Phil Neville may pull on a blue shirt when he steps out for Everton but the former United utility man is still a red at heart. Neville is currently back in training following nine weeks out with a knee injury but it looks unlikely he will recover in time for Everton's visit to Old Trafford this weekend.

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From Soccer America The final six teams in the 32-team World Cup 2010 field will be determined today four in Europe, one in South America/Concacaf and one in Africa necessitated by the tie between Egypt and Algeria in their qualifying group. For a look at all six games, with television information and predictions .

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It's pretty easy to see why this season was a frustrating one for Fire defender Gonzalo Segares. After being a stalwart in the backline for years for the Fire, Segares was forced to the sidelines this year, only playing in 12 regular season games due to a combination of injuries and national team call-ups.

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- Check out the "cutting-edge" combination messageboard and quasi-blog QPR Report Messageboard. If your interest is constantly-updated QPR-related news; QPR nostalgia; and items on some other broader football-related isssues: QPR Report Messageboard is one such site. All opinions welcome!
- QPR REPORT Available on TWITTER! Click to continue reading...

SEE YOU IN SEATTLE
MLS Cup Weekend - Party with your friends on Friday night!
The Designated Players - du Nord, Soccer by Ives, The Original Winger, This Is American Soccer and The Offside Rules - will be hosting a get together on Friday night in Seattle at Kells Pub. Click to continue reading...

Martin Petrov is facing a couple of weeks on the sidelines after picking up a knee injury in the current international break.

The winger has a slight sprain of the inner ligament in the left knee and could be out for up to two weeks.

Petrov was with his national squad preparing for a couple of friendlies when he was forced to return back to City's Carrington training ground, where he is now undergoing rehab work.

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Photo by ISIphotos.com

Welcome to the latest installment of Your October Questions Answered, where we take your reader-submitted questions and try to offer up our best responses and opinions to those questions.

This batch of questions covers everything from Brian McBride's potential return to the U.

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It is Friday morning and Sir Alex Ferguson has finished his pre-match news conference. There is a bit of good news on the injury front ahead of the all important game between Man United and Chelsea this Sunday.
After missing the midweek 3-3 draw against CSKA Moscow in the Champions League, Nemanja Vidic and Dimitar Berbatov are fit to play on Sunday. Click to continue reading...

Rafael Benítez believes that Liverpool have been the victims of bad luck this season and has spoken of his conviction that the club will have significantly improved their league position within "one or two months". The Liverpool manager, who has presided over six defeats in the last eight matches ahead of Birmingham City's visit tonight, claimed he was "100% sure" his team would start to climb the table. Click to continue reading...

Well this season has not had the strong start that Everton was hoping for. Currently the squad is in thirteenth place, but they are at least beginning the slow climb up the board. But despite Everton's recent push up the board it has also been a season filled with many setbacks for the top five squad from last year.

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One of the players playing extremely well at the moment is Genoa fantasista Raffaele Palladino. Palladino has always been a player that could do things with the ball that others could only dream of doing, but he never had the consistency to show that talent at a high level.

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France's do-or-die match against Ireland is just around the corner, with the first match taking place on November 14th in Ireland and the second taking place on the 18th at the Stade de France (boo...). I don't know about you guys, but I'll be praying extra hard that France don't screw up against a tough Irish team.

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The resumption of the Europa League after a short hiatus meant another important round of games for Everton and Fulham. With those clubs in action, both Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard were in action Thursday afternoon.

Dempsey's Fulham traveled to Rome, and after getting out to a 1-0 lead, were reduced to 10 men early in the second half.

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The resumption of the Europa League after a short hiatus meant another important round of games for Everton and Fulham. With those clubs in action, both Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard were in action Thursday afternoon.

Dempsey's Fulham traveled to Rome, and after getting out to a 1-0 lead, were reduced to 10 men early in the second half.

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For the second straight season, the Columbus Crew's Chad Marshall was selected as the league's best defender. Marshall was named as the MLS 2009 Defender of the Year Thursday, joining Carlos Bocanegra and Robin Fraser as the award's only two-time winners.

2009 has been a tremendous success for Marshall, named in July as an All-Star, and earning five caps with the U.

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For the second straight season, the Columbus Crew's Chad Marshall was selected as the league's best defender. Marshall was named as the MLS 2009 Defender of the Year Thursday, joining Carlos Bocanegra and Robin Fraser as the award's only two-time winners.

2009 has been a tremendous success for Marshall, named in July as an All-Star, and earning five caps with the U.

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STARTERS
Got this note yesterday from a great reader named Anthony who lives in Glasgow: Have you heard of any fans making the trip to Bratislava for the Nov 14 game? I haven't heard anything and US Soccer hasn't even released info about tickets, but I got a cheap flight from Edinburgh to Bratislava so I'm going for the weekend in hopes I can get a ticket there and looking to meet up w any other US fans before the game to march and sing to the stadium together. Click to continue reading...

Of the European World Cup play-offs I would argue that the Republic of Ireland's fixture against France is the pick of the ties. The Irish have shown a great battling spirit in their qualification campaign so far, drawing twice with Italy and narrowly missing out on defeating the Italians particular highlights.

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Marco Bresciano has been recalled for the Asian Cup qualifier against Oman at Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat on November 15. Bresciano returns to the squad after a knee injury prevented him from the recent international friendly against the Netherlands in Sydney and the Asian Cup qualifier against Oman in Melbourne last month. Click to continue reading...

Debreceni vs Fiorentina

A win against Debreceni would bring the Viola to the brink of the knockout stages of the Champions League.

Fiorentina are hoping to have Mutu and Jovetic for the match. Mutu is trying to recover from a knee injury while Jovetic is suffering from a problematic toe.

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AC Milan's 3-2 win in Madrid on Matchday 3 lifted them to the top of Group C and a repeat success on home soil would take them a step closer to the first knockout round. The Matchday 3 win was a big morale boost for Milan while Madrid slumped. Madrid put a three-game winless run behind them with victory over Getafe CF on Saturday but face a tough task in overturning Milan at home.

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With the swine flu doubt cleared up, Paris Saint Germain picked up their first win since the 30th August on Sunday, beating Sochaux 4-1.

After years of struggling the Paris side finally had a good season last year, finishing 6th and only missing out on a Champions League place due to their very poor form in the last league games, picking up only 4 points from a possible 15.

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For a long while there, Stephen Appiah was an international footballer only. The midfielder has not played a kick of club soccer since late 2007, but still managed to captain Ghana through a successful World Cup 2010 qualification campaign. Which is ridiculously impressive when you think about it.

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All the colour of the Japanese Yamazaki Nabisco League Cup final will descend upon the National Stadium in Tokyo on November 3, with this year's showpiece event set to be an all-local affair.
FC Tokyo have reached their first League Cup final since 2004, with Hiroshi Jofuku's team winning through on the back of some impressive displays. Click to continue reading...

The Daily Mail reports that Hull have been blessed with debts of £27m and a wage bill of £40m.
This ranks them among the highest payers in the Barclays Premier League and leaves them facing financial meltdown if the season ends in relegation.
"In a report compiled by their accountants at Deloitte, Hull have been warned that their uncertain financial position threatens the club's ‘ability to continue as a going concern' and have been told they will need to generate a £23m surplus just to meet their existing liabilities should Brown's team go down. Click to continue reading...

   photo by ISIphotos.com

If you have been anxiously waiting to see midfielder Maurice Edu get back on the field, you may not have to wait much longer.

According to the Rangers club website, Edu is expected to return to full training for Rangers next week, and he could be back to first-team action after November's international break, when the U.

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          photo by ISIphotos.com

by FRANCO PANIZO

If you have been anxiously waiting to see midfielder Maurice Edu get back on the field, you may not have to wait much longer.

According to the Rangers club website, Edu is expected to return to full training for Rangers next week, and he could be back to first-team action after November's international break, when the U.

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Get your vuvuzelas out and get ready for one of the best soccer matches you will see this season – Saturday it is time for a Soweto Derby and Kaizer Chiefs say they are ready to take on out of form Orlando Pirates.

Injured Bucs Captain Benson Mhlongo

Benson Mhlongo Injury Setback for the Buccaneers

Orlando Pirates boss Ruud Krol has admitted that the loss of Buccaneers captain, Benson Mhlongo will come as a big blow to his side's Soweto Derby aspirations.

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First, and most importantly, there is some sad news for the Wanderers World. Our dear Jussi is retiring from his international career. His Finnish team failed to make South Africa 2010, and Jaaskelainen announced his retirement earlier today. He was first capped in 1998, and has earned 55 since. Jussi, pure class as ever, came out with this statement:

"I have considered this decision long and hard, and I believe that it is now the right time to give younger Finnish goalkeepers the chance to play on the international stage.

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Liverpool midfielder Alberto Aquilani has plans to become a Premier League ace after easing himself into English football by playing cards with his new team-mates.
After recovering from his long-term knee injury, Italy international Aquilani made his Liverpool debut this week in the Carling Cup defeat at Arsenal following a trip south that included his introduction to the tradition of the card school. Click to continue reading...

Just several random things going on today, none of which really deserve their own post, so I figured I would just dump them in here together.

First, Lukasz Fabianski, who many were predicting would become Arsenal's # 1 goalkeeper when he returned to health, hurt his thigh in last night's Carling Cup fixture and will be out until after the international break in November.

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We are less than a month away from a pair of U.S. men's national team friendlies against fellow World Cup participants Slovakia and Denmark and it is growing increasingly difficult to project just who will be playing in central defense for the United States when those matches take place.

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We are less than a month away from a pair of U.S. men's national team friendlies against fellow World Cup participants Slovakia and Denmark and it is growing increasingly difficult to project just who will be playing in central defense for the United States when those matches take place.

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Watch Chelsea Highlights in Sports | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Hands up if you'd forgotten about Joe Cole? No need to be embarrassed, I sort of had as well. At least as an England starter anyway.

The Chelsea man has been out since January with a knee injury, but returned to play a starring role as Chelsea thrashed Blackburn 5-0 this weekend.

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by FRANCO PANIZO

If Manchester City attacker Robinho's hidden desire is to play for Barcelona then he is not doing a good job at keeping it a secret.

On Monday, Robinho told a Brazilian radio station he is happy with the interest Barcelona has in him, and that he thinks it is much easier to become the world's best player with them than with Manchester City.

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