Fútbol Is Heading To Philadelphia

The Major League Soccer was originated in 1996. Since its creation, the league has made some small, but solid improvements. During the first season, 10 teams were part of the league. But now there is a total of 14.

A few months ago, MLS officials said that Seattle was going to be the 15th team in the league starting in 2009. And today, Don Garber, MLS commissioner, announced that Philadelphia has become the league's 16th team to start in 2010.

The MLS executives aspire to have 18 professional teams by 2010. Miami, St. Louis and Detroit are aiming for those expansion spots. The competition is tough, but hopefully Miami officials will step up and get what once was ours: The Fusion.

Chelsea Ready To Conquer America

The super-power European clubs are extremely wealthy. But in U.S. soil they don't make as much money as they want. Chelsea F.C. has visited the United States for the last couple of years and now they have decided to open up an exclusive Web site for American fans.

www.chelseafc.com/america is the site where fútbol fans can gather the most recent information about The Blues. The page will also have a Spanish column which will be written for my coworker Rafael Ramos from ESPN Deportes Radio.

Last year, I had the opportunity to hang out with the Chelsea players. On this picture, I'm with Frank Lampard, one of the most talented fútbol players around the world. Diddy and Stalone, this is for you: Go Blues!

Not All Celebrities Suck, Some Like Fútbol

Most celebrities don't like fútbol because it does not have the sense of exclusivity they love. But there are a few exceptions to the rule. Most people agreed that the Rambo movies were poorly written and Stallone's performance was not great. But at least they guy has a good taste. He likes fútbol. Recently, he was spotted at a fútbol match in England.

I'm not a jealous guy, but I was envious of Paf Diddy when he was dating Jennifer Lopez. Besides his affair with J Lo, I didn't really care for Diddy. But the producer and singer became one of my idols when I saw him with the Manchester United team. I mean, they guy clearly knows what is worth in life: fútbol and women!

The Other Side Of Christian Gomez

Last week, the Colorado Rapids were in training camp at Broward County. My boss assigned me a simple task: write a color story about Argentine midfielder Christian Gomez.

Gomez is one of the best players of the MLS butI didn't know anything about his personality. It turned out that he's quite a character. We talked about different things: food, movies, women, and of course, fútbol.

He told me that American Pie was his favorite movie. So I asked: "Was there any scene in particular that made you remember something you did in the past? " He laughed and replied: "Yes, it reminded of me my father, he was always over protecting me." What a liar... just kidding. He said other funny and interesting things but if you want to read the entire article you'll have to wait until the May edition of ESPN Deportes "La Revista."

Eduardo Will Miss Euro Cup For Leg Injury

Feb. 23 was suppose to be another fun Saturday, full of fútbol around the world. During a Premier League game, Arsenal was facing Middlesbrough, and just three minutes into the match, Martin Taylor violently fouled Eduardo.

The image says more than a thousand words. When I first saw it, I felt ambivalent. I was so mad at Taylor since he didn't have any consideration for his coworker. He was sent off, but as we said in the fútbol argot, "he deserved jail time."

The doctors believed Eduardo will not play for the next nine months. Sadly, he will miss the biggest event of the year, the Euro Cup.

The Phenomenon May Come To End

After winning the 2002 World Cup with Brazil, Ronaldo was transfered to Real Madrid, one of the most powerful European clubs.

During his first season, "The Phenomenon" helped Madrid win its 29th League title. He was also awarded as "The Pichichi" (top scorer) of the League. But in 2007, he was hunted again by his worst enemies: injuries.

Ronaldo was not fit to played and some discrepancies with the team's coach, Fabio Capello, led "Rony" to signed a contract with A.C. Milan. Although he didn't really played since he never recovered from his injuries.

When things were getting back to normal, "the Brazilian striker ruptured tendons in his left knee in Wednesday's 1-1 draw against Livorno and 24 hours later underwent surgery in Paris." Some assure that Ronaldo's career is over.

Some Believed Ronaldo Was Done After Knee Injury

Ronaldo is one of the best fútbol players I've seen. But some injuries have kept him off the field throughout his career.

"The Phenomenon" suffered his first knee injury in 2000 when playing for F.C. Internazionale Milano. It was sad to see how Ronaldo was taken out of the field with tears rolling down his face.

Some believed that Ronaldo's career was over. But they were wrong. He came back for the 2002 World Cup to help Brazil win its fifth title. The inspiring video below summarizes part of Ronaldo's career.

USA Home Games Don't Feel Like Home

I said before that it's tough for fútbol fans residing in the U.S. But it’s tougher for the members of the national team. Every time they play Mexico, most of the fans at the stadium are Mexican supporters.

But fútbol is growing. Several exceptional players are starting to capture the attention of
millions of U.S. fans.
Landon Donovan is one of them. The L.A. Galaxy midfielder is the emblem of American “soccer.”

The future looks promising. There are younger players like Freddy Adu and “Jozy” Altidore. These talented men, with a bigger support from the American society and more serious coverage from the media could take U.S. “soccer” to the next level. Look what you are missing!

Relations Between Sports and War; Line Becomes Blurred

By definition, war is a “state of conflict involving two or more factions fighting.” Many factors could lead to war: historical, psychological, anthropological, sociological, demographic, economical, political, or even bad luck. Sports and war have ancient traditions, and at times the line between them becomes blurred.

War is often compared with sports. Both require athleticism and physical fitness. Both feed on courage. Both demand the best out of people. Both punish weakness. ESPN.com published a story about the top 10 moments involving sports and war

New FAU Stadium is Coming Home!

FAU has begun construction of a football stadium at its Boca Raton campus, with completion expected before the 2010 football season. The stadium will feature the best technology and its capacity will be approximately 35,000.

“We decided to build a new stadium because we felt that in order to have a quality football program we needed to have our own stadium on our campus to attract our fans in the community,” said Craig Angelos, FAU’s athletic director.

The money to finance the stadium is coming from a public-private partnership developed by the athletic program. The developing company will build about 3,000 new dorm spaces, new retail establishments, and more parking garages. The excess revenues from those projects will fund the construction of the stadium.

“It can be used for other sports, such as soccer (fútbol),” Angelos said. “Actually, we will try to use it in as many different ways as possible to generate additional income. We believe that in order to have a quality athletic program you have to have quality facilities. By having a quality football stadium or, for that matter, any kind of stadium on our campus, we will really bolster our football program and our university.”

The Movie Hollywood Didn't Want You to See!

The film industry has made some movies about fútbol. Most of them sucked. Kicking and Screaming was an offense to any fútbol fan because an American football coach, played by Mike Ditka, teach children how to play “the beautiful game.”

Fever Pitch was a cheap adaptation of a book based on an English child who is obsess with Arsenal, one of the most popular fútbol Clubs of Great Britain. People are just not creative any more.

But I have to recommend Green Street Hooligans, “the movie Hollywood didn’t want us to see.” The plot is about an American student who goes to England to visit his older sister. He met a group of hooligans (crazy fútbol fans) who took him to the fútbol matches. Later on, he became one of them but it had bloody consequences.

Newspapers Ignore Fútbol and Its Fans!

For a fútbol fan, it is tough to live in the United States. The mainstream media barely pay attention to what’s going on in the fútbol world. American football, baseball, and basketball polarized “the beautiful game.”

I must say that it is even tougher for people who live in Florida. It is frustrating to open up The Palm Beach Post, The Sun Sentinel, and The Miami Herald and not find any fútbol coverage.

But newspapers ignore fútbol because it does not represent any source of income. We tend to forget that the newspaper industry is business oriented. And the reality is that there is a group of people starving for “soccer news.”

Life is a game, fútbol is serious.

There is one characteristic that defines fútbol fans: passion. The World Cup of 1950 was hosted by Brazil. After dominating most of their opponents, the home country was ready to celebrate its first World Cup title.

But in the final Game, Uruguay surprised everyone winning the march 2-1. The outcome led many Brazilian fans to commit suicide. This is known as "El Maracanazo."

Where does the word "soccer" come from?

Most fútbol fans around the world are a little upset with Americans. After the World Cup of 1994, which was hosted by the U.S., the Major League Soccer (MLS) was created. But the executives in charge wanted to change some basic rules of the game.

For instance, they wanted to make the goals wider to attract more Anglo fans. Also, they came up with something called “shoot outs” as a tie breaker. Americans failed to change those rules, but they managed to change something about fútbol: its name.

To establish the difference between American football and fútbol, they called it soccer. But like most of you, I’ve always asked myself: Why soccer? According to Garry Archer, an English researcher, “’soccer’ is an English, not American word derived from the second syllable of the word ‘association.’”

Fútbol and me!

Hello bloggers! My name is José del Valle. I was born in Guatemala and I’m 23 years old. I reside in America since 2002. Yes, I live here legally. Currently, I’m attending FAU with the purpose to become a journalist. I’m in my senior year, and I’m hoping to graduate next summer.

Like most of my friends, I grew up wanting to be the next Maradona. I failed. But the passion I feel for fútbol just grew on me. Throughout this blog, I will write about “the beautiful game,” its culture, and the reasons why it’s the world’s game.