The 2009 Grand Prix de Futsal is currently taking place at the moment in Brazil.

If you haven't heard of it. This is basically an opportunity for the home nation to hold a tournament and invite a bunch of countries down to South America and show people how good they are at this type of football. Click to continue reading...

Nacional have picked up 22 year old keeper Elisson this past week as the Madeira club looks to reinforce the team for the Europa League play. Elisson played the previous season in Brazil with Cruzeiro. Click to continue reading...

Ronald Gordo returns with another well written piece this week looking at another of Inter's greats' Valdomiro.

The awkward coal miner

I usually say I do not like football. I like Internacional.

So, I never write about players... my passions are the club, the team, the fans, the Beira-Rio Stadium or the old Eucaliptos Stadium - where I go occasionally, to imagine the ancient Roller. Click to continue reading...

Photo via LatinContent Editorial/ Adhil Rangel

Ah, how typical of Hernanes to break out into a dance halfway during Sao Paulo's training session! It could just be one of Ricardo Gomes' 'tactics' to loosen things up in the team. You can always count on Hernanes to make everyone feel like they're in the middle of a circus.

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We first spotted this fan "All Dressed Up" at the Brazil-Uruguay game a while ago. Amazingly, this hombre his real name is André actually got in touch with us to explain his crazy choice of outfit!

"I'm from Santa Vitória do Palmar.

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Admittedly, I don't pay much attention to club soccer in South America.

Here's one post to make up for it all.

Congratulations to Ronaldo-led Corinthians for winning the Brazilian Cup.

Oh, and pay attention to Estudiantes (Argentina) and Cruzeiro (Brazil) in the Copa Libertadores final. Click to continue reading...

Cruzeiro reached the final of Copa Libertadores after a 2 goals draw against Gremio. Gremio played at home, but in 4 minutes (between the 34th and the 38th minutes) the visitors scored twice and buried the dreams of the home team.

After the final of Copa do Brasil and semi of the Libertadores, the joke that goes around in Brazil is this:
What do Inter Gremio and Michael Jackson have in common?

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Kjetil Rekdal downs the mighty Brazil by Chris RockThere was quite a hot "discussion" between Aalesund manager and legendary former Norwegian international Kjetil Rekdal and Brann's former Leeds... Click to continue reading...

A couple weeks ago Corinthians were the shame of Brazil, desperate for some type of good news. Bad celebrations, fans killing rival fans, setting more things alight and on-pitch throw-downs with the youth team (with poor fighting technique at that) read like playing Corinthians is akin to playing in a conflict zone. Click to continue reading...

Hands up if you were cheering on the USA against Brazil in the Confederations Cup Final...... I was too. It would have been great to see an upset and despite Brazil getting themselves the win in the end it was still a great show from the USA to end Spain's record equalling run without a [...] Click to continue reading...

Brazil go back to the top of this month's Fifa world rankings after winning the Confederations Cup in South Africa. Brazil are followed by Spain and the Netherlands England are down one in 7th place.

France are in 9th. Côte d'Ivoire are the highest African team in 18th. Russia are 6th, with the USA in 12th. Click to continue reading...

The final of the 50th Anniversary of the Copa Libertadores is set. It will feature a club match up of Brazil vs. Argentina. The continent wanted to see a Brazil-Argentina final with Sao Paulo FC vs. CA Boca Juniors as the two marquee names. However, 30+ clubs had a different idea and the Sao Paulo-Boca Juniors did not materialize. Click to continue reading...

By now any fan of the US Men's National Team already knows that the boys followed up their miracle escape from the group stage by snapping Spain's record unbeaten streak and going up 2-0 on Brazil before coming back to earth. Rather then opine on how historic these results might be, I'd like to present some things we may have learned about this team. Click to continue reading...

The 2nd leg of the Copa Do Brasil Final in Porto Alegre was an entertaining match that featured goals, a near fight, and red cards. Corinthians entered the match with a 2-0 lead from the 1st leg and did not come out defensively remembering what happened in the '08 Final.

The goals started in the 20th minute when Jorge Henrique headed in a André Santos cross to give Corinthians the 1-0 lead and a 3-0 aggregate advantage. Click to continue reading...

The eyes of Brazil were transfixed on South Africa as the Seleção battled the United States in the final of the Confederations Cup. The Campeonato Brasileiro continued on toward crowning a champion as Round 8 of the Brasileirão is officially in the books.

Newly promoted Gremio Barueri ended Atlético Mineiro's unbeaten season with an emphatic 4-2 win at home. Click to continue reading...

Bob Bradley and Sunil Gulati briefed reporters this afternoon on the eve of the Gold Cup. Here's some of the more interesting tidbits:

On the team's approach to the Gold Cup:

Bob Bradley: "Our goal clearly is to defend our championship. We know that at times there are many different factors that get considered when putting a roster together. Click to continue reading...

Brazil are kings. Spain takes a step down.

U.S.A. jumps to 12 (probably would've been higher without that Costa Rica game, plus Brazil v1.0 and Italy).

England drops despite a perfect month.

Ivory Coast, Australia and North Korea had big jumps.

Turkey, Paraguay and Mexico dropped hard. Click to continue reading...

Your least favorite blog feature returns. In this episode Neal and Jeremy wonder over the fallout of Real Madrid's shopping spree, wax nostalgic over MLS, and run the rule over Brazil's holding midfielders (really!).

Session Start (jspitzberg:Neal J Thurman): Wed Jul 01 13:34:38 2009
[13:34] JSpitzberg: seems to be official
[13:34] Neal J Thurman: Karim to Real? Click to continue reading...

By Graig Carbino - ALBANY, NY (July 2, 2009) USSoccerPlayers -- From Spain and Brazil to Haiti and Honduras. Not exactly the penthouse to the outhouse but, hey, you get the idea. The United States National Team begins group play in the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup in Seattle against the Spice Boys of Grenada on Saturday. Click to continue reading...

Brazil's third Confederations Cup title was their ninth major competition victory in a streak which began with their 1994 World Cup win. In that 15 year period, Brazil have won four Copa Américas, three Confederations Cups and two World Cups.

In addition to the nine major titles, Brazil have also lost three finals in the last 15 years; Copa América (1995), World Cup (1998) and Confederations Cup (1999).

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Clube de Regatas do Flamengo is a Brazilian multisport club located in Rio de Janeiro. Flamengo's football/soccer team is one of the most popular club in Brazil with an estimated 35 million supporters and placed 9th in the FIFA Clubs of the 20th Century ranking. Other nicknames used by fans for Flamengo include "Fla", "Mengo", and "Mengão" [. Click to continue reading...

What a long, strange trip the US MNT just had to South Africa. The Yanks advanced via a 6 goal swing in the last 90 minutes of the group stage. Then, they shocked the world by knocking out #1 Spain. Finally, they came out swinging against history's most decorated team, but fell apart during a messy second half that most fans would like to forget.

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Last week, saw the confederations Cup reach its climax with an exciting game seeing Brazil come from two goals down to beat the USA 3-2. The USA certainly impressed the worldwide audience by beating Spain and going close against the South American powerhouse. Perhaps their world ranking of 12 is merited.

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The second leg of the final of Copa do Brasil was no land for children.

And Corinthians was an adult side. The club stepped into the pitch after losing last year's Copa do Brasil and with the difficult experience of spending one season in the second division.

Inter? The home team looked like an teenager, at most.

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(Watch this space!)

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After the United States surprising success in the Confederations Cup, they move up to 12th in FIFA rankings, Spain drops to 2nd and Brazil moves up to number 1. Best of all is Mexico is 33rd, behind Costa Rica at 30. So DC United beat he Ocean City Barons 2-0, but it sounds like DC struggled with the amateur side. Click to continue reading...

The latest FIFA World Rankings are out and Brazil has overtaken Spain for the top spot with their win in the 2009 Confederations Cup. The United States saw their ranking improve with a strong performance to reach the finals but the biggest mover into the top 20 were Australia (moved up 13 spots) and the Ivory Coast (moved up 20 spots).

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Yo what up?.. I'm back from my trip and I figured I'd talk about some goods from the past weeks worth of footy...

Well there's only one place to start that's with the US v Brazil match. I watched it w/ my snoring brother while being occasionally attacked by a cat. Anywho, we proved that we can play with the best. Click to continue reading...

Well there goes my whole Jacko's Revenge theory; it appears Dempsey did in fact pay tribute to the King of Pop (and celebrity freakishness) whilst celebrating against Brazil. So in solidarity with the Oklahoma GOP, I now blame "debauchery" for the loss. Click to continue reading...

Spain is no longer sitting at #1 on Fifa's rank. Brazil has jumped 4 spots up after winning FIFA's Confederations Cup and is now ranked at top, with 1672 points, for the first time since 2007. Spain is down to second, with 1590 points, and Netherlands is third with 1379.

Here are the top 20:

source: fifa.

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Internet site Sport.co.uk, the site that first reported the imminent signature of Thomas Vermaelen, though in fairness they do print so much garbage they are making Tribal football look respectable, are stating that Brazilian centre back Naldo is on his way from Werder Bremen to Arsenal.

 They quote Werder Bremen coach who said, "Naldo is a great athlete and could do well at the right club, unfortunately he doesn't fit the direction we're planning to move in any longer.

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                                                                              Photo by ISIphotos.com

The U.S. men's national team's run to the Confederations Cup final has helped boost it into uncharted territory in the world rankings.

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                                                                              Photo by ISIphotos.com

The U.S. men's national team's run to the Confederations Cup final has helped boost it into uncharted territory in the world rankings.

Click to continue reading...

It's fortunate that there are so many coffee shops here in Seattle. Despite arriving last night after a 25+ hour journey from Johannesburg, Bob Bradley and some of the travel party are up and about to head to Day 1 of training for the CONCACAF Gold Cup. The U.S. opens at Qwest Field on Saturday night against Grenada. Click to continue reading...

In a rankings cycle where the United States lost an away Qualifier and won at home before their historic run in the FIFA Confederations Cup, they moved up two slots to 12th. Brazil replaces Spain as World #1, while Mexico falls seven slots to 33rd. Top Twenty Click to continue reading...