Author: THEJOHNANTONIOBLOG

Over the past 8 matchdays, the teams in the Mexican Apertura have treated the spot atop the table like a papita caliente. Only one team, Jaguares, has managed to stay there for more than one week. The others haven’t even had time to enjoy their cafecitos at the top of the mountain before they are…

An old friend of mine who has spent a good deal of his life – not to mention a good deal of his money – on promoting soccer in the US (among other things he owned a USL/USISL Pro team about which the less said the better) has a theory about the real – as…

Who is Barney Kempton? Not somebody very many Big Soccer readers are familiar with. Not somebody I'm especially familiar with, for that matter, although I have skimmed past his name on lists of Hall of Famers hundreds of times. He is not one of the more prominent Hall of Famers, even though he was part…

So what did we learn today against a game but, honestly, unspectacular Socceroo side? Deuce don't take no crap. ​ Findlay may not be entirely ready for prime time: ​ Edson Buddle continues make a hell of a case for himself: ​ And Bob Bradley continues to confound everyone with choices that, to us mere…

(I don't care HOW old this makes me look. I'm doing this. Blame the MLS Facebook caption contest.) This is my stop Have to get off I might go pop Excuse me. EXCUSE ME! I've got to be direct If I'm wrong please correct You're standing on my neck You're standing on my neck La…

I realize it was several weeks ago now, but I'm still irritated by Vice Sports' nonsensical coverage of the "ultras" clash in front of a pub in New Jersey. The actual incident, of course, would have been dignified with the Yakety Sax soundtrack. If it were the Sharks and Jets, Sondheim would have told them…

In view of all the confusion in the booth last night, apparently nobody from USSF could stop glomming on to free stuff from the vendors and loading up plates at the buffet tables long enough to offer some actual technical assistance to the poor schmoes in the booth. (Ian Darke seemed to have the right…

And the goalscoring race goes to the final game after all. Didn't see a Wondolowski hat trick coming. Now…were the San Jose Earthquakes stupid to win tonight? It depends on how you believe the playoffs are going to shake out. Jason Kreis thinks the Quakes should have taken a dive. Boy, it's still weird to…

We're all still reeling from Steve Zakuani picking one of the Congos over the Nats – this is exactly the kind of Afrosnobbery that I find infuriating. But the USMNT marches on. Via DuNord and others, I'm sure we all enjoyed South Africa fans whining about the low quality of our roster, and the Bafana(2)…

It's difficult to try to rank 19th-century American soccer teams. There was occasional contact between teams from the Middle Atlantic states and the New England states, but none between teams from the east and midwest. Teams everywhere played most of their games against local opponents. As a result, the list below of pre-1890 teams is…