One thing about not blogging for a week is you can sit back and watch the hysterical reactions going on in the world of football without feeling like you have to dive in and add your voice. It has been one of those weeks.

First we had the curse of the international break rear its ugly head again, in the form of injuries to Van Persie and Gibbs.

Click to continue reading...

Former Arsenal star Robert Pires has his fingers crossed that the Gunners can overcome their usual ‘November curse'.
Generally, Arsenal are struck down by poor form and injuries in November which goes a long way to wrecking their title hopes and it hasn't begun too well this time around either with the injury to key striker Robin van Persie and the absence of fellow strike man Nicklas Bendtner. Click to continue reading...

by JAMES CURTIS It would seem the November injury curse stretches beyond just Arsenal playing staff. This dreaded plague is now spreading among Arsenal fans too as I write this with a fractured leg, sustained over the same weekend as Van Persie ruptured his ankle ligaments playing for the Dutch against Italy.

Click to continue reading...

I really really feel for Robin van Persie. The geezer is in the form of his life, has been injury-free for a long time and then BAM! This happens.
A torn fucking ankle ligament.
I'm no doctor so I have no idea how long these type of injuries last. I've googled it and there are various time scales but I'd say it is safe to rule him out for a while. Click to continue reading...

There it is. The interlull curse strikes again. Did we really think we would come out of this break unscathed? Every thing was going too well. And now a player who is key to our entire club's fortunes looks set to be out for a while and will definitely miss our upcoming match against Chelsea, and for what?

Click to continue reading...

by CARL ELDRIDGE Nasty old November has never been too kind to the Gunners under our esteemed leader's reign and this morning's Mirror claims the Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is desperate to break the curse.

It claims the Frenchman has claimed that this month will be decisive in determining whether Arsenal can maintain their challenge for the Premier League title and, in particular, avoid injuries which have hurt them badly in the past.

Click to continue reading...

The Metro Reverse Curse lives.

What is the Reverse Curse? It is a temporary suspension of all footballing ability while wearing a Metro Bull kit that is magically cured once a player switches kits to another club. There are so many examples of this, but sticking to recent memory (and not in any order of importance at all); Hunter Freeman leaves Red Bull and has become a regular starter in Norway, Gabriel Cichero leaves Red Bull and becomes a valuable piece of their National teams youth movement, Mike Magee has proven to be a key offensive cog in the Galaxy's overall make up leading the team in assists, Diego Jimenez continues to excel in Mexico, and notched two goals upon arriving back to his country after his RB departure.

Click to continue reading...

Is this the curse of Rubin Kazan? Even exasperated Pep has run out of hand movements to last the entire game... and you know that's bad!

Anyway, after pulling off a shock victory at Nou Camp, everyone from the strange bloke who looks like Robert Pattinson on crack to the stray cat next door is wondering if the mighty Barca are really faltering.

Click to continue reading...

The two Brazilian clubs still in the Copa Sudamericana did not start well the quarter-finals of Copa Sudamericana. Botafogo and Fluminense will have a lot of work if they plan to advance to the semis. Botafogo visited Cerro Porteno in Paraguay and lost 2-1. Reinaldo scored for Bota, but if the club from Rio wants to advance, it must win at Maracana.

Click to continue reading...

What have we done to deserve so many injuries? Is there a curse at The Emirates? Since moving to the Emirates we have lost too many players for too long, Henry and van Persie ins season one, Rosicky and Eduardo in our second year and last year's injury list would have been too many to fit into either ER or Casualty.

Click to continue reading...

Last week I went on and on about how Sevilla is the most overlooked club in all of La Liga. They have beaten among the best (Real Madrid) and going into last weekend they were among the hottest clubs in all of the world. Well you can say that I gave Sevilla the dreaded curse as well. The club's winning ways would come to an end last weekend with a loss to Deportivo La Coruna.

Click to continue reading...

There's ridiculous, and then there is this.

A self-proclaimed 'witch' is enjoying his 15 minutes of fame after making the bold claim that he had placed a 'hex' on Cristiano Ronaldo at the request of a jaded ex-lover. Pepe (that's the witch, not the ex-lover) is positively gloating after watching Ronaldo injure his ankle during the international break and is predicting that CR will be forced to stop playing football in four months.

Click to continue reading...

I don't normally obsess over ex-players but every now and then, one encounters opportunities that are just too good to pass up. Today there was one, courtesy the Daily Mail. The story runs thus: a witch doctor who was hired to put a hex on Ronaldo has said that Ronaldo's career is going to end in about four months.

Click to continue reading...

What's there to say?
The coach is sacked, a whole lot of laundry is aired, some no doubt utter bullshit, other true. Frank is scapegoated for a long period of administrative incompetence in the Roar and the FFA.
At the same time - quick, someone mentioned a 50% hike on the already most expensive tickets in the league might have 'contributed' to the disappearing crowds - the Roar announces a 15% price cut and a special promotion letting kids in free. Click to continue reading...

Former Real Madrid midfielder and all round football superstar David Beckham is planning a return to Serie A. The 34-year-old enjoyed a productive loan spell with AC Milan during the latter half of last season and Becks claims he is closing in on a move back to the San Siro.

Beckham, one of the Manchester United youth academy's most famous graduates, confirmed he has interest from England but admitted he would feel uncomfortable playing in the Premier League if it wasn't for United.

Click to continue reading...

1. First there was the curse.
2. Then there was the injury.
3. Now I'm scared of Spain's witchdoctors. Click to continue reading...

Spanish newspaper El Mundo have obtained the text of a letter sent to Real Madrid by a wizard, informing the club that he has been hired to cast a spell on Cristiano Ronaldo that will result in him suffering an injury.

Yeah. Sh*t just got real.

Writes the psychopath who may or may not be a cat:

"I'm not anti-Madridista.

Click to continue reading...

Over the last few seasons, Liverpool's ability to consistently challenge for the title has been undone by a variety of different things, with one issue in particular becoming a major recurring problem. Not this season though! Things appear to be changing and he curse may have finally been lifted (touch wood! Click to continue reading...

England defender latest victim of the Merseyside footballer's curse Everton defender Phil Jagielka was held at knifepoint and forced to hand over jewellery in a raid on his Cheshire home. It is suspected the daft robbers struck at 8pm last night because they thought the player would be on Carling Cup duty against Hull, but they [. Click to continue reading...

It's called a sitter. The ball is right in front of the goal, it's easier to score, harder to miss, but somehow the ball refuses to go home to the net. The player's face is agape in disbelief. He has missed a sitter. And he will be remembered for it. It might be the only thing he is remembered for.

Click to continue reading...

Remember how we never win a match at the San Siro? And how, not counting the Champions League final in 2020, which was against Manchester United and thus not exactly at the San Siro, we haven't done so in this decade, or at all since a highly random 4-3 win over Inter in the Champions League quarterfinals in 2019?

Click to continue reading...

The first defeat of the season is always the most tricky one to deal with. Perhaps that explains why some feel that the earlier it comes, the better. At the beginning of the 2007-08 season, a determined young Arsenal squad made a typically flying start to the campaign.

Click to continue reading...

Episode 44: "The Curse of El Scott-O"
Host: Scott
Panel: Sandra, Zach, Hank
Listen on the CSRN Media Player
DOWNLOAD Episode 44
32-Bit (Small File)
96-Bit (Large File)
Available on iTunes, just search Winning Ugly


Everyone's favorite New Eng-er-land-er, The Element of Honk, returns to Winning Ugly after his long exile joining The First Lady and the Black Cloud. Click to continue reading...

Bad news for Tottenham fans - Gareth Bale has returned to action in a closed doors friendly between QPR and Spurs. The defender completed 90 minutes of action as Tottenham ran out 3-2 winners over the Championship club.

While Bale is a highly rated left back in the Premier League, his return comes as a catch-22 for Spurs fans due to the infamous Gareth Bale curse.

Click to continue reading...

We're sorry for the lack of updates lately, but things have been busy... please bear with us, and hopefully we'll be able to pick up normal posting soon!
But right now we have a match to discuss: Barca's win over Getafe last night. The result was better than we'd expected, kudos to the boys for breaking the international curse and achieving this. Click to continue reading...

Highest Highs

Chelsea deserves one of the honors for best squad of August. Chelsea was 4-0 in league play and Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka look like the ideal one, two combination to break the curse and win a Premier League title.  Watch out for the Blues every month when it comes to best club.

Click to continue reading...

via AP

In case you were wondering, that's not Oompa-Loompa and David James in a tussle. It's Everton's Marouane Fellaini messing around with his Belgian teammate, Kevin Mirallas! How does he manage to focus on the pitch? As it stands, Fellaini looks more like a DreamGirl.

Click to continue reading...

Week 25 (09/02)

Last Week's Ranking in Parenthesis...Â

1. Houston (2): HOU lost and doesn't really deserve to rise, but CMB must fall. Â
2. Columbus (1):Â The Crew lost to the Red Bulls.

Click to continue reading...

Oooh, what a way to start the season... by winning the Supercopa! Aplausos, por favor! Yet another brilliant show from Los Cules after they pulled off this convincing 3-0 win over Bilbao last night. The Messiah scored twice and your best friend Bobojan netted in the third!

Click to continue reading...

Tomorrow, RSL heads off to New England to play the Revolution and the game promises to be a cracker as most of the RSL games have been recently. Seriously, I am not sure that the game can reach the level of the cage-match against the Dynamo last week in Rio Tinto, but Real and the Revolution are sitting at similar places in their respective tables and both teams need points to have a chance at the playoffs.

Click to continue reading...

There was a sense of dread going into this game. It was an odd feeling to be slathering on the sunscreen to watch a team on thin ice. Toronto's MLS playoff race prospects look dim this August and too many other contending teams have games in hand (KC and NE have three each and I'm simply afraid to look at the western teams). Click to continue reading...

Touch down in Mexico City, this is gonna be a blast
Touch down in the Valley baby, this is gonna be a blast

Out on the open airstrip, breath of dying horse's ass.

Tour Azteca at dusk now, this place is kinda scary
Tour Azteca's big shadows, this place is kinda scary

Out in the parking lot, I hope the hooker's spare me.

Click to continue reading...

So Saturday Evening's Football League round-up show was 'accidentally' interrupted and replaced for a good 30 seconds by footage from the film on ITV that was airing at the same time. That film was the god awful Blue Crush however the switch over just happened to coincide with the film's most captivating scene, when Kate Bosworth (officially the worst actress to have ever drawn breath) is filmed paying a visit to the lavatory!

Click to continue reading...

Celtic Park is one of the most difficult stadiums to play on, if your jersey doesn't have green and white colour on it that is, and the Bhoys have beaten some great of European sides thanks to the magnificent support from the stands. However, things were completely different when Celtic would play on the European travels as they couldn't win away for six years.

Click to continue reading...

It's not just a Chinese saying. It's really a curse, and Pompey supporters are agonizing over it. Last season ended, mercifully, with retaining our Premiership status and a new, supposedly billionaire Arab owner showing interest. He was supposed to be a doctor, a UN ambassador for children, fronting a group of billionaire investors, worth billions himself, all of which turned out to be untrue or changing, or not quite true, or something like that.

Click to continue reading...