I just wanted to include a link to an article that is in the recent issue of ESPN Magazine on Freddy Adu. Its a wonderful article by Carmen Renee Thompson that gives a great account of the pressures that Freddy Adu has had to face and how his development is coming along. All the way through the article she reminds us that he just turned 19 years old and still has plenty of time to develop his skill and become the star American player that we are all hoping for.

Holland's Rafael Van der Vaart is not supposed to be on the substitutes' bench. He is obviously what they call a nervous watcher... as his Dutch team-mates will testify. The midfielder let one slip during last night's match against Romania, and it was so bad it had his fellow subs grabbing their sweatshirts and bibs to cover their noses!

A tinted-out late model Mercedes. An exotic European capital. D&G shades as black as coal at midnight. And Weezy on blast the whole damn time. Even though he spent most of his 07/08 Benfica campaign on the bench, don't feel sorry for The Biggest Midget in the Game™. ESPN The Magazine caught up with our kid and found that 1) he's out to win some Mr.

Arsene Wenger gets his man The next Zidane, eh. That would be Samir Nasri, the 20-year-old French midfielder who made a very brief cameo appearance from the bench against Italy, only to be taken off when Eric Abidal was shown...

The dawn of the La Liga season is upon us, and the Yellow Submarine of Villarreal is pulling up to Osasuna's dock, with a couple of dents in its mighty fascade.

Midfielder Robert Pires is out, a heavy blow for the Spanish side. But to make matters worse, their attacking duo of Rossi and Kahveci are also expected to be sidelined.

We've already looked at Wigan defenders as likely cheap value this season, and today we look at a Wigan midfielder. Anyone would think I was a Wigan fan (I am not). However they are a solid squad that even the bookies think will not be relegated; most betting outlets putting them a comfortable 3 teams above the drop come the end of the season.

A few weeks ago, we reported that Benny Feilhaber was on the auction block at Derby shortly before he was named to the US Olympic squad. Now, it seems he may still have a place in the club's side, but just barely. After his meteoric rise from Hamburg and the US national team to last summer's transfer to Derby, Feilhaber seemed to be the next big thing.

All in all, Arsenal outperformed both Juventus and Madrid in our two Emirates Cup matches. The difference in each game was merely a goal: Juve got a dodgy one in the first, and we got a pretty soft penalty in the second.
We played with pace and fluency, but still looked a little lost when we get to the box.

Alfio Basile has named Argentina's starting lineup for the World Cup qualifier against Brazil in Belo Horizonte, and it includes both Juan Román Riquelme and Lionel Messi. Sensibly, Messi will partner Julio Cruz rather than form part of the little-and-little combo which featured against Ecuador on Sunday, as Sergio Agüero drops to the bench.

Arsenal's second game of the season ended in defeat at the hands of Fulham.  A lifeless Arsenal display has left many questioning where the team is heading. Wenger made two changes to the team brining in Toure and van Persie for Djourou and Bendtner.  Vela did not make the bench as he only arrived back from [.

Baltimore Bays (U-18) and Carmel United (U-16) are the first Development Academy champions, winning their finals at the Home Depot Center over weekend.

The top MLS-affiliated team was the Columbus Crew's U-18 side, which placed third.

The U-18 final had a bit of controversy, with runner-up LAFC claiming their players were too often carded for fouls on Chris Agorsor, the Gatorade player of the year who shook off a knee sprain to come off the bench in the final.

Mike Magee started his career with the Metrostars with a ton of promise heaped onto his shoulders. Before entering the 2003 MLS Super Draft, he tried his hand in Europe with many top club teams. When the attention wasn't there, he turned his sights on MLS, and Metro saw an opportunity to snatch a diamond in the rough.

Fabio Da Silva scored a cracking goal against Chelsea, after making the bench against Portsmouth the evening before. What do you reckon? "Video: Fabio's Goal" was originally published at The Republik of Mancunia.

Hmm.  Turns out the Galaxy front office has been trying to work a deal to bring Ronaldinho to the team.  According to Goal.com, they won't be successful.  But it's left me with a few questions.  How can we afford that?  Would be dump our bench and Ruiz or Donovan?  Ruiz and Donovan are grandfathered in DPs, Beckham is not.

This week Villa players look like they might be a Good Thing. They are in fine form after thumping Man City, and this week they have a trip to Stoke - a promising fixture indeed. So who are the better options of Villa offensive players?
Agbonlahor got off to a flyer, scoring a second half hat-trick in the space of 7 minutes.

First there was a fight between he and team mate Wilman Conde, now this.
According to multiple reports, Chicago Fire midfielder, Cuauhtemoc Blanco may finally have gone off the deep end in what many describe as an assualt on a stadium employee after being red carded in tonight's US Open Cup Quarterfinal match at DC United.

And I don't mean Gilberto!
Alex Hleb has finally left Arsenal. We get £11.9m for him and I'm glad that the saga is finally over.
Hleb and his agent's conduct over the summer has been a disgrace. We don't need tossers like him at the club, Arsenal are far better off without.
I won't deny I felt he was a good player but he has proved himself to be a slimy rat.

First of all, congrats to Angel, who came off the bench in the second half for Blanco, and did an excellent job, with a goal being waved off. Shame. It was a hell of a finish.

But the All Star Game isn't the only thing on Juanpies mind!

Angel recently had "productive" discussions with Colombian National Team Coach Jorge Luis Pinto.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

U.S. Olympic team midfielder Benny Feilhaber has completed a move to Danish club AGF Aarhus, leaving English club Derby County for his third European team in three seasons.

Wow, a huge upset in the first round of European World Cup qualifiers as Austria beat France 3-1. When you look at those lineups, there is no way that France should not at least have come out of Vienna without a draw, and even that would have to be considered an upset. I am sure that the pressure is now squarely on Raymond Domenech, but it really should be on the French FA for keeping Domenech after the debacle that was the French performance at Euro 2008.

Jozy Altidore was not in the substitute bench nor in the lineup for Villareal in their recent Champions League clash against Manchester United at the Old Tafford. The game ended in a draw 0-0. The next game would in Spain in the next two weeks.

English Premier League FULHAM 0 BLACKBURN 1 In what has surely been a nightmare season so far for the Texan, Dempsey was left on the bench for Fulham's 1-0 loss to Blackburn this morning.  Matt Derbyshire made the difference in the 84th minute after coming on for Treacy, shooting low and hard past Mark Schwarzer.

There were many dissenting voices to my article about the academy and whether players coming through it are being ostracized both in the comments on this blog as well as on the forums that picked it up.
The main arguments were that, if good enough, players will come through and, even though I've got my reservations about that (would Jamie Carragher have made it at Liverpool if he'd come through now?

A few things to add to the game report from the 4-1 decision in RFK:

- Ben Olsen was moved by the outpouring of support from United fans, saying in the locker room he was getting choked up thinking about it. The Barra Brava had a giant tribute with the banner "HEART OF A LION.

Turkish goalkeeper Volkan Demirel may sign for Man City for this coming Premiership season for what some speculators are claiming may be 10 million Euros. Demirel was sent off during the recent Euro 2008 championships against the Czech Republic for pushing over Jan Koller in the 92nd minute, resulting in a red card.

By JAMES CLARKCoach Bob Bradley's latest USA Men's National Team roster for the upcoming CONCACAF qualifiers for the 2010 FIFA World Cup against Cuba and Trinidad & Tobago has a curious absence: One Freddy Adu. Based on his performances in the USA's first two group games at the Beijing Olympics (Adu was suspended for the third match, down to his own petulance), this sort of beggars belief.

With a pair of goals in a seven minute period this afternoon, the Bears got the game-winner courtesy of a pair of freshman and sealed the win from a pair expected to lead the Bears this season.

The game-winner was scored by Kelsey Finders (pictured) in the 42nd minute when freshman Jennifer Hamlin sent a through ball from the left side.

After a summer of spending, it's perfectly natural that the Black Cats would have to release the odd player or two. While Roy Keane has bemoaned the fact that a lot of his squad members would prefer to sit on the bench / play for the reserves than get first-team ...

Apparently Ronaldinho likes short shorts. This photo was taken during Milan's 3-1 UEFA Cup win over FC Zurich yesterday. Good win for Milan (finally) but not a happy day for 'Dinho. He started on the bench and didn't come on until the 75th minute with Milan 3-0 up. Zurich scored three minutes later. (AP Photo/Alberto Pellaschiar)

Liverpool defender Daniel Agger has moved to quell speculation that he and his manager Rafa Benitez have fallen-out.
Agger has struggled to break back into the Liverpool first-team after nearly a year out through a metatarsal problem.
During his absence, Rafa Benitez signed Martin Skrtel as a replacement and the form of the Slovakian has seen Agger relegated to the bench this season, unable to force his way into the team.

Reports are saying ITV Co-Commentator David Pleat, during the Portugal vs. Czech Republic game, repeatedly referred to the Czech team as either "Czechoslovakia" or the "Republic of Czechoslovakia". Neither of these countries exist. The latter has never existed. Its a completely invented land.
It is expected that David Pleat will get confused during a commentary session.

BLANCO REDUX: I want to revisit the Blanco story, especially because Luis Arroyave in the Chicago Tribune has a good write-up on the fracas. Now, while I'm pleased that United is not issuing much in the way of commentary, I am a tad surprised that Chicago has elected to go on record with a defense of Blanco:

According to Fire spokesman Gregg Elkin, Blanco wanted to get the ball back because the Fire was down a goal in overtime and he thought Simms was stalling.

I've been thinking back again to the Development Academy conflicting with high school soccer instead of the entrenched youth club system. The sad part about that is - school soccer is where the sport is truly egalitarian. Unlike club soccer, there are no expensive fees that mean a player's parents are either shelling out the dough, or a player is a scholarship ringer on the team.

Red Bulls Reader gives word that Vinotinto great Jorge Rojas and the Argentine destroyer, Juan Pietravallo, will be eligible for some solid minutes against Beckham and his Galaxy squad. This is excellent news for the team, which has struggled to secure its midfield play since Reyna went down earlier in the season, and hasn't been able to find the creativity to put the ball in the back of the net either.

So, after beginning his career in a strange little federal district, Freddy Adu continues it in a strange little principality. From DC to Salt Lake to Lisbon to Monaco: one of the more unusual soccer career paths, even today. I'm a little puzzled as to why Adu's Benfica performance gets such bland reviews; 21 appearances, five goals and an established role as a super-sub seem like worthy accomplishments for a 19-year-old playing in Europe for the first time.

New signing Philipp Degen is facing the prospect of missing the start of Liverpool's season with a groin strain.
Degen could require surgery on the injury, sustained during the team's pre-season training camp in Switzerland last week.
The right-back, who arrived on a free transfer from Borussia Dortmund in the summer, missed much of last season with a groin problem.

Arsenal named a very experienced side against Real Madrid today with Gallas, Adebayor, Van Persie, Nasri, and Diaby all starting. Arsenal needed to win 4-0 if they wanted to bring back the Emirates Cup to London, Carlos Vela started from the bench. Arsenal started well, Denilson having Arsenal's first chance firing wide from 25 yards.

Morning all. I don't really know what to write about today honestly. I went to bed all excited thinking, "Wow there's a match tomorrow plus I'll have time to write the blog in the morning, that sure sounds exciting," just to wake up and find that there really isn't that much to talk about.
First off, there is a radio show here in America about football called World Soccer Daily, hosted by Stephen Cohen and Kenny Hassan.

IF Liverpool's opening day victory over Sunderland confirmed anything, it is that Rafa Benitez must resist all urges to rest Fernando Torres. Last season Liverpool surrendered 10 points in games where Benitez – with one eye clearly on Europe – preferred to keep his star striker on the bench rather than risk injury.

Rangers and Fulham have finally agreed on a fee for Northern Ireland midfielder Steven Davis, with sources suggesting that £4 million has been the agreed price. Berbatov has meanwhile pleaded with Tottenham Hotspur to allow him to complete his dream move to Manchester United. Berbatov was left on the bench as Tottenham were beaten 2-1 by [.