - where has September gone?