In honor of Ryan Cochrane's new lip monster...
...it's time to review some of the great mustaches in football history. Feel free to suggest others.
Carlos ValderramaHis look just wouldn't be right without it, the 'stache completes him.

Thierry HenryHe like to get handsy with it.

Featuring Germany World Cup 2006 and 2010 star Lukas Podolski, 1. FC Köln is a German professional football club based in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs Kölner Ballspiel-Club 1901 and SpVgg Sülz 07. The club finished the 2009/10 German Bundesliga season in 13th place and is [.

Between Gervinho's forehead and Juan Mata's chin (above) Arsenal
should score a number of goals

The 10 day deadline set by Arsenal seems to have worked as Barca after forging a war by proxy actually flew in Josep Maria Bartomeu, their vice president and director Raul Sanllehi to London to negotiate for Cesc Fabregas's transfer.

Video- First Arsenal Gervinho Goals vs Cologne 2011 Debut Pre-season Friendly is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Video- First Arsenal Gervinho Goals vs Cologne 2011 Debut Pre-season Friendly is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter This 7th minute Gervinho goal vs Cologne (Koln) was the Ivorian's first ever Arsenal goal.

It is not easy to summarise this summer's pre-season, a summer of expectations, a summer of very, very disappointing results. We played six games in less than a month: Malaysia All-Stars XI, Hangzhou Greentown, Cologne, Boca ...

The Game Mixed feelings after today's game as the Gunners battled their way past Cologne at the RheinEnergieStadion, in Germany. Needless to say, one has to start with Gervinho's performance. After officially joining this week, the Ivory ...

1. Are Dortmund even better this season?

After a sublime performance against HSV on Friday night, the question has to be asked. Dortmund's quick passing and interchange left HSV bewildered. The return of Kagawa has given fresh verve to Dortmund's attack.

We hate to be the bearer of sad news, but this 1-year-old girl suffered the worst bruises (and possibly a bone crack above her nose) in the car accident involving Germany's Lukas Podolski in Cologne two days ago. There is some controversy involved as the child's mother, Ulrike, has accused Lukas of being ignorant (which is pretty unfair to the striker, to be honest!

Hamburg ( Hamburger SV) vs Koln ( Cologne) 19th March, 2011- German Bundesliga Final score:- Hamburg 6-2 Koln Hamburg ride on the back of a hat trick from Croatian international Mladen Petric to crush Koln 6-2 in the Bundesliga. Hamburg v Koln 1-0 ( Petric goal 12′) Hamburg vs Koln 2-0 ( Ben Hatira goal [.

The Game After ending the Asia Tour with an easy win and a disappointing draw, Arsenal's pre-season continues today as we travel to Germany to face FC Cologne. With Gervinho and Lukasz Fabianski both in the squad, ...

Both figuratively and literally.

The noise surrounding Hoffenheim's sonic intervention on Saturday keeps getting louder. Hoffenheim's groundkeepr, lone perpetrator or scapegoat, apparently had a helping hand and nearby stewards being in the know. He also has been operating his "self made" boom box in previous home games against Mainz, Cologne, Frankfurt and again Dortmund as well though it was never as loud as on Saturday.

Saturday EPL on ESPN2: Wolverhampton - Swansea at 7:30am. Fox Soccer has Newcastle - Wigan at 9:30am, Liverpool - Norwich at 12:30pm, and Bolton, Sunderland at 5pm. Aston Villa - WBA is on Fox Soccer Plus at 9:30am. Championship on Fox Soccer Plus: Reading - Southampton at 2pm and Blackpool - Nottingham Forest at 4pm.

German striker Lukas Podolski is being linked with Arsenal (again?) after the English club sent scouts to the Cologne star's match against Borussia Monchengladbach.

Podolski is thought to fit the mold of a partner for Robin van Persie to help tempt the goal-scoring Dutchman to stick around.

BERLIN, Germany — Hanover went second in the Bundesliga on Sunday with an impressive 3-0 win at Eintracht Frankfurt, but leaders Borussia Dortmund remain 12 points clear at the top. First-half goals by Norwegian striker Mohammed Abdellaoue and defender Christian Schulz put Mirko Slomka's Hanover in control before Ivory Coast striker Didier Ya Konan added [.

Dortmund need to postpone their lap of honor through the Bundesliga. Manuel Neuer may have made the "next big step" in his career from one Europa League bound club to another. A wild winning spree at the bottom of the table leaves Cologne and St. Pauli as this weekend's biggest losers.

Leverkusen 2-1 Hoffenheim.

English speaking BVB fans are on cloud nine. Their German speaking counterparts are on cloud seven. But maybe there's a way to bring the two together for the big party on May 14th. Roman Weidenfeller will volunteer as a translator. A 2-0 victory over Nuremberg clinched Dortmund's seventh German championship and the first title after nine years, thanks to Leverkusen doing, what Leverkusen does best.

Some fairly encouraging signs were noted in our away victory against Cologne yesterday, Gervinho's excellent goals and performance in particular. The biggest down was the injury to Conor Henderson, fingers crossed it is not a really serious one and good luck to the lad. The absence of Armand Traore was interesting, it may signal something big or he may have picked up a minor injury, I'm sure

0-1 Gervinho

0-2 Gervinho 16′

1-2 Jenkinson (Own goal) 45′

PS Want an action packed movie, check out 'Season of the witch' below:

Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere was delighted with yesterday's win over Cologne, in Germany, as he was full of praise for new arrival Gervinho. Speaking to Arsenal Player after the game, the Englishman confessed that the friendly ...

Young Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere was full of praise for new teammate Gervinho following the club's 2-1 friendly win over Cologne. Gervinho scored both goals for the Gunners, and Wilshere is confident that the Ivorian can go on to score 10 to 15 goals this season.

"I think his first touch was a goal, if he can keep carry on that form this season we have a new player who can get in 10 or 15 goals a season," Wilshere said.

One word: Impressive. As the saying goes, you do not get a second chance to make a first impression, and as this one goes by, it was impressive stuff. The £10million signing from French champions Lille was the star of the show as the Gunners overcame FC Cologne 2-0 in a pre-season friendly. Despite sporting [.

Video-Gervinho Red Card vs Newcastle 2011 Debut- Gervinho Barton Fight is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Video-Gervinho Red Card vs Newcastle 2011 Debut- Gervinho Barton Fight is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter This Gervinho red card vs Newcastle saw the Ivorian star get sent off in his Premier League debut against the Magpies on 13th August, 2011.

Mais um jogo das eliminatórias da Euro 2012, foi realizada no dia 07/06/2011, na cidade de Baku-AZE, no Tofik Bakhramov Republican Stadium, onde jogaram as seleções do Azerbaijão (108º no ranking da FIFA) e a seleção da Alemanha (4º no ranking da FIFA).
Antes desse jogo, as 2 seleções jogaram:
Eliminatórias Continentais
2010Hanover 09/09/2009 GER4:0 (1:0)AZE First stage2010Baku 12/08/2009 AZE0:2 (0:1)GER First stage
Cologne 07/09/2010 GER6:1 (3:0)AZE O árbitro desse jogo, foi: Michael Koukoulakis-GRE
O primeiro gol do jogo, foi de Mesut Özil, aos 29 minutos do primeiro tempo, ele que é jogador do Real Madrid-ESP, que marcou seu quarto gol pela seleção nacional.

There has been some media rumbling about the supposed strained relationship between Schalke coach Ralf Rangnick (pressing, quick transitions, running) and Schalke striker Raul (icon, legend, artist). Saturday's 5-1 thrashing of Cologne probably offered the best of both worlds. And after looking at Raul's umpteenth chipped beauty that made it 4-1, you might agree with fromer Frankfurt striker turned TV pundit Jan Åge Fjørtoft, who tweeted:

#schalke coach ragnick said #raul is not running enough.

ass="content"> Annual video gaming expo Gamescom 2011 is underway in Cologne, German this week . Given the importance of this tradeshow to video game makers, new trailers for the upcoming games abound. One of them is for the highly-anticipated soccer game EA Sports FIFA 12 (also called FIFA Soccer 12).

Saturday EPL on ESPN2: Arsenal - Liverpool at 7:30am. Everton - QPR is on Fox Soccer at 10am along with Chelsea - WBA at 12:30pm and Aston Villa - Blackburn at 2:30pm. Fox Soccer Plus has Swansea - Wigan at 2:30pm. Championship on Fox Soccer Plus: Forest - Leicester at 10am and Petersborough - Ipswich Town at 12pm.

• Schalke fans gave Manuel Neuer a warm and cozy welcome. (Dirty Tackle)
• Tommy George spent a weekend of football in Berlin... (In Bed With Maradona)
• ...where Patrick Ebert learned to control his madness. (Deutsche Welle)
• Dortmund woke up in a harsh post-Championship reality.

Posiciones Bundesliga 2011/2012 Fecha 9
Enlace
Ps. Equipo JJ G E P GA GP DF Pts. 1 Bayern M. 9 7 1 1 25 1 24 22 2 Borussia M. 9 5 2 2 11 6 5 17 3 B. Dortmund 9 5 1 3 15 7 8 16 4 Stuttgart 9 5 1 3 14 6 8 16 5 Werder Bremen 9 5 1 3 16 12 4 16 6 Schalke 04 9 5 0 4 18 15 3 15 7 Hannover 96 9 4 3 2 11 12 -1 15 8 B.

Wigan away tomorrow and a 7am start from Sussex. The full horror of the 3-2 defeat a couple of seasons back still haunts me but we must travel with confidence although they did win last week so will be about as buoyant aas they could be when the face us. Great.

We managed a 2-2 draw last term and AW has had his say ahead of the Premier League encounter at the DW/JJB/ASBO Stadium and he has reflected on recent results going ginto tomorrow's game.

Which are the best soccer teams or leagues in the world? Of course we can see which teams win more matches, and for leagues, UEFA's league coefficient allows us to answer that question with a fair amount of precision. Less systematic but popular ways of determining league or team quality involves looking at international head-to-head competition, or evaluating which leagues attract the best players and managers.

It seems that people are always looking to find value for money, and never more so than in tough economic times. Football's no different, so to help us look for value in football from a supporter's perspective, I dug up some interesting data from Stadionwelt.de, the very helpful portal with stadium-related statistics.

The Philadelphia Union continued the revamping of its second-year squad on Thursday with the announced signings of Colombian goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon and Colombian defender Carlos Valdes.

Mondragon, 39, joins the Union from German side Cologne while Valdes, 25, comes to MLS from Colombian club Independiente Santa Fe.

CHESTER, Pa. — Goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon, the 39-year-old former starter for Colombia's national team, has agreed to a contract with Major League Soccer's Philadelphia Union along with Colombian defender Carlos Valdes. Mondragon terminated his contract last month with Cologne in Germany's Bundesliga.

CHESTER, Pa. — Goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon, the 39-year-old former starter for Colombia's national team, has agreed to a contract with Major League Soccer's Philadelphia Union along with Colombian defender Carlos Valdes. Mondragon terminated his contract last month with Cologne in Germany's Bundesliga.

We are in fortunate times of technological evolution, when scouting can be done on the YouTube, McTransfers achieved with lightning speed and Twitter used to remove money from the pockets of professional athletes.

Of course sometimes the technology breaks, felling a transfer with the simple and seemingly inconsequential act of a paper jam.

We are in fortunate times of technological evolution, when scouting can be done on the YouTube, McTransfers achieved with lightning speed and Twitter used to remove money from the pockets of professional athletes.

Of course sometimes the technology breaks, felling a transfer with the simple and seemingly inconsequential act of a paper jam.

MUNCIH, Germany — Bayern Munich's title aspirations suffered a major blow on Saturday as relegation-threatened Cologne hit back from 2-0 down to inflict a 3-2 defeat on the defending champions. Bayern were cruising after first-half goals by Germany striker Mario Gomez, his 16th in 19 league matches, and Turkey midfielder Hamit Altintop.

FC Koln beat Bayern Munich 3-2 today to lift them out of the bottom two in the Bundesliga after coming from two goals down.

BERLIN, Germany — Werder Bremen moved out of the relegation zone after Per Mertesacker equalized in a fiery 1-1 draw at home to Hannover in the Bundesliga on Sunday. The defender's header in the 50th minute cancelled out a strike from Didier Ya Konan to leave Bremen 14th in the standings, one point above relegation [.

Steve Cherundolo and Hannover will hope to hold their momentum and push towards second place in Cologne while Edson Buddle and Ingolstadt will look to make it two in a row on their visit to FSV Frankfurt.