John Terry has had the captaincy of England’s national soccer team stripped from him for the second time in the past two years. This time it could be permanent though. Terry was named captain of the team originally following the World Cup in 2006 by former manager Steve McClaren. However, he’s facing a court case on a charge of racial abuse and the English Football Association informed him on Feb. 3 that he’ll no longer be the nation’s captain, but he’s still eligible to play for the team.

Terry, who is also the captain of Chelsea of the English Premier League, has been charged with verbally racially abusing Anton Ferdinand of Queens Park Rangers. Terry’s trial doesn’t begin until July, following this year’s European Championships (Euro 2012) though, and it’s believed that Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard could replace Terry as England’s skipper.

England manager Fabio Capello originally stood by Terry early on in the racial dispute, but because the Euro 2012 tournament comes before the trial the FA thought he should be replaced. The FA released a statement which said he’ll be stripped of his duties until the court case is resolved. They thought the case would go to trial before the tournament, but it was pushed back to July and Euro 2012 takes place from June 8 to July 1 in Poland and Ukraine.

The FA also said Terry hasn’t been banned from the team and Capello is free to choose him for the squad as he sees fit. England’s next game is a tune-up match against Holland on Feb. 29  David Bernstein, the chairman of the FA, spoke to Capello and Terry to explain the situation to them. Capello didn’t have a say in the final decision as it was made by the organization’s board. Capello will be the one who chooses the next captain though.

The FA wanted to make it clear that their decision in no way implies that Terry is guilty of the racial abuse accusations and they won’t comment further until the case has gone to court. Terry will still serve as captain of Chelsea and Andre Villas-Boas, the club’s manager, said he’s not happy that the FA has stripped his player of the captaincy before he’s been ruled innocent or guilty. He said he doesn’t agree with it because everybody’s presumed innocent unless they’re proven guilty and Terry hasn’t been found guilty of anything at the moment.

Terry also had England’s captaincy taken away from him two years ago after he was accused of having an affair with the girlfriend of England teammate Wayne Bridge. However, the captain’s armband was given back to him just over a year later after it was revealed the accusations were ridiculous because the woman was a just a former girlfriend of Bridge’s. Apparently Bridge couldn’t handle the decision and refused to play for England and hasn’t been selected for the team since. Gerrard could be chosen to replace Terry, but he’s often out of the squad due to injuries.

Women’s soccer in America suffered a major setback on Jan. 30 when the WPS (Women’s Professional Soccer) announced that the league was closing down for the 2012 season. The league, which began play in 2009, is the highest level of professional women’s soccer in North America. The WPS said that an expensive legal issue with a former franchise was the reason behind the decision.

The timing of the announcement shocked many since the American women’s team qualified for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England just a couple of days earlier by going undefeated in the qualifying tournament. However, many of that team’s players will now be looking for a team to play with since they were members of WPS clubs.

The league has been facing trouble off the pitch since it began. The average attendance has dropped three years in a row, from 4,684 per game in its inaugural season to 3,535 last year. The league also launched with seven teams and there are now only five left, all based in the eastern states. The owner of Sky Blues FC, which is based in New Jersey, said the league made a good decision since it has to resolve all of its legal matters before it can carry on and grow. He added that it was a tough decision, but the right business one for the league.

The legal matter in question involves Dan Borislow, who is the owner of the MagicJack franchise that was based in Florida. Borislow brought a former franchise known as the Washington Freedom in 2011 and then moved it to Boca Raton. He then named it after his popular MagicJack communications company. However, Borislow didn’t exactly see eye to eye with the WPS and they clashed over several of the league’s rules.

Some of the issues they argued about were failing to pay the wages of some of his players and the size of the stadium in Boca Raton. The league decided in October 2011 to terminate the MagicJack franchise, which featured several American national team stars including striker Abby Wambach and goaltender Hope Solo. Borislow wasn’t happy with the decision to terminate his team and he then took the matter to court. The league then reinstated MagicJack as an exhibition team and said it could play seven games a season vs WPS competition. This has now led to the entire 2012 season now being called off.

Jennifer O’Sullivan of the WPS said that it’s up to the league to make sure that its players, fans, and partners get the best product available and that’s why the league is going to take its time to make sure the legal proceedings are handled properly before carrying on. She also said the league plans on resuming play for the 2013 season.

However, there are many soccer fans and insiders across the country who feel this could just be the beginning of the end for the struggling soccer league.

The American women’s soccer team will be heading to London, England this summer to compete in the Olympics after dominating the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifiers. They wrapped up the qualifying tournament on Jan 30 with a 4-0 win over arch enemy Canada and outscored their opponents 38-0 over the five-game event, including a record 14-0 win over the Dominican Republic in the opening match.

However, they paid a steep price in that game as defender Ali Krieger tore her medial collateral and anterior cruciate ligaments during the match. Krieger is adamant that she’ll be back in time for the Olympics, which get underway in July, but it’s going to take a minor miracle for her to heal in time. The team will now have to search for a suitable replacement for her in the back four.

U.S. manager Pia Sundhage said she feels bad for Krieger because she’s a great person as well as an excellent soccer player. She said the team will experiment a little with its defenders to find out who will be a good replacement for Krieger. She believes it’ll take a bit of time to settle on a back four and Krieger will be hard to replace, but she’s confident somebody will be able to step in and do a good job.

Sundhage won’t have to wait long to start trying out players in Krieger’s position since they travel to Dallas for a Feb. 12 game against New Zealand and then head to sunny Portugal in early March to compete in the Algarve Cup tournament. Sundhage added that the replacement for Krieger could be a newcomer or somebody who’s already on the roster.

There could be a sharpness problem when the Olympics start though since the Women’s Professional Soccer League might shut down this season and many of the American players won’t have a league team to play for to keep in shape. These include some of the team’s top stars such as Abby Wambach, Megan Rapinoe, Hope Solo, Christie Rampone, and Shannon Boxx.

Sundhage said some players have played so many games in their career that it may not affect them too much if the league shuts down, but some players need to play somewhere to gain experience and stay in game shape. In fact, the manager feels that not playing might even do some players a world of good since they’ve been playing so much lately and their bodies could do with a rest.

However, some members of the American team will be playing games in Europe ahead of the Olympics and the Sundhage will be holding some training camps. It’s also possible the squad will head to Japan to play a few games before the summer begins. The Americans are the two-time defending Olympic champions since they won gold medals in 2004 in Athens and again four years later in Beijing. However, they were upset in last year’s World Cup by Japan, who beat them in a penalty-kick shootout.

Canada also went through the CONCACAF Olympic qualifiers undefeated, at least until they met the U.S., but they had already qualified by then and the 4-0 loss to the Americans was just for bragging rights.

Even though it’s going through a bit of a rocky patch economically at the moment, America is still a favorite destination for defecting athletes. Two members of Cuba’s women’s soccer team decided to cross the border from Canada during the women’s Olympic Qualifying tournament in Vancouver and make the USA their new home.

Twenty-year-old Yezenia Gallardo and 22-year-old Yisel Rodriguez crossed the border by taxi on the night of Jan. 21 after their game against Canada. The women said they waited until their coaches were distracted and took off from their hotel. They flagged down a taxi and asked the driver to take them to the border, arriving there about 2 a.m. the next morning.

When they reached the border they stated to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official that they would like to defect. However, they didn’t have their passports with them since Cuban team officials make it a habit of holding athletes’ documents. Rodriguez happened to have her identity card hidden away in her shoe though and that was enough to gain entry into the U.S.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said in most instances, defectors are held in a detention facility until they talk with an asylum officer who determines whether they have a good reason to defect. If they do, they then have to appear before an immigration court. But the spokesperson said Cuban nationals aren’t detained due to the U.S. Cuban Adjustment Act which was introduced in 1996.

He said Cubans can enter America and are given a notice which requires them to appear in immigration court in the near future to plead their case. He said while most visitors need the proper form of identification to cross the border Cubans are allowed in if they claim they have a credible fear of returning to their homeland. A credible fear means they fear persecution or have already been persecuted because of their religion, race, political opinion, nationality, or membership in a specific social organization or group.

The women’s specific reason for defecting isn’t known and border officials haven’t released that information. Rodriguez reportedly told ESPN that she defected because she wants advance her career as a soccer player and hopes to one day play in Olympics with the American team. Her brother Raudel told ESPN that he let U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement know that he would be responsible for her. She left Seattle the day after defecting and flew to Miami to meet with Raudel, who she hadn’t seen for 16 years.

It wasn’t the first time that soccer players from Cuba have defected while playing in North America and it might not be the last. Seven players with the nation’s Under-23 team also defected to America back in 2008 while they were playing in an Olympic Qualifying event in Tampa. In addition, Yosniel Mesa left the Cuban men’s national team in 2011 and defected following a game in the Gold Cup in Charlotte N.C. By the way, the Cuban women’s team lost all three games in Vancouver and didn’t qualify for this summer’s Olympics in London, England.

FIFA, which is the word’s governing body of soccer, has been accused throughout the years to be nothing more than a corrupt organization which uses bullying tactics and threats to get its way. The latest FIFA controversy involves the upcoming World Cup tournament in Brazil in 2014.

There will be 12 separate stadiums that are to be newly built or refurbished for the event and FIFA is insisting that they all have to sell beer. The problem is, the country of Brazil doesn’t allow alcohol to be sold at soccer games due to past instances of serious crowd trouble.

Jerome Valcke, general secretary of FIFA, said that all stadiums will be forced to sell beer and that’s the end of the discussion. However, politicians in Brazil still haven’t voted on a bill that deals with FIFA’s World Cup Law due to the differences they have between themselves and FIFA. The politicians were to vote on the bill at the end of 2011, but they still haven’t done it as they say there are a few issues they’re not happy with.

The most important one is the beer issue though. FIFA said beer must be sold to protection its sponsors’ trademarks, whatever that means. Valcke said that beer is going to be sold because it’s an important part of the FIFA’s World Cup and it’s not negotiable. He added that he may sound arrogant in saying so, but there’s no option when it comes to the matter.

Valcke told Brazilian media that the right to sell beer needs to be a part of the FIFA World Cup Law.  But this isn’t going over too well with some people in Brazil because alcoholic drinks have been banned in soccer stadiums there since 2003. This was made law in something called the Supporters’ Statutes. The country’s health minister and other politicians have urged the government not to back down to FIFA and to put people’s safety ahead of monetary gains.

FIFA of course, want to rake in every penny they can get. However, they don’t really have much of a choice here. Brazil seems to have the soccer bullies over a barrel because it’s highly unlikely the soccer organization could find a new host country in time for the tournament. It may find a nation such as Germany or England with all of the stadiums in place, but the logistics planning and everything else takes a couple of years to plan properly.

FIFA also has a problem with the Brazilian government because the nation offers soccer tickets for half price to senior citizens and students. Again, FIFA sees this as money flying out the window and wants the practice halted for the World Cup. Valcke said FIFA is willing to print up a total of 300,000 tickets in a special pricing category that can then be sold for $25 apiece. He added that these need to be strictly controlled though to make sure that non-students and non-seniors can’t buy them.

He feels it won’t be fair of people who can afford full-price tickets are getting them for $25. He’s apparently worried about it because student ID cards are easy to obtain in Brazil. It’s believed that Brazilian congress will vote on the matter in March.

Although he’s just 24 years old, soccer player Lionel Messi of Argentina picked up his third consecutive Player of the Year award in Zurich, Switzerland on Jan. 8. The award is handed out by FIFA, which is soccer’s governing body, and is known as the FIFA Ballon d’Or trophy.

Messi, who plays for Spanish club Barcelona, beat out his teammate Xavi Hernandez and Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo for the award. In the same ceremony, Homare Sawa of Japan was named the female player of the year and Japan’s Norio Sasaki took home the trophy for the best women’s coach of the year.

Messi and his team had an excellent year as Barcelona won the European Champions League, the Club World Cup, and the Spanish league title. Messi is one of just three three-time winners of the trophy, with the others being France’s Zinedine Zidane and Brazil’s Ronaldo. Michel Platini of France won the award three years in a row from 1983 to 85 when it was given out by the France Football magazine. That award was then combined with FIFA’s in the 1990s and is the one that’s been handed out ever since.

Messi, who made his debut for the club as a 16-year-old, scored in Barcelona’s 3-1 win over Manchester United in the Champions League final last May, giving the Spanish team its second European title in the last three years. He also scored two goals in December as the club won the FIFA World Club Cup in Yokohama, Japan.

The winners were voted on by a panel consisting of journalists and national team captains and coaches around the world. Messi garnered 48 per cent of the total votes while Ronaldo of Portugal received 22 per cent and Xavi of Spain was named on 9.2 per cent of the ballots. Those three players were narrowed down from an earlier group of 23 players.

Messi is under contract with Barcelona until 2016. But while he is a fantastic player for his club, Messi struggles on the international stage with Argentina. They hosted the Copa America tournament last year and were knocked out of it in front of their own fans by Uruguay in the quarterfinals. Uruguay then went on to win the tournament and Messi went through the event without a goal.

Many fans and ex players feel Messi shouldn’t be considered an all-time great until he can reproduce his club form for his country. Platini said Maradona won a World Cup with Argentina in 1986 and he’s considered to be a great player because of that, not what he achieved at club level. Platini added that winning a World Cup is something special because fans always remember the winners. Messi scored a club record 53 goals last season and could beat it this year as he had 31 after the team’s first 27 games.

Sir Alex Ferguson, manager of Manchester United, said Messi is one of the greatest players to ever come out of Argentina and ranks with all-time world greats such as Pele, Alfredo di Stefano, and Diego Maradona. Ferguson’s seen quite a bit of Messi recently as his club lost twice to Barcelona in Champions Leagues finals.

Ferguson also took home an award from Zurich as he was given the Presidential Award, which is in honor of his success as a manager during the last three decades. Last year Ferguson led Manchester United to their 12th English Premier League title since he’s been in charge. The club has won 19 of them overall, an English record.

Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola won the Coach of the Year award by beating out Ferguson and Jose Mourinho of Real Madrid. Neymar, a Brazilian forward with Santos, beat out Wayne Rooney of Manchester United and Messi in the Goal of the Year award.

It’s not uncommon to hear of soccer players being fined hundreds of thousands of dollars because they often get hit for a couple of week’s wages and are making outrageous salaries. However, it’s not too often that fans get nailed just as hard in their wallet unless you’re a 33-year old Danish hooligan.

This fan was hit hard recently when he was ordered to cough up 250,000 euros in damages as the result of an attack he carried out on a referee. This is the equivalent to close to U.S. $320,000. The attack didn’t take place in some local park game though. It took place back in 2007 during Denmark’s European Championship qualifying game against Sweden for the Euro 2008 tournament.

In addition, according to a ruling by Copenhagen’s High Court, the money has to be paid to the DBU, which is the Danish Football Association (DBU). What makes the fine even sweeter is that the hooligan was ordered to pay 125,000 euros when the case went to Copenhagen City Court in 2009. He appealed the court’s decision and when he showed up at the High Court the judge doubled the fine to 250,000 euros.

Jim Stjerne, who’s the DBU’s secretary general, said the fan’s actions were a huge attack on the integrity of Danish football. He added that his violent conduct against the referee cost Denmark it excellent sporting reputation as well as about $375,000. The game in question took place at Copenhagen’s Parken Stadium in June of 2007, but it had to be abandoned with a few minutes to go after the fan jumped onto the pitch and tried to attack referee Herbert Fandel of Germany.

The fan was upset because Fandel had kicked Christian Poulsen of Denmark out of the game moments earlier and awarded Sweden a penalty kick with the score deadlocked at 3-3. UEFA then awarded Sweden with a 3-0 win and Denmark didn’t qualify for the Euro 2008 tournament. Not making the tournament cost the nation’s football federation a huge amount of money.

The DBU was also fined by UEFA well and Denmark was banned from playing their next two games at Parken Stadium. This led the DBU to seek damages in court. The DBU asked for a higher amount of money, but the court said the organization overestimated when it guessed how many fans would have shown up for their game with Lichtenstein, which was one of those fans couldn’t attend.

The fan was convicted of trespassing and attempted assault in 2007 and handed a 30-day sentence in jail, but it was suspended and then reduced after an appeal to 20 days. He admitted that he was drunk at the time and ran onto the field illegally. However, he argued he wasn’t guilty of any violent conduct since he didn’t actually attack the referee.

While David Beckham appears to be staying in MLS, his Los Angeles Galaxy teammate Landon Donovan, one of America’s most-recognized and successful soccer players, has returned to the English Premier League (EPL) to play with Everton. Donovan played his first game for the Liverpool-based club on Jan. 4 in a 2-1 home loss to last-placed team Bolton. Donovan didn’t manage to score, but his U.S. national teammate goaltender Tim Howard did, becoming the fourth goalie in EPL history to do so.

Galaxy captain Donovan will spend eight weeks with Everton up until Feb. 25, returning in time for the MLS season which kicks off in March. The English club’s fans and management are familiar with the 29-year-old American since scored two goals in 13 games during a 10-week stint with Everton in 2010.  He was also named the club’s player of the month that January. He didn’t play in England last off-season though since he played in the World Cup in the summer of 2010 and felt he needed a rest.

However, he said it’s always been his intention to return to the EPL and lace up the boots with Everton again. When landing in England recently he said it was like returning home and rejoining a big family. He added that it’s an easy place to play since everybody’s so happy and friendly and he feels like an excited kid.

David Moyes, Everton’s manager, said he’s looking forward to having Donovan in the squad again. He admitted that he tried to buy Donovan from the Galaxy after his spell with the team in 2010, but the price was too high at the time. Moyes said he’d still like to see Donovan become a permanent member of Everton if possible and if the player agreed to it.

Playing in England raised Donovan’s profile in 2010 since the EPL is considered by many to be the best soccer league in the world. He had previously played short spells in the German Bundesliga, with the last one being a six-game stint as recently as 2009. Playing in Europe obviously hasn’t hurt Donovan since he’s long been a fixture with the American national team and has won numerous team and personal awards, including winning the U.S. soccer Athlete of the Year Award four times and the Honda Player of the Year award seven times.

Donovan could well be the most decorated soccer player in U.S. history and shows no signs of slowing down. He led the Galaxy to this the MLS Cup championship last season and the midfielder/forward has scored 83 goals in 168 games for Los Angeles since joining them in 2005 from the San Jose Earthquakes.

Donovan is also the national team’s leading goal scorer with 46 tallies in 138 games while his 115 goals in 255 MLS season games are good for third overall. He also holds the MLS record with 20 playoff goals. However, Moyes doesn’t consider Donovan to be a prolific scorer and said he’d be happy if he just set up a few. Moyes needs all the help he can get since his club has scored just 20 goals in 19 league games so far this season and are only about eight points above the EPL’s relegation zone.

It appears that English soccer star David Beckham will be staying in the U.S. to continue his career with the Los Angeles Galaxy of MLS (Major League Soccer). Beckham said he had been thinking about moving to Europe to play in either England or France since he wants to stay in shape hoping for a recall to the English national team or to be selected for Great Britain’s 2012 Olympic squad.

The 36-year-old former captain of England had been offered a lucrative contract by Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) of France, but that club said he turned it down since he doesn’t want to move his family out of America now. Nasser al-Khelaifi, the president of PSG said his team was hoping to sign Beckham and they’re disappointed, but perhaps a deal could be worked out with the midfielder in the future.

Beckham has spent the past five years with the Galaxy with his contract expiring at the end of last season after the team won the MLS Cup. Several European clubs expressed interest in signing him and many experts believed PSG had the inside track. It’s been reported that he’s looking for a new one-year deal with Los Angeles. He was earning a base of $6.5 million a year on his old contract.

French media said PSG and its rich Qatari owners would have paid Beckham about double that amount. However, it seems he and his wife Victoria, a former Spice Girl, like living in California, where they moved to in 2007 after leaving Spain. Insiders believe Victoria doesn’t want to take their four children out of the U.S. at this point.

Beckham still hasn’t officially confirmed anything, but recently said he’s proud of playing for Los Angeles and there’s a good chance it will continue. The team has been strengthened with last season’s signing Robbie Keane, the captain of the Irish national team, and that may sway Beckham’s decision, as might winning his first MLS Cup.

The next MLS season kicks off in March, but Beckham desperately wants to represent his nation in either the Olympics or the European Championships (Euro 2012) in the summer. If he’s selected to one of those team’s he’ll have to work out some type of deal with the Galaxy so they’ll release him for a few weeks in the middle of their season.

It’s unclear how much the Galaxy will be willing to pay Beckham since he seems to be holding all of the cards. Los Angeles knows there are quite a few teams after him and he’s been offered more money to play elsewhere. However, Beckham’s a soccer icon who attracts thousands of fans wherever he plays around the world.

The Galaxy makes a lot of money in appearance fees when they go on tour and Beckham merchandise sells like hotcakes, helping pay a good chunk of his salary. MLS will also be anxious to keep the league’s first superstar in its midst.

Soccer star Abby Wambach was named the Associated Press’ American Female Athlete of the Year on Dec. 21 for her inspired play and never-say-die attitude during this year’s Women’s World Cup. The striker’s name was placed on 65 out of the 214 votes that were cast. Her teammate, American goaltender Hope Solo came in second place with 38 ballots and Mary Moore, a basketball star at UConn came in third with 35 votes. Wambach is the first ever individual soccer player to win an AP sports award for athlete of the year since the inception of the awards in 1931. The American women’s soccer team captured the honors back in 1999 when they won the World Cup.

Wambach and her teammates captivated the nation this summer with their performance in the World Cup in Germany. However, they lost in the final in penalty-kick shootout to Japan. Wambach scored four goals in the event, giving her a total of 13 in the three World Cups she’s played in. She’s America’s all-time leading scorer in the World Cup and in third place overall, behind Marta of Brazil and Birgit Prinz of Germany. The 31-year-old is also third on the all-time career scoring list for American women with 125 goals. Mia Hamm tops the list with 158 followed by Kristine Lilly’s 130.

America’s most dramatic moment came during this summer’s quarterfinal against Brazil after the team had a player sent off and were down to 10 women for almost an hour. The game went into overtime and with Brazil scoring in the extra session and holding onto a one-goal lead and player advantage it looked like it was curtains for the U.S. However, in the second minute of injury time Wambach’s head met an excellent 30-yard cross from the foot of Megan Rapinoe and she tied the game with just seconds remaining. The stadium erupted and the Americans won the game in a shootout.

All of a sudden the U.S. got behind the team with Wambach scoring again in their semi final win over France. The final against Japan was tied 1-1 after 90 minutes and also went into overtime. Wambach put the Americans up 2-1 with 16 minutes to play in the extra session, but couldn’t hold on as Japan evened things up with just three minutes to go. Japan then ended the American dream of another World Cup victory by winning 3-1 in the shootout.

Even though they were runners up, the American women were treated like champions when they returned home because of the tremendous heart they displayed during the tournament. In addition, Wambach also won the Women’s Sports Foundation’s Sportswoman of the Year award and team’s win over Brazil was named the top sports accomplishment of 2011 in a Marist poll.

Wambach said she was honored with the award, but couldn’t have done it without her teammates. She added that the team kept the sport of soccer alive in America this year and that’s the most important thing. Wambach and her teammates will now attempt to defend their Olympic soccer title and will be playing qualifying games in January for the 2012 Olympics in London, England. The next Women’s World Cup takes place in 2015 in Canada.