If you're only going to have 5 players play well, make sure they include at least three defenders and the goalkeeper. I'm writing in a vacuum I did have the Setanta commentator who rightly pointed out how poor France were, but I have to say that I thought France were shocking.

Good performances: Sagna, Evra, Gallas, Lloris, Anelka
Poor: Henry, A.

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France won the first leg of the World Cup playoff away to Ireland 1-0, but the tie is still up in the air.

France was the better team, but they weren't firing on all cylinders, and as a result, need to get a result in the second leg in Paris.

The formation didn't always hold it's shape, but it was something like this:

Gignac
Henry Gourcuff Anelka
A.

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After coming off the first leg with a comfortable 2-0 lead, Barca should have no trouble cementing their qualification to the last sixteen of the Copa with tonight's match. We've got the added advantage of playing at home, plus the boys are looking to be in better form after the 4-2 triumph over Mallorca. Click to continue reading...

After the team's run of poor results lately, we're really looking to this match for a boost. Barca leads the Liga with a single shaky point, and we can't afford anything less than a win if we are to keep our first place position.
But we have a feeling this match will be a turnaround point for the boys, and they'll go back to their winning ways. Click to continue reading...

FC Barcelona has essentially put their Champions League qualification at risk by drawing against the Russian champions. With this draw we stand at second in standing and have a chance to end the night at third in overall standing if there is anything other than a draw in the match against Inter and Kiev. Click to continue reading...

The freezing cold is what worries us most about this match, as Barca face Rubin Kazan in the snowy, below-zero temeperatures that are the norm in Ruissia this time fo year. Rubin are used to it, but some of our boys have never played in such extreme cold. The oppositon themselvs are no piece of cake either, on top of that; they're the only team that has beaten us so far this season. Click to continue reading...

Nobody would have ever imagined that Barca's travel to Russia would turn out to be this significant in terms of Barca proceeding to the group stage. A lose against Rubin tomorrow night will reduce Barca's chances of proceeding to next stage very much. A draw might not be bad, but may result in Barca seeking help from others in the group for qualification. Click to continue reading...

FC Barcelona squandered two points with a last second own goal from Pique to help Real Madrid close the gap on top to one point. In a game where the defenses held their fort, Barca went ahead with a strike from Keita in the 72nd mnute but they had to pay dearly for wasting a host of chances after the goal. Click to continue reading...

Barca's next Liga match has them facing Osasuna, as they look for another win to maintain their lead at the top of the table. Previous matches between the two teams have been pretty tight, so let's hope Barca come off with a comfortable result tonight.
Theirry Hnery is cleared to play, and has been included in the squad: Valdés, Pinto, Puyol, Piqué, Chygrynskiy, Márquez, Abidal, Maxwell, Keita, Touré, Sergio, Iniesta, Jeffren, Xavi, Messi, Ibrahimovic, Pedro, Henry and Bojan. Click to continue reading...

FC Barcelona would be looking to continue their two match winning streak at Osasuna tonight. After the set-backs suffered at Valencia and against Rubin Kazan at Camp Nou, Barca looked to have got their campaign back to the right track, but still this will be a huge test. The defeat against Rubin Kazan had made the return leg on wednesday a must win affair . Click to continue reading...

Catalan paper Sport has recently featured secrets from inside Barca's dressing room, where Pep continually strives to instill team unity between the players and blend all their personalities and egos into harmony.
From the more withdrawn players like Abidal and Keita to pranksters Pique and Dani Alves, the players get along great and there's always a friendly atmosphere in the locker room. Click to continue reading...

Barca's defense of the Copa Del Rey title begins against third division club Cultural Leonesa. There's been talk that coach Pep Guardiola wouldn't be giving much importance to this competition in light of the tight match schedule, but Pep had something different to say at the pre-match press conference:
"We have the same motivation to win this competition as we had last year. Click to continue reading...

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This morning manager Pep Guardiola released the 16 man roster that will travel on Wednesday to take on third division side Cultural Leonesa.

The roster features mostly youth players with Lionel Messi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Gerard Pique, Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Carles Puyol all being rested for this weekends match up at Osasuna.

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After a painful loss at home to Rubin Kazan in the Champions League, Barca are looking to bounce back into form with tonight's Liga meet with Real Zaragoza. With four days separating last match day from this one, the team's had more time to prepare than usual in this World Cup- affected schedule. What with that, players reterning from injury, and Real Madrid dropping two points last night, tonight's game should be a great one for Barca. Click to continue reading...

Barca pick up where they left off in the Champions League, meeting Russian club Rubin Kazan at home in the final match of the group stages first leg. We'll be looking not just for a win that will keep Barca at the top of their CL group, but also for a clean sheet that will maintain the team's current form of not having conceded a single CL goal this season, something only three other teams have accomplished so far. Click to continue reading...

FC Barcelona's winning streak came to a hold at the Mestella, when they were held to a goal less draw by Valencia. Actually Barca was lucky not to have lost the match, a combination of great goal keeping by Valdes and some poor finishing by Valencia players prevented a Valencia win. Valencia were the better team in both the halfs, especially in the first half. Click to continue reading...

We're finally back! And just in time for Barca's first match in two weeks, following the international break. The boys head out to a clash with Valencia that's got us pretty excited, particularly about facing David Villa, the Liga's current top-scorer, who has been confirmed to participate tonight after doubts had been circulating about wether he'd be able to make it because of injury. Click to continue reading...

From FIFA:

"Serbia secured qualification in style, with Nikola Zigic, Marko Pantelic, Zdravko Kuzmanovic and Milan Javanovic (2) on target in a 5-0 win over Romania in Group 7."

Ouch.

We were bettered in the group, but we also won 5-0.

Goals from:

Gignac
Gignac
Gallas
Anelka
Benzema

5-0, and it was almost convincing.

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LES ÉQUIPES PROBABLES

FRANCE: Mandanda - Sagna, Gallas, Abidal, Evra - Govou, L. Diarra, Toulalan, Henry (cap.) - Anelka, Gignac
ILES FÉROÉ: Mikkelsen - Danielsen, Gregersen, Eliasen, Davidsen - A. Olsen, S. Olsen, Benjaminsen, Loekin - Jakobsen - Hansen

I was willing to bet my house yesterday that we'd be playing two DMs, and guess what?

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FC Barcelona will be looking to register their first victory in this season's Champions League tonight when they face Dynamo Kiev at the Camp Nou. At the Guardiola described how important is this game and a failure to win will put emnormous pressure on the Barcelona side, especially we have to play at Ukraine and Russia in the onset of winter. Click to continue reading...

REUTERS/Felix Ordonez

Thierry Henry is doubtful for Tuesdays Champions League match against Dynamo Kiev after suffering a muscle strain early in the first half of Saturdays match against Malaga. The absence of Henry from the lineup along with Bojan Krkic still out due to injury has opened the door for youngster Gai Assulin to be named to the first team roster.

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AP Photo/Manu Fernandez

The ankle injury sustained by Zlatan Ibrahimovic this past weekend against Racing Santander does not look to be as bad as originally feared. The Swedish striker was diagnosed with an ankle sprain following the team victory over Santander and was to miss this weekends match.

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FC Barcelona continued their excellent run in the league with a 4-1 demolition of Racing Santander at El Sardinero stadium. Two goals from Messi and one each from Ibrahmovic and Pique was enough to see Barca comfortably past Racing. Like the weekend it was a sensational first half display which put Barca in command. Click to continue reading...

Ok, there are some serious good news - not like all the news till now was bad. But this one sounds so good - Milito is back in training. There is no date set for his return but still it is good to hear that we may be able to count on his service maybe in the latter part of the season. And that is a very good news to the build up of the Racing clash. Click to continue reading...

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Following a decisive win at home on Saturday against Atheltic Madrid manager Pep Guardiola gave his men a day off before getting back to work on Monday. The team will depart Tuesday morning from Barcelona arriving in Santander around noon.

FC Barcelona will be without Gerard Pique on Tuesday following a knock he sustained in Saturday's match to his right foot.

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- Barca coach Pep Guardiola stars in a new book entitled "Paraula Pep", or "The World of Pep". The book is the result of the success of a television program by TV3 under the same name, which was broadcasted in the week before Barca's CL victory in Roma. Editor Ernest Floch was quick to take the initiative to commision the book, which records the phrases that have been considered outstanding in the path of Guardiola on the bench of FC Barcelona, and that define his philosophy. Click to continue reading...

We're sorry for the lack of updates lately, but things have been busy... please bear with us, and hopefully we'll be able to pick up normal posting soon!
But right now we have a match to discuss: Barca's win over Getafe last night. The result was better than we'd expected, kudos to the boys for breaking the international curse and achieving this. Click to continue reading...

REUTERS/Paul Hanna

FC Barcelona arrived in Madrid just hours before their match on Saturday against Getafe. With Getafe coming off a strong performance in week one manager Pep Guardiola was aware that his team must not show up unprepared.

The first half started off slow for the blaugrana as the team struggled on offense with Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry, Andres Iniesta and Dani Alves all starting on the bench.

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Abou Diaby: Serbia attack's most dangerous weapon?

This upcoming weekend will be filled with World Qualifiers up until Tuesday so I will not comment much on Le Championnat from last weekend that saw a very disappointing 0 – 0 between Marseille and Bordeaux, a very convincing 3 - 0 win by PSG against Lille, St Etienne's first 3 points versus a sad Grenoble and more Lyon magic thanks to Lisandro Lopez (ARG), Gomis (FRA) and Bastos (BRA).

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The new grass on Camp Nou makes its debut for Barca's traditional Gamper Cup match, this year facing Man City, the host of such stars as Robinho, Adebayor, Messi's compatriot Carlos Tevez, and Yaya's older brother, Kolo Toure.
Messi and Ibra both got their greenlights to play yesterday, and will be able to particpate in this match. Click to continue reading...

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Today FC Barcelona will take on Athletic Club Bilbao in the Spanish Super Cup from Sam Memés. The match will mark the first official game of the 2009-2010 season. Notably absent from today's match is Lionel Messi who is still recovering from a thigh strain suffered during the week.

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Athletic Bilbao vs Barca Preview
In contrast to the other major leagues in Europe, the Spanish Super Cup is a two legged affair. The first leg will be held tonight at San Mamés ; the second leg will held at the Camp Nou next sunday. Guardiola has announced the squad which is travelling to face Athletic Bilbao - Valdés, Pinto, Alves, Maxwell, Abidal, Puyol, Piqué, Fontà s, Muniesa, Touré, Keita, Xavi, Gudjohnsen, Busquets, Bojan, Pedro, Jeffren, Henry and Jonathan Dos Santos. Click to continue reading...

Geri and Cescy aren't wasting any time, now are they? Pique is back on the Spanish NT along with Puyol, Xavi and Busquets for their country's friendly against Macedonia; while several other Barca players have also left to join their national teams...
In other freindlies, Gudjohnsen and Iceland will face Slovakia; Messi and his country Argentina are up against Russia; Dani Alves joins Brazil for their meet with Estonia; Keita will participate in Mali's match with Burkina Faso; while Yaya Toure takes on Tunisia with his team, Ivory Coast. Click to continue reading...

FC Barcelona rounded up a sound 4-0 victory against Seattle Sounder at the Qwest Field in Seattle. This is the second match of Barca's US Tour and will round up the tour with a macth against Chivas on Sunday. In front of a full house of 67,000 people Barca produced one of their best display in the pre-season. Click to continue reading...

Head coach Pep Guardiola announced the 26 players that will be making the trip to the United States for the US Tour. Two names missing from the list are Alexander Hleb and Martín Cáceres both who are rumored to be going out on loan for next season.

The 26 players are:
Valdés, Jorquera, Jorquera, Puyol, Alves, Sánchez, Piqué, Márquez, Henrique, Abidal, Maxwell, Xavi, Touré, Keita, Busquets, Gudjohnsen, Iniesta, Henry, Pedro, Messi, Bojan, Ibrahimovic, Muniesa, Fontà s, Jonathan dos Santos and Jeffren.

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