So the last international break of the noughties has been and gone, we know who will be lining up in South Africa next summer, and we know that Robin Van Persie's ligaments will soon be enjoying the sweet, sweet smell of placenta fluid as he looks to regain the momentum lost in another meaningless friendly.

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How to begin making sense of this week? We start out with the crazy happenings between Ireland and France today - if ever there was a case to be made for instituting replay, this was it. Sadly, the case of the Irish is not likely to be sufficient to make it happen. Until a major team (that draws major crowd and sponsorship support) misses out on the World Cup or Champions League because of a Click to continue reading...

I know the decade technically isn't over for another year. Don't care. As far as I'm concerned, and for our purposes here, the decade is from 2000-2009.
And since we had such fun with the ‘compare the squads' vote a few weeks back, I thought another poll or nine would be entertaining. Plus, it's easy content! Click to continue reading...

Talking Chelsea and two-gamers with my friend, and fantasy football newbie, Tundra United. After the jump. [14:49] Tundra United: Wait. [14:49] Tundra United: Looking at your lists again... [14:49] Tundra United: did you sell Drogs??? [14:49] Jeremy Spitzberg: waiting [14:49] Jeremy Spitzberg: i haven't saved changes. Click to continue reading...

Here's my squad for the weekend Given, Verm, Heiti, Gibbs, Fab4, MPet, DDunn, BFAR, Drogs, Bellamy, Campbell and here's Jeremy's team for those interested... Given, Verm, Heiti, Gibbs, Emerton, BFAR, DDunn, Collison, RvP, Bellamy, Drogs Looking ahead to next week (OK, two weeks from now since there's another International break coming up next weekend) - Rovers, Fulham, Everton, and Hull are all Click to continue reading...

We haven't done this for a while here are our best three picks for this week and the weeks ahead... Although we make no assurances they will be successful.

1. David Dunn

He's fat, he's round, he's only five point seven million pound... David Dunn. By a margin Blackburn's outstanding performer this season, Dunn has already notched four goals, and in only seven appearances.

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Eight red cards, thirty two goals and more talking points than a Peter Andre exclusive, Gameweek 11 had everything. Even by the implausibly high standards set in Fantasy Football, this week was a bit special.

Whether you winced as Shay Given batted away James McFadden's penalty, rejoiced as Jamie Carragher finally got his comeuppance, or sat indifferently as Phil Brown's tenure at Hull approached its conclusion, chances are you will have had an exciting last seven days in the world of Fantasy Football.

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It was a momentous week in the Premier League, as we saw Arsenal give further ammunition to those who claim they have a soft centre with a late collapse at West Ham, Nemanja Vidic pick up a third successive red card against Liverpool, Harry Redknapp beg Aaron Lennon not to leave him and Liam Ridgewell play his way into the Fantasy Premier League team of the week.

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So, here I am recovering from a pretty rotten weekend. Let's recap. I managed to pick all around the points (Cesc instead of MPet, Milner instead of Gabby, Stuck with Bily over Kightly, etc.) and ended up with 65 points or so. Arsenal couldn't capitalize on a weekend where ManYoo got outplayed and beaten; and the rest of the pretenders (Citeh, Villa, Sunderland, Everton, and Spurs) all Click to continue reading...

Bent's quizzical reaction to his "beach ball" goal highlight vs. Liverpool
Sunderland striker Darren Bent will miss tomorrow's Carling Cup tie against Aston Villa through injury.
Bent is suffering from what is described only as a "slight knee injury" but Sunderland fans (or the thousands of fantasy football managers who own him) may be a bit more nervous about this slight knee injury when they check out Bent's past medical history. Click to continue reading...

Welcome back... A few things to keep in mind...West Ham and Villa (despite not appearing as such on the Yahoo game) will be two-gamers next weekend; Stoke host Wolves; and ManYoo host Rovers. Arsenal and Spurs face-off so they'll be good candidates for you to drop them. Here's my line-up...Given, Verm, Heiti, Ivanovic, Fab4, Kranj, KPB, Bily (I don't know if he'll play but I'm willing to take Click to continue reading...

It was a weekend dominated by beach balls, by petty squabbles and by surprise results. Defeats for Chelsea and Liverpool showed the world that the big four monopoly on the Premier League is far from permanent, whilst in Lancashire Blackburn and Burnley re-introduced the nation to their own, explosive rivalry.

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With all apologies to the footie-mad world, I have to say I'm a bit distracted by more provincial sporting pursuits this week. As I write my hometown Philadelphia Phillies (that's Major League Baseball if you aren't into the American sports scene) are in a best-of-seven series with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the right to go to the World Series (to presumably face the New York Yankees). Click to continue reading...

Up top - everyone's favorite fantasy football captain Cesc Fabregas - in control, as always, even when he only has a millisecond to make his decision. Good work via Nike.
And the second video - an Arsenal nerf gun battle - not as exciting or crisp as Cesc's work for Nike, but a great soundtrack nonetheless. Click to continue reading...

What's more offensive - Redknapp's language or his haircut?
Congratulations to those nations that have qualified for the World Cup over the international break, but now let's get back to our addictive hobby - trying to manage ourselves into the world's fantasy football elite...
I. Click to continue reading...

Well, Jeremy stole a little bit of my thunder with his post on what to do about O'Hara/Rooney for this weekend. The fact that he points out some excellent options in midfield and at forward combined with the fact that work has been very busy this week is going to lead me down the path of writing my first Lightning Round TWA column of the season. Click to continue reading...

Now that the internationals are finished, attention is turning back to the Premier League at last. The international break brought loads of transfer rumors, plenty of boring and pointless matches, and a much needed break for fantasy football players around the world.

As action resumes and the Premiership Talk Fantasy Football league heats back up, here's a rundown of the top ten fantasy players this season, based on total points.

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If you're looking for a way to liven up the dead rubber that is England v Belarus, look no further than Football 3s - the micro Fantasy Football site that's quick, fun and easy to play. All you need is a TV showing the England game (ITV1 are showing it here in the UK - check our Midweek TV Preview for more details) and a computer connected to the internet once things are underway. Click to continue reading...

Ducky's Note: This bugger preempted me and wrote a note to my note. So now I'm going to post-preempt him, and not write him a note. Suffice to say, he's been mentioned here before. And he's a Chelsea fan.

Lighter's Note to Ducky's Note: Did Ducky mention very smart, very funny and very single?

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First off here's a nice interview with Pia Sundhage about her focus in coaching, and her preparation with the USWNT for facing Germany on 10/29/09.

On the Fantasy Football front, Flying Pigs and Sir Hits Alot are tied heading into tonight's game ... where Flying Pigs still have a player left.

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Just when you think you couldn't have any more love for a footballer, Cesc Fabregas goes and does something stupid like that! A goal, four assists, and a performance that even De Niro would have been proud of, and the Spaniard is guiding teams up and down the country to Fantasy League glory.

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September is complete and the Fantasy Football League is hotting up nicely.

Here are the current top 20.

20-40

And last but not least the bottom of the table.

Prizes are being confirmed as we speak (type) but will include some snazzy pack of football fun for the winner, including football boots/football shirts/and other footballing clothing courtesy of Adidas and other sponsors.

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Get Involved!

With 8 weeks gone and an International break ahead, it will leave many of you Fantasy League Addicts without anything to do. So why not pitch your wits against the other players in the league? How are you getting on, and who has the funniest names? All is to be discussed here!

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Fernando Torres & Robbie Keane could have been the deadliest double act since Starsky & Hutch, had Rafa Benitez not thought otherwise. As it happens they had to settle last week for separate feats, separate plaudits, and separate points hauls.

Torres could realistically have expected to be the week's king in the Fantasy League with a splendid hat-trick against Phil Brown's tame Tigers, but his eschewed strike-partner grabbed the honour, four goals against Burnley meant plenty of spilt claret for Owen Coyle, as the Fantasy Premier League season took another set of twists and turns.

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Funny that on today of all days, SAF was asked questions about whether the group stages of the Champions League were just a cash grab or if there was any purpose behind them. Well, I have to say that for FC Zurich there is without a doubt a purpose behind the group stages. In the same way that every American who was present for the World Cup draw against eventual champions Italy in 2006 will Click to continue reading...

FYI - My team is Given, Verm, Heitinga, SeaBass, Lamps, O'Hara, Lennon, Jordi Gomez, Hunt, Drogba, Rooney <p>&lt;a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&amp;task=viewaltcast&amp;altcast_code=e87ac8df74" &gt;The Barn Door Live - Sept. 26&lt;/a&gt;</p> Click to continue reading...

Classic video advert by EA Sports I can't remember so many footballers in one common advertisement...
Looking to advertise on our site? Want to send us your comments? You can contact us at, owngoalnetwork[at]live[dot]ca Click to continue reading...

Here we go again. For those who want a quick summary you can find the PhysioRoom.com widget in the middle column if you scroll down a bit. They aren't perfect but it's about as comprehensive a resource as you can have in one place. One thing I don't know is if they follow the American convention for the meanings of terms like "doubtful" (25% likely to play); "questionable" (50% likely to play) Click to continue reading...

Hat-trick hero Crouch loves nachos
Let's get right to the weekend preview. Last weekend's primer was chock-full of top fantasy performers - yup, we included Fletcher, Agbonlahor, and Fabregas in the weekend Best Eleven picks which scored a solid 74 points, so let's see if we can keep the momentum going into this weekend. Click to continue reading...

Following Adebayor's foolish conduct and celebration against Arsenal, our friends at 3nil have brought to our attention a game created where you can try to set the furthest slide on your knees. Of course following a stamp on Robin Van Persie...

I am ranked 26th but see if you can beat me.

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Seven goals, seven minutes of added time, seven players from the Big Four in the team of the week. Yes, the big boys claimed back their rightful place at the top of the Premier League table last week, the pretenders of Manchester City & Tottenham slotted firmly into their place. Wins for Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool & Arsenal meant it was a good week for the star names, as well as a few lesser ones too.

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Some Lovely Links Just For You!

Portsmouth Vs Liverpool Tickets Still Available!
Portsmouth Vs Manchester United Tickets Still Available!
Portsmouth Vs Tottenham Tickets Still Available!

Join Our Fantasy Football Game!

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So, apparently my choice to keep Shay Given wasn't the greatest ever. Who saw Darren Fletcher scoring a brace coming ahead of time? If it had been Rooney scoring more than the one, I'd have been completely good with Given's performance but it wasn't to be. A very interesting weekend though. It would appear that ManYoo will have trouble defending their title. Click to continue reading...

There's no stablity in Indonesian football and in most clubs a lack of any kind of long term planning. It's not uncommon for two sides, successful in one season, to really struggle the next as management twiddle their thumbs and refuse to address the squad until the last possible moment.
At the end of the 2007 season PSMS finished 3rd in the old style Liga Indonesia Western Division, earning a place in the play offs. Click to continue reading...