Photo: Nicolae Stoian

But if you see me walking by,
And the tears are in my eyes,
Look away, baby, look away.
If we meet on the streets someday,
And I don't know what to say,
Look away, baby, look away.
Don't look at me;
I don't want you to see me this way.

Just reading Simon Kuiper's excellent "The Football Men"

You would never want Bergkamp playing for your life. To achieve his great moments he appears to enter a trance, shutting out the match. "People really have no idea what goes into the making of goals like that."

The point being that Bergkamp is not consistent, drifting out of whole games at a time, but he can create moments of joy that nobody else could even imagine.

"It only took nine years" was the cry from South-West London last summer, when AFC Wimbledon won promotion back to the Football League after a dramatic penalty-shoot-out win as if there is any other sort against Luton Town at The City of Manchester Stadium in the Blue Square Premier play-off final.

Fans of the Philadelphia Union have had plenty to chear about in the club's brief two-year MLS existence. From the opening of PPL Park in 2010, to the team's MLS playoff debut in 2011. Now Union fans are ready to have a new experience to celebrate in 2012, the hosting of an MLS All-Star Game.

Following soccer is like being in love with someone who's (a) gorgeous, (b) fascinating, (c) possibly quite evil, and (d) only occasionally aware of your existence.5 There's a continuous low-grade suffering that becomes a sort of addiction in its own right.6 You spend all your time hoping they'll notice you, and they never do, and that unfulfilled hope feels like your only connection to them.

Almost five years into the existence of Pitch Invasion, you can now hear the dulcet tones of Pitch Invasion editor Tom Dunmore and regular contributor Peter Wilt on a new monthly podcast, featuring interviews with interesting people from the world of soccer.

It's available to stream or download below, and will show up on iTunes shortly.

First of all dear reader, I would like to apologise. I meant to have this posted yesterday evening. However, due to a certain bearded Newcastle United shirt sponsor, his chronically unreliable Broadband and constantly engaged customer service (who's existence I am beginning to doubt), that sadly wasn't possible in the end.

Why Bolton's troubles run deeper than Owen Coyle's management

Owen Coyle is facing major problems at Bolton – and if they go down it could put the whole club's future in doubt. Why on earth is no-one talking about Bolton's £110million debt? People watched Portsmouth unravel and they're fighting for their very existence.

So yesterday, the 16th of December, AC Milan celebrated (I don't want to know how) 112 years of a glorious and rich history spanning back from the club's foundation as The Milan Cricket and Football Club in 1899 to the present. As a tip of the hat to this fine sporting institution, I will dedicate this post to that faction of Milanese society that is eligible to play for another fine, some may say finer, institution, the Italian national team, one half of the pure and unabridged reason for this blog's existence, the other half being to spread evil rumours about a defenceless old lady.

Joys of Tumblr: The Illustrated Ray Hudson

1. "Burger King boys Getafe say ‘I'll have fries with this' tonight."
2. "[Real Madrid has] a great recipe but it's got to bring the bun out of the oven. It's got to be a nice cake in the trophy room this year."

Anyone who has been following AFR long enough knows that we're Ray Hudsonites.

- Jason Davis
There's a piece of accepted truth in the blogging world, one of those bits of conventional wisdom impossible to verify, that the average blog's lifespan is three years. I'm not sure if this is meant to apply to all blogs, sports blogs, or specifically to soccer blogs, but it's a "fact" I've heard repeated more than a few times during the span of Match Fit USA's existence, and by extension, the time I have been penning my overwrought missives on the state of American soccer.

The furore surrounding Lyon's astounding 7-1 win in Zagreb last week puts one in mind of the perhaps the most anomalous sequence of results in this season's Football League. In September, warmly tipped Crawley Town followed up a 6-0 hiding at Morecambe with a 3-0 home battering by Swindon. Having begun existence in the League well, these results were far from expected and everything that has

The furore surrounding Lyon's astounding 7-1 win in Zagreb last week puts one in mind of the perhaps the most anomalous sequence of results in this season's Football League. In September, warmly tipped Crawley Town followed up a 6-0 hiding at Morecambe with a 3-0 home battering by Swindon. Having begun existence in the League well, these results were far from expected and everything that has happened since makes them seem still more unusual.

[T]he furore surrounding Lyon's astounding 7-1 win in Zagreb last week puts one in mind of the perhaps the most anomalous sequence of results in this season's Football League. In September, warmly tipped Crawley Town followed up a 6-0 hiding at Morecambe with a 3-0 home battering by Swindon. Having begun existence in the League well, these results were far from expectedand everything that has happened since makes them seem still more unusual.

The Philadelphia will travel to Oregon to face the Portland Timbers on March 12, part of the opening week of the 2012 MLS season.

The games is one of four opening week MLS games that will be featured on national television (the Vancouver Whitecaps and Montreal Impact game is nationally televised in Canda).

At the beginning of the season it was fair to say that Arsenal were playing shit.
We seemed a bigger shambles than a pissed up David Hasselhoff trying to eat a hamburger.
At the time there many people jumping on an RIP Arsenal Football Club bandwagon. A bandwagon that was gaining more speed than Keanu Reeves on a bus.

The Bernie Fine situation is getting weirder and weirder. Now, not only has his wife admitted to Bernie Fine being a child molester, there are rumors going around that there is a Laurie Fine sex tape in existence. Even better: the Laurie Fine sex video reportedly includes at least one ex-player who played basketball at Syracuse.

Orlando City has acquired a controlling interest in the Central Florida Kraze.

The USL Premier Development League team has been in existence since 1999 and won the PDL national title in 2004.

It will be known as the Orlando City Under 23s now and will continue to be coached by Joe Avallone.

German club Allemania Aachen now play in the splendidly modern New Tivoli Stadium, but their home between 1928 and 2009 was the original Tivoli Stadium, which still stands as pictured above in August this year.

Alemannia Aachen enjoyed considerable success in the 1960s, shortly after Tivoli's capacity was increased, Bundesliga runners-up in 1969.

By Jason Davis - WASHINGTON, DC (Nov 17, 2011) US Soccer Players -- There is little originality when it comes to breeding success on the soccer field. That's a truth that applies even in a young league like Major League Soccer. Enough has already happened, even midway through the second decade of the League's existence, to have created a set of blueprints for others to follow.

One year ago today, the Kansas City Wizards had an announcement at the Power and Light District in downtown KC to announce their identity change from the Wizards to Sporting Kansas City. Included with the new name was a new logo, new colors, and basically a new identity.
Overall the first year of "Sporting KC" would be classified as a success both on an off the field, on the field the team went from missing the playoffs two straight years to topping the Eastern Conference in the regular season and making the conference finals.

The ball was in the NBA players' court coming into Monday morning. The players could have accepted the NBA owners' latest offer and a 72-game season would have begun on Dec. 15. Instead, the players decided to disband their union and sue the NBA.

After the news became public, NBA commissioner David Stern said that the NBA is now in a nuclear winter.

... and whinier than ever.
So, Ibrahimovic wrote a book in which he cries about how mean Mr. Pep bullied his existence and shattered his dreams. Because, you know, we can't expect him to be over it over a year later. Well I'm here to pick his whining apart quote by quote... starting from where he begins by pointing fingers at Messi (oh, this is going to be fun):
"Playing at Barca was a childhood dream and I was walking on air.

Aggregate scoring are foreign words to U.S. sports fans. Generally speaking, they have no idea what it means and its existence is one more distance marker between them and Soccer.
A win in the first game has no bearing on the outcome of which team moves forward to the next round of the playoffs.

Full Name: Evian Thonon Gaillard Football Club
City: Thonon-les-Bains
Founded: 2003 (1924)
Stadium: Parc des Sports (15,600)
Colors: Red, White

If you're looking for a football club with a convoluted history you've come to the right place.

Photograph: Nicolae Stoian

Mama said there'd be days like this.

It was an embarrassing loss. One embarrassing loss. Of course the timing was terrible and everyone, players, coaches and fans, would have preferred a different result and performance, but in the end it was one game.

Yes, like Flynn - we're in! It was a must-draw game that our Red Bulls managed to - wait for it - WIN 1-0! Yeah, I can't believe it myself, because years of of supporting this team (and its previous incarnation) has led me to always expect the worse. But, then again, we were up against the Philadelphia Union - a team that has had nothing the five times RBNY has played them (in two seasons of Philth existence).

Well, talk about unexpected. The Philadelphia Union and CBS Radio property SportsRadio WIP have announced a major deal that will see 17 select home and away Union matches broadcast on local radio starting next year, in addition to a weekly hour-long show dedicated to soccer, also starting next year that will run through the end of the MLS season in November.

Photo: Nicolae Stoian

The joy of the Philadelphia Union making it into the playoffs for the first time in only their second year in existence was somewhat dampened by the fact that the match against Toronto ended as a 1–1 draw. Sure, we all wanted the last regular season home game to end in victory for the team that has provided us all with so much over the course of a season that in many ways has exceeded all reasonable expectation for such a young club.

The Seattle Sounders will be paying homage to Kasey Keller on Saturday, and it appears plans are already in the works to find his longterm replacement. A report out of Austria (h/t @CoulterChris) suggests the Sounders are in talks with Michael Gspurning, a 30-year-old goalkeeper currently playing in Greece who has three caps with the Austria national team.

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On this week's report we take a look at one of the fiercest rivalries in English football: Liverpool versus Manchester United. Which team is older?

Liverpool may have overpaid for players, suggests John W Henry

• Henry was initially unconvinced about Dalglish • Liverpool have spent £110.5m on players since January John W Henry, the principal owner of Liverpool, has suggested his Fenway Sports Group has overpaid for players, particularly in Boston and also in Liverpool, since they bought the football club a year ago this Saturday.

By Chris Wright

Apparently it's 'common knowledge' that Lionel Messi and former Barca striker Bojan Krkic (now of Roma) are related somewhere back along the line, but those plucky bods over in the genealogy research department of Catalan newspaper Segre have been busying themselves, tracing the lineage of both players and have now put their finger on just what the relationship is between the pair.

We all know that MLS is expanding to a 19th member next year and that they are actively looking for a 20th member but is MLS still viable in its 16th year of existence? As a side note the NASL lasted 17 years and next year the Mayan Calendar ends so it looks like MLS will also only last 17 years. The easiest way to tell if the MLS is healthy is to look at finances but since MLS is not a public entity there is not really any way to get that information, so that leaves us with looking at attendance.

The result, in the end, was something approaching an honorable draw, which both sides of this particular argument will now likely try to claim as a victory. The Premier League vs Karen Murphy had gone to the European Court of Justice to try and determine how the concept of a single European market weighs up against the country by country rights selling system which, amongst many, many others, the Premier League uses to sell coverage of its matches.

The Philadelphia Union have 5 games left in the regular season - 2 at home and 3 away. Away teams have only won 13 of the last 73 Major League Soccer matches dating back to the end of July. During that stretch, Eastern Conference teams have combined for a total of 4 road wins while the Seattle Sounders and Chivas USA each account for 3.

Photo is vintage 2010, Formula 1 season. Hey, the man looks just as delicious now as he did then.

Monsieur Thierry Henry, one of the Kickette HHOF originals, happy (two days ago) 34th birthday!

Really, what isn't there to say about the tall deliciousness man who is King Henry? He has proven that good looks know no boundaries, despite the occasional cardigan mishap.

Alan from This Northern Soul has talked in detail about Wigan's hopes and aspirations for this season after retaining their place in the Premier League for yet another year.

Scott the Red: Were you happy with your team's performance last season?

Alan: After six (yes six, count them) full seasons in the Premier League we would have ideally progressed from perennial relegation battlers to.

Japanese J-League title contenders Gamba Osaka (ガンバ大阪) have launched special edition outfield player and goalkeeper jerseys to commemorate the club's 20th Anniversary of existence. Though originally founded in 1980 as the soccer team of the Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., the club did not evolve into Gamba Osaka until 1991.

To honor the 109 years of the club's storied existence, Real Madrid gave 109 kids in GuangZhou, China‬‏ the opportunity of a lifetime. Throughout their preseason tour of Asia, Cristiano... Read more »