The talk surrounding Anfield is that Brendan Rodgers, the Swansea manager, is to take the reigns in the next 48 hours.

Although many tipped Roberto Martinez to take charge, Liverpool turned their attention to Rodgers after talks between the club and Martinez broke down.

However, will Liverpool strike gold with this appointment or will he turn out to be another mistake to be added to the pile?

With the Championship season now finally behind us, discussion among Ipswich fans inevitably moves from our thoughts on Town's results to the reasons behind them.It all seems to come down to Portman Road's Holy Trinity: Marcus Evans, Simon Clegg and Paul Jewell.But the last name seems to cause the most soul searching for the Blues faithful.

Dear Readers,

"August 30th, 2009″... that is how long ago the last post of mCalcio was published. Did almost three years really just fly by?

Many things have happened since then. For those who have been following mCalcio since its inception (or who joined along the way), you already know that a few months before that last post things weren't going well for me personally.

Dear Readers,

"August 30th, 2009″... that is how long ago the last post of mCalcio was published. Did almost three years really just fly by?

Many things have happened since then. For those who have been following mCalcio since its inception (or who joined along the way), you already know that a few months before that last post things weren't going well for me personally.

AVB: Wrong man for a transitional time - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

"It will always be a battle a day between those who want maximum change and those who want to maintain the status quo."

Those were the words of Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams when addressing the IRA in 2005.

Bad news out of Commerce City today as Anthony Wallace ripped his Achilles in training yesterday and he'll miss 6-9 months. That means if he takes exactly 6 months and no longer he can get back for the final 7 games. Realistically he'll be back closer to the final 2 games, at which point hopefully the Rapids will be in their playoff push.

For just about the last 30 years, English goalkeepers have slipped down the rankings of the world's best despite the legacy that they bring with them from days gone by. There was a time when it didn't matter who played in nets for the national team (as long as it wasn't Peter Bonetti!

And I'm not talking about Beckham's 2-year $15 million contract.

I'm talking about Omar Gonzalez. Last month Omar pulled out of the national team training camp for a very exciting loan move to Nurnberg. His very first day there he suffered a season ending injury at the hands well, feet of his USMNT teammate Timmy Chandler.

Yet another Clásico the two Spanish superpowers meet again today, in what will be their 8th battle in the past 9 months (see table below). Real Madrid hosts Barcelona at the majestic Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, for the first leg of their Copa del Rey quarterfinal tie. Kickoff is at a very Spanish 10pm in Madrid, which corresponds to 4pmET/1pmPT here in the US (where ESPN Deportes and GolTV will be televising the match, and ESPN3.

Liverpool continue to display green shoots of progress under Kenny Dalglish, and 9 months into the Scot's second coming Anfield his side look capable re-joining European football's elite for the first time since the 2009/10 season.
But frustratingly for the Anfield faithful, Liverpool have demonstrated something of a soft underbelly this season, dropping points against Swansea, Norwich and most recently Fulham as the lost ground to Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal in the race for a precious Champions League spot.

Former EPL champions Chelsea make the trip to Spain to face Valencia in what could prove to be a make or break match for the London club. Things are not so rosy for Blues who have had a less than impressive start to the season.

With uncertainty surrounding the selection of Frank Lampard for the fixture and the fans displeasure with Coach Villas Boas selection criteria, a lot is a stake for the West London outfit.

Luis Suarez has become a firm fan-favourite since arriving at Anfield in January. Overall, the Uruguayan's creative impact for the club has been excellent, but, as I will show, there is room for improvement. This is not a criticism; Suarez will get undoubtedly get better and better, which means the future is very bright for Liverpool.

In the most predictable news of this season (or indeed any of the last five seasons), Fabio Aurelio is injured *again*, which means he's now spent over 50% of his Liverpool career on the treatment table.
Let's take a look at the facts:
Oct 2006 - Injured: Out for 1 month
Jan 2007 - Injured: Out for 6 weeks
Apr 2007 - Injured: Achilles tendon.

While Angel Reyna's first-half strike provided the lone tally in Club America's 1-0 victory over the Portland Timbers at Jeld-Wen Field Thursday night, the friendly stood out for U.S. national team and MLS fans for a couple of other reasons.

Attack-minded American left back Edgar Castillo started and played the first half for the Mexican side, which has sent him on loan to three clubs over the last two years.

OK, so I managed to pull it off this weekend and watch all the soccer that I wanted. I am blessed with the fact that my wife Jenn, is almost as soccer crazy as I am.

We hung out together and watched soccer on tv, she was led on the couch (9 months pregnant) while our 2 year old son ran around the living room.

OK, so I managed to pull it off this weekend and watch all the soccer that I wanted. I am blessed with the fact that my wife Jenn, is almost as soccer crazy as I am.

We hung out together and watched soccer on tv, she was led on the couch (9 months pregnant) while our 2 year old son ran around the living room.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – If the struggling New England Revolution was looking to reigning team MVP Marko Perovic's return to right the ship, they'll have to wait until 2012. The Revs main creative force in the attack and top scorer in 2010 will miss the remainder of the season after undergoing successful surgery on his left knee on Thursday.

By FRANCO PANIZO

The San Jose Earthquakes lost Ike Opara to a season-ending foot injury last year, and they received a brief scare on Thursday when Opara picked up a knock to that same left foot.

Opara injured his foot during Thursday's training session, and limped off slowly under his own power.

The New England Revolution announced this morning that Marko Perovic successfully underwent knee surgery. We can now expect the Revs to be without last season's MVP and arguably their most dangerous offensive threat for the entire 2011 season.

It's very difficult to imagine New England's season getting much better without the prolific Serbian in the lineup.

.....and so we face, the final curtain. It's the last match preview of the season but unfortunately there's not really much to get excited about other than possibly having a hand in sending Birmingham to the Championship and pipping Liverpool to 5th spot and the Europa League place.

In the quaint Luxembourg stadium on Friday, in front of a hopeful banner that read "Lux 4, Fra 0," the pitch welcomed Patrice Evra and Franck Ribéry back from their period of post-World Cup exile. The game itself was, to put it politely, not the most thrilling of match-ups France is lucky to be in European Cup qualifying group with some of Europe's cutest nations, Luxembourg and the Faroe Islands but the mild victory by France further solidified it's march towards the 2012 European Cup, and more importantly registered as the end of one thing and, hopefully, the beginning of another.

A year ago today KyleShank officially opened the doors to the Brotherly Game on SB Nation.

The months that followed have had their ups-and-downs. In adding current Brotherly Game editor Ben Feldman, Shank provided the blog with its knowledgeable writer on business/finances and gave the blog one of its early "high" notes.

In January at the NSCAA convention, I ran a session called "Finishing Exercises for Elite Players." I leave it as an exercise to the reader to determine how a soccer mind as brilliant as my own could have run out a team which produced so many embarrassing moments in front of goal.

I mean, I know the answer.

Stoke City

Position: 10th, 10-3-13 (33 points, -2 goal differential)

Away Form: 3-1-9 (10 points, -7 goal differential)

Recent Form: WLLWL

Last Meeting: Stoke City 1 Arsenal 3 (February 27, 2010)

Arsenal back from internationals and back in league action tomorrow against Stoke City, in a match that was originally scheduled for December but got snowed out.

Bob Levey - Getty Images

9 months ago: HOUSTON - APRIL 17: Dominic Kinnear, head coach of the Houston Dynamo yells at his players on April 17, 2010 in Houston, Texas.