Not to put a damper on the upcoming European Championships, but there's been a lot of news lately regarding possible racial attacks on players and fans in Ukraine. There has also been video news footage of organized, political hooligans taking part in military-style training camps.

This doesn't bode well for England and it's believed a lot of supporters are simply going to stay home this summer and watch the tournament on TV instead of dealing with any possible aggravation and the sky-high hotel prices.

Chelsea starlet Juan Manuel Mata has questioned the merits of Manchester United's 2008 Champions League glory, which came at his current club Chelsea's expense following a penalty shoot-out in Moscow.

Mata, then at Valencia, has revealed that he was an enthusiastic viewer throughout the thrilling 1-1 draw, which was decided by key penalty misses by John Terry and Nicolas Anelka after Petr Cech had given the Blues control of their own destiny by saving Cristiano Ronaldo's early spot-kick.

In the friendly against Manchester United we saw David Estrada finally replace James Riley. The original plan seems to have been that Riley would get rested by Brad Evans, but the aggravation of Evans' injury meant that he wasn't able to go long enough. With Seattle firmly entrenched in three tournaments it doesn't matter that Riley is one of the fittest players on the team, they will need someone to back him up, and there are only interesting options with no one a lock.

By Eric Beard

You do know this is the same guy most of you have been in awe of all year, right?

It's hard to find many cases more explicitly capturing the fickle nature of the neutral football fan (and journalist) than the double-standard that is placed upon Lionel Messi when he's wearing blue and red in Barcelona and when he's wearing blue and white in Buenos Aires.

Kenny Dalglish has admitted that Steven Gerrard could be forced to undergo surgery in order to cure his groin problem, with reports suggesting the Liverpool captain could miss much of what remains of the season.
Gerrard did not travel with Liverpool for their Europa League tie against Braga on Thursday evening as he continues to struggle with the injury, which has afflicted him for a month but did not prevent him from playing in the 3-1 win over Manchester United on Sunday.