In the first part of our 2009 MLS Cup Final preview, the Real Salt Lake and Los Angeles Galaxy players were assessed and compared, with a slight advantage being measured for the Galaxy. In this continuation of our analysis, attention is paid to the coaches and intangibles for both clubs.

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Scotland suffered an embarrassing 3-0 defeat to Wales at the weekend to signal the end of George Burley's Scotland career after only 22 months in charge. This was not the first time that Burley's position as Scotland manager had come under scrutiny, however where he had been given more time previously, time had well and truly run out for him this time around.

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Photo by ISIphotos.com

The MLS season is set to end on Sunday after the 2009 MLS Cup, and the MLS Expansion draft is looming just� eight days away, meaning all the teams that need head coaches are about to take part in one of the most frantic coaching change flurries MLS has ever seen.

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Photo by ISIphotos.com

The MLS season is set to end on Sunday after the 2009 MLS Cup, and the MLS Expansion draft is looming just� eight days away, meaning all the teams that need head coaches are about to take part in one of the most frantic coaching change flurries MLS has ever seen.

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Inter Milan v AS Roma
Serie A
Sunday, 8 November 2009
San Siro
Kick off: 20:45

As Internazionale faces AS Roma at the San Siro this Sunday, Roma manager Claudio Ranieri will be hoping that the evidence he is looking at is wrong.

Exhibit item A tells Ranieri that Roma without Francesco Totti does not offer much this season.

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When we beat the Mancs last week, everyone including his pet rock was jumping with joy I am certain. Everyone except those in the clueless bandwagon. Then, afterwe lost to Fulham, the dam burst further!

How do some fans miss the obvious I do not know. We have been overachieving with Rafa at the helm and yet these people scream murder and want Rafa to be sacked.

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Guidolin has revolutionized Parma, with young Italian players like Paloschi and Galloppa, mixing with older players that share their experience like Panucci and Zaccardo, Parma has turned into a team that is ready to shine. With an experienced coach like Francesco Guidolin, Parma look to be a consistent side that won't die out after a few more games.

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Rafa Benitez has banished thoughts of revenge as he bids to take a step closer to fulfilling one of his ambitions as Liverpool manager.
The Reds face Arsenal in the Carling Cup fourth round and Benitez has no wish to experience a scoreline similar to when the sides last met in this competition. Click to continue reading...

I'm going to enjoy this; results like these don't come along that often. Oh no wait, yes they do this is Liverpool's 3rd consecutive win over United forgive me. Coming into this afternoon's game everybody was talking about how much longer Rafael Benitez would last at the helm. Now, just a couple of hours [. Click to continue reading...

Sir Alex Ferguson has won 33 trophies in 22 years at the helm of Manchester United, and he was recently recognized for his tremendous success. The makers of Football Manager 2010 had Ferguson topping their poll of the Greatest Manager of All-Time.
The poll features other Knights of the Realm such as the late, great Sir Bobby Robson, Sir Matt Busby and Sir Alf Ramsey but despite their fine records, none of them can match Sir Alex's two decade long domination of the English game. Click to continue reading...

Whilst Arsene Wenger's managerial ability is regularly praised, his wit does not always seem to be appreciated. After all, English is the man's third language and yet his cunning with the language is something I can only aspire to.
Indeed, the only manager who been at the helm of his club for the same amount of time is Fergie. Click to continue reading...

Bafana's Brazilian coach, Joel Santana, is out of a job. Pallid performances and pitiful results sunk the former Flamengo coach. "In the bigger picture and the interest of the country," said Mandla Mazibuko, SAFA vice-president, "he [Santana] realized while he was doing his best, his best was not good enough.

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Yes, I am a newly married man, and like many, I was wondering when the Red Bull organization would send me a gift for the momentous occasion. Well, here is a gift that I would willingly wait for, no matter how long it takes to receive it.

The Mail Online from England is reporting that Thierry Henry, Arsenal great and French legend, may be willing to choose Red Bull New York over a move to Manchester City.

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Promoted Championship teams entering the Premier League transition in different ways. Some settle straight away and show why they belong in the league. Others take longer and end up struggling to survive, battling in the relegation flight. Then there are the special cases: teams that surprise everyone and do extremely well with relegation not even a factor to consider during their first season; or conversely they are completely out of their league and winning is not a realistic goal.

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Oh dear, Ibracadabra here has that "Everyone-look-at-me-Don't-you-know-who-I-am?" look on his face. Vän, everyone knows you. They're intoxicated!

Anyway, the goodbye party was held for coach Lars Lagerback, who announced his retirement after failing to take the team to South Africa on Wednesday.

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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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Liverpool's cultural ties with Spain appear to have reached a new high with news coming from Anfield that the club's official television channel will provide a live broadcast of La Roja's World Cup qualification match with Bosnia-Herzegovina for their subscribers.
With Spanish manager Rafael Benitez at the helm on Merseyside and striker Fernando Torres winning both hearts and minds with his dedication to the Reds' Premier League and European ambitions it appears that the club have taken advantage of the region's love affair with the Iberian peninsula. Click to continue reading...

Paulo Sergio has moved from Pacos Ferreira to Guimaraes after intense negotiations over the weekend between the two clubs. The new Guimaraes head coach should be introduced to the media in the coming days and should be at the helm this weekend when Guimaraes face Feirense in Taca De Portugal action Click to continue reading...

As it stands, Barcelona are the darling of the football world. They're brilliantly effective and alluringly stylish. They have likable players, the best in the world even, and a young, vibrant, passionate maestro at the helm. They're even financially prudent, what with only spending €66m or so on Zlatan and €25m on Dmitryo Chygrynskiy in [. Click to continue reading...

Is what she said, disappearing out the door as I yelled at her "dew want me to run your blog tonight?"
She's away organising next year's Stroud festival. The committee are looking at "interested parties" for next year's event. As you might imagine, GB has got um all organised. And me it would seem. Click to continue reading...

With the first quarter of football almost over in most leagues around Europe, now is a good time to measure the current progress of some of the giant clubs on the continent. Actually, analyzing the success or failure of clubs in general won't be nearly as exciting as identifying a more specific object of analysis.

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Barnsley continued their battling bright start under new manager Mark Robins by beating Ipswich with a late winner at Oakwell in this weekends big Championship relegation six pointer. The former Rotherham boss has already started to turn the Reds' fortunes this season after taking the helm following the departure of Simon Davey earlier this season. Click to continue reading...

I have a suggestion, let's forget the pound man; he isn't worth talking about anymore....

Let's concentrate on our team, our team that has had a manger at its helm for thirteen years. Not only is he now the longest serving boss we have ever had, but the most successful, so we have an awful lot to be happy about – don't we?

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Thirteen years ago today, Arsene Wenger officially became Arsenal's manager. This officially makes him Arsenal's longest-tenured manager, so I thought it might be worth taking a second to look back at what he's meant to the club.

It's worth noting that at the time, most pundits thought this move was a bad one on Arsenal's part.

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Welcome to the first blog written on my shiny new laptop. Well, to be fair, I've had it for about three weeks, but have been so terrified of getting it dirty due to it's phenomenal price tag, that it has sat in a corner for about three weeks. It is, without doubt, the most expensive thing I have ever owned, and when you think that it was also a gift, it's no wonder I've been scared of it.

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by CARL ELDRIDGE Arsene Wenger is set to become the longest-serving manager in Arsenal's history and this morning's papers feature our leader to some degree.

The Sun reports that Wenger will break George Allison's record of 4,748 days at the helm from June, 1934, to May, 1947 on Thursday.

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Antonio Cassano has reinvented himself. Not only has he changed his physical approach by losing weight, he has changed his mental approach too, becoming not only more mature, but also a leader. He is now someone who visits hospitals and gives signed shirts to sick children. He is now someone who can carry a team on his back, provide assists for his teammates, and entertain the crowd.

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Ancelotti admits confusion at Wigan performance.

Portsmouth vs Chelsea Tickets Still Available!

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti demanded a response from his team after their first defeat of the season at Wigan.

The Blues face a Champions League match on Wednesday with Cypriots Apoel Nicosia, then play Liverpool on Sunday.

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Ryan Giggs is rolling back the years. He is going to be 36 in November. But like Benjamin Button, he seems like he is only getting younger. You would think we someone as good him, he can't be 35, approaching 36. Coming on as a substitute with the score at 0-0 against Stoke, his impact was priceless.

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I had alluded in a tweet to my assessment of the Rodrigo Kenton denouement, but I'll state it again here: Rodrigo Kenton was the first casualty of the Costa Rican national team's overinflated expectations. Nothing has changed all that much with the team in the 14 months he was at the helm, but the results obtained in the first half of his tenure set up fans and media in Costa Rica for a crushing disappointment in the second half. Click to continue reading...

There is absolutely no doubt that Fulham's gritty displays of late are deserving of their newfound reputation as the people's club in the Premier League. The masses can relate to their mid-sized squad and down-to-earth players while tourists from all over the world simply cannot resist the amazing atmosphere at the conveniently located Craven Cottage.

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...Pep Guardiola?
Apparently there's a huge underground movement in Argentina to get the Barcelona coach to replace Maradona at the helm of the national team.
Not sure this is a step up or a draw to take Pep from Barca. Maybe the head job for Spain is the only one that can.
But I like the idea. Click to continue reading...

With the commencement of the UEFA Champions League group stages this midweek, an important piece of news was relegated to the back of most reporting outlets. Perhaps another reason behind the lack of coverage for the story in question� was the refusal, on part of most football lovers, to recollect any part of the uninspiring internationals break.

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Colin Calderwood was brought in by Joe Kinnear last January after he had been sacked as manager of Nottingham Forest after 30 months at the helm. Chris with Colin Calderwood And right through the end of the season last year it was obvious that Colin loved being on Tyneside, as more than once he had told the [. Click to continue reading...

In 1999, West Ham United won the InterToto Cup beating Metz 3-2 over a two-legged tie. It marked a significant chapter in the careers of some of the younger players and the manager of West Ham at that time. They had ensured UEFA Cup football.
Then manager, Harry Redknapp had moulded an entertaining and skillful passing team with a very English mentality. Click to continue reading...