So what did I spend today doing? Bringing the rest of you up to snuff. First I had to correct Wilt on when Columbus Crew Stadium was built and how much it cost in his "Top 20 MLS Stadia" post (it was completed in 1999 at a reported cost of around $27 million [Ed. Although Wikipedia says $28.5 mil]). Click to continue reading...

Algeria, Greece, Portugal and Slovenia all won their playoffs and qualified for the World Cup today. Uruguay vs Costa Rica is happening as I type. But there's one story that will be dominating the World Cup playoff headlines, and I think you already know what it is: Thierry Henry's handball for France vs Ireland.

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The papers are very entertaining. Over the last few weeks, not a day has gone by without another back page headline about Chelsea being ready to splash the cash in January either on some La Liga mega-star or a Brazilian wonderkid currently plying his trade in South America.
Last week I wrote an post on how Chelsea had – since the suspension of the transfer ban – been linked with 17 players.

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The papers are very entertaining. Over the last few weeks, not a day has gone by without another back page headline about Chelsea being ready to splash the cash in January either on some La Liga mega-star or a Brazilian wonderkid currently plying his trade in South America.
Last week I wrote an post on how Chelsea had – since the suspension of the transfer ban – been linked with 17 players.

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We are in the midst of the final International Break (thankfully) so things are pretty quiet at Anfield.This particular break came at just the right time for Liverpool, who have a catalogue of injuries, as we all know.With Torres, Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Riera, Benayoun and Aurelio all in the treatment-room, its been a difficult time for the Reds. Click to continue reading...

Two things came up yesterday. Both through interviews with Portuguese players: one a current player, another a former red.

First, Nani:

"People expect more from me and it's not easy. 'I'. "I could be doing better, scoring more, but just think, I make a huge game today but the next one, I'm not even sure that I will play.

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With the match against Manchester United obviously grabbing headlines last week, some of you may have missed this shocker. The News of the World broke an exclusive on John Terry's dad, Ted. Apparently the man is selling cocaine out of a wine bar. And they even have undercover video of a transaction.

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Lock up your daughters, board your windows residents of Jakarta, Indonesia's most infamous football fans the Bonek of Persebaya are about to hit the capital city for this afternoon's game with Persitara at the Soemanti Brojonegoro Stadium in Central Jakarta.
Hundreds of security personnel will be on duty at the stadium as officials hope the first high risk game goes off peacefully. Click to continue reading...

I came across a site last week which captured my attention. It's a site not dissimilar to most news aggregator websites like Footballblips, NewsNow and Soccerblogs. However, the nicest thing about CleverFootball.com is that the football news from blogs and/or broadsheets are segregated by teams. So one can read every news available on his/her team at CleverFootball. Click to continue reading...

The headline pretty much sums it up... as headlines are wont to do. Another 4 goals for the Arsenal, another late consolation goal for our poor victims. Wanderers came out into the amped up atmosphere of Molineux and really took it to us for the first 25 minutes. Until a Arsenal went ahead, completely against the run of play on a Zubar own-goal, that is.

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Tomasz Kuszczak (left) is a reserve goalkeeper for Manchester United.
Recently he made all the headlines for calling the Old Trafford No. 1 'keeper Edwin van der Sar (right) selfish, damn selfish. It's creating a bit of a controversy in England, and I'm pretty sure it's because Kuszczak needed to try to find a way to become relevant. Click to continue reading...

Bolton fans set to be disappointed by 'Becks to link-up with trotters' headlines Victoria Beckham has already got her hubby his Christmas present - and she will struggle to keep them a secret until Santa comes. Not only because the tabloids are writing about her gift, but also because they happen to be a pair of [. Click to continue reading...

After a decade in relative anonymity at the wrong end of the English football league pyramid, you would think Hull City fans would be enjoying their spell in the limelight. But given the worrying nature of the headlines over the past few weeks, you could forgive them for wishing for a return to the peace and quiet of the lower leagues. Click to continue reading...

Just as the referees' apparent lack of fitness stole the headlines in the aftermath of Sunderland's last game, their latest encounter – and encouraging performance – was lost amongst the furore surrounding that red balloon.
Journalists, match officials, and former referees were left to scramble through the rule book to work out whether the goal should have been chalked off, as confusion reigned at the Stadium of Light on Saturday. Click to continue reading...

Match thoughts on our result will follow shortly but here's a unique opportunity? to suggest your own headline on our win. If you suggest I'm devoid of imagination yes this is partially true but I'll tell you where I'm stuck or give you suggestions as a base to get this thing started.

You could focus the headline on.

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Fredy Montero hopes for better success in front of goal in Houston

The Seattle Sounders and Houston Dynamo played a highly contentious match on Thursday evening to a 0-0 draw. A capacity crowd of 35,807 at Quest field in Seattle saw a match that contained 6 yellow cards (3 for each side) and countless missed opportunities on both sides.

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5ive's return to the london club scene was perhaps too much of an incentive for pete.

A couple of headlines have arisen since my last post; both of which would seem to proliferate the idea that our squad (and the wider representation of our club in the mainstream) would be top of the league for competitive drinking.

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Could you imagine Marvel Wynne or O'Brien White getting racially abused in the BMO parking lot by a Toronto FC supporter? Not that I'm of the whole "there's no racism here, we live under Pierre Trudeau's beautiful multicultural rainbow where nothing ever goes wrong" school of Canadian self back-slappery, but let's just say if it happened, I suspect you would get headlines in every single national daily, weeks of op-eds about how racism persists in Canada, and anti-racist tifos in the south end that would make Dichio's tribute look like a bit of tissue paper. Click to continue reading...

In partnership with Russian Football Now, EPL Talk presents the tenth episode of RNF's podcast.

The Russian Premier League made headlines this week when Rubin Kazan beat Barcelona at the Nou Camp. It was the first time since February 22 that a team had beaten the European champions on their pitch.

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A nice story for a Monday afternoon – Chelsea captain John Terry has reached into his sizeable pockets to help maintain the future of his club's women's football team.
According to a story in the Guardian, Chelsea Ladies – who have made good progress in the last few years – have suffered a cut in funding recently which threatened to overshadow their development.

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A nice story for a Monday afternoon – Chelsea captain John Terry has reached into his sizeable pockets to help maintain the future of his club's women's football team.
According to a story in the Guardian, Chelsea Ladies – who have made good progress in the last few years – have suffered a cut in funding recently which threatened to overshadow their development.

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With the Ballon d'Or nominations finally releasing this weekend, the headlines have mostly been devoted to the fact that world champions Italy have no representation whatsoever. But why blame the press for paying excessive attention to an irrelevant detail? After all, the award itself is destined to be heading Lionel Messi's way, which means very little is there to be talked about in terms of debating the winner, right?

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SAFFC's 1-0 victory last night against Sengkang Punggol meant they became SLeague champions for a record 4th time - something not even Manchester United have achieved as Aleksander Duric told me last week. The bean pole striker made his own personal tally 28 for the season as he looks to sew up the golden boot award. Click to continue reading...

Yesterday's impressive three-nil victory by Portugal over Hungary puts Carlos Queiroz's just one game away from qualifying for a play-off place in their quest to go to the 2010 World Cup. England, meanwhile, suffered a 1-0 loss versus Ukraine in a game that meant much more for England's opponents.

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USL President Tim Holt.

Boy I get back into town and starting seeing more USL headlines today. According to reports (thanks to Inside Minnesota Soccer), the USSF is meeting today with USL officials and TOA officials regarding the ongoing situation with the recent sale of the USL.

Apparently Tim Holt the president of USL sent letters to players for three clubs, the Carolina Railhawks, the Minnesota Thunder and Miami FC.

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On a weekend where Sir Alex Ferguson made headlines after Man United's lucky 2-2 draw with Sunderland on Saturday by saying:

"The fitness of both sets of players, the pace of the game, demanded a referee who was fit. He [the match ref]'s not fit.

"It's an indictment of our game that we see referees from abroad are fit as butchers' dogs.

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Billy reckons our unsung players will make the difference but it's the glamour boys who made the headlines yesterday (and what a headline that is). BD praised our battling qualities, saying we couldn't play a passing game against Peterborough, but it didn't matter. Posh are scratching their heads at their start to [. Click to continue reading...

Gotta love some of the headlines these days which tell us things we already know:
"Eating Twinkies All Day Makes Kids Fat"
"Texting While Driving Can Increase The Chance of Auto Accidents"
and now this one:
"Political scientists report drop in US world standing" Click to continue reading...

Barcelona may be the treble winners last season. In addition, they may also be the side with arguably the most potent attack in Europe, comprising of the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thierry Henry, Bojan Krkic, and FIFA World Player of the Year hopeful Lionel Messi. On top of that, they also possess one of the most powerful midfield combinations in the continent in the form of Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez.

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Raul made it into the Real Madrid record book again with his 709th appearance for the club while they were hammering Marseille 3 - 0.
Also trying to grab the headlines is one C Ronaldo with two goals in the game.

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OK, ignore the Fernando Alonso & Ferrari headlines in La Gazzetta. Pessoas, we have a real problem here. Bayern played to a stalemate against Juventus- despite numerous chances in Munich. And your favorite striker, Luca Toni could be seen happily socializing in the stands!

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Here's some unwanted news: Jay DeMerit blinded himself with a contact lens. Yep. That's right. A contact lens.

From Soccernet:

The 29-year-old U.S. defender accidentally cut his eye a couple of weeks ago as he took the lens out at the team hotel, and it has since become infected.

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Following Sunderland's hard fought 5-2 win over Wolves, Darren Bent was in the spotlight once again. Not only did the English frontman grab a brace (although the second goal has since been declared an own goal by Wolves defender Michael Mancienne), but Bent stole the headlines with his generous act of handing teammate Kenwyne Jones a penalty.

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Arsène Wenger has thrown his support behind Robin van Persie after the striker hit the headlines at the weekend for admitting he exaggerates the fouls made on him. With the diving debate one of the hot topics for conversation after Eduardo was banned by UEFA, a decision which was subsequently overturned, for a ‘dive' against Celtic, [. Click to continue reading...

Every so often we see a football site that draws a nod of admiration. The latest to elicit such a response is the excellent Football Filter, an RSS based news and content aggregator. http://footballfilter.com is the address - once there you can view football news categorised under broadsheets, tabloids, blogs, podcasts, and more, and you can search by club.

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