Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By ADAM SERRANO

CARSON, Calif. -- The rich got even richer on Tuesday as the Los Angeles Galaxy solidified their role as odds-on MLS Cup favorites by re-securing Brazilian midfielder Juninho on a year-long loan.

Juninho, who served as the Galaxy's midfield engine during the past two seasons, returns to Los Angeles after departing in December to return to Brazilian parent club Sao Paulo.

Please take a moment to doff your metaphorical cap to Celia Hodkin, Kickettes. Celia has been a Manchester City fan since 1933, and achieved a life's ambition last weekend when she was invited to be the mascot at her club's game vs. Fulham.

As is only right for a woman of such commitment and stature, Celia was afforded VIP treatment on game day, taking in the sights and sounds of the tunnel, the changing room (!

Major League Soccer's seventeenth season begins in less than two months and as the teams prepare for the on pitch action their fans will prepare to follow them from not only stands, but with social media.
Their two main online allies? Facebook and Twitter.
Since the beginnings of MLS in the mid-1990s the Internet has exploded and in the last five years the advent of social media has changed the face of sports in the United States and the world.

The English Premier League is widely regarded as the most exciting League across the globe but in many cases, big games between the top clubs turn out to be dull affairs with both teams canceling each other out, but today, at Stamford Bridge, Man Utd and Chelsea provided one of the truly memorable classic games that ended in a pulsating 3-3 draw.

First week's training has finally concluded. It was a good week and I hope you guys enjoyed our coverage of it. We really tried to get to as many trainings as possible and, I believe, we only missed one so we were able to cover most bases. Heading into next week we'll try something similar, but I'm not sure if we'll be able to keep up the same pace.

Now that preseason has begun for the New England Revolution, it's time to take stock of what the team has and where it needs to improve. In that vein, I've decided to do a quick "if the season began tomorrow" examination of the optimal starting XI (and game day 18) on the roster right now.

I have taken a few liberties.

Levi Houapeu, Morgan Langley, Ryan Richter and Joe Tait will not be with the Philadelphia Union in 2012 after the group's contract options were declined by the team. Only Langley saw action in MLS regular season play last year, with Houapeu hurt most of the year, Richter learning how to play a brand new position (fullback) and Tait a late signing for center back depth.

That's the message delivered by Mark Verstegen, founder of Athletes' Performance, to the team as they depart Phoenix after nine days of training, fitness and strength exercises, and nutritional education.
The charismatic speaker spent nearly an hour counseling the players on a holistic approach to achieving success in their professional careers, summed up in the mantra 'Every Day is Game Day'.

PPL Park could soon show itself off to the North American soccer community, as the Philadelphia Union's game day home is one of two finalists for the 2012 MLS All Star Game. A league source informs the Brotherly Game that PPL Park and Sporting Kansas City's Livestrong Park are the last of a group of stadiums, which included the Vancouver Whitecaps' BC Place and the Montreal Impact's Saputo Stadium, but "nothing [is] firm" yet.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0bPoxFEPRU

Real Madrid against Barcelona on Saturday, December 10 will be the 163rd time these two clubs have played a league version of El Clasico. The highly-anticipated match will be seen by soccer fans from around the world, but where on U.S. television will you be able to watch it?

More Soccer coming to South Florida! Here is the press release:
World-class international soccer returns to South Florida as national teams of Colombia and Mexico meet at Sun Life Stadium on Feb. 29
Match to be played on official FIFA match date; both teams expected to bring their top squads as they continue their paths to World Cup 2014
MIAMI (Tuesday, December 6, 2011) – Top flight international soccer returns to South Florida when the Mexican national team takes on Colombia on February 29, 2012 (8 p.

A new US based magazine has been published on stadiums and is based around the website Stadium Journey which gives fans reviews of stadiums and game day experiences. The website was set up a couple of years ago by Paul Swaney who is based is Ann Arbor, Michigan and the following paragraph is taken from the site itself:
"Stadium Journey is a web venture with the goal to become a world-class community resource for sports fans, built around optimizing the experience of attending live sporting events.

"Ok. You guys both see that women waving in the black top over there? Wow." said the ref.The San Jose Earthquakes are still a ways off from getting final approval for a soccer-specific stadium, but as they continue to push for it more and more details are coming out about its proposed design.

After losing veteran midfielder Justin Mapp to the Montreal Impact in the Expansion Draft, the Philadelphia Union claimed fellow midfielder Nizar Khalfan from the Vancouver Whitecaps in the Waiver Draft.

The Union also released central defender Juan Diego Gonzalez and goalkeeper Thorne Holder.

The Portland Timbers acheive an impressive benchmark in season ticket sales for 2012, and the 2011 MLS season isn't quite complete. The team reached the expected cap for season ticket packages at 14,750 but promise there will still be some game day tickets available for groups and individuals. Meanwhile, we look at the various player acquisition vehicles in MLS and the key dates when the Timbers roster could undergo changes.

Jay Heaps has always been known as a fiery competitor as a player during his professional and collegiate career, and know has the opportunity to translate that as the new coach with the New England Revolution.
Brian O'Connell of ESPNBoston.com writes of the Revs' new head coach.

New Cristiano Ronaldo signature boot picture special

Shrinking violet Cristiano Ronaldo has launched the new CR Mercurial Vapor Superfly III. No, not an improved pesticide, but rather the signature Nike football boot you can see in the mini-gallery above. The official press release reveals that each side of the boot has a different design to "create a striking flicker effect on pitch to stand out in the heat of game day competition".

It's USMNT game day and we're pumped as always to see what Klinnsmann and the Nats have in store for us, but it's the above retro clip that has us buzzing as well.
Dave Brett (who's based in FBM HQ's city of Austin) collects historic videos of American soccer and he sent us a link to the above clip that he posted to YouTube yesterday.

After the Saturday three-nil loss the game is merely at halftime. Leg two involves odds stacked against Seattle, but there are a few reasons for hope. While the Seattle Sounders will have to change things up tactically, changes are being forced on Real Salt Lake Coach Jason Kreis by injuries to the best center defensive pairing in MLS.

Carlos Bocanegra and Maurice Edu helped Rangers win away at Hearts as Alejandro Bedoya made the game day roster but remained on the bench.

What: Union vs Toronto FC

When: 4:00pm, EST

Where: PPL Park, Chester, PA, USA

TV: CSN

Radio: I can do play by play and commentary at the same time. Adam Caan is a Swiss announcer with a respected neutral call, while Adam Kahn is an excitable German with a penchant for stretched metaphor.

FC Politehnica Timisoara forward Tosaint Ricketts (UW-Green Bay) earned his seventh career cap Tuesday night, playing the final 20 minutes of Canada's 0-0 draw against Puerto Rico in a CONCACAF 2014 World Cup qualifier at BMO Field in Toronto.

The Canadians (3-0-1) need just one point from their final two matches in Group D to advance to the third round of qualifying, which will include Mexico, the U.

Orange Slices! USA vs. Costa Rica

Orange Slices is our game day, catch-all post that we update throughout the day and also serves as the place for you to drop comments like, "I can't believe Klinsmann started 12 midfielders from the Primera!".

Three games.

Soccer clubs all over Australia see themselves as masters of the grassroots and sit waiting in their club houses for their local A-League team to see the apparently obvious and come knocking. In the absence of this knock, they carry on.
The A-League grassroots are the untapped crowd potential.
Families that enrol their kids at the local have taken a step that indicates that they are interested in watching the sport.

South Florida Soccer fans need to get out to Lockhart Stadium this Saturday October 1, 2011 for the Fort Lauderdale Strikers playoff game versus FC Edmonton. Game starts at 7:30 pm and tickets are now available at www.strikers.com. You can also get them game day at the box office. Come out and support the Strikers as they make their NASL Championship run!

A new feature that I'm going to do on each MLS game day as the season begins to wind down. I'm going to look at the other MLS games that are occurring on that match day and see what the better result for Sporting KC would be in that game to assist in their chances of making the playoffs.
The only other league game tonight besides Sporting KC vs Columbus is Real Salt Lake hosting the Chicago Fire.

There's an idea floating out there that since the Seattle Sounders lost to CS Herediano that they aren't a deep team. The concept seems to put forward that a team that doesn't earn points in every competition just doesn't have the bench. Not only is this concept wrong, looking into its refutation can open eyes into how deep the team truly is.

For the entire MLS, EPL & more preview, that's right here.

Game day starts now.

Marquee in the EPL: Chelsea looking to get healthy against Swansea City.

Will Lampard silence the critics and prove he's still a chic character on the pitch?

Already missing multiple players due to injuries, the Union will be even thinner in Kansas City tonight. Philadelphia Union attacking midfielder Freddy Adu is unavailable for the team's game against Sporting Kansas City, according to the player's Twitter account.

Adu tweeted the following, in reference to tonight's clash between the second and third place teams in the Eastern Conference:

Good luck to the union tonight against kansas city.

Their Words But it was in the perfect location on sunny days with the mountains in the background, and on game day, it had the best atmosphere. Vancouver Whitecaps ambassador Carl Valentine, who played at Empire Stadium in the North American Soccer League era. Other Sources Red Bulls' investment in Rafael Marquez proves to be huge mistake - from SI.

Untold Arsenal on Twitter @UntoldArsenal By Walter Broeckx Because of some articles in our ref review series still waiting to be published from the previous game day I haven't found the time to write about our dreadful day at Blackburn. Now because of all the negative has been said before by others I thought I [.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The Virginia men's soccer team battles its third ranked opponent of the 2011 season on Friday when No. 19 Charlotte visits Klöckner Stadium for a 7 p.m. clash.
Live video of this match will be streamed online at VirginiaSports.com as part of the ‘Cavaliers Live' streaming offering.

The video says pretty much everything one needs to know about the situation and I don't want to say too much about it myself. The following is a short write up with some pictures of the tribute to 9/11 victims and America that the Sons of Ben, and other Philadelphia Union fans, did during the game against he Portland Timbers last night.

Here is our most recent attempt at the Match Day Quick Reference Card (now powered by Tableau). I'm still working through how to list both last name and number without taking up too much space. I understand that this is our most requested tweak. I have slightly increased the size of the player dots, and changed the team data.

After a quiet week in Major League Soccer while the league (mostly) took a break for international qualifiers and friendlies, the league is back with full slate of games for the coming weekend. As we do every so often, here is a look at some of the promotional efforts of MLS franchises for the coming matches and season ticket sales .

Yesterday I talked about the potential issue of Sporting KC selling tickets in the Members Stand to Chivas Guadalajara fans in the hundreds. Today some good news and a common sense move by the Sporting KC front office. Word from one of the leadership in the Cauldron is that the team has canceled all tickets bought in the members stand by Chivas fans and they've been reissued to the "away section".

Orange Slices! USA vs. Costa Rica

Orange Slices is our game day, catch-all post that we update throughout the day and also serves as the place for you to drop comments like, "I can't believe Klinsmann started 12 midfielders from the Primera!".

HDC is now Klinsmann country as the Jurgen era takes off in full steam for World Cup 2014.

Dale Terry comments on a direct correlation between manager's apparel and their team's success rate.
Coaches who wears suits on game days get the most out of their teams according to new research from the University of Portsmouth.
Researchers asked 97 men and women to react to photographs of four different coaches: lean and large coaches in suits and tracksuits.

Seattle Sounders celebrate their goal against Monterrey. (Photo via MLSSoccer.com)

FC Dallas will always get the credit for the first one, but the Seattle Sounders may get credit for winning the first big one.

The Sounders did the unthinkable last night by fielding a team of half reserves and half starters against the defending CONCACAF Champions League champions, Monterrey and came up with a huge 1-0 win in Mexico.

Barcelona's W Hotel, sailing alongside the Mediterranean Sea

Editor's note: La Liga Talk is in Spain this week to cover the Spanish Super Cup. We'll be bringing you some of the sights and sounds from Barcelona including a daily travelogue sharing our experiences as well as some exclusive interviews and maybe a surprise or two along the way.