The Return of Luis Suárez - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Ahead of the Liverpool v Tottenham Hotspur match on Monday night, we look at the return of Luis Suárez and how Liverpool have fared in the Premier League in his absence.

Luis Suárez returns to the Liverpool squad for Monday night's game at home to Tottenham Hotspur following a much publicised eight-game suspension.

So the African Cup of Nations got underway yesterday with a couple of shocking results that i was not expecting. Hosts Equatorial Guinea making their first ever appearance at the AFCON picked up 3 points from a Libyan side who failed to make their possession count.

However, the most shocking result was Senegal's 2-1 defeat to Zambia.

In the most recent match-day programme Marcus Evans sent out a rare direct message to the fans.
As inconsistent results continue into the New Year, our club balances just four points above the Championship's relegation zone. So it's difficult, as a fan, not to feel concern for the direction our club is going.

Let's not beat around the bush here and let's tell it like it is. We've seen two managers, drama, controversy, speculation, excitement, frustration and find ourselves at the turn of this year in the exact same position as we did a year ago. Isn't it strange how things have turned out!
This is my review of 2011 and a year on my blog as written by me, a lifelong Chelsea fan giving you my take on everything that happened.

Once again, sorry for the lack of activity on this blog. I'm still looking to hire some full time writers so bare with me on this one. Secondly, apologies is this post has a rather sombre tone it just feels as if, maybe especially towards the latter end of the year, that its not been a great year for football in general.

With Liverpool facing Chelsea in a week's time, I thought it interesting to look at the club's recent record against the best and worst of the Premier League. Long story short, Liverpool have a habit of playing up or down to the opposition's level under Dalglish.
Against top-five opponents:
• 1-0 Chelsea (a)
• 3-1 United (h)
• 3-0 City (h)
• 1-1 Arsenal (a)
• 0-2 Tottenham (h)
• 2-0 Arsenal (a)
• 0-4 Tottenham (a)
• 1-1 United (h)
Overall record: 4W-2D-2L
Points per game: 1.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

It's no seceret that the Big Ten has been underperforming in 2011 but the lack of a dominant team should make for an interesting tournament as the Big Ten Tournament kicks off at the University of Michigan.

Indiana is the lone ranked team in the Big Ten but a loss against Wisconsin and draws against Northwestern and Michigan State has relegated the Hoosiers to the No.

It seems Werder Bremen midfielder Marko Marin has become one of the most wanted players in Europe after it was revealed that Liverpool are the latest club keeping tabs on the diminutive playmaker.
Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea have already checked on the availability of the German international and now Liverpool have emerged as candidates to sign Marin.

The Philly Soccer Page " Match preview: Union at Red Bulls

The New York Red Bulls need to win on Thursday. They need it really bad.

New York Red Bulls vs. Philadelphia Union Preview - Once A Metro

Today is very much the day. The New York Red Bulls play the evil Philadelphia Union tonight at Red Bull Arena in a match that could well decide whether we see any more Red Bulls football in 2011.

By Alan Duffy

Back on this day in 1990, Manchester United and Arsenal clashed at Old Trafford in a game which would sow the seeds of much thuggery between the two clubs in the years to follow.

Nigel "Nutty" Winterburn tackled Brian McClair, who then kicked seven shades of s**t out of the Arsenal left-back.

Gudjohnsen fractured his leg in two places in the game against Olympiakos, when he collided with Oly's goalkeeper Constanzo. Gudjohnsen will be out for at least four months, but I think we won't see him on the pitch for the rest of the season.

Well, more or less good news is that we didn't lose the game: 1-1.

All three divisions of the NCAA women's soccer national goal-scoring charts this week feature Wisconsin players at or near the top of the list.

UW-Milwaukee senior Sarah Hagen (Appleton North), right, led Division I players in goals per game (1.231), points per game (2.85) and game-winning goals (eight) and was second in points (37) and tied for second in goals (16) heading into the week.

Oranje beat Moldova after a difficult game ( 1-0). It was the 17th win in a row for Van Marwijk and as a result Oranje will be a group leader at the draw on December 2 for the upcoming European Championship.

The Dutch team secured qualification in Finland last month but [read more]

As the United States men's national team gets ready for their showdown with Honduras this Saturday 8th at 6 PM (Tickets still available!) South Florida American Outlaws and all fans of the beautiful (including the Miami Ultras) game were honored to spend some time with forward Jozy Altidore, a one time South Florida resident.

Liverpool's victory against Everton at Goodison Park was marred by an outrageously negligent red card decision, but there were still plenty of positives to take away from the game. 1. That's three wins in a row now, which is a great response to the defeats against Stoke and Spurs.2. The team kept a clean-sheet, which is always good.

I admit it. We were dead wrong. After questioning the wisdom of the Tampa Bay Rays for starting Matt Moore in Game 1 against the Texas Rangers, Moore went out there and dominated. And really, "dominated" doesn't give the kid enough credit.

In seven innings of work, Moore gave up two hits and two walks.

The Tampa Bay Rays are fearless. That fearlessness extends to their coaching staff, who has decided to go with Matt Moore in Game 1 of the ALDS against the Texas Rangers. In the 162-game regular season, the 22-year-old Moore started a grand total of one game.

Why is Matt Moore starting? First of all, he's a major talent.

TFC pulled off the win over Tauro FC, so lets see what Seattle can do in their CONCACAF Champions League clash versus Herediano. It should be a tougher test.
Sounders lineup: GK Keller, D Scott, D Ianni, D Hurtado, D Gonzalez, M Carrasco, M Sanyang, M Neagle, M Levesque, F Jaqua, F Noonan.

TFC pulled off the win over Tauro FC, so lets see what Seattle can do in their CONCACAF Champions League clash versus Herediano. It should be a tougher test.
Sounders lineup: GK Keller, D Scott, D Ianni, D Hurtado, D Gonzalez, M Carrasco, M Sanyang, M Neagle, M Levesque, F Jaqua, F Noonan.

Jozy & in form?! I'm going to Disneyland!.

We are squeezing in this preview as best we can. Written completely on an iPhone. Don't ask. We'll be back in full force next week.

The USMNT arrives at Game 2 of the Jurgen Klinsmann era Friday night at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles, CA.

By Chris Wright

Bundesliga side Hoffenheim have reprimanded one of their employees after he allegedly rigged up a loud speaker under the away stand to drown out Borussia Dortmund fan's derogatory chants about the club's money man, Deitmar Hopp, with a high-pitched siren.

The Chicago Fire are back in action after a long break and the Philadelphia Union are coming to Toyota Park tonight as the opponent. To get some insider perspective on the Union, we turn to Ben Feldman of The Brotherly Game by exchanging three questions. If you aren't going to Toyota Park tonight, you can catch all the action on MY50 and either way kick-off is at 8:00 PM CST.

Every time a semi popular Fire player gets cut, waived or traded there seemingly is someone who pops up and says something along the lines of "we treated this player poorly" or "he was underused!" (otherwise known as the Frankowski Axiom). The most recent case of this was career journeyman Bratislav Ristic.

Before we get to the attendance wrap-up, here are some bonus business items from the press Q&A Commissioner Garber did with the print/online media at the All-Star Game.

1. Still trying to put a second team in New York, but Cosmos are not the only option. Believes the Wilpons would make excellent soccer owners and noted that Citi Field had hosted a WFC match the night before the ASG.

It's the official start of the silly season in MLS as the transfer window officially opened up today. However, that hasn't stopped teams from announcing all sorts of trades and signings in preparation for the opening of the summer transfer window. There's been no official announcements from the Seattle Sounders, but trialists have been coming through camp and there are plenty of rumors floating around.

The Copa América 2011 continued on Tuesday night with Group C's concluding matches, which first saw Chile secure top spot in the group with a stoppage time winner against Peru to take the game 1-0, and then saw Uruguay beat ... Continue reading →

I literally was sitting on the couch screaming my heart out.

So for those who missed it, our ladies ended the game 1-1 with Brazil...technically.

So what got it to that point? Well our first goal wasn't technically our first goal. The USWNT, though in awesome position and at first glance, appeared that they scored, the ball actually was scored by Brazilian defender, Daiane, who was attempting to block the ball.

OTP celebrates 10 players at the Women's World Cup who are never likely to win approval from Sepp Blatter for his vision of the women's game. 1. Christine Sinclair (Canada) In her days at FC Gold Pride, she shared a successful strike partnership with Marta. More recently, she's been sharing a hairdresser with Forrest Gump.

Australia scrapped a 3-2 win against Equatorial Guinea today to keep their World Cup Quarter-Finals aspiration alivehaving lost their opening Group D game 1-0 to Brazil.

Visit Soccer.com's World Cup Headquarters Here

By THOMAS FLOYD

WASHINGTON - For D.C. United, how new acquisitions Dwayne De Rosario and Brandon McDonald would fare in their debuts was the storyline entering Saturday's meeting with the Philadelphia Union. But for the second straight week, the team's inability to hold onto a late lead at home will steal the postgame headlines.

Just over two weeks ago the Philadelphia Union put in a spectacular first half that led to a draw against Real Salt Lake.

The result led to many Union fans and reporters thinking that the Union would build upon the draw and move toward pulling away from the New York Red Bulls for sole position atop the Eastern Conference.

STARTERS
Oguchi Onyewu has officially signed with Sporting of Lisbon Portugal. Its a 3 year deal.
-They have two veteran starting centerback on the roster already, so he will have to beat them out for a starting spot.
STORY OF THE DAY
There is a storm brewing among supporters of the USA men's national team about the way they were treated last Saturday night at the Rose Bowl.

Editors's Note: TSG guest columnist Maura Gladys on Game 1 for the USWNT.

Lauren Cheney paid back the boss lady for her surprise start....

Hear that? That's the sound of the entire U.S. Women's national team, along with its fan base, exhaling. After weeks of hype, build up, criticism, anxiety and pressure, the U.

Now the schedule begins to get busy for Kansas City. The past two weeks have been the start of what is going to prove to be a very busy part of the season with basically two games every week. KC is back at home and they're close to beginning their extended home stand. This weekend they have Vancouver.

The Vancouver Whitecaps have gone 14 straight games without a win, a streak that started against the Philadelphia Union all the way at the start of the 2011 MLS season. That streak has gone on despite the play of designated player Eric Hassli and fellow striker Camilo Sanvezzo.

In the first meeting between the two sides back on March 26, the Union's defense consistently frustrated the hot headed Hassli to the point where he began to slip up with his behavior.

As actual news is sparse with the silly season in full flow (yes, I know it's barely mid-June), I thought I'd bring back the quasi-informative passing wheel (previously highlighted: Lucas and Gerrard) to take a look at three of Jordan Henderson's best games from the previous season.
The links will take you to the actual Guardian chalkboard for each game.

About 90 Rapids fans traveled to Portland to support the Rapids, and they were joined by yours truly and 7 of my family members. That's all of us up in the SW corner of Jeld-Wen Field on the left. The Rapids needed all the support they could get in front of about 20,000 Timbers fans who had only seen one loss this season, before the Rapids came to town.

The United States with a big rebound Tuesday evening on the heals of the Spanish Boston Massacre.

In 2009, Clarence Goodson replaced an injured Jimmy Conrad to help the US on to a 2-1 victory in the Gold Cup quarterfinal. Goodson will again look to undercut Panama striker Blas Perez (pictured)

Sucking in Canada's outside combo of Simeon Jackson and Josh Simpson deeply on the left, the US countered and controlled the flow of the game against the Canadians through the feet of Steve Cherundolo and Landon Donovan in the first.

Mr. Tuesday will be along with a full re-cap tomorrow of the United States 2-0 win over Canada in Gold Cup Group Stage Game 1.

Bob, on it tonight...

• Bradley goes two traditional attack schemas and both work.

The first half saw the US deploy the "speed flank" of Steve Cherundolo, Landon Donovan and Juan Agudelo (with Jozy dragging across) on the right.

Okay, finish up your last gulp of paella.

US fans should pray the Yanks start imposing their will on CONCACAF Tuesday...

The US has left its Spain debacle in the rearview mirror as it looks to secure a spot in the 2013 Conferederation Cup through a championship win in this year's CONCACAF Gold Cup.