While talk of a CBA and strike dominate domestic headlines, U.S. National Team fans will have a spring in their step today as Fulham’s Clint Dempsey returned to the field for the first time since Jan. 17. That comes on the heels of more news from Sochaux on Charlie Davies.
Dempsey came on as a second half substitute in Fulham’s 3-1 Europa League loss at Juventus.
The rest of the Europa League matches could not match the UEFA Champions League excitement from earlier this week. Hamburg won in their quest to play the Europa League final at their stadium. And the pressure mounts on Liverpool boss Rafa Benítez after a 1-0 loss at Lille.
According to this morning’s Gazzetta dello Sport, there could be a rematch between Manchester United and AC Milan … in the U.S. The report states that AC Milan is in contract talks for a four-game tour in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Montreal.
With more than 18,000 fans braving the elements, the Seattle Sounders dropped a 1-0 result to the Portland Timbers in the first ever Community Shield match.
In good news for Houston Dynamo fans, Luis Ángel Landín gave the club a lift and Pat Onstad saved a penalty in its 1-1 tie against the Chicago Fire Thursday night.
Reports state that Costa Rican international forward Álvaro Saborío has already joined Real Salt Lake and is waiting for a loan deal to be approved.
One MLS forward who will be missing from action is Alecko Eskandarian, who announced via Twitter that he has been forced to take a leave from soccer
After winning the award in 2006, Chelsea forward Didier Drogba was once again named the 2009 African Player of the Year.
In the last CONCACAF first leg quarterfinal, Cruz Azul defeated Árabe Unido 1-0 on Thursday. The Panamanians have their work cut out for them in Mexico City next week.
Brazilian clubs were the story in Thursday’s Copa Libertadores action. São Paulo got two goals from Washington to beat Nacional in Paraguay. Cruzeiro used two goals from Kléber to tie at Deportivo Italia in Venezuela. Another Brazilian side on the road, Internacional, held Ecuadorean champs Deportivo Quito.
Rumors: Despite confirming he will not resign, Real Madrid coach Manuel Pellegrini is anticipated to be out of a job and The Sun has Liverpool’s Benítez as his replacement … Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger confirmed he is not a candidate to coach los Merengues … The BBC reports that Algerian defender Madjid Bougherra wants to stay at Rangers after the World Cup … A Bola reports that Chelsea and Manchester City are after Santos jewel Neymar.
