Legend. Arsenal true blue. Competitor. Finisher extraordinaire.

You couldn't write a better script for Thierry Henry to end his England return. An added time goal for the winner against Sunderland. A bookend to the bookend he installed with his instant winner against Leeds. Both Wenger's subs made massive contributions to the victory as Aaron Ramsey scored the equalizer and Andrey Arshavin sent in a pinpoint cross to Henry lurking in front of goal to elevate his leg and guide the ball past Simon Mignolet.

Sunderland boss Martin O'Neill admits that the Black Cats will have their hands full when they entertain Arsenal at the Stadium of Light today, particularly given the dexterity of Gunners youngster Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

The teenage sensation has quickly become a fan favorite at Arsenal, setting up Robin van Persie's equalizer in the 2-1 defeat against Manchester United and then displaying his scoring abilities by netting twice in last weekend's 7-1 destruction of Blackburn.

Who's the winner when no one wants to win? Chelsea went up 3-0, thanks in part to an own goal by Evans, then quick goals from Mata and Luiz. Switching to cruise control, Chelsea forgot to realize that none of their wheels were on well and it all just came apart.They gave up two penalties in 11 minutes and then a final equalizer by Chicharito dooms Chelsea to forever be looking up at another team
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Demba Cisse the most expensive player in the January transfer and the other half of the Senegalese strike force alongside Demba Ba, provided an instant impact as he scored a majestic goal on his debut. Majestic.

Ba and Cisse were away on ACN duty and how they were missed, especially Ba, who gave Newcastle the lead in the 30th minute for his 16th Premiership goal.

Michael Bradley went 90 minutes for Chievo on Thursday, beating Novara 2-1 at the Stadio Silvio Piola. Sergio Pellissier opened the scoring in the 33rd minute, with Cyril Thereau doubling the lead in the 78th. Novara answered back a minute later, but were unable to come up with an equalizer. The result has Chievo in 10th place, with Novara bottom of the table.

Clint Dempsey did it again.

Dempsey scored another goal for Fulham, tallying the opener in the Cottagers' 1-1 draw with West Brom on Wednesday. Costa Rican international Bryan Ruiz slipped Dempsey a pass inside the area, and the American turned and finished with a right-footed strike in the 69th minute to add to his current run of form.

After being reduced to 10 men in the second half, Israeli league leaders tried to hang on to a slim lead but conceded a late equalizer to Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Goals:
Agger 21'
Park 40'
Kuyt 88'
For the second match in a row: *shakes head* Football, man. Football.
A first half set play goal, followed by increased United pressure and the inevitable equalizer following a defensive mistake. In a 4-1-4-1 formation with Carragher holding in midfield, Liverpool were unable to settle on the ball, in a typically frenetic no-holds-barred cup game.

Liverpool's big week culminates with Manchester United's trip to Anfield in the fourth round of the FA Cup tomorrow, two weeks ahead of their visit to Old Trafford in league. United had the more arduous task in the third round, traveling across town to the Etihad, where they scraped past City in a 3-2 win.

What happened to the Taranga Lions? They went out with a whimper. One of the ACN's most formidable teams on paper boasting names like Demba Ba, Moussa Sow, Mamadou Niang, and Papiss Cisse, were unceremoniously dumped out by co-hosts Equatorial Guinea. The Lions lost their first encounter, 1-2 to the unfancied Zambians.

Today, Real Madrid played as it should have in the first leg. The first half began so brightly for Real with Gonzalo Higuain the main culprit for not finishing those chances. Gerard Pique was caught napping and the Argentinian striker should have done much, much better. Minutes later, Pinto was barely able to foil Higuain whose timing was less than impeccable.

The last time the United States and Panama met was the 2011 Gold Cup. The US lost the June 11th group stage game in Tampa Bay 2-1. Trailing from the 19th minute, the US was down two goals after giving up a 36th-minute penalty. Clarence Goodson pulled a goal back in the 68th, but the USA was unable to come up with an equalizer.

A draw against Ajax was enough to keep Jozy Altidore and AZ atop the Eredivisie while a late equalizer by Maastricht denied Charles Kazlauskas and Helmond a spot in the top half of the Eerste Divisie.

Sunday's match turned up a lot of heroes and villains for both teams. The match itself went like most people had predicted; a close encounter that could have gone either way... that is until 75 minutes into the game, when what can only be considered a game changing event occurred. But I'll get to that later.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has made it clear that he wants to follow up his impressive Premier League debut against Manchester United by starting regularly for the Gunners.

Oxlade-Chamberlain was preferred to the likes of Andrei Arshavin and Yossi Benayoun as he was surprisingly named a started for the visit of the defending champions.

szólj hozzá: Arsenal v Man United 1:2 MOTD

It was the 74th minute when Arsene Wenger went from mere arrogance to sheer incompetence. Replacing Alex Oxlade Chamberlain with Andrey Arshavin. The Ox had been Arsenal's best player on the pitch providing the side with desperately needed speed, ambition, and some quality skills.

Surprised? No. Disappointed? Of course.

Watching that match was painful, and I'm sure most of you caught the match. I will describe the match in laconic detail, in order to spare us the pain:

First Half: We were dire. Really, really dire. We couldn't get out of own half for most of the half, as United, who weren't so hot themselves, probed for an opener.

By FRANCO PANIZO

It took Clint Dempsey nine years to score the first hat-trick of his career, a feat he accomplished on January 7 in an FA Cup win over Charlton Athletic.

It did not take much longer for him to do it again.

Dempsey became the first American to net a hat-trick in the Premiership on Saturday.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has rubbished suggestions that substituting Andrei Arshavin for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain led to the club's 2-1 defeat at home to Manchester United and insists that he owes the doubters no explanation.

With the Gunners tied 1-1 after Chamberlain had assisted Robin van Persie second-half equalizer to Luis Antonio Valencia's first-half opener, Wenger brought Arshavin on to a negative reaction throughout the Emirates Stadium.

Manchester City maintain their lead at the top of table and also widen their gap with third place team, Tottenham Hotspurs after Roberto Mancini's team edged passed Harry Redknapp's boys this Sunday.

Controversial Italian striker, Mario Balotelli arrived as City's savior in the match after scoring the winning goal deep in injury time.

Michael Parkhurst hopes to do enough in the January U.S. Men's National Team camp to earn more looks with the full national team. (Photo by Art Donahue/artdonahue.com)

Former New England Revolution central defender Michael Parkhurst has excelled in both MLS and in Europe, but hasn't been a regular contributor to the U.

Cristiano Ronaldo put Real up in the 11th minute as he took advantage of the gaping hole between Jose Pinto's legs to swing the ball through after Karim Benzema sprang him free from midfield. That was it for Real's endeavours. Barca momentarily stunned took over the match keeping Iker Casillas busy.

What had the potential to be a battle of the Americans ended up not happening, with Brad Guzan giving way to the returning Shay Given in goal for Aston Villa. Tim Howard and Landon Donovan started in the 1-1 draw. Donovan assisted on Victor Anichebe's equalizer, with a pass that probably reminded too many of the Everton faithful why Donovan is such an upgrade for their club.

Arsenal were dealt yet another blow in their bid for a top four finish as a dismal 3-2 defeat away to Swansea City leaves Arsene Wenger's men with a lot of work ahead of them.

Goals from Scott Sinclair (penalty), Nathan Dyer, and Danny Graham ensured that the Swans overcome impressive goals from Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott either side of the interval.

szólj hozzá: Swansea City 3-2 Arsenal

Arsenal's bright start through who else but Robin Van Persie was dashed within minutes as Aaron Ramsey brought down Nathan Dyer, an absolute pest to the Gunners, and Scott Sinclair converted the penalty. The foul looked pretty soft. Andrey Arshavin who had threaded the pass through for RVP's goal was guilty of less precision in the second half as Ramsey could not latch onto his errant service gifting the ball to Joe Allen.

Landon Donovan continued his strong run of form for Everton on Saturday, delivering his best performance since re-joining the Toffees in Everton's 1-1 draw at Aston Villa.

Donovan laid off a beautiful defense-splitting pass to set up Victor Anichebe's equalizer in a match that also so Donovan's LA Galaxy teammate, Robbie Keane, make his Aston Villa debut.

In case anyone wants to revisit Espanyol's 1-1 draw over Barcelona this past weekend here are the highlights. Barca's fierce crosstown rivals did Real Madrid a huge favour by playing spoilers moving them five points clear on top of the table. Barca went ahead through Cesc Fabregas. Who knew he could head the ball with such venom, a phenomenon previously unknown to Arsenal fans.

For the third time in two months, Liverpool and Manchester City square off, this time in the first leg of their League Cup semi-final. Liverpool's trip to the Eastlands last week ended with the visitors on the wrong end of a 0-3 result that saw City concede most of the possession but take the chances they managed to create.

As things turned out, Heidar Helguson's late equalizer in Milton Keynes on Saturday afternoon wasn't quite enough to keep Neil Warnock in his job. Rangers without a win of any description in the FA Cup for a decade may well remain in the competition for now, but Warnock won't be at Loftus Road for the replay.

Football resumed in Spain after the short winter break, and it did not take long for the first upset of 2012 to occur, as a late equalizer from Espanyol in the Barcelona derby dented Barca's title hopes.

Real Madrid started off 2012 like they ended 2011, scoring goals. This week Madrid beat Granada 5-1 with Karim Benzema scoring twice and Cristiano Ronaldo hitting his 21st league goal of the season.

Goals:
Simpson 28'
Bellamy 30'
Gerrard 45' (pen)
Shelvey 68'
Carroll 89'
Downing 90+4'
It should be illegal to complain when Liverpool score five, including firsts for Shelvey and Downing and a cameo from Carroll off the bench, no matter the opposition or merits of overall performance.

Richmond Kickers Press Release - http://www.richmondkickers.com/
RICHMOND, VA – (Thursday, January 5, 2012) – The Richmond Kickers are pleased to announce the return of forward Edson Elcock for the 2012 season, pending USSF approval.
"We are delighted that Edson has decided to return as he has contributed greatly to the club's success over the last couple of seasons," commented Leigh Cowlishaw, Richmond Kickers Head Coach and Director of Soccer.

So, how's that crossing toward Carroll thing going?
Through the first 17 league games, Liverpool averaged just under 19 crosses per match. In the three since, Liverpool are averaging exactly 35 crosses per match, with 43 against Blackburn, 26 against Newcastle, and 36 against City.

With Sporting Lisbon staring at the possibility of a League Cup slip-up against Rio Ave, Oguchi Onyewu came to the rescue.

Onyewu pushed forward and got involved in a late attack, scoring an 88th-minute equalizer by finishing off a low cross to give Sporting a 1-1 draw in a League Cup game on Monday.

szólj hozzá: Fulham vs Arsenal 2:1 MOTD

Depressing. Very depressing. As bright and incandescent as Arsenal were the first half, the second half was an absolute blight. The Gunners looked drained, bereft of ideas, and they let Fulham walk all over them. It was an reversion to many a game last season where Arsenal showed distinctly no ambition other than to run out 90 minutes.

Liverpool were desperate for a win after drawing 5 of their last 6 home games.

To make matters worse they had to lineup without top goal scorer Luis Suarez, after the striker received a one match ban from his finger gesture to Fulham fans. This could be a sign of things to come in the new year as his 8 match ban for racism is still under appeal.

Liverpool were desperate for a win after drawing 5 of their last 6 home games.

To make matters worse they had to lineup without top goal scorer Luis Suarez, after the striker received a one match ban from his finger gesture to Fulham fans. This could be a sign of things to come in the new year as his 8 match ban for racism is still under appeal.

Goals:
Agger (og) 25'
Bellamy 29' 67'
Gerrard 78'
Another tepid, frustrating, harsh 1-1 at Anfield. Until Gerrard came on at the hour mark.
As usual, Liverpool were the better side from the start, but neither keeper had a save to make in the first half. More often than not, Liverpool's possession ended at the edge of the final third, mainly with shots from distance charged down by Newcastle defenders or crosses just too high/far for Carroll.

A pair of Wisconsin boys teams had a tough time at the prestigious Disney Soccer Showcase this week in Orlando, Fla., both finishing 0-2-1 in group play.

Elm Grove SC Premier pulled out a 1-1 draw against Maryland's Bethesda SC Gunners in Under-18/19 Copa Black Division play Wednesday. Jimmy Grunert (Muskego) scored the equalizer for Elm Grove off an assist from Evan Carlin (Wauwatosa West) with 10 seconds left in stoppage time.

First fifteen

For a quarter of an hour on Boxing Day, it seemed like Sir Alex Ferguson had taken the term 'Christmas surprise' too literally. By the time that we eventually figured United were playing with 9 men + Evans + Gibson, Evra had already skipped around a static Wigan defence for Park to score his first goal in the Premier League since those days when he only scored against Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea etc.