What a disappointing match from Manchester City.

After coming back to win 3-2 in their last match against Southhampton, City settled for a 2-2 draw with Liverpool today. Although, to be fair, City was missing their two best players. Sergio Aguero was injured in their last match and will be out for a month. David Silva, who many people have said wasn’t in form in the last match, sat out the first half.

Last week, Manchester City was able to get 3 points in a difficult match for them. Liverpool on the other hand, lost 3-0 to West Brom. Coming  into this match, City were the favorites of course. In fact, I even predicted City would win 3-1.

Looks like I was wrong.

Although City had been slightly better in the first half, it was Liverpool who scored first. They went into half time leading 1-0.

In the second half, City started playing much better. They were able to equalize thanks to Yaya Toure. The City players and supporters didn’t have much time to celebrate though. Luis Suarez would notch a goal in City’s net, and Liverpool was ahead yet again. It looked as though City would lose this match until Carlos Tevez scored his second goal of the season.

The game ended 2-2 and City will be happy to take that point, considering how they played for most of the match. For Liverpool, this was a disappointment. They led twice in the game, only to give up goals and 2 points.

Dropping 2 points isn’t the worst thing for City, but this was a match they had been expected to win. With less than five days until the transfer window closes, many are expecting Mancini to add a few players to the City roster.

Image courtesy of sportinglife.com

Wow… this Monday has been insane, guys! I couldn’t keep track of all the stories that broke today. From Hope Solo’s brush with USADA, John Terry’s trial starting, transfer rumors, managers fired and everything in between, my head is spinning a bit. But I love it, as I’m sure all of you do. As you wind down your Monday, check out all the headlines in today’s Daily Kick Around!

U.S. Women’s National Team

Probably topping all headlines today was the startling news that the U.S. Anti-Doping Association issued a public warning to USWNT keeper Hope Solo after a non-competition drug test revealed she had the banned substance Canrenone in her system. Of course, news and media jumped on the story immediately – Kick TV even had this rude meme on their tumblr with the words “Dope Solo.”

However, Solo was not “doping” up – on the contrary, the Canrenone unfortunately was a part of some pre-menstrual medicine Solo’s personal doctor prescribed her.

“I took a medication prescribed by my personal doctor for pre-menstrual purposes that I did not know contained a diuretic,” Solo said in a statement. “Once informed of this fact, I immediately cooperated with USADA and shared with them everything they needed to properly conclude that I made an honest mistake, and that the medication did not enhance my performance in any way.”

Solo is still cleared to play with the team in this year’s Olympic games.

Major League Soccer

D.C. United will have some new ownership at the helm this week, but you won’t be able to find out who until after a media-only press conference tomorrow afternoon. However, fans and supporters can submit questions to the owners through the club’s official Web site.

Huge news came from Portland today as the club announced long-time manager John Spencer was released from his duties as head coach of the MLS team.

“Obviously, this is a tough announcement,” Paulson said. “I want to thank John Spencer for his significant contributions to the Timbers. Our focus now is on improving the team and finding the right long-term head coach.”

Spencer has been with the club since it’s first season in the United Soccer League back in 2001. Tough, tough call.

Do you like wine? How about the San Jose Earthquakes? Then you are in great luck my friends! I’ve seen and heard of some really cool things MLS players and teams have done to stir up interest in the league, but San Jose has a pretty classy one here. In September, fans can attend a wine tasting and dinner with eight Earthquake players. Pretty cool!

English Premier League

I don’t know about other Manchester United fans, but I was a little sad today when I heard the news that Ji-Sung Park was released by the Red Devils and signed a two-year contract with Queens Park Rangers. Ji-Sung has been with United for seven years, and I, for one, am very sorry to see him leave Old Trafford. Good luck, Ji-Sung!

The big John Terry trial started today folks, and it’s already looking pretty interesting. ESPN Soccernet tweeted out today that an expert lip reader was brought in to review match footage to see if she could read what John Terry said that fateful day. Hmmm… The trial resumes tomorrow morning.

Welp, Manchester City bit the bullet today and signed a new five-year contract with manager Robert Mancini. After he lead the Blues to a EPL title, I’m sure City fans are thrilled by this. I think it will be interesting to see if Mancini will keep the steam at City going.

Okay, so I think it’s save to say the biggest news coming out of the EPL this afternoon was the wild-fire rumor that Liverpool zoned in on Fulham and USMNT forward Clint Dempsey — and signed him. Nothing official has been released yet, but Twitter and several UK papers are buzzing with the rumor. 

Scottish Premier League

MLS fans are probably teaming as USMNT captain and Glasgow Rangers Carlos Bocanegra admitted he’s “100 percent” considering a move back to the States after the disastrous events at Rangers. It’s been no secret that Jay Heaps and the New England Revolution – who are a top of the MLS allocation list – are very interested in the defender.

U.S. Men’s National Team

Do you know your U.S. Soccer history? Even if you are a new fan or a life-time die hard, you’ve got to check out Andrew Lewellen’s article on a very pivotal moment in U.S. Soccer history and how a nation started to wake up to the beautiful game.

A busy Sunday in the footy world as news pours in from all the major leagues. With the new month of June, summer becomes a time where footy fans begin to worry as the transfer window is officially open. Dun, dun, dunnnn!

Transfer Rumors

Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini wants Robin van Persie, claiming the Gunner would be a more ‘realistic’ target than Edinson Cavani. RvP’s contract expires in the summer of 2013 but rumors have it the Dutchman is looking at other options.

Ronaldinho was granted an injunction by the Brazilian club, Flamengo and given permission to leave the club, breaking contract due to unpaid wages. Claiming he is owed more than 16 million Euros, the Brazilian international is now a free agent with other clubs looking to sign the 32-year-old. Perhaps a move to the MLS as a designated player could be in his future?

Rumor has it (cue the Adele music) that Chelsea FC is close to signing Porto striker Hulk for a whopping £38 million even after spending £32 for Eden Hazard just a few days ago. If the deal goes through, Hulk would fill the rolde of Didier Drogba who confirmed his departure from the Blues.

Looks like MLS’ Montreal Impact could land a big name in the footy world – Alessandro Del Piero, who is apparently in talks with the French-Canadian club. But not so fast! Impact president, Joey Saputo is denying the rumors saying that Del Piero ‘was more interested in New York or Los Angeles.’

International Friendlies

We have some major matches today before the start of the 2012 Euros.

Mexico face Brazil at Cowboys Stadium at 3pm ET.

It’s a North American rivalry as Canada faces the USMNT at BMO Field at 7 pm ET. Before the game, check out our own Trista Lutgring’s thoughts on the USMNT performance against Brazil last Wednesday.

Lastly, 2010 World Cup & 2008 Euro Champions, Spain will face off against China at Sevilla FC’s home stadium, Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán at 4pm ET which will be broadcasted on ESPN3.com.

Also, England was dealt another serious injury blow yesterday as Gary Cahill broke his jaw after a collision with his own goalkeeper Joe Hart. Cahill was pulled off after the incident and the FA released a statement today he would be ruled out of the Euros. Martin Kelly of Liverpool will be in to replace him.

Check back later for full recaps of all the friendlies and remember, only 6 days until the start of the 2012 Euros!

Keep up with @AerysSoccer on Twitter for more news from this weekend’s international friendlies!

Obama pays tribute to MLS Champions LA Galaxy

Today, Aerys Daily Kick Around has some fun post-season news for you footie die-hards.  Do you know what color blue Mario Balotelli be sporting next season? How about Kenny Dalglish leaving Liverpool? Why is Di Matteo so cool as a cucumber after finishing 6th in the league? And what is up with President Obama being impressed with Becks’ underwear?  Get those answers and more to fill your soccer cravings and get you over Hump Day.

English Premier League

Yes, Manchester City are the season’s league champions but are they really going to let Mario Balotelli stay blue? That’s what Roberto Mancini is saying.

May I have your attention please?!  Kenny Dalglish has left the building…. er, I mean club. It was announced today after much speculation and rumors that the club released Dalglish after a pretty bad season in the EPL. The club have also stated the search for a new manager is on, but rumors are linking Roberto Martinez for the spot. It’s a hard time in Liverpool, folks.

Former Arsenal midfielder turned Manchester City player Samir Na$ri has been referred to as a traitor by his Arsenal critics.  After winning the title this year, Nasri sent a clear message saying “I now hope the Arsenal fans can get on with their lives and forget me, they should celebrate their third-place achievement and I will focus on winning titles.” Uh, forget about you Samir?  Hardly. This Gunner fan thinks you just dug your traitorous hole deeper.

Champions League

Roberto Di Matteo has something special up his sleeve in preparation for the Champions League final match this weekend against Bayern Munich.  And should Chelsea prevail, Di Matteo is confident he will be offered a manager position permanently for the Blues.  But if they don’t sign him, surely someone else will.

Major League Soccer

President Obama paid tribute to the LA Galaxy as the MLS Champions by inviting them to the White House.  He acknowledged our own Landon Donovan, Robbie Keane and David Beckham as being instrumental in winning the title.  The President was particularly impressed with Beckham, whom at  the ripe old age of 37, had one of his best seasons in the MLS and managed to have his own line of underwear. I’m impressed too… have  you seen those H&M adverts?

Although the match ended in a 0-0 draw, Portland Timbers’ keeper Troy Perkins  made an amazing six saves over the course of the match while playing Houston Dynamo.

England National Team

According to Roy Hodgeson, the newly named England National Team manager, Rio Ferdinand will be left out of the 2012 Euro squad. Read Sky Sports report for more information.

It was just a couple of weeks ago that it seemed Manchester United had the EPL title wrapped up. Oh how quickly the tides have turned. Today was easily the biggest match of the season, the Manchester Derby. With Manchester City just three points behind United in the title race, a win today would bring them level.

And that’s exactly what they did.

The game winner came from Vincent Kompany in stoppage time right before the end of the first half. United had been holding City off well, but Kompany was left unmarked in the middle of the box. He buried the corner kick from David Silva, with a powerful header into the back of the net. 1-0 City right before the break.

The second half saw the Red Devils try desperately to find the equalizer, but they could not. The most exciting part of the match was a sideline shot of Sir Alex Ferguson and Roberto Mancini jabbering at each other, complete with chatter box hand gestures. Comical. I was waiting to see old Fergie swing one at Mancini, but it was all talk.

At the final whistle, it was City with the1-0 win, picking up the three points they needed to draw level with United. Because of an advantage in goal differential, all City has to do is win the final two games of the season, and the title is theirs. The Red Devils must pray that City’s opponents give them a little help, or their hopes of a winning their 20th EPL title this season are over.

I gotta say, as I swallow my bitter pill, City were on it tonight and clearly the better team. But I can’t help but think – If Valenica and Welbeck had started, would we have seen a little different game? I guess we’ll never know…

Hey everyone! Today is a busy day for footy news and boy do we have a bunch to talk about! We have everything from Brek Shea’s interesting blog post, RVP winning the PFA award & Roberto Mancini’s future with Manchester City. All in this Tuesday’s edition of DKA!

 Major League Soccer

This might be old news, but I came across FC Dallas player Brek Shea’s blog on Goal.com talking about how he could play and succeed in La Liga. Now, as the primary Liga writer for Aerys, I found this interesting. First off, Brek is rooting for Real Madrid AND a Chelsea victory in the CL (major kudos!) but the major issue addressed in Shea’s blog was the ever-so-controversial topic of Messi vs Ronaldo:

A lot of people ask who is better between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. I don’t think they should be compared. Just because they are the best two players in the game, I don’t think it’s that easy to compare the two because they don’t play the same position and they have completely different styles. I think the one edge I’d give to Ronaldo is that he has put up big numbers in both England and Spain. Messi has had the comfort of playing with the same players his entire career. 

I agree 100% and as for playing in Spain, it’ll be difficult but I’d welcome you with open arms!

La Liga

Bad news for Villarreal and Italy fans, Giuseppe Rossi is to be sidelined for another 10 months due to his ligament tear in his knee in training a couple weeks ago. It will require two surgeries to repare damage, the first was on Friday in the US. He then updated his twitter saying ‘Operation went well. Thank God.’

As you know, Real Madrid finally defeated Barcelona Saturday at the Nou Camp, but what you might not know, is that a Barcelona fan punched a Real Madrid fan. And it was all caught on camera. Umm….Hala Madrid?

UEFA Champions League

Barcelona hosted Chelsea FC at home today in their second leg matchup in the CL semi-finals. Before the match, midfielder Xavi believed the Barça fans would be a key role in the Catalan’s comeback and advancement. Barcelona lost 1-0 to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last week. To advance, Barcelona needed to score two goals and concede none.

Unfortunately for the Catalans, and to the DISBELIEF of most of the footballing world, a 10-man Chelsea tied Barca 2-2 and advanced to the final. It’s crazy! Not only did they win, but Fernando Torres scored the through-goal! The Blues are now waiting to see who they will face, Bayren or Madrid. And they will be doing it without John Terry, Raul Meireles AND  Branislav Ivanovic.

English Premier League

Looks like Roberto Mancini will keep his job as Manchester City manager for another season. Man City owner Sheikh Mansour has stated he is satisfied with the performance of the players & staff while hinting that Mancini would stay as manager, even if City doesn’t lift the trophy this season.

Great Britain football coach, Hope Powell, sees no reason why a female can’t run a premier league club. Powell has coached GB’s female football team for 14 years, being one of the most respected figures in women’s football, thinks a woman crossing into a male dominated world would be a good thing for the sport.

“I don’t see why it couldn’t happen. The job is the same. It is about dealing with personalities and high-profile players, about the coaching and the psychology behind the game. That wouldn’t be an issue. It is about people who own and run clubs feeling strongly and passionately enough, and believing that a female can do it.

I for one agree, where can I sign up to replace Arsene Wenger?

Speaking of Arsenal, Robin van Persie was awarded the PFA (Professional Footballers’ Association Player of the Year) award! The dutchman has scored 27 goals for the Gunners this season, the most he’s scored with the club, and he owes it all to his teammates at Emirates:

”Without them I could not have achieved it. For example Theo Walcott, he has given me more than 12 assists and I do really appreciate that.”

Ok, folks!  Rise and shine cuz it’s Hump Day and we have scores, highlights and news to get you over the hump and through the rest of the week.  You don’t even need your coffee this morning.  How about some really jarring, awful U.S. National Team home kits to wake you up instead? Both men and women’s teams will don the same loud, wide striped ensemble at home this coming season.  Am I the only one who is NOT a fan?  Give us your opinion!

U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Team

Oh no, say it isn’t so!  New photos of the home jerseys were released Monday and were supposedly inspired by the American flag, according to the U.S. Soccer Federation.  Both men and women will wear the same jerseys, designed with bold red and white horizontal stripes and a dark blue collar.  A faint hint of the tonal sash worn by the men’s team since 2010, can be made out as well.  Awake now?  I thought so.  What do you think about these new kits?

Champions League

Tied one all until the 90th minute, Mario Gomez of Bayern Munich scored the game winner to take the lead in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final match against Real Madrid last night.

Today, Chelsea and Barcelona face-off at Stamford Bridge in the other first-leg semi-final Champions League match.  Chelsea interim boss Roberto Di Matteo has his work cut out for him but the question everyone is asking is whether to start Didier Drogba or Fernando Torres up front.  I’d go with Drogba – experience and consistency – over a spotty, at best, Torres any day.  Catch the big game today at 2:45 p.m. ET.

English Premier League

It’s been just over a week since Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini practically handed over Mario Balotelli to the FA for investigation.  At the same time, Mancini also claimed the striker was “finished” playing for City the rest of the season.  Suspiciously, the tested manager now seems to have changed his tune about the striker’s future.  Mario Balotelli, on the other hand, believes he still has a future at Manchester City and can lead his team to the league title.  Are Mancini’s hands tied by City’s owner?  It will be interesting to see what transpires post-season and if it is in fact, Mancini who is “finished” at City, not Balotelli.

England National Team

In a devastating blow to England, Jack Wilshire has ruled himself out for the European Championships later this year.  The young, creative Arsenal midfielder has been out since June with an ankle injury.

World Soccer: Eyptian Riot Trial Update

First the Prime Minister and now senior Egyptian police officers and fans have been questioned and charged in the deadliest riots in the country’s history.  An update on the trial, which started Tuesday, can be found here.

The weekend is almost here! I hope you guys are excited as I am! We’ve got European leagues winding down and heating up and some great MLS match ups headed into the weekend. Today’s news covers the Real Madrid stomping of Atletico Madrid, Chelsea coming to the US, past Midweek Muscles cutie Chris Wondolowski in the Golden Boot shootout and USMNT’s Jozy Altidore special appearance. Get caught up with today’s Daily Kick Around!

La Liga

It didn’t seem too long ago when Real Madrid were dominating La Liga, sitting ten points clear of Barcelona. Oh my how the tables have turned. With only a point – a POINT – separating them and Barca, they took on local rivals Atletico Madrid in a do-or-die game. Luckily, Cristiano Ronaldo kept his spectacular form and notched a stunning hat trick and lead RM to a 4-1 win. They have the lead again, but with Barca nipping their heels, Real will have to be on top of each game from here on out.

Oh Andre Villas-Boas. You kind of have to feel for him. Since his sacking at Chelsea, the Blues have gotten a bit better, holding on to spots in the FA Cup, the Champion’s League and fairly decent in the EPL standings. So where is an ex-Chelsea coach to go? Apparently La Liga.

English Premier League

There is always debate on which league in the world is the best, but I think if you’re going to talk about excitement, EPL definitely takes the cake. The title race heated up this week as Manchester United fell to a regulation-bound Wigan. United were out played and out classed, while title and cross-city rivals Manchester City showed a strong dominance over West Brom, 4-0. United are still at the top, but like Real Madrid, need to mind their p’s and q’s to keep it for their 20th title.

Most of the time when you hear a coach talk ill of a player, you can assume that player will sit on the bench a whole lot or not even appear on the pitch for his squad. Not at Manchester City. If Roberto Mancini says you won’t be missing games, no sweat! You’ll probably be in the next match. Take the recent comments about striker Mario Balotelli. Mancini said the Italian wouldn’t see the pitch for the rest of the season, yetttttttttt he’s now saying Mario will be playing during the Manchester derby later this month. Sound like another Carlos Tevez act anyone?

Liverpool are desperate to make changes – it was announced today director of football Damien Comolli would be leaving the club, a decision that was apparently made by mutual consent.

Major League Soccer

Can you believe it? We’re already talking abut the MLS All Star game! I don’t know about you, but this event seems to get bigger and better every year. This year will be no exception. It was announced yesterday that EPL team Chelsea would be the opponents for the All-Stars in July at Philly. Sounds like it’s going to be a great game, especially with the addition of Adidas’ miCoach data tracker on each players’ uniform. This will provide real time data about each player, making this the first “smart” soccer match. I can’t wait to see the results of all this!

Retro banning seems to be catching like wildfire in MLS these days. After receiving a yellow card last week during the Revs match against FC Dallas, Revs midfielder Shalrie Joseph was given a retro ban by the MLS Disciplinary Committee. His sentence – a one-match ban and undisclosed fee. What do you guys think of this trend? Should a committee be allowed to go back and review tackles to issue out more punishment?

It seems a bit too early to talk about Golden Boot winners in MLS, but we’re already picking our favorites. This week Chris Wondolowski, a strong, strong contender for the honor, and the San Jose Earthquakes will take on two Golden Boot contenders, Thierry Henry and Kenny Cooper, as they face off with New York Red Bulls. Both teams have been on fire thus far in the season, so the game is expected to be one to watch!

U.S. Men’s National Team

Ah, the lovely FIFA world rankings. Do you guys wait around to see what crazy teams are in what places? We know we do! But seriously, how much stalk is in these rankings? I personally don’t pay much attention to them, but if you care, the April rankings are out – Spain is still No. 1, the USMNT dropped to 29 and Mexico sits in the 20th spot. Ick.

USMNT international Fabian Johnson had a sick goal yesterday – you need to watch it here!

Finally today, USMNT forward Jozy Altidore has been on fire lately, with 17 goals so far in all competitions this season. But recently he shared a different kind of honor, pictured with a newly wedded couple!

Mikel Arteta's game-winning strike puts an end to Manchester City's hopes for the title.

It’s a beautiful day for Arsenal fans!  Not only did they earn three points but they have eliminated Manchester City’s chances for the league title.

Today’s three points could make all the difference this season for the Gunners.  They were not expected to win against second place Manchester City.  Even a draw today would have been a coup for Arsenal considering Tottenham Hotspur only took a point yesterday.  The North London rivals were expected to beat Sunderland but the match ended in a 1-1 draw.

Arsenal are neck and neck in the race for a top four position in the league.  After this weekend’s win, they are in third place, two points ahead of Tottenham and five points ahead of Chelsea.

Manchester City has virtually no chance of winning the Premier League title at this point in the season.  They dominated from the start of the season and at one point, were ten points ahead of reigning champions Manchester United.  But the Red Devils never gave up and continued to patiently chip away at City’s lead week after week.

I imagine today was one of those rare occasions when Manchester United wanted Arsenal to win or draw a match.  The two teams have been fierce rivals for over a century but surely that didn’t stop United from celebrating Arsenal’s victory — ok, I know, it was probably more a celebration of Manchester City’s defeat.

Manchester City trail their cross-town rivals by eight points.  To add insult to injury, the talented but volatile City striker Mario Balotelli was awarded a red-card in the last minutes of the match.  He will be banned for at least three matches and according to Roberto Mancini’s post-match comments, he may not play for City the rest of the season.

Mancini went further to say that Balotelli’s controversial studs-up challenge on left-back Bacary Sagna, which received no call by the ref, deserved an investigation by the FA.  It’s not too often a manager suggests an inquiry into his own players’ antics.

Arsenal out-played the Citizens, dominated possession and defended well (only one City shot on goal that I counted) and deserved the win.  An 86th minute power shot by Mikel Arteta clinched the 1-0 win and understandably, the Gunner fans went wild.

Those clever British fans even rubbed it in further by performing the Manchester  City “victory dance” at full time.  You know, that silly thing they do when they turn their backs, connect arms over shoulders and jump up and down looking like a short snaky version of the wave.  It was a funny end to a great day! COYG!

Yawwwn. Soccer is so boring. I don’t even know why we bother watching. Let’s see if we can find anything particularly interesting to talk about in Saturday’s slate of MLS and EPL matchups.

L.A. Galaxy came out flat, losing 1-0 to Sporting K.C. at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park. Photo via fuckyeahsportingkc.tumblr.com

Major League Soccer

Our Canadian MLS clubs had quite the day, eh? It kicked off with the bitterest of rivalries, the “Canadian derby” as they say, with winless Montreal Impact hosting winless Toronto FC. Toronto was coming off a surprising CONCACAF Champions League run, but fell to the first-year Impact, who picked up their first franchise win with a 2-1 victory:

Sinisa Ubiparipovic, making his first appearance of the season for Montreal, coolly slotted home a shot in the 17th minute and No. 1 overall SuperDraft pick Andrew Wenger doubled the Impact’s lead with his first professional goal in the 81st minute as Montreal (1-4-1, four points) held off a late rally by 10-man TFC.

Toronto (0-4-0, zero points), who were reducted to 10 men when central defender Logan Emory was sent off in the 65th minute, got their consolation goal with two minutes to play on a header by Designated Player Danny Koevermans.

On the other side of the country, the Vancouver Whitecaps were the victims of the San Jose Earthquakes, who once again handed a team their first loss of the season (last week it was the Seattle Sounders who the Quakes reduced to rubble). Even more crazy, however, was how it was done. Not only were the Whitecaps undefeated all season, but they had not conceded a goal. In the 63rd minute of the game, they set an MLS record for consecutive scoreless minutes to start a season at 422. But then, at the 427th minute of the streak, the 68th of the game, Chris Wondolowski ended it with an equalizer. Must’ve been our Midweek Muscles feature this week that brought him some luck. The wheels fell off for Vancouver at that point, and they surrendered two more goals in a matter of 10 minutes – one to Alex Gordon and another to Wondo, to fall 3-1.

Wondering what the secret sauce has been to San Jose’s success this season? Our Quakes writer, Alyssa Olszewski, has the answer.

Sporting Kansas City is also having a mildly interesting season. They improved to 5-0 to start the season, the first MLS team to do so in 14 years, with a 1-0 victory over the stumbling defending MLS Champions, L.A. Galaxy (1-3). Kei Kamara scored the decisive goal on a header at the 40′ mark.

The Galaxy failed to record a shot on goal in a match. Yep, you heard that right. ZERO. And that gives us yet another record!

Sporting KC, which hasn’t allowed a shot on goal in back-to-back 1-0 wins against Chivas USA and the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday, set a new MLS record with 245 consecutive minutes without a shot on goal.

The SKC-LAG game aired live on ESPN, and featured a halftime spotlight on Kamara and his inspiring journey from growing up in war-torn Sierra Leone to reuniting with his mother, after almost ten years apart, in the United States. Don’t read on without watching it.

Here are more scores from Saturday’s matchups:

Columbus Crew 1 – 4 New York Red Bulls

DC United 0 – 0 Seattle Sounders

Real Salt Lake 2 – 0 Colorado Rapids

Portland Timbers 1 – 2 Chivas USA 

English Premier League

Clint Dempsey scored two goals in Fulham’s 3-0 win over Bolton on Saturday, breaking the club record for goals scored by a single player in a season with 15. His 30′ free kick strike was the first free kick goal of his career. You can watch it here. Dempsey now as 21 total goals this season, between Premier League and Champions League appearances. Yeah, Americans really can’t compete in European soccer, can they?

Has Manchester City’s lack of experience when the lights are brightest blown their chance at the Premiership title? The Telegraph’s Gary Lineker argues that Roberto Mancini’s public criticism of his players has led to a divisive atmosphere that’s prevented them from responding to pressure and closing out the season, and that their hot start disguised problems that later have come to haunt them:

When City enjoyed a blistering start, just like Spurs, we were probably sucked into thinking they were better than they actually are.

For a while it seemed they were running away with it, especially while Yaya Touré and David Silva were at their best, but the warning signs were still there. The Champions League performance was a disappointment, offering the first clues that the overall standard of the squad wasn’t as high as it seemed in the Premier League…

What matters isn’t how a player performed earlier in the season, but how they’re coping when the pressure is on, which is why you’d now look to someone such as Wayne Rooney as the most influential player of the season.

U.S.  Women’s National Team

Tickets are now on sale for the U.S. Women’s next friendly, against China at PPL Park, home of the Philadelphia Independence, on Sunday, May 27. It’s Memorial Day weekend, so you have no excuses not to go.

U.S. Soccer has also announced the women’s send-off match before the Olympics, a rematch of the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Final against Canada, which will take place June 30 in Sandy, Utah at Rio Tinto Stadium. Tickets go on sale to the general public Friday, April 13, with advance tickets for VISA card-holders on Thursday.

Keep up with us on Twitter at @AerysSoccer throughout Sunday’s matches, and check back here for more game recaps and league roundups.