Positives:

A) The USA with their below full strength team played patient ball control. They took their time to build up their attack. Having no Donovan and Davies meant that the US had to give up their fast counterattacking edge. But the tactical switch was achieved quite effectively showing that the US is capable of this approach.

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New football book titles out this month include We Are The Damned United, another take on Brian Clough's ill-fated stay at Leeds in the 70s, written as a response to David Peace's classic The Damned Utd and an autobiography of BBC football commentator John Motson Motty: Forty Years in the Commentary Box. Click to continue reading...

Welcome to Ask The Oppo! Today we talk to Dave Hunt, an Upton Park season ticket holder from Aylesbury, Bucks...

Eldo71: You lot finished 9th last season, played some reasonable football along the way and the hopes for the new season were high under Gianfranco Xola and Steve Clarke.

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Rumors that a certain former England coach was on the verge of taking the helm of North Korea's football team, which qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 44 years, sent FootyFactor headquarters into a tizzy yesterday.

In the history of odd couples, we cannot think of a more far-fetched but perfectly harmonious pair than North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il and Swedish hard man Sven Goran Eriksson.

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After such an emphatic attacking display against Blackburn, the question has come around, are we REAL title contenders? Many people will suddenly sit up and take notice after another Premier League victory in which we scored 6. However, are they getting ahead of themselves? I will look at what we have put right from last season, what attributes might make us plausible title contenders, and what still needs putting right.

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After such an emphatic attacking display against Blackburn, the question has come around, are we REAL title contenders? Many people will suddenly sit up and take notice after another Premier League victory in which we scored 6. However, are they getting ahead of themselves?

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- The cutting-edge QPR Report Messageboard: Visit - even post on - the combination quasi-blog and messageboard for additional up-to-the-minute news about QPR, combined with QPR nostalgia and occasionally, general football items. Links to items on other QPR boards, always welcome!.... Click to continue reading...

The Manchester derby which was seeming to head towards a draw finally tilted in the favor of the red part of Manchester. Manchester United defeated Manchester City in a thrilling match which ended City's unbeaten run in the league this season. This time instead of writing a few lines about the match analysis, I have thought of posting two images which reflect the sentiments of any die hard Man Click to continue reading...

Well, before we get to the preview, Adebayor looks to be in trouble. He's facing a 3-match ban for violent conduct for stomping van Persie's face, and could be facing an additional ban for inciting the Arsenal supporters at the Eastlands. Referee Mark Clattenberg said that he didn't see the van Persie incident, but that if he had, he would have sent Adebayor off.

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Before the likes of Gerry Byrne, Ron Yeats, Tommy Smith and Jamie Carragher, the defender who had his opponents shaking in their boots was Liverpool's original hard man, Walter Wadsworth from Bootle.
After reading through several match reports at the time it becomes quite evident that Wadsworth was the quintessential tough man who refs had on quite a few occasions give a talking to because of the severity of his challenges. Click to continue reading...

Start the jokes now Spurs are leading the Premier League, I know some people think that its too good to be true but maybe its not and their win over Birmingham City earlier today showed that. In the past Spurs would have packed up and settled for the point, but not this versions of the whites, they kept pressing and finally got the winner after former Spur Stephen Carr fell and allowed Aaron Lennon to break in and score. Click to continue reading...

Sotirios Kyrgiakos mjohnson, akes his League debut for Liverpool this afternoon at the Reebok stadium against Bolton Wanderers.
Signed from AEK Athens for £1.5 million, the defensive hard man will be looking to shore up a Liverpool defence which has leaked too many goals early on in the season. Click to continue reading...

Compilation Fridays are back, this time with an intensely odd little video about former Juve hard man, Paolo Montero. Considering he holds the record for most red cards in Serie A (15), I'd say the brevity of this clip is a good representation of his short temper.

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A great man (Alan Curbishley) once said "don't let the highs be too high, or the lows too low", but it would take a hard man not to forgive Charlton fans for wearing a cautious, toothy grin at present.

Following a treacherous three seasons, a 100% record at this stage was not on even the most optimistic Addick's radar.

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Hendry Thomas is an unfamiliar name to many English Football fans. But from the vantage point of the CONCACAF region, he's becoming a giant, an emerging titan in the relatively weak word of Central American football.

Thomas, is Honduran, like his current Wigan team mate Maynor Figueroa and former Wigan man Wilson Palacios.

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It will be hard for the Bundesliga to live up to expectations following last season's dramatic, and truly eventful, feast. But already the biggest sides in Germany are preparing to go at it again. Here, we take a look at ten of the best new imports set to light up Deutschland this season:

1.

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L'Equipe are reporting this evening that Arsenal Football club have made an offer to Bordeaux for their striker Chamakh, they say that Jean-Louis Triaud laughed about the concrete offer, and suggested that it was quite insufficient from a club of the stature of Arsenal. In any case the fact that he said that it was insufficient and not rejected out of hand opens the door to negotiation.

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In football, as it's played today, central midfielders have become the most important players on the pitch. Due to the growing importance of the transition game, the roving role of a post-to-post player demands competence in both defense and attack.

Finding the right player, however, is difficult.

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This is Fredy Garcia of Guatemala, and he is a proper hard player!
Faced with the full force of a ball from Mexico's Luis Miguel Noriega from all of 2 yards, that crashes into his face, he merely brushes his nose bleed off with a shrug and gets on with the game.
That must have hurt though! Click to continue reading...

Brazil Cruises into the Semi finals, Sets up date with South Africa
Kaka shoots at Italian goal - Image from Reuters

Brazil maintained their 100% record at the 2009 Confederations Cup as they made light work of Italy, sweeping the World champions aside with ease in a commanding 3-0 win at the Loftus Stadium on Sunday night.

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This won't be new to many of you, but I absolutely love the Guardian's "Seven Deadly Sins of Football" feature, which is essentially a compilation of shocking, outlandish, and dismaying moments, helpfully grouped according to an ancient Catholic doctrine based on Gregory I's revision of the work of a fourth-century monk called Evagrius the Solitary.

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Who is this Senor Ferguson?... I choose not to recognise this man...
Hi-ya! So, after yet another holiday (I'm not neglecting you, I'm simply top-loading my vacations in '09), it's great to be back at my keyboard and even better to read about Steven Cohen's problems. Mmmm, most enjoyable, and judging by the comments, y'all feel the same way. Click to continue reading...

Was always a bit soft on Shearer, to be honest.Hard man traditional English number 9.You've got to admire those qualities.
Never really disliked Gareth Southgate either, though (and this applies to both) I've always wanted to see qualified managers in the top flight of footie anywhere.
But really happy that Newcastle got something from today. Click to continue reading...

When I saw Newcastle United's lineup today before their 3-0 loss to Liverpool, I said aloud: Joey Barton's going to get a red card. I only meant it to elicit a laugh from friends, but with Newcastle's fate in the balance and Barton's famous temper in mind, I had a vision of Barton heading for the showers a bit earlier than his co-workers.

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