With J Hutcherson -- So about that game in Denmark yesterday.... Look, I'm hardly the type to try to turn a disappointment into a suggestion of something better. The version of the United States on display against Denmark, and to a lesser extend Slovakia, ended up representative of the same old problems. Click to continue reading...

Last Englishman Not Standing

There's another new name added to the injury list after the conclusion of the England U-21 game last night when Kieran Gibbs limped out of the game after just 20 odd minutes. I do not know for sure the extend of his injury but if it really is a broken metatarsal, it would mean April or May as his return date, which will also effectively mean an early end to what was supposed to be a promising season for me.

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Gibbs becomes the 12th player on Arsenal's ever lengthening injury list – he had been the club's first-choice left-back due to a stress fracture of the back suffered by Gaël Clichy.

Gibbs was forced out after only 21 minutes of the game against Lithunia, with initial reports suggesting he may have broken a metatarsal.

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With football heavyweights France, Portugal and Russia looking to seal their place in South Africa you would be a fool to discount the action in Europe. But tonight in Omdurman, the largest city in Sudan, Egypt and Algeria clash in the day's most explosive tie.

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With football heavyweights France, Portugal and Russia looking to seal their place in South Africa you would be a fool to discount the action in Europe. But tonight in Omdurman, the largest city in Sudan, Egypt and Algeria clash in the day's most explosive tie.

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Liverpool defender Martin Kelly has revealed that his role model at Anfield is right-back Glen Johnson.
The 19-year-old deputised for Johnson in last month's defeat to Lyon and his similarities to the England international were noted by many observers.
"He's a great player - England's first-choice right-back. Click to continue reading...

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Photo by ISIphotos.com

The MLS season is set to end on Sunday after the 2009 MLS Cup, and the MLS Expansion draft is looming just eight days away, meaning all the teams that need head coaches are about to take part in one of the most frantic coaching change flurries MLS has ever seen.

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Photo by ISIphotos.com

The MLS season is set to end on Sunday after the 2009 MLS Cup, and the MLS Expansion draft is looming just eight days away, meaning all the teams that need head coaches are about to take part in one of the most frantic coaching change flurries MLS has ever seen.

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Four months into the season, and Liverpool still hasn't deployed the first-choice XI thanks to injuries. And last week we got word that both Benayoun and Riera could be out for a month. Awesome.
Injury problems have consistently troubled Liverpool this season, but with those two missing, the left flank is a massive concern. Click to continue reading...

Afternoon all, welcome to the blog.
Apologies for the lateness of this post, usually FP tries to have something by 8.30ish every morning, but delayed today's post in case any Perth Glory news came about.
Sadly, nothing has arrived as yet.
Just a quick point: FP will be away from Perth for about three weeks, working on another project. Click to continue reading...

According to Andy Walker at the Birmingham Mail, Birmingham boss Alex McLeish would like to hold onto goalie Colin Doyle, despite his interest to leave. McLeish said,

"He (Doyle) is our third-choice goalkeeper, he's cover ... We need to have three good goalkeepers, Doyley's had a fair bit of experience without being given the total amount of experience of the other two.

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Ben Foster was again chosen to play for England this weekend but is disappointed not to get any outings for his club of late.

"It's a weird one," said Foster. "I am third choice for United yet I am playing for my country. It is very disheartening to not even be on the bench at United.

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Liverpool are ready to poach Eduardo from rivals Arsenal in a £10million deal.
The 26-year-old Croatian forward is unhappy that he has still to be offered improved terms at the Emirates.
His contract has just over 18 months to run and that has alerted Rafa Benitez, who desperately needs to strengthen his attacking options. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool striker David Ngog claims team-mate Fernando Torres is the best striker in the world and has played down his role as a direct replacement.
The French youngster has netted four goals from nine games this season and now heads the list of replacements for crocked first-choice Torres. Click to continue reading...

The Danish Football Association has officially unveiled the Denmark adidas World Cup 2010 home kit. The new strip will serve as Denmark's first choice uniform for the 2010/12 period. The new Denmark adidas kit will make its on the field debut on Saturday when the Danish Dynamite meet fellow FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifiers South Korea [. Click to continue reading...

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- You're invited to also visit the "cutting-edge" combination messageboard and quasi-blog QPR Report Messageboard. If your're interested in constantly-updated QPR-related news; QPR nostalgia; and some other broader football-related isssues: QPR Report Messageboard is there for you. All opinions welcome! Click to continue reading...

We all had the news yesterday that Jose Bosingwa has had to undergo knee surgery back in Portugal and will now be out for upto three months of the season. He joins Ashley Cole on the injury list. The statement from Chelsea (short and sweet) yesterday read:
"Chelsea Football Club can confirm that Jose Bosingwa underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee this week. Click to continue reading...

The city of Alcorcón celebrated their shock victory over Real Madrid in style yesterday, as thousands lined the road to catch a glimpse of their heroes. Fans crowded around the team bus to welcome back their boys and we have to admit, it's certainly a beautiful image!

It's always sad when a death occurs in the football family.

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Speaking in Abu Dhabi, the topic of international allegiance is something that has again been posed to Nedum Onouha, with him admitting he is undecided as to whether to firmly commit to either England or Nigeria:

"It is a tough call," he said. "I would love to play for England.

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This week the football world was shocked by the suicide of Hannover 96 goalkeeper Robert Enke. Seemingly at the top of his career Enke was firmly established as the first choice stopper at one of Germany's most respected clubs, and looked the favorite to be his country's number one heading into the World Cup next summer in South Africa.

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The death of Hannover 96 and Germany goalkeeper Robert Enke at the age of just thirty-two would have been a savage shock to anybody interested in international football regardless of the circumstances. The fact that his death is being widely reported as suicide is numbing. Our thoughts obviously are with his family and his friends at this time, and it would not be appropriate at this time comment much further on the specifics of what has happened this evening.

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Yes, I am aware Daniel Agger is not even a left-back but it just shows how badly Insua has been playing. The Reds had their share of problems this season but one of the biggest reasons behind the disappointing results is the fact defence is leaking too many goals. Johnson, Carragher and Skrtel are doing really well when they are fully fit, thus I am positive the back line would be much more stable with Agger replacing completely unconvincing Insua.

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Striker forced to hang up his boots.

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West Ham striker Dean Ashton expected to retire from football
Dean Ashton is this week expected to announce his retirement from football after losing a long battle to recover from a broken ankle suffered on England duty more than three years ago.

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So then United eventually went on to lose in West London, but with many a Red fearing the worst prior to kick-off (and that was before we learnt that the champions would be without the first-choice centre-back pairing of Vidic and Ferdinand) an unlucky one-nil defeat was a much better outcome than many would have been expecting. Click to continue reading...

Asociación de Fútbol Argentino (AFA) president, Julio Grondona and veteran midfielder Juan Sebastián Verón have officially presented the Argentina World Cup 2010 home kit to the public. The new Albiceleste first choice strip will make its on the field debut in Madrid on November 14th when Argentina meets Spain in a friendly. Click to continue reading...

The resumption of the Europa League after a short hiatus meant another important round of games for Everton and Fulham. With those clubs in action, both Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard were in action Thursday afternoon.

Dempsey's Fulham traveled to Rome, and after getting out to a 1-0 lead, were reduced to 10 men early in the second half.

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The resumption of the Europa League after a short hiatus meant another important round of games for Everton and Fulham. With those clubs in action, both Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard were in action Thursday afternoon.

Dempsey's Fulham traveled to Rome, and after getting out to a 1-0 lead, were reduced to 10 men early in the second half.

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No wonder Sir Alex Ferguson admires him so much. Igor Akinfeev may have conceded three goals though none of them was his fault but he had pulled off a number of world-class saves which had frustrated Manchester United.

He is only 23, but he has been first choice 'keeper at CSKA Moscow for six years now, and was just 17 when he broke into the Russian side making him the youngest ever.

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Afternoon all.

Is it me or is it a bit quiet out there? Perhaps after all the excitement from the weekend anything is going to seem quiet. Speaking of quiet, that's not something Eboue can be accused of as he issues the most unsubtle ‘come and get me' plea to PSG. It's all very strange.

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At the beginning of season 08-09, I think you could have had very good odds on Carlton Cole scoring 5 Premiership goals or more, becoming the fulcrum of the West Ham team and then breaking in to the England squad. 15 months is a long time ago and in that time Carlton Cole has morphed from a clumsy, well-built support striker who weighed in with the odd goal to a feared centre forward, capable of giving the very best defenders a real working over.

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Liverpool's willingness to seal a new contract for first-choice goalkeeper Pepe Reina has been returned by the 27-year-old, who has revealed that he feels at home on Merseyside after five years at Anfield.
The Spaniard, bought by Rafael Benitez in 2005 from Villarreal, also added that one of his daughters "is a Scouser", and that he is desperate to help the club realise their primary ambition of landing a Premier League title. Click to continue reading...

On Friday night in Asunción, adidas and the Asociación Paraguaya de Fútbol officially presented the Paraguay adidas World Cup 2010 home (or first choice) kit to be worn by Roque Santa Cruz and company in South Africa next year. La Albirroja (Red and Whites in English) are World Cup bound once again after finishing one point [. Click to continue reading...

There have been plenty of success stories at Sydney FC this season. The wonderful mobility of the Brosque-Bridge partnership, Stuart Musialik's return to form, the impressive fitness levels...not to mention the much-improved relations with the media, with Vitezslav Lavicka's courteous and dignified manner putting all four of his predecessors to shame. Click to continue reading...

Arsenal won midweek in the Carling Cup 2-1 over Liverpool, so Liverpool are out, and Arsenal advance.
Tomorrow morning is the North London Derby, and it's on ESPN 2 (8:30 a.m. Eastern, I believe).
The consecutive draws, in the two matches before the Carling Cup victory, were a pain, especially the loss of the 0-2 lead against West Ham in the league. Click to continue reading...

I may young but you boys can still learn from me

Good Friday to you. Sorry for the late post as I was doing a bit of traveling today.

Most would've expected Fabianski to keep the keeper's jersey for this tomorrow's North London Derby but unfortunately for the Polish custodian, he is again crocked by injury.

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