Another fixture is on the horizon for the USMNT, who will face our neighbors to the north on June 3 in Toronto.

Grant Wahl takes a look at the coming return of Steve Zakuani.

DC has their newest DP.

Your weekly fixtures and TV listings here.

Brazilian courts have instructed striking workers to get back to work on a stadium in Recife being constructed for the 2014 World Cup.

John Terry has lost the England armband, but his club manager is sticking by him. He won’t line up this weekend though as Chelsea face a crucial match against Manchester United. On the other side of things, Manchester United fans have reason to be pleased…four regulars are back and healthy as Sir Alex Ferguson’s side makes their title push.

This weekend, the U.S. Women’s National team defeated Canada to win the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament. I break it down over at The Shin Guardian.

The Portland Timbers landed SPL star Kris Boyd as a DP.

Global Soccer

Everton’s Darron Gibson scored the gamewinner against Manchester City this afternoon, allowing his former club, Manchester United, to pull equal with City at the top of the English Premier League table. Man U defeated Stoke City 2-0 thanks to spot kicks from Javier Hernandez and Dimitar Berbatov. In other EPL action, Liverpool disposed of Wolves 3-0, Chelsea capitalized on a Swansea own goal in stoppage time to salvage a 1-1 draw, and Tottenham downed Wigan 3-1.

10Kit Originals

Jon Arnold and Anthony Mannino break down the USMNT January friendlies in the USA10cast.

US households turned viewed in record numbers for last weekend’s Manchester United’s 2-1 victory over Arsenal at the Emirates.

The USWNT will look to wrap up an Olympic birth as they take on Costa Rica (8:00 PM ET). Despite already outscoring their first three opponents 31-0, they’ll need a victory here to progress.

Add Timothy Chandler to the USMNT injured list.

All your weekend fixtures here, highlighted by Villareal v. Barcelona (Sat., 4PM ET) and Liverpool v. Manchester United (7:45 AM ET, FSC) in an FA Cup clash at Anfield.

Global Soccer

Anyone looking for a diminutive soccer god on Time Magazine’s US cover will be disappointed. The Barcelona star didn’t make the cut.

Jack Wilshire’s hopes for a February return look doubtful as the midfielder aggravated his injured ankle in practice on Friday.

Want away Chelsea defender is getting his wish. Paris Saint-Germain has announced the signing of the Brazilian centerback on a roughly $6 million transfer fee.

The perennial Champions League also-rans are supposedly prepared to pay $10 million for the Hoops star, but Shea’s camp isn’t convinced by the idea of going to Eastern Europe, and seems to think they can negotiate a better deal elsewhere, the source said.

A $10 million fee would match the most paid for an MLS player, dished out when Villarreal purchased Jozy Altidore from NY Red Bull.

The source said the bid was made earlier this week, and is still on the table, but since things have gone quiet as Shea’s camp explores other options.

Shea is returning to Dallas today after featuring for an unconvincing 90 minutes in the Americans’ 1-0 win in Panama Wednesday.

The 265th playing of the match also marked the debut of American striker Jeff Cunningham. Earlier in the week he had promised to score golazos for his new club. Well, it looks as though he’s a man of his word. Cunningham came on as a second half substitute and opened his account for the team, helping them secure a 2-0 victory after going a man down just after he had come on the field. He had an earlier chance (seen at the 1:55 mark of the clip below), and if nothing else just enjoy the LMFAO remixes playing in the background.

See it here:

The Philadelphia Union’s PPL Park will be the host of the 2012 MLS All-Star game.

Global

FIFA President Sepp Blatter has said that UEFA President “ready” to take over as the head of FIFA.

Manchester City has fined Carlos Tevez £9.3 million for refusing to return to the club.

10Kit Originals

Keep up with all of Jon’s coverage of this weekend’s USMNT friendly, including some extra thoughts, a profile of Bill Hamid and a look at how German-based players fared in the game.

Champions League Contenders: After his team’s 1-0 victory against Venezuela, United States national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann was asked about the sterling performances turned in that day by two players who weren’t with the team: Zak Whitbread and Clint Dempsey. Whitbread played center back and helped Norwich City secure a goalless draw with EPL giants Chelsea. The clean sheet, City’s first in Premier League action this season, came about in part because the Canaries executed a plan to keep Chelsea out of the box and deal with crosses.

Klinsmann acknowledged Whitbread is “on our radar screen,” but had much more to say about Dempsey’s performance. The Fulham man scored a hat trick – his second in the new year – during Fulham’s 5-2 defeat of Newcastle.

“Clint is ready for the next challenges,” Klinsmann said. “That’s what I talked with him about from the beginning when I came on. I said ‘Clint, if you go to Europe, it’s great. If you play in Europe it’s awesome in the first division, if it’s the Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A, but then there are two more levels waiting.

“There’s Europa League, which is another level, and there’s Champions League is another level. And then within the Champions League there’s another level as well, and I want him to climb up those levels.”

After a reporter asked another question about where he saw Dempsey fitting in with the squad, Klinsmann said Dempsey always plays an attacking role whether positioned as a forward or a midfielder. Then, he returned to the theme of Americans getting more minutes with Champions League teams

“I just hope for him, personally, that he keeps pushing and pushing because the big clubs are watching him. Because I know it from them,” Klinsmann said. “That’s what I want to see from him. I want to see Tim Howard stretching every game because I would like to see more American players playing European Champions League one day. Jermaine (Jones) is pretty much the only one doing it on a regular basis, and that is another level.”

Dempsey has been rumored to be a transfer target for several Champions League regulars both in the EPL and in other leagues. It is widely speculated he’ll stay with Fulham during this January’s transfer window but join a larger club this summer.

Manning the flanks: The United States was able to have some success on the wings, an advantage over the Vinotinto the staff pinpointed in scouting. Unfortunately for the U.S., much of that advantage was negated by poor crosses or easy giveaways.

Midfielder Brek Shea said he had hoped to exploit the weakness in the Venezuela side, but he wasn’t able to have the success he desired.

“I think I prepare the same for each game, but I like that,” Shea said of playing a team that is weak on the outside. “I like being able to attack from the flanks because obviously that’s my strength. I don’t think we did it as much as we wanted to, but I think we still created a lot of chances, and I think their goalie did well.”

Shea said he was “fighting a little cold or something,” that hindered him from having as good a game as he would have liked.

Mr. Jones wears the armband:  Jones, called into the camp after being handed an eight-game domestic suspension by the German FA, wore the captain’s armband Saturday. When he arrived into camp January 14, Klinsmann asked the Schalke midfielder if he wanted to take time to acclimate. Instead, Jones jumped into training immediately.

“He elevated the whole group within one training session with his energy, with his leadership, with his vision on the field that makes just a big difference,” Klinsmann said.

Klinsmann said his willingness to help some of the younger players along and his status as a player with Champions League experience made it an easy decision to award Jones the captaincy.

“Jermaine jumped in and talked to the guys, and that’s why it was an easy decision to make him captain today. Obviously because the European guys are not there, but also for him, to give him a signal that we want this type of leadership from you,” he said.

Jones responded well, earning man of the match honors and getting the assist on the match’s only goal. For his part, though, he said while it was an honor, it didn’t affect the way he played.

“It’s not important to have it, but I was happy,” he said. Jones also said what was more important than any individual performance was the team playing together as one unit. He said everyone on the team was “rooting for the other guys,” which would lead to long-term success.

Center back Geoff Cameron said he enjoyed having an experienced player like Jones patrolling the midfield.

“He’s a beast, man. He’s a solid player,” Cameron said. “It’s exciting to watch him in front of us, especially I can give him a ball and he can really take it. I can really whip in a ball and he can just take control of it.”

Cameron’s quality: Geoff Cameron and the rest of the back line weren’t too busy on the evening, but Klinsmann was still impressed with the way the center back organized and led the unit.

He called Cameron a joy to work with and said he has impressed the coaching staff thus far.

Cameron said the coaching staff’s admiration was mutual and hopes his solid performance Saturday will lead to more opportunities to play with the U.S.

“A good first step, plenty more to go,” he said. “That’s the goal, I want to be (a regular in the team), hopefully. Just continue with the (right) attitude, keep positive, keep working hard and that’s the only thing I can do is just kind of leave it on the field like I did (Saturday).”

We’ll have coverage of the Panama match, so stay tuned.

GLENDALE, Ariz – 

It didn’t take long, though, before he settled in.

“My first couple minutes of the game, I’m not going to lie, butterflies were flying, but once I realized, you know, guys are doing well, the guys are comfortable, it gave me a little bit of confidence too back there to be able to settle down, play from my feet and do what I need to do,” Hamid said after the match, a 1-0 victory for the U.S.

The keeper didn’t see too much action around his net with the opponent, Venezuela, only able to muster one shot on goal. Hamid didn’t get a chance to show his athleticism or make any dazzling stops, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I’m happy that the guys, every single player in front of me, played extremely well,” he said. “Defensively, we were sticking in tackles, cutting out lanes and doing what we need to do to prevent them from getting chances, and it showed. They had no chances on goal. They had one or two crosses, we dealt with them.

“The only slim thing I needed to do was come out and punch one early in the first half. Other than that, it was all from my feet, and that was all I needed to do.”

Jurgen Klinsmann, the national team coach, said he expected the 21-year-old and his fellow starting XI debutants Graham Zusi and A.J. DeLaGarza to be shaky and nervous but agreed with Hamid’s self-assessment.

“After a couple of minutes I think he settled and got more relaxed,” Klinsmann said.

The coach called Hamid into the August 2011 camp, the first U.S. camp for both men. Since then Hamid has been in several more camps but had yet to feature in a match in part because of the presence of the U.S. number 1, Tim Howard, in those camps. Before the match, Hamid said he was hoping to get his first cap Saturday but wasn’t sure of his standing among the January camp’s three goalkeepers. At least part of that question was answered this weekend.

“We were told late (Friday) night how we were going lineup wise. I was told then, and it was focus time from then on,” he said.

Klinsmann stressed the importance of each player understanding he is part of the larger team, and part of the reason Hamid was able to acclimate so quickly was the fact that the back line in front of him had very few breakdowns, or even chances to break down.

“It was a great effort from the guys. They did extremely well holding the fort down, giving no solid looks at goal,” Hamid said. “Everything was real organized and in real good shape, so hats off to the whole team today.”

With his first cap under his belt, Hamid now seeks to continue establishing himself as a viable alternative in net should Howard be unavailable. His next chance could come as soon as Wednesday, when the United States travels to Central America for a friendly against Panama.