MANCHESTER, England  Blackpool and Birmingham were relegated from the Premier League on Sunday as
Wigan and Wolves scrambled to safety in a thrilling finale to the English season. Blackpool's
fairytale debut season in the top-flight came to an end at Old Trafford where they were beaten 4-2
by champions Manchester United while Birmingham were [.
 LONDON, England — A double by England striker Carlton Cole inspired Premier League strugglers
West Ham to a 5-1 thrashing of Championship side Burnley and earn them a place in the FA Cup
quarter-finals here on Monday. The 27-year-old struck in the 48th and 50th minutes to add to German
Thomas Hitzlsperger's opener on his [.
ROME, Italy — AS Roma booked an Italian Cup semi-final against Inter Milan on Thursday after a
2-0 win at Juventus achieved with second-half goals from Montenegrin Mirko Vucinic and Rodrigo
Taddei. Vucinic bagged the opener after 65 minutes after taking a pass from Daniele De Rossi in his
stride and Taddei then produced an [.
January 27, 2011 North American Soccer League (NASL) FC Edmonton EDMONTON, AB. It's been five
months since their last competitive match against Miami FC of the NASL, and even that was a
friendly. It's no wonder that the FC Edmonton coaching staff and players are champing at the bit to
get the 2011 [.
ROME, Italy – Udinese ended Leonardo's perfect record since taking over as Inter Milan coach with
a 3-1 win over the Italian champions on Sunday while city rivals Milan retained their four-point
lead at the top. Inter, aiming for a sixth straight win since the Brazilian's arrival in the San
Siro dugout, took the lead [.
DOHA, Qatar — Japan's World Cup hero Keisuke Honda is ready to orchestrate attacking football
against largely defensive rivals at the Asian Cup, as the Blue Samurai aim for a record fourth
continental title. "My personal goal and the team's goal are one and the same. We are targetting
the title no matter who we [.
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates Asian champions Seongnam Ilhwa of South Korea crushed local side Al
Wahda 4-1 on Saturday to set-up a Club World Cup semifinal showdown with European champions Inter
Milan. The Korean champions turned out to be too strong for the local side despite the vocal
support of more than 30,000 [.
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates Asian champions Seongnam Ilhwa of South Korea crushed local side Al
Wahda 4-1 on Saturday to set-up a Club World Cup semifinal showdown with European champions Inter
Milan. The Korean champions turned out to be too strong for the local side despite the vocal
support of more than 30,000 [.
BARCELONA, Spain — Argentine Lionel Messi scored a vital 77th-minute winner as Barcelona laboured
to a 2-1 home win over Athletic Bilbao on Sunday to restore their five-point lead over Real Madrid
at the Spanish first division summit. Barcelona looked set to drop two more points after Andoni
Iraola's penalty had cancelled out David Villa's [.
BARCELONA, Spain — Real Madrid provisionally moved to within two points of league leader
Barcelona by beating Levante 2-0 on Saturday. Karim Benzema scored Madrid's sixth-minute opener
after a great individual effort from Angel Di Maria, and Ricardo Carvalho sealed the win four
minutes before halftime.
WOLVERHAMPTON, England Manchester United suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season
in a shock 2-1 loss at bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers. In a top vs bottom clash that all but
the most optimistic Wolves fan assumed would be a United walkover, two goals from George Elokobi
although Kevin Doyle will try [.
DOHA, Qatar — Jordan dumped three-times champions Saudi Arabia out of the Asian Cup on Thursday
with a 1-0 victory courtesy of a goalkeeping howler by Waleed Abdullah. It has been a traumatic few
days for Saudi Arabia, whose quest for a first Asian Cup since 1996 got off to a disastrous start
when they [.
SEATTLE, Wa. — English star midfielder Davis Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy will visit the
Seattle Sounders on March 15 in the opening game of the 2011 Major League Soccer season, the
US-based league said Monday. The 16th MLS season will feature a record 18 clubs, with expansion
teams in Portland and Vancouver, which [.
LONDON, England Arsenal were held to an embarrassing 1-1 draw by Leyton Orient in the FA Cup fifth
round after the League One (third-tier) side snatched a last-gasp equaliser at Brisbane Road on
Sunday. Arsene Wenger's team had enjoyed a famous 2-1 win over Spanish champions Barcelona in their
Champions League last 16 first [.
NUREMBERG, Germany — Nuremberg extended its winning run in the Bundesliga to four games on
Friday, when goals from Julian Schieber, Robert Mak and Almog Cohen earned a 3-0 home win over
Eintracht Frankfurt. Frankfurt has yet to win in the Bundesliga in 2011, and has been outscored by
11 goals to none since the [.
PARIS, France — Striker Andre-Pierre Gignac fired defending champions Marseille back into the
title race on Saturday with the only goal at home to rock bottom Arles. Coach Didier Deschamps had
demanded a massive improvement after a woeful goalless draw last week against struggling neighbours
Monaco and Gignac's third goal of the season brought some [.
DOHA, Qatar — Australia stormed into their first Asian Cup final on Tuesday with a 6-0 thrashing
of 10-man Uzbekistan to set up a decider against three-time champions Japan. Galatasary forward
Harry Kewell got the opener on five minutes and Asian player of the year Sasa Ognenovski doubled
their lead 11 minutes before half-time.
ROME, iTALY — Roma kept themselves in the Serie A title hunt as a 3-0 win over Cagliari at the
Stadio Olimpico on Saturday took them up to second, for a day at least. Club captain Francesco
Totti scored the opener from the spot and Simone Perrotta was gifted the second after a horror
mistake [...]
DOHA, Qatar — A dramatic last-minute goal from defender Masahiko Inoha saw 10-man Japan twice
come from behind to snatch a 3-2 win over heartbroken hosts Qatar in their Asian Cup quarter-final
on Friday. Inoha struck in the 90th minute at a nearly full Al Gharafa Stadium to keep alive
Japan's bid for a fourth [.
DOHA, Qatar— A thunderbolt from captain Server Djeparov gave Uzbekistan a 2-1 win over Kuwait
that took them to the brink of the Asian Cup last eight here on Wednesday and left Kuwait on the
verge of elimination. Djeparov cracked home a first-time shot from 20 yards in the 65th minute to
continue Uzbekistan's 100 [.
LONDON, England Ben Foster handed under-pressure Avram Grant a lifeline with a huge error to gift
10-man West Ham a narrow 2-1 lead going into the second leg of their Carling Cup semi-final against
Birmingham. The England stopper, who produced a series of stunning saves in the first half, failed
to control Carlton Cole's [.
MADRID, Spain Hercules routed visiting Atletico Madrid 4-1 with four first-half goals to close the
18th round of the Spanish league on Monday. Jorge "Tote" Lopez, Nelson Valdez, Olivier Thombert and
David Trezeguet all scored before halftime as a toothless Atletico seemingly had its sights set on
Thursday's Copa del Rey match against Real [.
DOHA, Qatar — An impressive Australia crushed India 4-0 to get their Asian Cup campaign off to a
decisive start Monday with red-hot Everton star Tim Cahill collecting two goals. Played at an
Al-Sadd Stadium packed with noisy expatriate Indians, a convincing win was needed by the Socceroos
to demonstrate their tournament credentials against a [.
BRUSSELS, Belgium RSC Anderlecht won 2-0 at home against HNK Hajduk Split to tiptoe into second
place in UEFA Europa League Group G and secure an unlikely place in the round of 32. Though Ariël
Jacobs' team kept their side of the bargain with minimal fuss thanks to Tom De Sutter's 12th-minute
opener and [.
LONDON, England Arsenal booked their place in the last 16 of the Champions League here Wednesday,
beating Partizan Belgrade 3-1 in an ultimately comfortable victory at the Emirates. Substitute Theo
Walcott and in-form Frenchman Samir Nasri scored the decisive goals for the Gunners after
Partizan's Brazilian-born striker Cleo had cancelled out Robin Van Persie's [.
ENSCHEDE, Netherlands Tottenham Hotspur completed a marvellous first Champions League group-stage
campaign when they drew 3-3 at Twente Enschede to secure top spot in Group A above holders Inter
Milan on Tuesday. Spurs, who scored 18 goals in their six group games, were gifted an early lead
with a Peter Wisgerhof own goal before [.
MOSCOW, Russia CSKA Moskva eased to a 5-1 victory against FC Lausanne-Sport that confirmed the
already-qualified Russian club as the winners of Group F. The Army Men had scored three times in
each of their previous four group outings, and took just 40 minutes to reach that figure tonight as
Tomáš Necid, Sekou Oliseh [.
ST PETERSBURG, Russia FC Zenit St Petersburg maintained their 100% Group G record and put RSC
Anderlecht's own qualification out of their hands with a 3-1 win against the Belgian side. Clinical
all campaign, it was once again Zenit's touch of class when it mattered which proved decisive
against an Anderlecht team who prodded [.
BERNE, Switzerland BSC Young Boys followed VfB Stuttgart into the UEFA Europa League knockout
rounds after conjuring three goals in five minutes at the end of a gripping Group H match in wintry
Berne. With Stuttgart having recovered from David Degen's first-half opener to lead with strikes
from Pavel Pogrebnyak and Sven Schipplock, Vladimir [.
ROTTERDAM The agony of Feyenoord Rotterdam does not end. Today, a new chapter was added to the
story of the declining club. Three days after the hopeless 2-0 defeat at Ajax, the fans saw De
Graafschap was too strong: 0-1. "Shame on you, shame on you', rolled it from the angry stands. The
only [...]
GRONINGEN, Netherlands Eredivisie high-flyers FC Groningen had to come from behind to get past SC
Genemuiden and book their place in the quarter-finals of the KNVB Beker. Florencio Cornelia gave
the third-tier side a shock lead midway through the first half but Groningen showed their class by
turning the game on its head before [.
Join the guys in the latest UnitedMania.com POdcast as they discuss D.C. United's first two matches, including the opening season loss at Houston and the victory over RSL at RFK Stadium during the home opener. Randy, Chris, Mike and Martin also preview the upcoming match vs. Red Bull NY and go over some D.
Yuki Otsu scored in the first half of Japan's lurid 1-0 romp over 10-Adam Spain in men's Olympic
soccer Thursday, a triumph that imperiled the Spaniards' lucks of winning an amber medal.
Would you say this was on-brand for the #bbc ? "@BBCSport: Which England player's dad almost missed
watching their #Euro2012 opener?" - Get your Euro 2012 Video!
Last week the Houston Dynamo franchise was feeling the love as numerous media outlets in both
the United States and outside of the United States gave positive reviews to the team's new stadium,
BBVA Compass Stadium, and although the positive reviews were important they would ring hollow if
the Dynamo failed to deliver when they hosted DC United for Saturday's inaugural match.
SANTANDER, Spain — Indian businessman Ahsan Ali Syed and the new owner of modest Spanish First
Division club Racing Santander turned up to a rapturous welcome at the home league match with
Valencia on Monday and said he dreamed of making them a world force. Syed who made an unsuccessful
300-million-pound (480-million-dollar) bid to [.
