The big freeze produced one big winner. Germany's winter so far: a mild December was followed by a warm January was followed by a frigging cold February. It's probably some strange global warming phenomenon again, or 2012, or... It meant that matchday 20 took place under arctic circumstances.

The Bundesliga title race keeps getting more interesting each week. Yesterday, the chasing pack of Schalke and Borussia Mochengladbach who were just a point behind leaders Bayern heading into this weekend's games were both held to draws that saw them lose ground in the title race.

However, the shock result of the weekend was Bayern's 1-1 home draw with Hamburg.

Everton vs Manchester City 1-0 Highlights 2012 Darron Gibson goal Video is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Everton vs Manchester City 1-0 Highlights 2012 Darron Gibson goal Video is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Everton vs Man City 2012 ( Everton Manchester City Video Below) Final score and result: Everton vs Man City 1-0 ( Darron Gibson) Goodison Park, Liverpool- 31 January, 2012- Tuesday Darron Gibson strikes [.

Arsene Wenger is being linked with a move to take Schalke midfielder Lewis Holtby to Arsenal. And there are even some suggestions that a deal has already been done for the German-born 21-year-old to join the Gunners in the summer. His contract in Germany ends next year.

A source with close ties to Arsenal has told Arsenalinsider that the transfer has already been agreed for the midfielder, whose Scouse father is a former Brit soldier based in Germany.

Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich angered their supporters yesterday with news that they would be making a spectacular signing before the transfer window closed only for the fans to later find out that it was a marketing gimmick.

Apparently, Bayern was trying to gain interest for their new app by creating intense speculation as to who the signing would be.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

Former Colorado Rapids head coach Gary Smith is headed back to England.

The man who took charge of the Rapids' surprising 2010 MLS Cup run has been hired as manager of League One side Stevenage FC. Stevenage chairman Phil Wallace said Smith's ability to produce success despite a low budget with the Rapids was a major reason for the hire.

Lugar Equipo JJ JG JE JP GF:GC DG Puntos 1Bayern Múnich 18121544:1331372Borussia Dortmund18114340:1327373FC Schalke 0418121541:2318374Bor. M'gladbach18113428:1216365Werder Bremen1893630:31-1306Bayer Leverkusen1885525:241297Hannover 961859420:24-42481899 Hoffenheim1865719:190239VfL Wolfsburgo1872924:34-102310VfB Stuttgart1864824:23122111.

The Royal Blues have moved into the winter break as the number 3 in the Bundesliga. Schalke aims to win the title and Klaas Jan Huntelaar is instrumental in this quest. But the German club of the people fears an exit of their main goal scorer.

An interview....

Where will you play [read more]

Now we've all established the fact that Bavarian giants Bayern Munich absolutely love their basketball games..."natürlich!!" So they turned up at full force to watch last weekend's showdown between Bayern Munich and EWE Baskets Oldenburg at the Audi Dome with their families.

Darron Gibson has agreed a four and a half year deal with Everton today. His contract was due to expire in the summer and the club were not interested in offering him a new deal.

Gibson had been desperate to make a go of his Manchester United career and has waited until he is 24-years-old to make the move on after failing to hold down a regular place in the team.

There's a lesson fans need to learn when they're on the road trying to drive up to their football heroes : it doesn't always involve road rage (ouiiii Samir Nasri, je parle de vous!) Case in point... Schalke's Spanish hero, Raul Gonzalez, who is loving life in the Bundesliga at the moment.

Back before the Bundesliga hibernation began, Jermaine Jones landed in hot water for his hunt-and-stamp on the injured toe of Gladbach's superstar. Rather shameful really, and since then, their fates have diverged.

Marco Reus got his big money move to Borussia Dortmund yesterday, while Jones netted a two month suspension for a litany of offenses, prime among them his complete disrespect for the art of subtlety.

US national team midfielder Jermaine Jones has been suspended for eight weeks by the DFB for stomping Borussia Monchengladbach star Marco Reus in Schalke's German Cup match on December 21.

You may not be able to pronounce Kyriakos Papadopoulos' name, but the Greek defender from Schalke probably has the best Blue Christmas Football Ensemble we've seen so far! Got anything for us, Chelsea? / via Reuters

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U.S. national team midfielder Jermaine Jones could be facing some disciplinary action in the coming days.

Jones is reportedly under investigation by the German Football Federation for allegedly stepping on an opposing player's injured foot on purpose during Schalke's 3-1 loss to Borussia Monchengladbach in the German Cup Round of 16 on Wednesday.

Long before Sara Carbonero... there was Mamen Sanz! She's the equivalent of Victoria Beckham when it comes to the Spanish Mega Wag status (eye-rolls all across the town again, we see) but there's a lot more to her than meets the eye. Raul has been linked to a high money-making move to Qatar next season, and the worried German press who want him to stay at Schalke, it seems has declared that his wife has the final say it all of this.

Bundesliga blog: The goal kings of the Bundesliga

Welcome to our new German football blog, courtesy of BundesligaFussball's Ross Dunbar *** The first half of the season in Germany came to end on Saturday with Schalke, Dortmund and FC Bayern all winning to keep the title race wide open.

Down to the nitty gritty now, it's time for a refresh on this page.Champions LeagueRound of 16David Yelldell - Bayer Leverkusen v BarcelonaEuropa LeagueRound of 32Jozy Altidore - AZ v AnderlechtSteve Cherundolo - Hannover 96 v Club BruggeJermaine Jones - Schalke v FK Viktoria PlzeňSacha Kljestan - Anderlecht v AZOguchi Onyewu - Sporting CP v Legia Warsaw- Greg Seltzer

Bayern Munich are Autumn Champions. Barring a highly unlikely flurry of goals for and against the right teams. More than the virtual trophy, Bayern will cherish the three-point gap, they opened up at the top of the table, taking maximum advantage of the slip ups of both Borussias.

Jermaine Jones and Schalke moved into the Bundesliga's top three thanks to their win in Berlin while Fabian Johnson's two assists helped trigger Hoffenheim's win over ten-man Nurnberg.

Liverpool are apparently one of a number of European clubs interested in signing FC Cologne and Germany striker Lukas Podolski. According to CalcioMercato, the former Bayern Munich striker is a January target for Tottenham, Liverpool, Arsenal, Juventus and Lazio.Schalke are also allegedly interested, and according to CalcioMercato, the German club is willing to pay up to £15m for the 26 year old.

Liverpool have entered the race to sign Switzerland youngster Fabian Frei, but face competition from a host of European clubs such as Juventus and Schalke as interest intensifies.
Considered by many pundits as a hot prospect, Frei has established himself as full international since his step up from the Under-21 squad in the summer and remains an integral part of Basel's squad though Swiss media are suggesting that his seven year stay at the Swiss Super League champions could be coming to an end if the interest from Liverpool is genuine which its believed is.

Europa League on GolTV: Schalke - Steau Bucharest at 1pm and Atletico Bilbao - Slovan Bratislava at 3pm. Apertura semifinals on TeleFutura: Queretaro - Tigres at 8pm. All Times Eastern

Wenn das Chaos regiert, dann ist entweder ein Wunder geschehen, oder ein Moderator kann sich nicht durchsetzen. "Leute, Interview...Macht doch mal die Kamera frei, der Olaf muss ins Bild....Junge, Junge, Junge....Mach Platz!" Rolf Töpperwien hat beide Probleme. Olaf Thon hat im Jahr 1984 das Wunder vollbracht und als 18-jähriger drei Tore gegen den großen FC [.

Nicky B. Basic, but perfectly functional. Gareth Copley/Getty Images.

Oh, the good old facepalm. So versatile, it's available in individual or multi-user varieties and the more up-to-date versions are equipped to convey a spectrum of emotions not just embarrassment when you make a heinous and very public error in your work-day.

Jermaine Jones and Schalke will try to put a stop to hated rivals Dortmund's tear through the league while Edson Buddle and Ingolstadt will look to break their long losing streak in Cottbus.

Saturday PEL on ESPN2: Manchester United - Newcastle United at 10am. On ESPN Deportes: Stoke City - Blackburn at 7:30am. On Fox Soccer: Chelsea - Wolves at 9:30am, Arsenal - Fulham at 12pm, and Bolton - Everton at 5pm. On Fox Soccer Plus: WBA - Spurs at 10am and Norwich City - QPR at 2pm. Championship on FS+: West Ham United - Derby County at 4pm.

EUROPE'S BIGGEST CLUB MATCHES THIS WEEKEND
-Fri Nov 25
Udinese v Roma - #4 v #5 in Serie A
TV: 1:30pm CT on Fox Soccer
-Sat Nov 26
Manchester United v Newcastle - #2 v #4 in the Premier League
TV: 9am CT on ESPN2
Dortmund v Schalke - #2 v #4 in the Bundesliga
TV: 8:30am CT on Gol TV
Lazio v Juventus - #2 v #1 in Serie A
TV: 1:30pm CT on Fox Soccer
Real Madrid v Atletico Madrid - the Madrid derby
TV: NONE
-Sun Nov 27
Liverpool v Manchester City #6 v #1 in the Premier League
TV: 10am CT on Fox Soccer
Marseille v Paris St Germain - France's biggest rivalry, and PSG is at #1
TV: 1:55pm CT on Fox Soccer Plus

2011 was a season to remember for HJK. Not only did ‘Klubi' won their third consecutive title and the Finnish Cup (overall their 24th league championship and 11th cup victory), but they did this in a swashbuckling fashion. The Helsinki team finished the season with a 24-point lead to second-place Inter and scored a whopping 86 goals in 33 matches while conceding only 23.

Here's the top ten goals in line for this years 2011 Ferenc Puskas Award among my personal favourites are Rooney's v Manchester City and Stankovic's v Schalke. What's your favourite.

Grab your Soccer apparel at Soccer.com

By Chris Wright

Here we see Klaas-Jan Huntelaar returning to Hessencombinatie '03 - the first club he ever joined, at the age of five - to film a little video of a striker in ruthless form (21 goals in his last 19 games for Schalke) demonstrating his finishing chops for Nike's new T90 'Perfect Strike' series.

Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Stoke Highlights 1-2 Goals Video Whitehead Crouch Europa League is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Stoke Highlights 1-2 Goals Video Whitehead Crouch Europa League is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Maccabi vs Stoke 2011 ( Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Stoke City 2011) ( Video Below) Final score and result:- Maccabi vs Stoke 1-2 ( Colautti/ Whitehead, Crouch) Bloomfield Stadium, Tel Aviv- [.

Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Stoke Highlights 1-2 Goals Video Whitehead Crouch Europa League is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Stoke Highlights 1-2 Goals Video Whitehead Crouch Europa League is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Maccabi vs Stoke 2011 ( Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Stoke City 2011) ( Video Below) Final score and result:- Maccabi vs Stoke 1-2 ( Colautti/ Whitehead, Crouch) Bloomfield Stadium, Tel Aviv- [.

Following the announcement of the USA's roster for the friendlies against France and Slovenia (LINK), U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann answered questions for ussoccer.com:
On his plans for the camp:
"It's going to be busy. The fight will continue for starting spots, and it's important to see how the players perform in every training session.

We're almost a third of the way through the Bundesliga season, and Bayern Munich, as is the case more often than not, look like the team to beat. Bundesliga statistics reflect that, as Bayern are not only solidly top of the charts in goals scored but have also allowed the fewest goals in the league.

The pairings for the third round of the German Cup were set over the weekend, setting up heated local derbies for both Schalke's Jermaine Jones and Nurnberg defender Timothy Chandler.

Jermaine Jones and Schalke cruised to an easy victory over Danny Williams and Hoffenheim while Timothy Chandler had a rough day at the office in Nurnberg's defeat against Bayern Munich

Jermaine Jones squares off against Fabian Johnson and Danny Williams this weekend
This weekend's fixture list has lined up a few meetings between fellow U.S. internationals, including the all-important playoff variety.
Saturday, Oct. 29
Jermaine Jones vs. Fabian Johnson and Danny Williams (Schalke-Hoffenheim): A big match for both sides as only two points separate them in the table, Schalke sitting in third place and Hoffenheim five below.

Jermaine Jones continued his run in the Schalke starting lineup as they scored a late victory at Karlsruhe while Timothy Chandler and Nurnberg held on at Aue to advance to the final 16 of the German Cup.

Jermaine Jones will look to continue his resurgence with Schalke as they visit Leverkusen while Steve Cherundolo and Hannover face a tough home test against Bundesliga leaders FC Bayern.