Juninho proved to be a handful for most MLS sides in 2011. (Getty Images)

I said a few weeks (or maybe just a couple weeks) back that the biggest thing that the LA Galaxy needed to replace this winter was Juninho.

Well, what better way to replace him than with him.

The LA Galaxy announced on Tuesday that the club has reached an agreement with Brazilian club São Paulo FC that will allow midfielder Juninho to return to the Galaxy on loan for the 2012 MLS season.

Luis Suarez returned to a hero's welcome at Anfield after serving a lengthy match ban for racially abusing Patrice Evra. And four minutes after he entered the match as a substitute, Suarez proved he is not racist by kicking Spurs' old-timey white man Scott Parker square in the belly during the scoreless draw (moving pictures here).

It's beginning to feel like the Dynamo are fighting against the city they call home in order to attract players to sign with the club. Houston is of course a great city, we all know that, but there are clearly issues making it hard for the team to get players to sign on the dotted line and play here.

The beep test is a progression of short runs where the testee is to pace themselves to turn on the beep, not faster, not slower. It tests not speed, but endurance and today a few players showed quite well. Andy Rose and David Estrada each won their heats, while Mike Seamon and Cordell Cato came in second in their rounds.

Ricardo Clark got a little redemption but that's about it. (Getty Images)

It has been a long time coming for the US Men's National Team. A solid three-game winning streak.

Typically these sorts of things happen around the January friendly time. It certainly isn't the first time this has happened but with Jurgen Klinsmann in as boss, it is.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

George John has yet to make his debut with West Ham United, but he soon could after putting together a strong showing in his first match since joining the club.

John, on loan from FC Dallas until the beginning of March, starred in his first game for West Ham's developmental squad on Tuesday, putting together a strong defensive outing while scoring a goal in the Hammers' 1-1 draw with Gillingham.

To kickoff 2012, my first (and only) blog entry centered on a plea for the New England Revolution to be "blog worthy" in 2012. A hope that it would "show the fanbase how big the Revolution dream is, and steps you are taking to achieve it."

Given a week of activity, I'm concerned the team still cannot explain the vision of the team's future the way I'd like, but its actions actually give me hope.

The picture here is my interpretation of the logo of Liechtenstein's national soccer federation. Just sayin'.

Now for MLS:

As far back as November, rumors swirled about David Beckham's next move. Under the surface of the MLS blogsphere, a small media circus simmered near a boil regarding whether Becks would stay, or move on to Paris.

In the last couple weeks my friends Jared and Mike -- each fans of the Premier League -- have both referred to me as an, "expert" in term of my vast soccer knowledge chest. Not sure the level of sincerity involved in either case, but hey, you take compliments anyway you can get them, even if they aren't entirely accurate.

A couple weeks ago Duane Rollins thought it was a good idea to advocate for the death of WPS. A few days later he backed up his stance by pointing out that the Vancouver Whitecaps didn't want to associate with the struggling league:

If one of the most committed organizations to the women's game is rejecting the WPS model as it currently stands, well, that should tell you something.

FC Dallas will now play in FC Dallas Stadium. (Getty Images)

Side note: sorry for the lack of updates these last couple weeks, I've been super busy at the day-job and with just life in general. Maybe after the New Year things can get back to normal around here.

Say good bye to Pizza Hut Park.

With 2011 closing out here in the next couple weeks, all eyes on MLS are pointing towards the SuperDraft and, with that, we have a couple mock drafts that have Portland selecting defender Matt Hedges as their pick. My personal favorite mocki draft so far is WVHooligan.com's where Drew picked Hedges for Portland:

Portland was hurt by their defense one time too many in their expansion season.

The 2012 MLS SuperDraft just got a little better. Fox Soccer's Ives Galarcep is reporting that the league has secured deals with two of the top prospects in this year's draft in Akron striker Darren Mattocks and Duke midfielder/defender Andrew Wenger.

Mattocks was rumored to go to Europe over the last couple weeks.

Belatedly, a roundup of links regarding the passing of Brazilian great Socrates a couple weeks ago: Remembering Brazil's Soccer Philosopher King, penned by Gabriele Marcotti, appeared in the WSJ the day after his death:

Sunday [December 4] morning marked the passing of Socrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira, better known simply as Socrates.

Just wanted to provide a quick update for everyone concerning the status of Dynamo Theory during the holidays. With things mostly calm around the Dynamo and the league in general, we'll be taking a break for the next couple weeks and recharging out batteries for 2012.

We've got the MLS SuperDraft and the winter transfer window in January, along with doing some looks back at the 2011 season, so you've got plenty to look forward to.

It's still early but the draft boards are heating up. (Getty Images)

For the last few months I've been working on a list of players that could be available for next month's 2012 MLS SuperDraft. Naturally a lot can and will happen between today's post and the draft. Players could stay in school, go elsewhere in the soccer world or just decide to hang their boots up for good.

Bruin and Sarkodie Are Going on a European Trip with Generation adidas

Will Bruin and Kofi Sarkodie will join the likes of Omar Salgado, Danny Mwanga and Zac MacMath on the Generation Adidas roster that will tour Holland for the next couple weeks.

You'll remember a couple weeks ago when I discussed how MLSsoccer.com is hiding content to boost the search ranking of images. Today Aaron Wall has a great piece which takes the quote in the heading from Matt Cutts in 2008, and contrasts it with Google's current experiments with cloaking content and it's current message to other publishers:

On the one hand they tell you to optimize your ad placements & on the other they tell you that those were not optimal & are so aggressive that they are spam.

When the New England Revolution announced that they were "parting ways" with Steve Nicol a couple weeks back, speculation on his impending replacement began almost immediately. The organization assured the public that the search was going to start right away, and by all accounts it has. Names have been tossed around, rumors have swirled, but at the end of the day, we still aren't sure.

Lest I leave the impression that the only people writing about WPS are those who are no longer with the league, Jenna Pel did an excellent interview a couple weeks ago with the new WPS CEO Jennifer O'Sullivan and Philadelphia Independence owner David Halstead. Some passages, though, are already past their sell-by date:

Halstead: I'll say it from an owner's standpoint and a non-lawyer's standpoint, we believe that we're excited to move forward with six teams and Dan [Borislow, former owner of the new defunct Boca Raton Magicjack] has that passion and common purpose that I talked about a couple of minutes ago.

Calen Carr -- Getty ImagesBy Charlie Corr
ESPNChicago.com
Former Chicago Fire and current Houston Dynamo forward Calen Carr has had his share of injury spells over the past several years. This year it was a concussion that he suffered during the Fire's preseason in February when the team was training in Ave Maria, Fla.

LA and Seattle had two of the top midfields in 2011. (Getty Images)

It has been a couple weeks since I revisited my 2011 positional rankings. I got caught up in the 2011 Expansion Draft lists something I will likely continue on today.

Today, we're looking back at the midfielder rankings.

We've read a lot of stuff about Kasey Keller in the last couple weeks, but this nearly 30-minute 1-on-1 with Arlo White via SoundersFC.com is pretty awesome.

Fire's Jalil Anibaba (left) and
Diego Chaves -- Getty ImagesBy Charlie Corr
ESPNChicago.com
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- The Chicago Fire wanted to end their season on a high note, and they did so by reaching the .500 mark for the first time since April 9.
Fire forward Diego Chaves scored his second game-winning goal in as many games and Fire defender Jalil Anibaba had two goals as Chicago topped the Columbus Crew, 3-2, on Saturday in front of a sellout crowd of 20,237 at Toyota Park.

Friends, readers, countryman lend me your ears ............Figured I'd start with a grandiose opening for what is going to be a different sort of post ahead of a U.S. National Team game, which just so happens to be tonight against Honduras in Miami (6 p.m., FOX Soccer) in front of a friends-and-family crowd.

Tonight, the New England Revolution will take on the Seattle Sounders in a match where the Revs are battling for postseason relevance. Mathematically, anyway. Realistically, they're trying to play spoiler and get a couple of good performances at home in the books to close the door on what has been a most disappointing and dismal season to date.

What's up, y'all? Can anyone guess what we're focusing onthis week? That's right, it's the Merseyside Derby – long considered one of themost friendly derbies in soccer, one in which supporters in Everton jerseys sitside by side with fans wearing Liverpool kits. Still, I imagine it can't bevery fun for those whose, say, romantic relationships bridge that divide.

Geoff Gibson of Stumptown Footy, SB Nation's Portland Timbers blog, and I chatted ahead of tonight's Philadelphia Union-Timbers match at PPL Park. Read my responses to Gibson's questions by clicking on the linked text here (takes you to Stumptown Footy).

Scott: From the Timbers side of the ball, how has Jorge Perlaza done?

Fred Dreier was nice enough to quote me in the Sports Business Journal a couple weeks ago in regards to the latest viewer stats for MLSsoccer.com, which guarantees a link back. First, the MLS spin:

For the month of July, which is traditionally the busiest month for MLSsoccer.com, the website recorded just over 3 million unique visitors, its highest total ever and a 30 percent jump from July 2010.

Seattle Sounders backup goalkeeper Terry Boss is back with the team a little earlier than expected after he may have suffered a concussion while playing in a World Cup qualifying match with the Puerto Rico national team on Friday. The Sounders have only said that he is currently being evaluated. Boss was expected to be with Puerto Rico until after Tuesday's game against Canada.

Union

Ahhhhh, a weekend with a game...

And, what's this, not just a game but a potential signing? Joe Tait, the young defender on trial with the Union who scored the final goal in the team's 5–2 win over Harrisburg City Islanders last week, appears set to sign with the club. After messages on Twitter from himself (follow him at @joetait1) and Stuart Hayers (@Stuhayers)—his former coach at PDL side Baton Rouge Capitals and founder of the S&B Kinesis sports management company of which Tait is a client—hinting at a move that have since been removed from Twitter (check out this from the ever Twitter-vigilant Brotherly Game for their content), Hayers sent a tweet that mentions his S&B Kinesis co-founder, an assistant coaches and the owner of the Capitals early Friday morning saying, "fat lady is clearing her throat.

Are Arsenal a selling club ? The true crack(s) of the great Arsenal way ! Ibrahima Fode NDIAYE For the last couple weeks or months or even years, Arsenal FC its board and manager are under immense critics from all corners. The general consensus is that Arsenal are an unambitious selling club only interested in making financial [.

With last night's win the Portland Timbers have proven that they're still very much interested in getting into the play offs this year. A couple weeks ago I had (almost) counted them out entirely. I don't think I've ever been happier to be proven wrong. Of course, the race isn't over yet. The Timbers have a lot of fighting left to do to actually secure a spot.

News that we have all been dreading to hear...

Petr Cech has been ruled out for three to four weeks with a medial knee ligament injury suffered in training on Wednesday. Cue the "we're dooooooooomed!" shrieks from the Chelsea fans. But also keep in mind that Hilario did do pretty well in preseason if that makes you feel any better, which it probably will not.

Fredy Montero and Seattle take on Chivas USA this weekend. (Getty Images)

It is nearly time for another packed weekend in Major League Soccer. Week 22 is on the book and not everyone is involved this weekend. Both LA and Kansas City were scheduled originally to play this weekend but that game was moved to Labor Day (not sure about the reasoning behind the move).

Huge match for the US Men's National Team tonight... well actually not really. If anything it's really just a big game for our national team's new head coach Jurgen Klinsmann who signed on with the club a little more than two weeks ago. Fans will be expecting results, changes, and a long term vision for future successes, the latter of which being something that many complained Bradley lacked.

Big national team game tonight. While it's only a friendly, tonight will be the first time we see Jurgen Klinsmann in action coaching the men's national team. That said, though, let's not judge him too harshly. Klinsmann is here for the long haul and expecting big results a few days after he's appointed is unfair.

Another week down and things haven't change all that much in the Power Rankings. LA, Seattle, Dallas and RSL continue to lead the pack while teams from the Eastern Conference continue to battle over who will try and crack that top four.

But don't look now, Colorado is making some noise again here.

For everyone living under a rock over the past couple weeks, it will come as a shock that Jurgen Klinsmann is the new head coach for the United States Men's National Team, replacing Bob Bradley a bit quicker than myself and just about everyone else expected. Questions of his coaching pedigree resound amongst some circles but for the most part, everyone seems to be tentatively looking forward to the team's future, rather than bleakly dreading what's to come after the dreadful showings of the past six months.

July is in the books for 2011 and now MLS shifts towards a busy August. Week 20 in Major League Soccer was an interesting one that had plenty to talk about outside of the league slate of games.

We had some movement this week near the top and in the middle. It seems like every couple weeks I continue to have to flip Toronto and Vancouver around at the bottom but I have a feeling Vancouver is going to probably be at the bottom of the table for a good portion of the remaining part of this season.