Liverpool came from behind to draw 2-2 with Man City at Anfield today.In a scoreless first half, Liverpool lost Daniel Agger and Ryan Babel through injuries.The game came to life on 50mins when Martin Skrtel converted a Steven Gerrard free kick to give Liverpool the lead against a defensive City side. Click to continue reading...

The handshake between Rafa Benitez and Mark Hughes at the end of today's 2-2 draw spoke volumes.
Although a pulsating second half had rescued what looked to be a turgid scoreless draw provided plenty of the attacking threat both sides possess, their frustrated expressions bore the knowledge of all too familiar frailties and failings that continue to cost their respctive sides. Click to continue reading...

Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni has vented his fury at FIFA in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport.
'I would like to know what have I done to (Sepp) Blatter,' Trapattoni said. 'If he explains it to me at least I would be calm.
'I often go to schools and speak of fair play. Click to continue reading...

All of us at COS towers wanted to point you in the direction of a brilliant new website that is a must for all football fans.

Tixdaq.com has had a facelift and is now THE place to get your football tickets whether you support Liverpool or Inter Milan, Manchester United or Juventus.

Tixdaq is a ticket comparison site that has access to thousands of tickets to hundreds of football matches.

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Finishing up our "what did we miss out on?" series today:

FELIPE MELO Arsenal were probably linked with Felipe Melo this summer more than any other player. The biggest difference between Arsenal's 2007-2008 season and our 2008-2009 season, which saw the club take a large step backwards, was the absence of Mathieu Flamini.

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Heartbreaking. That's all I can say about this match. Gut-wrenching, soul-wrenching, the very best kind of completely awful.

The pivot point of the match – and for the rest of time nothing else will be discussed – was Henry's unjustly-allowed goal. (Technically it was Gallas', but Henry had more than a hand in it.

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Watch the Thierry Henry handball video from the France versus Ireland game here. In the analysis by Irish TV station RTE, the pundits dissect the controversial moment in the game and analyze whether it should have been offside or not and whether the video of the Thierry Henry handball shows if he cheated on purpose or not.

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Ireland was robbed. Pure and simple. My 8-year-old daughters watched the Henry hand ball with gaping eyes. One proffered: "Just like I do in basketball!" Her sister then deadpanned: "And he was offside on the pass." Children have an amazing way of stating the truth, don't they?
In his Hall of Shame acceptance speech, Thierry Henry said: "I will be honest, it was a hand ball.

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Thierry Henry is the villain of the soccer world today. He will be for a while.
In one of the shadiest moves on the big stage in recent memory, the French legend (after being offside) intentionally handled the ball in setting up the game-winning goal to send his country to the World Cup, and unfairly end Ireland's dreams. Click to continue reading...

Offside and handball, but the goal stands If I was Irish I would be waking up this morning a very bitter man. The Republic of Ireland had a place at next year's World Cup snatched away from them by this horrendous piece of refereeing. Despite the fact that two players were offside, at least one very [. Click to continue reading...

Two bits of good news were announced yesterday, one is that Kieran Gibbs has not suffered any break to his ankle he just has some bad bruising and won't be out for long. I don't expect we will see him at the weekend, but back in time for The Chavs I hope. Silvestre ‘should' be able to cope against Sunderland on Saturday but The Chavs are a bit of a different story.

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Chelsea forward Salomon Kalou and Abdoulaye Meite were both in the Ivory Coast squad to face Germany in Wednesday's international friendly (2-2 draw). Neither was available for Saturday's World Cup qualifiying win over Guinea after the two went all hyphy on each other in training. The two have since made up (awww).

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It will be talked about for a long time: a World Cup berth "handed" to France. Thierry's Henry helping hand assist (and a blown offside call) teed up William Gallas for the extra time clincher to leave Ireland feeling backhanded...... but that was hardly the only drama on hand.Earlier, Algeria, Greece and Slovenia procured invites to South Africa via upsets, with Portugal closing out a tidy sweep Click to continue reading...

... But Ireland got absolutely robbed in that game against France today. Thierry Henry with the "main d'un dieu" to set up William Gallas's winning goal. Oh, and both players were offside to start the play, too.In all honest, not pull pull a Sir Alex Ferguson, but that was arguably the worst non-call I've ever seen. Click to continue reading...

The final six World Cup 2010 places all get decided today, with the second legs of the four European playoffs and the CONMEBOL vs CONCACAF game, plus the special Algeria vs Egypt single game playoff for the final African qualifying spot.

It's all very very tight. The winners of these six ties get the the glory, the losers learn firsthand the meaning of the word "nearly".

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Anybody else feeling edgy?

I'm getting a little tired of reading that this France side aren't "a spot" on the 1998-2000 side. Time for the lads to debunk that nasty sentiment; and a masterclass today would be a good start.

Join Laurie on this site later today (she's never missed a match before, and I wouldn't expect her to start now) for a bit of pre -, during -, and post-match banter (and ranting and raving).

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Part II of our "What did we miss out on?" series continues today:

EDIN DZEKO Arsenal were heavily linked with the 23 year-old Bosnian striker early in the transfer window. He was coming off of a wonderful season in the Bundesliga, in which he led Wolfsburg to a surprise championship and led the league in goals, with a phenomenal 26 strikes in 29 appearances.

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Benni Mc Carthy Takes a Shot Against Jamaica

Maybe the "weakened" Jamaica was a better opponent for South Africa, because Bafana Bafana managed to play forward although they were held to a goalless draw at Vodacom Stadium on Tuesday.

That means the 2010 World Cup hosts have now scored just six goals in their last 12 internationals.

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This is what an allergy to water would look like, I presume. This is how years of therapy start. (Water Cooler Offside) The mathematics of a statistic. (Uli Hesse) The truthiness behind Lampard's plane injury. (Studs Up) Samuel Eto'o dishes out some expensive watches for his Cameroonian teammates. (The Spoiler) FIFA wages war against Iraq. Click to continue reading...

1. Fire fans having fun -- via Sanford's Soccer Net
2. SF's new gig -- via The Offside Rules
3. England to Qatar gallery -- via The Guardian
4. Romario disinterested -- via Futbolita
5. Beer Bent goggles -- via Dirty Tackle
6. Click to continue reading...

All the stuff being covered outside the unfriendly confines of the award winning Dirty Tackle...

A puddle of mud proves to be Notts County goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel's best friend. [Extra Footie]

It was inevitable: the Elizabeth Lambert dating video parody. [Tauntr]

Bookmaker stops taking bets on new Scotland manager because their chief executive is on the SFA board.

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A double international milestone was reached this past weekend, when both Italy's Gigi Buffon and Spain's Iker Casillas made their 100th international appearances on the same day. Nice little co-incidence as they are arguably (or maybe inarguably) the two best keepers in the world today.

Let me tell you what this is not: This is not a Buffon vs Casillas "who's better?

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Jeff Winter has been causing a bit of a fuss of late with his seemingly totally biased and negative opinions against our manager.

No manager has ever been given a touchline ban for comments he made about a referee but Winter went as far as claiming Ferguson should have been given a FIFA stadium ban!

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You guys know the deal by now. Former Chelsea keeper Carlo Cudicini suffered career-threatening injuries in a motorcycle crash last week. Cudicini, now at Tottenham, had successful surgery on Friday and is expected to make a "good recovery." Excellent news.

We at Chelsea Offside wish you the best, Carlo.

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Hello all. Once again, I would just like to apologize for the delay as we get the blog restructured. To handle the day-to-day news, and to keep us running smoothely, the Manchester United Offside would like to welcome two new bloggers to the page: Ryan and and Rebecca (see below for their individual bios).

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Off a defender, off a post, in the net. Mr. Anelka took care of business away for France, making their trip to South Africa look pretty likely. As Jack posted earlier this week, Nico likes being the supporting striker, but that doesn't mean he doesn't like to let it rip on occasion.

Also in action today, Deco, Ricardo Carvalho, and Paulo Ferreira all played as Portugal won 1-0 against Bosnia, as Hilario, who won his first callup for Portugal, didn't make the bench.

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(*it's the opposite of Offside Rewind)

FRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty

Rather than looking back at the week that was, let's look forward to this weekend's World Cup qualifying games by linking up all the WorldCupBlog previews.

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Something to read while you support your national team hanging out the window of a moving vehicle. On Friday 13th. FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP/Getty Images World Cup playoff previews here African qualifying preview Like ill-informed radio shows about Asian soccer? Then you'll love this... (Podcast Offside) Premier League legends to cherish right now (EPL Talk) A reminder that penalty kicks aren't [. Click to continue reading...

I know this isn't new. I also know that Chris already posted it on Water Cooler Offside. But I don't care. It's Friday, and this video needs to be shared. For those unfamiliar, Rémi Gaillard is a famous/infamous prankster, sort of like a French version of Dom Joly. The key difference between Joly and Rémi is [. Click to continue reading...

Did you ever do that thing where you meet a girl (or guy, if you're one of my female or nontraditional male readers), strike up a conversation, realize she's kind of into you, but then for whatever reason, you decide not to make your move? And then, a couple months or years later, you meet a guy who either is dating her or dated her for a while?

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1. Special request, fake? -- via Irish Soccer Insider
2. Mascot love denied -- via The Offside: Water Cooler
3. WAGs being waggy -- via Kickette
4. St. James Park gallery -- via The Guardian
5. Holy blue shoes -- via The Original Winger
6. Click to continue reading...

Gameday is upon us. I don't want to talk any trash or make any predictions. We must avoid the jinx at all costs. It's not that I believe in that voodoo rhetoric, but why chance it? I will keep it simple and possibly very bland.

Here are a few game related articles. One states how Los Angeles is just 90 minutes away from the finals.

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I don't think I've ever revealed my Major League Soccer preferences here on The Offside. Truth is, I don't have any allegiance to any particular team. So for the most part I watch as an interested neutral, fascinated by the ever-changing nature of the league and with my one and only hope being that MLS [. Click to continue reading...

Caught Offside has the following breaking transfer rumours,
Liverpool Linked with Move for £8m Dazzling Brazilian Playmaker Hernanes
Liverpool to Make Shock £12m January Raid for Cole: Intelligent Bit of Business
Liverpool Could Sign £13m Playmaker Rafael Van der Vaart
I had expressed my wish list previously during the August 31 transfer deadline and Liverpool are reportedly willing to splash the cash to get Brazilian midfield schemer, Hernanes. Click to continue reading...

Please allow me to bring one of the newer Offside blogs to your attention. It's called Water Cooler Offside, and it's written by Laurie, Chris and myself. I say written, it's really a lot of cutting and pasting. Water Cooler Offside is basically a "behind the scenes of The Offside" blog. It's videos, photos and [. Click to continue reading...