The New York Red Bulls have entered territory not known to any Major League Soccer club. The three Designated Player country has not been seen before by one team though Seattle did come awfully close last week before they traded Freddie Ljungberg to Chicago. No, New York is now the first.

The club announced the signing of Mexican national team superstar Rafa Marquez.

photo credit: scottobear

Great Scott, Marty!

I am back again, from the future! This time I have been to the end of the 2010 MLS Season and I would love to let you know who won all of the individual awards and accolades. Oh, and I'd also love to tell you about which teams hoisted the historical hardware and secured significant squad honors.

PRETORIA, South Africa – One of the questions bounced around Landon Donovan's table today at the U.S. press availability concerned the United States, now making the tricky adjustment to playing as a favorite.

"Who said we're favored," Donovan shot back with a little grin, presumably being coy but probably a little serious, too.

Will Emirates boss act on obvious 'come and get me plea' from Valencia man.

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Valencia attacker Juan Mata has revealed that he would be very interested in a move to Arsenal this summer.

Liverpool's Dutch winger Ryan Babel, he of constant transfer speculation and little playing time, appears to have rejected not one but two loan offers.
Both Turkish side Besiktas and Italian outfit Fiorentina wanted to bring in Babel on loan until the summer.
Sadly it seems Babel rejected both offers.

Philly @ Toronto Last week, Philly pulled out their 1st franchise win over D.C. United... even if they did try to give the game away by handing the ball to Moreno in front of an open net. This week, we are predicting a Toronto FC home win.

KC @ Seattle As hot as KC is right now, and as underrated as they were coming into the season, you can bet that the Sounders are looking for 3 points this weekend at home.

Things aren't going so well at Anfield. A lowly 7th in the Premier League, failure to make the Champions League knockouts, and now out of the FA Cup after losing 2-1 at home to Championship team Reading. I wouldn't bet on things getting better any time soon either, with both Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard [.

Stamford Bridge side closes in on Spanish international.

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Chelsea are poised to hijack Manchester City's move for Valencia winger David Silva.

I never touched on some of the big news from last night. Mainly I wanted to enjoy the game as much as possible without having to sit down and write anything on here. I'm lazy what can I say.

Still the league announced some fairly decent sized changes for the 2011 season. With two more clubs coming into the fold you knew something had to be changing.

I don't get it? Surely its customary to insult Mr. Domenech. Am I missing something?

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France striker Nicolas Anelka has been sent home from the World Cup after reports of a bust-up with coach Raymond Domenech during the Mexico game.

I fully intend to take the penalty statistics as far back as I can take them, firstly back to the start of the SPL, then who knows... I need help if people are interested in helping.

My statistics, for now, start at the 2006/07 season. In 2006/07:

• Motherwell were awarded the most (8)
• Hibernian were awarded the least (1)
• Dundee United conceded the most (10)
• Hibernian conceded the least (1)
• Referee Dougie McDonald awarded the most (7)

In 2007/08:

• Hibernain were awarded the most (11)
• St Mirren and Falkirk were awarded the least (0)
• Kilmarnock conceded the most (11)
• Celtic and Motherwell conceded the least (3)
• Referee Mike McCurry awarded the most (8)

In 2008/09:

• Rangers were awarded the most (9)
• St Mirren were awarded the least (2)
• Kilmarnock and St Mirren conceded the most (8)
• Celtic and Rangers conceded the least (2)
• Referee Calum Murray awarded the most (8)

So far this season, the penalties awarded have been down on last season and I doubt any records will be broken: Dundee United lead the way with 7 awarded (Celtic 6) and Hibernian and St Johnstone have conceded 5 each (until 28th February 2010, remember).

Fifa's World Rankings were announced today. Brazil leapfrog Spain, who are now are second followed by Portugal, The Netherlands, Italy and Germany.
Spain and Brazil are among the bookies' favorites to win the World Cup next summer.
England are in 8th place, while Argentina move up to 7th and are looking a serious dark house for South Africa.

Old Trafford star set for World Cup stage.

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When Nemanja Vidic arrived at Old Trafford many would have wondered at the wisdom of paying £7m for a centre back who hadn't played in one of the big leagues and wasn't a household name.

This time tomorrow, the World Cup will have kicked off, and I, along with many others, will be spicing up the matches with a bet or two. Historically, I've always done quite well with the World Cup by following some golden rules, which are as follows:

• Bet on African and Asian nations to do well.

Nou Camp side up bid for Emirates skipper.

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New Barcelona president Sandro Rosell has put a 45 million euros limit on the Catalan giants' bid for Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas .

Could Javi be Emirates bound?

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Arsenal are reportedly interested in Atletico Bilbao's highly rated young midfielder Javi Martinez.

I've held off on a MLS expansion piece for a while now. But this morning Jason Davis over at MatchFit USA got me thinking again. (Damn you Davis!) I figured it was time to revisit some markets and remind ourselves why some places just aren't getting talked about here.

Davis talks this morning about San Diego and why that market has been "shutout" recently in MLS talks.

Fifa's World Rankings came out today. World Cup winners Spain remain in top spot followed by The Netherlands, Brazil and Germany who swap places
England are unbelievably in 6th place, one adrift of Argentina who remain in 5th.
Egypt is the highest African team in 11th. The USA are down again to 25th.

The Ultimate Football Blog
Editorial
At the beginning of this season I stated loud and clear that I believed Real Madrid, now under the guidance of Jose Mourinho, would beat everything that stood in front of them, and take home any silverware that's on offer.

Premier League team news - ESPN Soccernet The News You Need To Know... ARS v. FUL - Cesc is out meaning Nasri (who is fit) will be even more central and that Wilshere and possibly Rosicky increase in value. Squillaci is also back which provides another moderately priced defender as an option although Koscielny is a better bet.

Rumors of Ronaldinho landing in LA with the Galaxy have circled back around, and I'm wondering what they mean. The unrealized reports of the summer, when Milan was dancing a contract samba with the superstar, and the Galaxy were said to be in the contest for his services, gave a sense of inevitability to the Brazilian coming Stateside.

Woke up early to do the Sweeper for Pitch Invasion, and tried to give a taste of the newspaper hyperbole setting up today's Man United, Leeds clash. Of course, after all that, Leeds went and won 1-0 at Elland Road. I caught portions of the first half and you could tell it was one of those games where something comes out of the pitch, into everyone's feet, one of those beautiful aberrations that explode the stat records.

Racing Santander president Francisco Pernia insists reports teenage star Sergio Canales is on his way out "have as much relation to the truth as an egg to a chestnut".
Canales only turns 19 next month but is already being linked with a number of clubs including Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona and Barclays Premier League outfits Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal.

And so to part two.

Sunday's win at Bolton made a lot of people sit up and take notice, partly because of the battling nature of the victory, and partly because of the inspirational form of our captain. But mainly because it meant that three points tonight could send us top of the league.

Sure, Chelsea would have a game in hand, which they would only need to draw to return to the summit.

Porto 2 (Fabianski og 11, Falcao 52) Arsenal 1 (Campbell 18)
(Champions League Round of 16, First Leg)

You will be hard pushed to find a game in which a team gives away a pair of goals as soft as those we handed Porto tonight. At Champions League level, they are the sort of gifts that condemn you to a swift exit, but thanks to an otherwise controlled display and a Porto side lacking in star quality, the tie remains firmly in the balance.

Spring is here and what started out as a transitional season for the Reds looks like it could turn into a golden year. You can get 11.0 (10/1) on United pulling off a League Cup, Premier League and Champions League treble and something tell us those odds will narrow over the coming weeks.

On Wednesday, a rare chance to back at home United win at decent odds of 1.

Having lost 2-1 in Porto, we go into tonight's second leg in a dangerous position score first and we're ahead in the tie, but concede first and we face a real uphill battle.

History is either with or against us depending where you look. On one hand, we haven't overturned a first leg deficit in thirty years, while Porto have won the last 24 ties where they've taken a lead from the home leg.

The Europa League Final kicks off today with Fulham taking on Atletico Madrid in Hamburg, Germany.

Fulham is looking to cap a dream run through the tournament with one more victory, while Atletico looks to add a trophy before seeing its top player sold off this summer.

U.

San Siro striker ready to continue excellent season at this summers World Cup.

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In many ways Samuel Eto'o took a brave decision to leave Barcelona for Inter Milan last summer.

Fifa's World Rankings were announced yesterday. Brazil lead Spain, who are are second followed by Portugal, The Netherlands, Italy and Germany.
Spain and Brazil are among the bookies' favorites to win the World Cup next summer.
England are in 8th place, while Argentina are in 7th and are looking a serious bet to win in South Africa with the goals of Diego Milito and Leo Messi.

Afternoon all,

all the nations involved in the World Cup are starting to arrive in South Africa ahead of the big kick off next weekend, this means almost certainly that our transfer business involving players in South Africa will be on hold.

I'd like to hedge a bet here. We will not sign a player that has played in the World Cup.

Other than fatboy Fowler mouthing off about Liverpool wanting our manager, the Liverpool contingent in the office have said that "it's a done deal".
Some of them would like to think that they are Special Liverpool ITK's and have said that the Liverpool board have discussed his appointment, whilst others have even put money on it happening.

It's only a few hours until the World Cup kicks off and I for one am extremely excited, and if you're not then you need to get yourself in the mood. This is where ‘The Dugout' comes into the equation: it's a place where you can find exclusive info, tips and opinions from English football legends and experts throughout the 2010 world cup.

This is amusing and goes to show just how desperate Becks is to get back into the game. Watch as the England man ignores advice of his doctor's in a playful manner and even when they mock him he takes it like a true champ. There appears to be real respect and humour between the player and his medical professionals.

This weeks Offside View discusses what may be preventing this World Cup hitting the high notes.

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Seeing as the whole country seems to have an opinion on how bad this World Cup has been so far, a look at what has gone wrong is required.

Dunga's Brazil showed their true World Cup winning potential with this strong performance against Ivory Coast. A brace from Luis Fabiano, one with more than a hint of handball, and a well worked goal from Elano helped the South Americans to a second successive victory. Didier Drogba scored a consolation late one before Kaka was sent off for no apparent reason.

Italian considering his options in case disaster strikes against Slovenia.

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The Football Association anticipates England coach Fabio Capello will resign if his team make their World Cup exit on Wednesday, BBC Sport understands.

Upton Park boss makes plans to improve his Hammers squad.

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West Ham boss Avram Grant is planning a trio of ambitious Premier League moves to help improve his Upton Park squad ahead of the new season.

Italian international could find move to the Emirates very tempting.

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Arsenal are reportedly interested in Italian midfielder Riccardo Montolivo and could consider a move for the Fiorentina man this summer.

Old Trafford youngster could be key to securing top notch defensive midfielder.

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Manchester United could be willing to offload misfiring midfielder Anderson in a swap bid attempt to bring Sporting Lisbon star Miguel Veloso to Old Trafford.