It goes without saying that Saturday night's playoff elimination at the hands of Real Salt Lake
was an incredibly gut-wrenching defeat for the Fire. It's tough any time a team bows out of a
competition due to penalty kicks, but this one was especially painful for Chicago - who has now
been eliminated from the Eastern Conference Final in three consecutive seasons.
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A single goal is all that separates the sides heading into Wednesday's second leg in Montevideo
after Costa Rica and Uruguay played out a well fought battle in San Jose. It was Uruguay's captain
fantastic Diego Lugano who grabbed the games only goal and gave his team the perfect platform to
complete the job on home turf next week.
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WorldCupBlog 14 November @ 02:32 PM EST
Quick World Cup qualifier coverage update: If you're watching Ireland vs.
France, we have options for partisans on either side, depending on whether you like your
coverage with a Gallic accent or a Gaelic one. Our Ireland blog will be doing a liveblog right here
(France fans welcome), and our France blog will be hosting an open thread, where you leave your
thoughts in the comments.
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New Zealand is headed to the World Cup.
After a scoreless first leg, New Zealand booked its passage to South Africa 2010 by defeating
Bahrain 1-0 on Saturday in front of their home crowd at Westpac Stadium. It took a 45th minute
goal from Rory Fallon and a penalty save from Mark Paston to give New Zealand the victory on
aggregate, and a place in next year's World Cup.
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New Zealand is headed to the World Cup.
After a scoreless first leg, New Zealand booked its passage to South Africa 2010 by defeating
Bahrain 1-0 on Saturday in front of their home crowd at Westpac Stadium. It took a 45th minute
goal from Rory Fallon and a penalty save from Mark Paston to give New Zealand the victory on
aggregate, and a place in next year's World Cup.
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Serie A Talk 11 November @ 01:00 AM EST
The International Break is a Welcome One for Top Squads
The 1-1 Inter-Roma draw this weekend highlighted the risk for top flight Serie A clubs
participating in international tournaments; Inter has played three matches this month already and
eight in the past 22 days.
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SoccerLens 08 November @ 05:59 AM EST
In this week's Match of the round, we travel to Etihad Stadium, where Melbourne lost both a
match, and their epic pride, going down 4-0 in front of 18,000 fans. A quiet first half and start
of the second was ignited by a rampant Central Coast side.
Ernie Merrick left his side unchanged for his side's clash with Central Coast, the standout
being Carlos Hernandez, who is in blistering form for the Victory.
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Four more from the Arsenal. The first half ended 3-0.
Arsenal Captain Francesc Fabregas is in a rich vein of form, and he rounded out the first-half
scoring.
Here are the Goals:
28' Eduardo/Wolves Own Goal
35' Eduardo/Wolves Own Goal
45' Cesc
66' Arshavin
Craddock scored a header from a corner to get an 88' consolation.
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Sunday's MLS playoff match-ups have potential. Not that they're locks to be the best MLS games
of all time. There's plenty to pick and choose from, however, and it's certainly worth diving into
ahead of time, as six teams will be reduced to three. Let's dive in.
Seattle Sounders at Houston Dynamo (0-0)
The entertaining first leg bodes well for the second.
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Yanks Abroad 06 November @ 07:40 AM EST
Rennes travel south this weekend, while Charlie Davies' Sochaux play in front of their home crowd
before the international break in Ligue 1 action.
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The UEFA Europa League had a full set of group stage matches on Thursday, November 5, 2009
including AS Roma v Fulham. Here's a recap along with video highlights of the match.
AS Roma beats Fulham 2-1 Video Highlights
Roma had the advantage of a home crowd but Fulham was the one to take the lead in the first
half.
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Tom Anselmi defended his decision to extend Mo Johnston's contract by saying, and I quote: "Our
expectation was to not make the playoffs the first three years. We didn't think we would."
Bra. Vo.
Not expecting Toronto FC to qualify for the playoffs? In a league where half the teams move on to
the post season?
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Arsenal handed Tottenham Hotspur a critical 3-0 loss in our PLTO Match of the Week. The winÂ
keeps Arsenal in third place and they remain right in the mix despite being back four points
because they have played one less game. The Spurs, on the other hand, drop back to fifth place
with the loss.
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It was a rare week in La Liga becasue Barca did not win. Don't get too excited because they
did not lose either. But you have to hand it to Osasuna. They have played as well as anyone
recently and they gave the treble winners a battle 1-1 leaving the door open for clubs to move up
the board a few points.
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At the beginning of season 08-09, I think you could have had very good odds on Carlton Cole
scoring 5 Premiership goals or more, becoming the fulcrum of the West Ham team and then breaking in
to the England squad. 15 months is a long time ago and in that time Carlton Cole has morphed from a
clumsy, well-built support striker who weighed in with the odd goal to a feared centre forward,
capable of giving the very best defenders a real working over.
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The first leg of the MLS Playoffs Conference Semifinals occurred over the last week, and the
games proved to be worth the long wait. While some international players and foreign fans may not
understand the need for playoffs, the excitement this year's games have provided so far could very
well make them all converts.
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Nicklas Bendtner displayed his developing finesse to the fullest when he scored the powerful
decisive goal that condemned Liverpool to Carling Cup elimination on Wednesday evening. The Dane,
who is often criticized for lacking the dimension and attitude required at the highest level,
quietly continued the mission to silence his critics by cleverly latching onto a pass from Fran
Merida, who had earlier scored his maiden goal for the Gunners.
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The Spanish Copa del Rey began its fourth round on Tuesday, October 27, 2009 with four matches.
One of them was Real Madrid traveling to face Alcercon who plays in the Segunda or 2nd tier of
Spain. Madrid were the favorites heading into the match and started most of their top stars. Here's
a recap of the match along with video highlights.
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Missouri State Bears, Samantha Aguilar, Jessica Smits, Jenna Dobkins
The Lady Bear's wrap up the regular season on
Thursday when they host the
Illinois State Redbirds at Plaster Stadium. Game time is
1:00 pm
and it will be the last time the seniors pictured (Samantha Aguilar, Jessica Smits and Jenna
Dobkins) will play in front of the home crowd.
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Missouri State Bears, Samantha Aguilar, Jessica Smits, Jenna Dobkins
The Lady Bear's wrap up the regular season on
Thursday when they host the
Illinois State Redbirds at Plaster Stadium. Game time is
1:00 pm
and it will be the last time the seniors pictured (Samantha Aguilar, Jessica Smits and Jenna
Dobkins) will play in front of the home crowd.
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ManUtd24 27 October @ 02:46 PM EST
Don't forget to refresh the page!
Barnsley 0-1 Manchester United
29′ Home crowd starting to make some noise. Not much, but it's still noise.
Bogdanovic and Macken have been superb so far. Another chance as I write. Anderson da Silva heads
over.
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Anfield Talk 25 October @ 01:58 PM EST
Sir Alex Ferguson believes his Manchester United side did not get a fair crack of the whip from
referee Andre Marriner at Anfield.
Nemanja Vidic was sent off for two yellow cards and Ferguson questioned a number of the official's
decisions as they slumped to their first defeat in 12 games in all competitions as Liverpool
triumphed 2-0.
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Anfield Talk 24 October @ 11:24 AM EST
Manchester United fans plan to rub the Kop's noses in it even more on Sunday - and it is nothing to
do with beachballs.
After a thrilling 3-3 Anfield draw in January 1994, Liverpool supporters unfurled a taunting banner
which read: "Au revoir, Cantona and Man United. Come back when you've won 18.
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The English Premier League began its Saturday with the early match of Wolverhampton Wanderers v
Aston Villa. Here's a recap of the Saturday, October 24, 2009 match along with video
highlights.
Aston Villa draws with Wolverhampton 1-1 Video Highlights
The match began with both teams getting chances and some open play.
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Stoke at the Lane today and, if I'm being frank, we should batter 'em. And that's with all due
respect to Tony Pulis and his side of muscled brick houses. Anything less than three points is
calamity.
Jonathan Woodgate could be in line for a first start of the season but one suspects Harry Redknapp
may choose to blood him back into the side in the Carling Cup clash with Everton rather than today.
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Raul
The forgotten man in Real Madrid's offensive rotation reminded La Liga fans that he is still
among the best goal scorers. With Cristiano Ronaldo out for a while it is Raul's time to shine
and prove once again in his career that he is as valuable as any player on the squad.
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By Josh An equaliser deep into injury time denied Arsenal all three points at AZ Alkmaar on
Tuesday night but Arsène Wenger's side still have control of Champions League Group H.
The visitors seemed in charge for much of this evening's game. There was no sympathy for an AZ
who had been stricken with financial problems in recent days.
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By Josh An equaliser deep into injury time denied Arsenal all three points at AZ Alkmaar on
Tuesday night but Arsène Wenger's side still have control of Champions League Group H.
The visitors seemed in charge for much of this evening's game. There was no sympathy for an AZ
who had been stricken with financial problems in recent days.
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Sunderland hosted Liverpool in the English Premier League on Saturday, October 17, 2009. Was
Liverpool able to win without Gerrard and Torres or did Sunderland continue their strong start to
the 2009-10 season? Here's a recap of the match along with video highlights.
Sunderland beats Liverpool 1-0 Video Highlights
Liverpool were without captain Steven Gerrard and leading scorer Fernando Torres as they
struggled at Sunderland.
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Miss Cleo is rolling into this weekend with a very impressive record of 47-14.  Forty sevenÂ
picks correct, Miss Cleo! That doesn't even include the middle of the week matches which means
your favorite false prophet is picking around 6.8 games dead on. But what about the shenanigans
going on this week?
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Not making the final, no offense to the competition, would have been a bit disappointing looking at
the more than 10-nil scorelines the Australian girls have dished out this week. So good to see they
have made it with a 6-1 win over the Myanmar A team on Friday. Not sure exactly what happened as
the FFA media release has a few different times in its copy as to the actual box score at the
bottom, but seems a good performance non the less.
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Friday 16th October
19:00 Ghana v Brazil, FIFA U-20 World Cup Final, British Eurosport
Brazil's 'goals scored' column from their last three games reads like a NASA countdown - 3, 2, and
finally the one goal which knocked Costa Rica out in the semis. Ghana, meanwhile have scored eight
in their last three and look more than capable of an upset.
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For Europe, South America and the CONCACAF region, yesterday saw the last chance for teams to grab
an automatic qualifying place for the 2010 World Cup. It was also the last chance for some teams to
claim a 'Get Out Of Jail Free' card - or a play-off place, as it's known in football circles.
Here's our round-up of all the important news from each of those regions.
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Well Maradona's boys are on their way to South Africa. To the delight of this football crazy
nation, the two time World cup winners (1978 and 1986) managed to pull off a 1 – 0 score. A
solitary goal from Mario Bolatti gave them victory over their worthy opponents at the Estadio
Centenario, Montevideo in Uruguay last night in front of a very disappointed home crowd.
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Driving past the Washington Monument and the White House on the way home tonight, one thing stood
out -- the USA often fares well as an underdog.
And make no mistake, the USA was not a big favorite to win in Honduras and clinch a World Cup
berth.
Not in a country desperately seeking an escape from political chaos.
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