Pre-season games can often look like an exercise in going through the motions in preparation for the real thing, and with United failing to sign any big names this summer many supporters will no doubt be slightly frustrated at the club's inability to find a new striker.
It does seem a bit ridiculous that Fergie hasn't been able to get his man thus far given the success of last season and money in the bank.

While silly-money transfers such as Robinho's move to Manchester City quite naturally grab all the headlines, there are a myriad of deals involving Brazilians that hardly get a mention and many involve a trip to Holland ...

The Colorado Rapids have signed Brazilian midfielder, Bruno Guarda, through the league's lottery system. Guarda will take the roster position of the unfortunate Justin Hughes who has been placed on the season-ending injury list. Get better soon Justin! The Rapids have not had the best of luck with Brazilians.

Manchester City have today demolished Portsmouth 6-0 at the City of Manchester stadium today. Mark Hughes' men put on a quite a show today which makes quite a statement to the rest of the Premier League.
It was a case of some samba beat at Eastlands today with Brazilian trio Elano, Jo and £32.

The Final and a tournament wrap up by du Nord's Women's Soccer Major Tournament Correspondent Adam.
In a fairytale ending to their Olympic tournament, the underdog US team saved its gutsiest performance for last, beating Brazil 1-0 to win its second straight gold medal.
Here are some final thoughts about the tournament.

Marcelo Vieira da Silva Júnior or if you're having problem correctly remembering his name just call him "Marcelo". Considered as the heir apparent to the Real Madrid legend Roberto Carlos. He was literally taught by Roberto Carlos while the latter was in Real about two years ago. Both are Brazilians and play the same position, Attacking [.

Yes, it's true. According to this US News and World Report article, the Prez apparently feels he is having a good final year. In fact, in a very positive development for the Bush camp, aides say that he is feeling 'less antipathy' from his constituents, as he travels around the country. (Note-to-Self: [.

The Good Brazilians in London: Yeah yeah, Portsmouth ain't exactly on their level, but Big Boss is going to be mighty pleased this season with Luiz & Deco running the show at Stamford Bridge. See, money can buy happiness. HSV: Hamburger just lost their most bestest player and quite possibly the finest WAG in the Bundesliga, only [.

Yeah, me too.
I hear the Brazilians dominated, which makes sense. Four were taken in the first five picks. In all, ten were selected.

1. Formiga (Brazil), 2. Kelly Smith (England), 3. Marta (Brazil), 4. Daniela (Brazil), 5. Cristiane (Brazil).

Here are the results if you care about the teams they're coming to.

125 dedicated futsal fans showed up at Street Soccer Indoor's inaugural Friday night league finals between JR Trim, a team predominately of Mexican players and Team Fenix who are mostly Brazilian.
JR Trim's green clad fans and Team Fenix's orange clad fans, along with the accompanying flags, drums, balloons, etc.

In lieu of a proper match review, I present you with this. Match highlights and photos at the end of the post.

1. When picking Brazilians, it's Ederson you want. Leave Fred behind with the rest of the garbage.

I don't mean to come off as a Fred hater, but did he accomplish ANYTHING in today's match - besides the countless times he squandered easy shots on goal?

United welcomed club captain Gary Neville back into the first team for the Community Shield curtain raiser on Sunday, it was a fairly comfortable afternoon for Neville & Co in the Reds back four with Portsmouth's new strike force of Crouch and Defoe failing to hit the high notes on what was a pretty forgettable day for Pompey and their fans.

Rafael Benitez has never hidden his admiration for South American players. Argentines were at the core of his Valencia side but at Liverpool it is to Brazil that he is turning to with increasing regularity. The surprise arrival of Vitor Flora means that there are now four Brazilians in Liverpool's first team squad (Flora, Fabio Aurelio, Lucas Leiva and Diego Cavalieri).

World Soccer News
For week of 07/08
LDU Quito sensational Latin America champs
Absence of the away-goals rule in the Copa Libertadores finals cost dearly Fluminense of Rio, but instead helped LDU of Quito to become the first Ecuadorian team to become the winners of the prime club competition in Latin America.

Everyone in Women's Professional Soccer is pulling for a US victory tomorrow both from a patriotic and a business perspective.
The prevailing thought is that a return to a world championship, if not world dominance, would provide a good kick start for WPS.
A gold medal for the US would certainly provide a boost for the League for all the obvious reasons, but i think it's also important to recognize that the League benefits if Brazil wins.

Marta the magician is coming to Los Angeles.
It makes simple sense to me. Brazilians like LA. A bunch of them live near Venice Beach, well, pretty much any of the beach communities have a Brazilian cafe, club or restaurant where they like to congregate.
There's so many of them around, that it might be hard for Marta to learn English - she won't need to use it in her off hours if she lives in one of the communities where a lot of them gather.

An all-Japanese semi-final will take place in the AFC Champions League as defending champions Urawa Red Diamonds and Gamba Osaka were drawn together. Three clubs from Japan could have made it to the last four but Australia's Adelaide United beat Kashima Antlers 2-1 on aggregate to terminate any possibilities.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

In the ongoing power struggle over whether or not U-23 star players will be allowed to play in the Beijing Olympics, FIFA president Sepp Blatter has stated his position, sending out a letter to all member associations stating that the release of under-23s is obligatory, reports the Telegraph.

While the World marvels at the increible skills, plays & dribbling of Brazilians like Ronaldinho, Kaka, Robinho...etc, we ( & perhaps the youngsters) forget that before them was DJALMINHA... Read all the news, results, details & comments in English on Spanish Football & Sports

While we lament the loss of the Nigerian Super Falcons in the Women's Olympic football tournament, praise must be heaped on the African men, who all swept into the quarterfinals of the men's Olympic tournament.
One thing we know for sure is that Africa will be represented in the semi-finals, as Nigeria take on Ivory Coast in the last eight.

Following Saturday night's 1-0 win over the Fire, the team gathered in the locker room around the lone TV to watch US swimmer Michael Phelps and his team compete in the final swim of the Olympic meet - the 400 medley relay. As you probably know, Phelps was going for his record eighth gold medal. What follows is a photo essay of the team's reaction during the last two legs of the swim.

Close-up with the Brazilians.... Alexandre Pato (AC Milan) Ronaldinho (AC Milan) Diego (Werder Bremen) Jo (Manchester City) Anderson (Manchester United) Breno (Bayern Munich)

Real Madrid's love affair with Brazilian footballers seems to be slowly coming to an end. At its height, back in Florentino Pérez's last season as club president, the squad boasted five Brazilians in its ranks: Roberto Carlos, Cicinho, Baptista, Robinho and Ronaldo. As of today, with the sale of Julio Baptista to Roma for €12 million, this number now stands at two: Robinho and Marcelo.

Javier Mascherano is confident Argentina can gain revenge for their Copa America heartache when they face Brazil in the semi-finals of the Olympics on Tuesday.
The Reds midfielder will come face-to-face with clubmate Lucas Leiva in the last four meeting between South America's big two and is hoping his side will banish the memories of the 3-0 defeat to the Brazilians in 2007 and give themselves a chance to play for gold.

Yikes, look at Europe because here come A.C. Milan. As reported in Sports Illustrated, Ronaldinho will be joining the ever-growing contingent of Brazilians at A.C. Milan. Can you imagine Ronaldinho, Pato, Kaka, all together next season with the likes of Pirlo, Gattuso, etc.? Its a scary proposition for Serie A and those in the UEFA Cup.

During the last 15 years, four Brazilians have show their sensational skills wearing the famous blue and red shirts of Barcelona. Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, and Romario have all been stars at the Nou Camp. Here are some of the highlights of the four.
Ronaldinho
Ronaldo
Rivaldo
Romario
A compilation of Romario, Rivaldo, and Ronaldo.

Big Phil Scolari seems determined to bring some fellow Brazilians to Chelsea. After the recent massive €60m bid for Real Madrid's Robinho, news today is that there's an even massiver bid on the table for AC Milan's Kaka. The Guardian have been confidently reporting that a record busting €100m deal has been negotiated, as has [.

Earlier this year, former Washington Bullet Gheorghe Muresan visited the D.C. United locker room. The Romanian is a big soccer fan and attends a few United games each year. The 7-foot, 7-inch Muresan is pictured below with Brazilians Luciano Emilio and Fred. The three serve as the subjects for our first Behind The Badge Caption Content.

This week, according to the Courier Mail, Juninho withdrew from the Roar v Palmeiras game on 12 July. Why? because the Roar decided not to sign 19 year old Bruno Mezenga? The Roar are not a charity.
Juninho played for Palmeiras and Mezenga's club Flamengo (he was fired in 2005). However, Mezenga has struggled to retain a place at Flamengo and has been unable to regularly score goals while on loan for lower placed clubs.

By: Lynne
Soccer City FC
Great news for all Blues fans - we finally have it, confirmation that Jô has signed a four year deal (for an undisclosed fee).
It's probably a wise move not to announce the finances: agents and clubs will be looking at the figures in the hope of getting better deals for their players; also, Richard Dunne hasn't yet put pen to paper for his contract - waiting to find out what the new signings are getting?

Liga de Quito capped off its surprise run in Copa Libertadores by dispatching Brazilian powers Fluminense in a dramatic finale on Wednesday. Liga went in with a 4-2 lead, got a goal early and held on as Fluminense stormed back. The Brazilians eventually leveled the aggregate score and sent the match to PKs.

The USWNT and Brazil both won in convincing fashion and will face off on Thursday morning (9AM ET) in the gold medal match. Germany and Japan (maybe it's me ... but doesn't that sound awfully World War Twoish?) will square off in the Bronze medal match-up (6AM ET). Kudos to Japan for making [...]SHARETHIS.

Given the high percentage of foreign players coming into the English game each season, it is to be expected that a fair share of them arrive as unknowns. What usually happens is that once attention about a player is heightened by the knowledge that he is going to move to England, information about his abilities (or lack of) starts trickling through.

As you'll by now be aware, last weekend was a busy time where the 2010 World Cup qualifiers were concerned. On Sunday we told you about the latest action in Europe - today we fill you in with the major happenings from South America.
And the big news here is that Brazil are back on the war path again.

With rumors flying around the world of football, Premiership Talk reviews all of the day's activity and keeps a casting eye over certain potential moves.
Robinho The young Brazilian from Real Madrid is almost certain to complete a move to Chelsea. With Felipe Scolari at the helm, the two Brazilians will be keen to join up and with Robinho's agent fueling the fire, a deal looks to be on the cards.

Maybe we'll end up with one or 2 Brazilians after all:
"We think that all the players involved should be observed by the fans, because if Queensland Roar has this intention (to observe the players), Palmeiras will do everything that is possible to send those players to Brisbane."
"We are working to build a strong relationship between Palmeiras and Queensland Roar," he said.

The Australian's A-League writer Ray Gatt is insisting on referring to the Roar's new striker Sergio van Dijk as Serginho. Ray is perhaps Australia's foremost football writer so perhaps he knows something I don't. In fact, doing a google search I see they are all at it Four Four Two, bloggers, everyone.

Wednesday 15 October.
There has been a lot of argy bargy about the final game against Japan in June 2009 - who will get it Sydney or Melbourne. But this opener against Qatar is actually the critical game of the series. The Socceroos must win. Nothing else will do.
Their wins in the last round against Qatar allowed them to progress.

A continuation of the look at the Foreign Player for the coming season
Adelaide United
Aurelio Vidmar seems to be in love with players with one name and now have four Brazilians. Adelaide fans have a lot of football to look forward to this year due to being the first team to graduate from the AFC Champions League Group Phase.

Now I love my Yellow Fever fans but the second year in and someone has to help them out....Ricky Herbert is the
New Zealand equivalent to Graham Arnold. It's tedious, deadly to watch and I hold little hope for the season for our loud yellow fans.
Of course they'll be bottom.
Did you see how they played at home, against a Scottish midfielder Charlie Miller who looked like he'd just rocked out of a Scottish pub.