Fantasy #1
The Roar women are champions and so far are in the champion position this season as well. To be accurate and fair, and to avoid being too hubristic, they have some serious competition this year in Sydney, Melbourne and Central Coast. Yesterday I reckon they barely outplayed Melbourne at Ballymore, but it couldn't be said that Melbourne didn't deserve their point (1:1). Click to continue reading...

Sorry for not posting this on Saturday, but it's been a busy weekend preparing for my trip to Las Vegas this week to attend a search marketing conference. Nevertheless, drumroll please, here are the winners of the copies of FIFA 10 and The Manager book by Barney Ronay:

• FIFA 10 winner: Bernard Cahill
• FIFA 10 winner: Peter Edmiston
• FIFA 10 winner: Marc Shepherd
• The Manager winner: Dave Griffiths

Congratulations to each one of you.

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Bolton Wanderers v Chelsea FC
English Premier League
Old Trafford
Saturday, 31 October 2009
Kick-off: 1500 GMT

Chelsea and Bolton face off for the second time this week, this time in the Premier League.

Their previous meeting saw Chelsea dump Bolton out of the Carling Cup thanks to a 4-0 thumping, and Ancelotti will be hoping for more of the same from his table-topping team.

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Bolton edged this fine five goal thriller at the Reebok.

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1-0 Lee

Bolton Vs Everton Lee Chung Yong Goal!! Watch the top videos of the week here

2-0 Cahill

2-1 Saha

2-2 Fellaini

3-2 Klasnic

Don't forget to check out Online Football Manager!

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David Moyes had his work cut out for him last season as number of key players were out with injuries but he, nevertheless, led Everton to the fifth place in the Premier League thanks to the great finish of the season. However, this season hasn't had the best of starts for the Toffees even though the boss now has much bigger squad to choose from and it seems that top half finish is the best they can do this term.

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(video gol, 1-0. Likhtarovitch)
(video gol, 1-1. Fellaini)
(video gol, 1-2. Cahill)
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Last year we justified the lack of goals by pointing to a cast iron defensive record. The idea was (correctly, I think) that because the midfielders are more defensive than attacking our men are behind the ball in transition and neither team scores many.

This year's been a bit of a bugger, in that we've already allowed 7 goals.

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Even if you're a loser, if you're with her - you're a winner
UPDATE # 2 - We have a winner. There were 4 entries with 3 correct first goal scorers so we had to go with the tie-breaker - and it was KITSON. Impressive entries with Milner, Doyle, and Vermaelen all selected - alongside of course Rooney and Torres, etc. Click to continue reading...

Here are my thoughts about my 2 teams this past weekend...

DC UNITED

Umm...I thought I was supposed to watch DC United v Seattle Sounders FC this past Saturday. What I saw was Seattle was there. The DC fans were there. The refs showed up. The only thing missing was the home team.

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Hello my dears, I hope you had a lovely weekend. Obviously you could have nothing but as Bolton had their first win in 10 league matches (since April, v. Boro for those of you counting). If you missed the game here are the highlights. Now onto actual analysis instead of me just blabbering on.

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Five things from yesterday:

David Stockdale

I don't think we could have expected much more from the lad. Nothing he could have done about the Cahill header, and whatever else came his way he dealt with nicely. The early deflected shot could have made him look silly but he kept it out (and diverted it out of harm's way), and he made a nice save late on as well.

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Roy Hodgson's men came from a goal down to win this battle at Craven Cottage.

0-1 Cahill

1-1 Konchesky

2-1 Duff

Don't forget to check out Online Football Manager!

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0-1 Cahill 33'1-1 Konchesky 57'2-1 Duff 79'DISCLAIMER: Calcioplus non hosta alcun video pubblicato su di esso. Tutti i video pubblicati sono caricati da amanti di calcio su siti di video hosting come Youtube e Dailymotion ed ubicati dunque su siti esterni a Calcioplus. Calcioplus non è responsabile del contenuto di tali siti web. Click to continue reading...

So unfortunate news, it is looking like Cahill might not get his long sought after big boy's cap after all. John Terry came out with a statement today saying he was fine and he would face Slovenia. Chances are slim that Gary will make it into the lineup. Oh well, still good luck to all 10 traveling Wanderers in the international action this weekend!

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A rampant Gunners destroyed an inept Everton outfit all goals can be viewed here my short blog today is to confirm what I have felt about the performance of this team from pre-season until this fantastic result yesterday. The team's momentum from last season is there. But there is a great difference which should give us all confidence for Arsenal being able to achieve better than last season.

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Hello, and a happy Saturday to you all. It's finally here, finally upon us. The 2009/10 English Premier League, and it's another chance at trophies, new optimism to go along with the typical doom and gloom predictions Arsenal and Arsene Wenger attract on what seems like a yearly basis.

But enough of that.

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Thomas Vermaelen is fit and starts for Arsenal in their first Premiership game of the season. Eduardo is on the bench as Bendtner teams-up with Van Persie up front. Jack Wilshere and Carlos Vela not even on the bench.

Jjoin the discussion in our comments section which will also be active when the game kicks-off.

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Holy hell, how'd we get here? Some 80-odd days since the last ball was kicked in the league and we're back again. I don't really have much to say, I think I've covered how I feel about our defence, and we all know what's going on in midfield and upfront. Going into this match we have six players out - Diaby, Fabianski, Nasri, Walcott, Rosicky andDjourou.

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The Republic of Ireland were on the receiving end of Cahill's goalscoring skills in the recent friendly against the Socceroos.He scored two out of the three goals that Ireland lost the game by.This inspite of the fact that he has a grandmother from Cork and that Cahill is an extremely irish name.

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2 lefts from Cahill and 1 from lefty Carney.
Ireland left stood standing - at home. Click to continue reading...

With the Premier League about to spark into life this weekend, COS reporter Adam Hennessey casts his eye over the players he feels will have an impact this coming season, but players who readers may not know much about.

With the current 'will he, wont he' debate surrounding Joleon Lescott's potential move from Everton to Manchester City, many people are overlooking the other talent at Goodison Park, and whilst they are recognised for players like Lescott, Cahill, Arteta and Yakubu.

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Everton begin this season pretty much where they left off last... a good, but thin squad decimated by injuries. Looking at the possible starting XI below, that's how they will likely line up, but certainly not how they would like to line up. Missing from the eleven are their best player at each level - Arteta, Yakubu and Jagielka. Click to continue reading...

Although it is only a friendly and the result itself will mean little, I am genuinely excited by the upcoming match against the Irish on Thursday morning (even if I am not looking forward to getting up at 4:30am to catch it live). Pim Verbeek has picked, whether by design or need, an extremely youthful side and hopefully some of these fringe players can get a starting run. Click to continue reading...

We never bet on or against them. Unless we do. That's the way it's been since the Big Sam days. You never can tell which team will show up - a tough unit who can play with, and beat, anyone on their day or a team that can be rolled over and made to look like relegation certainties. When they're playing at their best they have danger men all over the pitch - Taylor, Gardner, Davies (who scored 12 goals for Bolton last season). Click to continue reading...

It was the Merseyside derby... in Thailand?

Watching Liverpool FC and the Thai National Team come out of the tunnel side-by-side was eerie: the hosts wore all-blue kits and Chang Beer is their sponsor. I had to double check the tv menu and make sure I was actually watching this morning's pre-season friendly and not an FSC Premier League replay.

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Ok, so maybe this is one of those true rare Cinderalla stories. Anton Peterlin spent his last season playing in the top flight of – brace for it – US Amateur football!
Yes, I said amateur. Peterlin spent his pitch time for the Ventura County Fusion in southern California. Fusion play in the PDL's Southwest division and for those still learning about the layers of football in America, the Premier Development League is the nation's 4th tier of soccer, behind MLS, USL Div 1, and USL Div 2. Click to continue reading...

Fox Sports Simon Hill: "It could be Kaisalautern," as Timmy Cahill bundled home a second against Japan again.
Classic line, great call, although it didn't feel much like Kaisalautern with the style of football.
And the fans:
Nippon always in our shadow. Click to continue reading...

Just seen this come up on Sky Sports news,
It says we have bid £5million for Kyle Naughton - at last a proper transfer story!!
I can't say I know too much about him, though my mate says he looked the mustard in the play-off final defeat against Burnley. If the deal does go through he will join the likes of Lescott, Jags and Cahill as players who have joined us from the Championship - and all of them have gone on to be full internationals. Click to continue reading...

Player Ratings for the Season

Howard 8 - Solid overall, has made some silly mistakes (who doesn't), but he did beat Southall's shut out record in the Premiership. Also the only player to play every single minute of every match.

Hibbert 6.5 - Found some great form mid season and was looking unbeatable, then injury struck.

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The Band of Brothers

The first part of the season offered little cheer. Apart from the signing of David Moyes to a new 5 year contract, overall, Everton appeared to be in decline. It was only the poor showing from the rest of the league that meant Everton were not already involved in a relegation battle.

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I reckon Timmy Cahill has no chance tonight in the FA Cup Final, and I won't be watching. Well last year I watched Portsmouth that was dire and the year before that I didn't watch, I rarely do.
I grew up watching Celtic in the Scottish Cup Final every year at Hampden Park, it seemed like it at least, so the English Cup Final often passed me by or maybe it was because it almost always a boring end of season snorefest. Click to continue reading...

After 759 matches, some 3,023 goals and 759 teams eliminated, 2 teams stand at the cusp of FA Cup glory. The world's most famous cup competition started on 16 August 2008 will reach its climax on Saturday 30 May 2009. It is Chelsea versus Everton for the 128th instalment of the FA Cup competition.
image from Soccernet
Chelsea will want to win this trophy as consolation for a troubled season by their own high standards. Click to continue reading...

Ok first of all a big "hello" to UK Football Finder. For some unknown reason I have been invited to write a blog on the Chelsea v Everton FA Cup Final on Saturday. A big disclaimer first, most of my football knowledge is based on the 80s when men were men, TJ Hooker ruled and you could pass back to the goalkeeper to kill off a game nicely and frustrate all and sundry as did the "great" Liverpool teams of the 80s.

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Some interesting stuff on the chalkboards.

First: Clint's charged down shots. Everton were really in his face weren't they?
Second: Zoltan Gera. I thought he'd played badly, but he was doing a lot of work in and around their area, which we don't see too often from Fulham players, so perhaps he was more dangerous than I gave him credit for.

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They Think It's All Over... picks the Premier League Team of the Season. Such selections are always contraversial so have a read and then have your say! Click to continue reading...