Arsenal traveled north to face a Sunderland club that has seen a resurgence since installing Martin O'Neil as their manager and it took a two late goal by impact substitutes to come away with the three points. Keep reading for all the glorious heart-stopping action.

Arsene Wenger chose to start the same squad that demolished Blackburn last week with the exception of Francis Coquelin as Bacary Sagna was drafted in for his 2nd start since his broken leg.

It's been 17 years since Rene Higuita executed his audacious scorpion kick to block a weak shot from Jamie Redknapp in a friendly between England and Colombia at Wembley. Since then, it's become one of the most iconic in the sport's history and has been attempted by goalkeepers and attackers alike, some more successful than others.

In the first part of our FM scouting series, we looked at United's new DP forward Hamdi Salihi. Now it's time to turn our attention to central defender Emiliano Dudar...

click to enlarge

What jumps out immediately is Dudar's marking ability and aerial power, the later of which, given his size, was to be expected.

Spurs played for a scoreless draw, Spurs got their scoreless draw.
While Liverpool's attackers could and should have done more, Tottenham's defending merited the scoreless draw. King and Dawson were outstanding, with Parker almost as important. After a paucity of clear cut chances for both sides, each could have scored the winner in the last five minutes, with Friedel and Reina making huge saves on Bale and Suarez.

The NASL expansion San Antonio Scorpions club added four more players, including long-time MLS vet Ryan Cochrane, along with one of the top NASL attackers last season, Pablo Campos of the Carolina RailHawks, in addition to signing two young players with local ties. The RailHawks, meanwhile, will have Chris Nurse back in the fold for [.

Since its founding in 1907, Al Ahly S.C. has been known as ‘the people's club,' representing resistance against the many forms of colonialism that have long plagued the African continent. Initially the first sporting club to allow Egyptians to join, Al Ahly remains the most popular of Egyptian teams, wearing to this day the red kits that honour the pre-colonial Egyptian flag.

In the preview I wrote, "there will be goals in this game for sure". I don't know how, but both sides managed to keep the ball out of their opponents' nets when scoring would have seemed like the easier option. Arsenal had a lot of chances, very good ones. And they missed them all.

Twitter went mad after the game, as it usually does after a disappointing result I guess.

Video: FA Cup: Everton/Fulham

In a showdown between two of the USA's best attackers, Landon Donovan prevailed providing both the crosses that resulted in two perfect strikes as Everton beat Clint Dempsey and Fulham. The man from Nacogdoches had a quieter evening.

Donovan has had an instant impact on Everton making the best of his two month loan and Dempsey is on par to repeat last season's success, most recently scoring a hat trick against Newcastle.

Photo by Howard C. Smith/ISIphotos.com

The Philadelphia Union's preseason is starting to become more notable not for who is in camp but for the attackers who are spending time in England.

According to his agent, Richard Motzkin, third-year forward Danny Mwanga is training with Aston Villa for the next 10 days.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

For U.S. Under-23 winger Joe Gyau, the future is now.

Gyau confirmed on his own Twitter feed that he will be in TSG 1899 Hoffenheim's matchday 18 against Hannover 96 this weekend for the first time. Hoffenheim is dealing with a number of injuries, and Gyau, who has been playing well for the club's U-23 team, is going to get his first taste of first-team life in the Bundesliga in what could prove to be a seminal year in the 19-year-old winger's career.

The stage is set for the 28th edition of the African Cup Of Nations that begins tomorrow in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon with two Group A fixtures between the hosts Equatorial Guinea and Libya in the early kick off and the eagerly awaited Senegal v Zambia clash in the late kick off.

By "The Other 87 Minutes" / Senior Unemployed English Major CorrespondentsWay back in April, in what I'm pretty sure was our first-ever Tuesday XI, we devised a lineup of superheroes, ready to take the pitch against all-comers. Here now at last, we've found the comers, an opposition squad ready to give those heroes the fight of their lives, or at least a game every now and then on Sundays.

BY ADAM SERRANO

It appears that injury bug has hit the U.S. January camp and that may render two key players for the senior team and Under-23 side doubtful for upcoming friendlies.

Under-23 right winger Josh Gatt was unavailable for training on Monday after suffering an apparent ankle injury on Sunday evening.

Oh dear.

Yakubu sent off in the first half, Samba missing. What more could we ask for?

Made a right horlicks of this one. Blackburn are a half-decent side in the middle of a horrible season but we're good enough to win in these circumstances. Should have done, comfortably.

Blackburn scored the first with a Pedersen free-kick just on half-time, then the second from Dunn just after the break.

Liverpool are now one step closer to reaching the Carling Cup Final after an impressive display at Etihad Stadium. Liverpool were by far the better team in the first half, keeping possession well and creating chances.

They were rewarded in the 11th minute when Daniel Agger was fouled in the box by Stefan Savic.

Skillful wingers in the player pool are at a premium ahead of Thursday's MLS SuperDraft, but three of the top players available at the position are some of the more sought-after attackers eligible for selection.

Sam Garza, a Generation adidas signing out of UCSB who can play up top or on the wing, helped his stock considerably with his showing while playing for the adiPure team at the Combine and had a big hand in helping set up Ethan Finlay as part of the Creighton forward's hat trick.

January 18, 2012 will mark Frank Klopas' 4th full year as technical director for the Chicago Fire. The club has enjoyed a roller coaster ride, from the highs of cup finals to the lows of missing the Playoffs. In this time, Klopas has been responsible for signing players both foreign and domestic. With the transfer window opening in the past couple of days, I believe an examination of the Fire's international signings under Klopas is important, especially considering that the search for international talent for the 2012 season is well under way.

So after weeks of uncertainty over Marco Reus's future, Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund were finally able to land the services of the highly rated attacking midfielder.

Dortmund beat out the likes of Arsenal and Bayern Munich who were the two clubs closely associated with the 22 year old.

If I had to sum up the first half in one word, it would be boring. If I had to sum up the second half in one hyphenated word it would be squeaky-bum. We looked flat in the first half an the attackers really weren't in the game, the second half, we nicked a cheeky goal from nowhere, looked like we would go on and get a few more, but instead spent the last 20 minutes with our backs to the wall.

Featured image: Paul Rudderow

Editor's note: At the end of the 2010 season, we posted a series of season reviews of every Philadelphia Union player. Over the next several weeks PSP continues with a review of the 2011 season.

I saved Migs for my last player review of the season because really, what else is there to say?

Of all Liverpool players, Stewart Downing was perhaps the most influential in Monday's draw with Blackburn Rovers. After the game, LFC supporters had plenty to say about the winger's performance.
To start, please don't mistake "influential" for a glowing review. It's more of a way of saying he was key to the outcome of the game.

Two sets of fairly gifted attackers: one set made space and moved the ball like lightning, the other kept on trying to walk the ball through the most crowded area of the pitch. The game finished 5-0.

We may feel aggrieved at the scoreline, which did flatter United slightly, but our attacking play, though exciting, was not very bright.

Photo by Max Becherer/ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

LAKEWOOD RANCH, Fla. -- Bryan Arguez has a lot to be excited about these days.

In the past two months, Arguez has gone from playing in the NASL with the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers, to getting signed by the Montreal Impact, to getting called into his first camp in years with the U.

This is Part II of TSG's discussion with Amsterdam-based Greg Seltzer of MLSSoccer.com and No Short Corners. You can find Part I, here.

Gatt and a legend...

Matthew: So who are the key Americans abroad that US fans should truly be excited by? So many times one goal is enough to chop a forest worth's of timber to power the hype machine.

To wrap things up with the "What I Want For Christmas" series, we'll begin with a bit of a tactical aside before prioritizing the shopping list...

(In case you missed the beginning of this discussion: Part I and Part II are available.)

Our likely man in the middle?

In all of this discussion, we've curiously ignored tactics for the most part.

10 attackers Liverpool could sign to score more goals: Torres, Shaqiri and Jelavic and more

Click the arrows to see which players could be on Kenny Dalglish's shopping list to get the Reds scoring more

View the full story here: Talksport

A news article on 2011-12-19 15:53:18 from: Talksport

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Goals:
Bellamy 11'
Skrtel 15'
Winning with ease when not on top form is far more fun than frustrating draws or defeats when dominant. Still, if not for converting the first two corners within 15 minutes, Liverpool could well be ruing more missed chances and more effort rebounding off wider-than-normal goal posts.

Things just keeping getting tougher for goalkeepers. The match balls continue to be more active and fly faster, attackers are stronger and smarter, and now the U-23 coaching staff has added a new challenge: the absence of light.
OK, it was just for one session and it wasn't actually planned that way, but it still made the training interesting.

Thanks to White Noise and Simon Peach on Twitter.

Interesting viewing. Talks about how the grass is always greener, which is undoubtedly true. Jol does look a bit defensive here (as is natural I suppose) but is a fairly eloquent speaker and gives decent answers to the questions put to him.

As Camp Junior Mint (U-23) gets underway in Florida this week, Jurgen Klinsmann should be shortly submitting his roster for who gets an Evite to the annual Camp Cupcake in Carson, CA.

This will of course be Klinsmann's first time selecting for the camp that normally sees predominant enrollment of fringe US and Nordic domestic league players.

You know what they are going to do. You don't like it and wouldn't play that way if it meant 80 points a season, but that's what they are going to throw at us and if we're not prepared, it's down to us.

I don't like it but I'm not going to go on about it because then I'll end up like Arsene Whinger, always complaining about injustices that his precious little angels have to face when they play those awful big boys from up north.

Despite admitting his admiration for new manager Martin O'Neill, Asamoah Gyan has outlined his reluctance to return to Sunderland, perhaps even after his loan spell with Middle Eastern outfit Al Ain has finished.
Ghanaian goalscorer Gyan – who has netted 27 times in 54 matches for the Black Stars – is in the United Arab Emirates as a result of a deal struck back in September and, although rumours to the contrary have circulated this week, the 26 year-old ruled out a return to Wearside this January.

It was a match that Liverpool should have won, if only they'd taken their chances. If only the officials hadn't overturned an offside Luis Suarez goal that wasn't. If only Kevin Friend hadn't given Jay Spearing a questionable red card or if only he had awarded a penalty and not a free-kick when Charlie Adam was felled as he entered the sixteen-yard box.

In spite of all the going on off the pitch at the moment I thought John Terry's performance against Newcastle was outstanding.
It can't be easy for him to concentrate on games at the moment with everything going on but he still gets out on that pitch and gives his everything for the win and a clean sheet.

The U-17ers moved as one on Sunday...

A surfing nod in that title.

As you become older, wiser and more experienced in surfing, you learn that Mother Ocean always wins. So when sets of 12-foot waves are hurdling towards you, you wait until the set of waves subside or you sort of stick-and-move your way out to the line-up, prodding for the little channel that way exist.

Photo courtesy of Don Liebig/UCLA

By ADAM SERRANO

LOS ANGELES –- Chandler Hoffman is an opportunist.

His ability to get into the right place at the right time has helped him develop into one of the most feared attackers in college soccer, scoring 18 goals this season at UCLA.

By now we all know the story pretty well: the defense was crap at the beginning of the season, but by the end it was one of the Portland Timbers' strengths. Individual players improved, as did communication amongst them, and the front office augmented that development with a shrewd mid-season trade.

Ducky's Note: Long-time Blues fan Ratna Prashanth evaluates the reason for Andres Villas-Boas' apparent failure to adapt Chelsea to his method. Or adapt himself to Chelsea's method!

I think we can (win the title). We have most of the same players (who have won the title before)

- Andres Villas-Boas

Confidence is appreciable, but we need to get the right results if we are to compete for three titles (now that the milk cup is gone) and for this, December is the key.

FC Barcelona secured the top spot of Group H in Champions League with a high tempo thrilling 3-2 victory against AC Milan. An own goal from Van Bommel, a penalty from Messi and another beautiful goal from xavi completed Barca's socreline, whereas Ibrahimovic and Boateng scored for AC Milan.

Let's be honest when it comes to David Luiz everyone has their own opinion (including Gary Neville!). Some people say he should be playing week in, week out. Some people say he shouldn't. Some people think he should be playing at right back and some others believe he should be playing as a holding midfielder.