Valencia squeezed through to the next round of Copa del Ray after drawing 2-2 at home to local side Alcoyano, progressing with a 3-2 aggregate win. The Primera Division side had led through goals by Carlos Marchena and Nikola Zigic but after Victor Curto pulled one back, Alexis' sending off paved the way for Carpio to level the scores on the night.

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Missione compiuta per Roma e Genoa che sconfiggono (col fiatone) rispettivamente Fulham e Lilla, conquistando punti preziosi nel cammino europeo. Qualificazione ancora lontana, ma sicuramente il successo ottenuto dalle due italiane è alquanto prezioso. Male, invece, la Lazio di Ballardini che cade nettamente al Madrigal, contro il Villareal (4 a 1 per Giuseppe Rossi e compagni), ma nulla è compromesso per quanto riguarda il passaggio alla fase successiva. Click to continue reading...

When I travel abroad, people often tell me that the United States is good at soccer only because they import foreigners to play for the national team. While this strategy was key in our development as a soccer nation, it is far, far less common today. The 1990s saw the US scour European leagues for players with American connections, coming up with gems such as Ernie Stewart and Thomas Dooley (both of whom had American servicemen fathers) and duds such as David Wagner and David Regis (the latter was a Frenchman whose late call-up into the 1998 World Cup squad led to great friction within the team and was a large part of the team's horrible showing in that tournament).

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Dopo la due giorni di Champions, che ha riservato come al solito grandi emozioni e una pioggia di gol, spazio alla terza giornata dell'Europa League. In campo, per quanto riguarda le italiane, il Genoa e le due romane. Trasferta insidiosa per i liguri che fanno visita ai francesi del Lille, col morale sotto i tacchi a causa della batosta rimediata, al Ferraris, in campionato (5 a 0 per l'Inter). Click to continue reading...

Jogaram em Parma, no estádio Ennio Tardini, para um público de 15.009 pessoas, as seleções da Itália (4º no ranking da FIFA) e Chipre (65º no ranking da FIFA).
As 2 seleções jogaram antes desse jogo, os seguintes jogos:
22-03-1967 - Chipre 0x2 Itália (Eliminatórias Eurocopa)
01-11-1967 - Itália 5x0 Chipre (Eliminatórias Eurocopa)
12-02-1983 - Chipre 1x1 Itália (Eliminatórias Eurocopa)
22-12-1983 - Itália 3x1 Chipre (Eliminatórias Eurocopa)
22-12-1990 - Chipre 0x4 Itália (Eliminatórias Eurocopa)
21-12-1991 - Itália 2x0 Chipre (Eliminatórias Eurocopa)
06-09-2008 - Chipre 1x2 Itália (Eliminatórias da Copa do Mundo)
O quarteto de arbitragem foi assim:
Árbitro: Alon Yefet-ISR
Primeiro Assistente: Shmuel SHTEIF-ISR
Segundo Assistente: Danny KRASIKOW-ISR
Quarto Árbitro: Asaf KENAN-ISR
Aos 12 minutos do primeiro tempo, o camisa 12, Konstantinos MAKRIDIS abriu o placar para a seleção do Chipre. Click to continue reading...

Winning the World Cup twice on the trot is one of the hardest feats in sports and that's exactly what Italy are aiming to do next summer in South Africa.� Yesterday, we gave you the first two keys if Italy are going to pull off the historic double. Today, we present the final two.

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One of the most frustrating parts of the qualifying campaign was the lack of goals scored by our strikers. Vincenzo Iaquinta can't seem to buy a goal, Giuseppe Rossi hasn't looked as great as he did in the Confederations Cup, and overall the team just didn't finish well. But, is there a sign of life?

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Who are the very best young players in the world?� For the purposes of this article, "young players" are those no older than 22.

First there are the obvious: Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Alexandre Pato, Francesc Fabregas, Karim Benzema, etc.� Their class has been established before this mysterious "young" label vanished, and subsequently they command enormous transfer fees, if their clubs are even willing to part with them.

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Here are the Twitterverse Players League groups, A through G, after Friday night's draw. If you want to listen to the recorded audio of the draw, the podcast is available for download by clicking here.
GROUP A Charlie Davies Taylor Twellman Carl Robinson Brian Jordan
GROUP B Danny Dichio Dwayne DeRosario Danny Cruz Hunter Freeman
GROUP C JozyAltidore17 Alecko Eskandarian Michael Chabala Brad Knighton
GROUP D Sacha Kljestan Robbie Rogers Kei Kamara Bobby Rhine
GROUP E Brian Ching Bobby Boswell Lee Nguyen Vincenzo Bernardo
GROUP F Stuart Holden Rohan Ricketts Brian Namoff Chris Tierney
GROUP G Freddy Adu Giuseppe Rossi Edson Buddle Joe Cannon
GROUP H Maurice Edu Brad Guzan Jim Brennan Taylor Graham
Voting begins Monday, October 5th, with groups A through D. Click to continue reading...

If Villarreal continues their poor run of form, El Madrigal will look similar to this on match nights.

After another underwhelming performance in a 0-2 loss to Real Madrid at El Madrigal on Wednesday evening, Villarreal currently sits in 18th place with only two points from four La Liga matches.

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(video gol 0-2. Ronaldo-Kak� )
Missione compiuta. Il Real di un Pellegrini emozionato (è tornato al Madrigal dove è stato al timone per cinque anni) sconfigge per due a zero il Villareal di Giuseppe Rossi e rimane in scia del Barcellona di Guardiola. C.Ronaldo e Kaka', loro le firme prestigiose sul successo corsaro che mantiene le merengues in vetta alla Liga, insieme ai rivali catalani. Click to continue reading...

They keep coming:

• Apparently Samuel Eto'o wants a buyout or refund or something from Barca from the transfer. Or something.
  
• David Beckham, surprisingly, doesn't know what his future holds.
  
• Milan and Juve among those after Gary Cahill.
  
• Giuseppe Rossi skeptical about Madrid interest.

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(video gol e highlights di Racing Santander-Barcellona)
Ancora Ibra-Messi. Ancora spettacolo e gol e il Barcellona conferma la leadership, in attesa di vedere cosa combiner� il Real Madrid impegnato nell'insidiosa trasferta contro il Villareal di Giuseppe Rossi. Click to continue reading...

Pictures of famous Athletic Bilbao players at San Mamés. Photo courtesy of Nicholas McGowan.

Athletic Bilbao would have no problems with the proposed UEFA plan of mandating eight homegrown players in the squad of eighteen for every match or the theoretical 6 + 5 rule, where six players of the starting eleven would have to be eligible for the national team of their club's country.

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The European calendar resumes after an exciting break featuring World Cup qualifiers all over the world. Week 2 of La Liga witnessed the two powers playing on Saturday to give them an extra days rest before their midweek Champions League matches. Barcelona defeated Getafe on the road 2-0 with goals by Zlatan Ibrahimovic and 2nd half sub Lionel Messi. Click to continue reading...

Sir Alex showed much interest in the young striker three years ago.

Inter striker Mario Balotelli could have been playing for the opposition in next week's clash against Barcelona, according to El Mundo Deportivo.

The Spanish paper claims 'Super Mario' was on the verge of joining the Blaugrana three years ago, when he was playing for Serie C side Lumezzane in 2006.

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La Serie A riposa, è tempo di parlare di Nazionale e di due match fondamentali per la qualificazione ai Mondiali del 2010. Stasera l'Italia affronta il primo impegno importante, la Georgia, allenata da una vecchia conoscenza della Serie A e del calcio italiano, l'ex allenatore interista Hector Cuper. Click to continue reading...

This past week it was officially announced that Vincenzo Bernardo had opted out of his contract with Italian Serie A club Napoli and is now a free agent. For some weeks there has been speculation that the New Jersey native, who joined Napoli's primavera squad in 2006, would be coming to Major League Soccer; however, no MLS side has publically expressed a strong interest in signing the small but talented Italian-American midfielder/striker.

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So I was reading an excellent piece from Steve Davis (link here) about the US-El Salvador game tomorrow at Big Sandy. Davis speculates about line-up options for the US and also includes this little tidbit:

(Brian) Ching is almost sure to be in the lineup. His ability to rattle around and make things happen by winning second balls will be critical against what is sure to be a crowded Salvadoran defensive third.

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Nunca he sido un defensor del juego propuesto por Italia, aunque en las estadísticas figure como el último campeón del mundo. Siempre he pensado que con la categoría de sus futbolistas resulta casi pecaminoso jugar de esa manera tan austera y poco ofensiva. Pero detrás de ese fútbol poco vistoso aparece algo muy destacable, y es la forma de hacer perdurar una idea a través del tiempo. Click to continue reading...

As Giuseppe Rossi became, officially, Giuseppe Rossi this summer - you know, finally fulfilled that enormous hype on the international scene - Jonathan de Guzman is officially becoming Jonathan de Guzman, man hated by Canadians - though for a better reason than Americans hate Beppe. For those naive to Dutch and/or Canadian football matters, Jonathan de [. Click to continue reading...

Coach of the Year: Josep Guardiola

This one is a drop in the bucket as we say hear in the states.� Josep Guardiola had an ideal first season as� a top level coach.� The former player had only one year of head coaching experience as Barca's B squad coach in 2007/2008, but the young man pulled off the amazing feat of three titles in his first season.

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So I was browsing through my Twitter, and as there's a lot of Football on this weekend, all the pros are tweeting their hearts out. Here's just a little view of what they're getting up to. I'll start with Alecko Eskandarian, the LA Galaxy forward. alecko11Headed to the HDC to watch the WPS Final, LA vs NJ. Click to continue reading...

Are Kopites gobshites? No comment, your honour. Available from Objectivo.com, priced $24. MORE TEES Burnley 1-0 Man Utd. You watched the game, now buy the T-shirt Giuseppe Rossi Judas T-shirt Top 10 footballers who revealed T-shirts with messages...

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Danny Simpson has been loaned out to Newcastle after spending last season on loan at Blackburn and Ipswich. Whilst he's a player we all want to do well, given that he's a Salford lad, last season seemed to confirm his fate. He couldn't even get in the Blackburn team so what future could he have with us?

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Danny Simpson has been loaned out to Newcastle after spending last season on loan at Blackburn and Ipswich. Whilst he's a player we all want to do well, given that he's a Salford lad, last season seemed to confirm his fate. He couldn't even get in the Blackburn team so what future could he have with us?

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La Juve cade malamente a Salerno. I bianconeri affondano all'"Arechi" contro un Villarreal nettamente superiore: 4-1 il finale a favore del Sottomarino Giallo con Cazorla, Nilmar e Pires che non lasciano scampo alla formazione di Ferrara. Evidente passo indietro rispetto alle prestazioni fornite in Spagna, il successo sul Real sembra lontano anni luce e le prove di Giovinco, Amauri e del neoacquisto Caceres sono le uniche note liete di una serata da dimenticare.

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Some more done deals today:

• Barcelona unveiled Zlatan.
  
• Eto'o signs too with Inter.
  
• Spurs and Crouch are a done deal.
  
• Bendtner commits to Gunners.
  
• Marseilles gets Morientes.
  
• Totti signs essentially a lifetime Roma deal.
  
• Everton offer snubbed by Pienaar.

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Stuff to read while you watch Zlatan star in his own viral at the airport...... Now watch Zlatan's presentation in front of 70k. (101 Great Goals) Sepp says North America the logical choice for WC 2018; US in driver's seat. (Washington Post) The age game in South America. (BBC) Marcelo Bielsa is spearheading a revolution. Click to continue reading...

Yep, it's true, for a couple of seconds today Giuseppe Rossi was a Milan player. Just a couple of moments ago various radio stations in the Milan area reported that on the AC Milan official website it was announced in the news section that Milan had officially signed the 22 year old striker from Villarreal.

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United continued their winning ways this evening/afternoon/morning, defeating Korean side FC Seoul 3-2. Goals from Wayne Rooney, Kiko Macheda, and Dimitar Berbatov kept United undefeated through three matches of their Asian Tour. Perhaps more notable than the scoreline was the fact that the Korean crowds apparently haven't calmed down a bit since 2002.

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Could more people want to give this man a hand?
If you were at the AC Milan at LA Galaxy game, then you know how many fans cheered when Ronaldinho would warm-up with the ball or get a touch during the game. In sharp contrast, David Beckham spent the vast majority of the game being booed every time he was even near the ball. Click to continue reading...

Team Overview: Villareal Club de Futbol is considered fairly new to the Primera Division.� In fact it took the club 75 years to make it to the top tier of Spanish football.� After a brief relegation, El Submarino Amarillo (the Yellow Submarine) has played nine consecutive years in the first division.

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Often we see a young player explode onto the calcio scene and everyone turns heads and says "Where did this kid come from?". Well, now is your chance to gain some knowledge about some promising Italian young players and maybe in a year or two when one of these players starts to do some good things on the pitch you'll know who they are.

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Since "Fergie's Fledglings" because the biggest thing since the "Busby Babes", the pressure has been on the Manchester United academy to produce excellent talent.

When looking at the squads of our rivals, it's bizarre that United's academy is sometimes viewed as a bit of a failure. As if being unable to bring through a group of players like we did in 1995 means our academy isn't good enough.

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