Yes, I am a newly married man, and like many, I was wondering when the Red Bull organization would send me a gift for the momentous occasion. Well, here is a gift that I would willingly wait for, no matter how long it takes to receive it.

The Mail Online from England is reporting that Thierry Henry, Arsenal great and French legend, may be willing to choose Red Bull New York over a move to Manchester City.

It appears Saviola has finally found a happy home with Portugal's Benfica after many years of disenchantment with various European clubs. This season he joined the other two Argentine players Pablo Aimar & the youthful Angel DiMaria to form a very effective trident. He has already score 4 times in 7 appearances for Benefica thus becoming a house favorite.

Serious question: If New York were to win the Atlantic Cup one year, would they know what it looks like? I mean, we could give them used Big Gulp with the remains of a red slushy in it, and would they know it wasn't the real thing?

Immature trash talking aside, this was a nice night where D.C.

In Henry Winter's excellent piece on Carlo Ancelotti for the the Telegraph today, there is plenty of insight into the man who has Chelsea atop the table with a perfect record and finally moving on from Jose Mourinho's legacy, and that's all fine and good, but if you've ever wondered to yourself what Carlo Ancelotti thinks about Florent Malouda and John Obi Mikel's taste in music, you've finally got an answer:

"I am used to players who are very focused so when I came to England it was a big surprise because in our dressing room there is music.

Chivas USA 1 Red Bull New York 1

Game story

Notable: In the 12th minute Red Bulls defender Mike Petke moved into the tenth position in MLS history in minutes played. He's played 24,459 minutes over 12 seasons for three teams.

Quotable: "We make one mistake in 90 minutes and we got punished," said Preki.

Thanks Alexia for the photo!

So he's not exactly the world's favourite man right now, but Titipo Henry has officially joined The Dona's recreational volleyball club after his handball against Ireland. Ok, instead of calling him a hypocrite like everyone, let's sit down and have a drink.

The final practice session was held today.

Maradona lined up the following team:

GK Sergio Romero

D Jonás Gutiérrez
D Rolando Schiavi
D Gabriel Heinze
D Emiliano Insúa

M Enzo Pérez
M Javier Mascherano
M Angel Di María
M Pablo Aimar

F Lionel Messi
F Gonzalo Higuaín

Barring any last minute surprises this will probably be the starting lineup against Peru.

Maradona had the lineup below in today's practice session.

Barring any last minute changes the starting lineup against Uruguay will be:

GK Sergio Romero
D Nicolás Otamendi
D Rolando Schiavi
D Martín Demichelis
D Gabriel Heinze
M Jonás Gutiérrez
M Javier Mascherano
M Juan Sebastián Verón
M Angel Di María
F Gonzalo Higuaín
F Lionel Messi

Many reports today suggest Manchester United are going to bring the new Argentinean international youngster Angel Di María. Diego Maradona thinks Benfica's star can play with the best clubs in Europe...
Continue to the full story

The New York Red Bulls take on the Chicago Fire at Giants Stadium today and the Red Bulls come in desperately needing points to catch up with the lead pack in the East. The Fire is in first place in the East and will look to extend its unbeaten streak to ten matches.

I will be providing commentary throughout the match so please feel free to follow along here.

According to Chris Burton at Sky Sports News, Benfica winger Angel Di Maria has no intentions of leaving anytime soon, despite being linked with Chelsea and Manchester United. Di Maria said,

"I am only thinking about Benfica and looking forward to playing the match tomorrow .

Excellent US soccer journalist, Andrea Canales has a great interview with the Seattle Sounders FC star in which he reveals the reason he decided to come to MLS. Here is an excerpt:

The 21-year-old Colombian striker, on loan from Deportivo Cali, has been an early revelation for the Sounders, scoring three goals in his first two games.

Seattle dismantled them.

New England neutralized them.

Chicago needed only 10 men to beat their full squad.

A valiant effort against Kansas City, with a man down this time, still resulted in a loss.

And now, with 2 minutes added to extra time, the Bulls manage to give up the lead, and the ensuing tie, to take a loss within a minute span, against their most hated rivals.

The struggling Red Bulls gift wrapped a win for the Galaxy (their first of the season) behind a questionable red card and a lifeless performance. Once again, the Red Bulls came out in an extremely defensive 4-5-1, with Angel trotting the top third all day, and Mac Kandji lost somewhere on the left wing side (not to be seen most of the night).

The Red Bulls got beaten by a team wearing pink. Seriously.

El Angel Del Gol was out of the game, the team was makeshift, and a loss was practically the conclusion before the match even started.

But hey. Jozy scored!

I'm off to the city. More thoughts on TFC, the historic US win, and of course, the Showdown in Chinatown II coming tomorrow.

Missing are the names of Beckham, Angel, Twellman and reigning MLS MVP Barros Schelotto. Instead Everton will face a largely rag-tag team made up of current and rising stars of the MLS. While there are still the marquee names of Freddie Ljungberg, Cuauhtémoc Blanco, and Landon Donovan in attendance, there appears to be a greater collective of MLS stars getting their first chance to shine on the big stage.

Angel Di Maria has signed a contract extension with Benfica that will last until 2015.

Di Maria's buy-out clause was increased to 58 million dollars.

Di Maria is making a big impact in Benfica and the club has made an important move, obviously wanting to keep him Portugal for many years.

Here's a behind the scenes look at the making of ADIDAS' advertising campaign for the new Argentina shirt.

It features Lio Messi, Angel Di Maria, Emiliano Insua, Gonzalo Higuain, Lucho Gonzalez and unfortunately, Gabriel Heinze.

No sé si veremos un buen espectáculo o un juego acorde al renombre de los protagonistas, pero sí veremos el próximo sábado – Centenario de la Real Federación Española de Fútbol – camisetas nuevas.
Separando los eventos, la empresa alemana presentó ahora la nueva camiseta de la selección española de cara a Sudáfrica en un acto conjunto con el lanzamiento del documental "El Alma de la Roja" (Santiago Zannou) donde acudió la familia española, Angel María Villar (presidente), Vicente del Bosque (DT), Luis Aragonés, Alfredo Di Stéfano, Ramón Calderón y varios jugadores.

Benfica winger Angel di Maria has revealed he should already be an Arsenal player.
Manchester City are now prepared to pay Di Maria's £36 million buyout clause to sign him from Benfica.
But it could have been all so different, as the Argentine reveals: "I don't know exactly what happened with my proposed transfer to Arsenal.

Benfica midfielder Angel di Maria has been the subject of much transfer speculation recently, with Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool all linked with the Argentine international. A ridiculous fee of £36million has been mentioned for the 21 year old, although somewhere around £10-15million is more likely.

Call it Must-Win May for the New York Red Bulls, who begin a four-game home stand tonight against the struggling San Jose Earthquakes.

The Red Bulls are in last place in the Eastern Conference and need three points tonight to snap a three-match winless streak. Let's face it, the Red Bulls need a handful of wins, and need to start that streak tonight.

Bulls fans couldn't be happier seeing the starting lineup this past Friday include Angel and Kandji up top. In honor of this dynamic union, I feel the two should have some sort of nickname moving forward into the season.

Please feel free to offer your own suggestions by clicking OTHER and filling out the box below it.

The New York Red Bulls are at home tonight, hoping to snap their recent funk and hoping to turn around a season that is slowly becoming another nightmare for a snakebit franchise.

In comes the Colorado Rapids, enjoying a solid season and hoping to keep up the success against the Red Bulls they enjoyed last year, when they swept both meetings.

What a difference a year makes.

That is the first thought that comes to mind in this rematch of the MLS Cup Final, as the Bulls travel out to Columbus to face the Crew. And wouldn't you know it; the Crew will be given their championship rings in a pregame ceremony. How fitting.

Schelotto and his league leading 10 goals will be aiming their cannons at the Red Bulls early and often.

How crazy is that?
It can't be serious, can it? Here's the opening sentence in a story I saw in the Daily Mail:

Diego Maradona is reportedly ready to quit his job as Argentina boss to become Portsmouth's 'global ambassador'.

Is it April Fools Day, in July?
I can't ever see him voluntarily leaving that post (especially for a middle of the pack Premiership team).

Real Zaragoza have continued to strengthen their squad ahead of their return to La Liga after reaching an agreement to sign Ikechukwu Uche from Getafe.

Uche joins Jermaine Pennant and goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizo as Zaragoza's third signing of the summer.

A club statement read:

"Real Zaragoza, Getafe and Uche have arrived at a principle agreement where, pending a medical, the Nigerian striker will spend the next four seasons with the Aragones club.

————————Angel————————

Kandji—-Rojas—-Ubiparipovic—Richards

———————-Sassano———————-

Pacheco—–Petke——-Krupnik———Hall

———————-Coundoul———————

Once I saw that lineup, and that dreaded formation, my instinct was simple; change the channel.

Benfica have won the Amsterdam Cup after defeating Ajax 3-2. Ajax scored an own goal in the 9th minute to give Benfica the early lead, Angel Di Maria then extended the Benfica lead to 2-0 before Ajax's Mitchell made the score 2-1 at the half. David Luiz then restored Benfica's two goal lead at the 55th minute before Rommedahl replied later in the game to make it an interesting contest until

Portugal have finally gained victory in UEFA action as both Benfica and Nacional picked up victories today in 1st Leg action. Benfica looks set to advance to the UEFA Europa League group play stage after a 4-0 drubbing of FC Vorskla on goals by Angel Di Maria, Cardozo, Saviola and Dollarama man Weldon, while Nacional defeated 2008 UEFA Cup Champions Zenit St Petersburg in a high scoring

Jorge Rojas is wearing the goat horns this week, as a costly and unexplainable turnover lead to the 17th loss of the season for the Red Bulls, and the first under the second Richie Williams era. Getting caught up field on a set piece and having to back track, Rojas twice helped the Wizards establish their attack on an errant header and then failed to catch 37 year old Claudio "El Piojo" Lopez on the break.

I've taken the liberty of adding angel-like halos over the finalists.
Apparently sportswriters across the country have voted and (left to right) Jozy Altidore, Tim Howard and Landon Donovan are the top three.
The winner will be announced on October 20th.
Here would be my ballot: 1, Donovan; 2, Howard; 3, Oguchi Onyewu; 4, Clint Dempsey; 5 (tie), Charlie Davis and Jozy Altidore.

La revelación del Clausura 09 se adapta a Italia como "su" Huracán a la nueva realidad.
El cordobés vive en Mondello y recién se está creyendo la noche siciliana. "Abandonar el país donde uno nació siempre es complicado", dice como experimentado, pero tiene 20 años y todavía se está despertando del sueño: Europa.

Entre semana por cuestión de trabajo me presentan una persona, ahora profesional en Seguros, y al terminar la reunión le pregunto: ¿Con que pierna metiste el gol más importante de la Historia del Futbol regiomontano? y me dice con la derecha, cosa que corroboré por la noche al ver el video. Edmundo Manzotti Magaña con un gol impresionante de afuera del área selló el logro del Torneo de Copa en 1975, previamente Raymundo José Correa "Lola" había anotado de penal igualando el marcador global, y como dijo Angel Fernández al finalizar el partido:

"El primer campeón de Monterrey, la U de Nuevo León"

Con un año en el primer circuito, un 4 de Octubre, los Tigres consiguen este triunfo inédito en tierras regiomontanas.

El Sábado 10 de Octubre de 2009, será recordado como el día en que Mèxico, asiste por dècimo cuarta ocasión, a una justa mundialista, y no falta desde el mundial de 1990.

En todo, el mundo se jugarón partidos eliminatorios, en nuestro país, ya estabamos esperando el momento, para celebrar en La Glorieta Minerva, en Angel de la Independencia, la Macroplaza o en algún monumento, de nuestro territorio, incluso, en el Extranjero.

In an interview with Portuguese newspaper Diario de Noticias, Maradona spoke of Angel Di Maria and said:

"He will be one of the best players in the world, we all like him, I adore watching him play.

"Millions will be spent to sign him but Benfica is the ideal club for him at this moment.

It is believed that Man United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is ready to add to his attacking options this January. One of the players being linked with a move to Old Trafford is 21-year old Angel Fabian di Maria.
The Argentine currently plays for Portuguese side Benfica.

The carpet bagger wants to leave but an angel waits in the wings.

Something about Brazilian music not being good enough for the neighbours.

Mark Hughes seems to be doing a good job of getting rid of all the Brazilians in the team. Elano, Jo, and now Robinho. We can also look forward to the African clique, Adebayor and Kolo Toure, being broken up.

Fernando Torres is in the running for the FIFA goal of the year award. Take a look at what he's up against
Adebayor (Arsenal) vs. Villareal
Elian Atar (Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv F.C.) vs. Maccabi Netanya
Essien (Chelsea) vs. Barcelona
Grafite (Wolfsburg) v Bayern Munich
Iniesta (Barcelona) vs.

Hoy 30 de Diciembre se cumple una aniversario más, 18 para ser exactos de la increíble partida del "Gato" o el "Superman"como le decía Angel Fernández , José Miguel Marín Acotto, increíble porque quién podía vencer a Superman, solo la muerte, la criptonita estaba ya colocada en su corazón desde antes, en 1980 tuvo que dejar de jugar, su corazón ya no daba para el ritmo de un profesional del futbol, apesar de las operaciones.