Chasing the Big Leagues FC Zwolle (Dutch Eerste Divisie) is a post from: Just Football

Just Football's Tales from Tier Two series, in association with @tiertwofooty, concludes now with a look at the runaway leaders of the Dutch Eerste Divisie:

FC Zwolle

FC Zwolle are in pole position to return to the Dutch Eredivisie eight years since they were cruelly relegated after both Volendam and Vitesse claimed rare victories as Zwolle were being thumped 7-1 at Feyenoord.

The main points from the FA: Stuart Peace WILL manage England for the forthcoming Holland friendly. Euro 2012 is important but there is a longer term strategy. It cannot be the sole responsibility of the manager to achieve success The process to appoint a new manager will not be rushed. The FA will be interested [.

After sensationally being cleared of tax evasion charges and the subsequent dismissal of Fabio Capello as England coach by the FA all in one day, Tottenham coach Harry Redknapp is now being considered as the prime choice to replace the Italian. In fact, Tottenham are said to be bracing themselves for an approach by the FA.

If you've had more clubs than Marcus Bent, or if you've just fallen out of touch with your old team-mates, a new website is aiming to put you back in touch with those lucky enough to have been on the receiving end of your exquisite range of passing over the years. Footballmates.com connects you with [.

As you all know by now, John Terry has this morning been stripped of the England Captaincy once again. The "Official statement" from the FA reads as follows:

"Following the decision to adjourn the court case against John Terry to July, The Football Association confirm he will not captain the England team until the allegations against him are resolved.

By Chris Wright

"Say what now?"

The FA have just released the following statement:

"Following the decision to adjourn the court case against John Terry to July, the Football Association confirm he will not captain the England team until the allegations against him are resolved.

Martin Jol has stunned the footballing world by dramatically selling himself to Aston Villa.

"To be honest I expected more from Fulham. It's a small club," he explained while screwing up his nose and sniffing. "And I wanted to be at a big club. You know? With big things."

Jol continued: "I had seen what happened to Mark Hughes after he walked out on Fulham.

The Teaser: The Classic

When Barca and Real Madrid meet in Spain, we could well witness the two best football teams on the planet. When Feyenoord and Ajax meet in Holland, we're not even seeing the best teams of the Netherlands go head to head. But, that is all here nor [read more]

There should be quite a few transfers in the Premier League over the next week, and Liverpool fans will be hoping to see some new blood at Anfield, especially up front. Things are quiet at the moment, but last week, Bruce Grobbelaar revealed that Liverpool were tracking a Holland-based Uruguayan striker.

Kids day at the Amsterdam Arena

After a KNVB cup match between Ajax and AZ Alkmaar was suspended because a fan ran on to the pitch and attacked AZ's keeper, Ajax were able to replay the match, but with one caveat: only kids (and a few supervisors) would be allowed into the Amsterdam Arena.

The United States moved up one place to 33rd in the January 2012 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking. Mexico stays 21st, remaining first overall in CONCACAF. Spain remains the World #1, with Holland, Germany, Uruguay, and England rounding out the top five. Elsewhere in CONCACAF, Panama moves up to 47th and Honduras is 51st.

Reports doing the rounds suggest that Liverpool are in the market looking to buy a striker to bloster their attack. The Reds have been linked with Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe who Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish is willing to offer £10 million to acquire.

However a tug of war is emerging between Tottenham and Defoe with Redknapp set on keeping him at White Hart Lane while Defoe is bent on leaving after already telling his agent that he wants to move in this transfer window.

Liverpool is on the verge of signing a new striker, according to legendary goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar.
Liverpool struggled to hit the net again this weekend with a 0-0 draw at home to Stoke and have scored just eight goals in their last nine Premier League games. With Luis Suarez suspended for eight games, strikers Dirk Kuyt and Andy Carroll have come under pressure to perform but Carroll has only scored twice this season, while Kuyt has yet to break his drought.

Liverpool is on the verge of signing a new striker, according to legendary goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar.
Liverpool struggled to hit the net again this weekend with a 0-0 draw at home to Stoke and have scored just eight goals in their last nine Premier League games. With Luis Suarez suspended for eight games, strikers Dirk Kuyt and Andy Carroll have come under pressure to perform but Carroll has only scored twice this season, while Kuyt has yet to break his drought.

BBC News and Sky News are reporting that American Robbie Rogers has signed a deal with Leeds United of England's Championship. The 24 year old winger has been capped 18 times by the United States National Team and most recently played for the Columbus Crew in MLS. This isn't Rogers' first signing with a European club.

Every now and then a player emerges who is capable of dividing the sports fans into two camps: lovers and haters. At the European Cup of 2000 in Holland/Belgium, the Feyenoord skipper demonstrated his Bosvelt shuffle in De Kuip and allowed Kluivert to score another goal.

At the EK in Portugal [read more]

Liverpool striker Dirk Kuyt could be in line for a shock Anfield departure during the January transfer window with Galatasaray showing an interest, according to reports in The Metro.
Since arriving at Liverpool from Feyenoord for £10million in 2006, Kuyt has been one of the key players for the Anfield outfit.

Suarez statement on his ‘upset' at ‘totally false' allegations

Following on from the announcement that Liverpool would not be appealing his eight-match ban, Luis Suarez issued a statement of his own. First of all I would like to thank everyone so much for all the help and support I have received during these last few weeks.

My wishlist:

* Holland winning the Euro 2012, beating Germany in the finals ( with Afellay scoring)

* Bert van Marwijk succumbing for the lure of a 4 year deal at Chelsea

* Co Adriaanse taking the national team manager job

* Feyenoord winning the title in Holland

* Ajax winning the Europa League

* [read more]

The Dutch pitch invader who attempted to kick AZ Alkmaar goalie Esteban Alvarado before finding himself on the receiving end of a couple of kicks from Alvarado has been sent to prison for six months. The incident made headlines not only for the nature of the attack, but also because Alvarado was sent-off [.

There have been numerous reports lately linking Arsenal with the prolific young Swede John Guidetti, who is currently on loan at Feyenoord in Holland from Manchester City. The 19 year-old has burst upon the scene in the Eredvisie lately with 11 goals (in just 12 games), including a match-winning hat-trick against title contenders FC Twente [.

I promised you a look back at the Dutch presence at Euros in the past, right? We feel the 1988 tournament was the only one that that ever counted, right? It's indeed strange how in the 1970s and early 1980s Holland couldn't make an impression in Europe. While Ajax, Feyenoord, [read more]

AZ keeper Esteban Alvarado was sent off following this incident on Wednesday

AZ Alkmaar goalkeeper Esteban Alvarado has had his red card from Wednesday's Round of 16 KNVB Beker (Dutch Cup) match against Ajax Amsterdam rescinded.

The keeper was attacked by an Ajax fan only for Esteban to retaliate on the attacker by kicking him whilst he was on the ground, a response which was deemed inappropriate by referee Bas Nijhuis who then sent off the keeper much to the astonishment and fury of the AZ players and staff.

The Generation Adidas Tour featured young players from across the MLS. They toured Holland and played some of its best reserve teams including Ajax, FC Volendam, and Almere City FC. Upon arriving home from the tour, Pat McStay of Virginia Online Soccer News was able to catch up with Conor Shanosky, current D.

Their Words The keeper was unexpectedly attacked; he did not see his assailant coming. The prosecutor believes that such an impulsive reaction should not be punished The Holland Football Association reversing AZ goalkeeper Esteban's red card.. Other Sources Kasey Keller on MLS, EPL and USMNT - from ESPN.

The first part of Sounder at Heart's recent conversation with Darren Sawatzky featured a few players from this year's U-18s. This second section is more about what the Academy is and how Seattle Sounders FC is handling it. The conversation is lengthy, but shows the efforts the team is taking to develop not just future pro players, but men.

The United States stay 34th for the third month in a row as we close out the 2011 FIFA Rankings.With most teams idle during the rankings period, there isn't a lot of movement in the table. Mexico drops to 21st, remaining first overall in CONCACAF. Spain remains the World #1, with Holland, Germany, Uruguay, and England rounding out the top five.

Damn boy... bout time to see him finally make it back stateside. The ex-Hoosier who skipped MLS to go to Holland to develop his game, bounced around and after rumors were floated last year that he might come back (salary differences were the contention point supposedly)he's here. This kid was shaping up to be one of the future forwards of US Soccer, and fell off the map.

With no official word from the club it seems that reports of a permanent deal for AZ 67's Swedish midfielder Rasmus Elm are a little quick off the mark.

If the claims are to be believed, Spurs have struck a deal worth around £7m for the player, but he won't be joining up with the squad until the end of the season.

The new Arsenal centre-back Per Mertesacker will be playing for Germany at the Euros, and they have been drawn in the same Group as Robin Van Persie's Holland so are set to go head to head at the tournament on June 13th. Both Holland and Germany are just behind Spain in the football betting online [.

In the spirit of the 125 anniversary celebrations, and in a follow up to Darren's recent blog about Arsenal's history, I now ask the question of whether the current team is the most multicultural team in history. I wasn't the first one to notice it, but we've recently used a couple of different lineups where every player hailed from a different country.

For seven of the MLS-based players, arriving into camp on time required a Herculean effort that began with an early morning wake-up call in Amsterdam and ended 21 hours later in Sarasota. As you'll see, there's no easy way to get from Point A to Point B. The merry band of travelers included David Bingham, Will Bruin, Dilly Duka, Zac MacMath, Jack McInerney, Amobi Okugo, Kofi Sarkodie and Zarek Valentin, who were with a select MLS squad playing in Holland.

Top Christmas Football Deals - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

The best part about holiday shopping is the amount of discounts you can find. It is very important to go around the market before buying something because you never know, you might find it for cheaper elsewhere.

Keeping that in mind, I looked around for quality presents with good discounts and picked, what I thought, were really good bargains.

Retro Football Kits - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Throughout history, people have been kicking a ball but the earliest scientific evidence suggest that it was an exercise from a military manual in the second and third BC in China it was called Cuju. Modern football took years in the making after the Chinese forgot about cuju.

Lyon who were facing elimination from this year's Champions League unless the made up a goal difference of seven and Ajax were beaten by Real Madrid which they did as they beat 10 man Dinamo Zagreb 7-1 ,while Ajax were beaten 3-0 in Holland by Real Madrid are under investigation in a fixing storm.

Euro 2012 Gear - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

The 14th European Championship for teams sanctioned by the UEFA is scheduled to be played between 8th June and 1st July 2012 in Poland and Ukraine.

Spain are the current holders of the cup they defeated Germany in the final in Austria / Switzerland version of the tournament in 2008.

With the increased globalization of the game, major tournaments are heading to new lands. Austria and Switzerland hosted Euro 2008, with next year's event heading to Poland and Ukraine. Last year South Africa staged the World Cup with Russia and Qatar on the horizon. While I'm all for spreading the game around the globe (aside for whatever shadiness helped Qatar land the 2022 World Cup), this trend presents a flaw with regards to tournament seeding.

With the increased globalization of the game, major tournaments are heading to new lands. Austria and Switzerland hosted Euro 2008, with next year's event heading to Poland and Ukraine. Last year South Africa staged the World Cup with Russia and Qatar on the horizon. While I'm all for spreading the game around the globe (aside for whatever shadiness helped Qatar land the 2022 World Cup), this trend presents a flaw with regards to tournament seeding.

The move to Holland has done wonders for Jozy Altidore's scoring touch.

The American forward scored the lone goal in AZ's 5-1 defeat to Heerenveen. Altidore leveled the score in the 20th minute of the match, when he played a give-and-go with a teammate, the forward cut through two defenders before firing in the goal.

The draw for the 2012 European Championships in Poland and Ukraine was made yesterday with some very interesting match-ups. This A-Z guide should enlighten, confuse, bore or maybe even fascinate some of you football fans.

A is for Absence - The group games are being played at 5pm and 7.