ASN spent Saturday afternoon at the brand new Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J. The purpose of the visit was threefold: 1. To see the arena before it opened, 2. To photograph it for our readers and 3. To do our part in supporting Seth Stammler's Sporting Chance Foundation charity. (We aren't the only news organization doing this.

Hey everyone, it's 1980 again! Everyone be sure to invest in Apple and IBM... and avoid New Coke at all costs...

Seriously, this was the home jersey in 1980. Add a new corporate logo and change the kit sponsor from Adidas to Nike, and there's really not that big of a difference.

Now, there's a distinct possibility that I'm going to do the exact same thing I did with last year's kit (dislike initially, grow to strongly dislike, slowly soften stance, begin to appreciate it, and, ultimately, buy a bootleg design from Turkey).

In case you missed it last week, All Things Footy (excellent site BTW) had a great series looking at numerous cites that could be targets for Major League Soccer's 20th club. Kevin McCauley got site readers from all over to contribute why or why not their city should be in the running.

The discussion were pretty interesting.

Chelsea has finally secured the services of the Brazilian Ramires. About time. So, with one saga over another is needed to continue the tension at Stamford Bridge, right?

No worry. Neymar or, more specifically, his parent club Santos FC are more than willing to oblige. Perhaps even more so than the lovely gentlemen at Benfica.

Romanian side Steaua Bucuresti has expressed interest in Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder Mike Magee, according to reports coming out of the country in recent days. A roughly-translated article from the country appears to indicate that Magee will be joining the club on trial in the near future.
"I do not know too much about it," said club owner Gigi Becali.

The mid-week podcast spent last week asking how Red Bull New York had gotten off to such a strong start, but with a surprise weekend loss to Chivas USA, it seemed only fair to redress the conversation.

Joining us to do that is Michael Lewis, who covers all things New York soccer for the New York Daily News and Big Apple Soccer.

We go from no-hope San Diego (the perception, anyway) to the apple of Garber's eye, Atlanta. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution comes a story on an English Premier League team researching the city as a possible place to invest in MLS.
The idea that a(nother) foreign club might enter the U.

The Biggest Cheat of them all

Thierry Henry may have thought he was escaping his Hand of Frog scandal by retiring from International Footbal and moving to the Big Apple to join the New York Red Bulls in the MLS.

But he may think again as Irish Pub bosses have declared he is not welcome at their bars, after he cheated the Republic of Ireland out of their place in South Africa.

Defender Rafael Marquez is now set to follow Barcelona teammate Thierry Henry, and make his way to the 'Big Apple' on a four-year deal that looks to go public next week.

Prior to 2010 World Cup tournament play with his Mexico squad, Marquez made it known that he had his eye on MLS action.

Following a successful tournament in South Africa, Marquez has negotiated a release with Barcelona.

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.

With J Hutcherson -- We're going to go slightly of topic today, and follow along with everybody else waiting to see what Apple has planned tomorrow. The tablet that's supposed to allow traditional media outlets to look like a modified web page and websites to look a little more like traditional media?

Chelsea smashed their way to the Premier League summit with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Birmingham.

Before the match started, those strange thoughts ran through ‘Birmingham have been in-form... hmm could they? ...Chelsea slip?'

But just as Apple started dishing out information about their latest devise, (the iPad if you've been on some other planet) Chelsea showcased their own magic with a superbly worked cross from J Cole for Malouda to head it in.

Finally, the 2010 Major League Soccer Regular Season Schedule has been released. The New York Red Bulls Schedule features 11 out of 15 home games on weekends (all on Saturday). Not bad at all! Michael Lewis (of Big Apple Soccer) and Dave Martinez (of The Offside: NY Red Bulls) have some great breakdowns of the schedule.

Why not, eh? Let's begin with a Chris Rolfe double feature that I don't know how to embed: some poorly shot highlights from today's friendly against Benny Feilhaber's AGF that resulted in a goal and assist for the former Chicago Fire man (he's #17 in blue) and then an interview with the new Aalborg attacker.

That's right... with so much focus on this Dutch friendly, one can easily forget the U.S. ladies are up against ze Germans for the Algarve crown today as well. I don't have time to expand on these two contests now, but I can swing open both reading rooms for you all, ladies first...- USWNT match notes- USWNT Blog: Lauren Cheney- Big Apple Soccer: Vying for the title--And on to the fellas.

This season's curtain is closing and fast. In a couple months it will be done and dusted, but right now the feeling of still being able to win the double is just fascinating, unbelievable and very exciting.

The end of the season usually brings a lot of boredom, no weekend games, no midweek distractions from the hustles of every day life but all is not so bad this summer, the World Cup is coming to Papa yap, my continent the big ‘A'.

"The British are coming, the British are coming." -- Paul Revere.Maybe, just maybe, there's some hardened, apple-cheeked tried-and-true authentic New England Yankee residing inside a cabin somewhere in the interior forests of Maine. An actual living breathing human being, not a tertiary character in a Stephen King novel, mind you.

Our friends at Seeing Red! are back with their weekly analysis of all things Red Bull. This week's episode, available here, includes an interview with longtime MetroStars/Red Bulls observer Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer, as well as a look back at the team's 1-0 victory in the Pacific Northwest.

Manchester City had a scout in the stands at the recent Benfica-Liverpool Europa League, one of the apple of City's eye looks to be Benfica's central defender David Luiz. New Man City owner Sheik Mansour is looking to spend millions of dollars in the hopes of a Premiership league title for his club next season.

As everyone knows I am a big supporter of the US Open Cup Tournament. When we get to the beginning of the PDL season (Premier Developmental League) I always wait for the schedule to come out and I always count how many matches in May that will equal four as those will double into US Open Cup Qualifying points.

In John Milton's Paradise Lost, a man called Adam leaves a verdant paradise after his partner bites into an apple promising tantalizing greater knowledge. Unlike the biblical story on which the puritan poet's great epic is based, the decision is painted in decidedly ambiguous terms: is it better to live out one's days in comfortable surrounds or chance one's arm at something more life-affirming?

SPARQ is committed to provide resources and tools to Development Academy coaches and clubs to help build fit, explosive athletes who are better prepared to compete and fulfill their potential. During the 2010 Spring Showcase, SPARQ recognized the following seven Academy Clubs who have demonstrated a similar passion and commitment to making players better.

Yup, my vacation in the Big Apple is nearly over. The wife and I have seen plenty of cool spots in the city including all the usual places that most tourists go to. We also found some great soccer spots in the city as well.

NYC has been good to us in our short time and has shown me its really a great soccer town.

Times LIVE South Africa : Teixeira Says Brazil is Struggling to Meet Deadlines for 2014 AllAfrica.com ... Brazil Football Federation president Ricardo Teixeira yesterday surprisingly conceded that the South American nation was struggling to meet several Fifa ... Brazil lauds SA for 'successful W Cup' Independent Online Brazil sweats over 2014 Cup Daily Dispatch Online Sao Paulo faces Cup scepticism Times LIVE Big Apple Soccer - OddsPreview.

By Billy The Dog McGraw, landlord of the Toppled Bollard and Rampager of the Northern Hordes. Continuing the unique and specialised services offered to you by Untold, and having indulged in a bottle of apple and mango juice to celebrate the new season, I present my first column of the 2010/11: to wit and viz, [.

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ON a slow news day in the real football world, we turn again to the world of football videogames.

As a longtime fan of the Pro Evolution series, at least until it lost its way a couple of years ago, I'm interested to hear of Konami's plans for the much-loved Master League mode.

Another great episode of this great RBNY podcast. This week, Mark and Nat (no Dave this week) discuss the impressive victory against the Colorado Rapids and preview today's game agains the very hot FC Dallas. Their guest this week Big Apple Soccer reporter Michael Lewis. Bull & Cow of the week and listener e-mails round off this one.

Late last week Sky Blue FC announced it's Metrostar-esque 6th coach in 2 years, former Washington Freedom coach Jim Gabarra. Big Apple Soccer had the goods:

"Our league is very challenging," [Gabarra] said. "It's tough to coach, it's tough to play, and it's tough to win games. What we have to look forward to here in New Jersey is a fresh start, while we also know the team was just a game away from making the playoffs this past year.

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- RIP: Malcolm Allinson
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-For QPR and Football Updates throughout the day, visit the ever-growing (and hopefully always-improving!) QPR Report Messageboard/quasi-blog (Embarking on its Third Year!). Either offer your own perspectives on any of the topics (QPR and football only).

Some people prefer Microsoft over Apple. Others prefer Pro Evolution Soccer (aka Winning Eleven) over the FIFA video game series. But for those of you who prefer the Konami title instead of EA Sports, here's a video which bring you 8 years of Pro Evolution Soccer (aka Winning Eleven) history, in just over 9 minutes.

Via Daring Fireball, Microsoft has announced it's giving up on pushing Silverlight for web content delivery:

Silverlight will continue to be a cross-platform solution, working on a variety of operating system/browser platforms, going forward, [Bob Muglia] said. "But HTML is the only true cross platform solution for everything, including (Apple's) iOS platform," Muglia said.

Excerpt From: acelebrationofwomen.org

October 13, 2010
On Thursday, Major League Soccer, the U.S. Bid Committee, the U.S. Soccer
Foundation and D.C.'s professional soccer teams, DC United and Washington
Freedom played with 130 students from the Washington area in soccer drills for
60 minutes with a much needed apple and water break at the end.

+ Find more interviews and news at Soccer City FC's -- 2011 MLS Combine and SuperDraft Coverage Center
And now to the day's Major League Soccer Player Combine news...
+ UCSB defender Gauchos defender Boxall invited to MLS Combine via Presidio Sports
+ Another profile USF's Attinella invited to MLS Combine via WCTV.