Great news today coming out of the club with the news that John Terry was back to training normally
and Joe and Ashley Cole were both involved today after their injury problems. It was thought that
Ash would be out longer but has made a great recovery. There were reports that Joe and Ashley were
involved in training so far as that it was strictly under non-contact orders from the club.
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What the hell is going on with our injuries at the moment. As reported on here before, Jose
Bosingwa is out. Ashley Cole is out and we are yet to have confirmation when he will return. Frank
Lampard is out for three weeks. Didier Drogba has now been confirmed as out for three weeks with a
rib injury suffered when Jonny Evans peformed his Karate Kick on him and got away with it and John
Terry had to pull out of the England v Brazil game with an ankle problem but he hopes to be fit to
face Wolves next weekend.
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I wrote the following before I got the news that "Van Persie has torn his anterior inferior
tibiofibular ligament, and his anterior talofibular ligament has unfortunately snapped- hes out for
the rest of the season." No club confirmation yet, so let's hope this is just some little
journalist jumping the gun.
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Arseblog 15 November @ 04:10 AM EST
Well, it had to happen, didn't it? The Interlull had been so dull and tedious the only thing
that could spark a bit of life into it was an injury to one of our players. It certainly wasn't
going to be the football as anyone who sat through the Sunday park football shitstravaganza that
was Ireland v France last night will tell you.
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Nicklas Bendtner has claimed his most prestigious award yet after being named the Danish
Footballer of the Year for 2009.
The award was presented to the injury-striken front-man in a special programme called Dansk
Fodbold Award on the TV2 television network in his homeland.
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Sad reports are surfacing over the past hour that German national team goalkeeper Robert Enke has
committed suicide. We have not yet seen official confirmation and will continue to look for it, but
Enke reportedly had thrown himself under a train.
So, while we spend our days discussing David N'Gog's Tom Daley-esque diving skills and find humor
from all corners of this beautiful game, we sometimes need to put it all in perspective.
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Soccerblog 05 November @ 09:15 AM EST
The British Empire fought for this!
The Daily Mail goes patriotic after Jan Moir's homophobic innuendo and their divers perp walk.
But it seems a bit fascist in its endeavour. After all, the very people they want to honour fought
that scourge in World War II. And yes, it is also true that the British Empire was not welcome in
many countries.
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When the story first broke that Newcastle United's Mike Ashley had decided to sell the naming
rights to St James Park, it seemed unlikely that he was doing it with the best interests of the
supporters of the club at heart. However, the confirmation made this week that for the rest of this
season St James Park will be known as "sportsdirect.
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Ahead of Sundays game at Birmingham I had the chance to catch up with Kev, who runs the Birmingham
City blog 'Joys and Sorrows' to gage the mood ahead of the game and to pose one or two questions
about how the season has been going so far.
How has Joe Hart fared this season? Would you like to sign permanently and will that happen?
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Newcastle United manager-in-waiting Chris Hughton, heaped praise on the players after the 2-1 win
over Doncaster Rovers at the weekend. Rumours suggested that Hughton would be appointed as
permanent manager before the game but there's been no official confirmation of that, possibly
because Ashley is still considering Barry Moat's latest offer for the club.
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ATLETICO DE MADRID Coach has been fired. The ex-Coach ABEL gave a brief press conference at 10.30
to announce the decisionwere not questions were allowed.According to a NEWS flash NOW in "Marca",
the new Coach will beex-Valencia & ex-Benfica Coach QUIQUE SANCHEZ FLORES.We will need to wait to
get a 100% confirmation but everythinglooks like that the said new Coach will be in charge for
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Chicago Fire 1 Chivas USA 0
Game story
Another drab, missed opportunity for Chivas USA.
They are masters of the bleeding obvious over at Chivas USA public relations, BTW:
Chivas USA now owns a record of 13-10-6 (W-L-T), and remains tied atop the Western
Conference with the Houston Dynamo and the LA Galaxy with 45 points.
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That's according to Brian Boswell, coach of the Rolling Hills Estates-based Women's Professional
Soccer League club Ajax America (for years now one of the top women's teams in the nation and a
WPSL finalist again last year) and a sometime contributor to this blog.
The revelations were contained in what is essentially a begging letter circulating via e-mail
that seeks to ensure the continued existence of Ajax.
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Anfield Talk 17 October @ 12:07 PM EST
Alberto Aquilani has undergone two training sessions with his Liverpool team-mates and all that is
left to finalise his return is to improve his match fitness, according to Rafael Benitez, who
confirmed the news to the club's official website on Saturday.
The Italian was bought in the summer, as a replacement for Real Madrid-bound Xabi Alonso, but has
been sidelined since his transfer due to an ankle injury.
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WVHooligan 16 October @ 04:22 PM EST
Thanks to a couple Portland readers for sending this link my way from OregonLive.com. It seems
like damage control in Portland has gone into full gear after Wednesday's comments from Merritt
Paulson who said there would be no MLS in Portland without a new baseball stadium.
Well now it appears the Paulson is once again a "100% committed" to Portland's MLS efforts.
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KICKETTE 15 October @ 07:32 AM EST
You read that correctly. Berba is a papa. His girlfriend Elena gave birth in the early hours of
this morning to a little girl.
Mom and baby are doing fine.
Good night all round for Dimi, as he was out on the pitch knocking in three goals for Bulgaria
in their World Cup qualifier against Georgia.
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KICKETTE 15 October @ 07:32 AM EST
You read that correctly. Berba is a papa. His girlfriend Elena gave birth in the early hours of
this morning to a little girl.
Mom and baby are doing fine.
Good night all round for Dimi, as he was out on the pitch knocking in three goals for Bulgaria
in their World Cup qualifier against Georgia.
Click to continue reading...
Its been just over a month since I last put fingers to keyboard and tapped out a paragraph or two
for this blog and a lot has happened in that time. Crowds continue to be a major talking point and
I was very pleased to see Gold Coast and Brisbane take steps to reduce their ticket prices and make
them more affordable for the general fan.
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Barcaloco 14 October @ 02:08 PM EST
FC Barcelona's heart and soul in the midfield is questionable for Saturdays big match up against
Valencia. The Spanish international returned back to Barcelona early from his international duty
following a knee injury suffered in Spain's 2-1 victory over Armenia.
Xavi participated in training sessions on Wednesday following the confirmation by team doctors
that in fact he had suffered a knee injury.
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Soccerblog 06 October @ 11:32 PM EST
Scientists from a Spanish University have cloned some pigs and have named one of them after Kaka
if this report is to be believed.They have even posted a picture and the resemblance is quite
remarkable - right down to the Real Madrid uniform.However just in case the thing turns out to be
an elaborate hoax you can check out the University of Murcia website here for
confirmation.
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With J Hutcherson -- Yesterday's shakeup in Under-20 World Cup Group C might not have been
predictable, but it wasn't exactly shocking. At the age level tournaments, a wide swing isn't rare.
It's also not distinct to Germany, the United States, Cameroon, and South Korea. For every
unabashed crash out after making it this far, there's confirmation of the idea that very few teams
walk through the group stage.
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Off the Post 25 September @ 03:50 AM EST
If you thought Becks was sweet enough... I don't know whether Tutankhamun ever experimented with
designer stubble, but if he did he might have looked a bit like this chocolate sculpture of David
Beckham. A Manchester chocolatier had the bright idea of creating a tasty tribute to the ex-England
skipper.
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The Offside 10 September @ 03:47 PM EST
The above chipped beauty by a 40 year old Dennis Bergkamp, while playing for "Ajax Seniors" has
been a minor internet revelation. And rightly so. It's a reminder of what an incredible talent
Bergkamp was, and also a confirmation of the old motto: "Class is permanent". Bergkamp's bit of
genius got me thinking.
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Arseblog 10 September @ 02:14 AM EST
Goodbye! Cheerio! See ya later, Interlull. Yeah, that's right. Pack your bags and shove off.
Thankfully it's over. It seems like the longest Interlull of all time and there have been many
lengthy and tedious ones in the past. At this moment in time there don't appear to be any
casualties but we'll have to wait for official confirmation of that.
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With confirmation that Danny Allsopp has left for Qatar club Al-Rayyan Sports, Melbourne Victory
has lost not only one of its two primary scoring targets but a long time servant of the club.
Of course the writing has been on the wall (or in this case within the forums) for a week now after
Allsopp failed to not only take the field against Newcastle but wasn't even present at the game.
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Confirmation of the new captain to replace the departed Richard Dunne:
"He has all the attributes you need to be a good captain – great enthusiasm for the
game, and is nice and vocal in the dressing room and before, during and after games. And he wants
to drive the club forward.
"We are very lucky to now have that mentality in our dressing room with a lot of the lads, who
could all carry the mantle of being a football team captain.
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Next weekend's game against Getafe, scheduled for Sunday 13th September, could be moved to Saturday
12th September, reports Madrid based tabloid As(s).Barcelona have requested that the game be
rescheduled to give the squad more time to prepare for the Champions League group stage game
against Inter Milan on 16th September.
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We still await for official confirmation from either ourselves or Aston Villa with regards to the
signing of Richard Dunne, with the Premier League yet to ratify the move (although the FA are
believed to be satisfied all is in order).
The sticking point as far as we are led to believe was down to the potential pay off from the club
that Dunne may be set to receive, but although there is still the possibility the deal will not be
completed, I have been informed from a very reliable source the deal will be confirmed and Dunne
will become an Aston Villa player.
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The 5pm deadline has passed and, although news may still come through, at this stage Tal Ben-Haim
has been the only piece of business conducted today.
Whilst the reports of Martin Petrov may have been a non-story, it is Richard Dunne that is the
intriguing situation. It was expected that his move to Aston Villa would be completed but at the
time of writing this nothing has been confirmed.
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Matuidi
So here we are again, its not that long ago I was here throughout the Andrey Arshavin saga.
Well, thats what it feels like anyway.
You can get all the rumours, confirmation of signings and general deadline day talk right here
on The Goon Blog.
The most likely signings are Blaise Matuidi and Marouane
Chamakh and the most likely departure is one Philippe Senderos who at one
point, had a sealed move to Everton.
Click to continue reading...
Matuidi
So here we are again, its not that long ago I was here throughout the Andrey Arshavin saga.
Well, thats what it feels like anyway.
You can get all the rumours, confirmation of signings and general deadline day talk right here
on The Goon Blog.
The most likely signings are Blaise Matuidi and Marouane
Chamakh and the most likely departure is one Philippe Senderos who at one
point, had a sealed move to Everton.
Click to continue reading...
This should probably be filed under "things we already knew", but via Jack Bell and the New York
Time Goal blog comes confirmation that Major League Soccer isn't interested in buying the United...
Click to continue reading...
Soccer Pie 20 August @ 09:42 AM EST
Werder Bremen spent a long time waiting for the official confirmation for the transfer of
Claudio Pizzaro from Chelsea and now they can gladly announce that they have finally managed to
bring the striker that left a deep trace in the club. Peruvian signed a contract for three years
with the club in Bremen.
Click to continue reading...
