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When Landon Donovan takes the field for Everton against Liverpool on Saturday (7:30am, ESPN2), he will be doing more than playing in the most important match he's played in since going to England on loan. Donovan will also be looking to exorcise some demons against the same team he faced when he put in arguably the worst performance of his career.

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When Landon Donovan takes the field for Everton against Liverpool on Saturday (7:30am, ESPN2), he will be doing more than playing in the most important match he's played in since going to England on loan. Donovan will also be looking to exorcise some demons against the same team he faced when he put in arguably the worst performance of his career.

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Egypt's fantastic CAN campaign vaulted them from 24th position in December 2009 to the 10th position in FIFA's latest rankings. They earned 237 points in this period.

The recently concluded CAN saw some strong gains for the top African countries. Nigeria was also a big mover skating 7 places from 22nd to 15th position bagging 108 points.

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Tucked away inside this article on plans for a US tour next summer is the news that we have offered a contract to Martin Petrov - with talks by all accounts 'enouraging':

City have offered Martin Petrov a new contract and are encouraged by the way the negotiations have gone with the Bulgaria international.

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Welcome to the jungle, folks. Apparently they've got fun and games.

I suppose the fun stops when you get the Ebola virus. Not much joy to be had when spraying your pulped innards on the side of a lemon tree; keeling over in shock, using your grubby trousers as a pillow, waiting for the wolves to find you.

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A couple of months ago we launched a competition to win one of Zuku.com's Soccer Pro Pack's (Containing 6 sachets). We gave you a rather tough question last time around, but we decided to change it to make it easier for you guys...

How to win a pack is after the jump.

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Arsenal 1 Manchester United 3
(And it's worth noting that the '1' was a consolation goal - perhaps we woke up from our lethargy thereafter, but United are far too professional a team to let a three goal lead slip.
If you want to clutch at straws, perhaps you could point out that United were due a win away at us in the League - February 2005, almost five years ago, was when they won away to us last (as long as you discount the Champions League. Click to continue reading...

Since being beat by Manchester United I have seen criticism leveled at Arsene Wenger like never before. It's almost another level.
It got even worse when he didn't add to the squad on transfer dead-line day. A move that has led many Gooners to despair.
So much so I've even seen an Arsenal blog begin a petition to sack him. Click to continue reading...

Reading the reader just now, and quite bemused reading in the Sweeper covering Mansfield Town's "choose your own price" promotion to thank the fans for being so yada yada yada.
What would I voluntarily pay to watch Toronto FC? With Carver in charge, ten bucks. Cummins, meh, fifteen. Preki I'd pay full price as a starter, more for curiosity. Click to continue reading...

Gordon Strachan raided Celtic for the last time yesterday as he convinced Scott McDonald to leave Celtic Park for the Riverside. Last week I did a similar post about the credentials of Stephen McManus and received a very good report about him from the excellent Celtic fans, which will be published later this week.

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Earlier in the week, after we gave by far our most determined, outstanding and tactically superior performance of the season, it got me a thinking. When WAS our last truly incredible performance? Well, few would disagree with me when I suggest that it was in fact at the very same venue that today's game was held last season.

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The last time Arsenal were thrashed 3-1 at home by United, the result was triggered by an unfortunate slip by Keiran Gibbs, deputising for an injured Gael Clichy. Cristiano Ronaldo then fired in a thunderbolt free kick past Almunia. 2-0 nil down and the game was over after 20 minutes. That result followed an appalling performance at Old Trafford, and an abysmal lack of will in the FA Cup semi Click to continue reading...

Cesc Fabregas has today revealed that he congratulated Sir Alex Ferguson after our draw with them at Old Trafford saw us lift the Premiership for the third successive season.

"I don't know Sir Alex very well and normally I just say 'hi' whenever I see him," said Fabregas. "But the last time we spoke was last season when they won the league against us.

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WV Hooligan found the TV schedule for the big show. Looks like the games will generally be on at 4 a.m., 6:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. Pacific time (eek!).
Both ESPN and ABC have a huge blowout planned for the broadcast. They've already signed Martin Tyler and hinted to 3-D coverage. Games will all be covered live and on site -- unlike last time, where some games were broadcast from the studio. Click to continue reading...

By Paul Sorene

"Is this cool?"

It's almost half a year until the World Cup in South Africa, but already one British tabloid has kicked off with the anti-German bullscheiße. The Daily Star's first German-bashing headline of the season:

"RETURN OF ZE BLACK SHIRTS"

Ja, fussbull fanz, apparently "Germany is set to kick up a Reich stink at the World Cup by playing in Nazi-style black shirts.

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With one match standing between the U.S. and a ticket to the 2010 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, the U.S. Under-20 Women's National Team trained at Estadio Mateo Flores on Wednesday morning ahead of the all-important semifinal match against Costa Rica.
The stadium is home of Municipal, of the local Guatemalan league, and usually plays host to the Guatemala National Team for home matches. Click to continue reading...

Last time we looked at the state of our back line and discussed who we would put out there come June to defend Italy's title. The old cliche says that offense sells tickets and defense wins championships, and based on the responses we posted, it seems like most of us don't think Lippi is going to win a championship this year.

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Steven Gerrard was the Footballer of the Year last season, not because he was particularly outstanding but because Liverpool were generally impressive and over the course of his career their captain had been generally excellent.
In a season without an obvious, stand-out candidate, in other words, the award went to someone who deserved to win something. Click to continue reading...

Selangor v Johor 6-0
Negeri Sembilan v Terangganu 2-1
KL v Pahang 1-1
Perak v Kelantan 0-0
Penang v Kedah 0-3
T Team v Perlis 1-0
1 - Selangor 6 5 0 1 17-6 15
2 - Terengganu 6 3 2 1 13-4 11
Champions Selangor put their 0-4 drubbing last time out behind them as they crushed cellar dwellers Johor at the Shah Alam. Click to continue reading...

I hate to dig out individual players at the best of times. It's something that I very rarely do. In fact I can't actually remember the last time I dug anyone out who's wears an Arsenal shirt.
Today I feel I have to because it's something that has lurked in a dark place at the back of my mind for a long time and despite my best attempts to keep it there, hiding in the shadows, its waiting to get out. Click to continue reading...

A demolition of Hull, made complete especially in the last ten minutes, should hold United in good stead ahead of more challenging encounters against City and Arsenal.

Wayne Rooney was majestic, and not just his four goals, as he looks well on course to comfortably exceed his past season scoring records.

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Bath City drew against Bishop's Stortford at home in front of 558 people yesterday. That was not how things were supposed to go.
No. Things were supposed to go very differently. City were supposed to crush Bishop's Stortford as they did at the away fixture 5-1. This was supposed to happen in front of a bumper crowd made up of people drawn back after the great football they saw at the last two Saturday home matches (1,404 against Newport County and 3,325 against Forest Green Rovers). Click to continue reading...

Wayne Rooney scored all four goals in our victory over Hull yesterday and now races ahead to the top of the goalscorers leaderboard.

Last season's top scorer was Nicolas Anelka with 19 goals, something Rooney has achieved in January!

"The last time I scored four goals was probably when I was about 12!

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Shay Given has more sense than the deluded masses at Wastelands.

"It would be crazy to say we are on a par with United now just because City have new owners who have already spent a huge amount," said Given. "United have got a fantastic history and a lot of trophies to show for it, so we've still got a lot of catching up to do.

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U.S. 1 Honduras 3

How to sum this one up Saturday in Carson?

Here's one way.

In general, there was way too much of this from Honduras and forward Jerry Palacios, seen here celebrating what was a sweetly taken second goal for the Central Americans (Photos by Steve McCrank).

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I've been painting again.
With a little more success than last time I'm pleased to report.
This time it was my dressing room.
Yes - that's how posh this girl is. Her own dressing room.
Now with pink walls and the old-wardrobe-turned-dressing-table bedecked by recycled pink scarves and some pink and white fablon. Click to continue reading...

Before we get stuck into the annual half-capacity January friendly at the HDC tomorrow night, let us recall the last time we had the Hondurans over for a kickaround. 5 minutes in, I was already cussin' at the TV but in the end we were saved the indignity of giving up 3 points in a WCQ in the Fed's home city. Click to continue reading...

The pairings have already set up some truly interesting match-ups
with Egypt against Cameroon the most interesting of all, a replay of the final at Ghana 2008. World Cup-bound Ivory Coast and Algeria will take on each other, while hosts Angola will entertain last time's hosts Ghana. Nigeria will play surprise Group D winners Zambia for the first time in the tournament since their 1994 final which Nigeria won 2-1. Click to continue reading...

The FA Cup tie against Leeds tomorrow has reminded me of the last time that we met them in the competition. It was a game most notable for two brilliant Spurs goals and an effort from David Ginola, that had it crept in, would surely be remembered as one of the greatest Tottenham goals of all time.

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They say certain matches define your season. With us two years ago, it was the match at Birmingham. The year we went unbeaten, it was the come-back against Liverpool at Highbury. When this season's fixtures were revealed, everyone said it would be a run of games which defined ours, not that anyone expected us to be in the race off course.

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They say certain matches define your season. With us two years ago, it was the match at Birmingham. The year we went unbeaten, it was the come-back against Liverpool at Highbury. When this season's fixtures were revealed, everyone said it would be a run of games which defined ours, not that anyone expected us to be in the race off course.

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Tonight Manchester City host current holders of the Carling Cup Man United, in the first leg of the competition's semi-final tie between the two teams. The last time Manchester City won a major...
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It's spreadsheet time!

A few weeks ago I tried to weigh up teams' real levels by looking at shots on target, both by and against teams.  The Times Fink Tank have done retrospective modelling on this sort of thing and found that shots on target, not goals, are the best long-term predictor of ability.

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Wait a minute, hold on, are these the teams that will Carry the hopes of more than 1 billion people when the attention of the sporting world turns to South Africa in June? All the teams who qualified for the world cup suffered negative results in the first week of Africa's premier footballing tournament the Africa Cup of Nations.

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Last time I commented about Harry Redknapp's tax problems and shady past I was told in no uncertain terms I was in the wrong. Last time I commented on Sol Campbell I was accused of being all kinds of prejudice. Therefore, I thought why not get them both involved today and you can really go to town on me!

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