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.

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.

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.

Years or injuries, seldom a heart failure or illness can move football player away from professional football. So the news about Ipswich Town reserve keeper, Shane Supple, healthy as a horse and has just signed the contract with the team from Portman Road, retiring at the age of 22 sounded strange.

According to Bursaspor's official site, contract issues prevented them from completing their move for Heath Pearce. With the transfer window now closed, Pearce remains out of contract. Original Post: United States National Team defender Heath Pearce is now a member of Turkish club Bursaspor in the Turkcell Super Lig.

Fabio Capello has a decision to make. Stick with his preferred strike partnership of Wayne Rooney and Emile Heskey, or bench the latter and start Jermain Defoe, who scored once again after replacing Heskey in the second half of the Slovenia match. Although even Heskey himself thinks Defoe should probably start, Capello seems to be struggling with the dilemma.

Background: What is Mark Dodd doing on this list? Well, on June 4, 1998, Dodd played between the pipes for the Dallas Burn against the LA Galaxy. 90+ minutes later, Dodd had conceded a whopping eight (yes, eight) goals, a single game MLS record that has never been broken.

Rapids defender Ugo Ihemelu, one of the fastest players in Major League Soccer, throws the ball in during a scrimmage last month against the Colorado School of Mines. (photo by George Tanner/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

The Colorado Rapids have traded defender Ugo Ihemelu to Dallas for Drew Moor, the club announced Monday.

From Kyle J McCarthy

MLSNet Preview

Brad Knighton to get the start

Revs are lucky to have Knighton as backup. I thought he played well at the beginning of the season. Reis is a champ, but i've felt like he's been on the decline. Glad Knighton is getting some more caps.

Last time we beat anyone 5-1 in a World Cup qualifier, our opponents reached the final and we got knocked out by the team that beat them.

But at least we have the chance to stop that from happening again - and here are the caps and exclamation marks I promised earlier:

WE QUALIFIED EASILY WITH A 5-1 WIN OVER CROATIA!

I'm calling out to U.S. fans who have DVDs of any US MNT matches to send them in for use in compiling U.S. MNT statistics.

After the U.S.'s loss in the Gold Cup final, U.S. Soccer 'upgraded' its site and removed all of its stats beyond goals, caps, minutes, and cards. Based on the early success of this site, U.

Ireland central midfielder Glenn Whelan has signed a new four-year contract with Stoke City.
The Dublin born player joined the Potters in January 2008 from Sheffield Wednesday for £500,000.
"I'm obviously delighted, once we got it all sorted, it was just a case of getting it signed and I'm really happy.

Saint Etienne started this season just like they ended the last one, with poor performances and they quickly found themselves in the relegation zone. Seeing that the team have taken the wrong path, the club management decided to act and brought a couple of very good players in the dying moments of the transfer window, but it was Argentine striker Gonzalo Bergessio who stole the spotlight in the last few weeks and he certainly looks like the man that can turn things around for Les Verts (The Greens).

This weekend, Washington Capitals owners Ted Leonsis made a series of "pledges" to Caps fans on his personal blog. Here they are:
Quote:

• We will always operate the team as if it is a public trust. It is our job and responsibility to hold a mirror up to our community and be a reflection of the best of our fan base;
• We will always strive to be transparent and open and communicate often and honestly with our fan base;
• We will be interactive and high tech/high touch as an organization;
• We will always remain humble and hungry and sweat all of the details;
• We will be first class in all of our efforts.