Cristiano Ronaldo and the Top 20 'good-looking and rich' footballers PICTURE SPECIAL

They don't call it the beautiful game for nothing. Cristiano Ronaldo today explained away Dinamo Zagreb booing his every touch in the Champions League last night as jealousy because he is "good-looking, rich and a great footballer".

I respect Sir Alex Ferguson. He's a legend in this beautiful game. Fergie does, however, suffer from a rather irritable case of selective memory loss.

Example of a poor tackle

Ferguson went on the offensive yesterday afternoon with regard to his young, electric Mexican.

Scouting, statistics and rice: the rise and fall of Arsène Wenger - FT.com: I don't think any of the themes about Arsene Wenger that Simon Kuper covers in this article will surprise any of the readers of this blog. I'm mostly posting this link (free sign-up required) because one of the most (the most?

The Vancouver Whitecaps had the look of a team intent on winning their final game at Empire Field, their MLS home during their inaugural season in the league. The Seattle Sounders looked like a team doomed to be punished by a terrible start and an inspired opponent.

Unfortunately for the Whitecaps, they could only manage a single goal during their early-game domination, which allowed the Sounders to recover from their slow start to rattle off three goals and post a convincing 3-1 victory on Saturday night.

Paul Gardner writes about the trials and tribulations of Arsene Wenger.
Is it OK to feel sorry for Arsene Wenger? That 8-2 rout by ManU was a humiliation that he surely did not deserve, a sad, sad moment in the history of Arsenal, a cruel game that I found it almost agonizing to watch.

On the latest edition of the Major League Soccer Talk Podcast : This Week in US Soccer, your hosts (the Chris and Chris of American soccer) bring you a view of the beautiful game from an American and regional perspective. The crew starts off with an array of MLS and Yanks Abroad news, before analyzing Jurgen Klinnsman's second roster of callups for the USMNT.

On the latest edition of the Major League Soccer Talk Podcast : This Week in US Soccer, your hosts (the Chris and Chris of American soccer) bring you a view of the beautiful game from an American and regional perspective. ...

GI embarks upon an epic quest to broaden your football knowledge, sharing with you a fine array of surprising facts from the beautiful game . You'll be gasping with amazement, shaking your head in disbelief and pinching yourself in incredulity. Only in the world of football ... Continue reading →

Nicholas Otamendi might have gotten Argentina the win with the match's only goal. But it was Leo Messi all the way and by some distance. He whipped in the corner that led to the centre back's first goal for the Albiceleste. This was Alejandro Sabella's debut and he must have been glad the little maestro was at hand to pull the strings.

Super Fancy Passing Chart

You know why I love writing for SB Nation? Because of stuff like this from our friends at We Ain't Got No History. Graham basically constructed this fancy passing chart that shows where people were passing and how successful they were. I'd love to say we'll have something similar here, but I wouldn't hold your breath.

You're looking for THIS photo.We're not just connoisseurs of beer and fine American soccer here at the Free Beer Movement; we're artists too.
Over the years we've brought our camera to all corners of the globe and trained it on the beautiful game (and plenty of other things). Photography is a fun little hobby and a great window to the world around us.

Playing Away - Neville Gable's Photography Project On Goalposts From All Over The World

As part of the TateShots Collection, Neville Gable has been taking photos of perhaps the simplest, most universal ‘frame' to be found across the globe.

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

In this week's review section, success in Europe for the big teams as they march towards the European finals in Poland and the Ukraine in 2012, while Wales let England off the hook.

With a World Cup on the way and the 2016 summer Olympics on the horizon, Brazil is gearing up for a high-profile decade by hosting the planet's two largest sporting events. This brilliant decade in Brazilian sports will kick off with the 2014 World Cup estimated to bring millions of football fans into the country.

Fuck it all, doom merchants! (that's you by the way) Right. So that's me back from international duty time to catch up on all that's been happening while I've been away not paying too much attention to events concerning our beautiful game. Let's see. Our clubs are out of Europe (well, not quite. Ah [.

When we are not refreshing Net-a-porter or scoffing down Jaffa cakes (well, some of us scoff Jaffa cakes, some prefer Bourbons) we like to ponder life's big questions – what should Becks do about his bald patch? How did Joe Hart get his bum to look like that? WWJD with David Villa's soul patch?

And to think: people often accuse us of being superficial.

Zach is joined by Dave Clark, managing editor of Sounder at Heart and all around fan of the beautiful game. We discuss Klinsmann's first set of matches and look ahead to the next few months. We champion LIVEStrong Sporting Park to be "America's Wembley", defend Taylor Twellman's concussion campaign and try to figure out what the New York Red Bulls ownership are thinking.

The world of professional football isn't as carefree as it seems. Look past the fame, fortune and adoration and you'll discover that all is not rosy in the garden of the beautiful game. Game Intelligence opens our ears those whose ... Continue reading →

We are on the road tonight, so here is a vault piece from earlier in the season. This was part of our series that looked at the art of televising soccer.

The Major League Soccer 2011 season got started on Tuesday night with a nationally broadcast match carried by ESPN. Fans of all sports are frequently critical of the television presentation of sports events and soccer fans are no different.

Slowly, we're taking over the football world. Image: AP Photo.

With misbehaviour by fans in Europe plummeting to new depths of depravity, football associations are becoming increasingly innovative in their sanctions.

So congratulations to the Turkish Football Federation (TFF), whose latest punishment is in honour of the firecracker wielding, pitch invading supporters who've been troubling their fixtures as of late.

NFL warns teams about faking injuries NFL SI.com.

I'm always intrigued when I read about incidents that occur in sports other than soccer that crossover in relevance to the Beautiful Game. Last weekend, in the NFL, we had one of those incidents. It happened in the game between the New York Giants and the St Louis Rams when Giants safety Deon Grant fell to the ground claiming he was unable to continue because of cramp.

**UPDATE** Give me another day or so...

Just thought I would put up a teaser post that tomorrow (well since it is 1am, I could say today, but I haven't gone to bed yet) I will probably sit down and really put in my thoughts on soccer and life in general. It is amazing to me the stories of soccer that are spoken about the players that aren't in the spotlight, or without a contract with a club for that matter.

EXCLUSIVE: FIFA 12 review: The even more beautiful game

FIFA 12 (3+)PlayStation 3, Xbox 360RRP: £54.99Out: September 30Rating: 5/5 Perhaps recognising that recent FIFA installments often felt more like expansion packs than full games, EA Sports promised revolution not evolution with this season's update.

On the latest edition of the Major League Soccer Talk Podcast : This Week in US Soccer, your hosts Chris Webb and Chris Riordan bring you a view of the beautiful game from an American and regional perspective. As usual ...
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