The USL side lost every game of the 2013 season, based in a hotel and playing every game away, but their fighting spirit earned their opponents’ respectFootball, as the saying goes, is a results business and teams are prepared to rip up blueprints and burn through personnel in order to get them. Losing runs can act like a virus, stripping confidence and cohesion from even the most stable side, but one way or another they end eventually – most of the time.In 2013 Antigua Barracuda played 26 matches in the United Soccer League (USL) – then the third tier in the US – and lost them all. It was the club’s third and last full season, fleeting even by the...
The four-times winner is in his best form for years after back surgery but there are plenty of other Americans with a chanceThe Masters has never been a more international affair than in recent years. When the season’s first major championship tees off on Thursday morning amid the flowering dogwoods and blooming azaleas at Augusta National Golf Club it will mark the 12th straight year the Americans in the field will be outnumbered by players from outside the country – with six of the last 10 winners hailing from foreign soil.A global contingent including Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Jason Day and the defending champion, Sergio García, are the prime contenders to keep the Green Jacket off a homegrown player’s back...
The Swede brushed aside questions about his age and fitness with his trademark self-confidence on his first day with the MLS clubAs with all new recruits at LA Galaxy, Zlatan Ibrahimovic was greeted to the ‘Tunnel of Death’ indoctrination when he first stepped onto the StubHub Center training field on Friday morning.Ibrahimovic’s team-mates formed a passageway and took turns slapping his back, as the 36-year-old ran the gauntlet. Perhaps some will have needed the bravery of the ‘lion’ to strike the 6ft 5in frontman, yet he was all smiles afterwards. Related: Why Zlatan's move to LA Galaxy is bad for Major League Soccer Continue reading...
This week’s roundup also features a cricketer failing to learn the aim of golf and Wayne Bridge being charitable with his fists1) The Australians are not the first team to tamper with the ball; there is a long, rich history of it in cricket. There was Michael Atherton’s dirt-rubbing episode at Lord’s in 1994 during a Test against South Africa. Then in 2001, Sachin Tendulkar was at the centre of a furore around his dealing with the seam, which resulted in an international incident. Shahid Afridi was banned for two matches are he was caught biting the ball, although this was not due to the glorious taste of worn leather. In other cricket news: Haseeb Hameed not a golfer .2)...
Ageing striker’s long-awaited move to US is done, but the entire enterprise feels like an unwelcome throwback for MLSIt had become the worst kept secret in soccer. This was a transfer that followed the usual course of conjecture: there was a public courting, months of tabloid speculation and, of course, stories of the player concerned hunting for a new home in the local area, the mark of any mega move played out through the press. Finally, on Thursday, it became apparent that Zlatan Ibrahimovic was set to become an LA Galaxy player, with the Swede’s contract at Manchester United terminated. On Friday, it became official.Ibrahimovic makes ripples wherever he goes, such is his nature, and it will be no different...