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Before the <a href="worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/category/leagues-major-league-soccer/">Major League Soccer</a> season begins in March, Orlando City SC and Disney Sports are set to host the Florida Cup, drawing powerhouse teams from Germany and Brazil to the unique tournament.
Two-time FIFA World Champion Corinthians, Champions League club Bayer 04 Leverkusen, four-time Brazilian Champion Fluminense and three-time German Champion 1. FC Köln will grace the soccer capital of the South. The round-robin tournament will begin on January 15, 2015, at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort.
It is a brilliant coup for the MLS club, especially after the soccer-competitive country hosted the International Champions Cup for the past two years running, showing soccer is definitely becoming a crowd-pleaser in the States.
“Orlando City is delighted to help bring premier world class soccer to Central Florida, reinforcing our commitment to fans and the community while further strengthening the region’s reputation,” said Orlando City SC Founder and President Phil Rawlins.
“Orlando City will help present the tournament in 2015 since we are 100%&nbsp;focused on building our roster for the Lions’ historic MLS debut,” said Orlando City Chairman and Majority Owner Flávio Augusto da Silva. “We are looking forward to a successful tournament this year and our possible participation in future years.”
“The Florida Cup will bring a global spotlight to Orlando as the matches will be broadcasted across five continents”, said Florida Cup organizer and 2SV Sports president Ricardo Villar. “The games will air domestically on ESPN Deportes and ESPN 3, in Canada on TSN, and across Asia, Africa, Europe and South America on various networks.”
The four teams will play each other in a special double-header at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, before competing in Jacksonville, treating fans to fiesta of soccer.
While this tournament will only last a few days, it will bring a significant level of interest to Orlando, which is just what the club will be after in its augural season in the MLS.
The 2015 expansion club already has the likes of Kaka on their playing roster, and this tournament is expected to create more exposure for City.

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Orlando City to Host German And Brazilian Giants in Florida Cup - World Soccer Talk

Orlando City to Host German And Brazilian Giants in Florida Cup

<a href="http:\/\/www.bundesligatalk.com/bundesliga-winter-break-review-vfl-bochum/144/vfl-bochum/" rel="attachment wp-att-145" title="VfL Bochum"></a><div><figure class="image"><a href="http:\/\/www.bundesligatalk.com/bundesliga-winter-break-review-vfl-bochum/144/vfl-bochum/" rel="attachment wp-att-145" title="VfL Bochum"></a></figure></div>VfL Bochum 
Rank: 17th 
Preseason Prediction: 17th 
 What was I thinking? In the final 2007-08 standings I had grouped Bochum among a few sides that I referred to as being consistently adequate, hovering just above relegation. I was prepared to keep them there, too, except for the signings over the summer of Hashemian and Freier, who had had their best years with Bochum, left, and haven’t been the same since smacked of desperation. It was purely a gut feeling to subsequently move them down. Frankly, the signing of Klimowicz over the winter only reinforced this feeling. Bochum’s a classic yo-yo club and they’re on their way down.
Season High: September, although November could be considered a moral victory of sorts (at least for a team fighting relegation). September saw Bochum notch their only win of the season against fellow relegation strugglers Arminia Bielefeld. They were, in fact, one valiant comeback short of an unbeaten September (their fight against Leverkusen prematurely ended by a red for Antar Yahia in the 84th minute). 
 
Season Low: The 4-0 drubbing at Frankfurt on December 6th is the obvious choice. Coming off the heels of a 5-0 demolition to Bremen, Frankfurt looked to be the ideal opponent for Bochum to steal 3 points from. Instead an early dismissal of GK Dani Fernandes opened the floodgates with Nikos Liberopoulos‘ brace leading the way. Another defeat followed to Cologne, keeping alive the sour taste of defeat as the team went on winter break. 
Why Bochum Might Not Be Relegated: For a team battling relegation Bochum are surprisingly tough. Only in the aforementioned loss to Frankfurt did they go down by more than 2 goals. 5 of their 8 losses were by a single goal. They drew a further 8 games. Simply put, Bochum is an unlucky team. Then again, I tend to think we make our own luck. Predatory finishing would make a world of difference for a squad that’s managed to fight blow for blow with most every other club, but seems unable to land that knockout blow.
Why Bochum Will Get Relegated: Bochum is on pace to match some of <a href="http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasmania_Berlin" title="Wiki: Tasmania Berlin" target="_blank">Tasmania 1900 Berlin</a>‘s records and since a team with that name hasn’t been around for several decades you know these won’t be good. Although Tasmania set the all-time benchmark for German footballing futility (their presence in the top flight a matter of politics not prowess in the first place) Bochum are on pace to match at least a few of their accomplishments. Most realistically these would be matching Tasmania for fewest wins in a season (2) and joining them as the only Bundesliga sides without an away win. In case you’re wondering why I mentioned all this, Tasmania 1900 Berlin was relegated.
After the jump, stats and more stats. 
Totals 
<a href="http:\/\/www.weltfussball.de/zuschauer/bundesliga-2008-2009/1/" title="Attendance" target="_blank">Attendance</a> – 221,040 
Goals – 19 
Shots – 233 
Shots on Goal – 85 
Fouls – 368 
Corners – 113 
Offsides – 44 
Yellows – 45
Average/Game 
<a href="http:\/\/www.weltfussball.de/zuschauer/bundesliga-2008-2009/1/" title="Attendance" target="_blank">Attendance</a> – 24,560 
Goals – 1.18 
Shots – 13.71 
Shots on Goal – 5 
Fouls – 21.65 
Corners – 6.65 
Offsides – 2.59 
Yellows – 2.65

Bundesliga Winter Break Review: VfL Bochum - World Soccer Talk

Bundesliga Winter Break Review: VfL Bochum

<a href="http:\/\/www.bundesligatalk.com/the-new-gaffer-introducing-labbadia-at-bayer-leverkusen/45/bruno-labbadia/" rel="attachment wp-att-52" title="Bruno Labbadia"></a><div><figure class="image"><a href="http:\/\/www.bundesligatalk.com/the-new-gaffer-introducing-labbadia-at-bayer-leverkusen/45/bruno-labbadia/" rel="attachment wp-att-52" title="Bruno Labbadia"></a></figure></div>A look at Bayer Leverkusen’s Bruno Labbadia concludes our The New Gaffer: Introducing… series this week. So far we’ve examined, in order: <a href="http:\/\/www.bundesligatalk.com/the-new-gaffer-introducing-klinsmann-at-bayern-munchen/24" title="Introducing Klinsmann at Bayern Munich">the journeyman</a>, <a href="http:\/\/www.bundesligatalk.com/the-new-gaffer-introducing-klopp-at-borussia-dortmund/25" title="Introducing Jürgen Klopp at Borussia Dortmund">the company man</a>, <a href="http:\/\/www.bundesligatalk.com/the-new-gaffer-introducing-rutten-at-schalke-04/31" title="Introducing Fred Rutten at Schalke 04">the stranger</a> and, er, <a href="http:\/\/www.bundesligatalk.com/the-new-gaffer-introducing-jol-at-hamburg/40" title="Introducing Martin Jol at Hamburg">Martin Jol</a>. Labbadia is a mix between a poor man’s Jürgen Klinsmann and a poor man’s Christian Bale (<a href="http:\/\/www.imdb.com/name/nm0000288/" title="Christian Bale&apos;s IMDB entry" target="_blank">take a look</a>!). In other words, Labbadia was overshadowed as a player by Klinsmann, yet, like Bale, he has more coaching experience than Bayern’s new gaffer.
In his near 20-year long playing career he traveled the breadth of Germany from Kaiserslautern to Cologne (Köln) to Karlsruhe (and some cities not beginning with K, too). From 1991 to 1994 he played for Bayern München, making him the third manager profiled (alongside Klinsmann and Jol) to have played for the Bavarian giants. Interestingly enough he is the only player to have scored at least 100 goals in both the 1. (104) and 2. (101) Bundesliga.&nbsp; That’s quite an achievement for one’s resume, so immediately after hanging up his boots in 2003 he was hired as a manager.
He made his debut on the sidelines of SV Darmstadt 98, in the same stadium where he made his professional debut in 1984. He performed well enough in his three seasons with die Lillien (the lilies) to be offered a position with die Kleeblätter (the cloverleaves) of SpVgg Greuther Fürth, a step up in both footballing and taxonomic class. In his one year at Fürth Labbadia did little to upset the delicate equilibrium in place, keeping the club in its vexing “almost, but not quite promoted” table position (placing 6th last year and 5th the previous three). Not prepared to take part in the Germany’s most-played rivalry (the Frankenderby) with the relegation of 1. FC Nürnberg last season, Labbadia instead became Bayer Leverkusen’s 24th manager. He enters a fairly stable environment at the BayArena, although questions about the team’s strikers must be addressed before the team can seriously consider its first Bundesliga championship.
Dimitar Berbatov was the team’s last out and out striker, scoring 57 goals his last three years at the club. His move to Tottenham for 16 million Euros in 2006 left a void that has yet to be adequately filled. No Leverkusen striker remaining inspires much confidence. Patrick Helmes and Richard Sukuta-Pasu are still inexperienced, although Helmes did well in the 2. Bundesliga with Cologne and Sukuta-Pasu had an excellent UEFA U-19 tournament. The rest: Theofanis Gekas, Stefan Kiessling, Dmitri Bulykin are all older, but also relative newcomers to the club. None has stepped forward to take over Berbatov’s mantle. That is rather important because…
Leverkusen are consistent European competitors, except for the occasional unexpected blip caused by a marked decline in offensive output. If the trend holds (though there’s no reason to actually call it a trend) Leverkusen’s due for a fall soon. Each of the previous dismal seasons (1995/96 and 2002/03) were marked by lackluster offensive showings of 37 and 47 goals respectively. In all other seasons going back to 1990/91 Leverkusen have scored at least 50 goals and have placed no worse than 7th. The previous two seasons they’ve managed to scrape by with low topscorers, but that can’t last. Bernd Schneider can’t continue to provide goals and inspiration from the midfield at his age (he turns 35 this November). Labbadia must either find a true predator on the transfer market or hope that he is able to mold one of his current players into one, otherwise things look grim.
—
While this brings an end to the series itself there is one bonus tidbit as promised last week: a brief look at managerial changes in the Bundesliga over the years. Every 2008/09 Bundesliga club is listed except for Cottbus and Hoffenheim. Cottbus, as a former GDR side, and Hoffenheim, with their meteoric rise, would skew the numbers (also, it was impossible to find the information for either covering the 45-year time period).
Bundesliga-era number of coaches (teams with new trainers in bold)*:
Bielefeld: 42 
 Bayern: 20 
Bochum: 18 
Bremen: 25 
Cologne: 37 
 Dortmund: 40 
Frankfurt: 36 
 Hamburg: 26 
Hannover: 45 
Hertha: 33 
Karlsruhe: 27 
Leverkusen: 24 
Mönchengladbach: 21 
 Schalke: 38 
Stuttgart: 35 
Wolfsburg: 24
Bayern’s long-term dominance skews the statistics, but a pattern is discernible. My initial, unoriginal, thought that the number of trainers is inversely related to the degree of a club’s success is mostly true. Bayern, Mönchengladbach, Bremen and Hamburg are four of the five most successful Bundesliga sides and each have had 26 or fewer gaffers. Only Stuttgart with three titles and 35 managers is the exception.
* Not all clubs may have listed caretakers

The New Gaffer: Introducing Labbadia at Bayer Leverkusen - World Soccer Talk

The New Gaffer: Introducing Labbadia at Bayer Leverkusen

The 45th season of the Bundesliga has come to an end with comparatively little drama or theatrics. Bayern all but guaranteed itself the title with a busy summer in the transfer market, spending 70 million Euros on Luca Toni (the league’s top scorer), Franck Ribery (world class playmaker) and the rest. While this investment was able to secure first place in Germany, a return to Champions League action and a domestic cup, it could not secure the treble. Two (lucky) draws against a lower table Spanish side Getafe and an aggregate 2-5 drubbing by the Russian champions Zenit St. Petersburg did remove some of the season’s luster. But ultimately with their 20th Bundesliga title in hand this year can be seen as a return to form for Bayern and their fans.
The names of the other squads returning to Europe has a familiar ring to them:
Both Bremen and Schalke return to the Champions League with Bremen automatically qualifying this year and Schalke going into the third qualifying round.
Hamburg, last year’s Intertoto Cup “winner”, enters the Uefa Cup proper joined by a Wolfsburg team who in 2006-07 had finished 15th, the last safe spot above the relegation zone, and Dortmund who had an uninspiring year but were runners-up in the DFB Cup.
Hertha Berlin are fortunate to be in Europe this year, being the lucky recipients of a Fair Play UEFA Cup first round qualifying place along with Manchester City and Denmark’s FC Nordsjælland.
Finally Stuttgart, the ex-reigning champs, have the pleasure of playing in the Intertoto Cup’s third round where, if they’re as lucky as Hamburg was last year, they’ll get to play a team from Moldova. The Intertoto Cup is slated to be abolished in 2009, so if Stuttgart (or any other German club) still has designs on European silverware the time is running out.
Bayer Leverkusen and Nürnberg both failed to emulate last year’s success. Leverkusen just missed out on a spot in Europe with their 7th place finish. Nürnberg took matters one step further by not only avoiding Europe but the 1. Bundesliga as well, choosing relegation instead. Being relegated as reigning DFB Cup holders stands proudly alongside the club’s unique achievement of winning the league one year (1968) and being relegated the next.
Joining Nürnberg are Hansa Rostock and MSV Duisburg, two squads who gained promotion only the year before. Karlsruhe, comfortable winners of the 2. Bundesliga, finished a respectable 11th in the table.
The 1. Bundesliga welcomes in their place two old faces: five-time champions Borussia Mönchengladbach and three-time champions FC Köln, and one very new one: 1899 Hoffenheim. Hoffenheim is only two years removed from playing in Regionalliga Süd, one of the various third tier leagues (soon to be replaced by a nation-wide 3. Liga). It is difficult to imagine them surviving beyond their inaugural season in the highest division, but they are sure to gain numerous fans from around the football-starved Heidelberg area in southwestern Germany.
As for the other clubs? Hannover, Frankfurt, Bochum, Cottbus and Bielefeld did just enough to stay within the safe band of clubs between spots 7 and 15 on the table to avoid mention. Sure, Cottbus and Bielefeld flirted continually with relegation throughout the season, but did just enough in the end. The rest managed to be solid, anonymous mid-table clubs. Consistent adequacy may not be glamorous, but it is reassuring.

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Leagues: Bundesliga

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Season Finale