Atletico Madrid forward Florent Sinama-Pongolle insists it was not a mistake to join Liverpool as a youngster as it has now led to him becoming one of the top performers in the Primera Liga.

Sinama-Pongolle arrived on Merseyside from Le Havre at the age of 17 billed as one of the hottest young prospects in French football. Click to continue reading...

He's started just one game this season, so who can blame the 25 year old?

"The coach here now is not the one who brought me in so it's difficult proving that I deserve to be on the field," the News of the World quoted Dempsey as saying.

No one wants to hear that we might lose a Yank in the Premiership, but I'd rather see him get playing time somewhere -- especially if he's going to be a veteran on the '10 W. Click to continue reading...

In the wake of Freddy Adu's sparse playing time at Monaco, SI.com grabbed a quote from Ricardo Gomes.  It seems that Freddy is starting to gain some points in the manager's eyes: "For two weeks, I've looked at him in practice and noticed a change in his rhythm. He's making more runs, he's moving quicker and [. Click to continue reading...

Micah Whorton scoring the final goal

Drury Panthers - 5
Missouri Southern Lions - 0
The Drury Panthers looked like a finally tuned sports car this evening as they faced their Western neighbors. The goals were all scored from inside the six yard box as the Panthers moved the ball with pace and urgency throughout the game.

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Micah Whorton scoring the final goal

Drury Panthers - 5
Missouri Southern Lions - 0
The Drury Panthers looked like a finally tuned sports car this evening as they faced their Western neighbors. The goals were all scored from inside the six yard box as the Panthers moved the ball with pace and urgency throughout the game.

Click to continue reading...

This week Andrea Canales got the US faithful abuzz with a nice article on a potential Landon Donovan return to Europe. Your faithful vagabond has been sniffing about this week checking on the possibility that Landon Donovan has attracted interest from Bundesliga power Bayern Munich. So far the results indicate that people have taken Andrea's speculation and twisted it into something it is not; a rumor. Click to continue reading...

Things were looking good for the Blues.

Question is, can Scolari keep his composure now that his Portuguese stalwarts Ricardo Carvalho (sprained MCL, month) and Deco (torn thigh muscle, two weeks) are going to be out for a while.

That and Essien's out. Which means most of the guys I can stand on that team are out. Click to continue reading...

A few interesting third-round draws with Carling Cup holders Spurs away against a listless Newcastle United squad. Also, Manchester City fresh off of their 6-0 thumping of Portsmouth travel to Brighton and Hove Albion. Portsmouth attempt to rebound at home against Chelsea. Manchester United host Middlesbrough and several reports state that Ronaldo is set to receive more playing time as he comes back from ankle surgery. Click to continue reading...

This time next week we'll be ready to start thinking about September in the past tense, the season is progressing quickly. Three weeks into the season, with six to play, and some interesting battles are developing.

Tuesday will feature Joplin visiting Glendale.

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This time next week we'll be ready to start thinking about September in the past tense, the season is progressing quickly. Three weeks into the season, with six to play, and some interesting battles are developing.

Tuesday will feature Joplin visiting Glendale.

Click to continue reading...

You have to feel some sympathy for Bernd Schuster. That's a strange statement to make about a man in charge of one of the most prestigious football clubs, and the current Spanish championship title holders. However, he faces a long a difficult season with a squad clearly split in half.

The defence, now back to full strength following the return of Ramos and Cannavaro, shows signs of being as confident and solid as in the latter part of last season and has just notched up its second clean sheet in a row. Click to continue reading...

The Fire come into this game on the back of their worst performance of the season against Colorado last weekend. With the playoff's just around the corner this is not the time to be in a slump and the Fire will be looking to do that against a Dallas team that if fighting for their playoff lives. Perhaps the most surprising and disappointing thing for the Fire has been their poor performances at home.

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FC Dallas rookie Brek Shea has undergone surgery for a torn medial meniscus in his right knee, the club announced on Thursday, and is expected to be sideline for 3-4 months in recovery.

Shea, 18, was the second-overall pick in the 2008 MLS SuperDraft, but has seen very little playing time in his first MLS season, making two appearances on the year for a scant 17 minutes. Click to continue reading...

By definition the Convey award goes to the team's Rookie of the Year. But there's a couple of different ways you could interpret that. Do you give the award to the young player who has made the biggest contribution so far this season? Or do you give it to the guy who has the best chance of being a star in the MLS? Click to continue reading...

While the Columbus Crew has been the biggest surprise of the 2008 MLS season thus far, this weekend's clash with Toronto FC will be a true test of whether they are MLS Cup contenders or pretenders. That's because it is looking increasingly likely that the Crew will be without their star playmaker and leading MVP candidate Guillermo Barros Schelotto, as the Argentine missed his second straight day of training because of a left hamstring strain. Click to continue reading...

Mexican legend Cuauhtemoc Blanco announced his surprise retirement from international play following El Tri's 2-1 victory over Canada in World Cup qualifying on Wednesday night. The 35-year-old midfielder came into the game in the 89th minute to the delight of his fans and, not surprisingly, picked up a yellow card shortly thereafter. Click to continue reading...

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Whether hooped socks really go with hooped shirt and blue shorts...? QPR's Hoops (Given that many - if not most - other Championship clubs already have their team photos up on their websites, presumably QPR will soon have their team photo posted.)


Ex-QPR loan, Ben Sahar, Profiled
Haaretz/By Neil Allen and Uzi Dann - Slow down, Ben, you move too fast
Ben Sahar really wants to make it in the Premier League. Click to continue reading...

Missouri Southern Lions - 1
Texas Woman's - 2
Theresa Sanches scored the tie-breaking goal on a penalty kick in the 57th minute to propel the Texas Woman's Pioneers to the win. The score came just seven minutes after the Lions (2-1) evened the match on a Sarah Evers goal from 10 yards out.

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Okay, let's look at the bright side.

Um...

I know there's something...

Oh, got one! Actually, more than one!

1) Jérémy Toulalan gets better every game, and is looking more attack-minded as well. He's becoming less wary about shooting from distance, which can knock defenses off guard a good thing, as our offense can be extremely predictable.

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Andre Rocha was just beginning to find his place in the FC Dallas midfield. On loan from FCD's partner club Atletico Paranaense, Rocha had stepped up and notched six assists on the season, leading the team in that category.

Then FC Dallas made a coaching switch.

Schellas Hyndman took over for Steve Morrow in late May, and since then the Brazilian playmaker has found himself on the field less and less, with the lack of playing time starting to get to Rocha. Click to continue reading...

Ryan Guy and Jamie Duffy are the only Yanks guaranteed playing time this weekend as St Patricks stay home for their Galway game and Dundalk travels to Athlone Town in Irish soccer action. Click to continue reading...

The Colorado Rapids have traded forward Herculez Gomez to the Kansas City Wizards in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft, as well as a first-round pick in the '09 Supplemental Draft and an undisclosed sum of allocation money.Gomez, 26, was once one of the brightest young stars in the league when he was with the Los Angeles Galaxy. Click to continue reading...

This headline, Saha becomes a Toffee after passing Everton medical, struck me as curious: how did Saha pass a medical?

I, for one, really hope his injuries are behind him for good - can you imagine? When he's in form he is a cracking striker, and I'd love to see him hit the heights for France.

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The young guy's looking pretty sharp in the new uni, eh?

Too bad a failing airline nearly kept from arriving in Glasgow.

Zoom Airline, which Edu was scheduled to fly, went bankrupt the day before he was due to leave for Scotland.

The delay won't affect his playing time on Sunday though. Click to continue reading...

Photo by ISIphotos.com

Jozy Altidore will be staying with Villarreal for at least the first half of the upcoming La Liga season.

The U.S. national team striker and former Red Bulls standout revealed that he will not be going to another Spanish club on loan, which had long been expected, and will stay with Villarreal as the club deals with a rash of injuries at th forward position.

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Photo by ISIphotos.com

If you are a fantasy sports junkie, this might be a tough time a year for you. With fantasy (American) football and fantasy EPL joining the mix, it could be easy for you slack on your fantasy MLS team.

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There was a rumor in SI a few days ago about interest in Terry Cooke back in England. The basis of the rumor? David Moyes said some good things about him. Classic English rumor; that is, little if anything behind it but they'll still print it. I love have Terry at the Rapids. But it would seem odd that PNE, Derby and Cardiff were all interested in him because Moyes said something nice. Click to continue reading...

There will be a near-full slate of action in Mexico tonight as Jornada 6 will continue.

Of course, two games have already been played while another is slated for November and those three games involve teams who have some of our players on them: San Luis-Cruz Azul, Toluca-Chivas and Jaguares-Pumas. Click to continue reading...

With Rafa looking to rid his squad of players who simply won't get much playing time, help ease his wage bill and give him some extra spending money, this deal looks likely to be sealed. With it, a Liverpool veteran looks set to join Blackburn Rovers. Why not join the debate ... Click to continue reading...

Southampton racked up a second win in the Carling Cup. Last week they beat Exter. Yesterday they beat fellow Championship club Birmingham 2-0 at St. Mary's. Lee Holmes and Adam Lallana scored for Saints.

Southampton landed young Tottenham forward Tomas Pekhart on loan for the year. I'm not a huge fan of this move.

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Rafael and Fabio Da Silva stand to have good careers at United, with the Brazilian full-backs impressing despite their limited playing time with the club. Sir Alex Ferguson is already raving about their quality and with limited options as cover, it appears as though we will be seeing more of these twins than we might [. Click to continue reading...

Not the most stirring of games.

But both teams got a valuable point.

And Chivas USA pulled into a tie with the Galaxy in the standings with an identical 6-9-6 record.

Preki wasn't happy:

"I'm disappointed we didn't get three points. I thought we were the better team on the night.

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U.S. international forward Eddie Johnson has been loaned out by Fulham to Championship outfit Cardiff City, the team announced today.Johnson, 24, made four appearances for Fulham (two starts) during the 2007-08 English Premier League season, failing to register a goal or assist in that time. He was not part of the club's 2-1 loss to newly-promoted Hull to open this season, but will hopefully see more playing time with the Bluebirds. Click to continue reading...

Apparently, Cardiff really wanted an American striker.  As reported earlier on YS, Eddie Johnson will be joining Cardiff City on a year long loan.  The move comes after Fulham have spent heavily on Offensive re-enforcements, and Johnson figured to be out of the picture for playing time. Fulham retain the option to call back Johnson in January, [. Click to continue reading...

Our Dane striker Nicklas Bendtner has recently commented on his pre-season form and has talked challenging for a starting spot at the Emirates Stadium. He has said . . . I myself think that things have gone well, I have certainly been pleased with my efforts. I have had some playing time, got a grip on my [. Click to continue reading...