TweetIn The Stands' Rolly Pelovangu muses on one major obstacle England must overcome if they are to triumph at Euro 2012 – the mental barrier. So the balls have been drawn, the groups decided, the path has been set and all roads now lead to Ukraine/Poland as the summer's footballing bonanza looms.

Dynamo News

• A match preview from the Houston Dynamo website for today's game against the Scorpions. If Houston wins they will play the winner of Dallas/Charlotte. (Houston Dynamo)
• Dynamo reserves will get a chance to shine this week with a USOC game against San Antonio and an international friendly against Valencia.

Don't think you were alone if you went into the half shaking your head and wondering how United were 2 0 up. Some combination of luck, Boskovic free kicks, and Hamid's reflexes opened a margin that didn't seem so pronounced on the field, particularly after the Guy injury forced Heaps to move Feilhaber inside where he belongs.

May's packed schedule is nearly up for the Seattle Sounders with their last MLS match of the crowded schedule. For some players this will mean a rest. For others, due to injuries, they will be pressed into more duty than one could expect. On top of a likely start at CDM for either Andy Rose or Servando Carrasco there could also be a change in the backline.

How hard do we try to fit the Sounders offensive woes into our preconceived narrative? Fans of teams like Barcelona and Brazil see the Rave Green as too direct. Fans of Fucito, Nyassi and other speedsters see a lack of that now. There still isn't a traditional target man, as Eddie Johnson drifts wide and prefers the ball at his feet unless he's banging in a cross.

This game was nuts. Inexplicable referee decisions. Overly physical play. Weird penalties. Poor set piece defending. Golazo! Dives. Goalie Coach ejection. Yellow cards. Two (!) penalty saves. Nerve racking final minutes. All of this resulted in an ugly, but a rather satisfying (Hi Brimstone Cup you sexy thing you) victory.

FIFA 13 Preview and Screenshots - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

FIFA 13 captures all the drama and unpredictability of real-world football, and is driven by five game-changing innovations which revolutionize artificial intelligence, dribbling, ball control and physical play. It is the largest and deepest feature set in the history of the franchise.

By Chris Wright

Bursting at the seams with enough edits to sink a battleship, but a fairly cool little advert none-the-less which sees David Beckham playing Beethoven's Ode To Joy on his drum wall using nothing but his balls to flog Samsung's new Galaxy widget...

So, do anything last night then?

Me and Mrs Blogs just had a quiet pint or two in the local, discussed the upcoming referendum in this country and the implications of same, then came home and had a toasted cheese sandwich. And apart from that nothing else happened. Nothing at all. Nothing at all.

By Chris Wright

Remember Il Pulpo Paul? The mystic octopus who was denounced by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and then secretly assassinated by the CIA after 'predicting' a stack of results at the 2010 World Cup? Remember? Paul? Okay? Well now forget him, because there's a new psychic animal in town a llama from Ashdown Forest Llama Park in east Sussex (of course he's going to be a Chelsea fan).

New footage showing Blackburn manager Steve Kean bad-mouthing his predecessor Sam Allardyce and claiming Rovers would finish in the top-half of the table this season has emerged. The video, reportedly filmed during last summer's pre-season trip to Hong Kong, was uploaded to YouTube yesterday. We can only assume that whoever recorded wanted to give Kean [.

There are a few reasons I look forward to seeing Real Salt Lake. They play a generally enjoyable game is first, but the rest are little different. It took them five years to get to be as good as Seattle was in 2009. Salt Lake barely edged out Seattle for the expansion team back then, and sometimes I wonder what would have been different.

Last season Newcastle were very good at set plays, and got a number of goals from corners and free kicks. Douglas FC Twente 6'4″ Brazilian center-back Of course it helped when Andy Carroll was at the club, and he could get to the balls with his head, and often knock them down for other players to put the ball into the back of the net.

With Fulham unable to do any worse than 9th, or any better than 7th, their fans are content to play an ultra attacking to go all out for the final game of the season.
They reckon a result against us could be on the cards seeing as they dominated us at Craven Cottage despite us eventually winning the game 3-1.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Where Manchester United found the time in their hectic EPL campaign to allow four key players to kick footballs into a van, we have no clue. But they did, and the faces of the Kenyan kids who eventually received those balls gave us almost as much pleasure as Nani's did when he realised he was getting out-tricked by a guy he believed to be a van driver.

By Chris Wright

With charity the theme of the day here on Pies, here's another little yarn to pluck your cockles and warm your heartstrings.

What you are about to see is Manchester United's Nani, Park Ji-Sung, Jonny Evans and Chris Smalling humping 200 footballs into the back of the DHL van (with a little help from the tricksy driver) at Carrington.

A disappointing start to the 2012 Major League Soccer season continued for the Philadelphia Union, as the third year franchise dropped three points on a trip out to the West coast.

Little could be taken away from the game offensively in a positive light, as the Union once again froze in the final third.

TweetDidier Zokora committed perhaps the most horrendous, brutal foul in his career after whacking Emre in the balls during a match between Trabzonspor and Fenerbahce! So why did he do it? Well, according to Zokora, Emre had racially abused him and his lash out was a reaction to the racial provocation by Emre.

Kick Racism in the Balls!

Liverpool defender Dan Agger admits that their poor showing in the first hour was the reason for their FA Cup final defeat to Chelsea.
The Reds did not seem to come alive until Andy Carroll's introduction in the 55th minute but by then they were 2-0 down to goals from Ramires, in the first half, and Didier Drogba.

Norwich came to the Emirates with nothing to lose and expressed themselves with gay abandon. The visitors fought hard, were impressive in their transitions, deservedly scored three goals while exposing Arsenal's weaknesses, and took back a rightfully earned point.

Arsene Wenger started with the same line-up that fought hard for a draw away to Stoke.

Constructing the Perfect Football - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

It goes without saying, but the footballs of today are miles more advanced than those that were used in the early days of the beautiful game. But as advanced as they are, there are still some kinks with even the best and most advanced soccer balls out there.

It's reached the boiling point. If Albert Pujols doesn't hit any better and for power by the end of this week, he is officially in a psychological wreck.
How can any man feel good about stealing money in front of everybody? This power outage has gotten absurd. He's in a funk, but this funk is not any old funk, it's way more serious than that for Los Angeles-Anaheim Angels fans because Pujols was being counted to make a major impact in his first season in Southern California.

Quotes:

Portland Timbers Quotes

Head coach John Spencer
On the injuries during the match:
"I think Steve Purdy got a concussion and Troy Perkins got a nasty gash on his nose."

Thoughts on the match:
"I don't think we played well at all today.

Well, we can finally retire the "no back-to-back wins since the turn of the decade" refrain. This won't be a long or detailed reaction as I tuned in just in time to see Santos head home his first and missed chunks of the game due to family commitments (would it be callous to call them distractions instead?

By Alan Duffy

Stoke City 1-1 Arsenal Premier League 28th April 2012

The abuse once again meted out to Aaron Ramsey from sections of the Stoke City faithful on Saturday was rather distasteful, with the Welshman's only crime to have his leg smashed in two by Ryan Shawcross.

Arsenal are visiting Stoke. Normally, there wouldn't be any need to mention Chelsea. Or Newcastle. But this time around we have to, with a passing mention of Spurs thrown in.

The Champions League semi-finals threw up some not entirely unexpected surprises. Roberto Di Matteo, Just a year after being sacked from West Brom where his attacking style put the club's survival at risk, will lead the Chelsea bus to Munich for the Champions League Final.

Arsenal are visiting Stoke. Normally, there wouldn't be any need to mention Chelsea. Or Newcastle. But this time around we have to, with a passing mention of Spurs thrown in.

The Champions League semi-finals threw up some not entirely unexpected surprises. Roberto Di Matteo, Just a year after being sacked from West Brom where his attacking style put the club's survival at risk, will lead the Chelsea bus to Munich for the Champions League Final.

With the 4 game losing streak finally broken the Portland Timbers can now look to earning their first away win of the year. Getting that away win is always a big step and Portland didn't get that last year until late over halfway through the first season. If they can get it earlier then last year it will be a big step in recovering from the early funk they were in.

Bayern Munich keeper Manuel Neuer is presumably still not welcome at the club despite saving the penalties that took the German giants to the Champions League final. The Bavarian side's protested about the ex-Schalke goalie's arrival at the club last summer. In the protest above they unveiled a massive banner reading: "No matter how [.

Before Manuel Neuer even joined Bayern Munich from rivals Schalke last summer, a large number of Bayern fans made it explicitly clear that they did not want him. When Schalke visited Munich for a DFB Pokal semifinal last season (a cup Neuer and Schalke would go on to win), thousands of the home fans held up papers that read "Koan Neuer" (No Neuer) in response to reports that the goalkeeper had already agreed to leave his hometown club for Bayern.

I'm not much of a betting man really. From time to time I'll get a tip and throw a couple of quid on it, win a few quid back, then fritter that few quid away betting on stuff I really have no clue about. But I'm sorry now I didn't have a pop on both Spanish clubs going out of the Champions League this week.

The Philadelphia Union won their first ever game on the road in Los Angeles, defeating Chivas USA 1-0 at the Home Depot Center. Freddy Adu's first goal of the season - assisted by Michael Farfan - gave Philadelphia its second win of the season.

First Half

Chivas' Ryan Smith almost opened the scoring in the first minute of the game, but his cross near the goalmouth was cleared out of the box by Gabriel Farfan.

By Chris Wright

WOOOAAAAARRRROOOOAAAAOOOOH...

Video: @tinyark (via Balls.ie)

Morning everyone! Woken up this morning and still can't quite believe it, we beat Barcelona with ten men and are in the Champions League final!. I posted my reaction to the game a couple of hours after the final whistle and if you haven't seen it, make sure you click here to check it out.
For now and this post, I want to focus on the reaction after the game.

Morning everyone! Woken up this morning and still can't quite believe it, we beat Barcelona with ten men and are in the Champions League final!. I posted my reaction to the game a couple of hours after the final whistle and if you haven't seen it, make sure you click here to check it out.

Team GB will face Uruguay, United Arab Emirates and Senegal in this summer's Olympic games. The draw for the group stages of the London 2012 football tournament was made this morning, with fat Ronaldo and, erm, Robbie Savage among those pulling the balls from the hat. The draw in full: Group A: Great Britain, Senegal, [.

From the Evansville Courier Press, April 23, 2012
I recently had a friend forward a link to a letter a Little League Baseball coach — a truly special coach — had sent to his team parents at the beginning of the season.
That coach was Mike Matheny, the new St. Louis Cardinals manager.

Well, that was satisfying. Let's get right to the talking points, shall we?

• Four goals is nice, but more impressive for me is the defensive performance. Henry and Cooper came into this game averaging more than a goal a game each! They got very few good looks tonight, and most of those from distance.

The 1-1 tie on Wednesday showed yet again that it's parity time in MLS. DC United has barely lost to the extremely hot Kansas City and barely tied expansion Montreal. Even their big win against FC Dallas was not as easy as it looked. Most games this year will be close.

The team that reads its opponent well, devises a good strategy, and then has the discipline to execute it will win more often than not and rise toward the top.