BECKHAM GETS LAND FOR STADIUM
Football legend David Beckham and his ownership group would be elated that they can proceed with plans for a new MLS team after the land required to build a stadium was acquired.
The Miami-Dade Commission voted on the proposal by the group to buy three acres of county land needed to build a football stadium.
The commissioners voted nine to four in favour of the plan, meaning the last major hurdle for Beckham and his group was over. The land, situated at the corner of Northwest Sixth Street and Sixth Avenue, is the last piece required for the former Manchester United and Real Madrid star to move on with plans for a 25,000 seat capacity stadium.
Miami Beckham United (MBU) said they reached another major milestone by acquiring the land to build the privately funded stadium. They asked that the MLS help them move forward with the dream of a soccer club that Miami has been waiting for. (more…)
USA, CANADA AND MEXICO PROMISE TO HOST 2026 WORLD CUP
The United States of America have promised to partner their South American neighbours Mexico and their Northern counterparts Canada to submit a three-nation bid for the 2026 World Cup.
The US Soccer chief Sunil Gulati, the Mexican Football Federation president Decio de Maria and the Canadian Soccer Association president Victor Montaglianihave made the pledge to submit an official bid to host the world’s biggest football tournament.
The bid would likely favour joint heads going by the stance of current FIFA president Gianni Infantino – it is one of his promises as he took office, aside the expansion of the event. Two nations combined to host the 2002 World Cup but this would be first time three countries would be combining resources.
The United States remain the ‘main’ host as they have 60 games allotted to them while the two partners would stage ten games apiece as FIFA extend the number of participants from 32 to 48.
“When our nations come together as one, as we will for 2026, there is no question the United States, Mexico and Canada will deliver an experience that will celebrate the game, serve players, supporters and partners alike,” Gulati said at a press conference as they made the pledge. (more…)
Donovan to make decision about his future
Former US national team player Landon Donovan has stated that he will make a decision about his future in the days to come.
Despite having retired from the Major League Soccer in 2014, the player came back from retirement at the end of last season to help his former team LA Galaxy for the closing stage of the season as well as the playoffs.
His good performance has given rise to speculations that the 35-years old player might be the subject of interest from other MLS team.
He admitted that there were interests from different teams, but he has yet to take a decision about his future. He said that teams in the MLS will be starting their pre-season training in around two weeks and that he will have to make a decision now if he is going to pursue his career in the United States. (more…)
DONOVAN COMING OUT OF RETIREMENT
Landon Donovan announces his LA Galaxy return two years after he had retired from football as the former Everton striker is willing to help his hometown club in their bid for a sixth championship.
A little injury crisis has struck the former Galaxy player in recent weeks, and he has taken the decision after discussions with Coach Bruce Arena, to make himself available for selection.
He discussed the decision in a lengthy Facebook post: “I am very happy to announce that I have decided to rejoin my hometown team, the LA Galaxy for the remainder of the MLS season. While this decision may come as a shock to many, I want to explain how and why it was made.
“Two weeks ago, I was working as an analyst on the LA Galaxy vs. Vancouver Whitecaps match and during that game, the Galaxy suffered injuries to three players: Jelle Van Damme, Steven Gerrard and GyasiZardes. Over the next few days, Nigel De Jong was transferred to Galatasaray and news broke that Gyasi would be out for the rest of the season.
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DONOVAN READY TO STEP UP TO SWANSEA DILEMMA
Former United States international Landon Donovan joined Swansea City this summer in an advisory role to contribute his wealth of experiences especially with his Premier League understanding playing for Everton.
The 34-year old is set to step up to the season which promises to be very exciting yet with special challenges for Swansea City.
Donovan retired from professional football, ending his time with Major League Soccer outfit LA Galaxy in 2014. He joined Steve Kaplan and Jason Levien in advisory role as the new owners consulted with him before taking over the Premier League club in June.
“The new owners met with me a few months back and said this is likely going to happen and admitted that they didn’t know a lot about football. [They said] ‘We know that you know the game and you’re passionate about it, you played at Everton, spent time in world football and sort of understand it a little better, would you be willing to help us, advise us and consult with us on certain things?’ I said yeah, that would be great and that’s something I am certainly open to,” Donovan told the NBC Sports about his new role.
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Landon Donovan And Home Grown Team
Landon Donovan might be out of the active games, but he is still leading new teams and introducing fresh spirit in US soccer in different ways.
For instance, an MLS home grown team has been picked by him and it is said that he would be leading this team against his old adversaries.
This is the third year that he has been part of the coaching team that has been working on MLS as well as the national team of US. The home grown team competed in the 2016 Chipotle MLS home grown game which will be featured on July 27th in San Jose. This will be a day before the all star MLS game is played against the heavyweights like Arsenal FC of the English Premier League. The opponents of the team this year would be the under 20 team from Mexico. They had been winners of the U20 Championship that was held in 2015.
The selections for the upcoming game include players from Seattle Sounders like Jordan Morris and others like Tommy Thompson, who is a skillful international player from the Bay Area. (more…)
Landon Donovan Supports Equal Opportunities For USWNT
Trust names like Landon Donovan to feature in all the right causes and issues related to US Soccer.
Having captained the national team before, Donovan is now a leading figure in different ways, acting as an analyst for sports channels to running charitable football organizations for promoting the sport among the youth in the country.
He recently spoke out in favor of removing wage discrimination for the women’s team. The wage dispute that has arisen with US Soccer and USWNT is shocking for many. Landon has voiced his concerns and states that the women’s team should be treated equally as the men’s team when it comes to providing compensation and other benefits. Usually, compensation is decided as per net revenue proceedings. (more…)
James Milner criticized for his display against Holland
There have been numerous critics targeted towards James Milner following England defeat on Tuesday. The Liverpool player who was the captain on the night has been the subject of constant critics from the England fans.
In fairness, it was not only Milner who was at fault during the game. It was the whole England team who was below par following an incredible match against Germany. Milner may have been the victim of a comparison between his game and the one played by Eric Dier and Dele Alli against Germany.
James Milner was the culprit of missing several crosses when his teammates were in good position. Fans were keen to make their voices heard on social media and were desperate for the Liverpool player to be replaced.
Despite having his own share of critics, Millner has come to the rescue of his England teammate John Stones. The Everton defender was guilty of giving the ball away in the build-up to the goal that allowed Holland to equalize. James Millner has encouraged Stones to take the critics as a compliment and to work harder to please the fans. (more…)
Manchester City are reportedly close to signing Pep Guardiola as their new manager
Manchester City are reportedly close to signing Pep Guardiola as their new manager, which would mean sacking Manuel Pellegrini. The Chilean is already working on a tightrope after a poor run of results left the club three points adrift of table leaders Arsenal. Guardiola has already announced that he would be leaving Bayern Munich at the end of the season. He has spent just three seasons in German football. Even though he has been immensely successful in the domestic competitions, Guardiola has left something wanting as far as European competitions go.
Papers have already been talking about how Guardiola will settle into the Manchester City team, which has numerous tasks like Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne. Guardiola already knows one of the City stars – Yaya Touré – from his time at Barcelona. Meanwhile, Aguero was put forward the question of playing under a manager like Guardiola and he responded with great excitement much to the surprise of City. The star striker has responded now with a statement saying that his commentswere taken out of context. According to Aguero, he was simply referring to Guardiola has a great manager and that playing under great managers will be of great pleasure to him. (more…)
Landon Donovan is not surprised about the FIFA scandal
The retired footballer, Landon Donovan revealed his opinion concerning the FIFA scandals and briberies which has been discovered by the FBI and the former star of the American national football team stated that he isn’t even surprised about what has been going within the football governing authority.
FIFA is going through a turmoil which has led to a number of FIFA executives being arrested and SeppBlatter having to resign from his presidential role in the organization.
When Landon Donovan was questioned about the recent news about FIFA, the retired player replied by saying: ‘’ I’m not angry, mostly just sad and absolutely not surprised. I’ve met a few of the guys that were indicted and always had a bad feeling about them. I remember one top CONCACAF official calling me ‘’stupid’’ publicly. I tell you that because it’s indicative of how some of these people operated. Unprofessional, egotistical and arrogant’’
Landon Donovan has already retired from playing football at a professional and competitive level but he will still continue helping out his national side even if it’s outside of the pitch. Donovan is considered to be the best player to have emerged from United States and he is the all-time leader in scoring and assists as well as has the most caps from all of the active players. (more…)