Saturday's World Cup qualifiers in the CONCACAF region were supposed to help clear things up in the race to make the 2010 World Cup, but the results have only served to make it even tougher to tell which teams will qualify and which will struggle.

Mexico's 3-0 romp in Costa Rica, coupled with Honduras' 4-1 thrashing of Trinidad & Tobago means four teams are within a point of each other atop the CONCACAF standings.

Except for the UEFA Champions League final in Rome, no match this calendar year will be bigger, yet you've probably only tangentially heard that Brazil is going to Argentina this weekend for World Cup qualifying.
"That's cool," you might say (you don't mind if I quote you, do you).

A lot of news agencies are reporting that Sir Alex Ferguson has ruled out any other signings prior to the close of the transfer window. That's not quite the case. In an interview with The Independent, Ferguson admitted that, after the Burnley match, he saw considerable problems with his United side.

I haven't had the best of days, although I won't bore you with the details.
But as I was driving home listening to Talk Sport I heard some news that lifted my spirits and made my own silly little troubles pale into insignificance.
Remember this story?
Well if you had not heard already, Michael Sheilds has been released today with a full royal pardon.

FIFA's international Fairplay Day didn't go so well in China.
Refs in the Chinese Super League were spit at, verbally assaulted and had shoes throw out 'em by players on club officials from numerous teams.
Penalties were handed out like fliers to offenders in the wild league by the Chinese FA.

Saturday's World Cup qualifiers in the CONCACAF region were supposed to help clear things up in the race to make the 2010 World Cup, but the results have only served to make it even tougher to tell which teams will qualify and which will struggle.

Mexico's 3-0 romp in Costa Rica, coupled with Honduras' 4-1 thrashing of Trinidad & Tobago means four teams are within a point of each other atop the CONCACAF standings.

Like every weekend here in the Premier League this week's upcoming matches will be a battle to say the least. Many well matched opponents will be squaring off this weekend and looking for a strong start to their September campaigns. Here is a list of the biggest matches of the upcoming weekend.

George Burley's future as Scotland manager may be hanging in the balance but Ally McCoist believes the national team's problems date back much further than the current regime.

The former Scotland striker always had faith in his nation's ability to compete against the best in the world and that belief was reinforced when he took his seat alongside the Tartan Army at Hampden and watched Burley's men match the might of Holland.

Olympique Marseille have made a big progress during the last few years and they have again become one of the strongest teams in France but the last two Champions League campaigns are the proof Marseille are not yet ready for the big stage. Didier Deschamps' team completely outplayed Milan in their opening Champions League match but still somehow managed to lose the game and this shows the team are yet to prove they've got winning mentality.

Both Lanus and San Lorenzo began their Copa Sudamericana campaigns proper during the last couple of days, and they had very contrasting fortunes in their first legs. San Lorenzo battered Peruvian club Cienciano 3-0 in the Nuevo Gasometro, whilst Lanus found themselves two goals down after six minutes against Ecuador's LDU Quito, and chasing the [.

If I recall correctly the average attendance in the Indonesian League back in 2007 was about 11,000. For the season just completed it was always going to be a lot less given that clubs like PSMS, Persitara, Persija and Persija couldn't use their own stadiums for what ever reason.
In addition clubs like Arema, Deltras and PSIS had less than impressive campaigns.

Before the season started, I knew little about this Burnley side. I like to see former top-flight stalwarts come up and Burnley one of the orginal 12 sides in the Football League haven't been up in 33 years. But apart from that, I knew no reason why they shouldn't be on track to follow Derby County and West Bromwich Albion straight back down.