At the Heysel Stadium in Brussels on the eighteenth of June 1972, West Germany lifted their first major tournament trophy since the 1954 World Cup. Two years later, at the Olympic Stadium in Munich, they lifted the World Cup. Yet it is sometimes said that the team of 1972 is more fondly remembered than the team of two years later, and it is certainly fair to say that the road to these twin victories was not without its problems.

Copa Libertadores 2012 Property of Brazil? is a post from: Just Football

South America's flagship competition, the Copa Libertadores, is up and running for another season with the group stages kicking off this week. 32 of Latin America's finest will compete to succeed Santos as champions, and thanks to the increasing strength of the Brazilian economy and the country's increasing ability to keep hold of and attract their finest countrymen, Brazil is once considered the trophy's most likely destination come the final in July.

By Greg Evans

Ayew do you do guvnor?

After the entertaining, exciting, exuberant and down-right enthralling set of matches that the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations laid on for us in the group stages, surely it could only get better for the last 8?

The following table shows the average age of player that each of the competing nations fielded during the group stages of the Africa Cup of Nations 2012 in Gabon/Equatorial Guinea. As expected Cote D'Ivoire's fading golden generation who are attempting to win their nation their first major trophy since 1992 is one of the oldest squads at the tournament.

By Greg Evans

Earlier in the week the group stages of this year's Africa Cup of Nations concluded and, before we go any further and the sadly unavoidable 'why cover this pointless tournament?/the quality's terrible' mentality begins to set in, let me just go on record as saying that some of the performances and matches I have seen in the past two weeks have eclipsed anything I have seen in our beloved Premier League for a very long time.

Rich made a comment in my previous post that got me thinking, "just how hard was our first half?"

Well, unfortunately, soccer is a bit behind on the sabermetrics such as SOS and RPI and Power Rankings or other crazy mathematic formulas/systems that determine, well, everything.

What we can figure out is our points haul from one half of the season to the other.

By Chris Wright

Hands up. We've been a bit lapse with our coverage of the African Nations so far. That's going to change as soon as the group stages are over but, for now, you'll have to make do with dribs and drabs including this startling piece of cheatery spotted during co-host nation Equatorial Guinea's dramatic late win to send much-fancied Senegal tumbling out of the tournament yesterday.

The U.S. men's national team plays its second game in a week, and second of 2011 in Panama City tonight against CONCACAF foe Panama (8:30pm, Galavision/ESPN3.com).

The United States is coming off a 1-0 victory against Venezuela, but tonight should offer a much tougher test as the Americans face the Panama side that beat the Americans in the Gold Cup group stages before losing a 1-0 decision in the Gold Cup semifinals.

The USWNT is pissed. Seriously.How else would you explain the fact that they went 3-0 in the group stages of Olympic Qualifying with a +31 goal differential and no goals against?The latest installment saw the US beat Mexico by a score of only 4-0. I say only because with 14-0 and 13-0 scorelines in the previous two matches, 4-0 seems kind of anticlimatic.

With the ice storm following the snow storm Seattle Sounders FC canceled today's practice. It was to be the formal opening to training camp, even though most players have participated in voluntary workouts for some time. They've been doing that not just because of the roster competition, but because game one this year is in the CONCACAF Champions League against Santos Laguna.

It's gone to Extra Time!
Rather quietly last week, the pristinely un-corrupt body that oversees Caribbean, North and Central American football announced changes to its Champions League format. CONCACAF's changes are a good news-bad news scenario for Canadian clubs as the NutCan winner will get to skip the preliminary round and go straight to the group stages, but, be placed in a three-team group with at least one other MLS club or a Mexican giant.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish is said to be monitoring the situation around Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe after news emerged that his agent told the club that the striker wants to leave in this transfer window in order to get more regular starts.
Dalglish is said to be considering a number of players to bolster his attacking options due to Luis Suarez's suspension and Andy Caroll's prolonged struggle for form.

Somehow the fixture list is even more crowded to start the year, with Liverpool set to play seven matches before the end of January across three different competitions. Manchester City's got the same task, with one already done for the month and six left to play. Just yesterday City fell in the dying moments against Sunderland for just their second loss of the season, while Liverpool got an important home win over Newcastle on Friday to finish off 2011.

AC Milan vice president Adriano Galliani claims his side are nearer to closing the gap on European champions Barcelona than Real Madrid.

Milan have already played Barca twice this season in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League with the Rossoneri earning a notable draw at the Nou Camp in September before losing 3-2 at the Giuseppe Meazza last month.

As the Serie A season enters the winter break, Lazio sit firmly in fourth position on 30 points after an encouraging start to the season. They have only lost two games in the league (against Juventus and, once high-flying, Genoa) and they have qualified from the Europa League group stages. The additions made to the squad in the summer have been incredibly influential in helping carry the squad.

Going into the Champions League group stages, there were likely a great deal of football bets placed on Premier League powerhouses Manchester United and Manchester City reaching the round of 16. But after flubbing a group that appeared to be a relative stroll, United are now looking ahead to the Europa League, and their archrivals are doing the same.

This is a common saying about football in Arabic, and it has a lot of truth in it. When there is a trusted keeper in the team, he gives the whole team the confidence and balance to go forward and win. Spain is enjoying these days the fun of having the best keeper in the world. Everyone remembers the great saves Casillas did in the WC final, or the PKs vs.

Written By James Prentice
Follow Me|@MrPrent

Fan's of Arsenal and Chelsea will be hoping for a Michael Cainesque Italian Job if they are to enter the heady heights of a Champions League quarter-final.

Arsenal, who topped their group, were drawn against 7-time European Champions AC Milan, in a repeat fixture to that of the 2008 CL round of 16, where, after a 0-0 draw at the Emirates Stadium in the first leg, Arsenal travelled to the San Siro to silence the home crowd with a little help from a 30-yard effort from Cesc Fabregas.

Crushing events as Fulham were 9 seconds away from advancing to the Europa League group stages when Djiby Fall stepped up to score with the last kick of the game. The goal tied the game and allowed Wisla Krakow to advance at the expense of Fulham.

It was a cruel blow for a Fulham side that started preseason training in June, so that they could enter this tournament in the very first round.

AC Milan midfielder Clarence Seedorf believes that outcasted Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez is a money grabbing mercenary who Milan do not need! Tevez has been frozen out of the picture at Manchester City after his refusal to come on during Manchester City's 2-0 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League group stages with [.

For the last decade, the greatest benefit to being a Manchester United fan has been the license to perpetually wear a smug grin of satisfaction. Liverpool only qualified for the UEFA league again? Poor King Kenny. At least Andy Carroll has curbed his drinking problem and keeps the bench nice & warm during winter.

Dempsey faces a fight to stay in the Europa League. Fulham must get a result at home over Odense.

As the final matchday of the Europa League group stages approaches Wednesday and Thursday, so does the best chance to see Americans in action overseas on a TV near you. And with some of the Americans' teams in danger of crashing out of Europa, it may be the last chance for a while.

Rewind just 9 days and Chelsea were on the brink of heading out of the UEFA Champions League at the group stages and being out of the running for qualification for next seasons UEFA Champions League as a consequence of being miles away from the top four positions in the English Premier League.

The two teams of Manchester unceremoniously crashed out of the Champions League on Thursday and luckily for you Matt Pottinger has written a few brilliant words about it. Empires don't collapse overnight, they crumble over time. The Manchester clubs limping out of the Champions League group stages marks a footnote in footballing history.

Follow us on Twitter @Untold Arsenal

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"Making the Arsenal" – is available on Amazon, Arsenal on line, the Woolwich Arsenal site and in the Arsenal store.

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By Ref Reviewer 04

For our last Champions league game in the group stages as the [.

The last round of matches of the group stages of the 2011-12 Champions League had a couple of surprises.Firstly, Manchester United was elminated for the first time in the group stages of the tournament since the 2005-06 season. More surprising than this fact is nevertheless that it happened against the underestimated FC Basel in the last match of the tournament, where the English side needed only

Premier League Preview: Arsenal and Chelsea fight to catch up with Tottenham and Manchester City - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

With 15 points separating the top five teams in the English Premier League, the race for a top four place is well and truly on. If you bet on football, you'll know that Manchester City are still favourites for the league title but with a tough set of fixtures ahead of them, things can change very quickly.

Liverpool have been persistently linked with Belgian winger Eden Hazard this season, and after Lille's elimination from the Champions league this week, it's conceivable that Kenny Dalglish may have a better chance of signing the player in January. Speaking on French TV after the game, Hazard was clearly disappointed after Lille's failure to progress from the Champions League group stages:"It's a

Wow. Just. WOWIE. Or indeed, as our favourite fur-smurf once said... wowzers.

Last night was either a thrilling or agonising night of footy, depending on whether you favour French or English football.

Before we rehash last night's drama using our trademarked system of pictures and snark, let us hit you with this: which match do our Kickettes think produced the most incredible or shocking result over these past two days?

United legends divided Manchester United's Champions League exit has created a bit of a rift between Sir Alex Ferguson and Roy Keane. Fergie is obviously not overly pleased to see his former fledglings now giving honest appraisals of United performances as TV pundits. He turned on Keane after being asked about his former skipper's views [.

Patrice Evra has expressed the feelings of many of the fans, claiming that it is embarrassing that Manchester United will now have to play in the Europa League. After failing to make it out of the group stages, United will now join the final 32 in the secondary European competetion.

Whilst Evra has always been a great speaker, his form over the last eighteen months has been poor, and he is certainly one of the players who needs to take a look at his contribution, or lack of, to United's recent performances.

Manchester misery for United and City: What the back pages say

It was double agony for Manchester last night as both United and City crashed out of the Champions League in the group stages.

View the full story here: The Mail

A news article on 2011-12-08 08:08:34 from: The Mail

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

When the draw for the group stages of the Champions League was done a couple of months ago everybody expected Group D to be a clear path to the next stage for Manchester United and Benfica. The tables however turned last night when minnows Basel clinched the last qualification spot in Group C.

After so many years in the European doldrums, Ajax finally had another chance of surviving the group stages and hope for a miracle in the draw. They did have to get something of a result against Real while Lyon was supposed to be tamed by Zagreb.

Ajax could lose and would [read more]

Anyone taking a bet at the start of the season would not have been able to predict how this would all end up. Manchester City and Manchester United kissed goodbye to the Champions League this season, and there were few mitigating factors that they could cite as a defence. Manchester United can point to their injury list and Manchester City can invoke their inexperience, but ultimately both clubs have resources that dwarf almost all others in Europe.

Every year, around these dates, which incidentally includes my birthday, the Champions League is entering the last round of the group stages. And often, around my birthday, my favorite team of Valencia is eliminated from the Champions League.Yesterday was no exception; leading up to the match much of the talk had been about the pressure on Chelsea.

Dinamo Zagreb vs. Olympique Lyonnais

Matchday 6, UEFA Champions League Group Stages 2011/12.

The equation is simple really. Make mincemeat out of Dinamo Zagreb in Zagreb, and bribe Madrid to make fruit punch out of Ajax in Amsterdam. Seven strikers, one defender (Lovren, of course) and three goalkeepers ought to be enough, one would think?

Dinamo Zagreb vs. Olympique Lyonnais

Matchday 6, UEFA Champions League Group Stages 2011/12.

The equation is simple really. Make mincemeat out of Dinamo Zagreb in Zagreb, and bribe Madrid to make fruit punch out of Ajax in Amsterdam. Seven strikers, one defender (Lovren, of course) and three goalkeepers ought to be enough, one would think?

I was waiting for the Euro draw like a kid waiting for a Christmas present, finally the day came and I was waiting with bated breath to see what it was going to look like. So once the groups were in place the engineer in me wanted to break it down and analyse it. Surely, deep inside I knew I could beat a Shebby Singh or a Carlton Palmer hands down with my analytical skills.

The FFA and Adelaide United held their breadth at the Asian Casino last night...and won.
United have won direct entry into the Asian Champions League - meaning Australia now has three teams in the group stages for the first time.
More exciting than watching Lou Sticca's fundraiser in Melbourne?