Michael Cardillo Posts

Carlos Queiroz has always been an interesting character. Heck, anyone that coached the New York/New Jersey Metrostars and lived to tell about it deserves a special place in the history of world soccer.

Saturday, the now coach of the Portugal national team, made a move that will certainly make headlines one way or the other as he plans to call in injured superstar Cristiano Ronaldo for the upcoming two-leg UEFA World Cup playoffs against Bosnia-Herzegovina. (Portugal will announce its full lineup on Sunday.)

The official U.S. roster hasn't been released yet for the U.S. National Team's upcoming European friendlies against World Cup qualifiers Slovakia and Denmark, but Goal.com is reporting that Edgar Castillo will be selected for the squad by coach Bob Bradley.

Castillo, who has played his entire career in Mexico, originally declared his intentions to play for El Tri despite the fact he was born in New Mexico. A new tweak in the FIFA rules allowed Castillo to switch allegiances since he never appeared for Mexico in an "official match."

The Hollywood paparazzi are going to have a little less fodder on the sidelines at Los Angeles Lakers games come January. Italian giants AC Milan have officially confirmed the long-rumored second loan of English midfielder David Beckham from the Los Angeles Galaxy.

While the official details of the loan haven't been released, this much seems to be known. Beckham will join Milan in January and finish out the 2009-10 Serie A season, before he hopes to join England's team at next June's World Cup. This means, as he did this season, Beckham would parachute back to the Galaxy in either late June, or more likely, early July.

Sort of a weird situation that developed Saturday with U.S. teenage striker Jozy Altidore at his Premier League club team Hull City. Altidore wasn't in the lineup, nor was he even on the bench for the Tigers 0-0 draw with last-place Portsmouth.

Apparently Altidore was late to the KC Stadium and posted an apology on his Twitter page. What's weird, is on his actual page, the apology is no longer posted and the most recent tweet is encouraging Hull fans to make a lot of noise at the game.

All things considered, it's hard to read all that much into the situation. Altidore wouldn't be the first player in the history of professional soccer to be late for a match. It was a little distressing that the 19-year-old, who is fighting for a place in the starting XI, would risk being late and nullify any chance of seeing the field.

A rough couple of months for American midfielder Maurice Edu might have hit a new low on Tuesday night. While going to his car after Rangers' stunning 4-1 home loss to Romanian minnows Unirea Urziceni in Champions League group play, Edu said via his Twitter page that he was racially abused by his own home fans.

Edu posted this late Tuesday:

"Not sure what hurt more: result last nite or being racially abused by couple of r own fans as I'm getting in my car...smh...off to rehab."

Most of the intrigue that could have resulted from Monday's draw for the second-place playoffs for the final four 2010 World Cup berths from Europe was eliminated when it was decided the eight remaining nations would be broken up and seeded via their FIFA ranks near the end of the qualification process.

So instead of creating some possible Cinderella scenarios from smaller nations like Slovenia or Bosnia-Herzegovina would have a good chance to qualify for their first World Cup, the underdogs now face an uphill battle. This is no more the case than for the Republic of Ireland, which must played a wounded, yet still very dangerous France team next month.

In a very unsurprising development, AC Milan vice president Adriano Galliani declared that the club is "95 percent" finished on bringing back David Beckham to the club in January on loan. Galliani went as far as to call it a "done deal."

Unlike last year when there was a lot of alarm and acrimony when Beckham announced his intentions to play somewhere else during the break in the MLS season, this time there doesn't seem to be too much problem that he'll be away from the Los Angeles Galaxy for a period of time after the 2009 season wraps in November.

When Greg Lalas got set up on a blind date in April by some mutual friends with a woman who shared two of his biggest passions -- soccer and writing -- little did he know what the future would hold. Although that date at a bar in the Chelsea section of Manhattan didn't exactly lead to romance with Rachel Markus, the two did end up seeing a lot more of each other.

As the pair chatted, Markus told Lalas of her attempt to stage a soccer-themed film festival at London's Craven Cottage -- home to Fulham of the Premier League -- while she was living in England. A week before it was set to take place, the screening was canceled.

But as Lalas and Markus, who works in the film industry, talked that April night, the idea of staging a soccer film festival in the United States came up and thus the Kicking & Screening International Soccer Film Festival was born.

For one day, at least, Diego Maradona can silence his critics and get the last laugh.

Lampooned, mocked and second-guessed throughout Argentina's nearly disastrous 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign, Maradona can let out a massive sigh of relief after Wednesday's 1-0 win against Uruguay in Montevideo, Uruguay. Argentina gains the fourth and final automatic CONMEBOL qualifying spot, while Uruguay moves into the playoff against either Costa Rica or Honduras.

It's hard to imagine a scenario where the date Oct. 14, 2009 doesn't become the stuff of lore in the European country of Slovakia as it turned out to be the day the nation booked its place in its first FIFA World Cup finals.

And the Slovaks achieved history in perhaps the most adverse conditions possible in a soccer match, downing Poland 1-0 at the Silesian Stadium during a driving snowstorm that would seem more at home for an NFL playoff match than a World Cup qualifier.