Last Sunday saw the Boro players begin their preparations for the season ahead just 6 weeks after winning the FA Trophy Final at Wembley. They couldn't of planned their return to training at a worse time with it being the hottest week of the year so far. Hardly the best conditions to get your fitness back in?

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Wizards Goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, the 2nd victim of the du Nord Questions.

I'm sure most of you have stopped by dunordfutbol at some point. If you haven't, it's the best place to go on a daily basis for links from around the world of soccer/football/futbol. Bruce McGuire, du Nord's excellent purveyor, is based here in the Twin Cities area and took advantage of our trip to face his beloved Thunder to set up a du Nord Questions session with our #1 Kevin Hartman. Click to continue reading...

Antonio Valencia has signed a 4-year-deal with Manchester United after making what is believed to be £16m move from Wigan.

Whilst not expecting to fill the boots of Cristiano Ronaldo, the Ecuadorian winger will certainly strengthen the squad after enjoying a successful period with Steve Bruce down the road at the JJB.

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Fantastic. Lucky. Courageous. Shocking.

Those are a few of the words we could use to describe what the USA accomplished at the Confederations Cup, which showed what this team is capable of doing and how far they need to go to do it consistently.

Everything about this tournament can be spun two ways. Click to continue reading...

As I sit here watching the final of the Confederations Cup unfold like an action packed episode of Ripley's Believe It Or Not, the U.S MNT sit 2-0 up against the might of Brazil... so once again, i am gob-smacked! Plus, given my earlier prediction of the match, don't I feel like an ass at the moment! Click to continue reading...

Robbers lift shirts... Now we have all heard about football players being robbed while playing, but this is something else. Normally the thieves in question target the unoccupied homes of Merseyside millionaires. But one team in Peru suffered at the hands of criminals who broke into their stadium. Universitario had 50 shirts and 90 pairs of [. Click to continue reading...

Today we'll take a look at the leading goal scorers for our two W-League teams in the state, the Real Colorado Cougars and the Colorado Force.

The Force has just reached the halfway point in its W-League season. Lisa Franke scored twice on Sunday to give the team its first victory, a 2-0 decision over Los Angeles.

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You can't trust anybody these days!

Universitario's preparations for a Peruvian championship match were hit on Monday by the theft of 90 pairs of soccer boots and 50 shirts from their changing room at Lima's Monumental stadium.

The theft took place on the ahead of an important match away at Deportivo San Martin tomorow, which could take Universitario back to the top of the league. Click to continue reading...

First off, I want to give a shout out to blog commenter and new daddy Travis the Septopus and of course to all us old daddy's out there: Adrian, Alex, Caribkid, Russ, and anyone else who ever donated chromosomes!

On such an auspicious day I also want to give you guys nothing but good news!

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Model Noemie Lenoir just finished having lunch with friends in New York when this photo was taken. Looks like she would have rather been left alone. Two things: Boots in the summer - do you do? And, as rumours continue to persist that Noemie has split with Claude Makelele, we continue to remain in denial that she may not be a WAG anymore and we will have to stop showing her photo on the site. Click to continue reading...

Model Noemie Lenoir just finished having lunch with friends in New York when this photo was taken. Looks like she would have rather been left alone. Two things: Boots in the summer - do you do? And, as rumours continue to persist that Noemie has split with Claude Makelele, we continue to remain in denial that she may not be a WAG anymore and we will have to stop showing her photo on the site. Click to continue reading...

Despite the scoreline, Spain's win against Iraq was fairly comfortable, but the European champions didn't bring their shooting boots and missed several good chances. In the other game in what I like to call "the weakest group in the...

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Judging by the highlights below, it seemed as though Spain were the only team on the attack, whilst their opposition hid in caves continuously tried to catch them on the counter. With laser-like precision (or not), España hit their opposition with wave after wave of attack, almost like they were dropping bombs in the Middle East, so it doesn't really surprise me that Iraq were on the receiving end again. Click to continue reading...

Ok, so Thursday and Friday still feel like a blur and well today, all that's left is the smell of two day old vomit in a bucket and pictures to remind me of the mess Manchester United made of the UEFA Champions League final. By now though, you've probably seen and read just about every report in the world analysing the match so I'm going to take it from another angle. Click to continue reading...

With all the hype surrounding the UCL final, I almost let the ball slip on posting about the new F50i Tunit's that Lionel Messi will be kitted in for tonight's match. FINALLY, Adidas have made a boot that will compete with the slickness and sophistication of the Nike Mercurial Vapors and Superflys! Click to continue reading...

Some real impressive rumours are being thrown around at the moment. Things like: Olive wreaths will be presented to the winners as opposed to medals, women playing harps will be seated in cages above areas of the grandstand and possibly my favourite of the bunch, tigers and Gladiators will be thrown onto the field if the match starts to get too defensive. Click to continue reading...

£80 million is a lot of money; the debate goes on over whether the world player of the year is worth it. In the meantime Manchester United has to find someone to replace a midfielder who gets around 30 goals a season. A tough ask for any manager, but the good news that comes with this is that Manchester United can now afford any player in the world.

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Several boxes - well, pallets, actually - of gear were delivered to the team hotel by way of Madrid and courtesy of Nike. All of the Nike players got a new shipment of boots for the tournament, and there are some rather interesting colors. Included in the package were Total 90 Laser II's (Carlos, Danny, Michael, Jonny and Freddy), the Air Legend III (Tim, Jose, and Ricardo) and the Mercurial Vapors (Beas, Gooch, Landon and Charlie). Click to continue reading...

At last, the Winker has left the building. The self professed greatest player in the world has finally decided to join Florentino Perez's Galactico's part II. The silly season is well and truly here.

Are you glad to see the back of him? Will the Premier League miss his sensational free kicks, goals, dribbles & showboating, or will he be remembered for his diving, sulking and all round petulance.

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After just under 15 hours of fun on the flight from the Big Apple, the MNT bloggers and other team staff touched down in Johannesburg. For those keeping score at home - especially those that have to call us - Pretoria is six hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Time. Only a minor hiccup at the arrival lounge: after 45 minutes, there were still three trunks to be located. Click to continue reading...

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The U.S. men's national team will look to erase the memories of Wednesday night's crushing 3-1 loss to Costa Rica by trying to beat Honduras at Soldier Field in Chicago tonight (8pm, ESPN2).

The U.S. team needs to avoid a loss tonight to keep from dropping as far as third place in the CONCACAF Hexagonal standing.

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The first half of the 2009 FAI League of Ireland Premier Division season for St. Patrick's Athletic midfielder Ryan Guy was enough to make any player want to hang up their boots for good. Click to continue reading...

If you've read some of my other posts about mercurial vapors, you'll know that I'm still very fond of my white mercurial vapor IIIs and chuck them on from time to time. About 6 months ago I got some chewing gum stuck on one of the boots and I figured it would just come off eventually just from wearing them during training/matches.

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Tuesday May 26th

11am – After failing in my quest to get a good night's rest the night before, I spent the morning zombified thanks mainly to the hypnotic waffling of Paddy Crerand on MUTV. After a wash and an egg (though maybe not in that order) I got in the cab and headed for Heathrow Terminal 5.

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Hey, good news!

Wizards starting midfielder Santiago Hirsig and forward Josh Wolff won't be playing, having been sent off during last week's match against Chivas USA. Even the Wizards' own article admits the team is in trouble against L.A. They even say our record is "deceiving.

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Leonardo will be officially unveiled on Monday and this will be his first coaching job. Silvio Berlusconi's favourite ended his playing career at Milan and he quickly rose through the club's hierarchy. The club sees this appointment as the beginning of an era, similar to the one which started when Arigo Sacchi was appointed as coach.

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Believe it or not, but Paul Scholes have received an offer from Stoke to end his career with the Potters and then take over as team manager. Even though this sounds a bit sensational Scholes' transfer to Stoke is far from impossible. Manchester United legend, who is one of three Ferguson's dinosaurs, could end his playing career at Stoke if he accepts Tony Pulis's offer to become player-coach at the club.

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1. Barcelona were hungrier, quicker, more committed and - bottom line - better than Manchester United. The best team (by a mile) won. 2. What a coincidence. Wayne Rooney's boots go missing and then their owner go missing too. Anyone seen him, by the way? 3. Pep Guardiola truly is the next Jose Mourinho. Click to continue reading...

"I've just been to see the doctor and he's drilled a hole in my nail to release the pressure.

I feel quite disturbed.

When I was training for the climb, my boots were too tight, which put pressure on my toe and the nail went black."

Cheryl Cole talking about her nasty-ass foot injury after her Mount Kilimanjaro climb.

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"I've just been to see the doctor and he's drilled a hole in my nail to release the pressure.

I feel quite disturbed.

When I was training for the climb, my boots were too tight, which put pressure on my toe and the nail went black."

Cheryl Cole talking about her nasty-ass foot injury after her Mount Kilimanjaro climb.

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What should help the future of Manchester United after Sir Alex Ferguson retires, whenever that may be, is the likelihood that people who know what it means to be United will be around. Sir Bobby Charlton, Bryan Robson and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer are already part of the staff, and it would be no great surprise if the likes of Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville become a part of it after they've hung up their boots.

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So good ol' Luis Figo decided that it was high time he hung his boots and join his Perfect-For-Russian-Vogue bride, Helen Svedin. Yes, the world of football will certainly miss Figo, including my mother who never ceases to ask if he is still in the youth team.

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Back in December Goal.com announced Francesco Totti was going to change boots and go with a new...

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JJK v HJK, Sunday 6:30pm

This is a tough one to predict. As ever, it all depends on Muurinen's team selection, and the choice between the quick and mobile strikers or the less mobile Mäkelä. He played Mäkelä in the last game, and they got a disappointing draw against Honka, so maybe he will go with a Popovitch-Parikka combination for the JJK game.

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Mmm. Mad Maldini.

Paolo is pissed off and we like it.

During the AC Milan v Juventus game this weekend, Paolo went a little aggro on Giorgio Chiellini during the AC Milan v Juventus game.

We've never seen him do that before, and we found it jaw-droppingly sexy.

Then we got very sad/emo at the thought that this gorgeous piece of man-leather will be hanging up his well-worn footy boots at the end of the season.

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