WPS finds saving grace?

Women’s Pro Soccer could be handed a lifeline by a new investment group which hopes to move defending champion FC Gold Pride from the Bay Area to Orange County, Calif., according to a source close to the discussions.

The future of the women’s league has been called into question this week after revelations that both Gold Pride and the Washington Freedom are in financial trouble and in danger of folding. Both teams have been seeking new investors in order to meet a league-imposed deadline regarding guarantee payments, which has been extended to Nov. 15.

Those concerns have led to premature reports that WPS could disband after only two seasons, but hopes are high that the Orange County group will provide a positive step amid difficult times.

The source revealed to Yahoo! Sports that the group has been involved in discussions with WPS for several months about founding a team but things could not be completed in time for play in 2011. However, with the developments regarding Gold Pride, talks have taken a different turn. The group is now investigating the possibility of either obtaining a stake in the Bay Area-based franchise or buying it outright, taking over its infrastructure, and moving it to Southern California.

That move, most likely to a venue in Fullerton, would either take place immediately for 2011 or after one more season in the Bay Area.

WPS still faces an uphill battle, but these latest developments offer some hope for a league that began in 2009 and has fought a constant battle to get a foothold in the American sports marketplace.

Manchester City chiefs are desperately trying to find a solution to their Carlos Tevez dilemma after the influential striker was allowed to remain in Argentina as he recovers from a thigh injury.

Head coach Roberto Mancini and the club’s hierarchy allowed Tevez the time away as a gesture of goodwill. But they are now concerned that the longer he stays in his homeland, the more homesick he will become.

Tevez has been magnificent on the field and has scored in every City victory since January, but his failure to fully settle in Manchester only will increase speculation that his departure may be imminent.

Major League Soccer lost one of its longest-serving stars on Wednesday when the New England Revolution’s Taylor Twellman called time on his playing career.

Twellman bade MLS farewell at an emotional and sometimes hilarious media session, bringing to close a career in which he scored 101 goals before it was ended by medical issues related to a 2008 collision while scoring against the L.A. Galaxy.

The 30-year-old made his name as an MLS stalwart, but things could have been very different. Back in 2001 he was stuck in the reserves at German club 1860 Munich and contemplating giving up the game in order to play golf and baseball at college.

However, Twellman’s mother persuaded him to give MLS a try, and more importantly, convinced 1860 to release him for a return to the States.

New Liverpool owner John W. Henry has acted immediately to tidy up the struggling club’s finances following its long period of fiscal uncertainty under former owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

Henry’s revelation that he has gotten rid of a $300 million “acquisition debt” that Hicks and Gillett loaded onto the club will be music to the ears of Liverpool’s long-suffering fans.

The only debt that remains is one of around $50 million related to plans for a new stadium, a project that is now under review by Henry and his group.