USMNT boss Bob Bradley has selected 22 players to gather in Bratislava to prepare for Saturday's friendly with fellow World Cup qualifier Slovakia.As you can see, I pegged much of the roster, with a few notable exceptions (like Tim Howard and the Mexican-based guys). However, I also expect some changes to the roster before the Denmark match that follows four days later. Click to continue reading...

In my opinion, the two best teams in MLS already faced eachother during these playoffs. Forget the finals, the best matchup is/was Houston vs. Seattle.

What more can you say about Seattle and their fans? They are the pinnacle example of what every team strives for. Sure, there might be some exceptions, like a few over-zealous Sounders fans that chose to sing through the moment of silence for the Fort Hood tragedy.

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Recently, it was brought to my attention that someone had posted a defence of Liverpool, and specifically Benitez's, transfer activity.
At first glance, the conclusion is clear:
Total Players Bought: £228,976,000
Total Players Sold: £145,100,000

Total Net Spend: £83,876,000So, that's a total spend of just over £83m in 5 years at the club. Click to continue reading...

You can learn a lot about an organization from the quality of their website. Fair? I for example am not a design oriented person, although I would like to be. The idea of changing this template for something unique and original by screwing around with code or risking the download of someone foreign layout gives me nightmares. Click to continue reading...

Moving as I do mostly through non-footballing circles, I've been asked, "hey, what's the deal with Toronto FC? Did they make the playoffs? I heard they lost something like 10 nothing to some nobody team in the states."
These post-mortems can get boring, so let me just throw down my two-cents on this club as I see it so we can all move on. Click to continue reading...

Cristiano Ronaldo has today compared the Premiership with La Liga, claiming that our defenders are a lot tougher than the ones he's come across in Spain, with him particularly fond of the duels he had with Ashley Cole.

As for City, Ronaldo says no amount of money can buy the history and success United have enjoyed and there is no way he would play for any English club other than United.

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I was fortunate to watch Sunset vs Southridge last night and wanted to share some observations from that game.
A) They spread the field. Very rarely do you see two players occupying the same space unless they are involved in a double-team. When a player has the ball, her teammates create avenues for her to pass them the ball; i. Click to continue reading...

It's bad enough we have had a horrible season. It's bad enough that we played basically the same lineup that has given us little to cheer about throughout the season (with Zusi and Zoltan being the exceptions). Saturday we decided to give the Sounders some help by giving away 3 goals on big mistakes.

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Liverpool's depressing defeat against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge could have (and should have) been avoided, but as is so often the case, Rafa Benitez's decisions conspired to adversely affect Liverpool yet again.
The most galling thing about the defeat is that the game was definitely winnable. Click to continue reading...

FIFA's official ranking system for nations was officially introduced in 1992. Initially it was a rather simplistic system, in which a win gave a team 3 points whilst a draw gave the team 1 point. This created a number of problems, based mainly around the fact that it didn't take into account that some countries continually played weaker nations and as a result would constantly rank higher than more accomplished sides.

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Taking a cue from Dan, I wanted to add my tuppence about Chris Smalling.

There has been a buzz about Smalling since we snatched him from Middlesbrough.� I can't remember the details, but Smalling, a Maidstone Utd player, seemed to have signed up with Boro, only to have something change at the last minute.

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I have found that listening to most podcasts is not good for my health, especially my blood pressure. With very few exceptions, most notably the Guardian's fantastic Football Weekly, the drivel spewed forth in these little mp3s is enough to make one scratch their eyes out. None more so at times than the BBC's 606.

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Redknapp may well happily take Steve Bruce's money.

Portsmouth Vs Tottenham Tickets Still Available!

Sunderland manager Steve Bruce is "compiling a dossier" on Alan Hutton and is "sending his spies" to keep tabs on the Tottenham Hotspur and Scotland right-back.

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The transfer window may be shut but these guys don't care, because they have no contract! From Everton rejects to former Liverpool heroes to Arsenal stalwarts to West Ham and Newcastle United mercenaries. These players should, with some exceptions, be avoided like the plague!

The Daily Mail came up with a list of players that were out of contract and therefore allowed to move to your club even with the transfer window firmly shut, we give our thoughts on the players you really shouldn't hope to see in your clubs colours!

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When a soccer player turns thirty-five, it is generally considered that his best days are behind him. There are exceptions to the rule and Steve Ralston [left] would be one of them. His goal in Saturday's match that helped the New England Revolution beat the San Jose Earthquakes 2-1 is his seventh of the MLS season. Click to continue reading...

While most of the major Premier League clubs are transfixed on creating new fanbases in China only, most of the clubs have ignored the United States. Chelsea is one of the few exceptions, so it's interesting to see hear about Chelsea's latest announcement today that it has partnered with Adidas to develop a basketball shoe, which comes with an exclusive scarf and Chelsea jersey. Click to continue reading...

While most of the major Premier League clubs are transfixed on creating new fanbases in China only, most of the clubs have ignored the United States. Chelsea is one of the few exceptions, so it's interesting to see hear about Chelsea's latest announcement today that it has partnered with Adidas to develop a basketball shoe, which comes with an exclusive scarf and Chelsea jersey.

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Manchester City is like a black hole that has opened up in the fabric of the Premier League. Sucking mass, masses of expensive players and media attention, it leaves many fans unsure about how to approach the club's awakening and limitless powers. Some laugh. Some wince. Most shake their heads, confused and afraid, especially those millions of fans of any of the now comparatively-less-rich Big Four, which constitute most of the Premier League fans here in America and elsewhere outside England.

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In my mind, the Community Shield (previously known as the Charity Shield) was always a big deal for me. The winner of the FA Cup against the winner of the Premier League (formerly First Division). It had to be a massive exciting game, right? But year after year, it felt liked the jilted bride was left at the altar as the games hardly ever lived up to its promises.

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According to Aston Villa's official website, Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill admitted that he would like to strengthen his defense. He told AVTV,

"We have lost Martin and we have allowed Zat to go to Bolton. Defence is a priority.

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Pro Soccer's greatest obstacle in the busy American sports calendar is figuring out how not to get lost in the shuffle. With the other pro team sports so entrenched in the American sports fan's consciousness, pro Soccer, even in the height of its season, receives little or no time being in the mainstream spotlight.

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Morning all, and a long overdue 'morning all' it is.

I've barely been able to get on the pooter recently, I don't know what's going on.

I did snatch parts of the Emirates Cup over the weekend all the parts except the goals. I sat through the first 75, goalless minutes of the Atletico game before being called away to feed the animals, then managed to miss the first 20 minutes of the Rangers game.

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Just a week from his return to the Galaxy and a hair's breadth from a fan's assault, Becks is again pushing his luck. This time he wants to play Holland in a friendly. The match is awkwardly placed between important MLS encounters with New England and Seattle.

More power to him if he can pull this off and commit himself to the Galaxy but Bruce Arena is going to request him not to return for the friendly to be played in Amsterdam.

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If there's a typical men's league game, it can be roughly divided into three sections:
• First 20 minutes: both teams whine, complain, and exaggerate to see what they can get away with. If there's a big mouth, he looks for someone to prod into getting a yellow card.
• Next 50 minutes: The teams realize that I won't make idiot calls or buy their attempts to get a PK. Click to continue reading...

Football supporters love a home-grown hero. In a time when it's impossible to bump into our idols on the Tube or in the pub after a match, it's becoming more and more difficult for fans to relate to players. They earn huge amounts (in Europe, at least) and have impossibly attractive wives, girlfriends and cars.

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I am, I know, something of a broken record on this subject, but I've found more proof so bear with me.

It has been my contention that Bobby Zamora, while not playing as well as we might hope, has not been as bad as people say.� He has played in a team that does not emphasise attacking play, does not commit numbers to attack, which makes it easier for defenders to close down chances.

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I know this is a football blog but the season is over so I have to turn my attentions elsewhere. Whilst the fashion sense of our players isn't my number one priority, I think there are certain exceptions to that rule.

Rio, what the fuck are you wearing mate?

Enjoying a lads holiday in Israel, accompanied by that twat Jody Morris, Rio managed to redeem himself somewhat by taking his United beach towel.

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I was chatting with some supporters yesterday and they were saying how the transfer period gets them down because of the commonly held notion that Arsenal "don't spend" on players. I've seen this a lot among Arsenal supporters and I really don't understand it. With a few exceptions, Arsenal have bought great players every year that I have been an Arsenal supporter: Arshavin, Nasri, Eduardo, Rosicky, and Gallas.

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Liverpool midfielder Yossi Benayoun has revealed that he has received offers from clubs in England and Spain following his most productive season to date for the Reds.
The Israel captain has featured prominently for the Anfield side this term, contributing nine goals in all competitions. Click to continue reading...

According to Sky Sports News, Liverpool striker Yossi Benayoun is happy at the club and plans on staying even though he received offers to play elsewhere. He said,

"At the moment, I am a Liverpool player, and unless something surprising happens, I will remain one.

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I'm sorry, but this was the worst kept secret in soccer. Everyone knew that Carlo Ancelotti was going to leave A.C. Milan and takeover as the new manager at Chelsea. I've finally found someone in Tony Cascarino who is willing to come out and say that he thinks like me in that this will be yet another failure. Click to continue reading...

1) Jeff Cunningham is seven games away from history. At that point, he'll tie Jason Kreis for the dubious record of having played the most MLS regular season games without playing in an MLS Cup. See the top 25 post-2008 here. Kreis has held the record for three years now, but Cunningham should have it all to his own shortly. Click to continue reading...

Awards on Thursday and Top 10 goals on Friday should wrap up the season review stuff unless something strikes me. In addition, there may be a review of the CL final tomorrow, depending on circumstances (yes, you know what I'm implying).
But first, relegation.
I don't know why the idea hadn't struck me sooner, but promotions and relegations affect Liverpool. Click to continue reading...

In recent months Bob Bradley's squad selection has become more and more European based player heavy. Yet we've seen little or no discernible improvement in the form of the National Team. The side has won easily at home and struggled away from home even against seemingly over matched opponents.

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If you don't watch too much television in Spanish - where, with a few notable exceptions, you can find the most knowledgeable coverage of American soccer - you may have missed the news, but Univision is at it again. Click to continue reading...