Neymar and Ganso model Brazil's new kit

Brazil have named a strong squad for their first fixture of the year. For the match versus Bosnia & Herzegovina in St Gallen Switzerland, as well as Neymar and Paulo Henrique Ganso, Mano Menezes has called up Flamengo's Ronaldinho and hands a debut to Santos' outstanding young keeper Rafael
The squad in full:
Goalkeepers: Júlio Cesar (Inter Milan), Diego Alves (Valencia), Rafael (Santos)
Wingbacks: Daniel Alves (Barcelona), Danilo (Porto), Marcelo (Real Madrid),
Alex Sandro (Porto), Adriano Corrêa (Barcelona)
Central defenders: Dedé (Vasco), Thiago Silva (AC Milan), David Luiz (Chelsea),
Luisão (Benfica)
Midfielders: Ganso (Santos), Hernanes (Lazio), Lucas Moura (São Paulo), Elias (Sporting), Fernandinho (Shakhtar Donetsk), Sandro Ranieri (Tottenham)
Forwards: Hulk (Porto), Jonas (Valencia), Leandro Damião (Internacional), Neymar (Santos), Ronaldinho Gaúcho (Flamengo)

By 1970's Gooner We all crucified him. Some of us thought he was loosing the plot. He brought on Arshavin against Man Utd and we lost that game. But he brought on Arshavin today and the little Russian did in 15 or so minutes what he practically failed to do all season. He produced a wonderful cross in between the central defenders for Henry to knock in at ease!

Roster flux continues though all under contract players are still with the team, some of the Supplemental Draft picks and trialists are now in a different phase of their soccer journeys. Joshua Mayers, of the Seattle Times, compiled the list of missing names. Harlinton Guiterres, Real Espana reservist, is still in camp.

The John Terry controversies a complete list - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

John Terry on his day is one of the best central defenders in the Premier League, and certainly an important player for Chelsea and England.

However, the 31-year-old is in danger of missing out on Euro 2012, after being stripped of his nation's captaincy due to the ongoing allegations of racism against the Barking-born man.

Chivas USA is the latest MLS club to join the trend of signing Colombian central defenders.

Following in the recent footsteps of the Portland Timbers and FC Dallas, the Goats announced the signing of veteran Colombian centerback John Alexander Valencia on Tuesday, adding the 30-year-old, 6-foot-4 defender to the club.

The last couple of seasons, seeing our midfield overrun, Wenger changed from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3. This added more players in central midfield where too often we had lost vital games, but the flip-side meant that the striker was isolated.

For 4-3-3 to work you need at least one of your three central midfielders to get into areas to support the striker.

Paul Merson felt Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish got his tactics wrong in their 0-0 draw with Stoke.
The Reds went into the match with three central defenders - Jamie Carragher, Sebastian Coates and Martin Skrtel - looking to deal with Stoke's lone striker Peter Crouch.
Merson said it became quickly apparent that Liverpool didn't need so many bodies at the back, but Dalglish persisted with the formation throughout a frustrating 90 minutes for the Anfield crowd.

Paul Merson felt Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish got his tactics wrong in their 0-0 draw with Stoke.
The Reds went into the match with three central defenders - Jamie Carragher, Sebastian Coates and Martin Skrtel - looking to deal with Stoke's lone striker Peter Crouch.
Merson said it became quickly apparent that Liverpool didn't need so many bodies at the back, but Dalglish persisted with the formation throughout a frustrating 90 minutes for the Anfield crowd.

Arsenal visit the Liberty Stadium with a chance to pull away from Liverpool and get within a point of Chelsea in fourth. But Swansea's impressive home record suggests a win will be a commendable achievement. The Welsh side have only conceded 4 goals at home Joint lowest in the League on par with City and lost only once with United sneaking a 1-0 win back in mid-November.

The Chicago Fire went into the 2012 SuperDraft looking for the best available talent over filling a specific need. It looks like they got both.

With the 9th overall selection, the club selected Austin Berry, a 6'2" central defender from Louisville. A former Chicago Fire PDL member, Berry is one of the oldest players in the draft at 23 years old and his maturity showed throughout the day.

Stay cool, it may feel like deja vu but you're not in the Matrix. It's just this French invention of adding to the venerable Coupe de France a modern nemesis called Coupe de la Ligue, and programming them at the same period.

This cup is the least respected of the two and many presidents already said it should be abandoned, but it has at least two advantages : First, it is the shortest route to a title, meaning it's an opportunity to salvage your season when you've missed the top spot of the championship (thinking of anyone?

Michael Dawson declared that he was delighted to be back in the fold after his contribution helped Spurs to a 3-0 win over Cheltenham at the weekend. However the news was tempered with reports that club captain Ledley King has suffered yet another injury setback.

"It was great to be out there playing again," said Dawson after the match.

In case you're not a regular visitor to the SBNation Soccer hub, today we held our annual mock MLS SuperDraft wherein each one of us blog managers takes on the role of our respective club's General Manager/Head Coach and picks in the same order as they would. It's quite fun, even though I'm usually wrong (2011 mock SuperDraft).

Liverpool 5: Bellamy 29′, Gerrard 45+1′, Shelvey 68′, Carroll 89′, Downing 90+5′
Oldham 1: Simpson 27′

It's finally the scoreline we were waiting for, but a lackadaisical first half and an incident late in the second take some of the sheen off for Liverpool, who worked their way past Oldham on the strength of a terrific display by Craig Bellamy.

Major news broke out of the US National Team camp on Wednesday night when it was announced that central defenders Omar Gonzalez and George John have left camp to attend to club related issues.

With Spurs about to take on Swansea on New Year's Eve, media attention has focussed on Steven Caulker, Tottenham's on loan centre half who has contributed to the mean defence that has done much to stabilise the Swans' first Premiership campaign.

Caulker is unavailable for the match due to Premier League rules but yesterday Harry Redknapp indicated that he believes the player can have a big future at the Lane,

"I've got big plans for this boy when he returns from his loan spell at Swansea in the summer," Harry said.

Newcastle have three top center backs in Steven Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini and Mike Williamson. Jan Vertonghen Newcastle's top target But we have suffered in the games since Chelsea, when we lost Steven Taylor for the season, with being without either one or two central defenders in the side.

Fabricio Coloccini had a very good game yesterday afternoon at the Reebok Stadium. Fabricio Coloccini - we were very good defensively And the Newcastle captain, for the first time this season was paired with Mike Williamson in central defense, after they had been the first choice central defenders all last season.

Kieran Gibbs has not featured for Arsenal since October following a hernia operation. "Kieran Gibbs has had surgery on his left groin and he will be out for a month," Arsene Wenger confirmed the grim news. In recent matches, Arsene Wenger has been forced to play a makeshift back four (all central defenders) due to [.

There's nothing signed and sealed at the moment but it's fair to say there has been dialogue (with Chelsea). I've got to be up front and tell you, as I always do, and that's the situation.

Those are the key words, straight from the mouth of Bolton manager Owen Coyle.

Douglas

The first season's half of the Eredivisie resulted in an interesting list of top players in the AD ranking. Two central defenders, both with a Dutch passport, grabbed the first two spots.

Normally, it's the forwards who stand in the limelight with big name players like Wesley Sneijder, Jari Litmanen [read more]

Manchester City 1-0 Arsenal

Losses and goals conceded are always more palatable when your team acquits itself well. Giving up, or turning up expecting to win, or crumbling inexplicably has been something of a hallmark in recent seasons so one of the most pleasing things about this Arsenal side since October has been the blossoming of its spirit and its excellent attitude.

Is There a Trophy in That Bag?Dear Santa,
I've tried to be good in 2011. I kept my cursing at incompetent MLS referees to a minimum (6 times per game, max), gritted my teeth and got through a mostly horrible Red Bulls season, and supported my team home and away despite a long string of embarrassing performances and management screw-ups.

Liverpool striker Craig Bellamy has (so far) been a massive success during his second spell at Anfield, and after playing alongside his new team-mates for a while, who would Bellers choose for his Liverpool 5-a-side team? One thing's for sure, there's one player who definitely would not make it.

By now we all know the story pretty well: the defense was crap at the beginning of the season, but by the end it was one of the Portland Timbers' strengths. Individual players improved, as did communication amongst them, and the front office augmented that development with a shrewd mid-season trade.

It is that time of the year to start speculating on exactly what the Portland Timbers' roster needs are for the next year. For starters we need to take a look at the most used formations by John Spencer and the Timbers and then fill in what the Timbers still have on the roster.

Formation(s):

The Timbers employed a 4-4-2 for almost the first half of the season.

Bayern are catching up with Barcelona. Philipp Lahm may speak the truth but his sense of timing is really a bit off this season. Whether it is publishing memoirs in the middle of his career, or making bold claims a day ahead of embarrassing defeats for both Barcelona and Bayern. He just can't get it right.

Fascinating game between AC Milan and Barca today. For the first position in the group.

Pep had mixed up the starting eleven a bit with midfielders Mascherano and Busquets as central defenders ( Bert? Are you paying attention?) but when you have Messi, Xavi and Fabregas in your squad you [read more]

"(David Luiz plays football as if he is) controlled by a 10-year-old in the crowd on a Playstation."
-Sky Sports pundit and all-around good guy Gary Neville

Bob's response?

How can you not love this kid?

Speaking of Bob, Andre Villas-Boas jumped into the fray today amid the plethora of criticism the young Brazilian defender has been receiving of late.

Ireland captain Robbie Keane believes their Euro 2012 play-off tie against Estonia is all but over after their 4-0 first-leg win.
Keane scored twice as his team thrashed their nine-man hosts in Tallinn.
"It is a great result. This game should be over now and if we don't qualify we'll be devastated," said Keane ahead of Tuesday's return leg in Dublin.

by Adam Bate

I have contributed a piece to the December 2011 issue of When Saturday Comes.

Back to front.
By moving their central defenders forward into midfield, English managers are taking a tactical step backwards.

There are also excellent pieces by Mark Segal, Dermot Corrigan and Matthew Barker.

The Denver Broncos are not the only recipients of the unbridled optimism of Colorado sports fans and writers.

Trailing Kansas City 2-0 on aggregate when they take the field tonight at Livestrong Sporting Park in Kansas, the Colorado Rapids have suddenly become the beneficiaries of miraculous hopes for improbable outcomes.

A recent survey on this site revealed that 87% of Liverpool fans who voted want Martin Skrtel and Daniel Agger as the club's first choice central defensive partnership. After a great performance by the duo against West Brom at the weekend, they've certainly staked their claim, but are they as good as the league's top defenders?

New York Red Bulls 0 Galaxy 1

Catch us if you can: Josh Saunders and the Galaxy showed why they are the class of MLS today in New York (AP Photo).

The Galaxy saw what happened to Seattle Saturday and made sure they didn't make the same mistake.

Instead a magnificent performance saw the visitors repulse the Red Bulls' fruitless second half attacks to ensure another crucial Mike Magee goal was enough for them to take a 1-0 lead in the two-game series ahead of Thursday's return leg in Carson.

The Timbers defense began the year as the team's most glaring weakness, but became the feel-good story of the year by the end of the season. The questionable personnel choices made in the preseason doomed them from the start. To make matters worse they fell victim to more than their fair share of ugly injuries and immigration issues.

I can't quite recall but somewhere on the internet there was this discussion about the game that mentioned the possibility of Arsenal winning by outscoring Chelsea. Did you also read it?

What a game! Amazing. That's how football should be. Both teams started with a very positive intent and carried on in exactly the same manner for the duration of the game irrespective of the scoreline changes.

FC Dallas 0, New York Red Bulls 2
The New York Red Bulls and Dallas FC squared off in Pizza Hut Park for the first Wild Card game of the post season in front of 10,017 fans. FC Dallas came out strong against NY and bossed much of the first half and NY was left with working the counter-attack.

Liverpool were brilliant in the first half against Norwich on Saturday; the team started like gangbusters and could've been 5-0 up at half-time. Things changed in the second half though; energy levels seemed to drop, and big gaps began appearing in midfield, which allowed Norwich to get back into the game.

Well, thank heaven that's over with.

Chivas USA finished their season the way they had lived it with a static back four that gave goalkeeper Dan Kennedy kittens against a Seattle Sounders team that was looking to settle in at a stadium they hope to see a lot of in the next 30 days.

This was horrific "The Walking Dead" stuff and whatever Kennedy screamed at his defense during this one was insufficient.

I think we all can agree that it's a bit too late to do a recap. Lamb to the slaughter it was and all.

What we can do is drop five things we learned from watching the destruction. After the jump and the epic screencap of Toretto and O'Conner you can check my Fast Five, compiled after watching the match a second time.