The Los Angeles Lakers need a new point guard. While Derek Fisher is a champion and can still provide great moments, he's no longer a starting quality point guard in the NBA. The Lakers admitted that when they attempted to trade for Chris Paul.

The Lakers are rumored to have another target in mind: Ramon Sessions of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

And let's face it, it's the back four that is the club's biggest problem. So the signing of 30-year-old defender John Alexander Valencia, who has made 112 starts in 114 games for Colombian champion Atletico Junior since 2007, sounds exactly what the club needs. "John is a player we have

Unlikely transfer for Brazil great As retirement homes for formerly great footballers go, Angola is probably a new one. But having already attempted the ex-Soviet state and return to South America routes, Brazilian World Cup winner Rivaldo is blazing a new trail. He's signed for Angolan side Kabuscorp.

1. Poor old Olympic cycling champion Chris Hoy probably had another busy Sunday explaining that he's not a referee to irate Manchester City fans. 2. Great to see Paolo Di Canio at the centre of the biggest shock of the weekend as Swindon saw off Wigan. He might be left disappointed by his hopes to [.

Marcos, goalkeeper of the Brazilian team who won the World Cup 2002, announced his retirement, at age 38. He retires after a career of 20 years, playing only for one team: Palmeiras; the team informed that no other player will wear jacket #12, the one Marcos used to wear; also, there plans of building an statue of Marcos to be planted at the stadium of Palmeiras.

The 2012 MLS SuperDraft is set to take place January 12, 2012 in Kansas City, MS and one local player has garnered a lot of attention from potential MLS suitors.
Herbert Mejia-Flores of Manassas, VA has recently helped the U.S. U-17 MNT win the Nike International Friendlies in December:
U.

By Charlie Corr
Eclipse Select staff
Eclipse Select Soccer Club alumna and former Notre Dame midfielder Jen Buczkowski is coming off a successful third season within Women's Professional Soccer.
The 26-year-old Elk Grove, Ill., native was named to the 2011 WPS Best XI as voted by select media, and her Philadelphia Independence advanced to the WPS title match, eventually falling to the champion Western New York Flash.

The NASL expansion San Antonio Scorpions recently signed four new players culled from combines and invitational tryouts, while the Atlanta Silverbacks added another defender to their roster. In addition, two members of the 2011 champion NSC Minnesota Stars will be playing in this year's Maccabi games held in Brazil.

After Tottenham's controversial defeat against Stoke City last Sunday, it has been reported that hundreds if not thousands of Tottenham supporters have been and continue to send obscene tweets to Sir Chris Hoy. It appears there seems to be a literacy problem among some of the Tottenham supporters.

Warning: not for the squeamish.

Mr. Illa Illa Illa, Villa Maravilla went and broke his leg in the Club World Cup semis, which should go a long way in making the competition's injury lists look like those of international friendlies in the near future lots of muscle pulls and 24 hour illnesses.

Internazionale targeting the Champion's League? Not at this rate. President Massimo Moratti declared: "we have to end the season in the Champion's League places. That is an absolute must." This is quite a statement for a team who are eight points below third place Milan and ten behind leaders Juventus.

Watching Man Utd crash out of the Champion's League Group stage has helped me get over Liverpool's defeat to Fulham no end.
It is great to see our fiercest rivals lose at any time but to lose such an important match is terrific.
Basel beat Utd 2-1 with Streller and Frei scoring for the Swiss side while Jones added a consolation on 89 mins.

Well into the playoff phase in Central America's domestic leagues, as two leagues approach the finals and a new champion has been crowned in Panama. Here's a summary of what happened over the past seven days: BELIZE ??? COSTA RICA Alajuelense and Herediano will meet in the final of the Invierno tournament.

The 2011 Nike International Friendlies trophy is on the Stadium Field and ready for kickoff!
Day 3 of the 2011 Winter Showcase kicked off today at 9 a.m. with 40 Development Academy games and the final round of Nike International Friendlies.
Today's the big day for the U.S. U-17s, taking on Brazil at 5 p.

Sevilla seem to have joined Newcastle United in being interested in Auxerre's impressive attacking midfielder Alain Traore, who turns 23 on December 31st. Alain Tarore Newcastle interested? The 22 year-old started his career at Planete Champion in 2004 before joining Auxerre one year later, and there was also news in talksport about two weeks ago, that Newcastle were [.

This photo says it all;
Sodium brought home the hardware!
And some new jackets!
From the sidelines
I will have to say I am extremely proud of the way the girls came together this weekend. With only having one practice indoors under their belt the lady warriors rose up, came together and pulled off a Surf Cup Championship.

Starting the season pretty poorly, many football viewers expects that Arsenal will struggle not only in the league but also dominating their Champions League group, but apparently the opposite occurred as the Gunners became the first English teams that qualified from the European club competition.

by Adam Bate

In 1999 the No.6 shirt of AC Milan's Franco Baresi was retired. That same
year, he was named Milan's best player of the twentieth century. More recently,
he was officially named as Italy's player of the century too. These are
extraordinary accolades to be given to a defender.

Los Angeles Galaxy won its first MLS Cup with a 1-0 victory over the Houston Dynamo. The championship was secured by Landon Donovan's goal in the 72nd minute on pass from Robbie Keane.
Beckham was brilliant throughout the postseason: "We've been through a lot this season," Beckham said.

Congrats to the Los Angeles Galaxy for claiming MLS Cup glory last night.

What I particularly like about Sunday's soggy outcome is this: For now, at least, we can put away a lot of arguments about how Major League Soccer works. As I said in our SI.com live chat last night:

LA Galaxy was the best team in Major League Soccer wire to wire.

"David is a champion. I've been around great athletes and competitors in my life, and this guy is as good as it comes. Unbelievable desire to win. He's a great teammate, a great person. He's done it all in every country he's been in. What more can you say about a guy like this and what he's brought to this organization and this league in five years?

By JOSE M. ROMERO

Practice had a calm, almost stoic feel to it for the Houston Dynamo Friday on the fields near the main Home Depot Center stadium.

So said forward Carlos Costly, who added that he's anxious for Sunday when the Dynamo face the L.A. Galaxy for the MLS Cup.

The Associated Press has the details:

NEW YORK (AP) -- The United States will open qualifying for the 2014 World Cup at home against Antigua and Barbuda on June 8.

The Americans, trying to qualify for their seventh straight trip to soccer's championship,
play at Guatemala on June 12, FIFA announced Wednesday.

MLS Cup is right around the corner, which means not only a chance for the league to crown a new champion, but a chance for readers and fans to party with SBI.

Soccer By Ives will be hosting our annual MLS Cup Bash at the Seven Bar Lounge in downtown Los Angeles (555 W.

No one really takes the Unofficial Football World Championships seriously; it's merely a nice bit of fun. But even with its inherent flaws the best team ever (as in...ever) is Scotland no one probably expected the trophy to head to Pyongyang anytime soon. Or ever. But they beat former title holders Japan (Spain -> Argentina -> Japan) today 1-0 in a WCQ and thus.

News in the Daily Mail today that Newcastle are tracking AJ Auxerre midfielder Alain Traore. Alain Traore - 22 year-old Auxerre midfielder The 22 year-old started his career at Planete Champion in 2004 before joining Auxerre one year later. The 5'10″ midfielder made his first team debut for Auxerre in 2006, and has played 33 times [.

Champion jumps jockey AP McCoy gave Manchester United their first winner when he rode 7/2 shot Cuban Piece to victory at Bangor yesterday. Co-owners of the nag include Michael Owen, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville and other past and present players. Gunners fan McCoy joked: 'Imagine if this was the only thing United win this season".

By Alan Duffy

It is all too easy to get snobby and sneer at footballers about their (usual) lack of a high-level education. And too often that sneeriness is borne out of nothing but jealousy at the fact they get paid shed-loads of money for simply playing football. Still, in the case of poor old Darren Mackie of Aberdeen, it's hard not to giggle.

Sporting KC's opponent for the conference final on Sunday has been decided. The Houston Dynamo defeated the Philadelphia Union 1-0 tonight in Houston to win their series 3-1 on aggregate. The Dynamo now travel to KC to play on Sunday against KC. The winner will earn a trip to MLS Cup and a birth in next year's CONCACAF Champion's League.

It all comes down to this for the women's teams in the CAA as the 2011 Virginia 529 CAA Women's Soccer Championship kicks off on Thursday evening at Martin Family Stadium at Albert-Daly Field in Williamsburg, Va.
Who will be named champion in 2011? Take a look at the video preview from CAA:

Well it's November and that means Halloween is behind us. Still, October was a fantastic month in MLS that offered us a fantastic finale to the league where matches truly mattered and we saw Wild-Card matches where the fates of teams were decided. In less than a month we will have a new champion and with that a new off season.

MLS 2021 Playoff brackets are set... Go Oklahoma!We have never made any bones about it - we don't like playoffs in football... unless you're trying to get promoted to the Premiership (hello West Ham). Playoffs that decide a "champion" after a long, hard season is wrong on many levels but such is life in North America.

Though he is injured and did not play in Sunday's clinching draw, let us not forget to throw up a salute to Josh Gatt's Molde FK, winners of the first Tippeligan crown in club history.While they play a summer schedule like MLS, let's count him as the first American Abroad champion of this general "season" - he's also the second to win in Norway after Robbie Russell.

Following the celebration with Molde fans, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer gave his reaction to leading his team to their first ever league title in his first year as manager.

Interviewer: You've been a champion as a player (in England), now you're a champion as a coach, what does that feel like?

After greatly enjoying my last NASL match in Fort Lauderdale, I was happy to follow the Strikers' surprisingly making it to the final of the NASL championship after defeating the huge favourites of Puerto Rico Islanders in the semifinal. The other finalists were also an upset, namely the Minnesota Stars, who defeated the North Carolina Railhawks, who had been the best team in the season.

Mason Trafford and IFK Mariehamn went down to JJK while Etchu Tabe and RoPS went down to champion's HJK.

Mason Trafford and Josh Wicks hope to help IFK Mariehamn as they look to spoil JJK's promotion aspirations whileEtchu Tabe and RoPS take on Veikkausliiga champion HJK.

I've never been the greatest fan of Dirk Kuyt, and I've written several articles over the years highlighting 'the curse of the barren spell' that seems to affect him every season. However, as he approaches his 250th game for Liverpool, his impact at the club over the last 5 years cannot be denied, expecially when it comes to his creative return.

The field for this year's WIAA state boys soccer tournament could look a lot like last year's.

Twelve of the 16 sides that played at state last fall advanced to Saturday's sectional finals, including the defending champions in all three divisions.

In Division 1, reigning champion Milwaukee Marquette (20-0-1) – ranked first in the Wisconsin Soccer Coaches Association state poll all year – leads a group of six 2010 state qualifiers that are one step away from return trips to Milwaukee's Uihlein Soccer Park.

By Chris Ackels
ESPNHS.com
It doesn't take much to realize the importance of this weekend's ECNL matches between Michigan Hawks and Eclipse Select.
At the U18 level, it's a battle between the first-place Hawks and the second-place Eclipse. For the U17s, it's last year's US Youth Soccer Region II Champion against last year's best ECNL record.