With the upcoming opening of the 2012 NASL season in April inching closer, the Tampa Bay Rowdies have added Luke Mulholland from the NASL champion Minnesota NSC Stars to their roster for the upcoming season, while the expansion San Antonio Scorpions signed veteran Mexican Primera Division striker Javier Saavedra.

Real Madrid bounced back from their midweek Copa del Rey defeat to Barcelona with a comeback 4-1 victory over 10-man Athletic Bilbao that kept them five points clear at the top of the Primera Division.

In-form Athletic had threatened to add to Madrid's misery following their 2-1 home loss to Barca in the first leg of their cup quarter-final tie when Fernando Llorente gave them an early lead.

Joe Corona appears destined for a big 2012 as he continues to contribute for Club Tijuana while becoming a bigger part of the U.S. national team set-up. All of that is on the heels of what was just recognized as a pretty sharp 2011.

The 21-year-old Corona won the Golden Ball as Mexico's top rookie, beating out finalists Alfonso Luna (Atlante), Armando Zamorano (Jaguares) and Hector Herrera (Pachuca) to take home the award.

Mexican giant Club de Fútbol América (commonly called Club América or Club America) has launched its Clausura 2012 Nike home kit. The new Águilas kit was unveiled at Nike Futbol...

The Mexican Primera Division returns with the 2012 Clausura. Just like the Apertura, the Spring season is playing under a traditional single table. For those of you needing a brief refresher, that means 18 teams without the old groups that did very little to provide a better competitive picture for the Mexican League.

Barcelona moved a step closer to a possible Copa del Rey quarter-final showdown with Real Madrid after winning the first leg of their last-16 tie against Osasuna 4-0.

Barca beat Osasuna 8-0 at home in the La Liga back in September and the Pamplona-based side must have feared another mauling when Cesc Fabregas netted twice in the opening 18 minutes at the Nou Camp the second a superb chip.

Big blow for Malaga as winger Joaquin Sanchez is set to be four weeks due to a torn right thigh muscle, the Primera Division club have announced.

Joaquin complained of pain on Friday morning after playing in Thursday's Champions for Africa benefit match and, after undergoing tests, it was confirmed the former Spain international would be absent for at least the next month.

Diego Simeone says he is unfazed by the prospect of turning around Atletico Madrid's faltering season after being formally unveiled as their new coach.

The former Argentina captain was named as the replacement for the sacked Gregorio Manzano on Friday, signing a contract until the end of the 2012/13 campaign.

By FRANCO PANIZO

LAKEWOOD RANCH, Fla. -- Most of the players called into the U.S. Under-23 men's national team camp that ply their trade in a league other than MLS have yet to break into their team's rotation.

That's not the case for Joe Corona.

At 21, Corona is a regular in Club Tijuana's gameday rosters.

The Empty Newspaper that Promoted Peace in Peruvian Futbol

Violence was rampant. The government wanted to have matches played in empty stadiums after a fan was killed. Instead, the Peruvian Primera Division chose to suspend league fixtures. You know how it is in a country that loves its sport.

David Villa will not be sold to Chelsea says Barcelona's Pep Guardiola

• Coach says report linking striker with transfer is 'a lie' • Liverpool and Aston Villa also linked with January bids The Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has dismissed Spanish media reports linking David Villa with a move away from the club in the January transfer window.

Cesc goal helps Barcelona past Real Madrid 1-3 (Photo: REUTERS/Sergio Perez)

Barcelona recovered from conceding the quickest goal in El Clasico history to defeat Real Madrid 3-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu, delivering a decisive blow in the race for the La Liga title.

The victory snaps Madrid's 15 game winning streak and sees Barcelona leapfrog their bitter rivals to reclaim first place in the provisional Primera Division standings.

Write off Barcelona at your peril: The European champions show their worth at the Santiago Bernabeu - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Saturday's El Clasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid lived up to all expectations; there was passion, spell-bounding skill and goals the only thing missing was the heavily anticipated Madrid victory.

Despite FIFA'S campaign to ensure fair play is maintained in the sport, the ugly face of racism still rears itself over and over again. FIFA president Sepp Blatter who had earlier stated that racism between players should be settled by a handshake, reiterated that his comments were taken out of context.

Liverpool are facing stiff competition in their pursuit of Ryad Boudebouz with reports emerging claiming Spanish side Real Betis have made the Sochaux midfielder their top priority.
The Algeria international revealed recently that Liverpool have been monitoring him with director of football Damien Comolli in France to watch him in action on numerous occasions and to talk with the Sochaux president.

Yeah, my power's been out. Curse you, October blizzard.

Remember when I said attendance was good this year? I was wrong. It was great. Record shattering, in fact. Enough to surpass the NBA and NHL, in fact. Seriously. After sixteen years, we have beaten not only our own record set in 1996, but those of other leagues against whom we're compared.

Coors Light, the official U.S. beer sponsor of Mexico's Primera Division, is giving fans unprecedented access to one of the sport's most elite and passionately-followed soccer leagues via "Fanaticos del Frio

Mexican Primera Division side Jaguares have taken their dedication to Twitter to a new level, by printing players official account names on the back of their shirts.

Michael Orozco was yellow carded four minutes into San Luis's 2-1 win over Queretaro on a crowded Wednesday schedule in Mexico's Primera Division. Alfredo Moreno scored twice for the home side in the 57th and 72nd minutes before Queretaro pulled a goal back from the penalty spot in the 81st. In a battle of National Teamers, DaMarcus Beasley's Puebla beat Herculez Gomez's U.

We'll start with the league that had an American scoring a goal. Herculez Gomez once again did his job as a super sub for U.A.G., but unfortunately it was in a losing effort. Gomez subbed on in the 68th minute and was on the score sheet five minutes later. Unfortunately, Chivas already lead 5-1, taking the game 5-2.

Mexican giant Club de Fútbol América (commonly called Club América or Club America) has launched its limited edition 95th Anniversary Nike jersey. The new Águilas kit will be worn by Las Aguilas (The Eagles) when they face arch-rivals Chivas on October 23rd in the Super Clásico at the fabled Estadio Azteca.

Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre believes the option for Premier League clubs to sell their overseas television rights on an individual basis would be a 'game-changer'.
The league's broadcast rights outside of the United Kingdom are presently sold in a joint package, which is worth £3.2billion for 2010-13 to be shared equally among the 20 clubs.

Saturday The United States plays Honduras at 6pm on Fox Soccer and Univision. Primera Division on TeleFutura: Queretaro - Santos Laguna at 6pm, Pachuca - Jaguares at 8pm, and Atlante - San Luis at 10pm. Galavision has Atlas - Tijuana at 9:30pm. All Times Eastern Sunday Primera Division on Univision: Club America - Morelia at 5pm.

Montreal Impact head coach Jesse Marsch continues to fill out his staff for the team's entry into Major League Soccer with the announcement that Mike Sorber will join the team as an assistant coach. Marsch and Sorber previously worked together as assistant coaches with the U.S. national team.
"Mike's experience both coaching and playing at the international level will be invaluable for our organization as we build towards 2012," Marsch said in a statement.

Real Madrid's Gonzalo Higuain was understandably delighted after making the most of a rare recent start against Espanyol on Sunday by scoring a hat-trick in his side's 4-0 win

Since returning from a serious back injury in April, Higuain has been mainly used at a substitute by Jose Mourinho with Karim Benzema being Mourinho's preferred choice up front.

Este domingo se jugo un partido historico para Xolos Tijuana que fue de visita por primera vez como equipo de primera division al estadio azteca. Solo 12 segundos habían pasado cuando Yacuzzi ponía arriba al equipo visitante, el segundo gol mas rapido en la historia del estadio azteca y el mas sorpresivo de todos.

All of us came to soccer in remarkably different ways. Since most of us are American, soccer has never been a sport that's been shoved down our throats - at least not until recently. Maybe we played the sport when we were younger, maybe we got sucked into the 1996 World Cup, or maybe we travelled abroad and were taken by the spirit and passion of a side like Arsenal or Barcelona.

Villarreal picked up their first win of the new La Liga season on Tuesday night, beating Real Mallorca 2-0. Giuseppe Rossi and Nilmar scored early in each half although the hosts could have scored even more as they enjoyed a return to form at El Madrigal.

On another night Rossi could have had a hat-trick but it mattered little as the Yellow Submarine ended a winless start to the season that had seen them second from bottom at kick-off.

La decima jornada ha llegado, mas de la mitad del torneo mexicano de primera division. Esta jornada es atractiva en el papel, ya que hay tres debuts de tecnicos en el fútbol mexicano el tapatio Atlas , y Antonio Mohamed con Xolos que enfrentara al nuevo America de Alfredo Tena, pero el partido se pondra muy bueno entre Cruz Azul y los sublideres, las populares chivas rayadas del Guadalajara.

In Mexico's Primera Division, Edgar Castillo and Club America drew at Azteca against Michael Orozco and San Luis. Both National Teamers played the full ninety. San Luis's Wilmer Aguirre opened the scoring in the 30th minute, with Rosinei equalizing for Club America three minutes into the second-half.

Great news! In an article printed on Monday by Sporting News, MLS president Mark Abbott stated that there are currently no plans to expand beyond 20 MLS teams. Here's the exact quote:

"Our focus right now is the 20th team in New York and we have not yet set a timeline for expansion beyond that, or even (determined) if we're going to expand beyond that.

By J Hutcherson - WASHINGTON, DC (Sep 13, 2011) US Soccer Players -- Dueling Champions Leagues for American fans on Tuesday. with the UEFA version starting the group stage in the afternoon and CONCACAF's version giving us more Major League Soccer vs Mexico's Primera Division later tonight. No one is likely to pretend that the CONCACAF version is anywhere close to the drawing power of even the second-tier games from Europe, but the CONCACAF Champions.

Ruben Castro scored four minutes from time as Real Betis made it two wins out of two by beating Real Mallorca 1-0 in their Primera Division clash.

The United States hosts Costa Rica at 11pm on ESPN2 and Galavision. Fox Soccer has Spain - Chile at 2:30pm. Poland - Mexico is on Univision at 2pm. EURO 2012 qualifying on ESPN Deportes: Bulgaria - England at 2:30pm, Northern Ireland - Serbia at 5pm, and Germany - Austria at 7pm. GolTV has the Canada - St Lucia World Cup Qualifier at 8pm.

Roberto Soldado struck twice in the final three minutes at the Mestalla to complete his hat-trick and give Valencia a dramatic 4-3 victory over Racing Santander in their Primera Division opener.

Soldado had put Los Che ahead in the first minute, but he put through his own net to level things up six minutes later and Lautaro Acosta added a second goal for Racing in the 14th minute.

Sat Aug 27 7:05amAston Villa vs Wolverhampton WanderersESPN Deportes, ESPN2, ESPN3.comBarclays Premier League 7:30amWigan Athletic vs Queens Park RangersFox Soccer Plus, FoxSoccer.

First it looked like the Spanish clubs weren't going to play, but now they are. And then it looked like the Italian clubs were going to play, but not maybe they'll go on strike. It's really difficult to tell what's going on from one day to another, but we're going ahead as if everybody is playing this weekend because that's the way I like it.

By ADAM SERRANO

The chase for Club Tijuana forward Joe Benny Corona just got a bit more interesting.

Corona has been called up by Mexico's Under-22 side for a pair of matches against Chile's Under-22s. Corona is joined on the roster by another California native, Chivas de Guadalajara left back Miguel Angel Ponce.

Streik, Streik, Streik. Fans des spanischen Fussballs haben im Moment keinen Spaß an ihrer Liga und an ihren Superstars, denn die streiken! So ist letzte Woche schon der 1. Spieltag der Primera División ausgefallen und jetzt am Wochenende hat es auch den 2. Spieltag erwischt. Die Spieler wollen nicht spielen, denn sie wollen ihre Forderungen [.

Tomorrow night Colorado plays its first meaningful international match since facing Leon in the preliminary round of the old CONCACAF Champions Cup in 1998. The first opponent is El Salvador's Isidro Metapan, who qualified for the Champions League by winning the El Salvadorian 2010 Apertura. Kickoff at the Dick tomorrow is an unusual 8pm for TV, which means the kegs will be breached at 5:30 and the grills fired up at 6 for the tailgate.