Football is a funny game - this is the sport where anything, and I mean anything, can happen completely out of the blue. For example, no one ever imagined that Brazilian star Ronaldinho, who was literally unstoppable not too long ago, would suddenly become as anonymous as he is nowadays.

This weekend's headlines were stolen by Emmauel Adebayor even before a ball was kicked. Saturday morning, Adebayor finally lashed out at his former club Arsenal, moments before the Gunners kicked-off a challenging visit to the Eastlands.

Despite a composed 1-0 win for the LA Galaxy at home to the New England Revolution this weekend, soccer fans around the world (or at least in the US) are still in shock over the rift between two Galaxy stars who missed this weekend's game. While superstar David Beckham is yet to return to the Galaxy this season, his estranged teammate Landon Donovan was rested following a busy period representing his country.

While the summer months toil away and the transfer rumors get even more boring (or exciting if you're a Football Manager fan), football fans around the world start to get excited for their club's upcoming season. Will your club succeed? Will they fail? Will your star player remain healthy? Who will Joey Barton hit next?

One of the most talked about incidents towards the end of the controversial Chelsea-Barcelona semifinal in the midweek was the reaction of Chelsea's German midfielder Michael Ballack as he protested against one of the many refereeing blunders made that night. Ballack raced towards the official and came within inches of getting physical with the infamous Norwegian.

Manchester United may have hit the headlines for all the right reasons today, and Cristiano Ronaldo's freekick certainly impressed the United faithful. What was far less impressive was the manner in which Cristiano Ronaldo left the sacred Old Trafford pitch in the 60th minute.

With the game all wrapped up and a midweek fixture against Wigan forthcoming, Sir Alex Ferguson elected to rest his most prized asset.

Cinderella stories happen everyday, everywhere in this world. In particular, when it comes to the world of football, we have seen quite a few of them. After all, who would have thought that Senegal would knock France out of the World Cup in 2002? Or who would have picked Greece to win it all in the European Cup of 2004?

Another Premier League weekend is now in the books, and with some key match ups and exciting derbies now past us, here are the things that we learned from this weekend of Premiership action.

10Boring as Hull. Anyone who watched the Hull City v Portsmouth match on Saturday will know exactly what I mean.

Here in America, ESPN is truly the "Worldwide Leader In Sports." Millions of people wake up with Sportscenter in the morning, and go to bed with it on in the evening. Anyone in America that follows sports seemingly gets their information from ESPN.

The only problem? ESPN has literally no respect for soccer.

It's beginning to smell a lot like Argentina around Merseyside. Reports coming out of White Hart Lane indicate that Liverpool have made a shocking and audacious bid for current Manchester United striker Carlos Tevez. Tottenham were preparing their own bid for Tevez, but have been left dejected by Liverpool's much more attractive offer.

With this article, I realize that I risk angering some staunch Inter Milan supporters. But since I have waited three long years to express my views on this issue, I feel obliged to let them out. The truth is, I simply can't fathom why no one can stop Inter Milan in the Italian Serie A.

Perhaps it is the lackluster attitude of their guilty rivals ever since the notorious match-fixing scandals of 2006.

With the arrival of the weekend, football fans across the world are returning to following their respective teams in another series of cracking fixtures. However, excitement is going to reach a whole different level next weekend, when the much awaited FIFA 10 releases in Australia (October 1) and Europe (October 2).

So, lets get straight to it. It's the question on everybody's lips. Did Sir Alex Ferguson disrespect the FA Cup by fielding the cast of Skins? There were rumblings as soon as I entered the stadium. Some people had seen it on TV in one of the many bars, some had been phoned by friends, some were just wildly speculating.

Ten things I noticed from this week's Champions League semifinals:

1. Much Ado About Nothing – Much to the woe of slobbering, over enthusiastic journalists everywhere, the Barcelona myth was partially debunked on Tuesday. It's not that they were awful by any stretch of the imagination, but when faced with an equally good team who didn't stand aside and let them play through them they looked more than a little stumped.

Football FanCast columnist Mike Harvey feels that technology in football is not the answer.

Officiating in football is headline news these days. The past few weeks left a sour taste in the mouths of many fans. FIFA is at a crossroads and how they choose to handle this problem will affect the game for years.

Does anyone else get the feeling that things have been going too well for too long? The English Premier League has gone from European underachievers to world dominators in only a few years. Foreign investment and an influx of the world's best talent has made the Premiership the undisputed champion of Europe and of the world.

With the Premier League over for another season. Here are some of the things I noticed from the 08/09 campaign:

Like a bat out of Hull

Hull City were everyone's favorite to go straight back down this season. They seemed like a sweet little feel good story, content to have their moment in the big leagues before quickly sinking back to lower level obscurity where they could be patronized by football and non-football people alike for sounding like a thoroughly dull and uninspiring place to live.

So it's finally come to an end. The most protracted and annoying transfer saga in Manchester United history has ended with Cristiano Ronaldo finally getting his wish to look absolutely fabulous in all white whilst topping up his tan in the Spanish Sun.

Some will inevitably see the deal, and his request for it, as inconclusive proof of their belief he is an evil, diabolical, ungrateful little grasping greasy foreign **** who should be strung up and paddled for the sheer gall of wanting to play for anyone but Manchester United.

Here's an analogy for you to mull over:

An entrepreneur comes up with a product. It can be any product: a website, a toaster, a killer mutant robot, you name it, but he designs and develops it. He makes it successful. It's him who brings this product to the attention of the world... and it's a truly great product.

There have been many occasions in recent years where the genius of Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has been brought into question. After all, the trophy cabinet has been empty for four years and everyone, from skipper Cesc Fabregas to that little child in the upper tier at the Emirates, is becoming increasingly restless with the club's underachievements.

I am not quite sure how much of an audience an article about the German Bundesliga can get, but I will still give it a shot. After all, if there is one league that has continued to offer an air-tight title race throughout the year, it has to be the German first division. With two games to go, as many as four teams have a realistic chance of being crowned champions.

Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Carlos Tevez, and Emmanuel Adebayor! Such is the caliber of each of these players that their involvement in this summer's transfer market has left no spotlight for the lesser-known talent. Such is the nature of the market right now that none of the European giants can be bothered with a move for the hidden gems.

After what appears to have been a frustrating time in this summer's transfer market, Rafael Benitez may be forgiven for thinking that his past may be coming back to haunt him.

In August 2004, at the very beginning of his reign at the helm of the Anfield club, Rafa allowed England's number one striker to leave for Spanish giants Real Madrid.

Another week is past, and you know what that means: yet another A to Z breakdown of this week in Premier League action. Here we go...

A is for Abou Diaby. The underrated Arsenal midfielder grabbed a brace on Saturday as he led Arsenal to yet another early season romp.

Arsene Wenger's rapidly increasing dependence on youngsters within his squad reached new heights this midweek when he chose to start off the Champions League group stages with rookie Italian goalkeeper Vito Mannone between the sticks.

Edin Dzeko is back with a bang! The Bosnia international striker, who spent most of the summer pushing for a dream move to AC Milan, has finally underlined his commitment to Wolfsburg with an outstanding decisive brace away to Schalke 04.

With the Ballon d'Or nominations finally releasing this weekend, the headlines have mostly been devoted to the fact that world champions Italy have no representation whatsoever. But why blame the press for paying excessive attention to an irrelevant detail? After all, the award itself is destined to be heading Lionel Messi's way, which means very little is there to be talked about in terms of debating the winner, right?

John Terry's mom? You bet!

It is clear that here at Premiership Talk, we value Premier League football well above any other version of the beautiful game. Therefore, as the Premier League returns this weekend, one match that generates tremendous curiosity, in my opinion, is Manchester City's visit to Arsenal. Considering Arsenal's great form and Manchester City's inconsistency, this game would usually be classified as a routine challenge for the Gunners.

As soon as the final whistle was blown at the Dragao last night, Manchester United confirmed its place in one of the two UEFA Champions League semifinals. Who was the opponent? A young Arsenal side that had already been penciled in as one of the semifinalists, around half an hour before United, courtesy of an emphatic 3-0 thrashing of Villarreal.

When Taylor Fisher named Federico Macheda last week's Wednesday Wonder, few people - myself included - expected the 17 year old to make any further impact this season. Let's face it, Macheda was only in the squad against Aston Villa because of injuries and suspensions, and his spot on the bench against Sunderland was more out of respect for the Italian.

It's always this way, isn't it? You wait forever for one bus and then four or five come along at once. After a fairly drab season by Premier League standards, it's all gone frigging loopy as the fight for European and domestic dominance reaches its final stretch. A month ago we (well mainly I, but I'm sure you, too) were bemoaning the lack of really exciting games from the 08-09 Premier League season.

Ten things I noticed from this week's Champions League semifinals:

1. The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth

Results lie. Sometimes. If not, then in the last 5 years I've been privileged enough to watch the great Greek team of 2004 justly claim their prize as the greatest international team in Europe.

A very impressive Stoke City side continued to march up the table by handing Hull City a shock 2-1 defeat at the KC Stadium this afternoon. In all fairness, Phil Brown's Tigers were completely outplayed and had it not been for defender Andy Dawson's last minute consolation, the final score would have been a little too embarrassing for the hosts.

Manchester United took another step towards the title against Manchester City on Sunday, and Chelsea squared off against a wounded Arsenal side at the Emirates. Here are the winners and losers from today's action

Winners Carlos Tevez

Manchester United fans woke up this morning to the news that Carlos Tevez is bidding farewell to United, to Manchester, and to England.

Tuesday May 26th

11am – After failing in my quest to get a good night's rest the night before, I spent the morning zombified thanks mainly to the hypnotic waffling of Paddy Crerand on MUTV. After a wash and an egg (though maybe not in that order) I got in the cab and headed for Heathrow Terminal 5.

When I came across this morning's comments provided by the agent of Barcelona ace Samuel Eto'o, the first word that came to my mind was diplomatic. Mr. Mesalles, who has been instrumental in promoting Eto'o to interested parties ever since Barca's treble-winning season came to an end, stated that the Cameroon international preferred to see out the one year that is left on his Barcelona contract.

A capacity crowd of more than 78,000 was in attendance at the CONCACAF Gold Cup final on Sunday. At the full time whistle, Giants Stadium appeared to be a sight of gross injustice more than anything else. After resiliently fighting with their third-string side for the entire tournament, the Americans finally fell to their bitter regional rivals, Mexico, albeit very harshly.

Just because Premier League action is here doesn't mean that we're free of transfer rumors just yet. All summer long the speculation has surrounded Real Madrid, and Los Blancos haven't closed their books for the summer yet. Two of their Dutch stars are still looking for new places to ply their trade, and in Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart there are still two bargains of the summer waiting to be snatched.

Some moments are never meant to be forgotten. The entire world of football witnessed one such shocking moment a little less than two years ago in London. On a rainy evening at Wembley, hosts England were expected to advance to the finals of Euro 2008 with just a draw needed against visiting Croatia.