With the US U20 team getting ready to depart Wednesday for the 2010 Milk Cup in Northern Ireland, one of the players who will help anchor the US midfield is DC United Academy standout Conor Shanosky.

Darlington Nagbe. (Akron)

Its hard to believe it but kids around the country are closing out their summers and are about to head back to school. That means the college soccer season is upon us too. Once again there are plenty of excellent guys to look at for the upcoming season and even further down the road at the 2011 MLS SuperDraft next January.

I am not agreeing with anything this anchor says because I do not believe that she is an accredited member of any journalistic trade organizations.

Tuesday, June 29th, 19:30 GMT, Cape Town Stadium

The hype over this match is incredible. The number two FIFA ranked team in the world in Spain and the number three ranked team in Portugal. It's unfortunate that this match isn't happening deeper into the tournament. This Round of 16 match-up should be one for the ages.

By Ollie Irish

Spain play with their shiny new toy

In terms of viewing figures for Sunday's World Cup final, the BBC handed ITV its arse, with almost five times as many people choosing Gary Lineker over Adrian Chiles.

The BBC claimed its match audience average was 4.

Rafael Marquez is now set to join Thierry Henry as the newest member of Major League Soccer's New York Red Bulls. Rumor has it that this change will be made official at the end of this week, with Marquez joining them shortly after.

The 31 year-old defender will have an immediate impact in the league and put a heavier anchor in an already solid back line for the Red Bulls.

So the challenge was simple enough: Pick an MLS starting eleven that which has a total 2010 Guaranteed Compensation under $1,000,000.

The results were simple enough too. A pretty good team, I'd say. (Review it here.)

But as it turns out, the process of choosing the team and some insight about the league that came from it are probably what was the most interesting.

Progress right? Even if its minimal is still better than nothing San Jose Earthquakes fans.

Today your club's owner Lew Wolff formally selected the architect for the teams' proposed new stadium. Wolff announced that sports venue design innovator 360 Architecture would head up the project of both the Quakes new stadium and his MLB team the Oakland A's stadium.

As he has been the past two seasons, Karl Bock is a central figure for the Oregon High School boys soccer team.

But instead of being a key cog in the attack, the senior finds himself as the anchor of the Panthers' stout backline, playing sweeper after three seasons as a forward.

Abby Wambach was at the ESPN HQ last Monday. They didn't ask her if she thought this was a PK...

On the Monday before she joined the U.S. team in Dallas to fly to Cancun for Women's World Cup qualifying, star striker Abby Wambach was in Bristol, Conn., filming a This is SportsCenter commercial.

Lucas is Liverpool class. There, I've said it. Full stop, no caveats. No ifs, ands, or buts. He's good enough for LFC, and moreover he's good enough to be a starter in trophy winning sides in the future, assuming the club as a whole can get back to the point where it can seriously challenge for trophies.

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In one week, the Chicago Fire will be hosting their annual end of the season team awards. It looks like it will be a great time honoring C.

Well when your side is screaming out for a centre half, why not simply go out and sign a centre midfielder who's lost his pace and has struggled with injuries for 3 seasons. Yes, Roberto Mancini seems to think that by signing a creaky Patrick Vieira, it'll help shore up a leaky defence.

Over the last few years there have been many criticisms of Arsenal, not least of which is the fact that we're a 'soft touch' and that we can't scrap out results when we're not playing as well as we might. Often we've played great football but lost games. Yesterday's game at Bolton was another example of the growing maturity of this team as we battled out a 2-0 win.

The Philadelphia Union has announced the signing of U.S. youth international defender Michael Orozco on loan from San Luis FC of the Mexican first division. In order to make the signing, Philadelphia needed to move up to the #1 spot in the MLS allocation order; they accomplished this by arranging a trade with the team that held the coveted spot, the New York Red Bulls.

The media wasn't convinced and readied themselves for a caning, the fans were a little apprehensive, there was no Cesc, we had never turned a first leg defeat around since General Custer lost at Little Big Horn, the pressure was building.

Oh dear what a let down for the Arsenal knockers, we cruised it.

I posted the rumor earlier today over on Twitter, and the Star has confirmed that rumor tonight, and that's that the Wizards have a new captain. His name is Davy Arnaud. Arnaud has replaced Jimmy Conrad as the captain of the Wizards. I'm not sure of the reason behind the change, but I personally have some questions about the move.

By Chris Wright

Claude Makelele, what an anchor!

Former Chelsea and Real Madrid holding midfielder Claude Makelele has announced that he will retire from football at the end of the current season.

The 37-year-old is currently playing in France with Paris Saint-Germain, and speculation had been rife that he was to be offered a further one-year playing extension at the Parc des Princes.

Jamie Redknapp hasn't been working for Sky Sports for long but him and his trousers have already started to get a following amongst women across the country with even a page devoted to appreciating them on Facebook. But now it appears that former Man Utd centre half Gary Pallister is giving him a run for his money.

Friday, May 21, will mark the seven-month anniversary of the day Oguchi Onyewu underwent surgery to repair a torn left patella tendon that many thought would keep him out of this summer's World Cup.

Yet there he was on the practice field Thursday afternoon, kicking, running, chasing, heading -- doing all the things every one of his teammates was doing -- in hopes of being ready to return to his customary spot of defensive anchor when the U.

3 - 1 flattered England for a while but was fully deserved in the end as Mexico faded in the second half.
Playing against a side which is comfortable in possession and capable of breaking at speed is valuable preparation for any tournament.
Gerrard is better in the centre than out on the wing.

Shots of beautiful women in the stands, and outside the stadium are now a thing of the past, thanks to the high demands Adrian Chiles placed on his move from the BBC to ITV. The move has provoked anger amongst cameramen scheduled to cover the tournament, as lead anchor Chiles no longer wants to be the [.

As the second group matches begin, results start to become critical and that calls for creative and incisive punditry from the inhabitants of the television studios. Sadly, Clack TV have appointed Mungo McCrackas, the Biblically-useless centre forward from Heart of Clachmaninshire FC. That's not to say he doesn't have some ideas of his own to put the story across, but it's growing increasingly apparent to anchor Ron Bongo that Mungo might be an idiot.

ESPN's proclaimed "footy fanatic", Josh Elliot has called out all World Cup fans. Sportscenter wants to know who you think is the best player in the 2010 World Cup so far. The ESPN anchor picks Gonzalo Higuain, the convenient choice after today's hat trick against South Korea. However, I think the EPL Talk readers are more creative and knowledgeable than that.

FORMER England striker and BBC anchor Gary Lineker has been accused by FIFA of being complicit in the Bavaria ambush marketing campaign. FIFA officials have noted how Lineker has gradually been changing colour as the tournament has progressed, causing some elderly viewers to complain of faulty television sets.

Thursday, June 24th, 19:30 GMT, Cape Town Stadium

Not too much is on the line in this Group E showdown. Holland has already clinched a spot, and they are just one point away from officially clinching the group. Meanwhile, Cameroon is in shambles, and have already been eliminated from the World Cup.

Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson wants Aston Villa midfield general Stiliyan Petrov as the shock replacement for transfer-seeking Javier Mascherano.
Hodgson admires the Bulgarian star's style and is ready to pay around £7 million for him as he looks to cash in on Argentinian Mascherano by selling him to Inter Milan coach Rafa Benitez.

89 minutes, not games. He's played in 28 of those. Yesterday he helped anchor the back line in a 3-1 victory over Trinidad and Tobago. He will re-join the team in San Jose and will be eligible for selection. SJ has just signed former Wizard and Thomas' Jamaica teammate Khari Stephenson. No word on if Stephenson will be eiligible for our game Saturday.

Read the FIFA Statutes lately? No need, really, but since they're kind of like the constitution that governs global football, they are worth peeking at if you have a free moment (though I grant you that they are mostly interesting to nerds like me).
I got to thinking about the FIFA statutes recently after reading Marina Hyde's excellent and scathing piece about FIFA and South Africa.

Photo by ISIphotos.comThe MLS Rookie of the Year race is getting tougher and tougher to handicap.

Tim Ream and Andy Najar both enjoyed strong weeks to gain some ground on Philadelphia striker Danny Mwanga and Los Angeles midfielder Michael Stephens.

Doneil Henry watches as Preki and Mista chat

While it's far from the signing that we wanted and expected the world renowned super-genius Mo Johnston to be unveiling this summer, it is an historic signing nonetheless. Toronto FC officially announced the signing of Canadian defender Doneil Henry to a professional contract thus making him the first product of TFC Academy to turn pro.

By Chris Nee

Here's my ideal Villa five-aside team:

BRAD FRIEDEL There's not too much choice for Villa in goal. Little Brad doesn't get much of a chance, what with Big Brad's amazing consecutive games record, so Friedel gets the nod.

Gerard Pique (2 Feb 1987) plays center back for the Spain national team and La Liga's FC Barcelona.

Just a few months ago, this 6'3″ defender helped anchor a defense that notched their first World Cup title over Holland. Since returning back to league play, Pique has helped his Barca squad stay near the top of the La Liga standings, where they are currently three points out of first place.

Jeff Larentowicz has been the difference maker in the Colorado Rapids midfield, as well as in their locker room.
Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America writes of how every successful team needs a player like Larentowicz as their anchor.
"I left New England after playing with Shalrie [Joseph] for so long, and it was always his team and his midfield," says Larentowicz.

Real Salt Lake fielded the stingiest defense in Major League Soccer and the anchor of that defense was Colombian centerback Jamison Olave. The imposing defender put together the best season of his three-year MLS career, a season that helped him earn SBI MLS Defender of the Year honors.

Jamison Olave takes home the Defender of the Year award. (Getty Images)

There should have been no surprised in the MLS Defender of the Year award race and really we knew it would come down to one RSL player over another. Jamison Olave takes home the award over teammate Nat Borchers and LA Galaxy defender Omar Gonzalez today.

Defiant, captivating, and willful. These are the attributes I think of when I watch Steven Gerrard play football. Since the time he broke into Liverpool's first team in 1998 he has always found a way to leave his mark on the game. Now 30-years-old, it makes me so happy to see there is no decline in this trend whatsoever.

A few marquee international friendlies today with a Liverpool angle, though I'm not sure if the terms "friendly" and "marquee" should ever go together in football, no matter how good the matchups look on paper. But it's football, so you know you'll watch it if you can.

17:00 GMT/12:00PM EST Brazil v.