We knew the Melbourne Victory defence, central defence was too slow, too fragile and lacked Muscat.
And in midfield the pairing of Leigh Broxham and Grant Brebner could never control the game in the Asian Champions League games - at times the Victory were embarrassing - and these our Aussie Champions - and this season they've never had the ball, kept the ball or enabled the style boys to get on the ball.

Woolwich Arsenal, the club that changed football. Have your name in the book as an official sponsor. Updated information here

Today's referee is Kevin Friend This review can also bring some perspective to our goalless draw this week as one of our competitors for the 4th spot went under at Bolton.

Not going to waste too much time on expository dialogue when we can hop right into this one with guns blazing.One note. I like Montreal's offseason. A lot. But I'm excluding them from this discussion because our frame of reference is skewed without the perspective of an actual season played together.

It would appear the Seattle Sounders may be getting close to announcing details of their summer friendly. A league source has confirmed to Sounder at Heart what Michael C. Lewis originally tweeted that the Sounders' home game against Real Salt Lake will be moved from July 18 to Oct. 17 in order to accomodate an international friendly.

1. The Fantasy Cup- For the first time ever, my fantasy football team is on a cup run, beating some poor, helpless bloke to reach the Fantasy Cup eighth round. Just to put that in perspective, I still have to ...
This is a content summary. Visit http://www.epltalk.com to read the entire article

1. The Fantasy Cup- For the first time ever, my fantasy football team is on a cup run, beating some poor, helpless bloke to reach the Fantasy Cup eighth round. Just to put that in perspective, I still have to ...
This is a content summary. Visit http://www.epltalk.com to read the entire article

By Dario Camacho - MIAMI, FL (Feb 3, 2011) US Soccer Players -- As weeks go, this hasn't been one of Philadelphia Union manager Peter Nowak's most successful from a public relations perspective. In terms of fan loyalty, it has been down right ugly. What transpired in the course of a couple of days has been the complete gutting of the Union's veteran presence.

By Chris Wright

I've been waiting for a video of this to surface since Tuesday night, in so far as it was the only slight sliver of a shred of commiseration we Forest fans were able to take from the night. Burnley won 2-0. Rodriguez scored them both.

Anyway, with the score at 1-0, the man they call 'Jay Rod' up around Turf Moor way stepped up and performed a timely homage to John Terry's infamously spunked Moscow spot-kick which proved to be the only highlight of the game from a Forest perspective.

Sounder at Heart is co-hosting (along with Golazo) an away viewing party for the second leg of the Sounders-Santos Laguna CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal on March 14 from 4 p.m.-9:30ish. The event will double as our scarf distribution event. We of course appreciate those of you who have bought and will buy scarves, but buying a scarf is not a mandatory part of attending.

Philadelphia Union fans have been dealt heavy blows of late. Their veteran goalkeeper was sent away and within days, the face of their franchise was traded away and not to the glamour of the English Premier League. Rather, Sebastien Le Toux is finding his way up north, to Vancouver.
Officially, Le Toux was let go for allocation money.

Not entirely sure about the source material, but Chelsea have allegedly re-engaged in talks with Racing Genk over the transfer of the 20-year-old that looks not a day over 12 Kevin De Bruyne.

Young Money

As you may recall, the club inquired about De Bruyne in the summer.

It's been such a flat start to the week after Sunday's defeat which was hard to take, followed by current Spurs headlines which are dominated by Harry's court case.

The season goes on however and at the club, Joe Jordan and Jermain Defoe are leading the voices that are ‘taking the positives' out of Sunday's game.

Woolwich Arsenal, the club that changed football. Have your name in the book as an official sponsor. Updated information here

By Walter Broeckx

When Arsenal lose a game it is sometimes hard to keep the perspective. We are angry and focus on something that went wrong and we just cannot see the bigger [.

We all have our ghosts. For Steve Zakuani, that ghost is memories of his former self.

As the Seattle Sounders midfielder continues his recovery from a horrific leg injury that cost him the final six months of the 2011 season, the progress he has made is obvious. On Friday, Zakuani was able to participate in full training for the first time since that April 22 tackle broke his right leg.

By Jason Davis - WASHINGTON, DC (Jan 19, 2011) US Soccer Players -- With the longest season ever in the offing, Major League Soccer's preseason is here earlier than ever before. There's much to do and little time to do it, especially for those clubs preparing to play in the poorly timed (from an MLS perspective, anyway) continental tournament known as the CONCACAF Champions League.

By Chris Wright

"You want me to wear a what now?"

The jokes kind of write themselves here, but Manchester City have announced that bench-bound midfielder Owen Hargreaves is to have a camera strapped to him 'Sub Cam' as they've called it during their next few home Premier League games, with the pitchside footage then broadcast live on the club's official Youtube channel, with edited highlights available on the following Monday.

Of all the things that disconcert me about the Emirates experience one of the most boring and unnecessary is the crowd shouting shoot when a player is anywhere inside the opposition half.

I mainly sit in the lower tier when I can get a ticket and behind one of the goals. At the Wolves game a number of build up passes would be greeted with growing cries of shoot, no problem you would think, but the perspective from the lower tier is such that when the ball is up the other end there is no way you can judge how far the ball carrier is out from goal or otherwise.

Spend too much time examining the MLS scheduling format and the philosophies therein, and one will inevitably fall down a logical rabbit hole - though, to be fair, this doesn't differ significantly from other "major-league" North American sports.

MLS version 3.0, or 2.1, or whatever we are up to, has become all about "local rivalries", or so it seems.

MLS SuperDraft 2012: club-by-club

Everyone's favorite managing editor (ok, maybe not) is in The Guardian offering his perspective of the Dynamo's draft needs.

There are eighteen teams that spent the whole of 2011 in League Two (four teams are promoted each season, and two are relegated). Congratulations to Shrewsbury Town, who despite missing out in the League Two playoffs last May ended the year as the League Two side that had gained the most points (an impressive 86) during 2011.

By Chris Wright

Spectacularly wind-assisted if may have been, but Everton's Tim Howard became the fourth 'keeper in Premier League history to get his name on the scoresheet after punting home the opener against Bolton at Goodison last night from 102, count 'em, 102 yards.

I'll be the first to admit that I don't watch much college soccer, sorry. There's simply too much out there for me to consume to give a great deal of attention to a version of the sport where the clock runs the wrong direction and there are infinite substitutions. That said, I do try to watch the playoffs and Final Four every year to at least have some idea of the potential names that could be coming to MLS.

It is no real surprise that the Scottish Premier League race already appears to be down to the two usual suspects. How Rangers and Celtic have gotten to their current positions, though, is a story in itself.

Heading into Wednesday's latest edition of the venomous Old Firm Derby (2:45 p.

How many times this season have we looked like we can beat anyone and then in an instant struggle to win games?. It's so frustrating once again this season and Saturday against Fulham proved to me once again that when sides come to the Bridge and line up defensively, we struggle to break them down.

Courtesy of the Evansville Courier Press, December 25, 2011
With the holidays upon us, it's important to remember what's really important and matters the most.
That reflection can happen at home with family and within your own religious faith, but also within your team, too.

Peter Nowak spoke to the press today, only hours after the Union announced Costa Rican left back Porfirio Lopez as the team's fifth offseason signing.

"Porfirio [Lopez] has a great capacity going back and forth and taking pride at defending, and that's a part we take a look at very closely," Nowak said.

14. D.C. UNITED
The most successful franchise in the early years of MLS has struggled mightily to find a better stadium situation than it currently has at RFK, and the ongoing frustrations in the nation's capital have caused United to consider perhaps moving to Baltimore. Out-of-town owner Will Chang may or may not be committed for the long haul, and the club is trying to start over from scratch on the field under coach Ben Olsen.

San Jose city officials have approved a Planned Development permit for the construction of the proposed Earthquakes stadium. However, neighbors have until January 3 to appeal the granting of the permit. The team hopes to have the stadium complete by 2013. If there is no appeal, the team will move to the next step in next month, however an appeal could delay the process by weeks or months.

Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

Philadelphia Union

The "2011 in Review" articles for the Philadelphia Union are now up on the MLS website. One provides decent insight, the other, not so much. In the Q & A cobbled together from the last press conference of the season, in addition to relating that Freddy Adu was at "60 percent" for much of the end of the season due to a back injury and the need for defensive additions and competition within the various positions on the field, Peter Nowak discusses the mindset the team needs to win a championship:

"I told you guys at the press conferences we've had all year long that we believe in what we're building, we believe what is the culture around the team.

I read in the papers today that Newcastle must stop their slide down the table against Swansea on Saturday, because they have dropped down the table over the last four game, and are now in 7th place. Sammy Ameobi could he get a start on Saturday? If we were told we'd be reading a kind of commentary in December about the lads back in August we would not have believed it, and just to put it in all perspective, Newcastle [.

Pros
So, the first pro is fairly obvious - hilarity. It's always funny to watch United lose, especially in Europe where Fergie's ability to influence referees is less pronounced. The fact that they were served up one of the easiest CL groups I can remember makes it even funnier.

Audi's marketing time wanted to give fans an automotive perspective of El Clasico, Real Madrid v FC Barcelona, with a special spot titled "La pasión vuelve a dejar huella"

I love watching Roma, and i hope Luis Enrique is given something most are not given in this society.The time to implement a vision and a standard.But in a world where results trump process the embattled Spaniard may find his vision is a bridge too far.In the city that gave the world the addage"Rome wasn't built in a day" The Guardian's Paolo Baldini gives us a perspective of what it must be like for the troubled Spaniard this Morning.

Women's Professional Soccer (upper case) and women's professional soccer (lower case) are both in trouble in the United States and scrambling for survival.

I have the perspective of being intimately involved in the creation and launch of WPS from 2007 through 2009 as founding President of WPS' Chicago Red Stars.

Hard to believe, but roughly one third of this year's Premier League season has been played already, and some clubs are starting to look over their shoulder with a nagging worry. They're looking at their current squad and manager, and they wonder: is it enough? Will we make it?
Sunderland's Steve Bruce is this year's first managerial sacking, surely brought on by a lack of results, but also a niggling fear of not surviving in the Premiership.

Arlo White did not come to the Seattle Sounders with expectations of becoming an icon. Surely, he had expectations that he would be successful, but any hopes were far exceeded, as he said in Part 1 of our rather lengthy interview.

In Part 2 of the interview, we delve a little deeper into his relationship with the team and the fans and how that turned a virtual "no-brainer" decision to join NBC into what that required far more thought.

Legal documents aren't really a fun look. There's something dry about them that takes away from what they can mean. Words like "whereas" or parentheticals for future reference immediately cause a glassification of eyeballs and headaches in many.

In the case of the vote for ratification of the Alliance Constitution and Sounders FC Alliance Charter maybe some perspective of what the Alliance Council was asking for in the Charter and how I view what it can mean for you as a fan of the team may give you a reason to vote yes to ratify the full documents.

Crystal Palace deservedly dumped Manchester United out of the Carling Cup at Old Trafford last night. The performance and the result was hugely disappointing from a Red perspective and for the second time in recent weeks Ferguson was left apologising to the fans. The United manager described last month's 6-1 derby thrashing as a "wake-up call".

1. [A one conclusion silence for Gary Speed. His sad passing and its effect on many of the players on display yesterday put things into perspective.] 2. Rio Ferdinand's defending has been so below par this season in between his injuries that the linesman just assumed he must have mistimed what was actually a fantastic [.

Sad and tragic news broke today about the passing of Gary Speed, who took his own life.

Gary Speed had an illustrious career playing for five different clubs and receiving 85 caps for Wales.

I'll always remember Gary Speed for his unsung hero's role in Sir Bobby Robson's midfield, his galvanising displays in the Champions League, and those headers against Kiev and PSV.