Well here are the highlights from one of the day's big matches. Liverpool finally beat Manchester United with a late winner from Ryan Babel after en early goal from Carol Tevez and then an own goal from Wes Brown.
Liverpool 2 vs Manchester United 1 EPL 08/09 - Matchday 4

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez has finally admitted what we all knew anyway: Valencia player David Villa is on his list of potential striker recruits after Peter Crouch's impending departure to Portsmouth. But is David Villa the right man to play alongside Torres next season? "We have Torres, Voronin, Kuyt, Babel .

Reina
Arbeloa Skrtel Carragher Aurelio
Kuyt Alonso Gerrard Benayoun
Torres Keane
Goals:
Kuyt 118'
These games are not doing my heart any good. Four games into the season, and the earliest goal Liverpool's scored has come in the 83rd minute. And Kuyt striking the winner after suffering a ton of stick makes it even sweeter.

I didn't get to see this one, but apparently we're still playing like ass and now to top it off, we've lost Stevie G for 10-14 days. He's finally having that pesky groin operated on, which apparently is not that serious, but will keep him off the pitch for club and country. Hopefully, he will be back in shape for when Man U come to town on September 13th.

Soccer players and coaches always give the best material to the media. I love it.
Here's what Holland coach Foppe de Haan (right) said about his team's next opponent, the USA:

The Americans are more of a team on the same level. They don't have anybody extremely good.

I'm not going to argue with him.

Rafael Benitez hailed the performance of Liverpool's young guns after they concluded their pre-season schedule with a 1-0 win over Lazio at Anfield.
The Reds boss admitted he was pleased with his side's overall display after Andriy Voronin stoppage time winner sealed a deserved victory against the Italians and Benitez felt the impact of the likes of Jay Spearing - who created the winning goal - was the main highlight of the night.

Roller coaster. That's about the long and short of it. In the early going, the Dutch looked like the favorites that they were, playing at a level that the US just couldn't seem to match. Babel's opener was fitting reward for the better team. But around the midway point in the first half, passes started connecting for the US, Adu started to get on the ball, and the chances started coming.

Robbie Keane will be undergoing his medical in Liverpool today and is set to sign a five-year contract worth £80,000 per week. On behalf of all Yanks who don't know beans about football, I'd like to offer a big Flavor Flav, "YEAHHHHHHHHHHH BOYEEEEEEEEE!"

This is the signing I've been most excited about when I first heard the rumor that Keane wanted to leave Spurs for his boyhood heroes, Liverpool.

(Summary is not available.)

Red-White-n-Blue goes up against Le Oranje. Predictions, people. Get 'em in the comments before kickoff.
Holland:
Vermeer, Zuiverloon, Marcellis, Jaliens, De Guzman, Emanuelson, Maduro, Drenthe, Bakkal, Babel, Beerens
U.S.
Guzan, Wynne, Edu, Parkhurst, Orozco, Rogers, Bradley, Kljestan, Holden, Adu, McBride
Nowak is growing some facial scruff - a VanDyke I guess.

I completely disagree with Grahame Jones' article in the Los Angeles Times that the pressure is now on Landon Donovan to perform well in the World Cup qualifier against Guatemala because the team didn't perform well at the Olympics. What exactly is the correlation between the two? Is it just that some of the players were on the Olympic team and now they will play for the full U.

Reina
Arbeloa Carragher Skrtel Aurelio
Benayoun Alonso Mascherano Riera
Kuyt Keane
Goals:
Tevez 3'
Brown (og) 26'
Babel 77'
Finally. And what a way to do it.
United made a dream start, with early pressure leading to a Tevez goal within three minutes when Berbatov beat two men to the byline and was able to cut back to Tevez (Mascherano failed to follow him into the box).

0 - 1 C.Tevez 3'
1 - 1 W.Brown (Autogol) 26'
2 - 1 Babel 77'
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Except he isn't lucky enough to score. "VIDEO: Ronaldo Does A Babel" was originally published at The Republik of Mancunia.

Our midfield... The preparation towards Italy was hectic, to say the least. First Babel's injury, then Arjen Robben. Rumors in the press off Van Persie injuring Sneijder and the conclusion that Robin wouldn't be fit in time. Who to play? How to play? A draw would be celebrated as win. We

Little has pleased me more than Kuyt's performance this past week. One goal and two assists so far (in 134 minutes), and he's been a standout for one of the top three teams (along with Spain and Portugal). It's not as if Holland has done it against lightweights, beating both the World Cup finalists by three goals.

It's a shame that Peter Crouch's departure seems imminent, but it's not all that surprising. He hasn't been happy on the bench, and that's where he's been relegated to since the arrival of Fernando Torres.
Admittedly, I was a bit surprised we didn't get many chances to see a Crouch-Torres combination.

Cavalieri
Darby Carragher Agger Dossena
Benayoun Lucas Plessis Leto
Babel Voronin
Subs:
Aurelio for Leto 46'
Hyypia for Carragher 46'
Skrtel for Agger 46'
Spearing for Plessis 46'
Mascherano for Leiva 46'
Pennant for Babel 46'
Insua for Dossena 63'
Pacheco for Benayoun 63'
Kuyt for Voronin 71'
Hobbs for Darby 71'
Martin for Cavalieri 71'
Goals:
Voronin 6'
Jirsak 12'
In Fribourg, Wisla provided the sternest test Liverpool's faced so far this preseason.

LIVERPOOL fans are holding their breath over the signing of Robbie Keane. He's a good player, possibly a very good player. The former Crumlin United (Dublin) striker may even blossom into a world class player alongside Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres. And, there's a strong argument that Torres needs a fleet-footed playmaker snapping at the heels of defenders.

10am, live in the US on Setanta.
Last 4 head-to-head:
3-2 Liverpool (h) 02.23.08
1-1 (a) 01.12.08
2-0 Liverpool (h) 04.18.07
0-0 (a) 11.18.06
Last match:
Liverpool: 1-0 Sunderland (a)
Middlesbrough: 2-1 Spurs (h)
Referee: Mike Riley
Guess at a squad:
Reina
Arbeloa Carragher Agger Dossena
Kuyt Gerrard Alonso Benayoun
Keane
Torres
Yes, I know, except for Agger, this would be the same line-up that struggled at Sunderland.

3:05pm Eastern Time. Once again, I think US viewers are stuck looking for streams if they don't have lfc.tv's e-season ticket.
0-0 on aggregate.
Last 3 matches:
Liverpool: 2-1 Boro (h); 1-0 Sunderland (a); 0-0 Standard (a)
Standard: 3-0 KVC Westerlo (h); 3-1 Dender (a); 0-0 Liverpool (h)
Referee: Massimo Busacca (SUI)
Guess at a squad:
Reina
Arbeloa Carragher Skrtel Dossena
Kuyt Gerrard Alonso Benayoun
Keane Torres
Benitez has ruled out both Lucas and Mascherano, with this game coming too soon after their return from the Olympics, but hopes they'll be back for Sunday.

Reina
Arbeloa Skrtel Carragher Dossena
Alonso
Kuyt Mascherano Lucas Keane
Torres
I am not used to Liverpool setting up shop to come away with a point on the road, and I'm not happy about it. Without Gerrard and with Torres going off after 26 minutes thanks to an injury, Liverpool were without invention and rarely looking like getting a goal.

Some would agree that this was an absolute borefest while others would not. Martin O'Neil and Rafa didn't get into a scrap and Barry didn't cry so it was definitely not the grudge match we were hoping for. For me, the game pretty much ended when Torres came out with a pulled hamstring because at that point the attack threat was gone.

Olympique Marseille vs Liverpool Stade Velodrome Kickoff is 8:45 pm CET, 19:45 pm GMT, 2:45 pm US Eastern Marseille 0-0 Liverpool Big team news is that Gerrard and Torres are starting for Liverpool. Marseille: 4-2-3-1: Mandanda; Bonnart, Taiwo, Hilton, Zubar; Cheyrou, Kana; Kone, M'Bami, Ben Arfa; Niang Liverpool: 4-3-3: Reina; Arbeloa, Dossena, Carragher, Skrtel; Gerrard, Mascherano, Lucas; Kuyt, Torres, Babel

Cavalieri
Degen Agger Hyypia Insua
Pennant Lucas Plessis El Zhar
Ngog Babel
Subs:
Torres for Ngog 66'
Carragher for Degen 73'
Keane for El Zhar 87'
Goals:
Agger 15'
O'Conner 25'
Lucas 58'
This is a placeholder; for the first time in recent memory, there weren't even any streams, just radio commentary.

Cavalieri
Degen Carragher Agger Insua
Benayoun Lucas Plessis Leto
Voronin Pacheco
Subs:
Skrtel for Agger 46'
Babel for Benayoun 46'
Hyypia for Carragher 46'
Darby for Degen 46'
Aurelio for Leto 55'
Spearing for Plessis 62'
Mascherano for Pacheco 77'
Kuyt for Insua 80'
Goals:
Lucas 10'
Gavranovic 12'
Voronin 36'
I wanted to post about the Lucerne friendly.

The first link is to a nice story in the New York Times about Robbie Rogers from the Columbus Crew being named to the U.S. Olympic Team. Apparently, he didn't expect to be named, but has been doing so well this season and coach Peter Nowak couldn't ignore him.
The second link is to an article from Sports Illustrated, which contains the national team from Holland that the U.

(Summary is not available.)

I previously wrote about how much I hated the Olympics and what they do to football, but after signing Keane, I'm suddenly not as worried. Keane can easily slip into a wing position and we can cover Mascherano's position with the current roster. If Barry were to sign on soon, it would be even easier.

I stayed up to 2 a.m. my time to watch the start of this one. Sadly after a listless first half I couldn't stay up to watch the second.
I hear Stuart Holden (above) banged home the winner in the 47th minute.
ESPN's Carlisle and SI's Wahl have some more info for ya.
A couple things that stood out: Altidore and Feilhaber benched, Edu kicks ass, Adu was lost and McBride was just, eh.

3pm Eastern Time. As far as I can tell, it's not on TV in the States. Last year, the 3rd round of CL qualifying was on GolTV, but they're showing the Bayern Munich friendly tomorrow.
Referee: Tom Henning Ovrebo (NOR)
As YNWA.tv writes, this is weird, as Overbo was in charge of the friendly at Vålerenga last week.

Gees, what a way to win the match. Played useless for most the match and then he comes up with the most important goal for the season so far. No big surprise.
So I've slept through the season so far, this match being little difference. In our defense, Liege played 8 back for the majority, but with the amount of talent we have, it shouldn't have been this hard.

* Kuyt * Benayoun * Babel * Pennant * Gerrard * Other

7:45am Eastern Time, live in the US on Setanta
Last 4 head-to-head:
3-0 United (a) 3.23.08
1-0 United (h) 12.16.07
1-0 United (h) 03.03.07
2-0 United (a) 10.22.06
Last 3 matches:
Liverpool: 0-0 Villa (a); 1-0 Liege (h); 2-1 Boro (h)
United: 1-2 Zenit (neutral); 1-0 Pompey (a); 1-1 Newcastle (h)
Referee: Howard Webb
Guess at a squad:
Reina
Arbeloa Carragher Skrtel Dossena
Alonso Mascherano
Kuyt Benayoun Riera
Keane
I hate this fixture.

As a Manchester United fan there is nothing much worse than losing to Liverpool. Even St£vie G and Carragher's sulky countenances were lifted to unfamiliar grins for half an hour after the game (before, of course, their houses were burgled again for the fourth time that day). Rafa gave a wide-eyed and incredulous interviews stating that Liverpool were now serious title contenders, all the while trying to convince himself of the fact at the same time.

2:45pm, live in the US on Setanta
Last 3 matches:
Liverpool: 2-1 United (h); 0-0 Villa (a); 1-0 Liege (h)
Marseille: 1-1 Bordeaux (a); 2-1 Sochaux (h); 1-0 Le Havre (a)
Referee: Konrad Plautz (AUS)
Guess at a squad:
Reina
Arbeloa Carragher Skrtel Dossena
Kuyt Gerrard Alonso Riera
Torres Keane
In my guess at a squad, I'm assuming Gerrard and Torres are fit enough to start, although, like over the weekend, it'll be a late decision.

Reina
Arbeloa Skrtel Carragher Dossena
Mascherano Lucas
Kuyt Gerrard Babel
Torres
Goals:
Cana 23'
Gerrard 26' 32' (pen)
Welcome back, Steven Gerrard.
The first half was eminently watchable, end-to-end stuff. With the return of Gerrard and Torres, Liverpool went back to the 4-2-3-1, while Marseille weren't content to allow Liverpool the leeway they did in France last season.

Rafael Benitez has named a strong side to face Crewe tonight at Anfield, with Babel and Ngog starting upfront.

read more

2:45pm, live in the US on espn2
Group stage so far:
Liverpool: 2-1 Marseille (a)
PSV: 0-3 Atlético (h)
Last 3 matches:
Liverpool: 2-0 Everton (a); 2-1 Crewe (h); 0-0 Stoke (h)
PSV: 1-0 Volendam (h); 3-0 Jong PSV (a); 0-1 AZ Alkmaar (a)
Referee: Felix Brych (GER)
Guess at a squad:
Reina
Arbeloa Carragher Agger Aurelio
Mascherano Alonso
Kuyt Gerrard Babel
Torres
Does Benitez have a Champions League squad and a Premier League squad?

WHISPER it softly, but Liverpool are showing signs of putting together a genuine title challenge.
And it may be that manager Rafael Benitez is prepared to gamble more on Premier League success this year than in the past.
He is putting out his most attacking teams since arriving perhaps in the realisation that it is no use drawing games if you want to finish as champions.