SEATTLE -- The teams arrived in Seattle last night, all staying near the teeming town center, presumably to be close Pike Place Market in case they get the urge to throw some fish.

From a competition standpoint, I find it interesting that the teams didn't arrive a little earlier. On the one hand, I do get it: they want proper training during the week, and that's more manageable in nicer conditions.

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Thank God, it's over! This was truly the interlull from hell. Not only was our best current player injured for almost two months, but our best former player has been branded "a cheat" and "a liar." I have refrained from covering and incessantly commenting on this whole affair because I am just absolutely sick to death of the British media.

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Redknapp sets sights on high profile wing wizard.

Spurs and Portsmouth both want to sign Marseille's Hatem Ben Arfa who has fallen out with Didier Deschamps and his shiny black leather jacket. Ben Arfa has accused Deschamps of "breaking his balls". Deschamps says he didn't break his balls, they were already broken and actually he was only trying to fix them and he may have slightly chipped one while he was doing it but it's not his fault if his balls are actually quite badly made and frankly quite cheap in the first place.

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Ya quedaron definidos los resultados de la Tabla General del grupo Digifut de la Liga Fantástica de Mediotiempo.

Equipo

Usuario

Puntos

1

Kezinho Eduardo Padrón

1332

2

Borrachos Y Lokos Luis David Aragón

1266

3

The Webers Heber Siller

1300

4

FC Real United City Pedro Martínez

1298

5

Gelolos Ángel Pola

1294

6

Los Pebusos Ángel Ricardo

1280

7

Pipi Balls United F. Click to continue reading...

The Fire couldn't have asked for much more from last Saturday's 2-0 win over New England.

Advance in the Eastern Conference playoffs? Check.

Do it against a bitter rival? Check.

And do it all in style? Oh my, yes. Check.

That's what can happen when the Fire plays some of its most inspired soccer at the best time of year before a packed house at Toyota Park.

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I probably filled my quota of Major League references with the one about Jobu a few weeks ago. I apologize to international readers and those who aren't connoisseurs of marvelously cheesy sports movies, but this is too apt. Plus, it's Major League 2.
Just like weak-hitting, voodoo apostate Pedro Cerrano, right now, Liverpool has no marbles. Click to continue reading...

I think these are our most covered topics. We've discussed it here, here, and here, and provided material for Patrick Barclay. If you read those articles (which I don't suspect for a second you will) you'll see our position is abundantly clear. There were two incidents this weekend that fulled the debate one in the United/Chelsea game, and one in the Liverpool/Birmingham game.

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Great game last night!� Beckham was playing some 1st class balls at the end there.

JM

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I said in my preview post posted earlier today that it was a big game and a chance for us to establish a 5-point gap at the top of the table, and after a scrappy, hard fought and closer than expected game, we managed it through a great Barcelona at home header from JT.
Chelsea lined up as expected with Ivanovic at right back, JT, Carvalho and Ashley Cole at the back, Cech in goal of course. Click to continue reading...

Geylang upset Bangkok Glass to ensure the Cup remains in Singapore.
So what if Bangkok Glass were the dominating side in terms of attacking and having most of the possession throughout the game?
So what if Geylang were the side being under siege and not getting enough balls behind the Thais' defence? Click to continue reading...

Some common themes developing in the post-match interview - concentration and the lack of ability to close games out in particular:

"First half we never really imposed ourselves as I know we can and conceded two poor goals. But then we picked ourselves up and showed some of the qualities I expected from the start.

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Bringing the beautiful game to music video games Rock band Kasabian have called upon a group of freestyle footballers to help produce this nifty viral promoting their new single. The freestylers set to work producing a giant football version of Guitar Hero to incorporate their balls skills.

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So yet another installment of the fiery North London derby has passed. Tottenham, missing Jermaine Defoe through a suspension and Aaron Lennon through injury, looked a shadow of the side which threatened to take over one of the top 4 spots earlier in the season. Arsenal, on the other hand, were magnificent.

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Tomorrow sees us come up against our rivals, Arsenal, in their own backyard. Let's not beat around the bush with this one either; this is our biggest match to-date this season.
I don't think Robbie Keane has made the situation easier. Saying that we've got a better squad than them makes Wenger's job a whole lot simpler. Click to continue reading...

Harry Redknapp demands to see his player's numerous testicles Spurs manager Harry Redknapp has revealed that David Bentley has several balls and is now urging his player to flash them around the Emirates Stadium tomorrow. In his column in The Sun, Redknapp dictated: "There's no doubt Bentley has balls - plenty of 'em - and his performance [. Click to continue reading...

Back on the old UEFA coaching site.� Watching Roy talk about 3-5-2 and the limitations of three centre-backs, he starts talking about why three centre backs sometimes don't want to leave the middle of the field.� � � He notes that these players are good headers of the ball, good tacklers, etc, but they are often reluctant to get out on the flanks where they have to face.

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Shall we just give up now? Fuck the title race, fuck the cups and fuck Arsenal. Lets just give up because we drew with fucking West Ham. Excuse the fucking French.
I had a look round some of the Arsenal sites today and I wished I hadn't of bothered. It depressed me. Some of the comments I've seen made me shake my head with despair. Click to continue reading...

Right then, where do I start? I was at the game and those following my tweets could see that bent frustration I and all those around me felt.
I thought the long walk back to the car after seeing us lose was bad enough; how mistaken I was. We had to endure Harry telling us that he was a bit miffed with Aaron Lennon because he came off without telling anyone. Click to continue reading...

"It is a ball boys' world and we are all just living in it." Bob Kellett Just like a good referee, good ball boys work in the background. They are invisibly pulling the strings. They control the supply of new balls like the OPEC controls the oil independent from demand. It's only in desperate [.. Click to continue reading...

A theme running through some of the message boards post game - and something I alluded to in my post game thoughts - has been the concern at our defensive performance of late, specifically the manner in which we are conceding and this was something Mark Hughes focused in his post-match interview, and something that wasn't expected given the investment made in that area:

"At set pieces we need to do better in terms of positioning and personnel.

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Ok, to be honest, I was expecting a loss for AEK here. Aris were considered favorites for this game and I think that's somewhat justified. Bearing that in mind, I'll take a draw here. Its never easy to win away against Aris, even on a good day.

I wasn't able to watch the match since it was satellite.

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There's a interview with Gareth Barry in today's Observer by Paul Hayward ahead of the Fulham game, in which he discusses - amongst other things - his summer move. Hayward is clearly a fan, and there is an interesting paragraph that details a recent observation of Barry:

In a recent City home game I began listing the variety of Barry's passes and charting his influence on team-mates in an expensive, attack-minded side.

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Link:

A shambolic display with inept defending. Crosses, corners, and long balls and and out of position Tim Howard in each situation. To be fair to him, the defense gave no help. It was so bad that fans started exiting the stadium after the fourth goal in the 51st minute. Moyes looked like he has swallowed a toad.

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45 minutes in and we're leading this one 1-0! Blanco scored a penalty (certainly the correct call) to put us up and we now are in a great position and the win is definately possible.

Conditions are terrible in Minsk. It is extremely cold (near zero degrees celcius) and the pitch is extremely wet.

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It's been a while since I bored you with numbers, so:

These are the numbers for the season to-date.� � What stands out?

Involvement: This is passes per minute on the pitch.� It doesn't mean anything but it's a fair proxy for how much someone's doing while they're out there.

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See below for match highlights followed by Arsene Wenger's post-match interview.

Tuesday's match with AZ Alkmaar was full of deja vu on so many levels. Arsenal created a similar amount of chances to most of their other matches this season. Also, our inability to take our chances and kill the game off with the second goal was reminiscent of last season.

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Last night was a lesson, a great one, and, luckily, it was one which didn't cost us anything. There were some serious freak results in the Champions League last night, and while we all know we should have won, when you see Barca getting beaten at home by Rubix Cube, Liverpool losing at home to Lyon after leading, and Rangers getting thrashed by Uzi or whatever they're called, a draw away at the home of the Dutch Champions doesn't seem too bad.

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As anticipation for FIFA World Cup 2010 grows, official FIFA World Cup ball provider adidas has recreated every official FIFA World Cup ball since 1970 to celebrate the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The ball collection has been launched in a special package that contains all 10 of the legendary match balls from the 1970-2006 FIFA World [. Click to continue reading...

Adidas is bringing back all balls used on World Cups since 1970. The commemorative set includes 10 balls and goes for $849.99. Each ball comes with its own ring stand commemorating the year in which it was used. Such a neat idea!

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But at least it's good business for the club shop, eh?

Obviously the inflatable entertainment will be a talking point for years to come, but it's hard to say that Liverpool deserved much more than they got. In fact, I completely agree with Steve Bruce's assessment:

"I thought we deserved it, I hope that's not just going to be the headline.

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This is one of the most hilarious goals of recent times, unless you're a Liverpool fan.
And, of course, by any standards of common sense it shouldn't have been a goal at all. (I just tested this on my wife, incidentally, who is conversant with the rules of the game and considered the awarding of the goal an outrage. Click to continue reading...

I expected the Bolton match to be hard-fought, gritty, and all you could associate with a fixture played on the back of an international break. As the match started playing out, a little bit of revisionism struck and I actually felt we would walk it. But somehow, we contrived to make it harder for ourselves towards the end, and it ended as nervously as I first thought it would.

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It is probably the most famous wasp in the world, the wasp that almost cost Fabio Cannavaro his career. The Italian defender was stung last week and later treated by Juve medics however following this Cannavaro failed a drugs test.

Over the last few days Cannavaro has been cleared of any wrong doing and he has revealed more information about that sting and where it was.

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While Arsenal skipper Cesc Fabregas has� clearly� enjoyed his Spain side cruise to the World Cup 2010 finals with a perfect record (and no goals conceded at home), he has spoken to Arsenal.com to offer some backing to a couple of his teammates who won't be appearing in the showpiece event next summer.

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Good Morning all of you, wherever on God's green earth you might be.

The damned internationals have finally come to an end, which means some real football is right around the corner. I hope all the players have manage to avoid getting crocked up as beginning Saturday, we'd see a busy month ahead in terms of football as we've got 5 games in 3 different competitions and lets not forget the all important North London Derby, so we'd need all of our first team to be fit for action.

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