She's back!� Miss Cleo enjoyed her week off last weekend and your favorite false prophet also enjoyed tricking people into foolishly� giving out their credit card numbers.� But enough about stealing....� What about this weeks picks?� Lets take a look at the cards.�

What can be said about Aston Villa.

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Call me crazy (because I am), but despite Tenerife loss last week to Villarreal 5-0� I still think the new boys will win this weekend.� Why you ask?� Because although Tenerife looked horrid last week this week they get to play Malaga who in nine games has lost seven.� Malaga is in last place and Tenerife sits just outside the relegation zone.

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The highlight video shown at the final match of the regular season when Conrad was named Team Humanitarian of the Year.
For the second time this season, Jimmy Conrad has received a Humanitarian of the Year honor. This time, it's the League-wide U.S. Soccer Foundation/MLS W.O.R.K.S. Humanitarian of the Year. Click to continue reading...

Just as the Second World War had started at the beginning of the football season, it ended in Britain, at least at what would have been the end of it. It took, however, many years for the country to recover from the end of the fighting, so perhaps it is unsurprising that the Football League was unable to resume fixtures for the start of the 1945/46 season.

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I understand that FIFA have other priorities, you know, the small matter of the World Cup in June next year. Surely though, they have a dedicated team that watch as many as matches of clubs from around the globe. Looking at the current list of nominees however,� leads� me to question whether� FIFA has actually watched domestic football since 2006.

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2 games were played today in the 2009 MIAC Women's Soccer Playoff.

The 16-0-2 Concordia Cobbers who were rated #7 in the nation were upset this afternoon by the Carlton� Knights (9-5-5) at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN.

This was the third time in four seasons, the Knights locked up with Concordia College in the MIAC Playoffs and just like in 2006, the score was tied 1-1 sending the contest into a shootout.

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2 games were played today in the 2009 MIAC Women's Soccer Playoff.

The 16-0-2 Concordia Cobbers who were rated #7 in the nation were upset this afternoon by the Carlton� Knights (9-5-5) at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN.

This was the third time in four seasons, the Knights locked up with Concordia College in the MIAC Playoffs and just like in 2006, the score was tied 1-1 sending the contest into a shootout.

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With the much anticipated Keizer game rescheduled until Spring, the fall season has come to a close for Sodium. It did end on a high note with the decisive defeat of the Sherwood squad. Remember, the Spring league will be the one that counts towards State Cup standings and placement!
Starting 11/7/09 with a doubleheader, OPL League! Click to continue reading...

The United States
The 2009 MLS Playoffs got underway last Thursday when Seattle Sounders FC hosted Houston Dynamo before a crowd of approximately 36,000 soccer fans. Although the end result was 0-0, it was a thrilling match with both teams battling hard to find the goal. The teams meet for the second leg of their first round tie at Robertson Stadium in Houston, Texas at 2:00 pm local time this Sunday, and fans should expect a nail biter of a match. Click to continue reading...

Arsenal handed Tottenham Hotspur a critical 3-0 loss in our PLTO Match of the Week.� The win� keeps Arsenal in third place and they remain right in the mix despite being back four points because they have played one less game.� The Spurs, on the other hand, drop back to fifth place with the loss.

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It's the FA Cup First Round this weekend so, in the first of five pieces about the Oldest Cup Competition In The World (and there's a phrase that is probably copyrighted by The FA), we take a look back at Wycombe Wanderers' run to the semi-finals of the competition in 2001.

The FA Cup is a competition that throws up surprise results every season, but some records remain and one that may never be broken is that no-one from the bottom two divisions of the Football League has made The FA Cup final.

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Overtime triumph puts Scots in MIAC playoffs
Macalester College St. Paul 10/30/09 Macalester vs. Hamline statistics

Taylor Ra smussen (Fy., Eagan, Minn./Eastview) scored off a Ryan Marshall (So., Plymouth, Minn.

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Overtime triumph puts Scots in MIAC playoffs
Macalester College St. Paul 10/30/09

Taylor Ra smussen (Fy., Eagan, Minn./Eastview) scored off a Ryan Marshall (So., Plymouth, Minn./Robb insdale Armstrong) assist 37 seconds into overtime as Macalester beat Hamline 2-1 to advance to the MIAC playoffs next week.

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That's right La Liga fans!� It is Halloween weekend and you know what that means, right?� It's the time of year that everyone can enjoy eating candy, scaring the crap out� of� one another, and if you're female you can dress in any revealing outfit that you want to!� Look at this fine young lady� ( I don't think she really went to nursing school).

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After the great Henrik Larsson's final match as a professional footballer on Wednesday, his club threw him a little retirement party and decided to go all out and hire a Rod Stewart impersonator to provide the entertainment. Although Henrik appears thoroughly bored by the fake Rod Stewart's rendition of "I Am Sailing", everyone else is pretty into it, waving their hands in the air and vibing off fake Rod's hand-kissing charms.

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The MLS Playoffs opened up on Thursday night with a draw between Houston and Seattle.� Given that Houston win in almost from the beginning of the season and Seattle had to pull it together at the last minute to get in I'd say this leaves a great deal of promise for the playoffs.

On Saturday Columbus and Salt Lake square in their first Semi-Final match and if they go anything like Houston and Columbus this should be a doozy.

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"Henrik Larsson always scores." The clip shows Celtic fighting back through Larsson against Porto in a pulsating 2003 UEFA Cup final.

My memories of Larsson will always be defined by the Swedish striker entering the game in the 2006 CL final against Arsenal late in the second half.

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For the second game in a row, Honduras held their own at the U-17 World Championships in Nigeria. Unfortunately, for the second time in a row they lost, this time to the host team by the minimum. The match told the tale of a Honduran side that were organized in the back but couldn't generate sustained possession in their opponent's half. Click to continue reading...

Another week of the best football league is in the books and once again we have discovered a new leader on the top of the league table.� It seems as if that might be a trend this season between the Manchester United Red Devils and the Chelsea Blues, but for right this second the advantage leans in Chelsea's favor.

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"Shut up Fool!"
In the world of blogging and sports media, there is no art more refined and time tested than the systematic ridicule of a poor performing sports team. When things start to go wrong, everyone from the owner on down to the equipment managers can be a target for the criticism of those of us who make our way in sports forming opinions and shouting them loudly from the hilltops. Click to continue reading...

The scores and scorers of the weekend will be up in a few hours' time after the super, Tigre and Argentinos drew 1-1 in Victoria and Colón then took over the leadership of the table in the weekend's final match with a 2-1 win over fellow contenders San Lorenzo in El Cementerio. For now [...] Click to continue reading...

Miss Cleo has been on fire this season with her Premier League picks and who knows maybe the lady isn't a false prophet after all.� Well on second thought she definitely is, but anyway� with a record of 53-16 Miss Cleo can steal my credit card information anytime.� Bu what about this week you ask?

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Sevilla has been among the world's best this year and will likely overcome their frustrating loss last week by beating Espanyol 2-0.� Atletico Madrid has had a tough start to the year and has been among the league's biggest disappointments.� Mallorca on the other hand has been a nice surprise this year and is among the teams that make up the top half of the league table.

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Given the unfortunate results of the Chicago/Chivas and Marathon/San Juan matches last night, a WIN for DC United on Saturday has now become all the more crucial. The number of playoff spots at stake just dropped from 3 to 2 with the Fire's victory. What's worse though is that the loss by Chivas USA means that Columbus has now clinched the Supporter's Shield, and therefore will have nothing to play for in their final match against the Revolution on Sunday.

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Boro have a break from league action this Saturday as the FA Cup campaign starts against Chelmsford City. It was only a few months ago that Boro faced Chelmsford in a pre-season friendly where Charlie Griffin and Chris Beardsley both scored Boro won by 2-1.

Chelmsford find themselves in 11th place in Conference South despite winning 3 of their last 5 league games.

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Pachuca solidified first place in their group with a 2-0 victory over to Panamanian club Arabe Unido in the final match of group play in the CONCACAF Champions League at home in Hidalgo Stadium. Click to continue reading...

Barca pick up where they left off in the Champions League, meeting Russian club Rubin Kazan at home in the final match of the group stages first leg. We'll be looking not just for a win that will keep Barca at the top of their CL group, but also for a clean sheet that will maintain the team's current form of not having conceded a single CL goal this season, something only three other teams have accomplished so far. Click to continue reading...

After the disappointment of the Turkish national team not qualifying for the World Cup in 2010, seeing the Turkcell Super League start back up is a welcome sight for Turkish football fans. Saturday action in the Turkcell Super League would feature just two matches. The struggling Beşiktaş took on lowly Kasımpaşa, while Bursaspor took on Denizlispor. Click to continue reading...

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� � � Photo by ISIphotos.com

With the Major League Soccer season drawing to a close, it is time to start thinking about MLS season awards.

Voting for the league's major player awards will end on Monday, just a day after the final match of the season, meaning we at SBI will take this week to give readers a chance to select their choices for the league's eight top player awards.

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Last week I went on and on about how Sevilla is the most overlooked club in all of La Liga.� They have beaten among the best (Real Madrid) and going into last weekend they were among the hottest clubs in all of the world.� Well you can say that I gave Sevilla the dreaded curse as well.� The club's winning ways would come to an end last weekend with a loss to Deportivo La Coruna.

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What a wacky weekend it was this week in the Premier League.� I don't know if it was Halloween being right around the corner, but this week had some thrilling finishes.� � It was the second week in which the number one team was toppled from atop the league table and it was also the first time that a club� won by banking a shot off of a random� object.

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United plays the final match of the Champions League group stage tomorrow at Toluca, Mexico. A win would give the Black-and-Red a berth in the quarterfinal round of the tournament. This, however, will prove to be a difficult feat, since United already lost at home to Toluca 3-1 and no U.S. team has ever won a meaningful game in Mexico.

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Westminster College of Utah took 44 shots but needed late heroics to claim a 2-1 overtime win over Adams State, which played its final match of an abbreviated inaugural season, on Sunday afternoon at Murphy Field in Alamosa.

The Griffins, 9-6-1, scored the tying goal with just five minutes left on a Jeff Gardner header before Tysen Gehring gave the Griffins the win with a pretty goal with just 3 minutes, 17 seconds left in the second overtime.

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If someone would have told me midway through the season that the Fire's playoff fate would be in the balance heading into their final match, I would've have called them crazy. But here we are. After tonight's 0-0 draw at the Revolution, the Fire find themselves with one game left to play and their future still uncertain.

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Ten-man Ghana triumphed with a dramatic penalty shoot-out victory over Brazil to become the first African team to claim the FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Daniel Addo Sent Off

Ghana, who had Daniel Addo sent off eight minutes before the end of the first half, produced great defensive display to deny the South Americans.

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