Mental acumen and toughness is likely going to be the big key in the close-out of the English Premier League season. There is little doubt about just what the potential game of the season may be in the English Premier League. It is coming. It is less than a week away. Monday, April 30^th, sees a Manchester derby as rivals United and City go head to head in what will be a crucial title showdown.

Manchester City have an expensively assembled squad at their disposal, under the guidance of manager Roberto Mancini. After spending big over the past couple of seasons, they fell short in the 2010/11 title race, but learned their lessons and came back even stronger this year.

Manchester United are going for their thirteenth Premier League title, so they really have nothing to prove to anyone. All of the experience is with the steady hand of Manchester United and manager Sir Alex Ferguson. The Red Devils arguably don't have the quality or depth in strength in their squad as their neighbours do, but they have experience. They have experience of winning, and no price can be put on that.

The set up is pretty simple for this match. There are just three games left in the season for both sides now, and it is the red side of the city, Manchester United, who hold a three point ascendancy at the top of the table going into the big showdown. United are the current title holders, the defending champions, and they know that just holding out for a draw will be good enough. But the match is away at the home of their rivals, the Etihad Stadium. Anything less than a win for Manchester City, would essentially put them out of the running for the title. Three points for City would see them pull level with United, but City would actually claw their way into top spot with two games remaining, because they have a better goal difference than United.

Euro 2012 may be on the horizon for the summer, but there is also the not so small matter of the Olympic Games football tournaments to be enjoyed as well. This summer's Olympic Games are being hosted by London, and with the passionate, feverish British love of the beautiful game, the matches will be well attended and supported. But both the British Men's and Women's teams have been handed tough draws in their respective events.

In the men's Olympic football draw, Team GB were drawn alongside Senegal (who could select prolific Newcastle United duo Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse), the United Arab Emirates and Uruguay (who may have Liverpool's Luis Suarez). Coached by Stuart Pearce, who is also the caretaker England boss at the moment, Team GB Men's Olympic side will open against Senegal on July 26^th. An immensely dedicated Senegal were the last team to qualify for the Olympics, beating Oman in a play off. The United Arab Emirates meanwhile, topped the Asian Olympic qualifying Group B. So there will be tough challenges to come for Pearce, who has to try and assemble some of the best players that Britain has to offer.

Newcastle United are in line to make a return to European football next season, after proving to be one of the big surprise packages of the Premier League season. It has been a remarkable turnaround from when Alan Pardew stepped into the Magpies' hot seat back in December of 2010. Pardew steadied a ship that many thought wasn't in too bad of a shape under previous boss Chris Hughton, and a 12^th place finish in the Premier League didn't exactly set standards and optimism too high for the following season.

However, the shrewd business deals of Pardew, has catapulted Newcastle to the brink of getting back into Europe. Even Pardew himself admits that Newcastle are about a year ahead of their planned progress under his five and a half year deal as manager, so that is nothing to be sniffed at. Throughout his managerial career, Pardew has courted his fair share of controversy. He allegedly quit as Reading manager when West Ham were refused permission to approach him, just so he could get the job with the Londoners. There was the publicised fall out with Southampton club chairman Nicola Cortese, and several media outbursts.

Pardew may not be a Geordie, but he doesn't hold his tongue and only a man like that, a strong natured, take-me-as-I-come sort, can walk into St James' Park and win over the fans. Pardew went to St James' Park when a poll of Magpies fans resulted in only 5% wanting him as the next boss. Pardew had to win over the dressing room, as well as having to stamp his authority on tactics and transfer dealings. It is in the latter area where Pardew has really flourished. He signed Yohan Cabaye in the summer of 2011. He picked up Demba Ba on a free transfer. He landed a bargain priced Papiss Cisse in the January 2012 transfer window, and all have been assets. Offloading Andy Carroll for $35 million in January 2011 though, may still have been his greatest bit of transfer work.

The return of Salvador Cabanas to professional football may not be a story which has made many headlines, but it is one of note. In the story there is message to never stop believing, no matter what. As the Paraguayan striker gets set to strap on his boots again for his second stint with Club 12 de Octubre, it is worth remembering just what this man has gone through. Cabanas will return to the beautiful game with a bullet still lodged in his head, just two years after nearly losing his life.

Back in 2010, Cabanas got himself embroiled in an argument in Mexico City, which resulted in the star getting shot in the head. The general consensus is that Cabanas was trying to stop himself getting robbed, although some say that he was being taunted. Whatever the catalyst, the argument was with an alleged drug lord, who pulled a gun on Cabanas in the rest-rooms and shot the star in the head. However, the bullet miraculously did not kill Cabanas, and the bullet is still there today, and Cabanas has been given the green light to play professionally again.

Doctors were unable to remove the bullet safely, so they decided to leave it there, but the former South American Footballer of the Year has really been given another chance. Sadly the shooting incident led Paraguay to contest the 2010 World Cup without their talisman. He did get out of intensive care in February 2010, but wasn't picked for the national squad at South Africa 2010. Although Paraguay still reached the quarter finals, there was the feeling that they could have gone a lot further with Cabanas in the side.

There has been a lot of discussion circling the media channels lately, about the role that women have to play in the male dominated world of soccer. This has all come about because the English WSL (Women's Super League) is kicking off for a new season and not only has there been a call to highlight the women's game, but also to encourage more women to make strides in the game, both on and off the pitch. There has been a call for more attention to the women's game, and even some of the WSL players are wearing their Twitter names on their shirt sleeves, in the hopes of getting fans closer to the action.

England Women recently played a European Championship qualifier, and it barely attracted a couple of lines in the national press, let alone getting any coverage on national TV. However, when their World Cup and European Championship finals campaigns were going on, naturally their efforts coveted more space in the tabloids. So, it seems to be just a fleeting attraction to the women's game, and even the relaunch of the WSL has failed to really grab the hype which is was designed to garner.

So clearly more work needs to be done.

Women's football of course is nothing new, and there has been a national league in operation for many years, but the formation of the WSL in 2011 was designed to fire the women's game into a national frenzy. To emulate what the formation of the Premier League did for the men's game. It didn't happen that way, with the league status being only semi-professional as opposed to fully professional. The WSL is a big deal, as it has status just as the English Premier League does, with qualification into the UEFA Champions League at stake.