After looking (and proving as it turned out) at how Chelsea could beat Spurs, looking at Barcelona and their weaknesses which proved to be right again, I am now having a look at the big game tomorrow.
Arsenal had been on a fantastic run of late but defeats to QPR away and Wigan at home last Monday have cost them.

As big a a win as the Wednesday night match was for the Seattle Sounders, it is important to remember it is essentially half time. With the away goal it means that Santos Laguna has a tie breaker in a 1-0 result. Still, the Sounders showed that they can beat a Mexican team on their soil, and now they can beat them at CenturyLink.

The U.S. men's national team will play its first match of 2012, and an MLS-heavy squad will take the field against Venezuela on Saturday night in Arizona with many players looking to impress Jurgen Klinsmann and work their way into the full senior team mix.

Some familiar faces are back in the mix as Benny Feilhaber and Ricardo Clark are in camp, while Heath Pearce joins them as the only players on the camp roster with more than 30 caps.

The dust has settled somewhat from part one of our interview with former U.S. Men's National Team forward and current Fox Soccer analyst Eric Wynalda.
Part two includes our conversation about working for Fox Soccer, what it's like to put on the red, white, and blue and play for your country, owning a soccer team, and his favorite beer.

Ahead of the Big Game at the Weekend..... A "What if ".......

Charybdis. If you value your health ..... don't read this.

Some of our younger bloggers may not know that Sir Alex Ferguson almost became Arsenal manager before Mr Graham. The Don Howe era had come to a sticky end with Steve Burtenshaw acting as caretaker manager, therefore Ferguson who was the hot young manager following his superb job at Aberdeen was approached by Arsenal and according to him, turned them down after lengthy negotiations.

Why United, City and Liverpool should get three points this weekend - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

With United traveling to Arsenal and Tottenham going north to Manchester City, there's a lot to look forward to this week.

Here's a look at the top betting tips and the best matches this weekend.

Of course with a headline like this, I just had to post about it. The article in today's SUN heaps more pressure on AVB at Chelsea when would you believe it, we are playing United on Sunday!.
That's not like the press to put pressure on a Chelsea manager before a big game is it?.
The quote taken from the article from a "top source" states the following:

"Jose would go back to Chelsea.

With Arsenal FC scheduled to take on archenemies Tottenham Hotspur at Emirates Stadium in their crucial league match on Sunday, their under-pressure manager Arsene Wenger has told his players not to feel sorry for themselves as such a feeling 'would be criminal' at this stage of the season.

Arsenal v Newcastle United preview: Gunners getting stronger and stronger - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Arsenal v Newcastle United
Emirates Stadium London, England
English Premier League
Monday 12 March 2012
20:00 GMT

The big game on Monday sees Arsenal play host to Sunderland and it's the Gunners who have to be the bet at 1.

<p>Its the day before yet another big game for the blues and so the focus turns onto rumours that have appeared over the past couple of days.</p>
<p>Im reading that Louis Van Gaal and Guus Hiddink are now in the frame to take over in the summer. I don't want to say too much on this as we should focus on the great job RDM is doing at the moment.

Wayne Rooney goal right before half-time was just enough to see off Fulham tonight, and for United to go three points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League with 8 games to go.

Rooney's goal, his 21st league goal of the season, came after Jonnny Evans at the back post, had steered Ashley Young's cross back into Rooney's path.

You will wake up this morning and read the focus on the controversial second Chelsea goal yesterday at Wembley but do not let that detract from a fantastic Chelsea performance and result that sees us score five and set up a date with Liverpool on May 5th in the final!.
I said before the game that in this one it was literally all or nothing, explained how I saw weaknesses in Tottenham's formations with huge gaps between their defence and midfield that could be exposed and stated that Chelsea have the big game experience in our squad which could be key to getting the right result!

****Images have been removed****
After looking (and proving as it turned out) at how Chelsea could beat Spurs, looking at Barcelona and their weaknesses which proved to be right again, I am now having a look at the big game tomorrow.
Arsenal had been on a fantastic run of late but defeats to QPR away and Wigan at home last Monday have cost them.

Expected, but out of the blue. Kuyt to Fenerbahce is official, not long after initial reports surfaced early this morning.
So, what will you remember most? His hat-trick against United probably leads the list, and rightfully so, but we're not wanting for choices. There's his five strikes against Everton, including two game-winners.

Newcastle's task on Wednesday evening will be a tough one against Manchester United. Tim Krul big game needed from goalkeeper on Wednesday The Red Devils were embarrassed by being beaten at home over the weekend by rock bottom side Blackburn Rovers, and no doubt they will want to put that right at St.

By Alan Duffy

Unquestionably one of the players of the season so far, Manchester City's Belgian captain Vincent Kompany has decided to use the medium du jour Twitter to launch a new competition which is sure to get the blue half of Manchester rather excited.

Anfield Rd: The magic of the FA Cup

Friday night football at Anfield two weeks running with Oldham Athletic the visitors tomorrow night a week after the Reds beat Newcastle 3-1 in the league. Tomorrow night's match is in the FA Cup and it's certainly seen as a big game for the side from what used to be Lancashire.

The events leading up to the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl were as exciting as the game itself. On Friday, the teams visited Glide Memorial Church & Kitchen and St. Anthony's Dining Room in San Francisco. On Saturday, it was time for the tailgate party and the big game at AT&T Park. Though there were plenty of highlights, one of the best was seeing Hall of Famers Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and Ronnie Lott taking part in the festivities.

Patrice Evra is one of a select few foreign players who genuinely seems to get what this club is all about. Whilst Eric Cantona and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will forever be remembered as United legends, I struggle to think of any player who speaks as eloquently about United as Evra does.

Following back to back defeats in the league before an important win over Manchester City in the FA Cup, Evra has claimed that because of the history of this club, we never give up.

O Grande Jogo (The Big Game)

Os grandes jogos / The big games
1958 - Suécia [sweden]
1962 - Chile
1970 - México
1994 - Estados Unidos [United States]
2002 - Japão/Coreia do Sul [Japan/South Korea]

We all know that Brazilians are proud to have won the World Cup five times.

Totteham Hotspurs' winger, Gareth Bale, is in a confident mood ahead of his team's travel to challenge the current league leader, Manchester City at Etihad Stadium.

The Welsh international believes that despite losing 5-1 in their previous meeting against City this season, Spurs can come away with a positive result from their upcoming away trip against Roberto Mancini's team.

Lots of websites are going 'black' today, Wikipedia for example, to protest against proposed new laws in the USA which will make everyone have to connect to the internet through AOL with all their family filters turned on.

I was considering going black to bemoan our transfer policy, general crapness, toilet queues at the stadium and 'The Wonder of You'.

Mark Hughes has demanded an improvement from his Queens Park Rangers side after the 1-0 victory over MK Dons in the FA Cup third round replay last night.

Most soccer betting pundits will agree that the League One side were more than a match for Hughes' men for the majority and even though the home side eventually progressed to the fourth round, Hughes knows his team have to be better in all departments.

Ahead of the Big Game at the Weekend..... A "What if ".......

Charybdis. If you value your health ..... don't read this.

Some of our younger bloggers may not know that Sir Alex Ferguson almost became Arsenal manager before Mr Graham. The Don Howe era had come to a sticky end with Steve Burtenshaw acting as caretaker manager, therefore Ferguson who was the hot young manager following his superb job at Aberdeen was approached by Arsenal and according to him, turned them down after lengthy negotiations.

By Joel Greenwaldt
Baltimore Blast (10-4) vs. Norfolk SharX (3-11)
Game Time: 1/20/2012 7:35 PM
http://www.misllivesoccer.com/
Keys to victory for the Blast:

• Quicker distribution: In their loss to the SharX eight days ago, the Blast tired to get too cute with fancy footwork and trying to take on and dribble through multiple defenders.

Ducky's Note: Die-hard Manc Prashanth speaks fan-to-fan to the Arsenal fans. We repeat, this is a post by a Manc. So, you know, #justsaying *runs and ducks behind door. Pun may or may not have been intended*.

No, I don't want to tell you that its okay to lose, or its okay to boo your manager when he makes a substitution (gamble) trying to win the game.

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard wants to maintain focus ahead of Wednesday's Carling Cup semi-final second leg - by banning talk of Wembley.
The Reds hold a 1-0 lead over Manchester City from the first leg and are favourites to progress ahead of the return game at Anfield, but Gerrard insists the team must prepare correctly.

Liverpool 2 Gerrard 40′ (pk), Bellamy 74′
Manchester City 2 de Jong 31′, Dzeko 67′

"Would it be a risk to play defensively?" the reporter asked Kenny Dalglish as Liverpool prepared to face Manchester City at Anfield in the second leg of the League Cup semi-finals.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has written an open letter to the club's fans, asking them to behave well when they meet Liverpool in Saturday's 4th round FA Cup at Anfield.

Even those looking at Real Money Casino Games at Mansion will tell you that tensions between the rival clubs have increased in recent times, following the race row between Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra in October's league draw at Anfield.

Handful of games played midweek in Indonesia. Persipura returned to the top of the table beating Persiram in an almost local derby while Sriwijaya dropped points at Persiwa where no team gets anything beyond fed up. Persiba, who also rarely drop points at home, won their second local derby on the spin, defeating Mitra Kukar 3-1 at their tiny Persiba Stadium.

Three goals in seven second half minutes that's all it took for Arsenal to win a game in which they were otherwise unimpressive. While the comeback was miraculous and the result crucial, many problems still remain.

As has been the case for the last month or so, Arsenal started at a pedestrian pace.

Acura just released the extended version of their Super Bowl ad featuring the highly anticipated NSX, six days before the :60 TV spot will air in the third quarter of the big game.

The video depicts the over-the-top antics of comedians and famous car collectors Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno as they bid to be the first in line to take delivery on the first Acura NSX supercar.

Eli Manning's star has never shined brighter as he leads his New York Giants into their 2nd Super Bowl in the past 4 years.
As accomplished and appreciated as Manning is now, he was not always held in that regard. Playing professional sports in the largest fishbowl of a media market like New York is not easy, as there are very high expectations to manage and distractions to avoid.

DARKSIDE CHRONICLES: Edition 002 Let me start off this week by saying that originally I was planning to offer up a different article that dealt with other problems regarding Manchester United. But due to the big game and glorious comeback that the lads fashioned on the weekend, I think I should stick to the match [.

Being slightly fearful of numbers, I'm not sure how the old recipe for success of 'win at home and draw away' stands up in modern times, now we have this new-fangled three points for a win, but right now it will do for me. As against Man City, against the Pool we stood up to the considerable pressure exerted by our rivals near the top of the league, emerging with great credit and in this case a point too.

Park Ji-Sung made his 200th appearance for United last weekend in our 3-3 draw with Chelsea.

When Park joined United for £2m in 2005 several people claimed it was just to appeal to the Asian market in order to sell more shirts. Those people obviously didn't watch him play for PSV against AC Milan in the Champions League a few months before we bought him.

As the build up continues and gathers pace for the big game this Saturday against our hated arch-rivals, Liverpool, the team we love to hate and that too with a passion wherever you are in the globe,...
Continue to the full story

Suarez v Evra. Talking point.

Essential information

Who: Manchester United v Liverpool
What: Premier League
Where: Old Trafford
Date: 11.02.2012
Kickoff: 12:45 GMT
Referee: Phil Dowd
Odds: Bet365 (Take advantage of their 100% Open Account offer.

It good to see the team in action, even though the quality of the streaming picture did not always allow the viewer to identify the players. I think that we fans want the team to look in mid-season form as of yesterday. The prospect of playing LA in a big game only a week from Wednesday might be cause for concern considering that most players looked rusty.

England national team's strength on their upcoming tie against Netherlands are looking to be a bit depleted as Stuart Pearce's side will apparently be playing without two Manchester United players, Wayne Rooney and Top Cleverly.

This news was confirmed by the Red Devils' tactician himself, Sir Alex Ferguson, who believed that his two men won't be fit enough to play in midweek tie and they would be more prepared to play in the weekend match against Tottenham Hotspurs.