As US Soccer prepares for a new cycle to prepare for a World Cup, one name continues to pass along my consciousness in regards to potential contributors - Freddy Adu.
A standout at the youth international level- Under-17, Under-20, and Under-23 - perhaps this cycle is when Freddy comes of age in our full US National team.

Hull City manager Phil Brown is preparing a surprise bid for US international and Benfica player Freddy Adu, according to the News Of The World.

Benfica would accept a bid of £1.5m for Adu. The American striker is currently on loan at Belenenses, a fellow Portugese side but Adu has only made a handful of appearances there.

San Siro success may be muddied by some very interesting news indeed.

Win the Club Shirt Of Your Choice Simply by Speaking Your Mind!

Here is a video dug up from the archives that exposes Tuesday night's 'Portuguese' referee stating at 2:38 "Soy de Milao" meaning "I am from Milan".

If you saw this news this morning that Freddy Adu won't be headed to Switzerland to play for FC Sion then the thought had to have popped into your head (for me it was the third or forth time this has happened). Its time for the once prized teenager to return home to Major League Soccer.

In four years since he left MLS to go to Europe he's played for four clubs, in three countries, and has only seen action on the field 47 times in those four years.

Wrap
Third Round Draw:
Hamburg v Anderlecht FK Rubin Kazan v Vfl Wolfsburg Atletico Madrid v Sporting Lisbon Benfica v Marseille Panathinaikos v Standard Liege Lillie v Liverpool Juventus v Fulham Valencia v Werder Bremen

Mourinho reportedly makes first signing as soon to be Bernabeu boss.

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Win the Club Shirt Of Your Choice Simply by Speaking Your Mind!

Real Madrid have put pen to paper on a €40 million deal for Benfica winger Angel di Maria, according to radio station TSF.

Mourinho reportedly makes first signing as soon to be Bernabeu boss.

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Win the Club Shirt Of Your Choice Simply by Speaking Your Mind!

Real Madrid have put pen to paper on a €40 million deal for Benfica winger Angel di Maria, according to radio station TSF.

Brazil will take on Argentina in Doha, Qatar next month. For his fourth game in charge, Mano Menezes has called up 23 players. AC Milan's in-form Ronaldinho Gaúcho has been given a recall. Grêmio's Douglas gets his first cap.

Victor Grêmio

Jefferson Botafogo

Neto Atlético Paranaense

Daniel Alves Barcelona

Rafael Manchester United

Thiago Silva Milan

David Luiz Benfica

Alex Costa Chelsea

Rever Atlético Mineiro

André Santos Fenerbahçe

Adriano Barcelona

Lucas Liverpool

Jucilei Corinthians

Sandro Tottenham

Elias Corinthians

Ramires - Chelsea

Douglas Grêmio

Philippe Coutinho Internazionale

Ronaldinho Gaúcho Milan

Robinho Milan

Neymar Santos

Alexandre Pato Milan

André Dínamo de Kiev

Do you still remember Freddy Adu? The American footballer who became professional at the age of 14, who was seen as a future football legend with the potential and skill to become one of the best. Unfortunately, his career is not following the direction it was expected to take.

Freddy Adu left his country in 2007 at the age of 18 to play for Benfica.

Do you still remember Freddy Adu? The American footballer who became professional at the age of 14, who was seen as a future football legend with the potential and skill to become one of the best. Unfortunately, his career is not following the direction it was expected to take.

Freddy Adu left his country in 2007 at the age of 18 to play for Benfica.

Some coaches get their shot with a major club at a relatively tender age (in coaching years, anyway). Barcelona's Pep Guardiola was 37 when he got the gig.

And there are those who get a crack at the big time without ever having played beyond amaetur level, like Aston Villa's Gerard Houllier.

Porto fans proved their lack of respect for health and safety regulations is rivalled only by their scant regard for animal rights by throwing golf balls and a live chicken at Benfica goalkeeper Roberto during yesterday's 5-0 win over their rivals. The gang at 101GreatGoals can at least explain the chicken incident, but the golf [.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

The much-rumored Freddy Adu move to Greece is now official. An 18-month loan deal has been agreed upon between Aris FC and Benfica, and Adu will join fellow American Eddie Johnson at the Greek club.

According to the club's official site (and Adu's Twitter page), Adu will join up through June 2011, with the club retaining an option to buy the attacker from Benfica.

Sorry for the little bit of a delay this week as I have no internet access at my hotel here in Sophia, so I'm using free wifi in the park near the stadium and in the railway station as opportunities allow. If you are familiar with last week's rankings, however, you are pretty familiar with this week's as well.

Even while Landon Donovan, Edson Buddle and Sacha Kljestan train with the U.S. men's national team in hopes of making the World Cup roster, the MLS schedule churns on this weekend.

There are two games tonight in advance of a four-game menu on Saturday, topped off with a lone Sunday fixture.

Source : Sp Ftball Sprts Blog /The still INTER MILAN Coach José Mourinho is days away from becoming the new Coach of REAL MADRID. The news is that he will personally be responsible for developing next season's team with full powers to sign & sell players. He has accepted the already planned players on the list of new signings in place before his arrival, BUT asks for some players which he

The more positive stories at Everton this close season have been the near-silent acquisitions of four players by manager David Moyes.

Three pretty much unknown quantities for the English game and another potential surprise from a big club.

We'll start from the front and work backwards, as we first take a look at the most well-known of the quartet Jermaine Beckford.

Looking to curry favor as the new coach of the most demanding national team in the world? Then call up the superstar exiled by the previous regime yet pursed on the lips of most supporters in the country.

Mano Menezes has done just that: Dinho's back in the Brazilian fold for a friendly next month.

Last month it was reported that the new coaching regime at Belenenses was cutting loose young American footballer Freddy Adu. Adu was on loan at Belenenses from Benfica, which owns Adu's rights.
Adu made the move from MLS to Europe in 2007, but has only mad 11 appearances since signing with Benfica, which had loaned Adu to Monaco last season, scoring only 2 goals in that time.

Published reports out of Europe and the United States today indicate that Freddy Adu is headed to Aris Salonika FC, the leading club in Greece's second largest city, Thessaloniki. (Although currently PAOK is performing better than Aris in the Greek Super League)

Once again, Adu has managed to find himself transferred to a well supported club with a history of making European continental competitions.

After his loan from Benfica to Belenenses was cancelled last month, word has spread all across the internet that Freddy Adu is contemplating a move to either Aris Thessaloniki FC of Greece or Hull City of the EPL. Either choice would be a positive move for Adu, as long as it resulted in more playing time.

Stuart Holden went to England with the hopes of landing a contract. It looks as though he will have to move elsewhere in Europe to find a deal.

According to the UK-based Mirror, Bolton has passed on signing Holden, and now the U.S. national team midfielder is heading to Portugal to sign with Sporting Braga.

Liverpool have struggled this season due to the squad's lack of strength in depth, according to manager Rafael Benitez.
The Reds have struggled for much of the season in both the Premier League and European competition but, after beating Sunderland 3-0 at the week in an impressive performance from a near full-strength XI, Benitez believes injuries have taken their toll.

Many issues are still to be decided this season, the Premiership is a tight three horse race which any one of them can win, apart from the certainty of Portsmouth being relegated nobody knows who...
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Rafa Benitez has hinted that Liverpool could swap formations against Benfica on Thursday in the absence of an established left-back.
With Emiliano Insua suspended and Fabio Aurelio injured, Benitez could shift to three at the back in the Europa League quarter-final decider.
Alternatively, the likes of Glen Johnson, Daniel Agger and Jamie Carragher have all operated on the left side of a back four in the past.

The Europa League quarterfinals conclude today with eight teams still battling for places in the semifinals.

Fulham and Liverpool are carrying the flag for the English Premier League as both teams look to knock off tough opponents. The Cottagers carry a 2-1 advantage to Germany against Wolfsburg, while the Reds look to erase a 2-1 deficit against Benfica.

Liverpool defender Daniel Agger believes that Fernando Torres has shown once again just why he is one of the best players in the world after bagging a brace against Benfica on Thursday evening.
The Spaniard's two goals helped the Reds to an emphatic 4-1 win over the Portuguese side and put Rafael Benitez's men through to the last four of the Europa League.

By Chris Wright

He's in there somewhere!

After months of enquiries flooding in from most of Europe's major clubs, Benfica have finally named their asking price for highly-rated defender David Luiz.

The Portuguese side have told all the interested parties that they will need to stump up £25 million to prise the 6′1″ centre-back from the Estadio da Luz.

According to Ole it is a done deal. Angel Di Maria will be a Rela Madrid player next season.

Benfica is reportedly selling Di Maria to Madird for 45 million dollars.

ole.com.ar

Di María es Real

Angel Di María pasó de Central al Benfica en 8.

Recently crowned Portuguese Liga champions SL Benfica have unveiled their adidas 2010/11 home kit. The new kit was launched yesterday with the help of past Benfica players José Augusto, Artur Santos, Mário Coluna, Mário João and Ângelo. The Benfica 2010/11 adidas home kit features an imprint in the inner neck area that recognizes the 50th anniversary [.

I think I may be a bad person.

Why?

Today a soccer team in the USA folded because of a "funding crisis."

I didn't cry. Frankly, I barely blinked.

It made me realize that while I care deeply about the success of soccer in the USA, if I'm honest, I care deeply about the success of men's soccer in the USA.

By Dominic Vieira, writing from Portugal

The 2009/10 Liga Sagres has finished and Europe's top clubs have started intensifying their interest and pursuit for Benfica's star players. The league champions have been subject to many high offers from England, Italy and the neighbouring Spain.

Lazio's Aleksandar Kolarov is thought to be on Mou's wish list

Jose Mourinho is already making noises about revamping Real Madrid's defense and midfield. Two areas that could do with improvement if they want to challenge Barca.

Maicon is set to follow his boss to the Bernabeu. His presence would mean that Sergio Ramos would be shifted to central defense.

With the chances of Manchester United making a big name signing this summer receding faster than England's chances of ever winning another World Cup, attention should turn to some of the outstanding...
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Bernabeu boss wants Emirates hotshot.

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Quality CaughtOffside World Cup T-Shirts Available

Arsenal are rumoured to about to receive a bid for their Dutch international striker Robin Van Persie from recently installed Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho.

Manchester United completed a surprise move for Tiago Manuel Dias Correia, better known as Bebé. The young striker is an unknown player in Portuguese football, he never played in the Liga Sagres and joined Guimaraes 5 weeks ago from third division side Estrela Amadora for €50,000.

This is out of the Portuguese league. Think anyone will top that?

TP

Group stages: done. And despite Michel Platini's best efforts, there are very, very few surprises. Tottenham and Shakhtar as group winners is one double win there for a certain fandom while...err...that's about it. Maybe, just maybe, Kobenhavn sneaking in as the first Danish club to ever grace the knockouts, but Rubin is hardly the team of last year and that second spot was something of a toss-up.

Benfica coach Jorge Jesus has made it clear that he has no intentions of selling any of his stars during the winter transfer window. Jesus does not want to weaken the club as they chase league leaders Porto for defense of their title.The two names most often mentioned in transfer rumours from the club are central back David Luiz and left back Fabio Coentrao as the Big European clubs are

Freddy Adu and Eddie Johnson are two Americans who have had trouble finding regular playing time with their current clubs (Benfica and Fulham). Adu has been on a few loan deals since his time at Benfica and yet to earn regular playing time in any of them. Johnson, has only played a limited number of matches for Fulham and on his loan to Cardiff City last season.