Stadiums

March 28th saw a brand new stadium have there debut match, any guesses? Red Bull Arean! Red Bull Stadium is a brand new facility built in New York used by the MLS Club New York Bed Bulls. They were using Giants stadium but with the lack of a soccer specific stadium the fans could never really enjoy the came at its fullest potential. Now with this multimillion dollar state of the art facility the fans can get into the game which will end up bringing an atmosphere never seen before in the USA during a MLS game. This stadium seats 25,000 people and sold 24,572 seat in the home opener against Chicago which NY ended up winning 1-0.

“There aren't words to describe it, to be honest with you,” Red Bulls defender Tim Ream said. “Coming into the league, I didn't expect to be playing in front of crowds like this. The fans are unbelievable. They push us. We want to play our best for these fans so they can enjoy the experience.”

I hope to see this more across North America and expecially cant wait to see BC Place Stadium to be finished their renovations for the Whitecaps Maiden season in the MLS in 2011. Stadium like these obvioulsy cost a lot of money but they do end up bringing in a huge revenue.

On other news about stadiums we go to Italy. Juventus FC will be moving out of their current home Stadio Olympico that is shared with Torino FC and into a state of the art stadium built by New Holland Construction which is also their current shirt sponsor. Unfortunately we will have to wait until the 2011-2012 season to see this masterpiece. The stadium is projected to cost about 150 million euros and seat over 40,000 people but the best part is is that it will be a fan friendly stadium meaning the fans will be close proximity to the playing field, similar to what you see in England. This stadium not only is just a stadium but connected to the stadium will be a Juventus Museum, restaurants, pubs, and even a shopping mall. They have turned this site into an all day site to help promote a day at the stadium with Juventus. Should be a great site once its done.

Lace Up Save Lives

I found this on nikefootball.com and wanted to share it with all. Whether you play soccer or any other sport or even wear running shoes in general I think everyone should buy a pair of these laces and help those people in Africa.

Id like to give a thank you to Nike Football for doing there part in helping kids on this planet.

Juve Fans take it to the next level.

Today was a bizarre day for Juventus FC. In the early afternoon on March 28, 2010, Juventus Ultra and supporters were waiting outside their hotel to see the team off to the stadium. Well little did the players know, those supporters were not there to cheer them on instead the opposite. When Juventus players walked outside to there team bus they were met with harsh remarks and one player even got slapped in the face. This player was Johnathan Zebina, Juve's right back. Once players were in the bus these so called supporters started throwing eggs at the bus and to top it off all the ultra groups protested and did not show up to the game against Atalanta FC.

If you havent been following Italian football then you must be wondering why all this crap from the fans? Well Juventus being Italy's most successful club is currently fighting for fourth place with no chance of reaching 3rd and is out of all cup competitions. The reason for this is because Juventus Hierarchy are a bunch of incompetent fools. The Sporting Director is a young business man with no experience of any sort of running a transfer campaign let alone have an experience in football in general. How can Alessio Secco possibly have the knowledge to be able to bring in the rigt set of players to fit in a very specific system? So far all the players hes brought in in his 4 years of experience have all been flops, every single one! Their current Club President is another so called business man with NO footballing experience and again had no experience as a president in general prior to his appointment 4 years ago after the calcopoli scandel. What sums up all this for Juventus though is the club has had 4 different coaches in 4 years, sound like another club?....Ill give you a hint, Los Blancos, If you said Real Madrid you are right but that is another topic for another day. Back to Juventus.

So with these mixed players that cant play together and a management that has so experience and mix in a different coach every year that brings in a different system every time can't surely be good for a club, can it? No it can't, That is why Juventus have finally fallen apart. This once great team that was feared and respected have turned into a joke, a club that may still be respected but not feared. I have been a life long supporter of Bianconeri and will always be a supporter but unless the entire head office changes this club.

Juventus won there game today and are 3 points out of a champions league spot but it definitely wasn't easy even though they were playing a team in relegation trouble.

The meaing of the Football Religion

Well I thought I was going to wait till later to start blogging but then I remembered I had something I wanted to post. I wrote a passage about the Football Religion not to long ago on my facebook group called The Football Religion. It is a fun group but it is also meant for the true followers of the football, the true fans of the world game. Read the passage below and decide for yourself whether you belong to the football religion and by all means search and join the group as well.

Our religion began long ago. Long before there were stadiums,goals post, regulation pitches and even humans.

So called "Experts" have studied why the planets are spherical in shape. These people are not true followers of our beloved football. Its a simple, God made them this was on purpose. Its no secret why he did this, Its because before God became such a busy guy he enjoyed having kick around with the angels. With the universe as his pitch and the planets there footballs. What do you think cause the big bang theory? Not these unexplainable gases or magnetic fields etc...NO! its because God scored a fantastic goal!!

There are many people on this planet who enjoy or even say they "Love" our beloved game but there is many type of love. To be a true follower of the Football Religion you cannot be corrupt by the glamor, marketing, money or tabloids. People forget that football is a game and only the true believers know this fact. Not the so called lovers who have turned it into a business. We followers of the Football religion can recognize each other as if there were your own family. We dont need symbols, apparel or identification . The true followers can be spotted playing bare feet on the south american streets with a ball made out of plastic bags, in the Sahara dessert using rocks as goal posts, on the beaches next to the amazon river or Caribbean sea till there feet bleed, The young boy or girl laying on there bed looking at the poster of there favorite player wishing one day that will be them, the local market owners in small town Europe tuning there radio to listen to there local team or even the gentlemen in the suite kicking a rock to hit the street sign to score a goal while walking on the busy street of downtown North America. We are all part of the same religion, we all speak the same language, we all have the same passion, we allhave one mission, To keep the beautiful game pure.

There are few places on this earth where human beings are more equal then when being in one of our Cathedrals(stadiums) or huddling around the tv set to watch a match. There is even fewer places moments when someone can spontaneously hug a complete stranger with our knowing his/her name and despite there profession, race or social status. These moments happen when a goal is scored. The beautiful thing about our game is that it is one of the few games that it instantly forms a team regardless of the persons language, nationality or other religious beliefs. Although The Football Religion does not shape humanity in whole but for those 90 minutes all the men women and children who follow our game are all equal.

We followers know that our special game has two qualities that distinguish it from others. You can be tall or short, strong or weak, faster slow, female or male, adult or child, rich or poor, literate or illiterate or none of these and can still play and not feel out of place. The other is we dont need massive stadiums, lined fields, regulation goals posts or even name brand shoes and uniforms. All you need is a patch of grass, living room, side street or beach. A "ball", any object that could resemble a ball is good enough, a piece of wood, stuffed sock, paper wrapped with take or even something as small as a coca cola bottle cap. As for uniforms, you dont need any. You can play in shoes, sandals or even barefoot. In pants, shorts, suite and tie or even stark naked, it doesnt matter. The end result is all the same, cheering and celebrating the goal like it was the cup final! Football has become the world game because of these qualities. Plus throughout all human history no religion has managed to attract so many millions of followers in just one and half centuries of existence.

This to me is the Football Religion and to all you true followers, Keep making our beloved football pure!!!!

The Beginning

Hello Everyone!

So today is my first blog entry and dont really know where to begin? hmmm.

Well I am starting to blog because since I have had my two beautiful twin girls I have had alot of sleepless nights and have found myself wanting to write about my beloved game, Soccer!

Today I will simply state what you can expect from this blog. I will be writing about everyday news and controversies on all the major leagues around the world and at home, Africa and there development with the youth, our Holy Grail the World Cup which is only 74 days away! and I will be adding some news about our local soccer here in the lower mainland.

Well I will be back soon with news and updated from around the world, as for now I am sitting on my couch watching Burnley vs. Blackburn then Juventus vs. Atalanta and Real Mardid Vs. Athletico Madrid. Happy Sunday soccer to all!