In the preview of tomorrow's game I touched on news of a possible return to the line-up for Robinho, and the Mark Hughes has spoken of this possibility:

"He is back training with the group, which is pleasing from everyone's point of view," said Hughes. He is travelling with us and we will make a decision [on his fitness] tomorrow.

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A long and exhausting season comes down to one game. On one side, you have the upstart Real Salt Lake, the club that "shouldn't be here." On the other, the star-studded Galaxy, complete with the world's most recognized footballer in David Beckham.

While MLS may have missed out on a marketing maven's dream match-up of Beckham vs.

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Luca Toni is a man of many off-pitch talents.

Examples, you ask? Well, we have none. We're just assuming he does due to the amount of extracurricular activities he takes part in, like here at the Sixdays Cycling Race in Munich. He brought his best fuchsia jumper along for the occasion.

Previously, we've had the pleasure of watching Luca making pizza, hang out with clowns and circus performers, flog sausages, and pose on scooters for no legitimate reason.

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Luca Toni is a man of many off-pitch talents.

Examples, you ask? Well, we have none. We're just assuming he is due to the amount of extracurricular activities he takes part in, like here at the Sixdays Cycling Race in Munich. He brought his best fuchsia jumper along for the occasion.

Previously, we've had the pleasure of watching Luca making pizza, hang out with clowns and circus performers, flog sausages, and pose on scooters for no legitimate reason.

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Ryan Babel has once again dismissed suggestions he wants to leave Liverpool FC in the summer while reiterating his desperation to regain a regular first-team role and safeguard a World Cup finals berth.
Despite the Anfield outfit's poor start to the season, Babel has made just two starts in the Premier League. Click to continue reading...

Now we start entering the realm of players with playing time. Of guys that may have value to other clubs in trade, and quite possibly seeing the guy that Philadelphia takes in the Expansion Draft later this month. This collection of players are in two sets.

The first set are two USL Sounders, and the second two players are young talents with promise, but who have lacked the playing time to showcase their reputations in competitive matches.

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I hope everyone has seen Zlatan Ibrahimovic's magical assist for Barcelona vs Mallorca this weekend. I saw it live on TV and instinctively applauded. Even though I was alone. Bit odd maybe, but a testament to Zlatan's talents. Chris spotted the above YouTube vid of the clip over at Unprofessional Foul and posted it on Water [. Click to continue reading...

by JOSH My friend posed this question to me on Sunday morning after Cesc moved to the top of our goalscoring charts for this season. Was this just another knee jerk reaction after a sumptuous run of form, or is Fabregas turning the corner from potentially world class, to one of the best midfielders in the world?

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Castillion In the olden days, Feyenoord or Ajax delivered the top guns for Oranje. Moulijn, Swart, Keizer, Van Hanegem, Jansen, Cruyff, Krol... After a while, PSV started to mingle and around the 1980s we saw AZ, FC Twente and other clubs offering up their talents. With Huntelaar out of form, out of Click to continue reading...

I've been a little bit surprised by some of the fan reactions we've seen over the past few days since the announced departure of Tom Soehn as head coach of DC United. The most common sentiment has been "Thanks for your service", which is nice, but maybe not entirely genuine coming from the same people who were writing (and probably chanting at games) "FIRE SOEHN" so frequently in the past.

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The Clock Is Ticking on Rafa's Reign, here are ten ways he can buy himself more time.

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1. Put Yossi Benayoun in First Team Sheet EVEN if we have no injury problems!

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A few years ago Toni Kroos was hailed as the next big thing in German football. He won the best player award at the 2007 U17 World Cup, joined Bayern Munich and was promised the #10 jersey. Far from claiming the shirt he instead commuted between Bayern's bench and the reserves. Meanwhile other next big things popped up, won youth tournaments, first team starting spots and call ups to the German national team.

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When posting the 2009 ADRs earlier this week, I asked what jumped out at you. Well here's some questions that jumped out at me:
1. Is Dejan Jakovic really all that good? The biggest surprise for me on the whole was Jakovic's even 3.00 rating. After winning three Benny Awards, you would have thought his rating would be among the best on the team. Click to continue reading...

An adage in coaching i used to hear often about any manger who's team began to falter after a good season was "He became dumb over night" Referring to a coach or manager who led a side to great results one year but followed it up with disastrous results the following year. Many may be thinking this about Marco Giampaolo who only a few weeks ago received a ringing endorsement from Don Fabio Cappello. Click to continue reading...

Thursday night the Sounders launch the league's second season as the Playoffs in many sports are called, but in this case it might be particularly important. Though Houston and Seattle faced off twice in League play and once in the late rounds of the US Open Cup, the teams have changed quite a bit from where they were in previous meetings.

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Last season he played his part at the heart of an exciting Persitara side. But now Essiah Pello Benson (far right) will be parading his talents in much more humble surroundings. Reports have him signing for IPL side Persiraja in Aceh, at the northern most end of Sumatra. Click to continue reading...

Defeats to Liverpool makes me sick. But looking forward to exciting young talents making their first team debuts helps lift the gloom. The official site reports Gabriel Obertan is expected to start on the left wing against Barnsley tomorrow.

Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed to ManUtd.com on Monday, "He'll play tomorrow against Barnsley, it's a good start for him.

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Antonio Valencia's impact on the team has hardly been spectacular since his £16 million summer move from Wigan. But what a difference a goal can make. Well, two actually, and in back to back games to boot.

Goals breed confidence, and if Valencia is short of a little confidence, his latest performances in a United shirt will go some way to building it up.

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Bryan Robson has been here a week already and he is really loving it. The reception by the fans has been magnificent and he says he can feel a real genuine love of football here at all levels of The Game.
His aim is of course to watch as many players as possible and he enjoyed The Game Muanthong v BEC on Sunday and the BEC v Port Thai Cup finals is the next task. Click to continue reading...

We all know NBA star Steve Nash has some footballing skills, but in this video shot by Phoenix Suns teammate Jared Dudley, we see he also has the ability to meld his talents in the two sports into one trick shot reminiscent of the one Davey Becks made in that Adidas video (though he did it with a football).

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Another away match, another defeat. Overall, in losing to a good Aston Villa side, Chelsea didn't actually put in a bad performance. But errors both in defence and attack, and a worrying lack of leadership from Ancelotti, were enough to get me concerned.
Even in deserved defeat, there were some positives.

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Another away match, another defeat. Overall, in losing to a good Aston Villa side, Chelsea didn't actually put in a bad performance. But errors both in defence and attack, and a worrying lack of leadership from Ancelotti, were enough to get me concerned.
Even in deserved defeat, there were some positives.

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Sir Alex Ferguson reflects on our victory over Bolton.

"It was harder than it should have been, there were a lot of opportunities to finish the game," Ferguson said. "And when that happens, two-goal leads aren't particularly great and of course Bolton scored and then it was back to walls stuff really for that last ten minutes, there was a bit of panic.

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Does anyone know who Adailton is? Or Pablo Counago? And what have they got in common?
Give up? Ok, no need to rush to google: the answer is that they both finished the FIFA U20 World Cup as top scorers (1997 and 1999 respectively) and were considered among the best talents of their generation. Click to continue reading...

Amidst last nights victory saw the albeit brief, but nonetheless significant appearance of Michael Johnson, who was introduced with little over two minutes remaining.
I must confess to being an unabashed Johnson-ite, and have waxed lyrical about his talents throughout his period of absence through injury. Click to continue reading...

Manchester City midfielder Nigel de Jong has revealed that he has considered a career in motor racing.

"I was always into cars as a kid," the Dutchman revealed. "It started with my grandfather. He worked for Ford for 40 years and every two years he would come home with a new car. I used to go to the factory to see the new models when they were coming out.

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Striker Dirk Kuyt believes summer signing Glen Johnson has provided Liverpool with a different emphasis this season.
The England defender, who moved from Portsmouth in the summer, has probably been the Merseysiders' best player so far, scoring twice and providing a much-needed cutting edge from right-back. Click to continue reading...

It's been a tournament that can launch careers and bring players in the spotlight. With less at stake than the full blown World Cup, the U-20 is still a chance to get a look at some of the game's best and brightest talents across the globe. Two years ago, Alexander Pato made a name for himself, while Freddy Adu and Danny Szetela secured European moves on the back of decent performances in Canada.

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I'll be honest: I haven't watched Valencia CF as much as I'd like to this season.
One thing or another in my ‘real' life has kept me from Our Beloved.

So imagine my joy to notice my agenda open this afternoon and Valencia visiting Getafe?

My first full VCF match of the season.

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[It] merely confirms the the long held conviction that, in sport as in many other professions, the largest conceits are driven by the smallest talents.So said Glenn Gibbons in yesterday's Scotsman. On this occasion Glenn was talking about Kris Boyd. But how appropriate his sentiment is for one of Boyd's Old Firm colleagues. Click to continue reading...

Let's start by saying that Roberto Baronio isn't exactly a household name in Italian calcio. The casual fan may not even know who Roberto Baronio is or what position he plays (Baronio is a classic regista that plays in front of the defense and dictates the play. His passing skills are excellent, especially his long passing, and he is good at set pieces).

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Away from the big-name stars who will make their presence felt in this season's Champions League, here are 10 emerging talents to keep tabs on. Click to continue reading...

Brad Friedel showcased his talents in the Birmingham rivalry while Clint Dempsey and Fulham hit Tim Howard for two at Craven Cottage. Click to continue reading...

Source: The GuardianAuthor: Paul HaywardBarcelona won the Champions League with unanswerable majesty, but as if to make it more interesting this time round, Pep Guardiola, the all-conquering rookie coach, has exchanged the speed and directness of Samuel Eto'o for the more static and egocentric talents of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Click to continue reading...

A brilliant, innovative and genuinely exciting arts project has hit Southend.
The former water works building on North Road has been completely transformed into a huge space for emerging artists to work and display their talents.
CoExist Arts run by Emma Emmerton and Amy McKenny is a fairly new project, founded in 2008. Click to continue reading...