Photo by Brad Smith/ISIphotos.com

Planning for summer friendlies is already in the works, and it appears that the New York Red Bulls will be welcoming one of the Premier League's top sides to Red Bull Arena for an exhibition.

According to the New York Post, the Red Bulls will play against Tottenham either July 31 or Aug.

David Beckham's reent ejection from a youth soccer game has been receiving a lot of attention in the press. To hear Becks describe it, he quite rightly protested a referee ejecting a 7-year old from a youth soccer game and the ref kicked him out of the park as a result.

If Beckham's telling is accurate, it seems the ref overreacted twice and this is all much ado about nothing.

Most of the United States was focused on the "other football" this weekend, but there were still some soccer business stories coming out over the last few days. We'll start with FOX's broadcast of the Manchester United/Chelsea match over the weekend. Once again, the network offered an EPL match over network television via a live broadcast.

One of the areas of focus during the tactical work this camp has been on shifting and moving as a unit, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. One exercise designed to train these movements is what Jurgen Klinsmann calls the 'six goal game'.
Using a field of 70 yards long by 72 yards wide, the coaches set up the big goals in the center of each endline and then placed two smaller goals on each side seven yards from the sideline.

Something has always flummoxed me in sports. It's the propensity of lesser informed fans and a few media blowhards to stand on high, reeking of tough-minded and righteous superiority, and label some professional athletes as "soft."

This is especially bothersome in American football.

Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli is ready to sideline his football career in order to become a DJ after cosying up with Hip-Hop DJ Tim Westwood at an event in Manchester. Ok, maybe kicking his already glowing football career into touch is a tad exaggerated, still, the Manchester City ace has splashed out on a [.

The former Arsenal defender now commentating for ESPN gets smacked by a ball kicked during the Leeds warm up before the FA Cup third round match against Arsenal. Robbie Savage reacted as if it was meant for him. Kudos to Keown for making a fast recovery. One of the toughest defenders in club history.

The first pure fitness session on the field since camp began five days ago was a doozy. Designed by fitness coach Masa Sakihana, the intense 36-minute program was built to increase their maximum fitness capacity and improve the players' ability to change direction at speed.

There were two different stations, each running a duration of one minute.

Sun streams in through previously hidden windows of the Sigi Bunker. Blackout by Breathe Carolina is on repeat through the room's surround sound speakers at a slightly uncomfortable level of volume. Fake Sigi whistles as he adjusts knobs and polishes various pieces of equipment. Chris Henderson walks in, briefly stunned by the amount of sunlight and music.

Most coaches, managers or buisness leaders offer the first level of experience in an orientation or apprenticeship by observing. Sitting on the sideline while watching a more experienced mentor often offers an initial level of insight on 'how to do things around here'.
As important as observation (sitting and watching) or theoretical experience (lectures or reading), there is no experience more valuable than practical experience - getting your hands dirty and learning from trial and error.

Of all the issues that's been plaguing this club for years (age, changing of managers, the Michael Jackson statue) one that has been overlooked, or brought up and then seemingly forgotten whenever we go after the next shiny new transfer acquisition, is lack of speed from the wings.

Now, that's different from creativity from the wings.

By "The Other 87 Minutes" / Senior Unemployed English Major Correspondents


Our week of seasonal celebrations continues here at The Other 87 with a special Tuesday XI featuring a cast of characters straight out of a typical holiday gathering. Naturally, we've lined them up in a 4-3-2-1, the Christmas Tree formation.

It wasn't pretty. On a cold December Sunday afternoon, Tottenham Hotspur saw off a resilient Sunderland to record a 1-0 victory and get back to winning ways in the Premier League.

Winning ugly is the sign of champions. Not getting carried away here, I'm not suggesting Spurs are going to win the title, there's a chance of it, but Manchester City are a scarily good outfit and their neighbours are impossible to write off.

Photo: Earl Gardner

Editor's note: At the end of the 2010 season, we posted a series of season reviews of every Philadelphia Union player. Over the next several weeks PSP continues with a review of the 2011 season.

Justin Mapp heads to Montreal after an inconsistent one-and-a-half year stint in Philadelphia.

The YNT Blog isn't the type to poke fun at people's misery but man, this one was too good to pass up.
This great photo is courtesy of our photographer John Dorton who was down here during the Nike International Friendlies. He snapped this shot right after Rubio Rubin's goal last night in the 3-1 win against Brazil.

(Independence, MO) The Syracuse Silver Knights make only one trip this season to the Independence Events Center and they are probably in no hurry to come back. After taking a 10-9 lead early in the 2nd half, the Comets poured on 7 unanswered goals for the 23-10 victory. Lucas Rodriguez, Byron Alvarez and Brian Harris had two goals apiece and Rodriguez and Ryan Junge led the team with five points.

Here's the game as we saw it -- as it happened. There was a rousing tribute to Gary Speed before kick off with John Carver in tears on the sideline and the Newcastle crowd were roaring out "There's Only One Gary Speed" The Newcastle crowd were in good form as the game kicked off and the atmosphere at the ground seemed to be electric.

By JOSE M. ROMERO

CARSON, Calif. -- Make it three MLS championships for 60-year-old Bruce Arena, and no coach in the has more since the inception of the league in 1996.

Just another feather in the cap for the 2011 MLS Coach of the Year, who appeared to letting it all soak in as he sat down to speak with reporters after his Los Angeles Galaxy defeated the Houston Dynamo 1-0 Sunday night for the MLS Cup.

Jere Longman writes of how the use of heart rate monitors can enhance a player and team's training to make their fitness as game-like as possible.
As soccer practice began one recent afternoon, each University of Connecticut player grabbed a puck before he kicked a ball. The puck was a small rectangular transmitter that attached to a chest strap and was worn beneath the players' jerseys.

As we do for a number of big soccer events every year, tonight Footiebusiness.com will offer a business take on the broadcast of the MLS Cup Final. Over the next couple of days, we'll look the business ramifications of the new schedule, offer some thoughts on the new MLS Cup Final format and discuss the expansion draft.

Terrence Boyd Scored the Tying Goal for the U-23s This Morning
This morning the U-23 U.S. Men's National Team headed 30 km due east from Duisburg to Bochum to face VfL Bochum in a scrimmage today. The Bochum team was a combination of first team players and youth players. It's an international break in Germany so no sign of the People's Rooney, but nonetheless it was a spirited match played in front of an appreciative crowd of about 200 people.

Gary Smith, who led the Colorado Rapids to an improbable championship in 2010, was shown the door on Monday.

The coach, who had agreed to a new contract, and the team announced a parting of the ways on Monday afternoon. The departure came the same day that Rapids players cleared out their lockers following a 4-0 aggregate loss to Kansas City in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

After two successful seasons together in Carolina, Paul Ritchie knows what Martin Rennie is thinking, and when he's thinking it.
That chemistry is now at the core of the Vancouver Whitecaps' coaching staff. Ritchie was welcomed as Rennie's first assistant on Thursday, the second day of an eight-day mini-camp at the Burnaby Lake Sports Complex.

Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish is hopeful Steven Gerrard will only miss one Premier League game with his latest injury problem.
The midfielder was sidelined for last weekend's win over West Brom after suffering an infection to his ankle.
The problem has ruled Gerrard out of this Saturday's home clash with Swansea as well as England's upcoming friendlies against Spain and Sweden.

You've surely heard this mentioned by now, but the Seattle Sounders need to look no further than the 2003 San Jose Earthquakes for proof that coming back from a huge playoff deficit is not impossible. Here's the recap of that game, which included a familiar face on the Galaxy sideline and several familiar faces on both rosters.

Villarreal will be without Cristian Zapata, Cani, Marco Ruben and Marcos Senna for their Group A meeting with Manchester City, while Javier Camuñas is doubtful.

These injuries are in addition to Giuseppe Rossi, who is out for six months, after knee surgery earlier this week.

The most serious of the other injuries appears to be to Zapata, who strained a ligament in his right knee during Saturday's 2-0 Liga win against Rayo Vallecano, an injury which is likely to sideline him for five weeks.

Photo by Howard C. Smith/ISIphotos.com

With Steve Nicol's tenure on the New England Revolution sideline coming to an end, the search begins to replace a coach who was a fixture with the organization for the last decade.

Former longtime Nicol assistant Paul Mariner has to be on the radar, even though he took a position with Toronto FC as director of player development prior to this season.

I'm not trying to make one of those posts that exist solely to generate pageviews, but I'm seriously wondering if it's time for Riise to start the next game on the bench.

What is he offering at this point that is so unique that different looks through Briggs or Baird or Kelly can't provide?

Members of the U.S. Soccer Supporters Club watch training from the sideline and wait to meet the players

More than 1,500 fans turned up at Red Bull Arena on Monday night to watch the USA's public training session. U.S. head coach Jurgen addressed the fans before the team conducted a 75-minute session, inspiring cheers and applause with some fine finishing in their shooting exercises.

• DAY ONE - Arrival from Singapore

Courts Young Lions' Ruzaini Zainal (pictured above) could consider taking up a sideline as a beverage stall operator eh? This was taken while at a half-way stop in Negri Sembilan before heading up to Shah Alam.
The mystical iconic Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Mosque or "Blue Mosque" (pictured above) as what it was seen as when the contingent arrived at the designated accommodation in the state capital of Selangor.

Colorado nearly got its first Pac-12 Conference victory and nearly gave Arizona its first win of the season in an entertaining match at Prentup Field before 1,284 fans that ended in a 2-2 tie after two overtime periods.

Anne Stuller led the way for the Buffs with two goals as Colorado (3-5-2, 0-1-1 Pac-12) narrowly avoided giving the Wildcats (0-8-2, 0-2-1 Pac-12) their first victory of the season.

Early this week, Carlos Tevez warmed up from the sideline waiting to come on for Manchester City in a CL match against Bayern Munich. City was already down 2-0 when coach Roberto Mancini told Tevez to start warming up to come on. The problem is that Tevez warmed up 10mins prior and took it as some kind of offense that he should have to warm up again when he felt he was ready.

Marc Herschberger scored 3:44 into the first overtime as Metro State upset No. 11 Colorado Mines 2-1 on Sunday at home.

It was the second win over a top-25 team in the past week for the Roadrunners, who improved to 6-2-1 overall and 4-1-0 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. CSM fell to 6-2-0 and 4-1-0.

Philadelphia Union starting right back Sheanon Williams will miss tomorrow's game against Sporting Kansas City due to a concussion that the 21-year-old suffered in a 1-0 win over the Columbus Crew.

On the play when Williams may have been concussed, Carlos Valdes received the ball from rookie goalkeeper Zac MacMath, then crossed the ball down the field along the right side.

Torres Sidelined
U.S. midfielder Jose Torres had surgery this morning to repair the fifth metatarsal in his left foot. The injury will sideline the Longview, Texas native for at least two months, according to Pachuca.
Torres has been getting serious minutes for club and country as of late, starting all three matches for the United States since Jurgen Klinsmann took over as head coach.

Waiting is for pussies.

Just five weeks into the new season, Andre Villas-Boas' sexy is set to invade the Terrordome. Football's equivalent of Cary Grant brings with him 450 minutes of competitive managerial experience with the Chels. Surely that's more than enough to match wits and tailors with one of the greatest to ever grace a sideline.

TRABZONSPOR KEEPER.... TOLGA ZENGIN
First Trabzonspor in Italy than, Besiktas at home in Istanbul gave something to simile to Turkish football fans after Turkish football rocked with negative news about Turkish football...
They shocked the world and beat Inter in Italy 0-1.

Bob Bradley's lengthy courtship with the Egyptian national team appears to be reaching it's conclusion, and reports suggest an agreement between the two sides is imminent.

According to reports from Egypt, Bradley will sign a deal to take over as the country's national team coach early next week.

By FRANCO PANIZO

The Beckham experiment could end up lasting another year. At least the Los Angeles Galaxy are hoping so.

The Galaxy has offered David Beckham a one-year contract extension, which is believed to be worth $8.9 million. The offer is an attempt to keep Beckham with Los Angeles, as his contract is set to expire at the end of the year.

That starting line up...made a lot of sense

One of the major frustrations this season has been the instability in the starting line up. Lately, a lot of the comments on the PSP addressing how it sometimes takes until the second half for Nowak to put out a line up that many would like to see as the starting XI.