Tuesday, January 31

Qatar: Cool sport, hot country - BBC - How the sun-drenched desert state is preparing to take the heat out of the 2022 World Cup

US women's soccer league cancelled - The Guardian - The triumphant US team have been left mourning the cancellation of their league

WPS Suspended - ESPN - How will the suspension of Women's Professional Soccer affect the U.S. women's ability to train and compete for the London Games -- and beyond?

Premier League has missed Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho's wow factor - The Telegraph - So that’s what the large clock in Trafalgar Square is doing: it’s counting down to Jose Mourinho’s return. July 27 sounds about right: quick bit of pre-season training, release a few players to the Olympics, organise and motivate the rest and resume the hunt for the Premier League. He’s coming home. Jose’s coming home.

Bellamy's seeing a psychologist, dealing with the loss of his mentor - The Daily Mail - The familiar side of Craig Bellamy should be on view for Liverpool away at Wolves on Tuesday night, the relentless forward who at 32 is arguably in the form of his life, the Bellamy who scored the goal against Manchester City last week that took Liverpool back to Wembley for the first time in 16 years

Donovan pays tribute to online Blues - Liverpool Echo - Landon Donovan today paid tribute to the internet army of Everton FC fans who persuaded him to make his Goodison come-back - as he insisted he is returning a better player

The tribal instincts now obscuring all hope of a rational view of our game - London Evening Standard - While Anton Ferdinand agonised over whether he could bring himself to shake the hand of John Terry tomorrow, his club Queens Park Rangers and Chelsea issued a joint statement aimed at dampening down the mood on the terraces. Unfortunately, it contained a phrase so at odds with reality you had to ­wonder in which century it had been composed.

Double standards? - Sky Sports - Why are British fans so quick to condemn Spanish football? Guillem Balague starts the debate...

Sweden boosted by Guidetti and Ibra displays - Reuters - Under normal circumstances Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s dipping first-half free kick in AC Milan’s 3-0 win over Cagliari on Sunday would have been enough to give Sweden coach Erik Hamren a pleasant end to the weekend. But if Hamren had been watching Feyenoord beat Ajax in in Holland’s Eredivisie on Saturday he would have seen another Swede, John Guidetti, net a hat-trick as Feyenoord won 4-2, giving him a mouthwatering selection problem ahead of Euro 2012

Hope for the U.S.'s back line - ESPN - With Clint Dempsey sparking EPL headlines, Landon Donovan making another impressive cameo at Everton, and the U.S. national team reserves winning back-to-back games, it's been a very good week for American soccer. But perhaps the best news is buried in the small print of the sports reports: There is hope for U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann's backline

Dream weaver - Fox Soccer - Craig Bellamy's return to Liverpool is turning into a fairy tale.

Transfer list - BBC - A definitive list of all the January transfer window moves

Deadline day: Oh what a circus - The Guardian - Sky Sports News certainly know how to make a good show of the last day of the transfer window

10 Victims Of The ‘English Premium’ Transfer Fee - Who Ate All the Pies - In no particular order, a ten-some of English footballers that, through no fault of their own, have suffered at the hands of the cursed ‘English Premium’ transfer fee…

Football365's Top Ten Audacious Goals - Football 365 - We're not talking great goals here - but cheeky strikes that display a ridiculous self-confidence. Mario Balotelli is a late entrant but there are nine ruled more audacious...

A Jose-Arsène job swap would be perfect for all parties - The Independent - No leading club can be impervious to the sure-fire success that Mourinho offers.

Take De Gea out of the limelight - Yahoo Sports - The dust has finally settled on Manchester United's FA Cup defeat to Liverpool, and there can be little doubt that Sir Alex Ferguson's greatest concern will be David De Gea. It was not really the Spaniard's errors that were the problem for me; I thought his mistakes for both goals were relatively minor and he was undone by some poor defending. What really bothered me was his apparently complete lack of confidence

Barton says players must lead change in attitude towards homosexuality in football - The Telegraph - Joey Barton has offered support to homosexual footballers and blamed the attitudes of managers and players for the lack of openly gay footballers in Britain.

No place like home - BBC - Why so many South Americans wind down their careers on familiar turf

Barcelona Losing Their Way In La Liga - Football 365 - Barça are wounded and everyone now knows it, says Tim Stannard. This weekend they dropped yet more points away from home as a hungrier Real kept on trucking...

Moyes looks to work his alchemy against City - The Independent - Everton's manager has been a thorn in his rival manager's side despite the vast gulf in their budgets, reports Ian Herbert.

Flying in the face of danger Cup of Nations - BBC - MOTD commentator Steve Wilson recalls the difficulties of covering the Africa

Sudan the big positive at ACN - The Guardian - Sudan have emerged from the wilderness but Angola have not matched the hype

Boca put River in their place - Reuters - The result of the year’s first “superclasico” was logical with first division champions Boca Juniors beating second-division River Plate 2-0. But Wednesday night’s friendly – an unprecedented clash with one of the two giants of the Argentine game in the second tier — was also something of an anti-climax after the massive build.

Life in Mexico a very different experience for three U.S. players - Sports Illustrated - Last Friday started like most other Fridays for DaMarcus Beasley. The three-time U.S. World Cup midfielder woke up in his house, located in a tony neighborhood on a golf course in Puebla, Mexico, where he plays for the top-flight soccer team. He hopped in his new Chevy Camaro, passed through two security checkpoints in his gated community and drove to Estadio Cuauhtémoc for practice and the ensuing bus trip to Pachuca for a Mexican league game. But then things got strange.

Haitians take comfort and find hope in soccer - LA Times - It leveled buildings, took lives and left a poor nation in ruins. But the Haitian earthquake in 2010 couldn't destroy a people's love for soccer.

First look at the David Beckham for H&M Super Bowl commercial - The Daily Mail - It goes without saying that the ads that run during the Super Bowl are as eagerly anticipated as the game itself. And one in particular is sure to have the full attention of female viewers. H&M this morning released its first commercial for David Beckham Bodywear, which will make its debut during the second quarter of the NFL championship final.