Impact. Cheesy, any way you slice it

Blessed are the Cheese-makers! At least in Quebecois football circles. Oui, as we all know by now, Joey Saputo has managed to bring Major League Soccer to Montreal for 2012. The jump up to the top league presents such a grand opportunity for the Saputos to start their new major club off properly - most pressingly with a new name.

FC Zenit Saint Petersburg (Russian: ФК «Зeнит» Санкт-Петербург) is a Russian football club from Saint Petersburg. Founded in 1925 (or in 1914 according to some Russian sources), the club plays in the Russian Premier League and currently is the richest in the country due to the the ownership of the club by Gazprom.

While images and names flashed before my eyes as the final list of players to head for the Covilhã training camp was announced it was obvious Carlos Queiroz would manage to pull a couple of surprises out of his sleeve. Not one. Not two, but a merry total of three. These surprises go by the names of José Castro, Ricardo Costa and Daniel Fernandes.

There are 20 teams competing for the final 10 places in the 2011 Champions League group stage, which let's face it is the only part of the Champions League that really counts. The Playoff Round draw was this morning, which set up 10 games, of which the 10 winners will move on to the group stage.

Goalkeepers: Ben Foster (Birmingham), Joe Hart (Manchester City), Paul Robinson (Blackburn)

Defenders: Wes Brown (Manchester United), Gary Cahill (Bolton), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Michael Dawson (Tottenham Hotspur), Kieran Gibbs (Arsenal), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), John Terry (Chelsea)

Midfielders: Gareth Barry (Manchester City), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Adam Johnson (Manchester City), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), James Milner (Aston Villa), Ashley Young (Aston Villa), Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal)

Forwards: Darren Bent (Sunderland), Carlton Cole (West Ham United), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Bobby Zamora (Fulham)

Hungary (from I've always wanted to write that!

Put that in your Tony Pulis and smoke it!
Regular Yorkies readers will know that the word "Panama" has appeared far too often over the last few days here. So no more - not even parts of the word! On to a different topic!
　
In 2015, The Golden Horseshoe area will host the Pan-American Games (wait.

I think I am one of the few people in the blog/media realm that seems to enjoy the Europa League (formerly UEFA Cup). I've always looked at it as a great way to get more cultured in European football and see some of the up and coming stars before the big clubs swoop in for them. That said, this competition can be quite long to follow, especially if you try and follow the qualifiers.

ST PETERSBURG, Russia FC Zenit St Petersburg maintained their 100% Group G record and put RSC Anderlecht's own qualification out of their hands with a 3-1 win against the Belgian side. Clinical all campaign, it was once again Zenit's touch of class when it mattered which proved decisive against an Anderlecht team who prodded [.