RSL Legend Andy Williams Retires

Today was a bittersweet day for us Real Salt Lake fans. Veteran midfielder Andy Williams, aka "bommadog" announced his retirement from MLS after 14 seasons. Williams was eligible for the re-entry draft, and chose to retire but stay with the RSL family. He'll be joining the technical staff as a scout.

Williams spent the last 7 seasons in Salt Lake. He was drafted with RSL's first pick in the 2004 expansion draft. He is the last of original RSL 2005 team. This last season he notched two goals, one assist, and logged 1970 minutes in 31 games.

Williams was also a big part of the Jamaican National Team "The Reggae Boyz." He was capped 92 times and played in the 1998 FIFA World Cup. He scored 13 international goals in his career.

Williams also won the US Open Cup as a member of the Chicago Fire in 2003.

Personally, I'm sad to see him hang up the boots, but I'm really glad he is going to continue to be a part of RSL.

Williams and Javy Morales

PHOTO: rsltothecore.com

Anelka and Alex Request Transfers From Chelsea

It looks like Chelsea will be doing some dealing in the transfer market come January. According to manager Andre Villas Boas, both Nicolas Anelka and Alex have formally requested a transfer from the EPL side, and the club is prepared to grant their requests.

Anelka has been generating buzz for awhile, but Ives Galarcep has a particularly interesting take on this in his latest Fox Soccer column. According to Galarcep, MLS Expansion side Montreal Impact are in talks with Anelka. They hope bringing in the Frenchman will help appeal to the French-Canadian population in Montreal, as well as give them a top name going into their first MLS season.

At any rate for Chelsea fans, it would free up a couple of spots for more moves in January.

Check out Galarcep's column HERE

You can follow Ives on twitter for some fantastic soccer reporting by following @SoccerbyIves.

Italian Match Thoughts: Genoa vs. AC Milan

This particular match up has a history of some bad behavior by fans and players alike. Unfortunately, that reared it's head again in this one, causing a delay in proceedings. Luckily we were treated to a couple of goals and another impressive performance from the defending champions.

Nocerino proved to be a thorn in the side of Genoa from the early going, breaking into their 18 a few times in the opening minutes. In the 12h minute, he had a shot that was just saved, and Genoa looked like they had no answers for the AC Milan midfielder.

About the 16th minute, a cloud descended over the match. Literally. At first it appeared that a smoke bomb had been set off in the stands. However, fans started to vacate the area and cover their faces. The cloud descended onto the pitch and several players had to cover their faces from what appeared to be tear gas. The ref stopped the game for about 10 minutes, until the air could be cleared and the players could be attended to.

Even after the restart, Genoa had a tough time getting things going. Their best chance of the first half came in the 34th minute. Miguel Veloso sent a free kick in at the AC Milan goal, only to have Marco Amelia tip it over the bar. The two teams went to the half time break still tied at 0-0.

Milan took control of the match in the second half. Kakha Kaladze picked up two yellows for Genoa within 7 minutes in the second half to get sent off. The second was a conceded PK in the 54th. Zlatan Ibrahimovic nailed home the PK to make it 0-1.

Genoa really couldn't muster much over the remainder of the match, especially being down to ten men. Nocerino reared his pesky head again in the 80th minute, knocking in a cross from Kevin Prince-Boateng to make 0-2, which was the full time result.

If I'm honest with you, it wasn't Milan's best performance. However, Genoa just appeared to be toothless in attack all night. In the end, the defending Serie A champs did enough to pick up a vital 3 points on the road, keeping up the pressure on Juventus.

Sunderland Appoint Martin O'Neill As New Manager

The wait to see who would follow Steve Bruce as manager at Sunderland wasn't long. Various outlets began reporting that Martin O'Neill was the favorite, and the club confirmed it today. The former Aston Villa manager signed a 3 year deal.

O'Neill will not manage the club Sunday at Wolves. He will officially take over on Monday.

O'Neill won the European Cup as a player, and has managerial experience with other clubs including Norwich and Celtic, as well as Villa.

Euro 2012 Group Stage Draw

Here are the results from UEFA's Euro 2012 Group Stage Draw held about one hour ago:


GROUP A:
Poland (host)
Greece
Czech Republic
Russia

GROUP B:
The Netherlands
Denmark
Germany
Portugal

GROUP C:
Spain
Italy
Republic of Ireland
Croatia

GROUP D:
Ukraine (host)
France
Sweden
England

So there you have it. Group B is clearly the group of death. England has a decent draw into group D. Russia will be THRILLED to be in group A.

Italian Match Thoughts: Lazio vs. Juventus

For some reason I've been on this kick for watching Juventus lately. It couldn't be because they're playing some of the best football in Italy, could it? Yes, it probably could.

This one was really fun to watch as well. The low scoreline is a bit deceptive. Both sides created quite a few quality chances. It really was an example of some of the best that Serie A has had to offer so far this season.

The first 20 minutes pretty much belonged to Juventus. Claudio Marchisio got things started with a bang in the 10th minute as just BARELY missed with a header over the Lazio crossbar. He really should have scored. Andrea Pirlo stood up to take the next chance on 13 minutes, but found his shot blocked. He tried again with an absolutely gorgeous free kick in the 16th, that was only kept out by an equally brilliant save from the Lazio 'keeper.

After weathering the opening storm from Juve, Lazio got their feet. In the 21st minute they were helped out by a Juve defensive blunder which Tommaso Rocchi turned into a shot that was neatly saved by Buffon. However, just seconds later, Cristian Ledesma sent in a wonder strike that looked bound for the back of the net but somehow crept wide.

Lazio's failure to convert some of their chances in the first half eventually came back to haunt them. In the 34th minute, Juve sparked a counter and Matri managed to find Pepe with a beautiful cross. Pepe promptly banged it into the back of the net to give Juve the 0-1 lead at the half.

The second half slowed just a little bit, but again both sides had chances. Lazio went on a great run of attack from about the 60th-70th minutes. It featured great chances from Hernanes, who hit the post, and Miroslav Klose, who forced a quality save from Buffon. However in the end, they couldn't convert and Juve held on to the 0-1 win.

Juventus takes the three points and continues their great top of the table run, Lazio played a great game however, and gave the Old Lady all they could handle. I expecy both of these teams to be in the mix for the Champions League spots, if not for the Scudetto itself. Great match.

Liverpool's Lucas Out For the Season

Some bad news came down the pipe today for Liverpool and it's supporters. Star midfielder and Brazilian International Lucas Leiva has been ruled out for the remainder of the campaign.

Lucas picked up the injury during the second half of Liverpool's Carling Cup win over Chelsea. The Red's medical staff confirmed that he damaged his ACL in his left knee. The required surgery will put him out for the season.

This isn't good news for Liverpool as they are again without the services of Steven Gerrard, who continues to miss time with an ankle infection.