Turn your clocks back around the early 2000's and you'll find Major League Soccer on the verge of extinction. Teams folding, weak crowds and a marketing campaign that was clearly in disarray. Even on the backs of the United State's impressive 2002 World Cup run, MLS was a bit lost. Recently though, MLS has gone through a resurrection.

I'm sorry for being so lax on this site, but I'm having a great time in Mexico and despite the fact that there is a lot of stuff going on in the UEFA Champions League and the Copa Libertadores at the moment, the sad fact is that those results don't affect the rankings until the end of each round.

Sorry for the long absence. I've spent the past two months in Mexico and Central America and it turned out that finding free and convenient wifi in the area wasn't so convenient. Plus, I was just having way too much fun. (Feel free to read about the adventures here.)
But, we're back.

If you compare this week's rankings to last week's rankings (and you don't really have to since I sort of do that myself below), you'll see that things are kind of stagnant at the moment. That's typical for this time of the season, though things should start moving around again once Super Bonus Points are awarded for the Copa Libertadores, but that's getting ahead of ourselves.

As we finish up this past weekend, we also have finished up the season for most of the clubs playing in Europe. As has been the case in the past few weeks, more championships have been decided, e.g., Lille taking home the French Ligue Un title and Porto winning the Taça da Portugal. Much more was decided this past weekend with respect to clubs that are destined for relegation, but we don't publish a Bottom 25 Clubs of the Week, so you can find discussions of those on other sites.

We've chronicled before the Germans' love affair for the FBM. Perhaps its because they're very interested in the growth of soccer in the United States, or more likely, they really, really, love their beer.
St. Pauli, newbies to the Bundesliga top flight this season have a knack for showing creativity with beer (and thusly were a large part of our 2010 "Persons of the Year" award).

No need to connect any dots. You just need to decypher one of the photos for the answer. Bonus points if you can make sense of all three of them.

As we close in to the end of the season, championships galore abound. In Europe, not to surprise of anyone, Manchester United and Barcelona qualified for the finals of the UEFA Champions League. In South America, meanwhile, Brazil suffered a Bloody Wednesday that saw four of its five remaining clubs in the Copa Libertadores kicked out of the Copa Libertadores.

English Premier League has given us eight weeks of soccer action so far, and now it's time to predict what will this new batch of fixtures bring to the football table.
Last gameweek in Fantasy Premier League saw new names arise on top of the weekly point table as the usual suspects didn't deliver.

As we close in to the end of the season, championships galore abound. In Europe, not to surprise of anyone, Manchester United and Barcelona qualified for the finals of the UEFA Champions League. In South America, meanwhile, Brazil suffered a Bloody Wednesday that saw four of its five remaining clubs in the Copa Libertadores kicked out of the Copa Libertadores.

It's the Christine Sinclair show within Canadian sports media circles today. The star Canadian forward, who scored her country's only goal in their 2-1 loss to Germany in the Women's World Cup, made it easy for Canadian journalists in search of a story this morning (including yours truly, although I'm not a journalist).

This weekend kicks off what is sure to be a thrilling season in France. After Lyon's selfish display of seven consecutive league titles from 2001-8, the past three champions have been different and a fourth this season would be no surprise. Luckily, League 1 has always boasted an exceptional array of club names.

A quick note on the EA Sports Index the Fantasy Premier League's new statistics engine that is responsible for doling out the always controversial 'bonus points' this season. We're nearly complete with our Gameweek 1 matches (Manchester City and ... Continue reading →

With today's economic difficulties, losing a job isn't a laughing moment. Someone should tell that to Hannah Storm and Adam Schefter. While announcing the news of Eric Mangini of the Cleveland Browns being fired, the two ESPN talking heads excitingly gave each of a high five. Check the video below to see the high five and then the awkward way the duo tried to back away from the outburst of emotion.

Adam has been superb for Blackpool this season and for thousands of fantasy managers as well, as he scores, assists, and more importantly picks up bonus points win, loss, or draw... But it looks like the star midfielder ... Continue reading →

You might have noticed the as well as a general decline in the number of posts on here the number of posts reporting on Everton & Waterloo has gone down too.
Both having pretty wretched seasons really. Everton just can't get going and Waterloo are struggling desperately to find a stable level.

By Ollie Irish

Manufactured by Olympic – a guarantee of shitness, as I recall – this Orient 'pixels' home kit (the pixelated design was a nod to sponsors Acclaim) is a classic example of why the 1990s dominates any list of terrible football kits.

How about a quick, informal straw poll in the comments: has Bryan Adams aged well? I'm inclined to say "yes" because he looks like my friend Doug and if I say "no" I am also saying in way that Doug has not aged well and then I'll have to deal with that. But you guys don't know Doug so use your words and make your own call.

My MLS rankings. I put way too much thought into these.
1. Real Salt Lake - An uninspiring draw for sure, but not damaging enough to knock them from the top perch.
2. LA Galaxy - You know things are going well when Juan Pablo Angel scores.
3. New York - Three of last four goals allowed have come on set pieces.

As we finish up this past weekend, we also have finished up the season for most of the clubs playing in Europe. As has been the case in the past few weeks, more championships have been decided, e.g., Lille taking home the French Ligue Un title and Porto winning the Taça da Portugal. Much more was decided this past weekend with respect to clubs that are destined for relegation, but we don't publish a Bottom 25 Clubs of the Week, so you can find discussions of those on other sites.

If you compare this week's rankings to last week's rankings (and you don't really have to since I sort of do that myself below), you'll see that things are kind of stagnant at the moment. That's typical for this time of the season, though things should start moving around again once Super Bonus Points are awarded for the Copa Libertadores, but that's getting ahead of ourselves.

Sorry for the long absence. I've spent the past two months in Mexico and Central America and it turned out that finding free and convenient wifi in the area wasn't so convenient. Plus, I was just having way too much fun. (Feel free to read about the adventures here.)
But, we're back.

I'm sorry for being so lax on this site, but I'm having a great time in Mexico and despite the fact that there is a lot of stuff going on in the UEFA Champions League and the Copa Libertadores at the moment, the sad fact is that those results don't affect the rankings until the end of each round.

In two days, the Philadelphia Union return to regular season action. Their opponent: The fifth place Colorado Rapids. Or is that the Colorado Rapids, even with the Union on 31 points. Oh needlessly divided MLS standings, how you make confusion out of nothing!

Whatever you call them, the Rapids are a lot to handle.

The Teams of Old Square off against the Teams of Yesterday
by Thomas Atzenhoffer on The Bleacher Report
April 17, 2011
Alex Livesey/Getty Image The Past 50 years of England's top flight, whether it was the English Premier League since 1993 or the years prior as the English League, have captivated audiences worldwide.

Not exactly the prettiest performance from just about any angle, but Wednesday's CONCACAF Champions League group stage win over Herediano was exactly the kind of game the Seattle Sounders couldn't win last year. In fact, this game unfolded very much like the loss at Marathon a year ago, but with dramatically different results.

Hey y'all I think we may have a new heir to the MLS hip-hop throne. Hell, he may even be the new king really because it's not like anyone has fully claimed it for themselves. Steve Zakuani and Michael Lahoud & his boys at Chivas USA are trying to lay it down but neither have thrown down any that's unimpeachable.

With a game against CS Herediano that can nearly lock-up entry into the knockout round of the CONCACAF Champions League on Tuesday and a Saturday game against the Vancouver Whitecaps that can assure the MLS Cup Playoffs things were generally upbeat at Starfire for the Seattle Sounders. There are still individual players who are carrying injuries and others recovering from injuries/fitness that will change how Sigi Schmid manages his gameday lineups.

On the heels of Tuesday's frustrating loss, we figured it might be a good idea to lighten the mood. And just in time, the Sounders have released another round of "Date With A Sounder" videos. In this batch, we have Mauro Rosales, Erik Friberg, Lamar Neagle, Servando Carrasco, Taylor Graham and Mike Seamon.

@Pain_Machine's giving away two pairs of tickets to the Open Cup Final (10/4 7pm), and there are two ways to win. Read on for details...

Contest the First: Sparkles, The Man, The Legend

The first pair of tickets will be awarded to whomever tweets the best example of how Jeff "Sparkles" Parke is intensitive.

Here is Liverpool's stud Luis Suarez not happy with the sprinkler system at Everton or his teammate Charlie Adam. Suarez has already scored 4 goals this season and picked up 8 bonus points in Liverpool's first 7 matches a ... Continue reading →

One of the benefits of being a Philadelphia Union season ticket holder, aside from the nifty card I proudly carry in my wallet and access pre-sales and to special events as well as discounts on everything from the price of tickets, parking and team merchandise, is the Loyalty Point Program. What's that, you ask?

Competition time One lucky OTP reader will win a pair of tickets to the Manchester City v Bayern Munich match at Eastlands on 7 December. We're still talking about events from last time the two teams met, so it promises to be a great match. We've teamed up with Heineken StarPlayer to offer this fantastic [.

This marvellous poster was given away free with Soccer Monthly some time during the mid to late 70s. It contains information on 158 teams throughout the British Isles, from Torquay United to Sligo Rovers. Click to enlarge.

There are some terrific kits in there. Bonus points to Orient and Wales for their lovely Admiral numbers and to Cardiff City, Carlisle United and Torquay United.

Welcome to the fifty-second annual WCR Top 25 rankings. For years, we have been describing how this list is compiled. In brief, the rankings are based on (a) the domestic results for each club's most recent completed season (either 2011 or 2010-11) and (b) performances in the continental championship tournaments through the use of bonus points.

We've been promising you changes for weeks and now that the group stage of the UEFA Champions League is over, the changes are here. The first set of changes is based on adjusted league rankings based upon results in the last round. These changes have little affect on the clubs in the top five leagues (EPL, Primera División, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue Un), none of which distinguished themselves too much from the others in the past round, with each having two clubs advance, with the exception of Italy's Serie A, which has three.