The USL Pro season came to a close with an entertaining and exciting final Saturday night that saw Orlando City outlast the Harrisburg City Islanders in a penalty shootout after a 2-2 draw through 120 minutes. Here are the highlights:

It was a heartbreaking loss for the City Islanders, who had finished with the fifth-best overall record in the league but who battled the regular-season champion Lions toe-to-toe for 120 minutes.

The final USL Pro playoff berth wasn't decided until the final whistle of last Friday's USL Pro Game of the Week on FOX Soccer. Here are the highlights of the Charleston Battery's 4-3 win over the Charlotte Eagles, one that included a two-goal, Player of the Week performance by the Battery's Mike Zaher:

The playoffs begin Friday, with Rochester hosting Pittsburgh, Wilmington hosting Richmond and Los Angeles traveling to Harrisburg.

Here are highlights of last Friday night's USL Pro Game of the Week, in which the Wilmington Hammerheads defeated the Los Angeles Blues 2-1 in front of a Legion Stadium record crowd of nearly 6,000.

Our final regular-season telecast, this Friday at Charleston, could determine the eighth and final playoff spot for 2011.

The Rochester Rhinos clinched a playoff berth for the 16th consecutive year by beating the Pittsburgh Riverhounds on the USL PRO Game of the Week last Friday night. Here are the highlights:

After seven games in seven weeks, I have a break this weekend and will get back after it for the stretch run and the playoffs starting August 5 in Wilmington.

We were in New York City for the holiday weekend and the USL PRO Game of the Week between Antigua Barracuda FC and FC New York. Highlights:

Hard to believe we are a third of the way through the TV schedule and only 60 days away from the championship match on September 3. This week we're in Richmond, Virginia as two of the longest-running USL teams, Charlotte and Richmond (both established in 1993) meet at City Stadium.

A few days late (I was on vacation, sue me), but here are the highlights from last week's USL Pro Game of the Week between the Wilmington Hammerheads and Charleston Battery on FOX Soccer.

This week (tomorrow night, actually) we're in New York as FC New York hosts Antigua Barracuda FC.

Fifteen years ago today, the Indianapolis Twisters played the first home game in their (brief, two-year) history in the Continental Indoor Soccer League. In front of 5,019 fans (one of the largest crowds they'd ever have), the Twisters nearly pulled out a thrilling win over the Washington Warthogs before falling 7-6 in overtime.

Here are highlights from our second USL Pro Game of the Week broadcast on Fox Soccer over the weekend. We had a great atmosphere and pretty exciting game in Orlando between City and the Wilmington Hammerheads.

This week we travel to Wilmington, North Carolina as the Hammerheads take on the Charleston Battery.

Here are highlights of the first USL Pro Game of the Week broadcast from this past weekend. Rochester beat Harrisburg 1-0 to take over first place in the National Division.

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For the first broadcast out of the box, it was fine. We still have some things to work on, as you might expect.

Actually, it was a bit more dramatic than that, as Rochester Rhinos' goalkeeper Neal Kitson scored this stoppage-time equalizer last Sunday evening to give the Rhinos a 2-2 draw with Antigua Barracuda FC in a USL Pro match.

It's unlikely Kitson will get on the scoresheet again anytime soon (he's the first Rochester 'keeper ever to score), but he'll be trying to keep the Harrisburg City Islanders off the score sheet when the two teams meet this Saturday at 5:30pm ET on the first telecast of the USL Pro Game of the Week on Fox Soccer.

MOSCOW, Russia Seydou Doumbia struck in each half to secure CSKA Moscow a 2-1 win over second division side Alania Vladikavkaz in the Russian Cup final on Sunday. The Ivory Coast striker opened the scoring with a low shot following good work by Brazilian forward Vagner Love in the 13th minute but Love's compatriot [.

It was 15 years ago today - February 22, 1996 - that the Continental Indoor Soccer League announced an expansion franchise for Indianapolis, Indiana that eventually became known as the Twisters. I was fortunate enough to be the team's radio announcer for the two summers that it played in the CISL, and am considering producing a documentary on the team's short but interesting history.

SAO PAULO, Brazil — Delays in getting Brazil ready to host the 2014 football World Cup could end up with the South American nation being "red-faced" when the time comes, retired soccer legend Pele said Friday. "We are really worried," he told a media conference in Sao Paulo, speaking for the Brazilian Football Confederation and [.

RENTON, WASH. The Seattle Sounders FC announced today that it has extended the contract of midfielder Osvaldo Alonso through the 2014 Major League Soccer season. Alonso, voted the team's most valuable player in 2010, is entering his third year with Sounders FC. Per club and Major League Soccer policy, no further terms of the deal [.

PRAGUE, Czech Republic Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech was named the Czech Republic's Footballer of the Year 2010 at a ceremony in Prague on Monday. It has been the third straight time for Cech to win the trophy and the fourth time overall. "I'll never grow tired of this, it's a great honor," said the [.

UTRECHT, Netherlands FC Twente passed up the chance to go two points clear at the Eredivisie summit after being held in a 1-1 draw away to FC Utrecht. PSV's defeat to ADO Den Haag on Saturday gave Twente an opportunity to head top of the league, but teenager Leon de Kogel put Utrecht ahead [...]

MILAN, Italy — AC Milan was held to a 1-1 draw at Genoa on Sunday, cutting its Serie A lead to three points after Napoli beat Cesena 2-0 at home. Alexandre Pato opened the scoring for Milan, but Antonio Floro Flores equalized with his first Genoa goal since joining during the transfer window. For Napoli, [.

CHICAGO, Ill The Chicago Fire signed forward Gaston Puerari from Montevideo Wanderers of Uruguay. "Gaston is a talented, offensive player with the ability to make an impact for our club," Fire Technical Director Frank Klopas said. "We are excited to bring in a player with quick feet, good passing skills and the ability to [.

SUNDERLAND, England Chelsea avenged November's defeat by Sunderland with a 4-2 Premier League win over the Black Cats at the Stadium of Light. An exciting first-half saw Phil Bardsley open the scoring for Sunderland after just four minutes before Frank Lampard's penalty and a goal from Salomon Kalou overturned the deficit.

ALMATY, Kazakhstan Miroslav Beranek, who guided his native Czech Republic to a surprise European Under-21 title triumph in 2002, was named Kazakhstan coach on Monday. Beranek, 53, takes charge of a Kazakh team who are rooted to the bottom of Euro 2012 qualifying Group A. The Kazakhstan job had been vacant since October following [.

DOHA, Qatar — Billed as a dress rehearsal for the World Cup, the 2011 Asian Cup was nothing of the sort. Qatar's win in the December vote for the 2022 World Cup hosting rights led to a storm of criticism, and put the spotlight on the Asian Cup like never before. The Gulf nation looked [...]

LONDON, England - A second key presenter for Sky Sports News left the network Wednesday over a sexism row engulfing the British broadcaster. Anchorman Richard Keys resigned after 20 years with the network, a day after his fellow presenter Andy Gray was fired. The scandal was sparked by off-air footage from Saturday of Keys and [.

BLACKBURN, England Blackburn manager Steve Kean celebrated his long-term contract with a third home victory in a row as Rovers claimed a 2-0 win over West Brom at Ewood Park to climb up to seventh place in the Barclays Premier League. Kean this week signed a deal to keep him at the club until [...]

DOHA, Qatar — Jordan dumped three-times champions Saudi Arabia out of the Asian Cup on Thursday with a 1-0 victory courtesy of a goalkeeping howler by Waleed Abdullah. It has been a traumatic few days for Saudi Arabia, whose quest for a first Asian Cup since 1996 got off to a disastrous start when they [.

DOHA, Qatar — An impressive Australia crushed India 4-0 to get their Asian Cup campaign off to a decisive start Monday with red-hot Everton star Tim Cahill collecting two goals. Played at an Al-Sadd Stadium packed with noisy expatriate Indians, a convincing win was needed by the Socceroos to demonstrate their tournament credentials against a [.

LITTLE ELM, Texas — Uche Okafor, a defender on two Nigerian World Cup teams and a stalwart player for the Kansas City Wizards in the U.S., committed suicide this week at his Dallas-area home, authorities said Friday. He was 43. Okafor's body was discovered Thursday afternoon by his wife in their house in Little Elm, [.

DOHA, Qatar With their graduation into Asia complete, the Socceroos are about to find out if they really belong at the top of the class. Having completed a full World Cup cycle since joining the confederation in 2006, Australia have become well versed in the intricacies of Asian football, leaving no room for excuses [.

MANCHESTER, England — Javier Hernandez and Nani scored either side of Dean Whitehead's effort as Manchester United moved three points clear at the top of the English Premier League with a 2-1 victory over Stoke at Old Trafford here on Tuesday. A much-changed United made hard work of defeating a team they had beaten in [.