Corks are a poppin' in the Nani household today after the Manchester United player announced he and his longtime Portuguese girlfriend, Daniela Martins, are getting married.

This may not come as a shock to those who saw the pap pics of Daniela wedding dress shopping yesterday. While she left empty-handed, leaving the wedding day level of blingtastic opulence mystery unsolved, Miss Martins is guaranteed to be WAGtastically done up.

Moneyball in the Premier League looking at Liverpool, Newcastle and Wigan - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Since the Fenway Sports Group (FSG) bought Liverpool FC last season, there has been a lot of talk about ‘Moneyball'.

This was a successful book chronicling the Oakland Athletics baseball team, and in particular it's General Manager Billy Beane (for a General Manager think of a powerful director of football, David Dein at Arsenal, someone who controls transfer/signings).

A couple of weeks ago I asked Dave what I should write about next on the tactics front, and he answered "asymmetry." I didn't get around to it -- this being a common theme in my life -- and the next time we saw each other Dave pointed out to me that Jonathan Wilson had just written the article he wanted me to write (well, not THE article, but you should get my point).

The sky is falling out from the United States' beloved Under-23 national team.
Or so you may think.
The U.S. Olympic squad may not actually ever be an Olympic squad if the U.S. does not take care of business against El Salvador tonight. Of course, this wouldn't be an issue had the U.

A night to remember. A moment to savor. A season to endure. More, after the jump:

Defying Expectations

Twenty-four hours later, I'm still coming to grips with the realities that lay bare in front of us. The word epic gets bandied about far too often for incorrect situations, but it may well be the only apt adjective to truly describe what was an unforgettable night at The Bridge.

50 Very Sensible Goals

What's a "sensible" goal you ask? Well, you'll have to ask Sweden's Marcus Walkin, the creator of this video, but after watching these 50 I'm leaning towards nonsensical as my adjective to describe what's featured on this list. Maybe Marcus is being modest.

For many years no football club would go near Indonesia. Scared off by terrorism and a perceived political instability overplayed by foreign embassies instead they concentrated their South East Asian efforts on the more visitor friendly countries of Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

Now, however, it appears Indonesia is once again open for business and everyone wants a slice of the pizza.

Sunday's match turned up a lot of heroes and villains for both teams. The match itself went like most people had predicted; a close encounter that could have gone either way... that is until 75 minutes into the game, when what can only be considered a game changing event occurred. But I'll get to that later.

First of all, apologies to anyone hoping to find the usual daily helping of wit, wisdom and footballing insight you have come to expect from Arsenal Arsenal.

As it's Boxing Day and there's bugger all happening from an Arsenal point of view, I'm afraid this is a bit of a quirky Post aimed at the regular AA contributors.

There are a couple of problems with waking up at 6.30 AM Central Time to catch a lunch-time kickoff on a Sunday. One, it's really early for a Sunday morning, and your system has not really slept off/flushed out everything that went into it on the Saturday night. Secondly, when they say lunch-time, they apparently mean noon.

During Wednesday's post-game press-conference, a reporter asked Seattle Sounders coach Sigi Schmid about the taste that game left in his mouth. While far from dismissive of the question, Schmid corrected the reporter a little.

"I don't know if it's in our mouths," he said. "It's definitely a very empty, hallow feeling in our stomachs at this stage.

International Friendly
Malaysia Under 23 v Nepal 2-0 (Faris Ramlan, Yong Kuong Yong)
Indonesia Premier League (I think that's what they're calling it)
Persib v Semen Padang 1-1 (Milijan Radovic; Mostapha Aji)
Former Persikota and Persitara striker Mostapha Aji had the honour of scoring the first goal in the latest new era in Indonesian football as the new season got under way at Soreang.

Vortexing..

Jurgen Klinsmann has now officially cast off as skipper of the US national team. A three game tenure is merely prologue to what will be a fact-finding, a player-finding mission leading up to qualifying and World Cup in 2014.

Yet, as much as the camps of late 2010 will probably not be remembered much when 2014 dawns, at present they are starkly in contrast to the complexion in results, personnel and more to the Bob Bradley era.

Setting: Saturday, July 23 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia; kickoff scheduled for just after 9:00 PM Eastern

Broadcast Information: ESPN Deportes and ESPN3.com nationally, with coverage beginning at 9:00 PM Eastern

For the Real Madrid Perspective, Visit Managing Madrid

Just three days after the Philadelphia Union took a rather exhilarating 1-0 victory against Everton thanks to a late goal from academy player Christian Hernandez, the Union welcome Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid to Lincoln Financial Field.

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. | Subscribe: Main Listening Report | Complete List Here

In our last main report of the 2010-11 season, Damon and Damian review the footballing year for their clubs Liverpool FC and Tottenham Hotspur FC a season of two halves for one and a roller coaster ride for the other.

There really aren't words for what Jermaine Beckford did on Sunday against Chelsea. It's brilliant, stunning, spectacular...insert whatever adjective you want. It's the kind of thing we're used to seeing from Lionel Messi.
Enough words, enjoy!

As Old Trafford shook on Sunday, so should have the heads of all of those who thought that it'd be the day when Manchester United's luck finally ran out.

Dominant is an adjective that hasn't and won't be used in describing this Manchester United team, but perhaps they were saving it for when it really mattered.

Enough is enough. The time has come to lift the lid on the plenitude of vapid clichés that pollute the language of football. Game Intelligence steps into the breach... i·ron·ic (Pronunciation: /ʌɪˈrɒnɪk/) Adjective According to common knowledge, Americans don't ‘get' ... Continue reading →

Enough is enough. The time has come to lift the lid on the plenitude of vapid clichés that pollute the language of football. Game Intelligence steps into the breach... i·ron·ic (Pronunciation: /ʌɪˈrɒnɪk/) Adjective According to common knowledge, Americans don't ‘get' ... Continue reading →

The best adjective to describe Wednesday's important win and three points against Stoke was 'mature', it was genuinely this kind of performance. Over the last two to three months we have seen more of these kind of performances and with these our hopes have risen, Sunday gives us a massive opportunity to consolidate these hopes and win a trophy.

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. | Subscribe: Weekly Football Phrase

Every week during the 2010-11 season, the languagecaster team explain a football phrase or cliché for learners of English who love the sport. Click on the link below to hear the word or phrase and you can also read the transcript below that.

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. | Subscribe: Weekly Football Phrase

Every week during the 2010-11 season, the languagecaster team explain a football phrase or cliché for learners of English who love the sport. Click on the link below to hear the word or phrase and you can also read the transcript below that.