Football's governing body FIFA has taken the precaution of trademarking Christmas ahead of the 2014 World Cup. Our illustrious leaders have claimed ownership of the names of all Brazilian host cities for the World Cup when used in conjunction with the precious digits 2014. That includes the city of Natal, which means Christmas.
As we all know, the Seattle Sounders are off until next weekend. In the meantime, there's plenty
of soccer to get our fix. Tonight, World Cup qualifying starts in ernest for the United States. But
this morning and afternoon, we get what many consider to be the second best tournament in the
world: The European Championship.
Apologies for no preview for the match, but if you need any introduction to what this match means to us, look no further than the standings. It seems every match is like a must win these days, and this one is no exception. A win at the Middle Eastlands would put us back in 3rd in what could be a season long battle for the top 3.
Loyalty is the state or quality of being faithful to one's commitments or obligations. It can
comprise faithful adherence to one's club or cause notwithstanding circumstances.
My apologies for getting this out late. I got really behind on almost everything this week, and
I was going to just scrap this post all together (it's still only half finished). Since this past
weekend has been quiet for the Chicago Fire and Major League Soccer in general, I figured I'd put
this up on the site so people have something to read for the time being.
Many apologies for the tardiness of this grinder. Will was doing his thing, I was doing mine, I
ended up chasing around a bunch of different stories, some of which you'll be reading soon, and we
ended up here. I know, I know ... there's only one Will Parchman, but I stuffed this thing with
numbers, insights and pretty pictures and captions.
Apologies for the lack of posting of late. We have a new addition to Clan Fullback, and the baby is
taking priority over blogging. Still, I was able to catch much of last night's loss to the Red
Bulls and have a few thoughts which my sleep-deprived brain will struggle to transmit to my
fingers...
Maicon-nective Tissue - I can't see how Salihi continues to start ahead of
Santos.
My apologies for posting my thoughts on the match too late – I've only managed 3 hours of sleep
since the night of the match (until last night). But, even as the fanfare from our victory dies
down in the wake of being drawn with the Champions of Germany, Netherlands and England in the
Champions League, I continue to find myself waxing lyrical about last Wednesday's (or in my case,
Thursday early morning) match.
Mexico would eventually win their quarter-final clash (after extra time) 4-2 against Senegal
today, but amidst all the goals, Papa Souare's Bruce Lee impression in the second-half certainly
stood out.
The left wing-back launched himself at Mexico's Hector Herrera, kicking the defender right in
the gob.
Apologies if this is redundant, but I wanted to share some visuals to back up Rich's previous
post.
Dembele's dashboard is below:
For those wondering, the 'X' is a tackle, the hexagons are take-ons. Orange is successful,
purple is unsuccessful. And as we can see, he had many successful tackles and take-ons all over the
pitch; all while posting a 96% passing completion rate.
Apologies if this is redundant, but I wanted to share some visuals to back up Rich's previous
post.
Dembele's dashboard is below:
For those wondering, the 'X' is a tackle, the hexagons are take-ons. Orange is successful,
purple is unsuccessful. And as we can see, he had many successful tackles and take-ons all over the
pitch; all while posting a 96% passing completion rate.
Apologies for lack of posting. For one thing there doesn't seem much concrete to talk about:
will they, won't they, etc... For another our increasingly antiquated work IT setup has made it all
but impossible for me to post from there. No, don't get me wrong, I work hard, honest, just that I
used to do a lot of writing first thing in the morning or at lunchtime.
Apologies for lack of posting. For one thing there doesn't seem much concrete to talk about:
will they, won't they, etc... For another our increasingly antiquated work IT setup has made it all
but impossible for me to post from there. No, don't get me wrong, I work hard, honest, just that I
used to do a lot of writing first thing in the morning or at lunchtime.
This is the third in a series where we take off our Fulham hats, put on music-blogging hats,
and suggest a band to check out this summer. Minor apologies if you think our selections
suck.
I'm going to keep this short and simple: go listen to the latest album from this Baltimore-based
group.
This is the third in a series where we take off our Fulham hats, put on music-blogging hats,
and suggest a band to check out this summer. Minor apologies if you think our selections
suck.
I'm going to keep this short and simple: go listen to the latest album from this Baltimore-based
group.
This is the second in a series where we take off our Fulham hats, put on music-blogging
hats, and suggest a band to check out this summer. Apologies if you think our selections suck, but
we'd rather write about this than complain about our lack of forwards when it is only June
20th.
Tennis is one of those bands that you secretly enjoy but dare not tell anyone.
This is the second in a series where we take off our Fulham hats, put on music-blogging
hats, and suggest a band to check out this summer. Apologies if you think our selections suck, but
we'd rather write about this than complain about our lack of forwards when it is only June
20th.
Tennis is one of those bands that you secretly enjoy but dare not tell anyone.
This is the first in a series where we take off our Fulham hats, put on music-blogging hats,
and suggest a band to check out this summer. Apologies if you think our selections suck, but we'd
rather write about this than banal transfer rumors.
With that disclaimer said, truth be told, I'm pretty bad at reviewing music.
Firstly, apologies for the shite headline. I couldn't help myself. Anyway, on we go...
Bizarrely, coming into Saturday's Olympic final, Brazil had never ever won a Olympic gold in
football. And after a rather mediocre performance from the Samba superstars against a superb
Mexican side, the gold once again eluded the star-studded side.
Apologies for the lack of activity around this space, but both Devin and I have been in the
midst of a recharge following a season in which the sanity of Chelsea supporters far and wide was
tested with regularity. It really was an astonishing year for the club.
Before most fans had ever heard of Massimo Luongo, his first appearance in the Spurs spotlight
was to miss the vital penalty in our Carling Cup tie with Stoke last season. With apologies for
even mentioning that, it's pleasing to report that the player's reputation enhanced throughout the
remainder of the campaign.
Welcome to the newest football/soccer blog in town (apologies to the village people). I'm Dave
Disco and a huge football/soccer.....wait im English so its football.......OKAY!!!..... I am a
Spurs fan so cannot be classed a glory hunter, however the history of the club has come to my
rescue a many a time in the past [.
With apologies to ‘Snog, Marry, Avoid', it's time to take a look at some of the fringe players
around White Hart Lane and ask what their fate should be next season.
To many, South African Bongani Khumalo looks a confusing and largely pointless signing. Arriving
in January 2011, he has yet to play a first team game for the club, despite the opportunities
provided by the Europa League and Carling Cup and an ongoing injury crisis at the back.
Just finished watching the Spain and Portugal match, which was a very interesting spectacle
despite having barely any goal mouth action until late on with Spain looking most likely to score
in extra-time.
What I really can't understand though is the decision of Cristiano Ronaldo or the coach to take the
5th penalty for Portugal was it that he wanted to score the glory goal, the winning penalty which
could take Portugal through to the Euro 2012 finals?
With the group stage done and dusted, here's twenty (+VAT) of the best still images from Euro
2012 to date. Just give them all a click to view the full-size images and marvel at their
splendour.
Apologies for the lumpy gallery format, but unfortunately we had no choice with this one.
Apologies for the paucity of posts of late. For those that aren't yet aware, clan Fullback is
expecting its fourth member any day now, so you'll understand my distraction. But while I have a
moment, let me clear the metaphorical decks...
ZonalMarking's Euro 2012 team-by-team previews are excellent.
Apologies for the ever-so-slightly over-egged headline, but this is some serious ju-ju. The
Telegraph are reporting that SCIENTIFIC STUDIES carried out by the BEUC (Europe's consumer
watchdog) have shown that the Spain, Germany, Ukraine, Russia, France, Italy, Portugal and
Holland Euro 2012 kits contain 'worrying' levels of potentially poisonous metals, compounds and
'chemical cocktails'.
Ex-Blackburn Rovers boss Steve Kean has paid undisclosed damages to his predecessor, Sam Allardyce, over claims he made that the current West Ham boss was a "crook". Kean was filmed telling Rovers supporters on a pre-season tour of Hong Kong that Big Sam had lost his job at Ewood Park "because he's a f**king crook".
Good afternoon. Apologies for the lateness of this post but after a long week I needed a good sleep in. Anyway's, it's game day, and a big challenge awaits Melbourne Victory in Brisbane tonight. I don't know how to feel about this game to be honest. On one hand we could easily get demolished but
Apologies for the lack of posts over the last few days. Some technical issues with WordPress (likely combined with some user error), have consigned a number of engaging and landmark posts to the dustbin. Tonight was supposed to be about the business success of the NASL's San Antonio Scorpions, including their almost 10k average attendance, coming new stadium (Toyota Park), on the field success.
The last twenty-four hours or so have been rapidly evolving series of watershed moments for the perception of the Hillsborough disaster of 1989. The last cobwebs of doubt have been swept away from the naysayers, and those that might have sought to place the blame for events of that day on anybody other than those that were supposed to be in charge of safety that day.
My apologies for the delay. Last night was taken up by watch the best action-adventure movie of
all time in IMAX, Raiders of the Lost Ark.
A surprisingly young team started against the Timbers on Wednesday night. Casey was given the night
off, Cummings was with Jamaica, and Mullan was given a chance to rest for most of the game after
his Achilles injury in Portland.
(With pre-emptive apologies to Harry Pearson - it's impossible to have read The Far Corner and
write about non-league football (and non-league football in the North-East, especially) without
succumbing to the temptation to imitate his style...) My home town Morpeth - securely and perhaps
smugly middle-class - is located at something of a crossroads.
If you didn't know that Joey Barton had a new website then apologies for raising your curiosity,
but you will be able to guess what it is about: Joey Barton. At http://www.joeybarton.com/ you can
read Joey's views on politics, culture, life at QPR and footballing matters in general. Latest
blogs include his thoughts on the [.
Apologies for the lack of a USSDA Finals Week update, but you should know that you can watch the
championships streamed live on USSoccer.com. Under-18 Â Sunday 8 p.m. CTÂ FC Dallas vs. Vancouver
Whitecaps Under-16Â Monday 8 p.m. CT New York Red Bulls vs. St. Louis Scott Gallagher Missouri -
Jacob Klinger
Well, it time to give the answers for our latest competiton and announce the winners. Before I do,
please accept my apologies for the slight delay in posting this. The biggest hurdle for most who
entered the competition, so much so that I began to doubt my self and all the statistical data I
used [..
Apologies for missing last week's Western Conference update - it was a bit of a busy week. This
week has been busy as well, with lots of personnel changes happening all around the league.
Since the last time I posted an update 25 MLS games have taken place, including three involving
the Portland Timbers.
Apologies for all the parentheses, elipses, and commas. Most of the teleconference sounded like
it was coming through a tin can from a submarine at the bottom of the ocean.
On the firings of Diego Gutierrez and Alecko Eskandarian
