It's about time, right? We've got ourselves a U.S. National Team writer. Mike Cardillo, who we've been reading for YEARS on his site, "That's On Point", for US preview/reviews and English Premier League musings will be providing some coverage of the Nats as they begin their 2014 World Cup Qualifying campaign.

Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish is set to seal his first major signing in the January transfer window after reportedly submitting a £15 million bid for Udinese's versatile Chilean Mauricio Isla.

Isla, 23, can play in a variety of positions up front and also in the back, offering the Reds a plethora of strengths all over the park.

A couple of big-name matchups in 2nd legs of domestic cup competitions coming up later today:

Carling Cup semifinal Manchester City vs Liverpool 8:45pm CET / 2:45pmET / 7:45pm GMT (USA TV: FSC): We didn't see the 1st leg of this semifinal tie earlier this month, which somewhat surprisingly went 1-0 to Liverpool at Anfield.

Cardiff City - Crystal Palace 2:30pm - Fox Soccer Plus Palace leads this Carling Cup semifinal series 1-0, with the winner advancing to play the winner of the Manchester City - Liverpool series. So it's Championship versus Premier League in the final, regardless of who wins. Palace are coming off a 2-1 loss to Blackpool on Saturday, while Cardiff City beat Portsmouth 3-2.

Kelyn Rowe signs his MLS deal. (Photo via UCLA athletics)

The 2012 Generation adidas class is a little more than half way there. Before Christmas we had Darren Mattocks (Akron), Chandler Hoffman (UCLA), Andrew Wenger (Duke) and Sam Garza (UCSB) sign their GA deals with the league. It appears one more can be added to that list in the form of UCLA midfielder Kelyn Rowe.

With the 2012 MLS Draft just two weeks away, the 2012 MLS Generation adidas class took a step closer to being completed after the signing of the highest-rated unsigned underclassman.

UCLA playmaker Kelyn Rowe has signed a Generation adidas deal, sources told SBI on Wednesday. Rowe is the fifth player to sign a Generation adidas deal, joining Andrew Wenger, Darren Mattocks, UCLA teammate Chandler Hoffman and Sam Garza.

The holiday season is upon us, and while some already know what they're receiving or are giving someone else, there are many who are still drawing a blank.

For many a Manchester United fan, the ideal gift outside of getting to meet their United favorites or having a chance to step out onto the pitch at Old Trafford would be primo match tickets.

Gonzalo Segares -- Getty ImagesBy Charlie Corr
ESPNChicago.com
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- The Chicago Fire have found a rare winning stretch, so the team would prefer few to no changes toward its lineup now that it has a good thing going. Chicago posted back-to-back league wins, followed by a Lamar Hunt U.

"We were, I think, a little bit intimidated by the whole event." - Schellas Hyndman, FC Dallas coach

Let that quote sink in for a bit. That's the coach of a team that just went to Mexico City and beat the defending Mexican Primera champs, suggesting that his team was intimidated by the setting of the U.

By DAVID GUBALA

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill -- After five years without lifting a trophy, the longest drought in the club's 14-year history, the Chicago Fire moved one step closer to giving their fans a new trophy to celebrate.

The Chicago Fire defeated the Richmond Kickers, 2-1, in the semifinals of the U.

By CALEB SONNELAND

It took an impressive Fredy Montero goal to lift the Seattle Sounders past FC Dallas in the US Open Cup semifinal with a 1-0 victory in Tukwila, Washington.

The Colombian DP provided the crucial first-half goal to put the home side into the final of the competition, its third in three years.

The way the U.S. Open Cup has played out, there's certainly a David bracket and a Goliath bracket.

The Chicago Fire and Richmond Kickers meet in the former, as both carry underdog stories into their Open Cup semifinal matchup at Toyota Park Tuesday night.

FC Dallas and two-time defending champion Seattle square off in the heavyweight matchup, with the winner undoubtedly being the favorite to capture the championship and automatic berth in the 2012-2013 CONCACAF Champions League that goes along with it.

The MNT on the field at The Home Depot Center

The first extended camp under U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann kicked off Monday evening as 19 players got on the Mooch Myernick Field at The Home Depot Center. With changes to the roster announced today, a total of 21 players will be available for selection to the 18-man gameday roster for Friday's match against Costa Rica.

Hurricane Irene may have forced three east coast matchups, including New England Revolution at Philadelphia Union and the weekend's marquee matchup between the star-filled Los Angeles Galaxy and New York Red Bulls, to be postponed, but it couldn't prevent the weekend from producing some of the season's most exciting results.

FC Dallas defender George John was all set for a transfer move to English club Blackburn, and had done everything but sign a contract with the club only to have Blackburn back out and pass on the standout MLS centerback over the weekend.

According to multiple sources, MLS and Blackburn had agreed to terms on the transfer, which was to be for about $1.

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

When Omar Bravo finished off a Teal Bunbury pass to give Sporting Kansas City a 2-0 lead on FC Dallas in the 68th minute on Saturday night, the match-up of top MLS clubs looked to be over. The home team was leading, the visitors were feeling the grind of a busy week, and it would have been easy for Dallas to look ahead to Tuesday's U.

Seattle Sounders backup goalkeeper Terry Boss will miss Tuesday's U.S. Open Cup semifinal against FC Dallas after being called up to the Puerto Rico national team for a pair of World Cup qualifiers. This would be Boss' sixth cap with El Huracan Azul. Boss, an Oregon native, became eligible to play for Puerto Rico after spending two seasons with the Puerto Rico Islanders (2006-07).

Fire's Dominic Oduro -- Getty ImagesBy Charlie Corr
ESPNChicago.com
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- It has been 16 months since the Chicago Fire have posted back-to-back victories. They have an opportunity to put an end to that trend when they host the 2010 MLS champion Colorado Rapids on Saturday at Toyota Park.

Take a look at this photo (h/t @coulterchris) that recently appeared on SoundersFC.com. You'll find 18 Seattle Sounders. You'll also notice some conspicuous absences. Among the players not in this photo taken prior to Tuesday's CONCACAF Champions League group stage match against Monterrey are Fredy Montero, Kasey Keller, Mauro Rosales and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado.

There's been a lot of virtual ink spilled, here and elsewhere, over the Seattle Sounders' inability to pick up a third Designated Player at the close of the summer transfer window. We know all about how the Sounders felt they were very close to getting their man -- generally believed to be Hoffenheim's Prince Tagoe -- but that they came up just short.

U.S. Open Semifinal Tickets Available

There are still a handful of tickets for the Aug. 30 U.S. Open Cup semifinal against FC Dallas available through the Gorilla FC store. They are $18.50 for members and $21 for nonmembers. If you're interested in going, this may be your best shot.

Looks like Sigi Schmid will be sticking around for awhile. The only coach in the Seattle Sounders' MLS history -- and one of the most accomplished coaches in U.S. history -- signed a contract extension that will keep him patrolling the XBox Pitch sidelines through 2015. Under Schmid's watch, the Sounders have won two U.

First off, let me apologize for the scaled down version of today's matchcard. Life got the better of me and I didn't have time to track down all the relevant stats or try to figure out who the Galaxy would bother putting on their roster.

Bruce Arena is claiming that both Landon Donovan and David Beckham could be available for tonight's U.

The Richmond Kickers figured out how to do something no Major League Soccer team could -- beat Sporting Kansas City at Livestrong Sporting Park.

The USL Pro side scored twice after a lengthy weather delay in the second half to keep its U.S. Open Cup hopes alive with a surprise 2-0 quarterfinal victory.

We're getting ahead of ourselves with this, but the semifinal pairings and schedule for the 2011 U.S. Open Cup were announced on Thursday. On the side of the bracket that concerns the Seattle Sounders, Real Salt Lake outbid the competition and will host either the Los Angeles Galaxy or Seattle, should they win their quarterfinal match with FC Dallas.

I won't bash the bidding process to host games today that the USSF has in place for the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup, I will at least let you all know who could be hosting the semifinal matches. The USSF released the information today and as expected a couple teams did the right thing and bid well enough to get the USOC games on their home turf.

After each match the contributors to New England Soccer Today will rate the performances of the United States National Team players who made an appearance on a 1 to 10 scale (1 horrendous, 5 average, 10 perfection). This week Brian O'Connell and Sean Donahue contributed ratings for the USA's 1-0 CONCACAF Gold Cup Semifinal victory over Panama.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

As Mexico prepares for its Gold Cup semifinal game against Honduras, it has reinforcements in tow.

Coach Jose Manuel de la Torre has called upon defenders Paul Aguilar (pictured above), Hector Reynoso and Hiram Mier to take the place of their suspended teammates for the remainder of the Gold Cup.

It's been a topsy-turvy run for Clarence Goodson on the USMNT. Goodson, who played at the University of Maryland in the midfield nonetheless, has been largely enigmatic for Bob Bradley in a US kit.

Clarence Goodson against Colombia, October 2010.

It was 2009 that Goodson got some run after a Jimmy Conrad injury at the Gold Cup.

The U.S. men's national team takes on World Cup champions Spain today at Gillette Stadium (4:30pm, ESPN2) in a match that could be a sellout.

The Spaniards will be looking for a measure of revenge for their 2009 Confederations Cup semifinal loss to the United States. The Americans will be using the match as a final tune-up before the CONCACAF Gold Cup, which they kick off against Canada on Tuesday.

The U.S. men's national team will take on Spain on Saturday in a rematch of their 2009 Confederations Cup semifinal (won by the United States, 2-0), and with Spain fielding a strong squad, the Americans will need their strongest possible team to hope for another upset.

With the U.

Etchu Tabe and RoPS will hope to run their winning streak to two games while the Yanks at Mariehamn have one last warmup at home against league powerhouse HJK before next week's crucial cup semifinal.

It was the cruellest of jokes. Even with the reverberations from the 5-0 walloping they took at FC Porto earlier in the season still quietly rumbling away in the back of their minds, Benfica fans were still willing to forgive the previous week's capitulation at the Estádio da Luz which had allowed Porto to saunter away with the title.

Both Israeli State Cup Semifinal matches take place on Wednesday at Ramat Gan Stadium with Bryan Gerzicich and Hapoel Kiryat Shmona taking on Hapoel Tel Aviv while Leo Krupnik and Maccabi Netanya will face Maccabi Haifa shortly after.

Michael Parkhurst will hope to see the field for Nordsjaelland in their Cup semifinal at Randers while Euan Holden and Hjorring look to earn much-needed points against visting Koge.

Michael Carrick on support of teammates after his mistake that led to Manchester City's goal in the FA Cup semifinal-
"The mistake against City wasn't a nice experience. We had to bounce back – me and the team – and we have done that against Newcastle, Everton and Schalke."
"But the great thing is there is no blame culture here.

Josh Wicks went the distance in Mariehamn's goal on Thursday night as the Green Whites put four past JIPPO Joensuu on their way to the Finnish Cup semifinal.

Agent Sturridge struck again on Sunday, scoring one of the goals that helped Bolton defeat Arsenal and leave them three points behind Chelsea in third place.

bol1067676 by arsenalist

It's one of the questions we've been asking since Studge went out on loan and started scoring goals constantly – what to do with him when the loan spell is over?

The good news: As far as goalless draws go, last night's scoreless stalemate at St. James' Park was about as entertaining as they come.

The bad news: Manchester United are perhaps in the entertaining business only in the preseason, and come late April and May, it's 1000% results, 0% anything else.

While you are watching the first-teamers take on the Brummies at the Bridge tomorrow, please spare a thought for the youth boys as they play the second leg of the FA Youth Cup semifinal against the Mancs.

Or, you can try to multitask like me put the first team on the television and mute it, then pull up Chelsea TV on the laptop to watch the Youth Cup.