While my somewhat gritty reputation does precede me, this post is not about birth control. Maybe next time, dear Yanks readers. I do, however, offer a PBR-fueled apology if this presents disappointment. Recently, TYAC senior staff writer Jon... Read more

After his recent Twitter rant about being left out of Liverpool's squad for last weekend's draw with Stoke, Ryan Babel has taken it upon himself to apologize to Rafa Benitez in order to get back in the manager's good graces. The following is a transcript of that apology.

Babel: Boss?

Major League Soccer issued an apology Monday afternoon for issues people have been having with the ‘new-and-improved' league website that was rushed out last Thursday in time for First Kick 2010. Though it sports a sleek, new design and holds promise for the future, many users have reported experiencing glitches including: links that lead to nowhere, inaccurate/incomplete final scores and statistics, spelling errors, kickoff times listed as early in the morning, and much, much more.

Charlie Davies' club teammate, Jacques Faty, has admitted asking Davies to lie to the police

Just a few days ago, news broke that Charlie Davies was stopped by police speeding 201 km/hr. Given that Charlie Davies is still recuperating from a serious car accident last year that resulted in a young woman dying, the news that he was found driving a car at such dangerous speeds caused a bit of a stir.

What if Cristiano Ronaldo had scored instead of hitting the post today against Ivory Coast in the Group of Death opener at World Cup 2010?

Would we have had the dreadful snoozer we were left with?

We certainly would have had Didier Drogba enter the game sooner (at the half?) than we did.

I was reading that Florent Malouda has paid tribute and thanked Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti for his guidance at the club. He said:

"Ancelotti has allowed me to reach a new level. He gave me responsibility and I believe he has appreciated me. I had some frank talks with him and that's how a special relationship was born.

Hans Backe, on the second Red Bull red card:
Quote: "I would say it's an absolute disgrace. It's ridiculous, it's a joke," said Backe. "When the referee decides games like this, probably the MLS should do an investigation, because it's not even close to hitting [Boggs]. You can see the level of the referee, the level went like this [up and down].

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. | Subscribe: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

A busy week of international sees some good and bad news for Portuguese football stars and Joey Barton makes it to our ugly section again. Good to have him back!

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Today's Sponsor: Gooner Gifts is a one-stop shop for all things Arsenal related, from replica kits and retro shirts through to Emirates Stadium tours, memorabilia and novelty items. Visit http://www.goonergifts.com/ And first an apology for the author... I am here today to admit I screwed [.

We owe you a sincere apology for our erratic previewing of the weekend's Veikkausliiga round. Our dear friend Egan Richardson is writhing in the misery that confronted his dear hometown of Sheffield, and I have spent my time trying to understand the annual Finnish holiday called Vappu (on May 1st and, in its most liquefied form, April 30th every year).

As usual I was looking around the net and came across one of the best articles I read this season from Mark Worral on the CFCNet website. This article along with our double success has prompted me to write the following apology to "King Carlo".
If you have been a follower of my blog you will know that at different times this season, for me personally, I called to question Ancelotti as our manager.

France's players, who revolted against Coach Raymond Domenech and then exited in the first round of the World Cup, will not be accepting cash from lucrative marketing revenues generated by the squad. "We will not accept a single cent from sponsors. We will refuse all the bonuses," said France captain Patrice Evra.

First off, a quick apology. I've been on vacation since last Tuesday and had these 5 Prandelli posts up and ready to go before I left. Paul posted four of them but we had an error in communication and this one never got posted. So it's a bit late, but here's the finally post in our first annual Prandelli Week.

Man City have increased their summer spending spree by splashing out on Italy international Mario Balotelli. The 20 year old is known to have a bad boy attitude and he had a number of run-ins with team-mates, fans and his manager while at Inter Milan. With striker Craig Bellamy leaving City on loan yesterday, Balotelli will be seen as a player who can make an immediate impact on the team.

Hoops continue to impress

Being a QPR fan makes me very weary of all the hype building up around this side. I have seen us flatter to deceive too often to get carried away too fast.

But I must admit that tonight was exciting. Unbeaten Ipswich away looked a tough game; it turned into a stroll.

Most media outlets are reporting that Arsene Wenger pushed an assistant referee and will be charged.

However, I'm told that this is not the case and he is in fact in trouble for patting the official on the back in a sarcastic manner.

It sounds pretty ridiculous but his manner in recent times has become more and more fraught on the touchline, especially when things are not going Arsenal's way.

Reports in the Italian press on Saturday suggested that Sampdoria are ready to terminate Antonio Cassano's contract after the enigmatic Italy international was involved in a heated exchange with Sampdoria president, Riccardo Garrone at the club's training ground.

However, Cassano uncharacteristically released an apology to Garrone and the club.

The English 2018 World Cup bid team have signalled that they are now willing to withdraw the complaint they made to FIFA against the head of Russia's World Cup bid, after receiving a grovelling (and possibly pre-emptive) apology from the Russian sports minister.

Whereas anyone who has ever had the misfortune of having to spend a prolonged period of time in London can instantly sympathise with the comments that Russia's chief executive Alexei Sorokin made pertaining to the capital's high crime rates and adolescent alcohol problems during an interview with Sport Express the fact remains that it's not the best idea to contravene FIFA's rules about slagging off rival bidders whilst the bidding is still in process.

By way of apology, here's a photo of Steve Bull scoring against WBA in 1996. First, to the person who commented on the Transfer Deadline Winners & Losers debating the comment I made about Wolves being a remote footballing outpost. The comment wasn't made to offend Wolves supporters or belittle the club's history.

OK so let's start with an apology for not publishing a Bundesbag last week. To be frank, yours truly is experiencing a radical shifting of his work/life balance lately and simply ran out of blogging steam. Sorry about that.
Moving on then and probably the biggest news to update you on (apart from the sacking of Wolfsburg coach Armin Vey) is that Hertha Berlin are still unbeaten.

Aston Villa have banned one of their own players from attending the Carling Cup final after he was caught selling tickets for the Wembley showpiece on Facebook. Nathan Baker, an England Under-19 international who is currently on loan at Lincoln City, was forced to issue an apology after Villa learned that he had sold his five tickets for the match against Manchester United for £200 each on the social networking site.

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- QPR REPORT Available on TWITTER!
- For comprehensive and latest QPR news-related pieces and discussion, visit the football-only, somewhat-different QPR Report Messageboard. All QPR Perspectives genuinely welcomed! Or comment on any of the articles posted below
- Best of Luck to Former QPR Chairman Bill Power (BP): A True QPR Mensch
Distressing: The Club's Lack of an Apology For Last Night's
- Maybe I overestimated our club.

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- QPR REPORT Available on TWITTER!
- For comprehensive and latest QPR news-related pieces and discussion, visit the football-only, somewhat-different QPR Report Messageboard. All QPR Perspectives genuinely welcomed! Or comment on any of the articles posted below
- Birthday for QPR's (suddenly-become) #2 Goalie Also: Paul Bruce Turns 32
- Best of Luck to Former QPR Chairman Bill Power (BP): A True QPR Mensch
- Waiting for the Club's Apology for Tuesday's "Balagan"!

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- QPR REPORT Available on TWITTER!
- For comprehensive and latest QPR news-related pieces and discussion, visit the football-only, somewhat-different QPR Report Messageboard. All QPR Perspectives genuinely welcomed! Or comment on any of the articles posted below
- Ex-Chairman Bill Power (BP) Update
- (Still) Waiting for the Club's Apology for Tuesday's "Balagan"!

Some things are so horrible that they don't deserve an apology, and surely what Materazzi said to Zinedine Zidane in the world cup final was one of those things. It has nothing to do with fair play - Zinedine Zidane got and accepted his punishment for what he did. Materazzi got all the glory in the world and his apparent apology is not credible.

Major announcement from MLS tomorrow, LIVE from Toronto! Wonder what it could be!
....okay, it might be more than one thing. They might also announce that TFC, and other teams who so choose, can finally have their extra Designated Players, which will solve everything as well as making all the existing players better, just like it has in New York, Dallas and Los Angeles.

CIENFUEGOS VERSION OF THIS POST:
Details on CBA still being hashed out. They'll be on Major League Soccer Soccer soon, if not already. Montreal's a lot better bet to play next year than DC United. Half the league or more doesn't have one Designated Player, so we'll let the other half have more.

"We came to the home of the league leaders who'd won all 15 games here so far this season. I give a lot of value to winning this one – it's an honour to come here and win. They've got 77 points and that's incredible." - Pep Guardiola on the result

Shots: 16 v 8
Shots on goal: 7 v 4
Usually when I see stats like these, I tend to expect Barca to be the bigger number.

A referee familiar to Premiership audiences will take centerstage at the Bernabeu today. Howard Webb will proceed to the World Cup in less than three weeks and officiating this most important match establishes his reputation as one of the top referees in the world.

He has had his share of clashes with Jose Mourinho while at Chelsea including the 2007 Carling Cup which ended in a brawl between the Blues and Arsenal, with John Terry leaving with a broken jaw.

The verdict is in, and Mark Schwarzer wants an apology.

Answers after the jump.

1. Mattia Cassani Italy

2. Steve Mandanda France (sairax)

3.

Sorry Philadelphia fans, you aren't going to win the Stanley Cup. That's a fact.
Why you ask?
Because karma is a bitch....though no doubt you are currently wondering what this has to do with football, so let me explain...
I have no idea who this guy is. I don't know if he is even from Philadelphia or a Flyers fan, but the evidence is pretty clear that this is the prime suspect for who set off the smoke bomb that got the ladies in the row in front of him kicked out of the USMNT v Turkey match on Saturday.

Team of the Day: Team Messi, Argentina. Are they the same? They might be.

A little indication of what Messi does for the Argentina attack:

Four defenders collapse on Messi, one, Higuain's marker, turning to watch and with all his teammates locked on Messi, he goes to take Aguero, the ball man.

Second Group D match-day of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and Germany have just played their first match against Spain resulting in 0:1 win for Serbia- our first loss in a World Cup group stage since 1986. By "Spain," of course, I mean their representative on FIFA's roster of fools who are refereeing a tournament that is stunning in the amount of absurd calls being made by the one with the whistles.

he Chelsea Daily Drivel is a daily update of all the stories concerning our club, the rumours, the opinions and more....
So here is the latest from around the web on Monday 21st June 2010 including: Frank Lampard, John Terry and Nico Anelka.
After the whole John Terry outburst has taken up most of the headlines today (make sure you check out my take on what JT had to say ) Frank Lampard took to todays press conference and was asked about JT's conference yesterday.

In only the latest drama to come out of the France camp, team captain Patrice Evra was mysteriously absent from France's press conference today. Evra's unexplained absence has the press humming with speculation.

Continuing the trend of impossibly shambolic team relations, the most prominent rumour so far has been that Evra has had the captain's armband taken away from him, likely due to his training ground bust-up with the team's fitness trainer, Robert Duverne.

Argentina boss, Diego Maradona, commented on recent controversies with UEFA President, Michel Platini and his long-time nemesis, Pele'. Both had questioned Maradona's management credentials although apparently, Platini was misquoted. Maradona also provided intriguing insights on Luis Fabiano's controversial hand ball against Cote d'Ivoire and some thoughts about his team during during a press conference published by Buenos Aires newspaper, Clarin, ahead of Argentina's last group round match against Greece.

At Wimbledon on Tuesday, James Blake was eliminated by Robin Haase in straight sets. After the loss, Blake questioned his future in tennis and hinted at retirement. But that wasn't the story of the match.

ESPN tennis analyst Pam Shriver was talking so loud from her broadcast spot overlooking the court that the players could hear her.

By Oliver Sparrow, writing from London

Wayne Rooney's outburst at booing England fans at the end of the 0-0 draw with Algeria prompted a tidal wave of online debate. Lots of England fans felt the striker should be dropped after his post-match antics, but a rather lame apology on his behalf was released by the English FA and that seems to have calmed the situation somewhat.

Matthew Upson will be John Terry's partner, the fourth in as many weeks

Much of today's space was taken by John Terry's grovelling apology to Fabio Capello but the Chelsea central defender is sure to be in the thick of things today.

Terry is on multiple partners on the pitch, like he is off it.