Martin Rogers: Are broadcasters to blame for Americans’ disconnect with soccer?

Wanker...

A popular Internet video uploaded by a marketing professional seeking his dream job claims to have unearthed the secret to making soccer one of the United States’ most-loved sports.Christopher Medley created a stir in the tight-knit U.S. soccer community by insisting the sport could rival established favorites such as football, basketball and baseball if television commentators did a better job of educating their audience. “In the big three sports, the television viewing experience prominently features an element that is woefully lacking in soccer,” Medley said. “I call it the mechanics of sport.”In a 13-minute video he sent to every major North American soccer writer and commentator, Medley puts forward the notion that soccer could match its rivals in popularity in the United States if broadcasts featured more in-depth detail about the action.

2014 World Cup Dream Over for Saudi Arabia and China

Frank Rijkaard's Saudi Arabia side crashed out of 2014 World Cup qualification on Wednesday, going down to a late burst of goals in Australia as Oman leapfrogged them with a home win against Thailand. China salvaged a measure of pride from their failed qualification campaign with a 3-1 home win over Jordan, who had already made it through to the next round.Three defeats and two wins had left China with no chance of making it to Brazil 2014, but a brace from midfielder Hao Junmin and a late strike from substitute Yu Dabao gave the fans in Guangzhou something to cheer about.

International Friendly (and World Cup Qualifying) Previews

With 100 days to go until Euro 2012, the leading candidates for the title will approach Wednesday's friendly games knowing that this will be their last opportunity to experiment until the end of the season.Some, like Italy, Germany and England, have had changes imposed upon them by injuries, but others, like defending champions Spain, have been obliged to re-evaluate their resources after setbacks in recent matches.Spain are bidding to become the first team to win back-to-back European Championship titles, but their results since lifting the World Cup in 2010 have quietly begun to erode their aura of invincibility.

Top nations refine their squads and strategies before the championship in Poland and Ukraine starts in June


England vs. Holland: Dutch rediscover old sparkle
Jon Brewin: Preview
Jeremy Wilson: Style debate dividing Dutch supporters


Germany vs. France: Preview

Grant Wahl: Clint Dempsey Interview

The U.S. meets four-time World Cup champion Italy in a friendly here on Wednesday (2:45 p.m. ET, ESPN2/3, Galavisión), and I sat down with U.S. star Clint Dempsey at the team hotel on Monday. Dempsey is having the best season of his career with England's Fulham, and we had a wide-ranging discussion about a number of topics. Here it is (edited for clarity):

International Friendly Previews: Italy vs. United States

Italy host the United States at the Luigi Ferraris stadium in Genoa. The match is at 2:45pm EST and can be viewed in the U.S. on ESPN2 or ESPN3.


Preview
Preview II
Preview III


Grant Wahl: Four Thoughts


A one-sided rivalry

Sid Lowe: José Mourinho's London visit shows a manager in control of his destiny

Ey!  It's José, innit?  Right!

José Mourinho did not want to hide when he visited London this week. Quite the contrary, he wanted the capital's Premier League clubs - and Real Madrid - to take notice.

Uli Hesse in Germany

Despite a stellar performance from Franck Ribery, and a brace from Poland's Footballer of the Year, Dortmund's Robert Lewandowski, you have to say that the Bundesliga's star player at the moment is a 30-year-old Egyptian striker who didn't start a single league game between May 2010 and February 2012. On the last day of the January transfer window, Mohamed Zidan left Borussia Dortmund to rejoin the club where he made his name in Germany, Mainz 05. Only four days later, he was in the starting XI for the tricky away game at Schalke - and earned his team a point with a goal after 15 minutes.

Sid Lowe in Spain

Madrid's third team waited 3,396 days to host Real and though they lost, the loud and alternative crowd won much respect.

Rayo Vallecano's barrio boys bounce to a different beat in Real defeat.

The Trawler: Derby joy for Owls, Grayson away

Welcome to The Trawler, your weekly submersion through the teeming waters of life in the Championship, League One and League Two. You might be surprised what you find down there.

UEFA and European clubs reach agreement: International calendar set for overhaul

The number of international matches played every year is likely to be slashed after European clubs and UEFA reached an agreement on proposals to change the international calendar. The deal, which has still to be agreed with FIFA, would see an average of nine international matches played a year rather than 12.There would be nine double-headers over a two-year period with no one-off friendlies such as those taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday night this week.

Stuart Holden Profile

Stuart Holden's face is turning purple. Below the carefully cultivated dark-blond hair with trademark frosted tips, which often gets him mistaken for '90s teenybopper Aaron Carter, his small features crunch up.The Bolton and U.S. midfielder is laying on his side, getting his healing left knee worked on by longtime U.S. national team physio James Hashimoto in his Elite PT practice. (Don't be fooled by the name; it's an unpretentious place, stowed away in the basement of an inconspicuous community center on the outskirts of town.) "I'll send a picture of my T-shirt to Nigel de Jong," Holden jokes in between stretches, smiling through the strain. Marked Man, reads the shirt, which was white until he spilled coffee on it earlier in the morning.

Jonathan Wilson on Cameroon

With Samuel Eto'o serving an eight-month suspension, the Cameroonians must take on Guinea-Bissau for the right to play-off against one of the 2012 qualifiers.

Why Cameroon are on the bottom rung for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

Raphael Honigstein in Germany

Hertha Berlin dive into Otto Rehhagel's treasure chest of experience but find that all that glitters is not gold.

Can Otto Rehhagel save terribly incohesive and ill-disciplined Hertha? 

Paolo Bandini in Italy

Sulley Muntari's disallowed goal drew the headlines in a match that was contentious but enthralling nonetheless.

Milan's 'ghost goal' against Juventus leaves Serie A on a knife-edge.

Ewan Murray in Scotland

I don't really care about this, but I'll take any excuse to look at Connery photos....

Scotland's manager has looked south in an attempt to be in Brazil in 2014.

Craig Levein ignores English accents in bid for World Cup glory.

Americans Abroad: Friedel gets destroyed, Edu leads Rangers and Altidore scores twice

Jozy Altidore started for AZ Alkmaar, playing the full 90 and netting a brace for Alkmaar as the Dutch clus was held to a 3-3 draw against FC Herenveen. Responding to his manager’s criticism that his recent lack of minutes stemmed from stalled progress, Altidore seized his chance to prove his doubters wrong with both hands.Altidore struck first in the 26th minute, using his body well to receive the ball and turn on the edge of the box to fire past the hapless Herenveen goalkeeper. The visitors equalized 10 minutes after the break, but Altidore put Alkmaar ahead just three minutes later, lurking at the top of the box to latch onto a low pass from the left to lash home the second goal. Two Alkmaar errors led to Herenveen netting the equalizer through Bas Dost in the 76th minute, and then Luciano Narsingh making it 3-2 for the visitors in the 81st. Less than two minutes later, Erik Falkenburg made it 3-3 in a topsy-turvy match in which Alkmaar will feel hard done by to not pick up all three points. With the draw Alkmaar is now two points behind PSV at the top of the Dutch Eredivisie.

The Rest

Five Famous Dressing Room Revolts

Frank Lampard is unhappy at being benched, Ashley Cole is fed up with being treated like a robot, Gary Cahill wants to know why he's not playing more games. Chelsea has won just three games in 11, it teeters on the brink of Champions League elimination and the dressing room appears to be in perpetual and open revolt. With Andre-Villas Boas staring rebellion in the face, a look back at five managers who've been here before.

Phil Ball in Spain

It's been difficult to avoid Athletic de Bilbao this week, despite the fact that their 2-2 draw at struggling Villarreal was a fairly predictable result, given the current tidal patterns on both clubs' shores. Apart from the draw - not in itself a bad result - just about everything else over in Bilbao has been absolutely tickety-boo. Never mind the recession. The city is humming with content.

The Fifth Official

Few of us like a Monday morning, but The Fifth Official does, for it brings with it a chance for him to point the finger and laugh. Here he pulls out the pretty, the puzzling and the downright pig-ugly from a week brimming with potential victims.

Italy: Serie A Weekend Review + Team of the Week

Looks like a goal to me...

Napoli capped a superb week with a well-deserved win over Inter Milan to heap further pressure on Nerazzurri coach Claudio Ranieri. Udinese kept up their Serie A title push with a 3-1 victory at Bologna. Alessandro Matri struck late to earn still-unbeaten Juventus a 1-1 draw at Serie A leaders AC Milan.Antonio Nocerino put Milan ahead in the 14th minute and Sulley Muntari appeared to have doubled the lead midway through the first half when his header crossed the line but a goal was not given.Substitute Matri had a goal wrongly ruled out for offside before levelling in the 83rd minute. Juventus ended the game with 10 men after Arturo Vidal was sent off in the 88th minute for a challenge on Mark van Bommel.The result means second-placed Juventus continue to trail Milan by one point but have a game in hand on the leaders.

Review

Team of the Week

Donovan forced to withdraw from U.S. squad

Sasha Kljestan and Brek Shea were added to the roster. Shea had been with the Under-23 team, which is set to play Mexico on Wednesday.Read more:

England: Premier League Weekend Review, Reports, Team of the Week, Table, Etc.

900th match and a winning goal for Giggs...

Arsenal staged a stunning fightback to demolish Tottenham in a classic North London derby, while Ryan Giggs marked his latest milestone in fine style to keep Manchester United hot on the heels of Manchester City in what is looking increasingly like a two-horse title race.Beleaguered Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas found some respite with a win over Bolton, as Terry Connor started his Wolves reign with a creditable draw at Newcastle and the relegation battle continued to intensify.

Review

Chelsea 3 - 0 Bolton
Amy Lawrence at Stamford Bridge


Manchester City 3 - 0 Blackburn
Jamie Jackson at the Etihad Stadium


Norwich City 1 - 2 Manchester United
Kevin McCarra at Carrow Road
Jonathan Liew at Carrow Road

Five Things We Learned


Team of the Week

Pos.	Team	Pl	W	D	L	GF	GA	+/-	Pts
1	Manchester City	26	20	3	3	67	19	48	63
2	Manchester United	26	19	4	3	63	26	37	61
3	Tottenham Hotspur	26	16	5	5	51	30	21	53
4	Arsenal	26	14	4	8	53	37	16	46
5	Chelsea	26	13	7	6	47	31	16	46
6	Newcastle United	26	12	7	7	38	38	0	43
7	Liverpool	25	10	9	6	29	23	6	39
8	Norwich City	26	9	8	9	38	43	-5	35
9	Sunderland	26	9	6	11	34	30	4	33
10	Everton	25	9	6	10	26	27	-1	33
11	Fulham	26	8	9	9	32	36	-4	33
12	Stoke City	26	9	6	11	26	38	-12	33
13	West Bromwich Albion	26	9	5	12	33	35	-2	32
14	Swansea City	26	7	9	10	28	34	-6	30
15	Aston Villa	26	6	11	9	29	34	-5	29
16	Wolverhampton Wanderers	26	5	7	14	30	51	-21	22
17	Queens Park Rangers	26	5	6	15	27	45	-18	21
18	Blackburn Rovers	26	5	6	15	37	59	-22	21
19	Bolton Wanderers	26	6	2	18	29	54	-25	20
20	Wigan Athletic	26	4	8	14	23	50	-27	20