The dust has settled since the 2-0 win over Serbia. I've taken the drastic step of watching a good chunk of the match a second time.

If Malouda hadn't been such a disappointment so many times before, his performances in the two warm-up friendlies would be mouthwatering. No player can match him for doing my head in with lifeless, pitiful performances maybe Trezeguet in his last few France appearances.

Patrice Evra has seen his international career dip to an all-time low after being caught on camera wiping his backside with teammate Mathieu Valbuena's shirt. Evra has had a rough twelve months after seeing his club career with Manchester United finally questioned, and now his international popularity has crashed to an all time low.

The Milwaukee Bavarians remained unbeaten in the National Premier Soccer League Midwest Region Central Conference on Sunday, while the Madison 56ers lost in league play for the first time.

The Bavarians fell behind for the first time this season and trailed into the second half, but UW-Green Bay's James Weber (Hartford) came off the bench and scored four goals and set up another in a 7-2 victory over visiting Eau Claire Aris.

Rookie Kelyn Rowe tallied a goal and an assist off the bench on Saturday. (Photo: Chris Aduama/aduama.com)

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. With the New England Revolution deadlocked in a scoreless draw with the Chicago Fire, Kelyn Rowe came off the bench to score a goal and add an assist in the Revs 2-0 victory in front of 12,523 at Gillette Stadium on Saturday night.

Yesterday's Reserve game was more about Steve Zakuani than anything else. That isn't doubtful, but what else was intriguing were the starts of Aaron Kovar, Michael Gallagher and Jacob Beck. Dominique Dismuke would come off the bench and score in the second half. While it may have been forced by circumstances, this was the heaviest usage of Seattle Sounders Academy players in a home reserve game yet with 299 minutes logged by players from the U18s.

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This episode we have Mark Fishkin, half of the dynamic cuo from Seeing Red Podcast, and Luke Lohr, MLS Reserves lead writer and host of Off the Bench Podcast. We talk about the crazy week of Open Cup action. Enjoy.
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By Chris Wright

This is horrible to watch (almost as horrible as Grant Holt's grammar). France midfielder Yann M'Vila pulled up injured after spraining his ankle just four minutes into a friendly against Serbia - the game that played host to this 98kph Florent Malouda screamer last night and hobbled off in floods of tears and sat weeping on the bench knowing that his Euro 2012 may have just gone down the toilet.

Romelu Lukaku isn't happy and I have to admit I don't blame him at all. The £18m signing has played a bit part in Chelsea's successful season last term and it wasn't at all what he was expecting.
Lukaku has spoken of his experience last term and about the immediate future.
He said:

"I will need to talk to the coach about my future, I hope for a coach next year who gives chances to young players, not like last year.

Javier Hernandez came off the bench to score a 92nd minute winner for Mexico in a friendly against Bosnia.

"It was totally random," he told Medio Tempo. "Everyone was joking right now in the dressing room. The most important thing was that we won 2-1 thanks to God. I'm happy. I've always said I'm 100 percent [fit] and available for the team.

Poor Romelu Lukaku. He's improved in training, he's done okay in matches. He's even eaten fewer hamburgers. What more can a man do?!

Just goes to show though, doesn't it? Teams can spend a lot of money on players then never use them. Chelsea can cover this sort of thing, but arguably, Fulham can't.

Poor Romelu Lukaku. He's improved in training, he's done okay in matches. He's even eaten fewer hamburgers. What more can a man do?!

Just goes to show though, doesn't it? Teams can spend a lot of money on players then never use them. Chelsea can cover this sort of thing, but arguably, Fulham can't.

TweetFrance cruised to a fine 2-0 friendly win over Serbia on Thursday night but the result was marred by an injury to midfielder Yann M'Vila with the England match mere days away. The highly-rated Rennes midfielder limped off just minutes into the match and was seen in tears on the bench after sustaining what looked [.

It has been rumoured that Fulham striker Moussa Dembele has been tipped to a move to Champion's League Winners Chelsea.

The Belgian midfielder-turned-striker only has one year remaining on his contract, and with news that Manchester United could potentially make a bid for his services, he has stated he is not ready to talk about a contract renewal.

This week's former SKC Wizards update is out. Lots of US Open Cup games this week for former players and international play. Here's this week's update.
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Davy Arnaud - Montreal - Started and played 74 minutes in Montreal's 3-2 loss to Colorado.

Philadelphia Union starting XI: Konopka; M. Farfan, Okugo, Williams, G. Farfan; Daniel, Carroll, Adu, Lahoud; Martinez, Pajoy

Philadelphia Union bench:

Rochester Rhinos starting XI:

Rochester Rhinos bench:

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Reports are emerging today that suggest Spurs will not be retaining the services of Louis Saha after his six month contract at White Hart Lane expires. There has been some controversy over the player after his pro-Chelsea Champions League comments but perhaps the club would be inclined to disregard that and make a decision purely on footballing reasons.

It's been a singing-heavy week for Off The Post in the last 48 hours. First Javier Zanetti pops up on Indonesia Idol and then we are privvy to a truly diabolical rendition of the Star Spangled Banner at the Scotland-USA friendly. Serbia is the source of the most remarkable story of the lot. Their international side lost to [.

Tottenham's Mexican international Giovani Dos Santos is currently away with his national squad as they prepare for a 2014 world cup qualifier but he intends to sort out his club future on his return. Surprisingly, Gio has even hinted that he might still be at White Hart lane next season.

"I don't know about my future," he said.

If you're watching the Sriwijaya v Persipura game there are some wonderful insights, if you know what to look for, as to why the game is in such a mess and why it shouldn't be.
Fans waving banners supporting the TV channel that is broadcasting the game live. On the one hand, the channel is so insecure, despite being owned by the family that just about runs the ISL, they need to have fans 'tell' them how wonderful they are!

Kickoff is looming, so we have the starters and a starter, the snazzy new Behind The Crest clip. As for the line-up... well well, Torres on left wing - and I thought that was only the notion of a madman. Ha! Howard; Cherundolo, Cameron, Bocanegra, Johnson, Edu, Bradley, Jones, Donovan, Torres, Boyd Bench: Guzan, Onyewu, Beckerman, Castillo, Corona, Gomez, Wondolowski - Greg

Philadelphia Union starting XI:

Philadelphia Union bench:

Toronto FC starting XI:

Toronto FC starting XI:

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Had a request following the last graphic, which listed each players' total appearances, to break it down into minutes played. Appearances can be deceiving, after all. Ask and ye shall receive (sometimes).
Total possible minutes were 3420 in the Premier League, 540 in the FA Cup, and 660 in the Carling Cup.

As mentioned on the blog, Goal.com came with Van Hanegem's harsh comment that he'd bench Sneijder.... Here's the full story.

One of the biggest decisions to make for Oranje is the choice of center forward. Holland currently has two world class strikers in Klaas Jan Huntelaar and Robin van Persie.

When I think of the V-cup (formerly the NutCan), I think of stupid 8pm kick-offs and a traditional staring competition with the eye of some storm. I'm not impressed that the correlation doesn't involve a championship.
Can you believe it? We've won this thing before. Many times.

Bayern Munich welcomed back Franck Ribery for a second-half stint in yesterday's 3-2 exhibition win over the Netherlands international team merely three days after the Frenchman had to leave the UEFA Champions League final in extra-time due to a tackle on the ankle from Chelsea's Didier Drogba.

Not only did Ribery come off the bench to participate in the farewell match for some of his departing Bayern teammates, but the Frenchman was also quick on the ball as he entertained the 33,000 attendees throughout the last 20 minutes of the match.

With Martin Kelly set to make his senior England debut and everyone remembering the club has more than just a new managerial hire to worry about, it's been a surprisingly busy day of Liverpool news after most of the week has seen a single-minded focus on questions over who would replace Kenny Dalglish and whether the fans could trust Fenway Sports Group's judgement in the matter.

Jermain Defoe has been speaking about his future at Spurs and concedes that while he doesn't want to leave, he is concerned about the amount of playing time that he is getting at White Hart Lane.

JD was kept on the bench for much of the season behind Harry's preferred pairing of Emmanuel Adebayor and Rafael van der Vaart and whether Ade stays or Spurs bring in a new striker, Defoe's situation is unlikely to improve in 2012-13.

The Minnesota Stars of the NASL (D2) defeated the Des Moines Menace USL PDL team (D4) on Tuesday evening by a score of 2-0 at Valley Stadium in West Des Moines, Iowa. Absent on the bench for Minnesota was head coach Manny Lagos who was serving the last of a 3-game suspension from an incident [...]

Louis Saha was in the news for all the wrong reasons over the weekend but from comments made in today's press, it's clear that the former Everton man hopes to still have a future at Spurs.

Saha arrived on the final day of the January transfer window and made an instant impact in his first game with a double in a 5-0 win over Newcastle.

Now as you know, Fernando Torres spoke with Guilleme Ballage the Spanish Football expert on SkySports and those comments have caused quite a stir yesterday. In a way, Ballage has dampened our celebrations with the timing of his article but I guess he had no choice due to the content of what Torres said.

By Chris Wright

In which we see footage from Chelsea's victory parade (can footballers not go anywhere without their sodding massive novelty headphones on?), wherein Fernando Torres who has gone on record today sullenly stating that starting the final from the bench was one of the 'biggest disappointments of his career' plies the thronging West London crowd with the most off-key rendition of 'We Are The Champions' they're likely to hear for a good while (skip to 1:25 for Nando's warbling).

The latest episode of "Off The Bench" is live. In this episode, Brad Snook and Luke Lohr look back over the weekend MLS action. The guys also discuss the role of the W-League, the US National Team call ups and apparently Megan Rapinoe is a fan of horse racing. You heard it here first.
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The good feeling that Chelsea fans have from being Champions of Europe, took a hit today as a result of the interview that Fernando Torres had with Guillem Balague after the win in Munich last night.

Amidst the Chelsea celebrations, Torres could not hid his disappointment and frustration to Balague about his move to Chelsea from Liverpool"

"It's contradictory because I feel like I'm at a peak moment in my career, with more desire and hunger than I've felt in a long time but I've had to spend the final on the bench.

Liverpool attacker Dirk Kuyt has reportedly expressed a desire to remain at Anfield following the departure of Kenny Dalglish as boss.
Kuyt has endured a frustrating season having found himself frequently on the bench, with Dalglish opting to play Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing rather than utilizing the Dutchman's industry.

Herculez Gomez was on the bench for Santos Laguna in a 1-1 draw with Monterrey to open the Mexican Clausura finals. Santos went up a goal on the road in the 69th minute when Oribe Peralta scoring from distance. That lead held into stoppage time when Humberto Suazo converted a penalty. The series resumes on Sunday for the deciding leg at the Nuevo Estadio Corona.

If there's anybody who can offer advice to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain about representing England at a major football tournament as a teenager, it's his Arsenal teammate Theo Walcott. Theo knows all about the expectations heaped on upon a youngster since he was selected to England's World Cup team back in 2006 by Sven Goran Eriksson when he was just 17 years old.

The latest episode of "Off The Bench" is live.
In this episode Pedro Gomes and Luke Lohr the trades of Juan Agudelo, Heath Pearce, Danny Califf and Michael Lahoud are discussed. Eric Wynalda's youth team has captured some worthy attention which Pedro highlights. Also Lee Nguyen, MLS Player of the Week, from the New England Revolution is kind enough to donate his time and discuss his move to MLS and recent good form.

Having spent most of this season warming up the White Hart Lane bench, Jermain Defoe could have been forgiven for thinking that his chance of playing for England this summer had gone. However, he is on the plane and with Wayne Rooney suspended for the nation's first two group matches, JD has every chance of making the starting line up.

Veikkausliiga already kicked off a few weeks ago so this season guide is way overdue. But let's not allow that insignificant detail put us off since, despite the first rounds offering some surprises, there are still almost 30 matches to be played, which means that the league's power balance will even itself out in the end.

Another week of former SKC Wizards updates. The foreign leagues are starting to wind down for the season at this point. Here's the full update.
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