Pies has got its greasy hands on some exclusive pics of Everton's new loan signing Landon Donovan being welcomed at Goodison, after the Toffees' FA Cup win against Carlisle...

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I'm very interested in seeing how this move pans out.

U.S. international star Landon Donovan has arrived in England and made his first public appearance today for Everton, the club he has joined on loan for the next 10 weeks.

Donovan arrived at Goodison Park for the second half of the Toffees FA Cup win against Carlisle. He flew in to Manchester Airport on Saturday morning and then made the journey to Liverpool according to Everton FC.

MLS has signed another US youth international, this time it's Sal Zizzo. Zizzo is a 23 year old midfielder who had signed with Hannover 96 in Germany after a very successful U-20 World Cup in 2007. Zizzo made 8 appearances for Hannover and during his time at the club he was also loaned out to Fortuna Dusseldorf.

So the USA has a game tomorrow night. We haven't really said much about it yet. So let's start. Here's the roster from US Soccer, including former Wizards striker Eddie Johnson, who has been a bigger factor of late for Fulham. Here's a preview from Jeff Carlisle/ESPN. Ives wants to know who you'd start in the USA midfield.

Kljestan, Beasley, White are winners; Adu, Feilhaber not so much

With the sound of shutting transfer windows across Europe in midweek, it's time to examine the moves made and not made by key Americans across the pond.

Some found happy new homes, but most of the name ex-pats overseas stayed put, either due to choice or a tighter European market largely focused on bargains and youth promotion.

Per Jeff Carlisle at ESPN, U.S. international midfielder Sal Zizzo is coming home, to Major League Soccer. The former U20 and U23 international recently saw his contract with German side Hannover 96 end which made way for this move back to this side of the pond with MLS.

According to Carlisle and his sources, Zizzo will be placed in a weighted lottery on Wednesday with Kansas City and D.

Since everyone seems to be jumping on the Free Agency Timeline bandwagon, I thought I'd hop on too I and look at how the MLS bloggers have sneezed blood over the weekend, all from some coordinated player remarks on free agency made on Friday, and MLS president Mark Abbott's subsequent response.
Friday, February 19th, 2010 (Player Tweets, Facebook, Ives, Snowden, Carlisle)

• Ives: "Key among the issues being fought over are player free agency and team autonomy in player transactions.

Four years ago, I predicted 12/16 teams right to advance to the round of 16. I missed Ecuador/Ghana/Switzerland/Ukraine, picking Poland/USA/South Korea/Tunisia instead. I did get France going to the final, though I predicted Brazil to defeat them to win the title. Eight years ago, I also got one of the final two correct (picked England over Germany).

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.

Still riding high from his Premier League debut last weekend, US international Landon Donovan is anxiously awaiting an opportunity to make his home debut at Goodison Park. The on-loan Los Angeles Galaxy playmaker could get that chance as soon as this coming Saturday, when Everton plays host to fourth-place Manchester City.

With J Hutcherson -- With Frank Simek signing with Carlisle in League One and Jay DeMerit out of contract, we could be approaching a Championship season in England minus any player with an appearance for the full United States National Team cap. Even some people's favorite past time of find the mystery American in a given European league comes up short.

So who's on the 23?

That's what you want to know, and we'll learn the U.S.'s final 23-man World Cup roster soon enough: at approximately 1:20 p.m. ET on Wednesday, when coach Bob Bradley announces his 23 Golden Tickets on ESPN.

In the wake of the U.S.'s 4-2 loss to the Czech Republic -- an almost meaningless result, considering the Americans were missing Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey and other stars -- Bradley left Rentschler Field knowing that a long night lay ahead.

The Newcastle manager Chris Hughton has cleared up some questions today. Xisco - trying to dance? Spanish U21 International Xisco missed the game on Saturday at Carlisle, but will be back available for the trip to Carrow Road this coming weekend. It turns out he picked up a slight knock in training last week, and didn't [.

Federico Macheda had two early goals, Mexican star Javier Hernandez scored in his Manchester United debut, and the Red Devils routed the MLS All-Stars 5-2 on Wednesday night in the final U.S. stop on their North American tour.
Carlisle: Should have seen it coming
Wahl: Three Thoughts

Eric Wynalda has never been one to sit on his hands and do nothing. Love him or hate him, Wynalda has continually put himself in the American soccer conversation because he speaks his mind, a habit that has sometimes landed him in hot water. It's a reasonable assumption that Wynalda's loose lips policy is partly to blame for the USMNT and MLS great being unable to land a coaching job in the United States.

Frank Simek's inspiring play continued last week for Carlisle as he sent his squad into the Johnstone's Paint Trophy Quarterfinals.
The Rest

Hillside views above industrial towns are a staple of Football Focus on an FA Cup Match Day, with Hovis music thrown into the mix and images shown of flat capped oldsters swinging rattles for all they are worth in crowds of 80,000. Ronny Radford will fire in that goal again as parkas swamp the pitch, minnows will feature cobblers and tinkers amidst their ranks and the manager will always be

The English Football Association (FA) Cup wrapped up its first day of 3rd round matches on Saturday, January 2, 2010. There were not too many surprises as many of the favorites advanced including Aston Villa, Everton, Liverpool, Tottenham, and Fulham. While many of the larger clubs often will use the FA Cup to give their starters a rest or a chance to younger players, it's a chance for smaller clubs to make a name for themselves.

Thank goodness for Jermaine Beckford, who gave the headline writers the chance to rekindle the magic of the cup.
It was a sports journalist's dream, with Leeds bringing back memories of glory days lost and giving Fergie another excuse to lament the lack of injury time. The result also came just in time to save a distinctly average third round weekend.

Here is a really good article that Jeff Carlisle did for ESPN's Soccernet a few months ago on Hugo Pérez, the former U.S. National team player.

Carlisle United have completed the re-signing of Manchester City midfielder Adam Clayton until the end of the season.

The 21-year-old first moved to Brunton Park in November, making 11 outings for the Blues including the 3-1 FA Cup defeat at Everton earlier this month.

>>Sky Sports.

With the news confirmed that Matt Thornhill has left for an initial month's loan (possibly to be extended) at Cheltenham Town, Vital Forest report that combative-and-mardy-but-kind-of-likeable forgotten man Joe Garner could also be leaving the City Ground on loan, to either Carlisle or Millwall. In the meantime, Colin Neil Warnock has said that Forest have not bid [.

Jeff Carlisle has written a very good article on ESPN's Soccernet about how the Houston Dynamo are going to replace Ricardo Clark and Stuart Holden.

From King Eric to Carlisle's emergency loan signing, here are some mid- and late-season deals that changed the world.

We're still waiting for BBC to post the highlights, but I may as well go ahead and mention that Leeds forward Mike Grella hopped off the bench last night to score with five minutes left, sending their thrilling two-leg Johnston's Paint Trophy semifinal to extras on a 4-4 aggregate.Despite the American making his, the Whites would eventually lose to home side Carlisle on spot kicks.

Colour us impressed: Burnley captain Clarke Carlisle popped up on Countdown last week. And he won. Twice.

Actually, we shouldn't have been surprised; Carlisle already holds the title for Britain's Brainiest Footballer and he described appearing on Countdown as a life long ambition.

Colour us impressed: Burnley captain Clarke Carlisle popped up on Countdown last week. And he won. Twice.

Actually, we shouldn't have been surprised; Carlisle already holds the title for Britain's Brainiest Footballer and he described appearing on Countdown as a life long ambition.

To be fair, they do jump up and down a bit towards the end... Thanks to wob for emailing that vid to tips[at]theoffside.com World Cup opponent predictor (Castrol) What are your football rituals? (EPL Talk) Does Arshavin drink coffee? Answer revealed at... (The Spoiler) Sometimes the wind is quite literally against you (Dirty Tackle) Clarke Carlisle, and other clever footballers (Kickette) Tributes [.

It is hard being CCN these days. Our bread and butter over the last three or four years has been hoovered up elsewhere, there's no point in me re-creating any wheels, so I am left with whatever thoughts happen to force themselves into my head. It is extraordinarily hard to have original thoughts (you would find more of them if this were not the case), and to an extent whatever ideas I might have are largely driven by whatever material is presented: if I see an interesting goal or move or tactical somethingorother I can talk about it; if I don't, I can't.

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- QPR REPORT Available on TWITTER!
- Visit the QPR Report football-only Messageboard (updated style) for latest QPR Updates and QPR discussion throughout the day.>
- QPR Win Youth Alliance Final vs Peterbrough - Match Reports
- "On This Day" Flashback: QPR 6 Chelsea 0!

In a week where all we have heard about footballers is how much they enjoy texting naked pictures of themselves to glamour models and how they think nothing of having it away with a teammates girlfriend (thanks, by the way, JT - now we don't have an experienced, fit left back for the World Cup), here's proof that not all Premier League stars are complete fuckwits.

A brace from Luciano Becchio and a goal from Max Gradel helped Leeds to a crucial win away at Brunton Park to help take the Elland Road outfit into second place.

Win the Club Shirt Of Your Choice Simply by Speaking Your Mind!

Carlisle 1 v Leeds 3 13/04/10
Uploaded by sparkyman2.

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- QPR REPORT Available on TWITTER!
- Visit the football-only new-look QPR Report Messageboard throughout the day for the latest QPR Updates and discussion.
Independent - Neil Warnock: Coach trips can be good for team spirit – but you need to play your cards right
What I Learnt This Week
- I had the best night's sleep since I arrived at QPR this week, and it was not because we are now safe from relegation.

When: 8 p.m. EDT
Where: Rentschler Field; East Hartford, CT
U.S. TV: ESPN
Preview
Jeff Carlisle: Bradley has many questions to answer
Players on the bubble getting nervous

Jeff Carlisle has written a good update for ESPN's Soccernet on the breakdown in the labor talks between ownership and the players' union. Its still a long road to go and nobody wins if they don't start the MLS season on time so hopefully they will come to a resolution.

World Cup Bracket Pools

The World Cup begins on Friday so anyone still wishing to get in on our World Cup Bracket Pool can email me at fireconfidential@aol.com for the password. The pool is located on ESPN's World Cup Bracket Predictor.

The time for talk is over -- from Soccernet's Jeff Carlisle: Turning this strategy into a winning formula is another matter, of course. Bradley's task just starting with rivalry -- from The NY Post's Jay Greenberg: "Bob understands that," the boss said. United States has respect to gain in World Cup match against overconfident England -- from The NY Daily News' Filip Bondy: It was a strange day, and an odder setting.

Yes they can.

If you've been reading/listening/watching Alexi Lalas talk about Thursday's game against Slovenia, you've probably heard the following "axiom" more than once: the USA are great at playing the underdog role, but struggle as a favorite. Here is a recent example from Jeff Carlisle's article, "Complacency is the U.

Day 7

Minutes after the United States 2-2 tie against Algeria Friday, my buddy Andy called.

Before hello's were exchanged, I ranted, "Unbelievable. I can't believe that goal didn't count. But that comeback, unbelievable. And that header from Altidore to Bradley was just fantastic.

Is anyone starting to get that feeling? That feeling of excitement as the new season draws ever closer? I know I am, and I can't wait for us to kick off our pre-season campaign away at Carlisle in a little over a weeks time. At least it will give us something else to focus on, and [...]