Real Madrid ended their four-year trophy drought when they won the league title for the 30th time after a dramatic 3-1 comeback victory over Real Mallorca at the Bernabeu on Sunday.

Substitute Jose Reyes Antonio was Real’s hero, equalising a minute after coming on in the second half and putting the icing on the cake with a spectacular third seven minutes from time.

The nine-times European champions topped the final standings by virtue of a better head-to-head record against arch-rivals Barcelona, whose 5-1 victory at already relegated Gimnastic Tarragona was to no avail. (Read full article…)

LONDON – Manchester United will begin the defence of its Premier League title with a home game against Reading, while Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce will return to former club Bolton on the opening day of the season.

The Premier League released its fixtures for the 2007-08 season on Thursday.

The season starts Aug. 11. Of the promoted clubs, Birmingham is at Chelsea, Sunderland hosts Tottenham and Derby plays Portsmouth at Pride Park.

Manchester United won its ninth Premier League title and 16th overall with two games to spare. Chelsea was second, Liverpool third and Arsenal fourth. (Read full article…)

LIVE TEAM CANADA QUARTER-FINAL MATCH AND BECKHAM’S LAST LA LIGA GAME HIGHLIGHT THIS WEEKEND ON GOLTV

Will Canada advance to the next round? It’s do-or-die time in the CONCACAF Gold Cup as Canada faces Guatemala in a crucial quarter-final match, and GOLTV is the only place to catch it LIVE on June 16 at 1 pm ET. That’s followed by another big quarter-final, as the US takes on Panama.

In La Liga action, David Beckham looks to go out in style by winning the Spanish league championship with Real Madrid, as they take on Mallorca. It is the star midfielder’s last game before heading to the L.A. Galaxy. Don’t miss what could be the biggest game of the year in La Liga, Sunday LIVE at 3 pm. (Read full article…)

An England team just failed to win their opening game at an international tournament partly due to a missed penalty. So, the English media revert to type and go overboard.

Simon Hattenstone in the Guardian leads the way with his criticism of England’s 0-0 draw with the Czech Republic in their first game in the European under-21 Championship.

“These are dark days for the country’s national sport. Until there is a cultural and economic revolution - actually, until football becomes bankrupt and is forced to reinvent itself - England teams will deteriorate by the generation. I would love this U21 team to succeed but if they do it is more likely to be because of familiarity and spirit than quality. Equally, I hope that they don’t evolve into the next England team. But my guess is they will.”

(Read full article…)

Fox Soccer Channel has expanded its partnership with England’s Barclays Premier League (BPL) to include exclusive U.S. mobile and Internet highlight rights for the 2007/2008 through 2009/2010 seasons. Reflecting the BPL’s growing popularity in the United States and worldwide, the new deal marks the first time that the league has made highlights available to U.S. fans via mobile devices or the Internet. Fox Soccer Channel will begin offering BPL highlights, commencing with the new season in August, on its market-leading Internet site – foxsoccer.com on MSN – and through additional mobile and Internet video syndication partnerships currently in negotiation.

Fox Soccer Channel also recently signed a new three-year broadcast rights agreement with the BPL, solidifying its position as the BPL’s primary broadcast partner in the United States through 2010. The broadcast agreement includes rights to distribute full matches via mobile devices and the Internet. (Read full article…)

Courtesy of 101greatgoals.com

Dan McDougall has written an excellent piece in the Observer from the Ivory Coast on “a lucrative trade in young players [which] is on the rise. Children who have not even finished primary education are being scouted by the major clubs from France, Belgium, Morocco and Tunisia.”

“The investigation by the Observer found that Lebanese businessmen in Abidjan [the capital of the Ivory Coast], an entrepreneurial community once preoccupied with diamond and timber smuggling, are turning their attention to football, establishing illegal training schools across the country in an attempt to farm the best talent out to some of the Middle East and Europe’s largest clubs.”

Lebanese businessman Mr Shalhoub is quoted at the end of the article: “Football slavery exists in Africa. But Africa has long been exploited for diamonds, for gold, for its people, so why should footballers be any different?” (Read full article…)

Courtesy of 101greatgoals.com

The Euro under-21 Championships began yesterday and gives us all a chance to act like Arsene Wenger and pluck the next great youngster from obscurity.

There is a direct correlation between this tournament and future success. Four of the Greek players that reached the final in 1998, won Euro 2004. Fourteen members of the World Cup winning Italian squad at the last World Cup had won the under-21 Championships.

Among the greats to have announced themselves to the world on this stage are: Eric Cantona, Laurent Blanc, Andrei Kanchelskis, Fabio Cannavaro, Alessandro Del Piero, Rino Gattusso, Andrea Pirlo and Petr Cech.

(Read full article…)

Article courtesy of 101greatgoals.com
June 12th, 2007

A few weeks before the end of the Premiership season I called up my partner in crime, Ronaldo, and expressed my fear that the summer holiday period would coincide with a drying-up of football, and we would be left without being able to bring you - our loyal community - your daily doses of football goals and videos from around the world. Then Ronaldo showed me the forthcoming fixture list including the end of La Liga, the MLS, Euro 2008 qualifiers, the CONCAF Gold Cup, the Under-21 tournament and the Copa America and my fears subsided.

Nowadays there is no more football famine when the sun comes out. Every two years we are provided with either the European Championships or the World Cup. And in the other two year cycle we have a plethora of constant regional competitions. This trend exists because fans demand football action as often as possible, and football’s governing bodies respond by hosting all these various tournaments to satisfy our consumer appetites and ensure that fans are never left empty-handed. (Read full article…)

Continued correspondence between Tim and Todd from KFMB

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Tim ‘Trieste’ Taylor
Date: Jun 9, 2007 4:15 PM
Subject: NEWS 8 Re: (ridiculous rude re: from Todd on my tip) SAN DIEGANS in Bundesliga
To: TV Sports [AT] kfmb dot com

Todd, I only meant for you to read it for knowledge. You need to know these things.

I wasn’t expecting you to put it on.
However, the reason the story is of interest here is because of so many San Diegans in the Bundesliga.

Steve Cherundolo, for one, plays there now.
He is the guy who made the goal for the USA against Germany last year.

Frankie Hejduk is another current USA player who had a great career in Bundesliga. (Read full article…)

Eric Wynalda, who is so famous now as a commentator and recent (2004) Hall of Fame inductee, was on the San Diego Aztecs squad that famously made it to the NCAA National Championship title game. He will always be known for making the first goal of the MLS league, and also for being the FIRST AMERICAN EVER to play in the Bundesliga.

Another achievement of the World Cup USA veteran is the fact that he was the all-time USMNT points-scoring leader…that is (was)…until today.

Today, the USA came up against Trinidad and Tobago at the Home Depot Center, in a first-round match of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. In that match shown live in San Diego on channels including FSC, which the USA won 2-0, Landon Donovan assisted in the second goal, which Eddie Johnson put into the back of the net. (Eddie, by the way, is also the current MLS Player of the Week)

Upon scoring the assist, Landon Donovan now becomes the all-time points leader for USMNT, with 85. Eric Wynalda’s record of 84 had stood since his retirement…
(Wynalda played his last game for USMNT in 2000, finishing with 106 total international appearances and an all-time leading 34 goals. He was voted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2004 in recognition of his 10 record-setting years with the national team and seven years with Major League Soccer. The next year, Aztec teammate Marcelo Balboa followed him into HOF)