So, if I want Bellamy for the weekend - which I do - that leaves me 6.03 for a fourth middie or defender. Who to choose? And of course, the caveat here is that whomever I pick will be wrong. The candidates after the jump. De Jong or Kompany - Citeh host Burnley. Kompany performed better last week but with Toure likely to return to the defense, De Jong seems like the more likely starter. Click to continue reading...

The premise of Channel 7's new sci-fi series might not lie in the realms of fantasy after all. Last night, watching the Australia v. Netherlands game, I had a vivid premonition of how Pim Verbeek's side will approach games against superior (or even peer) opposition in South Africa next year.
Plenty of shuffling the ball across the back four. Click to continue reading...

Blackburn v. Wolves Team news: Good news for Blackburn, Australian Brett Emerton is back in contention after a thigh injury, Franco Di Santo and Ryan Nelsen passed fit. Although, Steven Reid is still sidelined with an ankle problem. Wolves will be without Sylvan Ebanks-Blake (hamstring), Micheal Kightly (broken metatarsal), Chris Iwelumo (also out with broken metatarsal) and Kevin [. Click to continue reading...

Australia's remarkable run of results has come crashing to a halt at the Seoul World Cup Stadium as Korea downed the Socceroos 3-1  tonight in an International Friendly. With both teams safely through to the World Cup Finals as top of their Asian qualifying groups, this was a chance for both managers to test some new players, and Aussie coach Pim Verbeek rang in the changes in what was a homecoming for him, as he coached South Korea before taking the Australian job.

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If it's not Pete FitzSimons writing rubbish about Union and having a dig at football, (why do journos in this country feel the need) in the Sydney Morning Herald every week, we now have Phil Gould trying to tell us that Jarryd Haynes is the greatest footballer in any code in Australia.
Phil wrote this in his article on Rugby League in the Sun Herald today. Click to continue reading...

Socceroos win 2-0 with a comfortable victory over the ninety minutes.
David Carney scored, and the old faithful Mile Sterjovski popped one in.
We have maybe 50 plus players fighting to get on that plane, over the next twelve months, and Australian players will be doing their utmost to get in the 23. Click to continue reading...

A-League Clubs to strengthen?
The FFA have taken another hold on the future of football by effectively barring players from running overseas below the age of 18, in line with FIFA regulations.
Why this hasn't been in place earlier? Clearly the FFA haven't had the funds to police it. Click to continue reading...

Modern football is about many things, but increasingly you have to be able to run..and fast, and long...make that fast and long at the same time.
To test this endurance the Beep Test is the go.
How fast can you go? Superhero, super Cross Country, freak of nature Socceroo Brett Emerton and our own Carl Valeri can score over 15. Click to continue reading...

It never works when a national coach is so openly contemptuous of the domestic league. Even as the national team does well.

Pim Verbeek's success has the FFA and the media swooning but it has left the A-League owners fuming. They point to his Eurocentric attitude in encouraging talented young players to leave the A League and at the same time discouraging Socceroos from returning home from Europe.

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No AIS creative player since Zelic!!!
Aussie media have been whinging for months about the Socceroos style of play...and I'm from the school that it's not all about the Coach.
If you don't have the tools it's hard to paint a picture.
But, until recently, our so-called best of the best came through the AIS, and therefore it's worth noting who is our most creative player to come through such an organisation. Click to continue reading...

Don't you just love the weather? Thanks to snow that has been unkind to transport within the UK, the five  pm transfer deadline got extended. Now obviously the catch to that was deals had to already been agreed and loose ends tied up, but just the fact the transfer window had to be extended makes me [. Click to continue reading...