To get you through the evening, here are a few links and notes from around the soccer world to take you to the Thanksgiving holiday
There will be a professional women's soccer league in the United States in 2013, but there will not be a team in California. U.S. Soccer revealed the details of a new women's league during a teleconference with the media on Wednesday morning. The league, which will start in March or April of 2013 will consist of eight teams in Boston, Washington, D.C., Western New York, New Jersey, Kansas City, Chicago, Portland, and Seattle. Details of the new league can be found here.
LA Galaxy Under-18 midfielder Paul Arriola started for the United States Under-18s as they defeated their Canadian counterparts, 3-1 on Wednesday at The Home Depot Center. According to reports, Arriola enjoyed a strong game, creating several dangerous scoring chances for himself.
In MLS Cup news, Darrell Lovell of MLSsoccer.com reports that Houston Dynamo forward Calen Carr is "cautiously inching back to full health." The former University of California, Berkeley man picked up a left hamstring strain in the second leg of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against Sporting Kansas City. Carr scored four goals and two assists in 26 MLS Regular Season appearances for the Dynamo this season and has two assists in three games in the MLS Cup Playoffs.
Chelsea FC have a new manager as former Liverpool FC and CF Valencia boss Rafael Benitez will replace Roberto Di Matteo at Stamford Bridge on an interim basis until the end of the year. Di Matteo was sacked on Tuesday afternoon after falling to Italian club Juventus in a UEFA Champions League match.
