The Minnesota Stars announced today they are exercising options on 18 players that were part of the 2011 NASL Championship team. Players returning for the 2012 season will be: Goalkeeper and defenders Matt VanOekel, Justin Davis, Kyle Altman, Cristiano Dias, Gino Mauro, Jack Stewart and Brian Kallman.

"In memoriam: a Don Carmelo Machín y su asiento en la grada-curva del Insular"

Me envía mi buen amigo Hector, un video reciente del videocreador Gino Maccanti que recoge el abandono que sufre el mítico estadio insular de de la Unión Deportiva Las Palmas.

"In memoriam: a Don Carmelo Machín y su asiento en la grada-curva del Insular"

Me envía mi buen amigo Hector, un video reciente del videocreador Gino Maccanti que recoge el abandono que sufre el mítico estadio insular de de la Unión Deportiva Las Palmas.

Club Atlético Independiente Travel Roster

Goalkeeper (3): Fabián Assmann, Adrián Gabbarini, Hilario Navarro

Defenders (7): Adrián Argachá, Cristhian Báez, Ignacio Barcia, Eduardo Tuzzio, Gabriel Vallés, Julián Velázquez, Maximiliano Velázquez

Midfielders (9): Roberto Battión, Nicolás Cabrera, Ivan Castillo, Nicolás Delmonte, Osmar Ferreyra, Hernán Fredes, Fernando Godoy, Cristian Pellerano, Iván Pérez

Forwards (6): Gino Clara, Matías Defederico, Brian Nieva, Leonel Núñez, Facundo Parra, Patricio Rodríguez

Independiente's travel roster.

By Chris Wright

In which BFFs forever *pinky swear* Patrice Evra and Ji-Sung Park visit Gino's East in Chicago for a lesson in pizza-ing as part of Manchester United's whistle-stop pre-season charm offensive assault on the hearts and minds (and wallets) of America.

By Eric Beard

At the end of the 2009-10 season, Granada CF and Barcelona B finished first and second in the third tier of Spanish football, both gaining promotion to Liga Adelante. This past season, Barcelona B finished 3rd and Granada finished 5th.

Promotion into La Liga is almost identical to promotion into the Premier League.

ADO Den Haag goalkeeper Gino Coutinho received a six-month conditional jail sentence and community service from a Dutch court in Lelystad for a series of offences including growing cannabis, the Dutch club said.

TuttoMercatoWeb did a report card for each club president in Serie A. Since not everyone speaks Italian, I thought it'd be interesting to translate and post it here. Each president is graded out of 10 and a short paragraph follows, explaining each grade. Some of these are rather expected- guess how Bari did!

Many dream of life a professional athlete and all the perks it offers. Money, fame and success, if the perception, and though not all make Beckham money, even those on the fringes often live a very comfortable life.

Not sure how many people dream of running a pot farm (some, surely). Or would choose to arguably give up the former career for a life of drug dealing and a bevy of "don't drop the soap" jokes.

What with Ashley Cole's air rifle and Joey Barton's many moments of questionable conduct – the most recent being his claim to be England's best midfielder – this has been another season of woe for the reputation of Premier League footballers. But as the campaign edges to its close they can all breath a sign of relief, for it transpires that there is a player in Holland who tops the lot when it comes to accusations of bad behaviour.

Edmond Rugova, Gino Schiraldi and Vlatko Andonovski discuss strategies at half time (or they are trying to catch their breath)...Warren Westcoat smothering a shot, notice the current Comets players checking out the previous generations...Kia being surprised by Rugova...Kevin Zimmerman making a save (?

Celebrity chef Gino D'Acampo kept his promise of cooking naked if the show triumphed at the National TV Awards and through to his words the former King of the Jungle cooked naked on live TV.

Adam Digby writes a superb blog about Juventus and tweets on all manner of subjects @Adz77 ... this is his favourite goal.

Of course he has scored better goals. Of course he has scored more important goals. The current Juventus captain Alessandro Del Piero has netted vital strikes at the World Cup, in a Champions League Final, in the World Club Cup Final and has won so many top trophies and titles that his list of personal honours is longer than that of most clubs.