How sad to hear Harry Keough had passed away. I was lucky enough to interview him along with another legend Tom Finney in the run-up to the 2006 World Cup and I never forgot his warmth and generosity.I probably took up more of his time than I should have done, and the interview only ended when his wife Alma reminded him that he needed to get his cleats on and referee a girls' school match, at the

Photo by Michael Janosz/ISIPhotos.net

BY ADAM SERRANO

CARSON, Calif. -- Marcelo Sarvas has some big cleats to fill.

Brought in from Costa Rican side Alajuelense, the 30-year-old Brazilian midfielder was signed by the Los Angeles Galaxy during the offseason as a replacement for fellow Brazilian Juninho.

Editor's note: For your offseason pleasure, PSP is happy to present an multi-part fiction series entitled The Pine Barrens League. In part 8, Schnauzer and company play a team of Russians hired by the organizers who don't want to give up their money.

It felt like the world had come down on us when we arrived at the "field.

"I never knew that music like that was possible!"

After watching the second half of yesterday's Clasico, I'm beginning to see Mourinho as Salieri to Guardiola's Mozart. When a team of Madrid's caliber gets schooled and forced into errant passes and frantic individual dribbles on offense and desperate tackles on defense, huffing shadow-chasing and hapless outreached hands pleading for offside calls that won't come, the opposition must be touched by the divine; the divine stringing of passes, la pelota always kept just a fleeting inch away from Madrid's lunging cleats, and importantly, the divine total defense, which at one point saw Özil attempting to dribble into the box only to be surrounded by seven (7!

Next time, rake the cleats, Rooney my boy.

And as Matchday 6 of the Champions League separated the wheat from the chaff, the next eight into the Europa League knockouts are:

Valencia
Olympiakos
Porto
Victoria
Plzen
Manchester United
Manchester City
Lyon FC Basel
Trabzonspor

Manchester United failed to beat Basel, so MUFC goes to Europa while the Swiss progress to the knockouts.

Interesting Article About a Timbers Trialist

Kyle Altman was one of the trialists who trained with the Timbers after the season ended. 25 years old, he served as captain of the NSC Minnesota Stars, the 2011 NASL champions. Sounds like if he doesn't make the jump to MLS in the next couple of years he might decide to hang up the cleats and go to med school.

Houston Dynamo striker Brian Ching has had a storied MLS career and is one of the more intriguing names available in this afternoon's MLS Expansion Draft. If the Montreal Impact select him, though, it could create quite the situation.

The 33-year-old Ching told the Houston Chronicle that he'd retire if picked by Montreal, stating his wish to remain in Houston with the franchise he's played for since 2003 and play in the new stadium that is set to open next season.

In case you guys didn't see it, yesterday was SB Nation's mock Expansion Draft. Some of you will also notice some, er, confusion on our part from the draft. Essentially Jake Gleeson was picked when I meant for him to be protected. What happened was I made a late addition and the SBN editors wouldn't allow such a late change.

Fredy Montero throws it all at the ball during Seattle Sounders' unsuccessful trip to Real Salt Lake. It worked out pretty well for us, though. Image: George Frey/Getty Images North America.

All the pictorial action from the first legs of the MLS playoffs is right here, cupcakes. The decisive second leg games commence tomorrow (exciting bracket thingy here for information purposes) so lap it while you can because on Friday we will be hungover as all hell and unprepared for another recap.

Photo by Nick Turchiaro/ISIphotos.com

Kasey Keller's legendary playing career is winding down, and the expected crowd of more than 60,000 that will salute him at CenturyLink Field for his regular-season home finale Saturday night is a testament to what he's meant to the city of Seattle and U.

The realm of sports has become increasingly techy in recent years. Whether its the hugely debated goal line technology or the simple tracking of workouts, sports and technology have a... Read more »

All you strikers out there listen up! The popular Nike T90 Laser line of cleats worn by such superstars as Wayne Rooney, Wesley Sneijder & Fernando Torres has received a... Read more »

After 13 seasons, Jimmy Conrad is hanging up his cleats.

Conrad is scheduled to announce his retirement at a press conference at the Home Depot Center on Thursday, signaling the end to a standout career.

Known mostly for his play in San Jose, Kansas City and with the U.

No, you're not having ice cream with sprinkles until after the game. M'kay? Image: Getty Images/Daylife.

Kickettes? It has become evident in recent weeks that we are not paying enough attention to Landon Donovan. The LA Galaxy and USMNT midfielder tends to be overshadowed by his prettier and taller (see above) team mates and in lieu of having anything newsworthy to write about, we have decided that we must immediately conduct an investigation into Landon's recent activities to find out whether we've missed anything particularly manly or interesting.

Happy Friday guys. I thought I'd change it up a bit and go all Simon Borg on ya. So pretend your reading this in a loud and boistrous fashion. Growl at some point mid-sentence to keep it real. Here's your Friday rant. Enjoy!I'll never understand the mentality of so many adult amateur soccer players. It happens to nearly every athlete who doesn't make it as a pro: they love the game and join adult leagues.

The quarterfinals of the WWC are starting this weekend and the US will play Brazil on Sunday at 11:30. The match will air on ESPN, Galavasion and ESPN3.com. Ian Darke will do the play by play for US audiences. The tournament has not made a significant impression on the US sports psyche. Although the games have been televised and promoted, this US team has not captured the imagination of the American public.

There was a moment Friday night where it seemed like fate was finally going to submit to ability.

Receiving a well-weighted pass from Ever Banega on the right side of the pitch, he quickly turned and touched the ball with his left foot, dodging a rushing challenge. With two defenders closing in from opposite directions, he burst forward, leaving one trailing while his partner missed a sliding attempt to derail the procession.

Houston Dynamo players Will Bruin, Eddie Robinson and Bobby Boswell will be on hand at the adidas store inside the Houston Galleria on Sunday, June 12 from 3-5pm to meet fans, sign autographs and take photos with Dynamo supporters.
The players are supporting the launch of the all-new adiPower Predator cleat, the latest version in the legendary cleat line.

I'm not sure I'll cover this event, but perhaps I'll be there to interview Angel and Omar.

Press Release: Los Angeles Galaxy players Omar Gonzalez and Juan Pablo Ángel will be on hand at the adidas store on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica on Sunday, June 12 to meet fans, sign autographs and take photos with Galaxy supporters.

When you train for an event or for a full season or whatever, you'd like the curve to look something like this: Start slowly with a lightweight foe, graduated to mid-level competition and then ramp up to the high-quality stuff.

Well, the U.S. national team's big summer looks like an inverted curve.

Anyone notice those bright yellow cleats on Lionel Messi's feet during Barcelona's 3-1 Champions League Final triumph? If they caught your eye, it's probably because he was the only player... Read more »

According to Manchester United's official website, Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes has hung up his cleats and announced his retirement. Scholes said,

"I am not a man of many words but I can honestly say that playing football is all I have ever wanted to do and to have had such a long and successful career at Manchester United has been a real honour.

Given a rare night on the Barcelona bench last Sunday, Lionel Messi yanked on the seat in front of him, hunched his shoulders over the chair back and kicked it with his cleats. He seemed not so much the world's best soccer player as a restless kid in a movie theater. He is 23, with a grown-up's income reported to exceed $43 million this year.

Wow, do you think the U15 season could have flown by any faster? Now that state cup is behind us we will play all tournaments from here on as U16. Are you kidding me? I have a daughter that plays U16!?! Most of the tournaments from here, with the exception of US Club Regionals I believe, will be college showcases.

The last time I co-signed on a documentary about a USMNT player the film never got released. But then again the film's subject, Claudio Reyna, was stinking it up on the field at a dear salary so perhaps the lack of enthusiasm around the project had little to do with my sad attempt at cheer-leading.

After getting the chance to test the Adidas F50 Adizero, it is apparent that the German boot-maker has created the ultimate speed cleats. While Nike and Puma have done their best to keep up, Adidas managed to come out on top with their release of the Adidas F50 Adizero Prime, which are currently the lightest cleats on the market.

After getting the chance to test the Adidas F50 Adizero, it is apparent that the German boot-maker has created the ultimate speed cleats. While Nike and Puma have done their best to keep up, Adidas managed to come out on top with their release of the Adidas F50 Adizero Prime, which are currently the lightest cleats on the market.

A friend of mine recently splashed some cash on a pair of Nike Mercurial Vapor Superfly III's, and being the cleat nerd that I am, I had to take a couple of photos. In case you're not much of a Nike fan, don't worry as I've got my review of the Adidas F50 Adizero coming soon. The F50's arrived a few weeks ago from SoccerPro, and I'm finishing up the testing now.

A friend of mine recently splashed some cash on a pair of Nike Mercurial Vapor Superfly III's, and being the cleat nerd that I am, I had to take a couple of photos. In case you're not much of a Nike fan, don't worry as I've got my review of the Adidas F50 Adizero coming soon. The F50's arrived a few weeks ago from SoccerPro, and I'm finishing up the testing now.

After my preview post of the Adidas F50 Adizero, the boots have finally arrived at my doorstep. After unboxing them and snapping some photos, I quickly took to the field for a quick jogging session to see how the boots felt out of the box.
While the full review will be up in a week or so, I can tell you a couple of things from my first run around in the cleats.

After my preview post of the Adidas F50 Adizero, the boots have finally arrived at my doorstep. After unboxing them and snapping some photos, I quickly took to the field for a quick jogging session to see how the boots felt out of the box.
While the full review will be up in a week or so, I can tell you a couple of things from my first run around in the cleats.

Diego Chaves -- Getty ImagesThe Chicago Fire created some high quality scoring opportunities in the second half, but Seattle Sounders FC goalkeeper Kasey Keller was up to the task as the Sounders topped the Fire, 2-1, on Saturday at in front of a Qwest Field crowd of 36,223 in Seattle.
The Fire (1-1-1) suffered their first loss of the season, while the Sounders (1-2-2) garnered their first win of the season.

Adidas are the speed kings, there's no other way to put it. When they released the original F50 Adizero, everyone was speechless at how the German company managed to trim so much weight while maintaining a comfortable boot. Now Adidas have revamped the F50 Adizeros, making changes to the upper, visual design, and releasing the Prime version which is now the lightest boot in the world.

Adidas are the speed kings, there's no other way to put it. When they released the original F50 Adizero, everyone was speechless at how the German company managed to trim so much weight while maintaining a comfortable boot. Now Adidas have revamped the F50 Adizeros, making changes to the upper, visual design, and releasing the Prime version which is now the lightest boot in the world.

Look what just arrived in the mail my co-conspirators in the love of all this footy, the new Adidas F50 AdiZero TRX fixed stud all-leather boots! Adidas claim these little wonders to be the planet's fastest boot. "It's 165 g of extreme acceleration and razor-sharp handling" says the inbox literature.

I usually don't post many ads/videos, but when I saw this one from Adidas, I had to post it. The F50 Adizero Prime are being hyped up by Adidas, and this ad with Lionel Messi has become one of my favorites.
While I usually prefer Nike ads (mainly because they tend to be much more epic compared to Adidas which has always been slightly cheesy), this new Adidas ad is my favorite right now.

Brazil's Hernanes greeted France's Karim Benzema with a very unkind handshake this evening, that in the form of a Nigel de Jong* to the chest. He was obviously sent off for his unfriendly greeting, landing instant infamy in the land of the YouTube and semi-creative GIFs.

Of course while the tackle was unfriendly, he was given consolation from Jeremy Menez of Roma, archenemy to Hernanes' Lazio.

Recently Robin van Persie was spotted over the coastal town of Portsmouth engaging in some leisure activity. Skydiving to be exact. In his full kit and cleats for Christ's sake.

It's all part of a new marketing effort from an American PR firm to add more excitement and synergy to the start of the match.

The Nike Elites are finally available! We know you've been waiting for them so here's a quick overview of the newest Nike Elite cleats. T90 Laser Elite III Ideal for when it comes to power and accuracy, the new Nike Total 90 Laser III Elite features a carbon fiber sole plate and Electric Green colorway.

We know you've all been waiting for them, the new adiPure and Predators are now available for purchase online and in our stores! In case you haven't seem them yet, here's a quick glimpse at all of adidas' new cleats that Soccer Fanatic carries. adidas adiPure IV Firm Ground Lighter and more breathable than ever [.