Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has hailed the clinic that has got four of his top men fit for
Saturday's crunch Premier League encounter with Manchester City. Benitez defended the use of a controversial Serbian clinic to get Glen Johnson, Fabio Aurelio,
Yossi Benayoun and Albert Riera all fit. Click to continue reading...
Alberto Aquilani is in contention to make his long-awaited full Liverpool debut on Saturday as
Rafael BenÃtez looks to the £20m summer signing to reinvigorate the club's season against
Manchester City. The Italy international has played only 21 minutes for Liverpool since arriving from Roma in
August, as a substitute against Birmingham City and Arsenal, because of his recovery from ankle
surgery plus illness. Click to continue reading...
Alberto Aquilani is in contention to make his long-awaited full Liverpool debut on Saturday as
Rafael BenÃtez looks to the £20m summer signing to reinvigorate the club's season against
Manchester City.
The Italy international has played only 21 minutes for Liverpool since arriving from Roma in
August, as a substitute against Birmingham City and Arsenal, because of his recovery from ankle
surgery plus illness.
Becks has the X Factor David Beckham celebrated LA Galaxy's victory over Houston Dynamo in the
Western Conference Championship by unveiling a new haircut, which appears to be in his team's
colours. The brand new Beckham barnet also comes with optional bald patches. And it puts Beckham in
contention to become the third member of controversial X [. Click to continue reading...
Liverpool defender Andrea Dossena has hailed Alberto Aquilani as a "complete midfielder", and
believes that the former Roma player can forge a strong partnership with Steven Gerrard. The 25-year-old made his Premier League debut as a substitute during the club's 2-2 draw against
Birmingham City at Anfield, though he was said to be in contention for a spot in the starting
line-up. Click to continue reading...
Derby games are always passionate affairs and they generate a lot of excitement
but the match itself tens to disappoint the viewers, mostly because the managers are always too
cautious and they prevent the players from giving their attacking best. The games between
Lyon and Marseille have not been exception to this rule in the past and no wonder
nobody expected too many goals when these sides met on Sunday, but we saw a remarkable match and no
less than 10 goals, five on each side.
A couple of weeks ago, it was hard to know whether to be optimistic or pessimistic. Many commented
that the general criticism of Arsenal post-West Ham was over-the-top. But the problem was, that on the 29th of October 2008, at about 9.30, the season so far had
provided enough to be pretty optimistic. Click to continue reading...
Fabio Aurelio is winning his battle to be fit to return to action on Monday – and to take his
place in the Brazil squad for the first time. Aurelio, who is in the last year of his current contract, has missed Liverpool's last two games
against Fulham and Lyon with a calf problem. His form before that, though, had been good enough to catch the eye of Brazil coach Dunga, who will
take Aurelio and Reds midfielder Lucas to Qatar for next Saturday's friendly with England. Click to continue reading...
Call me crazy (because I am), but despite Tenerife loss last week to Villarreal 5-0Â I still
think the new boys will win this weekend. Why you ask? Because although Tenerife looked horrid
last week this week they get to play Malaga who in nine games has lost seven. Malaga is in last
place and Tenerife sits just outside the relegation zone.
The Newcastle United squad will be boosted by the return of 3 players coming back from injury.
Chris Hughton reckons Shola Ameobi should be back in contention by the end of the month, which
could mean the game at home to Swansea on 28th November or the following game, at home to Watford
on 4th December. Click to continue reading...
Two weekends ago, Liverpool thought they had reached the turning point of what has been a
frustrating campaign on all fronts. A 2-0 win over Manchester United seemed to silence the doubters
and catapult them back into Premier League contention. Now, though, after Saturday's 3-1 defeat at Fulham (and the League Cup loss to Arsenal), it's back
to panic stations for Rafael Benitez and his men as they look to resurrect their Champions League
campaign. Click to continue reading...
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has hinted that Italian midfielder Alberto Aquilani will be ready
for a first team start within the next couple of weeks. The 25-year-old was signed by the Reds during the summer for around £17 million from Roma although
an ankle injury has kept him sidelined for the first couple of months of the season. Click to continue reading...
Being late to a game, and then tweeting about it, wasn't the best sequence of events for Jozy
Altidore, but it looks as though the punishment for his actions will be limited to the one-match
suspension and fine he has already been hit with.
Being late to a game, and then tweeting about it, wasn't the best sequence of events for Jozy
Altidore, but it looks as though the punishment for his actions will be limited to the one-match
suspension and fine he has already been hit with.
West Ham 2 (Cole 74, Diamanti 80) Arsenal 2 (Van Persie 16, Gallas 37) (Premiership)
Perhaps we can excuse the players for thinking the game was won at half time. I certainly did.
West Ham were toothless, gutless, and quite frankly, hopeless in the opening 45 minutes.
With all of the regular season games in the bag, the playoffs are finally all set to go. Los Angeles has won the top spot in the Western Conference by winning their game over San Jose, and
also holding the tie breaker over both Houston and Chivas USA no matter what either of those teams
does in their match up on Sunday. Click to continue reading...
Its a game that's as big as it gets for Liverpool afternoon.Yes its our hated enemy, Man Utd at
Anfield in a game which will define our season.Win and we are right back in contention for the
league.Lose and our season is over, its that big a match. With six defeats already this season, four in the Premiership, things have not been going well at
Liverpool, to say the least. Click to continue reading...
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger insists that Liverpool's title challenge will not be ended should
Manchester United inflict a further defeat upon them this weekend. Rafael Benitez's Reds have already been defeated four times in the Premier League this season,
twice as many as last year in the same competition. Click to continue reading...
Toronto FC needs another win to get into the playoffs for the first time. (Getty Images)
It all comes down to one final weekend in Major League Soccer. I don't believe the league front
office could have even dreamed up this kind of weekend that puts a lot of meaning on the regular
season as a whole.
Toronto @ NY, DC @ Kansas City, Colorado @ Salt Lake, Dallas @ Seattle, San Jose @ LA, Houston @
Chivas, and New England @ Columbus. This, my friends, is your final weekend of the 2009 MLS
Regular Season.
Chicago already locked up a spot with a win at Chivas and Seattle jumped into the playoffs as
well.
Its a pretty full night here at WVHooligan as far as the links and thoughts go. I have a couple
stories that kind of make my head spin, a couple surrounding the US national team and a brief
discussion on a rule that could really help some young players out with the NCAA.
First up is a post I saw earlier today that I felt needed to be held off until today.
University of Minnesota Athletic Director Joel Maturi talks to Inside Minnesota Soccer
concerning soccer at TCF Bank Stadium
Just this past month we learned that Chicago lost out on a bid to host the 2016 Olympics. The
University of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium was on a short list to host Olympic soccer should
Chicago have won that bid.
University of Minnesota Athletic Director Joel Maturi talks to Inside Minnesota Soccer
concerning soccer at TCF Bank Stadium
Just this past month we learned that Chicago lost out on a bid to host the 2016 Olympics. The
University of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium was on a short list to host Olympic soccer should
Chicago have won that bid.
We are delighted to welcome new columnist Steve Candy to Just-Football.com, who for his first piece
assesses the England players in contention to board that plane for South Africa next summer.
Which... Click to continue reading...
You can clearly see Glen Johnson did not get his foot on the ball. Bent's shot skips just over
the defender and hits the red beach ball and deflects into goal. And the culprit is one of
Liverpool's fans.
Steve Bruce should heave a sigh of relief on this one.
Even a lay person not well versed with rules, would be sufficiently at unease when an outside
agency influences a match.
Earlier this morning, none other than Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber tweeted the
following: Great games last night. Tightest MLS Playoff race ever. 7 MLS teams vying for last 3 playoff
spots! I love MLS. I've watched it since the beginning. I've gone to games since the very first year -
even driving through the remnants of a hurricane to get to one in '96. Click to continue reading...
Big time weekend ahead for Major League Soccer. Four clubs have punched their tickets to the
post season dance with four remaining spots left open to possibly all get snatched up this
weekend.
You can pretty much put a playoff implication on every game this weekend.
See below details about a potential move for Inter Milan striker to Tottenham and then consider
whether he wouldn't be more attracted to a move to Anfield instead.
Tottenham could sign Brazilian striker Adriano for free in the January transfer window,
the 27 year-old, who is in the middle of a one-year contract with Brazilian club Flamengo, is keen
for a return to Europe.
Liverpool are fearing the worst on the fitness of Sotirios Kyrgiakos after the Greece
defender was forced off before half-time during his side's 2-1 win over Luxembourg on
Wednesday.
The CONCACAF Region (North/Central America) finished is 2010 World Cup Qualifying on Wednesday,
October 14, 2009 with all six teams in matches. The United States and Mexico had clinched two of
the three automatic qualification spots while Costa Rica and Honduras were in contention for the
final spot.
This is it -- the final matchday of the 2009 Hexagonal. It's also the final matchday of the
CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers, and I'm going to do something different tonight. I'm going to
liveblog the matches involving the three South American teams in contention for the playoff place
-- Argentina, Uruguay, and Ecuador. Click to continue reading...
