Barcelona's Tactical Outlook Post-Guardiola - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

When you look upon FC Barcelona as a squad, you might think you are looking at a squad that is almost perfect in every way.

They have a squad with experienced players that know each other well. Because they know each other, they play exceptionally well together.

By Clemente Lisi – MONTREAL, CA (Jan 4, 2012) US Soccer Players – There is nothing like the start of a new year to fill one with hope and anticipation. For USA soccer fans, there's a lot to look forward to from the National Teams and Major League Soccer. The senior side starts their road to Brazil with World Cup Qualifying.

Geoff Shreeves: "Branislav, I'll continue to tell you that you're out of the final until you cry. If you shed a tear now you'll save us all a lot of time." Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic's yellow card against Barcelona rules him out of the Champions League final. But Sky Sports reporter Geoff Shreeves wasn't entirely [.

After each match the contributors to New England Soccer Today will rate the performances of the United States National Team players who made an appearance on a 1 to 10 scale (1 horrendous, 5 average, 10 perfection). This week Brian O'Connell, Julian Cardillo and Sean Donahue contributed ratings for the USA's 1-0 victory over Venezuela.

Anticipation. Expectation or hope. Realization in advance. Intuition, foreknowledge, or prescience.

It's that excited, nervous feeling you get before the start of something new. The tingle in your gut before you board a plane to a foreign country. The wave of adrenaline as you launch your raft down a turbulent river.

It is about to go from bad to worse for a number of players at Rangers FC.

With the outlook of the near future looking bleak after the club was forced to go into administration, Rangers players are meeting with union officials to explore their possibilities in anticipation of numerous cuts.

From 2-0 up and sleepwalking toward three points to 2-2 and then, amazingly, 4-2 this was not the way any of us expected this match to play out. And if you did, you're a weird soul. Nevertheless, it's a crucial win as we inch closer to the top four.

Relief.

I'm not sure that we've played a more bizarre game this season.

That was the headline that might have been. It was almost perfectly set up. Two Sounders had gone down previously with boots to their nether regions. On comes Marc Burch, fresh from slagging off United in the media, only for Sigi to give him just two and a half minutes to prove what he couldn't in a handful of years with DC.

Lansbury wonder goal for Under 21′s vs Belgium

Signing for Arsenal at the tender age of 9, central midfielder Henri Lansbury came up through the ranks until he eventually signed a professional contract in 1 July 2008. After a successful loan spell at Scunthorpe United in League One (which included 4 goals and 5 assists in 16 appearances), Lansbury featured in Arsenal's FA Youth Cup winning team (6-2 over Liverpool, Lansbury 2 assists).

In what was probably the absolute worst turn of events for 23 year old LA Galaxy defender Omar Gonzalez, the MLS Defender of the Year tore his left ACL in his very first training on loan at German outfit FC Nürnberg. After much waiting and anticipation by United States National Team supporters, Gonzalez finally received [.

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Just to confirm what EVERY QPR Supporter already knows!

You'll like this. The difference between success and failure in football can be minute you need every edge you can get. And when you think about it, so much of football is in the mind. We talk about teams playing with confidence: that's a mental state. We talk about players looking nervous, or not knowing what they're supposed to be doing, or playing tentatively, or showing complacency.

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas has urged the media to stop focusing the spotlight heavily on John Terry as the Blues skipper returns to QPR next Saturday for the first time since being accused of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand in October.

The Rangers won the ill-tempered clash 1-0 as Villas-Boas saw two of his players dismissed, leaving the visitors to fight with nine men for most of the afternoon.

TFC training camp opens this week and it would be great to feel that anticipation for a new season rising in one's heart. New season, new faces would be a great motto for TFC to adopt. Toronto certainly seems to have roster spots available.
In the month of January we have spent more time waving goodbye than waving hello.

The buzz surrounding the Spanish Burgos province these days has been remarkable. They are of course, home to Mirandes, the Spanish third-division team that have made it to the semi-finals of the Copa del Ray! Mirandes will meet Athletic Bilbao tonight at their modest 6,000-seater stadium, which was expanded yesterday to accommodate another 1,700 visiting fans.

Though a lot of anticipation culminated in the final days of January, most European clubs stayed put with their rosters for the remainder of the season, with little to no... Read more »

Join the guys as they discuss the last couple of weeks in DC United history. They talk about the team's recent moves and the potential changes to the Black-and-Red's line-up. They also go over the rest of the changes across MLS in anticipation of the 2012 MLS Season.

Arsenal 7-1 Blackburn Rovers

It may sound a tad melodramatic, but I've not enjoyed watching Arsenal as much this season as I should have done. All the peripheral stuff has been as fun as ever the Saturday morning anticipation, hopping on the tube, having a pint before the game and chinwagging with the usual motley crew.

My friends and I often indulge in extended debate on the club vs. country issue and how so far, it's ‘OK' to support England. We eschew the jingoism, the hooliganism, the sheer repugnance of many of those called on to sport the jersey, the overreaction to defeat and over-anticipation of victory, the arrogance and the aggression, but still wish for a team we can support.

Anticipation is building after January served up a nice set of appetizers for the season to come, both for MLS and the US National Team. We begin with Klinsmann's first go-round at Camp Cupcake, the annual January gathering of the "best of the rest" in the USMNT pool...

One-Nil to the USMNT

Results were slow to arrive early in Klinsmann's tenure as USA boss, but a pair of 1-0 wins (home to Venuzuela and on the road in Panama) sees him start 2012 with an unblemished record.

We were in our places a few minutes earlier than usual, standing not sitting, hopping around not so much to stave off the bitter cold, more in excited anticipation. Even the veterans haven't seen anything like this.

The players had a prematch kickabout, the mascot's nervous pride shone through as they found a hero to play with, but all eyes were on the tunnel.

Everyone's favorite Miami-based gangster lookalike got a show from the ultras of Galatasaray this weekend, and quite a good one at that. Although there's a clear aura of childish anticipation from the gentleman standing next to him, making things rather uncomfortable when it takes more than ten seconds for the likenesses of Fatih and his players to rise from the crowd.

There's not too many players who take more abuse from the Geordie fans than a certain Shola Ameobi. Shola Ameobi puts the ball home look at the anticipation by Demba Ba But in our match preview of the game on Saturday evening we had this to say about Shola: "And we may even see Shola Ameobi in [.

Team: D.C. United Coach: Ben Olsen Last Season: 9-13-12, 7th Eastern Conference, 13th Overall Hashtag: #DCU There is a sense of anticipation around the DC United fan base this season, a sense of anticipation that fans have not had for a few years. ...
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Coaching changes, personnel moves and the addition of an expansion franchise are about to be relegated to the land of off-season action as Major League Soccer kicks off the 2012 season this weekend.

In anticipation of the season start, here is a look at the league's now 19 teams. We start with the Eastern Conference, we follow with the Western Conference and finish with a preview of the Colorado Rapids.

In today's installment of the Couch Captain we take a look at the Revs 1-0 loss to San Jose, and the coaching decisions made by Head Coach Jay Heaps throughout the match. Without his full compliment of players at his disposal, did Coach Heaps' have his hand played for him? Or were there places he maybe could have done a little better?

Seriously, just get here already. The anticipation has built to a fever pitch and now all that's left to dissect will take place in a 90-minute window. Ready?

No Explanation Necessary

Team Sheets:

From roughly 3:00 PM EST

Streaming:

My P2P
FirstRow Sports
Sport Lemon

With the 2011-12 soccer seasons getting closer to the final lap, anticipation is building for Euro 2012. Part of the ritual of each major tournament is the collecting of Panini sticker albums. As we get closer to the tournament, ...
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Knock knock, Pep.

Who's there? Zlatan.

Zlatan who? I am Zlatan. And your chin looks like a Greek person's elbow.

How do you like that Pep? I don't mean my joke about your elbow chin -- that's genius, so of course you don't like it -- I mean the fact that I held your band of hormone-infused munchkins scoreless for the first time in their last 30 Champions League matches.

On April 7, 2012, a new 24/7 sports network named Univision Deportes will launch in the United States.

Univision Deportes, which is touting itself as the new way to see sports, will broadcast in Spanish. There's quite a lot of anticipation building for the new network.

The sports network will broadcast soccer matches from Mexico's Primera Division as well as FIFA World Cup 2014.

BY DAVE MARTINEZ

Three weeks ago, the New York Red Bulls had scored all of one goal through their first two fixtures. Homeland Security denied a work visa to their star striker Luke Rodgers, who was stuck in England with no hope of a return. Though New York acquired Kenny Cooper from Portland in anticipation of such a scenario, they didn't show outward confidence in pairing the big American forward and Thierry Henry – going so far as to start an out of form Juan Agudelo with the team captain over him for the season opener.

With just one sleep to go until one of our favourite days on the sporting and fashion calendar, Coleen Rooney has thrown down a gauntlet on race day garments already.

The aforementioned Ladies Day doesn't occur until tomorrow, but we've successfully retrieved our champagne stash back from the Celtic lads and have begun popping the popcorn and hiding the good chocolate in anticipation of viewing the horrific er, innovative looks Liverpool always serves up for us.

If season 2012 were a movie, right now it would be firmly inthe horror genre. TFC continues to stick to the same script for all their homegames. It takes only a quick shot or a lucky break for the road team when the home team never scores. San Jose thumped TFC, and now Chivas took the Columbus route, scoring that minimum goal to take the three points.

Borussia Dortmund took a giant step towards retaining their Bundesliga title after beating Schalke 2-1 yesterday. The win takes Dortmund 8 points clear at the top of the league after their nearest challengers Bayern Munich were held to a barren draw at home to a stubborn Mainz.

Bayern's result will be a big psychological disadvantage ahead of their Champions League semi final fixture with Madrid this week.

I've known worse times as a Spurs fan. Forgive me if for the moment I can't quite name them. An afternoon so utterly dispiriting, the fans, the decisions, the outcome, that heart and soul are thoroughly drained. Not anger, though there's just cause the referee, the way we just slipped away without enough of a fight.

Andy Carroll started the last two Liverpool games, and they were important games in some respect. Liverpool ended a four game win-less streak with a hard-fought 3-2 win over Blackburn Rovers. The Reds followed that up with a come-from-behind FA Cup victory over Everton, thus maintaining their hoodoo spell over the blue of Merseyside.

It's back... Who's ready for another Clásico?

We didn't forget. No, these past four months have felt like an El Clásico continuum that has taken over football? The media frenzy has spun entirely out of control, but nevertheless tomorrow is, once again, worth the hype.

One thing we don't seem to do very much of in football is look at a player's career arc. So when people talk about Robin van Persie scoring all these goals it's hard to know whether it's a monumental fluke or something he's been building up to. I confess to having assumed the former, but in that I was probably wrong.

One thing we don't seem to do very much of in football is look at a player's career arc. So when people talk about Robin van Persie scoring all these goals it's hard to know whether it's a monumental fluke or something he's been building up to. I confess to having assumed the former, but in that I was probably wrong.

Bayern Munich celebrated their entry into the Champions League final by tucking into some glorious food at the Westin hotel in Madrid last night. Mario Gomez spent most of his time chatting on the phone presumably with fiancé Silvia Meichel, but you can't blame him.