U.S. Under-23 national team Caleb Porter is one of the most highly-regarded young coaches in American soccer, and his appointment to lead the United States through Olympic Qualifying didn't come as much of a surprise to those familiar with his success at the University of Akron.
Ives Galarcep interviews Porter on his philosophies of the game-
ON THE STYLE OF SOCCER HE TEACHES
"I'm a guy that never wants to go into a game and sit back and wait and worry and wonder and hang on," Porter said.

U.S. Under-23 national team Caleb Porter is one of the most highly-regarded young coaches in American soccer, and his appointment to lead the United States through Olympic Qualifying didn't come as much of a surprise to those familiar with his success at the University of Akron.

Melbourne Victory were worse than ever - and yet that's despite changing the coach.
Kevin Muscat has been told to work on the defence!
He'd be better doing a Paul Scholes and get himself back on the pitch.
Adrian Leijer and Roddie Vargas are not just weak, but have been exposed all season and how is Leijer a leader.

After scoring the winner against Leeds a week ago, many Arsenal fans expected their legendary club icon Thierry Henry to carry on where he left off against Swansea yesterday.

However, a controversial goal in the 16th minute from Scott sinclair brought the home side level on one goal apiece after Robin Van Persie had netted in the 5th minute.

Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva has polarised opinion ever since he arrived at Anfield, and he's often been on the receiving end of unwarranted criticism. One of the recurring criticisms levelled at the Brazilian is his lack of attacking impact in the final third of field, but club legend John Barnes insists that he should not be judged along those lines.

I've watched Diego Maradona's final World Cup match (a 2-1 victory over Nigeria played in Boston) at least ten times. Nigeria pushed Argentina back early with plundering counter-attacks, one of which led to the match's first goal a sumptuous chip that had more than a whiff of offside to it. Maradona was imperious that day though, Napoleonically strutting around the confetti-flaked pitch, drawing fouls, and making key passes for both of Argentina's goals free kicks finished by Claudio Canigga.

On Saturday, Swansea's unheralded midfield trio of Mark Gower, Leon Britton, and Joe Allen overran their Liverpool counterparts, maintaining possession patiently and allowing Swansea to dominate for long stretches. They didn't, however, significantly outplay either of Liverpool's midfielders individually, with Lucas having the most effective passing game of any player on the pitch and Charlie Adam giving arguably his most controlled performance in a Liverpool shirt.

What ho Arsenal fans. How do? Last week I wrote with regards to my slutiness for Arsenal victories and fortunately, my lascivious appetite hath been rewarded to the point that I may have to check myself into Arsenal's new state of the art medical centre for a check up. Whereupon I will doubtless be told that "the chronic itching will be gone in a matter of days, not weeks.

We won. Chelsea didn't. Man City didn't. Man United didn't. We did, and that's the important bit, especially bearing in mind that we had nine injured players and (with the North London Derby coming up) only five genuine first choice players were in the starting XI.

The performance wasn't the best, but neither was it the worst.

Premier League chalkboard analysis

Manchester City are passing into new territory, Villas-Boas has helped revive Ramires and a crossing concern for Fulham City pass into new territory It is obvious that Manchester City's game has changed this season – in general terms, they're simply more attacking.

What a great performance! It's such a pleasure to see the entire footballing philosophy of the club changing before our eyes. The negative, safety-first approach cultivated over the last 7 years is clearly in its death throes, and the subjugation of Liverpool FC's true nature is almost over.
Liverpool totally outclassed Bolton today, and dominated the game from start to finish.

No in-depth review, just a few take aways for a quick post match discussion, starting by stating the obvious.

1. Mario Götze is a very special player. Following a week full of praise, comparisons and speculation about his possible future place in Germany's Football Hall of Fame, I'll just leave it at that.

Okay Kickettes, we may have to reconsider our Cheech approach. Apparently, comedy devil horns and a gonky grin are the way to amuse him. Not exactly what we had in mind, but we're adaptable. Image: Reuters/Daylife

Considering how much time we spend moaning about the Weekend Results and how their preparation impinges on our revelry, it's something of a surprise that when given the opportunity to ignore football and competitions less omnipresent in their nature, we choose to write about them anyway.

Why Can't the Football World Keep Up With Spain? - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

As the dust settles on Barcelona's fantastic 3-1 demolition of Manchester United in the Champions League Final, and the national side recently so effortlessly thumped the United States 4-0, one thing is for certain – Spain are the best footballing nation in the world at this moment in time.

Stephen O'Sullivan points out that if you're playing the best team in the world, it's never a good idea to make it easy for them.

The Manchester United players and staff queued up last night to hail Barcelona as, amongst other things, the best team they'd ever seen; Rio Ferdinand ("they were the deserving winners"), Nemanja Vidic ("we have never played against a team like Barcelona"), even Alex Ferguson himself ("I think it is the best team we have ever played"), all going on record praising their conquerors.

Barcelona's foul play is hidden away in their exorbitantly high percentage of possession says Andy Simanowitz.

FC Barcelona are widely regarded in football circles as not only the best team in the world but perhaps the best team the world has ever seen. This belief is fuelled not only by the team's unprecedented success on the domestic and European stages but also by the aesthetic qualities of their attacking play.

Barcelona's foul play is hidden away in their exorbitantly high percentage of possession says Andy Simanowitz.

FC Barcelona are widely regarded in football circles as not only the best team in the world but perhaps the best team the world has ever seen. This belief is fuelled not only by the team's unprecedented success on the domestic and European stages but also by the aesthetic qualities of their attacking play.

Before the AC Milan away game I wrote a piece entitled How To Beat AC Milan. Today I'll do the same for tonight's opponents Real Madrid. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending whether you enjoy my 1000 word updates this won't take very long because the simple answer is we can't.