Even this early on into the current EPL season viewers have witnessed nearly every team have at least one or two surprise if not shock results. Often these so called ‘blips' have been accompanied by a dip in form, or at the very least results that have meant the table from top to bottom is as intriguing and open as perhaps it has ever been before.

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by FRANCO PANIZO

Cristiano Ronaldo is arguably the best player in the world,� but his spot in next year's World Cup will be determined when Portugal and Bosnia square off in a two-legged playoff later this month. There is only one problem for Ronaldo:� He may not have a say in if Portugal qualifies.

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At least Barca drew with Rubin Kazan this time, but in no way did they impress.� Something about Champion's League play has the boys from the shore playing snake-bitten...and I think I know what it is.

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Take a look at the crew from Barcelona and answer me one question.� Even though they are the reigning European Champions (and have a huge bullseye on their backs)� do you think they kind of expect to be in the Final 16?

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Despite the plethora of Champions League games available to me this week I flicked my sports channel over to the game in Milan to see whether the Milanistas could re-create their spectacular victory in the Bernabeu two weeks ago. And, despite their failure to upset the football betting odds and re-enact their Madrid heroics following 90 scrappy but passionate minutes, there were still signs that they have turned the corner.

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So we're halfway through the season now and I think the teams that will challenge for the title, Brisbane Roar, Sydney FC and the Central Coast Mariners, have separated themselves from the pack.
I still think that Brisbane are the team to beat (can anyone say depth? they have it in spades), but there are also a few variables that I think may just come into it. Click to continue reading...

You may have heard of the new Castrol Rankings of world players. Players are ranked on their performance during the previous 12 months.
Thierry Henry is ranked as the best player in the world. This shows a faulty method of study. The 30 something Henry is not the best in the world anymore. Click to continue reading...

According to ESPN Soccernet, the agent of Inter Milan defender Maicon admitted that there is no link between his client and Manchester City. Antonio Caliendo said,

""Every day there's a story linking Maicon to a different club .

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Debreceni vs Fiorentina

A win against Debreceni would bring the Viola to the brink of the knockout stages of the Champions League.

Fiorentina are hoping to have Mutu and Jovetic for the match. Mutu is trying to recover from a knee injury while Jovetic is suffering from a problematic toe.

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Having been linked with Manchester United and Real Madrid earlier this year, Inter Milan's right back Maicon has now found himself linked with none other than Manchester City. His agent, Antonio Caliendo, has quashed these rumors, suggesting that City is too small of a club for Maicon.

"Every day there's a story linking Maicon to a different club," said Caliendo.

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There has been a steady stream of rumors about Maicon potentially leaving Inter since last summer, though nothing has come of them and it seems nothing will. Says Maicon's agent, Antonio Caliendo:

"Every day there's a story linking Maicon to a different club. First it was Real Madrid, then Manchester United and now City.

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Reports over the weekend linked former Boro favourite and now Peterborough forward� George Boyd with a £6m move to Tottenham. Boyd has been arguably the Posh's best player in their first season in the Championship so far and his recent form is thought to have alerted Premier League clubs to making an offer.

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A few years ago Toni Kroos was hailed as the next big thing in German football. He won the best player award at the 2007 U17 World Cup, joined Bayern Munich and was promised the #10 jersey. Far from claiming the shirt he instead commuted between Bayern's bench and the reserves. Meanwhile other next big things popped up, won youth tournaments, first team starting spots and call ups to the German national team.

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Once again, Barcelona is exhibiting an intense lack of "hand" when they gave away a draw to Osasuna. � I think the picture says it all...

Now that you've a minute to look it over I'll get to the real problem here. � It's not that Osasuna drew Barca. � Technically, any team can beat or draw anybody on any given day (regardless of how bad they are.

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Count the years off one by one. Every single year in this decade we have played Spurs home and away in the League. And out of twenty matches we haven't lost a single one. Not a single one.
Even if we had lost one, we could still reflect on the annual difference between the teams shown by the League table. Click to continue reading...

With Almunia frozen out, and Mannone beginning to show understandable signs of being a little out of his depth in the first team at this early stage of his career, the stage seemed set for Fabianski to return to the fray against Spurs this afternoon, especially after a decent showing against Liverpool in midweek.

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---- -----------------"Can I get back to you in five years?"
One thing has become crystal clear over the last few days of post-season naval gazing at BMO Field. It doesn't matter, who the head coach is, it doesn't matter how the star player feels, it doesn't matter what the supporters want - Mo Johnston (Yes, the Scottish Hall of Famer! Click to continue reading...

Since 1958 Pelé had become known as the best player in the world, and there were great expectations to the Brazilian national team as the World Cup returned to South America, to Chile specifically.It was sadly one of the most vile tournaments in terms of fair play and bad refereeing, with some matches that will only go over to history for their violence, notably Yugoslavia-USSR and Chile-Italy. Click to continue reading...

At some point, i actually believed that he was destined to become Brazil's next biggest star after Pele. However, it seems like things are not working out for Robinho.

Since moving to Europe in 2005, Robinho has had both good and bad times. I remember his debut for Real Madrid like it was yesterday.

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Nothing wrong with this picture whatsoever. It's a novel idea compile a ranking which will help determine the world's best player. Castrol did it for the Confederations Cup and now they're unleashing for all of world football. Well, by "world football" they mean "Europe's top 5 leagues" Spain, England, Italy, Germany and France. Click to continue reading...

This Saturday and Sunday Barca, Real Madrid, and Valencia all have matches against undermatched opponents.� The thing is:� I'm not expecting blowouts.� No, I'm thinking we have some real issues on our hands.�

Barca gets Osasuna, Real Madrid gets Getafe, and Valencia gets Malaga.� I know these seem like easy wins but I'm not sure of anything anymore.

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A new website for Man United fans has just launched. This website has a unique idea of voting for your best player and it is called Greatest Manchester United Football Players. The website has a...
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Being a Manchester United fan and choosing the best player who played at Old Trafford is not easy. This is so because we tend to remember only those players who have played during our era. Though we do remember some of the Red Devil legends but they are very few and can be counted on fingers. We can easily associate people like George Best, Sir Bobby Charlton or Eric Cantona with the red shirt Click to continue reading...

Real Madrid coach Manuel Pellegrini was left "very embarrassed" after seeing the most expensive team in world football lose 4-0 to a third tier village side Alcorcon in the Spanish King's Cup. Real fielded a strong team but were 3-0 down to the Segunda Division B club by half-time in the round of 32 first leg.

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Paul Yonga will cap off his high school soccer career this Thursday evening by playing in yet another state tournament. The Totino-Grace midfielder has been recognized for his club play in the summer by being offered numerous scholarships to division I schools and has been part of the Adidas ODP Elite Soccer Program.

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Paul Yonga will cap off his high school soccer career this Wednesday evening by playing in yet another state tournament. The Totino-Grace midfielder has been recognized for his club play in the summer by being offered numerous scholarships to Division I schools and has been part of the adidas ODP Elite Soccer Program.

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The dudes who run La Liga, otherwise known as the LFP (La Liga de Futbol Profesional) just dished out all the player awards for last season, and naturally, it was all about Barca, with seven spots out of nine going to our boys: .Best Player: Lionel Messi
Best Coach: Pep Guardiola
Best Defender: Daniel Alves
Best Midfielder: Xavi
Best Attacking Midfielder: Andres Iniesta
Best Striker: Lionel Messi
Best Breakthrough Player: Sergi Busquets
Meanwhile Iker Casillas of Real Madrid came off with Best Keeper, and the Fair Play award went to Deportivo's Juan Carlos Valeron. Click to continue reading...

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by FRANCO PANIZO

If Manchester City attacker Robinho's hidden desire is to play for Barcelona then� he is not doing a good job at keeping it a secret.

On Monday, Robinho told a Brazilian radio station he is happy with the interest Barcelona� has in him, and� that he thinks it is much easier to become the world's best player� with� them� than� with Manchester City.

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by FRANCO PANIZO

If Manchester City attacker Robinho's hidden desire is to play for Barcelona then� he is not doing a good job at keeping it a secret.

On Monday, Robinho told a Brazilian radio station he is happy with the interest Barcelona� has in him, and� that he thinks it is much easier to become the world's best player� with� them� than� with Manchester City.

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The sidelined Brazilian has been speaking again to radio in his home country:

"I'm very happy about the interest that Barcelona have in me, playing in the Nou Camp it is much easier to be the best player in the world than at City."
"I'm not forcing a hypothetical exit from England and neither do I have problems with my coach.

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In all honesty, Liverpool deserved their victory. And whether you decide to blame the referee is your choice, but at the end of the day the team who had far more chances and looked better when they had possession deserved to win.

The harsh reality was that United failed to create much and were lacking any real cutting edge.

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It was a great weekend in the Premier League for Chelsea. Not only did the Blues finally hit top gear to crush Blackburn 5-0, Liverpool took three points off Manchester United while Man City and Arsenal both dropped points having surrendered two goal leads.
Chelsea now sit two points clear at the top of the table with the joint best goal difference and, whilst more difficult games are on the horizon (not least Man Utd next month), things are looking bright.

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It was a great weekend in the Premier League for Chelsea. Not only did the Blues finally hit top gear to crush Blackburn 5-0, Liverpool took three points off Manchester United while Man City and Arsenal both dropped points having surrendered two goal leads.
Chelsea now sit two points clear at the top of the table with the joint best goal difference and, whilst more difficult games are on the horizon (not least Man Utd next month), things are looking bright.

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By now, it must be obvious.

The best player in the Premiership on this day was Yossi Benayoun. No words can describe the moment of genius that possessed him to split the Man Utd defense, in so comprehensive a fashion as that pass that isolated Fernando Torres, a move which had Rio Ferdinand grab him futilely.

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With just over half an hour played Jamie Carragher fouled Michael Carrick in the penalty area. He got a foot to the ball but didn't put it out of Carrick's path, yet he did bring our midfielder down. If it had happened outside of the box it would have been an obvious freekick and a yellow card. For it to happen inside of the box it should have been a penalty and at least a yellow card, yet the referee gave nothing.

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Sir Alex Ferguson believes his Manchester United side did not get a fair crack of the whip from referee Andre Marriner at Anfield.
Nemanja Vidic was sent off for two yellow cards and Ferguson questioned a number of the official's decisions as they slumped to their first defeat in 12 games in all competitions as Liverpool triumphed 2-0. Click to continue reading...