by FRANCO PANIZO

Thierry Henry's handball heard around the world helped secure France's passage to the 2010 World Cup, but the French may not be through to South Africa yet.

The Irish federation has appealed Wednesday's night 1-1 result (2-1 aggregate advantage for France), and is demanding that France replay the second leg of the playoff.

Click to continue reading...

by FRANCO PANIZO

Thierry Henry's handball heard around the world helped secure France's passage to the 2010 World Cup, but the French may not be through to South Africa yet.

The Irish federation has appealed Wednesday's night 1-1 result (2-1 aggregate advantage for France), and is demanding that France replay the second leg of the playoff.

Click to continue reading...

San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Darren Huckerby has told an English newspaper he is "99% sure" that he has played his last competitive game, likely forced into an early retirement because of a hip injury that required surgery last week.
Bursting onto the American scene last July, Huckerby went on to total six goals and four assists in 14 appearances, earning 2008 MLS Newcomer of the Year honors along the way. Click to continue reading...

According to Kristian Jack at the Score, Julian De Guzman has agreed to become our first designated player. Mo Johnston is apparently shopping players around the league in order to make room for him under the salary cap. Anyone else seeing Danny Dichio's two-month early retirement in the near future? Click to continue reading...

There's a spanner in the works; someone is not playing ‘the game'. The man in question seems quiet, reserved and astute, yet has a unique ability to get under peoples' skin. The man I'm talking about is, of course, Rafael Benitez, manager of Liverpool FC.
What fascinates me is why this quiet man from Madrid seems to provoke such a strong reaction from people. Click to continue reading...

Well, the whole two half things has never been more apt. I don't know what Tommy said to the team in the locker room, but it worked something special.

The first half was honestly the worst 45 minutes of soccer I've ever seen. I'm counting Screaming Eagles pickup games in that assertion.

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Former England international Robbie Fowler, 34, currently of the North Queensland Fury in Australia's A-League, has u-turned on his previous ambitions of making an early retirement from football and has now declared that he would relish entering a career in coaching and management.
Furthermore, a job as boss of his former club Liverpool would be something that he would relish. Click to continue reading...

Another Holte End Gem. The levels this works on, my god...
Regular readers will know I use that particular German word a bit too often, but shameful joy is the bread and butter of English football. The Holte End, many of whom had long given up on anything approaching a meaningful season and still recovering from the heart cramping noise of Martin Laursen's announced early retirement, had nothing else to offer on the last day of the season but a banner reading, "SOB on the Tyne. Click to continue reading...

Sometimes you just can't make up news (or have them made up for you in some cases). But today we learned that one New England Revolution player decided his club was just too damn good and instead retired to join the Catholic seminary in hopes of becoming a priest. The Revs announced today that defender Chase [. Click to continue reading...