According to a report in the Daily Star, newly promoted West Ham United are set to
land Liverpool cast-out Joe Cole. The former England international has been out of the picture at
Anfield since making his move to the Reds, and even after a successful loan spell in France last
season he's struggled to nail down a spot in Brendan Rodgers' squad.
Newcastle host Man City as United and Tottenham hope for a draw - originally posted on
Soccerlens.com
The Manchester derby on Monday was widely dubbed the biggest game of the season but this clash
now carries a similar level of importance. Not only is it vital for City to cement their recently
gained advantage by claiming three points from the toughest of their two remaining fixtures, the
game is huge for the Magpies too.
Wigan's destruction of Newcastle shows that the Latics belong in the Premier League - originally
posted on Soccerlens.com
Wigan put on a show on Saturday to all-but-secure their Premier League status for another year,
and delighted the DW Stadium and onlookers in the process. A 4-0 win over Champions League
qualification hopefuls Newcastle mixed a determined and dogged defensive approach with sublime
attacking play, and Roberto Martinez's men were good value for their comprehensive victory.
Wigan Athletic 4-0 Newcastle United Premier League 28th April 2012
Roberto Martinez orchestrated yet another massive win for Wigan against one of the league's big
boys on Saturday, as the Latics thrashed Champions League hopefuls Newcastle at the DW Stadium.
Chelsea 2-1 Wigan Athletic Premier League 7th April 2012
Spanish schemer Juan Mata was the match-winner for the Blues on Saturday, with his last-gasp
winner keeping Chelsea in touch with fellow Champions League hopefuls Tottenhan and Arsenal.
Manchester City 3-3 Sunderland Premier League 31st March 2012
Faltering title hopefuls Manchester City had to rely on two late goals to salvage a draw at the
Etihad on Saturday, against a Sunderland side who produced a superb away performance.
Jordi Gomez claims Wigan will welcome Liverpool to the DW Stadium on Wednesday confident in their
ability to pull off another shock result.
The Latics impressed many observers on Saturday evening as they stunned Chelsea with a dramatic
late show on home soil.
Gomez's goal two minutes from the end of that contest saw Wigan take what could be a priceless
point from the title-chasing Blues.
Last week the Sounders helped keep some playoff hopes alive by beating the Vancouver Whitecaps,
and in the coming weeks they have a chance to end those hopes with three consecutive games against
the two playoff hopefuls left in the West. Today's is the first of two against Chivas USA, a pretty
implausible playoff contender.
The New England Revolution are looking to follow-up Wednesday night's positive performance
against the Los Angeles Galaxy when they take on the New York Red Bulls tonight in game two of the
Desert Diamond Cup on Tucson, AZ. New York is coming off of a 0-0 draw with Pumas UNAM earlier this
week at Chase Field.
We'll see more Portland and Seattle in 2012 but less Houston and Dallas. (Getty Images)
I feel like I am back, at least for the most part. The last month or so I've taken a slight back
seat around here to enjoy the holidays, be with family, friends and others but most importantly to
take some time for myself.
The fixture list for the 2012/13 Bundesliga season was published today and two-time defending
Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund will start the 2012-13 season against Werder Bremen
Dortmund and Bremen, two original members of the league, will begin the 50th Bundesliga slate at
Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund on Aug.
News from Singapore that one of the ex Arsenal trainees who joined Geylang United has been dropped
before he could kick a ball in anger.
Oliver Nicholas came over to Singapore to take part in trials conducted by the Singapore Football
Association along with several other hopefuls and Geylang must have seen enough because they signed
him up.
In a tournament already ripe with upsets, the amateur side Cal FC shocked the MLS Portland Timbers
with a 1-0 overtime victory in the third round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.
Managed by iconoclast Eric Wynalda, the group of young professional-hopefuls had already taken down
two respectable squads in Kitsap Pumas and USL side the Wilmington Hammerheads.
Their Words One of the greatest strengths of the Timbers is the rich history of the club. With this
third kit, we are paying homage to the teams and players that inspired our city to become Soccer
City, USA. Portland Timbers president Merritt Paulson. Other Sources U.S. hopefuls get one last
chance in January to impress Klinsmann - from SI.
Barcelona will be hoping Atletico Madrid will do them a favour in the Madrid derby as La Liga
packs in a full round of games midweek.
Atletico host Real Madrid on Wednesday but in bad news for Barcelona, Atletico have failed to
defeat their local rivals in 20-straight clashes.
A win for Atletico would be their first since the 1999/2000 season and would give Barcelona a
chance to move within one point of Real Madrid at the top of the table.
Liverpool head to the Northeast hoping to duplicate their performance against Newcastle from
earlier in the season, when they hit the European hopefuls for three at Anfield in Steven Gerrard's
return to action. Alan Pardew's side sit eight points above Liverpool in the table, however, level
on points with Chelsea and only five off Spurs in fourth.
League One promotion hopefuls Huddersfield Town have sacked manager Lee Clark and his coaching
staff.
Clark joined the West Yorkshire club in December 2008 and led them to last season's play-off final
at Old Trafford, where they lost 3-0 to Peterborough United.
The 39-year-old leaves the club following a disappointing home defeat to promotion rivals Sheffield
United.
Ian Ferguson will tell his Perth Glory players they must enda wretched run in Queensland against
basement club Gold Coast United on Sundayto be taken seriously as Grand Final contenders (Live
soccer betting: Gold Coast United 11/4 drawSoccer betting tips: 12/5 Perth Glory evens - bet365 90
minutes).
Well, what an incredibly frustrating ninety minutes that was. Upbeat start, good goal, cavalier
flicks, lucky equaliser, chances, chances, CHANCES, saves, saves, more ruddy saves and Wolves rode
their luck to a first point against Arsenal in the Premier League era. You couldn't fault the
team's effort, apart from a slight easing off in the first half, and I agree with Arsene when he
says that we would have won this game 19 times out of 20.
Npower League One promotion hopefuls Stevenage Football Club hosted third place EPL side Tottenham
Hotspur in the fifth round of the English FA Cup this past weekend in front of a capacity crowd of
just over 7,000 at Broadhall Way. Stevenage was led by a familiar face to MLS fans.
Only a few weeks ago, Stevenage announced the arrival of their new manager Gary Smith, formerly of
Major League Soccer's Colorado Rapids, who has led an impressive opening few weeks in charge
already seeing his new club to two wins and a draw in the league and now this Sunday's impressive
FA Cup draw against Tottenham.
It is the week of the MLS Combine, which means it is time for one final mock draft before things
get real interesting here.
I debated long and hard over the New Year weekend on whether or not to post this before the
Combine or wait for the Combine to take place. What I decided to do was just to post this now and
then have one final mock draft after the Combine.
In a world of unrelenting pressure for results, the January transfer window offers the tempting
opportunity for the quick fix. For clubs contending for the championship or Europe, it encourages
the hunt for that one piece of the puzzle that will make the club complete; and for clubs fighting
relegation, that one special player may seem like the difference between another year among the
world's top or a long year of away games at Barnsley and Peterborough.
Chasing The Big Leagues Southampton and the challengers (English Championship) is a post from:
Just Football
Tales from Tier Two is a series on Just Football
in partnership with @tiertwofooty, in which we assess the promotion chances of the clubs in tier
two of Europe's major leagues at the midway point of 2011/12.
Stay cool, it may feel like deja vu but you're not in the Matrix. It's just this French
invention of adding to the venerable Coupe de France a modern nemesis called Coupe de la Ligue, and
programming them at the same period.
This cup is the least respected of the two and many presidents already said it should be
abandoned, but it has at least two advantages : First, it is the shortest route to a title, meaning
it's an opportunity to salvage your season when you've missed the top spot of the championship
(thinking of anyone?
Image from Garmin's Facebook A relatively quiet stage today in the UPCC. A small
break led by Vincenzo Nibali got away early, but as is pretty typical in these type of stages they
were all caught a couple of kilometers, setting up the expected bunch sprint finish. After having a
couple of false starts get cut off Garmin's Tyler Farrar found an opening and took his second stage
of the week.
The first week of August means sweltering temperatures in Japan and the action in the J. League is
also hotting up. Sanfrecce Hiroshima are the current league leaders just after the halfway point of
the campaign, but second-placed Vegalta Sendai are hot on their heels.
Saturday's full round of action sees Sanfrecce host Shimizu S-Pulse in one of the day's highlight
fixtures, while Urawa Reds welcome neighbours FC Tokyo to Saitama Stadium.
Starting this afternoon, Sunday, March 25, at 5:00 p.m. ET (4:00 p.m. CT), hopefuls will be able
to register via www.SuenoMLS.com for an opportunity to participate in one of three open tryouts.
The competition and personal stories will be chronicled by Univision Network's popular weekly
sports entertainment program, "República Deportiva" (Sports Republic).
New signing Barry Robson has moved to reassure VancouverWhitecaps fans he has not moved to MLS for
a cosy end-of-career wind down.
The franchise announced this week they had brought in the former Rangersfavourite as a Designated
Player and Robson says he cannot wait to get goingacross the Atlantic and try and transform the
Whitecaps into one of the MSL's major soccer betting tips.
Championship side Leeds United have accepted a bid from Norwich City for their club captain Jonny
Howson.
The midfielder, who is out of contract in the summer, is a product of the Leeds academy and has
made 225 for the club. The Leeds skipper is currently on the sidelines through injury, but it is
thought he will open contract talks with the Canaries this week.
There are only four days left until the 2012 MLS SuperDraft gets underway. It will be televised
on ESPN 2 and 3 at 9a or Noon if you happen to be on the East Coast. The next few days will be
crucial for draft hopefuls as it's a time when their stock can rise or take a trip to the garbage
pit.
In a interesting turn the Guardian over in the UK, decided to let the supporter groups for all
19 MLS sides do the heavy lifting when it comes to this years SuperDraft.
This team is rapidly becoming one of the most technically gifted youth teams the club has ever
seen. Under the spotlights at Moss Lane on a cold rainy night, United's young hopefuls made light
work of a determined Torquay United side that set up, at times, with 7 men at the back. Goals from
van [...]
