Arsenal striker Carlos Vela did not get a warm welcome by his former supporters as the Mexican national side suffered a 2:1 defeat in a friendly against Ecuador last night at Estadio Omnilife in Guadalajara.

After his poor performance and his statements about Chivas, that the clubs means nothing for his career, Mexican striker Carlos Vela was the boo man for the fans at the stadium Omnilife.

A planned adidas PR stunt that had Lionel Messi appearing in three London locations backfired yesterday. The idea was that Messi would land at Hackney Marshes (home to 88 football pitches) and make a guest appearance in a game between two high school teams.

A furious England fan breached security following the team's disappointing 0-0 draw against Algeria on Friday and broke into the team's dressing room to make sure the players knew exactly how he felt. According to reports, the fan barged into the England dressing room as several players were changing and let those present - including injured Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder David Beckham - have a piece of his mind.

Some players will always have their detractors whilst others tend to have unwarranted complaints laid at their door but here are ten players who have managed to overcome criticism this season.

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Living in the tri-state area, I'm pretty lucky that over the years many European teams have come to play in the New York area. Since I have been a calcio aficionado since birth, any time an Italian team has come to play here I have always jumped at the chance to go and see them. I admit that I'm a Milan fan and despise Juventus, but as soon as I heard they were coming to see the New York Red Bulls I had to go and see.

Besides missing out on the La Liga crown last season, one of the most disappointing parts of Real Madrid's season in 2009-10 were the lackluster performances of Galactico Karim Benzema. The French striker was highly acclaimed when he signed from French giants Lyon, but he failed to live up to expectations in his debut season.

By JOSE M. ROMERO

So much came out of Sounders FC's 2-1 come-from-behind win over the Chicago Fire Saturday night. Let's start with the obvious.

- Seattle now has a seven-match unbeaten streak in MLS play.

By Ollie Irish

No ducks were harmed in the making of this video...

During Zulte-Waregem's match against Lokeren in the Belgian Pro League last weekend, African-born forward Habib Habibou ejected a duck from the field of play with a shocking combination of nonchalance and vigour.

I was emailed a link to the MLS Rumors website a little bit ago, and an article about the Wizards rebranding to Sporting KC. The article claimed to have "hard evidence" of the rebranding. Curious to see what they came up with I took a look at the article, though I don't regularly visit that site for one reason or another.

I saw a lot of random and interesting things yesterday at Steve Nash's Showdown in Chinatown. B-baller Nate Robinson dropping off crosses and attacking from the wing like his name was Thierry Henry. A huddle of NBA wives. Youri Djorkaeff blasting one off the crossbar from 2o+ yds out like it was 1998.

Hello! Welcome to WRITE THE FUTURE - the World Cup 2010 text adventure! Who would you like to play as?
>FRANCK RIBERY
[Now playing as FRANCK RIBERY]
You are in a room. There is a young woman.
Please confirm you are over 18 years of age.
>YES
Please confirm the young woman is over 18 years of age.

They had saved their loudest for him, and when the hook came, they were ready for him. That outburst into a camera in Cape Town had clearly not been forgotten. As the boos rained down on him, he provided a swift reminder of his behaviour that night when sarcastically waving at all corners of the ground before refusing to take his seat in the dug-out and then blazing down the Wembley tunnel.

By JOSE M. ROMERO

So much came out of the Seattle Sounders' 2-1 come-from-behind win over the Chicago Fire Saturday night. Let's start with the obvious.

First, Seattle now has a seven-match unbeaten streak in MLS play.

In most jobs, if you screw up, the boss sacks you. Fair enough. In soccer, the players screw up and the owners sack the coach, usually after hearing boos. There's no sympathy. The fans blame the coach for the poor players. The players blame the boss for their bad performances. The losing era is associated with the coach's name.

It's typical Arsenal, you know we never do transfers quickly or easily. Sol Campbell played for the reserves over 36 hours ago yet here we sit and he still hasn't signed.
I would guess though, the fact that the Arsenal.com website has turned into Campbell.com but without the soup, that the news may very well come today.

The opening day of the season must feel like a long time ago now for supporters of Colchester United Football Club. Back in August, they started their League One season in style with a 7-1 win at Carrow Road against a Norwich City team that was playing its first match outside of the top division in almost fifty years.

The snow's gone, of that we can be certain. Rumours that it was helped on its way by the monsoon of tears which permeated out of the Kop End last week- after another potential trophy slipped out of focus- have yet to be confirmed. All we know for sure is that it is unquestionably game on.

Arsenal's vulnerability to the counterattack was exposed so mercilessly by Manchester United on Sunday that, watching from the stands, 35-year-old Sol Campbell might well have exhaled in relief at being spared from the action. Thomas Vermaelen had been passed fit, which seemed miraculous considering that the defender had been diagnosed with a suspected broken leg after the Gunners' goalless draw with Aston Villa last Wednesday, and so Campbell was denied his return to Premier League action.

The Manchester City manager's honeymoon period is over to judge by the boos after their dour draw with Liverpool.

Roll up, roll up. It's the biggest circus in town. This year, without a single ball having been kicked, hasn't been a terribly successfully one for England so far. On the one hand, there were the varying discretions of members of the England team John Terry offering his own special brand of comfort to Wayne Bridge's recently separated former partner and Ashley Cole reportedly sending pictures of "Little Ashley" to some poor girl which led to national hand-wringing in the press, followed by Ashley fracturing a bone (no, not that one) and Wayne deciding that he couldn't bear to be in the same England team as John.

I posted about Beckham's most famous sending off on the main page earlier, but thought it was worth re-posting here on the England blog too.

We all know what happened. The 23 year old David Beckham was fouled by Diego Simeone, and then foolishly had a kick at Simeone's calf in retaliation.

The Champions League match between Manchester United and Milan had been punctuated by what are now starting to become familiar images. The green and gold gold scarves and the "Love United Hate Glazer" flags are starting to feel like part of the furniture at Old Trafford, but the question that was on many people's lips could probably best be summarised by a four letter acronym: WWDD?

Steve Candy returns to muse on the latest England developments as Capello prepares for South Africa, whilst also contemplating the Premier League's Champions League playoff idea.

What would happen if the 23 players selected by Fabio Capello were given the chance to vote for the captain of their choice?

I hate Sp*rs.

After 20 games unbeaten against them the time has finally come where they end that run, any time other than this probably would have been less painful even worse, they are going to snipe away claiming they ended our season. Wrong. Injuries have ended our season, without six starters last night we lacked invention, desire, belief, urgency and it pains me to say, passion.

00:00

Arsenal 0-0 Man City Al Arabi

Thoughts over 24 hours on....

...... ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz

So there you go, there's my thoughts on the game.

Of course, I joke. All I got to see of the game is the Match of the Day highlights (well you can call them highlights I guess.

The class of Chelsea fans sunk to new depths today during their match with Manchester City at Stamford Bridge. Rather than sympathize with former player Wayne Bridge for the humiliation and heartache he's suffered thanks to Chelsea captain John Terry, they chose to boo the left back whenever he came near the ball.

The noise emanating from PGE Park today was nearly as loud, as any Timbers match as school kids screamed and jeered the Timbers to 1-nil victory. Local school kids came to learn about the benefits of exercise and healthy diets while taking in a good match that the Timbers U-23 team seemed to dominate.

Call them the Lazarus Squad: Didier Drogba, Andrea Pirlo, Julio Cesar, Jozy Altidore, Arjen Robben -- all of whom suffered injuries that were expected to keep them out of their respective World Cup 2010 Starting Eleven for at least a couple of games, if not the whole tournament.

And now, it looks like they're all playing [where is my sarcasm font?

During a public showing of USA's World Cup tie against England in Portland the new logo of the Timbers, who will be entering the league next season, was revealed. Basing itself on the team's previous design, the new crest "pays tribute to [Portland]'s history and growth" while its colors "are inspired by the Oregon Forests".

This afternoon, 8th ranked England faced 30th ranked Algeria and tied in a scoreless match. Following the final whistle of play, England supporters' boos resonated and hit a hot button with England striker Wayne Rooney.

Rooney, who is yet to make much of an impact in the World Cup lashed out into a television camera and screamed, "Nice to see your own fans booing you.

Manchester United supporters have been spoilt over the past couple of decades. You go to Old Trafford expecting a win, regardless of the opposition. You start the season in August expecting at least one trophy come May. In the 20 years since Sir Alex Ferguson's first trophy with us in 1990, the only seasons we haven't won something are 1995, 1998, 2002 and 2005.

The Aftermath

I was beyond words last night, I really was which for a writer by profession is some stretch. I'd sat and listened to my friends post-match, to the pundits on ITV and the guys on Radio 5 live on my home and although we have the tendency to go over the top in this country, last night they were all more the justified cos' England were useless.

You here that sound? You don't. Well it's the unfamiliar sound of silence. Now that the World Cup is over no more clamors of buzzing bees in the background of your TV monitors and no more South African festivities of any sort. Kind of makes you feel sad now that it's all over, right?

The 2010 World Cup is set to come a close with the highly-anticipated final between Spain and the Netherlands today at Soccer City (2:30pm, ABC).

The Spanish come in as slight favorites, but today's final is fully expected to be a closely-contested affair, a battle between Spain's creativity and the Dutch team's strength and discipline.

Galaxy 0 Puerto Rico Islanders 3

This game and quite probably the Galaxy's Champions League aspirations are all but over.

Former Galaxy developmental player Josh Hansen - who played college soccer at the University of San Francisco - scored a lovely goal from 28 yards that hit the right post and went in after 56 minutes.

On the field, Brandon Marshall is an imposing wide receiver who is almost impossible to cover without help. Off the field, Marshall isn't all there. If he isn't beating women (allegedly) or otherwise getting in trouble, he's feuding with his coaches.

Marshall's latest lunacy is his suggestion that his backup plan for an NFL lockout is to switch sports.

The unwritten rules of football say this is not supposed to happen. Players are not supposed to leave one rival team for another, even if the list of those who've broken this rule is as long as the list of rivalries themselves and happens more often than one would think.

William Gallas is not afraid of the potential repercussions as he signs his contract with Tottenham, fresh off the bus from the Emirates.

Hi everyone. My name is Chris and I'm going to be the new blogger for the Quakes.

I'll try to keep this site updated at least twice a week while the season is in swing and hopefully keep the blog updated during the off season.

Up next for the Quakes is the California Classico against the Galaxy (insert boos here).

The California Clasico comes back to Buck Shaw Stadium today as the Los Angeles Galaxy travel up the 101 freeway to visit the San Jose Earthquakes (1pm PST, Telefutura)

The Galaxy have rebounded from a dip in form and are now riding high after a 1-0 victory against the New York Red Bulls last week.

Reading 1 Nottingham Forest 1 I quite often use fan reactions to validate my take on a game and today's was a great example of that. The Reds finished to the customary appreciative applause from the 2,000 travelling Forest fans, whilst the home side had chuntering and boos from the home side. [.