Tim Howard has been playing professional soccer for more than two decades. During that time he’s teamed up with some of the world’s best — players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs with Manchester United, Mikel Arteta and Joseph Yobo at Everton and Christian Pulisic and Chris Wondolowski Clint Dempsey on the USMNT.
Longtime Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger announced he will step down as manager at the end of the season on Friday. In the short term, it means an end to the Wenger In/Out meme. In the long term it means figuring out what’s next for Arsenal and Arsene. We have one suggestion for Wenger's next job: USMNT coach.
The USSF has launched its bio-banding initiative. The search for the American Messi is buoyed by widespread support for an increased scouting budget. And despite the U.S. team's absence this summer, World Cup fever will clear sporting goods stores of adidas Predators as surely as Brood X cicadas will reemerge in 2021.
In a certain light, Shaq Moore could be looked upon as a blueprint for young Americans looking to develop careers in professional soccer. The 21-year-old fullback spent time in the IMG Academy and the FC Dallas Academy before moving to Spain, where he rose through the reserve divisions and currently plays for Levante in the Primera Division. He has even appeared against Barcelona.
However, to hear him tell it, there is no blueprint.
Bruce Arena (with the help of Jurgen Klinsmann and some uninspired performances from the players) failed to qualify the U.S. for the 2018 World Cup. Now he wants to monetize that failure with a new autobiography. The Bruce Arena book is titled “What's Wrong with US?: A Coach’s Blunt Take on the State of American Soccer After a Lifetime on the Touchline,” a clear and obvious money grab revolving around a fiasco of his own creation.
Andrija Novakovich is a 21-year-old forward for Dutch club Telstar. He’s not exactly a household name among U.S. fans, but his debut for the USMNT on Tuesday was one of the best moments for U.S. soccer in months.
Age 21, standing at 6-4 and hailing from Muskego, Wisconsin, you probably think you know the USMNT’s latest salvation at the forward position, Andrija Novakovich. You’ve probably sketched a mental outline of a big, blundering center forward with an affinity for Milwaukee’s Best, but we mustn’t forget that Harry Kane was similarly written off for being a chubby, traveling salesman-looking version of Butt-head.
In a wide-ranging interview recently, Landon Donovan spoke of coming out of retirement for a second time, opting to join Liga MX, Mexico-U.S. politics and the state of U.S. Soccer. Donovan, perhaps the greatest American player ever produced, knows as well as anyone what he’s talking about when he discusses the state of U.S. Soccer, but he’s dead wrong in saying the next USMNT coach needs to be an American.
Former USMNT striker Charlie Davies has called time on a once hugely promising career that was devastated by a serious car accident in 2009 and a subsequent 2016 cancer diagnosis. Davies' 10-year career included stints in Sweden, France, Denmark and with D.C. United, New England and Philadelphia in MLS, as well as 17 appearances and four goals with the USMNT between 2007 and 2009.
The mystery of who the USMNT will play during the March international break has been revealed. The USMNT will take on Paraguay in March 27 in Sahlen's Stadium in Cary, North Carolina (home of the NWSL's North Carolina Courage).