By Chris Wright

Seen here is an Emelec (of Ecuador) fan wearing a huge and really rather unsettling 'Chucky' head assuming it's not some terrible affliction in the crowd as his side takes on Paraguay's Olimpia in Guayaquil in the Copa Libertadores, putting the guy in front's feeble Janet Street-Porter mask, quite literally, in the shade.

By Chris Wright

Seen here is an Emelec (of Ecuador) fan wearing a huge and really rather unsettling 'Chucky' head assuming it's not some terrible affliction in the crowd as his side takes on Paraguay's Olimpia in Guayaquil in the Copa Libertadores, putting the guy in front's feeble Janet Street-Porter mask, quite literally, in the shade.

The Newcastle U18 side fought through to the quarter finals of the FA Youth Cup last night, after they beat QPR 2-1 after extra time. Steve Logan in action last night The Newcastle lads gave a fighting display and Newcastle manager Alan Pardew was there at St. James' Park to watch his youngsters come from behind to win the game.

There have been incidents of crowd disorder at the Benteng Stadium in Tangerang over the last few years despite the fact that the two tenents, Persita and Persikota, haven't met for a good while.
When one team plays the other boys come over to lob bricks and vice versa and no one seems able to stop it despite the police clamping down on girls wearing short skirts to games.

There have been incidents of crowd disorder at the Benteng Stadium in Tangerang over the last few years despite the fact that the two tenents, Persita and Persikota, haven't met for a good while.
When one team plays the other boys come over to lob bricks and vice versa and no one seems able to stop it despite the police clamping down on girls wearing short skirts to games.

Cisse didn't take long on Saturday to convince the Newcastle crowd he could become a big star on Tyneside. Papiss Cisse shoots with the left foot GOAL! His overall play was good and his goal to win the game after 70 minutes was a stunner, and only a player with great technique and technical skills could score a goal like that.

My first visit to White Hart Lane came in February 2001. It was an FA Cup Fifth Round tie against Stockport County. My uncle had driven up from Southampton on the morning of the game and surprised me with a ticket.

I fell in love with the stadium and the atmosphere. I loved being part of the crowd and watching Spurs easily dispose of the opposition as they won 4-0.

I think it's so ironic how a team that is famous for giving nothing away at home gets upset when decisions don't go their way in away games. When a nailed on pen isn't given to their opponents. Yet when the same happens to them in an away game they spit the dummy. The word shame doesn't seem to exist.

Latest crowd figures from the Major Indoor Soccer League, where Rochester has taken over the lead from Baltimore. The Blast has led its league in average attendance in each of the last seven years.

Team G Total Avg. Med Hi Lo Rochester Lancers 9 48,961 5,440 5,212 6,997 3,997 Baltimore Blast 10 53,769 5,377 5,740 8,078 2,316 Missouri Comets 8 33,340 4,168 3,640 8,276 2,853 Milwaukee Wave 9 33,591 3,732 3,316 5,416 3,059 Wichita Wings 10 34,903 3,490 3,350 5,000 2,000 Syracuse Silver Knights 8 22,569 2,821 2,637 3,670 2,317 Norfolk SharX 8 11,574 1,447 1,082 3,422 635 MISL TOTAL 62 238,707 3,850 3,461 8,276 635

The league is projecting to finish at slightly under last year's average of 4,007 per game.

Some players like lots of time and space, others can operate in crowds.

To play in central midfield you need to be at one end of what we'll call the space-time continuum; if you are not at the right end you may struggle in that role. In that case you need to find somewhere else where you will get space and time.

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas has urged the Stamford Bridge crowd to seek inspiration from the club's traveling support at Loftus Road on Saturday to change the anxious vibe at the Blues' home ground.

The West Londoners were nearly unbeatable at home not too long ago but have appeared extremely vulnerable under Villas-Boas, who is hoping that the recent return to form improves the atmosphere at the Bridge.

The last three Grand Slam tournaments in men's tennis have come down to Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. For the third straight time, Djokovic won this time in the Australian Open. But this match was anything but routine.

It took nearly six hours for Djokovic to win 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5.

It's always a good idea to stand out from the crowd, especially in a sea of Hamburg-ers! / via Reuters

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It seems the Philadelphia Independence will once again take to the pitch at PPL Park for their upcoming season. Philly Soccer News reported yesterday that the Independence could play up to four home games in 2012 at PPL, including its home opener on April 15th. During the WPS playoffs last season, PPL Park hosted the Independence's semifinal match against disbanded squad magicJack, drawing 5,410 fans, the teams largest crowd in 2011.

By Joel Greenwaldt
Baltimore Blast (11-4) vs. Norfolk SharX (3-13)
Game Time: 1/27/2012 7:35 PM
http://www.misllivesoccer.com/
Keys to victory for the Blast:

• Stick to the up-tempo pace: I think the Blast played one of their best games of the season last Friday in their 18-2 victory over the SharX.

Because knowing the final score makes Joe Hart's heroics far less frustrating. Because Craig Bellamy is fantastic, even if for the final twenty minutes he was on the pitch it was hard not to worry his knees would explode every time he took off. Because the crowd was absolutely phenomenal and we could easily have devoted an entire entry to videos of just that.

The young Arsenal defender Ignasi Miquel played against Leeds in the last round of the FA Cup (the last game that Arsenal actually won) and he is looking forward to another run-out against Aston Villa this weekend, but he has warned his team-mates not to take the game lightly if they want to go all [.

Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has publicly slammed Arsenal midfielder Andrei Arshavin following Sunday's match at the Emirates.

Neville, now in his role as a Sky Sports pundit, was critical of Arsene Wenger's decision to sub the effervescent Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, especially as the struggling Arshavin replaced him.

Dateline 22 January 2012, this date will go down in history, it is the date the fans at the Emirates turned on Arsene Wenger.

The fans booed the team off at half-time and were rewarded when youngster Nico Yennaris replaced the hapless and hopeless Djourou who becomes a bigger liability every time he puts on an Arsenal shirt.

If you're eight or ten or twelve and your dad's just recently started taking you to Craven Cottage, you're probably loving life at the moment.

Most of us get into football because of the excitement of it, the hero worship, and the strange thrill of seeing a small round thing manipulated so expertly.

Real Madrid 4 Athletic Bilbao 1

Welcome to La Liga Lunes! As you may know, Mourinho's formidable Los Blancos defeated Bilbao 4-1 last night, despite Llorente's opening goal in the 13th minute. Unfortunately, the Portuguese was also at the receiving end of jeers from the Madridista crowd, who were allegedly annoyed that he wasn't able to pin down Barcelona earlier in the week.

The result was important - but the attendance of 1750 at the weekend semi final was a record for Canberra United, has all associated with football in Canberra delighted.
In fact the crowd increased by over 100% from the previous game - could the same happen for this weeks final?
Brisbane will take on United in the W-League final this weekend and it should be a cracker.

As if there was not enough drama the last time Ajax and AZ Alkmaar played.

AZ advanced to the quarterfinals of the Dutch Cup with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Ajax in their rescheduled round of 16 match on Thursday morning. A second-half penalty kick goal would be the decisive finish in a game that saw each team take and squander leads.

You'll like this. The difference between success and failure in football can be minute you need every edge you can get. And when you think about it, so much of football is in the mind. We talk about teams playing with confidence: that's a mental state. We talk about players looking nervous, or not knowing what they're supposed to be doing, or playing tentatively, or showing complacency.

Thierry Henry went from hero to villain in just a matter of days when, following his amazing match winner against Leeds in the FA Cup, he remonstrated with an Arsenal fan to come onto the pitch after the game to have a word with the Frenchman.

Arsenal lost the match 3-2 with Swansea playing some excellent passing football, much in the same style as Arsenal, but won the game following a loose pass from Henry.

Newcastle got the job dope thisd afternoon against QPR when a good Leon Best goal after 37 minutes , his 4th of the season and his first since September, was enough for Newcastle to get all 3 points as the back four again looked very solid. Newcastle started the game very slowly in front of a crowd just under 50,000.

Of all the things that disconcert me about the Emirates experience one of the most boring and unnecessary is the crowd shouting shoot when a player is anywhere inside the opposition half.

I mainly sit in the lower tier when I can get a ticket and behind one of the goals. At the Wolves game a number of build up passes would be greeted with growing cries of shoot, no problem you would think, but the perspective from the lower tier is such that when the ball is up the other end there is no way you can judge how far the ball carrier is out from goal or otherwise.

With Victory showing sides of improvement last week, and Harry Kewell turning in another quality performance tonight's game should be a belter.
Big crowd, great stadium and lots of footballers on the park.
If Victory can seal their defence, the team could gain some serious confidence and climb the ladder.

Rini from Adelaide he's gone, Branko from Newcastle he's gone, Mehmet from Melbourne already gone...
A-League winner Vitaslav is surely going...The Jets give Championship winningrecently appointed Van Egmond a guarantee, Fergie is he really still there? and Miron draws 2,000 a week, crowd not dollars, and now is set to wear a mic in the half-time dressing room.

He is back. The look in his eyes says it all.

Arseblog:

" His reaction is raw, visceral. From sheer delight to chest thumping, from crowd waving to an embrace with Arsene Wenger, it's a moment that nobody will forget."

A Cultured Left Foot:

" the years rolled away as Song slid the ball through the line of defenders, the left edge of the penalty melted as Henry's body shape dictated where the shot was going and inevitably ended.

Match report Video and highlights -

It's rare that I sit here in the morning to write this blog and don't quite know where to begin. This is one of those mornings.

I guess there's only one place, isn't there? The 79th minute of Arsenal's FA Cup tie against Leeds. We've dominated the game, in terms of possession, in terms of shots on goal, in every department, yet the game is heading towards a dreary, goalless conclusion.

In a game that was begging for a special moment, Thierry Henry stepped up to the task to resume his duties as Arsenal's king.

Ten minutes after making his return to the field as a substitute for Arsenal, Henry delivered a game-winning goal to lift the Gunners in the fourth round of the FA Cup via a 1-0 victory over Leeds United in front of a delirious crowd at Emirates Stadium on Monday.

Chelsea midfielder Florent Malouda has expressed relief at the club's recent back-to-back wins over the Wolves and Portsmouth, and hopes that the Blues can continue to perform well.

A lack of stability has hindered the Blues' prospects of domestic success this season and with Stamford Bridge not being the fortress it has been in recent years, Malouda admits that the team is particularly concerned about the home form.

The video finally went out that showed just how good a goal Ben Arfa scored yesterday. Ben Arfa - after scoring pointing at crowd In case you still haven't seen it, here's a short video of the goals yesterday, plus Ben Arfa's classic goal, which may be the best individual goal ever scored at St. James' [.

Merseyside Police have arrested a 20-year-old man on suspicion of racially abusing Oldham's Tom Adeyemi during the FA Cup game at Liverpool.
Some good news about the alleged Racial abuse of Oldham's Tom Adeyemi at Anfield in the FA Cup on Friday night.

By Joel Greenwaldt
Baltimore Blast (9-3) vs. Rochester Lancers (6-7)
Game Time: 1/7/2012 7:35 PM
http://www.misllivesoccer.com/
What needs to go right for the Blast:

• Continue their aggressive form: Baltimore has exhibited a much more aggressive style in recent weeks.

This morning I was listening to BBC Five Live commentator Alan Green complaining about poor attendances in this weekend's FA Cup matches. The two examples he gave were the crowd of less than 15,000 for a west Midlands derby between ...
This is a content summary. Visit http://www.epltalk.com to read the entire article

Anfield Rd: This has to stop. Now.

A SERIOUS allegation was made by a visiting football player at Anfield last night and as it should be it was taken seriously by the club and, vitally, the police. The player in question, Oldham Athletic defender Tom Adeyemi, was visibly upset and angry at something that had happened towards the end of Liverpool's 5-1 win over his side in last night's third round tie in the Budweiser-sponsored cup.

Goal: Oldham captain Dean Furman brands abuse of team-mate Tom Adeyemi a 'disgrace'

Latics' skipper appalled after young defender receives abuse from individuals in the Liverpool crowd, which have been alleged to be racist, in the club's 5-1 defeat in the FA Cup

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2012-01-07 12:37:00 from: Goal

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Mirror: The Adeyemi incident is what you get when you summon the full forces of tribalism

There is no pleasure in saying this, but Liverpool have begun to reap a little of what they have sown. New Liverpool racism row: Fan's abuse has Oldham player in tears When you defend racist language, when you enter into angry denial and summon the full forces of tribalism, this is what you get.