Just when you thought soccer season was on break, we are served ample helpings of international games and there is always transfers to occupy our time. Here are some great links to keep up with the transfer rumors, actual transfers, etc. The first link is my favorite:
http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/
Guardian transfer rumors
The Telegraph Transfer Page
ESPNFC
FOX Soccer Paper…
I have blogged a couple of times in the past on the relationship between heading and brain injury. A new study has been published, the first of its kind, to study the effects of repetitive heading of a soccer ball on the brain and whether there is damage associated with such activity. Again, this study is not focused on traumatic head-to-head contact in a soccer match or even head to post contact…
Tomorrow kicks off the Quarterfinals in the Champions League. The 8 teams left play home and away series starting tomorrow. A cool visual of the tournament is here. Quarterfinal matchups are as follows:
TUESDAY Games:
PSG hosting Barcelona (Storyline – Vilanova returning to sidelines.)
Bayern Munich hosting Juventus (Storyline – Heynckes says “outstanding” Bayern…
Last Friday started another round of World Cup Qualifying matches. They resume tomorrow during this international break from league play. Here is a summary a Friday’s action and a preview of tomorrow’s:
CONCACAF: Update on the HEX
Standings here.
In case you haven’t heard, this round of the CONCACAF playoffs is referred to as the HEX. Group play consisted of three groups of four.
As I have posted on here before, I am concerned with the risk of brain injury to young players not necessarily resulting from head-to-head contact, or contact with the ground or goal post, but because of the cumulative affect of repetitive heading of the ball. The literature online is lacking. A few years ago, you could find nothing. I looked because I was coaching a U10 player (who is a…
I was reading the Sports Illustrated article Inside the Lakers’ Disaster and came across some interesting tidbits from Kobe Bryant regarding player development in basketball. Kobe grew up in Italy during is his youth basketball years. Apparently, Select Basketball (called AAU) has the same problems that Select Baseball does and soccer too. Kobe states:
“I feel fortunate that I was over in…
Yesterday started the beginning of the knockout round in the UEFA Champions League. In the two matches yesterday, both away teams scored critical away goals and secured results, all but guaranteeing them berth into the Round of 8. Juventus won 3-0 at Celtic in a game where the score is no indicative of the competitiveness of the match. Neal Lennon has rightfully complained post-match of t…
Soccer never stops giving. International breaks in soccer just mean more soccer! Today, there are some great friendlies on as well as some World Cup Qualifying Games, with the U.S. playing Honduras today! Here are some great matches today:
12:00 pm Spain hosting Uruguay
1:30 pm England hosting Brazil. I believe this game is on FoxSoccer and FoxSoccerTV has a delayed broadcast…
***NOTE ON SOCCERTHOUGHT.COM*** Recently, the blog has changed host. It was hacked prior (twice) but now WPengine.com is hosting and has constant protection. COMMENTS are back on as well (we turned them off because of spam).
We all know — games are more fun. More fun for the kids. More fun for the parents. In a typical training session, the most common question asked by t…
Today and tomorrow are the last group games in the UEFA Champions League. Only 16 teams advance to the knockout round of home and away aggregate scoring. With 14 spots already locked up, very few issues remain other than seeding — who will win the groups and who will be the 2 seeds. There are some battles for the (3) spot, which earns a berth into Europa League. Here is a rundown of all of t…