By Chris Wright

In which, during Borussia Monchengladbach's DFB Pokal quarter-final tie with Hertha Berlin on Wednesday night, Monchengladbach striker Igor De Camargo goes down like a big cheating sack of spuds to get Hertha centre-half Roman Hubnik sent off...

Is he alright?

In the immediate aftermath of Fabio Capello's resignation on Wednesday night, a number of England players shared their views on the matter via Twitter. "Gutted Capello has quit. Good guy and top coach. Got to be English to replace him. Harry Redknapp for me," said Wayne Rooney. These comments were relayed to his former teammate and current ITV pundit Roy Keane, who promptly eviscerated him.

The Ivory Coast reached the final of the African Cup of Nations with a 1-0 win over Mali on Wednesday night. Cheick Tiote - reaches final of African Cup of Nations The scorer of the only goal of the game was Arsenal's Gervinho, who scored after 45 minutes and he was a target of Newcastle last summer, before he eventually joined the [.

Photo by Tony Quinn/ISIphotos.com

The Houston Dynamo are still actively trying to improve their forward options, and they took a step in that direction by swinging a trade Wednesday night.

The Dynamo traded a conditional 2014 draft pick to the Colorado Rapids for Macoumba Kandji, adding the athletic, Senegalese striker to a stable that currently has Calen Carr, Will Bruin, Cam Weaver and rookie Colin Rolfe.

Alan Pardew has told French International Hatem Ben Arfa he will need to fight for his place at Newcastle United. Ben Arfa scoring that great goal against Blackburn After Hatem's mediocre showing at Blackburn last Wednesday night in the first half, he was replaced by James Perch in midfield, and James showed some steel and helped Newcastle get to grips with the game.

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. Naturally, I'm describing Arsenal's 2011-2012 season. I'm a nice guy, and I don't want to hold Arsene wholly accountable for the team's woes, particularly due to the simple fact that, well, that's what everybody else already does.

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 [.

It's difficult to know where to start this week's column. On the face of it, a compelling comeback from two goals down to keep our FA Cup hopes alive, followed by a point and a clean sheet away from home should constitute a reasonably good week. Yet it doesn't feel like that at all. For a start, we've put ourselves in a position now where, effectively, any draw represents two points dropped.

Twenty-eight time Paraguayan Primera División champions Cerro Porteño unveiled their Diadora 2012 home and away jerseys on Wednesday night. The new Azulgrana kits are the club's centenary shirts as it...

Teenagers. Being the walking volcanoes of untameable hormones and angst that they are, naturally, they are highly unpredictable. Put 22 of them on a pitch, give them a ball, some fans, and a referee crew? The humanity! Aston Villa took on Marseille Wednesday night as hosts, champions of Group 3, and owners of the second-best defensive record in the inaugural NextGen Series.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has transformed the club's style of play since he returned to Anfield, and according to former QPR manager Neil Warnock, Liverpool are exciting to watch again.Speaking to ITV Sport last night, Warnock - who was sacked by QPR recently - enthused:"Liverpool on Wednesday night against Man City and today - I think that's how Liverpool should be, when they get it, have

Jose haz a sad. Image via Jasper Juinen/Getty Images Europe; Denis Doyle/Getty Images Europe.

Like a lot of you, we've noticed that The Special One's dress sense has gone from GQMF to WTF. Case and point: to sweat out Wednesday night's El Clasico, Jose wore track pants, a hoodie, and a puffer vest.

A little gallows humour can go a long way. Kettering Town's patchwork team played Gateshead in the Blue Square Premier in Tuesday night. Another crowd of under one thousand, another critical evening in a relegation battle that may yet prove to be highly important should the club somehow scrape through its current woes.

By Chris Wright

Massive thanks to Pies' fan Nick Sincere for bringing this photo to our attention Jose Mourinho lurking menacingly in the shadows of the underground car-park at the Camp Nou with the express intent of having 'a little chat' with referee Fernando Teixeira after his questionable performance during Wednesday night's El Clasico farrago.

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.

U.S. Men's National Team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann didn't bring his A-squad to Panama City for Wednesday night's match. While that was no surprise to supporters of the U.S. side they still may have been wishing for a player or two to step up and put in an A-squad performance. What they saw instead were [.

U.S. Men's National Team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann didn't bring his A-squad to Panama City for Wednesday night's match. While that was no surprise to supporters of the U.S. side they still may have been wishing for a player or two to step up and put in an A-squad performance. What they saw instead were [.

In a dull and lifeless game in Panama City, the United States narrowly defeated Panama on Wednesday night for their third straight win under head coach Jurgen Klinsmann

With an eye toward making the cut for the London Olympics while evaluating players to use in this summer's qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the Mexican national team had more at stake than a mere friendly Wednesday night at Reliant Stadium. Although Mexico's biggest stars were missing while with their European teams, [.

By FRANCO PANIZO

U.S. men's national team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann scheduled the friendly in Panama to experience what a road game in CONCACAF was like, and he got just what he wanted.

Four days after beating Venezuela, the United States defeated Panama, 1-0, on Wednesday night in a game that felt much like a CONCACAF World Cup qualifier on the road.

FC Barcelona eliminated arch-rivals Real Madrid from the 2011/12 Copa del Rey on Wednesday night with a 2-2 draw (4-3 on aggregate). The Catalans appeared to have matters sealed after...

Graham Zusi got his first National Team goal in his second National Team game, putting the United States up eight minutes into Wednesday night's friendly against Panama. Both teams pressed the offense in the first-half, with US goalkeeper Nick Rimando and his counterpart Luis Mejia called into service.

Liverpool will meeting Cardiff City in the final of the 2012 Carling Cup after tying Manchester City 2-2 at Anfield on Wednesday night. The result sees Kenny Dalglish's team win...

Kenny Dalglish insists Liverpool will give everything against Manchester City to get the fans back on side following Saturday's deflating defeat.
The Reds put in a woeful performance against Premier League strugglers Bolton at the weekend, going down 3-1 at the Reebok Stadium.
They have a chance to redeem themselves when they host leaders City at Anfield on Wednesday in the second leg of their Carling Cup semi-final, having established a 1-0 lead at Ethiad Stadium last time out.

Rumours are circulating of a serious training ground dispute between coach Jose Mourinho and vice-captain Sergio Ramos on Friday.

According to Madrid-based sports paper Marca, Mourinho accused his playing staff of betrayal following their post-match press reaction on Wednesday night.

After Wednesday night's magnificent win and performance it's back to the bread & butter of the Academy League as United make the trip to West Bromich Albion to face a team they beat 2-1 back in November at Carrington. West Brom also come into this game off the back of a win in the 4th [...]

Real Madrid defender Pepe has given a distinctly half-arsed apology to Barcelona's Lionel Messi for blatantly stamping on his hand during Wednesday night's El Clasico. The Portugal international said: "I wish to say yesterday's incident with Leo Messi was unintentional, but I nevertheless want to apologise to him if he was offended because all I [.

By Chris Wright

Hallelujah! Saint Pepe has apologised for crushing Lionel Messi's fingers on Wednesday night and guess what? He didn't mean it, honest guv...

Here it is again in good ol' fashioned 'written down' format for posterity's sake using the PA's translation:

"I wish to say yesterday's incident with Leo Messi was unintentional, but I nevertheless want to apologise to him if he was offended because all I do is defend my team and this institution.

Wrexham were denied a lucrative tie with Newcastle United after a heartbreaking penalty shoot-out defeat to Brighton in an enthralling FA Cup third-round replay.
Craig Mackail-Smith scored the decisive penalty after Peter Brezovan had denied Dean Keates to set up a fourth-round home clash against Alan Pardew's Newcastle.

FC Barcelona rallied from a goal down to beat Real Madrid 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday night. The scoreline in the Copa del Rey quarter-final sees Barca head...

A frustrating day at the lane saw a hemmed in Spurs drop two points and miss the chance to go joint top. Wolves came out with the intention of pressuring us all over the pitch and maintained it for 90 minutes. A point well deserved for them but very disappointing for us considering how well we dominated Everton Wednesday night.

Jan Molby believes Liverpool will face a different type of challenge to the one they overcame midweek against Manchester City when they meet Stoke at Anfield on Saturday.
The Dane, who made 292 appearances for the club, also believes Andy Carroll has an important part to play, both in attack and defensively, if the Reds are to take all three points.

Having had a great win at the Etihad Stadium against Manchester City in the Carling Cup on Wednesday night, expect to see Kenny re-introduce the likes of Jose Enriqué, Maxi Rodriguez as well as the combination of returning Captain Steven Gerrard to play alongside Charlie Adam in midfield in the absence of young Jay Spearing who did his hamstring on Wednesday.

The FA will not be taking any action against Glen Johnson for his challenge on Joleon Lescott in the first leg of Wednesday night's League Cup semi-final.
After all the controversy that surrounded Vincent Kompany's red card against Manchester United for a two-footed tackle on Nani in the FA Cup third round last weekend, there have been calls for Johnson to face severe punishment.

By the standards used to judge recent red-carded tackles like Vincent Kompany's against Manchester United and Jay Spearing's against Fulham, on Wednesday night Glen Johnson at the very least put himself in a position where seeing red was a very real possibility. Maybe even the most likely possibility.

Philadelphia Union assistant coach John Hackworth spoke to reporters via conference call on Wednesday night ahead of today's SuperDraft. He discussed the Union's approach to the Players Combine, the possibility of trades, particularly for an international spot, and how the Union are in a different position going into the 2012 SuperDraft compared to 2010 and 2011.

Featured image: Nicolae Stoian

We'll have updates of today's SuperDraft throughout the day as well as reaction to the Union's selection. On to the news...

Philadelphia Union

Ives Galarcep's mock draft at Fox Soccer has this to say: "The Union are believed to be shopping forward Danny Mwanga, and even with the recent addition of young Costa Rican forward Josue Martinez, Philadelphia can use some depth up top.

Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini was involved in an angry tunnel exchange with Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard after Wednesday night's 1-0 Carling Cup defeat at the Etihad Stadium.
The pair clashed twice, the second particularly fractious, with Gerrard annoyed at Mancini's response to a late tackle by Glen Johnson on Joleon Lescott.

Kenny Dalglish is hopeful Jay Spearing isn't facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines after being forced from the field during Liverpool's 1-0 Carling Cup semi-final, first-leg win over Manchester City on Wednesday night.
The midfielder pulled up sharply midway through the first half after playing a pass and was promptly replaced by Charlie Adam.

In a much anticipated affair, the Los Angeles Clippers hosted the Miami Heat on Wednesday night. The game lived up to the hype. In an overtime battle, the Clippers escaped with a 95-89 victory.

Chris Paul, who was traded to the Clippers in the offseason, had perhaps his best game of the season: 27 points, 11 assists, six rebounds and three blocks.