Search: ' America de Cali'

When their drug money dried up, one of Columbia’s most successful clubs experience their first ever relegation, writes Carl Worswick

América de Cali, Colombia’s best supported football club with 13 league titles and four appearances in the Copa Libertadores final, have hit the bottom. They were relegated in December following a play-off defeat to a team of minnows from the second division. The Red Devils are at their lowest ebb in their 84 years of existence.

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Manchester City’s recently departed chief executive was offensive and distasteful, but he was also good at his job, as Tony Curran reports

During his time as chief executive of Manchester City, Garry Cook developed a reputation for making public faux pas. So it was not surprise when this propensity brought him down. Cook, should we need reminding, sent an email that he believed was exclusively directed to colleague Brian Marwood in which he mocked the cancer diagnosis of Dr Anthonia Onuoha, the mother and agent of City player Nedum.

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Sam Kelly explains a furore at the top of Argentine football, including accusations of a refereeing bias against a top club

With the furore surrounding the FIFA presidential elections in the week WSC went to press, response to the news was interesting in Argentina: the scandal has hardly had any coverage at all. That is not, however, to say that allegations of corruption have no place in the context of current affairs in Argentine football. They’re just more localised.

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Dave Hannigan looks at how Ireland are hoping to attract young footballers with a US education but an old country sentiment

In a little-noticed cameo during the February international break, Derby County striker Conor Doyle made his debut for Ireland Under-21s in a friendly against Cyprus. Born and raised in Texas to a father from Dublin, the 19-year-old’s appearance came just three months after Giovanni Trapattoni expressed interest in establishing a scouting network to find new talent for Ireland in the United States. Indeed, Trapattoni went as far as asking for a full list of Major League Soccer players with Irish-sounding 
surnames.

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Mike Woitalla explains why US players are having to cross the Mexican border in order to get their break

José Francisco Torres and Edgar Castillo were born and raised in the US, the children of Mexican immigrants. Both showed signs of great soccer talent from an early age. Both were told that they were too small at the trials that lead to youth national team selection. Neither would have been heard from again as soccer players if they hadn’t moved to their parents’ homeland as teenagers to join Pachuca and Santos Laguna respectively.

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