Goals:
Rooney 47' 50'
Suarez 80'
The worst possible result. Not just a loss, a deserved loss – self-inflicted thanks to a feeble 30 minutes after the restart – but continued, probably increased, focus on the Suarez-Evra contretemps thanks to each acting like spoiled children.

Pálsson (#44): The Newest VikingThe New York Red Bulls made the signing of Icelandic international Victor Pálsson official today, confirming the player's recent comments on his Twitter account that he had put pen to paper on a two year agreement. Pálsson, a rangy, physical player a bit in the style of Tony Tchani, joins a crowd of holding midfielders that includes Rafa Marquez and Teemu Tainio.

We go back to the days of perms and short shorts to pick our team of the 1980s. That's the best possible XI from the decade fashion forgot, but creative midfielders did not. We also discuss Fabio Capello's shock resignation as England manager. Was Capello right to quit? Did the FA push him too far?

Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

With the signing of Lionard Pajoy, the Union may just be nearing the end of their offseason transactions (at least for outfield players). In a set of three installments, PSP's Eli Pearlman-Storch outlines the most likely formations for the Union in 2012 and how the roster, as currently composed, is suited to play in each.

Copa Libertadores 2012 Property of Brazil? is a post from: Just Football

South America's flagship competition, the Copa Libertadores, is up and running for another season with the group stages kicking off this week. 32 of Latin America's finest will compete to succeed Santos as champions, and thanks to the increasing strength of the Brazilian economy and the country's increasing ability to keep hold of and attract their finest countrymen, Brazil is once considered the trophy's most likely destination come the final in July.

Arsenal smashed Blackburn Rovers on the weekend. Scoring several goals, dominating the match and appearing genuinely impressive for the first time in a long time Arsenal looked like Arsenal used to look like. In the eyes of Arsenal fans Arsenal played like Arsenal should always be playing. In the eyes of neutrals Arsenal got their old swagger back.

For many, there has been a belief that in order to get the most out of Charlie Adam he must be played as part of a three-man midfield, alongside players who will be able to cover for his shortcomings and in doing so allow him to do what he does best—break down tough opponents and create scoring opportunities.

Still no left back, but the slight defensive midfield depth issue has been addressed with the signing of Brazilian journeyman Marcelo Saragosa. Given that Kitchen will surely miss time for Olympic qualifiers (and the big show in London if we qualify) and isn't exactly a sure thing as he steps into his first year in the role for which he's being groomed, depth was a concern.

The season is just over a month away and the roster is almost completely set. Of course there is still the possibility of adding a few more pieces or dropping a few of the newer players. For the most part the Timbers have the core of their starting line-up signed. With all the changes to the roster will John Spencer go away from the 4-4-2 formation or will he go with a different formation?

Looks like Mr. Backe has some decisions to make come opening day in Dallas. With a surplus of forwards and central midfielders, it'll be interesting to see what formation and personnel makeup the starting XI. With so many options and possible configurations at his disposal, how will Backe manage his depth?

By DAVID GUBALA

The Chicago Fire are now a good two weeks into their first phase of preseason camp and have been making all of the necessary adjustments as the start of the new 2012 campaign nears. Part of the preseason activity, though, has included shooting down rumors of a superstar Designated Player acquisition.

Now that The USWNT team has qualified for the Summer Olympics after a superb tournament in Canada, Head Coach Pia Sundhage can now turn her focus onto her squads first friendly match of the new year against New Zealand. The match will be played at FC Dallas Stadium in Frisco, Texas, marking the eighth time the USWNT will play in the Lone Star State.

It's been awhile since I trawled through the Guardian chalkboards for interesting items. I know, we all missed it.
I remain convinced that Liverpool changed tact in midfield during the interval. The key seemed to be Spearing, more willing to stay in his own half and shield the defense rather than pressing higher up the pitch and leaving gaps.

Another Philadelphia Union player is on his way out of the club, as Kyle Nakazawa will be traded, the Brotherly Game has learned.

Sources tell the Brotherly Game that the Nakazawa will be moved to the LA Galaxy in a move that one of the sources said will be announced tomorrow. The trade has been in the works since sometime last week.

Liverpool have hit some sort of form since Gerard has returned from injury. Chelsea stole a point late in the game at Swansea and are now six points ahead of Arsenal. This season has always been about a battle for fourth an it's time for the Gunners to buckle up and pick up the points in games like the next one at the Reebok, many much tougher games will anyway see Arsenal dropping points in the coming weeks.

One of the more potential-filled midfielders in the U.S. youth pipeline is coming to MLS.

The Portland Timbers have acquired U.S. Under-20 midfielder Charles Renken through the MLS waiver process, according to a team release, bringing the 18-year-old to the Pacific Northwest from TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.

Even after bidding farewell to five players, the Seattle Sounders' list 39 players as participating in training camp as the team begins activities in Casa Grande, Ariz. The five players who didn't make the trip were Sounders academy product Darwin Jones, University of Washington product Abdul Aman, goalkeeper Tyrel Lacy, invitee Jonathan Prieto and an unnamed trialist.

On Sunday afternoon, Revolution Head Coach Jay Heaps, along with players Benny Feilhaber and Chris Tierney, took part in a conference call with media members.

Along with the adjustment of a new head coach and different formation, a large question mark entering this season is who will provide the offense in the final third of the pitch.

The tackle that started the comeback

The team needed a lift after results of recent weeks. A 1-0 win is great but coming back from 2 goals down to win it, is surely going to give the team the boost that we so desperately need. A game of two halves is the old cliche but certainly applies in this scenario.

If you carefully select portions of this game you can make a video highlighting many of Arsenal's major problems. With another selection you could also show the reasons that make the Gunners such a great team to watch and support. It was a classic Cup tie and one that will remain in fans' memories for years to come if it can spark a run of form.

With the January camp behind us we take a look at the 21 players on the roster and give you our winners, losers, and those that maintained the status quo.

Forwards

Agudelo, Juan
Agudelo injured his right ankle during a scrimmage on Jan 13 and is expected to miss 3-4 weeks.

If you had asked any Stevenage supporter a couple of weeks ago who Gary Smith is, the majority would have replied 'Who?' It would have been a justified reaction because until his name began to be linked with the vacant managerial position, Gary Smith's reputation within this country was, well, non-existent.

The beep test is a progression of short runs where the testee is to pace themselves to turn on the beep, not faster, not slower. It tests not speed, but endurance and today a few players showed quite well. Andy Rose and David Estrada each won their heats, while Mike Seamon and Cordell Cato came in second in their rounds.

Saturday afternoon is without question a huge game as we take on QPR in the FA Cup at Loftus Road. We all know the story that has made headlines from the previous game and the same story will remain the focus on Saturday.
It will be a time for cool heads, for composure and for assurance on the pitch for those players wearing that Chelsea shirt.

The Rapids signed Jaime Castrillon this morning, their first major player move of the offseason. As is typical terms were not released but those will leak out eventually. Castrillon is expected to be an immediate starter in the midfield, and Pareja has talked recently about playing a 4-3-1 or 4-2-1-3.

The U.S. Under-23 men's national team finished off its January training camp with a victory, topping Alajuelense 1-0 in a friendly in Costa Rica.

Tony Taylor scored the lone goal, taking a pass from the Columbus Crew's Dilly Duka at the top of the box and finishing in the 41st minute.

One thing I have noticed on my blog and amongst Chelsea fans in general is a difference of opinion about our formation and who should be starting games. Of course we all know that for now AVB prefers the 4-3-3 formation as per managers before him here, but I just wonder what you the Chelsea fan reading this believes to be our better option(s).

Phil Jones was subbed off after 20 minutes in Manchester United's 2-1 victory over Arsenal, needing a stretcher to take him off the field. Reports from the touchline suggested he had just twisted his ankle but the following day there were claims he had ligament damage.

However, Mike Phelan has given us hope that Jones could be available for our FA Cup clash at Anfield.

It seems like just yesterday the Dynamo played for the MLS Cup in Los Angeles, in fact it was only 66 days ago, but time waits for no one and the new season must get underway. Yesterday at the team's training facilities, the Dynamo did just that, kicking off the 2012 season with the opening of pre-season camp.

Four trialists have joined the New England Revolution's preseason camp, according to the Revolution's latest preseason roster released today. Defender Théophile "Junior" N'Tame, midfielders Jeremiah White and David Foley, and striker Saër Sène, join the Revs four MLS Supplemental Draft picks as non-contracted players in camp.

Sunday's match turned up a lot of heroes and villains for both teams. The match itself went like most people had predicted; a close encounter that could have gone either way... that is until 75 minutes into the game, when what can only be considered a game changing event occurred. But I'll get to that later.

Not the debut we hoped for

A 2-1 defeat at home to Manchester United with each side coming on top in one half is not the worst of results. However, the manner in which we lost the game, left a bitter taste in the mouth. After what happened in the reverse fixture early in August, many Arsenal fans (including me) wanted to exact revenge but also conscious of the fact that we want to avoid another thrashing.

Panama head coach Julio Dely Valdes has called in 18 players for Wednesday night's friendly against the United States, and the roster features a couple key veterans as well as several young internationals who will be a part of CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying in March.
FC Dallas striker Blas Perez has 23 career goals for the marearoja, including two against the United States.

In five weeks time, we have the Merseyside derby.
Liverpool midfielders Jordan Henderson and Steve Gerrard are both on the books of Wasserman Media Group.
So are Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard and midfielder Landon Donovan.
Are we alone in finding this interesting?

Have you ever seen anything like it?

One of the worst first half performances in memory. Newcastle were very impressive, well drilled, pressurising perfectly, timing their confrontations and ganging up on our players relentlessly. We couldn't keep the ball. They could, spraying it around and running us ragged.

Bale living up to the hype for Tottenham - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

According to Castrol EDGE Performance analysis, Gareth Bale has been one of the Premier League's best performers this season, with the Welsh winger both scoring and creating regularly for his high-flying Tottenham side.

Jose Mourinho's intentions were perfectly telegraphed as he consigned Mesut Oezil and Esteban Granero to anonymity. He started three holding midfielders with Lassana Diarra, Xabi Alonso, and Pepe in a deliberate park the bus tactics. The last mentioned was relocated to midfield from his usual centre back position with Sergio Ramos partnering Ricardo Carvalho.

The last couple of seasons, seeing our midfield overrun, Wenger changed from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3. This added more players in central midfield where too often we had lost vital games, but the flip-side meant that the striker was isolated.

For 4-3-3 to work you need at least one of your three central midfielders to get into areas to support the striker.

The expansion Montreal Impact used their first pick in franchise history to select the versatile Andrew Wenger with the top pick in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft on Thursday afternoon in Kansas City.

Wenger, considered to be the most talented and complete player in the draft, enjoyed a successful career at Duke University.

Liverpool have signed 19-year-old attacking midfielder Joao Carlos Teixeia from Sporting Lisbon. I guess this is good news but considering the number of talented attacking youngsters already at Anfield, what exactly is the point? When it comes to breaking through into the first team, it's always young defenders and defensive midfielders who get given the (occasional) breaks; strikers and