Clint Dempsey added to his career high for goals in a season when he scored his 10th goal of the season -- nine in the English Premier League and one in the League Cup -- by beating fellow American Brad Friedel to Danny Murphy's corner kick and giving Fulham a 2-2 tie with Aston Villa on Saturday.

Brian McBrideCHICAGO (May 23, 2011) -- This summer, take your soccer skills to the next level while learning alongside one of the most renowned U.S. Soccer forwards to play the sport -- Arlington Heights native and 17-year professional Brian McBride.
McBride's Attacking Soccer Academy announces its 2011 Summer Camps schedule, with locations in Arlington Heights (June 20-24), Glen Ellyn (July 18-22) and Lincolnshire (July 25-29).

Brian McBrideCHICAGO (May 23, 2011) -- This summer, take your soccer skills to the next level while learning alongside one of the most renowned U.S. Soccer forwards to play the sport -- Arlington Heights native and 17-year professional Brian McBride.
McBride's Attacking Soccer Academy announces its 2011 Summer Camps schedule, with locations in Arlington Heights (June 20-24), Glen Ellyn (July 18-22) and Lincolnshire (July 25-29).

Clint Dempsey scored the only goal in Fulham's 1-0 victory over Liverpool at Craven Cottage last night, breaking Brian McBride's record to become the top American scorer in EPL history. His former club, New England Revolution, tweeted their congratulations to the USMNT player after the goal, which takes his EPL tally to 37.

Clint Dempsey keeps re-writing the record books.

A few weeks after setting the single-season goal record for an American in the Premier League, Dempsey scored twice in Fulham's 3-0 victory over Bolton Wednesday to become the club's all-time leading goal scorer in the Premier League era with 33.

United States international Clint Dempsey plans to end his career in the English Premier League and has no intention of returning to Major League Soccer.

American fans had hoped that Dempsey, who has established himself as one of Fulham's best performers in the EPL, would follow the example of Brian McBride, Kasey Keller and others by coming home to play for a couple of years before retirement.

The Chicago Fire is currently rebuilding under manager Carlos de los Cobos following the departure of former Arsenal and Sweden midfielder Freddie Ljungberg and USA international Brian McBride. The 1998 MLS Cup and 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006 U.S. Open Cup champions missed the MLS Cup playoffs for the first time since 2004 last season in [.

Today is the "official" begining of the U-17 World Cup, which means all of the FIFA officials and all four Group D teams have arrived in Torreon.
Even though the U.S. team has been here for a few days now, we had our official "Arrival Meeting" with FIFA. It began with a presentation by a referee instructor, who talked to the players and coaches about some of the things that referees will be looking for in Mexico.

Clint Dempsey celebrates scoring against Egypt on Father's Day in 2009.
Today's game against Jamaica at RFK Stadium marks the eighth time the U.S. Men's National Team has taken the field on Father's Day. Overall the U.S. has a 4-2-1 record on the third Sunday in June, including matches in the FIFA World Cup, FIFA Confederations Cup and World Cup qualifying.

The New York Cosmos will take to the field for the first time in more than 25 years, doing so at Old Trafford as Manchester United's opponent for the Paul Scholes Testimonial (2:30 p.m., Fox Soccer Channel).

The Cosmos, who will be coached by former United star and current Cosmos director of soccer Eric Cantona, will be featuring the likes of Brad Friedel, Brian McBride, Patrick Vieira, Gary Neville, Robbie Keane, Sol Campbell, Fabio Canavarro, Michel Salgado, Dwight Yorke, Wayne Bridge, Robert Pires and Nicky Butt along with members of the organization's U-23 team.

Welcome back Kenny!

The past few weeks U.S. soccer fans have bemoaned the loss of national team players like Edson Buddle and Robbie Findley, players who, while not top-notch international players, are U.S. nationals whose presence gave MLS some respectability internationally. However, while we on this site and others were complaining about the losses, we have not had a chance to celebrate a major pick-up for the American league.

By "Danny Beerseed" / FBM Founder
The 16th season of Major League Soccer kicks off tonight and like a fine wine it has aged gracefully. Or, more similarly, like a teenager thrashing about, some times its a hit... other times... not so much.
Despite its adolescent acne, we love American soccer and MLS.

No, Clint Dempsey is not playing blackjack tonight, he's playing Bolton. And he has sent the hosts into halftime with a 1-0 lead, thanks to his career-best 11th goal of the season. Not only that, but his 15th minute volley strike from a corner kick also pulled MC Deuce level with countryman Brian McBride and Steed Malbranque as the club's top all-time EPL scorer.

The U.S. won its fourth Gold Cup title in 2007.
Most of all the facts that you need to know about the U.S. history in the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

• The U.S. has won the CONCACAF Gold Cup four times, second only to Mexico who has five titles. The U.S. titles have come in 1991, 2002, 2005 and 2007.

The Chicago Fire have plenty of work to do in molding the pieces for their 2011 squad, and one outlet is through this Thursday's MLS SuperDraft at the Baltimore Convention Center (11 a.m. CT start, televised on ESPN2).
"We've lost players in every line, so we need to address all three areas," Fire technical director Frank Klopas said.

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

After parting ways with Freddie Ljungberg earlier in the off-season, it appears the Chicago Fire will begin the 2011 season without either of its 2010 Designated Players.

According to reports in Mexico and Greece, Mexican striker Nery Castillo is set to join Greek club Aris FC on a loan for the rest of the European season.

By Roger Domeneghetti

Souness: Begbie with skills

When football was still a contact sport Souness was the complete midfielder. The fact he was one of the most gifted modern-day British footballers is often overlooked as he was also able to unleash tackles of real bite and venom.

Preston North End have clinched the signing of Fulham striker Eddie Johnson on loan. The American international has found playing time hard to come by at Craven Cottage, and his loan move to PNE represents a chance to prove himself in England.

"He has been renowned for goalscoring at many levels," PNE boss Phil Brown said of his new loanee.

The silly season is mostly over even though MLS clubs can still sign players until April 15. But with clubs going into preseason mode it's time to take a gander at what each club did over the offseason months to prepare for the new season ahead.

Now this isn't a preseason look at each club and where they stand for the new season, this is merely a look at what clubs brought in going against what they lost from last year.

Photo by SGFsoccer

Team: Chicago Fire
Coach: Carlos de la Cobos
Last Year's Finish: 4th Eastern Conference, 10th Overall, 9-9-12

Last year's Chicago Fire were going through a transition regardless of the tumultuous offseason they've had.

Photo by SGFsoccer

Team: Chicago Fire
Coach: Carlos de la Cobos
Last Year's Finish: 4th Eastern Conference, 10th Overall, 9-9-12

Last year's Chicago Fire were going through a transition regardless of the tumultuous offseason they've had.

Tonight is the first competitive game of the 2011 MLS season, as RSL visits Columbus for the first leg of the CCL quarterfinal. That's also the first chance to add a couple of goals to the all time total, one that is rapidly nearing a huge milestone: 10,000 goals. Let the countdown begin! I'll be updating the progress every so often, like I did last year for the 1,500th player (Tyler Deric, remember?

Chicago Fire Technical Director Frank Klopas has been very busy making moves and Communications Manager Brendan Hannan has been very busy sending out press releases in the last 24 hours. The Chicago Fire have traded away forward and fan favorite Calen Carr, a 2012 Supplemental Draft selection, and exchanged an empty roster spot for a full one.

On Wednesday evening in West London, Clint Dempsey became Fulham's top scorer in the Premier League era, scoring in each half against Bolton to first match and then surpass the benchmark of 32 set by fellow American Brian McBride and Steed Malbranque. It was somehow fitting that he should reach this milestone -- and in some style -- while all eyes were elsewhere, on the trumpeted and tempestuous Champions League meeting between Real Madrid and Barcelona.

By Puck Bonjourno, Yanks and Yankettes. Guess whose back? Apologies for the two week layoff, but I have been out of the country generally kicking ass. That's right, Puck took his foul-mouthed, USMNT loving, beard growing self overseas to see what life is like in the land of meatballs and Cannoli. In truth, I was [.

USA-MEXICO SERIESALL-TIME

• The U.S. has a 15-31-11 all-time record against Mexico in 57 meetings; however, since 2000 the U.S. has a 10-4-2 advantage in the series.
• At home, the U.S. has a 13-7-9 record including a 9-1-2 mark since 2000. The 2009 loss in the Gold Cup final was the first defeat in the last 12 meetings in the U.

- Maxi Rodriguez

As the son of a Mexican father and a blindingly pale Alabaman mother, I was raised on equal portions of Mexican soccer, pork chops, and mashed potatoes. While the effects of the southern cuisine were undone by growth spurts in my early teens, my fascination with Mexican soccer has endured.

Paul Scholes. Not just a fan's favourite, judging by the star studded cast lining up to play in his testimonial. Image: Reuters/Daylife

Last night, during Manchester United's 7-0 tonking of Seattle Sounders, the The New York Cosmos released their roster of footballers who will be gracing the Old Trafford pitch for Paul Scholes' upcoming testimonial.

United (from): De Gea, Kuszczak, Lindegaard, Amos; Evra, Jones, Ferdinand, Smalling, Vidic, Fabio, Rafael, Evans; Anderson, Giggs, Park, Carrick, Nani, Scholes, Young, Fletcher, Valencia, Obertan, Gibson, Cleverley, Pogba, Norwood, Morrison; Owen, Berbatov, Rooney, Welbeck, Macheda, Diouf.

The last time D.C. United came to Toyota Park was on October 16, 2010. It was Brian McBride's last home game and it turned out to be C.J. Brown's last home game too. 306 days is a long time but it feels even longer ago, more distant. The lineup for that game was Andrew Dykstra; Steve Kinney, Wilman Conde, Kwame Watson-Siriboe, Deris Umanzor; Bratislav Ristic, Logan Pause, Peter Lowry, Marco Pappa; Brian McBride, Patrick Nyarko.

I wrote for SI.com this morning about Jurgen Klinsmann and his biggest challenge ahead: identifying that final 10 percent, that little "something extra" from a talented young group that still clearly needs some seasoning.

Anecdotally, we can all see that something is surely missing, that extra sliver of quality that makes the difference at the highest level.

The AP reports that Clint Dempsey has been voted the Futbol de Primera U.S. national team player of the year award for the second time.
The 28-year-old midfielder and forward received 375 points and 99 first-place votes in balloting by media released Wednesday. Dempsey also won the award in 2006.

We're not fully one-third through the season, but it's a boring international break—and mostly a meaningless one at that!—so why not open the floor to a good honest debate in our 2012 Third of Season Awards: Readers Poll!

Please post your thoughts in the comments section, and also feel free to make up your own award and recipient.

Clint Dempsey and Fulham own the Monday Premier League spotlight, welcoming Liverpool to Craven Cottage (3 p.m., ESPN2/ESPN3.com).

Fulham is in need of a result to get a bit more separation from the relegation zone and make its way toward a mid-table standing. Liverpool, meanwhile, will take to the field without central midfield stalwart Lucas for the first time since he suffered a season-ending knee injury.

It's a new year, so it's time to look ahead. What can you expect from PSP in 2011? Well, we don't know. 2010 was our first full year. We were new to this. But what we did last year might give you a clue for this year.

So take a look at the best of our stuff from 2010.If you're new to this site, this is basically an intro to what we can do, posts that stand the test of time.

Happy New Year to all our readers and best wishes in 2011!

The past year was a big one for American soccer. A good but not great World Cup run, a highlight goal from Landon Donovan, and the controversial rehiring of Bob Bradley after the World Cup. A first MLS Cup win by Colorado, the signings of Rafa Marquez and Thierry Henry by New York, but maybe more importantly the rise of young players like Tim Ream, Teal Bunbury, Juan Agudelo, and Andy Najar.

Happy New Year to all our readers and best wishes in 2011!

The past year was a big one for American soccer. A good but not great World Cup run, a highlight goal from Landon Donovan, and the controversial rehiring of Bob Bradley after the World Cup. A first MLS Cup win by Colorado, the signings of Rafa Marquez and Thierry Henry by New York, but maybe more importantly the rise of young players like Tim Ream, Teal Bunbury, Juan Agudelo, and Andy Najar.

Frank Klopas and the Fire technical staff are currently in Florida for the MLS Combine ahead of the draft on January 13 but Klopas feels the Fire have a pretty good handle on which players they're interested in right now. "These players have been off for a few months so it's tough to judge guys on these games, we've seen most of them before now so we're looking for the best fit based on who's available when we pick" said Klopas.

They Riot refuse to say so, but if you buy and wear one of these, I have to think it would increase your chances of getting in front of the lines. Don't blame us if it doesn't happen though.

MLS has undergone a pretty drastic transformation right before our very eyes this offseason, one that has left me asking, "Where have all the stars gone?" alla Hershey's Cookies and Cream commercials circa 1998. Many of the league's big name stars have hit the road for various reasons, leaving behind an opportunity for many of the leagues budding young talents to take their place.