Hold on a second here.

Did Fernando Torres take himself off the market and marry long term girlfriend Olalla whilst the rest of us were busy in Champions League final anticipation?

That wiley boy. It would appear that he did.

Here's what we know so far, as it is being reported in the Spanish media:

- The seven-months-pregnant bride wore - wait for it - a RED dress.

Situated in the heart of every great team is always a truly special central midfielder who is capable of taking matches by the scruff of their neck and dominating them.

Some midfielders are specialists in the holding role, others have an uncanny knack of scoring goals but every so often a player comes along that can excel in all areas.

After months of anticipation and countless leaks, Manchester United have revealed their 2009/10 Nike home and goalkeeper kits. Here's the spiel on the new home kit from the United's website and your first look the home and goalie kits as modeled by the likes of Park Ji-Sung, Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra and Edwin [.

Last Friday, Chelsea officially launched their Adidas 2009/10 home kit. With football fans satisfied to know what Chelsea's home kit for next seasion looks like, the anticipation is building for the Blues' 09/10 away and third kits. As with any big clubs' new kits, leaks, mock-ups and teasers abound on the internet.

Morning Nats fans. The boys are in Mexico, plans are in the works for me to get home in time for kickoff, anticipation couldn't be at a more fevered pitch, and game time is only eight hours...

There has been a lot of hope and anticipation around Carlos Vela. He had a good pre-season tour, so we expected to see what the Mexican can do in the Premier League. With Nasri, Fabregas, Walcott and Vela linking up I expected to see many a defence cut to shreds.

Unfortunately Vela was never given the opportunity in the league.

Ricky Hatton v Manny Pacquiao Live Streaming & Preview
Watch Hatton vs Pacquiao Live Online - Click Here
Sunday 3rd of May : 2am GMT
Venue : Las Vegas

Las Vegas will see the return of Ricky Hatton tonight, and with a crazy 25,000 fans making it out to Vegas despite the current economic climate this fight is sure to be a great event.

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?

Harsh words indeed. But after his actions this weekend, his previous comments and previous actions, there is no other conclusion to be made. Read on to find out why...

Gerrard pulled off an outrageous (ly bad) dive against Blackburn on Saturday, in a desperate attempt to haul his flailing Liverpool side away from the mediocre parity they were sharing at Ewood Park.

Many US fans have been rubbing their hands in anticipation of having Schalke's Jermaine Jones playing under the red, white and blue. The son of a German mother and American father has applied to FIFA to get his team designation switched from Germany to the US. The holding midfielder is a tough tackler in the Bundesliga – a league of tough tacklers.

Every year the release of Serie A salaries is met with great anticipation and often little surprise. This year, there was plenty of surprise to go around. With Kaka & Zlatan off to the lowered tax rates of Spain, the top spot was up for grabs and it went to Jose Mourinho, whose main improvement [...]

For those of us that follow a major European team, there is a weekly pattern that develops over the season. After the weekend game, many fans like myself spend a couple of days absorbing commentary about the game. Youtube is scoured for clips and the blogs are mined for insights.

Love it or hate it? You tell us!

In the midst of transfer rumours and speculation, I decided to have a look back at last season and personal highlights and disappointments.

Best Goal of the Season

This season has seen some memorable goals, some of individual brilliance, others of combination play.

I've described the derbies against our true antagonists Djurgården and Hammarby as the Battle Ryales of Swedish soccer. A derby against Brommapojkarna never truly reaches the same levels of anticipation and hysteria. This is a instead a game that I've dubbed the Novelty Derby. It's a novelty because it's a rather new derby as Brommapojkarna is only playing their second season ever in Allsvenskan.

- The summer transfer window was supposed to have closed a few days ago, yet the rumours persist, with an avalanche of new reports crashing down on us, all claiming the same thing: A Robinho-Henry swap is on the cards for Barca and Man City.
Apparently, Pep is still hankering for a winger after failed attempts to sign Riera or Mata, and Robinho would be a fitting choice; while Man City owners are really keen on having Henry join their team.

Edwin Van Der Saar: I feel very GQ. Practicing my GQ face in anticipation of this moment was a smart move. Messi and Xavi are the same size as my kids. What's that about? Whoa. Gotta be careful. I almost lost my pose. This is harder than I thought.

Lionel Messi: Two awards, bitches!

As anticipation grew, the media focused on whether or not Jose Mourinho could overcome a Milan side...
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Today was in stark contrast to the mediocre playoff showings of yesterday, as all teams were playing with a little extra something. Maybe they were bored out of their minds while watching Columbus play yesterday too. Regardless, there was a great atmosphere in todays games, especially in anticipation of David Beckham's first venture [.

Hold on a second here.

Did Fernando Torres take himself off the market and marry long term girlfriend Olalla yesterday whilst the rest of us were busy in Champions League final anticipation?

That wiley boy. It would appear that he did.

Here's what we know so far, as it is being reported in the Spanish media:

- The seven-months-pregnant bride wore - wait for it - a RED dress.

Eric Cantona was interviewed on Jonathan Ross this evening and was on the receiving end of probably the most excited audience the BBC have seen on that show.

"Ooh ahh Cantona" sang fans in the audience as he walked out on to the set. "I'm terrified, what just happened?" questioned Ross, as the whistles and cheers died down.

After a season bordering on perfection, a refreshing thirst for change is in the air around the Camp Nou. It is good to see that Txiki Begiristain and the clubs board have learned from the mistakes made in the latter parts of the Rijkaard era. Instead of holding on to some of the more fragile elements that drove the club to the treble this past year, the right moves have so far been made this summer in anticipation of the upcoming season.

REUTERS/Gustau Nacarino

Zlatan Ibrahimovic was introduced today as the newest signing for FC Barcelona at Sala París. Ibrahimovic put his name on the dotted line today signing a five year contract. Ibrahimovic was given the #9 kit and posed for pictures and kissed the FCB crest. Ibrahimovic commented "I am the happiest man in this room right now.

Well hello there.

I see you've caught me making a funny face. It took hours to perfect, but I do believe it is exceptionally erotic and makes you want to experience a sexual encounter that involves my large nostrils. ... No, no don't speak. Just gaze into my nostril. Gaze...gaze..

The SPL returns today. I know this momentous moment in the nation's cultural and sporting life is being celebrated. Up and down the country flags are being raised as an entire population quivers with anticipation of finding out, in about 10 months, which one of two evil empires will win the league.Anyway.

US president Harry Truman took pride in a sign on his desk in the Oval Office which read 'the buck stops here'.
And Rafa Benitez, Liverpool's own El Presidente, would do well to reflect on that as he plays the blame game following Liverpool's poor start to the season.
Benitez pointed the finger at Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher in the wake of their shock home defeat to Aston Villa, claiming his senior players need to take more responsibility.

La Liga is back!Spain's La Liga. Best league in the world? If you are judging it on the amount of frenzied anticipation built up amongst football fans around the world, probably. In terms of creating...

If by chance your vision was impaired to the point that you would somehow guess that the above mural depicts Emmanuel Adebayor (and not an even more severely burned Carlos Tevez), then you would be correct. Amazingly.

Says Man City's official website:

People visiting the Arndale Centre in Manchester today will have been greeted by a huge visual graphic of our Togolese striker Emmanuel Adebayor adorning the floors of Halle Square, just outside the CityStore.

The world's biggest soccer ball is one that not even a giant could kick around, it is a 50 tonne football sculpture on the top of Telkom's Lukasrand tower in Tswane.

Telkom has broken a world record by building a 50-tonne, soccer ball on top of the Lukasrand tower in Pretoria, the company said on Thursday.

How long was Didier Drogba on the ball during Chelsea's victory over Arsenal? 50 seconds? And yet he was the most influential player of the match.
Carlo Ancelotti has arrived and we should be impressed.
Searching to close the gap at the top of the table on Chelsea, Arsenal entered Sunday's match versus Chelsea seeking a convincing victory, but they ended as the losing side of a convincing 3-0 victory.

It seems to happen every time, no matter how they do the final draw – there always is a group of death. This is when more big-name contenders are placed in a group than there are places in the knockout rounds.

One Group with Many Favourites

We have seen that previous World Cup draws have almost always thrown up at least one section brimming with pre-tournament favourites, and when after the first phase, is over, one or two of them invariably find themselves packing for home.

By Graig Carbino - ALBANY, NY (Dec 4th, 2009) USSoccerPlayers -- Welcome to draw day. I'm on the couch in full-anticipation mode so let's get this thing going already. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York is on right now (if you don't like John Hughes then I cant help you), but in about an hour and a half ESPN2 will open up the broadcast window and we'll finally get the groups aligned.

According to Sport the rumored FC Barcelona tour of the US this summer is going to be cancelled and instead the team is turning it's attention to Asia. With MLS and Barcelona unable to secure a realtionship in Miami the need for Barcelona to come to the states is no longer a priority.

Hands up if you wanted to see a Barcelona v. Manchester United final.
Sorry Chelsea fans but it really is the final everyone wanted to see.
As the final whistle blew at Stamford Bridge last night I couldn't help but feel a sense of injustice for Chelsea, however that feeling of injustice was quickly replaced by a feeling of anticipation.

I'm going to the Nats-Pirates "tilt"* tonight at Nationals Park. Needless to say, the city shakes in collective anticipation.
But what would the equivalent match up like this be in sports or even just in other parts of life?

• A completely meaningless match like Stoke-Bolton with teams that aren't going to Europe and aren't going to drop either?

As promised, the motherlode of the Baker & Kely collection have now been re-uploaded - instructions on how to get hold of them are here. The folder is just over 1gb, so make sure you have plenty of space before you embark on that little project. Also, the next project for the summer will be to re-upload all the football music that was once on this site and has disappeared.

An anticipation of the USMNT's upcoming W.C. qualifier against Costa Rica, it's time to hear from the boys.
1. Oguchi Onyewu
2. Jozy Altidore

All us Spanish fans were waiting eagerly in anticipation as to who Vicente del Bosque was going to name to the squad which would travel to South Africa to play in the Confederations Cup this summer. We have had many injury worries over the past few months including the

Brazil Cruises into the Semi finals, Sets up date with South Africa
Kaka shoots at Italian goal - Image from Reuters

Brazil maintained their 100% record at the 2009 Confederations Cup as they made light work of Italy, sweeping the World champions aside with ease in a commanding 3-0 win at the Loftus Stadium on Sunday night.

After months of anticipation and countless leaks, Manchester United have revealed their 2009/10 Nike away kit. Here's the spiel on the new home kit from the United's website and your first look the home and goalie kits as modeled by the likes of Park Ji-Sung, Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra and Edwin Van der [.