By DAVID GUBALA

The Chicago Fire departed for Ventura, Calif., on Wednesday with a long-missed face settling back with the team for the first time since the end of the regular season.

After having quite the busy offseason, goalkeeper Sean Johnson finally regrouped with the Fire for their second phase of preseason.

FIFPro, the international professional soccer players union, has released a wide-ranging report on working conditions for pro players in Eastern Europe. The Black Book Eastern Europe is available as a pdf download from FIFPro's official site. Representing the experiences of 3,357 players, the report details evidence of racism and harassment of players along with club financial issues, unenforced contracts, and lack of oversight in how soccer operates in the region.

By Chris Wright

The following is copy-and-pasted verbatim from a Chelsea forum, in which former former youth Chelsea player Sam Tillen who now plays his football in Iceland writes candidly about his experiences as having John Terry as his club captain during his formative years.

The first two months of the season were awful, the atmosphere was angry, unsettled and going to watch the team wasn't at all pleasant. The atmosphere eased after a good run of results, putting us well back into contention for the Champions League places.

A new year run that has yet to see us win in the league has heralded the return of that atmosphere, a portion of the fanbase have been very forward with their views on the manager and a few of the players an injury crisis has not helped matters either all in all, being an Arsenal fan in the past few weeks has not been the most pleasant of experiences.

One of the issues with depth charts and roster math is how to place players who can fill many roles. With Adam Johansson in Qatar for the opening of training camp, Seattle Sounders coach Sigi Schmid gets to test a bunch of different options at the right back role. One thing quickly clear when asked was who the leader in that role is:

Obviously Zach Scott is somebody who can play there.

Adrian Leijer recently gave up some time for an interview with Adidas Onside. In the two-part "Access All Areas" interview Adrian gives us a good insight into what its like to be a professional footballer in Australia as he talks about his motivations, experiences and challenges. All credit goes to Adidas Onside on YouTube.

You'll like this. The difference between success and failure in football can be minute you need every edge you can get. And when you think about it, so much of football is in the mind. We talk about teams playing with confidence: that's a mental state. We talk about players looking nervous, or not knowing what they're supposed to be doing, or playing tentatively, or showing complacency.

Hi everyone.
I had the pleasure of writing an article for The Arsenal Collective. This is a wonderful website where any Gooner can write about their memoires and experiences of being an Arsenal fan.
Click on this link to read my entry - 'The only Arsenal Fan in the Room'.
It's about my experiences of being an Arsenal fan as a kid/young adult.

Ah weel fro ze gloves in your general deerecshon OTP isn't quite sure if this response was prompted by the Shaun Derry foul that forced Yohan Cabaye off the pitch during Newcastle's match against QPR, or by the fact that neither the ref, his team-mates, his manager or the physio appeared to believe he was [.

Liverpool's iconic captain Steven Gerrard has committed his future to the club after signing a new contract that will see him end his career with the Reds. Gerrard is one of those few players who have remain true and loyal to their club and though he has struggled with injuries for most of the season, this news will most definitely be welcomed by all fans.

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has signed a long term deal with Liverpool to keep him at the club for the rest of his playing career and beyond as a club ambassador.

Gerrard is set to become a one club player after he first signed for Liverpool when he was only 8 years old. No wonder he is said to be so happy to commit his long term future to the club.

Liverpool Captain Steven Gerrard has re-upped his current Liverpool contract which will see him end his career at his boy-hood hero's.

Gerrard told Liverpool's official website:
"It's a very proud day for myself and my family.

"This is the club I love and is the club I have supported since I was a young boy.

After August's rioting in London, Tottenham full-back Benoit Assou Ekotto was one of the most vocal and active footballing voices suggesting that the game could be doing more to deal with social problems in their local area. The Cameroon international took to the streets to see some of the worst affected areas for himself after [.

After retiring at the end of the 2011 season, US National Team alum and Seattle Sounders goalkeeper Kasey Keller has a new role with the club. He will be joining play-by-play voice Ross Fletcher in the booth for Sounders television and radio broadcasts. "It's exciting for me to be involved with our broadcasts and stay involved with the club," Keller said.

I had the chance to visit with a high school basketball team yesterday, and in their pre-practice meeting, they were referring to an article that I had also once written about a couple of years back. The article had to do with toughness, which ESPN's Jay Bilas has a pretty good reference point about.

Phoenix native Brad Evans will be at Tim Finnegan's Irish Pub on Friday night
U.S. Men's National Team midfielder Brad Evans is experienceing quite the whirlwind this week, returning to his native Phoenix on Wednesday after receiving the call from Jurgen Klinsmann to join the January Camp.

One of the neat experiences I've had coaching youth soccer is having a player who can do a flip throw. We actually have two players on our 96 girls team that can do it, though one is a striker and only throws in on occasion. The other is one of our starting defenders and was a competitive gymnast before she started playing soccer.

'You always have to be ready'

Istanbul hero Vladimir Smicer has drawn upon his own experiences to outline the importance of always being ready to seize an opportunity in football.

View the full story here: Liverpool FC

A news article on 2011-12-29 11:19:15 from: Liverpool FC

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

We wish you a Melwood Xmas

It's that time of year again; the time where Liverpool's players and back-room staff discuss their experiences of Christmas.

View the full story here: Liverpool FC

A news article on 2011-12-23 13:20:43 from: Liverpool FC

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Luis Suárez racism ban is 'incredible' insists Brighton's Gus Poyet

• Poyet says punishment is 'shocking' and 'disproportionate' • Suárez suspended for eight games and fined £40,000 Gus Poyet has branded the ban and fine imposed on Liverpool's Luis Suárez as "incredible" and says he backs his fellow Uruguayan "to the death".

Ex-Uruguay international Gus Poyet has blasted the FA's decision to ban Luis Suarez for eight games after being found guilty of misconduct.
Poyet, who manages Brighton, has labelled the hefty suspension as 'disproportionate' while he has also criticized Patrice Evra, claiming he is no 'saint'.
The 44-year-old insists there are cultural differences between England and Uruguay and anything Suarez may have said would have been perfectly 'normal' back home.

Former Arsenal keeper Jens Lehman expressed delight at seeing both Manchester sides eliminated from the Champions League on Wednesday but was more happy with league leaders City's failure to progress to the next stage.

According to Lehman, City play very boring football and deserved to be dumped out of the competition.

Jay Heaps has a tough job. The former player turned coach is now in the process of righting the ship that's lost its way in New England. A lot has been made of the Revolution's choice to hire Heaps, whether it's support for someone who knows the organization or criticism at his lack of experience.
Molded by some of the best coaches in all of sports, he has some fantastic experiences to draw on.

NOTE: I know several of you have stated that you really don't care when I write about that other sport I referee. If that's the case for you, you can safely skip this series of entries. This blog still has the same purpose as always (self-evaluation and venting when necessary), but it won't be focused on footy for a while, as for me this is the soccer off-season.

One of the main focuses of every Development Academy event is referee training and development. From seminars to on-field training from professional referees, the Academy games are used to identify promising referees and put them on the track to reaching the elite levels.

Referees use the Center to relax, rehydrate and exchange ideas during the Showcase.

Before I say anything else, let me just make it clear that I think that Gary Speed's death yesterday, at the age of 42, is unquestionably tragic; an awful, shocking piece of news. It's difficult for me to imagine a circumstance so terrible that hanging myself seemed the best option, and I hope I never experience anything remotely approaching it.

Welcome to the Friday Crackovia Club... a Futbolita special! Bruno Oro, the fantastic Catalan actor who plays Cristiano Ronaldo's character (you know it!) has returned again with a fantastic rendition of Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Honduras national team coach Luís Suárez has had a personal blog since June on which he writes about his experiences with the Honduran team and shares his viewpoints on coaching and leadership. I particularly like his post on the type of football that he likes and doesn't like. If you understand Spanish, it will be worth your time reading the posts and even if you don't, he uses fairly standard Spanish so a machine translation would be sufficient.

Stewart Downing has set his sights on establishing himself as a regular in the England side ahead of next summer's Euro 2012 finals.
Downing made his international debut in February 2005 and then remained on the fringes of the team for some time as competition for places was fierce.
He has become an increasingly important player since Fabio Capello took charge but recognizes that he will have to keep performing well for the rest of the season to book a place on the plane for Poland and Ukraine.

It's Blind Items Monday again time for you to put on your thinking caps and solve this week's football puzzles by our hardworking sources! Also, if you have a story or unconfirmed rumour to share based on your experiences or someone you know please write to us at blinds @ futbolita.

So this is a kind of cool clip that was sent to me by NSC Minnesota Stars defender Kevin Friedland with the following note attached.

Hey Shawn,
Hope you are well.
I wanted to share a video from the first leg of the NASL Championship and the last home game in Minnesota.

Caroline Brockmeier -- Democrat photoBy Jim Henry
Democrat writer
Caroline Brockmeier has developed into one of the country's top youth soccer players. The sophomore goalie at Chiles High was invited to a national select camp two years ago and actually plays club soccer in Chicago. Established collegiate programs have started to express interest.

Nicole Barnhart (over the First Ladys right shoulder) blogged for the White House
She's the best on the U.S. WNT at crossword puzzles, bananagrams and graphic design, but Stanford graduate Nicole Barnhart can also write, as you can see on this guest blog for The White House, in which the U.

From the Evansville Courier Press, October 9, 2011
The players and teams that continue to get better as the season goes on often prescribe to focusing on the process of getting better, opposed to focusing solely on the outcome and results of their previous or upcoming games.
This applies not only to players or teams, but to coaches, too.

Greetings, ladies and gents! SB Nation has set up a survey to provide feedback concerning user experiences on this site. They'll use this feedback to make continued improvements to the interface, brand integration, navigation and other essential elements of the SBN experience. All answers are confidential and it only takes about 3 minutes to complete the survey (I did it myself).

Hello loyal readers,

Thank you as always for helping make this site the success that it is. Please help to make it even better.

SB Nation has set up a survey to hear your opinions and feedback on the user experience on this site. We are always trying to improve user experiences, navigation and brand integrations and your feedback is incredibly valuable in this process.

I have to admit that my first experiences watching a Roberto Mancini-coached team was a good one. It was in a pre-scandal Italy (at least the recent one). Inter Milan were still a plucky 3rd or 4th best team fighting to keep up with Milan and Juve. The thing that I remember enjoying about them is that you could see just about anything from them on any given weekend.

On Wednesday, Sporting KC's owners, Sporting Club will announce the creation of a new company, Sporting Innovations. The creation of the company is designed to be a consulting company that will use the experiences that the team has learned from the opening of LIVESTRONG Sporting Park. Specifically it seems to be directed with regards to the set up of the stadium, the partnership between KCK and Google along with the team's partnership with Cisco out at the stadium that has helped have some very fast internet speeds inside LSP.

Dean Saunders to implement Liverpool lessons at Rovers

New Doncaster boss drawing on experiences from time at Anfield

View the full story here: The Mirror

A news article on 2011-09-23 15:14:39 from: The Mirror

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Last night I was invited to be a guest on Kansas City ESPN-affiliate radio station 810 WHB AM's The Kansas City Soccer Show.

Following up Taylor Twellman, the Philadelphia Union's television color commentator, I was asked what I thought of the match up between the Union and Sporting Kansas City, Zach Pfeffer's debut, the Union's rise-fall-rise in the past two months and the Jordan Harvey trade, among other topics.