For some reason, it seems like ages since last had a round of club football, but we're sure happy that it's back on the agenda this weekend, because, well, this has been another particularly stressful week in the constantly varying Scottish football landscape. Most friendlies are futile. These days they serve only as an excuse to increase [. Click to continue reading...

I think I have heard it all now. In the last couple of days we've heard about "Hardnut" Kalou and his fighting!...yes fighting! (Still can't get over that) and now Yuri Zhirkov is blaming his move to London for his injury problems. The world's gone mad!!. He said in an interview:
"The English doctors see my problems as a reaction of the body to drastic changes - in the climate, lifestyle, training work and in everything else, and no-one can tell me what the medical predictions of my rehabilitation are. Click to continue reading...

When will this end!

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Former Manchester United defender Gerard Pique believes Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas will eventually return to European champions Barcelona and not join arch-rivals Real Madrid.

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When Nani arrived to Manchester United for the fee thought to be around £15 million he was only 20 years old and looked like the player that in couple of year's time could become a key member of Sir Alex Ferguson's team. He has shown some glimpses of quality during his first two seasons at Old Trafford but the problem is that instead of getting better by the day, the Portuguese winger's performances kept deteriorating and in my opinion it's high time he was shown the door.

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Valencia netted a 3-1 victory over Zaragoza on Sunday in what could be called a watershed match for the club led by David Villa. Valencia now sits at 21 points and is a mere 5 behind 1st place Barca. Now that the Top 4 teams are within 5 points of one another we can really see a race developing at the top of the Table for the Premier Division.

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Wolverhampton Wanderers

Position: 17th, 2-4-5 (10 points, -7 goal differential)

Recent Form: LLDDD

Home Form: 1-2-2

Away to the midlands tomorrow to face Wolves at the Molineaux. Wolves are a solid side I picked them to stay up this season, and I actually hope they do.

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Elizabeth Lambert, junior defender for the University of New Mexico's women's soccer team should be red carded for life. Brandon Spikes has gotten the heat lately (deservedly so), but there's no excuse for this.

Thanks to The Big Lead. Click to continue reading...

As if we need an excuse...

"VIDEO: Reliving Our Favourite Chelsea Moment" was originally published at The Republik of Mancunia. Click to continue reading...

Dieter, Dietmar . . . close enough.

Dietmar Beiersdorfer, the new sporting director for worldwide Red Bull soccer operations, has descended upon New York and has brought with him a cloud of speculation. Is he here to hire a new GM? Perhaps weigh in on the coaching situation?

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Another round. Games working out as predicted except for Man U 3 3 CSKA Moscow which I really thought would go to Manchester. And of course Barcelona's inability to beat Kazan but they were not playing at home (if that even serves as an excuse!). The big derby AC Milan vs. Real Madrid turned out quite well even with teh 1-1 tie (and I see a light in the dark for Ronaldinho there is hope).

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The same way the U20 World Cup generated some analysis, the failure of the U17 deserves even more talk. First of all, being eliminated in group that had Mexico, Switzerland and Japan is a shame. There is simply no excuse.

This pathetic elimination was so bad that no projections for the future can be made.

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Working on the MLS Anti-Awards for 2009. Last chance for suggestions, but I'll give you a hint - couple of local Southern California players figure big.
But speaking of worst, I wanted to point out that the Daily Telegraph is an idiot.
The topic is worst sports uniforms. Coincidentally, one of my favorite sites, UniWatchBlog, is running a contest for worst American sports uniform of all time. Click to continue reading...

Leo and Pep do press conferences prior to tonight's freeze-fest against Rubin Kazan, and look great while they're at it. Leo's got this whole I'm-thinking-ginger-stubble-totally-works-for-me look, while Pep is sending out I'm-just-too-hot-to-handle vibes even in the midst of his epic stare-down with the microphone. Click to continue reading...

Sure, we're in a bit of a tizzy over the incoming Rooney baby, but there's such a huge stack of footballers-and-their-brood news coming down the wire that we've declared today an official 'Baller Baby Day on Kickette.

Coming up: news of WAG pregnancies, new photos of footballers and their genetically (and financially) superior kids and lots of baby announcements.

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Sure, we're in a bit of a tizzy over the incoming Rooney baby, but there's such a huge stack of footballers-and-their-brood news coming down the wire that we've declared today an official 'Baller Baby Day on Kickette.

Coming up: news of WAG pregnancies, new photos of footballers and their genetically (and financially) superior kids and lots of baby announcements.

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Bill Shankly once said: "Aim for the sky and you'll reach the ceiling. Aim for the ceiling and you'll stay on the floor". Against Fulham on Saturday, Rafa Benitez didn't aim for the sky or the ceiling; he didn't even aim for the floor! With his cautious approach and maddeningly incomprehensible decisions, Benitez went against everything Liverpool FC stands for and committed the ultimate footballing sin: he gave up and conceded defeat. Click to continue reading...

...Liverpool beat Fulham today. Yes, the team is suffering from injuries but there is still enough quality in the squad to get a result.
Javier Mascherano summed it up perfectly during the week:
"The win [against United] is important, but it's only three points. We have to keep going. Click to continue reading...

'Brisbane boss Ange Postecoglou was frustrated to leave with a point after watching his team control large portions of the match. "We certainly had enough of the ball and we moved it quite well"'

Mate, the fans were just bored with the training ground - obvious and predictable passing, that gave Newcastle no trouble.

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Ahead of Liverpool's game with Manchester United later today, I answered a few questions for Scott over at 'The Republik of Mancunia'.
Here is the text of the interview, which was published on RoM yesterday:
Scott the Red: What do you make of the beachball fiasco at the Stadium of Light? Click to continue reading...

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...

Sir Alex Ferguson has stoked the fire ahead of Manchester United's trip to Liverpool by saying he can understand why Sunderland's goal stood last week.
The Reds' dismal run of results continued when they succumbed 1-0 to the Black Cats thanks to a Darren Bent goal that deflected of a beach ball that was thrown onto the pitch by one of Liverpool's own supporters. Click to continue reading...

Remember when a big, live concert broadcast was solely the domain of HBO and MTV? To quote Biggy, "things done changed".
This Sunday night U2 will broadcast their show at Pasadena's Rose Bowl live and for free on Youtube so if you didn't have the duckets, desire or luck to score tickets to the 360 Tour this is your chance to "watch through the fence" so to speak. Click to continue reading...

That's according to Brian Boswell, coach of the Rolling Hills Estates-based Women's Professional Soccer League club Ajax America (for years now one of the top women's teams in the nation and a WPSL finalist again last year) and a sometime contributor to this blog.

The revelations were contained in what is essentially a begging letter circulating via e-mail that seeks to ensure the continued existence of Ajax.

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Rafael Benítez, the Liverpool manager, has again passed up the opportunity to criticise Mike Jones, the referee who failed to rule out Sunderland's winning goal against the Merseyside club on Saturday. Darren Bent's shot found the net via a deflection off a beach ball that had been thrown onto the pitch. Click to continue reading...

From the Guardian: Michael Ballack has revealed how Chelsea's players held a training-ground inquest into the set-piece errors which are threatening to disrupt their season.
Okay, quit hamming around back there. We've got a major investigation on our hands and I don't want any mistakes. Click to continue reading...

Harry Redknapp gave Jermain Defoe a dressing down in front of his team mates after his sending off against Pompey on Saturday. Nothing wrong with that as far as I'm concerned, especially when he already warned him to cool it at half time.

Redknapp said: "Yes. He's sorry for what's done.

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Sunderland striker, and beach ball enthusiast, has been signing the praises of that crafty sphere shaped object that felt duty bound to get involved in yesterday's proceedings.

Join his Twitter as he looks to crack 10k followers, it's all for charity so no excuse to not add him! CLICK HERE to do so.

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Arsene Wenger said today in regard to Arsenal's losses to Manchester City and United, "I think this year, more than ever, those two defeats were an accident.'' Now, before you go thinking I'm going to do some send up of all those "on purpose" defeats Arsenal has endured over the years, I think we should explore this idea a little further, don't you? Click to continue reading...

Valencia-Barcelona

Valencia is among the few clubs that stands a chance against the treble winning giants, but with David Villa an unlikely starter the road to victory just got a lot tougher. Valencia currently sits in fifth place and Barcelona of course is undefeated, so it is tough to vote against Messi, Ibs, Henry & Co.

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Most of you probably at one time or another saw the reports yesterday that Don Garber and Major League Soccer are "looking into playing indoors to shift season schedule." I waited until this morning to really gather my thoughts on this matter and because I just ended up with no time last night to get anything done (I had a good excuse I was seeing U2 play here in Dallas).

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Don't worry, I'm not advertising any insurance here. Not sure about the odds but you'd be very unlucky to get hurt by a paper aeroplane that's for sure. Seriously though, have you ever been hurt by one? If so, is it as bad as David James makes it out to be? This is what he said,

They were big flares, granted, but you could argue that someone throwing a paper aeroplane on the pitch might take someone's eye out.

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After South Africa's 1-0 defeat to Norway yesterday it looks even more certain that Brazilian coach Joel Santana will soon be packing his bags and leaving for Rio. But I ask the question; surely the fault doesn't only lie with the coach? These are highly skilled professional players who are letting their country down.

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Okay, now I've got your attention with the headline and the funky flyer, just stay with me here for a couple of minutes.

If you are free on Tuesday 13th October, head towards the Phoenix Cinema, Finchley, London. Which If memory serves me right is in central London.

Why?

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Can you beleive it? The low-seeded Montreal Impact is in the USL final while Portland, who dominated for much of the 2009 season, are already planning thier trips to see the fall folliage? It's madness I tell you but I guess them's the breaks.
Canucks should be stoked though, what with an all-maple final on the way. Click to continue reading...

Current "it-band" and TOR favorite Passion Pit are playing a free show in KC tonight at The Beaumont Club. It is free, they are ridiculously good and the Wizards aren't playing tonight so you have no excuse not to go...unless you are laid up due to getting dosed with contaminated salsa at a restaurant in Lenexa. Click to continue reading...