

Australia
Mark Bosnich is Back!
By: Daryl |If you’re overweight and bankrupt, then what better solution than a return to professional football? You get lots of exercise, and the money’s pretty damn good. Even in the A-League.
Ex-Villa, Man Utd and Chelsea keeper (and, we might add, ex-cocaine fiend) Mark Bosnich tried the big comeback last season at 35 years old, but his [...]
The Offside Euro 2008 Champion: Charles Snyder
By: Dave Martinez |Over three weeks of tournament action and only one country stood tall: Sweden. Ibrahimovich proved to be unstoppable in the virtual world, earning glory for his country where the real world left a bit to be desired. Standing in the finals against a tough Croatian squad, they dispatched their opponents 2-1 for [...]
Photo of the Day: Slipping and Sliding to Victory
By: Laurie |
The Offside is now covering Women’s Soccer! We now have a WPS blog and are just waiting for info about the teams. In the meantime, Melissa will be covering all topics dealing with the women’s game, including national team news like this.
This is US Women’s NT player Natasha Kai sliding past [...]
Aussie Keeper Charged With Violent Conduct On Ref
By: chris |It was a weekend marked by “violent” - even if unintentional - conduct on the pitch, as the Eduardo injury pushed absolutely everything to the back pages. Arsene started out by calling for Matrin Taylor’s career on a platter, then retracted his statement, but Taylor is surely do for a spell on the sidelines. Probably [...]
Pan-Pacific Wrap-Up
By: Laurie |As an LA Galaxy fan, I was horrified by the team’s miserable performace in its 0-1 loss to Gamba Osaka on Thursday, especially when compared to Houston’s lovely 3-0 win over Sydney FC.
Now that the final and the third place games are officially over, I am no longer so panicked about the upcoming MLS season. [...]
The Pan-Pacific Tournament, and What it Tells Us About MLS
By: Laurie |If you watched the opening games of the Pan-Pacific Championship last night, you saw some free-flowing, attacking football that proves MLS can compete in the rest of the world.
Oh, and you also saw the LA Galaxy.
“And then bang she goes!” - the A-League Preliminary Final
By: Daryl |http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8-w8hc_Xvw
The A-League Finals series continues to entertain, wacky playoff system or not. Basically the Preliminary Final is like a semifinal, except there’s only one of them. Queensland Roar played Newcastle Jets for the right to meet Central Coast Mariners in the Grand Final and we got another action packed game. Newcastle Jets were leading 1-0 [...]
A-League Finals > MLS Playoffs
By: Daryl |http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh6CcqV4wi4
The A-League finals (or playoffs, if you prefer) continue to produce some great football. There was Reinaldo’s excellent winning goal for Queensland Roar in the Minor Semifinal on Saturday, and then on Sunday the Central Coast Mariners went into the Major Semifinal Second Leg trailing the Newcastle Jets 2-0.
Second half goals A first half [...]
The A-League: Great Goals, Wacky Playoff System
By: Daryl |http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWB_1NeSKps
Australians are lovely people, and their A-League is getting better all the time. But their playoff system is batshit crazy.
First enjoy the action from Queensland Roar’s 2-0 win over Sydney FC in yesterday’s Minor Semi-Final second leg (don’t worry, we’ll explain later.) The Brazilian Reinaldo’s goal in front of 36,000 is a thing of beauty. [...]
Australia’s 39-Man Squad
By: Martha |When he announced his first call-ups a week ago, few expected new Australia coach Pim Verbeek to be quite so welcoming: He named 39 players to his squad ahead of next week’s World Cup qualifier against Qatar. Thirty. Nine. The squad is split almost exactly down the middle between the 20 A-League-based players, who will [...]
Daily Dose: 1.25.08
By: Martha |Things to read as your grandma gets arrested for not pulling up in the McDonald’s drivethru:
“All soccer, all the time” for Jozy Altidore. (NYX Goal blog)
The truth about Fulham. (The Offside Rules)
Havant and Waterlooville are starting a builder in the net and garbage man at right back against Liverpool tomorrow. (Leeds Offside)
AS Monaco: Success through [...]
Daily Dose: 1.24.08
By: Martha |Things to read as you prepare to throw yourself at men for the sake of art:
The rise of football in Africa. (Times Online)
It’s Burley for Scotland. (Scotland World Cup Blog)
Bolton? Want Adriano? Bolton?! (Alice Sport)
Match-fixing attempts at the African Cup of Nations? (BBC Sport)
Ronaldinho: Not fat. (Machochip)
When Pim Verbeek said a training run for a [...]
Booze is Bad, Kids. Remember That.
By: Martha |Last week, five members of Fiji’s Olympic football team enjoyed a crazy night night out — did a little drinking, blew off some steam, you know how boys are. Hey, they got back in time for training the next day, surely there wouldn’t be a problem, right? Wrong. The players left camp without authorization, and [...]
A Wild Final Day in Australia
By: Martha |http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVRERdAuK7I
When the final day of the A-League season started, four teams were level on points at the top of the table, and the title was anyone’s to win. When the dust settled, the regular season title was in the hands of Central Coast Mariners, who beat bottom club Wellington Phoenix 2-0 to finish with 34 [...]
Central Coast Mariners 4-5 Sydney FC, an Instant A-League Classic
By: Daryl |“It was the greatest advertisement for football in the A-League’s three-year history,” said said The Sunday Morning Herald in Australia. And they’re not wrong. Fledgling leagues need goal-filled end to end games more than anything else. Even more than star names like Beckham, because to some extent those players presence only attracts gawkers as opposed [...]




