For many years we have assumed that the iconic New York Cosmos of Pele fame would be reborn as an MLS side. Does this make sense for futbol here in the U.S.? Should MLS be looking to add a second side to NYC (like LA where we have the Galaxy - Chivas USA rivalry) and should that side be the NY Cosmos?

If so -- when should this happen? 1, 2 or maybe 5 years from now? 

Who should the flag ship player be? Ronaldinho? Henry (he seems to like NYC)?

I've always loved to watch football.  It's only in recent weeks though that I've taken a deep interest in football outside of what usually draws me in and that's the World Cup.  UEFA was just an awesome tournament and now I can't get enough. I've been going to sleep with the Fox Soccer Channel almost every night.

I played a bit of football as a kid.  I think most Americans do.  But I'm certainly not an expert on the sport.  I'm wondering from folks who've probably followed the sport a lot more closely for a lot longer than I have what impact goalkeepers really have in football?  I've always followed hockey closely and that's what football reminds me of which is probably why've I've always been drawn to the sport.  And the goalie in hockey is the most important player.  A hockey goalie can single-handedly win a game. 

But my impression from watching a lot of football in my time is that goalies are important in football, but because of the ginormous size of the net, what they can do is often limited.  You definitely notice a difference when there is a great goalkeeper tending the net, like a Buffon or a Boruc, but it doesn't seem like the same impact position that a hockey goaltender is.  I did notice that Boruc nearly single-handedly beat Austria in UEFA.  But it seems like that kind of impact performance is few and far between.

I guess I'm also baffled because there seems to be so many player jerseys for sale online.  Yet it's hard to find a player jersey of your favorite goalkeeper.  So perhaps they just aren't the heroes for younger kids like the guys who put the ball in the net?  I don't know.  Maybe someone could enlighten me on this.  I love the goalkeeping mentality because I grew up playing hockey goalie.  I'm always immediately drawn to it.

I've been having some discussions with some friends of mine from England.  Not surprisingly the topic was David Beckham.  I love watching Beckham because the man is simply a freaking artist with the ball.  He can do things on the pitch that not many others can.  Usually it comes on a corner, cross or a long ball into the box.  I don't get caught up in all the other BS around Beckham.  Whether it's the tabloids obsessed with his high profile marriage or his off-the-field advertising deals.  For me, who roots for the Galaxy in the MLS, Beckham is just a joy to watch.  Granted, he isn't a $250 million joy, but it isn't my damn money and quite frankly, I probably wouldn't pay much attention to the local team if it didn't have Beckham.

But my English buddy calls Beckham "overrated" and even a bit of a "priss".  He says that Beckham has never met a tackle he didn't avoid.  He said that Beckham doesn't bother to fight for a ball.  It's either a clean ball to him or he'll quickly relent and give it to the opposition.  I can see that perspective.  You don't often see Beckham challenging the opposition for possession of the ball.  He'll quickly back off and let the other team take control.  I know soccer is very different from hockey, but I kind of view Beckham a bit like Wayne Gretzky in that Gretz was never one to ever really fight for the puck either.  And hockey is a hell of a lot more physical than football.   Beckham seems to have a more singular skill than Gretz ever did, but he still can do things with a soccer ball that I find unbelievably entertaining to watch.

At the same time, I can understand that a country that has players like Rooney and loves its hard working players as to why he would have little respect for Beckham.  That and the fact that Beckham bolted the U.K. for the U.S.

So, anyone out there who lives in England?  Or is of English origin?  How do you feel about Beckham?  I've attached a poll to see how you feel.  I personally love watching him play.  To me, it's still like watching an amazing artist paint despite Beckham's age (33).

What other close futbol non-futbol sporting friendships can you think of?

And are any as successful as Nadal and Casillas?

After the Spanish tennis star beat Fed today to ensure that Spain's Euro 2008 party can role on, I just thought I'd pose the question. The friendship between these two is well documented and I suspect that there is going to be a lot of commercial interest in setting up some advertisements.

Joachim Low, The coach who has the low Profile,he respects his Team and he didn't feel that he was the great one but he told that the team had the tough players like ballack,poldi,Schweinsteiger,etc

Poldi,I like to see your reaction when you made two goal when german met poland in Euro,You looked not Shock so simple! and looked like you didn't make them.You were so patient when the enemy attacked u

Ballack,i like your loyalty to your team! keep doing that and you 're the best cap

Now that its all over, I thought I would just start some discussion on it...see how some people saw it.

Overall I thought it was a fantastic tournament, and much better than the last. For once it was interesting to see a team win with a positive style of football. We all now Greece did it last time doing the complete opposite, and in a general sense you feel that even big teams these days have become to pragmatic, thinking that winning is the ultimate goal...which I guess it is.

I thought Spain were really good throughout, although the Dutch maybe produced the performances of the tournament. Their dismantling of the Italians and the French were amazing, and makes the Russian's display all the more amazing.

It was all shown that sometimes you have to be able to drop the older names. This is strange for someone of my age (28), because the players I have followed for most of their careers are now getting to end of those careers, and its easy to sometimes hark back to the good days. You can forget to take of those rose-tinted glasses and actually see their performances for what they are now. Aragones was brave enough to do it for Spain by dropping Raul, and look at the results. To some extent Van Basten did the same by dropping Seedorf. Where I'm going with this is that 2 powerhouses of the sport didn't do the same. France in particular were a national team in desperate need of cutting ties with the old guard. It was almost sad seeing some of their greats reduced to being run ragged by Italy. But Domenech brought it on himself. Can you imagine what they could have done with the likes of Gael Clichy and Bacary Sagna marauding down the wings rather than Abidal and Sagnol...although Abidal isn't old, just very crap! And Makelele should have been replaced with Flamini some time ago, I would imagine Mathieu would have brought some much needed energy to a midfield that looked tired and bored most of the time.

Anyway, some final thoughts:

Player of the Tournament: Ballack - although the Germans didn't win it, I think they would never have got that far without Ballack carrying them most of the way.

Young Player of the Tournament: - Has to be Fabregas for me, everytime he was chucked out there he changed the game and showed what a good player he is, and his poise for taking that winning penalty against Italy was admirable. It can't have been easy for such a young player who has never taken a competitive penalty before.

Game of the Tournament: Holland v Russia - When you consider how awesome the Dutch had been, it was astounding to see the Russians toy with them. A large part of this was due to the Dutch not really showing up, but a large part of that has to Hiddink's tactics.

Biggest Disappointment: Fake Ronaldo - for all the hype that surrounded him, and the Portuguese team as a whole, he never came close to what he is capable of.

Surprise of the Tournament: - The Turkish refusal to give up...I mean seriously how many times were they going to do it. I guess the bigger surprise was that the Germans then did it to them.

Biggest let down after building so much hype: Shared between David Villa and Andrei Arshavin - each had to 2 great matches, and then pratically disappeared. Was Arshavin even on the pitch against the Spanish?!?

Biggest Laugh: Petr Cech dropping that Turkish cross...best keeper in the world my ar*e!

Though these aren't great sources, these deals have been rumored for a while and seem to have finally gone down:

Milan:

VP Adriano Galliani declares deals for Andriry Schevchenko and Ronaldinho are nearly done.

http://dailysportspages.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10423

Inter:

Deals to acquire Ricardo Quaresma and Frank Lampard have gone through.

http://dailysportspages.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13749

Filler, filler, filler, filler, filler, filler, filler, filler, filler, filler, filler, filler, filler, filler, filler

I have Fox Soccer Channel, but I'm wondering how many of you follow your favorite football clubs.  Are you Directv subscribers?  Do you just catch them late night on your local Fox Sports affiliate?

I'd love to see Artur Boruc play more regularly when Celtic FC starts back up.  Do you guys have any tips for the best television coverage out there?  I've tried watching MLS and the football isn't nearly as compelling as some of the European football clubs.  I imagine it's only going to get worse too as the American dollar continues to weaken compared to the Euro. 

Anyone have tips?

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=550642&cc=5901

This would be big for the Hot spurs if they could acquire a quality GK in Gomes.  Gomes lead the Dutch Eredivisie in clean sheets last year and would definitly be a huge improvement over what the Hot spurs have at GK right now.  I don't know what PSV would do but Gomes has been a pretty big key to PSV's recent success in the Dutch Eredivisie. 

This would be a very wise move Tottenham.

There are many out there who bleed the colors of their favorite club.  Whether it's Manchester United, Celtics FC, Tottenham Spurs or the LA Galaxy, people all have their favorite football club. 

But when I get the most into football is whenever national pride is involved.  I grew up in a household that didn't identify strongly with one ethnicity (I'm a combination of Polish Italian and Lithuanian), but because my last name is Bleszinski and my grandmother did make Polish food and my father grew up playing the accordian, I bleed red and white more than any professional football club (it also may explain my inclusion of Artur Boruc's Celtics above).  So I'm really excited about Poland being in the UEFA tourney.  It's also why I get so into the World Cup tourney when it comes around.  My fandom for football is all about national pride.

What is greater for you?  The international tournaments like UEFA or the World Cup or watching your Spurs compete against their greatest rivals?