The amazing Chipolopolos scored the winning goal in the 77th minute as substitute Emmanuel Mayuka found space and on the turn curled a right footed shot past Adam Kwarsey in goal. It was probably the second chance for the Zambians and very much against the run of play.

The Black Stars should have gone ahead early as Asamoah Gyan missed out on a golden chance when his penalty was stopped by Kennedy Mweene (bringing back painful memories of his World Cup PK miss against Uruguay).

Barcelona have been the scourge of Manchester United in Europe over recent campaigns but now the Spanish giants will not have the chance to scupper the Red Devils' chances of bring home silverware from the continent.
United fans will be disappointed their side failed to make the knockout stages of the Champions League but based on their performances in the group stage, the Premier League title holders did not really deserve to get through.

By Alan Duffy

"Re-Tweet this son you're f****n' s**t"

Hell hath no fury than a spurned football manager, particularly if it's Neil Warnock. The ex-QPR boss, who tends to divide opinion (people either strongly dislike him or hate him), has hit out at the influence of critics and players on owner Tony Fernandes, claiming that his own reputation was "slowly poisoned" by outside forces with Twitter playing a key role in his downfall.

With just a little over half the season already gone, and 20 league matches played, it's time to assess the individuals that make up the glorious institution that is Arsenal FC. Some you know have had great years; others, not so much. We begin this player review by looking at some of the under-performing players of this season's team so far.

I have just been to the Surfing Seadog forum and came across this post from Retford United striker Carl Haslam scorer of their goal yesterday against us.I don't think Carl is happy at our view of the game, I personally think it is great when players from opposing teams get involved in this way.


Carl's post:
i havent come on here to argue or cause a fight but after reading some of ur posts i aint going 2 sit back and let you say the things u are.

More dedicated followers of AANP will be well aware that when I do eventually conclude fighting the good fight and prepare to meet my doom, ‘twill not be in a hail of bullets or blaze of glory, but coronary failure sustained while watching our heroes. While cheering the news that the various pokes and prods to ‘Arry ‘s cardiac area proved successful, I rather fear for him if he observed on the telly-box the inept tomfoolery of Monsieur Bassong in contributing to our downfall.

Under the spotlight. Sebastien in happier days. . The Greg Meyer column. Greg's read the entrails, studied the runes and examined the charts and has come to the conclusion that we might just win on Sunday. He's not impressed with our Russian expedition but then why would he be. His forensic analysis pinpoints Sebastien Bassong as the cause of our downfall and nobody at Spurs Musings is going

Ducky's Note: Sushajith opened his BigFourZa account with this impassioned defence of Torres in his first post on our website. Keeping with the concept of posts on Chelsea strikers, he follows up with an insightful piece on the next big thing at Chelsea Daniel Sturridge.

1. In writing this I am acknowledging that yesterday actually happened. We actually lost 6-1 to City at Old Trafford. There aren't many worse days than that for us but even just in recent times, I'd argue the 4-1 against Liverpool and the 2-1 during the Munich 50th anniversary week hurt more. It was the worst day for our manager though, he claimed after the final whistle, so now we have to see what he will do to remedy it.

By Chris Wright

That's right another week, another 'Mario Balotelli nearly kills himself/someone else' story.

Apparently Balotelli and four of his dumbest friends were forced to bid a hasty escape from his house in the wee small hours of Saturday morning after a perfectly harmless game of 'let's light fireworks in the bathroom' went catastrophically awry.

£35M Gamble Fails...Time to Walk On from Andy Carroll

I've written two articles on here before saying why I felt Fernando Torres and Raul Mereiles should be sold so that Liverpool Football Club can move forward. The vast majority of replies I had to those articles said I was losing the plot and didn't know what I was talking about.

I'm not even going to begin a debate as to whether Rooney deserves the harsh sentence Uefa has dished out on the temperamental scouser.

Any-one that has read my posts should be aware that I am a Man United fan, something that is undoubtedly looked down upon on this site.

Regardless of who I support, I can remain objective enough to say that Rooney made an inexcusable, rash and stupid mistake.

With the FA indicating that Capello wont be kept on past the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine the search is on to find the next England boss.

David Berstein said that Capello is to stand down from his position of England manager after the tournament. This is not a shock to everyone, as after the string of poor performances at the World Cup in South Africa.

Benny was confused. Had Rafa not seen how good his wife looks!?It's not so much a changing of the tide anymore - the dam has been broken. For the two North London clubs, the direction of the rivalry has largely been one way over the past 15 or so years but no longer. Spurs beat Arsenal 2-1 on a blazing hot Sunday afternoon at White Hart Lane and they didn't do it by raising their game and Arsenal lowering theirs: this Spurs display was worse than it has been in recent weeks and Arsenal rolled out their best work in the same amount of time.

Former French international and one of the games greats Zinedine Zidane is considering the option of returning to the French national team as a coach. Zidane who retired from the side after he infamously head butted Marco Materazzi during the 2006 world cup finals, made the statement when questioned by Le Parisien.

The best photo from a blurry batch of cell-phone pictures. I'm glad to say that I was lucky enough to be able to go to Empire Field's last Vancouver Whitecaps game against the Seattle Sounders. When I go see matches live, I'm usually too engrossed in the action and swept up by the atmosphere to be able to properly focus on what I'm going to write later in the match report.

Excitable hand Chelsea substitute Salomon Kalou dished out a valuable lesson to any youngsters watching the Blues' 1-1 draw with Valencia last night: if you spend so much time waving your hand round in front of your face it will eventually prove to be your downfall. The Ivory Coast international's trademark goal celebration involuntarily reared [.

By Dario Camacho (Sep 26, 2011) US Soccer Players -- It's a shame how destructive hope can sometimes be. In the case of New England, it might be the reason for its downfall in 2012. With Major League Soccer being generous this year, ten teams get to keep playing well past October 23rd. New England won't be one of them.

The MLS playoff race is heating up and we have teams choosing their own destinies. It's my favorite time of year. A hint of fall, the weather is cooling and we have MLS teams who find themselves at crucial junctures where player decisions, injuries and tactics can make or break a season.
We got a taste of this in DC midweek against Chivas.

Much to the relief of Inter fans everyone, the club has fired Gian Piero Gasperini, who failed to win a game while in charge of Inter. Gasperini's downfall was due to his insistence that Inter play with three defenders and five midfield players, a formation that is not suited to the Inter line-up.

Manchester United went two points clear at the top of the Premier League after beating Chelsea in an incredible game at Old Trafford today.

United were three up at half-time with goals from Chris Smalling, Nani and Wayne Rooney as Chelsea contributed to their own downfall courtesy of poor defending and a dismal failure to take the chances that came their way.

Manchester United went two points clear at the top of the Premier League after beating Chelsea in an incredible game at Old Trafford today.

United were three up at half-time with goals from Chris Smalling, Nani and Wayne Rooney as Chelsea contributed to their own downfall courtesy of poor defending and a dismal failure to take the chances that came their way.

We have had to wait for two long weeks for today. We have seen to be fair Chelsea make a slowish start to their Premier League campaign despite picking up seven points out of nine but have had to sit and watch those two sides from Manchester turn up the heat.
City and United and playing fast attacking football, the football us Chelsea fans are crying out for and with important transfer window signings, Chelsea will be keen to put in a better performance with the right result today.

Another Scotland game, more howls of anguish.
"We were robbed/cheated/denied natural footballing justice."
Scotland v Czech Republic followed that old familiar pattern and we all felt rank rotten at the end.
Football's an emotional game and Scotland can tease emotions like few other teams.

Jonathan Woodgate was released from Tottenham Hotspur in June 2011 and found himself looking at an end to his athletic career. Upon his departure from White Hart Lane he had only played in four games in about two years. His downfall was an injury he...
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Should be slightly happier after scoring 4 goals for Holland

International break, the kind of break we as club supporters always detest. In this instance though, it is a welcomed one. Especially after the crazy last week that we had. Starting with the bashing we took at the reigning champions to the frenzy last few days of the transfer window.

(Graph via Business Insider)

Business Insider had this nifty graphic up on a post today about spending in MLS and how it has gone up. The article also talks about attendance being on the rise as well but for me this was all about each club's spending.

The league is slowly getting there and will only continue to get better as long as owners pony up the cash for players here.

I always found it odd that Chivas USA was named as such given what the word "chivas" actually means. For those that don't know chivas in Spanish means "goats." So, essentially, the Portland Timbers are playing a team called Goats USA tonight. Obviously it's all about the branding being carried over from their sister club in Guadalajara, but it's still funny regardless.

Most Spurs fans would agree that 90% of the transfer talk this pre-season has been about which striker should leave and who we should bring in up front. But could Redknapp defer this ‘crisis' by getting the best out of what we already have?

I think it is important that we do strengthen up front regardless of what our current strike force can offer.

By Walter Broeckx The picture painted by the English media of Arsenal being a club in total disaster and downfall is something that is not really recognisable in Europe. And certainly it isn't in those parts where they don't pay any attention to what the English gutter and phone hacking press are saying.

Amid widespread rumors of Carlos Tevez seeking a transfer away from Manchester City this summer, influential defender Vincent Kompany has moved to dismiss any thoughts of a downfall in the club's fortunes. The Belgian center-back has been somewhat of a sensation for the Citizens, and he is adamant that no one player defines the club, and is certain that they will adjust should Tevez leave.

Nani is one of those footballers who never seems to be too happy for too long. In that respect, he fits very much into the same mould as Cristiano Ronaldo, but sadly for the United winger, he doesn't exactly have the same level of talent or goal scoring touch as the Real Madrid star.

With Sir Alex Ferguson a man who doesn't allow players who believe they are bigger than the club or the team's cause to stick around at Old Trafford for very long, and with Ashley Young newly arrived in Manchester to provide additional competition for places on the wing, with Nani already ruing the level of competition in midfield at the club, could it be that the next few months sees the beginning of the end for Nani's career in the north of England?

The Real Madrid legend who spent his youth at River Plate and was part of the championship teams between 1945 to 1947 never lost connection with his former team coming back in 1981 to manage them. His column in Marca shows his deep anguish at River's downfall.

" I'm sorry these are such mournful times.

BY ADAM SERRANO

PASADENA, Calif-- Down 2-0 to the United States has been a common downfall for previous editions of the Mexican National Team.

However, this time Mexico was able to storm back scoring four unanswered goals and earning their second Gold Cup victory in front of a capacity crowd at the Rose Bowl.

Is Raul Meirles being prepared to be sold by Liverpool FC to make way for Rafa Benitez's downfall in Alberto Aquilani.
Signed by Roy Hodgson last season in a £10.5 million deal, the Portugese International had an exceptional second-half of the season under Kenny Dalglish, scoring five great goals in 31 appearances for the Reds.

"The inquest starts here"...? Assessing England's Under-21s after more disappointment is a post from: Just Football

Stuart Pearce saw it coming a mile away. On the eve of the Czech Republic game, a game that offered England complete clarity of purpose by virtue of being what, in journalistic parlance, is referred to as a 'must-win' game, the England Under-21s coach had this to say:

"We knew it would probably go to the last game.

"The inquest starts here"...? Assessing England's Under-21s after more disappointment is a post from: Just Football

Stuart Pearce saw it coming a mile away. On the eve of the Czech Republic game, a game that offered England complete clarity of purpose by virtue of being what, in journalistic parlance, is referred to as a 'must-win' game, the England Under-21s coach had this to say:

"We knew it would probably go to the last game.

Possibly the closest category to call, this split our voters - divided by micro and macro concerns. At the latter level, the usual suspects are there: the primary interviewee on Lord Sugar Tackles Football, some oval ball proponents from the South Manchester borders and all those associated with the downfall of a Green Army from Devonshire.

Ex-Whitecaps head coach Teitur Thordarson.
de los Cobos is out of a job after Fire axe.
We're barely a third of the way through the season but already poor form is drawing consequences. Two head coaches were let go from their positions yesterday as their clubs seek an immediate turnaround in fortunes.

By Azeem Banatwalla

It's not often you'd find yourself in a situation that put Manchester United down as a clear second favourite, but that's Barcelona's dominance of the European game for you. Barcelona have scored more goals in just La Liga than Manchester United have done in all competitions combined.