Barcelona's clever use of short, tricky forwards have made them an unpredictable force against defensive-minded teams and particularly have allowed Lionel Messi to revel.
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At Camp Nou, Barcelona fielded a forward line of Messi, Bojan and Pedro to battle it out against the determined defense of Arsenal.

Our series about the US and the World Cup continues with a look at the 1990 World Cup in Italy, the first the US had managed to qualify for in forty years.

The lead up to the 1990 World Cup

On Independence Day, 1988, FIFA announced that the United States would host the 1994 World Cup.

Yes we all know it was going to happen. Might was well get you all on board now.
In my other life, I sing in a well-respected Toronto-based choir. The conductor is famous for his full-bodied direction on stage, a habit that has garnered him the nickname "twinkle toes." He is also known in singing circles for his absurdist directorial metaphors, which involve floating elephants, swinging handbags, a giant Michelin Man walking on the moon.

"It was probably the worst, most tedious, bad-tempered final in the history of the World Cup."
Brian Glanville in his History of the World Cup, talking about the 1990 final between Argentina and West Germany. Although this morning's game didn't quite reach the depths of that encounter, the words could have been applied with equal justice to the final of the 2010 tournament.

The first thing I read that inspired me to write about soccer was Brian Glanville's "Story of the World Cup." My brother picked it up for me at a garage sale and wrapped it for Christmas, but it stayed unread on my bookshelf for a long time. Who wanted to read through a yellowed compendium of fifty year-old match reports?

Prominent sports writer Brian Glanville has for some time referred to the Premier League as the 'Greed is Good' League. A cynical reflection of the fact that English football's top flight, with it's £3.4 billion pounds worth of total debt, has for some time been living well beyond it's means in a desperate, rampant scramble for dollars and cents.

A quick follow-up thought to my post earlier today on the forthcoming paywall being erected at The Times how will the next generation of readers discover the newspaper's content and quality? Articles aren't even able to found on Google. Nobody will be tweeting links to Times articles.

North Korea World Cup 2010 Preview #27 (Group G) is a post from: Just Football

North Korea

Appearances at World Cup finals: North Korea have qualified just once before, at the 1966 tournament held in England. Since then they've withdrawn or not entered on four occasions and have failed to quality on all other occasions.

It's finally here. The biggest event on the football calendar begins late tonight.
Work and family demands have meant that I haven't been able to devote as much blogging time to the preparations as I would have liked, but don't for a moment get the impression that I'm not excited! Answers to my last quiz can be found here, by the way.

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- That and photos of the various Individual QPR Players of 2010/11 Available for Purchase from QPR
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- For QPR and Football Updates throughout the day, visit the ever-growing (and hopefully always improving!) QPR Report Messageboard/quasi-blog. Either offer your own perspectives on any of the topics (QPR and football only).

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- For QPR and Football Updates throughout the day, visit the ever-growing (and hopefully always improving!) QPR Report Messageboard/quasi-blog. Either offer your own perspectives on any of the topics (QPR and football only). Or of course, feel free to simply read the various QPR and football-only discussions.

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Flashback: Jude Joins QPR
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- For QPR and Football Updates throughout the day, visit the ever-growing (and hopefully, always-improving!)QPR Report Messageboard/quasi-blog . All QPR and football perspective welcome. Or simply feel free to read the football-only updates and discussions.

"The story of British football and the foreign challenge is the story of a vast superiority, sacrificed by stupidity, short-sightedness, and wanton insularity. It is a story of shamefully wasted talent, extraordinary complacency and infinite self-deception."
Brian Glanville, Soccer Nemesis, 1955

"Speed was made a fetish.