FA Cup Match Previews- Gonna be a Fun Weekend!

Saturday February 18, 2012

Chelsea vs Birmingham City:

Chelsea will be on the hunt to redeem themselves from a defeat to Everton in the league. Portuguese manager Andre Villas-Boas is in hot water and is rumored to be under the scrutiny of owner Roman Abramovic. Chelsea’s hopes of Champions League football next season or making any real challenge for the Premier League title are currently being squandered by Tottenham and Arsenal. Chelsea are in 5^th place, level on points with Arsenal and a whole ten points behind Spurs. The title is out of their reach, but all that stands between them and a spot in the quarter finals for the FA Cup is Birmingham City.

This Week in the Knockout Stages...

The underdogs from Cyprus, APOEL put on an impressive defensive show in France while Bayer Leverkusen were unable to hold of reigning champions Barcelona despite a strong first half. Arsenal suffered at the hands of AC Milan at the San Siro and the Russians Zenit St. Petersburg came from behind to snag a win against Benfica.

Ten Reasons to Pay Attention To the Axpo Super League

Switzerland is known for chocolate, watches, cheese, cuckoo clocks and various other things not including soccer. They co-hosted the EUROS in 2008 with Austria and are home to FIFA Headquarters as well as the current FIFA President, Sepp Blatter, but otherwise the nation is relatively quiet on the soccer front, especially when being compared to the soccer giants of England, Spain, Italy and Germany.

Shaqiri to Move to Bayern Munich in the Summer of 2012

FC Basel has just released an official statement confirming the rumors that Swiss wonder-kid Xherdan Shaqiri will be leaving his youth club and moving to the Bundesliga in the summer of 2012, featuring for Bayern Munich on a four year contract. Neither club has chosen to disclose the sum of money that will break Shaqiri of the remainder of his contract at Basel, but rumors have ranged from 14 to 15 million francs. Xherdan's current market value sits at 11 million pounds (12.5 million euros).

Bolton Wanderers sign USA Defender Tim Ream - OFFICIAL

Tim Ream leaves the MLS after two successful seasons
soccerbyives.com

Bolton Wanderers confirmed this morning that they have secured the defensive services of United States National Team and former New York Redbulls defender Tim Ream for three-and-a-half years.

Tacoma Tide Undergoes change, PDL Welcomes Seattle Sounders U23

SoundersFC.com

The USL/PDL team Tacoma Tide has become the new Seattle Sounders U23 team. The new squad will be coached by Darren Sawatzky who has previously worked with the Seattle Sounders youth."By now having an affiliated PDL program, Sounders FC has added an additional piece to our Youth Development Program." Adrian Hanauer told sounderfc.com.
The new squad will play teams in Washington, Oregon and Canada including the defending USL/PSL champions the Kitsap Pumas who call Bremerton their home.

This Week in the EPL

Photo Credit: theoriginalwinger.com

United were able to fend off a strong Arsenal team to keep themselves in the run for the top spot in the Barclay's Premier League while the bottom four teams continue their scramble to escape the relegation zone.