Inigo Lopez grabbed a late winner for Granada to give their La Liga survival hopes a big boost as they beat local rivals Malaga on Monday.

Malaga had the better early exchanges as the game started at a fast and furious pace with first Enzo Maresca then Rondon shooting high and wide from good positions in the opening minutes.

Zambia cruised past Sudan, 3-0 to the semi-finals of the ACN, the first time since 1996. Sudan made things difficult for themselves after Ali Saif Eldin was sent off for his second violation when he brought down Rainford Kalaba in the 63rd minute. By that time the Chipolopolos (The Copper Miners) were already a goal up from Sunzu Stoppila.

Match report Video

At half-time yesterday Arsenal left the pitch to a chorus of boos. 2-0 down against Aston Villa, it looked as if we were heading for a fourth January defeat. We hadn't played particularly badly, to be fair, but got caught out twice in ways we really shouldn't have.

The US "Camp Cupcake" roster closed out their camp down in Panama today with a 1-0 win thanks to a goal by Sporting KC midfielder, Graham Zusi. Like the game on Saturday against Venezuela, both Zusi and Teal Bunbury started for the United States, while CJ Sapong found himself starting on the bench. The US got a good start, as Zusi finished off a chance in the 8th minute to give the US a 1-0 lead.

Today, Real Madrid played as it should have in the first leg. The first half began so brightly for Real with Gonzalo Higuain the main culprit for not finishing those chances. Gerard Pique was caught napping and the Argentinian striker should have done much, much better. Minutes later, Pinto was barely able to foil Higuain whose timing was less than impeccable.

Watching the Tide Roll In.
By Shane Badger
Rochester fans were treated to a wonderful display of tension, speed and accuracy Monday night as the Milwaukee Wave showed their skills against the Rochester Lancers.
After a ten-six loss at their last matchup the Lancer squad was ready to even the odds as they broke out to score first.

Novara's new loanee Leandro Rinaudo ambled onto the pitch Sunday for Novara for the very first time, and he did so with identity issues his shirt read rinuado instead of rinaudo. And once the dust had settled in the 3-1 loss to Cesena, he'd both conceded a penalty (not converted) and scored an own goal.

In case anyone wants to revisit Espanyol's 1-1 draw over Barcelona this past weekend here are the highlights. Barca's fierce crosstown rivals did Real Madrid a huge favour by playing spoilers moving them five points clear on top of the table. Barca went ahead through Cesc Fabregas. Who knew he could head the ball with such venom, a phenomenon previously unknown to Arsenal fans.

By FRANCO PANIZO

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Dom Dwyer did not know he was heading to the 2012 MLS Combine until a day before the event kicked off, but that did not stop him from having a decent showing at the event that he capped off with a goal.

Dwyer helped adiZero (blue) to a 3-1 win over Prime (green) on Tuesday morning, scoring an insurance goal in the 52nd minute of the game when he pounced on a rebound and knocked the ball into the back of the net.

szólj hozzá: Swindon v Wigan 2:1 (FA Cup)

Paolo Di Canio's Swindon, in League 2, shocked Wigan three levels above them. Callum McManaman got the ball rolling for Wigan seizing the rebound after Ben Watson's penalty struck the post. But Swindon playing some really good football staged a comeback through Alan Connell and Paul Benson.

Liverpool 5: Bellamy 29′, Gerrard 45+1′, Shelvey 68′, Carroll 89′, Downing 90+5′
Oldham 1: Simpson 27′

It's finally the scoreline we were waiting for, but a lackadaisical first half and an incident late in the second take some of the sheen off for Liverpool, who worked their way past Oldham on the strength of a terrific display by Craig Bellamy.

Goals:
Simpson 28'
Bellamy 30'
Gerrard 45' (pen)
Shelvey 68'
Carroll 89'
Downing 90+4'
It should be illegal to complain when Liverpool score five, including firsts for Shelvey and Downing and a cameo from Carroll off the bench, no matter the opposition or merits of overall performance.

Goals:
Agger (og) 25'
Bellamy 29' 67'
Gerrard 78'
Another tepid, frustrating, harsh 1-1 at Anfield. Until Gerrard came on at the hour mark.
As usual, Liverpool were the better side from the start, but neither keeper had a save to make in the first half. More often than not, Liverpool's possession ended at the edge of the final third, mainly with shots from distance charged down by Newcastle defenders or crosses just too high/far for Carroll.

Sorry I'm just reposting the press release today, not feeling the greatest this morning.
From the Comets.
(Syracuse, NY) The holiday season didn't start off the way the Comets hoped it would as they lose to the Syracuse Silver Knights tonight 18-8. Cory Elenio and Savisa Ubiparapovic each had a hat trick for the Knights while Lucas Rodriguez led the Comets with 4points on two goals.

What a game of football it was last night. Tottenham dominated the first part of the game, Chelsea then got back into it, Spurs had to make a change to their formation and Chelsea dominated and should have won the game but then Spurs could have nicked it right at the end. It had everything!.
Both teams would be happy to take a point away from this one and both would feel as though they should have won it!

Norfolk's Matthew Delicate Scores Hat Trick in 19-8 loss

Norfolk, Virginia The Norfolk SharX played almost flawless soccer in the first quarter of Sunday night's match with the storied Baltimore Blast. Matthew Delicate scored at 0:22 of the match to take the SharX up 2-0 and the lead held throughout the first quarter of play.

The score was a lot closer than the scoreline appeared, but the Comets saw their 4 game winning streak snapped last night in Baltimore as the Comets fell to the Blast 17-9. Playing without captain Byron Alvarez and defender Bryan Harris, the task was already a big ask for the Comets. Some defensive mistakes once again cost the Comets early as Shaun David capitalized on a poor back pass to Danny Waltman a little over a minute into the game.

Clint Dempsey drove home a rebound in the 85th minute to deliver Fulham a 1-0 win against Liverpool, only their third victory of the season. [WATCH HERE]
Deuce now has 37 career goals in the English Premier League, a record for a U.S. international in England, surpassing former Fulham striker Brian McBride.

Photo Credit: AFPThe Deuce was on the loose this afternoon after the Nagadoches (Texas) native bagged a rebound goal to give his Fulham side a 1-0 victory over Liverpool. The goal, Dempsey's 37th in England makes him the all-time leading goal scorer for Yanks in England. Brian McBride, who also played for Fulham (and one of the stadiums bars is named after) now sits in second with 36 goals.

Clint Dempsey is once again the hero in West London, scoring the only goal in a surprising win against Liverpool. It wasn't easy for Fulham, who needed the officiating crew to call a Liverpool goal offside that replays showed wasn't and the benefit of an additional man to take all three points. Playing a man up from the 72nd when Jay Spearing was sent off, Dempsey got the rebound after Liverpool goalkeeper Jose Reina was.

Clint Dempsey's legend at Fulham continues to grow with every goal he scores.

The Texas native did it again on Monday, scoring an 85th-minute winner for Fulham in a 1-0 victory over Liverpool. Minutes after hitting the crossbar with a bending effort from the top of the area, Dempsey found himself in perfect position to slot home a spilled rebound by Pepe Reina from close range.

by Ed Bishop
A tight, see-saw contest through the first two quarters turned into a blowout victory for the Missouri Comets as they downed the Syracuse Silver Knights 23-10 on Sunday afternoon at the Independence Events Center. The lead changed hands four times during the first half of a very physical and often chippy contest and the Knights actually took a one point lead early in the third quarter before the Comets unleashed seven unanswered goals on the expansion Syracuse squad to send them on the long drive home with their fifth straight loss.

An early WBA goal was the only thing that West Brom got right. Adebayor had a a penalty denied but followed up the rebound for a goal. Ade scored again in stoppage after Defoe put Spurs up 2-1 late in the game.Video: FoxSports
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A roundup of action from around Central America, as all of the leagues are now in playoff stage. BELIZE I have no idea what's happening in Belize. COSTA RICA Alajuelense scored an important victory in the Invierno playoffs with a 1-0 first leg victory at Saprissa. The Purple Monsters has to play almost 50 minutes with ten men after Jairo Arrieta was sent off in the 43rd minute.

FC Barcelona made shot work of the visiting Zaragoza side with a brilliant 4-0 victory at the Camp Nou. With this win, Barca had briefly moved to the top of standing, equalising with Real Madrid, who will be playing Valencia shortly. In a night after the international break, Pique, Messi, Puyol, Villa all scored for Barca.

Nicklas Bendtner is showing some frightening form for his International side Denmark at present, In a poor first half for the Dane's the game had a typical friendly feeling to the game, with both sides not in top gear and happy just to keep ball at times. N.B didn't really get that much involved in the first half and was having a quiet game, but was willing to come deep and link play with the attacking midfielders of Denmark.

In the final game of the year for Sporting KC, the Swope Park Rangers finished out the reserve league season today at Swope Park against FC Dallas. The Rangers fell 5-3 to Dallas as Ruben Luna scored 4 goals to help Dallas to the win. Luna opened the scoring in the 28th minute. Jeferson equalized for the reserves in the 37th from the penalty spot after Soony Saad was fouled in the box.

Sporting Kansas City and the Houston Dynamo squared off in the Eastern Conference Final in front of 20,839 fans at LiveStrong Sporting Park in the win or go home match.
Both teams had experienced an up and down season but each were bringing impressive late season results into the match. Although Sporting KC might have been the favorite heading into the match Houston had developed a stouter defense of late and were undefeated in their last 6 matches heading into the Conference Final.

That's about the best way I think I can describe my feelings about last night. I'd even tried to prepare myself for it, telling myself it wouldn't happen. Still didn't make me feel any better when the final whistle blew. KC bowed out of the playoffs at home for the first time since 1997 last night to the Houston Dynamo 2-0.

Video highlights and reaction Match report By the numbers

So the progress and the momentum continued yesterday with a win so routine it made you sit up and realise how long it's been since we won a game quite so easily. Having beaten us here last season West Brom clearly decided that was enough and really didn't offer much at all.

A nice, routine win. Haven't seen those in a while.

Coming into this game, there was a feeling of dread among many of the fans, particularly on Twitter. As I mentioned on the preview, the stage was set for Arsenal to have another meltdown and erase all of their good work leading up to today by losing this one.

Let's be honest here, it wasn't our best performance, but at Blackburn it was never going to be. There were boos at the end from the Ewood Park fans, but you have to hold your hands up and say on another day, they could have had at least a point.
AVB chose to bring Alex back into the starting line up next to JT with Ivanovic moving to right back in place of Bosingwa and for the most part it worked.

After waiting 9 games for his first minutes in Serie A this season, Tommaso Rocchi was finally unleashed. Coming on for Djibril Cisse in the 83rd minute with Lazio already 2 goals to the good, he crowned the performance with a goal of his own. A special goal. Not so much for the execution Rocchi scored from a rebound after Michele Agazzi saved his initial header but for the.

THFC1882 present a guest report from Rob:

Spurs team: Friedel, Walker, Kaboul, King, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon, Parker (Sandro 86), Modric, Bale; VDV; Adebayor

Goals: Spurs Bale (20, 72), van der Vaart (33). QPR Bothroyd (62)

TheLilywhites go marching on with their sixth win in seven league games as they deservedly toppled the Super Hoops at White Hart Lane on Sunday.

Stoke City 1-2 Liverpool | Carling Cup fourth-round match report

Luis Suárez answered some of his critics with the two goals that took Liverpool into the Carling Cup quarter-finals. A goal down at the interval, the visitors were indebted to their Uruguayan striker for masterminding their recovery almost single-handedly, dispelling in the process the myth that he does not convert enough chances to be regarded a clinical finisher.

By THOMAS FLOYD

WASHINGTON - The path to the Eastern Conference title will go through Livestrong Sporting Park.

When Sporting Kansas City wrapped up its record road trip to start the MLS campaign in June, the club's 1-6-3 mark was the league's worst. But thanks to a four-month surge driven by the club's raucous new venue and capped by a 1-0 win at D.

Photo by Bill Barrett/ISIphotos.com

By THOMAS FLOYD

It's not terribly often that Jeff Parke contributes on the offensive end. The industrious Seattle Sounders defender, in fact, is quick to acknowledge as much.

In his seven MLS seasons, Parke has been one of the more durable commodities the league has to offer, starting at least 20 games each campaign.

No KC didn't win their friendly with Chivas de Guadalajara last night, the two ended up drawing 2-2, but the bigger thing to take from the game last night was that no one picked up an injury and most of the projected starters that played last night didn't play more than 45 minutes. Last night also turned into a better night in league play yesterday for KC, as two teams chasing KC in the playoff race dropped points.

Yep. More infographics as yet another international break is driving me insane.
Fairly straight-forward. As usual, click to expand images. A few random notes:
• Reasonable degree of variance from Liverpool's two main penalty takers: Kuyt and Gerrard. Kuyt went to the keeper's left four times (one saved), to the keeper's right twice, and down the middle once – with six of seven strikes along the ground.

The Seattle Sounders won their third consecutive US Open Cup and were the first MLS team to do so. The Sounders defeated the Chicago Fire by a score of 2-0 but don't let the scoreline fool you, the game was competitive and entertaining. The Fire were looking to become on the third team in history of the tournament to win the competition five times, they failed in that endeavor but not without a valiant effort.