Yes, despite cara's hectic schedule with the selecao late last week, Brazil's Felipe Melo found the time to answer Futbolita's questions. En realidad, we spent the whole day running in the airport and walking in the rain last Friday before the all-important call from Felipe's agent came through!

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It would seem this vuvuzela thing is, at the very least, unpopular. As a direct result of its popularity, of course. Xabi Alonso left the Confederations Cup poo-pooing the vuvuzela and its effect on the field of play. The cacophony a bit too intense for such things as hearing the whistles and one's teammates not things entirely insignificant.

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It is hard to see England overcome Brazil even if they were at full strength with Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, and Glen Johnson given how the Brazilians moved with ease around the pitch. Meanwhile, the English attack was barely able to make a dent.

Fabio Capello probably knows by now that Brazil is the team to beat.

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Took some time this weekend and added tags to the blog. So now you can look for articles by topic as opposed to just searching or looking by time frame. It should make it easier to find some topics and see what I write about the most. I hope to finally get my act together with tags moving forward. Click to continue reading...

Goal video highlights from the Spain vs Argentina international friendly on November 14, 2009. Game KO time- 19.45 from the Vicente Calderon, Madrid. The new Adidas kits for Spain and Argentina were worn for the first time in this game. Full time final score :- Spain 2-1 Argentina ( Xabi Alonso 16′, 85′ pen/ Lionel Messi [. Click to continue reading...

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by FRANCO PANIZO

With the World Cup in sight, most of this weekend's attention will be towards the remaining qualifiers, but there are a few high-profile friendlies on tap today that might be just as exciting.

England-Brazil is one of those matches, as the Three Lions will took to topple Brazil for the first time since 1990, a stretch of seven games that includes a 2-1 loss in the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup.

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by FRANCO PANIZO

With the World Cup in sight, most of this weekend's attention will be towards the remaining qualifiers, but there are a few high-profile friendlies on tap today that might be just as exciting.

England-Brazil is one of those matches, as the Three Lions will took to topple Brazil for the first time since 1990, a stretch of seven games that includes a 2-1 loss in the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup.

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New Zealand is headed to the World Cup.

After a scoreless first leg, New Zealand booked its passage to South Africa 2010 by defeating Bahrain 1-0 on Saturday in front of their home crowd at Westpac Stadium. It took a 45th minute goal from Rory Fallon and a penalty save from Mark Paston to give New Zealand the victory on aggregate, and a place in next year's World Cup.

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New Zealand is headed to the World Cup.

After a scoreless first leg, New Zealand booked its passage to South Africa 2010 by defeating Bahrain 1-0 on Saturday in front of their home crowd at Westpac Stadium. It took a 45th minute goal from Rory Fallon and a penalty save from Mark Paston to give New Zealand the victory on aggregate, and a place in next year's World Cup.

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The new Spain 2010 World Cup football shirt has been released. It is the second shirt that the Spanish national football team has unveiled this year, after their Confederations Cup shirt. The jersey has been manufactured by Adidas, who seem to have drawn inspiration from the strip worn by the national side in the [. Click to continue reading...

The new Argentina soccer jersey, which will be worn by the Albicelestes at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, has been released. The shirt has been manufactured by Adidas, and is the official kit of the Argentine national football team for the 2010-11 season. And as you would expect from the Albicelestes, the Argentina [. Click to continue reading...

By Clemente Lisi - NEW YORK, NY (Nov 12, 2009) USSoccerPlayers -- The United States National Team traveled to Bratislava this week to play World Cup-bound Slovakia on Saturday in a high-profile friendly meant to help Bob Bradley's squad build experience ahead of 2010. The game will also be the first test since the Confederations Cup in June that doesn't involve a CONCACAF opponent, giving Bradley a real taste of what the World Cup in. Click to continue reading...

Fábio Aurélio

On Thursday, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) announced that Liverpool's Fábio Aurélio has a problem with his left calf muscle  and would not face England in Qatar on November 14th and Oman three days later. The last time the leftback was called up for Brazil was by Carlos Alberto Parreira for the Confederations Cup in 2003.

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A busy show as Brian Zygo brings us a locker room report from Robertson Stadium after Houston's 1-0 win over Seattle in the MLS Playoffs.

Aaron Davidson, the President of Miami FC joins us to answer questions about today's press release from the TOA declaring the intent to form a new professional league in the US and Canada.

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Well, it's official the maddening buzz of the vuvuzela will be heard at the World Cup (assuming you don't gouge out your eardrums for fear of suffering through a month of aural torture before then). Says SABC News:

During the Confederations Cup earlier this year, players and the international media complained about the noise made by the vuvuzela.

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The Sin: Pride is often called the "ultimate sin" because it leads to so many of the other sins. According to Proverbs 16:18, "Pride goeth before destruction". It's true, too. I define "pride" as the unwillingness to view one's own abilities objectively, or to put it bluntly insincere self-respect.

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Things are heating up in Nigeria as the U-17 World Cup enters the quarter finals stage with games being played on the 8th and 9th of November. Champions Nigeria who are the sole remaining African representatives in the tournament will be looking to retain the title they won in 2007 and add on to the one that their fellow compatriots Ghana won in the u-20 world cup earlier last month.

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These USA vs Italy matches have gotten to be quite something. The U- 17 World Cup match today was no exception. A missed penalty made the difference.

The USA had their chances including a penalty awarded for a handball on Federico Mannini in the 17th minute. But Jack McInerney saw his penalty kick saved by replacement goalie Francesco Bardi.

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When I travel abroad, people often tell me that the United States is good at soccer only because they import foreigners to play for the national team. While this strategy was key in our development as a soccer nation, it is far, far less common today. The 1990s saw the US scour European leagues for players with American connections, coming up with gems such as Ernie Stewart and Thomas Dooley (both of whom had American servicemen fathers) and duds such as David Wagner and David Regis (the latter was a Frenchman whose late call-up into the 1998 World Cup squad led to great friction within the team and was a large part of the team's horrible showing in that tournament).

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Well, I'm at home for reasons that would bore the hell out of you, might as well fake liveblog it.
Preceding program - Who Killed the USFL? Fascinating. Probably not what an MLS fan wants to see.
Wow, a sellout! I mean, David Beckham. Not attendance. I talk a lot about how illegitimate Chivas USA is, how bad they are for MLS, how bad they are for soccer, and what a great day it will be when they finally dry up and blow away. Click to continue reading...

Nothing wrong with this picture whatsoever. It's a novel idea compile a ranking which will help determine the world's best player. Castrol did it for the Confederations Cup and now they're unleashing for all of world football. Well, by "world football" they mean "Europe's top 5 leagues" Spain, England, Italy, Germany and France. Click to continue reading...

After the first games of the Confederations Cup in South Africa last summer, Sepp Blatter was reported to be hopping mad about the constant, pulsating drone of the now-familiar vuvuzela, that "traditional African instrument" (a historical tribal tradition which seems to date back to the very dawn of 2001). Click to continue reading...

FC Porto striker Hulk has earned his first ever call-up to the Brazilian national team. Brazilian manager Dunga gave the striker a call-up for next month's friendlies against England and Oman.

Hulk will be lining up against some of Brazil's brightest stars when he makes his international debut, as his fellow strikers will be Manchester City's Robinho, Villareal's Nilmar, and Confederations Cup sensation Luis Fabiano of Sevilla.

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First things first, the US MNT has added another friendly to the November schedule by announcing their stop in Slovakia four days before playing Denmark, which will make for a good pair of measuring stick matches against a couple of fellow World Cup qualifiers on European soil. Both Slavakia and Denmark finished atop their UEFA qualifying groups, so these matches should provide a good show of where we stand against quality competition several months removed from the Confederations Cup.

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Miracles happen right? The Yanks lost the 1st two games of the Confederations Cup and still miracled thier ass to the final. In 2008 RBNY were only a margianlly better team than they were this season and they made it all the way out west to MLS Cup. And despite all attempts to kill themselves at Massachusetts Big-E Fair, over 1,000K a day ate a Craz-E burger and lived.

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He led his nation through qualifying, assisting in or scoring almost every big goal along the way. He impressed the world during the Confederations Cup, scoring a classic counter-attack goal against...

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QUESTION ON MY MIND
Will we ever know what happened in the Charlie Davies car accident? Who was driving? How did the crash occur? What was he doing out past 3am? Maybe he had special dispensation from the coach to be out late. Who knows.
Maybe this info is too private, but I know that these are things the fans would like to read about. Click to continue reading...

The 30 name shortlist for the 2009 Ballon d'Or nominees has been announced, a formality they may well have dispensed with as we all know Lionel Messi will walk away with the trophy. I did note however, one glaring fact when scrolling down the list of the largely usual suspects – not a single Italian is to be found.

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One of the most frustrating parts of the qualifying campaign was the lack of goals scored by our strikers. Vincenzo Iaquinta can't seem to buy a goal, Giuseppe Rossi hasn't looked as great as he did in the Confederations Cup, and overall the team just didn't finish well. But, is there a sign of life?

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Photo by ISIphotos.com

Landon Donovan won his sixth Honda Player of the Year award on Tuesday, also earning Honda Player of the Decade honors in the process.

The award, which goes to the top U.S. national team player, was voted on by 221 members of the American sports media.

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Photo by ISIphotos.com

Landon Donovan won his sixth Honda Player of the Year award on Tuesday, also earning Honda Player of the Decade honors in the process.

The award, which goes to the top U.

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The South African Football Association have parted company with manager Joel Santana after a string of poor results. Santana, who took over from Carlos Alberto Parreira in April 2008 as Bafana coach, was fired after the national team lost eight of their last nine internationals. South Africa's 1-0 loss to Iceland was the last straw [. Click to continue reading...

Bafana's Brazilian coach, Joel Santana, is out of a job. Pallid performances and pitiful results sunk the former Flamengo coach. "In the bigger picture and the interest of the country," said Mandla Mazibuko, SAFA vice-president, "he [Santana] realized while he was doing his best, his best was not good enough.

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With the Ballon d'Or nominations finally releasing this weekend, the headlines have mostly been devoted to the fact that world champions Italy have no representation whatsoever. But why blame the press for paying excessive attention to an irrelevant detail? After all, the award itself is destined to be heading Lionel Messi's way, which means very little is there to be talked about in terms of debating the winner, right?

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Has any week in the modern history of American soccer contained the kinds of highs and lows that we witnessed last week? It's taken me all the way until now to be able to sit and really think about what happened starting with the win over Honduras and ending Wednesday night at RFK.
Let's start with the win over Honduras. Click to continue reading...