i Dream, i Conquer, i Succeed!

American entrepreneur Sean Combs, aka Diddy, a mainstay of hip-hop since the early ’90s, is alleged to be pondering the merits of entering football club ownership as he is particularly taken with Crystal Palace’s name, a source at The Sun claimed today.

Known for throwing the most lavish parties whether he is on board a multi-million pound yacht or hosting a Hollywood birthday bash, Diddy would bring an unprecedented wave of publicity to the financially-troubled Eagles should he complete his speculated purchase of the south London outfit.

The Sun alleges that Diddy’s UK spokesman has confirmed the rap mogul’s interest in Palace. It quoted an ‘inside source’ as saying: “Diddy was in London meeting football fixers a couple of weeks ago. @Goal

Last week Goal.com investigated Argentina’s influence on USA soccer. This week we cover how their arch-rivals Brazil have impacted the American game.

Traditionally one of the most successful international teams in the world, Brazil has had a pretty significant influence on the United States.

In fact Brazil is  at the top if one considers total World Cup wins as a barometer and one of those triumphs came on USA soil back in 1994. A a Carlos Alberto Parreira-led squad was able to overcome the Italians in one of the most thrilling World Cup finals in recent memory, helping a nation fall in love with the beautiful game. @Goal

Los Angeles Galaxy captain Landon Donovan has sent a message of sympathy to David Beckham.

Beckham is out of the World Cup after having surgery to repair his torn achilles tendon in Finland on Monday.

The devastating blow to the England midfielder happened on Sunday with AC Milan where he is on loan from the California club.

Donovan, who just completed a 10-week loan spell at Everton, said: ‘First and foremost, we are devastated for David. @Dailymail

Liverpool’s American owners are under more financial pressure to settle their debts than has previously been thought, with the New York-based company bidding to take control of the club imposing a three-week deadline to take or leave their offer.

The Rhone Group’s proposed £100m investment for a 40 per cent share would enable the Liverpool chief executive, Christian Purslow, to deliver the entire sum to the Royal Bank of Scotland, the club’s bankers, to pay down £100m of debt as the bank has demanded. But the time pressures the club currently faces are also compounded by the fact that Liverpool appear to have just 20 days to deliver some of that £100m figure to the bank. The presumption has always been that the deadline is July, by which time the club’s current debt facility expires and must be renegotiated. @Independent

The details have yet to be worked out, as it has not come to that point yet, but if the players in MLS strike, Landon Donovan could return to play with Everton, where he was recently on loan for ten weeks.

In a press conference in Los Angeles today, Donovan spoke with fondness of his time at the Merseyside club.

“It was a little bittersweet to leave, but the reality was that the agreement all along was for me to be there until March 15,” Donovan said. “Obviously, you get caught up in what is going on and it’s fun and exciting to be a part of what I was just a part of . You can’t mirror that in any way, you can’t duplicate that, but the reality is that I’m very excited to be home.  If fate comes around again and I’m meant to go back there, then I’ll go back there @Goal

Liverpool are in talks with a private-equity firm, the Rhone Group, over a £118.5m deal to buy a controlling share of the club and halve their debts.

It is understood the investment group wants a 40% stake at Anfield, which would considerably strengthen the club’s financial position.

The Rhone Group’s bid would give it the controlling interest, with the current joint-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett reducing their shareholdings to 30% apiece.

Hicks and Gillett were last year told to cut £100m from the club’s £237m debts. The Royal Bank of Scotland gave the club a deadline of this summer to pay up. @Guardian

On Wednesday, the U.S. women’s under-17 team defeated Haiti 9-0 in their first qualifying match for the CONCACAF U-17 Women’s Championships in Costa Rica. Once the final whistle blew, Haitian goalkeeper Alexandra Coby was so overwhelmed with emotion that she dropped to the pitch, weeping. It was all just too much for her and understandably so — losing by such a harsh margin, even to a much better team, is always difficult to take, but given that Haiti is in the midst of trying to recover from the devastating earthquake that ravaged the Caribbean nation’s capital two months ago and left hundreds of thousands of people dead, there was much more saddling these girls than just a lost game.

And the U.S. team saw that. As Haiti’s coach helped the crying goalkeeper to her feet, U.S. goalie Bryane Heaberlin walked the length of the pitch, gave Coby a hug and didn’t let go. The rest of the U.S. team soon joined her, circling around the two goalkeepers for a long group hug that left the entire squad in tears. @Yahoo Sports

It’s a familiar story by now. Lurid headlines, a disgraced sports star, a wronged wife, and then the mistresses start to appear. In the case of Tiger Woods it was one, two, three, four… the count went up into the teens. John Terry had just the one infidelity, since the start of his marriage; although, admittedly, with the ex-girlfriend of a team-mate. Then there is Ashley Cole: four more mistresses came out of the closet last month, prompting his wife Cheryl to announce their separation.

Of course, there’s nothing new about infidelity – or prurience – but watching the coverage I found myself wondering why we feel so strongly. Why do we care so much what goes on in other people’s marriages? Sure, adultery seems glamorous and dangerous, but let’s face it, it’s also as common as dirt. If you know married people, you most likely know people who have cheated or been cheated on at some point, and whose marriages have survived intact, are perhaps even flourishing. @Guardian

Major League Soccer players have voted to strike unless a new labor deal is reached in time for the scheduled March 25 opener in a move which could damage the country’s World Cup hopes.

Negotiators met twice this week with a federal mediator in Washington but the players moved no nearer their goals of more guaranteed contracts and greater free agency opportunities.

“The meetings this week were productive and we scheduled a number of additional meetings,” MLS president Mark Abbott said. @Soccerway