You could be looking at the Annual Congregation of Munich's Santa Clauses, except this photo would've been only complete if Mario Gomez joined the bench instead of looking down at them! During Bayern's 1-1 draw against Hamburg over the weekend, there was a lot of frustration and anger from all corners of the club.

If you've paid any attention to the Bayern Munich news bits over the past years, you'll know that they've got some characters running the show. Thus their public persona isn't exactly seen as the cuddly teddy bear, smiled-at-least-once-in-their-lives types. So to hear that they gave Borussia Dortmund, a direct competitor, a loan which saved them from bankruptcy in 2003 is just.

Putting footballing rivalries aside for the benefit of the greater good isn't something that happens too often, but if it's happened anywhere, it's not surprising that it would be in the Bundesliga. Praised as "a model of financial virtue and good governance," the league has rejected gluttonous spending in favor of actually turning a profit.

Mario Gomez with girlfriend, Silvia Meichel. Images: Sky Germany.

Last Friday, the Bayern Munich 'ballers of past and present turned up to celebrate club legend Uli Hoeness' 60th birthday at an open bar party. Present were Mario Gomez and his girlfriend, Silvia Meichel. Isn't she just a breath of fresh-faced, normal air, Kickettes?

STARTERS
Two big MLS player moves are on the front burner today:
-Philly to sell Sebastien Le Toux to Bolton.
-LA to re-sign David Beckham tomorrow.
dN
Barca beat Real Madrid again! 1-2 today in the 1st Leg of the Copa Del Rey Quarterfinals. 2nd Leg is next Wednesday.

As we told you earlier this week, the München Men have been biding their time at a training camp in Doha. Bastian Schweinsteiger recovered well enough from his shoulder operation (which quite honestly, left a sexy scar!) to play in their win over Al-Sailiya last night.

FC Cologne star Lukas Podolski recently revealed that he was considering 'many offers' to leave Germany in the next transfer window, but Bayern Munich head-honcho Uli Hoeness believes that the German International wouldn't cut it in a different league.Last week, CalcioMercato reported that Arsenal and Liverpool were linked with a move for the striker, and I'm sure Liverpool fans would love to see

It was a weekend to forget for a number of European sides who suffered shocking losses. In England, the news of the day was Sunday's 6-1 home drubbing of Manchester United by city rivals Manchester City.

Across the continent, things were not too good for Bayern Munich, Lyon, Chelsea, Barcelona and Juventus.

USSN takes a look around the web for latest news and opinion on the United States men's national team. Here is a round up of the best of the web this week;

Bayern Munich president regrets hiring Klinsmann Bayern president Uli Hoeness told a German newspaper this week that hiring Klinsmann was an expensive mistake.

Categories: U.S. Mens National Team

Tags: Jurgen Klinsmann, Soccer News, US Soccer, USMNT

USSN takes a look around the web for latest news and opinion on the United States men's national team. Here is a round up of the best of the web this week; Bayern Munich president regrets hiring Klinsmann Bayern president Uli Hoeness told a German newspaper this week that hiring Klinsmann was an expensive mistake.

Photo courtesy of MLSsoccer.com

The call

Peter Nowak: "Did you guys see the replay [of the free kick goal that was ruled offside] or not yet? I saw it, the frame. The ball is off Séba's foot already by two or three yards...All I can say is that we live in a country where you can criticize everybody, including the President and the federal government.

Ein Interview darf in unserer „Legendäre Interviews" Serie auf keinen Fall fehlen. Wie oft kommt es auch vor, dass wir Weltmeister werden und dass unsere Spieler bei ihrer Rückkehr nach Deutschland schon am Flughafen begeistert empfangen werden. Oder dass ein Andreas Brehme sichtlich gekennzeichnet von der durchgezechten Nacht einfach mal so losplaudert und gleich noch [.

Im Jahr 2007 ist Klaus Augenthaler als Trainer beim VfL Wolfsburg engagiert. Dort hat er es nicht gerade leicht mit der Presse und beschließt zwar keinen Presseboykott, aber zumindest ein Frageboykott. Und so stellt er sich selbst die Fragen und gibt gleich die Antworten darauf. Eigentlich gut für alle, denn nach 42 Sekunden ist alles [.

Auf keinen Fall darf in dieser Serie Giovanni Trapattoni´s legendäre Wutrede fehlen. Beim FC Bayern München engagiert ist er sauer auf die Spieler, die nie machen, was er will, die Flasche leer sind oder nicht mal wie Struuuuuuunz wissen was sie wollen. Tja, Recht hatte er, aber geholfen hat es auch nicht viel.

Uli Hoeness und der FC Bayern München ist zu Gast beim SV Werder Bremen und die Bremer Fans mögen den Uli genauso wenig wie Klaus Allofs. Da ist es wenig verwunderlich, dass die Fans das Interview von Uli Hoeneß und Klaus Allofs mit mehrchörigen Beleidigungen versehen. Daraus entwickelt sich dann wiederrum ein kleiner Streit zwischen [.

Eigentlich ja kein Interview, aber die Szene ist so legendär, dass wir sie in dieser Reihe auch unbedingt zeigen müssen. Uli Hoeness, Mehmet Scholl und Hasan SalihamidžiÄ� treffen sich nach einer gewonnen Meisterschaft mit anschließender kleiner Meisterfeier und vielen Bierduschen bei der Interviewrunde eines TV-Senders wieder.

The cheeky little penalty chip turned thirty five years old this week. On May 20th,1976 after Uli Hoeness missed his PK, Antonin Panenka showed the world a novel way to score penalties clinching a memorable win for Czechoslovakia over Germany in the Euro Cup finals.

The clip above shows a selection of the best ones.

By Chris Wright

Because everything looks better in black and white...

A young Martin O'Neil sits at the back of the bus as Nottingham Forest parade the European Cup trophy along the Trent Embankment after beating Malmo in the 1979 final

Peter Shilton, Trevor Francis, Larry Lloyd, Ian Bowyer et al celebrate Nottingham Forest's 1979 European Cup win a feat they also repeated the following year

King Kenny wakes up with the European Cup in his bed after scoring the winning goal against Club Brugge in the previous night's final, 1978

Bayern Munich's Georg Schwarzenbeck tackles St Etienne's Herve Revelli (r) from behind as Munich goalkeeper Sepp Maier looks on, 1976

St Etienne's Gerard Janvion (r) blocks a shot from Bayern Munich's Uli Hoeness, 1976

St Etienne goalkeeper Ivan Curkovic saves at the feet of Bayern Munich's Gerd Muller, 1976

Leeds scrappers Joe Jordan and Billy Bremner pick a fight with Bayern Munich's Gerd Muller, 1975

Gerd Muller celebrates Bayern Munich's 2-0 victory over Leeds United in the 1975 final

After thrashing Atletico Madrid 4-0 in the 1974 final replay, Bayern Munich pair Johnny Hansen and Gerd Muller watch the reaction of the fans as Der Kaiser lifts the trophy

Bayern Munich's Paul Breitner is foiled by Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Reina, 1974

Ajax (Johan Cruyff first row, second from right) line up prior to the 1971 European Cup Final against Panathinaikos at Wembley

Liz Samain, grandmother of Chelsea legend Ron 'Chopper' Harris, stands proudly with the European Cup.

Juventus' ex-Bayern Munich striker Luca Toni on Thursday revealed how coach Louis van Gaal once proved he had 'the balls' to drop any of Bayern's stars - by dropping his trousers.
Having joined Bayern from Fiorentina in 2007, Toni, 33, was Bayern's top scorer in his first season when he scored 24 goals in 31 league games as Bayern won the Bundesliga title.

BERLIN- Munich — Bayern Munich winger Arjen Robben explained on Sunday the reason why he grabbed team-mate Thomas Mueller by the throat during a Bundesliga game as the pressure mounts on the defending champions. Bayern are up to third in the German league after Saturday's 3-1 away win at Werder Bremen, but are still 14 [.

Ich finde, Christian Nerlinger hat dazu kürzlich eine sehr gute Aussage gemacht: Der FC Bayern ist kein Ausbildungsverein. Er muss Erfolg haben.

Uli Hoeneß, Präsident des FC Bayern München, ist mit Trainer Louis van Gaal nicht richtig zufrieden.

He's off and running. Looks like Sepp Blatter has kicked off his reelection campaign for the FIFA Presidency to be held in June. Only, it's unclear what kind of entity FIFA really is. It's not a country (its reach is global), it's not a state (it doesn't have an army), it's not a democracy (despite the elections to the body's Presidency), and it's not the Vatican (despite the lovely idea of a "year end message", in which the FIFA chief boldly states that he looks "forward to meeting the representatives of the member associations there in person, addressing their concerns and, together, setting a strategic course for the future.

Ein Skandal jagt derzeit den anderen. Ich glaube, Herr Blatter und die anderen Verantwortlichen müssen sich langsam die Frage stellen, ob das alles so weitergehen kann.

Uli Hoeneß, Präsident des FC Bayern München, ist auf die FIFA und deren Chef Sepp Blatter nicht gerade gut zu sprechen.