How does San Jose keep pulling out these magical at-the-death goals? We don’t know, but it sure is fun to watch. Unless you’re a Western Conference rival like Seattle, that is.

Stoppage time goals were the name of the game yesterday with three in the Western clashes, though only one carried three points with it. Read on for more news from MLS Saturday, plus more on the next incarnation of a professional women’s soccer league in the U.S.

Major League Soccer

Just when you thought Seattle had San Jose’d San Jose with a 92nd minute goal to salvage a point in the Western Conference, the Earthquakes answered back with a Stephen Lenhart header off a corner kick in the 93rd to defeat the Sounders 2-1. What an absolute gut-wrencher for the Sounders. Look for more on this dramatic comeback win from our Quakes writer, Alyssa Olszewski, later today.

With their three precious points, the Earthquakes put some more room between themselves and Real Salt Lake, who fell to Vancouver by a 2-1 score, with their lone goal coming on a Nat Borchers header in stoppage time.

Sporting KC followed up their U.S. Open Cup title win with a 2-1 victory over D.C. United, pulling KC past the New York Red Bulls atop the Eastern Conference.

Fabian Castillo led FC Dallas to a 3-2 victory over the Rapids with a goal and an assist, to come back from an early deficit.

Colorado would not go out without a fight, though. Jeff Larentowicz joined the action in the 55th minute to bring the Rapids within a goal.

Unfortunately, Larentowicz and his hair was not the only red Colorado saw on the night, as Jaime Castrillon was shown a red card after kicking a downed George John following an attempted tackle. The match’s opening goal scorer was escorted out, and Colorado was forced to play a man down for the final twenty minutes.

Professional Women’s Soccer

Now that the 2012 Olympics are over, and we won’t have another major international tournament for North American women’s soccer for three years, the attention once again turns to professional women’s soccer on this side of the pond. With the demise of WPS, what will happen to top players like Wambach, Sinclair, Solo, Lloyd and Rapinoe? What about young players who aren’t yet at the national level? After much rumor over the last few months, it’s been confirmed that there will be a new pro league starting in Spring 2013, including some familiar, former-WPS teams:

According to a release distributed by Boston Breakers’ communication early Thursday morning, the new, yet to be named league will feature at least eight teams, including three former Women’s Professional Soccer teams: the Breakers, Chicago Red Stars, Sky Blue FC.

They will be joined by a to-be-formed Seattle-based team, one of at least two entrants who will play on the West Coast.

In addition to those four commitments, the new league claims “four other teams are finalizing their participation in the league,” with the league’s organizers “working with United Soccer Leagues (USL) and Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL).”

A new Seattle team that’s not the popular Sounders Women? Tell us more, Equalizer Soccer:

Bill Predmore, the President of POP Agency in Seattle, is the lead owner of a new women’s team that was announced as one of the founding teams.

Predmore acknowledged that details are currently scant due to still ongoing organizational efforts, but he was able to shed some additional light on the new Seattle team. The Sounders Women declined to comment last night on their involvement, but Predmore stated that outreach has happened and a working relationship is not off the table entirely.

“We had a lot of respect for what the Sounders did this year,” he said. “They were a dream team in terms of the team they put together. I have talked to them on if there’s a way we can work together on things, but the result of that is still to be determined. We’re talking with all interested parties.”

Currently Predmore is the sole owner of the new Seattle team, although he expects to have others join the ownership team. If there are no interested parties, however, he is committed regardless. The team itself is still in the beginning stages, although conversations have been held concerning a general manager and other leadership. Predmore expects to start making announcements on that front “in the next few weeks.”

But will top national players and upcoming college stars have enough faith to be part of this new league? What about playing in more financially stable leagues in Europe? Thomas Hofstetter, the president of  Sky Blue FC, weighs in:

“The grass always looks greener, but when they come back they often say it’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” Hofstetter said.

One advantage in Europe, said the German native, is that the soccer federations in Germany, England, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden provide women’s teams (most of which are affiliated with men’s clubs) with financial support.

“There’s nothing from the U.S. federation, nor will there ever be,” he said. “I’m beyond that. It’s not an issue anymore. There is a market for women’s sports in America, but we have to accept that the level of professionalism might not be what we expect.”

Check back for more on Sunday’s MLS matchups, and make sure you’re following us on Twitter at @AerysSoccer for the latest news and commentary. 

It’s late and we know you’re probably watching the Sounders vs Chelsea in the World Football Challenge, so we’ll keep this one short and sweet today!

To kick off, we’ve got some news about Liverpool’s interest in poaching Clint Dempsey from Fulham. If you missed today’s MLS matches, we’ve got the highlights, including the Fire getting overheated in New York, and something that’s never happened to the Union at home! And finally, who doesn’t love off-day video footage of the U.S. Women’s National Team goofing around?

English Premier League

The buzz around Clint Dempsey’s next whereabouts continue, with ESPN reporting that Liverpool is interested in the Fulham striker’s services. The club is tight lipped with any more info than that and will not comment on any of the rumors swirling around about a loan of Andy Carroll:

“Clint is a player we’ve enquired about, it is as simple as that,” Rodgers said. “Ian Ayre, our managing director, has spoken with the club to see what the position is. That is where we’re at.

“He’s a very talented player but we don’t like to talk about other clubs’ players.”

The waiting game continues…

 MLS

The Fire couldn’t stand the heat today, as they fell 1-0 to the Red Bulls in an afternoon game in New York, where temperatures were well into the 90s. Thierry Henry provided the winner in the 70th minute.

Philadelphia Union dropped their first home international friendly to Aston Villa tonight at PPL Park. Villa will head to Chicago this weekend and Portland next Tuesday on their pre-season tour.

The Dynamo continued their torrid run with their unbeaten streak running to nine games now. Led by a brace from Calen Carr, they bested Sporting KC, 2-1, tonight at home.

The Revolution won’t want to return to Canada anytime soon, after falling to the Impact 2-1 today and remaining winless in the Great White North. Watch highlights of Sanna Nyassi’s go-ahead volley in the  67th minute.

U.S. Women’s National Team

We’re just one week before the kickoff of the London 2012 women’s football tournament and defending gold medalists USWNT hard at training in England. But it can’t be work all the time. The ladies took a break one day for a round of golf. U.S. Soccer captured all the hijinks on their YouTube channel.

Women’s Professional Soccer

A new women’s professional soccer league is coming in 2013 (so we hear…), but after the initial hype, the media coverage is bound to be pretty low. Equalizer Soccer’s Jeff Kassouf writes that the next incarnation of a pro league will have to do a better job of producing its own media — digitally — and looks to MLS as an example:

In 2009 MLS completely changed its digital strategy. The league dropped MLB Advanced Media as its platform and MLSnet.com became MLSsoccer.com, a change not only in name but in tone. (Read more in at nysportsjournalism.com.)

MLSsoccer.com suddenly became the online landing spot for news, video and written content covering not only the premier U.S. league but soccer abroad as well. Most interestingly, the site began to break news on its own league and feature content critical of players and managers. It was discussion, it was engaging and it’s drawing more eyeballs than ever.

UEFA Champions League

Today’s clash of European titans, Chelsea FC and Bayern Munich, in the UEFA Champions League Final headlines a huge day in soccer.  ESPN’s Paul Carr previews the match for Five Aside with nuggets of statistical goodness, including the ignominious record Chelsea could hold if they win.

Chelsea captain Frank Lampard is not bothered by Chelsea’s underdog mark in the match:

Lampard, who is aiming to become the first man to captain the Blues to European Cup glory, insisted he was relishing the atmosphere that had resulted from Bayern Munich having home advantage.

“The atmosphere here is amazing,” he said. “We’ve sampled a bit of it from airport to hotel. It gives them an advantage. We can play around with how much so, but playing at home, in your own changing room, the city with your fans – it’s an advantage.

“But to be underdogs gives you a determination. Bring it on. The fact they’re the home team is a great challenge for us.”

The match kicks off at 2:45pm EST on FOX. Not FOX Soccer Channel — actual FOX. Sorry, baseball fans. The world’s most popular sport took over your afternoon today.

 English Premier League

West Ham are back in the EPL after winning the nPower Championship today against Blackpool. Their fans certainly have an… ahem, unique way of celebrating.

Major League Soccer

It’s not only a big day for European soccer — today’s MLS slate includes the L.A. Derby between the Galaxy and Chivas, and the Cascadia Cup between the Seattle and Vancouver. SB Nation previews and predicts today’s matches with just a splash of snark.

Women’s Professional Soccer

It’s all over for WPS. The league announced yesterday that they would be closing shop for good, which is not surprising after the battle between the league and magicJack owner last winter caused the league to suspend operations for 2012. ESPNW’s Beau Dure discusses the future of women’s professional soccer in this country:

The bottom line from all parties: Women’s Professional Soccer is dead; long live professional women’s soccer.

“I don’t believe soccer in the U.S. is done, thanks to the many leagues around the country that are still being held to high standards like the WPSL,” Boston Breakers defender and former U.S. national team player Cat Whitehill said. “I believe we can keep top soccer in this country if everyone from the ownership to the players commits to it 100 percent. I understand there are amazing leagues across the world, but I believe the U.S. will find a way to create a professional environment as long as the commitment is there.

La Liga 

I can’t stop watching this video breakdown of Barcelona’s Tiki Taka style. Mesmerizing to watch.

Keep tuned to @AerysSoccer on Twitter and check back here for Champions League and MLS recaps later today.

USWNT forward Alex Morgan

I was starting to think that there really wasn’t anything particularly attention-grabbing for today’s DKA. Sure, we have the latest updates in MLS, including the tear Sporting K.C. is on, and the races for the FA Cup and EPL titles, but nothing caught my eye to say “wow, this is headline worthy.”

Then, this morning, as I was drinking coffee and getting ready to watch the Manchester United-Aston Villa match, I came across a link to a letter that U.S. Women’s National Team forward Alex Morgan wrote to a high-school female soccer player, who tore her ACL in her senior year. Read on for this story on someone who’s not only talented, but whose perspective during times of adversity is incredibly inspirational.

U.S. Women’s National Team

It’s no secret that we’re big fans of Alex Morgan. She continues to establish herself among the elite of U.S. women’s soccer, with 22 international goals, scoring at a pace of 1.23 goals per 90 minutes as of the U.S.’s latest match vs Brazil. Her relatively quick rise toward the national spotlight is inspiring to many young women, but it’s her actions off the field which may have even more impact on the next generation of professional female soccer players. Rochester Democrat and Chronicle just published  this inspirational letter that Alex wrote to a local high-school player who she didn’t know, but heard was doubting her future after tearing her ACL in her senior year of high school, just as Alex did:

I heard that you have done extremely well for yourself in the past few years, but you just tore your ACL and got surgery less than a week ago. I want to first tell you that tearing your ACL will not be the end of your career.

You decide your destiny. I don’t know if you are religious, but I like to think of it as God testing our strength. You will become a stronger person because of this, and I’m sure you already are. If you know what you want, and if that is playing college soccer or professional soccer one day, do everything in your power to accomplish that.

You need to stay positive, look ahead not back, and use the time you have now in the present to create the future you want.

Make sure to click on the link above to read the full letter.

Abby Wambach is still fully entrenched as the USWNT’s No. 1 forward, but Pia Sundhage is preparing for the future with the addition of another young, dynamic forward to the national team roster. Christen Press, the No. 4 overall 2011 WPS draft pick, and WPS Rookie of the Year has finally been called up, as Pia Sundhage announced the 27-player roster for the Florida training camp, in preparation for their May 27 friendly against China. Press, the 2011 MAC Hermann Trophy winner at Stanford, who previously played with WPS magicJack until the league suspended its 2012 season in January, is currently playing with Sweden’s Göteborg FC.

Major League Soccer

Remember last week when we mentioned that Sporting K.C. set an MLS record for minutes without allowing a shot on goal? Well, that record was unfortunately broken last night, as Real Salt Lake ended the streak at 335 minutes. I’m sure they weren’t fretting too much over it, though.  Sporting beat RSL 1-0 to keep a much more important streak alive, starting the season 6-0. They are only the second MLS team to do so, after L.A. Galaxy’s 9-0 start in 1996.

Speaking of the Galaxy, they actually won! David Beckham was back on the field for Saturday’s match against the Portland Timbers, scoring in the 91st minute to ice the 3-1 victory for L.A.

The Red Bulls-Earthquakes match lived up to the hype, with a flurry of goals in the first half, finishing in a 2-2 draw. Unfortunately, it felt more like a loss to the home team, as the Red Bulls led twice early, only to have their defense betray them and forget how dangerous Chris Wondolowski can be. Despite the result, the Red Bulls goals were textbook lessons in brilliance, with the second coming off a beautiful cross from Richards at the end line, flicked back by Cooper and struck by Dax McCarty for his first goal with the Red Bulls. I can’t stop watching that one. Highlights are here.

Read Trista Lutgring’s Saturday MLS Rewind for more scores and details!

English Premier League

After a stunning 1-0 defeat at Wigan midweek, Manchester United could feel City breathing down their necks, only two points behind, after United led by eight just a week ago. Maybe they just needed a little extra pressure to get back to form, as United bludgeoned Aston Villa 4-0 to move back up by five. Kayla Knapp has the full recap.

FA Cup

Everton’s Sylvain Distin is going to be haunted for a while by a horrible back pass that set up an opening for Luis Suarez to knock home the tying goal in the 62nd minute of the FA Cup semifinal. Liverpool capped the win with an Andy Carroll goal off a free kick minutes before the end of the match, sending them to the final.

W-League

With the dissolution of the WPS for 2012, many players have moved on to the semi-professional W-League and WPSL for the season, but no team has benefited more than the Seattle Sounders Women, who grabbed up USWNT players Alex Morgan, Hope Solo, Sydney Leroux and Megan Rapinoe. Yep, it’s magicJack all over again, without Abby Wambach and crazy Dan Borislow. Naturally, the Sounders drew more than 4,000 to their first match — of the pre-season. Not too shabby. Even Morgan was impressed with the crowd:

“I’m really impressed with Seattle and the support that we’ve got for the women’s team. It’s been great so far. I was really surprised at how many fans came out to support us. With the WPS we were lucky getting a crowd like this. This was a crowd we would get maybe directly after the World Cup.”

Here are highlights from Friday night’s Sounders 5-0 win against Seattle University, including interview with Leroux, who had a hat trick, and midfielder Keelin Winters.

Keep up with @AerysSoccer on Twitter for our reactions to all the latest news in EPL, MLS, La Liga and U.S. Soccer.

Real Salt Lake defeated L.A. Galaxy 3-1 in the Galaxy's home opener. Photo courtesy of mlssoccer.com

Three words, ladies and gentlemen: MLS is baaaack! It feels like ages since the L.A. Galaxy hoisted that cup in November but now spring is in the air and that means MLS is here.

In today’s MLS First Kick Hangover DKA, we see the three of Saturday’s matches through the eyes of Kayla, Elizabeth and Trista, plus other fan perspectives. Day One may have spelled loss for a few of our favorite teams but there’s a whole season ahead so we’re just going to grab a bloody mary this morning, shake it off and look at the positives, as we have a a whole new season to look forward to.

Also, what’s slowing down Brazil’s preparation for the 2014 World Cup? Who got Mario Balotelli to open up about all the rumors swirling around him? And how is WPS Rookie of the Year Christen Press faring with her new club in Sweden? Read on.

 Major League Soccer

Kayla Knapp was at the Galaxy’s home opener against Real Salt Lake and offers her own perspective to L.A.’s first home loss since 2010 by a score of 3-1, where they allowed all three RSL goals in the last 15 minutes. One early-season loss is not what Kayla’s most worried about with the Galaxy, though.

So what went wrong for the Galaxy in those final minutes? Fatigue, according to Bruce Arena:

“We were obviously a tired team tonight, I thought we still could have won this game and I think that this loss is on me. It’s my fault, I think I should have used fresher bodies,” Arena told reporters after the match. “We hit the wall and made mistakes that are attributed to fatigue. I think that the travel and two games this week added up to being a pretty tired team over the last 24 minutes and it cost us the game. I take full responsibility for that.”

Moving along in other MLS first day action, 2012 expansion team Montreal Impact dropped their first match to fellow Canadian club Vancouver Whitecaps and Trista Lutgring offers a positive spin on her Columbus Crew’s opening loss to the Colorado Rapids.

Is there anything better than being on Twitter during a live match? Maybe only being at the game itself. Personally, I love feeding off of others’ reactions — explosions of cheering at a goal, sarcastic commentary when something is going wrong. It’s like having a bar filled with your favorite people in your living room. If you love running Twitter commentary, don’t miss The Bent Musket’s “recap” of the Revolution-Earthquakes opener: The Match in Tweets: Revolution 0-1 Earthquakes.

Finally, have you joined Women United FC yet? It’s a new community for female MLS fans, co-founded by our very own Kayla Knapp. Check out their blog, join the group for your favorite MLS club and contribute to this amazing new community of fans!

Keep tuned into Aerys Soccer for more on today’s MLS First Kick matches.

English Premier League

Manchester City suddenly finds themselves looking up in the EPL standings as they were knocked off the top rung of the ladder in a 1-0 defeat to Swansea City with an 83′ goal from Luke Moore. For Swansea, the win most likely keeps them in the EPL for another season.

Mario Balotelli hates the media and avoids interviews. So how to get information on him that doesn’t have a 99% chance of being made up? When the lead singer of one of his favorite bands is the one conducting the interview. Balotelli recently opened up to Oasis’ Noel Gallagher for BBC’s Football Focus, putting a rest to several myths in the lore of Balotelli.

FIFA

Things aren’t going so smoothly in Brazil’s preparation to host the 2014 World Cup. FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke caused a stir when he proclaimed that “Brazil needed a kick up the backside to speed up preparations for the tournament.” Valcke later offered a backtracking apology and Sepp Blatter had to step in to apologize as well. So what are the issues that are slowing down preparation? Could it be stadium infrastructure? Nope. One of the culprits, my friends, is beer.

Women’s Professional Soccer

When news spread in late January about WPS folding for the 2012 season, one of the biggest concerns was where some of the non-USWNT players would go for the season. The window for transfers into European leagues was closing the following day, nearly impossible for any of the players to have hope of playing abroad. However, WPS Rookie of the Year Christen Press, who thought she was going from magicJack to the Atlanta Beat for the season, was able to sign with Sweden’s Göteborg FC. Now, Press is chronicling her first season in Sweden on a blog for Stanford University women’s soccer, her alma mater. In her first two posts, Press tells us about an early “bonehead move” and  tips for a rookie to survive in Sweden, including “Try to avoid using a Spanish accent when speaking Swedish…Espanswenglish?!”

Enjoy today’s full slate of matches, and don’t forget to follow Aerys Soccer on Twitter, Tumblr and Pinterest for more coverage of your favorite leagues!

Alex Morgan for SI's Swimsuit Issue.

Friday is everyone’s favorite day of the week, but today it’s an extra special day. I’m sure you’ve probably already seen it, but Alex Morgan revealed that she will be featured in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Aside from Morgan’s smokin’ hot body, there are a few other stories stirring up discussion in the soccer world today. The USWNT is making headlines, Harry Redknapp reacts to calls for him to fill the vacant seat for the England National Team, and much more! Here’s your Daily Kick Around.

US Women’s National Team

I don’t know about you, but I can’t keep my eyes off of that picture to the right. It’s not like it is news to us here at Aerys Soccer that Alex Morgan is a certified hottie, we fully admitted our crush on her a few weeks ago. But we’re glad to see one of our favorite USWNT stars getting some national exposure…and yes, we mean exposure in every sense of the word. Morgan stripped down to nothing but paint for SI’s Swimsuit Issue, and we can’t wait to see the rest of the pictures.

Morgan isn’t the only reason the USWNT has been making headlines in the past month. The team was just awarded January Team of the month, and Abby Wambach Player of the Month by the US Olympic Committee for their phenomenal performance in the Olympic Qualifying tournament in January. Congrats ladies!

The USWNT has added two more games to their busy schedule leading up to the Olympics this summer, as they will take on reigning World Cup Champion Japan and the always difficult Brazil in early April. These will be two great matches that you won’t want to miss!

Continuing on the trend of women’s soccer, now that the WPS has officially been suspended for the 2012 season, teams and players are scrambling to find a way to play at a high level this year. The Women’s Professional Soccer League (WPSL) announced yesterday that they would be adding an Elite Division for 2012, and three ex-WPS squads have already jumped on board. Equalizer Soccer’s Jeff Kassouf has all the details of this newly launched division.

US Men’s National Team

Even though Morgan and the rest of the USWNT ladies are the center of attention today, we can’t forget about the stars of the USMNT. Clint Dempsey, who has been on fire lately for Fulham, has been sharing his life and soccer experiences on Goal.com in the form of a soccer “diary.” It’s a fun concept that gives us the chance to learn a little bit more about the man dubbed “Deuce.” This week’s entry is all about the road to his first World Cup, in 2006.

English Premier League

Will Ryan Giggs ever retire? The Manchester United legend, who has been playing for the Red Devils since 1991, signed a one year extension today. It will be the 38-year-old’s 22nd year with United, an unbelievable feat to say the least. The man is a machine, it seems the only way he’ll quit playing is when his legs fall off!

Thierry Henry, another footballer of legendary status, will be coming back to his MLS squad on time, despite rumors that he would be extending his loan with Arsenal. Gunners manager Arsene Wenger had considered trying to extend Henry’s loan another two weeks, but said it wouldn’t be fair to the New York Red Bulls to do so. I’m sure NYRB fans will be happy to hear this news!

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp has been dominating the headlines the last two days, but not for anything to do with the Spurs. Now that Fabio Capello has resigned from England’s National Team, there is a vacant seat screaming Redknapp’s name. English footballers, members of the media and fans are all calling for Redknapp to take over the position. The question is, does Harry even want it? He answers that here.

Finally, saving the best for last, I give you the only soccer story you should read today. Luke Lohr of The MLS Reserves brings us the tale of Evan Mundine, a young kid with a massive heart and a passion for soccer fighting against multiple injuries and road bumps in his recovery.  Do yourself a favor and read it.

Ali Krieger, right back for the U.S. Womenʻs National Team. Photo via ussoccer.com

Could Henry stick around with Arsenal? What does Abby Wambach have to say about WPS canceling its 2012 season? What’s next for the U.S. Women’s National Team? All these answers, plus more EPL weekend action and a must-read on how WPS dug its own grave are in your Sunday Daily Kick Around!

English Premier League

Miss Saturday’s Everton-Wigan match? It wasn’t a pretty draw. Tim Howard is usually sure-handed, but today a bounce off a blocked cross by Phil Neville in the 76th minute went toward the goal and spun by Howard for an own goal. Wigan manager Roberto Martinez called it “a welcome surprise,” while for Everton, it was “a complete freak”, per David Moyes. Fortunately for Howard and Everton, Victor Anichebe put in the equalizer just after entering the match in the 81st minute.

Manchester City moved atop the EPL standings by three points over Manchester United with a resounding 3-0 victory over Fulham Saturday to remain perfect at home this season.

Could Thierry Henry be staying with Arsenal a little longer than expected? Saturday’s 7-1 bludgeoning of Blackburn, Arsene Wenger is looking to extend Thierry Henryʻs loan from the New York Red Bulls, at least until the Tottenham match at the end of this month.

Manchester United are currently taking on Chelsea. Can Fernando Torres, “the once prolific Spaniard who has gone 12 league games without a goal, his longest drought since arriving in England,” redeem himself after missing from point blank range when they met last September?  In his match preview, ESPNʻs Dale Johnson says Gary Cahill is the player to watch for Chelsea in the absence of Terry and Cole.

MLS

The 2012 MLS season is almost here, as pre-season kicked off today for many clubs. You can check out the full pre-season schedule here. Bobby Convey debuted up front for Sporting KC  in their 4-3-3 formation against San Jose, after playing for the last three seasons for the Earthquakes, calling the experience “a little bit different.”

U.S. Women’s National Team

This is the first piece of good news weʻve heard in women’s soccer all week. Defender Ali Krieger underwent successful surgery to repair a torn ACL in her right knee on Thursday. Krieger suffered a tear of both the ACL and MCL at the end of the first half of the U.S. Olympic Qualifying match versus the Dominican Republic on Friday, January 20. The MCL tear will not require surgery. Estimated healing time is 6-8 months, though Krieger has vowed she’ll do everything she can to return for the Olympics in July.

Tickets are now on sale  for the U.S.ʻs next match, a friendly versus New Zealand in Frisco, Tex. on Saturday, February 11 . Yael Averbuch, a national team veteran who played with WPS’s Western New York Flash in 2011, but was not on the World Cup roster, is back in camp this week in preparation for the match. Sydney Leroux remains on the training camp roster, as well as several other newcomers to the full squad, including defender Whitney Engen and midfielders Kristie Mewis, Christine Nairn and Keelin Winters.

WPS

If you havenʻt yet read this piece from ESPNʻs Monica Gonzalez on the accountability of WPS in its decision to suspend the 2012 season, stop what you are doing and read it now. Gonzalez details the rules that WPS made up in case of this very situation, and then how they broke them in order to oust magicJack owner Dan Borislow from the league.

For the first time since the announcement that WPS will suspend its 2012 season, Abby Wambach spoke about it in an interview with ESPNʻs Mechelle Voepel:

“The truth is that the responsibility is all of ours. Nothing rises or fails with one person. We all need to step back, look at ourselves, and take responsibility for all of the things. Nobody is talking about the amazing things Dan did and how he treated his players. Everybody focuses all the attention on the negative. And that’s not how we’re going to get the WPS back and running. You can’t build something great on negativity. It has to be in a positive manner.”

Hmm, well one of her former teammates is talking about how Dan treated his players, but maybe Abby missed the big news last week.

Good Thursday to you footy fans! Welcome to the second day of February, aka Groundhog Day! As we truck along through 2012, the soccer world is hustling and bustling with news this morning. From the impact the cancellation of WPS will have on Los Angeles, to a surprising Messi statistic, to more Serie A matches postponed due to snow, we’ve got your headlines right here! It’s your Thursday Daily Kick Around!

Major League Soccer

Ten years ago, no one thought MLS would last more than a few years; with few teams and no support, many wondered if the league would even survive. Luckily, it did and today, it boasts 19 teams and a crazy expansion rate. This interesting piece on MLS’ official Web site looks at how big the market is for MLS and how the sport has grown over the years.

An official announcement from U.S. Soccer came recently releasing the names appearing on its 2012 ballot for the National Soccer Hall of Fame. Sporting Kansas City cleaned house, with many nominees, including the team’s manager and assistant coach, and many former players.

Women’s Professional Soccer

In the wake of the news that WPS would be canceling its 2012 season, ESPN LA writer Scott French has an interesting piece on the impact of players in southern California – an epicenter for semi-pro and amateur league teams – who look to break into a professional league that is unfortunately crumbling.

La Liga

There’s no arguing with the fact that Lionel Messi is one of the best players in the world. We hear statistics about him all the time. But Goal.com had an interesting one recently - the Barcelona striker has given away possession of the ball more times than any other player in the league. Does this mean anything? Eh, maybe, maybe not. But definitely an interesting tid bit.

Why do you think Barcelona is so far behind Real Madrid in points in the league table? A logical explanation clearly would be that Real Madrid have been performing better against the other teams of the league. But Barca’s present Sandro Rosell is under the belief it’s because refs aren’t giving the Catalans fair calls. Say it with me now: “Awwwwww.”

Serie A

Tuesday, a Juventus – Parma match was canceled in Italy due to a snow storm. Yesterday, two more matches suffered the same fate as a huge snow storm traveled through northern Italy. The Bologna-Fiorentina and Siena-Catania Serie A matches were also suspended yesterday and the league has yet to answer with rescheduled dates.

English Premier League

The EPL is known for many things; quality players, amazing matches and great atmospheres in its stadiums. It’s also been known for it’s hefty spending. Luckily, that seems to be on the downhill slope. Reports are claiming that in this year’s transfer window, the league spent only 60 million pounds in January, down a whopping 70 percent from last year. Interesting…

Stay with the footy ladies of Aerys Soccer for all your soccer headlines, game recaps and Midweek Muscles features!

Rumpelstiltskin in Once Upon a Time

If you watch ABC’s popular new show, Once Upon a Time, you know the favorite saying of pawn broker Mr. Gold (aka Rumpelstiltskin): “All Magic Comes with a Price.” Mr. Gold barters in deals with “desperate souls” that have short-term benefits, but long-term consequences.

If the fairy tale world of Once Upon a Time were playing out simultaneously in this world, it would not be in Storybrooke, but Boca Raton, Fla., in the land of professional women’s soccer. And Rumpelstiltskin would be a man not named Gold, but one who also knew how to recognize desperate souls, offer them a deal that fulfilled what they needed at the time, but left them with an unknown price to pay. In this world, his name would be Mr. Borislow, owner of the Women’s Professional Soccer team magicJack.

Forward Ella Masar. Photo via wpsmagicjack.com

Yesterday, we shared the story that WPS decided to cancel its 2012 season due to the cost associated with an ongoing legal battle with Borislow. As the story broke, more news started coming out about Borislow and his mistreatment of players on the roster who do not also play for the U.S. Women’s National Team. Today, forward Ella Masar became the first magicJack player to break the silence and posted a tell-all on her own blog and on Pitchside Report about her experience as a magicJack player, and the price she paid to play. Below are excerpts.

Now that my nose surgery is paid off and Dan has no grip on my career, I feel it is time for me to really speak and explain what just happened down in Florida with me.

Oh boy, here we go…

It was mid July and we were all (MagicJack) sitting in our locker room. Dan had called a meeting to give us our options with the grievance being filed earlier in the week.

Of course, he did not show up. He just relayed his “dirty work” to some of the girls on the team and gave us two options:

1)    Disagree with the grievance and tell the league that we stand by him.

Or

2)    Agree with the grievance and he will pull the plug on our team and the season is over.

Side note:

At this point in time Dan was pointing a lot of fingers to different girls on the team to see who exactly started the grievance. Fortunately, for us, he had pissed off ONE too many girls and could not single anyone out. He sent one too many emails or said to the girls one too many times, call me “Daddy.” I wish I were kidding.

Some of us also asked the lawyers of the league what the worse case scenario would be if we did decide to stand up to Dan (finally). We were reassured that it would survive the remainder of the year. That is the ONLY reason that any of us would have sucked it up and stood by Dan.  We refused to be the reason of ending someone else’s dream.

“Daddy”?? REALLY? At this point of reading it I started seething.

So as we were sitting there facing our options, feeling that fear that Dan could pull the plug on us and collapse the league I raised my hand and said, I am sorry, I can’t stand by Dan, no matter what.

Not even 5 to 10 minutes later, I received a text saying I had two options.

“Go home and get your nose fixed or be traded.”

I read it out loud to the team and walked out of the locker room.

CLAP. CLAP. CLAP.

After lots of prayer, many conversations with my family, I told Dan I wanted to be traded. I was not going to let this man tell me my season was over. Not after everything I had been through down there. Western New York and Philly became very interested and both offered Dan trades.

Dan not only denied them both but also decided he wanted me back. Abby called me from the World Cup, the day before the finale asking me to come back, and Dan told me that he had made a mistake.

I still told them no…… well I did until the USA woman lost.

Throughout the season I had come pretty close to some of them. Dan was refusing to trade me and said that I was either done or could come back to Florida.

So, my heart, said you know what, some of these girls deserve a championship. I am going to do everything in my power to help them.

Florida:

I land in Florida a week later.

The US girls are back, Abby is named our coach, and my hell starts.

I realize now that Dan never wanted me back to help the team. He wanted me back to make an example of me. To show everyone that he was in control.

I sat the bench for the next 6 weeks. I am, by no means, saying that the people on the field did not deserve to be there. I am just saying that I thought I at least deserved a chance to play. IF I didn’t start, pas grave, but as a forward I felt I deserved some/any minutes to play and help the team. I went from starting, playing every game to not a minute.

Shocking? Yes. Surprising? No. Things are about to get real. And you thought women’s soccer was boring?

Read the full story on Ella’s blog.

In Borislow’s response to WPS’s decision to suspend operations this season, he stated  ”magicJack stays committed to helping the US add another Gold medal to it’s inventory. We will do practically anything to help the Women achieve this.” Players slammed Borislow for his focus only on growing interest in the national team and not the league itself, and in the process killing the professional careers of players not on the national team.

Philadelphia Independence’s Tasha Kai was, unsurprisingly, the most outspoken, mincing no words:

Borislow responded snarkily by saying “Who’s Tasha Kai? Is she on our national team?”  Borislow must know Kai, one of the top scorers in the league last year. She currently plays for the Philadelphia Independence, who beat his magicJack team in the 2011 WPS semifinals, and has previously played with WPS’s Sky Blue FC. Kai also won an Olympic gold with the national team in 2008.

Tasha Kai

Sky Blue FC’s Carrie Dew didn’t quite use the colorful language Kai did, but her response was just as harsh:

Many of the national team players voiced sadness, rather than anger, and hope for a WPS return in 2013:

Players from Borislow’s magicJack team, including Megan Rapinoe, Abby Wambach, Hope Solo, Christie Rampone and Shannon Boxx, have remained silent on Twitter with regard to yesterdays’s news.