August 4 – CONCACAF have launched an U13 Champions League tournament that kicks off today in Mexico City. The eight-team competition is the youngest official age-group tournament the confederation has ever held and will be played over four days.
By Paul Nicholson
July 31 – CONCACAF has moved swiftly to set up a review of its refereeing department following the bitter and very public complaints of Panama and Costa Rica about the standard of officiating at the just completed Gold Cup.
By Ben Nicholson
July 31 – MLS Commissioner Don Garber took the opportunity at the recent MLS All-Star game to show that, on the league’s 20th anniversary season, the MLS is a forward thinking enterprise. His half time comments indicated the league is seeking to evolve with technological growth and its own popularity growth.
By Ben Nicholson
July 30 – The MLS All-Star game is a peculiarity of the US soccer calendar that is unique in world football. This years opponents for the MLS side were Premier League Tottenham Hotspur who lost 2-1 to goals by two of the older player on the pitch – Kaká and David Villa.
By Ben Nicholson
July 28 – The MLS has formed a partnership with Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), making the school its exclusive education partner.
By Paul Nicholson
July 27 – Mexico won their seventh CONCACAF Gold Cup last night with a 3-1 win over the tournament’s surprise package Jamaica who made Gold Cup history by being the first team from the Caribbean to reach the final.
By Paul Nicholson
July 24 – The Panamanian Football Federation (FEPAFUT), bitter at their semi-final loss in the Gold Cup to Mexico on Wednesday evening have escalated their public complaints, now calling for the resignation of the whole CONCACAF Referees Committee citing “insulting and shameful” refereeing. The demand was made in a statement on their website.
By Paul Nicholson
July 23 – Not even the FBI could prevent the Caribbean having their day in the Gold Cup sunshine in the US. A history making 2-1 semi-final victory over the US in Atlanta yesterday catapulted the Reggae Boyz from Jamaica into a final against Mexico in Philadelphia this Sunday.
By Samindra Kunti
July 23 – A September friendly between Brazil and Argentina in San Francisco has been cancelled as the fallout of the FIFA corruption scandal continues. Problems with Full Play have impeded the staging of the match.
By Ben Nicholson
July 21 – David Beckham appears to have found a mutually agreeable site in Miami for his long awaited MLS franchise. The city’s resolve to push Beckham away from its prime real estate has forced him to resort to the less desirable land next to Marlins Park, home to a Major League Baseball team, which is west of downtown in Little Havana.
By Ben Nicholson
July 20 – MLS players have overwhelmingly ratified the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) through 2019 with a 91% vote in favor, putting behind them the disagreements over the terms that threatened to delay the start of the 2015 season.
By Paul Nicholson
July 17 – An unexpected Caribbean hurricane has swept through the group stages of the Gold Cup in the US, and it has nothing to do with sports politics or financial corruption.
July 10 – New York hosts the US Women’s Victory parade today. On Sunday it hosts a very different football event when Manhattan’s Times Square will be the venue for Street Soccer USA’s four-a-side tournament.
July 10 – Six players plus the head coach failed to show up in time because of visa issues whilst another was reported to have defected as Cuba were trounced 6-0 by Mexico Thursday at the opening of the Gold Cup in Chicago.
By Ben Nicholson
July 10 – The rumors that the MLS is to introduce a ‘Core Player’ materialised on July 8 in the form of ‘Targeted Allocation Money’. The new rule amounts to each MLS club receiving $100,000 per year for the next five years for the purpose of investing in their roster outside of their player salary budget.