SSN is a digest of the day's soccer/football/futbol articles with a focus on the top European leagues and the United States National Team. Below, you’ll find links to articles and video, as well as additional features and commentary. We locate the top news of the day so you can stay updated with ease.
A hundred at Old Trafford. So what's new? But this is football, not cricket, and the fact that the name is now more immediately associated with Manchester United than Roses matches or Neville Cardus is a measure of the extent to which the home of United has achieved worldwide recognition. Old Trafford is up there with the Bernabéu in Madrid, Camp Nou in Barcelona and San Siro in Milan.
Leverkusen face a tough trip to Bremen and the Bavarian derby will be played in Nuernberg in this week’s action.
Fellaini's absence will be felt most deeply at Goodison Park, where David Moyes does not yet have the sort of squad capable of easily absorbing the loss of such an influential and effective player, as was shown in what remained of the derby when Everton, without their main competitor, were no match for Liverpool's 10 men. But even away from Merseyside Fellaini was well on his way to becoming one of the glories of English football and one of the hardest-working and combative players in the Premier League, as well as one of its most recognisable.
Portsmouth want to sell some of their players in order to pay their bills and the Premier League has confirmed that it has received a formal request from the cash-strapped club.
A spokesman for the club said: "I can confirm we have put in a request to the Premier League to sell players outside the transfer window. It is something we are exploring."
The Dutchman has agreed a two-year deal with Turkey with the option of two more and will take control from 1 August.
Hiddink has previously managed Real Madrid and Chelsea, as well as South Korea, the Netherlands and Australia.
Kevin McCarra:
“Their goal changed the perspective of the tie,” Moyes said. “I’d thought it was more likely to go 3-0 than 2-1, but we didn’t go for it enough. Maybe we were conserving energy when we should have been going for a third. We’re not down, just disappointed that we didn’t see the job through like we should have done. We’re now going to have to go to Lisbon and do a very good job in the second leg.”
Inter Milan trio Nicolas Burdisso, Walter Samuel and Diego Milito, Palermo forward Javier Pastore and Olympiacos midfielder Jesus Datolo have been recalled to the group. Only three players from the domestic league have been included - Estudiantes duo Juan Sebastian Veron and Clemente Rodriguez and Velez Sarsfield centre-back Nicolas Otamendi.Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez, Newcastle midfielder Jonas Gutierrez, Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano and Barcelona forward Lionel Messi were also included. Maradona has a firm idea of half of his squad for this summer's showpiece event in South Africa but claims there are still places up for grabs.
Looks like Tevez will be his roommate...
But John Terry and wife Toni looked happier than ever as they arrived back in England yesterday.
The couple, who have publicised their recent reconciliation with a series of saccharine photo opportunities while on holiday in Dubai, couldn't hide their feelings for each other as they arrived at London's Heathrow Airport.
So in a week of mourning, the yin-yang repeats itself, with the 0-3 win at Xerez preceding Barcelona's much-predicted (and eventual) defeat at Atletico Madrid in the late Sunday game at the Calderon. The leaders had lost Alves, Abidal, Pique. Marquez, Yaya and Chigrinski before the game, only to lose Seydou Keita in the second minute. Add to that the fact that Carles Puyol was hardly firing on all cylinders and Gabi Milito was still short of match sharpness, it was not altogether surprising that the vultures (Forlan and Simao) swooped down quickly to pick at the carrion.
Jesualdo Ferreira, the Porto coach, knows a thing or two about this.
The Premier League is considering a proposal to introduce a play-off for the fourth Champions League place.
The top four currently enter the tournament but the new idea would mean the teams from fourth to seventh playing in a mini-knockout competition.
Spurs still wouldn't qualify...-Ed.
Inter Milan are seven points clear at the top of Serie A after their 0-0 draw at Napoli today. Roma's emphatic victory over Palermo yesterday had seen them move to within six points of Jose Mourinho's side but Inter's efforts at Stadio San Paolo guided them a little further ahead.
