Houston had another strong season behind Brian Ching. (Getty Images)

Dominic Kinnear teams always compete, always and the 2009 edition of the Houston Dynamo looked very similar to the ones we've seen win league titles over the last few years. Even though the Dynamo lost their big star in the midfield in a trade to Toronto before the season started everyone knew this team would still compete.

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"I offered to shave off my beard and put on some make-up and then I'd have looked like my missus!"
Derby County's Robbie Savage after turning up at the airport with his wife's passport for a friendly in the Netherlands.

"I was joking on the sidelines saying 'You Americans have been dying to get it to four quarters and you finally got it! Click to continue reading...

A number of players can stake a claim for being part of the best team in the world at this early period of the European domestic leagues. However, very few players standout the way those listed below have in terms of their contribution to their team, their role as leaders, and certainly their crucial involvement in their respective clubs.

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A Very happy 35th Birthday to Paul Scholes

While he looks like funnyman Simon Pegg, Scholes has been anything but a joke to United's opponents. With ridiculous passing that tears through defenses all the while making it look simple, a niche for shooting long range rockets into the back of the net, and a surly temper (75 bookings in the EPL, 24 in UEFA CL play), Paul Scholes has wrecked havoc on any pitch he steps on.

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Kop favourite Craig Johnston believes Rafa Benitez may have lost the dressing room and that his reign as Liverpool manager is hanging by a thread.
Benitez's side needed a controversial penalty to salvage a 2-2 home draw against Birmingham last Monday night and have won just once since the end of September. Click to continue reading...

Internazionale boss Jose Mourinho is already plotting his exit from Giuseppe Meazza, after less than two years in the Nerazzurri hotseat.Â

The Portuguese boss is just halfway through his contract with Inter but he is already talking up his plans to return to the Premier League.Â

When boss at Premier League club Chelsea Mourinho won back to back league titles as well as the FA Cup and League Cup essentially every prize available to an English coach domestically.

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More talk from Patrice Evra which makes you love him that little bit more.

"To play for Manchester United demands huge sacrifices," said Evra. "This is a club of hard workers. You are there to work hard, there are no glass jewels or paste trinkets here. At United you are carrying the weight of the club's history.

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Just weeks to go until the bubbly is uncorked and the drunken masses spill into messy versions of auld lang syne. We here at Footy Factor are celebrating the decade's end by honouring the best football teams, figures, matches and moments of the past 10 years.

First up...

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For ranking methodology and other information about the series, see the original post. To read the about the No. 7-rated stadium, the Camp Nou in Barcelona, click here. To see all "soccer mecca" entries click here.
No. 6 Estadio Bernabeu, Madrid
Open since: 1947
Capacity: 80,000
Tenant(s): Real Madrid
World Cup hosts: 1982
We have now had two stadiums in Argentina (Bombonera at No. Click to continue reading...

Ireland play France in the World Cup play-offs this week with many commentators already writing off their chances of making it to South Africa next summer. However, here are 5 reasons why Republic of Ireland fans can still dream about World Cup 2010 despite being drawn against a team that has already been seeded twice.

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Alex Ferguson
The Red Devils boss celebrated 23-years at Old Trafford on Friday having brought unprecedented success to the club in the process.

The Scot hasled the club to 11 Premier League titles, two European cups, five FA Cups, three League Cups, a European Cup Winners' Cup, the Fifa Club World Cup and the Uefa Super Cup during that time.

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Ajax v Feyenoord, Holland

History
It all began as a clash of cultures. Feyenoord were supported by the dock workers from the built up part of Rotterdam, while Ajax by the richer, more sophiscated side of Amsterdam.

Magic moments
This fixture is full of goals, goals, super goals as big Frank frank would say.

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Ronnie Whelan, who won six league titles with Liverpool, has accused Rafael Benítez of giving up on the title race.
And following Liverpool's fifth Premier League defeat, at Fulham, the former Irish international claimed that the Liverpool manager is concentrating only on the Champions League so further his career. Click to continue reading...

Big Story
The future of Rafa Benitez dominates the British press this morning, as Liverpool slumped to their sixth defeat in seven games and fingers are being jabbed once again: former Liverpool star Ronnie Whelan suggests Rafa does not care about the Premier League; Sam Wallace concludes that Rafa is too clever for his own good; John Ley looks at the facts unnecessarily needed to prove Liverpool have had a poor start; and David Hytner looks at the club's growing injury crisis, the one mitigating factor that seems to be saving Rafa.

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The top European Leagues are well into their 2009-10 seasons with the races starting to take shape. In England, Chelsea remains on top but Manchester United and Arsenal are close behind. In Spain, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona are in a tight battle at the top of the table. The French Ligue 1 and German Bundesliga are very competitive and several teams still in position to make a run for the league titles.

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A new version of Football Manager is released today, which makes this, in my house at least, a time of hushed reflection. The old era is passing away, the new era is rising up before us. Everything we knew and loved is sliding into the sea, while before us, like a mountainous country, is thrust a terrifying and exhilarating possibility.

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Bolton Wanderers v Chelsea FC
English Premier League
Old Trafford
Saturday, 31 October 2009
Kick-off: 1500 GMT

Chelsea and Bolton face off for the second time this week, this time in the Premier League.

Their previous meeting saw Chelsea dump Bolton out of the Carling Cup thanks to a 4-0 thumping, and Ancelotti will be hoping for more of the same from his table-topping team.

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News outlets out of Tampa are reporting that Malcolm Glazer is looking for a buyer for his National Football League team. The Glazer family have owned the Tampa Bay Buccaneers since 1995, moving them into a state of the art stadium and winning the 2002 Super Bowl. Glazer completed his takeover of Manchester United in 2005. Click to continue reading...

Big Story
DC United's club president Kevin Payne has never lacked for chutzpah, and after a season in which the team launched a website called "We Win Trophies" but have failed to make the playoffs for the second year in a row, arguing that DC had at least earned some kind of a moral victory for their style of play is quite something.

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In 1994 the Liverpool crowd decided to taunt Man United fans by putting out a banner which read- ‘Au revoir Cantona and Man United... come back when you've won 18'.
Man United have now equalised Liverpool's record of 18 League titles. Tomorrow Man United will be returning to Anfield for the first time since winning 18 league titles. Click to continue reading...

Carlos Alberto Parreira is the new coach for the South African National Soccer Team. After two weeks of rumours and denials, the South African Football Association (SAFA) made the announcement just after 7pm at OR Tambo airport in Johannesburg.

During this Bafana coach fiasco, it seemed all that the loyal and passionate supporters were agreed upon, is that they were happy that Joel Santana was out of the picture.

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"Au revoir Cantona and Man United... come back when you've won 18" read the banner at Anfield all those years ago. Back then it appeared laughable that this rejuvenated United team, under the guidance of Alex Ferguson, could even dream of going on to win eighteen titles. But if we were ever to win eighteen, they certainly would have added another ten or twenty league titles to their collection.

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- How come nobody ever heard of you? I mean, how come you ain't got a reputation? (Support Your Local Sheriff!, 1969)

With the visibly terrified Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Jadson looking like he'd just been told that one of the small plastic spheres in his hand contained a hilarious paper snake on a spring – and a grinning Uwe Seeler looking like the man who'd put it there – August's draw for the group stages of this season's UEFA Europa League had the potential to be highly entertaining.

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- How come nobody ever heard of you? I mean, how come you ain't got a reputation? (Support Your Local Sheriff!, 1969)

With the visibly terrified Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Jadson looking like he'd just been told that one of the small plastic spheres in his hand contained a hilarious paper snake on a spring – and a grinning Uwe Seeler looking like the man who'd put it there – August's draw for the group stages of this season's UEFA Europa League had the potential to be highly entertaining.

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I never thought I would see the day but there are increasing calls from the Inter faithful for Jose Mourinho to leave.

The self styled "special one" who won the Champions League in 2004, as well as league titles in Portugal, England and Italy, is under intense pressure as Inter's alarming European form continues to slide downwards.

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As an indication of what was to come Henrik Larsson's first contribution in a Celtic shirt was misleading. It was his misplaced that Chic Charnley latched on to score the winning goal for Hibs in an early season game at Easter Road.That Hibs team would end up relegated while Celtic and Larsson would collect four league titles, four domestic cups and a UEFA Cup final appearance. Click to continue reading...

Private Saudi sports investment firm F6 said on Saturday that talks with George Gillett, the American co-owner of English football club Liverpool, to buy a stake in the club are on hold.
Gillett arrived earlier this week to Riyadh sparking speculation that the visit will push towards the conclusion a deal with F6 owners, who include Saudi Prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdullah and Saudi businessman Majed al-Hugail. Click to continue reading...

Whatever happened to the 'Golden Generation'? They seemed to kick up a fuss a few years ago without ever doing anything. They even gained a reputation by not winning anything. Apparently Sven wasted them and we missed our chance.

Another ‘Golden Generation' knocked them out on penalties in 2004 and they didn't win anything.

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This week's good, the bad and the ugly features stories from the upcoming World Cup qualifiers as well as a shock salute from Spurs-fan Damian to Arsene Wenger. Whatever next, Damon to congratulate Sir Alex Ferguson?

Good

Just to prove that we are balanced here at languagecaster, my good this week goes to Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger who completed 13 years in charge of the second-best team in North London (sorry!

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13 years since a tall Frenchman wearing ridiculously large spectacles flew the 8:30 Tokyo London shuttle to be greeted by a headline in The Evening Standard saying ‘Arsène Who?' Since then he's gotten us 3 league titles, 4 F.A Cups, a World Class Training Facility and a World Class Stadium.

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Becks wishes he never left!

Portsmouth Vs Manchester United Tickets Still Available!

Former Manchester United midfielder David Beckham says he wishes he could have spent his entire career at Old Trafford.
The 34-year-old made 265 league appearances for the Red Devils from 1993-2003, winning six Premier League titles, two FA Cups and the Champions League.

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Ancelotti interested in bringing veteran Frenchman?

Portsmouth vs Chelsea Tickets Still Available!

Inter Milan midfielder Patrick Vieira could finally be set to seal his return to London, but surprisingly with Chelsea, according to reports.

The 33-year-old Frenchman who made more than 250 league appearances and won three Premier League titles and four FA Cups during his time at Arsenal - was linked with a return to Arsene Wenger's side along with Tottenham Hotspur earlier this summer.

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With the first quarter of football almost over in most leagues around Europe, now is a good time to measure the current progress of some of the giant clubs on the continent. Actually, analyzing the success or failure of clubs in general won't be nearly as exciting as identifying a more specific object of analysis.

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A former United stalwart returns to Old Trafford this weekend (along with a few other familiar faces), bringing along with him a Sunderland team that have endured something of a yoyo start to the season. Yes Steve Bruce skippered the Reds to three Premier League titles once upon a time but he will be desperately hoping to outwit his former mentor in the opposing dugout come Saturday.

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Eleven league titles, two Champions Leagues, four FA Cups and now150 goals for Manchester United.Some legends walk around.His 150th goal helped to keep the Wolf(sburg) at bay when they scored first at Old Trafford.Michael Carrick scored the eventual winner.
Watch Manchester United v VfL Wolfsburg in Sports | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.

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