With England midfielders dropping like flies, more and more questions have been asked about why Michael Carrick isn't going to the Euros. He has had a brilliant season for Manchester United but, as always, hasn't received much recognition for this.

When Roy Hodgson announced his squad, eyebrows were raised when Carrick not only missed out but also didn't make the standby.

Suarez Soolsma in da house!
Welcome to our newest regular feature "Chants on Goal" where we bring our Yorkies' flavour to TFC terrace songs and chants. We're not trying to reinvent the BMO Field choir-wheel but giving you a few of our ridiculous favourite "hits" for you to enjoy and, if you feel the musical urge, bring them to your corner of the stadium.

And he blames "stress and family issues" for his absence rather than substance abuse:

In the absence of any match report or tweets every few seconds from saturday's FA Cup Final between Kelantan and Sime Darby at the Bukit Jalil Stadium, here are the thoughts of Kelantan's coach Bojan Hodak.
'Great atmosphere, 2 hours before game was almost full stadium, in this atmosphere we couldnt lose
Today I read that Kelantan didnt play so well, problem is that everyone expect 3-0 4-0 but Sime Darby played 8-1-1, after they conceded the goal they changed to 8-0-2.

First published on The Cup.US For the first time ever and after a year's absence of the USSF 2nd Division from US Open Cup competition, the North American Soccer League (NASL) will enter into Cup play on Tuesday evening. "We were disappointed we didn't get in it last year but we also understood with the [.

Having spent most of this season warming up the White Hart Lane bench, Jermain Defoe could have been forgiven for thinking that his chance of playing for England this summer had gone. However, he is on the plane and with Wayne Rooney suspended for the nation's first two group matches, JD has every chance of making the starting line up.

FC Barcelona medical team has confimred that Carles Puyol, the Barca Captain will be missing this Summer's Euro 2012 due to a knee injury. Our Captain Caveman will most probably have to undergo surgery when his national team colleagues will be trying to defend their title in Ukraine and Poland.

On Wednesday night, the New York Red Bulls defeated the Houston Dynamo 1-0 at Red Bull Arena. The victory came with many recent trends continuing for the Red Bulls.

The win marked the third consecutive victory for the Red Bulls, all by the score of 1-0, moving the club into second place in the Eastern Conference standings.

Saturday saw some interesting scores in the day's main matches. First, Arsenal de Sarandí played Independiente in a match notable for the absence of the head figures in Independiente's barra brava, barred from the game by the club's president. Arsenal won ... Continue reading →

Scott returns to the show form his illness for a special Friday edition of Around the League! Both Scott and Ted talk about Simon Borg's comments, and read listener emails regarding Marquez's suspension by the MLS Disciplinary Committee, and the absence of Josh Saunders in LA. Correspondents include: Chicago, San Jose, Portland, Seattle, LA, DC, New York, New England, and Philadelphia.

Full team news will follow of course but reports suggest that Scott Parker will be available for Sunday's clash with Aston Villa after making good progress from his ankle injury.

In Scott's absence however, Sandro has stepped in and has been back to his brilliant Brazilian best so Scott may conceivably have to wait in the unfamiliar territory of the subs bench.

Newcastle were very unlucky to lose to Chelsea at St. Park earlier in the season. Alan Pardew we wus robbed you tell them Alan 3-0 was an unfair scoreline, with two goals coming in injury time when Steven Taylor picked up his Achilles injury, which has kept him out for the rest of the season, and his absence has obviously cost Newcastle some points in the league this season.

After four years, three La Liga titles and two Champions League trophies, Pep Guardiola has decided to step down as Barcelona manager and take a break from the intensive atmosphere of leading "més que un club." Though Barcelona still have four league matches and the Copa del Rey final left to play, Guardiola announced his decision at a press conference on Friday (video below), which was attended by many of his frowny-faced players.

By JOEY SAMUEL

After missing four of the Philadelphia Union's first six games of 2012, captain Danny Califf appears to be ready to return to action when the team faces the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday.

Califf has been plagued by injury concerns so far this season, most recently sitting out games against Colubmus and Chivas USA due to a hamstring pull.

With former owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett back in the news, now's as good a time as any to remember that as bad as this season has been, it could have always been worse. Plus Charlie Adam's expected season-long absence is finally confirmed, and with the pre-season tour fully set it's time to send Liverpool Football Club your money.

Morning all from a Dublin where summer has arrived. I assume that the absence of torrential rain is a sign of summer. Maybe I'm getting it wrong.

We'll start today with the news that Robin van Persie's agent has apparently had a nice cup of tea and a chat with Juventus who would very much like to sign him this summer.

Morning Gooners! by SV Sorry I haven't blogged in a while (if you even noticed my absence!) but I have been absolutely swamped in work. Still, I managed to get myself down to London for the encounter against Chelsea. I have been told, after, that it was an extremely boring match. However, at the time, [.

I'm officially back, but exhausted like it's going out of style. Plus, the St. Louis allergy season has whooped my ass so badly, I sound like Morgan Freeman. Much thanks to Will and Jacob for keeping you guys and gals well engaged and occupied in my absence. I shall put together a random thoughts bit to discuss some things that went on while I was away over the weekend and also have another

By 1970's Gooner We all know that Arsenal's midfield will be significantly poorer for Arteta's absence. His role both as a calm and experienced midfielder who among other roles is sitting back and shoring up our line of protection in that vital area is immense. This is especially true when Song ventures forward, as he often does.

Morning all, welcome to Friday. Last night I dreamt that I won a contract to paint the stadium but the club's insistence that it be painted with Tippex made it a very fiddly and time-consuming job indeed. It was taking ages, and I wasn't allowed to hire anyone to help me.

Anyway, on with early team news ahead of tomorrow's crunch game against John Terry's Philandering Flock, and the manager has confirmed Mikel Arteta's absence but says the injury is just a 'bad sprain' and nothing more serious than that.

Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard is confident that January signing Gary Cahill is prepared to justify the responsibility handed to him tonight in the absence of the injured David Luiz.

Brazilian center-half Luiz picked up a knock in this weekend's FA Cup clash against the Spurs but England international Cahill came off the bench to ensure that the Blues concede no more than once in their 5-1 win over the Spurs.

The very idea of an individual walkingout of the workplace for months, and then returning a hero may seem preposterous, but inthe footballing world, it would seem things work a littledifferently.
The return of Carlos Tevez seems to havebrought something to the Manchester City team that was sadlylacking during his absence, and this doesn't just boil down tohis actual contribution on the pitch.

The day after Fabrice Muamba collapsed with heart related issues, a Third Division Spanish player Sergio Granero also collapsed from a heart attack during a match.
Now less than a month later Piermario Morosini has died of a multiple heart attack playing for Livorno.
The ages of these players 24, 21 and 25.

Cory Gibbs has suffered yet another injury centerback.

The veteran, but oft-injured, defender will miss the next 4-to-6 months after undergoing surgery for a torn right meniscus on Tuesday. According to the Fire, the injury was suffered in training during last Wednesday.

Projecting a lineup for Seattle Sounders FC continues to be difficult. With so many players injured, but not out the guesswork is a bit more complex than typical. For D.C. United our friends over at Black and Red United have it a bit easier as there team was successful and fairly steady with the only absence from last week's win being Brandon McDonald.

The New York Red Bulls midfield suffered a tough blow today amid word that Teemu Tainio will miss four to six weeks with a knee injury suffered in training on Thursday.

Red Bulls head coach Hans Backe revealed the details of Tainio's absence on Friday, while also stating that standout defender Wilman Conde will also miss Saturday's match vs.

Throughout Tottenham's defensive injury crisis the name Bongani Khumalo has been conspicuous by its absence from the team sheet. The South African was signed during the winter transfer window of 2011 but aside from a couple of appearances on the first team bench, the centre half seems no closer to making his full debut for the club.

Liverpool is putting Brad Jones on standby for a first-team call as Kenny Dalglish faces up to a goalkeeping crisis.
The Australian was pulled out of the Anfield side's reserve team on Monday night and will be in the frame to replace Pepe Reina during the Spaniard's three-game ban.
Brazilian Doni is expected to step up to face Aston Villa on Saturday after sitting on the bench in recent weeks, but he has never started a game for Liverpool.

Alexander Doni admits he does not know if he will be at Liverpool next season as he prepares to fill in for Pepe Reina.
Reina is facing a three-game ban following his sending off against Newcastle for violent conduct for an apparent head-butt on James Perch.
Doni, who joined Liverpool from Roma last summer, is expected to start in goal against Aston Villa next weekend in the absence of Reina despite not playing a competitive game for the club as yet.

I have been conspicuous by my absence on here of late so I thought it was time I pulled my finger out and tried to contribute something. In keeping with my normal modus operandi here's five random points of interest from the game for you to mull over.

1. Winning games can overcome all sorts of concerns and doubts about a team.

Manchester United are setting themselves for a complicated meeting against Blackburn Rovers on the weekend and Sir Alex Ferguson warned his players that it won't be an easy ride for them especially since the last few meetings between haven't been kind for Ferguson's boys.

The veteran tactician noted that playing against the Rovers always had a little bit of Derby feeling into it, resulting in a feisty encounter which usually reflected with a tight scoreline.

Typically, one must be dead to be a legend. Fortunately for athletes, they only need to retire. Still, the principle is the same in that at the very least those who have attained the status of legend are expected to be well past the days in which their deeds might earn them such status.

For some there may be argument over whether Jamie Carragher in the end will deserve to be thought of as an all time legend, a local player who would have fully earned such status through his actions in Istanbul even had he retired the minute the game ended.

Typically, one must be dead to be a legend. Fortunately for athletes, they only need to retire. Still, the principle is the same in that at the very least those who have attained the status of legend are expected to be well past the days in which their deeds might earn them such status.

For some there may be argument over whether Jamie Carragher in the end will deserve to be thought of as an all time legend, a local player who would have fully earned such status through his actions in Istanbul even had he retired the minute the game ended.

Arsenal's summer signing Andre Santos has revealed that he has been thrilled with the treatment he has received from everyone at the club and has chosen the Gunners faithful for special praise after recently returning from a long injury spell.

Brazil international Santos, signed from Fenerbahce seven months ago, briefly showed glimpses of his talent before being sidelined towards the end of 2011.

Toronto FC were strong against Santos Laguna in the first leg of their CONCACAF Champions League semifinal match, escaping with a respectable 1-1 draw.
Toronto FC were a bit unlucky not to get the second goal and take a victory down to Mexico. Santos went down to 10 men for the final quarter hour but Toronto FC were unable to take advantage.

Liverpool's injured midfielder Lucas Leiva is hopeful he will be fit again for the start of next season.
The Brazil international has not played for the Reds after suffering a campaign-ending knee injury in their Carling Cup success at Chelsea at the back end of November.
Lucas is an integral member of manager Kenny Dalglish's team and results have declined during his absence, even more so since the turn of the year.

Jozy Altidore saw a half of action for AZ as they battled to a win at Waalwijk while Charles Kazlauskas' continued absence was not enough to keep Helmond from extending their strong run.

During Tottenham's run of poor form, one of the problem positions has been on the right wing where, in the absence of Aaron Lennon, the manager has almost too many options. Kranjcar, VDV, Sandro and Jake Livermore can all fill in but some of Tottenham's best runs in the Premier League have coincided with Lennon at his best.

A good time alternative to the FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer simulation in the 2000s, EA Sports FIFA Street is back after a four-year absence with a reboot of the...

Roberto Mancini seems to show that he is not someone who likes to hold a grudge especially towards his players, as the Italian coached recently stated his joy on welcoming Carlos Tevez back with the first team.

Mancini revealed that he has already forgotten the problem that previously occurred between him and Tevez, adding that the Argentinian recent effort in training has simply pleased the former Inter Milan manager.