Official D.C. United Press Release:
D.C. United acquires forward Hamdi Salihi as Designated Player
28-year old Albanian international has scored 163 goals in 289 professional matches
Washington, D.C. (February 2, 2012) – D.C. United announced today the club has signed 28-year old forward Hamdi Salihi as a Designated Player.

Avram Grant takes over at Serbian champions Partizan

Avram Grant has taken many pundits by surprise by joining Serbian champions Partizan Belgrade as coach from today.

With fifteen games played so far this season in the Jelen SuperLiga, Partizan have a ten point lead over arch rivals Crvena Zvezda and already look set to continue their recent dominance by winning a fifth consecutive title.

Avram Grant takes over at Serbian champions Partizan

Avram Grant has taken many pundits by surprise by joining Serbian champions Partizan Belgrade as coach from today.

With fifteen games played so far this season in the Jelen SuperLiga, Partizan have a ten point lead over arch rivals Crvena Zvezda and already look set to continue their recent dominance by winning a fifth consecutive title.

Photo by Jose L. Argueta/ISIphotos.com

Two American strikers are drumming up some transfer buzz in Denmark.

According to multiple reports out of the country, Danish Superliga club AGF Aarhus is looking at Charlie Davies and Chris Wondolowski as potential targets during the transfer window, which opens Thursday and lasts through the end of the month.

Wow, they are happy Thierry Henry's leaving on loan
Mere hours from now, Dick Clark will descend on Manhattan's Times Square riding a fully armed crystal ball where he will fight an army of Mayan warriors bent on destroying the world. Or something to that effect. 　
Yes, 2012 is upon us and while many fear that it is the year that marks the end of civilization, most TFC supporters just hope that it is the year that marks the end of futility.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice from the penalty spot against Atletico

Real Madrid (Played 13, Points 34) took the initiative in the Spanish league last night as a 4-1 derby success at home to local rivals Atlético de Madrid was sweetened by a defeat to champions FC Barcelona whose 1-0 defeat to Getafe saw them go six points behind los Blancos at the top of the table.

Jay Heaps is set to be named the Revs 6th head coach, according to reports. (Photo by Art Donahue/artdonahue.com)

According to the Boston Globe, Massachusetts native and former New England Revolution defender Jay Heaps is set to be named the Revolution's sixth head coach on Tuesday. Heaps, who in 2009 retired from playing after 11 years in Major League Soccer, his final nine with the Revs, will replace Steve Nicol who was relieved of his coaching duties after New England missed out on the postseason for the second consecutive season this year.

Here's a little non-Sounders content that piqued my curiosity. Thanks to two consecutive wins by the Vancouver Whitecaps, for the first time in a very long time they're no longer at the bottom of the MLS table. Instead they've leapfrogged the New England Revolution, who are suffering what is probably the worst season in their occasionally proud history.

Seattle lifted their third straight USOC last night, others should take note. (Photo via Seattle Sounders Communications)

First off, congratulations to the Seattle Sounders FC on their third straight US Open Cup title. Its a feat that has to be commended since three-peats in sports happen so rarely anymore.

Image Credits: BT.dk, Sporten.dk.

Rate or slate Mr Thygesen, Kickettes, using the following key points as consideration:

The Good: His shaved head, strong square jawline and chiseled abdominals. He fills our Danish quotient now that Nicklas Bendtner has slowed his role.

The Danish Superliga, wonderfully noncompetitive though it may be, is not quite the Champions League final. That said, Soren Berg's goal itself is no less spectacular than Zizou's swinging peg against Leverkusen some years back.

Though it doesn't have quite the same grace. That Zizou was something else.

After managing to win three straight games in all competitions and whipping the Fire faithful into a state of mild delirium, the Men in Red went right back to their old ways in dropping a 2-0 away contest to an underwhelming San Jose Earthquakes side. The loss has basically shut the window on any hopes of an appearance in the 2011 MLS playoffs (How many times have we said that this year already?

Two seasons ago Fulham had to wait until the knockout stages before facing any Champions League rejects, slaying the likes of Juventus and Wolfsburg before ultimately faltering to Atlético Madrid in the final.

This season, our group is chock-full of them.

GROUP K
Fulham
FC Twente (NED)
Odense (DEN)
Wisła Kraków (POL)

Boy, lots of red, white, and blue in these badges.

Chris McClintick returns (Are you getting college credit for these features yet, Chris?) to TSG with a feature on Borussia Mönchengladbach (or as we affectionately call them around here "Bo'Munchen) minus one Michael Bradley.

Favre's Foals.

Stefán Gíslason, a new Timbers trialist

Michael Orr, of Mao's Football Show, has confirmed that Icelandic international defensive midfielder, Stefán Gíslason is on trial with the Timbers this morning.

According to his wikipedia page, the Icelander spent most of his time with Brondby of the Danish Superliga.

En un dia en el cual casi nadie pudo ver el partido en vivo en México por ser un juego de transmisión pago por evento, muchos se perdieron de un juego lleno de bronca y polemica de principio a fin.
En resumen los goles del Real Madrid son circunstanciales y los del Barcelona de una manufactura excelsa en las tres ocasiones que el balón beso las redes.

Danish side Odense stunned Villareal in to-nights Champions League qualifier 1st leg, when Hans Henrik Andreason scored the winner 6 minutes from time at TRE-FOR Park.

Odense were founded in 1887 and were making their Champions League debut having finished second in the Danish Superliga 26 points behind FC Copenhagen last season.

Chris Rolfe and Aalborg have their eye on a jump into the Superliga's top two spots when they host Odense and Conor O'Brien will look to help SonderjyskE earn a result on their trip to Clarence Goodson's Brondby.

A busy weekend of Danish Superliga action saw Conor O'Brien make his SonderjyskE debut and Michael Parkhurst play 90 minutes to help Nordsjaelland earn their first win of the season.

Welcome to the New England Revolution vs. Chivas USA live game thread! Tonight's match features a Revolution squad that could possibly be described as resurgent given their recent string of positive road results. They face a Chivas USA squad that, although inconsistent this season, has had the Revs' number in recent years, including a 3-0 result at the Home Depot Center in April.

Finally cleared to begin his first season in Denmark's Superliga, Conor O'Brien is confident he and his new SonderjyskE teammates have the talent and discipline to compete at Denmark's highest level.

The Danish Superliga begins its 2011-12 season, as both Conor O'Brien and Brad Rusin look for their top-flight debuts and Clarence Goodson tries to help Brondby challenge for highest honors.

STARTERS
Jozy Altidore on Twitter today: "To all my amazing fans, I have indeed agreed to terms to join AZ In holland! Thanks for all the love and the hate it's all making me better!"
-The Technical Director of AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands in none other than former USA national team great Earnie Stewart.

F.C. Copenhagen (also known as F.C. København or FCK) is a Danish a soccer club based in Copenhagen. The club plays in the Danish Superliga and is one of the most successful clubs in Danish football with nine league championships including the 2010/11 title. The club made the Round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League last [.

The NSC Minnesota Stars may have put a temporary damper on things for the Carolina RailHawks Saturday evening with a 1-0 victory over the streaking team who had gone 13 games without a loss and were sitting on 10 straight wins. But with the streak behind them Carolina's head coach Martin Rennie was still able to conjure up a slight smile after the game as he spoke about his team and its record, not only on the field but off the field by moving players along to Europe and MLS.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

It's no secret that Carolina has been far and away the best team in the NASL this season and, somewhat unfortunately for the Railhawks, teams across the Atlantic Ocean are starting to take notice.

Carolina captain Brad Rusin left the club abruptly earlier this week to sign a three-year contract with Denmark Superliga side HB Køge.

Another week, another player rumored to be transferring to the Seattle Sounders. This time, it's Ghana's Prince Tagoe, who was actually quoted in a Ghanian newspaper as saying he's been offered $200,000 a week (that's the equivalent of $10 million a year) to don the Rave Green (H/T to MLS-Rumors for finding this).

Welcome to the New England Revolution vs. Chicago Fire live game thread! Tonight will be the Revs' third match in seven days and their second straight at home before a cross-country trip to Qwest Field next weekend. The Revolution targeted six points from this home stand but will need a win here to salvage four over that two-game span.

By FRANCO PANIZO

The Philadelphia Union bolstered its attacking options with the signing of Serbian forward Veljko Paunovic on Monday.

Paunovic joins the Union having previously played for Partizan FK of the Serbian SuperLiga and in Spain's La Liga.

Veljko Paunovic has been signed by the Philadelphia Union, according to the website The Mata-dor Confidential.

The 33-year-old Serbian striker was on trial with the Union last week, when he played with the Union's reserve team. Paunovic did not particularly impress onlookers at the Reserve League game against DC United, though his play wasn't poor.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

U.S. national team centerback Clarence Goodson is going to be entering the Gold Cup on a good run of form.

Goodson scored his second goal of the season for Danish outfit Brondby, heading home a corner kick in the early moments of his club's 1-1 draw with FC Nordsjaelland on Wednesday.

The Philadelphia Union have brought in former Serbian international striker Veljko Paunovic on trial. In a rare show of transparency, the Union openly announced the name of the 34-year-old at today's Reserve League match against DC United, the first time during the 2011 season that head coach Piotr Nowak has let one of his possible discovery claims be known to the public.

Estávamos no início da época de 2009/10 quando o Sporting da Covilhã apresentou dois jovens emprestados pelo Sporting de Braga: o guarda-redes Diego e o extremo Pizzi. Pouco mais se sabia que tinham jogado no Ribeirão, também por empréstimo do clube bracarense. Na pré-época, o jovem franzino com nome de avançado argentino começou a dar nas vistas pela sua velocidade, capacidade de drible e técnica.

If you do not follow the Danish Superliga what is wrong with you? then you may not know of the nature of the league: "league" is a liberal use of the term. It's basically FC Kobenhavn (Copenhagen whichever) and then everyone else scrapping for second makes La Liga look the picture of widespread parity.

Photo by Howard C. Smith/ISIphotos.com

United States national team centerback Clarence Goodson made his return to Brondby's starting lineup Thursday and scored in the club's 3-0 win over Esbjerg.

Goodson, who made an appearance as a substitute last week, started for the first time since breaking his toe and scored on a header off a corner kick just before halftime to put Brondby out front.

The New England Revolution are set to take on newly-minted Eastern Conference rivals Houston Dynamo at Robertson Stadium this evening. Neither team is a huge fan of the other and their clashes tend to be chippy and contentious affairs.

The key for the Revs today is going to be setting the tempo early and containing Brad Davis.

Il Porto è campione della superliga portoghese 2010-2011. La vittoria di misura ( 2 a 1 ) allo stadio Da Luz di Lisbona, sugli eterni rivali del Benfica, nella venticinquesima giornata del torneo lusitano, ha sancito un titolo gi nell'aria da molto tempo; lo squadrone di Andrè Villas Boas non ha infatti ancora perso una [.

New England Revolution team sources confirmed that Danish international striker Radivoje "Rajko" Lekic began a two-day trial with the club today. Steve Nicol and the player personnel team in Foxboro have apparently been keeping tabs on Lekic for some time now. He currently plies his trade at Danish Superliga club Silkeborg IF.

Originally posted July 31, 2009
Professional Soccer provides a uniqueness that no other professional team sport in the U.S. offers. It has multiple championships. Though, the Superliga does not seem to have the staying power, the CONCACAF Champions League and U.S. Open Cup appear to be gaining more strength each year.

Originally posted July 22, 2009
The Summer of Soccer continues to open eyes. Sports fans are taking a second look and new fans are getting hooked. This period of time has undoubtedly been Soccer's most historic in the U.S. But are sports fans getting confused and could this confusion be counter-productive?