First off, I don't hate the kid. I really, really feel bad for him. I don't think he's a bad guy and I don't think his choice to play for Italy was out of any malice or that it served as any great indictment of American soccer.
All that being said, I think Rossi being left off the team is a net plus for US Soccer.

Real Madrid is a club that can persuade any player in the world simply on the basis of glamour. However, along with a hefty salary these days that's about all you're guaranteed. Trophies don't come as much as they'd used to capital in recent years and it seems as if the only possible trophy heading to Madrid is the Europa League, and that's for neighbours' Atletico.

Iker Casillas took his gal Sara Carbonero out for drinks Sunday after they caught the Atletico v Barcelona game in Madrid. We're not even mentioning his jean cuffs. We're just not.

Image via Marca.com

Those who have been reading this site for some time will be aware how big the news of Fernando Torres getting a haircut truly is. Election results? England squad selects and injuries? It's all Eyjafjallajökull in comparison.

Yes, we're serious. Please leave now if you don't understand the seriousness.

"When I signed a contract ­extension last year, it was because the squad was good and I was told the money would be there," said Benitez. "In the end, things changed. We have had a bad season ­because the conditions of my job changed. Hopefully things will be different in the future, but at the moment I can't talk about the future because I don't know what is going on here.

Liverpool have struggled this season due to the squad's lack of strength in depth, according to manager Rafael Benitez.
The Reds have struggled for much of the season in both the Premier League and European competition but, after beating Sunderland 3-0 at the week in an impressive performance from a near full-strength XI, Benitez believes injuries have taken their toll.

EPL on ESPN2: Chelsea - Bolton at 3pm. Coppa Italia on GolTV: Fiorentina - Inter Milan at 2:45pm. La Liga on ESPN Deportes: Getafe - Villareal at 4pm. Copa Libertadores on Fox Sports en Espanol: Deportivo Quito - Atletico Cerro at 7pm and Caracas - Universidad Chile at 9:30pm. All Times Eastern

La Opinion de Poza Rica

La directiva de los Petroleros de Poza Rica encabezada por su presidente Erasmo Sosa Garza, dio a conocer que el ultimo duelo de la Temporada 2009-2010 del futbol profesional de la Tercera Division Profesiona, ante el Atletico Huasteco fue cancelado a peticion de los tampiqueños.

Reina
Johnson Carragher Kyrgiakos Agger
Kuyt Lucas Mascherano Benayoun
Gerrard
Ngog
Goals:
Forlan 9'
Underwhelming in both tactics and performance, an embarrassing defensive collapse allowing a mediocre Atletico a solitary early strike, and Liverpool still should have finished level, but saw Benayoun's 19th minute "goal" wrongly ruled out.

Folks, its time for us here at World Club Rankings to get back to what we do best, which is ranking world clubs – hence the name of the site. If you recall, about a month ago, we set forth a fantasy football formula to apply to various players with the goal in mind of ranking how players of certain clubs are doing in the World Cup.

Fernando Torres has revealed he is doing additional fitness work to ensure he remains available for selection.
The Liverpool striker missed six matches leading up to Christmas due to a groin problem and there were fears that he might need to undergo surgery.
However, he has managed to play the full 90 minutes in his last four outings and is working hard to improve his sharpness.

That's right. The UEFA Cup/Europa League/whatever the hell it is, is officially more exciting than that competition named something that Barcelona are going to win again.
Fulham pulled off a shocker by downing Wolfsburg, and they move on to face more of those "typical germans". Meanwhile, Valencia and Atletico was just boring, as David Villa and Aguero just sat there talking about how they should have moved to London.

EPL on ESPN2: Fulham - Everton at 10am. On Fox Soccer Plus: Aston Villa - Birmingham City at 7am and Burnley - Liverpool at 10am. On Fox Soccer Channel: Chelsea - Stoke City at 11am. Championship on Fox Soccer Plus: Cardiff - Sheffield Wednesday at 4pm. Serie A on FSC: Juventus - Bari at 9am and Roma - Sampdoria at 2:30pm.

I was such a big fan of the 4-2-3-1 with Gerrard as a second striker/in a free role because it seemed to get the best of out Gerrard and Torres. That and it led to Liverpool nearly winning the league. But after how this season's gone, we rightfully have to wonder if that's consistently possible without Alonso.

There is report in the News Of The World today that Newcastle United are after Bayern Munich midfielder Hamit Altintop. Hamit Altintop - are Newcastle interested? The 27 year-old Turkish International is out of contract this summer, so he comes at a good price, but is therefore already attracting interest from other top clubs including Tottenham, Atletico [.

Taking a closer look at how Liverpool's internationals will figure in this summer.

As an early disclaimer, I readily admit that my knowledge of international football is limited at best. I'll direct you in general to the World Cup Blog main page, and I also made sure to link to each of the national team blogs.

Taking a closer look at how Liverpool's internationals will figure in this summer.

As an early disclaimer, I readily admit that my knowledge of international football is limited at best. I'll direct you in general to the World Cup Blog main page, and I also made sure to link to each of the national team blogs.

The thing that's the hardest for me to wrap my mind around when watching Roy Hodgson's team compared to the side we saw for the last six seasons is how much less possession Liverpool's had so far. Watching a promoted West Brom dictate the play for long stretches at Anfield, with Liverpool only winning the possession battle 51-49% thanks to an improved second half (having less of the ball than Albion in the first), hammered the point home.

By Eric Beard, writing from Emory University in Atlanta

As some of you know, I plan to study abroad in España this Spring. I applied to ESADE in Barcelona and ICADE in Madrid. I recently found out that I got into the ICADE program in Madrid, but I still haven't heard back from ESADE.

MADRID, Spain Real Madrid maintained their ominous form Sunday with a 2-0 derby victory over Atletico which keeps them at the top of the Primera Liga. Coach Jose Mourinho arrived at the Bernabeu with the reputation as a defensive tactician but in their last five games they have now scored 21 goals.

MilanKakaBaros - Maxi Rodriguez Goals and Assists Compilation- Argentina and Atletico Madrid

The lad looks good, lets hope we get him.

photo credit: Laure

In the resumption of the La Liga season Barca, Valencia and Sevilla all took the field and each one had a harrowing day in trying to either advance of hold fast on the table. With only Real Madrid idle out of the top 4 the other 3 teams had a chance to put Real Madrid in a bad spot coming back to play on the 3rd of January but the table only got more convoluted after a day's worth of play on Saturday.

Poor Maxi Rodriguez. From Atletico's fire to Liverpool's frying pan.
I can't decide whether I'm happy or skeptical, optimistic or pessimistic over the deal. Little has a silver lining after yesterday's calamity, but I felt similarly before the match. And yesterday's result will only intensify the pressure on Rodriguez, which obviously isn't fair.

Come era facilmente prevedibile ieri sera all'Olimpico si è vista più o meno la solita Juve, se si esclude un pò più di voglia e di grinta messa in campo rispetto alle ultime gare e se si esclude il risultato, un pareggio, invece della solita sconfitta. Ma per quanto riguarda il gioco, i movimenti, la capacit di concludere a rete, la paura, anzi il terrore, che attanaglia i giocatori della Juve, soprattutto dopo essere passati in vantaggio, non c'è nulla di nuovo.

GIMNASIA 3 ESTUDIANTES 1 - ROSARIO CENTRAL 0 TIGRE 1 - ARSENAL 0 VELEZ 3 - COLON 2 RACING 1 - HURACAN 2 NEWELLS 1 - BANFIELD 0 ARGENTINOS 0 (susp) - BOCA 3 LANUS 1 - CHACARITA 2 RIVER 3 - SAN LORENZO 0 GODOY CRUZ 1 - INDEPENDIENTE 1 ATLETICO TUCUMAN 1.

click para ampliar
ROSARIO CENTRAL 1 CHACARITA 1 - HURACAN 0 GODOY CRUZ 0 - ARSENAL 0 TIGRE 2 - SAN LORENZO 0 VELEZ 0 - GIMNASIA 1 RACING 0 - BOCA 0 ATLETICO TUCUMAN 0 - INDEPENDIENTE 3 ESTUDIANTES 2 - NEWELLS - ARG.JRS. (lunes) - BANFIELD 2 LANUS 0 - COLON 1 RIVER 0
ARGENTINA RACING DESPIDE A CLAUDIO VIVAS HOMENAJE A PANCHO VARALLO EN LA PLATA
BRASILNUEVA CAMISETA ALTERNATIVA DE BRASIL
URUGUAYPEÑAROL SE CONSOLIDA EN LA PUNTA
ESPAÑAATLETICO MADRID LE QUITA EL INVICTO A BARCELONA EL ADIOS A LUIS MOLOWNY
EL GOL DE CLAUDIO BRAVO PARA REAL SOCIEDAD 1 GIMNASTIC 0
FRANCIAENTREVISTA A JEAN MICHEL AULAS:"EL FÚTBOL VIVE EN UNA BURBUJA ESPECULATIVA QUE ESTA POR ESTALLAR"caligula

[101gg] Three things happen during this celebration which make it a frontrunner for football's greatest ever goal celebration (provided you weigh chuckles over, say, the tears of Marco Tardelli): i. Cruzeiro's Roger steals and puts on the fox's head. ii. The mascot fights tooth and fox claw to keep the giant fluffy head.

Botta e risposta tra corazzate nella 23° giornata della Liga.
Roboante il risultato del Real Madrid che con un Kak (finalmente) spettacolare, ed autore di una doppietta, sommerge per 6 a 2 il Villareal, al Santiago Bernabeu. Di Higuain (due), Ronaldo ed Alonso per le merengues, Senna e Nilmar per i gialli di Valverde.

ROSARIO CENTRAL 2 ARSENAL 3 - RACING 1 HURACAN 1 - TIGRE 0 INDEPENDIENTE 1 - GODOY CRUZ 2 LANUS 1 - CHACARITA 0 GIMNASIA 1 - RIVER 1 SAN LORENZO 0 - BANFIELD 3 COLON 1 - ESTUDIANTES 0 ARGENTINOS JUNIORS 1 - VELEZ 4 BOCA 4 - ATLETICO TUCUMAN 1 NEWELLS 1
VICTOR HUGO MORALES RECHAZA OFRECIMIENTO MUNDIAL DE CANAL 7 PARA EVITAR SUSPICACIAS.

Europa League on GolTV: Fulham - Juventus at 2pm, Sporting - Atletico Madrd at 4pm, and Liverpool - Lille at 8pm. Copa Libertadores on Fox Sports en Espanol: Sao Paulo - Nacional at 8:30pm and Independiente - Racing at 10:30pm. CONCACAF Champions League on Galavision: Marathon - UNAM Pumas at 10pm. All Times Eastern

Real Madrid will hope to maintain their title charge when they host Atletico while Barcelona travel to Real Mallorca.

Facing two derbies in four days - Real are at Getafe tonight - may not be the ideal way of trying to keep pace with Barca at the top of the table, but Manuel Pellegrini's side can feel confident heading into Sunday's clash at the Bernabeu.

Bom dia, futbolitas! It was the Madrid derby last night with plenty of thrills and spills! It was, of course, only natural that the Pied Piper of Higuain had to feature in this one with the likes of Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa. There was nothing from Senor Kun, however (OK, estamos justo really, he did help Reyes to score the second goal for Atletico!

Benfica and Sporting were only able to manage draws in their Europa League first leg encounters today. Sporting played first as they visited Madrid to take on Atletico and held the home side to a scoreless draw even though they suffered two red cards in the game. Sporting is now in a good position getting set to go home for their second leg on March 18/10, while at the Estadio da Luz it took

In lieu of more macro-level wrist-slitting about the club and manager's prospects, I'd rather investigate one of the tactical areas that irritated me yesterday (yeah, there were more than just this, but I'd rather write about the wingers than the fullbacks or Gerrard).
For the fourth straight game against 'top-level' opposition, Maxi's started on the left.

Benfica/Liverpool v Valencia/Atletico
Hamburg/Standard Liege v Fulham/Wolfsburg
Payback time for Champions League '05-06. That'll do, especially since I was convinced Liverpool would face Atletico or Valencia. We'll have to wait for the semis for that one, if Liverpool can replicate yesterday's result.

The Last few days have been quite eventful for the Redmen.

April 14 : Juventus had supposedly made a mammoth offer for Rafa Benitez with the kind of war chest every manager involved in football could do with. Also Rafa heads the top of the list in the poll for the attractive Real Madrid job ahead of the likes of Jose Mourinho and others.

3:05pm ET, live in the US on DirecTV channel 462 or 462-1.
Last 3 matches:
Liverpool: 3-0 West Ham (h); 0-0 Fulham (h); 4-1 Benfica (h)
Atletico: 1-2 Villareal (a); 1-2 Xerez (h); 0-3 Espanyol (a)
Quarterfinals:
Liverpool: 4-1 Benfica (h); 1-2 Benfica (a)
Atletico: 0-0 Valencia (h); 2-2 Valencia (a)
Round of 16:
Liverpool: 3-0 Lille (h); 0-1 Lille (a)
Atletico: 2-2 Sporting (a); 0-0 Sporting (h)
Round of 32:
Liverpool: 3-1 Unirea (a); 1-0 Unirea (h)
Atletico: 2-1 Galatasaray (a); 1-1 Galatasaray (h)
Group Stage Results:
Liverpool: 1-2 Fiorentina (h); 1-0 Debrecen (a); 1-1 Lyon (a); 1-2 Lyon (h); 0-2 Fiorentina (a); 1-0 Debrecen (h)
Atletico: 0-3 Porto (h); 1-1 APOEL (a); 2-2 Chelsea (h); 0-4 Chelsea (a); 0-2 Porto (a); 0-0 APOEL (h)
Goalscorers (Europe):
Liverpool: Torres 4; Benayoun, Babel, Gerrard, Kuyt, Ngog 2; Agger, Lucas, Mascherano 1
Atletico: Aguero 6; Forlan 3; Simão 2; Lopez, Maxi, Reyes 1
Referee: Laurent Duhamel (FRA)
Guess at a squad:
Reina
Johnson Carragher Kyrgiakos Agger
Lucas Mascherano
Benayoun Gerrard Babel
Kuyt
Somehow, two very undeserving teams are in a European semifinal.

Anfield side prepare for Europa battle after lengthy trip to Madrid.

Win the Club Shirt Of Your Choice Simply by Speaking Your Mind!

Liverpool have made the trip to the Vicente Calderon without former Atletico striker Fernando Torres.
Maxi Rodriguez is ineligible to face his former club, while defenders Fabio Aurelio, Emiliano Insua, Martin Skrtel and Martin Kelly are all injured.

The Europa League semi-finals get under way today. In Madrid, Atletico will face off against Liverpool in their first-leg match up.

el Kun Aguero is suspended because of yellow card accumulation. Salvio will be on the Atletico bench.

Mascherano and Insua will be in Liverpool's starting eleven.

Liverpool have not given up on fourth place in the Premier League claims manager Rafael Benitez.
Benitez's side head to struggling Burnley on Sunday praying that their faint hopes of finishing fourth are still alive.
Liverpool's last two trips this season are to Turf Moor and Hull on the final day but even victories there and also at home to Chelsea are probably not going to be enough to get them into the Champions League next season.