This weekend had set itself up really nicely for DC United. After losses by Seattle and RSL, and ties by Colorado, Chivas, and Toronto, DC United only needed a home victory against the worst road team in the leauge in order to move into 5th place. But the underdogs continued to impress. Not only did United lose, but they really deserved to lose.

Liverpool were eliminated from the League Cup due to a 2-1 loss sustained at Arsenal's Ashburton Grove home, but Rafael Benitez has insisted that the defeat will not dilute the feel-good factor that engulfed Anfield following the Manchester United win at the weekend.
Pass-master Fran Merida opened the scoring in the first-half with a long-range effort, but the visitors levelled the game with an equally impressive shot from Emiliano Insua.

Well here we go again.

Having lost the past two semi-finals, or conference finals, or whatever you're calling them, the Fire are entering the post season yet again with the taste of a lot of post season success, turned disappointment in their mouths.

Two years ago, we rocked DC United's world after they won the Supporter's Shield, and we snuck in -thanks to Thorny's 90′-, by dropping them first round only to be taken out by a Taylor Twellman bicycle kick from hell.

The Colorado Rapids have waived forward Gregory Richardson.

Richardson appeared in one game for the Rapids this season, playing 11 minutes in the season opener against Chivas USA on March 21. He also played 90 minutes in Colorado's U.S. Open Cup play-in match against Seattle on May 26.

Richardson's rights were acquired by the Rapids in a trade with Toronto FC on Feb.

Emmanuel Adebayor combined balance, poise and power to score his stunning bicycle-kick goal on Tuesday night. Our man at the game, Neil Ashton, hailed it "a masterpiece . . . already in goal of the century territory".

But the Arsenal striker will have to do better to be included in our.

In celebration of new MLS pro Quincy Amarikwa scoring in pre-season for the San Jose Earthquakes, we thought we'd reminisce about Quincy's bicycle kick for UC Davis against UCSB.  Quincy promises to be an exciting player and the MLS can't get too many of those.  Here's the UC Davis goal from the 2008 Big West [.

Steve Nash and friends throwdown for the showdown in chinatown, for charity, take 2

It's never as good as the first time. The rain, the grand stand bleachers, the wet turf, the steady cam man on the field, the crane cam hovering over the crowd. What was an underground experiment last year became the mainstream mainstay as Steve Nash and Claudio Reyna hosted their 2nd annual Showdown in Chinatown to benefit each of their namesake charities.

Admiral Capello strides onto the bridge. "Status report, Lieutenant Rooney!" he shouts.

Rooney is grim. "The Croatians have boarded the ship, Sir," he says. "They've already scored two goals."

"I see," says Capello. He turns to his chief defensive officer.

Chicago remains unbeaten in home debut at Toyota Park
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. - The Chicago Red Stars drew 5,824 fans in their home opener despite rainy conditions, and the team itself played to a scoreless draw against Sky Blue FC on Sunday in Women's Professional Soccer play at Toyota Park.

Steve Nash and friends throwdown for the showdown in chinatown, for charity, take 2

It's never as good as the first time. The rain, the grand stand bleachers, the wet turf, the steady cam man on the field, the crane cam hovering over the crowd. What was an underground experiment last year became the mainstream mainstay as Steve Nash and Claudio Reyna hosted their 2nd annual Showdown in Chinatown to benefit each of their namesake charities.

It seems everyone is paying tribute to the late Michael Jackson (sounds funny, this, hun?). Brazilian players decided to honor the king of pop with embarrassing goal celebrations. The worst? The celebrations brought no luck.

Diego Tardelli, the striker from Atletico, tied the match against Barueri.

Sorry Vishwa. You're the man but still worth a try.

Some say he thinks Alex Ferguson is a swear word. Some say he has a bicycle kick that not even Iker Casillas would have dared to stop. All we know is, he's called THE AQUAMAN.

- No Sir, not Carlton Parlmer

Sendros is quality I tell you.

It all started so promising for Deco. He moved away from Barcelona for eight million euros, ready to revive his career and chase a third Champions League trophy with his new club, Chelsea.

August 16, 2008. Deco takes to the field against Portsmouth, and in Chelsea's 4-0 rampage over the Pompey, he scores in the 90th minute with a forty-yard shot.

We have qualified for our 3rd world cup!
This game was outstanding for a number of reasons.
1. Harry Kewell was superb and only the man-of-the- match (official award) by the new Qatar keeper stopped him scoring. He now has superman's body. And he is back to making dashing runs on the left, and the right.

While both CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinals on Saturday night were tightly contested, Sunday's quarterfinals were anything but.

Mexico and Costa Rica both scored blowout victories on Sunday in Dallas to set up a great semifinal match-up. Costa Rica rolled to a 5-1 victory against Guadeloupe, while the Mexicans were never troubled in posting 4-0 victory against Haiti in front of a sold-out crowd of 82,252 at Dallas Cowboys Stadium, the first event at the new stadium.

Liverpool lost central defender Martin Skrtel to a hamstring injury in today's 1–1 draw with Thailand in a pre-season friendly. The Slovak international came on as a half-time substitute but lasted only 10 minutes on a rain-soaked afternoon before grabbing the top of his right hamstring and walking gingerly off the field.

The world of football swirls on.

Rooney scores his 101st goal, Ronaldinho announces his revival with a delectable bicycle kick which would have sent the Serie into raptures had it worked, our prayers are with Calum Davenport, Liverpool slides down further with a defeat to Villa, and Lescott is finally traded to City.

Colorado Rapids striker Omar Cummings puts a bicycle kick on goal in the second half of the team's 1-0 victory over Toronto FC on Saturday. (photos by Tom Auclair/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

Colorado striker Conor Casey wasn't supposed to be at Dick's Sporting Goods Park on Saturday night.

Well hello there.

I see you've caught me displaying my Berba-bilities with a fantastic bicycle kick. I'm going to score a goal with this, you know. My second goal in as many league matches. ... Even though you did not just compliment me on that fact, I'm going to act like you did and say: Thank you I know I'm extremely talented and devastatingly handsome.

There is nothing like a good bicycle kick right?

In their last 2009 MLS regular season home match on Sunday, the Houston Dynamo hosted the Los Angeles Galaxy in a physical 0-0 draw. Over 29,400 fans showed up at Robertson Stadium on a lovely fall afternoon to see David Beckham make his Houston debut. There might not have been any scoring in Sunday's match, but casual fans were treated to the kind of game that makes draws exciting.

CL matches are always high-tension affairs and last night's Villareal - Arsenal match was no exception. The hosts displayed, in the first half, a brand of football that Arsenal supporters are all familiar with. The Arsenal team seemed to be trying to match pass for pass with Villareal. The passes were tight and pretty and the pace was frenetic.

Soccer - Today, April 7 2009, Manchester United and Arsenal from England faced up their European opponents in the champions league.

Man U played Porto, and Arsenal played Villa Real. The final score for Man U. vs. Port was 2-2 and Arsenal vs. Villa Real ended 1 -1.

As an Arsenal fan, I was the most disappointed with Arsenal's performance.

Middlesbrough All But Relegated

While many were watching Manchester United claim their 18th league title, a few others saw Middlesbrough's status in the Premier League all but over.

36 games into the league with 31 points, Aston Villa faced Middlesbrough at 'Boro's stadium, with disgruntled fan support and terrible home form, surprisingly, Middlesbrough started brightly against Aston Villa, 60 seconds inside the game Middlesbrough almost scored when Stewart Downing's cross was turned behind by Gareth Barry.

It wasn't always pretty and it wasn't without its cost, but the Aztex got the win last night over the El Paso Patriots. They've advanced to the 3rd round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, and will face the Houston Dynamo, here in Austin at Nelson Field, on July 1.
(Regarding that date: the date original announced for the 3rd round was June 30.

Chivas USA 0 Tigres 1

Chivas USA went down a goal in the 11th minute after young Tigres striker Armando Pulido volleyed a ball into Zach Thornton's net from 14 yards out with what amounted to a half bicycle kick.

Saturday Night Lights

I was excited for Super Liga this year as I love seeing the Mexican teams come play at Home Depot center. The Chivas USA front office did a nice job on the pre game stuff, they had a really good troop of Mexican Folklorico dancers performing on the stage. I was really impressed and it made me proud to be a Mexican, even though I am a white guy of French origin.

1. Bicycle kick glory
2. Goal from a corner
3. Long, long distance

If the 1st day quarterfinals action were dreary but tense affairs, the second day of Gold Cup quarterfinal action turned out to be goal-fests.
Quarterfinal #3 pitted Guadeloupe against the unpredictable Costa Rica and the impact turned out be a magical five goal fest. Celso Borges scored with a spectacular bicycle kick in the third minute.

Reina
Johnson Carragher Ayala Insua
Mascherano Lucas
Kuyt Gerrard Benayoun
Torres
Goals:
Torres 4'
Johnson 45'
Kuyt 78'
Ngog 90+4'
The future's a bit rosier today, no?
A four-goal margin of victory, against a side that held Liverpool scoreless twice last season, might be a little more emphatic than Stoke's performance deserved.

Both Manchester clubs picked up deserved wins on Saturday as they squared off against two of London's biggest clubs. Manchester City taught Arsenal a lesson at The City of Manchester Stadium in a 4-2 thrashing as Manchester United enjoyed the best of times at White Hart Lane in a 3-1 win against Tottenham.

This is going to be a good goals of the week post. There are many nice goals, and in particular the goals from Stankovic and Dessena are awesome to watch. Goals after the jump.

Dejan Stankovic vs. Genoa Stankovic notices that Amelia makes an error on the clearance and moves to the right, hitting the ball on the volley from way out and it sailed over Amelia and into the net.

As a child, I could never sleep on Christmas Eve. There was a greedy little materialist in me who sneaked into the living room in the dark to count, shake and feel up all the presents under the tree with my name on them and then stayed up all night trying to imagine what the morning would really bring.

In the furious neverending November rain, Fulham made one mistake and lost the game. James McFadden, a quality player in an average Birmingham side, clipped a ball over the Fulham back four to Lee Bowyer, Bowyer flipped the ball over Mark Schwarzer, and the ball nestled in the net. 1-0. Bowyer was clean through because only three of the Fulham back four pushed up at the same time, Brede Hangeland delaying for a split second that ruined everything.

A comeback like this can build belief which seems to be in short supply at Goodison Park nowadays. Louis Saha had a great game off the bench and Tim Cahill once again proved a big time goal scorer. Saha almost pulled off goal of the year with a bicycle kick. 21 year old Seamus Coleman a £150,000 summer arrival from Irish side Sligo Rovers had a hand in both goals.

For the first time, FIFA is presenting an award for goal of the year. You can view and vote here.

I remember watching Grafite's goal against Bayern Munich from my couch, and standing up and shouting when I saw it live. Then I fell to my knees during the replay and made a few other noises to show my approval.

Link:

Kudos to Tuncay who was voted Boro's player of the year. He fully deserves it. In the MOTD highlights is the perfectly placed bicycle kick that Daniel was referring to. Boro will in all probability be relegated but Tuncay was one of the bright spots of the season.

Again it was Kewell who stood out as the player of the match. This time he created a goal for Mile S.
Holman had his chance with Kennedy injured. But neither he nor McDonald looked like scoring. It was the midfield that excelled. Puncuated by Mile and David Carney's - both from the lower English division - and by Jason Culina's bicycle kick into the side post (to set-up Carney's poach).

The Super Liga game against San Luis was Saturday night and I am just getting around to writing this article...Well, I got to go to Vegas with my wife and no kids, I hope you understand!

Chivas USA Pride

The Game Rant:

I know you all have seen every article about the game so I will keep it short and you can watch my movie from the game with lots of good Union Ultra shots and an interview with Guitar Guy and My youngest son Gabe talking about what a class act Sasha Victorine is.

While both CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinals on Saturday night were tightly contested, Sunday's quarterfinals were anything but.

Mexico and Costa Rica both scored blowout victories on Sunday in Dallas to set up a great semifinal match-up. Costa Rica rolled to a 5-1 victory against Guadeloupe, while the Mexicans were never troubled in posting 4-0 victory against Haiti in front of a sold-out crowd of 82,252 at Dallas Cowboys Stadium, the first event at the new stadium.