With December fast-approaching, The Season is in the air. Christmas? Absolutely not. It's awards season. The Argentine sensation known as Lionel Messi has already nabbed the Onze d'Or, a precursor to the Ballon d'Or (with a heft more patriotism) which has predicted the BdO three times in the last four years. Click to continue reading...

Rai Radio anuncio esta mañana su lista de nominados pare el "Bidone d'Oro". Este prestigioso premio se lo dan al peor futbolista de la liga Italiana. Aparte de Ronaldinho tambien se encuentra nominados Huntelaar, Carrizo, Felipe Melo y el ganador del año pasado Quaresma entre otros. Nuestro amigo Adriano tiene el prestigio de ganar este honor dos veces consecutivas en el 2006 y 2007. Click to continue reading...

After the 35th round of Brasileirao, one thing is clear: the champion will be red and black. The only thing that remains unclear is if it will also carry the white of Sao Paulo, or it will have just the two colors of Flamengo.

The two sides took advantage of Palmeiras' tie against Sport and look ready for the title.

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More points for Fluminense but has their run come to late?

Wins for São Paulo and Flamengo left them in 1st and 2nd place respectively with just three games to go in the Campeonato Brasiliero.

53,000 turned up at the estádio Morumbi as São Paulo took on Vitória in on Saturday.

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The meeting of one great footballing mind and Dunga

Brazil take on England in Doho, Qatar, for the first of three international friendlies before the World Cup finals in South Africa next year.

Dunga's men see the England game as a real test against one of their main contenders in the competition in 2010.

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Without even stepping into the pitch on the weekend, Sao Paulo did something that has been very common for the club lately: It reached the top of Campeonato Brasileiro. In the 34th round of the tournament, the club, who fights for its 4th Brazilian title in a row, benefited from the defeats of Palmeiras and Atletico-MG.

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Fred on target for Fluminense against Palmeiras

With just four games remaining in the championship, holders São Paulo went top for the first time this season following their 1-1 draw away to Grêmio on Wednesday and Palmeiras' 1-0 defeat at Fluminense on Sunday.

Almost 67,000 turned up at the Maracanã hoping for a miracle as strugglers Fluminense took on Palmeiras.

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Desde que regreso a Brasil para jugar en el Flamengo, Adriano esta en el camino a la recuperacion de su problema con el alcohol. Pero su imagen sigue siendo una gran fuente para ayudar vender varios productos y uno de ellos es el crack cocaina! Segun Jornal do Brasil policias antidroga arrestaron al traficante Cordovil a las fueras de Rio y con el encontraron varias bolsas de crack cocaina con la imagen de Adriano. Click to continue reading...

Bulgaria's greatest, Georgi Asparuhov, life tragically cut at 28. Rooney misses a sitter. (Studs Up) The incredible new lows of Mike Ashley. (Three Match Ban) Stamford Bridge name TBA; football's name also TBA. (Futfanatico) John Barnes: Savior of Rwanda, not Don Cheadle. (Fisted Away) Adriano: The face of crack. Click to continue reading...

Adriano has been doing really well since returning to Brazil and getting his head back together. So well, in fact, that people are even using his image on their products. Unfortunately, those products are drugs.

From the Corriere dello Sport:

Now that Adriano is back in Rio de Janeiro and is the top scorer in the Brazilian championship with Flamengo, he's so popular that his picture is even selling packets of drugs.

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The 33rd round of Brasileirao put on the top Palmeiras and Sao Paulo, creator (Muricy Ramalho) versus creation (Sao Paulo). Palmeiras leads because of the goal difference, three more than Sao Paulo.

On the weekend, Palmeiras played the derby against Corinthians whereas Sao Paulo played Barueri.

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So apparently Barbecue King, Adriano is very much in love with his current girlfriend, Cássia Menega (of course you remember Joana Machado) and plans to marry her. According to his friend David Brazil, who is the country's most "famous event promoter", he is satisfied with his current stint at Flamengo and 'everything is going well' for him.

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Dunga announced today the players who will play the last 2 matches of the year (against England and Oman). And he had a few surprises. Given that he decided not to call players from Brazilian clubs (and therefore was unable to call Adriano and Diego Tardelli), he called forward Hulk. But he wasn't the only surprise.

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3 Puntos, con gol en tiempo de compensación y dejando claro que hay bastante por trabajar pero de la misma manera ya se pudo notar en lapsos una ideología futbolística distinta a la que practicaba el equipo bajo el mando de Graniolati.

Tengo desde el viernes sintiéndome de la chingada, pero eso no va a evitar que realice mi labor periodística (periodística jajá) y no podía faltar a la cita con los Xolos el domingo, así que apechugue y me lance al estadio (por cierto ya vieron los videos en alta definición que tome?

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Hulk, Michel Bastos, Fábio Aurélio, Carlos Eduardo

Dunga has called up 24 players to face England on November 14th in Doha, Qatar, and Oman three days later in Muscat.

The squad includes Liverpool's Lucas and Fábio Aurélio plus Manchester City's Robinho. Porto frontman, Givanildo Vieira de Souza (Hulk), gets his first call-up.

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.... Lots of it. After looking like the virtual champion of Campeonato Brasileiro, Palmeiras lost points and the chances of confirming the title. And with that, 4 clubs have now the chance of taking the title away from the side headed by Muricy Ramalho. In the 31st round of Brasileiro, Atletico-MG, Inter, Sao Paulo and Flamengo won their matches and are just a few step away from jumping to first (something that can happen in the next round).

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On FIFA's web-site promoting the start of the U-17 World Cup in Nigeria the event is hyped as a chance to "discover the stars of tomorrow."Â And while there is an impressive list of former participants (including, for example, Ronaldinho, Michael Essien, and Luis Figo) another look at the history of the U-17 World Cup offers more cautionary tales than burgeoning stars.

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Rogério Ceni scores then gets sent off against Santos

Three losses in a row has suddenly left Palmeiras' championship chances in grave doubt. The latest defeat came away at strugglers Santo André on Wednesday. The result provided another opportunity for Palmeiras' rivals to make ground on the leaders.

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Brazil will get to lock horns with the country ranked 79th in the world when they play Oman in Muscat on 17th November this year.

Three days before, Brazil take on England in Qatar. The squad for both matches will be announced on October 27th. Dunga (photo) is not expected to call up Brazil-based players whose sides are involved in the final stage of the Campeonato Brasileiro.

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The matches to watch after you realize that life back in Brazil is treating Adriano pretty friggin good. (Her name is Cassia Menega and she's a 22-year-old university student.)

Saturday

Chelsea v Blackburn at Stamford Bridge Carlo Ancelotti may not be in the dugout for this one, as he returned to Italy this week to tend to his ill 86-year-old father.

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Up until last week, the Brasileirao seemed the tournament no one wanted to win. The favorites kept losing points with pale football. But the 30th round shows signs of change by two sides. Flamengo and Atletico-MG want to take the title home after a long time.

While Palmeiras, Sao Paulo, Inter and Goias gave another display of loss of steam, the two sides pocketed the three points in very important matches.

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A Petkovic brace sinks the leaders

Two goals from Flamengo's Petkovic ended Palmeiras' unbeaten run in the Palestra Itália and cut their lead at the top of the table to just four points.

The Greens dominated for most of the first-half but an excellent dribble and finish by the veteran Petkovic put Fla ahead.

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En partido celebrado en el Palestra Italia de Sao Pablo correspondiente a la fecha 30 del Brasileirao, Flamenco venció a Palmeiras a domicilio por 2 a 0 con goles del volante serbio Petrovic , el primero en una excelente jugada individual por la punta de la izquierda, metiendose al centro sacó un tiro de lado como el de Itamar Batista de Tigres Vs.

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Respecto a una nota publicada ayer por el periódico Noroeste en el sentido de que se está empezando a generar algo de inquietud dentro del plantel Dorados de Sinaloa por retrasos en los pagos, el técnico del equipo Ricardo Rayas dice que "no hay que hacer drama" y que solo se trata de un ligero retraso, de 5 días, dice.

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Because the Italian team is acting like it.
After the hulking defender tore his patella tendon in World Cup qualifying action against Costa Rica on Wednesday, Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani offered this gem in search of damages from the U.S. national team.

"I'm very angry because once again the national teams take our players and we have to pay the consequences of injuries," Galliani is quoted as saying by Italian media.

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Why Not?

Portsmouth Vs Liverpool Tickets Still Available!

See below details about a potential move for Inter Milan striker to Tottenham and then consider whether he wouldn't be more attracted to a move to Anfield instead.

Tottenham could sign Brazilian striker Adriano for free in the January transfer window, the 27 year-old, who is in the middle of a one-year contract with Brazilian club Flamengo, is keen for a return to Europe.

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To good an opportunity to pass up?

Portsmouth Vs Tottenham Tickets Still Available!

Tottenham could sign Brazilian striker Adriano for free in the January transfer window, the 27 year-old, who is in the middle of a one-year contract with Brazilian club Flamengo, is keen for a return to Europe.

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To good an opportunity to pass up?

Portsmouth Vs Tottenham Tickets Still Available!

Tottenham could sign Brazilian striker Adriano for free in the January transfer window, the 27 year-old, who is in the middle of a one-year contract with Brazilian club Flamengo, is keen for a return to Europe.

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First, the international week is incredibly boring. Second, I thought I'd start a new post here on the Italy Offside: Great Serie A games. A post that will show videos of some of the greatest Serie A games of all time. For the first post I decided to stay fairly recent. We go back to the 2004/2005 season.

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Welcome to Day 4 of O Bootcamp! During dinner last night at the Bahamas hotel, meninos had an interesting conversation about the existing "rivalry" between the orange bib wearing players and the blue shirt 'regulars' during training.

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Down and out in La Paz

A lacklustre Brazil went down 2-1 in La Paz against Bolivia and so ended Dunga's team's 19 game unbeaten run.

Olivares and Marcelo Moreno had given the homeside a two-goal cushion before  Nilmar pulled one back in the second-half. The combination of high altitude and poor attitude meant that Brazil rarely threatened and the whole match had that ‘end of season' feel to it.

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Blue is the colour

For their penultimate game in the WC qualifiers, Brazil take on Bolivia in La Paz and Dunga is expected to make changes from his regular starting line-up. With Kaká, Gilberto Silva and Luis Fabiano all rested, the coach could test Josué, Miranda, and Diego Souza. The latter two have had good seasons for São Paulo and Palmeiras respectively but have yet to secure a place in the squad for next year's finals.

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It's Day Three of the festa do samba and while no one brought out the zany birthday cakes yet, Saint Kaka thinks BBQ king Adriano is a joke! Also, poor manos had to do field exercises in the rain again as you can tell from the case of flat hair syndrome.

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Bom dia and welcome to Day 2 of the Brazilian Bootcamp! Both our coach and goalkeeper are enjoying a Soul Sista moment in the photo above (Dunga : "Gurrrl, you got strength!" The Cesar : "Adriano ain't got nuthin' on me, lady.

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Tudo bem, people?! Welcome to Day 1 of the Selecao bootcamp.... a staple here at Futbolita. And in true spirit, we just did a thorough assessment of the selecao's arrival at Granja Comary with our Brazilian amiga here, Ana.

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