USL

The NASL, which once boasted such stars as Pelé and, well, Pelé should be enough for you to keep reading this sentence, cannot seem to sort itself out. The league is a mess right now and not even its move to the international calendar should convince you otherwise — in fact, the move is merely propaganda to make you think everything is just fine.

The NASL announced Monday it would move to an August-to-June calendar, one employed by most of Europe and many of the top leagues around the world. 

Here’s a pro tip for all you executives out there who want to run a professional soccer league: make sure your best team doesn’t disband the same week it wins the league championship. 

Speaking of, it’s been one helluva week for the San Francisco Deltas — henceforth to be referred to as NASL’s bottle rockets. The Deltas came, they saw, they conquered then they got the hell out of Dodge, all within a span of two years. 

There’s a proverb or two that probably apply here, something about counting eggs before they hatch or putting the cart before the horse. But this is Major League Soccer, where allocation money and salary caps make fools of us all and expansion is the single greatest boon to owners’ pocketbooks since skyboxes. So really, this is business as usual.

Mexican midfielder Gerardo Torrado played his final match on Sunday, ending a legendary career that spanned 20 years. He played for more than a decade with Cruz Azul, amassing 325 appearances. He played 146 times for the Mexican national team, trailing only Claudio Suarez for most all-time El Tri appearances.

Back in May of 2015, the United Soccer League (the second division of the American soccer pyramid) announced its ambitious plan to have all its clubs playing in soccer-specific stadiums by 2020.

Will Ferrell is set to join the MLS ranks next year with LAFC, which he is part owner of, but he may indirectly join the NASL in 2018 too. San Diego’s new NASL team announced its name on Wednesday but no one is buying the official explanation behind the name 1904 FC, which seems to be a veiled reference to the 2004 classic Ferrell comedy “Anchorman.” 

According to the club’s website the name is inspired for and by the people of San Diego.

In the last week, many in the football world have come together in the wake of the devastating earthquake that hit Mexico. It’s a wonderful to see soccer fans everywhere unite to help in the recovery process for Mexico, one of the world’s most devoted soccer nations. But it’s important to not forget about Puerto Rico.

There are some things that just don’t die, like cockroaches and Kool & the Gang.

Something else that won’t die? Joe Cole’s soccer career.

Once one of England’s most skilled players, Cole has bounced around half-a-dozen clubs since leaving Chelsea on a free in 2010.

After playing at clubs like Lille and Coventry City, Cole landed where most people go to retire: Florida.

But instead of hanging up his boots, Cole is still kicking it.

He's playing for NASL side Tampa Bay and is scoring like never before.

A record-setting crowd of 32,287 packed into FC Cincinnati’s Nippert Stadium to watch their club take on surging MLS side Chicago Fire in the Round of 16 of the U.S. Open Cup. Perhaps there’s no greater barometer for the growth of the sport in America than the fact that this wasn’t just a quirky Wednesday night excursion to the stadium to watch Bastian Schweinsteiger for FCC faithful, this was a seething cauldron of tensions and daring expectancies.

Upon hearing the announcement of a new professional soccer team in San Diego, you’d probably expect to see Landon Donovan and Don Garber chumming it up. Donovan has been a main force behind bringing a MLS franchise to San Diego over the past six months. However, it’s the NASL and a group of European-based stars, led by Eden Hazard, returning soccer to the beach city.