Proving that when it rains, it pours...making it hard to make our re-return!

Just what we need - another scandal. We already fighting against stupidity, apathy and most of the world's media - why not just add a sex scandal on top for good measure. And not just a legal John Terry-esque sexual liason, funny sex tape or mortifying fetish.

As a football fan living in the US, I'm familiar with the mixture of antipathy and apathy that sometimes faces the beautiful game here. Or rather, I was familiar with it. Because all of a sudden everyone loves the World Cup and loves Team USA.

Two major reasons for this, as I see it.

Pedro Leon's absence from Real Madrid's Champions League tie with Auxerre on Tuesday night aroused suspicion as to why he was excluded. Well according to reports in Spain, coach Jose Mourinho lost his tether with the young Spaniard after he totally disregarded team instructions during the 0-0 draw with Levante on Saturday night.

Before our home match with Wigan earlier on in the season, I interviewed Dan Farrimond of the brilliantly named blog Jesus Was A Wiganer.

As you would imagine, neither of us predicted that the game would result in quite such a comprehensive scoreline for Tottenham. At the risk of allowing me to jinx his side once more, Dan has allowed me to interview him again to find his thoughts on the day his side lost 9-1 and what the rest of the season has in store for Wigan and Spurs.

So the wound caused by the defeat to the Yorkshire filth is starting to heal with a very faint scar in place.
The reaction to the game has had United fans react in so many different ways..from total apathy to manic hysteria..this is the norm whenever the reds lose. Many have started to point fingers at individuals.

Yesterday's overcrowding at Brawijaya Stadium during the Persik v Persib match saw a Persik fan crushed to death.
A number of questions go spinning through my mind.
1 - Who allowed the stadium to be oversold?
2 - Where were the security officials?
Of course last month a Persebaya fell to his death after falling off a train and there have been, unfortunately, countless other deaths of young lads on their to or from football.

12 days to LABOR ARMAGEDDON!!!
The message coming from the Player's Union is simple. If no deal is completed by midnight on March 24th, there will likely be a strike. With First Kick schedule for March 25th in Seattle, the timing makes sense...yes I know how obvious that comment was, just roll with it.

The favourites for promotion before the start of the season, Leeds United started 2009/10 as if they were in something of a hurry to finally lay the ghosts of lower division football to rest and get back to something approaching the normality of the Championship. Their credentials seemed to be confirmed by their January FA Cup win at Old Trafford and grabbing a draw at White Hart Lane against Tottenham Hotspur in the next round of the same competition.

Arms folded, heads bowed and gazes fixed firmly at the floor, never can a group of players have appeared more uncomfortable when embarking on a lap of honour than at Anfield yesterday.
Shuffling resignedly around the pitch perimeter, Liverpool's squad sheepishly responded to the half-hearted applause from those supporters that opted to stay behind after the final whistle.

OVER in the US, they will be treating the World Cup in much the same way that we in Blighty get behind the Super Bowl – by popping to the shops, doing a spot of DIY and catching up on soaps.

Of course, this being the America, everything will be twice fried and dipped in whale lard.

OVER in the US, they will be treating the World Cup in much the same way that we in Blighty get behind the Super Bowl – by popping to the shops, doing a spot of DIY and catching up on soaps.

Of course, this being the America, everything will be twice fried and dipped in whale lard.

The words were delivered calmly and without the slightest hint of irony, as his inquisitor asked for a general view of the situation at Anfield.
"There has been so much misinformation put out by people who have their own agendas and it's unfortunate, but that's just the way it is," said Thomas Ollis Hicks.

And so the post-mortem begins. Where to start? The decision to start our fourth and fifth-choice centre-backs? The decision to replace our captain and play-maker with a defensive midfielder? The conspicuous apathy of the 11 men tasked with re-writing the World Cup history of an entire nation? Kostas Katsouranis?

Every day, the WPS Director of Communications, Rob Penner (in the pic above with me), sends out the Daily Clips to the league office staff. Today's clips included a story called, Continued apathy by sports media toward women's sports a bigger problem than first meets the eye.

The article references a study from researchers at the University of Southern California and Purdue University titled, "Gender in Televised Sports: News and Highlight Shows 1989 to 2009″.

It's not easy trying to follow local football in Jakarta. The local authorities don't seem to give a toss whether there is a football team in the capital city or not though you can be sure that if Persija do actually win a trophy they will come crawling out of the woodwork for the photo ops.
Fans of Persija often find home games are played behind closed doors or moved to a different city altogether as local security officials decide they can't handle the crowds.

No real surprise that Selangor ended up as champions despite second placed Kelantan losing once all season. If they have relegation then Johor and Penang will make the drop which, for me at least, is a shame. Those two teams have stadiums that are relatively accessible.
Looks like Felda United will come up along with Sabah.

I'm like, Mr. Kraft, what's up? I saw that not only has the New England Revolution not actually launched its new team website yet, the one that's supposed to conform to MLSsoccer.com, you've just put the new team site into beta testing! And not only that, you're keeping the old site running with the new one concurrently until November!

The Malaysia Cup kicks off tonight with the highlight perhaps seeing Kelantan hosting Negeri Sembilan while holders and favourites Selangor welcome T Team.
After my customary tirade against apathy in Singapore I wonder what kind of attendances the Malaysia Cup will attract this time around. Unlike Singapore they don't seem to bother releasing attendances north of the causeway.

Apathy has set in. TFC have been playing meaningless matches for almost a month now, both in MLS and the Concacaf Champions League. Last night they beat Arabe Unido 1-0 to finish 3rd in their group for CCL, which of course means they do not advance to the knock-out stage. But we've know this for awhile, so last night's game held no interest for me.

Written by dandan

It is Firework night as I sit here, bangs and flashes illuminate the sky, through the window behind me, the dog lies under the desk ,coming out occasionally to challenge the noisy night with a tirade of her own, before returning and spreading herself at my feet with a sigh.

Another week is coming to a close and you know what that means right? You got it! It's time for the Anti-Power Rankings. I know everyone spends their entire week eagerly anticipating the release of not only these brilliant rankings of the good, the bad and the ugly from the soccer world, but you also look forward to my modified song lyrics that intro the rankings each week.

By Chris Wright

Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez is cripplingly homesick, cast adrift on an endless sea of apathy and fully intent on letting everybody know all about it.

In an interview with TyC Sports, Tevez once again reiterated his intentions to retire early, as well as voicing his growing contempt for the more 'fiscally driven' of his peers:

"I don't want to play any more.