So, what about midfielders. After all, they are usually the most important choices to be made in your fantasy premier league team. Many seasons have shown that the players who collect the most points in fantasy premier league are almost always midfielders. The reason of course being that they get points for just about anything, 5 points for a goal (that's 1 point more than attackers get.

GOLD CUP: Mexico outclass US - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Saturday night LA was draped in green as Mexico dominated the US 4-2 to claim the Gold Cup finale. After jumping out to a 2-0 lead early the US looked to have a magic touch. But Mexico, sensing weakness on the Yanks left side, unleashed their dangerous set of attackers and made the US pay scoring four unanswered on their way to the Cup and a spot in the 2013 Confederations Cup tournament.

While we all wait eagerly to see who else will be added to Arsenal's squad this summer, it's worth pointing out that the two most important signings have already been made.

Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere were signed to long term contracts in June and November last year respectively.

Given the near certainty that we will start the new season without either or both of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, it is tempting to feel downhearted.

West Brom have one of the better runs for the next few weeks, including a great home double in week 27 against West Ham and Wolves - there should be at least a few points in it for a Baggie player or two in this gameweek. Over the next 5 weeks, their toughest competition comes from Man City away in week 26, but is bookended with a match against Stoke and Birmingham as well as a match against Wigan in week 25.

The Barcodes have kept United in check. There is still a lot to play for. Wenger is also getting some players back from the treatment room. I guess we can call this a good news day.

Tactically, there won't be any surprises in this game. I expect a lot of long, diagonal balls from the Spuds defenders and midfield directed towards their speedy wingers.

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 and Sean Donahue contributed ratings for the USA's 2-1 CONCACAF Gold Cup Group C loss to Panama.

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 and Sean Donahue contributed ratings for the USA's 1-0 CONCACAF Gold Cup Group C victory over Guadeloupe.

I'm going to keep this mercifully brief, or at least I'll try. Why brief? Well, I could pretty much point you to a couple dozen match reaction posts from last year that would sound almost word for word what I'm going to say here. Defenders who didn't appear to speak the same language? Check. Lots of possession but no idea what to do with it?

-Jason Davis
Bob Bradley injected new blood into the USMNT talent stream in Saturday night's 1-1 draw with Chile, but as seems to be his habit, missed a chance to do more with his opportunity. The first half was mostly bad, while the second picked up and significantly so with the substitutions of Juan Agudelo and Teal Bunbury.

I was hoping a draw will be a good result but it was not to be. Both teams had a number of key players missing. Wenger sent a mixture of first team players and second stringers to play in their usual style while Ferguson sent a similar group out with a clear plan. In the end the man with the plan won, once again.

After our loss at Manchester United, I found myself harbouring murderous thoughts towards Abou Diaby.

He was our worst player by quite a stretch (despite stiff competition from Gibbs and, later, Rosicky).

Every time the ball went to him he either killed the momentum of an Arsenal attack or lost the ball.

BY ADAM SERRANO

CARSON, CALIF -- Playing through an uncharacteristic Southern California rainstorm, the New England Revolution drew the LA Galaxy, 1-1 on a rain-soaked field at the Home Depot Center.

Sharlie Joseph gave the Revolution the lead just three minutes into the match to put the Galaxy on the back foot before Galaxy midfielder Juninho scored his second goal of the season to level the score.

It was quite the interesting first half, with three goals and a controversial no-call on a penalty shout from DC United and Chris Pontius.

Houston got things started early after Geoff Cameron tracked back hard, stealing the ball away and quickly turning to find Will Bruin who was all alone to the left of goal.

USMNT Outclassed by Relentless Spain - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Bob Bradley has some decisions to make ahead of Gold Cup play.

When the U.S. scheduled today's fixture with Spain they likely felt it would be a good tune up for a team destined to fight it out with Mexico for CONCACAF supremacy in the coming weeks.

I think that title can probably be slotted under "most obvious statement of the month." Still, it's something that needs to be discussed, but, for whatever reason, has not been. As two of the Portland Timbers' more expensive players at this point, I'm more than a little worried that they're not putting out what the FO has invested.

The New England Revolution are set to welcome the Reds of Toronto FC to Foxboro on Wednesday night for their second match in just four days. New England is coming off an improved but disappointing performance in New York on Saturday that saw them snap their 600+ minute scoreless streak from open play but still lose 2-1 after fluffing several gilt-edged scoring chances.

There is a theory around MLS that Euro coaches/general managers struggle in the League due to the odd player acquisition rules and what-not. The New York Red Bulls don't seem to be having problems related to that. They have managed to trade for an amazing talent (Dwayne De Rosario), sign two huge DPs (Thierry Henry, Rafael Marquez) and acquired decent role-players through draft or international discovery.

After each match the contributors to New England Soccer Today will rate the performances of the New England Revolution players who made an appearance on a 1 to 10 scale (1 horrendous, 5 average, 10 perfection). This week Sean Donahue and Brian O'Connell contributed ratings for the Revs 1-0 win at D.

On Wednesday, the MLS All-Stars will play Manchester United looking for revenge after the humiliating defeat they suffered last year. The team of 32 was picked by the fans, players, Hans Backe and Don Garber. Only 22 will be available to play and Keeping a Clean Sheet feels that the most deserving squad will not be on display.

By AVI CREDITOR

PHILADELPHIA -- With the bevy of European-club-based central midfielders vying for starting roles with the United States men's national team, it's easy to overlook Real Salt Lake's workhorse, Kyle Beckerman.

Sure, he's a perennial standout in Major League Soccer, but he rarely gets the opportunity to shine with a first-team squad on the international stage.

So how to feel about Wednesday's result in Philadelphia, where a tie felt like a win because: 1) It came off a rally; 2) Because the United States was clearly better through the final 20-30 minutes, and; 3) Because the Americans didn't get run plum off the field, a la the Rose Bowl roasting they took from Mexico six weeks back.

I am not only a football fan but I also enjoy reading a good magazine and looking at beautiful women. You can do that also in this month's edition of FHM, featuring Nicole Scherzinger. Yeah, I'm sure you know her, but you can also find a lot of other great articles. Find out more about that here: http://www.

There have only been a handful of games this season which I thought were going to be easy. The home game against WBA was one of those. Such experience can make one respect a sentence like – there are no easy games in the Premiership – instead of ignoring it as a cliché. So Arsenal travel to the Hawthorns in what is another potential banana skin against a side battling relegation.

By JONATHAN VERA

CARSON, Calif. – Depending on who you asked, the only thing worse than the weather during the Los Angeles Galaxy's 1-1 tie vs. New England was the officiating.

Referee in charge Hilario Grajeda negated a goal scored by Juninho early in the first after LA's Mike Magee "fouled" keeper Matt Reis.

I have been away from football and the news for the last few days but yesterday I got the chance to watch the West Brom game once again. I wanted a relook as I'd noticed some moments while watching live that seemed worth analyzing. This article is a quick discussion based on one of these observations.

Victory over New York stirs Frenzy and Foreboding | American Soccer News

Let me start with a disclaimer: I am no chicken little. I have no wish to create a perception of watching a clear sky then screaming that the heavens are crashing down. Saturday night was phenomenal and there is little to match the rush of beating a favored New York team, but once the high subsided the crash was a bit harder for me than I would like.

Much like the British stealing supplies at Fort Oswego (see game preview) the British-led Rapids stole a point from the Revolution in Foxboro on Saturday. An already beat up Colorado side got bad news when Jamie Smith couldn't start, causing the Rapids to set their XI without 5 regular starters and 2 regular backups, which forced them to play 2 more starters out of position.

Today we'll look at the final two contenders for our player of the year and then please have your say as to who deserves the accolade. Here are two more midfielders and it won't surprise many to hear that we won't be moving on to include any attackers in the short list!

Gareth Bale

To abuse a footballing cliche, it was a season of two halves for Gareth as he took the first part of 2010-11 to establish his reputation as one of the best players in the world.

Paul Scholes was a bit older and slower, Michael Carrick struggled to find the form he enjoyed before the disastrous 2009 Champions League performance, Owen Hargreaves was permanently injured, attitude and injuries held Anderson back from fulfilling his potential to the maximum and Darren Fletcher still had plenty in the engine but his virus only interrupted what was an ineffective season for the Scot.

Associated Press

In their final preparation match for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the United States were outclassed by the 2010 FIFA World Cup winners Spain, as the visitors dominated 4-0.

The Americans came into this match simply wanting to stay healthy, while co-mingling younger, less experienced players with a few veterans.

photos by ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

TAMPA - Last November, Clarence Goodson and Tim Ream started together for the first time. The unveiling of the tandem came in a friendly they helped the U.S. team win 1-0 by blanking an experienced South Africa side playing at home.

In the end, the 1-1 scoreline in Sunday's England-Spain match at the Under 21 European Championships will be cause for many to talk of the England fight back, of an entertaining game and a good result and a brave display against a superior opponent. Which conveniently forgets that for the vast majority of the match it was only Spain's inability to find a cutting edge around the box that stopped the score from turning into the farce the rest of the game was for England's up and comers.

What an abominable game to watch. Though the US held the advantage for long stretches, Panama probably looked a touch more dangerous when they did come forward. Both sides, however, largely negated each other to make for some terribly dull viewing. The referee, not content to let 30 seconds pass without tooting on his whistle, only made things worse by killing any semblance of flow.

Jack Jewsbury. Josh Wolf. Davy Arnaud. Jimmy Conrad.
One of these things is not like the other!
Yes they have all spent a massive amount of time with the Sporting Wizards KC. I guess Josh Wolf is the only true striker on that list. But that's not what different.

Ah, the GD. No, not "God damn" (although TFC's may make you blurt that) nor "Gerry Dobson" (although you may blurt "God damn, Gerry Dobson stop showing me TFC's GD!"). The GD we refer to today is of course "Goal Difference" (or differential if you're a high falutin' professor type. Nerd.) Currently Toronto FC has the worst GD in MLS at a whopping -19, a full -9 worse than the next most useless club.

By the time the first half was over I was regretting my decision to wake up at six on a Saturday morning after crashing at two in the night. Arsene picked the same starting eleven that ended the game in Malaysia and their performance was just as erratic and listless as we saw in the previous game.

Luis Suarez netted a second-half double to secure a 2-0 victory over 10-man Peru and send Uruguay into the Copa America final.
Liverpool striker Suarez scored twice in five minutes shortly after half-time in La Plata to keep Uruguay's hopes of securing a record 15th South American title alive.
Suarez netted his first on 52 minutes after Peru goalkeeper Raul Fernandez spilled a speculative Diego Forlan shot.

Reo-Coker not putting a foot wrong

The preseason started and ended with a murmur. Just like the 1-0 loss to FC Tampa Bay right at the beginning, Bolton lost 1-0 to Levante UD at the Reebok. An uninteresting game that saw the only goal come from Iborra after he tapped in a Ruben free kick that banged off the crossbar.

The Seattle Sounders just needed a point to become just the second MLS team in the four-year history of CONCACAF Champions League to win a group. Once Fredy Montero equalized in the 42nd minute, they seemed well on their way.

But two all-too-familiar problems cropped up once again: Allowing attackers to get behind the defense and poor passing in the defensive third.

What has happened to the sacred art of defending?

Yet another clash between two of the top six ended with a goal-glut as Arsenal beat Chelsea 5-3 at Stamford Bridge.

Add this result to the 8-2 hammering Arsenal received at Old Trafford and the 6-1 thumping dished out to United by rivals City and it all adds to up to a hell of an entertaining season.