Chelsea's new manager, Andre Villas-Boas, seems very eager to prove that he is different from his mentor, Jose Mourinho, despite of the similar career path that Vilas-Boas has followed so far.

After claiming he has a different tactical approached compared to Mourinho, the 33-years-old tactician recently added that he also doesn't like to use mind games that the current Real Madrid's coach usually does to Chelsea's rivals managers, especially Sir Alex Ferguson.

When Manchester United line-up against Barcelona next week, the focus will be on how the Premier League champions can keep Lionel Messi from having too much of an impact on proceedings. Many teams have tried and failed to stop the Argentinean from weaving his magic and if United don't manage it, then it is hard to see any other result than a Barca win.

The Barcodes have kept United in check. There is still a lot to play for. Wenger is also getting some players back from the treatment room. I guess we can call this a good news day.

Tactically, there won't be any surprises in this game. I expect a lot of long, diagonal balls from the Spuds defenders and midfield directed towards their speedy wingers.

Just a quick take on the big game this weekend. The US Women will take the field on Sunday with a chance to become World Cup champions. The Final will kick off at 2:45 on Sunday and promises to draw a significant audience that could rival the 1999 USA/China match. The game will be broadcast on ESPN and ESPN3.

Dominant. Impressive. Delightful to watch. I guess that was the most one sided game Arsenal have played for a long, long time. Wigan aren't one of the league's high fliers but any team would have struggled against Arsenal in such sublime form. But for some excellent saves by Al-Habsi and a couple of missed sitters this could have been a cricket score.

Before I start I want to make it clear that there are no words I can use in order to describe how it felt to finally beat Barcelona. When my father called me after the final whistle, I was still inside the Emirates, crying like a baby. And when he asked me why I was crying, I realised that only an Arsenal fan knows what that moment represented.

Nothing like a big game to get over big disappointment, eh!

The beauty of these kinds of games is that it can work both ways. If Arsenal can get a positive result this will turn out to be the perfect end to a couple of disappointing weeks and set up a tantalizing endgame. If the Gunners fail it will turn a bad period into a disastrous one.

1. Finally! FINALLY! A win at Stamford Bridge. We've waited for that result for years so what a time for it to come. We've put ourselves in an excellent position for the second leg now. Just getting an away goal would have been good enough, even if it was a draw or a 2-1 defeat. To take a clean sheet to Old Trafford as well is a truly fantastic result for United.

Happy Monday everyone. The Sounders are back in town this week after a scoreless draw against the Chicago Fire on Saturday. The match had some good possession midfield play from both teams, but it would be hard to call it must watch soccer. Although I still admire Arlo White for trying to sell it as such during the broadcast.

Clint Dempsey has a knack for big-game goals, especially to open competitions.
U.S. midfielder Clint Dempsey has now scored one goal in each of the CONCACAF Gold Cup opening games in which he has played, also scoring in the 2005 and 2007 openers. The goal in the opener against Canada last was the third of his Gold Cup career.

By J Hutcherson - WASHINGTON, DC (June 23, 2011) US Soccer Players -- Let it never be forgotten that Freddy Adu is a big game player. He showed that decisiveness that was apparent early on in his career again on Wednesday at Houston's Reliant Stadium. Big stage, everything riding on a result, and it was an Adu pass that unlocked the opportunity for the USA to score the game's only goal.

Manchester United,s striker Dimitar Berbatov has been highly linked with a move away from Old Trafford this summer especially after not being selected as starter in several big game in the later part of last season by Sir Alex Ferguson.

Interest from several clubs especially Italian side, Juventus, constantly emerged in the media but the player and also his agent has now denied all of the rumors, while insuring that the striker has no intention in leaving Man United.

MLS All-Stars vs. Manchester United Red Bull Arena - Harrison, NJ - 7:30 pm CT TV: ESPN2 (ENG) / Galavision (SPN)

Tonight in New York, Major League Soccer's biggest game of the year takes place as the MLS All-Stars face off against Manchester United of the English Premier League.

A lot of crazy things can happen in football. For example: teams favored in a game can end up losing by disproportionate numbers. Of course in the end the better teams tend to win out. Time is a factor in every season and as things wear on, the smaller clubs with their tiny budgets just cannot keep up.

It's got to be said that Liverpool have been given the perfect timing to score a win against Arsenal at the Emirates, which is always going to be one of their toughest games of the season.

Lets take a look at the mess that Arsenal are in at the moment. Arsenal have just had their heart ripped out of the team, as one of their most influential player's of the last decade has just been sold to Barcelona after years of speculation.

Weekend Betting Preview 20th-22nd August

So the first round of Premiership games has gotten underway, unless you are an Everton or Spurs fans as we took our first glimpse of those teams looking to challenge for the title.

It was business as usual for the Champions with a 2-1 win at West Brom while their Blue neighbours Manchester City strolled past Swansea City 4-0, thanks to a impressive debut by Sergio Aguero.

Jamie Carragher has urged his Liverpool team-mates to use their 2-0 victory over Arsenal as a springboard for the season ahead.
The Reds' first ever win at the Emirates Stadium kick-started their campaign after the frustrating opening day stalemate with Sunderland.
"It was a big game for us and a big result," Carragher said.

There's only one big game left on the domestic calendar and two friendlies scheduled on the international front as we head towards winter. This month''s State of the States focuses on the MLS playoffs, the dampening of Klinsmania, and the coming expansion of the US top flight.

MLS Playoffs - The final is set.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why Fernando Torres has only played eight minutes of first team football in the last two games. You could understand Didier Drogba starting the game against Liverpool if he was playing well, on form and scoring goals. This was his first game back!.
I guess AVB wanted to use the a different physical approach with using Drogba there to rough up the Liverpool defenders but it never happened.

Liverpool defender Martin Kelly has said that fellow defender Glen Johnson has helped him improve as a player, despite both being in direct competition for the right-back role in the side.
Kelly has started in every one of Kenny Dalglish's three games in charge so far and has earned praise for his performances.

Although much of the attention was on Fernando Torres and Andy Carroll earlier this week, Wayne Rooney provided a timely reminder that Chelsea and Liverpool aren't the only sides with big-name, big-game strikers.
The England forward hasn't been in the best of form this season scoring only two league goals all year.

France v Brazil? Portugal v Argentina? Germany v Italy? Bosh. The big game of the international friendly week was found far off in the corner of Antalya, Turkey, where Bulgaria and Estonia scrapped it out to a 2-2 draw. Not your typical marquee friendly, but this wasn't your typical game.

There were pregame rumblings that the fix was in, and the fact that all four goals came via penalties did nothing to quiet the whispers.

This match is a bit of a frightening prospect. After a horrorshow start to the season, Everton are pulling themselves together, and last weekend executed a 5-3 thrashing of Blackpool. Moyes' and his blue boys will be sailing after that elating result. Bolton however still haven't righted the ship after a mid-season dip in form.

No one would envy the task facing him tonight

After all the talk and the discussion, it's finally going to happen tonight. It has been debated to death around the blogs as well as the mass media on how each team are going to approach the game and what are the obvious dangers. This is what we signed up for when we enter the Champions League.

[101gg]

Not content with allowing a mere Serie A league game upstage the matchup of Europe's two most aesthetically pleasing big teams in the world's greatest club tournament, Andrei Arshavin matched his goal-plus-personality combo if we factor in the competition, dramatic timing (late winner and such), and the celebration sums up his child-like personality oh so well.

Following Roma's humiliation at the hands of Shakhtar, AC Milan have been knocked out of the Champions' League by Tottenham.

In all fairness to Milan, they probably did not deserve to go out. They dominated away at the Spurs and just could not get a goal. More worryingly, Zlatan Ibrahimovic did almost nothing to shake off his reputation as a big game choker, and there are worrying signs that Alexandre Pato may be following suit.

Didier Drogba spoke to the media after the game last night and has reiterated that he is happy at Chelsea, the arrival of Fernando Torres hasn't unsettled him and spoke of our chances in the League and the Champions League.
He said:

"There will always be talk about my future, I keep saying it, I'm here and I'm giving everything and it's normal that the club wants to buy another striker because we are ambitious and we want to win the Champions League.

F O'Brian White (off 73) -- I know some people are getting frustrated with the big Jamaican, but on Saturday he really took one for the team. All that space that Montero got to enjoy in front of the centerbacks was due to White pressing the defense as high as he could (very noticeable on Fredy's knuckling shot from distance in the 27th minute).

1. Our current squad has been criticised for not being as talented as ones of years gone by. That is true, to a certain extent, although I don't recall many United teams that would be able to play such a big game with talent like Berbatov, Valencia and Scholes to bring off the bench. Still, whatever we lack in ability we more than make up for in hard work and winning mentality, and tonight, without being a classic game of football, showed just how far ahead we are of English clubs in terms of the state of mind Sir Alex Ferguson has instilled in our players.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes his players have "turned the corner" after battling their way past Blackpool, last week, in the English Premier League. Speaking to Arsenal TV Online ahead of Sunday's big game against Liverpool ...

STARTERS
Chivas USA has TURNED DOWN the opportunity to add Benny Feilhaber to their team.
-That means that not only did he not fit their needs and salary cap, but they couldn't find someone to give them good value to sign and trade him.
-What happens next? Philly has the next shot at him.

Six things that the weekend taught us, including one player's demise, one team's redemption, and many giant question marks. Maybe there's something to the Vucinic rumors... In news that most Romanisti don't want to hear but surely must be thinking, Mirko Vucinic has looked rather off in recent weeks.

With little other than a couple of play-off spots still to be settled in the Scottish Football League, keep an eye out this afternoon for the big game of the day on this side of the border the Buckie Thistle v Deveronvale title decider in the Highland League. It's come down to top v second in the final game, with two points separating them.

Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that if Darren Fletcher can get match fit before the Champions League final, he will get the chance to play.

Fletch missed out on our last final in 2009 after a disgraceful decision to send him off in the semi-final against Arsenal when we were 3-0 up. He won the ball from Cesc Fabregas but the referee chose to give him a straight red card and award a penalty.

For Sheikh Mansour, the oil rich owner of Manchester City, a victory over Stoke in the FA Cup final tomorrow would represent the completion of the first stage of his long-term plan, having only owned the club for less than three years. City fans already have Champions League football to look forward to next season, an astounding feat in itself given the fact that they were lost in mid-table obscurity just a few seasons ago.

One of the most difficult and thankless jobs in all of sports is being an referee. I spent six years refereeing high school soccer in upstate New York. One of the differences between refereeing those games and refereeing Premier League, Champions League, international matches is, obviously, the amount of coverage the game garners.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – There is no longer time for moral victories for the New England Revolution. On Saturday, the Revs (3-7-5, 14 points) can ill afford to settle for anything less than the full three points against the Chicago Fire (2-4-8, 14 points).

Revs Captain Shalrie Joseph knows getting the full three points is vital on Saturday night.

I've probably seen Bangkok Glass more than any other Thai team with the exception of Thai Port. Yet it could have been more. But, as it says on the tine, this site is a look at South East Asian football from the terraces. And the pub!

Last year I was in Singapore for the Cup Final. Bangkok Glass were up against Tampines Rovers and it promised to be a goodie.

The U-17s got off to a flying start on Sunday, routing the Czech Republic 3-0 in their World Cup opener. Goals came from Alejandro Guido, Esteban Rodriguez, and Alfred Koroma, respectively. (Captain Marc Pelosi came close, seeing a great shot from distance go off the crossbar.

With their ticket to the Gold Cup Final on Saturday booked, the U.S. men's national team can now focus on Mexico and selecting the team that will knock off their arch rival when the sides meet at the Rose Bowl.

Bob Bradley has not been afraid to shake things up, as we've seen by his decisions to sit Landon Donovan for two straight matches.