Thierry Henry's move to the New York Red Bulls this summer seems all but certain now, as another report has surfaced linking the French forward to a move to Major League Soccer following the World Cup. Mirror Football claims that Henry's representatives have already held talks with Barcelona sporting director Txiki Begiristain in the interest of letting the 32-year-old out of his contract a year early so that he can follow in the footsteps of David Beckham.

By ADAM SERRANO

The nation of New Zealand may be considered an afterthought by many at this summer's World Cup, but if the Kiwis are going to advance out of their group in South Africa, the play of a number of MLS veterans will be vital to the squad's success.

The first real test of the year for the Kiwis came on Wednesday when New Zealand fell to Mexico 2-0 in front of a capacity crowd of 90,526 at the Rose Bowl.

First off, welcome to this space, hopefully to become your one-stop-shop for USMNT analysis along with the rest of the world of U.S. soccer. I'm extremely passionate about the beautiful game as it continues to develop in the U.S., and hopefully we'll have some interplay on the topic in the coming weeks and months.

A festive atmosphere enveloped the Camp Nou on Saturday evening as the boys of the Blaugrana celebrated their unprecedented six-trophy year with their Barça faithful. Villarreal was a mere afterthought as the Barcelona players deservedly received their plaudits for a year of literal perfection.

Sounders at Earthquakes

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Hey, it's the deciding game of the much ballyhooed Heritage Cup. The Sounders probably need to win by two goals .

Steve Davis (no relation) related tentative MLS plans to pump the league schedules up to 34 games last week; with Vancouver and Portland coming in, that number would represent a balanced competition where every team plays home and away with everyone else. As I'm a huge fan of the balanced schedule, the idea sounds good on the surface.

If there was one road to redemption for the Jari Litmanen/Sami Hyypiä generation, it was avenging the bitter loss of 11.10.1997, but it wasn't to be. I guess it couldn't have ended any other way. What started exactly 13 years ago ended in identical fashion. Finland had their throats slit by the Hungarians yet again.

photo credit: emarquetti

Luis Fabiano of Sevilla was not a terrible player by any means last season. In fact his squad finished with top four results and was rewarded a Champions League berth this season. And Fabiano didn't play terribly either. In 21 starts the Brazilian scored eight goals and was among the best offensive performers on his third place squad.

Good day to you all. I hope you're well and enjoying the running water that living in the modern world affords you. No such luxuries here as Dublin, the rainiest city in the history of the world, has run out. Stupid idiots.

We'll start with Arsene and his pre-match interview which is normally published on the official website on a Friday went up a bit early so I watched it last night.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

By TRAVIS CLARK

At the end of the past two seasons, D.C. United have found themselves in a unusual place -- out of the playoffs. Prior to 2008, the club had qualified for the postseason five years running, and had gotten used to success.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

By TRAVIS CLARK

At the end of the past two seasons, D.C. United have found themselves in a unusual place -- out of the playoffs. Prior to 2008, the club had qualified for the postseason five years running, and had gotten used to success.

The 2010 World Cup is less than six months away and people in the pub are starting to talk about who Fabio Capello will pick in his final 23.

For the first time in over twenty years, England fans can approach the topic with genuine optimism after a superb qualifying campaign in which the team only lost once, against the Ukraine, in a game which was merely an afterthought as they had already secured qualification to the tournament.

By ADAM SERRANO

The nation of New Zealand may be considered an afterthought by many at this summer's World Cup, but if the Kiwis are going to advance out of their group in South Africa, the play of a number of MLS veterans will be vital to the squad's success.

The first real test of the year for the Kiwis came on Wednesday when New Zealand fell to Mexico 2-0 in front of a capacity crowd of 90,526 at the Rose Bowl.

The 2010 World Cup is less than six months away and people in the pub are starting to talk about who Fabio Capello will pick in his final 23.

For the first time in over twenty years, England fans can approach the topic with genuine optimism after a superb qualifying campaign in which the team only lost once, against the Ukraine, in a game which was merely an afterthought as they had already secured qualification to the tournament.

I've been watching the Olympics from Vancouver and have a few observations so far.

1. NBC's main narrative of these Games is "Countries Winning Medals For The First Time." The US in Nordic Combined, Canada winning its first gold on home soil. I don't know if this is preferable to their usual "Athletes Who Have Overcome Adversity" narrative.

On Monday evening, Spanish national team manager Vicente del Bosque detailed the initial squad he will invite to Spain's World Cup training camp. The thirty man team will be whittled down to twenty-three by May 19, and for the most part, the squad has picked itself. The competition for those final few spots will concentrate on three areas: third-choice goalkeeper, fourth-choice forward, and the last two midfield spots.

With the World Cup only days away, it's fair to say that many products will try to cash in simply by slapping a St George's flag on their packaging and hoping for the best. This is a tactic which can work well if done correctly, and today we look at three such products.
As we mentioned last time, food manufacturers find it all too easy to vie for your attention at times like this and the good old Mars bar is doing exactly that – this time by changing its wrapper from black to a fetching white with a red cross.

With the World Cup only days away, it's fair to say that many products will try to cash in simply by slapping a St George's flag on their packaging and hoping for the best. This is a tactic which can work well if done correctly, and today we look at three such products.
As we mentioned last time, food manufacturers find it all too easy to vie for your attention at times like this and the good old Mars bar is doing exactly that – this time by changing its wrapper from black to a fetching white with a red cross.

At this moment, Spain's final friendly of their World Cup run up isn't even over it's something like 3-0 in the 57th (it ended a measly 6-0). The score or what have you is an afterthought, as is any debate over the most gifted team in South Africa. The story is the second goal, scored against Poland, which nine months from now will have spawned a David Silva generation of babies to mate with Andres Iniesta's generation.

The Sounders' biggest rival unveiled their new logo the other day to much ... fan derision. Timbers supporters were less than impressed by their side's attempt to update what was essentially the team's crest since its days in the NASL.

At first glance, I wasn't sure that I agreed with the strong feelings supporters voiced when they booed the new logo's unveiling during a public ceremony at halftime of the U.

Argentina vs Mexico Match Preview is a post from: Just Football

The more things change, the more they stay the same. This has been a World Cup that has turned up many shocks and surprises even before the knockout stage begins, and yet, here we are again, in a repeat from Germany 06, Argentina & Mexico face each other once more in the Round of 16.

At the final whistle tomorrow evening one team will be suddenly celebrating its country's greatest ever football moment one which will culminate with confetti, a captain and a golden trophy. But the other team will be left clinging to the past: the recent run of getting to this World Cup final and the memories from years gone by.

Really. England is heading for another disaster if this is the sort of scouting report that Fabio Capello comes up with. On the other hand this could be the best antidote to compulsive gambling.

The two central defenders Matthew Upson and John Terry come up with over 60 (60.21/ 60.48) in his index.

It's only appropriate that on the hottest day in two years the Colorado Rapids would return to action and ColoradoSoccerNow would return from vacation.

After seven days of sweltering in the wilds of eastern Oklahoma, even triple digits in Denver feels nice. Now the challenge will be seeing what sort of soccer is played on the the High Plains this evening at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.

England's most creative player and Fabio Capello afterthought, Joe Cole is being lured to Liverpool with the promise of £90,000-a-week. Spurs are also wooing him too and it may come down to Cole's priorities - be a part of rebuilding Liverpool or seek Champions League participation?

The best mouth-breather in the Premier League opts for Anfield
Former Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole has agreed to a 4-year deal at Liverpool, subject to a medical.
"Subject to a medical," is usually an afterthought for most players switching clubs, but for Cole it's a bit more serious than that - the creative former Chelsea # 10 has suffered from injury problems over the last 2 + seasons and at times seemed to have lost his form / confidence.

Wigan Athletic has launched their new home jersey for the 2010-11 season. And they've done it again. Whenever you feel that soccer shirt designs are getting better across the league, you can always rely on Wigan Athletic to bring you back down to earth again with a shirt design that is abysmally poor.

Poor David Beckham. He missed out on the World Cup he worked so hard to be ready for by tearing his Achilles tendon in Milan, and now this. Fabio Capello says there's really no place in the England team for Becks, considering that the midfielder is simply "too old."
He is, of course, and it behooves England to move on from Beckham.

Wrexham v Kidderminster Harriers

Whether it be the muddle of a midweek fixture or the sanctity of a Saturday, along with scores of intrepid fans nation-wide we set off, in our case to the principality. As always there was that nagging tinge of trepidation mixed with an undercurrent of die-hard hope.

I groused about the US Open Cup start time last week, a post that got me branded a rampant East Coast elitist; though that wasn't my intention (I should have simply stated that the final should be moved to a weekend), it is certainly discouraging that much of the country would need AM bedtimes to see the game (much less the trophy ceremony) in its entirety.

I know I'm likely in the minority in this, at least among more active fans of the Sounders, and it's likely to be a controversial opinion, but I really don't feel any sort of rivalry with the Timbers and I'm not sure why I'd even want to.

Much has been made of the billboard that's been put up in SoDo essentially trolling Sounders fans.

Is the idea of us signing Wayne Rooney really that laughable?

In the BBC Football gossip section this morning, they featured stories speculating about Rooney's possible move to Chelsea or Manchester City. Then they mention a story in The Mirror, in which Harry Redknapp stated that he'd be interested in signing the England striker.

Now that's an underdog story.

From Houston Dynamo afterthought to Golden Boot winner, the San Jose Earthquakes' Chris Wondolowski emerged as the unlikeliest success story this season, scoring a league-best 18 goals en route to capturing SBI's Most Valuable Player award.

Wondolowski, who has scored San Jose's last 10 goals, earned four of a possible six first-place votes on SBI ballots (including mine) to outlast FC Dallas' David Ferreira, who received the two other first-place votes, and Los Angeles' Edson Buddle.

What a shame -- Canada's women qualify for the Women's World Cup with an emphatic victory tonight against Costa Rica, their fifth consecutive appearance, and it's all an afterthought. That's because the host nation Mexico produced a fantastic performance to defeat the USA 2-1 and qualify for their second Women's World Cup.

Schellas Hyndman utilized his roster in ways he probably didn't plan on during the preseason.

The outcome? An FC Dallas team that is still alive in the playoffs, and one whose 19-game unbeaten streak in the regular season turned the side from postseason afterthought to MLS Cup contender.