By Chris Wright

Germany have finally gotten around to launching their new change strip for Euro 2012 and, as we stated when it was originally leaked ages and ages ago, it's a work of true retro kunst harking back to their beautiful green strip from 1972 and marking the 40th anniversary of their first European Championship win.

It's now official, Thierry Henry will not be staying with Arsenal longer than Feb 15th. In fact the New York Red Bulls striker is expected back in the United States just two days later

There was hope that the veteran Arsenal player would stay with Arsenal until at least the end of the month but according to New York Red Bulls boss, Hans Backe, Henry is bent on returning to to the MLS side on 17th.

photo by Don Feria/ISIphotos.com

For the second consecutive offseason, Chris Wondolowski has signed a contract extension with the San Jose Earthquakes.

A year to the day after signing a new deal with the San Jose Earthquakes, Wondolowski has again agreed to renew his contract with the club.

Robin van Persie's on an English Premier League record-setting pace this season as his hat trick against a woeful Blackburn team on Feb. 4 upped his league total to 22 goals in 24 games. He's already eclipsed last year's Golden Boot scoring record of 20 which was shared by Manchester City's Carlos Tevez and Dmitar Berbatov of Manchester United and his own mark of 18 EPL goals.

After winning their respective groups, Ivory Coast and Ghana are on a crash course for a high-profile final at the African Cup of Nations, but there is still work to be done before the top two African nations do battle for the continent's top prize.

The Elephants, one of two sides to secure all nine points during the group stage, might have to go through both host countries to reach the final.

Official D.C. United Press Release:
D.C. United acquires forward Hamdi Salihi as Designated Player
28-year old Albanian international has scored 163 goals in 289 professional matches
Washington, D.C. (February 2, 2012) – D.C. United announced today the club has signed 28-year old forward Hamdi Salihi as a Designated Player.

Photo by Michael Janosz/ISIphotos.com

For the other 18 teams in MLS, knocking the Los Angeles Galaxy off their perch atop the league just became a bit more difficult.

U.S. national team forward Edson Buddle is rejoining the Galaxy after being released from his contract with FC Ingolstadt 04 on Tuesday, sources told SBI.

Photo by Tony Quinn/ISIphotos.com

If Sebastien Le Toux makes an appearance at PPL Park this summer for his second MLS All-Star Game, he won't be representing the home team. He'll be doing it as a member of the Vancouver Whitecaps.

The Philadelphia Union officially announced that they have dealt Le Toux to the Whitecaps, acquiring an undisclosed sum of allocation money in exchange for its leading scorer and 2010 MLS All-Star.

Arsenal have had a most unusual season of highs and lows. After a rough start to the campaign, the ship seems to have steadied. Robin van Persie is on pace for a record setting season; his 19 goals so far are only one less than last year's 20 scored by Golden Boot winners Carlos Tevez and Dimitar Berbatov.

Happy Wednesday to you. Several things on the docket today. The first thing that caught my eye was this week was Vancouver's acquiring of Etienne Barbara's rights. Barbara was a fantastic player for much of the 2011 NASL season. His 20 goals and many assists earned him Golden Boot honors for North America's second tier.

Japanese World Cup winner Homare Sawa beat out a strong field that included Brazilian Marta and Abby Wambach to win the FIFA Women's World Player of the year 2011.

Marta who was looking to win the award for a 6th consecutive time had to contend with a second place finish while Abby Wambach of the USA came in in third place.

Mirror: Bundesliga blog: Could Podolski and Goetze move to the Premier League?

Welcome to our German football blog, courtesy of BundesligaFussball's Ross Dunbar *** Over a week into the January transfer window and it is no surprise to see a host of clubs in the English Premier League eyeing up some of Germany's top talents.

Arsenal legend Thierry Henry has at last re-signed for the Gunners, it has just been announced. The deal was concluded in time for the Frenchman to be eligible to play in Monday's FA Cup clash with Leeds although doubts remain about his match fitness.

Henry has left speculators, pundits and critics undecided about the impact this might have on the Arsenal squad.

The 2011 year in now behind us and as we now move forward in 2012, we take a look at ten things that should happen for all Portuguese fans this year. 1- Cristiano Ronaldo will win the La Liga Golden Boot 2- Portugal will reach the semi-finals of Euro 2012 3- Porto's Hulk & Benfica's Gaitan will be sold in the summer 4- Benfica will reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League 5- FC

According to the description (good luck getting a universally accepted tally on this stat), guess who's currently leading Big Europe in assists this season? Yup.

It's pretty unfair when he's surrounded by that type of talent, given the fact that rolling one onto the boot of a teammate is like rolling Adriano into a buffet he's very unlikely to fluff his chance.

The stage is set for what will be an amazing showdown between two of the most talked about players in the game today. In the next couple of hours, Neymar's Santos and Messi's Barcelona will fight it out for the honour of being called the best club in the world.

What i am going to say next might be hard to take for a few, however, it is a fact.

Seattle Sounders players vote to recognize their vision of the MVP and Defender of the Year. This differs slightly from recognition given by Sounder at Heart in that here there are awards for Offensive, Defensive and Young Players of a given season. Still there is a certain overlap.

Osvaldo Alonso's performance in 2011 earned him recognition from both his teammates and readers here.

Montero leading scorer across all competitions

DeRosario may have won the Golden Boot, but he was not the leading scorer across all competitions involving MLS players. Montero won that distinction. According to MLS this is only the fourth time this has happened.

Took a little while for me to get this post out due to all the stuff that's been going on since Sporting KC's season ended. But here's a look at my post season grades.
Korede Aiyegbusi - INC - Only played 94 minutes for KC in league play this year, not enough to warrent a grade.
Davy Arnaud - C+ - Missed quite a bit of time after having hernia surgery, and once back found himself as a back up to the midfield trio of Cesar, Espinoza, and Zusi.

Liverpool v Manchester City: five things we learned | Daniel Taylor

Bill Shankly's was a great quote. Truly great, in fact. But not true. 1) Bill Shankly got it wrong It isn't more important than life or death. Craig Bellamy was so distraught about Gary Speed's death there were probably parts of the day when he felt he could barely function, let alone play a key match against his former club.

The game was over by half time. And all Ferguson had to do then was protect his career. Before the game he had said the pressure was all on Brisbane. That did not ring true. The week before he had admitted his job was on the line, and 8-0 would have done that.
The combination of half time changes in Andrezinho and Steve McGarry plus Brisbane switching down a gear in the humidity saved coach Ferguson's career.

Nicolas Anelka has been and still is, world class. The man with the reputation of being "Le Sulk" has been nothing but since he arrived at Chelsea, a place he could finally call home, it's just a shame that he came to the club to fight for a place through the middle with Didier Drogba.
In the majority of Premier League sides, Anelka would command the start up front, through the middle as the main man.

By JOSE M. ROMERO

CARSON, Calif. -- His career already full of accomplishments, Dwayne De Rosario was nevertheless humble in accepting his 2011 MLS Most Valuable Player trophy Friday afternoon at the Home Depot Center.

Playing for three different teams in one season clearly had an effect on his perspective.

D.C. United's Dwayne De Rosario will receive the MLS MVP Award today in Carson (AP Photo).

There are three days left to go until MLS Cup 2011 in Carson between the Galaxy and Houston Dynamo.

*The interactive guide to MLS Cup activities in the South Bay and beyond is here.

D.C. United star Dwayne DeRosario has enjoyed one of the best careers in MLS history and is widely regarded as one of the best players the league has ever seen. He has won multiple championships, and most recently a Golden Boot, but the one honor he hadn't won before was MLS Most Valuable Player.

The 2011 Volkswagen MLS Most Valuable Player was always going to be controversial. There have been many arguments for and against the Canadian winning the MVP award. In 2011 he played for 3 teams, Toronto FC, New York and D.C. United. The bulk of his season was spent with D.C. United and it was there that his case for MVP was made.

The 2011 Volkswagen MLS Most Valuable Player was always going to be controversial. There have been many arguments for and against the Canadian winning the MVP award. In 2011 he played for 3 teams, Toronto FC, New York and D.C. United. The bulk of his season was spent with D.C. United and it was there that his case for MVP was made.

STARTERS
If you are in LA this weekend for MLS Cup then I expect to see you on Friday at a party hosted by Ives Galarcep of Soccer By Ives. Its 8pm at the Seven Bar Lounge - 555 W 7th Street in downtown Los Angeles. See you there.
NSC MINNESOTA STARS 2011 CHAMPIONSHIP GEAR
Get your NSC Minnesota Stars 2011 NASL Champions Gear is now available!

With the season now over, it's time to take a look at my year end awards for Sporting KC. As last year, members of the media got to vote on MVP, Defensive player of the year, and Humanitarian of the year. The team awards saw Jimmy Nielsen bring home MVP, Matt Besler bring home defensive player of the year , and Kei Kamara bring home Humanitarian of the Year for the second year in a row.

Spain are the bookies' favourite to claim the Euro 2012 title held in Poland and Ukraine but do they deserve to be in this position?
They are undoubtedly the best team in the world and have a respectable history in terms of awards. The Spanish last claimed the European title back in the Euro 2008 where they beat the German powerhouses 1-0 after a goal from the unstoppable Fernando Torres in the 33rd minute.

Most of you have no clue who the guy is. I'll admit, I had heard the name before, but didn't know what he had done on and off the field until today.Ivanov, one of the World Cup 1962 Golden Boot winners, 1956 Olympic Gold Medalist in Football, and a player who scored 26 times in 59 appearancehttp://www.

Irina Shayk, Dolores Aveiro and Katia Dos Santos (not pictured) at the Intercontinental hotel in Madrid, Spain.

Irina Shayk's made-for-our-left-hands golf ball-sized ring is playing tricks on us. We first laid eyes on it last week during Cristiano's Golden Boot presentation, but by Sunday evening, it was noticeably absent during Irina's walk down the European Music Awards red carpet.

Welcome to Offbeat Wednesday, where we invite both chicas and chicos to enjoy a pedicure on us as you experience the wacky and gossipy side of your footballers. Work it, Diego Forlanites!

Sylvie van der Vaart is fabulous isn't she? Sure, her husband isn't exactly in the English media's good books but as his homies would say, "het Nederlandse volk van je houden, Rafael!

Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo is giving fellow La Liga rival Lionel Messi a run for his money for the 2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or award as the Portuguese striker capped a fantastic few days his had with Los Merengues by not only bagging a hat trick in last night's fixture against Osasuna, but also by winning his second Golden Boot award.

If you ever thought about placing a special bet on your favourites this might probably be about the perfect time to do so. You can place this bet at any other time, but you won't probably find a better moment than this. Arsenal started the season very poorly and after only a few games they [...]

Anfield legend John Aldridge has warned that the current Liverpool team's wastefulness in front of goal could prove costly at the end of the season, and he believes that Kenny Dalglish's team is missing a player with one very important, sought after quality.
Aldridge, who scored an incredibly clinical 63 goals in 104 appearances for Liverpool, observed:
"If we want to get in the top four then we can't afford to be so wasteful.

By AVI CREDITOR

The Colorado Rapids and Columbus Crew have taken different roads to get to this point, but ultimately they're right back where they were a year ago.

Colorado eliminated Columbus in the Eastern Conference semifinals last season en route to capturing its first MLS Cup.

One thing that always bugs me about sports coverage....and reason #345 why we started The Shin Guardian...is that no one ever goes back and evaluates their predictions in great detail. Nobody calls themselves out!

About the domestic league...

This happens all the time in the business world.

Will this be the year that Marta will be dethroned as FIFA's women's world player of the year? The Brazilian striker has won the award for the past five years and was among the 10 players nominated for the 2011 award.

The United States has three players on the list all of whom played for the WNT at last summer's Women's World Cup in Germany.

If you need any evidence of the uneven season the Rapids have endured so far in 2011, look no further than this season's golden boot winner.

On a team with Conor Casey, Omar Cummings and Caleb Folan, it should have been that one of them would win the title as the team's top scorer.

Surprises: However, it was not to be.