Last night it came out that Landon Donovan would be making an appearance on the Jimmy Fallon show tonight (Wednesday). Now we know why. He'll be unveiling the FIFA 11 cover, featuring himself in the blue USA World Cup kit. Donovan posted the cover on his Facebook page this morning (see below). Donovan was previously the FIFA cover athlete for FIFA 07, wearing his yellow LA Galaxy kit.

By AVI CREDITOR

After a light training session ahead of Wednesday's friendly with D.C. United, Clarence Seedorf was among the few AC Milan players that met with the media before departing RFK Stadium for the day.

Brazilian snubs Ronaldinho and Alexandre Pato were not made available to the media, which was instructed to not bring up the World Cup if speaking to the Selecao stars.

Since quite some time it's relatively unknown Dutch sporters who top the list of best-buffalo hunters. Rik Smits was the best paid Dutch athlete for a while (Basketball) and Andruw Jones is the current top grabber. The Chicago White Sox baseball player won't be adorning many a boys' bedroom in

Nike and the Confederação Brasileira de Futebol have officially launched the Brazil World Cup 2010 away jersey. This follows weeks of internet leaks featuring the Seleção's alternative shirt. The Brazil Nike 2010/11 away jersey launch was spearheaded by Brazil international and Nike athlete Robinho and coincided with the country's world famous Carnaval celebrations.

Brrrrrr! Wayne Rooney's cold streak continues and the man who at one time last season couldn't miss the back of the net can't find the once familiar area to save his life right now. Wayne Rooney hasn't scored a single league or national team goal since nearly six months ago in March. And the number of games without a goal for Rooney right now is at unlucky number thirteen.

by Matt Besler
Hello to everyone and welcome back to another version of "Across the Midwest Pitch." Although, this week it should probably be changed to the "Southwest Pitch" because myself and the rest of the Kansas City Wizards just arrived in Phoenix, Arizona.
We are staying in Scottsdale and training at a nearby complex called Reach 11.

In today's sporting culture, many athletes are painted with the same brush all about money, with little concern about loyalty or equality.

Then there's Oguchi Onyewu.

The U.S. international, recovering from a patellar tendon injury he suffered in a World Cup qualifier against Costa Rica back in October, has added a year to his contract with AC Milan.

U.S. international Landon Donovan is taking Goodison Park by storm. Since joining Everton FC earlier this month, the team has not been defeated in league play, posting two solid victories and an impressive draw on the road at Arsenal. The on-loan Los Angeles Galaxy star hit for his first Premier League goal in yesterday's 2-0 victory over Sunderland and expects to only get better as his stay continues, in large part thanks to the warm welcome the team's fans have extended.

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- The start of the 2010 Women's Professional Soccer season did not go exactly as planned for Chicago Red Stars midfielder Megan Rapinoe.
A key fixture on the 2009 squad, Rapinoe was sidelined for the first three games of this season as she recovered from mononucleosis.
"With the mono, you can't have contact, which is quite frustrating," Rapinoe said.

I set a low bar for Bob Bradley and he easily cleared it today when he named fis 30-man preliminary roster.

As I wrote yesterday, all I wanted him to do was:

1. Name only three goalies.
2. Don't name less than 30 players.
3. Leave Frankie Hejduk in Columbus.

Pass, pass and pass.

I didn't think I'll get over the Birmingham sadness so soon. Yet, after a good night's sleep, I'm quite positive about the first leg of the quarter-final at the Emirates. Fabregas' injury worry does dampen the spirit but I'm sure he'll play if he can walk.

Part of my happiness is down to the position for position analysis that I did for this game.

One of the biggest revelations of this summer's World Cup has been Uruguay's run to the semifinals. The South Americans have been led by the excellent form of striker Diego Forlan, and the former Manchester United player has stated that he is now "ready" for a return to the Premier League giants.

Forlan lifted his club side, Atletico Madrid, to continental glory in May as his two goals made the Spanish club the first ever Europa League winners.

Kaka's time at Real Madrid might be ending sooner than any of us thought. The 28 year old Brazilian has struggled for fitness ever since joining Los Blancos a year ago raising concern as to whether he will see out his contract.

With Mourinho openly stating that he would not hinder any transfer involving the play maker, a number of clubs have come out to express their desire to sign Kaka.

The Development ACademy Winter Showcase is officially underway here in Phoenix! This weekend will feature more than 4,000 players representing 156 Development Academy teams spread across the 18 fields at the Reach 11 Sports Complex.
Some key notes for this weekend:
-The head coaches of all five men's youth national teams are all together in one place: Thomas Rongen (U-20), Mike Matkovich (U-18), Wilmer Cabrera (U-17), Jim Barlow (U-15) and Manny Schellscheidt (U-14).

Bob Bradley was recently interviewed on ESPN's First Take, the morning sports talk program on ESPN2.
Click on the link to hear about the World Cup group, the status of injured stars, coaching his son, the best athlete in his family that also produced Major League Baseball catcher Scott Bradley, his game as a forward at Princeton ("I was very, very poor-man's version of Gerd Mueller .

So I finally caved in on this one. And I really do hate these columns where somebody bemoans how soccer in America would have been so awesomely rewarded had certain sports stars been soccer players.See, because they always just go off listing the usual mega-athlete types. Yes, wouldn't it have been incredible if Michael Jordan played soccer instead?

Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona, 11th May 2010 — Today, adidas football superstars Leo Messi and David Villa proudly presented the F50 adiZero; adidas' lightest ever football boot, during a speed themed event at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.

Manchester United sold Zoran Tosic for reportedly £1m more than we paid for him in January 2009.

In his 18 months with the club he made just two appearances in the league, coming on for Berbatov in 77th minute in our 5-0 win over West Brom and just three minutes in our insignificant final match against Hull, both in 2008/2009 season.

Puma have released an extremely beneficial new initiative to raise funds and awareness for Breast Cancer, named "Project Pink." Last Saturday night, the Boston Breakers kicked things off in their pink jerseys, where they raised $7,025 by auctioning off the tops at half time.

Real Madrid superstar Kaka is this year's cover athlete for FIFA 11. Expect the game to build on last year's solid effort from EA and continue its current reign as the best footy game available. EA Sports has been in the news lately as they have just announced a partnership with the EPL to be the Official Technology Partner.

(After and before, during the Chelsea times it's backwards day.)

For most footballers, the days of loose cars and fast women reside in a brief window, slammed shut when the days of retirement come knocking. At that point, a new life beckons and it's off to the mundane world of pseudo-employment and living off their previous paypackets, doing anything and everything to cling to their former glories.

Former Liverpool man Javier Mascherano is officially the property of Barcelona now and the Argentine defensive midfielder recently expressed his excitement for joining the former treble winners.

Mascherano told Barca TV:

The truth is it's a dream. It's a great joy and a reason to be proud for me and my family because of what it all means, for everything they've achieved in the last few years.

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.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

The stars in college soccer used to be juniors and seniors. Guys who bided their time to make an impact. Freshman were relegated to backup roles and spent time coming off the bench but that model is changing, and quickly.

Whether you're a smaller school like College of Charleston, or a national power like Akron, freshmen are playing key roles at top teams across the country.

The first time I heard of Taylor Twellman was seconds after I had launched a fully-inflated kickball square into the face of a nine-year-old girl. A nine-year-old girl with glasses.*

(*Now, before I get crucified, allow me to explain: as a teacher working at an after-school day care program, it was my job to play sports with the kids.

More photos » Victor Decolongon - Getty Images

Tighter is better?

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When you saw the pic of the new Shale Secondary kit we had a few questions.

Marquette sophomore goalkeeper Natalie Kulla and Saint Louis Athletica defender Elise Weber, a former University of Wisconsin athlete, were invited to a U.S. Under-23 women's national team training camp.

The weeklong camp in Carson, Calif., starts Wednesday and includes matches against the South Korean full national team on Jan.

Last night I dreamt we played Manchester United in a stadium which was not ours because the corporation that owned Arsenal had scheduled a Scritti Politti concert at the Grove for the same day. So Arsenal had play in a much more intimate venue, a stadium in Dundalk which began as a stadium but ended up as a kind of trendy bar with glass walls looking out over the sea.

photo credit: włodi

FIFA decided earlier this week that French forward Thierry Henry would not be punished following the intentional handball incident that sealed a spot in the World Cup for France and destroyed Ireland's hopes at making it to South Africa. For well over a month Henry's Cup eligibility was still up in the air as officials debated whether or not to suspend the Barcelona star for the flagrant play.

Dan Magness already owned the world keepy-uppy record, but that was not enough. Like any great athlete, he had to find new ways of testing himself, new motivations. So he broke yet another record, by keeping up the football all the way across London. Yes, thirty-six miles of keepy-uppy in one day damn near [.

Rory John Delap first came into Premiership prominence after a big-money move from Derby County to Southampton. He was seen at that time as an uncompromising midfielder who couples impressive forward runs with strong tackling and excellent passing. That's what I remembered him as, a fantastic athlete who was never flashy but very effective.

Since the D.C. United Team Store launched in June, 2009, the club has received order requests from across the globe. Domestically the Black-and-Red has shipped merchandise to nearly every state in the country. Recently orders to New Hampshire and Hawaii were filled, leaving Missouri as the only state without representation.

U.S. men's national team striker DaMarcus Beasley's very expensive BMW was fire-bombed yesterday in Glasgow, Scotland. Beasley, of course, is a first-team regular with SPL leaders Rangers.

Sounds like Beasley was targeted in the attacks. The Sun reports that Beasley heard tires screeching outside his home and then he saw his car ablaze.

photo credit: wonker

Everytime an owner flaps his "yap" it gets harder for the players to take the field.

New West Ham boss David Sullivan is taking his new found power to the wrong level, at the wrong places, and the wrong times, with the wrong audience. It appears that Sullivan is content to use the media to run his club and since they are ALREADY in danger of relegation he may want to stop before he alienates fans who probably have no desire to come out and see a relegated club.

photo credit: billaday

John Terry needs a hug,

I would oblige and give him one, but I think the controversial defender would prefer to receive one from a busty female fan.

You see Terry is tired of the stories surrounding him about his infidelity and he wishes that people would only judge him by his actions on the pitch.

Gerrard: Triangle Maker

Last night I hunted down a clip on my 501 goals DVD. It's Liverpool's Craig Johnston talking sometime in the 80s about Liverpool's approach:

"It's the simplicity of the game that Liverpool play that's so amazing... You get the ball at your feet... And you see players like Phil Neal and Sammy Lee—and see them five yards away from you—and they're calling for the ball, and I think: 'Well that's too easy!

Former Schalke boss Rudi Assauer has outraged the gay community after he stated there is no place for gays in football. The former player stated, ‘Perhaps they are OK in other sports but not in football."Assauer claimed he would turn down a great athlete do to his sexuality. He also boosted how he fire a masseur because he thought he was gay.

Yoann Gourcuff, I've not overly familiar with your career and I'm overly familiar with any public comments you've made in the past, but I'd like to give you some free advice if I may.

You kind of need to stop talking. You know, I thought I just went through this with Franz Beckenbauer the other day.

photo credit: Paolo Camera

If you read the scoring stats for the Champion's League this season you'll see the following:

Cristiano Ronaldo 7

Wayne Rooney 4

Michael Owen 4

Leo Messi 4

If you read the shots stats you'll see that Leo Messi and Ronaldo both have taken 32 shots this Champion's League cycle but does that mean that Ronaldo's Real Madrid offense is more potent?

The Rapids picked up defensive speed and bid adieu to a tenacious and versatile midfielder on the eve of starting the 2010 season.

The club made official Thursday afternoon rumors that Toronto FC would ship defender Marvell Wynne to Colorado in exchange for Nick LaBrocca and a 2011 third round draft pick.