Otto Greule Jr - Getty Images

Attendance for Sounders' games at Qwest Field is up more than 18 percent over last year's pace, leading a league-wide attendance bump of 13.6 percent over last year.

There wasn't too much movement this week, especially at the bottom of the order. A couple teams shifted near the top but no one is touching LA here. The Galaxy are still undefeated here and have all but locked up a playoff spot already here.

Keep an eye out on Colorado right now, they're quietly moving up the charts and are better than folks realize.

The bump doesn't lie, Kickettes. Please compare these photos taken when Fernando and Olalla's first daughter, Nora, was fresh and shiny, to the belly situation occuring in the pic at left.

Fernando Torres, you little minx.

Not only was Mr. Torres able to keep his wedding a secret from the press, but he's somehow kept this on the hush-hush as well.

Following on the heels of our look at German midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger, we present you his "discovered on the street" model girlfriend Sarah Brander.

Schweini has been in excellent form since the 5'10″ blond came along (ending his streak of 5 girlfriends in a year and a half), and has actually given her some credit for his current class.

Wednesday's USA v Algeria match will take place at the same time as the England v Slovenia match. ESPN will air the USA match at 8:30 am while ESPN2 carries the Brits. We'll know the fate of Group C by 10:30 on Wednesday....I'm counting the minutes.

It seems Bob Bradey is contemplating moving Clint Dempsey up top in lieu of Robbie Findley's suspension for two yellow cards in the first two matches.

Landon Donovan returns to MLS action. (Getty Images)

Its a holiday weekend for Major League Soccer. Typically the 4th of July is a big one for the league and it's clubs. This time around the holiday falls on the weekend so that should mean a good bump in attendance as various clubs are doing their usual celebrations.

My calendar says August 12th, which means that the MLS transfer window for attached players ends in just a few days. Considering the rather busy summer we've had for MLS signings, it would hardly be a surprise if all of the big splash moves have been consummated and the window will close without another name player joining MLS.

It's been too long since I've done one of these infographics. And it's not like it's hard to devise ways to graphically demonstrate Liverpool's dire season so far.
Through 20 league games, Liverpool's 14 points worse off than in comparable fixtures from last season. 14 more points would put Liverpool at the top of the table by two points over Chelsea, 3 points ahead of United with a game in hand.

Xabi Alonso, his wife Nagore, her bump, and their son Jon were out for a stroll at Park Retiro in Madrid recently.

Stating the obvious: Xabi is so fit.

Stating the obvious part II: our readers rock. These exclusive pics were sent in by the lovely Kickette Bridget Patrick who happened to be nearby and had the wherewithal to document her discovery for us to enjoy.

David Ferreira helped guide FC Dallas to a draw against Seattle. (Getty Images)

For some reason YouTube isn't playing nicely today so there may not be any video highlights of this weekend's games. If it starts to play nicer with me later today we'll see. Anyways, time to take a quick look back at this weekend's action.

With Sunday's conclusion to the 15th season of Major League Soccer, we can now look at the final unofficial attendance numbers for the league. Average attendance was up 4% over 2009, and the league broke the 4 million mark in total attendance for the first time ever, thanks to the addition of Philadelphia and a new stadium in New York.

The USSF-D2's AC St. Louis, as well as my favorite WPS team, St. Louis Athletica, are facing serious financial trouble, according to recent reports. The St. Louis Globe-Democrat:

Professional soccer in St. Louis has hit a major bump in the financial road that has left the men's AC St.

Today is Members Day, when everyone from the squad comes back for the team picture and a public training session. Here are my initial thoughts on the early part of the day:

GREAT to see Aaron Ramsey in Arsenal red again, clapping the fans. Really great.

Bendtner obviously isn't taking part in the practice session because of his groin, but um .

Per Buzz at the 3rd Degree, Schellas Hyndman let slip at practice today that MLS rosters will expand to 30 next year. This is fairly big news on the back of word that the schedule will be 34 games long (in a 32 week span); the more players teams have to compete with multiple fronts, the better.
This is just beginning to make the rounds, and does appear "new".

Yes Mista... we all threw up in our mouths

REAL SALT LAKE 4 - TORONTO FC 1
CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

For 15 minutes tonight, Toronto FC supporters, and most likely Nick Dasovic, thought that the removal of Preki and Mo Johnston was the instant cure for what ailed.

With Alvaro Saborio and Fredy Montero getting their Designated Player paydays this week, the attention will turn to some other top players who could be candidates for big money upgrade.

Whether you're talking MLS Cup-winning striker Omar Cummings, or Toronto FC star Dwayne DeRosario, there are a a handful of MLS standouts who can make good cases for deserving the boost in pay.

The traditional set-piece dummy goes slapstick Ridiculous free-kick routines rarely have the desired effect leaving the participants looking pretty stupid. And this clumsy reworking of the good old dummy free-kick is no exception. The footage comes from China. Two players both make dummy runs towards the ball, bump into each other and fall over while [.

Back to earth with a bump for Leeds fans this week. Twiggster talks you through the Beckford transfer gossip and brings you match reports from last weeks 1st team and reserves games.Some excellent listener emails and everything you need to know about Leeds United. http://www.csrnusa.com

Juventus appeared to have finally snapped out of their poor run and looked set to register a surprise win at the San Siro with Diego scoring the opening goal of the game but goals from Lucio and Mario Balotelli brought them back down to earth with a bump.

Buy Juventus Tickets at Fantastic Prices!

This is not the complete schedule for Sounders FC. Most of you know that, but I should remind you that there will be the US Open Cup, the CONCACAF Champions League as well as 3 friendlies tagged onto the following schedule.

It is notable to me that though 1/3 of all league matches are on TV this year, only 9 will be of Sounders.

Andy Carroll was already there after being formally charged for assault on Monday but his Newcastle team mates joined him in coming back down to earth with a bump, as our apparent bogey team Derby County turned us over convincingly. After the Friday night demolition of Cardiff, hopes were high of more of the same [.

Four Dollar Beers!

The Rapids are really busting out some great ideas. Terraces, 4$ beer, 5$ food, ticketless entry.

But it isn't just Colorado who has decided that they are tired of losing money.

The Revolution are kicking their ticketing buzz up a bit too. They launched a referral program, with a hell of a peak prize - trip to the All Star Game.

Xabi Alonso, his wife Nagore, her bump, and their son Jon were out for a stroll at Park Retiro in Madrid recently.

Stating the obvious: Xabi is so fit.

Stating the obvious part II: our readers rock. These exclusive pics were sent in by the lovely Kickette Bridget Patrick who happened to be nearby and had the wherewithal to document her discovery for us to enjoy.

Indonesia Cup
Arema v Deltras 1-0 (Noh Alam Shah)
Pelita Jaya v Persipasi 2-1
Persib v Persita 4-1
Persik v PSBI 3-0
Persitara v Persibo 1-2
PSMP v Persijap 1-0
Persipura v Persiwa 3-1
PSM v Persiram 2-1
Thai Premier League
Police v BEC Tero 1-2
Muang Thong United v Bangkok United 5-1
Buriram PEA v TOT 0-0
Muang Thong stay top and keep their 100% record.

Much has been made this season about the Rapids attendance. Less than 12K at the home opener followed last weekend by a sub-10K crowd has people talking. Multiple threads at BigSoccer plus blog posts as well have stirred the pot. The "conventional wisdom" is that the problem is that the Dick is all the way out in Commerce City.

The build up to South Africa hit a bump, in the unlikely shape of New Zealand, for Serbia in Klagenfurt on Saturday. In a disappointing performance that saw stand-in captain Nemanja Vidic, forced to take a microphone in the second half to calm an angry Serb support. The match was ...

Who knows, this goal may be more than just a gift in the group standings. (Getty Images)

Every four years we expect a bump in random folks watching our lovely game. Each World Cup comes with more hype and excitement and as the tournament goes on some average sports fans tune in to see what all the fuss is about.

The United States Men's National Team did not experience much of a bump in the latest edition of the FIFA rankings, despite winning their group for the first time since 1930 and advancing out of the Group Stage for the first time in eight years.
Published on Wednesday, the first post-World Cup release of world rankings has the United States moving up one position into a tie with Serbia for 13th.

By JOSE M. ROMERO

The blood streaming down Conor Casey's bald head said it all. The Seattle Sounders weren't just good in their 2-1 home win against the Colorado Rapids on Sunday, they were physical. As in bringing the pain.

Being the aggressor has never been a hallmark of either of coach Sigi Schmid's first two Sounders teams.

An excellent interview from our new signing Ben Arfa in the Evening Chronicle today, and we suppose even the hard copies of the paper will get a good bump in sales today, with the French lad's excellent statements making good news for the Newcastle United Football club. Hatem Ben Arfa why it had to [.

OK, so back down to earth with a bump after a 2-0 loss today.

We went up against our cross town rivals who beat us 4-0 last year. They are currently ranked 8th in the nation in NAIA, so obviously they are a good team.

We got off to a bright start and could have been up 1-0 early on. They then scored a very fortunate goal after twenty minutes.

After the highs of beating Chelsea away in the last round of the Carling Cup I think it's fair to say that the fourth-round draw has brought most of us back down to earth with a bump. The win against Chelsea was a fantastic result and well deserved given the effort that our lads put in [...]

The web business can be funny, in all meanings of that word, much like the football business. Strange, unpredictable things happen. Though we tend not to do a lot of navel-gazing here at The Offside, and tend to think that the football is much more interesting than our little selves, every once in a while, something happens here at headquarters that is worthy of sharing with our readers.

Valencia's, Juan Mata, has been picking up a lot of interest from some of the high profile club's that included; Serie A giant's Inter Milan, La Liga champions Barcelona, and Premier League club Liverpool.

However, it looks like none of the above clubs will have a chance at signing Mata as he is set to sign a new deal with the Spanish club that will see him at the Mestalla until 2016.

Belgium versus Austria was so excellent it deserves after the fact cinema screening across the globe whilst being served by holographic models wearing nothing but a few pixels, something Japan is already scheming up for their latest World Cup 2022 techno leak. Double fours in the scoreline tells part of the story, but three of those goals came in the final ten, with Belgium also hitting the inside of the post, only for it to squib back in the box, and Jan Vertonghen managing to confound those with common sense the world over by launching himself into orbit with what can only be termed "a stiff bump" (you'll notice the 'leg pull' as he's in the air, a technique reserved for the mantle which also holds the archer's bow).

The MLS season ended a couple of weeks back, and then the top half of the league were pitted against one another in goal-aggregate, home-and-away series. What does that mean exactly? For one thing, it means all the games the Galaxy won during the season to earn first place are half worthless. They still would've made the playoffs with 12 less points—why not take a page from city associates the Lakers and play at half speed until the playoffs, when you can come out limber but rested?

That's right folks, Colorado and San Jose, both teams from the Western Conference are playing for the Eastern Conference's highest accolade. What the hell does this mean? It means conferences are ridiculous. Wait, this isn't a post about the conferences though so let's get to the nitty gritty of Saturday's Match.

Defeat to Blackburn on Wednesday night brought us back down to earth with a bump, but another home game pretty much straight away gives us a chance to put things right against Fulham. It also gives Chris Hughton a chance to give some other players a run-out. Now I'm not talking wholesale changes, although obviously Joey [.

A bit of a shock to me but reports from Spain suggest that Barcelona defender, Dani Alves is set to leave the Blaugrana after both sides failed to meet an agreement on a new contract. With Manchester City said to be the front-runners in signing the Brazilian right-back, it seems that Alves will be chasing the money and will be set to make a move to the Premier League.

Hugo Almeida scored a hat-trick and was then sent off as Werder Bremen won 3-0 over St Pauli. Borussia Dortmund re-established their seven-point advantage atop the Bundesliga with a 4-1 win over Borussia Monchengladbach. Bayern Munich moved into the top five for the first time this season thanks to a comfortable 4-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt.