When Landon Donovan set out on his three-month loan stint from the Los Angeles Galaxy to Everton FC back in January, many fans of the USMNT were worried that he might have a target on his back when matching up against some of the English players that he is likely to face in the World Cup this June. As it turns out, it was Donovan who cast the first injury stone, knocking out England's starting left-back Ashley Cole for three months with a broken ankle.

Toronto FC kicked its CONCACAF Champions League group stage off to a great start on Tuesday night after registering an impressive 2-1 victory against Mexican powerhouse Cruz Azul at BMO Field.

Martin Saric and Mista scored first-half goals for TFC, which dominated the normally strong Mexican visitors for stretches and looked like a team intent on advancing beyond the group stage.

By Chris Wright

(video via 101GG)

Barcelona are optimistic that Lionel Messi hasn't suffered a broken ankle (as was first thought) after being injured during their 2-1 Primera Division win over Atletico Madrid last night.

Messi was hauled off the pitch on a stretcher after a challenge from Atletico defender Thomas Ufjalusi (who received a fairly harsh red card for his part in the incident) left the agonised winger in tears on the turf of the Vicente Calderon stadium.

As tactics continue to evolve in the game, you tend to see different trends in individual and team tactics.
One trend was teams moving away from using a #10 - the creative attacking player. It was not uncommon for teams to deploy a player in that role, either as a withdrawn striker or as an attacking midfielder.

With less than 3 months to go until England's first group game against the U.S.A on June 12th in the World Cup and one particular pair of positions are causing more problems than anyone envisaged. At full strength, the English full-backs picked themselves with Ashley Cole easily making a case for being the best left back in world football and Glen Johnson's continual growth as a player.

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti says that England's Ashley Cole is ready to play and 100% recovered from his broken ankle and marital issues.

Cole sustained his broken ankle back in February and his marriage with the beautiful Cheryl Cole still hangs in the balance after headlines linking him with a number of women.

We're definitely at the business end of the season, now, and with just one point separating Chelsea from United, the talk coming out of Old Trafford is of the pressure that rests on the leaders, and questioning whether the blues could shoulder it.

United tightened the screw further by beating Spurs 3-1 at Old Trafford to top the table briefly, but Chelsea responded in statesman-like fashion on Sunday by swamping a complacent-looking Stoke team 7-0.

The World Cup is almost here, I can't believe it. Football in the format that can really grow the U.S. fan base. It was the 2008 Olympics when I became officially hooked. Shacked up on the couch with a broken ankle I watched every game. Waking up at 5 A.M. wasn't out of the norm. Lets go! I hope the rest of the country can show the support that we need.

Image via Getty/Daylife

Is this the season of injuries, Kickettes? We don't know what's swirling around in the atmosphere that's causing so many awful injuries so soon, but we no likey. As such, we will be looking for answers here until we find them.

In last night's 0-0 Champions League draw between Manchester United and Rangers, United winger Antonio Valencia suffered a truly horrific broken ankle.

Broken ankle rules Ashley Cole out for three months - Barclays Premier League - ESPN SoccernetWell, it would appear that ACole is out for the rest of the season with a broken ankle. Looks like Yuri Zhirkov will be a regular starter for Chelsea. He won't get any clean sheet points since he's listed as a midfielder but he'll likely be worth a punt if you need an inexpensive midfielder.

England and Chelsea defender Ashley Cole is set to undergo surgery on his broken ankle later on Friday. The former Arsenal left-back is facing a race against time to be fit for the World Cup this summer, after being ruled out of action for the next three months. Cole sustained the injury ...

There's good news about Jose Enrique today, and surprise news that Chris Hughton would still like to keep Patrick van Aanholt on Tyneside. Jose Enrique starts comeback in training on Monday Jose will return to training next week as he continues his comeback from his hamstring injury, but even though Ashley Cole has a broken ankle, Chris [.

By AVI CREDITOR

The Wayne Bridge-John Terry saga has reached new heights.

Bridge has taken himself out of national-team consideration for the World Cup, further depleting England's options at left back and adding another chapter to an ugly story for the Three Lions.

First off i have incredible empathy for Wayne Bridge.If you don't understand whats been going on let me recap quickly.Wayne Bridge and John Terry are footballer's who were also teammates at Chelsea football club.Together they also both played for England. Both are super talented and both for all intents shared more in common then should be comfortably allowed.

England are facing up to a potential crisis at summer following emerging news that Chelsea left back Ashley Cole may struggle to be fit for the 2010 World Cup. Cole has been an England stalwart in recent years, establishing himself as a near automatic selection on the left hand side of England's defence.

Word cloud from East Lower courtesy of Wordle

Guardian squad sheet
BBC match page

Now, it's got to be said that looking at the stats and the squad sheets above doesn't get you all that far. It will tell you that Birmingham have a very good home record, but it will also tell you that Arsenal's recent record looks like WWWWWW.

Very bad news for Honduras' hopes in the World Cup as doctors confirmed that Carlo Costly has a broken bone in his right foot. Costly, who plays for SC Vaslui in Romania, suffered the injury in a league match against CFR Cluj last weekend. The recovery time from such an injury is six to eight weeks, which means that Costly will miss the World Cup.

Well after August and September comes October and November.

13 years is all it takes for a man to be immortalized in stone. Arguably Arsenal's greatest ever manager (or second greatest if you fancy an argument) celebrated his 13th anniversary in charge of this institution. In the meantime, Chelsea and Tottenham have seen approximately a dozen managers come and go.

Okay, maybe Jozy's teammates in South Africa weren't panicking over his ankle injury yesterday; no worries though, I was doing it for them. And from the looks of the blogosphere and social networking sites, I'm not alone. You can't blame a dude for initially spiraling into a pit of despair though, not when ESPN originally reported that Altidore was sent to the hospital with a broken ankle.

The Colorado Rapids come into Toyota Park riding a string of five consecutive 1-0 matches, an MLS record for consecutive matches with that score line. Colorado is 3-2 in that same period and currently on a three game winnning streak. The Rapids have been solid defensively all season, only allowing seven goals (their season high in goals against was 2 against the Fire on April 3).

Difficult to know where to start for this one: I don't think any of us were expecting the current situation to be this dire. If we don't win and the States beat Algeria then we'll have been knocked out in the group stages for the first time since 1958.

We previewed our game with the Slovenes last year (the original article is here) and not a great deal has changed for them: Robert Koren has since been released by WBA and they have not been allowed to replace striker Nejc Pecnik (broken ankle).

Atletico Madrid have been hoping to sign someone who can strengthen their defense and it seems like they have been able to do just that as they went on to sign Brazilian full-back Filipe Luis from Deportivo La Coruna. Having said to sign with Atletico Madrid for €13.5 million, the Spanish club will definitely be looking to benefit from signing the 24 year old.

Toronto FC kicked its CONCACAF Champions League group stage off to a great start on Tuesday night after registering an impressive 2-1 victory against Mexican powerhouse Cruz Azul at BMO Field.

Martin Saric and Mista scored first-half goals for TFC, which dominated the normally strong Mexican visitors for stretches and looked like a team intent on advancing beyond the group stage.

We are the better team. Hands down. But we need to be careful. The last time we played the 'Quakes we underestimated their talent (result: 2-2 tie). The 'Quakes are no longer in last place in the West that honor goes to Chivas. Instead they have climbed to a playoff-run worthy sixth place. The Galaxy, as you know, are in first place.

Watching the Fulham Wolves replay right now and I need to give Fulham a bit of love. Star Bobby Zamora suffered a broken ankle in the 2-1 win and will be out for 4 months, so Hughes will rely ... Continue reading →

No, this isn't an involuntary game of Operation - although we wish the Arsenal boys wouldn't be so resistant towards the idea. Nor is this a bad attempt at 'Baller Tic-Tac-Toe. But again, not a bad thought for the 'Baller Bingo creators.

Instead, we're foregoing our usual repertoire of hot gimpwalker queries (where RVP is often spotlighted) to display the early season spread of crutch-ridden cuties.

Manchester United's roster will include Wayne Rooney for today's UEFA Champions League clash with Rangers, and Sir Alex Ferguson believes Rooney will respond well in his first club match since the public revelations about his infidelity.

Ferguson excluded Rooney from United's weekend fixture against Everton for fear of the striker taking abuse after his personal life became tabloid fodder.

Manchester United winger Antonio Valencia suffered an awful broken ankle in their Champions League group match away to Rangers. Valencia is a world class player and top notch professional, we hate to see these types of things in the game even though we know it is par for the course each season.

Manchester United 0 0 Rangers

Rangers' intent was clear as they played shut-down football upon their trip to Old Trafford in their Group C Champions League match with Manchester United. Chris Smalling's (CB) competent and impressive performance as well as Rio Ferdinand's (CB) return to first-team football were grossly overshadowed by the horrific broken ankle Antonio Valcenia (RW) suffered just and hour into the match.

So Gary Cahill is appealing against the red card awarded for his foul on Marouane Chamakh.

Good. I'm delighted. Bring it on.

By appealing, Cahill leaves open the option of having his three-match ban for a straight red extended by the FA committee that hears his appeal. And make no mistake – he deserves to have the ban extended.

Kirk Broadfoot has relived the horrific moment when he witnessed the full extent of Antonio Valencia's ankle injury.

"I just remember sliding in, getting up and looking round to see his bone sticking out," said the Rangers defender. "I just tried to get the physio on as soon as possible.

Image via Getty/Daylife

Is this the season of injuries, Kickettes? We don't know what's swirling around in the atmosphere that's causing so many awful injuries so soon, but we no likey. As such, we will be looking for answers here until we find them.

In last night's 0-0 Champions League draw between Manchester United and Rangers, United winger Antonio Valencia suffered a truly horrific broken ankle.

Soccer usually isn't home to the gruesome injury of the week. But don't tell that to Antonio Valencia. The player for Manchester United broke his ankle against the Rangers. You can see the video of Antonio Valencia's broken ankle at the end of this story.

Valencia was dribbling up the sideline when he was tackled by a player on the Rangers.

Ujfalusi cruel tackle on Messi on Atletico Madrid game vs. Barca. Messi was very lucky not to get a broken ankle from this ugly tackle. Reminded us on 1983 Maradona when his ankle was broken vs....
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Photo by ISIphotos.com

By TRAVIS CLARK

Jurgen Klinsmann is now the man to help reorganize Toronto FC. The former German international was officially hired as a consultant to help the club through the hiring process of a coach and general manager.

First off i have incredible empathy for Wayne Bridge.If you don't understand whats been going on let me recap quickly.Wayne Bridge and John Terry are footballer's who were also teammates at Chelsea football club.Together they also both played for England. Both are super talented and both for all intents shared more in common then should be comfortably allowed.