Union

You can chat live with Sebastien Le Toux this afternoon from 1:30pm on the Union website. Danny Mwanga will be available to do the same at the same time on Thursday. Pretty f’ing cool, no?

The Union move up two spots to No. 10 in the MLS Power Rankings. They are 13th in the ranking rankings.

Jordan Harvey was named to the Goal.com MLS Best XI for Week 29 for his play against the Energy Drinks’ Dane Richards.

MLS Insider really enjoyed the atmosphere during Saturday’s win over the Energy Drinks.

Local college roundup

Cody Calafiore (Photo courtesy of Temple)

The No. 17 ranked Penn men’s team beat Dartmouth 1–2 in Ivy League play on Saturday on a goal from Thomas Brandt. Brandt’s play earned him four honors, being named Ivy League Player of the Week, named to CollegeSoccerNews.com’s National Team of the Week, the ECAC Defensive Player of the Week and the Philly Soccer Six Honor Roll. The Penn women’s team went to overtime against Dartmouth in what turned out to be a scoreless draw.

Villanova lost 3–1 to Georgetown on Saturday, thanks to two second-half goals by the home team, for their first Big East conference loss of the season. They host Syracuse this afternoon at 3:30pm. The Villanova women’s team suffered two straight road losses over the weekend, falling 4–3 to West Virginia in overtime and 3–0 to Pittsburgh.

Temple’s Cody Calafiore scored two goals in Friday’s 2–1 win over Dayton to move the team to 2–0 in Atlantic-10 play. Despite another Calafiore goal on Sunday, Temple was unable to prevail against Xavier, losing 2–1 in overtime. Calafiore would go on to win Philly Soccer Six Player of the Week honors. The Temple women’s team lost 3–0 to Dayton before losing 1–0 to Xavier in overtime.

Alex Vazquez (Photo courtesy of Drexel)

The Drexel men’s team topped Georgia State 2–1 on Saturday thanks to a goal from freshman Mark Donohou in the 88th minute. The Drexel women’s team started their weekend road trip with a 2–0 loss to James Madison on Friday but bounced back with a 4–3 overtime win against VCU on Sunday. Katie Duncan scored the game winner with a penalty kick in the second period of overtime. Alex Vazquez registered a goal and an assist.

MLS

LA Galaxy are apparently now ready to let Landon Donovan go on loan to Everton in the New Year. Donovan says he is unsure if a deal will go through.

Thierry Henry is unlikely to play for the Energy Drinks against the New England Revolution due to knee knack. The Energy Drinks are hoping to capture the Eastern Conference title on Thursday night.

The Portland Timbers have announced their first four signings for MLS.

WPS

More on the Western New York team, due to join WPS in 2011.

CONCACAF Champions League

Real Salt Lake topped Cruz Azul 3–1 to clinch the Group A title. Toronto finishes third in the group with a 2–1 win over Arabe Unido. The victory by Santos over Municipal means that Columbus Crew finish second in Group B and will advance to the Quarters regardless of their result against Joe Public on Thursday. Kasey Keller mishandled a shot in the 87th minute to give Saprissa a 2–1 win. Saprissa will now advance from Group C to the Quarters along with group leader Monterrey.

US

The US drops seven spots to No. 25 in the FIFA rankings. At least we’re still ahead of Montenegro. One spot, anyway.

Maurice Edu, who plays his club soccer with Rangers, talks about his big week: Champions League play against Valencia and the Old Firm Derby against Celtic.

Elsewhere

Sir Alex Ferguson goes all hurt and wistful in a press conference yesterday over the possibility that Wayne Rooney may leave Manchester United. The Guardian thinks that, by casting Rooney as a mercenary with no regard for the health of the club, Ferguson is masking deeper problems. Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini says there has been no official contact with Rooney but refuses to rule out signing him. Nicolas Anelka says he would welcome Rooney at Chelsea. Jose Mourinho says Rooney should give him a call.

Cagliari has been fined €25,000 ($35,000) for its fans racist chants and taunts directed at Samuel Eto’o in Sunday’s Serie A match against Inter. The match was briefly halted. Eto’o no longer brings his family to see him play in Italy because of the abuse he has to suffer. Nice. Very Nice.

Italy is not happy to have slipped to No. 16 in the FIFA rankings. I, on the other hand, am delighted.

Cover photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Union