The last time the Baltimore Blast visited U.S. Cellular Arena, they shut out the Milwaukee Wave for the final 50 minutes and dealt the home team its first loss of the season.

Those points appeared to provide some motivation for the Wave on Saturday night.

Greg Howes had a goal and two assists in a seven-goal first quarter as Milwaukee raced out to a 14-0 lead and thumped the Blast 22-8 in a Major Indoor Soccer League match watched by 4,707 fans at U.

AVB hasn't exactly had it easy since he has come to Chelsea has he?. He came into the club as a breath of fresh air speaking of motivation, fine tuning the team and with his technical staff getting the best out of everyone.
Chelsea sit fourth just ahead of the likes of Newcastle, Liverpool and Arsenal and a whopping 12 points behind United and Man City and more importantly seven points and four goals behind Spurs.

One thing I have noticed in recent weeks is the lack of real chances we are creating for ourselves. The thing is, because of this happening, the likes of Danny Sturridge (as he demonstrated yesterday) have taken a selfish approach to his game and is shooting whenever he gets the ball in or around the box rather then lift his head up and look for a killer pass or to create a chance for someone else.

Andy Carroll who has come under intense fire from the Liverpool faithful the past few weeks for his inconsistent performances, responded to his critics by scoring in Liverpool's 3-0 win over Wolves yesterday.

The £35 million signing from Newcastle opened the scoring for the Reds, to take his tally for the club to 7.

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard wants to maintain focus ahead of Wednesday's Carling Cup semi-final second leg - by banning talk of Wembley.
The Reds hold a 1-0 lead over Manchester City from the first leg and are favourites to progress ahead of the return game at Anfield, but Gerrard insists the team must prepare correctly.

Reserve coach Rodolfo Borrell believes Liverpool might be forced to adopt a more direct style of play as they look to overcome a physical Blackburn side at the Academy on Tuesday.
Rovers have yet to win a reserve game so far in 2011-12, but they did prove a tough nut to crack when the two sides shared the spoils in a goalless draw back in November.

Isn't it funny that although we were dire on Saturday and dropped two points away to Norwich, We gained a point on Spurs as they lost at Manchester City. Forget the league title, that's gone and has been for a while now, but it's important that Chelsea finish 3rd as a minimum this season. I think we'd all take that now with a decent run in the FA Cup and Champions League.

It looks more and more likely with each passing day that Andrey Arshavin will pack up his boots and leave London during the summer, likely back to Russia with Zenit St Petersburg, where he's still considered a hero. In fact, it seems all of Russia regards Arshavin as some kind of football genius since he was named that nation's athlete of the year again for the fourth time running and is still the captain of his country's team.

So, sitting here this afternoon thoroughly enjoying the Bundesliga back in action after an interminable winter break, I have come across a series of stories that might just warm the hearts of us Houston Dynamo supporters near and far.

First comes this excellent piece from Soccer America about Geoff Cameron in USMNT camp.

So with Real Madrid and Barcelona scheduled to meet tomorrow at the Bernabeu for their first leg Copa Del Rey quarterfinal fixture, attention is already starting to get centred around the Messi Ronaldo debate.

Truth be said, although the debate is starting to get boring, it will be interesting to see how Ronaldo responds to his critics and the world player of the year.

Having already knocked out Villarreal and Real Racing Club in this years Copa del Rey, Mirandés, are bow looking to knockoff another of La Liga's big names, Espanyol, in the quarter-finals.

The Spanish third division side are currently enjoying the experience of a lifetime – playing and beating the elite.

Malaga player Martín Demichelis met with the press today to talk about the midweek Copa Del Rey loss to Real Madrid and this weekend's La Liga match with Atletico Madrid (In Spanish). English Translations below:

COMMENT 1: Copa Del Rey 1st leg last 16 defeat to Real Madrid
Question: Defeat against Real?

Here is Malaga player Martín Demichelis talking about the Copa Del Rey loss to Real Madrid and this weekend's La Liga match with Atletico Madrid (In Spanish). English Translations below:

COMMENT 1: Copa Del Rey 1st leg last 16 defeat to Real Madrid
Question: Defeat against Real?

This announcement should add a lot more motivation to both franchises, players and coaches in Wichita and Missouri:

Wings and Comets Announce Rival Series

Currently, the Comets have a head start towards winning the trophy first as they are leading the season series 2-0.

Now we just want to see a picture of the so called Turnpike Trophy.

The Manchester City manager, Roberto Mancini, recently accosted the Manchester City player Wayne Bridge for, apparently, seeming to be happy and content at being nothing more than a paid squad member at the Manchester club. Wayne Bridge never features, is rarely even on the bench, and is not highly valued by his coach.

Under fire Chelsea striker Fernando Torres has gotten backing from coach Andre Villas- Boas concerning his future with the club. The Spanish international who was bought from Liverpool in January for £50 million, has consistently been included in Chelsea's starting 11 in spite of his lack of goals.

Big guns: Aging stars like, from left, Robert Pires, retired Brazilian striker Ronaldo (well, OK maybe it's a little late for him) and Chelsea's Didier Drogba, seen here at a charity game in Hamburg, Germany today, may have less motivation to take MLS money now that China's newly rich have

I really don't have the motivation to go through this in depth another game where we had the better of the play, but our final ball and/or shot let us down. Admittedly there was an improvement on the Brighton game in that the visiting 'keeper had a few saves to make one of them excellent. Then again, Camp wasn't untested prior to eventually conceding [.

Kenny Dalglish insists his Liverpool players have not been distracted by off-field issues while preparing for Saturday's visit of QPR.
The Reds' 11-match unbeaten run ended in controversial circumstances on Monday night as Jay Spearing was sent off during a 1-0 defeat at Fulham and, after the match, Luis Suarez allegedly made an offensive gesture to the crowd.

The uncle and advisor of Celtic midfielder Beram Kayal has revealed that the prospect is currently being tracked by Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish, who currently has Lucas Leiva and Steven Gerrard out as long-term injury concerns.
Dalglish is likely to once again spend big money either in the January transfer window, or the following summer, and Kayal is now reported to be one of the players he and his scouting team are currently monitoring.

Roy Keane, in his new role as ITV pundit, spoke of how the Manchester United players were letting Sir Alex Ferguson down at half time in last's night 2-1 defeat against FC Basel.

At full time, Keane claimed that our young players hadn't done well enough. He also made reference to Phil Jones' comments ahead of kick-off and questioned how relaxed he felt now.

I think it's common knowledge that Didier Drogba will be leaving the club at the end of the season. His agent has confirmed it and when asked of his plans for the future, Drogba remained silent and said he would rather focus on the team.
When we see a performance from Drogba last night when he became simply unplayable you first of all wonder why we would want to get rid of him but then you realise it's not something he is like each week and you have to wonder why?

Liverpool midfielder Lucas thankful for messages of support following injury & believes he'll return 'mentally stronger'

After having been sidelined for the rest of the season, the Brazil player is grateful for the heartfelt wishes he has received from the Reds fans and will use it as motivation

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-12-02 21:26:00 from: Goal

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Liverpool midfielder Lucas thankful for messages of support following injury & believes he'll return 'mentally stronger'

After having been sidelined for the rest of the season, the Brazil player is grateful for the heartfelt wishes he has received from the Reds fans and will use it as motivation

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-12-02 21:26:00 from: Goal

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Liverpool midfielder Lucas thankful for messages of support following injury & believes he'll return 'mentally stronger'

After having been sidelined for the rest of the season, the Brazil player is grateful for the heartfelt wishes he has received from the Reds fans and will use it as motivation

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-12-02 21:26:00 from: Goal

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Liverpool midfielder Lucas thankful for messages of support following injury & believes he'll return 'mentally stronger'

After having been sidelined for the rest of the season, the Brazil player is grateful for the heartfelt wishes he has received from the Reds fans and will use it as motivation

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-12-02 21:26:00 from: Goal

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

It isn't just Ledley King hoping for a contract extension at the end of the season as reserve keeper Carlo Cudicini has stated his desire to carry on playing at the Lane.

Carlo only signed a new one year deal this summer and perhaps rather surprisingly, he leapt ahead of Heurelho Gomes to become installed as first choice back up to Brad Friedel.

Tim, let's call a spade a spade mate!
Seems having seen this stuff promoted across Australia on every media set going I'd thought I'd ask the question.
Is this Tim Cahill program really giving back to grassroots football?
Now we all know Tim is a great bloke, has great compassion for Australia causes and has been a great role model for many both on the sporting and family field, and far be it for me to criticise Tim, but does anyone else feel the, "I really want to give back to the grassroots" line is a great big Scouse mickey-take.

Chelsea seem to have lost all direction as was evident when they suffered their 3rd consecutive loss last night. The Blues have now lost 4of their last 5 games and the future is not only looking bleak for Villas-Boas, but also for a number of the club's stars.

Reports now emerging from London suggest that Anelka is thinking about leaving the club in the January transfer window.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. During his 11-year playing career, Jay Heaps would do whatever it would take to win. Whether it was racing into the final third and firing a sudden shot on frame or getting in the face of an opponent, the Longmeadow, Mass. native never backed down from a challenge.

Recognizing the need to reinvigorate a squad that has stagnated in recent years, the Revolution front office hired the fiery Heaps as their newest head coach on Tuesday, even though the former defender had no MLS coaching experience on his resume.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has dismissed suggestions that his players will gain extra motivation from playing against Anfield old-boys Fernando Torres and Raul Meireles on Sunday, but he has highlighted two players who could be a serious threat for Chelsea in the upcoming Premier League game.

Dalglish No Torres motivation

Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish does not believe a reunion with Fernando Torres and Raul Meireles is any great motivation.

View the full story here: Sky Sports

A news article on 2011-11-17 12:23:40 from: Sky Sports

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has made no attempt to hide his anger over the the ridiculous scheduling of the club's Carling Cup game with Chelsea, accusing the Football League of being 'irresponsible and of 'devaluing' its own competition. Whilst I'm sure most fans agree with Kenny's stance, there is an unfortunate irony to his comments that many people may have missed.

Tottenham Hotspur right-back Vedran Corluka has dismissed suggestions that vengeance for Croatia's defeat in the Euro 2008 quarterfinal will be the primary motivation as Slaven Bilic prepares to lead his men in the Euro 2012 qualification playoffs against Turkey.

Croatia qualified for that tournament in style almost four years ago, winning an unforgettable encounter at Wembley to prevent England from joining them in Austria and Switzerland.

After a period in the international wilderness, a consequence of indifferent form and bench duty at Liverpool, Ryan Babel is back in the Dutch national team, and he's determined to make it count.
In the latter stages of his Liverpool career, Babel spent a lot of time on the bench, and consequently lost his place in the Dutch team.

Irish central midfielder Glenn Whelan is confident that ' The Boys In Green ' will qualify for Euro 2012 and that the team will use the play-off defeat to France two year's ago as motivation for the two-legged encounter with Estonia.
Ireland travel to Tallinn for Friday's play-off first leg clash against Estonia, before next Tuesday's return fixture at Lansdowne Road, with a place at the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine up for grabs.

In roughly six and a half hours, the Dynamo will take the field at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park against Sporting Kansas City with a birth in the 2011 MLS Cup Final on the line. I doubt you can find many who believed the Dynamo would be in this position as late as August, but here they are and their run of form at the end of the regular season and in the playoffs clearly shows they deserve to be here.

When the fixture list gets released for each season, there are some games that are surrounded by neon lights, arrows and confetti; glamour games whose dates your eyes turn to like homing pigeons, games that you build your normal, non-footballing schedule around to make sure you watch them come whatever form of deluge, locust swarm or vile microelectronics exam.

A delighted AVB spoke to Chelseafc.com after the game and praised the commitment of his players who had to face another long period of the game with ten against eleven men. In what I believe is a massive win for us tonight, AVB said:

"I think we were very committed, showed strength of character and resilience once again.

City rivals Marquette and UW-Milwaukee celebrated repeat conference titles during the week, though the Panthers saw their long winning streak halted in surprising fashion.

Meanwhile, UW-Green Bay will have extra motivation when it plays the Panthers in a regular-season finale next Friday.