We are the champions!

Recently we've shared that various soccer luminaries such as Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson has advocated a spring-to-fall schedule change in advance of the 2022 World Cup. Now we find out that UEFA itself is advancing well past the thinking stage.

The British press is reporting that the English Premier League and Bundesliga are gearing up to fight a UEFA (specifically, Michel Plantini) plan to implement a spring-to-fall schedule permanently for UEFA member leagues and alter the qualification calendar for international events.

One of the side effects of the recent votes for the future World Cups, especially the 2022 World Cup, has been a rift between directors at CONCACAF and CONMEBOL. Last week Chuck Blazer raised the tone of his disagreements with CONMEBOL and its president Nicolás Leóz, from the end of guest teams from South America in the Gold Cup to the failure of CONMEBOL representatives on the FIFA ExCo to vote for the USA 2022 bid.

Last fall in the runup to the 2022 World Cup selection, MLS announced that they would study the idea of switching its league to a European schedule (August to May/June). Now that the USA was passed over for the 2022 World Cup, Don Garber stated that the league won't even bother considering the idea. A switch from March-November to August-May was clearly a nod toward FIFA by Major League Soccer and the US Soccer Federation, and in the aftermath of the World Cup decision the league and the federation concluded that they weren't fooling anyone by continuing to study the.

Soccer fans this weekend saw the best of the beautiful game pushed aside by the worst. As Barcelona were dismantling Manchester United with passing and play that was textbook in perfection, the drip-drip-drip of allegations coming out of FIFA's headquarters in Switzerland was deafening.

For those of you who haven't been following the drama happening within FIFA, you really should be. It's fascinating how such an inward, closed-off organization was finally pried open, if only a little bit, for the rest of us to see how it works. Over the last week or so there's been a lot of upheaval within the organization over corruption to the point where FIFA had no other option than to address them properly.

Carlos Valdes

Union

The Union has a couple of posts on their website about the Bimbo shirt sponsorship deal. Of particular interest is this quote from Nick Sakiewicz. "In about a week, fans will begin to see the impact of this partnership because we're going to be announcing some significant player signings.

The European Club Association, representing 197 clubs across Europe, is meeting today and tomorrow and ECA is being very vocal in its opposition to some of the thigs that UEFA and FIFA are doing.

Top of the list is the scheduling of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar with the ECA opposed to playing the tournament during the winter.

By FRANCO PANIZO

FIFA is under some serious heat right now due to the latest accusations of corruption in its recent World Cup bidding, and to little surprise the world's governing body is trying to alleviate that.

FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke has questioned England 2018 bid chairman Lord Triesman for not make allegations of unethical behavior sooner.

Grant Wahl may not get the credit he deserves, but his discoveries on the madness of FIFA politics carried heavy influence on USSF's decision to stand up and fight as an independent organization in its most recent dealings with CONCACAF. In the vote for FIFA president and for what may take precedent for future decisions, the USSF is making a power play for more influence inside CONCACAF.

The weekend's events have caused the English and Scottish Football Associations to call for a postponement of Wednesday's scheduled FIFA presidential election.

FIFA executive committee members Mohammed Bin Hammam and Jack Warner were suspended after an ethics hearing on Sunday, and Bin Hammam withdrew his candidacy for FIFA president, leaving current president Sepp Blatter as the lone candidate in the race.

The new year is here, and it's tempting to think of 2011 as a bit of a let-down in terms of international football. After all, 2010 was the big one, the World Cup year, and now we enter the long three year hiatus of World Cup football before Brazil 2014. But there is, of course, far more to the international game than just the World Cup.

"My proposal to Blatter was to play from February to December. FIFA was close to accepting, then Italy and Spain said no because we want to play in winter."

UEFA President Michel Plantini is the latest European power-broker to suggest moving their schedule to move in order to accommodate the 2022 World Cup being played in the winter.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

Chivas USA forward Justin Braun and Dallas defender Ugo Ihemelu have been released from the U.S. National Team camp due to injuries and will miss the team's upcoming friendly against Chile on January 22.

Braun is out for a week after four stitches were required to close a cut on his Achilles' tendon and Ihemelu was unable to shake off nagging hip and groin injuries.

Ok, it's time to revive the dead horse and ride it some more. Trust me, I don't want to but I have to.

Since the December 2 vote to award Qatar the 2022 World Cup, I have made peace with the decision. While I still believe the country was not the best bid put forward (the U.

By MIKE NASTRI

Japan slipped by Qatar 3-2 in the quarterfinals of the Asian Cup behind a Masahiko Inoha game winner.

The Kashima Antlers midfielder jumped on a loose ball in front of net and slotted home the stoppage time winner. Shinji Kagawa added two goals in the effort for the Blue Samurai.

FIFA is pleased to announce the extension of its broadcast rights agreement with Al Jazeera Sport for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ and the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar™.

***Qatar unveils plans for "sustainable" World Cup 2022 stadiums. Today Qatar and German design firm AS&P revealed plans for three stadiums for the 2022 World Cup that are intended to be environmentally friendly. Paying for those stadiums will be countless barrels of oil which will be drilled from deep within the Earth, which will then be sold, transported on a oil-burning tanker, processed in a pollution spewing refinery, transported on diesel-burning trucks, and then resold to end-users for them to burn in their SUVs.

*** Sepp Blatter hints that 2022 World Cup will be played during the summer. During a BBC radio interview, Blatter explained that the question of whether the 2022 World Cup would be held during the summer was "settled" and that the matches would occur at their normal time. Supporters who die of heat stroke can thank him later.

Chung Mong-Joon, the former FIFA Vice-President, today tweeted that his close friend and AFC President Mohamed Bin-Hammam is to challenge Sepp Blatter for the Presidency of FIFA in June.

"It seems he will challenge the FIFA presidential election in June," wrote the Korean who was unseated by a Blatter loyalist Prince Ali Bin Hussein of Jordan at the AFC Congress in Doha in January.

So there, FIFA, take that. And just to drive the point home, MLS Commissioner Don Garber made his comments in Canada:

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- Now that the United States failed to land the 2022 World Cup, Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber says his league has no plans to align with football's international calendar anytime soon.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

Two employees of a Swiss television station have been released after being detained in Qatar while filming a story on the 2022 World Cup.

Reporter Christophe Cerf and cameraman Yvan Thorimbert were handcuffed and interrogated at police stations before being fined and released with their camera confiscated 10 hours later.

London, May 20 (ANI): FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who is standing for re-election for a fourth term, has admitted that there is a ground swell of popular support to re-hold the 2022 vote won by Qatar. Qatar won the right to host the 2022 World Cup finals ...

FIFA's decision to award the 2022 World Cup hosting rights to a tiny, Sheffield-sized, almost completely disinterested, sun-scorched, oil-rich desert atoll in the middle of the Persian Gulf was a sham – you know it, I know it, Sepp Blatter knows it. Since the Sunday Times brought to light that, shock horror, the Qatar bid team [.

FIFA's decision to award the 2022 World Cup hosting rights to a tiny, Sheffield-sized, almost completely disinterested, sun-scorched, oil-rich desert atoll in the middle of the Persian Gulf was a sham – you know it, I know it, Sepp Blatter knows it. Since the Sunday Times brought to light that, shock horror, the Qatar bid team [.

DOHA, Qatar Qatar has welcomed an investigation into alleged corruption in its victorious 2022 World Cup bid. The 2022 host nation said the evidence put forward so far was false, unsubstantiated and coming from a whisteblower who is probably a former employee "with a significant axe to grind." Qatar has been on the defensive [.

The Philly Soccer Page " KYW Philly Soccer Show: John Hackworth
In this week's KYW Philly Soccer Show podcast, KYW's Greg Orlandini and the PSP's Eli Pearlman-Storch are joined by Philadelphia Union's assistant coach John Hackworth.

The Philly Soccer Page " Analyzing the US Gold Cup roster

The United States 2011 Gold Cup roster was released Monday afternoon.

Brandishing the (apparently all but worthless) FIFA Code of Ethics, a not exactly contrite Sepp Blatter went on the offensive in Switzerland today, scolding reporters and upbraiding some fellow FIFA officials (AP Photos).

FIFA President Sepp Blatter may deny it, but the world's governing body has been shaken to the core and no resolution is in sight.

By Chris Wright

Never gets old...the photo, that is

Not that it really counts as 'news', but the current furore over the fact that FIFA is rotten to the core and riddled with corruption shows no sign of abating any time soon as the panicking ExCo members now begin to turn in and feed on themselves amidst a veritable crossfire of spurious allegations, attention-deferring besmirchery and reams of claims and counter-claims pertaining to various acts of bribery, glad-handing and greed.

Sepp Blatter, the self-proclaimed "captain" of "the FIFA ship," has announced that future World Cup hosts will be determined by a vote of the 208 FIFA member associations as opposed to the 24-man executive committee.

"In the future, the World Cup will be decided by the FIFA Congress," Blatter told the Congress in Zurich.

A West Asian investment vehicle has acquired a majority stake in leading French Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). According to AFP, the Qatar Investment Authority, an investment arm of the 2022 World Cup country's government, has snapped up a 70% shareholding from US group Colony Capital, which became the majority owner of PSG in 2006 after buying the club from Canal Plus.

(Note: Still no pictures. Sorry for not having updated in a while; final exams and continued tech glitches are a powerful combination)

You may be lost about what's going on with CONCACAF. In fact, I'd be surprised if you weren't. Apparently, while we were all worried about FIFA collapsing under a power struggle driven by corruption, CONCACAF began collapsing under a power struggle driven by corruption.

If you wanted another reason why Qatar winning the 2022 World Cup bid is a joke, consider this: To deal with the sweltering conditions in the summertime in Qatar, FIFA is considering a proposal to play 90 minute games over three 30-minute periods...
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I never thought I would be saying it, but I feel a bit sorry for Mohamed Bin Hammam.Banned for life from football and with all his friends now deserting him. A few months ago it had all looked so rosy as he dreamed of handing the 2022 World Cup over to the winning captain in his native Doha. as FIFA President.

At three different points of the year MLS Commissioner Don Garber makes the big time media rounds and talks about the future of Major League Soccer. Tonight's All-Star Game is one of those times. MLS is getting really good, despite all the times they are the brunt of jokes, at getting exposure. This week they've done the traditional morning shows, as well as hosted a series of events throughout Manhattan.

Union

Ahead of last week's end of the season press conference, we posted a piece that looked at all of the different midfield lineups the Union fielded in 2011 (there were 26 of them). MLSsoccer.com published a piece yesterday with quotes from Nowak defending his use of so many different lineups and formations.

By JOEY SAMUEL

A wild weekend that included several major upsets concluded Sunday night in Mexico, where the four semifinal places in the Apertura playoffs were set.

Chivas de Guadalajara, despite finishing first in the regular season standings, could not overturn the deficit from their shocking 2-1 loss to Queretaro from last week.

The transfer window is now open and the next two weeks should be very active at 7000 S. Harlem. The MLS combine takes place from January 8-11 in Florida ahead of the SuperDraft on the 13th in Baltimore and the Fire need to begin filling the open spots on the roster now, but before any of that discussion kicks off I want to introduce the first new feature of 2011 - "Have Your Say".

The Asian Cup doesn't get a tremendous amount of pub outside the continent itself. It isn't even afforded the luxury of being whined about as club teams lose their stars for a few weeks in the middle of the winter (ahem, Africa).

But it does have appeal, if you're willing to look in the right places.

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This week's main report previews the 2011 Asia Cup tournament being played in Qatar from January 7th-29th. Explanations of key vocabulary (in bold) can be found at the foot of the post.

STARTERS
The tea leaves are telling us that Oguchi Onyewu is about to re-join his old coach Standard Liege boss, Michel Preud'homme at Twente in the Netherlands. The two were together at Standard in Belgium. We shall see if this shakes out?
dN
The Asian Cup starts tomorrow with hosts Qatar taking on Uzbekistan.