Lineups are in:

Blackpool: Starters: Kingson, Baptiste, Cathcart, Evatt, Crainey, Southern, Adam, Varney, Taylor-Fletcher, Campbell, Puncheon Bench: Rachubka, Eardley, Omerod, Philips, Kornilenko, Reid, Beattie

Arsenal: Starters: Almunia Lehmann, Clichy, Squillaci, Koscielny, Eboue, Diaby, Wilshere, Fabregas, Arshavin, Nasri, RvP Bench: Lehmann, Rosicky, Walcott, Ramsey, Gibbs, Chamakh, Bendtner

No real surprises in the starting lineup.

All you need is love.

Teams
Blackpool
Kingson, Eardley, Evatt, Baptiste, Crainey, Vaughan, Carney, Southern, Puncheon, Reid, Beattie. Subs: Halstead, Grandin, Varney, Kornilenko, Phillips, Taylor-Fletcher, Ormerod.

The Algarve Cup continued today with the second day of group play. Six matches were played across the southern region of Portugal and we learned a little bit about what the championship match will look like.

Day 2 of the Algarve Cup started off with Japan crushing Finland with 5 goals. Shinobu Ohno kicked things for Japan with her goal in the 16th minute of the match.

It's gone quiet around these here parts the last couple of weeks. My apologies, I had some urgent family matters come up and I didn't have time for the blog. The Reds were busy though, so let me try to catch up as best I can:

• The remaining fixtures in Turkey saw TFC beat Red Star Belgrade 1-0 and lost to Dinamo Zagreb 3-1, giving the Reds a preseason record of 1-1-1

• Trialists Bas Ent and Santiago Gonzalez Acero have been released by TFC while Steven Beattie has chosen to focus on his studies at university

• A Dutch newspaper reported that TFC have signed trialists Javier Martina, Elbekay Bouchiba and Nick Soolsma.

"Orlando, Florida... The Grammar Interesting"

NOT SO FRIENDLY
As Aron Winter gets used to life in the weird and wonderful world of North American football he will stumble across continental oddities that get under his skin. During a media scrum at TFC's Oakville training facility this week, the manager was grumbling about upcoming friendlies against other MLS clubs and mentioning he wouldn't have allowed it if he had it his way.

A poem to round up the January Transfer window...

A strange one, I have got to say. With Fernando and Carroll the shocks of the day. Blackpool did well to get Beattie and Reid, and kept Charlie Adam away from the team that lead...

Steven Ireland (Newcastle), Eidur Gudjohnsen (Fulham), and Daniel Sturridge (Bolton) go out on loan, they all took the car, no helicopter was flown.

Toronto FC selected
Pick 8 JC Banks Midfielder University of Wisconsin - Green Bay
Pick 13 Steven Beattie Forward Northern Kentucky
Pick 26 Spencer Thompson Forward Michigan State University
Pick 44 Scott Rojo Midfielder High Point University
Scott Rojo while playing for Carolina Dynamo
I am guessing that these young men just won a free trip to Turkey where Toronto FC is opening their training camp next month.

If the 2011 MLS Draft wasn't enough of an event for you to get your off-season fix, then today's MLS Supplemental Draft should offer an appetizer for those who love seeing their teams add new faces.

There is some talent left that went undrafted last week, particularly non-American college players who teams passed on because they would take up international player slots.

After the dust finally settled on the 2011 MLS SuperDraft, several promising college prospects were left still looking for a team. In Tuesday's Supplemental Draft, they'll get a second chance to find an MLS home.

Northern Kentucky's Steven Beattie is among the top prospects still available in Tuesday's Supplemental Draft.

Rangers 3 v Kilmarnock 0
Some wag (me) suggested on Twitter last night that this would have been a more effective Beattie to play up front for Rangers.
Not that it mattered as the home side - who were more than happy to dish out a few brutal challenges - overpowered a fairly ineffective Kilmarnock.