Shh, don't tell Jonathan Wilson, Zonal Marking or the trio of Richard Farley, Kartik Krisnaiyer or Laurence McKenna, but I believe that formations are sometimes overrated.

In most matches, they have a massive impact on how teams play and how they match up against each other. But in certain circumstances you may as well throw the formations out the window.

American soccer will lose one if its most venerated heroes at the end of the MLS season when 38-year-old Brian McBride finally call it quits after a 16-year career.

McBride is most known in the United States as a star for the national team. A decade of solid performances punctuated by moments of absolute brilliance.

Photo by Michael Janosz/ ISIphotos.com
So who got the better of the New York Red Bulls' trade of Macoumba Kandji to Colorado for Mehdi Ballouchy?

Plenty of observers will point to Kandji as the better prospect and chalk up the advantage to the Rapids, but the truth is the deal makes much more sense, and has the potential to do far more, for the Red Bulls than Colorado.

Watching repeats of old football matches can be an unsettling experience at times. Watch any match over around thirty years old and everything looks and feels different. The levels of technical expertise and fitness may be lower than they used to be, and the look and feel of the spectacle of the match is strangely other-worldly.

Khalid Askri is a Moroccan football goalkeeper who plays for FAR Rabat.This is why he gave up goalkeeping.
First he made a brilliant diving stop to a firmly taken penalty.The he walked off the field patting himself on the chest -egging the crowd to applaud his brilliance.

Just a few links to whet your appetite for the second Euro qualifying date tomorrow, and for the return of club football this coming weekend:

• "Dailly blow for Addicks" = headline brilliance (SkySports)
• Has Craig Levein blamed you yet for Scotland's draw? Because he's blamed everyone else.

Diego Forlan may be 31-years old but he looked far from it at the World Cup in South Africa where he saw himself be awarded with the Golden Ball award. Although he wasn't able to be contacted by any of the major club's that was expected, Forlan still showed that at 31-years of age, he may still have a lot left in him.

FC Barcelona suffered their first defeat of this years La Liag season at Camp Nou infront of an almost packed house. Let's just hope they don't do this often as we may not be able to afford the same. The team can be rated as a 5 out of a scale of 10. So let's get to the business straight away.

Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson has given Dutch attacker Ryan Babel until January to lock down his future at Anfield. The forward has failed to perform since is arrival from Ajax back in the summer of 2007, showing only flashes of brilliance.

Part of the problem is the fact Babel doesn't want to be on the wing and would prefer a central striking role and new boss Hodgson is willing to give him the opportunity, whether it be as a partner for undoubted number one striker Fernando Torres, or as a replacement as the Spaniard regains 100% fitness.

The miracle of Turf Moor

It is hard to take positives from a game in which you throw away a 3-1 lead in the final ten minutes but Preston should be encouraged by the majority of their performance. Winger Keith Treacy was outstanding.

As for Burnley, they were limp, lacklustre and completely reliant on the brilliance of Chris Iwelumo.

I believe West Ham United supporters should be worried, if they're not worried already. Not only because they're bottom of the table. But more so because the team reminds me a lot of the way that Avram Grant's previous club, Portsmouth, played last season. And we all know where they ended up.

Brazilian International Kaká has now reportedly garnered interest for a one-year loan deal at the winter transfer period with an option to purchase from Serie A Champions Inter Milan. After the €65m transfer fee Real Madrid paid for the 2007 Ballon d'Or just one year ago, the Nerazzurri are rumored to be willing to shell out less than half of that fee (€24 million) for a permanent transfer following the proposed loan deal.

When Pepe Reina signed a six-year deal to remain at Anfield until 2016 in April this year, he bucked a trend. He proved that loyalty and integrity have a place in today's increasingly mercenary football world.
I found this in the BBC Forums in reference to Reina signing that deal,

"It's refreshing in this day and age to see a player obviously very settled and happy, proud to wear the shirt and showing a lot of love for the club and the fans"

It aptly describes why Jose Manuel Reina in a Liverpool shirt, is well on his way to becoming the greatest Liverpool goalkeeping legend.

On Saturday the Red Bulls clearly showed they were better than the Rapids. With the exception of about 10 minutes on either side of the half NY dominated the game and won by a deserved 3-1 scoreline. The Red Bulls were the better team in every section of the field and while a bit of individual brilliance from Omar Cummings gave the Rapids a bit of hope, NY took that away quickly.

Real Madrid hasn't had much success in chasing the Champions League title; last won by Los Blancos in 2002. However, with all the new acquisitions that the club has made in the past 2 seasons, Cristiano Ronaldo is confident that much will change in the upcoming Champions League.

It has been 6 seasons of turmoil for Madrid in the Champions League as they have constantly been shown an early exit from competition.

At present as soon as the Liverpool team sheet is confirmed, especially away from home, hopes are either heightened or sent rapidly plummeting towards the ground and the trip to St.Andrews proved to be little different, even with a jump up to 5th place in the table in the offering.

The reason.

Barca toyed with Panathinaikos in a 5-1 win. Leo Messi scored a brace and had an assist. Check out the brilliance of Barca's third goal - just sublime preternatural passing through a maze of defenders with a perfect Messi finish. And then his wonderful little chip with that amazing left foot (there must be a whole cerebral cortex devoted to it) hoisted onto Dani Alves's head for Barca's final goal.

It's hard to believe that the Barca of last night is the same team that fell against Hercules on the weekend. Right now, Hercules seems like nothing but a distant, very hazy memory - that's what Barca can do to you with their brilliance.

From Lio Messi with his perky dashes in and around the penalty the box to Pique ambling down the pitch with his bandaged head, every last one of our players was totally there.

We've seen this happen before. Not only to Arsenal players, though theirs get the most airtime and end up being the most horrific. It has happened to United as well. Alan Smith, who made the most hated crossover in English Football when he came over from Leeds.

Spurs opening match in the Champions League was an intoxicating mixture of breathless brilliance and the downright infuriating. Just as we became accustomed to the new model Eurospurs, dictating and dominating to the manor born, as if this were our 51st game in the competition rather than our first, familiar frailties threatened to expose it [.

There was some typical begrudgery after last night's win with some pundits saying 'Well, it was only Braga'.

It's just another reason never to listen to pundits because the vast majority of them talk out of their holes. Are Braga a worse side than Rangers, for example? I don't think so.

On the day he received his first start at Newcastle Hatem Ben Arfa scored a beautiful goal to put the team ahead at Goodison Park this morning against Everton. Ben Arfa is on loan to Newcastle from Marseille after a controversial transfer saga this summer. In order to secure the move to England, Ben Arfa went on strike, refusing to train with Marseille in order to protest (what he perceived) as unfair treatment from the club.

Ladies, gentlemen. Our preseason hath ended and what a spectacular one it was.

Support at the Bridge on Sunday. Get into it.

You would think the work done, the feats accomplished, over the past five matches was of little consequence, of no value.

Do you like self-congradulatory columns with a hint of smugness? In that case, you're in luck! In a tradition stretching back to never before, let's take a look at the predictions made in our Veikkausliiga preview package in April and see where we are. How has the season unfolded? Who gets the last laugh?

Don't remember too much of 1988 if I'm honest 5. Spurs 2 2 Arsenal, 2004 In football, as in all sport, fate and destiny seem to combine more often than is logical to provide opportunities for nirvana, chances to make history. Sport's unique brilliance is that at the same time as allowing one to [..

Don't remember too much of 1988 if I'm honest 5. Spurs 2 2 Arsenal, 2004 In football, as in all sport, fate and destiny seem to combine more often than is logical to provide opportunities for nirvana, chances to make history. Sport's unique brilliance is that at the same time as allowing one to [..

The defeat of Atléti in Madrid was a huge relief for Barça, but also, in a strange way, for the hyped-up-to-the-hilt rojiblanco.
Atlético's great expectations grounded by brilliance of Barcelona.

Every spare moment I've had in between work I've been thinking about the Finnish Cup final. Not the game itself, but the event. I kept running into the same problem. Yes, it has history and tradition. And yes, football is football and that should suffice. But every time I thought of these things I felt like some insufferable zealot.

The Sicilian region of Italy currently possesses the next Zinedine Zidane.

That is the view of Palermo's owner Maurizio Zamparini who is marveled by the potential and brilliance of Javier Pastore.

The young Argentinean gave a scintillating account of himself during the clubs epic 3-1 victory over Juventus in Turin midweek where he opened the scoring and continued to influence his team's cause leading to a man of the match performance.

Man U conceded an early 6th minute goal to Bolton.Shortly afterwards Nani came up with this bit of brilliance.Game still going on as I write this......

Blt 1-1 Mu - Funny videos are here

Liverpool Reserves suffered their first defeat of the season as they went down 3-1 at Chelsea on Monday afternoon.
The Reds paid the price for a sluggish start as Nathaniel Chalobah and Fabio Borini put the Blues in the driving seat with two goals inside the opening half hour.
Nathan Eccleston did give John McMahon's side hope with a deflected effort just before half-time but it wasn't enough to help rescue a point as substitute Adam Phillip steered in a third 12 minutes from time.