Duncan White has written an article in The Telegraph which is intended to champion Wayne Rooney. He talks about what a mature man he has become over the past year, which is nice to read, but the foundations for this article are all flawed.

"This time last year, against Sunday's opponents Fulham, Wayne Rooney was sent off for mockingly applauding the referee, Phil Dowd.

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First Star: Coming off a midweek performance for the United States where he had the only goal in a 2-1 loss to Holland, Carlos Bocanegra was the difference for Stade Rennes. Bocanegra's 28th-minute goal was the only one in the game with Rennes getting the 1-0 result over Monaco at Stade de la Route-de-Lorient. Click to continue reading...

Atlético Madrid played one of their most inspired performances of the best performances of the Quique Sánchez Flores era as they ended Barcelona's 22-week unbeaten streak in La Liga by continuing the Culé woes at the Vicente Calderón 2-1.
Barca killer Diego Forlán opened the scoring for Atlético while Simão scored off a brilliant freekick. Click to continue reading...

Atlético Madrid played one of their most inspired performances of the best performances of the Quique Sánchez Flores era as they ended Barcelona's 22-week unbeaten streak in La Liga by continuing the Culé woes at the Vicente Calderón 2-1.
Barca killer Diego Forlán opened the scoring for Atlético while Simão scored off a brilliant freekick. Click to continue reading...

Well, it wasn't a pretty win, but at the end of they day it was a well deserved three points. One goal was scored from Djebbour (who was superb today) and two from not Blanco, not Scocco (he didn't play in the end), not Leonardo, Hersi, or Guerreiro, but.... KAFES!

No videos up yet, I'll get some tomorrow.

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The Boxing Day features in England didn't go the way of the Americans, with only Jonathan Spector's West Ham United winning. Tim Howard was in goal for Everton, who drew 1-1 against Sunderland. Clint Dempsey went the full-ninety with Fulham drawing 0-0 with Spurs. Dempsey hit the crossbar from a freekick and had another opportunity that almost broke the deadlock. Click to continue reading...

After the win at the weekend you would have thought the team would be bursting with confidence. This proved not to be the case as not for the first time this season we seemed to think our opposition would roll over and let us play. Burnley have created a fortress at Turf Moor and the players must have realised it was no push over.

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After this match if any body says the style of Arsenal football is beautiful or enticing or whatever niceties and adjectives, bring that guy to me. Seriously, I would rather have him shot down and spend the rest of my life at prison. It's a disgrace. I am a disgrace myself for being led into this make belief.

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Great free-kick by CRISTIANO RONALDO to score the first goalfor REAL MADRID tonight against OLYMPIQUE MARSEILLE intheir Champions League group clash: Click to continue reading...

Some sad, some odd and some encouraging records.

100. After already missing 100+ sitters much earlier in his career, Kevin Kuranyi now scored his 100th Bundesliga goal on Sunday. He scored it against Hertha, mind you, but congratulations anyway! He is the 47th player in the history of the Bundesliga to score 100 or more goals.

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After thrashing West Ham 4-0 away from home, with two central midfielders making up half of our defence, alongside our second/third choice goalkeeper, we were put within two points of league leaders Chelsea.

After the ball bounced of Emmanuel Adebayor's back and in to the goal to put Chelsea ahead, I assumed it was going to be another one of those days where Chelsea were concerned.

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Is it any wonder Sir Alex Ferguson complains about the referee when they persist in making truly awful decisions?!

Notice the Portsmouth players complaining when the whistle is blown, believing a freekick has been given against them for jumping in on Tomasz Kuszczak. Not a single Portsmouth player appeals for a penalty.

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Perhaps it was only fitting that on Friday the 13th, there would be not one, but two power outages at the Home Depot Center. Eighteen minutes into the Western Conference Final match between the Los Angeles Galaxy and Houston Dynamo, the lights on the upper deck at the Home Depot Center went out, causing a stoppage in play that would last about 18 minutes. Click to continue reading...

If you happened to read my previous Serie A Review, you would know that there were several quality games this weekend including the match between Inter and Roma, and the Milan Lazio game in Rome. Juventus were also hoping to keep up their title ambitions with a win at Atalanta.

Serie A 07/08 November Results

Catania 0-0 Napoli

Atalanta 2-5 Juventus

Udinese 0-1 Fiorentina

Bologna 3-1 Palermo

Bari 1-0 Livorno

Parma 2-0 Chievo

Cagliari 2-0 Sampdoria

Genoa 4-2 Siena

Lazio 1-2 Milan

Inter Milan 1-1 Roma

Round-Up

A spirited performance from Atalanta ended with no points as Juventus went onto win 5-2 at the Atleti Azzurri d'Italia.

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As a fan of Barcelona I was thinking the other day about the club's rich history as well as their successes in the UEFA Champions League. Barcelona have won the UEFA Champions League three times in their history with two coming in the last four years which is extremely impressive.

It got me thinking; which Champions League winning side was better?

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There was a lot of action in topflight soccer last week, with a full suite of Champions League, Europa League and domestic competition on tap. After the dust settled, however, the number one team is the same one it's been for three weeks running now. Not that anybody should be surprised by that. There was plenty of movement elsewhere in the top 25 however. Click to continue reading...

Mahtomedi 2 0 Hermantown

The boys 1A final featured two teams that were not expected to make it to the final. Mahtomedi section 4A champs came in to this game with a record of 16-3-3 having knocked off the #1 seeded team and #1 ranked team in the state, Totino-Grace by a score of 1-0 in a shootout.

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Mahtomedi 2 0 Hermantown

The boys 1A final featured two teams that were not expected to make it to the final. Mahtomedi section 4A champs came in to this game with a record of 16-3-3 having knocked off the #1 seeded team and #1 ranked team in the state, Totino-Grace by a score of 1-0 in a shootout.

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Patrice Evra seems to get himself in trouble when we play Chelsea. The season before last he was involved in a fight with a member of Chelsea's groundstaff after our defeat.

There was CCTV footage of the incident and the FA conceded that this did not show Evra hitting the groundsman. The FA noted that the groundsman claimed he was hit on his right ear and that Evra is right-handed, making it impossible for him to have struck him, given they were stood squared up to each other.

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It was a Super Saturday treat for Premier League fans as all the top names in the game came out to the fields. Chelsea went to Bolton and won 5-0 in an emphatic show of their reign at the top. Lampard got the proceedings going through a freekick in the fag end of the first [...] Click to continue reading...

Was that Barca out there last night? Because all we saw was a blue and red steamroller which, engineered by perfection in the form of Seydou Keita, charged onto the pitch full speed ahead and flattened the quaking opposition. Zaragoza never stood a chance against a Barca side that came out last night with more hunger than we've probably seen in them this season. Click to continue reading...

1. A 2 Goal cushion is totally enough to kill off the game. We simply must stop letting teams think they have a chance even when they're two down.

2. We need to buy a goal keeper. Almunia is inadequate, Mannone is too young, Fabianski is scary and Sczesczny cannot get a jersey because the Nike cannot spell his name.

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Due to popular demand, SFS posts the ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC freekick goal from yesterdays FC Bareclona 6-1 win over Real Zaragoza.The Swede has already 7 goals in the Spanish Liga. Enjoy this"cracker": Click to continue reading...

With just over half an hour played Jamie Carragher fouled Michael Carrick in the penalty area. He got a foot to the ball but didn't put it out of Carrick's path, yet he did bring our midfielder down. If it had happened outside of the box it would have been an obvious freekick and a yellow card. For it to happen inside of the box it should have been a penalty and at least a yellow card, yet the referee gave nothing.

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Good start but even Van Persie couldn't have guess the final outcome

I'm beginning to think that I curse the players. Since I've been effusively praising a certain player or a certain combination, there's bound to be something that went wrong with them in the said match. The Diaby-Song combo did not work well tonight.

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Ok, so Liverpool have just beaten Man United 2-0 and I really am not happy. United can't just blame the referee but saying that, he definitely played his part.
Fernando Torres was named as man of the match- that probably explains everything. All he did was score a goal and fall to the floor. Click to continue reading...

IT WAS bound to happen sooner or later. North Queensland Fury, with the wily Robbie Fowler, were always going to get a win at home after weeks of impressive fighting football.
But without taking anything away from the Fury, Perth Glory will feel that they let a golden chance for a win away from home went begging. Click to continue reading...

The painful defeat against Liverpool last season was one of the lowest points for the club in several years. Whilst we can point to the whole team for under performing, it's hard to look past the crucial flaws in Nemanja Vidic's game that day. Why on earth he allowed the ball to bounce when Fernando Torres was approaching, I'll never know stick it in the bloody stands!

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Something unbelievable happened yesterday. Did Arsenal win the encounter at DSB Stadion? No, they didn't. Did AZ Alkmaar managed to overcome the financial disparity and obvious difference in squad strength to upset the odds and defeat Arsenal? No, they didn't either. It ended 1-1 and turns out to be a real shocker as it was Arsenal's first ever drawn game this season.

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Ramsey scored from a freekick for Wales yesterday ......

"Arsenal teenager Ramsey whipped in a free kick that breezed the hairline of the wall and curled into the top left corner."

"This lad is going to be very special one day – he is looking like an embryonic cross between Cesc, Lumplard and Gerrard – fantastic passing, great shot and can orchestrate the game pulling all the strings" (Rasputin)

Good summary.

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STARTERS
YES! YES! YES! We are going to South Africa! It's now official, the USA have qualified for the World Cup for the 6th time in a row! Wow! We have come a long way since I was a kid learning about the game in the mid-70's.
dN
The Associated Press has quotes from MLS commissioner Don Garber talking about the league figuring out a way to match the international calendar. Click to continue reading...

.Real Madrid felt the absence of Christiano Ronaldo, as they suffered a comprehensive 2-1 defeat at the hands of rivals Sevilla at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. Sevilla lived up to the expectation of the players in Los Galácticos and completely outplayed the touring side. This loss not only took apart the 100 percent win record [. Click to continue reading...

I caught the match on tape delay, and it's quite late Sunday evening, but I'm buzzing from that Arsenal performance. It was wonderful.
Blackburn opened the scoring in the first five minutes. Their goalkeeper, former England starter Robinson, played a really nice long ball from a freekick, and a Blackburn player had a perfect looping header to score. Click to continue reading...

First off, a happy Eid to all who celebrate it, and particularly to Barca's muslim players, Keita, Yaya and Abidal! Right now we're running late and you'll have to excuse us the match report for Barca-Atletico; but we've rounded up all the post-match tidbits:
- This was the fiftieth Liga match for Gerard Pique (having played 27 with Barca, 23 with Zaragoza) and he played hella great. Click to continue reading...

So you thought – as most – that the Zurich Goalkeeper made a mealof CRISTIANO RONALDO´s second free- kick goal & the fourth forReal Madrid in Tuesdays night Champions League game. What if Iwere to tell you that the speed of the ball was registered at103 Km/hour? What would you do if you suddenly found a"wiggling" ball change course straight into your face? Click to continue reading...

CRISTIANO ROANLDO gets back into the "groove" with a fabulousfree-kick that opened the scoreline for REAL MADRID against FCZURICH in the 1ºst Group C game of CHAMPIONS LEAGUESurf in later to SFS for full report of all the results & scorersof the FC Zurich - Real Madrid & Atletico de Madrid - ApoelChampions League games being played tonight. Click to continue reading...

Sir Alex Ferguson made a few changes to tonight's line-up, picking a team which was capable of picking up the points, whilst making sure we have enough fresh players for derby day at the weekend. Gary Neville started in place of John O'Shea, Jonny Evans for Rio Ferdinand, whilst Darren Fletcher and Ryan Giggs were also given a rest.

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Like a lot of reds, I was fairly aprehensive about our trip to White Hart Lane yesterday, given that they were yet to lose a game and Jermaine Defoe is in great form. Whilst Spurs' opposition teams before this weekend haven't been world beaters necessarily, they have seen off Liverpool, and every one knows that this is the year they are going to win the league again.

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Cristiano Ronaldo has taken pretty much every freekick Manchester United have been awarded over the past few years. Whilst plenty would be rifled straight in to the wall, there were some truly sublime goals scored from great distances and seemingly impossible angles.

Ryan Giggs scored a great freekick against Tottenham Hotspur to take it to 1-1 after Jermaine Defoe scored with less than a minute played.

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Anderson scored a great freekick against Boca Juniors in the Audi Cup this summer and scored a goal for the Reserves last week, but yesterday he bagged his first competative goal for Manchester United at the start of his third season for the club. Whilst it became a standing joke amongst the fans and players, Anderson was quick to remind people of a vital goal he did score for us in Moscow!

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