At 2:45 today the Portuguese National Team (minus Cristiano Ronaldo) will square off against the Bosnians to defend their 1 goal aggregate advantage over the boys from the shores of the Adriatic. This is an interesting match because everyone on earth expects Portugal to be in the World Cup, but I think the Bosnians have other ideas.

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It's amazing, isn't it, how sometimes a game of football has the capacity to command your complete attention to the exclusion of everything else around you?
And then of course there are times when it doesn't.
I meant to pay close attention to it.
I sat down and watched the national anthems and minute's silence for Enke. Click to continue reading...

Rafa Benitez faces more battles between club and country if Liverpool fail to get their season back on track.
The World Cup will become an unwanted distraction for the Kop boss unless his side is competing for honours in the New Year.
Star players Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres are putting their bodies on the line to help save the club's faltering season. Click to continue reading...

Fresh after posting this came another report regarding Robinho surfaced, again in The Guardian, and it is fairly conclusive in its tone:

Manchester City's attempts to placate Robinho and keep the most expensive footballer in England happy have failed, with the Brazilian desperate to leave in the January transfer window.

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Kaka made his glorious return to his old home for Tuesday's Champions League tie between Real Madrid and AC Milan a loser-free lovefest that ended in a 1-1 draw. The San Siro gave their returning hero a warm welcome as both sides had their chances to take three points in the wide open match.

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Peep the new video for the upcoming KickSwerve iPhone app. I mentioned it a while back but they took down the original clip before they dropped this one. Looks like they've got Nike on board to flesh out the experience with the game-ball and signage. Can't wait; I could use a little more distraction in my life. Click to continue reading...

OCTOBER 31, 2009
Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, St. Etienne
4PM ET (21:00 CET, 20:00 GMT)

Saturday, OL make their descent into Le Chaudron and you can believe it will be hot- aka Stade Geoffroy-Guichard to kick-off the only derby that really matters.

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Sam Allardyce was quick to get his excuses in for his side's 5-0 capitulation at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, revealing that two of his players contracted swine flu. Now, ahead of tomorrow's Carling Cup fixture against the league leaders, Bolton manager Gary Megson has revealed that four of his players are now suffering from pig flu.

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Sam Allardyce was quick to get his excuses in for his side's 5-0 capitulation at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, revealing that two of his players contracted swine flu. Now, ahead of tomorrow's Carling Cup fixture against the league leaders, Bolton manager Gary Megson has revealed that four of his players are now suffering from pig flu.

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Chelsea must have lost their "hand" altogether because now they might be dealt a whole other blow to their already fragile stance at the top of the Premier League. By some miracle they are ahead of ManU by two points and I can't imagine how they've gotten this far considering all the things that have happened.

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The sidelined Brazilian has been speaking again to radio in his home country:

"I'm very happy about the interest that Barcelona have in me, playing in the Nou Camp it is much easier to be the best player in the world than at City."
"I'm not forcing a hypothetical exit from England and neither do I have problems with my coach.

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Pep Guardiola cannot believe it either.

After a workmanlike 1-0 victory against Almería and a mediocre showing in their 0-0 draw at the Mestalla against Valencia CF on Saturday, FC Barcelona looked to reverse their form in the Champions League against a supposed weaker team in FK Rubin Kazan.

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A nice story for a Monday afternoon – Chelsea captain John Terry has reached into his sizeable pockets to help maintain the future of his club's women's football team.
According to a story in the Guardian, Chelsea Ladies – who have made good progress in the last few years – have suffered a cut in funding recently which threatened to overshadow their development.

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A nice story for a Monday afternoon – Chelsea captain John Terry has reached into his sizeable pockets to help maintain the future of his club's women's football team.
According to a story in the Guardian, Chelsea Ladies – who have made good progress in the last few years – have suffered a cut in funding recently which threatened to overshadow their development.

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We have seen Tottenham challenge the top 4 place few years back, then Villa doing the same last season, nut never have we seen so many sides capable of upsetting the title contenders as this season. Manchester City, Tottenham and Aston Villa all look capable of upsetting the odds, especially since Liverpool look to be all over the place at the moment.

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While most of the US was transfixed by the Balloon Boy saga, Liverpool fans were encountering their own problems with dirigibles.

Yes, a bright red beach ball that wandered onto the pitch seems to have transfixed Pepe Reina's attention. Enough distraction and deflection of a Darren Bent shot to find its way to goal.

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There are times when being a football supporter is a thoroughly dreadful experience. There are times when it feels like fate has ripped your heart out of your chest, stomped on it, and then done a little dance on it. These times are called losing. If you are lucky these times only occur a bit less than half of the time. Click to continue reading...

The January transfer season began in earnest this week with rumors flying that Manchester City and Barcelona were working on a deal involving Robinho. But chalk it up to pure speculation because this transfer doesn't make sense for either club. Here are three reasons why:

Barcelona Can't Come Up with the Cash: Manchester City would want to recoup their £32.

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Antonio Cassano will not make the national side as long Marcello Lippi is in charge of Italy.I hope i am worng, at 27 this is Cassano's last hurrah.For Lippi past is prologue and Cassano's history precedes him and he is now forever defined as the crazy one who pulls underwear over his own head.My words not necessarily the medias. Click to continue reading...

Bath City were ejected from the Somerset Premier Cup tonight by Southern League side Bridgwater Town. It was not a narrow loss either. Bridgwater won a convincing 3-0 victory. It was the sort of defeat that could really shake a team right before a crucial FA Cup match on Saturday. It was the sort of defeat that might bring pressure on a manager to resign or cause fans to tear up their season tickets in disgust -- except it wasn't because this was the Somerset Premier Cup. Click to continue reading...

After a disappointing draw against Sunderland that saw United lose their top position, Manchester United find themselves into more trouble. Not exactly trouble, but it will surely cause a bit of distraction, I believe. After his side's 2-2 draw with Sunderland, Fergie had blasted referee Alan Wiley for his lethargic proceedings. Click to continue reading...

As Liverpool transformed itself into an unstoppable juggernaut at the end of last season, one of the primary factors was the dazzling form of Yossi Benayoun. This season, it is crucial that someone else emerges from the pool of inconsistent and underachieving talent currently in the squad and follows in the little midfielder's footsteps. Click to continue reading...

After seven games, things all look very rosy. I certainly would have taken 15pts and 4th place in the table at this stage if you had asked me at the start of the season. We can't stop scoring and our only defeats have been to arguably the best two sides in the country. We are certainly improving and very much going the right way under Harry but for me there are still five teams in the league that are better than us and I don't see what we can do about that.

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Petulance cant be defined as moved to or showing sudden, impatient irritation, esp. over some trifling annoyance: a petulant toss of the head.
Synonyms:irritable, peevish, fretful, pettish, touchy.
I used to think and feel that Jose Mourinho played the role of an arrogant if not petulant child in order to befuddle his opponents to the point of distraction. Click to continue reading...

It is an uncomfortable truth that every club seems to have its achilles heel, a bone of contention that shows up the true colours of a certain section of its support, and in the case of Tottenham Hotspur it's Sol Campbell. Campbell's defection from White Hart Lane to Highbury in 2001 continues to infuriate Spurs supporters to distraction, and the extent to which this still seems to boil over should be an embarrassment to the club.

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After County's 2-2 draw with Yeovil on Saturday Baker went over to the County fans to receive a card after the death of his older brother Micheal.

I have taken the best bits out of it to see the full article click here (Read Full) I just had to share this story with you, if you do click the read full link then makesure you read the comments written by worldwide fans.

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Fabio Capello is doing everything in his power to avoid the mistakes of previous World Cups for England's national team. Mostly that pressure-filled duty would involve the manager's important decision making in what moves should be made  on the pitch. But recently the World Cup bound coach has voiced his game plan of stopping his players from making moves off of the pitch.

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Liverpool will reach a European century in this season's Champions League.
Friday's draw in Monaco gave them the unusual prospect of three clubs they have never faced before in European competition.
The Reds will face Lyon of France, Fiorentina of Italy and the Hungarians Debreceni in Group E – a welcome distraction after recent seasons which have seen the Reds regularly face the same clubs. Click to continue reading...

Gary Megson seems to be thinking hard about how to become more popular with Bolton fans and his latest ploy is to openly praise former Trotter Kevin Nolan and attempt to bring him back to The Reebok Stadium. Megson is quoted as saying;

"I didn't particularly want him to go in the first place.

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First game at the Grove this season for me tonight molto excitemento on my behalf.

Watching the Arsenal live on the telly is always a joy (and how most Arsenal fans around the globe watch the world's finest team every week), and watching highlights shows is not bad either, seeing that they handily chop out the dull bits, but there's still nothing quite like a live game to set the pulse racing.

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                                                                     Photo by ISIphotos.com
By TRAVIS CLARK

Overshadowing last night's Chicago-Los Angeles game were reports that Bakary Soumare's bust up with coach Dennis Hamlett may signify that the African's tenure in Chicago is over.

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                                                                     Photo by ISIphotos.com
By TRAVIS CLARK

Overshadowing last night's Chicago-Los Angeles game were reports that Bakary Soumare's bust up with coach Dennis Hamlett may signify that the African's tenure in Chicago is over.

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So, it's once more unto the breach, for the new season is upon us. The friendlies are done, fantasy league teams picked – all that's left is for AANP Towers to rustle up a list of top ten aims for season 2009-10, and then we can get cracking...

1. European Qualification

Top six, or a trophy.

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Ahead of tonight's match between FC Barcelona and another MLS team (the Seattle Sounders), here is a little post-game action from the FC Barcelona vs LA Galaxy match.
In English, we have Maxwell (talking about Real Madrid) and Stefani Miglioranzi (on Beckham being a great guy; on Beckham handling the incident well with the LA Riot Squad, LA Galaxy depth) in English y en Espanol. Click to continue reading...

This could be Wayne Rooney's season. No, this will be Wayne Rooney's season. It has to be. For too long has this prodigious talent stood in the shadow of a certain Portuguese maestro (I don't mean Nani) at Manchester United. Now that this distraction has left (how I wish it was Nani), it's time for Rooney to show why Sir Alex Ferguson made him the world's most expensive teenager (although he didn't look like one) in world football back in 2004.

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