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. Click to continue reading...

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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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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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. Click to continue reading...

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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Rennes travel south this weekend, while Charlie Davies' Sochaux play in front of their home crowd before the international break in Ligue 1 action. Click to continue reading...

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? Click to continue reading...

Arsenal handed Tottenham Hotspur a critical 3-0 loss in our PLTO Match of the Week. The win 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. Click to continue reading...

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. Click to continue reading...

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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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. Click to continue reading...

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. Click to continue reading...

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. Click to continue reading...

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 seven 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. Click to continue reading...

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. Click to continue reading...

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. Click to continue reading...

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. Click to continue reading...