On Wednesday of this week, interim CONCACAF president Alfredo Hawit gave the clearest signal yet that the confederation will collaborate much more closely with CONMEBOL than they have in the past. Will it be a merger in everything but name? Not yet, but significant factions within both groups are considering the possibilities.

The long, long, long dispute between a group of players from Trinidad & Tobago's 2006 World Cup squad and their national football federation reached a new but not yet final phase today when many of the physical assets of the federation were seized by order of the Trinidadian High Court. (The original article is located here.

When a politician suspends his or her campaign, it effectively means the end of the campaign. Even if it is restarted, all of the momentum generated has been lost and almost impossible to recover. Sports league operations are no different, and especially soccer leagues in the USA. So the news today that Women's Professional Soccer has suspended operations for the 2012 season is very bad.

Greetings from sunny and cool Arizona, where I will be spending a few days in Phoenix. I'm here to visit some friends but also to check out some of the MLS training camps that are going on in metro Phoenix, Casa Grande, and Tucson. I believe that New England Revolution, Sporting Kansas City, Seattle Sounders, Real Salt Lake, and San José Earthquakes will be here, so I hope to catch a few glimpses, assuming that their sessions are open to the public, of course.

It's been a very long time since I had anything to write about Belizean soccer beyond the power struggle in the national federation. But the newly formed Premier League of Belize elected a chairman earlier this month, and a new league season is on the horizon. The new season starts next weekend (4-5 February) with twelve clubs split into two geographical zones.

At the end of the 2011 MLS season, the conventional wisdom was that the images of David Beckham raising the Anschutz trophy would be his last in a LA Galaxy uniform. Paris St-Germain, bankrolled with the billions of their Qatari benefactors, were pushing hard for Beckham to join their team and were willing to pay any price to have him.

Next year's CONCACAF Champions League competition will look significantly different from current and previous versions. Ted Howard, CONCACAF's acting general secretary, announced today that the preliminary round would be eliminated from the competition, and all 24 qualifying clubs will proceed directly to a group stage containing eight groups of three teams each.

No, not me. CONCACAF announced that Tim Howard has been promoted from deputy general secretary to acting general secretary of the confederation. He was previously involved with the original North American Soccer League in the 1970s and early 1980s, and held executive marketing positions with Ohlmeyer Communications (formed by fomer sports television producer Don Ohlmeyer) and the NBA before joining CONCACAF in 1998.

Today marks the final day of Chuck Blazer's tenure as general secretary of CONCACAF, an office that he has held for 21 years. Jack Warner, who had served as CONCACAF president over the same period, was forced out as a result of his FIFA-imposed suspension six months ago. It brings to a close a consequential era in the history of the confederation.

It's been a while since I've written on the Central American playoff scene, but all of the champions have been decided with the exception of Belize. Below is a summary of who won what: Costa Rica: Alajuelense won their third consecutive league title, and their 27th overall, by defeating Herediano 6-5 on penalties after a 1-1 aggregate draw in the final series.

Recently retired LA Galaxy defender Gregg Berhalter has moved directly into coaching. But to the surprise of many, it won't be in America. He was confirmed as the new manager of Hammarby IF in the Swedish second division today -- article from the AP is here, press release from Hammarby's website is here (in Swedish).

Both sides of the Clásico Regiomontano experienced different emotions during the weekend. CONCACAF club champions Monterrey were knocked out of the FIFA Club World Cup by Japanese champions Kashiwa Reysol, 4-3 on penalties after the match finished 1-1 at the end of 120 minutes. Reysol took the lead through their star midfielder Leander Domingues, but the Rayados equalized through Humberto Suazo five minutes later.

CONCACAF champions Monterrey landed in Japan this morning in advance of their match against the winner of Japanese champions Kashiwa Reysol and Oceania champions Auckland City. Monterrey have the slightly easier path to the finals as they would face South American champions Santos in the semifinal instead of Barcelona, but of course they would have to get past the survivor of the preliminary round first.

Well into the playoff phase in Central America's domestic leagues, as two leagues approach the finals and a new champion has been crowned in Panama. Here's a summary of what happened over the past seven days: BELIZE ??? COSTA RICA Alajuelense and Herediano will meet in the final of the Invierno tournament.

The Stanford Cardinal are the newest champions of Division I women's college soccer after defeating Duke 1-0 in a hard-fought final at KSU Soccer Stadium outside Atlanta. The winning goal was scored about ten minutes into the second half by Teresa Noyola. Much had been stated about Duke's slow starts in their previous NCAA Tournament matches, and I think coach Robbie Church must have communicated to the team that if they did the same against Stanford they would find themselves behind early.