Shall we just give up now? Fuck the title race, fuck the cups and fuck Arsenal. Lets just give up because we drew with fucking West Ham. Excuse the fucking French.
I had a look round some of the Arsenal sites today and I wished I hadn't of bothered. It depressed me. Some of the comments I've seen made me shake my head with despair. Click to continue reading...

Martin Allen to spend more time on his own plotIts not dull supporting a lower league team. Whilst dramas are reported daily from the dizzy heights of premier league they still seem remote. Down in the basement its personal and up close. Someone knows someone who's on the staff or makes the tea or drives the bus. Click to continue reading...

My blog over at SoccerCity is already a little outdated given the events of today but I'll publish it anyway!
A few months ago I wrote a blog comparing the fortunes of England's two Magpies – Newcastle and Notts County.
Back then Newcastle were in despair, mourning the loss of their Premier League status. Click to continue reading...

Rafael Benitez believes a fit-again Steven Gerrard can lead Liverpool out of the slump that has seen them lose three games in succession.
Meaningful involvement in both the Premier League and Europe is now under threat and boss Benitez is fully aware of the importance of a victory at Anfield tomorrow when Group E leaders Lyon must be overcome in the Champions League. Click to continue reading...

This advert is probably the best and the most famous football advert for those of you who have been Sky Sports fans since it was created. Sheffield United fan Sean Bean fronts this fantastic advert...

Life

It can be difficult

You know that

We all need someone to rely on

Someone who's going to be there

Someone who's going to make you feel like you belong

Someone constant

It's ectasy, anguish, joy and despair
Part of our history
Part of our country
And it will be part of our future
It's theatre, art, war and love
It should be predictable .

Click to continue reading...

In this new series, I'll be looking back at some of Liverpool's FC's most demoralizing football moments - incidents and games that left fans in a state of shock for weeks – and sometimes months – afterwards. I'll start off with an infamous game from January 1999 that sent Gerard Houllier's team into freefall and arguably ended the club's season: The soul-destroying FA Cup 4th round defeat to Manchester United. Click to continue reading...

I didn't watch the US Men on Saturday.
I know that makes me less of a fan, less of an American and less of a man than you. Fine. I'm good with that.
Here in the far reaches of the wilderness known as rural Pennsylvania, the nearest viewing location I could find was almost 3 hours away, and I simply didn't feel like chasing the pirate feeds as they got shut down one by one as more and more people chased fewer and fewer feeds consisting of grainy, virtually unviewable herky-jerky video with narration I can't understand and a sound quality that would have made Marconi slit his wrists in despair. Click to continue reading...

Celia Riley, from Thorpe Bay, is a rare breed. Passionate about her job, she works twice the amount of hours she's contracted for. For 50+ hours a week, her pay is relatively paltry. Her commitment to what she does is unfaltering despite the challenging nature of the work involved. Yet, Celia is slowly but surely raising the profile of a charity that's been quietly helping younger people and their families living with dementia. Click to continue reading...

Was what she said to me in response to my question, "do you want me to do your blog tonight ?"
Georgina is away tonight being with people who do this. As you perhaps know, before she met HL, she was lithe, fit and a highly-active woman.
Now, as you may recognize, she's (mostly) into other diversions , interests and pursuits. Click to continue reading...

With the season starting slightly earlier this year due to the World Cup, most teams in the Premiership have played 8 league games already. Last season, the 8th round of matches was played two weeks later, on the weekend of October 18th/19th. By the end of it, Tottenham were staring up at every other team in the league with a lowly 2 points.

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The 'beautiful' game. One of excitement, passion, skill, determination, hard-graft, controversy, joy, and despair. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the game we all love that we forget about the bad, the ugly, and the downright shocking side of the game that we perhaps can't see directly. That's a side of the game that allows [. Click to continue reading...

Bath City travelled to Dover yesterday, where they lost 2-1 in heartbreaking fashion. I was not there to see it, due to two main reasons: the Dover Athletic fixture is the farthest away of the season, and Mrs Nedved had an important work event over this weekend. Bringing both boys with me on a nine and a half hour round trip wasn't feasible (although this did not stop the supporter club chairman, Powell, from trying to convince Little Nedved Junior to 'ask Daddy to take him to the seaside on the supporters coach' during half time at the Lewes match). Click to continue reading...

On Wednesday night in London the footballing world was rocked to its core as Croatian striker Eduardo (if that is even his real name) invented a form of cheating so insidious, yet so innovative and breathtaking, that many in the stadium, and across the world, were driven to tears by anger, despair and incomprehension. Click to continue reading...

Big Story

When your club's biggest fan since day one sends an open letter of despair to ownership in lieu of a season ticket renewal, you have serious problems. Dustin Christmann is known to FC Dallas supporters as the "First Fan": a season ticket holder since day one (even though he lives 1,000 miles away from Dallas now) and a founder of supporters group The Inferno, he was given membership number 0001 in Hoops Nation.

Click to continue reading...

Nick Green stole my takes.
As always, by "stole," I mean, "wrote it down before I did."
Here's how good Green's analysis is. We've been reading all week about how the US will deal with the incredible, intolerable heat of the Mexican summer. Huge factor, we were told.
So what does Nick do? Click to continue reading...

The Red Bulls have absolutely nothing left to play for. After jumping to a 1-0 lead on a Wolyniec strike, the Bulls called it a night. Shame no one told W Connection, who must have been studying tape; they scored both goals within the final five minutes of the first half. Andre Touissant made the Red Bulls defense look silly, first juking Seth Stammler on a strike, and then capitalizing on a horrible Goldthwaite giveaway.

Click to continue reading...

Trailing Sporting Lisbon 1-0 from the first leg in the Champions League qualifier, Steve McLaren's FC Twente got off to the perfect start this evening in the second leg, when Douglas headed them into the lead in the second minute of the match.
However, with the tie all square and well into injury time, Sporting got a corner and up came their goalkeeper Rui Patricio, who's header took deflections off two Twente defenders before finding its way into the bottom corner of the net, to the absolute delight of Sporting and despair for Twente and McLaren. Click to continue reading...

With the news that Xabi Alonso has handed in a transfer request in order to set in stone his move to Real Madrid Liverpool fans are in despair. For 5 years the Basque midfielder effortlessly pinged the ball around the Anfield pitch; whether it be 5 yards or 50 yards its precision was guaranteed. Alonso [. Click to continue reading...

Here we go again..
Everton have made great strides in recent years, the obvious improvement is on the pitch as David Moyes patient re-building is starting to bear fruit. Off the pitch our media relations have got better, resulting in a increased media profile. Commercial business has also taken an upturn with the opening of the Everton One and Everton megastores evidence of that. Click to continue reading...

After last season one would of thought that the Real Madrid faithful would of had nothing to smile about..with an ageing team, a president that is willing to financially cripple them and a main rival in Pep Guardiola's Barcelona, who are at the minute looking rather indestructable with or without new signings.

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This was a night to forget for England U-21s as they were humbled 4-0 in the final of the European U-21 Championships thanks to the brilliance of Mesut Ozil, who scored one goal and created two more.
England although had a great deal of the ball, sorely missed the threat of Agbonlahor and Frazer Campbell, and first choice goalkeeper, Joe Hart. Click to continue reading...

The Confederations Cup 2009 was a great tournament. Especially for US National Team supporters, the Cup provided lows, highs, and highs that quickly turned into despair.
Here at Advantage Played, I like to look to do some of my analysis after the games have all been played. Now that we are moving rapidly away from the Cup, it is easy to look back as the US National Team feed of each other's negative energy to create something wonderful. Click to continue reading...

...with lessons in hand. So what did we learn in the Confederations Cup? It's a strange boat we find ourselves in this week. Are we far removed from the creeping despair that led to the universal wailing and gnashing of teeth in the wake of the... Click to continue reading...

Regular Inter UK contributor Ronald Gordo returns this week with his views on Inter's sudden decline.
The legends of ghosts of the Middle Ages say a warrior who received a task from God and was unable to meet it is condemned to remain on Earth... your soul forever trying to fulfil the mission. Click to continue reading...

Let's put aside our recent feelings of despair over Yoann Gourcuff's potential NYC hook up and reach for some distraction by way of entertainment.

It comes courtesy of a bizarro French video that mimics the reality TV show, Survivor, and has placed Bordeaux's Souleymane Diawara, Marouane Chamak and Yoann together for questions and elimination rounds.

Click to continue reading...

Let's put aside our recent feelings of despair over Yoann Gourcuff's potential NYC hook up and reach for some distraction by way of entertainment.

It comes courtesy of a bizarro French video that mimics the reality TV show, Survivor, and has placed Bordeaux's Souleymane Diawara, Marouane Chamak and Yoann together for questions and elimination rounds.

Click to continue reading...

13 games in and there are three teams in particular who look like they could be heading for doom and despair (or the Adeccoliga, as some call it), but amidst the casual randomness of the Tippeliga few things are ever certain and on matchday 14 all three of those teams picked up points..

Leading the line of the troubled threesome is Lyn, who even by their standards face a remarkably bleak set of circumstances.

Click to continue reading...

Definitely for Italians, June 21st is not a good day to take on Brazil. On this date, the Gods of football wear yellow jersey. 39 years after the 4-1 massacre in the final of the World Cup, Brazil humiliated Italy one more time. Since 1982, Italy does not beat Brazil.

The first-half was a lesson in football.

Click to continue reading...

Simply put, it was the best football match of the year in Brazil.

Face to face were Corinthians and Inter, defeatless champions in their states and long time favorites for the title of Copa do Brasil. Playing at home the first leg, Corinthians knew it had to own these 90 minutes. Especially because Inter missed 4 key players.

Click to continue reading...

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                                                   Photo by ISIphotos.com

Here they are, the last of the questions from the most recent Q&A session (and yes, I use the word recent loosely).

Lots of topics discussed in this batch, including the following subjects: Landon Donovan, U.

Click to continue reading...

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                                                   Photo by ISIphotos.com

Here they are, the last of the questions from the most recent Q&A session (and yes, I use the word recent loosely).

Lots of topics discussed in this batch, including the following subjects: Landon Donovan, U.

Click to continue reading...

I've got two words for you in the aftermath of the Galaxy's second victory of the year, on the road in Toronto.

And those words are: Edson Buddle.

Two appearances in the last two games, both with less than 30 minutes to go in the match and two goals displaying heads-up play and clinical finishing.

Click to continue reading...

I. Population

I decided to keep Ibrahimovic. When it came down to it, his character was just too fascinating to lose. I've never seen a player who was so expansively self-defeating or one so capable of turning every moment of triumph into a bellow of despair. It's as if the better he gets, the more he has to betray himself: he's playing for his favorite club, yet desperately wants a transfer; he's playing for his favorite manager, yet spends all his time complaining; he's a born leader, but never had a worse season than when he was asked to be captain.

Click to continue reading...

The tension is unbearable. It's the last day of the season in the Scottish Premier League and Heart of Clackmannannshire need a win in their final match in order to avoid relegation. Unsurprisingly, nothing goes quite according to plan (though, ironically, it does all go according to the script - make of that what you wish).

Click to continue reading...

Ronaldo's venomous long range free kick, Eto's fabulous opener, Henry's jink and low shot, Xavi against the post, Messi's brilliant header, Ronaldo's petulance, Scholes disgraceful lunge, Iniesta's cracking shot, Puyol's header, Barcelona's cheers, Manu's despair, Ronaldo's tears, Messi's joy.What a game, even if it was rather one sided with Manu only really threatening a makeshift Barca defence Click to continue reading...