Photo by ISIphotos.com

By DAVE MARTINEZ

There will be no hero's send-off for Thierry Henry.

After Henry scored the final goal in a 7-1 Arsenal victory over Blackburn last weekend, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger eluded to the possibility of extending Henry's loan up to the London derby against Tottenham on Feb.

So much for the new number 9.

Less than a week after the Revolution announced the signing of Colombian striker Jose "Pepe" Moreno their biggest offseason signing so far - it appears that the 30-year-old has cold feet about coming to MLS.

Citing his desire to play alongside recent Once Caldas signing Dayro Moreno and displaying a renewed sense of appreciation for the Manizales-based side, the 6-0 striker has reportedly reneged on playing in Foxboro, at least for the time being.

The past couple of weeks have filled Fire fans heads with visions of sugar plums dancing around (or in this case world class players running around and scoring goals in Fire red). I have to admit, the Didier Drogba and Michael Ballack rumors got me excited. Most sane fans (including myself) knew these rumors were extremely far-fetched at best and a product of extremely shoddy journalism at worst.

However busy Gerland gardeners may have been to ensure this game would not be cancelled due to the current cold wave striking in Europe, the French football authorities tried to get a few more degrees in anticipating it to 4.15 PM instead of 9PM, in the hope that a few sunrays would heat up the atmosphere.

Fabio Capello showing what he thinks of the FA's decision to nix Terry's captaincy

The FA and Fabio Capello are increasingly at odds with each other over John Terry's captaincy. The Italian was vocal in his support of the Chelsea defender using the cover of the deferred legal case as a presumption of innocence till proven guilty.

Joey Barton's reaction to the FA's handling of the John Terry racial abuse case

A series of Tweets from Joey Barton on the John Terry racial abuse saga has England's Attorney General breathing hard down his neck. Barton's tweets summed up:

"This John Terry saga, has turned into one of the most hideously managed spectacles I have ever known.

Anton, or is that your name? Now, touch my skin. Worship it.

One should ask the FA why they did such a thorough job investigating Luis Suarez's racial abuse of Patrice Evra and then drop the ball on John Terry doing the same against Anton Ferdinand? Suarez gets an eight match ban, while Terry gets rewarded with a deferment of his trial till after the 2012 Euro is over and retains his captaincy of the Three Lions to boot.

The Portland Timbers returned to another closed practice today away from the prying eyes of the media after resting on Wednesday. Sebastian Rincon, known from Tuesday's practice report as the mystery player, continued his trial with the team, while Brent Richards was once again missing from practice.

Photo: Nicolae Stoian from 2011

The offseason can be crazy in the business that is soccer and sometimes it can be all too easy to forget that in the end, it's really about the game. If you are looking for some inspiration to help you get your soccer head back on straight, go to the Ritz East tonight to see the Philadelphia premier of Laduma.

Tragic news is coming out of Egypt following today's match between Al-Masry and Al-Ahly in Port Said, Egypt. After Al-Masry won the match, 3-1, its fans invaded the pitch, forcing Al-Ahly players to flee to the locker room, where they became trapped. Apparently, Al-Ahly Ultras took to the pitch too, and the long, violent history between the two clubs was extended.

Arsenal starlet Francis Coquelin has hailed the locker room impact of legendary on-loan striker Thierry Henry, insisting that the veteran does not need to be on the pitch all the time to offer his leadership.

Henry's two-month spell at the Emirates began with a bang as his decisive goal knocked Leeds United out of the FA Cup but the Frenchman has since been sidelined with injury concerns.

Despite being a closed session today without any tasty tidbits from John Spencer to chew on, today's Timbers practice was an interesting one none the less.

Although Kris Boyd was, not surprisingly, not yet practicing we were told that he would likely join the team in around ten days while they are in California.

2012, after 2001?
Today is a crucial day as we'll know whether we continue our currently successful run in 4 competitions. Since the last victory against Dijon, OL players and staff didn't focus on the all important incoming clash at the Velodrome against Marseille, which could condition the path of the two clubs in L1.

Fulham have stunned both Footballing Worlds by signing American Football player Tim Tebow on a free transfer.

"After being healed from my rib, lung and chest injuries suffered during the defeat to the Patriots earlier this month, I had a calling from God that I should try my hand at another sport this off-season," Tebow said.

Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

Philadelphia Union

Sebastien Le Toux tweets, "Just got traded to Vancouver ! Saddest day for me in my Philadelphia Union story.... Still can't believe it"

The Union host Vancouver Whitecaps on March 31.

Take a look at Adam Cann's roundup of the evolution of Sebastien Le Toux to Vancouver rumors for links, but to summarize, the Union appear to be trading Le Toux to Vancouver for allocation money.

by Ed Bishop
By the end of the Wednesday night's contest at the Independence Events Center the scoreboard looked more like that of a blowout football game rather than a soccer match as the Missouri Comets routed the Syracuse Silver Knights 33 to 12. The Comets showed every indication that they're starting to hit their stride as they improved their record to 11-8 and continued to make their playoff push to secure the second spot in the Central Division with their second win in a row.

On the eve of one of the more important matches of the season for Real Madrid, manager Jose Mourinho is making headlines again for all the wrong reasons.

According to reports out of Spain, Mourinho is letting it be known that he wants out of Madrid at the end of this season, which would be two years into his four-year contract with the club.

They scored, they scored again...and they scored again. In the opening game of the 2012 Olympic qualifying tournament, the United States women showed no mercy, completely showing up the Dominican Republic. The star of the night was Amy Rodriguez who despite not coming into the game until the second half, managed to score five goals, tying the tournament record.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is infamous for exposing his players to 'hairdryer'-like rants on the training ground or the locker room.
It's referred to as a 'hairdryer' when Ferguson shouts at his players, because he is yelling so loud and hard that it pushes the player's hair back like someone blow-drying their hair.

Guest Post: I have Been to the Mountaintop: Rethinking Success for MLS

On the road tonight, so here is an encore of the most popular guest post in Footiebusiness history. The original generated a significant amount of comments. Back live on Monday.

Once again, we are fortunate to have a guest post from Dave Laidig.

The draft is over, training camps are opening up and the season is less than two months away. It has been a while since we looked at promotional efforts around the league, so we thought the early preseason presented a good opportunity to look at ticket sales efforts as teams gear up for the start of the 2012 campaign.

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.

Just tweak, tweakin' the hair. Images via Divinity.

He scores lots of goals and lets Jose Mourinho ride him like a pony, but that's pretty much all we ever knew about Real Madrid's 24-year-old headline stealer.

Recently opening up in an interview, Callejón revealed that his bestie in the locker room is none other than The Ramos™.

Desgraciadamente en el fútbol mexicano se habla de todo menos de fútbol, resulta ser que fueron a embargar al equipo de la franja. Personal del Servicio de Administración Tributaria ingresó al Estadio Cuauhtémoc para colocar los sellos de embargo al autobús y a las oficinas, asi como para llevarse todo lo que pudieran de valor.

By Joel Greenwaldt
Baltimore Blast (10-3) vs. Norfolk SharX (1-11)
Game Time: 1/12/2012 7:00 PM
http://www.misllivesoccer.com/
What needs to go right for the Blast:

• Put the game away early and continue the attack on the net: The Blast have been much more aggressive attacking their opponents' net during their current five game winning streak.

Welcome to "The Gents" with Stan Bentley - The Yorkies' regular advice column for our valued readers. Bring your modern day problems and have them answered by the most valued voice - a 1950's journeyman footballer. "Back of the net!"
Hi Stan
I've been dating my girlfriend for two years and am ready to pop the question.

Jon Gordon's book 'The No Complaining Rule' is something that I've tried to instill, both from a personal standpoint, and in my office and locker room.
The rules are pretty simple in concept -
1) you can only complain to someone who can resolve the problem - rather than bitch and moan to someone divorced from the problem (which is wasted energy, as well as negative energy), you must go to someone who can help fix the problem at hand.

A favorite quote of mine comes from a statement I heard years ago about adversity being a building block in developing one's character. I used to even prescribe to the theory: 'A B C - Adversity Builds Character'.
Helen Keller once said, "Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet.

John Terry's BFF, Wayne Bridge rumoured to be on Wenger's radar

A bridge to nowhere. With Thomas Vermaelen out with a calf strain, there is officially no left back specialist left on the Arsenal senior roster. In the match Wenger subbed off Vermaelen replacing him with Francis Coquelin who looked a bit suspect when tracking back but looked in his element pushing up the channel.

There was a single moment of 2011 that has managed to stay in the back of my mind for months. It is a moment that few would care to remember but I believe it is one of importance. Early in the season there was an ill-fated tackle from a scrambling Brian Mullan that ended the season of Seatlle's Steve Zakuani.

by Ed Bishop
Stifled for two and a half quarters by a stingy Wings defense and a stellar effort by Wichita's goalkeeper, Senaldo, the Missouri Comets were down 7 - 2 and perhaps one more Wings goal from being out of the game and disappointing a large holiday week crowd of 4,583 at the Independence Events Center on Wednesday night.

A DVD gift set you never thought you'd get for Christmas.

For whatever reason, Sevilla players seem happy enough to have their wedding videos posted on the internet. Possibly as more advertising for the production company; nevertheless, Alvaro Negredo is the second after Jesus Navas to have his day of matrimony filmed for what could be a big screen trailer.

Featured image: Paul Rudderow

Editor's note: At the end of the 2010 season, we posted a series of season reviews of every Philadelphia Union player. Over the next several weeks PSP continues with a review of the 2011 season.

I saved Migs for my last player review of the season because really, what else is there to say?

Smoldering kindle around a possible sale of the New York Red Bulls' Tim Ream to Bolton.

Wandering?

While nothing is confirmed and Ream's wedding to a US bride, not to a new team has been cited as the reason he is not in Jurgen Klinsmann's January Camp, the move would seem to make a lot of sense and offers the opportunity to investigate a few things around both the teams and leagues:

• First, it would seem the Red Bulls are selling at a valley in Ream's value.

Images via tumblr. Cheers to Kat for the tip!

... Olalla Dominguez giving Justin Bieber some serious side-eye?

Yes, Kickettes, it flippin' well is. As most of you are probably aware, the Bieb-u-lator was at Stamford Bridge the other day for a kickabout with Frank Lampard and Olalla's hubby Fernando Torres.

Villa removed from pitch following leg injury (Photo: AP Photo)

Horrible news out of Japan this morning where FC Barcelona defeated Al-Sadd 0-4 in the Club World Cup semi-final and will move on to play Santos in the final.

In the 36th minute of the first half David Villa was injured running down a through ball and when he tried to control the pass twisted is left leg and fell to the ground.

The busy week ended with a change on top only with goal difference....
Galatasaray perhaps is the best team of the week, in my opinion....
They have beat, two important opponents in four days, last week...
Galatasaray scored six goals and only allowed only one goal.

File Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

Philadelphia Union

In Thursday's press conference, Peter Nowak reiterated a theme that he has stressed since the end of the season: he is looking to create competition among positions within the squad. "The more guys we have in [camp] being involved with the team and the team-mentality is better and will help us to have better results.

By Clemente Lisi - LOS ANGELES, CA (Dec 5, 2011) US Soccer Players -- The stench of beer filled the air in the Los Angeles Galaxy's locker room after the players had spent a good chunk of its MLS Cup postgame party spraying one another with bottles of Bud. After the game, the players left the Home Depot Center and partied the night away at the Staples Center in downtown LA.

Photo: Courtesy US Soccer

Philly Soccer Page

Today marks the return of one series and the start of another. First, fresh on the heels of our series of raves, we begin our series of season reviews of every Philadelphia Union player who saw more than ten minutes of action in 2011 (sorry Morgan!