Photo: Nick Waters

Philadelphia Union

Porfirio Lopez describes what he will bring to the Union: "Having a winning mentality is the most important thing in soccer. I'm going to try to bring my experiences and positive attitude into the group. Without a doubt, winning championships is the priority.

Philadelphia Union

The Goalkeeper has a transcript of Wednesday's press conference with Peter Nowak. Among the highlights:

On Pajoy: "He's a guy who brings not only character but also a mentality to the game. He's very physical, and very fast as well. He can change the game, because he's a different option.

There's a story about David Bentley. When he went to Norwich on loan from Arsenal they were in a training session and he, thinking he was some kind of comedic genius, belted the ball straight up into the air and said 'ave it!', like Peter Kay in that ad for John Smiths. Nobody thought it was funny, least of the all Norwich manager.

As the Galaxy's leading scorer for four consecutive seasons, which was topped off with a career-best 17 goals in 2010 before his departure overseas, Edson Buddle will go down as the best goal poacher to play for the club since Carlo Ruiz. Well, now Edson Buddle is back - and

Does this man have your goals?

So are they done?

United ticked one of the two big "need" boxes by acquiring Albanian international striker Hamdi Salihi as a designated player (wait, I thought Uncle Will wasn't going to splash the cash?). Given his impressive rate of return wherever he's played, he certainly seems to fit the poacher's bill, though he also has decent size.

It has certainly been an eventful week for Liverpool FC and it is far from over just yet as the club prepares for one of the biggest games of its season when Manchester United takes the pitch at Anfield in the FA Cup tomorrow afternoon.

On the pitch, Liverpool have already taken care of another Manchester team earlier in the week, knocking league leaders City out of the Carling Cup 3-2 on aggregate to progress to the final at Wembley.

Can-Am Connection - not Nut-Can ConnectionPYRAMID TOURNAMENT
A day after getting all kinds of pun-related gifts, one of our faves was pulled out from under us like a rug covered in health supplements. The Nutrilife Canadian Championship, or as we so lovingly called it - "The NutCan" - is no more.

African All-Stars: 7 Players to watch at Africa Cup of Nations 2012 is a post from: Just Football

"I think it is a responsibility for every proper club in Europe to go to the Africa Cup of Nations to see what the market brings and what hidden talents are running around in Africa," Hoffenheim scout Lutz Pfannenstiel told the BBC on the eve of the African Cup of Nations 2012.

Finally another addition hits the roster with United's acquisition of Maicon Santos. In another time, with a different club, I might be pleased with this pickup. As it stands, I'm just left feeling suspicious.
Why?
While Santos has a reasonable history with the league (and so will not have to suffer through a period of adapting to the style of play), his mediocre goal tally (14 goals in 2.

And now, the resolution of The Bent Musket's 2011 season grades for the New England Revolution! Corey, Matty, and I have looked at the four major areas of the team - goalkeeping, defense, midfield, forwards - and assigned our grades on a 4.0 scale.

Unfortunately for the New England Revolution, we don't curve based on the rest of the league.

All because Liverpool hasn't made a move yet in the transfer market doesn't mean that people aren't saying they're about to. So join us for the latest fun-like substance as we run down the latest collection of names being linked into—and out of—the club as the end of the January window edges into sight.

Free agent Scottish striker Kris Boyd, formerly of Rangers, Middlesbrough, Nottingham Forest and most recent, Eskişehirspor, is apparently considering an offer from the Dynamo, at least according to Bryan Swanson of Sky Sports.

Boyd is 28-years old and has a fairly strong goal scoring record from his Rangers days, including three 20+ goal seasons.

Showing that chunky lads can cut the mustard in the top flight 1. Grant Holt (Norwich) He's a big unit. When he had his moustache he looked more like a rogue DC from a 1970s police drama than a top footballer. Nonetheless, he's proved he can score in the Premier League. 2. Jonathan Walters (Stoke) [.

By Alan Duffy

Lee Hughes has already seen his career severely damaged by a previous prison sentence, and now, the 35-year-old striker is facing the possiblity of even more prison time. This comes in the same week that ex-Manchester United starlet Ronnie Wallwork (another ex-West Brom player) was sent down for dealing in stolen cars and also after the son of Trevor Francis was arrested on charges of burglary.

Sandro opened his international goal scoring account last night as Brazil defeated Gabon in a friendly in Libreville. The soaking wet surface was described as treacherous and it made for a scrappy game and a scrappy goal from our midfielder.

As you can see, it wasn't as pretty as his goal against Chelsea last season but Sandro showed a bit of a poacher's instinct from close range as he followed up on a defensive error.

Welcome to "The Gents" with Stan Bentley - The Yorkies' regular advice column for our valued readers. Bring your modern day problems and have them answered by the most trusted voice - a 1950's journeyman footballer. "Back of the net!"


Dear Stanley,

I have been married to my wife now for seven great years but I'm suddenly haunted with the fear that she may me cheating on me.

3 Goals. 3 Points. A Clean Sheet. Should make the upcoming fortnight very pleasant for Gooners around the world.

Arsene's team selection was very much along the expected lines. Indeed, Le Boss mentioned that the reason for picking Koscielny and Vermaelen in the defence was to counter the anticipated pace threat of Odemwinge.

The Portland Timbers offense started out red hot, rattling off consecutive four goal games in the team's first two home fixtures before beginning to struggle down the stretch.

Here is part three of our final grades for the Timbers. Part 1, the midfielders, is here and part 2, the defenders, is here.

Javier Hernández plays down hero role after rescuing Manchester United

• 'It doesn't matter who scored' says Javier Hernández • Mexican praises David de Gea for performance at Liverpool Javier Hernández insists he is no hero despite coming off the bench to salvage a point for Manchester United at Liverpool on Saturday.

Not only are the Red Bulls still alive, after powering their way to a 2-0 victory against the League leading Los Angeles Galaxy, but if they win their final two games (and depending on other results) a top of the East finish is not beyond the realm of possibility. Even if that doesn't happen, two more wins and RBNY winds up with 49 points, which is just two less than last season.

The Red Bulls began play on Tuesday night with only the slimmest margin for error in their chase for an MLS playoff spot. A loss against a depleted Los Angeles Galaxy team would have shoveled the first spadeful of dirt on RBNY's 2011 season. A draw, while keeping New York mathematically alive in the race, would have made things very tricky coming down the stretch, with games against Sporting Kansas City and Philadelphia Union still to come.

Guess what? United are a middle of the road club. They slot in somewhere between the also-rans like Chivas and the league elites like Seattle. Hard to find these last couple of results shocking when you put things in that perspective, is it? Nor was it surprising to see United struggle offensively in their first game without their second most influential attacking player1.

DC United has a diverse attack. With goal scoring and assist men on the wings, at forward and with the player who may be the most similar in play to Fredy Montero with Dwayne De Rosario in that space between the forwards and midfield. The Seattle Sounders don't see this necessarily as something that has to change their defensive posture.

West Brom's top scorer from last season Peter Odemwingie has suffered a setback in his bid to return from a niggling ankle injury, with Roy Hodgson confirming the striker's return date is yet unknown. The Nigerian first sustained the injury during West Brom's pre-season, although the striker did come off the bench for 15 minutes against Chelsea.

Our Bolton Wanderers skipper

It's that time of the year again when the doubters come out and accuse Kevin Davies of being old, fat, slow, or past it. A scathing blog post emerged this morning with claims written by an idiot who quite clearly knows nothing about our beloved Bolton Wanderers.

Sam Allardyce was blowing bubbles of joy as he celebrated his first victory as West Ham boss, but there was a sense of relief at the final whistle after the Hammers survived a late onslaught from the home side. "Doncaster threw everything at us towards the finish but I was well pleased with the resilience of our defence," admitted Allardyce.

Get excited, US-based Kickettes: Robbie Keane is bringing his Irish boners to your neck of the woods! Yes, the Spurs goal poacher has signed a £3.5 million five year deal with Los Angeles Galaxy, his ninth club in a pro career spanning fourteen years, and we can look forward to see him rubbing shoulders with the likes of Landon Donovan and David Beckham shortly.

Malaysian striker Safee Sali has had an impressive 6-8 months. His goals helped Malaysia win the AFF Cup last year and helped earn him a move to Indonesia where he signed for Pelita Jaya.
Now comes talk that German side 1 FC Koln are interested in signing him. And god knows they need a poacher up front.

by Adam Bate

I am now writing as a featured contributor for Life's a Pitch the BT football website for big interviews, expert pundits and blogs from the UK's top writers.

My first piece takes a look at the reasons why in a world where the poacher is becoming increasingly redundant Michael Owen and Pippo Inzaghi have been handed contract extensions by two of the biggest clubs on the planet.

Union

Kerith Gabriel reports that Carlos Ruiz is headed to Mexican second division side Veracruz, after all. The reason appears to be the simplest one of all: money. A source tells Gabriel that Ruiz stands to make "upwards of $400,000-plus" in the move to Mexico. What remains unknown—and as far as I'm concerned, this is the only thing that truly matters with this news—is what the Union will gain in return.

The New England Revolution escaped LiveSTRONG Sporting Park with a creditable draw tonight after a 1-1 stalemate with Sporting Kansas City. Rajko Lekic scored a true poacher's goal, his fourth of the season, to give the Revs the lead before Teal Bunbury provided the home side with a dramatic late equalizer.

"You're good kid. But can you get caught offside a hundred times in one match like Jermain?"Anyone for a home-spun hero?
The number of youth academy products rising up through the ranks to first team glory may be few and far between these days but it's always good fun to speculate over those who might make the cut.

Arsenal's first two signings made quite the first impression in the match against Koln. Gervinho for all the right reasons scoring both goals all poacher like to put Arsenal ahead. Lovely bit to finish Wilshere's heads up play and then muscling in Walcott's cross at some physical cost. Really badly needed with all the pointless strolling Arsenal are wont to do in the final third.

In this first part of Carlos Ruiz According To Heat Graphs, the Brotherly Game introduces every heat graph from games that MLS has on MLSsoccer.com. The heat graphs are part of MLS' new Chalkboards on its Matchcenter section of MLSsoccer.com.

Each heat graph's coloring shows the locations where a player is for lengths of time during a game.

The Daily Mail had an interesting article today about Clint Dempsey and his future ambitions. Dempsey said in the article: "Right now I'm thinking about Europe and playing in the Champions League. That's a goal. Everyone wants to play at the highest level. If someday I get the opportunity to play for a big club in the Champions League, that would be great.

The Daily Mail had an interesting article today about Clint Dempsey and his future ambitions. Dempsey said in the article: "Right now I'm thinking about Europe and playing in the Champions League. That's a goal. Everyone wants to play at the highest level. If someday I get the opportunity to play for a big club in the Champions League, that would be great.

"Get away from me Jermaine, you're still a bit of a nothing player", Kaboul probably said. Way back in August at the start of the season, TBFWHL drew up a little wishlist for the impending year. Now that everything is done and dusted, it's the perfect time to take a look at that list and see whether or not any of those desires were granted.

By Saheli RC, writing from Singapore

For the laymen and armchair critics, the thought of a player voluntarily leaving a club as big as Real Madrid to ply his trade up north in the cold, hilly regions of North-Rhine Westphalia, indicates two things. One, he's finished.

We exchange three questions with Scott Kessler of Brotherly Game in order to get some insider perspective on the Philadelphia Union as the Chicago Fire head to PPL Park Stadium on Saturday night. Scott's answer to my first question is below and the other five questions in the exchange are after the break.

By Dominic Vieira, writing from Lancaster, England

Arsenal are a club which must be lifting titles, not losing finals or constantly finishing 3rd or 4th in the table. They're a young team which generally play the most appealing football in the country, but every year it's the same concern: where are the trophies?