North America
+ Major League Soccer and its players union have agreed to continue to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement through Feb. 12, delaying any potential work stoppage.
+ Richard Farley: MLS labour negotiations’ deadline extension tells of progress, public relations.
+ Red Nation: Canada’s next generation unveiled in Jamaica.
+ Ben Knight: As Toronto FC commences training camp for the 2010 MLS campaign, it is clear that Jimmy Brennan should step down as the captain of the Reds.
+ The Yorkies: 11 surprises for Toronto FC trialists.
+ Marc Weber speaks with new Whitecaps signing Nelson Akwari.
+ The Whitecaps plan to build a training centre in Delta is dead. The planned site for the $31 million project was John Oliver Park, but despite a signed memo of understanding, a deal never materialized. Now the Caps will look elsewhere.
+ Striker Chris Wondolowski has signed a new contract with San Jose.
+ The Los Angeles Sol of Women’s Professional Soccer announced Thursday that it is ceasing operations after one season.
England
+ Portsmouth’s crisis plumbed new depths yesterday, with the positions of manager Avram Grant and chief executive Peter Storrie in significant doubt after the club opened negotiations to sell Younes Kaboul and Asmir Begovic to Tottenham without their knowledge.
+ Tottenham have pipped West Ham to the signing of Monaco striker Eidur Gudjohnsen, leaving the door open for out-of-favour Spurs striker Robbie Keane to leave White Hart Lane.
+ Arsenal received a rare injury boost on Thursday when a scan showed Thomas Vermaelen had not broken his leg.
+ Arsène Wenger is confident that Sol Campbell can produce the "big game" required should he be needed to stand in for Thomas Vermaelen against Manchester United at Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
+ Arsenal have failed in bid to land France striker Loic Remy as his club Nice hold out for a £13million fee.
+ Wenger says he is sorry to have missed out on the capture of defender Chris Smalling and admitted it was unlikely Arsenal would sign any new players before the end of the transfer window.
+ Nicklas Bendtner has declared he is ready to return to Arsenal’s first team after a three-month absence through injury, a return that coincides with an injury to Eduardo da Silva and Sunday’s Premier League match against Manchester United.
+ Sir Alex Ferguson has called on Manchester United supporters to end their vile taunting of Arsene Wenger. The Arsenal boss has been the subject of disgusting and baseless ‘paedophile’ chants by United followers for a number of years.
+ Rio Ferdinand is considering whether to appeal against his four-match suspension for attacking Hull City’s Craig Fagan at Old Trafford last weekend.
+ Sunderland have made a cut-price move for Manchester City striker Benjani. He is due to hold talks over a £1.5m move after looking poised to join West Ham.
+ Birmingham manager Alex McLeish is confident that he will make Spurs striker Roman Pavlyuchenko his third signing of the month.
+ Ashley Cole was today banned from driving for doing more than 100mph in a 50mph zone.
+ Tottenham Hotspur’s Aaron Lennon has been ruled out for at least three more weeks. The England winger, who has not played since a home win over West Ham United on 28 December, because of a groin problem, had a scan on Tuesday.
+ Manchester City has been told to up their £10million bid for Fernando Gago, Real Madrid’s Argentina midfielder, to £15m.
+ Manchester City are considering a move for Parma midfielder McDonald Mariga after seeing negotiations stall with Real Madrid in their attempts to sign Fernando Gago.
+ Fulham have revived a move for Roma striker Stefano Okaka.
+ Hull City manager Phil Brown has opened talks with Stephen Hunt over a new deal. Wolves have this week had four bids for the Republic of Ireland international turned down.
+ Aston Villa defender James Collins has hit out at Arsène Wenger’s claims that Villa are a long ball team and branded his comments "stupid" and "ridiculous."
+ 1860 Munich’s American forward Kenny Cooper is set to go on loan with Plymouth.
+ Newcastle are on the brink of signing Honduras international defender Osman Chavez on loan until the end of the season.
+ Michael Chopra was involved in a fight at St James’ Park on Wednesday night after a Newcastle fan spat in his face.
African Cup of Nations
+ Algeria ended their African Nations Cup in disgrace as they had three men sent off in their 4-0 defeat to Egypt in the second semi-final.
+ Asamoah Gyan scored the only goal to help a well-organised Ghana book their place in the African Nations Cup final with a battling victory over regional rivals Nigeria.
+ Mali’s Stephen Keshi has become the first coaching victim of the African Nations Cup after the country’s football federation decided not to renew his contract.
+ Tunisia have extended the contract of coach Faouzi Benzarti for two more years despite the country’s elimination from the African Nations Cup finals in Angola
Spain
+ Barcelona are set to offer defender Gerard Pique a new contract which will keep him at the club till 2015.
+ Barcelona forward Bojan will not be leaving the club in what remains of the January transfer window, despite reports linking him with a possible move to the Premier League.
+ Jack Bell: The Iniesta Generation.
Italy
+ Juventus have confirmed that they have replaced Ciro Ferrara with Alberto Zaccheroni after days of feverish speculation.
+ Mario Balotelli scored a minute from time to give Inter Milan a 2-1 win over Juventus in their Italian Cup quarter-final on Thursday.
+ The Italian Olympic Committee has announced that Fiorentina striker Adrian Mutu has failed a drugs test for the second time in his career.
+ Antonio Cassano has emerged as a transfer target for Fiorentina after Adrian Mutu failed a drugs test.
France
+ Anderson could be set to quit Manchester United for Lyon, with the midfielder’s representitives claiming a deal could be "closed this weekend".
+ Ricardo Costa is on the verge of leaving Wolfsburg for Lille on a loan deal until the end of the season.
+ Paris Saint Germain are considering making a bid for Roma’s inconsistent playmaker Jeremy Menez, according to L’Equipe.
+ Marseille’s France U-21 international defender Garry Bocaly has once again been loaned to Montpellier.
Germany
+ Andrew Keh: Budding star Mesut Özil borrows qualities from his two cultures.
+ Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder Christoph Preuss is ending his career immediately because of a renewed knee injury.
Portugal
+ FC Porto are on the verge of completing the capture of Brazilian striker Kleber.
Brazil
+ Manchester City forward Robinho is to rejoin Santos on a six-month loan after the two clubs reached a deal.
Scotland
+ Celtic will show their faith in Tony Mowbray by allowing the manager to sign a central defender and a striker before the transfer window closes on Monday.
+ Celtic rejected Middlesbrough’s latest attempt to add Scott McDonald to their growing contingent of former Parkhead stars.
Turkey
+ Galatasaray have decided to release Congolese striker Shabani Nonda on a free transfer with immediate effect.
+ Turkey’s bid to host the 2016 European Championship has been helped by the government pledging about $1.4 billion to build and redevelop soccer stadiums.
Australia
+ Robbie Fowler has rubbished reports he has issued a "him or me" ultimatum at North Queensland Fury coach Ian Ferguson.
Joe, how many Friday’s in a row is this now? 12? Someone should tell Dunlop to be the DD Saturday night he might have to go to work Sunday morning.
The news about the Whitecaps stadiums sucks. Plain and simple. They’ll be stuck in GM Place for who knows how long now.
Read yesterday that Juve is approaching Rafa to offer him their managers role next season @ 2.6m/season.
Way too many Fridays to count. Dunlop will be in Sunday again. I really can’t wait until this site gets laucnhed and I can get back to posting more regulary again (outsaide of the morning links)
Vancouver should ebroil “we hate NIMBYS” on the front of their shirt. God forbit someone spend their own money to fund a project that benefits the community. Once their MLS fan base is up and running it will be much harder to fight these projects. Extremely fustrating from a soccer supporters pov though.
Ferrara still had a job? I missed that one.
I swear Adrian Mutu has got to be one of the dumbest individuals to play professional sports…i would give anything to play soccer professionally and the fact that you get to go out their and play for a living would be enough excitement for me….he got his first warning when he got caught couple years back….and now he does it again….????
i feel no pity for him for whats coming to him and even his agent has declared that this could very well be the end of his career…
DUMBASS
i agree we want to keep doping out if sport but that is pretty harsh treatment of Mutu… Career ending punishment, really?
Jim Brennan definitely showed signs of decline last year and the lost locker room also suggests problems with his leadership but it still feels premature to strip him of he captaincy. Sometimes even the strongest leadership loses out if the number of a-holes is too great. Not sure anyone else is ready anyway. Most strike me as very individualist and ego-inflated (which is surprising considering they’re playing in a rather modest league). Give JB another chance under a new coach. If it is not going well, then JdGuz is the man.
Think Pavlyuchenko to Birmingham would be a great move for all parties involved. Roman would get playing time, Birmingham would have the stirking support they covet, Tottenham would get money to fund other moves they are trying to make and we wouldn’t have to he Pavlyuchenko whine anymore.
I’m sure that if Pavlyuchenko gets a run of games in a PL team he’ll show himself to be a better then average striker. Harry’s exclusion of him has been ridiculous.
Pavy to Birmingham is the beginning of the end for big ‘Eck’s men. He’s going to smash the wage structure and still be crap on the field. Say good bye to the fabulous chemistry they used to have.
Interesting albeit not shocking news about John “philanderer” Terry today.
SB
Doesn’t he actually have to be “on the field” to be crap on it ?
Tottenham have apparently rejected the offer for Pavlyuchenko as it wasn’t in the neighbourhood of 14m (the price the origninally paid for him under Ramos).
Stephen Hunt’s worth chasing. If Hull beats the drop, it would be because of him. Can’t wait to see him and Bullard together.[ If Bullard can stay fit!] I’m surprised that he didn’t make K.J’s top 100.
John Terry philanderer!
Any one SHOCKED about this?
Apparently he had an affair with the ex-girlfriend of Wayne Bridge.
Well, you can never trust your best friend…. when it comes to your hot girlfriend…
good luck England!
(hey, sometimes it brings people closer together)