The big news ahead of this evening's game is that Jermain Defoe and Aaron Lennon are back in contention and with Rafael van der Vaart ruled out, both could play from the start.

"Jermain has trained okay in the last couple of days and Aaron Lennon as well, he's coming back, he's looked sharp," said Harry on Friday.

In one of the biggest upsets in the history of the U.S. Men's National Team, the USA beat Brazil 1-0 on Feb. 11, 1998, in the semifinal of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. That game was the first U.S. win against the South American side, and today it remains the only time in 16 matches the U.S. has emerged victorious.

1. OTP proposes that to avoid the controversy and time delays of getting a couple of penalties every week, Manchester United should start all matches with a two-goal headstart. 2. Feed the Ox and he will score. 3. Aston Villa will be looking at the fixture list this morning and hoping that they having got [.

We'd hazard a guess that some Newcastle fans are having second thoughts about James Perch. James Perch in action against Tottenham earlier this season In the last two games James has been one of Newcastle's best players, and he literally changed the game in the second half on Wednesday night at Blackburn Rovers, when he allowed Newcastle to get a grip in central [.

Alan Pardew has always supported James Perch, since the Londoner came to the club in December of 2010. James Perch played well in the last two games And it's also true that James has struggled on Tyneside since he arrived from Nottingham Forest in the summer of 2010, and we though Alan liked James because he was the [.

Novara - Chievo 2:30pm - Fox Soccer A chance to see Michael Bradley in action, with 12th-place Chievo traveling to bottom club Novara. In 20th-place, Novara have won two games this season, both at home including a shock result against Inter Milan on September 20th. Chievo and Novara met on the opening day of the season, drawing 2-2.

You're looking at Munich's Olympiastadion, which will be the host to the Women's European Champions League Finale on May 17! The Olympiastadion was built for 1972 Olympics and it also hosted the 1974 FIFA World Cup Final. You may not recognize it because none of the games from the 2006 World Cup tournament were played there.

Just eight games remain in this regular season and time is running out for Melbourne Victory. Actually, its felt like a race against time all along as we continue to wait for that elusive turning point. Well, its now or never as this week is set to be the most crucial yet. Two games

We've got to post a quick recap of what we watched this past weekend but first, very briefly, here are two games today that you could tune in for, in case you're looking for something to watch this afternoon/evening (depending on your timezone):

African Cup of Nations, Côte d'Ivoire vs Angola (1pmET, Al-Jazeera Sports / Eurosport International): The group stage of AfCON2012 wraps up over the next couple days.

With the January camp behind us we take a look at the 21 players on the roster and give you our winners, losers, and those that maintained the status quo.

Forwards

Agudelo, Juan
Agudelo injured his right ankle during a scrimmage on Jan 13 and is expected to miss 3-4 weeks.

Six of the seven matches to be played this MISL season between the Milwaukee Wave and the Wichita Wings are now done and dusted. The first five games were played with real fervor and desire to win from both clubs. It wasn't until game six this past Thursday, that both teams had seen enough of each other.

For the full quote sheet, click here:
U.S. Men's National Team head coach JURGEN KLINSMANN On the game against Panama:
"I think we saw a very close game, a very tight game which we luckily won because Panama didn't finish off the chances that they had.

The Indoor Soccer News Weekly MISL Power Rankings are sponsored by:
By Joel Greenwaldt
@JoelGreenwaldt (Twitter)
Each week during the season I'll post an updated MISL Power Ranking which will be based off the cumulative results and current strength of each team.

Get In Bellers!...Liverpool booked their place in the League Cup final at Wembley on Wednesday night after beating Manchester City 3-2 on aggregate. It was a fantastic tie for the neutral as City took the lead twice at a boisterous Anfield but the home side were the better team over the two legs and Craig Bellamy's 73rd minute goal made sure the Reds would be fighting for some silverware next month.

The US Women did it again last night, defeating a Mexican squad that actually gave them a run for their money. Don't let the 4-0 score fool you; the USWNT got lucky with two quick goals in the 7th and 8th minutes. That was it for the first half. Despite the strong will of Mexico, it wasn't enough to stop the US who scored two more goals in the second half, winning Group B with all nine points.

The next US women's international game is set to start in the next few minutes, and it's not a friendly. The team is playing for it's right to play in win the London Olympics. The concacaf playoffs for that opportunity have been anything but competitive, but this game looks to be promising.

The U-23 Men's National Team wrapped up their January training camp with a scrimmage today against Alajuelense of Costa Rica.
Caleb Porter's squad has been in Central American since last week as they continue to prepare for Olympic Qualifying in March. A big part of that preparation as been acclimating themselves to the rhythm of a qualifying tournament and that's where this trip has come in: playing two games in four days is just the type of schedule the team will face when they take the field in Nashville for the group stage of the competition.

The January friendlies are usually for the hardest of die hards. Being held outside of a FIFA sanctioned window means that player pool is reduced for both sides, and tonight's game isn't against the highest profile of opponents. Venezuela is decent, currently ranked 31st and slightly ahead of the United States by ESPN's Soccer Power Index.

On the back of two games where Arsenal have lost after taking the lead, and with hardly any positive news on the injury front, a game against Manchester United is the last thing many would want. But that's the game on the fixture list and the Gunners will just have to do as best as they can with diminished resources and wavering confidence.

Nearly four years ago Jamal Gay was a part of a stunning loss for the New England Revolution as his side Joe Public FC (Trinidad & Tobago) crushed the Revs 6-1 on aggregate in a CONCACAF Champion's League qualifier. Gay, who was just 19-years old at the time, scored Joe Public's winning goal in its 2-1 home leg victory.

Delving into the Manchester City forums, I was surprised to find a thread entitled "Would you take a point on Sunday?" Going into it, the overwhelming response is that the question is retarded and that they should be taking three points, not settling for one. But I take solace in the fact that there is a small percentage of Citeh fans who are genuinely worried about Spurs coming to town.

Arsene Wenger is very clear that Arsenal must stop the defensive errors that have lost the Gunners their last two games against Fulham and Swansea if they are to stand a chance of beating Man Utd this weekend. Wenger explained that he believed that the defence had improved and was surprised at the relapses.

By: Peter Espinosa
Thirteen hours is the time it takes for the bus to leave Hartman Arena on its way to US Cellular Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Wings have made three of their scheduled four trips to play the Milwaukee Wave this season and before they venture into the champions house again, the Wave will play in Wichita three times in one week.

Thursday morning marks the beginning of training camp for the Seattle Sounders. Training camp is the MLS version of musical chairs. While the music is playing every one at the party gets to play. But once the music stops, some of these men are going to find themselves without a seat. The current roster of 28 players will be augmented in camp by 7 draftees and a collection of trialists.

Suffering from two straight premier league defeats, Arsenal are eying to stop that negative trend when they're facing Manchester United this weekend as picking up another defeat would be bad for their morale.

This target is being set up by the Gunners' coach, Arsene Wenger, who insisted that his players must give their best this weekend and grab all three points against the Red Devils especially after the disappointment in their previous meeting this season.

The Rapids had two picks in today's 4 round Supplemental Draft, in the 3rd and 4th rounds. In the 3rd round they picked Kohei Yamada, a Japanese midfielder who was an international invitee to this year's MLS Combine. He was considered one of the standouts of the first combine game but his play faded in the other two games.

MISL NEWS RELEASE: Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Norfolk's Lieberman Named Player of the Week
Recorded a pair of victories, including 38-save performance against Syracuse
TAMPA, Fla. – The Major Indoor Soccer League announced on Tuesday that Norfolk SharX goalkeeper Jamie Lieberman had been named the league's Player of the Week for the 11th week of the 2011-12 season.

Another daft name for a football club but then I'm English and what do I know? ATM, Angkata Tentara Malaysia, are the initials of Malaysia's armed forces and ATM, not a machine that dispenses cash, is their football club.
They went into the season flush with cash signing big names including striker Marlon Alex James who was so inspirational with Kedah when they won back to back trebles a few years back.

Joe Corona appears destined for a big 2012 as he continues to contribute for Club Tijuana while becoming a bigger part of the U.S. national team set-up. All of that is on the heels of what was just recognized as a pretty sharp 2011.

The 21-year-old Corona won the Golden Ball as Mexico's top rookie, beating out finalists Alfonso Luna (Atlante), Armando Zamorano (Jaguares) and Hector Herrera (Pachuca) to take home the award.

Having already knocked out Villarreal and Real Racing Club in this years Copa del Rey, Mirandés, are bow looking to knockoff another of La Liga's big names, Espanyol, in the quarter-finals.

The Spanish third division side are currently enjoying the experience of a lifetime – playing and beating the elite.

I'm back (kind of)! For those who used to visit The Offside but haven't in a while, welcome back. For those who have never visited before, welcome. As Cesar mentioned in the previous post, it's sad that I closed down Loco4LosChe, but I'm very excited to be a part of The Offside team now, as I think it better suits me at this time in my life to write one to two articles a week instead of daily news updates.

After scoring the winner against Leeds a week ago, many Arsenal fans expected their legendary club icon Thierry Henry to carry on where he left off against Swansea yesterday.

However, a controversial goal in the 16th minute from Scott sinclair brought the home side level on one goal apiece after Robin Van Persie had netted in the 5th minute.

Swansea 3 (Sinclair pen 16, Dyer 57, Graham 70) Arsenal 2 (Van Persie 5, Walcott 69)
(Premiership)

Two weeks ago, the Arsenal fanbase was pretty content. A win over QPR had lifted us back amongst the top four at the turn of the year, a remarkable turnaround given the position we were in after seven games.

Fantastic the football on the weekend.
Tucked into two games. Victory and Adelaide and Brisbane v Sydney.
What treats.
Harry Kewell turned back the clock with a wonderful performance, again. If Archie or Danny could have finished one or two of their Harry inspired chances Victory would have won.

After an amazing cup tie and a full week off it's time to return to the real business of Premiership football with a visit to The Liberty Stadium to take on Swansea.

Swansea Town was founded in 1912 and changed it's name to Swansea City in recognition of the town being granted City status in 1969.

There's nothing like thinking big and having dreams for the future, and our 19 year-old top youngster Mehdi Abeid wants to become a top player at Newcastle. Mehdi Abeid - could blossom on Tyneside And if the two games he has played for the Newcastle first team so far are anything to go by, at Nottingham Forest in the Carling Cup and last Saturday against Blackburn Rovers [.

A.J. DeLaGarza enters his second consecutive January camp with seasoning and success under his belt, and with a new coach at the helm comes a new opportunity to represent the United States. The diminutive centerback will be looking to take advantage of his three weeks training as he seeks his first cap with the full National Team.

Patrice Evra is one of a select few foreign players who genuinely seems to get what this club is all about. Whilst Eric Cantona and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will forever be remembered as United legends, I struggle to think of any player who speaks as eloquently about United as Evra does.

Following back to back defeats in the league before an important win over Manchester City in the FA Cup, Evra has claimed that because of the history of this club, we never give up.

Richard Branston is the owner of Newcastle's new shirt sponsors, Virgin Money. Richard Branston he plays on the left wing apparently And with those shirts Newcastle have won their last two games at St. James' Park beating Manchester United 3-0 in the league for the first time in over 10 years, and then Blackburn Rovers 1-0 [.

In the realm of sport, there is a constant observance of the two games, football and soccer. Seemingly, these two games repeatedly are seen as total opposites of each other. One played with feet, one with hands. One demands constant replays and call reviews, while one cherishes the controversial decisions in the heat of the [.