The UAE is having a hard time in soccer/football. Which wouldn’t be as big an issue if the game weren’t the national sport. The senior team is suffering through its most difficult and disappointing World Cup qualifying, with five defeats in five matches, and was eliminated before the final round of Brazil 2014 qualifying. The […]

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My recollection is this: I called Landon Donovan the day before the 2001 MLS Cup final and talked to him for 10 or 15 minutes. Yes. The day before. Called him on his cell, and he picked up, and I wrote a story based on what we talked about on the eve of the game. […]

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If ever you feel despair about the future of American national soccer, wondering if any of us will live to see the Yanks win the World Cup … or get to the final … or semifinal … well, things could be far worse. You could be in China, wondering when your nation of 1.3 billion […]

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You think your national soccer team has problems? (Well, if your team is China, it does.) The UAE fell out of contention for the 2014 World Cup today, November 11, 2011 — three-and-a-half years ahead of the 2014 World Cup. Done. Out of it. Can’t survive the second-to-last round of Asia Confederation qualifying. That’s right. […]

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Each fall, an organization known as Futbol de Primera polls journalists to determine the best U.S. national team player of that calendar year. (For years, they gave away a Honda automobile to the winner; that no longer appears to be the case.) The Futbol de Primera (formerly Honda) award is better than the U.S. Soccer […]

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Well, this is a bit awkward. The UAE women’s national team tonight won their second West Asian Football Federation championship, following up on the title they won at the last WAFF tournament, in early 2010. What we have here is something Americans could recognize: Compared to their rivals, the women’s national soccer team appears to […]

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Not an unexpected defeat for the UAE in World Cup qualifying. South Korea is the favorite to win the group, and playing in Suwon … well, it was always going to be tough for the Emiratis. What made it more painful was arriving in Korea with zero points from the Kuwait match (3-2 loss at […]

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Theyab Awana became probably the most famous UAE soccer player in history after he scored against Lebanon in July on a backheel penalty. The goal became an internet sensation. As of tonight, his audacious shot appears to have been viewed more than 10 million times on various YouTube entries, such as this one. Theyab Awana […]

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I was aware of this, a bit. I clearly remember, X number of years ago (during that short period when the proudly clueless Dutchman Ruud Gullit was coaching the Galaxy), having this pointed out to me. Gullit was talking to a few of us after a practice session, and he just launched into a Jeremiad […]

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This differs markedly from the list in the item below — because this one includes the 40-plus foreigners in the league. The number of foreigners playing in the Pro League here in the UAE is up to a potential 48 this season (from 36 a year ago) because the league chose to add a fourth […]

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