Tuesday's third round Lamar Hunt US Open Cup action provided American soccer fans a breathtaking amount of upsets as Davids slew Goliaths repeatedly from the East Coast to the Rocky Mountains. Seven MLS clubs were eliminated from the tournament Tuesday by 2nd, 3rd and even 4th division American clubs in what had to be one [.

By THOMAS FLOYD

Jonny Steele was just 12 years old when he first visited the United States. Little did he know how influential that trip would ultimately be.

Traveling stateside for the USA Cup youth soccer tournament, Steele met some friends that he stayed in touch with over the course of his budding career.

Yesterday afternoon, a friend of mine texted me, saying he had tickets to tomorrow night's clash between the Union and German Bundesliga team FC Schalke 04. I considered for a minute before turning him down, and the only reason I took as long as I did to mull it over was because I hadn't seen this friend in a while, not because I had any interest whatsoever in the game.

Does this promise to be a great week for football or what? In the middle of the week, we have the first leg of the Champions League semifinals, with top-ranked Real Madrid taking on third-ranked Bayern Munich on Tuesday and Chelsea hosting Barcelona on Wednesday. Also on Wednesday is the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League final between Mexican clubs Santos Laguna and Monterrey.

We're halfway through the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League at this point. In four matches, the home clubs managed to score a grand total of zero, count them, zero goals. Of the six away goals that were scored, Real Madrid scored three of them. The home clubs will all face a big advantage this week.

Perhaps you have noticed that when it comes to playing abroad, Americans tend to glom together at various Yankee-friendly clubs. Who am I kidding? NSC readers see all.Well, Greg noticed too and asked me to put together a table of the All-American clubs of the world. There are the usual suspects and just as many journeyman stories as world-beating ones.

On Wednesday of this week, interim CONCACAF president Alfredo Hawit gave the clearest signal yet that the confederation will collaborate much more closely with CONMEBOL than they have in the past. Will it be a merger in everything but name? Not yet, but significant factions within both groups are considering the possibilities.

We're back from vacation, so we're back with the weekend football schedule. Of course, the highest profile match of the weekend takes place in Japan when Messi and Barcelona take on Neymar and Santos in the final of the Club World Cup final on Sunday morning. With David Villa injured, maybe Santos has a chance.

Panamanian football players have been able to make inroads in South American clubs in recent years. Not just Colombia, which has been a natural destination for historical reasons, but also Southern Cone countries such as Argentina or Chile. Yesterday it was reported that Chepo FC's midfielder Aníbal Godoy will play for Argentina's Godoy Cruz on a loan deal that will run through the rest of the Argentine domestic season.

What follows is an initial list of 25 things obstructing the US from becoming a soccer powerhouse.

The "what's wrong" topic is always around and maintains a certain level of attention. Then, when our national teams flounder, the topic spikes and dominates the discussion.

And of course everyone and their mom has an opinion.

I'm not really sure I have a firm answer to that question, and this blog will be based on a lot of speculation on my part. To be honest, I don't know what exactly happens behind the scenes, in terms of who's controlling the purse strings and making major decisions about financial issues. But what's interesting to me is the fact that when people complain about what's going on at Arsenal (especially during the transfer window), almost all of the comments pertain to either the board or to Wenger.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

By JOHN BOSCHINI

Jorge Luis Pinto is returning to CONCACAF.

The Costa Rican Federation has announced the hiring of Pinto as coach of the national team.

The Colombian native has reportedly reached verbal terms with Costa Rica and will replace Ricardo La Volpe, who stepped down last month.

Unlikely goalscorer Bingham mobbed by teammates.
The summer of MLS vs Premiership fixtures kicked off with success for North American clubs as San Jose Earthquakes defeated West Bromwich Albion 2-1.
The Californian outfit went ahead in the most remarkable fashion just three minutes after kick off.

The Carlos Tevez transfer saga has taken a very unexpected twist after the Brazilian side Corinthians made a £36million shock bid for the Argentine striker.

Tevez said earlies this month that he missed his family and wanted to move away from Manchester City to be nearer his family. No South American side was thought to be able to afford Tevez, one the highest paid footballers in the world.

No changes in the Bonus Points this week so there aren't any huge moves in the rankings. That may change this week after the Copa Libertadores reaches the semifinal stages and the South American clubs hit the Super Bonus Point stage, but again, that's next week.
This week is a celebration of championships.

No changes in the Bonus Points this week so there aren't any huge moves in the rankings. That may change this week after the Copa Libertadores reaches the semifinal stages and the South American clubs hit the Super Bonus Point stage, but again, that's next week.
This week is a celebration of championships.

The quarterfinal stage of the CONCACAF Champions League begins this Tuesday following a winter break after the conclusion of the group stages. Along with the UEFA Champions League and Europa League, the CONCACAF Champions League is in the knockout stage, and will vie with those two tournaments, along with the Copa Libertadores for attention this week.

It has been a strange couple of months for the new version of the North American Soccer League, as it started with getting their provisional sanctioning at MLS Cup in Toronto. Then out of the blue they lost it towards the end of January as Selby Wellman and his family gave up their rights owning the club to the NASL as well as giving financial help to the Atlanta Silverbacks as a part owner and the NSC Minnesota Stars.

The NASL may have won the rights to being called a Division 2 league over the weekend, however a hammer was hit on the small league as the USSF said the five American clubs would not be eligible to play in this year's edition of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.

During a conference call with reporters today, U.

Results 22-01-11 USA 1-1 Chile 08-02-11 Peru 1-0 Panama 09-02-11 Latvia 1-2 Bolivia Argentina 2-1 Portugal France 1-0 Brazil Spain 1-0 Colombia Venezuela 2-2 Costa Rica Honduras 1-1 Ecuador Match reports On Tuesday 8 February Peru managed a 1-0 win against Panama which is the least their fans would have expected

-Jason Davis
Some will call it a mercy killing. The New York Post's Brian Lewis tweeted this morning that Red Bulls coach Hans Backe was told by GM Erik Soler not to expect SuperLiga to happen in 2011. On top of Columbus technical director Brian Bliss sharing the same news last week, it looks like the tournament everyone loves to hate might finally be put to rest.

Earlier this week, we published our 2011 international tournament calendar for the national teams. Biggest take-home message from this list: April and May are insanely busy, with continental matches almost every day. Here is the same for the clubs all the known dates for the biggest club tournaments in 2011.

Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (often called LDA) is a Costa Rican football club currently playing in the Primera División de Costa Rica. The club is the defending Costa Rican Primera División champion having topped the table at the end of the Torneo Invierno 2010 (2010 Winter Tournament). Among the most successful of Central American clubs, LDA [.

Barcelona topped a global league table of clubs receiving compensation from FIFA for letting their players go to the 2010 World Cup. Barcelona received $866,000 (£557,000) from a FIFA pool of $40 million (£25.3million) spread among 400 clubs in 55 countries.