The focus today is Francophone players.

France Football's Phillipe Auclair stated that Arsenal are close to signing Chamakh from Bordeaux. Auclair is a respected journalist and knows quite a bit about Arsene's France based dealings. If Phillipe Auclair claims Arsenal are close to signing Marouane Chamakh, then that is more credible than a lot of the UK newspaper back pages.

Fulham are chasing Seattle Sounders exciting striker Fredy Montero. The 21-year-old has scored nine goals in his past 15 games for Drew Carey's Sounders.Montero has already won three caps for his country and had a trial with Real Betis last season.

Yeah I'm jealous of the Caps, and it's not just because they're actually winning playoff games. The Caps are the biggest story in town these days, and rightfully so. Every casual sports fan in the DC area that I know has started following the Caps. And that's awesome. I'm one of them. I grew up watching the Caps, going to a couple games a year, but haven't paid attention to them for the last decade or so, until the second half of this season.

Dutch newspaper Het Laatste is reporting that Arsenal have a greed a fee for Belgium centre half Thomas Vermaelen with Ajax. The fee is reportedly in the region of £10 million. The newspaper is saying that the player has agreed a four year contract with Arsenal.

As yet there is no confirmation on either club's website nor from the player.

Fernando Clavijo winner of 61 caps as a player for the United States National Team, and former MLS and International manager joins us on the program. Listen to Clavijo's memories of his time with the National Team, the 1994 World Cup, managing in MLS and his thoughts about USL-1.

Facundo Erpen was a 2006 MLS All Star and won the 2006 and 2007 Supporters Shield with DC United.

Canadian National Team defender Andrew Hainault has completed a transfer from Czech Republic club FK SIAD Most and is now a member of the Houston Dynamo. Hainault takes a senior international roster slot. He has 14 caps for Canada. "We're very pleased to officially have Andrew joining the team," Dynamo Chief Operating Officer Chris Canetti said.

More than a few times has Heather Mitts and Leslie Osborne been mistaken for each other and/or compared to each other, mostly when they are on the field, and mostly by fans and TV analysts. Sure both are very blond, have similar hair styles, similar builds (although Osborne is 5-8 and Mitts is 5-5), similar facial structure and often wear similar cute hairbands, but last night in Rochester it got taken to another level.

AAAAHHHHHHHH I AM ARTUR BORUC AND THIS IS A LIST OF THINGS THAT MADE ME ANGRY THIS WEEK:

1. LOSING THE OLD FIRM DERBY AHHHHHHHHH WE KEEP LOSING BIG MATCHES AND IT'S HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!! I TRIED YELLING AT MY TEAMMATES TO MAKE THEM STOP DOING THIS TO ME BUT THEIR EARS JUST START BLEEDING AND THEN THEY HAVE TO GO TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM AND THEY END UP PLAYING EVEN WORSE AFTER THAT WHICH MAKES ME YELL AT THEM AGAIN AND AHHHHHHHH IT'S A VICIOUS CYCLE THAT WILL NEVER STOP!

Just like I never left...

This season is past half over, and DC United is tied for second in the Eastern Conference. With a record of 5-3-9, this United team has not blown the doors off, and has shown the ever maddening "flashes of brilliance" followed by the defensive meltdowns reminiscent of 2008.

Along with Daniel Pacheco and Krisztian Nemeth, Finnish teen Lauri Dalla Valle is one of Liverpool's most exciting prospects.
Liverpool have done pretty well so far when it comes to Finnish players - Sami Hyypia and Jari Litmanen were fantastic for the club, and if Dalla Valle displays even half of the quality and professionalism of those two, we'll have a very special player on our hands.

Why FIFA's 6 + 5 Rule Represents The Wrong Fight Against the Globalization of the World's Most Global Sport

FIFA's proposed 6 + 5 rule is supposedly gaining traction. The law would require club teams to start a minimum of six players eligible for the national team of the country in which they play.

I haven't had a chance to see both goals yet but I read a telecast of the match between United and Pompey tonight. So here's my fairly accurate report on the day that Scholes reached 600 United caps, with some interesting news to boot!
From what I read, we were in control for the majority of the match.

The Revs have acquired Generation Adidas midfielder Nico Colaluca from Colorado Rapids in exchange for GA defender Rob Valentino. Valentino failed to crack the first team in MLS, but made 3 starts in the US Open Cup, and had a substitute appearance versus Joe Public in the CONCACAF Champions League.

Clint Dempsey (sporting new tattoo at left) will earn his 50th cap if he takes the field against Costa Rica, completing a half-century of appearances in a national team career that has spanned just over four and a half years. Before the game at Estadio Saprissa, the MNT Blog sat down with Dempsey to discuss the path of his career:
MNT Blog: You're sitting on the cusp of 50 caps for your country.

Edgar Castillo, the New Mexico born Mexican-American left back, announced today that he would consider a move to play for the US National team. After a few good seasons with Santos Laguna, Castillo spent last year with Mexico City's Club America-- a forgettable campaign as part of one of the worst defense in the league.

The Chicago Red Stars take a quick break from Women's Professional Soccer action to host the Republic of Ireland Women's National Team for a 3 p.m. match Sunday at the Benedictine University Sports Complex, 5700 College Road, in Lisle.
Red Stars defender and Orland Park native Mary Therese McDonnell has earned six caps with the Irish National Team.

It is being reported that American midfielder Danny Szetela is returning to MLS following two years in Europe. The North Jersey native began his MLS career as a 17-year old for the Columbus Crew. He played three seasons in Ohio before moving to Racing Santander of La Liga following his good performance in the 2007 U-20 World Cup.

This man will be wearing a different black outfit shortly.
Thanks to Lenny for sending the official announcement over.
From the D.C. United Front Office, the team announced today the club has acquired defender David Habarugira. Habarugira completed a trial with the team earlier this summer and will join the Black-and-Red this weekend.

For this week's Compilation Friday we've got a lesson in recent history with France's all-time leader in caps, Lilian Thuram (142). In this video featuring his glory days with Juve, you'll see his mastery of the body check a move that can be just as devastating as a good slide tackle, but without the grass stains.

Last week I posted what I believed to be Rafa Benitez's 10 biggest transfer blunders. This week, as promised, I take a look at the 10 best signings during the Boss's 5 years in charge. And there have been some absolute corkers!
When you think back to the squad Rafa inherited (Traore, Biscan, et al), it is clear that our squad is now superior in almost every way.

Paraguayan National Team

Congratulations to Sergio Chade of Miami, FL. He won the Paraguayan national team jersey.

The answer was was José Saturnino Cardozo. He scored 25 goals in 82 caps.

Log on to MAF for future giveaways.

Posted in Paraguay Tagged: giveaway, Jersey

Italy captain and Real Madrid defender Fabio Cannavaro has been ruled out of the game against the United States due to a calf strain. Cannavaro may also be in doubt for the June 18 match against Brazil.

The Italy captain is just two appearances away from matching the Italian record of fellow defender Paulo Maldini, who amassed 126 caps in his career with the Azzuri.

AC Milan have completed the shock free transfer signing of Standard Liege centre back Oguchi Onyewu, as reported by Salvatore Landolina of Goal.com.
The 27-year-old impressed during the recent Confederations Cup for the United States, but it comes as something of a surprise that the Rossoneri have moved to snap him.

Quaranta caps off one of the nicest plays in a long time for the United States with a goal.

The football world is busy with friendlies everywhere, but here are some pics I found in some DVDs I archived some time ago which will lighten up the atmosphere as well, hope you enjoy them [added the caps] Posted in As Such, Lol Tagged: funny

Our good fwends at Dirty Tackle have already spotted the comic potential of Dimitar "The Continental" Berbatov - so good - I wish I'd thought of it - and now talkSPORT (ridiculous use of caps, fellas) has joined in with this...

As Landon Donovan's national team career ticks on, previous records continue to fall. With the all-time goal scoring title firmly his, a cap on Saturday night will give him the overall lead in World Cup qualifiers with 32.

At the moment Donovan is currently tied with Kasey Keller, Eddie Pope, and Claudio Reyna at 31 qualifying appearances and barring unforeseen circumstances will make the record his own on Saturday night in Sandy, Utah.

Argentina boss, Diego Maradona in his desperation has called up Martin Palermo into his Argentine squad for the crucial World Cup qualifier against Peru and Uruguay. The last time Palermo was called up was ten years ago, when he was 25. To say this is a waste of national caps may be too judgemental but I would have thought that there could be better alternatives to Palermo as replacement for the injured Diego Milito.

Anytime you give a WAG the platform to say stuff, it's a dangerous proposition. They are a wily group emotionally unpredictable and heaven help you if Luis Vuitton is closed.

Perhaps this is why Julio Cesar's wife (and former girlfriend of Fat Ronaldo) Susana Werner decided to play the part of amateur contract negotiator and post the following on her blog:

"It's a week of great emotions.

Hannover 96 goalkeeper Robert Enke died on Wednesday after being hit by a train. The 32-yer-old Enke had eight caps for the German National Team and played with Benfica and Barcelona. He was a teammate of United States internationals Steve Cherundolo and Sal Zizzo. He was in goal for Hannover's 2-2 draw with Hamburg on Sunday.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

Whether it's making acrobatic saves on the field, or friending thousands of people on Facebook off the field, Joe Cannon likes to go all out in everything he does.

With J Hutcherson -- There's at least the beginnings of a lesson for Major League Soccer in the aftermath of the Washington Capitals exiting the playoffs. DC apparently likes it when their arena teams are winning, and responds accordingly to the Caps and the Wizards. As the Wizards have already demonstrated, the general interest also responds accordingly when the team isn't doing so well.

Her Story: Michelle Akers should very arguably be a top 2 player on this list, but I like her here at #3. She grew up in Washington State and was a four-time All-American at UCF. In 1985, she was one of the first ever members of the WNT and she would remain with the team until the turn of the century.

We've seen debates emerge a couple times over the past few weeks as to who should be our starting left back. The reality of the situation is that Tom Soehn is likely to continue rotating players at just about every position for the foreseeable future. Marc Burch and Avery John each started one match last week, and they're probably going to continue to split time as long as both are healthy.

Life's busy, ain't it? Rather than go into a full match report about Wednesday's 1-0 win over the Impact, I figured I'd just give some quick thoughts since I'm already two days late. Here we go...
- We were much, much better than the Impact. We outshot them 16-3 and hit the post at least three times.

LLUIS GENE/AFP/Getty Images

FC Barcelona defensive back Dani Alves suffered a injury to his right foot in training today. The team has announced that Alves will miss the remaining two La Liga matches. The injury is expected to keep Alves off the pitch for three weeks. The loss of Alves will not affect head coach Pep Guardiola's strategy for this Wednesday's Champions League Final against Manchester United as Alves is suspended from the match for receiving a yellow in the semi-final match against Chelsea.

Roger Espinoza continues to be a part of Honduras' plans in their current World Cup Qualifying cycle, as he was once again called up by Reinaldo Rueda for Honduras' two up coming World Cup qualifiers against the United States and El Salvador on June 6th and 10th respectively. Espinoza has yet to appear for Honduras in a World Cup qualifier, but does currently have 3 caps and 1 goal for Los Catrachos.

The 30-year-old midfielder/winger counts over 30 caps with the Indonesian national team, including seven goals scored. He is currently with PSMS Medan after coming over from Selangor FA, a Malaysian side.
He also spent time with Selangor in 2005 and 2006 and during that time the club won the Malaysian Championship, FA Cup and League Cup.

The 32-year-old goalkeeper has been with the club since 2007, but now officials from Siena have announced that Dimitrios Eleftheropoulos will leave at the end of June.
The former Greek international has 12 caps with his national side and could return to his homeland this summer.
The goalkeeper saw action with Greek power Olympiacos F.

U.S. head coach Bob Bradley has summoned Houston Dynamo midfielder Ricardo Clark to Costa Rica. Clark has collected 18 caps for the full team, including four appearances in World Cup qualifying. The 26-year-old will board a flight from Houston at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning. Clark becomes the seventh player on the U.