Blah blah blah.

Good

Copa Sudamericana Cerro Porteno and River Plate Uruguay, through to the semis

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=694236&sec=global&cc=3888

Bad

Warner and the handbags

http://www.sportsfeatures.com/index.php?section=olympic-article-view&title=Jack%20Warner%20handbags%20England%27s%20bid%20to%20host%202018%20World%20Cup&id=46178

Ugly Click to continue reading...

As most of us already know, the city of Madrid's "Olympic Bidding 101: Hot Men/Sex Sells" ploy didn't go as planned.

Still, their scheme wins high marks from us because we've uncovered these visually pleasing stills of Raul at an Olympics presser. In fact, hot close-up shots of this man are clinically proven to naturally raise body temperatures and stimulate happy hormone production by 10%.

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Images via Zimbio

As most of us already know, the city of Madrid's "Olympic Bidding 101: Hot Men/Sex Sells" ploy didn't go as planned.

Still, their scheme wins high marks from us because we've uncovered these visually pleasing stills of Raul at an Olympics presser. In fact, hot close-up shots of this man are clinically proven to naturally raise body temperatures and stimulate happy hormone production by 10%.

Click to continue reading...

Here's Pele with Brazilian President Lula at the opening ceremony of the 121st IOC session and XIII Olympic Congress in the Opera house in Copenhagen on Thursday. Note that Lula is clearly wary of the easily excitable Pele. He tries not to look at him as the legendary footballer eyes him up while going in for a handshake with another man.

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Club Deportivo Marathon and Real Club Deportivo España are the two representatives for Honduras at the CONCACAF Champions League. After winning their first group matches at home last week, both teams look for another solid step in their race for next round in the competition.
Tonight, Marathon receives the visit of San Juan Jobloteh from Trinidad & Tobago in the same stadium where the Honduran national team will match up against Trinidad for the 2010 World Cup qualifier on September 5th, the Olympic Metropolitan Stadium of San Pedro Sula. Click to continue reading...

The Girondins (Bordeaux) of France's Ligue 1 have moved up in their standings after celebrating their 14th game winning streak against Nice rivals. The game ended 4-0 with star player Yoann Gourcuff scoring two of the goals.

Bordeaux won the last 11 games of last season taking over the leagues title winners Olympic Lyonnaise who had dominated the French league during the last decade.

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Lazio beat Inter Milan 2-1 in the Italian Supercoppa in Beijing's Olympic Bird Nest Stadium (I think this is a great idea, playing the curtain raiser abroad. Better than that stupid "39th game" abroad anyway). Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan dominated the game but failed to capitalise on their chances. Lazio's Francelino Matuzalem scored the first goal [. Click to continue reading...

Lazio beat Inter Milan 2-1 in the Italian Supercoppa in Beijing's Olympic Bird Nest Stadium (I think this is a great idea, playing the curtain raiser abroad. Better than that stupid "39th game" abroad anyway). Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan dominated the game but failed to capitalise on their chances. Lazio's Francelino Matuzalem scored the first goal [. Click to continue reading...

Danny Szetela has joined DC United via draft allocation.The former Columbus Crew midfielder has returned to MLS after two years in Europe with Spanish club Racing Santander and Italian outfit Brescia. "We are pleased that Danny has decided to return to MLS and that he is now part of D.C. United," said General Manager Dave Kasper.

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By Brooke Tunstall - CHARLOTTE, NC (Jun 29, 2009) USSoccerPlayers -- The United States National Team just might get back one that got away. New Mexico native Edgar Castillo, who seemed unlikely to ever play for the country of his birth after representing Mexico's Under-23 team in Olympic qualifying, said recently he'd be willing to take advantage of a new FIFA rule allowing players cap-tied at the youth National Team level to switch National Teams. Click to continue reading...

It's finally Friday, and after work today I'll be driving over Hogback to HollyCornblog's house! She says she'll have the chiminea going and some homebrews ready for sampling when I get there!

In soccer news I see that, apparently, a share of the LA Sol is going to be up for grabs soon. Any buyers?

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Two streams: Talented and Community; but who are the FFA talking to in Canberra?
I went along to the FFA Tech Director Han Berger's introduction to the National Curriculum.
There are two streams; the Community stream and Talented Development stream.
One for the community players which I reckon judging by the standards laid out in the curriculum for training etc from age 8-19 covers almost 98% of Canberra male players are community. Click to continue reading...

The Azzurri are one of football's top teams around the world. The Italians can count four World Cup titles, one European Championship, one Olympic trophy and two Central European International Cups as part of their illustrious football history. However, if Italy have enjoyed a lot of success on the International stage, they also had to [. Click to continue reading...

With today's announcement of two more friendlies, the abbreviated 2009 WNT domestic schedule is now set. The U.S. will be playing, in order: in Frisco, Texas; Sandy, Utah; Rochester, N.Y.; and Charleston, S.C. Olympic semifinalists Japan will be the opponents for the first two matches in late May, while Canada will head south for a pair of matches in July. Click to continue reading...

Olympic FC 8- Bundaberg Spirit 1 - with Nigerian Nzube Okafor (26th, 41st and 74th) taking home a hat trick. With 4 goals in 3 games, perhaps a valuable add to Fury's 5 foreign spots?
There are at least three former Roars in the QSL - Stuart MacLaren (Brisbane Strikers), Seo (Olympic) and, who would have thought, Remo Buess (Logan City). Click to continue reading...

The Last 'Team GB'
The 11 Players That Made Up The Last Great Britain Team Ever To Take To A Field
1. John Swannell (Hendon)
2. Paul Fuschillo (Wycombe)
3. Bill Currie (Albion)
4. Ted Powell (Wycombe) (captain)
5. Derek Gamblin (Leatherhead)
6. John Payne (Enfield)
7. Click to continue reading...

Check MatchTracker this morning at 11 ET to follow the USWNT vs. Norway in the final game of group play over at the Algarve (where, presumably, it is NOT snowing)! The US is already in the championship game as a result of their two previous wins, however this should be interesting, as they've not seen Norway [. Click to continue reading...

Congratulations to the Twin Valley Flyers Peewee Hockey Team on winning the NH State Championship yesterday afternoon, defeating Back Bay in OT to take the trophy.  (And it was our own Mo, of March Madness fame, who tipped in the winning goal!)  Well done, Flyers - and thanks for an exciting weekend of great hockey [. Click to continue reading...

Hmmm - the usual internet issues this morning - and an e-mail from FairPoint indicating that my webspace is now available.  Hey FairPoint - it ain't my webspace that's the problem.  Could you maybe help me with the little e-mail issue that I've now contacted you about TWICE?  (Never mind the time spent waiting on [. Click to continue reading...

I added a new site to my links:  She's a Baller - all things having to do with women's b-ball.  In the course of doing that, I saw the sad news that Kay Yow has died at age 66, after a long battle with Breast cancer. Yow had a record of 737-344 in 38 years [...] Click to continue reading...

Have you been having trouble this week keeping track of what day it is?  I'm not complaining about the Thursday Holidays, mind you - but it's made for some serious disorientation.  Nice and quiet at work, though.  I've been digging through things I hadn't gotten to for months, and my in-box is down to just [. Click to continue reading...

First off - thanks to Alice and Stephen for the compelling discussion of Obama's choice of Rick Warren for his inauguration.  Time will tell, I suppose, whether Obama is backing away from promises or working toward an inclusiveness that is, at the moment, feeling disheartening and frightening.  After the hope-to-disappointment trajectory of the Clinton years, [. Click to continue reading...

The USWNT plays China in snowy Detroit today (while the UAW and the rest of us wait for news of the auto industry bailout ... and snow falls in Michigan, and here in NH .. and presumably pretty much everywhere in between)!  After what Pia did with this team in the Olympics ... Obama might [...] Click to continue reading...

In a moment or two, I'll be taking our Westie Ruby to the vets to have the plaque and tartar scraped off of her teeth.  She's had a miserable and confusing morning, as she wasn't allowed to go "do her business" on her own but went out on a leash instead.  Then, when she came [...] Click to continue reading...

First the soccer news, which includes Angela Hucles' 100th cap (in a career year for her) and another win (over South Korea) for the USWNT.  With two more games left in their post-Olympic Tour, it woulds like the team is pleasing Pia! The NESCAC  Soccer Tournament is over for another year.  (Oh yeah, that's the New [. Click to continue reading...

Okay, I'm not quite letting go yet.  Here's a bit about the chaos in Philly, post World Series win!  We begin in an anonymous house, somewhere in Philly, as the Phils close it out and some college students watch ... then spill out into the street. From there we move along toward Broad Street ... [. Click to continue reading...

The USWNT beat Ireland 2-0 in the final game of their post-Olympic tour.  Here's the write-up and the quote sheet from US Soccer.  Kate Markgraf scored the first goal of her international career ... almost on Boltgirl's pace. The Bobcats had a tough day down at Amherst.  (Don't worry- you'll all bounce back! Click to continue reading...

That particular evening, Foppe de Haan asked Evander Sno to come by in his room. The Olympic's coach had made an overview on video of all Sno's ball contacts and decisions of the last match. The current Ajax player was supposed to soak it all up and learn from his Click to continue reading...

Steven Gerrard is currently sidelined and will miss out on England's crucial opening World Cup qualifiers against Andorra and Croatia, both away. Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez hopes that his talismanic captain will return for the key Premier League crunch game versus Manchester United.
Steven Gerrard recently underwent a groin operation that ruled him out of England's opening World Cup qualifying campaign. Click to continue reading...

Just a couple of quick things.

First off, we've started discussion forums over on The Offside for fans to discuss anything about the team that they feel like discussing. Are you tired of waiting for us to write a post on the news you've just read? Feel free to start a discussion thread over there.

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Wow - I read today in the Swedish press that Pia has turned down an invitation from Dubya to visit the White House and be graced by his presence. I didn't actually think I could like him less today than I did on July 28 (just to select a random date).  But after watching his smirking [...] Click to continue reading...

I opened up MSNBC this morning and saw the news that Obama has picked Biden. Probably a smart move ... experience and gravitas and whiteness and all. I was kinda hoping for something more interesting - but would rather win. So Biden seems good. Biden I can live with. (But wouldn't [...]SHARETHIS. Click to continue reading...

According to BigSoccer (thanks Dandal and the Swedish press) Pia will be with the USWNT through the 2012 Olympics. That is wonderful news!  Here's a thread about Pia's performance ... note how the comments "evolve" as the USWNT moves deeper and deeper into the tourney! Also on BigSoccer, an interesting thread about Carli Lloyd. Click to continue reading...

Call it change. Call it luck. Call it redemption. Call it bravery. Call it what you will - it's gold and it's real and it stays! The USWNT defeated Brazil 1-0 yesterday in extra time after putting on a gritty performance on the pitch on a wet, humid, Beijing night. [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Congratulations to the Golden USWNT . Click to continue reading...

Seeing Nicole Petignat on Monday reffing the USWNT-Japan game brought back some really, really bad memories. Having a moment or two, here, I thought I'd Google her and see what came of it. I found, as one might expect, that she's probably human, and probably interesting, and probably not the evil (or at least unnecessarily [. Click to continue reading...