Barcelona vs Lechia Gdansk July 30, 2013

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Barcelona have a short amount of time to prepare for the season, which makes the upcoming friendly against Lechia Gdansk so important.

The match was postponed from its original date due the to health concerns of Tito Vilanova, who stepped down as manager of the La Liga club. He was replaced by Tata Martino, who will do his best to make an impact in a hurry after just meeting the whole squad.

Although his input will not likely be easily seen in the upcoming match, the club must show continued improvement over the course of this month heading into the year.

On the other side, Lechia Gdansk is a mid-table squad in Poland's top league which is looking to test itself against one of the best clubs in the world. A strong performance would give the team a lot of confidence going forward.

Both squads are looking for a strong performance in this friendly, so it is certain to be a competitive match throughout.

Where: PPGE Arena Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland

When: Tuesday, July 30

Time: 8:45 p.m. (Local Time)

Kitchee vs Manchester United July 29, 2013

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In the meantime, here's a join statement from Manchester United, the Hong Kong FA (HKFA) and Kitchee FC that explains why today's friendly might resemble a Division Three match from the 1970s.

"The pitch has suffered from torrential rainfall in the last week and has staged a number of games in a very short space of time. Wednesday's matches - Sunderland v Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City v South China - had their kick-offs delayed, only proceeding after being shortened to 40-minute halves.

It took a late goal by Wilfried Zaha, his first for United, to salvage a 2-2 draw against Cerezo Osaka on Friday, when Shinji Kagawa also scored against his former club after missing a penalty minutes earlier. Kitchee FC are also in pre-season and building up to the start of their new campaign at the end of August. They finished second to South China in Hong Kong's first division in 2012/13.

"The weather has continued to present problems for the pitch and the first consideration of both the HKFA and Manchester United has to be the safety of the players in such conditions.

"The club has consulted with the Hong Kong FA and has also taken advice from Kitchee FC. In the absence of any other suitable facility at such short notice, the open session has regrettably been cancelled."

Date, time and coverage: Monday 29 July, 13:00 BST (20:00 local).

USA 1-0 Panama Gold CUP Final 2013

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USA wins the 2013 Gold Cup with a 1-0 win over Panama. Brek Shea score the tournament-winning goal for the Team USA.
Jurgen Klinsmann will not be on the sidelines for the U.S. after CONCACAF handed down a suspension for his conduct in their semifinal game. He reacted poorly to a questionable call and threw a ball, for which the referee ejected him. A CONCACAF committee decided late Friday night that Klinsmann would not be allowed to coach the USMNT in the final. Assistant Martin Vasquez will take his place.

Match date/time: Sunday, 4 p.m. ET

Venue: Soldier Field, Chicago, Ill.

Though the CONCACAF headliners–Mexico and the United States–entered this Gold Cup with experimental lineups and b-teams, the USMNT got here on cruise control against the third world because its veteran stalwarts picked up where Juan Ponce de León left off and found the fountain of youth. Landon Donovan, DeMarcus Beasley, and Eddie Johnson have also overcome boilerplate athlete duress (bargaining chip politics between soccer clubs, injury, divorce, hair dye); their leadership and chemistry is so apparent that I didn’t bat an eyelash when Klinsmann was suspended on Saturday from coaching this final because of his on-field temper tantrum in Wednesday’s semi-final.

Speaking of Wednesday, Panama overcame the best homefield advantage Cowboys Stadium has ever hosted—a sea of jeering paisanos with flags, drums, and sombreros. You know the old cliché of taking the home crowd out of the game? The Panama-Mexico semi-final was Panama fearlessly prodding a lion, getting it more and more riled up through the fruitless stoppage time. It took patience and focus–this is the best team non-Mexican or American Gold Cup contender we’ve ever seen.

F1 Hungary Grandprix 2013 July 28, 2013

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Lewis Hamilton will start on pole for third successive race after another stunning qualifying lap yesterday nudged Sebastian Vettel and Romain Grosjean down the pecking order.
Even the Mercedes man could not quite believe what he had done but now starts a race he has won three times previously, in the prime spot.

LAP 3: Hamilton responds with the fastest lap of the race at 1.27.640. His lead on Vettel is back up to 0.8 seconds with Grosjean close behind in third. Big gap behind to Alonso in fourth.
It was Massa who ran into the back of Rosberg on the first lap after a good start for the Mercedes man. Both seem to be ok.
LAP 2: Button is up to eighth from 13th after a good start. Meanwhile Vettel takes 0.6 seconds out of Hamilton, whose lead was cut from 1.1 seconds after lap one to 0.5 seconds after the second lap.
LAP 1: GO! GO! GO! Good start for Hamilton as he gets away cleanly. Vettel seemed a bit slower to get off the line and he was challenged by Grosjean. Vettel retained second with Grosjean third. Alonso completes lap one in fourth with Massa fifth. There was contact between Rosberg and a Ferrari and the German is down in 12th.
The top eight all started on the soft tyres. Perez and Webber both on the mediums, as is Button.
1pm: Hamilton leads the field away for the formation lap, not long to go now.
12.52pm: The Hungarian national anthem has played around the Hungaroring and we are less than 10 minutes away from lights out. There looked to be a problem for Rosberg as the team called him back to the pits as he made his way towards the grid. The Mercedes driver made it onto the grid, though, albeit very late at just before 12.45pm.

Composed: Pole sitter Lewis Hamilton arrives at the circuit in Budapest looking relaxed

Liverpool vs Thailand July 28, 2013

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Liverpool will wrap up their preseason tour of Asia and Australia on Sunday. Having already triumphed in friendly matches against Indonesia XI and Melbourne Victory, the Reds will aim to end their trip to the Far East with a 3-0 record by defeating Thailand. 

As the Reds continue to deal with the Suarez saga, work on their fitness and infuse new transfers Kolo Toure, Simon Mignolet and Iago Aspas into the lineup, Sunday's match will give Rodgers an excellent chance to gauge his club's progress before they return to Anfield to face Olympiacos in a friendly on Aug. 3.

Who: Thailand vs. Liverpool

When: Sunday, July 28, at 6:40 a.m. ET (11:40 a.m. UK)

Where: Rajamangala National Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand