By Chris Wright

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Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has reportedly finally reached the end of his tether with misfiring striker Dimitar Berbatov, and is prepared to make a huge loss on the £30 million Bulgarian in a bid to offload him in the summer.

"A lot of things went wrong in one evening." DC United head coach Curt Onalfo's reaction to his team's 4-0 opening night loss at the Kansas City Wizards.

DC United got some more bad news Monday, when it was revealed that defensive midfielder Clyde Simms, who had been moonlighting at right back in Bryan Namoff's absence, would miss 4-6 weeks with a hamstring strain.

Sure, the traditional headline would be the Roger Levesque goal, but it was the assist that was impressive there. Montero lofted the ball just high enough, and placed it perfectly. Roger buried it, as expected and the 89th minute while long, was also perfect for the Sounders.

The defense was all Kasey Keller tonight, but his knock will take some time to heal, and so we wait.

I haven't visited the half-full vs. half-empty review style in a while, so before I hit the web, Twitter, and fifteen different views of player ratings which will inevitably color my perspective, let's dust it off.

To level set though, let's remind ourselves that for all intents and purposes, the USA vs.

Since the World Cup there has been a noted absence of Charlie Davies progress reports on Twitter. I guess Bobby Blue Eyes was able to really reach him during their heart-to-heart back in May. Sh*t, if you asked the two of them I'd bet as least one of them ended the convo with "good talk."
But now that a few months have passed, CD9 is giving us the real talk on the injuries, the surgeries and the rehab in ESPN's Body Issue.

By Ollie Irish

I 'like' this all day long. Amazing improvisation by the small garden vegetable. It is also our undisputed Goal of the Weekend, beating fine efforts by Leighton Baines and Samir Nasri, among others.

As was pointed out on Match of the Day 2 (tuck your shirt in, Lawro, you're not at home), the backwards header is not new in football Uwe Seeler scored with a similar effort for the West Germans against England at the 1970 World Cup; the game in which England led 2-0 then blew it in spectacular fashion, no thanks to the substitution of Bobby Charlton and the absence of Gordon Banks.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

Freddy Adu figured to be weighing transfer and loan options this winter, but he has apparently let the public know just which options he is considering the most seriously.

Adu revealed on Twitter on Sunday that he is choosing between English side Hull City and Greek club Aris FC.

Reports indicate that Jamar Beasley, older brother of DaMarcus Beasley, would like to return to Major League Soccer after a nine year absence. The forward, now 30, last played in the league with the Chicago Fire in 2001, notching four goals in 18 appearances. In the years since, he has enjoyed far more success in Futsal than he ever did in Major League Soccer, representing the United States at the 2008 Futsal World Cup in Brazil.

It was an exciting game at Lockhart Stadium in Ft Lauderdale last night as Miami FC defeated AC St. Louis 4-2. This result eliminates St Louis from the playoffs.
The highlight of the match was Abe Thompson's hat trick! Abe has been inspired as of late and has undoubtedly found his form becoming the team's scoring leader with 9 goals.

After having him on loan in December 2008 and with the scouts monitoring him on a regular basis, Brazilian under17 International Wellington Silva has recently completed his move to The Gunners in a £3.5million deal. The player however will not arrive at the Emirates until January 2011, as rules state the player must stay at his club until he his 18.

I've suggested this before (with a nice diagram), but if we have no fit centre-forward worthy of the name we need to make the most of what we do have, namely attacking midfielder types.

Jonathan Wilson's review of the tactical year.

Barcelona also show the effectiveness of two of the other tactical trends in club football: the false nine and the inverted winger.

Rafa Benitez has hinted that Liverpool could swap formations against Benfica on Thursday in the absence of an established left-back.
With Emiliano Insua suspended and Fabio Aurelio injured, Benitez could shift to three at the back in the Europa League quarter-final decider.
Alternatively, the likes of Glen Johnson, Daniel Agger and Jamie Carragher have all operated on the left side of a back four in the past.

By 1970's GoonerIt is true that any team in the world will miss seven fist teamers like Arsenal have missed at various times this season. Robin van Persie, Gallas, Vermaelen, Clichy, Song, Arshavin, and Fabregas. But if their replacements were good enough then their absence would not have been felt so much.

Former Arsenal midfielder Ray Parlour believes the absence of Robin van Persie was one of the reasons they failed to win anything this season. Speaking to Sky Sports News after the shocking 3-2 Wigan defeat, the ...

Source: Spanish Football Sports Blog/FIFA has included up to six SPANISH FOOTBALL TEAM players ( plus Coach Del Bosque) to make up its BEST XI Team for the 2010 WORLD CUP Tournament. What has grabbed everyone attention is the absence of the big names, which isn´t a big surprise as the likes of Cristaino Ronaldo, Messi, Kaka, .

I think its safe to say that the German team that exited the World Cup managed to win not only a few games but also the hearts of a lot of fans-including mine. And, trust me, no one is more surprised about this than me. For a variety of reasons, I was definitely in the "anyone but Germany.

Sir Alex Ferguson may have a policy where he doesn't discuss footballers personally lives away from the pitch, but that certainly doesn't mean that the coach doesn't allow these incidents to affect who he decides to play on the pitch. Wayne Rooney was benched yesterday at Goodison Park and the famous 19 time title winning coach of the Red Devils did admit that it was because of the "terrible abuse" the former Everton man receives at his old home field.

By Darshan Joshi, writing from Sydney

On some days, Santa mopes around his workshop, sluggishly slithering between the elves and dwarves and other magical creatures he has at his disposal, with his mind fixated on Mrs Claus and his children Roque Cruz and Pedro Cecilia.

On Saturday Michael Essien makes his return to the Chelsea side to face Everton after seeing out his three match suspension picked up for the straight red card he received against Fulham and you have to say we have missed him big time. You can only imagine that Essien has been sitting in the stands watching the games kicking himself for making that silly tackle on Dempsey.

While scouring that new fangled interweb thing for interesting 2010 World Cup news, I came across this piece on GhanaWeb.com.In it, the author suggests that the fact that many of Ghana's key players - Michael Essien and John Mensah among them - are injured for the African Cup Of Nations is, in fact, a very good thing for Ghana.

Apologies for my absence this weekend. I was at a conference in St. Louis and had no internet access for the better part of three days. It was awful.
I will be attending this morning's introduction of Carlos de los Cobos and plan to post shortly after the press conference ends. Stay tuned.

Last week it emerged that Norwich City's debts had risen to £23m, a figure that would overwhelm most other League One clubs. However, while the Canaries' books are certainly a cause for concern, the club is able to call upon a highly significant asset: its Carrow Road stadium. Opened in 1935, the ground has been demolished and rebuilt stand-by-stand over the last thirty years and now boasts a capacity of 26,034.

Liverpool midfielder Alberto Aquilani has called on his team-mates not to dwell on the injuries to Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard.
Rafa Benitez's star duo face a combined eight weeks' absence as Liverpool's season of woe continues to plumb new depths, with Saturday's opponents Stoke preparing to add to it.

We all love a relegation dog fight don't we? This week, relegation fans - if such a phrase exists - we have a double serving of drop-zone six-pointers, with Burnley vs Pompey and Bolton vs Wolves.
Elsewhere, our team of previewers brings you the latest information ahead of another intriguing round of Premier League fixtures.

photo credit: Smabs Sputzer

The keeper is the last line of the defense and is often seen as the most important player on the pitch. Although offensive players usually win all the awards and receive all of the spotlight; it is the goalie that has the final chance to stop this success from happening.

Have you seen Johan Djourou – he's grown his hair during his absence and has dreadlocks, he looks great.

Some good news on the injury front, Johan Djourou has said in an interview on AFC.com that he should soon be back to full fitness, certainly by the end of this season. I'm glad to hear that, not only for him but if the going gets tough towards the final few games and either Gallas, Vermaelen or Sol get injured, we won't have to see Silvestre in the defence – we might yet get to see a fit, fresh and eager to play, Johan step in.

Liverpool FC's injured defenders Martin Skrtel and Fabio Aurelio could make a return to action early next month.
Aurelio strained his right thigh in Liverpool FC's 2-1 win over Blackburn on February 28 and his absence has caused problems for manager Rafa Benitez as it has left him with only Emiliano Insua at left-back.

Edson Buddle's goal in the 5th minute was the difference as the LA Galaxy dominated the New England Revolution to win their home opener, 1-0, on Saturday night.

The LA Galaxy struck early as Landon Donovan fired a beautiful cross in from the left sideline that found the head of Buddle. The forward was able to muscle past Pat Phelan and head the ball past goalkeeper Preston Burpo.

Andres Iniesta has been ruled out of action with a calf tear in his right leg. The medical staffs have confirmed that he has suffered total rupture of the right femoral biceps muscle, and could be out for action for four weeks. With this injury Iniesta will will be missing the Champions League semi-final against Inter Milan.

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Theres a fair bit of news kicking around as the various press embargo's have been lifted, Eduardo has been linked with an £8 million move to French side Lyon, Song has said Fabregas is going nowhere, the boss has pretty much confirmed the signing of Marouane Chamakh (reliably informed he is certain to join for what its worth) and theres a bit of other stuff too.

Torres's absence for the closing stages of the campaign is the latest blow for Liverpool in a season which has been beset by injuries to key players and poor form as the expected push for a first title since 1990 petered out early on.

Cristiano Ronaldo struck his first Real Madrid hat-trick as the title hopefuls produced a brilliant second-half display to down Real Mallorca 4-1 and trim the gap on leaders Barcelona back to one point with two games remaining in Spain's La Liga.

Sevilla shrugged off the absence of star striker Luis Fabiano to destroy Racing Santander 5-1 at El Sardinero.

Hargreaves who made his return after a 2 year absence against Sunderland is looking forward to more football in theRead the Rest...

Photo by ISIphotos.com

As the list went up on the TV screen this afternoon, Charlie Davies' absence was immediately noticeable, and for many U.S. fans, devastating.

Charlie Davies didn't make the U.S. national team's preliminary World Cup roster, unable to recover from his injuries in time to be selected.

United States Men's Soccer Coach Bob Bradley has trimmed his pool of potential players for this summer's trip to South Africa to 30. The biggest news coming from the announcement was the absence of Charlie Davies. If you don't remember, Davies was involved in a near fatal car accident last year which left him with [.

After a 39 year absence from the top flight, unfashionable Blackpool have made it back and with it a huge 90 million pound windfall.

In true fairytale style, and the reason we all love the game...........A true underdog, came, fought, and ended up winners.

Overcoming Cardiff City 3-2 on a glorious day at the new Wembley, both teams need to be honored for their attacking play and making it a memorable playoff final.

Liverpool defender Fabio Aurelio has turned down the offer of a new pay-as-you-play deal and will leave the club next week, manager Rafael Benitez has confirmed.
The Brazilian's career at Liverpool has been littered with injuries and his final year was indicative of that.
He missed the start of the campaign after sustaining a freak knee problem while playing football with his children and a thigh problem at the end of February prematurely ended his season.

This Thursday nights MLS matchup is a 1-1 draw waiting to happen. Of course, one team could come in asleep (like Chicago did at Toronto a couple weeks ago), however, all signs point to a rather conservative finish.

FC Dallas has been extremely consistent all season. They have not scored more than 2 goals in a match, nor have they conceded more than 2.

More World Cup tuneage In the absence of the Republic of Ireland (can... worms... keep closed), some of the Irish public have adopted Wayne Rooney as their official representative at the World Cup. The Corrigan Brothers - who previously brought us Here's To Trapattoni - are back to explain precisely why Wayne Rooney is their hero.

This summer's hottest footy fashions Team: Germany Maker: Adidas Prem personalisation: In the absence of Michael Ballack it is looking like slim pickings. Verdict: We're up to five white shirts on the bounce on World Cup Kitman. This one is pretty smart though. Germany and Adidas seem to have a mutual agreement that you don't mess around with the [.