Naked Truth
Cristiano Ronaldo Reminds Us That Aging with Grace is Almost Impossible for the World’s Best Athletes
On August 27, 2021 when Manchester United announced they had agreed to terms with Juventus to sign Cristiano Ronaldo, it was heralded as a triumphant return of their long...
Naked Truth
Racial Abuse is Still Prevalent in Football, But Public Outrage is Lacking When Perpetrated Against Asian Footballers
Wolverhampton Wanderers striker Hwang Hee-chan is one of two South Korean players in the Premier League, along with Son Heung-min of Tottenham Hotspur. Last year in August, the Wanderers...
Naked Truth
How The Embarrassing Feud Within the Washington Spirit Organization is Actually a Huge Win For All NWSL Players
There’s been a long and publicly drawn out battle occurring within the Washington Spirit organization. Amidst accusations of abusive behavior and a toxic club culture, this is a situation the National Women's...
Naked Truth
With a Triumphant World Cup Victory at Last, Lionel Messi Makes a Convincing Case for Being the GOAT
The otherworldy achievements by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have been so effective in surpassing everyone else that throughout their careers, for better or worse, their names have been...
Naked Truth
Transforming Sky Blue FC into Gotham FC: An Insider’s Deep Dive Into the Rebrand
What motivates a sports franchise to rebrand and essentially perform a complete identity overhaul? Making radical changes to its name, logo, and image is a major undertaking, but one...
Naked Truth
Why Promotion and Relegation is Overrated and a Closed System is Far Superior
The sentimental idea behind promotion and relegation seems fair, good-natured, and based upon a system of meritocracy. In practice, this is a complete fallacy and the stark reality is...
Naked Truth
The Hidden, Ugly Side of Youth Soccer, Part 2: Nightmare Parents, Feeble Leadership, and Dirty Politics
The fast-paced world of club soccer isn’t just about shuttling kids to practices, cheering them on at games, and traveling to high profile tournaments on weekends. Spurred on by...
Naked Truth
Inter Miami Brazenly Cheated MLS Rules…But Was It So Wrong?
MLS first introduced the designated player rule in 2007 in order to give clubs more flexibility to sign lucrative deals with marquee players. It was informally called the David...
Naked Truth
FC Barcelona Ditching Luis Suarez is a Disastrous Repeat of the Tom Brady Situation
Luis Suarez’s acrimonious departure from FC Barcelona to Atlético Madrid this past September is eerily reminiscent to what happened with Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. While Brady’s move resulted...
Naked Truth
Pay-to-Play is Good for Soccer and the Harshest Critics are Hypocrites
I'll begin by saying that I am not arguing that there aren't certain issues, unscrupulous practices, or problematic cracks within the pay-to-play model — there are. However, I am...
Naked Truth
Boom or Bust: Gareth Bale and LAFC’s Desperate Moment of Truth
Gareth Bale's relationship with Real Madrid and its fans may have been doomed from the start. While his €100 million ($132 million) transfer from Tottenham in 2013 made him...
Naked Truth
Why I Don’t Think The European Super League Did Anything Patently Wrong
On April 18, 2021 the football world's foundations shook as 12 of the most famous football clubs announced that they were breaking away from UEFA competitions in order to...
Anonymous Mailbag
Anonymous Mailbag No. 3: The MLS Talent Pipeline
Here is our latest Urban Pitch Anonymous Mailbag, where we answer your unfiltered questions and replies to our stories or any particular issues and topics in soccer and culture...
Naked Truth
Lionel Messi’s Eighth Ballon d’Or Will Finally Catapult MLS Onto the World Stage
There have been a few defining moments during the 29-year history of MLS. Development of soccer-specific stadiums, implementation of the designated player rule to facilitate the signing of David...
Naked Truth
There’s a Palpable Sense of Urgency for Neymar in What is Likely His Last World Cup
It's difficult to decide whether Neymar Junior has met or fallen short of the grandiose expectations that were laid on his young shoulders so many years ago. Making his...
Naked Truth
Ready or Not, Here She Comes — A Second Women’s Professional League In the US
The USL recently made a surprise announcement that their women's Super League would push back their launch date to 2024 and apply to U.S. Soccer for Division I sanctioning....
Naked Truth
The Undeniable Blueprint USL Should Follow to Force a Merger with MLS
Major League Soccer kicked off its 30th season last Saturday, with all 30 teams getting back to the action on the pitch. Earlier in the same week, the United...
Naked Truth
The Key Takeaways From the Kylian Mbappe Saga
It's Officially the Kylian Mbappe Era
We've known for quite a while now that Mbappe was the heir apparent to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. There was a brief moment...
Naked Truth
Klein is Finally Out – So What Now for LA Galaxy?
The LA Galaxy finally announced the firing of president Chris Klein on Tuesday. Amid a disastrous 2-9-3 start that had them sitting in last place in the MLS table,...
Naked Truth
A 40-Year-Old Feud, a $5 Million Sports Rooster, and How the Unpredictable Diego Maradona Tied Them All Together
It’s serendipitously fitting in so many ways that as Diego Maradona’s infamous "Hand of God" World Cup kit goes to auction, it is accompanied by claims of falsehood and...
