It's a rivalry that goes back decades. Some say that it's political, whilst others point at matches from the past that have inflamed sensibilities in a world that seems to consider the art of taking offence to be the next step in the evolutionary chain. Both sides of the divide sees the other as being the absolute opposite without ever seeming to take the similarities between their two nations into account.

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Photo credit: zz77 on Flickr

Does God care about soccer? There are certainly a good number of players, fans, and teams who think it likely. Take Diego Maradona bringing "his Argentina squad to mass to pray for a World Cup miracle." Or take Fred earning a yellow card for celebrating a DC United goal with the message "Jesus Loves You.

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Having a full day off I thought I would share the links that are out there of interest to Sounders fans and those that read the site, as well as a recap of the Sounders FC weekly radio show on 710 ESPN.

First TOA v NuRock is getting to a boiling point. Yep, hints of legal issues as well. Oh, and the Timbers?

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TORONTO - Soccer, Futbol, Football - whatever you'd like to call it - is a global game that bridges gaps between people, and unifies them around something so passionate, that they can forget their troubles or quarrels if only for 90 minutes. It is 'the world's sport' and its reach reigns through every country, in every continent. Click to continue reading...

"The Golden Age" is a Queens, NY league of mostly Latino players over 40 - it is also the title of a brilliantly filmed and edited documentary celebrating the global game and its particularly migratory character within the US. The film makers manage to capture the skill and energy of the players who slog out their season in Corona Park/Flushing Meadows, on the grounds of the 1964 Worlds Fair - I have never seen a documentary about the grassroots game that actually captures what it feels like to play and participate in a league like this one. Click to continue reading...

Big Story

Oh, the irony. Just days after Eduardo's blatant dive for Arsenal against Celtic went unnoticed by the referee, Celtic's Aiden McGeady received a second yellow of his own for diving as his team beat Hibernian 1-0.

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The Women's Professional Soccer championship is on at 1 p.m. on Prime. Alternatively, wander over to Carson and catch the game for $20.

It's a giggling global game for the Sol.

Game preview.

The Sky Blue perspective.

It's unusually muggy today in the South Bay.

I'll blog from the game.

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‘SOCCER MATTERS WITH GLENN DAVIS'

PREMIERES ON FOX SPORTS HOUSTON

Weekly Magazine Show to Highlight All Levels of Soccer

FOX Sports Houston has partnered with former professional soccer star and nationally recognized broadcaster Glenn Davis to produce an informative weekly magazine show that focuses on youth, amateur and pro soccer in Houston and around the world.

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With its run to the Confederations Cup final the U.S. national team has inched closer to shedding its liminal status. It's closer to deserving more international respect. It's also closer to disrupting the sine curve of results that has produced infrequent upsets against superior teams (see 1930, 1950, 1998, 2002), to which we can add Spain, 2009.

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It's with great sadness to report that Steven Wells, one of the most remarkable and creative writers in the football business, died yesterday of cancer.

Wells, nicknamed Swells, was best known for his work in The Guardian where he wrote countless classic articles on sensitive football-related topics that most writers wouldn't touch.

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What struck me about this piece, a must read for any Sounders fan, is that currently Sounders are only using half of Dunga's tactics, but the descriptions of their play while grander in skill, seem similar in style. The thinking is as follows the physical development of the game has made it much harder for [. Click to continue reading...

In the first half of a month which has seen Real Madrid twice break the football record for player transfer fees paid, the news that World cup winning Brazilian coach Filipe Scolari had recently signed an 18 month contract with the Uzbek champions Bunyodkor barely registered as a murmur on the global game's seismograph.

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Something to read while you enjoy a Fatih Terim teamtalk (I don't think it's really him though)... Setanta loses next season's Premier League UK TV rights (EPL Talk) Man Utd are the 8th most valuable sports brand on earth (Sports Pro Media) Remembering Razor (ThreeMatchBan) Vuvuzela violence? (Studs Up) Anatoly Kuznetsov and Dynamo Kyiv's "almost incredible" story (The Global Game) Rajko [. Click to continue reading...

The Global Game - Writers on Soccer. Edited by John Turnbull, Thom Satterlee & Alon Raab. Bison Books. 296 pp. $19.95.

Living in the States, you are about as likely to find a good book about soccer/football right off the shelf at your local bookstore as you are to get Anne Hathaway's phone number after bumping into her at your local pub.

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With J Hutcherson -- Doesn't this feel oddly familiar? Real Madrid reloads in earnest, spending like there's no such thing as an economy at least as it applies to them. Kaka and now Cristiano Ronaldo, putting cash behind the idea that they can be the World's best whenever they want. In a global game full of business plans and prime-time managers and chief executives, it remains the job of whoever happens to be the elected. Click to continue reading...

Sure, i could look at every team in the Premiership that ran the 4-2-3-1, but that requires a ton of effort for a Saturday morning with only two shots of Antigua as espresso. Maybe this project increases if the team switches from the old diamond to this 4-5-1 variant. But, in order to take a [...] Click to continue reading...

Chelsea began the 2008/2009 season with astronomical expectations and a new manager in place, the fans and players were chomping at the bit to avenge the pain of coming so close in the Carling Cup, Champions League and Premier League in 2008.

However, for a multitude of reasons that warrant a topic unto themselves Chelsea were been unable to put in the sustained performances to exceed or match 2007/2008's medal tally.

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Ljungberg is out. So is Evans. My 4-1-4-1 likely won't work now. 4-2-3-1 might be a good plan with Alonso and Vagenas in the 2 CDM role. Zakuani-Montero-Le Toux for the attacking mids. Bora is unqualified to coach? Actually that Asst.Coach should be unemployed for life. Bora is amongst the [... Click to continue reading...

Sure, this is a bit of a detour, from the regularly schedule programming, but we are waiting to see the extent of Brad Evans injury, and I've got a few messages out to the greater North American soccer community concerning the role of the target forward, so I thought I would dive into a subject [...] Click to continue reading...

Well, with the news out of England concerning which clubs are going up, and which are going down, along with the finalization of the lower leagues player movement starts. This is a time when clubs announce who will be cut loose, who will be resigned, and who will go on the transfer list. In MLS [... Click to continue reading...

Not the local band. But the Champions League Finalist. That Barcelona. The one with Henry, Messi and Eto'o. The one with Puyol, Marquez, Xavi and Iniesta Barcelona v Sounders on August 5th. Will the Henry to MLS rumors start up again on the trip? Almost certainly. Their SSS holds 97k, ours only [. Click to continue reading...

Any American suggesting the slightest tweak to the global game of soccer immediately assumes some baggage. Thanks to the NASL's point system, shootouts and offside modifications, this country has the reputation for tinkering with the game. The fact that these long-discarded innovations were mostly the brainchild of the NASL's English-born brain trust and embraced by many overseas players is lost to history's dustbin. Click to continue reading...

While most MLS blogs that touch on the topic of how the World Cup Qualifiers will effect league play, considering that a dozen players will be missing matches, I will not. We know the problems, and the reasons for this. Quite simply it is because our nation likes soccer on the weekends and [...] Click to continue reading...

One of the constant criticisms of Seattle Sounders is that they do not play in a Soccer Specific Stadium. Which begs the question, what is a SSS? For me, it is simply a stadium designed with soccer in mind (hosting about 50% of all sporting events as soccer), with a low crown, with a full [...] Click to continue reading...

Sometimes there are odd little intersections between my previous life as an Arabic Linguist in the US Army, and my current lives of coffee and/or soccer. It always brings a small smile to my face. Well this week, we get to see THE David Beckham travel with AC Milan to Doha, Qatar and face my [...] Click to continue reading...

This is a US Soccer blog and I intend to keep it that way. But I felt like commenting on this story because it has to do with the state of the global game, of which the USA is obviously a part. Also, this topic has been bugging me for a while and I have the uncontrollable desire to throw in my two cents.

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By way of Goal.com SkySport24 is reporting that "the two clubs have reached an agreement to complete the move." I say again REACHED AN AGREEMENT. It must be better than that idiotic 3M$ offer. Certainly MLS was used in this, but they better use AC Milan and David Beckham as well. Word was that AC Milan and [. Click to continue reading...

As I had indicated on a recent gameblog at www.soundersfc.com I thought I would look at the numbers that we could expect from Keller in his first MLS season, and how much influence the defense would have on it. There's going to be some heavy lifting after the break, as I'm confused as to which stats [. Click to continue reading...

A few readers have indicated that they are interested in following Seattle Sounders FC but do not really understand the beauty of the beautiful game. They still think along the lines of a group of kids all chasing the ball in a large mass like insects. Things like 4-4-2, or 4-4-1-1, or 2-3-3-2 don't make [. Click to continue reading...

Michel Platini, the UEFA President, wants some dramatic changes in the rules governing club competitions in Europe (which includes Israel, Faroe Islands and some Central Asian nations). Oddly, he can not effect league play directly, but on the Champions League and Europa Cup. His wish though would be that if he implements changes in the [. Click to continue reading...

Respond by using them. Not just for a transfer fee, but to continue to build the sport within the traditional sports media. The Sun in England is reporting that the fee being discussed is in the 10 Million dollar range, and that's a great start. But MLS needs more than money and [...] Click to continue reading...

Seattle Sounders FC and our great Puget Sound are joining Major League Soccer. There are some unique rules and regulations that both make MLS uniquiely American, and yet in ways still keeps to its European roots. I intend this peice to be an introduction to the league, its unique rules, its teams and [. Click to continue reading...

A few weeks ago I took a look at CONCACAF Coefficients as worked out by Hexaganol blog. This was my basis for ranking MLS in the 20-25 range in the world, as I tried to judge the performance of MLS clubs in SuperLiga (not included in Hexaganol's work) and the performance of CONCACAF teams [...] Click to continue reading...

In my previous story on how supporter's groups can influence the level of talent signing to the league as well as fan interest I failed to cover a major factor. This factor also relates to expansion and the American/Canadian desire to see top-flight soccer in their home nation. This factor is again how atmosphere/fan passion [. Click to continue reading...

1st the BIG news Seattle Sounders FC will host Chelsea FC of the Premiership. This according to Prost Amerika. This has long been rumored but it looks like Mr. Clare found enough data he's going with it. It may be a friendly, but it will be an enormous crowd at Qwest, dominated by the [...] Click to continue reading...