1. Raphael Varane (Real Madrid) If you hadn't heard of Raphael Varane before the double El Clasico and the Champions League tie against Manchester United then no doubt you seriously took note of his performance. Aged just 19, he looks so incredibly comfortable yet so unbelievably reassuring in defence at one of the greatest clubs [.
Luka Modric has signed a five year contract with Real Madrid and has been paraded in his new
number a 19 shirt.
"It took too long but I'm honoured and proud to be here at best and biggest club in the world,"
said Modric. "I'm very happy, honoured and proud to be at the biggest and best club in the
world.
The University of Mary Washington women's soccer team used the strength of two second half goals in
defeating Catholic University, 2-0, on Saturday at the Battleground. The Eagles improve to 3-0 on
the season.
After a scoreless first half, UMW scored at 47:54 on a penalty kick from freshman Adrian Newcomb.
After just three games, Andre Villas-Boas finds himself under fire from parts of the media and
this is only to be expected given the man's history in English football. However, how much of this
criticism is coming from the fans and is it justified if some of us are a little impatient right
now?
Another big weekend in Mexico, filled with great games, surprises, and some teams further
separating themselves from the rest. After 7 weeks, Toluca (17 points) sits atop the table,
followed by Club Tijuana (16), Leon (13), Cruz Azul (13), Morelia (12), Atlante (12), Santos (11),
and America (10).
So far Arsenal have failed to score in only two thirds of our Premier League games this
season.
That would be wrist-slitting form if it was now late November but it's less alarming when you
take into account that we have played only three games and that we remain unbeaten.
Nevertheless, after scoreless draws against Sunderland and Stoke the media weren't the only ones
asking whether finding the back of the net would be our biggest challenge this year.
Due to the fact that for the close of the transfer window we had a game following up a few short
days later, we didn't get much of a chance to have a good look at what Arsenal achieved during the
window. Sure, at the moment the team is looking pretty solid defensively, and that just goes to
show that the key to success does not revolve around signing expensive, world-class players
whenever we lose some games.
Injuries form a brutal reality of football that every player hopes to avoid as much as possible
but for Arsenal's Abou Diaby, a background plagued by injuries is now only powering a redemption
mission.
The 26-year old Diaby has featured minimally for the Gunners over the last two seasons and
recently admitted that an extended period on the sidelines sometimes led him to the shocking lows
of depression.
Well, three games into the season and still not a single goal. Not a single goal conceded that
is! For the third straight game Arsenal has held its opponent goalless. At this point last season,
we had conceded ten I believe. Okay, so maybe we don't really need Alex Song in the midfield. I
must say, I was impressed by how solid the team looked against what should have been a tougher
opponent in Liverpool.
1) If we insist - rightly - on giving new signings a chance, then it's pretty inconsistent to jump
to extensive conclusions too quickly. Have Arsenal looked better defensively in the first three
games of the season? Yeah, absolutely.
But to argue that this mean we now have the best defence in the League is not so much over-egging
the point as scrambling it (if you'll forgive the terrible metaphor).
One of the few negatives for Arsenal in yesterday's victory over Liverpool came from Olivier
Giroud. Despite getting in to good positions and working hard, the French international striker has
so far failed to open his goal scoring account at the Emirates. He has had a decent chance in all
three games so far and [.
The BOULD effect at Arsenal by TS Three games, two draws, one victory, two goals but most
importantly, no goals conceded. Early in the season to be talking about defensive stats but being
the only team in all four divisions not to have conceded, it goes without say that something is
going right. The pessimists [.
A determined counter-attacking Arsenal side produced occasional flashes of brilliance to steal
three points at Anfield and extend their run of not having conceded a goal this season to three
games.
Liverpool 0-2 Arsenal Premier League 2nd September 2012
Three games played and three clean sheets will no doubt please Arsenal coach Steve Bould, as the
Gunners once again produced a disciplined and defensively solid performance against Liverpool, this
time with added goals too.
Friday night, things didn't go as well as had been hoped. A trip to "The Office," officially known
as National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica, spelled a 2-1 loss for the U.S. Men's National Team. With
three games played in Group ...
Visit http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com for the rest of the story.
It was a pretty good weekend for the Marquette, UW-Milwaukee and UW-Green Bay men's soccer
teams, with five wins and just one loss among the sides.
The Golden Eagles remained unbeaten, while the Panthers extended their winning streak to three
games and won their own tournament. The Phoenix, meanwhile, had a thrilling double-overtime victory
on Friday night, but lost a key player to injury and settled for their second straight 1-1-0
weekend after losing Sunday.
For the first time this season, the University of Wisconsin men's soccer team didn't play from
behind Sunday afternoon.
Junior Chris Prince gave the Badgers the lead with a 76th-minute penalty kick,
but Portland equalized in the 85th and the teams played to a 1-1 tie in the finale of the
Portland/Nike Invitational.
The Interlull is well and truly upon us. The first games take place tomorrow but the lullishness
hangs over us like we were a chip pan fire and it were a kind of urine soaked tea-towel. No, I
don't know what I mean either.
This time last year, this very day in fact, we were fretting over Thomas Vermaelen who had just
undergone surgery on his Achilles.
Liverpool was condemned to their worst start to a season for half-a-century as Lukas Podolski and
Santi Cazorla gave Arsenal victory at Anfield.
On what would have been Bill Shankly's 99th birthday, the Reds equalled the record of his
newly-promoted side in 1962-63 by collecting just one point from their opening three games.
Three games into the Premier League season, the distinctive sound of burning pitchforks is in
the air. Without a win from the six matches that they have played between them, both Andre Villa
Boas and Brendan Rodgers are already being cast into a familiar mould that of the hapless
managerial failure.
Speaking after the game on Saturday, Alan Pardew was quick to lavish praise on Eden Hazard and
believes that he is bringing Torres back for form and has given Chelsea an extra dimension compared
to last season. He said:
"You can see why so many top clubs were chasing Hazard and he has certainly given
Chelsea an extra dimension in the first few games of this season.
The highlight of the season so far for Newcastle is the form of Hatem Ben Arfa, our FrenchÂ
International midfielder, and if some of our other top players had shown the same form,  we could
have had 9 points from our first three games rather than just four. Ben Arfa - what a goal on
Sunday [...]
All Premier League games are important and are Newcastle's number one priority this season, but
the game against Aston Villa this afternoon at St. James' Park is especially important, and that's
because of at least two reasons. One is that a win would give us 6 points from our first three
games of the season and that would [.
It may be just three games into the new Premier League season - and plenty of players and teams
have failed badly after a bright start in the past - but Chelsea finally look the real deal again
and appear to have landed a future world star in Eden Hazard.
The Blues made it three wins out of three with a comfortable 2-0 success over Newcastle and the
European champions' impressive start bodes well for not only a sustainable top-four challenge this
season (bearing in mind last term's disappointing sixth-place finish) but also an all-out assault
on the title.
It's a big game this Thursday night in the Europa League against Greek side Atromitos, and also on
Sunday afternoon at St. James' Park against Aston Villa, and with so many top teams dropping
points in their first two league games, a Newcastle win would see us with 6 points from our three
games, and well positioned [.
It's a big game this Thursday night in the Europa League against Greek side Atromitos, and also on
Sunday afternoon at St. James' Park against Aston Villa, and with so many top teams dropping
points in their first two league games, a Newcastle win would see us with 6 points from our three
games, and well positioned [.
The San Jose Earthquakes just keep on winning and Chivas USA just keeps on bleeding goals and
squandering chances to get into the Western Conference playoff race.
In a result that should have been inevitable considering the form of the Earthquakes attack and
the sad state of the Chivas USA defense, the Earthquakes rolled to a 4-0 victory at Buck Shaw
Stadium on Sunday night.
Shalrie Joseph made himself feel quite at home at Gillette Stadium Wednesday night.
In his return to the place he called home since 2003 until a trade sent him across the country
to Chivas USA, Joseph scored two goals to spark a three-goal comeback and help the Goats salvage a
3-3 draw against the Revolution to keep their faint playoff hopes alive.
Hey there and welcome to the New England Revolution vs. Chivas USA live game thread! Let's get
down to the nitty gritty here: this is a match that even the struggling Revolution should win.
Chivas can't score - like, literally can't buy a bucket - and in the last three games
they've conceded a whopping eleven goals.
Yep, Hugo Lloris has left for Tottenham. I couldn't help going back three years in time when a
friend said Lyon is better than Tottenham. "Tottenham?!", I cried, "Why would you even mention the
two teams in the same sentence?
Joe Gyau's quest for first-team playing time may involve a drop down to the 2. Bundesliga.
According to second-division German side St. Pauli, Gyau trained with the club Tuesday ahead of
a potential move from TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. It is unclear whether that move would be a loan or
permanent, but either way it would provide Gyau for a chance at first-team minutes that he is not
receiving at Hoffenheim.
After they both enjoyed SPL wins last Saturday the week rather diverged for Celtic and Hibs.
Celtic progressed to the Champions League group stage, that promised land where the streets are
paved with gold and the couches upholstered with £50 notes.
24 hours earlier Hibs were dumped out of the League Cup by Queen of the South in a display that
seems to have flitted between pathetic and miserable.
Via US Soccer Despite dropping its final Group D match in the 2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup
with a 3-0 loss to defending champion Germany, the U.S. U-20 Women's National Team advanced to the
quarterfinals of the tournament. Video highlights can be seen below.
In Monday's other Group D match, China PR defeated Ghana 1-0 to finish the group stage with four
points alongside the USA.
Well, it only took a week longer than I had expected. The NASL playoff picture became a little
clearer this week, as the Rowdies and Islanders both clinched a playoff spot. The Islanders even
managed to do it while playing completely terrible this week, which I'm told, is not something
that's easy to do.
Late in the Portland Timbers' match at Toronto FC, Darlington Nagbe, playing on the right wing
in place of subbed-out Sal Zizzo, saw the chance to do something he hadn't done in five months. He
snuck in behind the Toronto defense and got himself on the end of a perfectly chipped cross from
Steven Smith.
Three games into the new season, and Liverpool is already in a state. It's hardly a shocking
revelation. In fact it'll be easier to reflect over the past few years and pinpoint a time when
they were not in crisis. ...
This is a content summary. Visit http://www.epltalk.com to read the entire article
Don't look now but here come the Columbus Crew. (Getty Images)
Major League Soccer rolls into the Labor Day weekend here. Yeah, September is here folks, crazy
huh? Nine games are spread out across three days for the holiday weekend.
Last night got Week 26 off to a very fast and crazy start.
Stamford Chidge is joined by ChelTel, the Celery Terrorist, Ross, Pablo, Dazza, Lauren and ‘the
Benches' to discuss Chelsea's wins against Reading and Newcastle, Eden Hazard, Fannies
robanos...and Muffins!
Chelsea came back from 2-1 down to beat a determined Reading side 4-2 in mid-week, and then turned
on the ‘new' style on Saturday to lead Newcastle 2-0 before going in to cruise control for the
second half.
Osvaldo Alonso's lasting memory of the 2012 U.S. Open Cup may not be a great one, but he can at
least take solace in being named the "Player of the Tournament" by theCup.US. Alonso was one of
three Seattle Sounders players not to convert his attempt in the decisive penalty shootout, but he
was undeniably a major reason they were even there to begin with.
Three games, three shutouts for the University of Wisconsin women's soccer team.
Senior goalkeepers Lauren Gunderson (Middleton) and Olivia
Hoff (Whitefish Bay) posted their second straight combined clean sheet and four players
scored for the 20th-ranked Badgers in a 4-0 victory over Loyola (Ill.
