At current pace, the Manchester Derby could settle right below Clasico levels in a few years time. The spending and success on the blue side of town will only breed animosity, while history still remains firmly in the red half of town.

Plus Carlos Tevez will be involved* and nothing fans the flames like a sign celebrating Fergie's ultimate demise.

A dinosaur?

Nary a peep.

That's what will happen.

As another Premiership campaign bullets down the stretch and Manchester United goes ahead by a few horse lengths, so dribbles to closure the likely Premiership career of a peculiar one, Dimitar Berbatov.

It's almost an incredulous that a player who was last year's co-Golden Boot winner 20 in the Premiership last year to share the title with the one and only Carlos Tevez has become such an afterthought both by his manager and by the ravenous English press.

This game was anti-climatic in some ways. As discussed in the preview, the fighting spirit of a relegation candidate could have been the only factor that made this a compelling contest. It was nowhere to be seen. Wolves started in a somewhat diffident manner and the events of the opening 10 odd minutes virtually killed the contest.

This game was anti-climatic in some ways. As discussed in the preview, the fighting spirit of a relegation candidate could have been the only factor that made this a compelling contest. It was nowhere to be seen. Wolves started in a somewhat diffident manner and the events of the opening 10 odd minutes virtually killed the contest.

Liverpool 2: Suarez 23′, Downing 57′
Stoke City 1: Crouch 23′

Stewart Downing's second half strike sends Liverpool back to Anfield South for next month's FA Cup semi-final, with the hosts narrowly getting past Stoke. First half goals from Luis Suarez and Peter Crouch left the match level at the break, but a positive response after the restart proved enough to give Liverpool the victory.

Nearly 24 hours have passed since the LA Galaxy were bounced prematurely from the CONCACAF Champions League, and I've decided that it is indeed a debacle.
This was something the Galaxy had invested heavily in, this tournament. The Galaxy fancy themselves a global club, a brand, an identity that goes beyond your average MLS club.

As dream debuts go, David Estrada's was just about perfect. OK, so Wednesday's start against Santos Laguna wasn't really a "debut" in the generally accepted sense of the word. Estrada has made a handful of appearances and even made a couple of starts for the Seattle Sounders during his first two seasons with the team.

Every week at the conclusion of the weekly #SoccerSpeakUSA Twitter Chat, Soccer Support announces a ‘Tweeter of the Week' – someone who we felt gave the best insights and responses during the hour and embodied what #SoccerSpeakUSA is setting out to achieve.

The winner of this award is then entitled to promote a blog, club or website through the Soccer Support channels.

photo by Jon Lorentz/Orlando City SC

By FRANCO PANIZO

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Hundreds of people clad in red and purple were on their feet. Some were banging drums, others were chanting and a another group was cracking jokes at the referee who was officiating the match being played right in front of their eyes.

Our friends over at New England Soccer Today are once again flexing their muscles and showing off their superior sources, and today's piece does not disappoint. Few people were probably expecting Monsef Zerka to return this season, but most were operating under the assumption that the front office was at least making some attempt to bring him back at a reduced salary.

By Chris Wright

A flurry of late goals saw Chelsea rack up an impressive scoreline against Championship paupers Portsmouth at Stamford Bridge, with Juan Mata sticking away Florent Malouda's cut-back just after half-time before Ramires (85th and 87th minutes) and Frank Lampard (93rd) padded out the rout as the clock dwindled down to nowt.

On a day that ended in such a frustratingly familiar fashion, one of the lone causes for optimism was the return of Steven Gerrard. The captain's initial return effort earlier in the season was cut short, leaving Liverpool with the task of forming an identity that didn't involve the man who's been such an integral part of the club's success over the past thirteen years.

In the end, yesterday's match in Lisbon proved to be more of an afterthought than anything else, as the FA announcement of charges against Luis Suarez (along with FIFA and Sepp Blatter's pathetic effort) dominated much of the conversation. Given that qualification to the first knockout round was already secured for both sides, this one was maybe never likely to gather too much attention, but it was too bad that the final round of the group stage coincided with a major non-development in one of the more troubling storylines of the past few weeks.

The little brother slays...

Neil Blackmon on the how little brother became all growns up.

Manchester City should glide past an injury-riddled Villarreal Wednesday in the Champion's League. The success will pale in comparison to what was achieved across Manchester ten days ago.

I had the feeling this supposedly intense season-ending derby would come off as an afterthought.

And both teams played like it.

The Galaxy's unbeaten home record aside there was little at stake for either team in this perfunctory performance unless you like counting shutouts or watching an old warhorse like Gregg Berhalter finish out a career.

One of the more pleasing aspects of modern life is the plurality of media that is presented to us. The internet has given us a plethora of options for reading, watching and listening that would have been unimaginable twenty years ago, and we should be grateful for the fact that, no matter what our particular inclinations might be, whether serious or irreverent, whether demanding fact or fantasy, we will usually be able to find it, if we look hard enough.

Photo by Brett Sarsfield/ISIphotos.com

The international club interest in David Beckham isn't going away, and the reports from around the globe only figure to pick up steam as time elapses on the end of his current MLS contract.

The latest round includes a report from France, which states that Paris-St.

Apologies.

When the names read across the back of the shirt read Ozil, Kaka and Ronaldo, one expects the spectacular from time to time. Or much of the time.

One of the continents great providers of technical footballers was given a lesson in skill and fluidity today when Ronaldo poked in Real's absurd team goal with a finish which wasn't insubstantial, but rendered a complete afterthought to the buildup.

When Sporting Kansas City and the Philadelphia Union square off at Livestrong Sporting Park Friday night (8:30 p.m., Fox Soccer Channel), first place in the Eastern Conference will be up for grabs. If the teams don't play to a draw, the winner will move into the conference's top spot.

Gervinho to Score for Arsenal Against Blackburn | Never Captain Nicky Butt:The inimitable Ibracadabra was definitely on the same page as Jeremy and me when he came up with his Funny Feeling Friday pick for this week. Between the match-up, price and the fact that he's likely to be a bit of an afterthought after 3 weeks riding the Premier League pine due to his Barton-gate induced suspension you

Cissé at Metz 2008/9. In all the numerous striker targets Newcastle United were linked with and failed to "get over the line", one name seemed to be something of an afterthought, though according to his current club, German Bundeliga side, Freiburg, Newcastle United actually did made a late bid for Papiss Demba Cissé which [.

Samuel Eto'o may have only been an Inter player for two seasons, but the legacy he leaves behind will never be forgotten. "The Lion King" came to Inter in the summer of 2009, as somewhat of an afterthought in the blockbuster Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Barcelona deal. Many people questioned how the Nerazzurri were going to survive without the talent and skill of the Swede and if Eto'o would be able to.

This column by Eric Giardini. Proof once again that he does, in fact, write for TSG.

Messi is to Michael Jordan as Pastore is to Magic Johnson

At the conclusion of their 1-0 home loss to Lorient, jeers from the supporters rained down upon the Paris Saint-Germain players as they left the pitch at the Parc de Princes.

This is definitely not the headline I was expecting to write. I first want to apologize for the delay on this piece. I was in Chicago for the Fire game Saturday followed by the Cubs game Sunday. While the Fire game was fun but the result was undesirable, the Cubs game was an oven sitting in the sun (which I was).

Just about every league in Europe has their own privileged clubs, the biggest and most popular teams loaded with money to spend and trophies shining in their cabinets. Italy is no exception. Most Serie A seasons begin with pundits trying to decide which of the big clubs will win the championship and which clubs will achieve the cash-rich prize of European qualification, while the smaller clubs become almost an afterthought.

The Seattle Sounders beat the New England Revolution on Sunday through quality players that at one point were considered merely depth, but are now clearly depth in quality. Tyson Wahl, who just a few short weeks ago expected to not be the player taking free kicks and so did not expect to get a goal, just mere assists.

Rather than let this wait till morning, I thought I'd just float a single, rambling thought while the game is fresh in the memory...
Great game. Great final. The better team won and the hex is lifted. Old Mexico would have gone down 2-0 and proceeded to self-destruct. New Mexico played their game and deserved to win because of it.

This article was sent to me by Daniel Casey of Notes of Subpar Footballer regarding Chicago's current, or possibly past, issues on the field. It was written about a week ago, but now has a further update at the end (you'll see it). Enjoy, and for all you readers who write your own material, know that we at the Offside are always happy to feature (good) reader submitted work.

Welcome to a daily feature that I'll be writing for the foreseeable future (if anyone actually likes it). I intend it to be a light-hearted roundup of some of the more amusing events that football has to offer. After all, the game's supposed to be entertaining, isn't it? Today we kick festivities off with.

It is expected that the Seattle Sounders get past San Francisco in the preliminary stage and they probably step forward as second favorites. The group isn't too strong, but what could determine Seattle's fate though is how they perform in the next few months in MLS. If, like last season, they need a late season push to make the MLS Playoffs, the Champions League becomes an afterthought for them.

- Keith Hickey The last time the CONCACAF Gold Cup was here, it came as an addendum, an afterthought to the FIFA Confederations Cup. Watching the B team take on Haiti and Panama was hardly an exciting prospect compared to playing Italy, Spain, Brazil, or Egypt. Getting our proverbial backsides handed to us by Mexico on our own turf didn't help our estimation of the competition, either.

Well we saw the teasers. We got excited. Your beloved blogger Mark even made a mock up of what he thought (hoped) the new shirts would look like. And then tonight, we find out that the look like this.
It's difficult to know what to say at this point except that it's all wrong. I was hoping that it would grow on me, but it just gets worse every time I look at it.

To take Spurs forward for the rest of the season and beyond will require, amongst other things, great leadership on the pitch. With our club captain Ledley King missing for so long and his previous deputy now playing at West Ham, the armband has regularly been worn by his centre-half partner Michael Dawson.

In the relatively short span that I've being a fan of MLS, I have grown to consider the television coverage of MLS to be like the Snake Exhibit at your local zoo: isolated, thought of in a wide variety of fashions from cool to ambivalent to disgusting, and lacking the level of interaction that allows the observer to experience first-hand what is to be offered.

Last month our Real Madrid Fan Site wrote that Mourinho and Valdano Were Feuding at Real Madrid and then earlier this month indicated that there is still More Trouble in Madrid.

Well it seems that the internal politics at Madrid have gotten so bad that Jose Mourinho has refused to say that he will be back to coach at the Bernabeu next season.

Last month our Real Madrid Fan Site wrote that Mourinho and Valdano Were Feuding at Real Madrid and then earlier this month indicated that there is still More Trouble in Madrid.

Well it seems that the internal politics at Madrid have gotten so bad that Jose Mourinho has refused to say that he will be back to coach at the Bernabeu next season.

Rafael van der Vaart has been speaking about his love for Spurs ahead of Sunday's clash with Manchester United.

The Dutchman has been a revelation since he joined, almost as an afterthought on the last day of the summer transfer window. His goals, and all round world class performances have helped us up into fourth place as we prepare to take on the league leaders.