Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix pay football. Hat tip to Adam Spangler via Bruce McGuire.

Here's a guest post from Shaz Rahman, who wonders how England might set up now they've got a squad.

Now that we know the 23 man squad for Euro 2012 we can start speculating how England will lineup against France in the first group game.

Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix pay football. Hat tip to Adam Spangler via Bruce McGuire.

Here's a guest post from Shaz Rahman, who wonders how England might set up now they've got a squad.

Now that we know the 23 man squad for Euro 2012 we can start speculating how England will lineup against France in the first group game.

Does this promise to be a great week for football or what? In the middle of the week, we have the first leg of the Champions League semifinals, with top-ranked Real Madrid taking on third-ranked Bayern Munich on Tuesday and Chelsea hosting Barcelona on Wednesday. Also on Wednesday is the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League final between Mexican clubs Santos Laguna and Monterrey.

It's that time of the year. We've reached the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League and it's time to award Super Bonus Points to clubs that made it this far. Super Bonus Points are the largest rankings modification that we make and the results will be obvious below, especially when you see a club that is in fifth place in its domestic league sitting at sixth place in the overall rankings.

We're halfway through the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League at this point. In four matches, the home clubs managed to score a grand total of zero, count them, zero goals. Of the six away goals that were scored, Real Madrid scored three of them. The home clubs will all face a big advantage this week.

Welcome to the UEFA Champions League quarterfinal edition of the rankings. This is the list that our predictions will be based on tomorrow. We've had some interesting movement in the past week. The big mover was Sporting Braga, who moved into the Top Ten for the first time all season after taking advantage of draws by Porto and Benfica to jump into first place in Portugal's Liga Sagres.

For weeks, we've been promising you a revamp of the rankings. Now that the eighth-finals of the UEFA Champions League have been completed and those numbers have been factored into the calculations, those changes are here. The changes are noticeable all over the rankings, from near the top to the bottom.

I came close to not even bothering to do the rankings this week. If you read them, you will find that they are a bit convoluted, but there is a reason for that. Champions League data for the first knockout round isn't entered until after the round is complete. For that reason, you won't see a bump in the rankings for clubs like Barcelona and APOEL in the rankings until next week's rankings.

Filthy lucre: The ruble, the new green

Fabio Capello is reportedly in Moscow after his skiing holiday in Switzerland. The big drop is he's meeting with Anzhi Makhachkala officials who are looking for a replacement for their coach Yuri Krasnozhan.

The Russian coach is an acolyte of Alan Soziyev, the former director general of the club, who departed the club after his contract was terminated by mutual agreement.

West Brom's Peter Odemwingie was last season's Fantasy Premier League surprise star. 15 goals scored. 9 assists. 28 bonus points. Super. But the Nigerian has only scored 4 goals this season and had one of the 'misses of the year' ... Continue reading →

File this one under the category: most likely to attract choice commentary from Seattle Sounders supporters.

As the Sounders-less MLS First Kick fast approaches, we here at Stumptown Footy are spooling up the statistical analysis drives in preparation for the 2012 campaign. Lacking much in the way of hard data so far, with just one preseason match under our belt, we've decided to start with the schedule.

It's January, and in the footballing world January means only one thing. The winter transfer window, where player names are bandied about as potential new players and the ones we love to hate are bound and gagged in hopes that someone will take them off our hands.

For the next twenty one days, rumors will abound.

Welcome to the fifty-second annual WCR Top 25 rankings. For years, we have been describing how this list is compiled. In brief, the rankings are based on (a) the domestic results for each club's most recent completed season (either 2011 or 2010-11) and (b) performances in the continental championship tournaments through the use of bonus points.

We've been promising you changes for weeks and now that the group stage of the UEFA Champions League is over, the changes are here. The first set of changes is based on adjusted league rankings based upon results in the last round. These changes have little affect on the clubs in the top five leagues (EPL, Primera División, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue Un), none of which distinguished themselves too much from the others in the past round, with each having two clubs advance, with the exception of Italy's Serie A, which has three.

This marvellous poster was given away free with Soccer Monthly some time during the mid to late 70s. It contains information on 158 teams throughout the British Isles, from Torquay United to Sligo Rovers. Click to enlarge.

There are some terrific kits in there. Bonus points to Orient and Wales for their lovely Admiral numbers and to Cardiff City, Carlisle United and Torquay United.

Competition time One lucky OTP reader will win a pair of tickets to the Manchester City v Bayern Munich match at Eastlands on 7 December. We're still talking about events from last time the two teams met, so it promises to be a great match. We've teamed up with Heineken StarPlayer to offer this fantastic [.

One of the benefits of being a Philadelphia Union season ticket holder, aside from the nifty card I proudly carry in my wallet and access pre-sales and to special events as well as discounts on everything from the price of tickets, parking and team merchandise, is the Loyalty Point Program. What's that, you ask?

English Premier League has given us eight weeks of soccer action so far, and now it's time to predict what will this new batch of fixtures bring to the football table.
Last gameweek in Fantasy Premier League saw new names arise on top of the weekly point table as the usual suspects didn't deliver.

Here is Liverpool's stud Luis Suarez not happy with the sprinkler system at Everton or his teammate Charlie Adam. Suarez has already scored 4 goals this season and picked up 8 bonus points in Liverpool's first 7 matches a ... Continue reading →

@Pain_Machine's giving away two pairs of tickets to the Open Cup Final (10/4 7pm), and there are two ways to win. Read on for details...

Contest the First: Sparkles, The Man, The Legend

The first pair of tickets will be awarded to whomever tweets the best example of how Jeff "Sparkles" Parke is intensitive.

On the heels of Tuesday's frustrating loss, we figured it might be a good idea to lighten the mood. And just in time, the Sounders have released another round of "Date With A Sounder" videos. In this batch, we have Mauro Rosales, Erik Friberg, Lamar Neagle, Servando Carrasco, Taylor Graham and Mike Seamon.

With a game against CS Herediano that can nearly lock-up entry into the knockout round of the CONCACAF Champions League on Tuesday and a Saturday game against the Vancouver Whitecaps that can assure the MLS Cup Playoffs things were generally upbeat at Starfire for the Seattle Sounders. There are still individual players who are carrying injuries and others recovering from injuries/fitness that will change how Sigi Schmid manages his gameday lineups.

Hey y'all I think we may have a new heir to the MLS hip-hop throne. Hell, he may even be the new king really because it's not like anyone has fully claimed it for themselves. Steve Zakuani and Michael Lahoud & his boys at Chivas USA are trying to lay it down but neither have thrown down any that's unimpeachable.

Not exactly the prettiest performance from just about any angle, but Wednesday's CONCACAF Champions League group stage win over Herediano was exactly the kind of game the Seattle Sounders couldn't win last year. In fact, this game unfolded very much like the loss at Marathon a year ago, but with dramatically different results.

A quick note on the EA Sports Index the Fantasy Premier League's new statistics engine that is responsible for doling out the always controversial 'bonus points' this season. We're nearly complete with our Gameweek 1 matches (Manchester City and ... Continue reading →

This weekend kicks off what is sure to be a thrilling season in France. After Lyon's selfish display of seven consecutive league titles from 2001-8, the past three champions have been different and a fourth this season would be no surprise. Luckily, League 1 has always boasted an exceptional array of club names.

In two days, the Philadelphia Union return to regular season action. Their opponent: The fifth place Colorado Rapids. Or is that the Colorado Rapids, even with the Union on 31 points. Oh needlessly divided MLS standings, how you make confusion out of nothing!

Whatever you call them, the Rapids are a lot to handle.

It's the Christine Sinclair show within Canadian sports media circles today. The star Canadian forward, who scored her country's only goal in their 2-1 loss to Germany in the Women's World Cup, made it easy for Canadian journalists in search of a story this morning (including yours truly, although I'm not a journalist).

As we finish up this past weekend, we also have finished up the season for most of the clubs playing in Europe. As has been the case in the past few weeks, more championships have been decided, e.g., Lille taking home the French Ligue Un title and Porto winning the Taça da Portugal. Much more was decided this past weekend with respect to clubs that are destined for relegation, but we don't publish a Bottom 25 Clubs of the Week, so you can find discussions of those on other sites.

As we finish up this past weekend, we also have finished up the season for most of the clubs playing in Europe. As has been the case in the past few weeks, more championships have been decided, e.g., Lille taking home the French Ligue Un title and Porto winning the Taça da Portugal. Much more was decided this past weekend with respect to clubs that are destined for relegation, but we don't publish a Bottom 25 Clubs of the Week, so you can find discussions of those on other sites.

Turn your clocks back around the early 2000's and you'll find Major League Soccer on the verge of extinction. Teams folding, weak crowds and a marketing campaign that was clearly in disarray. Even on the backs of the United State's impressive 2002 World Cup run, MLS was a bit lost. Recently though, MLS has gone through a resurrection.

My MLS rankings. I put way too much thought into these.
1. Real Salt Lake - An uninspiring draw for sure, but not damaging enough to knock them from the top perch.
2. LA Galaxy - You know things are going well when Juan Pablo Angel scores.
3. New York - Three of last four goals allowed have come on set pieces.

As we close in to the end of the season, championships galore abound. In Europe, not to surprise of anyone, Manchester United and Barcelona qualified for the finals of the UEFA Champions League. In South America, meanwhile, Brazil suffered a Bloody Wednesday that saw four of its five remaining clubs in the Copa Libertadores kicked out of the Copa Libertadores.

As we close in to the end of the season, championships galore abound. In Europe, not to surprise of anyone, Manchester United and Barcelona qualified for the finals of the UEFA Champions League. In South America, meanwhile, Brazil suffered a Bloody Wednesday that saw four of its five remaining clubs in the Copa Libertadores kicked out of the Copa Libertadores.

If you compare this week's rankings to last week's rankings (and you don't really have to since I sort of do that myself below), you'll see that things are kind of stagnant at the moment. That's typical for this time of the season, though things should start moving around again once Super Bonus Points are awarded for the Copa Libertadores, but that's getting ahead of ourselves.

If you compare this week's rankings to last week's rankings (and you don't really have to since I sort of do that myself below), you'll see that things are kind of stagnant at the moment. That's typical for this time of the season, though things should start moving around again once Super Bonus Points are awarded for the Copa Libertadores, but that's getting ahead of ourselves.

No need to connect any dots. You just need to decypher one of the photos for the answer. Bonus points if you can make sense of all three of them.

The Teams of Old Square off against the Teams of Yesterday
by Thomas Atzenhoffer on The Bleacher Report
April 17, 2011
Alex Livesey/Getty Image The Past 50 years of England's top flight, whether it was the English Premier League since 1993 or the years prior as the English League, have captivated audiences worldwide.

Sorry for the long absence. I've spent the past two months in Mexico and Central America and it turned out that finding free and convenient wifi in the area wasn't so convenient. Plus, I was just having way too much fun. (Feel free to read about the adventures here.)
But, we're back.

Sorry for the long absence. I've spent the past two months in Mexico and Central America and it turned out that finding free and convenient wifi in the area wasn't so convenient. Plus, I was just having way too much fun. (Feel free to read about the adventures here.)
But, we're back.