SSN is a digest of the day's soccer/football/futbol articles with a focus on the top European leagues and the United States National Team. Below, you’ll find links to articles and video, as well as additional features and commentary. We locate the top news of the day so you can stay updated with ease.
Off The Ball never rests in its mission to scratch around the underbelly of professional football to find the most bizarre, humorous and inexplicable stories.This week, Barcelona begin the Clasico mind games by giving Real Madrid the manita, Diego Maradona's 1986 Golden Ball is 'melted down' by the mafia, Nemanja Vidic almost cries, Luis 'The Owl Kicker' Moreno boots a human and an awful statue of David Beckham is unveiled in Iran.
Wherever you look at the Premier League table, every team is involved in a battle of some sort. Mid-table mediocrity has failed to gatecrash the party this season.
The thing about Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is that very few people have heard him speak. Fewer still have heard him speak in a language they understand. And when Abramovich does speak, it's never in public or to the media. As for the people he employs to actually run Chelsea -- primarily club Chairman Bruce Buck and Chief Executive Ron Gourlay -- they talk very little and say even less. And so you can attribute pretty much anything you like to Abramovich. Roman likes chocolate. Roman enjoys cold showers. Roman wants to buy the Eiffel Tower. Roman wants to sign Lady Gaga. Anything is possible. Anything is plausible. Because Roman won't tell you otherwise. And official denials from club spokesfolks are not taken seriously.
Mailbag time this week. Let's dive in:
What do you think of the U.S. failing to qualify for the U-20 World Cup?
-- Freddie Smith, Kalamazoo, Mich.
Over the years, there have been many reasons for football fans to admire Fiorentina, not least the myriad midfield talents of such creative stars as Giancarlo Antognoni, Roberto Baggio and Manuel Rui Costa and the goalscoring prowess of the prolific Gabriel Batistuta. Others have been attracted to the romance of following a club from Florence, one of the most beautiful cities in the world, while fashion gurus have simply appreciated the distinctive purple of the team’s shirts, which inspired the club’s Viola nickname.
All the rumblings about Juan Agudelo and Teal Bunbury being the future, and perhaps even the present, of the United States forward corps must have ignited quite the fire under a couple of goal-starved American strikers this past week. U.S. World Cup strikers Jozy Altidore and Herculez Gomez ended extensive goal droughts with impressive tallies over the weekend and allayed some fears and worries among national team fans in the process.
