Liviu Bird
Liviu Bird is a journalism student and goalkeeper at Seattle Pacific University. He grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska. He currently writes for The Falcon (www.thefalcononline.com) and plans on giving the professional soccer scene a shot before settling into a full-time writing gig somewhere. Follow him on Twitter @lbird90.
Jürgen Klinsmann trying too hard to Europeanize U.S. team
Thursday was the five-month anniversary of Jürgen Klinsmann’s appointment as head coach of the United States men’s national team. In that short time, he has presided over seven games and has a paltry 2-1-4 record. He has also instituted some controversial player-selection policies, in some instances preferring European-born players to Americans. This has led to…
Jurgen Klinsmann opens U.S. career in entertaining fashion
On Wednesday night, the U.S. National Team ushered in the Jurgen Klinsmann era with a 1-1 tie against Mexico in Philadelphia. The new U.S. coach spent most of the evening with a smile on his face, and although the first half of his debut was less than promising, the second half provided plenty of reason…
MLS: Friendlies against foreign teams still don’t work
Major League Soccer is not doing American soccer any favors by having its all-stars play against top foreign teams year after year. The entertainment value is never as high as expected, and it inevitably just leads to more discussion about how far behind the rest of the world Americans are. That is hardly worth the…
U.S. releases its roster for Gold Cup, Spain friendly
After delaying the release of the U.S. national team roster, head coach Bob Bradley finally came out with his list of the 23 men who will wear the red, white, and blue in the U.S. team’s June 4 friendly against Spain and in the CONCACAF Gold Cup June 5 through 25. As has become expected,…
MLS: Sounders-Timbers not as progressive as some hope
SEATTLE – Since the Seattle Sounders and Portland Timbers inaugurated Major League Soccer’s Cascadia Cup rivalry on Saturday night, fans and journalists alike have been proclaiming that the game was revolutionary for soccer in the United States. However, it may have just illuminated yet again why soccer is not the biggest sport here. The organizations…
Goalkeepers and Technology in Football
With professional goalkeepers complaining about the new EURO 2008 ball, I feel like, as a member of the greatest union in football, I need to shed some light on this subject. Besides, Steve wanted my opinion.
Does Football really need the 6 plus 5 rule?
This week, the 58th FIFA Congress is taking place in Sydney, presided over by Mr. FIFA President Sepp Blatter. As part of the agenda, the delegates have approved the 6+5 rule, which would allow any team to field only five foreign players on the pitch at one time. This rule is to be implemented by…
Mediocre US side disappoints at Wembley
This article refers to a previous USA-England matchup. Follow the latest England v USA match here. One word can describe the United States Men’s National Team’s effort tonight against England: disappointing. The hype that this match has been getting was grossly undermined by a lackluster performance on the pitch by the players in anthracite (that’s…
US National Team 2008 Summer Preview
The European domestic leagues are coming to a close, but the US Men’s National Team players based on the continent are just getting warmed up. This summer will be an important one for the USMNT in their run-up to qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. A series of testing friendlies precedes the…
MLS Roundup: Champions Cup teams struggling at bottom, table shifts after exciting weekend, and Champions Cup Final first leg preview
This is the moment North American soccer fans have been waiting for; the CONCACAF Champions Cup Final is here. However, with more exciting MLS action coming up this weekend, Americans are spoiled for choice as we creep closer to summer.
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