The Albanian fans do not lack any sense of humour. They were looking to make fun of Portugal, who are in danger of missing out on the place in South Africa, and their ‘best' player Cristiano Ronaldo by lifting the banner which portrayed the pretty boy of Manchester United as Miss World for the year 2010.

Argentina coach Diego Maradona on Wednesday put Brazilian legend Pele in his place, insisting the latter was the second best player ever after himself. A FIFA internet poll in 2000 saw Maradona, who will lead the albiceleste against the five-times world champion Brazilians in a September 5 World Cup qualifier, come .

I decided to conduct a poll to see which US National Team player gained the most amount of notoriety from the US's success in the Confederations Cup. There are a number of players who already are sitting with decent contracts in Europe, like Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey and Carlos Bocanegra. These players are also known entities in Europe.

Simon Kuper and Stefan Syzmanski titled the American version of their new book Soccernomics (review is here), but their title for the release in the UK is Why England Lose. In the book, Kuper and Syzmanski identified the US as a rising power in soccer and England as a permanent disappointment to their rabid fans.

Lucas Leiva, the new Ronaldinho? The next Tom Brady?
22 year old Lucas Leiva will be handed the keys to the Ferrari that is Liverpool's central midfield this weekend against Tottenham Hotspur.
The Brazilian should start in the centre of midfield in front of Mascherano and just behind Gerrard after manager Rafa Benitez labelled the youngster the best player on the team in pre-season.

You can't really see too much in these pictures. And this really doesn't have much to do with football, but he is the best player in the Premier League after all - and he is one of the best fantasy footballers too - so here's the CCTV footage of the Gerrard incident.

[caption id="attachment_1273" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Disregarding FIFA, Messi is the best player on EARTH (and probably Mars too)"][/caption] Ok. I just thought I would write this so that may be, JUST MAY BE. Florentino Perez reads this and decideds to wait for Messi than to break the bank for Ronaldo (which seems .

FIFA.com Photo

We've complained about the lack of character and urgency from the US team when compared to their predecessors. Previous US teams rose to the occasion against perceived world powers Italy and Brazil. This team did not.

But when facing a less formidable team in Egypt, this US team stepped up.

Milan fans must face the stark reality of their upcoming 2009-10 campaign.Despite the infusion of five youngsters in the last 30 minutes of last evening Club America game the Rossoneri look old and tired and we are not even in August. Their is an abundance of age and wisdom but no pace.Both collectively or even from Bippo Inzaghi who still beats people in open space on what i call fear speed.

This weekend's headlines were stolen by Emmauel Adebayor even before a ball was kicked. Saturday morning, Adebayor finally lashed out at his former club Arsenal, moments before the Gunners kicked-off a challenging visit to the Eastlands.

Desperation creeping in as Serie A side tries hard to appease angry supporters!

Milan are planning to sign Arsenal star Cesc Fabregas, with Rossoneri club president Silvio Berlusconi having given the move the go-ahead.

According to Tuttosport, vice president Adriano Galliani has a pre-agreement in place with Berlusconi over the Spanish international, and Gunners coach Arsene Wenger has promised he will sell Fabregas to the Italian giants.

As I sit here in my castle, with my bad teeth and faggy tendencies (you can learn a lot on XBox Live about the way your nation is perceived by Americans – I've lost count of how many kids have owned me via the medium of rape), I take the time to reflect on yesterday's Confed Cup action; it's important to me that I do my research and discover which teams will possibly be more underwhelming than England at next year's World Cup.

Saturday night was last Miami FC game of season and Burrito saw how Miami lose against the Islanders. But the good thing was watching the Miami Ultras. They were loud and they had one hombre with a cowbell who was great! The pinches Ultras also give Burrito's compadre Zach "Beowulf" Kirby the players of the seasons award.

Rangers v Celtic Live Streaming & Match Preview
Watch Rangers vs Celtic Live Online - Click Here
Live Old Firm Streaming
Saturday 9th May 2009
Kick Off : 12:30 GMT
Venue : Ibrox

It's crunch time in the SPL, whoever wins this match will have their own fate in their own hands.

The United States and Mexico will have a rematch from the 2007 Gold Cup final on Sunday as both teams advanced past the semifinals with victories on Thursday. Live coverage of the match will begin about 30 minutes before the start of the match, or 14:30 EST (2:30 PM Eastern US Time).

Match Preview United States v Mexico Sunday 15:00 EST

The United States had a much easier semifinal as they defeated Honduras 2-0 while Mexico struggled by advancing on penalty kicks past Costa Rica.

The royal club from Madrid have probably regretted selling excellent Dutchman Arjen Robben. The new Bayern starter had a dream debut at Allianz Arena, where he got the chance in the second half against current champions Wolfsburg and made the best possible use of it.

„Flying Dutchman" inherited the jersey with number 10 on it from his compatriot and natural-born scorer, Roy Mackay.

.....and as we wait for the big game to kick off here's a collection of the best of the best so far - Best goal,Best player,Best scene,Best surprise,Best save and a few more,The actual trophy that they are playing for looks pretty neat.I like the blue band running across it.

More things to do while you wait for the kickoff: Read the story of the history and evolution of the tournament from what was initially called the Artemio Franchi Trophy to it's present form here.

Cristiano Ronaldo, 24, and Cesc Fabregas, 21, are emblematic of modern soccer. Barely on the backside of puberty, the two have become indispensable players on two of the biggest clubs in the world. They share boyish good looks and European-underwear-model hairdos. Despite their similarities, however, these two "wunderkinds" have evolved in very different ways.

El Pais has a fascinating article (It is in Spanish) about Barca's manager.

He is obsessive, intelligent, passionate, a legend in a legendary city.

His impeccable sartorial style comes from his companion, Cristina Serra, whose family runs a well known boutique. She has cultivated the couple's interest in photography, travel, and reading.

I gave myself the better part of two days before committing this Galaxy-FCD postmortem to the foreverness of the internets because I wanted to get past the bitter taste of frustration lingering in my mouth after Saturday's excursion to Frisco. I wanted to see if that would change what I had to say.

With West Brom, Newcastle and Middlesbrough being confirmed as the 3 teams to be relegated from the Premier League this season there is going to be a few players jumping ship. Who do you think will get signed up? Here is our list of chosen players...

1. Tuncay (Middlesbrough). Boro's best player by a country mile.

Alex McLeish and Birmingham celebrated their return to the Premier League by breaking the club's transfer fee record. The recipient of this fee is a Mexican Primera Division club, Santos Laguna. The player, Ecuadorian international striker Christian Benitez. The fee, £9million surpassing the previous £6.

The Spanish Primera Division or La Liga begins it 2009-10 Season on Saturday August 29th with Real Madrid and FC Barcelona the clear favorites. Will Real Madrid's spending spree that brought in Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Xabi Alonso, and Benzema be able to challenge FC Barcelona for the La Liga title?

So FourFourTwo have released their list for the top 100 players in the world today. We all know who the top two will be but in which order? And how many spanish players will make the top 20 following their Euro 2008 triumph and 100% World Cup qualification record?

I cant be bothered to put the full list on here because personally I couldn't give a toss if Darijno Srna is the 66th best player in the world.

Carloz Tevez

What is the difference between Carlos Tevez and Dirk Kuyt? The only answer I can see is public ridicule. It certainly isn't talent or ability. While Liverpool's Dutchman is widely ridiculed for being nothing more than a willing worker who lacks any sort of co-ordination or natural ability, Tevez is lauded as a world class talent who should be starting every game for United.

Manchester United may have hit the headlines for all the right reasons today, and Cristiano Ronaldo's freekick certainly impressed the United faithful. What was far less impressive was the manner in which Cristiano Ronaldo left the sacred Old Trafford pitch in the 60th minute.

With the game all wrapped up and a midweek fixture against Wigan forthcoming, Sir Alex Ferguson elected to rest his most prized asset.

Yeah I'm jealous of the Caps, and it's not just because they're actually winning playoff games. The Caps are the biggest story in town these days, and rightfully so. Every casual sports fan in the DC area that I know has started following the Caps. And that's awesome. I'm one of them. I grew up watching the Caps, going to a couple games a year, but haven't paid attention to them for the last decade or so, until the second half of this season.

DC United will be without Luciano Emilio when it takes on the Chicago Fire Saturday. The Brazilian striker will miss the game after receiving a red card in the team's 2-0 victory over New York last Thursday.
No problem, writes Steve Long. DCU's roster is deep and well-equipped to handle even the absence of its best player.

Real Madrid have already had a busy offseason with the acquisition of two superstars, Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo. Madrid had a disappointing season in which they could never catch Barcelona in La Liga and were dominated by Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League. The team has large profits each season and if one team was going to spend money in the transfer market, it would be Real Madrid.

By Guest Writer Thomas Rooney Spanish football giants Real Madrid are winning the bragging rights over Manchester United right now. First of all, they secured the signature of United's best player Cristiano Ronaldo and now it's emerged they pipped them...

Amateur pitchside semaphore f Veteran West Brom goalie Dean Kiely was not only the best player on the park against Wigan on Saturday, he also proved that even in the midst of a relegation dogfight you can still play with a smile on your face. Kiely was first on the scene when the referee's assistant went [.

All we've been reading about these past few weeks is Messi this, Ronaldo that. The seemingly never ending debate on which player is the best has granted, been a whole load of fun, yet for me it's also been tiresome in equal measure.

There can be no doubt that Lionel Messi won his individual battle with Cristiano Ronaldo in Rome but does that really make him the world's greatest footballer?

Denilson's performances in the centre of midfield have largely gone unnoticed with the stats showing the Brazilian as the Gunners' top performer.
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At 16th place, he's Arsenal's best player this season according to the Actim Index stats which ranks players according their contribution to the team's success.

If there is one team that is secretly thriving in a summer of high-profile transfers, it is Birmingham City. As mentioned by my fellow Premiership Talk writer, Brian Lofrumento, the newly promoted outfit is reportedly pursuing former Arsenal captain Patrick Viera, which is in addition to a handful of other acquisitions made recently.

Get it? See what I did there? I did a play on words, using Sandro Grande's name. The influencial midfielder was released today by the Montreal Impact for his role in an altercation with player-coach Mauro Biello. Grande was already suspended by the club for breaking another team rule earlier in the season, and according to Joey Saputo, choking a teammate is unacceptable (no shit).

Why replace a inspirational visionary midfielder with a distinctly average injury prone Italian?

Surely we would not sell our most influential, consistent and best(?) player of last season and replace him with an injury prone Italian that at best is a good player, no, not brilliant, world class or amazing he is a better player of an average Roma team and his injury record is awful, to top it all off he is isn't even into full pre-season training as he has just come back from holiday (sorry didn't mean that) no you guessed it an injury!

Manchester United and FC Barcelona meet Wednesday night in what many are calling a "dream" UEFA Champions League Final. Live coverage will start 30 minutes before the start of the match or 19:15 GMT

Match Preview

At the center of the match will be a match-up of the top two superstars in the world, Man U's Cristiano Ronaldo, and Barca's Lionel Messi.

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim have signed Brazilian midfielder Maicosuel for a fee of €5.4 million. The 22 year old attacking midfielder was on loan at Botafago, and was the best player in the Rio de Janeiro State Championship. Maicosuel is Hoffenhiem's second summer signing after Karlsruhe's Christian Eichner.

After two matches during the week, it's time to take a look at what the weekend has in store for us. Lot's of action to tell you about, and more importantly, the hope of less draws. I don't know why I feel disheartened about the league because of so many draws it is the mark of a tightly contested, competitive organization, with important results.

Everyone's favorite Israeli footballer may just be on the move again. This time, though - he could end up in Barcelona.
In EPL summer transfer news that is just a tiny pimple on the shiny back of Cristiano Ronaldo's departure to Real Madrid, reports suggest that the world's best team, Barcelona, have approached Liverpool regarding the availability of midfielder Yossi Benayoun, Israel's best player.