By FRANCO PANIZO

A day after Pep Guardiola said he had no plans of selling him, David Villa was lost to injury.

Villa will be sidelined for approximately the next six months after fracturing his tibia in Barcelona's 4-0 Club World Cup win over Al Sadd on Thursday.

Disappointing midweek arrived for English teams in their Europa League campaign, Fulham have to forget their European ambition as they're journey ended on Wednesday after only picking up a point against Odense BK.

Meanwhile, Stoke City suffered their first defeat in the competition but still secure their passage into the next round although that loss relegated the Potters into runners up position behind Besiktas.

Sacha Kljestan's run of form is turning out to be anything but temporary.

Kljestan continued his strong season for Anderlecht, scoring a goal in the club's 5-3 triumph over Lokomotiv Moscow in their UEFA Europa League battle. His curling effort to the far corner dug Anderlecht out of an early 1-0 deficit and helped the Belgian side win its group, which should make for a more favorable result during Friday's knockout round draw.

It's do or die for a number of teams across Europe as the UEFA Europa League winds down.

Half of the teams in the field play their final group games of the tournament today, including Clint Dempsey's Fulham, which can cement a place in the knockout round and set the tone for perhaps another deep tournament run with a win or by getting some help.

The next two days are rather crucial for a number of Americans abroad, as their quests to reach the UEFA Europa League knockout stage come down to the final game of group play.

Clint Dempsey and Fulham control their own destiny and can advance as the second-place team from Group K with a win over Odense BK on Wednesday (3 p.

FIFA Club World Cup on Fox Soccer: Monterrey - Esperance at 2:30am and Santos - Kashiwa at 5:30am. Europa League on GolTV: PSG - Atletico Bilbao at 1pm and Fulham - Odense BK at 3pm. All Times Eastern

By FRANCO PANIZO

If Liverpool is to overcome its less-than-stellar start to the season and get back in contention for a Champions League spot, it will have to do so without one of its top players.

Lucas Leiva has been ruled out for the remainder of the Premiership campaign after sustaining a knee injury in Liverpool's 2-0 quarterfinal victory over Chelsea in the Carling Cup on Tuesday.

FC Twente 3-2 OB Odense Highlights Video 2011 Europa League Highlights is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

FC Twente 3-2 OB Odense Highlights Video 2011 Europa League Highlights is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Twente vs OB 2011 ( FC Twente vs Odense BK 2011) Final score and result:- Twente vs OB 3-2 ( Hoegh own goal, Landzaat, Fer/ Fall*2) 3rd November, 2011- Europa League Leroy Fer's [.

By FRANCO PANIZO

If Chris Rolfe is trying to make his way back into the U.S. men's national team picture, he did a good job of helping his cause this weekend.

Rolfe, who has not represented the United States since 2008, scored two goals in a 90-minute performance against Odense BK.

After Odense BK knotted the match, Chris Rolfe struck again six minutes from time to give Aalborg a big 2-1 win. The former Fire man doubled his season tally to four, putting him tops on the team, as AaB snapped a five-game victory drought. The highlights are here, amid the Danish chatter.Still waiting on the Buddle clip, which I'll put in a separate post when it surfaces.

After Odense BK knotted the match, Chris Rolfe struck again six minutes from time to give Aalborg a big 2-1 win. The former Fire man doubled his season tally to four, putting him tops on the team, as AaB snapped a five-game victory drought.When I get these two and the Buddle clip, I will do the re-post trick so they come up in your RSS feeds (and such).

Odense OB vs Twente 1-4 Highlights 2011 Video Europa League is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Odense OB vs Twente 1-4 Highlights 2011 Video Europa League is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Odense BK vs Twente 2011 ( OB vs FC Twente 2011) Final score and result:- OB vs Twente 1-4 ( Fall/ Brama, Bajrami, Chadli, De Jong) TRE-FOR Park- 20 October, 2011- Europa League Two [.

U.S. national team players were heavily involved with action in Europa League on Thursday, and not a single one left with a loss. Goals were scored, assists made, and a long-awaited return to action finally took place.
Jozy Altidore continued to light the lamp, scoring his side's lone goal as AZ drew 1-1 at FC Metalist Kharkiv.

By FRANCO PANIZO

Jermaine Jones' struggles for playing time at Schalke 04 have been alleviated somewhat, as Jones made his first appearance for the club in nearly two months on Thursday.

Having last played for Schalke on Aug. 6, Jones came off the bench in the 76th minute of Schalke's Europa League match against Maccabi Haifa to help the club preserve its 2-1 lead.

By FRANCO PANIZO

The quest for European glory continues for several Americans Abroad on Thursday, as the second round of Group Stage games in the Europa League gets underway.

After drawing last week, Clint Dempsey will look to help Fulham get its first win in Group K when the Cottagers take on Odense BK.

I don't know if anyone has noticed, but the Americans playing abroad are positively drunk on goals the last six weeks. Today, SønderjyskE rookie Conor O'Brien marked his first start for the club with his first goal for the club. It's the second strike on this clip from their impressive 4-3 win at Odense BK.

Group ATottenham Hotspur FC (ENG)
FC Rubin Kazan (RUS)
PAOK FC (GRE)
Shamrock Rovers FC (IRL)
Group B
FC København (DEN)
R. Standard de Liège (BEL)
Hannover 96 (GER)
FC Vorskla Poltava (UKR)
Group C
PSV Eindhoven (NED)
Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC (ISR)
FC Rapid Bucureşti (ROU)
Legia Warszawa (POL)
Group D
Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR)
S.

Two seasons ago Fulham had to wait until the knockout stages before facing any Champions League rejects, slaying the likes of Juventus and Wolfsburg before ultimately faltering to Atlético Madrid in the final.

This season, our group is chock-full of them.

GROUP K
Fulham
FC Twente (NED)
Odense (DEN)
Wisła Kraków (POL)

Boy, lots of red, white, and blue in these badges.

Dempsey is hoping to lead Fulham back to the Europa League final

UEFA has completed the draw for the Group Stage of the 2011-12 Europa League, and it poses some intriguing matchups - and trips - for the U.S. players involved. A total of 48 teams were drawn into 12 groups competing for the right to compete in the final on May 9, 2012, in Bucarest, Romania.

By CALEB SONNELAND

World-champion Spain's stint atop the FIFA rankings is officially over, with the Netherlands being the usurpers.

Bert van Marwijk's side ascended to the No. 1 spot after the Spaniards crashed to a friendly 2-1 defeat to Italy earlier in August.

Five spots in the UEFA Champions League group stage will be claimed on Tuesday as the final play-in round winds down in Europe.

Bayern Munich will look to hold on to its 2-0 aggregate lead over FC Zurich, while Villarreal will try and overturn a 1-0 deficit to Odense BK in two of the more intriguing second-leg matches.

Given our Anglocentric view of the footballing world, the pre-group stage UEFA Champions League qualifying playoffs have primarily been about Arsenal's challenging tie against Udinese. But there's more going on much much more, including some interesting 2nd leg matches today.

Here's the full schedule of today's and tomorrow's fixtures, from UEFA's site.

UEFA Champions League on Fox Soccer: FC Zurich - Bayern Munich at 2:30pm and Villarreal - Odense BK at 5pm. On Fox Soccer Plus: Malmo - Dinamo Zagreb at 2:30pm. CONCACAF Champions League on Fox Soccer: Monterrey - Seattle at 8pm and Real Espana - Colorado at 10pm. All Times Eastern

SPANISH FOOTBALL Club VILLAREAL travelled to Denmark to play their preliminary CHAMPIONS LEAGUE qualifier against ODENSE BK & finished with a surprising & "unjust" 1- 0 defeat result. The Danes started well & had their chances early but Villareal soon took over proceedings with some lovely touch Football & plenty of chances upfront - especially in the 2 half - with Rossi, Nilmar, cani & Valero

SPANISH FOOTBALL Club VILLAREAL travelled to Denmark to play their preliminary CHAMPIONS LEAGUE qualifier against ODENSE BK & finished with a surprising & "unjust" 1- 0 defeat result. The Danes started well & had their chances early but Villareal soon took over proceedings with some lovely touch Football & plenty of chances upfront - especially in the 2 half - with Rossi, Nilmar, cani & Valero

Today, The Champions League formally returns. It's the last step for a few European giants to reach the Group Stage of Europe's elite competition or be relegated into the Europa League.

Matches this afternoon include: Arsenal v. Udinese. BATE Borisov v. SK Sturm Graz.

A: A winner winner winner chicken dinner. Duh. I'm still hunting for the elusive clip, but Chris Rolfe did in fact fire Aalborg up to second place with a 2-1 decider against Odense BK. The guy I hope to see in Brussels next month capped off a counter attack 11 minutes from time to put his side up two, rendering OB's late strike as mere consolation.

A: A winner winner winner chicken dinner. Duh. I'm still hunting for the elusive clip, but Chris Rolfe did in fact fire Aalborg up to second place with a 2-1 decider against Odense BK. The guy I hope to see in Brussels next month capped off a counter attack 11 minutes from time to put his side up two, rendering OB's late strike as mere consolation.

Goodson won't meet Mexico for the second time this summer
U.S. Men's National Team defender Clarence Goodson has been forced to withdraw from the U.S. roster for tomorrow's game against Mexico due to a strained left hamstring suffered in Brondby's 2-1 loss at Odense BK this past Sunday.

The fields for the groups stages of the UEFA Champions League and Europa League are nearly set, with just one play-in round remaining in each competition.

The 10 Champions League play-in ties are highlighted by an Arsenal-Udinese matchup. The teams that win those 10 ties will be entered into the draw for the UCL group stage, while the 10 losers will drop to the Europa League group-stage draw.

Odense BK were celebrated around Europe in the 1994/95 UEFA Cup for what came to be known as the 'Miracle in Madrid' as they overturned a 3-2 third round home defeat with a 2-0 win against Real Madrid CF at the Santiago Bernabéu.
Danish reporters are calling Odense BK's 4-3 win at Panathinaikos FC the 'Miracle in Athens because their stunning come from behind victory brings them one step away from the group stages of the Champions League.

UEFA Champions League play-off round

Champions route
Wisła Kraków (POL) v APOEL FC (CYP)
Macabi Haifa FC (ISR) v KRC Genk (BEL)
NK Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) v Malmö FF (SWE)
FC København (DEN) v FC Viktoria Plzeň (CZE)
FC BATE Borisov (BLR) v SK Sturm Graz (AUT)
League route
Odense BK (DEN) v Villarreal CF (ESP)
FC Twente (NED) v SL Benfica (POR)
Arsenal FC (ENG) v Udinese Calcio (ITA)
FC Bayern München (GER) v FC Zürich (SUI)
Olympique Lyonnais (FRA) v FC Rubin Kazan (RUS)

Photo by Francisco Vega/ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

Most of the big European leagues are still in their preseasons, but that doesn't mean there isn't a portion of the Americans Abroad already in action.

Clarence Goodson began his first full season with Brondby IF by starting and going the distance in the club's 2-2 draw with Aalborg BK.

Photo by Howard C. Smith/ISIphotos.com

United States national team centerback Clarence Goodson made his return to Brondby's starting lineup Thursday and scored in the club's 3-0 win over Esbjerg.

Goodson, who made an appearance as a substitute last week, started for the first time since breaking his toe and scored on a header off a corner kick just before halftime to put Brondby out front.