Olympique Lyonnais vs. SM Caen

Week 23 – Ligue 1

What an AWESOME start to the year! Six wins, one well fought out draw and a marginal 1-0 loss in 8 matches since January. 8 matches in which Lyon has scored 19 goals.

Arsenal FC ended its four match English Premier League winless streak with a 7-1 thumping of relegation-threatened Blackburn Rovers at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday. Gunners captain Robin Van Persie...

By Chris Wright

"Shhh!!! Don't look at him. If we're quiet, he may go away"

Despite leading 2-1 from the first-leg and going a further two goals ahead by half-time in the second through Pedro and Dani Alves, Barcelona still found themselves fretting at the Camp Nou as Real Madrid staged a late-ish comeback attempt that saw Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema draw Los Merengues level on the night though it was to be in vain, as Barca eventually held out for the aggregate win that sealed them a berth in the Copa del Rey semi-finals.

Liverpool welcome Newcastle to Anfield in 2011's final match, with both squads barely on the outside looking in at the European places. Tomorrow's guests rode a hot start to the season to the top three, going unbeaten in their first eleven matches and surprising everyone after expectations were low entering the campaign.

Liverpool – Newcastle United Preview: Magpies bidding to end 17-year winless streak at Anfield

With both sides desperate for a win and only a point separating them, all eyes will be on former Geordie favourite Andy Carroll as he faces his old club once again

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A news article on 2011-12-29 07:27:00 from: Goal

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Timothy Chandler and Nurnberg will look for a second straight victory when they visit Hamburg while Edson Buddle and Ingolstadt will try to break their winless streak against Braunschweig.

Joseph Bendik and Sogndal ended their season on a high note with a win over Molde while Mikkel Diskerud and Stabaek were unable to break their long winless streak at Valerenga.

By JOSÉ M. ROMERO

Much was made of Real Salt Lake's regular season-ending six-match winless streak and how it might be a sign that RSL is in trouble heading into the playoffs.

On Saturday night, Real Salt Lake put that notion to rest in emphatic fashion.

Mikkel Diskerud played the full 90 minutes in Stabaek's central midfield, however a goal on either side of the half by Aalesunds FK extended their winless streak to three games.

By JOSE M. ROMERO

Playoff spot clinched, Real Salt Lake had victory in its grasp in its regular-season finale Saturday night at Rio Tinto Stadium, plus the chance to lock up the No. 3 seed from the MLS Western Conference with no help from other results.

RSL's reward for No.

Head coach Bill Hempen saw red on Sunday afternoon, but it still wasn't enough for the CU Buffs to see their way to a win.

Hempen, who shuffled players in an effort to avoid adding to a five-game losing winless streak, was ejected from the game in the 77th minute at Prentup Field. His departure was not enough to spark a comeback as Oregon claimed a 3-1 victory in Pac-12 play.

The New England Revolution will face off against the Columbus Crew in the 2011 home finale at Gillette Stadium. Revs fans who have had precious little to cheer about this year will be hoping for a decent send-off, but optimism is not likely to be the order of the day. New England hasn't even earned a point since September 10th.

By JOSE M. ROMERO

Parking and seats on the SkyTrain were probably more difficult to come by than Vancouver Whitecaps' goals Thursday night in downtown Vancouver.

With the NHL Canucks playing nearby in their regular-season opener, the Whitecaps still drew a big crowd of 20,113 fans to their brand new home, B.

By GARRETT DAVEY

The first time Sporting Kansas City walked off the field after a match at Livestrong Sporting Park, back on June 9th, the club was mired in a ten-match winless streak and buried in last place in the Eastern Conference.

On Tuesday night, with those rough early days firmly in the rearview mirror, Sporting KC completed a 15-week climb up the standings, into sole possession of first place.

Photo by David Bernal/ISIphotos.com

The Colorado Rapids could advance to the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions League by winning both of their last two group matches. Even so, it looks like club is throwing in the towel on its tournament run.

Colorado sent a reserve-heavy squad to face Isidro Metapan in El Salvador for Wednesday's match, and head coach Gary Smith didn't make the trip, either, instead leaving assistant coach Steve Guppy to handle the team.

Photos: Paul Rudderow

Bear with me on this.

If you think of soccer as music, teams are the band that plays the song. Maybe the defense is the drummer, keeping things down in the back, while the midfield is the bass player and rhythm guitarist, locking the groove down with the defense while also supporting the melody played by the offense.

By JOEY SAMUEL

Just when the Colorado Rapids needed a win the most to hold serve in the Western Conference playoff race, they came up short once again.

Despite a late goal off a corner kick from defender Drew Moor, the Rapids' winless streak was stretched to five games as they tied the San Jose Earthquakes, 1-1, in front of their home fans.

When Sporting Kansas City and the Philadelphia Union square off at Livestrong Sporting Park Friday night (8:30 p.m., Fox Soccer Channel), first place in the Eastern Conference will be up for grabs. If the teams don't play to a draw, the winner will move into the conference's top spot.

Going into their match against the Columbus Crew, the Philadelphia Union and their supporters talked up tonight as perhaps the most important in club history. The first-place Crew came into Chester leading the Union by five points in the standings, with one match in hand. A Union victory would do two things: snap an eight-match winless streak in MLS play, and put the Union right back in the thick of the race for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Colorado Buffaloes winless streak stretched to five games on Friday, but CU nearly snatched a win in a 2-2 draw with No. 22 Auburn in Denver.

Amy Barczuk and Caroline Danneberg each scored goals for Colorado, at CIBER Field in the first match of the Denver Invitational on the DU campus.

Photo: Earl Gardner

The Union have three remaining matches to close out the month of September. First up is Columbus, followed by Kansas City, and then D.C. United. The current standings have Columbus with a five point lead on the Union, Kansas City up by four, and D.C. trailing by two.

The Philly Soccer Page " KYW Philly Soccer Show: Sheanon Williams
This week's Philly Soccer Show podcast with KYW's Greg Orlandini and PSP's Eli Pearlman-Storch features Philadelphia Union defender Sheanon Williams.

Tait added to Union's defensive corps, future (With Video) - delcotimes.

Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

Union

Today is Roster Freeze Day in MLS and at 5pm the final Philadelphia Union roster for the remainder of the season must be submitted to the league. Will there be any surprises?

How did some of the Union players react to the shambles that was the 2–2 draw between Columbus and Houston on Wednesday night?

Photo: Earl Gardner

This week's Philly Soccer Show podcast with KYW's Greg Orlandini and PSP's Eli Pearlman-Storch features Philadelphia Union defender Sheanon Williams.

In Part One, Williams talks about the Union's winless streak, which has stretched into eight games after a scoreless draw with the Portland Timbers.

Photo: Paul Rudderow

In the past two home games, the Philadelphia Union recorded 42 attempts on goal—including 13 shots on goal, 18 shots off target and 11 blocked shots. They also had 12 corner kicks, 46 open play crosses, a duels won percentage of 52.5, completed 691 of 892 passes for a passing accuracy of 77.

Preston Zimmerman will hope to return to Darmstadt's lineup as they visit Saarbrucken while Amaechi Igwe and Babelsberg try to end their growing winless streak against freshly-promoted Chemnitz.

Major League Soccer Week 26: What We Learned - SBNation.com
Then you had results like New York tying an expansion club at home, the Philadelphia Union extending their unless run against an expansion team at home and the San Jose Earthquakes snapping their long winless streak thanks to last year's Golden Boot winner Chris Wondolowski.

In a match barred by poor defending, bizarre officiating, and lots of goals, the Philadelphia Union came back from a 4-1 deficit to earn a point at home against the last-place New England Revolution. And while their strong display in the second half allowed the Union to battle back to 4-4, the draw extended the team's winless streak to seven games.

Jürgen Klinsmann's winless streak as USA Men's National Soccer team manager continued into his third match in charge when his team feel 1-0 to Belgium in an international friendly in Brussels on Tuesday. The loss follows a 1-1 tie with Mexico and a 1-0 loss to Costa Rica in the USA's previous two matches under [.

The Philly Soccer Page " Preview: Union at Real Salt Lake
A cursory look at Saturday's matchup between fourth place (in the east) Philadelphia Union and fifth place (in the west) Real Salt Lake would indicate these teams are in similar places. Mid-table, low scoring, strong defense. Don't be fooled.

The Union slump worsened on Saturday with the 2–1 loss to Columbus. The Union's record on the road now stands at 3–5—4. Overall, they are 8–6–10 with a 5–1–6 home record.

The Union are now winless in five games, having gone L–D–D–D–L since their last win on the road in New England on July 17, which also happens to be the last shutout the team has recorded and the last league game Carlos Ruiz played for the club.

There is little question about which team is No. 1 in the SBI MLS Power Rankings, but the Seattle Sounders took matters into their own hands to determine who should be No. 2.

After a victory in Texas over FC Dallas, Seattle grabbed a stranglehold of the spot behind the Los Angeles Galaxy in the latest rankings.

Happy Monday everybody! Today's link round up includes one article which I, personally, found to be very informative and interesting. it's about the Portland Timbers owner, Merritt Paulson (hence the title). According to the article one very interesting thing is that the money Merritt borrowed from his father to pay for the team and its MLS expansion has to be repaid.

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – The Chicago Fire broke their 10-game league winless streak Sunday night, beating fellow Eastern Conference strugglers Toronto FC 2-0 in front of 12,020 at Toyota Park.

Chicago forward Dominic Oduro scored an early goal and former TFC defender Dan Gargan doubled the advantage in the second half, giving the Fire their first win since June 12th and just their third of the season.

Do I even need to bother recapping this game? You might as well just read my last post. It meets all the requirements: disappointment, 2-2 draw, second half comeback, Ballouchy being useless... you know, the usual. Just when you think they can't draw against a crappier team, they do. The Revs, proud owners of the most anemic offense in the league, still managed to take a 2-0 lead against New York and it took a 87th minute equalizer to walk away with a point.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. Milton Caraglio's first two MLS goals put the New England Revolution up 2-0 at halftime, but the New York Red Bulls would have their say in the second half, finding the back of the net twice to leave Foxborough with a 2-2 draw. The draw extends the Revs winless streak to six games and New York's to seven.

Andres Mendoza converted a 51st minute penalty after a Sheanon Williams hand ball in the area and the Columbus Crew held out for a 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Union. The Crew's win gave them a six-point lead atop the Eastern Conference, although the Union still have played one less game. The Union's winless streak was stretched to five games.

Fire defender Dan Gargan -- Getty ImagesBy Charlie Corr
ESPNChicago.com
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- The Chicago Fire have reached a double-digit winless streak for a second time this season. They are in dire need of a positive outcome when they host Toronto FC on Sunday at Toyota Park.
The Fire are in the midst of a 0-3-7 stretch -- the longest winless streak since they posted a 0-4-7 record from April 9 through June 9.

The New England Revolution (4-11-10, 21 points) extended their winless streak to five games on Wednesday, leaving the team with no option but to look to the future. And no, the future isn't Saturday's game against the New York Red Bulls.

Is Ryan Guy a future solution on the right? (Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA/aduama.

Can Portland knock off KC at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park? (Getty Images)

While most eyes will be on the two CONCACAF Champions League matches tonight, others will be focused a bit on the two Major League Soccer games that are on the schedule. Both should be pretty good too as each have playoff implications written all over them.