This gameweek it is doubletime for Manchester City, Stoke, Bolton and Wigan in Barclays Premier League. And out of those four it's Manchester City who has the easiest feast. Bolton at home and Stoke away. Emmanuel Adebayor is back from the ill-fated trip to African Cup and has scored in last 2 matches.

(The content of this entry is obtained via the transcript provided by Integrated Marketing Solutions Group [IMSG] - the PR agency for Nike Singapore)
(P.S: The copyrights of the video and image depicted in this blog entry belong to Nike.)
In support of Nike and (RED)'s unique two-pronged partnership approach to fight HIV/ AIDS in Africa, leading footballers Didier Drogba, Andrei Arshavin, Clint Dempsey, Denilson, Marco Materazzi, Javier Mascherano, Fabio Cannavaro along with Maria Sharapova and Kobe Bryant came together in a new viral film released by Nike this week to encourage fans globally to "Lace Up Save Lives".

This gameweek it is doubletime for Manchester City, Stoke, Bolton and Wigan in Barclays Premier League. And out of those four it's Manchester City who has the easiest feast. Bolton at home and Stoke away. Emmanuel Adebayor is back from the ill-fated trip to African Cup and has scored in last 2 matches.

Proving that jazz hands really do make the world a better place, take a look at Cameroon captain Samuel Eto'o and Nigerian NT player Chinedu Obasi. They're modeling the first-ever continental football kit during what seems to be A Chorus Line rehearsal breaks.

The kits were created to raise awareness of the International Year of Biodiversity.

There were two major surprises in the African Cup quarterfinals today.In the first one, the home side of Angola were surprisingly eliminated by Ghana, who without their star Michael Essien managed a somewhat fortunate and hard-fought 1-0 victory on a goal by Stade Rennais' Asamoah Gyan. Ghana is set to play the winner of Zambia-Nigeria, and a match against their West African rivals Nigeria would

photo credit: yashima

The Glass is Half Empty

Will Drogba be fit to perform at the highest level this summer or will the often injured Chelsea superstar not even play in the event because of being worn down by the Premier League? Will Drogba be able to wow us like he did early in the EPL this season or will his side make a quick exit out of the Cup in 3 matches?

Luís fabiano and Lúcio in training for Brazil

Brazil take on Tanzania in their final friendly before their World Cup campaign gets underway in just over a week.

While the competition have been losing key players through injury, nothing serious has befallen the Brazil squad in their build up to South Africa.

England continue their journey through Group C of the 2010 World Cup on Friday with their second match against the North African nation of Algeria at Green Point Stadium in Capetown, South Africa. Following England's disappointing 1-1 draw with the USA last Saturday, the pressure cooker of expectations from the English media and fans will certainly be cranked up to the next level.

Ok, we just dropped two points at home against Everton, a team we thought, or rather I thought we would put to bed early on in the game, a team who hasn't been firing on all cylinders this season but recently have a bit of change in fortune.

Saturday wasn't a change in fortune for them; maybe they were even robbed of three points, certainly David Moyes thinks they were!

Georges Ambourouet (Gabon) v Somen Tchoyi (Cameroon)

Well, isn't this just so considerate? The fine footy folk taking part in the African Cup know how busy our schedules are with Facebook-stalking, online shopping and other such necessities. To help out, they made sure to stay in the same photo frame for ease of judgment/appreciation in our Thigh-Off competition today.

Georges Ambourouet (Gabon) v Somen Tchoyi (Cameroon)

Well, isn't this just so considerate? The fine footy folk taking part in the African Cup know how busy our schedules are with Facebook-stalking, online shopping and other such necessities. To help out, they made sure to stay in the same photo frame for ease of judgment/appreciation in our Thigh-Off competition today.

photo credit: Reinante El Pintor de Fuego

1) Barcelona

It shouldn't be a surprise that Barcelona is the top rated offense. Not only has the club led the league in total goals scored so far this season, but the treble winners from last year added one of the best strikers in the world this season just to guarantee that Barca would remain the best amid all the transfer moves their rivals at Madrid were making.

With the African players away on national duty oh! How? ooh! How? Would Chelsea manage to stay adrift? I mean look at that line up it "only" starts – Cech, Ivanovic, A Cole, Carvalho, Terry, Belletti, Lampard, J Cole, Ballack, Malouda, Anelka. In way I guess it explains how they managed to score "only" 7 eh?

Salomon Kalou (Ivory Coast) and his Chelsea team-mate Michael Essien (Ghana) star in the all-important (to us, anyway) shirt exchange after their African Cup game on Friday. The Ivorians won 3-1. Image via AP Photo. Thx ME!

Salomon Kalou (Ivory Coast) and his Chelsea team-mate Michael Essien (Ghana) star in the all-important (to us, anyway) shirt exchange after their African Cup game on Friday. The Ivorians won 3-1. Image via AP Photo. Thx ME!

Proving that jazz hands really do make the world a better place, take a look at Cameroon captain Samuel Eto'o and Nigerian NT player Chinedu Obasi. They're modeling the first-ever continental football kit during what seems to be A Chorus Line rehearsal breaks.

The kits were created to raise awareness of the International Year of Biodiversity.

So with Ghana through to the Semi-Final, I'm here with the second of todays African Cup of Africa Cup of Nations Cup, or whatever you like to call it, liveblog this time Ivory Coast taking on Algeria, two teams we'll get to know even better by South Africa in the Summer.

If you're following any other games going on (apparently there is an important one in Milan) you're welcome to join me, i'll have half an eye on that game in Serie A in case it turns out to be a cracker.

As is the case so many weeks of the season, the top match to watch this weekend features a pair of EPL heavyweights.

Arsenal takes on Manchester United on Sunday with a precious three points on the line for both clubs. The Gunners sit a point behind United in the race for second place behind Chelsea and a defeat at home would deal a painful blow to Arsenal's title hopes.

The African Football Confederation has suspended Togo from participating in the next two African Cup tournaments due to governmental interference following the terrorist attacks that caused the death of their assistant coach, bus driver and press officer, injuring up to six others in the process. You read that correctly.

By Chris Wright

Sunderland have rejected claims that they have had a £2.5 million bid accepted by Egyptian side ENPPI for their right-back Ahmed Al-Muhammadi.

Earlier today, ENPPI director of football Alaa Abdul-Sadek told the Egyptian media;

"A Sunderland representative will come to Egypt after the end of the English Premier League to wrap up the deal [for Al-Muhammadi].

Algeria lost the semi-final in the African Cup 2010 vs. Egypt 0-4, and their players scored three red cards in a very amateuer way. No team can hope to perform well in world cup with such lack of...
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Its easy to jump on the critical Anti-South Africa World Cup 2010 bandwagon. We hear more than our fair share of stories that recount the possible disasters that await the showpiece tournament next month. However here is some good news. The stadium that will host the Final on July 11th (when Argentina will play Holland according to my postman) is ready and waiting for the big event.

Can Steven Pienaar guide his South Africa team beyond the group stage?

With only days to go before the big kick-off in Johannesburg "Stoppage Time International Football Blog" provides you with a guide to each of the thirty two finalists in South Africa this summer. In a three-part series we start off with the teams that qualified from Africa and North America (Note: FIFA World Rankings correct from May 26th):

SOUTH AFRICA Qualified as hosts; FIFA World Ranking = 83

Things didn't always go so easy for the organizers of the South African World Cup bid but the stadiums and infrastructure now seem to be in place for a successful tournament.

Group G has been given the tag of the Group of Death this time around, but Group D also looks like a tough proposition as it contains four sides who will expect to do well. Let's have a look at their chances.

Australia
The Aussies go into their third World Cup still smarting from their unfortunate last gasp defeat to Italy four years ago when a controversial last minute penalty sent them out.

Watch these 3 goals from Al-Ahli vs. Al-Entaj Al-Harbi (second club I almost don't know it), a very high class wonderful goals. When Egypt won last African cup, most of its players were from...
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This story is sent to us thanks to N Waleed ..
A couple of weeks ago, Al-Ahly (Egypt) faced Esperance Sportive de Tunis (Tunisia) in the first leg of the African Cup.
Al-Ahly won 2-1 thanks to a handball goal that the ref missed...

In an ironic turnaround the Tunisian's won the second leg by a lone goal which came off a handball which was even more blatant than the last one.

Nothing more ironic than what has happened lately in the semi-final of the African Cup for clubs. Al-Ahli from Egypt had a derby with Al-Tarraji from Tunisia. In Tunis, Al-Tarraji player scored a...
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