11am eastern, live on FSC.

Last 4 head-to-head:
2-2 (h) 01.21.08
2-1 Liverpool (a) 06.11.07
0-0 (a) 03.18.07
3-1 Liverpool (h) 10.28.06

Last 3 matches:
Liverpool: 1-0 Standard (h); 2-1 Boro (h); 1-0 Sunderland (a)
Villa: 1-1 FH Hafnarfjordur (h); 2-3 Stoke (a); 4-2 City (h)

Referee: Martin Atkinson

Guess at a squad:
Reina
Arbeloa Carragher Skrtel Dossena
Kuyt Mascherano Alonso Benayoun
Torres Keane

Naturally, as soon as the players who starred at the Olympics were ready to return, there's news that Gerrard's out for the next 10 days at best. Click to continue reading...

Gees, what a way to win the match. Played useless for most the match and then he comes up with the most important goal for the season so far. No big surprise.

So I've slept through the season so far, this match being little difference. In our defense, Liege played 8 back for the majority, but with the amount of talent we have, it shouldn't have been this hard. Click to continue reading...

I didn't get to see this one, but apparently we're still playing like ass and now to top it off, we've lost Stevie G for 10-14 days. He's finally having that pesky groin operated on, which apparently is not that serious, but will keep him off the pitch for club and country. Hopefully, he will be back in shape for when Man U come to town on September 13th.

Click to continue reading...

Reina
Arbeloa Skrtel Carragher Aurelio
Kuyt Alonso Gerrard Benayoun
Torres Keane

Goals:
Kuyt 118'

These games are not doing my heart any good. Four games into the season, and the earliest goal Liverpool's scored has come in the 83rd minute. And Kuyt striking the winner after suffering a ton of stick makes it even sweeter. Click to continue reading...

3:05pm Eastern Time. Once again, I think US viewers are stuck looking for streams if they don't have lfc.tv's e-season ticket.

0-0 on aggregate.

Last 3 matches:
Liverpool: 2-1 Boro (h); 1-0 Sunderland (a); 0-0 Standard (a)
Standard: 3-0 KVC Westerlo (h); 3-1 Dender (a); 0-0 Liverpool (h)

Referee: Massimo Busacca (SUI)

Guess at a squad:
Reina
Arbeloa Carragher Skrtel Dossena
Kuyt Gerrard Alonso Benayoun
Keane Torres

Benitez has ruled out both Lucas and Mascherano, with this game coming too soon after their return from the Olympics, but hopes they'll be back for Sunday. Click to continue reading...

10am, live in the US on Setanta.

Last 4 head-to-head:
3-2 Liverpool (h) 02.23.08
1-1 (a) 01.12.08
2-0 Liverpool (h) 04.18.07
0-0 (a) 11.18.06

Last match:
Liverpool: 1-0 Sunderland (a)
Middlesbrough: 2-1 Spurs (h)

Referee: Mike Riley

Guess at a squad:
Reina
Arbeloa Carragher Agger Dossena
Kuyt Gerrard Alonso Benayoun
Keane
Torres

Yes, I know, except for Agger, this would be the same line-up that struggled at Sunderland. Click to continue reading...

I completely disagree with Grahame Jones' article in the Los Angeles Times that the pressure is now on Landon Donovan to perform well in the World Cup qualifier against Guatemala because the team didn't perform well at the Olympics. What exactly is the correlation between the two? Is it just that some of the players were on the Olympic team and now they will play for the full U. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool vs Middlesbrough: Rafa seeking to maintain a good start

Liverpool vs Middlesbrough is a tricky one for Rafa, particularly in the white hot pressure of the Premier League. The expectations on Liverpool are such that Rafa Benitez is one bad result from a wave of pressure, particularly at the start of the season. Click to continue reading...

Dirk Kuyt believes Liverpool's Belgian battering has given them "the kick we needed" – and warned Sunderland to beware a backlash tomorrow.

The Anfield outfit were fortunate to escape with a goalless draw from their Champions League qualifier against Standard Liege on Wednesday night.

It was an alarming start to the new campaign for Rafael Benitez's side, who were indebted to a sparkling performance from goalkeeper Pepe Reina that included a penalty save. Click to continue reading...

3pm Eastern Time. As far as I can tell, it's not on TV in the States. Last year, the 3rd round of CL qualifying was on GolTV, but they're showing the Bayern Munich friendly tomorrow.

Referee: Tom Henning Ovrebo (NOR)

As YNWA.tv writes, this is weird, as Overbo was in charge of the friendly at Vålerenga last week. Click to continue reading...

Roller coaster. That's about the long and short of it. In the early going, the Dutch looked like the favorites that they were, playing at a level that the US just couldn't seem to match. Babel's opener was fitting reward for the better team. But around the midway point in the first half, passes started connecting for the US, Adu started to get on the ball, and the chances started coming. Click to continue reading...

Red-White-n-Blue goes up against Le Oranje. Predictions, people. Get 'em in the comments before kickoff.
Holland:
Vermeer, Zuiverloon, Marcellis, Jaliens, De Guzman, Emanuelson, Maduro, Drenthe, Bakkal, Babel, Beerens
U.S.
Guzan, Wynne, Edu, Parkhurst, Orozco, Rogers, Bradley, Kljestan, Holden, Adu, McBride

Nowak is growing some facial scruff - a VanDyke I guess. Click to continue reading...

Rafael Benitez hailed the performance of Liverpool's young guns after they concluded their pre-season schedule with a 1-0 win over Lazio at Anfield.

The Reds boss admitted he was pleased with his side's overall display after Andriy Voronin stoppage time winner sealed a deserved victory against the Italians and Benitez felt the impact of the likes of Jay Spearing - who created the winning goal - was the main highlight of the night. Click to continue reading...

Soccer players and coaches always give the best material to the media. I love it.

Here's what Holland coach Foppe de Haan (right) said about his team's next opponent, the USA:

The Americans are more of a team on the same level. They don't have anybody extremely good.

I'm not going to argue with him. Click to continue reading...

I stayed up to 2 a.m. my time to watch the start of this one. Sadly after a listless first half I couldn't stay up to watch the second.

I hear Stuart Holden (above) banged home the winner in the 47th minute.

ESPN's Carlisle and SI's Wahl have some more info for ya.

A couple things that stood out: Altidore and Feilhaber benched, Edu kicks ass, Adu was lost and McBride was just, eh. Click to continue reading...

So I hear the clubs won their appeal to get Messi, Diego and Rafinha back from the Olympics.

Which means all the teams could call their boys back.

Which means this soccer tournament could get really lame. I'm sure Benitez would love to force Babel back after the Gerrard injury.. Click to continue reading...

I previously wrote about how much I hated the Olympics and what they do to football, but after signing Keane, I'm suddenly not as worried. Keane can easily slip into a wing position and we can cover Mascherano's position with the current roster. If Barry were to sign on soon, it would be even easier.

Click to continue reading...

(Summary is not available.) Click to continue reading...

(Summary is not available.) Click to continue reading...

LIVERPOOL fans are holding their breath over the signing of Robbie Keane. He's a good player, possibly a very good player. The former Crumlin United (Dublin) striker may even blossom into a world class player alongside Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres. And, there's a strong argument that Torres needs a fleet-footed playmaker snapping at the heels of defenders. Click to continue reading...

See, every now and then, Liverpool can actually complete transfers at something other than a snail's pace.

After posting about Robbie Keane on Saturday, I certainly didn't expect the deal to be finalized by Monday afternoon. Even as late as this morning, the Liverpool Echo was reporting that the medical would take place today, with an announcement no earlier than tomorrow. Click to continue reading...

Robbie Keane will be undergoing his medical in Liverpool today and is set to sign a five-year contract worth £80,000 per week. On behalf of all Yanks who don't know beans about football, I'd like to offer a big Flavor Flav, "YEAHHHHHHHHHHH BOYEEEEEEEEE!"

This is the signing I've been most excited about when I first heard the rumor that Keane wanted to leave Spurs for his boyhood heroes, Liverpool.

Click to continue reading...

....but not the one we were all hoping for. There's quite a few surprising things about the signing of David Ngog, we're getting him for a mere £1.5m, he's French (and Wenger wasn't chasing him), and at just 19 years of age he's walking into the first team squad (LINK).
He's got a pretty cool reputation at international youth level for being extremely fast and a natural goalscorer, definitely highly desired traits in a striker. Click to continue reading...

The first link is to a nice story in the New York Times about Robbie Rogers from the Columbus Crew being named to the U.S. Olympic Team. Apparently, he didn't expect to be named, but has been doing so well this season and coach Peter Nowak couldn't ignore him.

The second link is to an article from Sports Illustrated, which contains the national team from Holland that the U. Click to continue reading...

Cavalieri
Darby Carragher Agger Dossena
Benayoun Lucas Plessis Leto
Babel Voronin

Subs:
Aurelio for Leto 46'
Hyypia for Carragher 46'
Skrtel for Agger 46'
Spearing for Plessis 46'
Mascherano for Leiva 46'
Pennant for Babel 46'
Insua for Dossena 63'
Pacheco for Benayoun 63'
Kuyt for Voronin 71'
Hobbs for Darby 71'
Martin for Cavalieri 71'

Goals:
Voronin 6'
Jirsak 12'

In Fribourg, Wisla provided the sternest test Liverpool's faced so far this preseason. Click to continue reading...