As I recover from a late night of fighting through some technical snafus on the podcast recording, my brain is working just well enough for a thought to occur on the crucial nature of the rest of...

I was on holiday in a rather remote region when the transfer window closed, so was kept waiting for excited news of frenetic late dealings. And waiting, and waiting, because of course, no one got excited as no remarkable late deals got done.
It leaves me with a real sense of regret, especially where Liverpool are concerned.

Alexi Lalas talked about the hostile environment in Costa Rica. JP Dellacamera talked about the injuries to Brain Ching and Frankie Hejduk. John Harkes talked about the quality - or lack thereof - of the Astroturf field.

Picture the scene: Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano in San Pedro Sula is rocking with a mass of flag-waving Hondurans clad in blue and white. Bob Bradley looks pensive on the sidelines, and Tim Howard flexes his neck muscles, trying to alleviate some of the tension before the game that could clinch the United States' place in next year's World Cup.

And the USMNT is through to the semifinal. They play Spain on Wednesday. South Africa will wile away a couple of Brazil's idle hours on Thursday. I should probably peel off a quick patriotic valediction, or least stumble through 600 words about the decline of Italy (already one of the least buoyant world championship teams in recent memory, and sinking fast), but my brain sounds like a plague of vuvuzelas*, and I want to go look at the parts of each match that I didn't watch while watching parts of the other match and figure out how this mathematical sliver managed to come to pass.

Just a little catch up, as I attempt to reboot my brain; I haven't exactly been at the top of my game in recent days. Two young American players are in the news for potential moves; one who raised...

This is slightly later than planned so sorry about that. I had this dream last night, I was playing for Derby County against Arsenal and it finished 4-4, even though I was playing for Derby (yes I know, my brain doesn't know what side its bread's buttered on), I wanted Arsenal to win of course.

Strange one.

Handsy's brain on a Friday night
International breaks and Friday nights, there is nothing that will make a fantasy Premier League manager twitch faster...
Idle hands are the devil's playground, if I am anywhere near my computer after having an adult beverage or two there is nothing more tempting than adjusting my fantasy roster.

Stuff to read while you watch this Sunday pub league player hit a sitter like a Sunday pub league player#8230;#8230;. Amr Zaki is starting to sound an awful lot like Mido. (Unprofessional Foul) How America is Ruining Soccer. (The Spoiler) Trap could probably use a break, the internationals seem to have overloaded his brain.

Lookalikes are ten-a-penny - anyone can make Dirk Kuyt look like Sloth from the Goonies, or Peter Reid look like a monkey. It takes more to put two people together stylistically and functionally; players who remind you of one another, players who play like each other - players that could be clones of one another.

The highlight of the July game could be the dual for Scottish Premier League hard men central defenders. Check out Celtic captain Stephen McManus who will pit his brain and brawn against former Ranger Craig Moore.

Scotland captain Colin Hendry described him as "the last of an ancient breed", in the sense that his no-nonsense defending style is hard to come by in modern football.

I went back to my 2008/09 Season Preview from late August '08 today and here's what I thought Valencia would do this season.

So although my heart says we'll win La Liga, the UEFA Cup and storm into next season's Champions League, my brain tells me we'll finish mid-table and be forced to buy what we needed this season next season.

My brother has had my brain racing since last week when he asked - What are your top 5 all-time Beatles Songs? Of course he knows my love of Top 5 lists - and The Beatles are the best music...

Is your brain in the game Nani? The wily Ryan Giggs came on after halftime to show how exactly it should be done. The experienced Welshman provided the assist for Dimitar Berbatov and John O'Shea to score.

During the summer Arsenal made one purchase, Thomas Vermaelen. A relatively unknown defender from Ajax, who according to most "experts", was too short to make it in the Premier League. Many Arsenal fans were rightly concerned that instead of a burly centre half in the mould of Hangeland, instead of a speedy defender we acquired someone who is as fast as Senderos and we let Toure leave.

Everton's big hair bear won't cut his locks Hair are your aerials. They pick up signals from the cosmos and transmit them directly into the brain As the photo on the right shows, Marouane Fellaini didn't always have enormous hair...

1.The Fire will be missing Segares, Blanco, and Soumare for the match tonight.
Houston will be missing Brain Ching, and Ricardo Clark.

2. Houston have won 5 of their last 6 games, with the other game being a tie.
The Fire have won 3 of their last 6 with 2 ties and 1 loss.

3.

That's me for now. Burned out and brain dead. Please do check back in a week or so and perhaps by then things will seem different.

The news is being well covered at Friends of Fulham and Hammyend.com, so please keep checking there.

Cheers

Rich

This should have been a morning post. But things got in the way, and my brain refused to function properly, so you're getting it in the evening. No matter, it's still relevant. The big, bad, beast...

Spaniards attempt at gossip column monopoly continues Real Madrid's transfer policy is beginning to frazzle OTP's brain a little bit. Granted many of the hundreds of reports about Real being interested in particular players are entirely fabricated, but clearly some are not. And one of those is their chase for Wigan's Antonio Valencia.

If Luis Figo has seriously been approached, things are a lot worse than I ever imagined. Bear in mind I was imagining quite bad things when Jermaine Pennant's name was being mentioned without a comedy effect chuckle in an I almost had you kind of way.

Figo looks like an old man and has been playing like one for the last couple of years.

After last night's thrilling Mexico Costa Rica game, I racked my brain trying to come up with the last time Mexico won a knockout game via the dreaded penalty kicks.
I couldn't come up with one.
I can conjure up plenty of disappointing memories, though. Which is why last night's win was so massive.

I am only going to say this. The Velez people are geniuses. This is the Greatest Jersey Presentation EVER!!! Enjoy. I can't type too much cause there is hardly any blood in my brain.
Just for this presentation, Velez is a nominee for Team Of The Year.

Sorry for the cop-out this weekend, which is the best slate of games the Premier League has to offer so far. I just wrote what felt like a 5,000 word preview for my paying gig and my brain feels like ice cream that was left out in the sun.Let me say this, this is the going to be a fun weekend if you subscribe to ESPN, Fox Soccer and Setanta.

Cat Whitehill's been blogging about college football lately. I'd love to comment but I'm too heartbroken about the stupid Buckeyes on the weekend (yeah, I got sucked into that, those people colonize your brain). Anyway, check it out:

So here we go.... The ACC went 5-7 the OPENING week.

Rafa Benitez asked his players to do their talking on the pitch and Yossi Benayoun responded brilliantly at Anfield on Saturday.
The Israeli was excellent against Burnley and fully deserved his hat-trick.
Ryan Babel could learn a lot from Benayoun.
Rather than moan about not being in the side every week, Benayoun knuckled down and was determined to take his chance.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger revealed the first time he showed interest in Thomas Vermaelen was when Ajax faced Arsenal in the 2007 Amsterdam Tournament.

On that particular day and on the Belgian International, the Frenchman said:

I loved that. We watched him from that moment on.

Liverpool forward Dirk Kuyt has hailed the performances this season of team-mate Yossi Benayoun, and feels that the work rate and commitment shown by the Israeli will prove a key factor over the course of this campaign.
Benayoun also possesses a keen footballing brain and superb skill, according to the Dutch international.

This is tricky because there are so many fixtures you'd think would be boring to watch until you consider one or two auxiliary factors.
Let's take for example Liechtenstein v. Azerbaijan. Who's gonna watch this hopeless run around? Well, let's say someone told you this was the only game you would ever be allowed to watch again for the rest of your life.

Nottingham Forest put a dent in our title ambitions as what appeared to be a very unmotivated Newcastle side struggled early on.

Forest had the best of the first half and were unfortunate to only go in to the half-time break with a one goal lead. Newcastle were guilty of:

• Giving away possession (Are you listening Marlon Harewood?

A few of the articles that have been in Butt's Brain over the past 24 hours...

• Rafa Benitez says he would never coach Manchester United. He might not be coaching Liverpool by the end of the month, much less Manchester United, so he should probably just focus on his own work [Tribal Football]

• An exclusive interview with Arsenal's in-form Captain, Cesc Fabregas [Arsenal FC Blog]

• Michael Moore-esque World Cup documentary [Unprofessional Foul]

• TalkSport contest - if you live in the UK [Dirty Tackle]

• USMNT and Rangers midfielder Maruice Edu suffers racism [Off the Post]

How about those Danish Van Houtens?What, you're telling me you didn't stick with 'The Simpsons' through season 19?Guess I'd have to call that a cromulent decision. If you read those last three seconds and your brain didn't turn into a puddle of chocolate pudding, you were probably able to deduce that I don't have a whole lot to offer for Wednesday's USMNT friendly against Denmark in Aarhus.

In tonight's Champions League semifinal part deux at Stamford Bridge, underdogs Chelsea will probably want to stick to the game plan that got them a 1-0 lead in the first leg...Just kidding.The sun spots seem to have cleared from my brain, and I fully realize this tie is actually scoreless as I type this - but the point I had started will be continued.

Cheers to Toby for that.

We were there... Toby and Matt with the inflatables, inflatables which arguably turned around the entire season.

Hade and I were by the corner flag, getting drenched.

Few words from me at the moment. Friends of Fulham and Hammyend.

Yes, that's Greaseano heading to Paris Hilton's house... the mother of Herpes! He wants to know what she thinks about Real Madrid because give her five minutes and she will be able to dissect the transfer market in numbers for us all. You'd be floored by Paris's brain!

In the Report:Tabloid Stories (And The TRUTH!)Excerpts:"It is true that he is no longer the Olympic sprinter that tore through the Argentinean defence in 1998, but he still possess a powerful burst over the first ten yards, and a brain which puts him ahead of virtually any opposing defender.""However,because Newcastle had lacked a creative midfielder capable of playing the ball into the channels

If there is a bright spot to the season, Nick Zimmerman is it. Coming from relative obscurity, the James Madison alumni has taken every small opportunity afforded to him on the field and excelled to the highest of his potential. His transition from a bench player to a near regular starter was a scenario that surely even he wouldn't have been able to imagine a short five months ago.

John Hartson has been diagnosed with testicular cancer which has spread to his brain. The former Wales, Arsenal and Celtic striker is set to start a course of radiotherapy and chemotherapy soon as he hopes to catch the disease as quick as possible. Hartson was capped 51 times for Wales and ...

Good morning. This will not be a preview of tonight's game vs River Plate. Years ago I decided that my blog would stick to game observations, TFC facts such as trades,signings and draft picks and whatever else grabbed my little brain. I leave the previews to other fine people out there. However this non-preview is a warning that the blog will not be commenting much on tonight's friendly.

So you wake up in the Professional Football forsaken city of Canberra.
Do the 2 degree dash to get the paper, Canberra Times and Sydney Morning Herald.
Straight to the sport. I'm a guy. Okay the A-League season is almost 10 whole days away, and in Canberra there are 20,000 players running out to play this weekend and in Sydney over 120,000.