Mo Farah, Great British Olympian, double winning gold medallist at the 2012 London Olympics and
lifelong Arsenal fan has told reporters that the club should sign him up, as a fitness coach for
Arsenal, once he retires from his very successful Olympic career. The 29-year-old, made the nation
proud by claiming gold in the 5000m [.
"If you listen closely, you can hear perpetual disappointment"
Fresh from doing the rounds, performing the 'Mobot' salute on every single TV show in
Christendom, double gold-medalist Mo Farah is facing the grim reality of reentering the mundane
post-Olympic drudge of club athletics so it's only natural that he should try to use his new-found
standing as whatever the male equivalent of a 'national sweetheart' is to good effect.
The Timbers held a closed training session at their Beaverton practice facility today as they
prepared to take on the Vancouver Whitecaps this Saturday. With every player but Chris Taylor
(Taylor was added to the IR list last week) present, the Timbers had a record 32 players in
training today, more than were at any practice this year before this week.
The Timbers were back training in full stride today as fitness coach John Ireland reminded the
team to stay well hydrated ahead of what will likely be a trying match in the altitude against
Colorado this weekend. Today's practice at the Beaverton training facility was closed after warm
ups but the team was still working on the pitch when the press was let back out onto the field.
The Timbers held a closed practice today their Beaverton training facility. With the sun out,
spirits seemed high during the team's warm-up as they mixed things up from their usual routine with
some rugby-style passing drills. Perhaps predictably, few of the American players knew what fitness
coach John Ireland meant by "rugby football passing".
Corner kick: Our opponents wouldn't even put guys in the box!
Orlando, FL The final day of competition has arrived and no alarm clock was
needed to wake up at 6am. 16 teams arrived at ESPN Wide World of Sports with the intent to win
their pool play to advance to the semifinals.
Monday's training session looked a bit more rigid in its structure, as all healthy players,
including Saturday's starters, participated in full training. Spencer referred to it as a "light
re-gen," but it looked a bit more strenuous than that. A sign of things to come, I suppose.
The Timbers started off today's practice after their day off by wishing a happy birthday to
Diego Chara who turns 26 today. After that it was down to business, as new fitness coach John
Ireland continued to change up the Timbers warm up routines. After the Timbers completed some
running and ball control drills, practice was closed to the press.
The Portland Timbers' training today took place at Jeld-Wen Field in the usual Portland spring
weather. Practice consisted of the usual warm-ups, overseen by new fitness coach John Ireland, and
a half-field game followed by more running to close out practice.
The cool down running, according to John Spencer, was intended to maintain the team's strength
and fitness when the coaching staff felt not enough running had occurred in the course of
practice.
Mayhem continues to reign at Racing Santander as coach Juan Carlos Unzue and Director of
Football Manolo Saiz look set to be axed from the club.
Unzue and Saiz both signed contracts with the Racing club earlier this summer on June 22, with
Saiz agreeing to stay at the club in his Director of Football role for another three years.
For many on the U.S. WNT coaching staff, this trip to the U.K. is a homecoming of sorts. Goalkeeper
coach Paul Rogers is from Brighton in the south of England, assistant coach Jill Ellis lived in
Folkstone, England before moving to the United States in high school, and fitness coach Dawn Scott
is from -- wait for it -- Newcastle!
Not sure why this had not happened before today, but Tito Vilanova this morning signed a
two-year contract to manage Barcelona.
Vilanova takes over from Pep Guardiola who announced in April that he would be leaving Barca
this summer following four trophy-laden years at the Nou Camp. The 42-year-old Vilanova was
Guardiola's assistant.
Video from Eddie Johnson's first day at training. A few key takeaways that seem to be constantly
overlooked: Ezra Hendrickson (assistant coach) played with EJ with FC Dallas and Chris Henderson
(technical director) and David Tenney (fitness coach) both coached EJ in Kansas City. Eddie was far
from unknown to this coaching staff.
Jurgen Klinsmann, Dawn Scott (WNT Fitness Coach), Pia Sundhage, Caleb Porter (U-23 MNT Head Coach),
Andreas Herzog, Martin Vasquez (MNT Assistant Coach), Eric Yamamoto (U-23 MNT Assistant
Coach) Two World Cup veterans. Two players who scored bushels of goals for club
and country.
Jurgen Klinsmann, Dawn Scott (WNT Fitness Coach), Pia Sundhage, Caleb Porter (U-23 MNT Head
Coach), Andreas Herzog, Martin Vasquez (MNT Assistant Coach), Eric Yamamoto (U-23 MNT Assistant
Coach) Two World Cup veterans. Two players who scored bushels of goals for club
and country.
UPPER MONTCLAIR, N.J. -- Eddie Johnson may seem like a confident player for the Seattle Sounders
these days, but that's only because of the belief his new team has had in him.
After spending eight months without a club and rejoining MLS this past winter, Johnson has
shaken off a rough start to the season by finding the scoring touch that made him one of the most
lethal forwards in MLS prior to his departure for Europe four years ago.
Eddie Johnson's career revival with the Sounders shows that EJ7 is not who you think he is -
Sporting News
A fantastic inside look at how Eddie's time with the Sounders has gone--what motivates him and
has kept him in the starting 11. Having had the pleasure of meeting EJ, I can say that Brian
Straus's take is same is mine: The EJ7 you think you knew from all the media before is not the same
as the one the Sounders have now.
When Sigi Schmid said Saturday, "there are a couple guys I'm concerned about a little bit that I
don't think came back as fit as I would have liked," some alarm bells went off in with in the
Seattle Sounders fanbase. The question asked concerned how the team needed to change training in
light of the CONCACAF Champions League series against Santos Laguna that starts a week and a half
prior to League play.
The Portland Timbers practiced today under cloudy skies at Jeld-Wen Field ahead of their midweek
break. Practice had a surprise in store as the Timbers reserves left the field following the team
warm-ups in anticipation of a closed doors scrimmage against the University of Portland tonight.
Without the reserves on hand, the Timbers first teamers were treated to some small field games
interspersed with running overseen by fitness coach John Ireland.
Real Madrid have refused to hold a pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday's La Liga clash
with Real Sociedad.
Apart from Marcelo, no player from Madrid has addressed the media following the 1-1 draw against
Villarreal on Wednesday, in which Los Blancos were very critical of the standard of refereeing.
Real Madrid will boycott their pre-match press conference ahead of their game against Real
Soceidad in protest over the refereeing decisions that went against them during their 1-1 draw with
Villarreal on Wednesday night.
Real had two players sent off during the match which also saw manager Jose Mourinho and fitness
coach Rui Faria sent to the stands by referee Jose Paradas Romero.
Yo, it's 1997 all over again, friends. Puff Daddy & The Family are ruling the charts, Titanic is
mastering modern cinema. Chelsea, meanwhile, are lifting the FA Cup after goals from Roberto Di
Matteo and a man who strangely looks like Cory Glover of Living Colour.
Eddie Newton. That's right, Newton is back, joining Di Matteo once again as part of our
caretaker manager's backroom staff.
Sunderland pair Stephane Sessegnon and Lee Cattermole have been issued a cumulative total of
seven game's worth of suspensions following their red cards in (and after) yesterday's ugly
Tyne-Wear derby at the Sports Direct Northeast Regional HQ Stadium a match, we'd just like to
mention, that was refereed nigh-on impeccably by Mike Dean.
The U.S. WNT has arrived in the Algarve region on the southern coast of Portugal for its annual
trip to the Algarve Cup, a tournament that is always competitive and has been a proving ground for
numerous young U.S. players over the years.
The travel day is long, especially for those coming from the West Coast, but the six-hour flight
from New Jersey and three-hour bus ride south to the southern coast of the country is pretty easy
considering some of the trips this team takes.
The first pure fitness session on the field since camp began five days ago was a doozy. Designed
by fitness coach Masa Sakihana, the intense 36-minute program was built to increase their maximum
fitness capacity and improve the players' ability to change direction at speed.
There were two different stations, each running a duration of one minute.
The U.S. men's national team has a pair of important World Cup qualifiers with Jamaica looming,
and just how big of a role Clint Dempsey will have in those matches has yet to be determined.
A cool story on the Sporting KC website about a recent training experience that Nixa SC took
part in.
Sporting KC welcomed Nixa Soccer Club to Kansas City earlier this month for a fun-filled,
two-day trip.
On the first day of their stay, the players and their families visited the Sporting Club
Training Center in Swope Park to participate in a clinic conducted by fitness coach Dave McKay and
Sporting KC midfielder Graham Zusi.
Christie "Rampain" Rampone brings the leather to Lori Lindsey
The U.S. team had a weights session this morning and as there wasn't quite the equipment that
fitness coach Dawn Scott wanted for the workout, she decided to get creative and throw in some
boxing workouts for the players.
Alot is always written and said about Frank Lampard during the course of a season, some good and
some bad and there is divided opinion at the moment on whether or not Lampard should be
playing week in, week out or if the manager should continue with his rotation
policy this season.
