This might not really be news to many supporters, but casual fans and youngsters may not realize that a fourth-place finish by the Gunners this season doesn't necessarily guarantee them a berth in the European Champions League. It rarely happens, but the UEFA rules state there are only four spots available for English teams and these won't be bent like they were back in 2005/06 season.

We know. Cute bags. And Jo Boyles got a jersey.
It's been a long tournament for the U.S. U-17s with a lot of games mashed into a short period of time, so today the team got the rest. No training, no meetings, no film. They did of course do their standard regeneration routine in preparation for the championship game tomorrow against Canada (6:30 p.

Football on New Years Eve!? Do the FA not give any thought to the bloggers having to write match reports?

Anyhow, QPR were the latest visitors to the Emirates during this crazy Christmas period. With Liverpool already picking up 3 points a day earlier against Newcastle, and with United, Chelsea and Spurs all expected to win against relegation fodder (see what I done!

By Chris Wright

"Shhh!!! Don't look at him. If we're quiet, he may go away"

Despite leading 2-1 from the first-leg and going a further two goals ahead by half-time in the second through Pedro and Dani Alves, Barcelona still found themselves fretting at the Camp Nou as Real Madrid staged a late-ish comeback attempt that saw Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema draw Los Merengues level on the night though it was to be in vain, as Barca eventually held out for the aggregate win that sealed them a berth in the Copa del Rey semi-finals.

Marquette's Vanessa Legault-Cordisco and the University of Wisconsin's Diamond Simpson might get a late start to their college seasons in the fall.

That's because they'll likely be at the FIFA Under-20 Women's World Cup in Japan from Aug. 19 to Sept. 8.

Legault-Cordisco played all 90 minutes at right back as Canada routed host Panama 6-0 Friday night in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Under-20 Championships in Panama City to earn a berth in the World Cup.

The section of the world that the U.S. is competing in allows for three countries to automatically qualify for World Cup 2014 in Brazil. The U.S. competes with other countries from North America, Central America and the Caribbean.

By Alan Duffy

Wigan Athletic 4-0 Newcastle United Premier League 28th April 2012

Roberto Martinez orchestrated yet another massive win for Wigan against one of the league's big boys on Saturday, as the Latics thrashed Champions League hopefuls Newcastle at the DW Stadium.

On the heels of a campaign in which Sacha Kljestan was a focal point in helping lead Anderlecht to a Belgian league championship, the club is hoping to lock up the U.S. midfielder for the long term.

Kljestan's current deal with Anderlecht runs through 2014, but according to Belgian outlet Het Niuewsblad, Anderlecht is looking to extend Kljestan's stay in Belgium for two or three more years beyond then.

The U.S. Under-17 Women's National Team stormed through the group stage at the 2012 CONCACAF U-17 Women's Championship to take the top spot in Group B. Now the U.S. players focus on perhaps the most important game of their young careers so far, a match-up with Group A runner-up Panama on Thursday, May 10 at 2:30 p.

By Chris Wright

The half-time reenactment of the fireplace scene from 'Women In Love' went down a treat

Bathed in withering sun, Crewe beat Cheltenham in the League Two Play-Off Final at Wembley yesterday afternoon to snag themselves a berth in League One next season, with the latest wunderkind to roll off the Railwaymen's production line, 18-year old Nick Powell, opening proceedings with an absolute belter of a goal darting away from two defenders with his first touch and then lashing a shot across the Cheltenham goal.

By FRANCO PANIZO

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Most of the positive talk during the 2012 MLS Combine has surrounded the forwards and attacking midfielders, but one player who has performed well and does not play either of those positions is Chris Blais.

The 6-foot-4, 195-pound goalkeeper was one of the more consistent performers through the event, showing good command of his area and making a handful of fine saves in the process in all three of his team's games.

After Vito Mannone moved to Hull on loan there was some suggestion that he had made available a space for non homegrown players to arrive.

Unfortunately this isn't the case. For the 2011/12 season we named five homegrown players over the age of 21, and 17 (the maximum allowed) non homegrown players.

After Vito Mannone moved to Hull on loan there was some suggestion that he had made available a space for non homegrown players to arrive.

Unfortunately this isn't the case. For the 2011/12 season we named five homegrown players over the age of 21, and 17 (the maximum allowed) non homegrown players.

After Vito Mannone moved to Hull on loan there was some suggestion that he had made available a space for non homegrown players to arrive.

Unfortunately this isn't the case. For the 2011/12 season we named five homegrown players over the age of 21, and 17 (the maximum allowed) non homegrown players.

By Alan Duffy

Hatem Ben Arfa, the Magpies' diminutive young winger is to be sued by rapper and fellow countryman Abd Al Malik after the French international claimed that, many moons ago, the musician had led him into an Islamic sect.

Jozy Altidore was a late sub in AZ's rescheduled cup game with Ajax on Thursday, however the team's berth the quarterfinal was already sewn up thanks to a fine attacking display within the first hour.

Forward-thinking Richards Can Add Attacking Edge To England - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Castrol EDGE performance analysis shows that Manchester City's muscular full-back, Micah Richards, has rediscovered his best form this season, providing his star-studded City side with a potent and creative attacking threat.

It looks more and more likely with each passing day that Andrey Arshavin will pack up his boots and leave London during the summer, likely back to Russia with Zenit St Petersburg, where he's still considered a hero. In fact, it seems all of Russia regards Arshavin as some kind of football genius since he was named that nation's athlete of the year again for the fourth time running and is still the captain of his country's team.

The U.S. team once again practiced indoors at BC Place (with the weather so far in Vancouver, trust us when we say outdoors would not be too much fun), this time in preparation for its final Group B match vs. Mexico. The CONCACAF neighbors will meet on Tuesday, Jan. 24 at 7:30 p.m. PT. Fans can watch the game live on Universal Sports Network, Universalsports.

By Chris Wright

There were amazing scenes in Spain last night, where third tier part-timers CD Mirandés beat La Liga side Espanyol 2-1 in injury time at the tiny, 6,000-capacity Anduva Stadium to secure themselves a 4-4 aggregate (away goals) win and a berth in the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey in the process.

By Phil Gregory

From early on this season, it became clear that 2011-12 for Arsenal would be a matter of damage limitation: bed in the numerous new recruits, regroup and push on to secure that vital top four berth, with the title realistically not attainable this year.

The great run we went on after our [.

By Phil Gregory

From early on this season, it became clear that 2011-12 for Arsenal would be a matter of damage limitation: bed in the numerous new recruits, regroup and push on to secure that vital top four berth, with the title realistically not attainable this year.

The great run we went on after our [.

The U.S. WNT will play a HUGE match early in year on Friday night, Jan. 27, when it faces Costa Rica in the semifinal of the 2012 CONCACAF Olympic Women's Qualifying Tournament for a berth to the London Olympics.
A HIGHLY motivated U.S. team will kick-off the clash with the Central Americans at 5 p.

Assistant Kevin Bond was giving little away in terms of team news yesterday while he did confirm that there were injury doubts over Scott Parker, Younes Kaboul and Gareth Bale,

"Younes missed training on Wednesday, while both Gareth and Scotty had to come out of training early with slight muscle problems," he said.

Jack Wilshere has given Arsenal a massive injury blow after suffering a recurrence of the ankle problem which has kept him out this season.

AW said of the midfielder: "Wilshere has pain again in his ankle. He did it running so we stopped it straight away. He's seeing a specialist today.

Didn't catch the game live, but after watching the highlights, I wish I had. In the 5th minute of stoppage time, Gabon's Bruno-Zita Mbanangoye hit a spectacular free kick (probably a goal of the tourney) that earned the co-hosts a berth in the quaterfinals, knocking out one of the favorites to win it all.

Lauren Sesselmann (Green Bay Notre Dame) is headed to the Olympics this summer.

Sesselmann returned from a knee injury to start and played 63 minutes at left back as Canada beat Mexico 3-1 in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament on Friday night in Vancouver to earn a berth in the London Games.

After qualifying for the 2012 Olympics by defeating Costa Rica in the semifinal, the U.S. WNT has just one more task at hand and it won't be an easy one. The Americans will face Canada in the championship game of the tournament in front of a crowd expected to be more than 20,000 screaming Canadians at BC Place on Sunday evening.

Okay, you can all relax now. Turns out that our hero, Arsenal captain Robin van Persie, will NOT be sanctioned for allegedly throwing an elbow in the face of defender Carlos Cuéllar, after all. Had the Football Association chosen to sanction him, and there certainly seemed to be justification for doing so, the punishment to both Robin as an individual and Arsenal as a cohesive whole would have been severe enough, considering the awful timing, to virtually end the team's season on quite a sour note.

The U.S. Women celebrate their 2012 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament title on Sunday.

The U.S. Women's National Team put up some staggering results to win the CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament to open 2012: five wins, five shutouts, 38 goals and of course a berth into the 2012 London Olympics.

This is veeeeeery interesting:

This paper evaluates the extent to which the performance of English Premier League football club managers can be attributed to skill or luck when measured separately from the characteristics of the team. We first use a specification that models managerial skill as a fixed effect and we examine the relationship between the number of points earned in league matches and the club's wage bill, transfer spending, and the extent to which they were hit by absent players through injuries, suspensions or unavailability.

Okay, you can all relax now. Turns out that our hero, Arsenal captain Robin van Persie, will NOT be sanctioned for allegedly throwing an elbow in the face of defender Carlos Cuéllar, after all. Had the Football Association chosen to sanction him, and there certainly seemed to be justification for doing so, the punishment to both Robin as an individual and Arsenal as a cohesive whole would have been severe enough, considering the awful timing, to virtually end the team's season on quite a sour note.

By Chris Wright

'Twas the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals over the weekend, with Ivory Coast whupping co-hosts Equatorial Guinea 3-0 on Saturday courtesy of a brace from young Didier of Drogbashire and a colossal 32.808399-yard free-kick from Yaya Toure...

Would you just look at the swing on that?

By FRANCO PANIZO

Luis Suarez's spell on the sidelines has come to a close.

Having served his eight-match ban for racially abusing Patrice Evra and a one-game suspension for a gesture to Fulham fans, Suarez is set to return for Liverpool on Monday in its game against Tottenham.

By Alan Duffy

Everton 2-0 Chelsea Premier League 11th February 2012

That much-publicised midweek training ground visit from Roman Abramovich would have done little for Andre Villas-Boas' confidence ahead of Saturday's game against Everton.

The UEFA Champions League is back in action, as defending champion Barcelona looks to take its first step toward a quarterfinal berth against an upstart but capable Bayer Leverkusen side in the opening match of the knockout stage. Barcelona is a bit shorthanded for the match, as an injured Xavi has been left out of the lineup, and Gerard Pique is out as well.

The biggest match of the week without a doubt has to be the Milan-Arsenal fixture tonight. With both clubs looking to bag all points on offer and secure an advantage heading into the last leg, tension is starting to creep up on the players and coaches as well.

According to Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger, their biggest threat to a quarter final berth is Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Photo by Joe Toth/ISIphotos.com

By THOMAS FLOYD

As the disappointing results piled up and tensions at Stamford Bridge grew this season, it became only a matter of time before manager Andre Villas-Boas lost players' faith.

Sure enough, Villas-Boas has acknowledged that some of his players have turned against him.

By Alan Duffy

Norwich City 1-2 Leicester City FA Cup 18th February 2012

Norwich City have enjoyed a superb return to the Premier League this season, however their hopes of securing a last eight berth in the FA Cup were scuppered by an impressive Leicester side whose attack-minded play put the home side under pressure from the off.

Jermaine Jones made his return to Schalke's starting lineup in their draw at Plzen while Steve Cherundolo and Hannover took a slight edge over Brugge in their quest for a final 16 berth.