Today’s top stories:
Frank Lampard and David Villa have both announced they will be joining MLS expansion franchise New York City FC next season. Villa apologized to Atletico and said the offer was too good to pass up.

Rickie Lambert completed his move to Liverpool. Prompting Southampton to release a statement saying they would not be accepting any more offers for their young talent and that they were sticking to their vision.

Marca are reporting that Alberto Moreno is on his way to Liverpool for a fee close to £18 million. 
Meanwhile another rumor has him moving to Real Madrid, to be finalized after the World Cup. We’ll keep you posted.

Video making its way around Youtube where C’ote D’Ivoire right back Serge Aurier says he is joining Arsenal. Later retweeted a similar rumor, we’ll see if anything gets done there.

Sergio Aguero has been quoted as saying he would “love” a move to Barcelona.

Inter Milan are rumored to be in the market for out of favor Manchester United striker Chicarito.

Roy Keane has decided to honor his commitment to the Irish National Team and will not be taking the manager position at Celtic.

The Daily Mail published a fake interview with Paul Pogba over the weekend. You know it’s the silly season when this starts happening. These companies are motivated to print these interviews because there aren’t harsh enough financial penalties to motivate them not to.

In tragic news from over the weekend, a match in the Northeast Nigerian town of Mubi in Adamawa state was bombed killing 40 people. The area has been the previous location of several Boko Haram attacks. Appears that fans were targeted.

World Cup News:

FIFA is in trouble after emails have leaked, which show payments that total $5 million were made to voting officials during the 2022 World Cup bid campaign. The payments were made by Mohamed Bin Hammam, the Qatari FIFA representative. FIFA now faces calls from their own vice president and the head of football associations around the world to re-vote on the 2022 World Cup host country. Both the United States and Australia are rumored to be in the running.
-         Bin Hammam used 10 slush funds controlled by his private company and cash handouts to make dozens of payments of up to $200,000 into accounts controlled by the presidents of 30 African football associations who influenced how Africa's four executive members would vote.

Sky Sports has obtained classified FIFA documents that show at least 7 friendly matches were fixed in the run up to the World Cup in South Africa. Convicted match fixer, Wilson Raj Perumal organized a front company to supply referees for the matches in question. Match officials received up to $70,000 per match. Five of the fixed matches involve South Africa including their 4-0 win over Thailand, their 1-1 draw with Bulgaria, a 2-1 win over Columbia, a 5-1 win over Guatemala, and a 1-0 win over Denmark. Other matches under investigation include Nigeria’s 3-1 win over Korea and Japan’s goalless draw with Zimbabwe.

It has been announced that the Netherlands will play the unconventional 5-3-2 formation during the World Cup. Could simultaneously get the most out of Arjen Robben and Robin Van Persie while compensating for a shaky defense.

Brazil Luis Felipe Scolari has declared himself less than satisfied with Brazil in recent training sessions. Says he will carefully consider lineup in friendly with Panama on Tuesday. It is rumored that he is experimenting with different starting XI’s in training.

New Jersey born, Italian striker Giuseppe Rossi has been left off of Cesare Prandelli’s final squad for Italy. Unfortunate for the striker who is returning from injury after scoring 16 goals last season.

British comedian Simon Brodkin almost managed to sneak onto the English World Cup plane, before being recognized by English players and escorted away.

Pavel Pogrebnyak has been left off of Russia’s World Cup roster.

Several national teams have released their final rosters including Germany, the Netherlands, Cameroon, Russia, and Italy.

Notable results from the weekend:
On Friday:
Qatar and Macedonia played to a goalless draw.

Iran and Angola played to a 1-1 draw.

Austria and Iceland also played to a 1-1 draw.

Switzerland beat Jamaica 1-0 thanks to a goal from Josip Drmic

England soundly defeated Peru 3-0. Daniel Sturridge opened the scoring with a beautiful curler after cutting in from the right side. Gary Cahill and Phil Jagielka both added goals from set pieces.

Spain ran out 2-0 winners against Bolivia. Fernando Torres opened scoring from the penalty spot and Andres Iniesta added the second.

Uruguay managed a 1-0 win over Northern Ireland. Christian Stuani scoring the only goal in that match.
Edin Dzeko’s brace gave Boznia-Herzegovina a 2-1 win over C’ote D’Ivoire. Didier Drogba scoring the consolation goal from a free kick. Les Elephants rested many of their starters for this match.

In our last Friday match, Chile won 3-2 over Egypt. Egypt jumped out to a 2-0 lead after just 16 minutes thanks to goals from Mohamed Salah and Khaled Kamar. Chile stormed back with a goal from Marcelo Diaz and two from Eduardo Vargas.

On Saturday:
We start off our international friendlies with two scoreless draws one between Italy and Ireland and the other between Portugal and Greece. One of the best performances from Ireland in recent memory.

Finland defeated Estonia 2-0.

Croatia defeated Mali 2-1, thanks to Ivan Perisic’s brace. Cheick Mady Diarry scoring for Mali.
Algeria defeated Armenia 3-1.

Norway and Russia played to a 1-1 draw. Oleg Shatov scored just 3 minutes in for Russia, but Anders Kondrasen later equalized for Norway.

Romania defeated Albania 1-0 thanks to a goal from Razvan Rat.

Latvia took down Lithuania 1-0.

A Robin Van Persie goal five minutes in gave the Netherlands a 1-0 win over Ghana.

Mexico again looked impressive in their 3-1 win over Ecuador. Luis Montes scored a beautiful goal, but misfortune struck only two minutes later when Segundo Castillo and Montes collided during a tackle. Really ugly stuff because it resulted in Montes breaking two bones in his leg and Castillo suffering a torn ACL. Montes will be sorely missed in the Mexican midfield. His replacement Marco Fabian added the second goal and Giovani Dos Santos scored the third. Enner Valenica added a goal for Ecuador late in the match.
Colombia and Senegal played to a 2-2 draw. Teofilo Gutierrez and Carlos Bacca scored for Colombia in the first half. 2nd half belonged to Senegal with goals from Moussa Konate and Cheikh Ndoye.

In Saturday MLS action:
Seattle dominated in a 4-0 win over Real Salt Lake. Goals came from Chad Barrett, Marco Pappa, Gonzalo Pineda, and Obafemi Martins.

Toronto FC and Columbus Crew played a thrilling 3-2 match where Toronto ran out winners. Justin Meram opened scoring for Columbus and Jermaine Defoe equalized three minutes later from the penalty spot. Agustin Viana gave the Crew the lead in the 65th minute. Defoe then added his second to equalize before Doneil Henry headed home the winner for Toronto.

Fabian Espindola gave DC United a 1-0 win over Kansas City. Now tied with Robbie Keane for 5th in goals scored on the season.

Philadelphia Union cruised to a 3-0 win. Conor Casey scored a brace, and Cristian Maidana added the 3rd for the Union.

San Jose took down FC Dallas 2-1. Blas Perez opened the scoring for Dallas before San Jose responded with goals from Atiba Harris and Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi.

The Montreal Impact defeated the New England Revolution thanks to goals from Jack McInerney and Andreas Romero.

Yesterday in more MLS action:
Landon Donovan again scored in a 1-1 draw between the LA Galaxy and the Chicago Fire. Jeff Lawrentowicz scoring from the penalty spot for the Fire.

Colorado defeated the Houston Dynamo 3-0. Two goals from Deshorn Brown and a third from Kamani Hill giving them the win there.

Portland and Vancouver played a 7 goal thriller in their clash this weekend. Maxamiliano Urruti opened scoring 3 minutes in. Pedro Morales then gave Vancouver the lead thanks to two strikes from the penalty spot. Erik Hurtado and Jordan Harvey then gave them a three goal lead before Portland mounted a comeback. Gaston Fernandez and Will Johnson scored to make it 4-3, but they were unable to find an equalizer.

In our weekend results from the NWSL Women’s League:
On Saturday the Western New York Flash fell 2-1 to the Houston Dash. McCall Zerboni scored for the Flash while Nina Burger and Tiffany McCarty scored for the Dash. Abby Wambach had to leave the match after only 25 minutes picking up an injury, but I have it on good authority she was able to celebrate her birthday on Saturday night. She turns 34 today, Happy Birthday to the American legend.

The Washington Spirit managed to come back from a 2-1 halftime deficit and win 3-2 over the Boston Breakers. Lianne Sanderson opened scoring for Boston, but Washington leveled just 5 minutes later from Christine Nairn. Sanderson then added her second before halftime. Jodie Taylor then scored twice in the second half to give the Spirit a big win. Diane Matheson getting assists on both those second half goals.

The Seattle Reign remain undefeated, overcoming a 1-0 halftime deficit over Sky Blue FC. Katy Freels 
opened scoring for Sky Blue just before halftime, but the 2nd half was all Reign. Nahomi Kawasumi scored the first and third goals for Seattle with Kim Little notching the second.
International friendlies from yesterday:

Israel beat world cup bound Honduras 4-2. They don’t look to be in good form heading to Brazil.

France and Paraguay played to a 1-1 draw. Antoine Griezemann scored a beautiful 82nd minute curler, but an error from Hugo Lloris allowed Paraguay to draw level from a Victor Caceres header.
Belgium looked in great form during their 2-0 win over Sweden. Romelu Lukaku continued his red hot form with another goal and Eden Hazard added the second with a spectacular run and finish, giving the Red Devils another tune up win.

Cameroon and Germany finished level at 2-2. Samuel Eto’o opened scoring in the 62nd minute before Germany stormed back with goals from Thomas Mueller and Andre Schurrle. Maxim Choupo-Moting continued his great form with the equalizer for Cameroon. Manuel Neuer, Philipp Lahm, and Miroslav Klose all sat out this match for Germany.


The USMNT looked much better yesterday in their friendly send off match against Turkey. Fabian Johnson opened scoring for the Von Trapps, with a great run and finish. Crucial pass was provided by Michael Bradley who played a spectacular chipped pass right into Johnson’s path. Clint Dempsey then capitalized on a defensive error and scored from short range in his return to the team. Selcuk Inan scored in the 90th minute from the penalty spot after Geoff Cameron handled on the goal line.