THFC1882 brings another new guest writer. Football blogger and Spurs fan (obviously) Anthony Lombardi previews Tottenham Hotspur's visit to Liverpool:

Liverpool v Tottenham: The Fab Four and Beyond.

This Monday Totteham Hotspur faces Liverpool at Anfield in a clash that is set to have far reaching effects across the top of the Premier League.

In our last poll, we asked whether the club needed to sign a striker, winger, attacking midfielder, or holding midfielder in the transfer window to shore up one of the areas of weakness that had become apparent over the course of the 2011-12 season. An overwhelming majority of nearly 70% said that what the club needed more than anything was a striker, while 17% said winger, 8% said attacking midfielder, and only 5% said holding midfielder.

After Liverpool's fantastic achievement in beating Man City over two legs to reach the Carling Cup Final last Wednesday night, thanks to Craig Bellamy's goal.
It is now time to look towards beating the other half of Manchester in the form of the Red side of the City.
Our arch-rivals come to Anfield on Saturday afternoon in the fourth round of the FA Cup with it all to play for.

Yesterday was quite an afternoon of football, with two compelling Cup matches. Turns out there's more today another Copa del Rey quarterfinal second leg, another Coppa Italia quarterfinal, and this just in from our Uruguayan buddy it's time for Copa Libertadores again. Click thru for livesoccertv's TV listings and match previews:

Coppa Italia quarterfinal – Milan vs Lazio - 8:45pm CET / 2:45pmET / 7:45pm GMT (USA: GolTV, ESPN3.

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.

Milan - Lazio 2:30pm - ESPN3.com We normally don't promote online-only options with limited distribution, but if you have access to ESPN3 this is a good alternative on a slow day for live soccer. Milan host Lazio in the quarterfinal stage of the Coppa Italia. Credit soccer tournament creativity, the round of 16 and semifinal stages of the Coppa are single elimination, switching to two-legs for the semifinals, and then back to a single game.

This must be the millionth time I've said this, but I can't say it enough, because this team keeps on giving me reason to. I am so fucking proud of them. I love them so fucking much. This team is just something else. Such pride, such heart, it's unmatchable. After the last Clasico, where we beat them 3-1, I was talking to a fellow Culita about how Barca play these games and win them with their hearts.

This must be the millionth time I've said this, but I can't say it enough, because this team keeps on giving me reason to. I am so fucking proud of them. I love them so fucking much. This team is just something else. Such pride, such heart, it's unmatchable. After the last Clasico, where we beat them 3-1, I was talking to a fellow Culita about how Barca play these games and win them with their hearts.

For the third time in two months, Liverpool and Manchester City square off, this time in the first leg of their League Cup semi-final. Liverpool's trip to the Eastlands last week ended with the visitors on the wrong end of a 0-3 result that saw City concede most of the possession but take the chances they managed to create.

Valencia - Sevilla 4pm - GolTV It's the Copa del Rey in Spain, a tournament most American fans are probably surprised to find on television. Since it's our only option, here's some background. We're in the round of 16 phase, with Valencia beating Cadiz 4-0 and Sevilla beating San Roque 3-1 over two legs to get here.

Despite pronounced support of Luis Suarez in the aftermath of his being found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra, Liverpool will not be appealing the eight-game ban the Uruguayan striker received, the FA announced on Tuesday.

Had Suarez appealed the decision, he could have received a lesser ban, but he also would have been subjected to an increased punishment if the FA had seen it fit to do so.

Crystal Palace are one of two Championship sides that remain in the 2011/12 League Cup. Out of the two Championship sides, Crystal Palace remain to be the team that have performed at a lower level than their Championship counterpart and League Cup semi-final opposition Cardiff City.
In the Championship Cardiff are in 5th position with 38 points, whereas Palace currently reside in 8th position with 33 points.

Another El Clasico is upon us Real Madrid hosts archrivals FC Barcelona at the majestic Santiago Bernabeu for a Saturday night La Liga match (kickoff is at 10pmCET/9pmGMT/4pmEST).

This will be, remarkably, the 7th El Clasico of 2011: there were the four matches packed into 18 days last spring (two meetings in the Champions League semifinal, the Copa del Rey final, and their 2nd La Liga match of the season), plus there were two legs to the preseason Spanish Super Copa.

Pros
So, the first pro is fairly obvious - hilarity. It's always funny to watch United lose, especially in Europe where Fergie's ability to influence referees is less pronounced. The fact that they were served up one of the easiest CL groups I can remember makes it even funnier.

Liverpool at home for FA Cup 3rd Round

LIVERPOOL will begin their 2012 FA Cup campaign with a home match against either Southend United and Oldham Athletic. League Two Southend drew 1-1 at home to Oldham Athletic yesterday, matching their club-record 17 match unbeaten run, and now face a trip to League One Oldham's Boundary Park for the 2nd round replay.

Jamie Carragher is determined to help Liverpool to a first appearance at the new Wembley, but recognises the Carling Cup represents a significant challenge.
A 2-0 win over Chelsea on Tuesday night booked Kenny Dalglish's team a place in the semi-finals, where they could meet Manchester City, Cardiff, or Manchester United, if Sir Alex Ferguson's men overcome Crystal Palace.

By JOEY SAMUEL

The field competing for CONCACAF's spots at the 2012 Summer Olympics is officially set.

Trinidad & Tobago and Cuba each recorded the results they needed Monday night to advance out of Caribbean qualifying and earn the final two spots in the 2012 CONCACAF Pre-Olympic Tournament.

Landon Donovan's goal gave Los Angeles Galaxy their first MLS Cup win since 2005

Los Angeles Galaxy claimed the title of Major League Soccer champions for the third time in their history following Sunday's 1-0 win over Houston Dynamo in the 2011 MLS Cup final. Although the game featured prominently in the headlines before kick-off due to it being David Beckham's last game for the club, the headlines were reserved afterwards for a true American hero in Landon Donovan whose goal late in the game gave Galaxy the cup for the first time since 2005.

Photo: Courtesy MLS Soccer

MLS

LA Galaxy defeated Houston Dynamo 1–0 to win the MLS Cup. Landon Donovan scored the lone goal and was named MVP. Player ratings are here.

All teams must submit their protected list to the league for Tuesday's Expansion Draft by 5pm today.

The league made two big announcements on Sunday, one concerning the shift to a conference-based schedule, the about changes to the playoff format aimed a rewarding those teams with better regular season records.

Tottenham Hotspur right-back Vedran Corluka has dismissed suggestions that vengeance for Croatia's defeat in the Euro 2008 quarterfinal will be the primary motivation as Slaven Bilic prepares to lead his men in the Euro 2012 qualification playoffs against Turkey.

Croatia qualified for that tournament in style almost four years ago, winning an unforgettable encounter at Wembley to prevent England from joining them in Austria and Switzerland.

All but four countries have booked their ticket to next summer's finals in Poland and Ukraine, but the quality among the eight undecided sides have created some intriguing ties, with the prospect of going on a run a la Greece always ever-present.

The play-off's two legs will be played on the 11th and 15th of the coming month, with the following countries paired against each other in the final decisive battles of the qualifying phase.

David Beckham's going out with a bang. He drew the penalty that won the match against New York and delivered the assist on both the other Galaxy goals so far in the playoffs.

The MLS Cup final approaches ever closer, but first there's the small matter of divisional showdowns. Real Salt Lake and Los Angeles duke it out tonight in Los Angeles (9:00 EST, ESPN), after Sporting Kansas City and the Houston Dynamo kick things off in Kansas City (5:30 EST, Fox Soccer Channel).

(Photo: Courtesy of MLSsoccer.com)

Geoff Cameron scored the tying goal for Houston at PPL Park on August 6th. Since then, the Dynamo have only lost twice and have gone undefeated at home. Cameron has moved from the midfield to the back line and rejuvenated the Dynamo defense. The team has not lost with him in the back and they shut out both Dallas and Portland on the road (!

The first two games of the MLS postseason are set for Wednesday and Thursday night, with the new wild card format meaning that for two teams it's win and advance, and for two others it's lose and go home.

New York and Dallas open the MLS playoffs Wednesday night at Pizza Hut Park in a meeting of two teams that had serious title aspirations entering the season.

Yesterday the Colorado Rapids beat the Vancouver Whitecaps 2-1, meaning that if Sporting Kansas City and the Columbus Crew both won, the Philadelphia Union would potentially fall all the way into the third Wild Card spot. Luckily for Philadelphia, only Sporting won, as Columbus fell to the Chicago Fire.

Liverpool FC midfield legend Graeme Souness believes that F.C. Barcelona's Lionel Messi is the greatest footballer in the history of the beautiful game.
In a quite staggering claim, Souness argued that Messi was an even better player than Diego Maradona:
"They [Barcelona] have got some great players but for me, Messi is the best player who's ever played football – and I've played against Maradonna many times.

By JOSE M. ROMERO

The Seattle Sounders have gone unbeaten in Mexico and Central America in CONCACAF Champions League group play this year, and now they are into the quarterfinals of the tournament for the first time in the club's three-year MLS history.

If the start of this season in League One has been notable for one thing, it has been for the under-achievement of those clubs which arguably over-achieved last season. After seven matches, the bottom four of Rochdale, Bournemouth, Leyton Orient and Exeter City are all clubs did extremely well when swimming against the current last season, but all are finding the going to be considerably more difficult this time around.

Wolves v Spurs has thrown up its fair share of classic encounters over the years and for Tottenham, Molineux has generally been a difficult place to travel to. There's often plenty of goals too as last year's 3-3 draw underlines.

When you think of memorable games from the past, two will always come to mind – (for Spurs fans anyway).

Cardiff City supporter Neil Mace lives next door to The Cardiff City Stadium, so the Welsh Premier League isn't something that had previously occurred to him as a good idea. Last weekend, however, he took the plunge and this is what he found out.

As a Cardiff City fan, the Welsh Premier League has previously escaped my interest.

AEK got the result that we needed last night in Georgia,albeit in extra time.Leonardo's 111th minute penalty,after Gudjonsen had been felled in the box,killed off the tie,and with an aggregate scoreline of 2-1 over the two legs,AEK has qualified for the Europa League group stage,which also brings in much needed funds!

This is almost a fact and not an opinion, Barcelona won the Spanish Super Cup by scoring five goals in the two legs. Messi had a direct involvement of only, Five of them.
The winning goal in the second leg was the best of them
but all goals were very interesting to watch, especially the great pass in the second leg to Iniesta.

All the talk has finally finished and while the conjecture over who may or may not be joining Spurs will go on for another couple of weeks, our season finally gets under way at Tynecastle tonight.
While Spurs may be favourites to win over two legs, former Hearts boss and current Spurs coach Joe Jordan says the team will not underestimate their Scottish opponents.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has launched a subtle yet scathing attack on Newcastle United by insisting that their players were not playing to win on the opening day of the Barclays Premier League season.

Wenger, whose side was on the receiving end of several controversial calls during the Gunners' 4-4 draw with the Magpies in February, has accused Newcastle of defensive tactics in yesterday's goalless draw while also implying that midfielder Joey Barton brought additional negativity to the game.

Photo by boldorak2208

Despite the news that La Liga will delay the start of the 2011-12 season due to a strike by the Spanish players' union, soccer fans can still look forward to the 2011 Supercopa Espana which kicks off Sunday, August 14 between La Liga winner Barcelona and Copa del Rey champion Real Madrid.

2010 Copa Sudamericana champions Independiente got the better of 2010 Copa Libertadores winners Internacional de Porto Alegre in the first leg of the Recopa on Wednesday. In the South American equivalent of the Super Cup, there are two legs as opposed to the one-off fixture which is prevalent in Europe.

Being seventeen and relatively football-ignorant is a wonderful thing. We were gearing up for the start of the 08-09 season; and I was jumped by a ephemeral, white- sheathed figure as I walked home from school.

‘Boooooo!' the figure said, rattling its chains, moaning and groaning and sounding not unlike some Arsenal supporters at the Emirates Cup the other weekend.

It seems everyone apart from Arsene Wenger can't see his side need to be bolstered by defenders. In the Premier League, more often that not, teams get found out due to their lack of defensive options but in the Champions League its criminal. Arsenal are a side with a huge amount of attacking presence, but when it comes to the defensive line, they lack leadership, fight and guts.

The Draw of 2014 FIFA World Cup , happened today in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil....
Turkish National team found them self with some though competition!
According to TFF's web site, Turkey's head coach Guus Hidink , assistan coach Oguz Cetin and nd Cuneyt Tanman, TFF Executive Member was at the draw.

{Media Information from the Football Association of Singapore}
The image of the Official Emblem of 2014 World Cup is obtained from the official 2014 World Cup site
SINGAPORE, 31 July 2011: Preliminary Draw for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™
The Preliminary Draw for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ was held in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday 30 July 2011.