Lauren Cheney gets a step on Amy Lepeilbet, but Hope Solo stands between her and the goal
After a brief week-long break since winning the 2012 Olympic Women's Qualifying Tournament in Canada, the U.S. team has re-grouped in Frisco, Texas for a five days of training before facing New Zealand on Saturday, Feb.

By Sharon Hom
Head Coach Randall Porter about the away games in Cincinnati and Detroit – how well the team did and what he learned from this road trip:
"To be honest, I don't think we fared as well as we hoped we'd fare.

The Kansas Magic played their first game since December 10; their first game against a new opponent; and their first road game other than Illinois Friday night in Cincinnati and came out on the short end of a 9-4 score.
The Magic, making their first major road trip of the season, left Kansas City Thursday evening and stopped overnight in Effingham, IL before continuing on to Cincinnati this morning.

If Sporting Kansas City's season had a title, it would be "Night and Day". A tough start to the season, no doubt spurred on by the never-ending road trip, saw the team open Livestrong Park and use its great atmosphere ...
Visit http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com for the rest of the story.

Major props to MLS for getting the schedule out earlier than ever in recent memory. Supporters Groups can now plan trips to even the early games. I know one the questions at the fore for all of the Timbers Army is if the unbalanced schedule going to help or hurt the Timbers. The answer to that question depends on if Portland's follows the Trailblazers' unofficial philosophy, namely "get energy from the fans at home and win (mostly) but go out on the road and get pushed around.

With it being New Year's Eve, I figured it was time to take a look back at the 2011 wishes that I'd posted at the end of last year.
1. Return to the Playoffs - This was filled 100%, not only did KC qualify for the playoffs again, but the team won the regular season Eastern Conference crown and had home field advantage.

After a hard fought, dramatic late game victory over the Baltimore Blast on Friday night, the Comets went into Norfolk for the second game of their road trip with high hopes. The Sharx have still yet to win a game in the league this season, and in most of the games they've played they've not been close.

By Joel Greenwaldt
After being named the Week 3 MISL Player of the Week earlier this season, Baltimore Blast goalkeeper Sagu has been named the MISL Goalkeeper of the Month for November. Sagu was the clear cut favorite for the award after posting a 4-1 record in addition to a 9.

Today MLS announced the dates for all teams' home openers for the 2012 season. Sporting Kansas City will have their first home game on March 17th, St. Patrick's Day. That's certainly going to make for a fun day for the Cauldron enjoying St. Patrick's Day and a game at the same time. KC will open home season the same weekend as 3 other teams, Montreal, Salt Lake, and Philadelphia, which means that any of the other 15 other teams could be KC's first opponent.

By Joel Greenwaldt
The Baltimore Blast moved their winning streak to three games with a dominating 26-9 victory over the Rochester Lancers in front of 5,102 fans at the Blue Cross Arena. The Blast improved to 3-1 on the season and are now in sole possession of first place in the MISL Eastern Division.

By Joel Greenwaldt
The Baltimore Blast moved their winning streak to three games with a dominating 26-9 victory over the Rochester Lancers in front of 5,102 fans at the Blue Cross Arena. The Blast improved to 3-1 on the season and are now in sole possession of first place in the MISL Eastern Division.

By Joel Greenwaldt
Baltimore Blast (2-1) vs. Rochester Lancers (2-2)
Game Time: 11/26/2011, 1:00pm
http://www.misllivesoccer.com/
What needs to go right for the Blast:
Continue to spread the wealth: Through three games this season, the Blast have seen eight different players find the back of the net.

By Joel Greenwaldt
Baltimore Blast (2-1) vs. Rochester Lancers (2-2)
Game Time: 11/26/2011, 1:00pm
http://www.misllivesoccer.com/
What needs to go right for the Blast:
Continue to spread the wealth: Through three games this season, the Blast have seen eight different players find the back of the net.

By Joel Greenwaldt
Blast improve to 2-1, sit 1/2 game back of first in the MISL Eastern Division
After a grueling overtime win in Missouri the night before, the Baltimore Blast seemed to not show much fatigue in their 12-6 victory Saturday evening against the Wichita Wings in front of 4,211 at the Hartman Area.

By Joel Greenwaldt
Blast improve to 2-1, sit 1/2 game back of first in the MISL Eastern Division
After a grueling overtime win in Missouri the night before, the Baltimore Blast seemed to not show much fatigue in their 12-6 victory Saturday evening against the Wichita Wings in front of 4,211 at the Hartman Area.

By Joel Greenwaldt
Baltimore Blast (1-1) vs. Wichita Wings (0-3)
Game Time: 8:35pm
Broadcast: Audio stream at www.kgso.com
What needs to go right for the Blast:

• Build upon last night's victory.

By Joel Greenwaldt
Baltimore Blast (1-1) vs. Wichita Wings (0-3)
Game Time: 8:35pm
Broadcast: Audio stream at www.kgso.com
What needs to go right for the Blast:

• Build upon last night's victory. The Blast came away with a huge win last night in Missouri.

One of my personal favorite DVDs, is called "The Treble" the Manchester United 1999-2000 season review DVD. I enjoy putting it in and remembering watching much of that season, especially the Champions' League run while I was in high school.
Sporting KC has done a good job of marketing the team and creating a great following for the team.

Can't shake it.

Just can't shake it.

The US Men's team came under fire after Friday's loss to France for its inability to create attacking chances and it's failure to scintillate under new manager Jurgen Klinsmann. For a brief moment now, with a 3-2 victory on the road in Slovenia, the nervous fidgeting that was beginning to surround the team and it's new manager has quelled.

Alright, I promised a few tales from my trip, so let's get to it. Buckle up, it's a coaster ride.The night before I have everything in place and ready, I get to sleep not quite as early as I'd hoped, but certainly early enough. Everything had been settled and booked, and it looked like smooth sailing.

What happened to kicking the tires?

With the announcement of another conservative, heavily German-born roster for the upcoming friendlies against France (Friday, Nov. 11, 3pm on ESPN2) and Slovenia (Tuesday, Nov. 15, 12pm on ESPN2), apprehension has begun to creep to the front of many US fans' minds.

Ives Galarcep writes of why Peter Vermes stands out among an elite list of top coaches in Major League Soccer this season.
While it certainly can't be argued that standout coaches Bruce Arena, Sigi Schmid and Jason Kreis didn't once again show why they are some of the best coaches in MLS, and among the best in league history, but in terms of helping a team reach new heights and helping multiple players enjoy breakout seasons, it's tough to argue with Vermes as the MLS Coach of the Year.

Today MLS named their finalists for all of their awards and two members of the Sporting KC team have been nominated for year end awards. The least surprising of the two, CJ Sapong has been named a finalist for the Rookie of the Year award. Sapong has to be considered the front runner and probably odds on favorite to win the award.

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.

A Big Result Against L.A. Put the Playoffs Well Within the Red Bulls' GraspWe've gotten down to the part of the MLS calendar when fans can't help but scoreboard watch, however much they'd like to simply focus on their team's results. For Red Bulls supporters, this means - for the most part - hoping that their rivals in the Eastern Conference drop as many points as possible between now and next weekend, when the 2011 season wraps up.

Great youtube video from Mikegcoleman on the TA Road trip up to Vancouver.

If you watch at the 2:40 mark the man holding up the TA scarf is the one, the only Geoff Gibson!

Strikers fans made the trip to St Pete to support their team only to be disappointed by a 2-0 loss. The Strikers played well, dominating certain moments of the game but the turning point was the red card given to Cristian Arrieta. It was enough to change the tide and give Tampa an advantage that proved too much for the Red & Gold.

It's said that inconsistency is often a trait of young teams. That held true with the U of M Golden Gopher soccer team this weekend as they partook in their first Big Ten road trip. The team split a pair of games this weekend. They defeated Michigan on Friday night with a big 3-2 comeback [...]

Columbus Crew 0 Galaxy 1

No David Beckham. No Robbie Keane. No Landon Donovan (until the second half). And no goals until second half stoppage time when the Galaxy stole the victory in a not particularly noteworthy game.

A Donovan shot was parried by Crew goalkeeper Will Hesmer into the path of Chad Barrett who snapped up the chance to give the Galaxy three unexpected points after a long road trip.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

After a grueling season spanning nearly six months and consisting of 27 games, it all comes down to the final weekend in the inaugural season of the NASL.

The NSC Minnesota Stars and the Montreal Impact enter the weekend in a fight for the final playoff spot, while FC Tampa Bay and the Fort Lauderdale Strikers jockey for third place.

Conference play started well for city rivals Marquette and UW-Milwaukee in women's college action, but the Golden Eagles had a rough road trip to finish off the week.

Meanwhile, UW-Green Bay suffered a familiar fate not once, but twice on the weekend. Get all the highlights in our weekly recap of the Golden Eagles, Panthers and Phoenix.

Do I even need to bother recapping this game? You might as well just read my last post. It meets all the requirements: disappointment, 2-2 draw, second half comeback, Ballouchy being useless... you know, the usual. Just when you think they can't draw against a crappier team, they do. The Revs, proud owners of the most anemic offense in the league, still managed to take a 2-0 lead against New York and it took a 87th minute equalizer to walk away with a point.

Looking back at the weekend that was in San Jose, including players returning, ongoing injury news, and the potential of player signings. The Timbers continue their road trip on Sunday, August 14 in Houston.

Arsenal will go up against Antonio Di Natale and Udinese

The playoff draw has been announced and for Arsenal it is not an easy one. They get Udinese who came fourth in the Serie and recently in the news for their sale of Alexis Sanchez to Barca. In fact, that transfer has a direct bearing to the Cesc Fabregas saga being played out between both clubs.

-Ben McCormick August 10 is going to be like leaving for a family vacation somewhere far away. The bags are packed, you and the rest of the family are crammed into what space is left, and daddy Juergen is going to put the family truckster in gear and leave the driveway, ready for the long road trip ahead.

The first international of the 2011 fall is nearly upon us and I wanted to have a quick look at whom we are bringing, the opposition, and what the meaning of this game is anyway. For starters we are playing Ukraine for the second time this year. Don't get me wrong I am not a big fan of playing the same teams over and over in a year or two, but since Ukraine is a team of just about the same quality as ourselves, it will be a good test of our preparedness for the important games coming up in September.

It's the end of another era as the Chicago Fire traded Dasan Robinson to Toronto FC in exchange for right back Dan Gargan and a 2nd Round Draft pick. Coincidentally the American defender was originally acquired in the 2nd Round of the 2006 MLS SuperDraft being selected 22nd overall. Robinson enjoyed his best years in 2006 and 2007 playing in 23 matches each year while being a critical part of the 2006 U.

Chivas USA 3 Houston Dynamo 0

Three and out: Chivas USA striker Justin Braun is subbed out by Coach Robin Fraser with just three minutes left after scoring three goals in a game for the second time this season in Saturday's win over Houston (Photo by Getty Images).

Goals by Justin Braun this season are like British buses; you don't see one for ages, then three come along all at once.

When the summer transfer window opened for Major League Soccer the Red Bulls were very determined to get a brand new keeper to help this club stop the leak and help the offense put some goals into the oppositions net. Getting his ITC & P1 Visa was former Hamburg keeper Frank Rost and right away was thrown into the fire for the Red Bulls two match road trip to face Chivas-USA.

A three-match road trip for the Philadelphia Union (7-4-6) continues tonight in Santa Clara, California, with the club taking on Chris Wondolowski and the San Jose Earthquakes (5-6-6). Philadelphia looks to keep pace with the New York Red Bulls in the Eastern Conference, while San Jose looks to continue their recent turnaround in the hopes of returning to the postseason.