By Chris Wright

Those canny devils over at Umbro have just launched their 'Icons Reissued' collection, which sees them reproducing a small gaggle of premium stitch-for-stitch replicas of some of the brand's most classic designs from yesteryear.

You'll be glad to know that Pies have been able to nab a few photos of the new range from the folk over at Umbro, which contains but four vintage items starting with Sir Alf Ramsey's iconic England 1966 World Cup Anthem Jacket.

Hmm. Looks like a 4-4-2 diamond for the USMNT tonight. Not especially feelin' it, still don't understand why this camp roster wasn't larger. Oh well.. enjoy the game, player ratings after at MLSS and Will plans to drop some thoughts tomorrow morning.Rimando; DeLaGarza, Parkhurst, Cameron, Loyd, Zusi, Clark, Jones, Shea, Wondolowski, Bunbury- Greg Seltzer

Photo: Courtesy of Philadelphia Independence

On Wednesday, the Independence finally made official what has been rumored for weeks, that former Atlanta Beat midfielder/striker Lori Chalupny has signed with the team. Chalupny is a former USWNT player who has been capped over 90 times for the senior squad.

Alex Ferguson talked about his 18 year-old youngster Ravel Morrison yesterday, and said that Newcastle's bid for him had been rejected, while Alan Pardew has said no Newcastle bid has been made. Ravel Morrison a diamond in the rough Newcastle are supposed to have gone in with an initial £500K bid last weekend, and then yesterday the news is that Newcastle increased that offer to £1M, but the local Newcastle Journal [.

Interesting comments from Martin Jol regarding his use of Clint Dempsey (see Hammyend.com for more).

Essentially he's saying that Dempsey is operating as more of a classic 10, now.

This is interesting. From our unusually lofted positions high in Johnny Haynes, Toby and I spent a bit of time on Saturday wondering where everyone was supposed to be playing.

Interesting comments from Martin Jol regarding his use of Clint Dempsey (see Hammyend.com for more).

Essentially he's saying that Dempsey is operating as more of a classic 10, now.

This is interesting. From our unusually lofted positions high in Johnny Haynes, Toby and I spent a bit of time on Saturday wondering where everyone was supposed to be playing.

The transfer window is well and truly open, and with Newcastle United having taken just 5 points from the last 24, there are many areas of the squad which needs strengthening.

First up doing the rumours on Twitter is Finnish footballer Thomas Hesakmi Hesakmi appears to be a very raw talent and it could be likely that Newcastle have unearthed another diamond (along the lines of Mehdi Abeid).

Released earlier in 2011, the Umbro Diamond Icons Collection (now available at World Soccer Shop and Umbro.com) has been a staple among soccer clothing lovers this year. We recently had a chance to take an in-depth look at one of the latest ranges from the iconic UK-based footie gear manufacturers. Here's what we found.

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.

Well it's happened again and at Stamford Bridge. It was good to see Ryan Bertrand, Josh McEachran (who was later replaced injured at the end of the first half), Oriol Romeu get another start and Romelu Lukaku get a run out. Oriol Romeu and David Luiz were the stars of the show as far as Chelsea were concerned but that was about it.

If you were checking here to see if American Samoa won last night, you are going to be feeling a little disappointed.Despite a 1 on 1 chance for American Samoa's Diamond Ott, the resulting shot clanked off the crossbar and away from danger. It only got worse for American Samoa. In the 90th minute, Samoa's Silao Malo converted on the counter attack (Samoa only needed to draw to progress based on
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What are the odds Shane and Liz never make it down the aisle? Derek McGovern's Bets of the Day

Shane Warne popped the question to Liz Hurley at St Andrews, the home of golf. The question was ‘can I take a mulligan?' When the oft-seen couple and Warne were asked why they haven't named a date for the wedding, Warne said he wasn't aware you were allowed to bring one.

Three players with state ties are headed to Mexico with the Canadian women's national team for the Pan American Games next month.

Atlanta Beat defender Lauren Sesselmann (Green Bay Notre Dame), Marquette sophomore Vanessa Legault-Cordisco and University of Wisconsin recruit Diamond Simpson were among the 17 players selected by new coach John Herdman.

Gazzetta dello Sport Ranieri, this is how I'll change Inter Pazzini and Sneijder at the centre of the plans A four-man defence and diamond midfield Possible surprise with return of Muntari New Coach held his first training session: 'Remember this team was born to win' A month without Pato, Milan look to the Little Pharaoh Juve, it's time for Quagliarella and Elia Roma.

After the defeat at United on Sunday, along with the positives about how we approached the game and how we attacked United, I am just wondering if we have stumbled across the death of Chelsea's 4-3-3 formation that we have been stuck with for years?.
The basis of our successes has been our tried and trusted 4-3-3 formation and I think before the second half on Sunday, everyone knows it's our preferred formation.

Polling, polling, polling

Keep them polls rolling (sung to the tune of Rawhide)

Poll If we stay with a 4-4-2, what should be the midfield formation?

• Keep the diamond!
• Go to flat midfield, with center midfielders going box to box
• Use two withdrawn defensive midfielders (since that seems to be our strength)

2 votes | Results

"Pardon my French, but Cameron is so tight that if you stuck a lump of coal up his ass, in two weeks you'd have a diamond." -- Ferris Bueller's Day Off This isn't time to beat a dead horse, as it were. Bob Bradley got enough criticism from U.S. fans throughout his tenure, whether rightly or wrongly; informed or knee-jerk.

If you were asked to name your preferred first eleven now that the transfer window has shut, you would pretty much pick 6 or 7 similar players in a 4-3-3 formation under AVB.
There is an argument that Chelsea have become predictable since last season and pretty much for three halves of football at the start of this season.

Eric Giardini on Michael Bradley's southbound move

Six years later, Bradley attempts to break into Serie A, not MLS...

"It's fine."

That was my initial reaction to reading that Michael Bradley was joining Chievo Verona in Italy in an undisclosed move that was announced today.

Following yesternight's demolition of Villareal more and more people are vying for the much coveted 3-4-3 fomation to be used at Barca. Already everyone is going gaga over the fact that we played almost 9 midfielde players and one defender in the starting line-up. A look into the line-up which started explains why people are so thrilled - Busquest, Mascherano who played in defense are natural defensive midfield players.

BIG THANKS TO ZACH FOR HELPING ME GET THIS TO POST

Sometimes being bored has its advantages.

After an hour of being undercaffeinated while listening to a lecture about the philosophy of coaching Under 8's waaaaay too early on a Saturday morning, my thoughts drifted to the Orangemen (apologies to anyone Irish for that reference).

The Los Angeles Dodgers have had a difficult season on and off the diamond. But don't blame Clayton Kershaw. The 23-year-old hurler has had a Cy Young caliber season. On Thursday, the Dodgers ace proved his worthiness once again against the Milwaukee Brewers.

In eight inning of work, Kershaw gave up five hits walking none and striking out six.

Seattle Setup: It was clear that Seattle's goal was to control the possession and that they felt that by doing that they would be able to score a few goals. They created a plethora of chances, but unfortunately for them their finishing was lacking and they were unable to find the back of the net.

I posted the other week about what looked like Chelsea's new pressing game so far this season and watching our two recent performances against Aston Villa and Rangers, this has become more obvious than ever.
Barcelona are known in the game for their work ethic off the ball, to win it back in the opposition half and move it forward quickly and we all know the benefits to their game when they do that.

Many professional indoor soccer franchises are now preparing for the upcoming season and the Missouri Comets of the MISL are no exception.
Once again the team will be holding an Open Tryout, giving players a chance to show their stuff to Coaches Kim Roentved, Vlatko Andonovski and Doug McLagan.

Editor's note: Sorry, this is so late. Been a long day.

Coming off a game on Tuesday, we're projecting the Seattle Sounders to use a starting lineup that looks pretty similar to the one they've been using for the last few weeks. The only changes we foresee are Alvaro Fernandez being inserted into the left midfielder position that was occupied by Lamar Neagle on Tuesday and for Tyson Wahl to regain his starting spot at left mid.

Peri nice!After acquiring Dasan Robinson in exchange for Dan Gargan this morning, we commented that more moves were likely. We didn't expect it to be 8 hours later.
This evening TFC announced that the club has picked up Bosnian-born American Perica "Peri" Marosevic, a once highly touted 22-year old forward.

Liverpool's Luis Suarez won the Copa America tonight,beating Paraguay by 3 goals to nil.
It was Suarez himself who opened the scoring with a deflected goal on 11mins and our Anfield hero was a constant threat to the Paraguyan defence.
He set up Diego Forlan for the second with a nicely weighted headed pass for the Athletico Madrid striker to slam home on 41 mins.

San Jose will look to avenge the 3-0 drubbing New York gave to the Quakes earlier this season. For the first time this season Frank Yallop will be able to pair Wondolowski with Lenhart and Dawkins. The Quakes are taking the previous loss to heart and are energized to put in a grand performance for a grand stadium.

Who got the better of the DeRo-Dax trade?

Dwayne De Rosario was supposed to be the final piece of the puzzle in New York. The team and its fans had wanted someone to play at the "point" of the diamond midfield head coach Hans Backe has desired, and De Ro seemed a natural fit since that was the spot at which he won two MLS Cups with the Houston Dynamo.

Please sing our headline to the tune of, 'How Much Is That Doggy In the Window?'. The 'arf, arf' sound effects are optional. Image via Kun's Twitter.

Time for a contest, Kickettes!

Anyone who correctly guesses the weight of Serio Aguero's diamond huggies in carats (without going over) will win a box of Cesc's cookies and bragging rights that we'd advise against sharing in circles outside of our own.

Often when one talks about tactics and formations it is a notation or nomenclature that implies certain small things happening in general. The Seattle Sounders have shifted from an Arrow (4-1-3-1-1), to various versions of the Diamond (4-<4>-2), and against Toronto we saw a more traditional 4-2-3-1.

The Independence were able to move into second place in the six team WPS with a 6-0 thrashing of the team I will only refer to as Florida. The margin of victory is the highest ever in the 2.5 year old league and only the second time ever a team has scored six goals in a game (the now defunct LA team did it last season).

If you aren't familiar with how right fullback Tony Beltran plays, think Sheanon Williams. The Real Salt Lake defender took some time to talk to the Philly Soccer Page after Wednesday night's tough 2–1 road loss to Columbus Crew. You'll get a chance to see the UCLA product—Kyle Nakazawa played with him there—when the Union hosts RSL on Saturday at PPL Park.

It is disappointing that the Union did not beat the Rapids. At the start of this season I never thought I would be anything less than pleased to see the Union picking up a point at Colorado. So there is a silver lining to this disappointment. It means this team is capable of still more.

It is hard to ask for more from the Union's back four though.

The big question this summer apart from potential signings after having it confirmed that Didier Drogba will be staying at the club, will be how do we get the best out of Drogba and Torres?. Following on from yesterdays post, I wanted to look at Chelsea as a whole and the fact that maybe it's because we are set up, with the players we have, to play 4-3-3.

For the last time this season I am taking a look at the team of the week for week 38. Formation is 4-4-2 Diamond. Goalkeeper: Michael Agazzi (Cagliari) The Cagliari number one pulled of some fantastic saves to deny Parma. He denied Giovinco with a brilliant fingertip save and then pulled off a brilliant double save to deny Giovinco once again.

This looks like a fun film. I've been in NYC for the past 3 World Cups and if you can't be at the actual tournament there is no better place to be than New York. Even though the games may be taking place thousands of miles away, the World Cup vibe still permeates the city due to its multi-culti milieu.

Yesterday, I remarked that Liverpool apparently used the third different formation in three matches despite starting the same front six in all three. What do the Daily Telegraph's average position charts (click on "team stats" on the right sidebar) have to say?
It's difficult to divine the 4-4-2 diamond from the average position diagram against Birmingham.

I've been spending far too much time over the past couple days learning everything I can about new Dynamo signing Sergio Koke. Inevitably, the first question that pops in to my head is where Koke would best fit in to Dominic Kinnear's lineup.

Koke has played in both a forward and central midfield role and he's been in the CAM position at Aris the last couple years.