Back when news of Landon Donovans's new Galaxy contract broke, I wrote that, contrary to the popular opinion that he was giving up on his European ambitions, getting the deal he did was an incredibly...

Fernando Torres will become the world's most expensive footballer if he leaves Liverpool in the summer.
Manchester City and Chelsea have made Torres their number one target but would have to splash out more than £140m in transfer fees and wages to land the Spanish superstar.
Not only has Torres' value eclipsed the £80m Real Madrid paid for Cristiano Ronaldo, he can anticipate a salary offer of around £15m a year given the current inflated levels for the most wanted players.

MLSSoccer.com writer Randy Davis posted an interesting story this morning about Real Salt Lake manager Jason Kreis' ambitions to coach the US national team. Could the current MLS champion be a good fit for the Yanks?

It makes sense for fans, especially MLS-centric ones, to clamour for a championship winning coach.

Six of the best quotes of the week from dangerhere.com:

1. According to Bill Leslie, JT and Wayne Bridge mightn't be the only pals to share and share alike:

"Scott Parker and Mark Noble are suffering from the same groin strain."

2. Paul Merson has found life much less stressful since he packs a whole week's worry into one evening:

"If I was Sol Campbell, I'd be having sleepless nights tonight.

Peter Crouch pretty much booked his plane ticket to South Africa this summer, with two goals against Egypt last night. Despite his excellent goalscoring record for England, his place in the World Cup squad was still in doubt, as Capello tries to find the right mix up front.

Capello's main priority is to find a blend that will bring out the best in Wayne Rooney, but as that may well translate to the Manchester United striker starting alongside the non-scoring Emile Heskey, it's important to have some more prolific options available in the squad.

Somewhere deep in the bowels of Anfield there is a timer ticking down. That timer shows about 100 days on it now, and tomorrow it will show about 99, and sometime this July the timer will hit zero. At that point, a bell will ring and Liverpool Football Club will have to begin a massive process of undoing the horrendous financial mistakes of the Rafa Benitez era.

Yesterday Sir Alex Ferguson had his say, today it was Wayne Rooney.

In what is sure to add extra fire to the anger towards the Glazer ownership of Manchester United, Rooney released a statement saying it was the future direction of the team that is the reason behind his decision.

Gareth Bale has had a stunning 2010 and the Welsh winger rounded it off with a stunning goal against Newcastle United on December 28, 2010. Tottenham, down to ten men in the game, attacked on the counter, and an excellent finish from Bale put paid to Newcastle's ambitions of getting anything from the game.

Perhaps I'm overstating things slightly to say that my new home town team, the Atlanta Beat, are the WPS version of Real Madrid. After all, the Beat are so new they have yet to even hold a practice. So, I'll agree I'm overstating things. Slightly.
From where I'm sitting the Beat appear to be about to take over the world.

Omar Salgado's story, moving to the US after being dropped by Chivas Gudalajara because he accepted an invitation to join the US U-20s, is intriguing. He's now signed up with MLS on a Generation Adidas contract and will enter the 2011 draft; with an expected loan this summer to a DII club (perhaps one of the two 2011 expansion sides), he could conceivably be on a senior roster by next summer in a rising league that is suddenly growing its list of young talent.

By Chris Wright

Not that it was ever going to happen anyway, but the FA have kicked Everton midfielder Mikel Arteta's ambitions of representing England square in the danglers after citing a little-known FIFA bylaw.

Spanish-born Arteta admitted that he was open to the idea of receiving an England call-up after qualifying for selection by completing the necessary five-year residency period, but the FA have now confirmed that the 28-year-old is ineligible after all due to having represented Spain in official competition at junior level.

David Beckham: Before Victoria, Madrid, Armani and LA

Tonight, David Beckham will receive a lifetime achievement award from the BBC. There are few people that would argue that David Beckham has not achieved a lot in his lifetime. Both on and off the field, he has left a dent not only on the game but he has also helped to shape the broader cultural context surrounding the sport.

A Special Series by Rob Luker This is the final installment in Clarkson University business student Rob Luker's "American Soccer Business Plan". You can read Part I, American Soccer Ambitions here,...

Patrick Vieira has confirmed he is leaving the Serie A champions, Internazionale, to join Manchester City. The France captain has also revealed that he decided to leave San Siro to further his ambitions of playing in a fourth World Cup.

The last week or so has not been much fun for Arsenal fans. In fact, I would liken it to being made prisoner in Guantanamo, shackled to a stinking, piss stained hobo, being force fed nits farmed from the head of a crusty, dreadlocked anti-globalism campaigner, locked in a damp room with posters of nude Teddy Sheringham all over the walls, having a really slow dial-up internet connection which half loaded every page you tried, all the while being blasted with that fucking Wet Wet Wet song that was number one for half a year.

A Moscow attacker Milos Krasic insists that Liverpool do not have the necessary means to meet the price that has been placed on his head.
The Serbia international was tipped to join the Merseyside club and link up with his international team-mate, Milan Jovanovic, in an adventure at Anfield.

Wayne Bridge has announced he is quitting the England squad. Everyone's talking about it.

But we have yet to hear from the most influential demographic in football today: Kickettes, of course!

Below we outline the two prevailing views, handily condensed so you can read them over a coffee and maybe even a tiny little muffin.

photo credit: 99 James Nguyen

Can they repeat their 2009 glory?

The first trophy to be contested this season is the Carling Cup and it goes down today at Wembley. This is what I LOVE about European sports. There are so many ways to be successful during the season that it gets interesting for everybody.

Manchester United's Owen Hargreaves is set to (finally) make an appearance for the reserves Thursday night v Burnley. It looks as if the Canadian born midfielder has yet to book a summer holiday somewhere warm as he still holds realistic ambitions to be in wintry South Africa with the England squad this summer (from his mouth to God's ears).

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez may not publicly admit it but he would take great delight in having a hand in preventing Manchester United securing a record-breaking 19th league title this season.
The two north-west rivals are currently locked on 18 apiece but, sadly for the Merseysiders, their last championship came 20 years ago.

Liverpool striker Fernando Torres has rebuffed reports he will leave the club at the end of their dismal campaign.
The news will come as a relief to the Anfield faithful, who have seen Torres net 18 goals in just 24 starts this term - a shining light in an otherwise wretched season for the Reds.

Danish club Aalborg currently sit fifth in the Danish Superiga with an Europa League spot within reach. A victory on Friday against bottom dwellers SønderjyskE could have given those ambitions a major boost. And momentum was certainly on their side, when SønderjyskE's Andrei Sidorenkov was sent off early in the 33rd minute, for a second [.

There's no real way I can spin this introduction, so I'll just be honest. Liverpool and Lazio's performances this weekend against Chelsea and Inter Milan respectively were two of the worst and most disgraceful performances I've seen in several years watching football.

Liverpool had to beat Chelsea at Anfield on Sunday to preserve their fading chances of finishing 4th and grabbing the lucrative Champions League revenue that position brings.

Emirates boss leads chase for up and coming England hopeful.

Win the Club Shirt Of Your Choice Simply by Speaking Your Mind!

GARY Cahill has admitted for the first time that he would leave the Reebok this summer if the right offer came along.

A string of top clubs are said to be monitoring the 24-year-old defender, who still harbours hope of making England's squad for this summer's World Cup.

Manchester United sold Zoran Tosic for reportedly £1m more than we paid for him in January 2009.

In his 18 months with the club he made just two appearances in the league, coming on for Berbatov in 77th minute in our 5-0 win over West Brom and just three minutes in our insignificant final match against Hull, both in 2008/2009 season.

Former Anfield boss looking to pounce for England captain.

Think Torres will be WC Top Goalscorer? Bet £5 with Ladbrokes and get £25 worth of free bets!>

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Rafa Benitez is reportedly lining up a big money bid to bring Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard to the San Siro and is apparently ready to offer Inter Milan players as part of any deal in order to sweeten the deal.

Rafael Benitez has spoken for the first time about his departure from Liverpool on the day that bookies have shortened their odds on Fulham manager Roy Hodgson taking over from the Spaniard in the Anfield dugout.
Newly installed as coach of Inter Milan, Benitez described how the news of his pending exit was relayed to him while he was on holiday but made clear that he maintains utmost respect for the ‘amazing' supporters of the Reds.

Mueller Speaks Out After Germany's 4-0 Win Over Argentina.

Thomas Mueller was beaming with excitement after Germany's 4-0 win against Argentina. The young German star, who scored Germany's opening goal just minutes into Germany's quarter-final clash against the Argentinians. Mueller, who was relatively unknown just a year ago, has now exploded onto the world football scene.

Van Gaal Orchestrated Bayern Munich Success Last Season, And Would Now Like To Emulate That Success At The World Cup.

Bayern Munich's head coach Louis Van Gaal has spoke to Kicker magazine in Germany about Germany's World Cup exit, and his ambitions after Bayern Munich.

Aston Villa's summer thus far can be neatly condensed into two words, and the second of those is "Milner". Their own supporters will be thoroughly sick to the stomach of the constant pas de deux that has been going on over the last couple of months between their most-prized asset and a team which they last season regarded as rivals for the final Champions League place, and it is starting to become a little wearing for the rest of us, too.

West Ham United midfielder Scott Parker is reportedly going to be offerred a new five year deal worth £20 million. Despite attracting interest from the likes of Aston Villa and Tottenham, the 29-year old has conducted himself professionally the entire summer by focusing on his football at Upton Park.

Is it possible to win a game 0-0? Probably not. But going by our performance on Saturday, it's fairly clear who, out of big-spending, high-rolling Man City and the mighty Spurs, is the superior team at present. If the game were a boxing match, the judges' points would have surely gone to Tottenham. They battered their opponents time and time again, landing a succession of blows upon the frail City defence.

With Harry Redknapp failing to do anything but bring a smile to Spurs fans' faces since his arrival, is this the year his favoured 4-4-2 may need to be replaced by a less exciting, but more effective, 4-5-1 formation away from home in the Champions League?

With the minimum of disrespect intended to Young Boys, Tottenham will be playing far bigger, and far more clinical, sides should progress through to the group stages.

The Arsenal midfielder Andrei Arshavin has been speaking about his ambitions. He wants to win the Champions League and show his undoubted talent to the world so he will be remembered as the player that did "magic things". "I want to win the Champions League," he said. "When I retire I want to be remembered as a [.

Welcome to first Espresso of October, the final month of the regular season. As we all know, the month of October can be especially cruel, as the wannabes are weeded out, leaving the only the legit alive at the end.

One of those wannabes was Toronto, who were given a 3-2 shellacking from Seattle last night.

Manuel Neuer's Faith In Schalke Is Shaken After Poor Bundesliga Start.

Manuel Neuer has recently stoked the fire of every major transfer agent in Europe when he hinted at a summer exit from Schalke in the summer. Neuer, as Germany number one goalkeeper, believes that he should be playing European football every season.

The 2022 World Cup bid process is turning into an arms race between two parties with deep pockets and deeper ambitions, so clearly the winner of that World Cup will be anyone who attends. Anything done on the pitch is just a bonus.

Japan wants holograms, Qatar has now countered with the rather stunning Lusail Iconic Stadium complex.

Rooney released a statement in response to Sir Alex's comments from yesterday. In a nutshell, he said that he wants to leave because David Gill would not give him assurances about the future squad. Rooney essentially questioned our ability as a club to sign big name players. It's hard to tell what exactly transpired in that conversation.

Wayne Rooney released a statement today outlining the reasons for him wanting to Leave United. He explained that he wants to win trophies and blamed United for not adding top-names to the squad in the last transfer window.

He also explained he sat down with David Gill to negotiate a new contract two days before the start of the season and asked him about the club's transfer policy, when told United were not adding too the squad he told him he wasn't signing a new contract and that he wanted to leave the club after six trophy laden years, he also maintains his ambitions of winning trophies did not match the clubs.

Manchester United supporters have learnt a tough lesson this week. The fact that footballers are mercenaries may be common knowledge amongst fans of most clubs, but Manchester United, by virtue of their sheer scale, have been largely insulated from this. They have been able to hang on to the likes of Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs for years and years, and have been afford one major luxury that is denied to almost every other club they sell, by and large, only when they need to sell and they feel that a player is surplus to requirements.