Ukraine and Greece head into the 2nd leg encounter after a goalless draw at Athens. Ukraine's' captain Andry Shevchenko knows that this is the last chance for him for a final World Cup appearance and it's the best occasion to earn the qualification berth in front of the home fans. A nerve tingling encounter awaits the [. Click to continue reading...

Yes, despite cara's hectic schedule with the selecao late last week, Brazil's Felipe Melo found the time to answer Futbolita's questions. En realidad, we spent the whole day running in the airport and walking in the rain last Friday before the all-important call from Felipe's agent came through!

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Clint Dempsey, who grew up in a trailer park in Texas, has admitted he was in awe of Italian greats during his childhood and will relish the chance to play at Rome's Olympic Stadium. The Fulham winger, who was on the bench when Roma stole a draw at Craven Cottage a fortnight ago, is set to start as Roy Hodgson's team look for the win that would put them in a strong position in Group E of the Europa League. Click to continue reading...

Tottenham Hotspur revealed plans for a 56,000-seat rebuilding of White Hart Lane this week. An undoubted step forward for Spurs, even if the undulating roof-line is a little unoriginal and redolent of Arsenal's new gaff down the Seven Sisters road.
Ashburton Grove's extra capacity means Arsenal are coining in £3million per game, a revenue stream Spurs at present can only dream of matching. Click to continue reading...

For this weeks offering I thought we would re-visit one of the all time great sides. AC Milan, under the guidance of a certain Fabio Capello, swept all before them in the early 90s. That included an emphatic Champions League win over Barcelona at the Olympic Stadium in Athens on May 18 1994, a game which is often considered to be one of the greatest ever performances by a side in the Champions League. Click to continue reading...

Manchester United had innumerable reasons to be wary of Wednesday's trip to the Luzhniki Stadium. The most talked about, and with good reason as anyone who watched the game would attest, was the artificial pitch. People who have been brought up on playing in grass-less squares of hard mud and pebbles are of course going "What the heck are you complaining about, at least it's green!

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It didn't take long for the bottom club Hertha to appoint a new coach after parting company with Lucien Favre only days after Week 7. Friedhelm Funkel had had a distinguished spell at Frankfurt up until last season. However, he was let go in the summer in the hope that a new manager will be able to inject some new zest in the side. Click to continue reading...

Ukraine 1-0 England
Saturday 10 October 2009,
Dnipro Arena, Ukraine
Kick-Off: 17:15 BST

England were reduced to 10 men early in the first half thanks to Rob Green being sent off and although Shevchenko missed the resulting penalty, Ukraine scored soon afterwards and England never really got back into the game.

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Fabio Capello is expected to field a full strength side against Ukraine giving spread bettors and armchair fans – not to mention Croatia manager Slaven Bilic – the hope of seeing a competitive game in England's penultimate World Cup Qualifier.

Although effectively a dead-rubber for the visitors the partisan home following will ensure a lively encounter at the 31,000-capacity Dnipro Arena, in the country's third-largest city, Dnipropetrovsk.

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Wow!!!

I know that I haven't been to all of the great football stadiums of Europe, very few as a matter of fact, but I have a hard time believing that there possibly could be a better place to watch a football match in the world than Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany. I was blown away.

Now, to be sure, the experience could have been much greater.

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Can you beleive it? The low-seeded Montreal Impact is in the USL final while Portland, who dominated for much of the 2009 season, are already planning thier trips to see the fall folliage? It's madness I tell you but I guess them's the breaks.
Canucks should be stoked though, what with an all-maple final on the way. Click to continue reading...

(ANSA) - Rome, September 29 - AS Roma on Tuesday unveiled plans to build a new stadium on the outskirts of the Italian capital.
Roma President Rosella Sensi said the idea of the club having its own stadium, instead of renting one from the city council, had ``always been at the centre`` of her late father Franco`s plans, as well as those of another historic club president, Dino Viola. Click to continue reading...

Another season of Champions League football has started with a bang even though we failed to see any major surprises. Barcelona showed they would again be the team to beat after outclassing Inter, whereas the debutants did fairly well even though Wolfsburg and APOEL were the only newcomers to win some points in the opening round and the Cypriots' goalless draw at Vicente Calderon is probably the biggest shock of the round.

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Many countries hoping to host a World Cup find themselves having to build new stadia in order to meet the strict FIFA standards. Japan, however, only need build an 80,000-seater stadium in which to hold the 2018 World Cup Final, and there are plans in place to do so. There is a problem, however - namely that the stadium will only be built if Tokyo wins its bid to host the 2016 Olympics. Click to continue reading...

It was another full set of matches in UEFA 2010 World Cup Qualifying. While a few teams have already qualified, most of the spots are still up for grabs. Here's a recap of the all the matches on Wednesday, September 9, 2009 along with video highlights.

UEFA 2010 World Cup Qualifying Recap

In Group 3, the Czech Republic kept their hopes alive with a dominating 7-0 win over San Marino.

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"The Pier is Southend, Southend is the Pier"
Sir John Betjeman
Some of the world's leading architects are bidding to redevelop Southend's most iconic landmark - its record breaking pier.
The pier has been crying out for some TLC ever since a devastating fire at the end of the 1. Click to continue reading...

Barca coach Pep Guardiola had what we can only imagine was an incredible evening for him, attending the Coldplay concert last night at the Montjuic Olympic Stadium, as one of over 63,000 spectators. Pep, there with his wife Cristina, was recognized and recieved by the fans with a standing ovation before the concert began. Click to continue reading...

Da inicio la Eurocopa femenil en Finlandia. Y después de tres años sin disputar ningún encuentro oficial desde la derrota en Dinamarca que le costó un puesto para la Copa Mundial Femenina de la FIFA de 2007, Finlandia salió al césped dispuesta a marcar su territorio.

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The season has barely started and Blue-white fans already regret that Marko Pantelic left Berlin and want him back! Actually, the Berlin side struggled to reach the minimum win over Hannover and they did it thanks to Gojko Kacar. The fans booed striker Arthur Wischniarek off the pitch and then all 42 000 of them started shouting Marko Pantelic's name.

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Braintree Town 3-0 Lewes (11::08:09)
Welcome back the beautiful (conference) south...and relax. Last Saturday there were cheesy grins all round on the terraces of the Dripping Pan, Lewes as we raised a glass to the previous seasons relegation. We toasted the return of beer on the terraces with a welcome pint of Harvey's whilst swinging a fast shoe to new Lewes anthem 'Hippipolla' by Sigor Ros. Click to continue reading...

Oh my sweet, buttery lord, you simply would not believe how good this croissant is. Why is this bakery all the way out by Olympic Stadium???Let's move this along, I have a bike ride I suddenly forgot to have made...#1 - Grant Wahl comes back from his book sabbatical/whirlwind and straight away knocks an Oguchi Onyewu interview out of the park. Click to continue reading...

Park Ji-Sung was playing in a Manchester United shirt in Korea for the first time. When the Korean star took to the pitch on the 73th minute, he was given a rapturous welcome by the 80,000 fans who packed the Olympic Stadium. After the match ended, Park said: "I am pleased to stand before my Korean fans in the United shirt for the first time. Click to continue reading...

Manchester United's preseason Asia tour has been full of action so far. Right from bomb blasts outside the stadium to shocking blasts (read goals) inside the stadium, the Red Devils have seen it all.Yesterday they played FC Seoul and somehow managed to win the match after trailing twice. The match started with around 80,000 fans populating the Olympic Stadium in South Korea. Click to continue reading...

The Italian season opener, the Supercoppa Italiana (Italian Super Cup), between Serie A champions Internazionale and Italian Cup winners Lazio, is taking place abroad again at Beijing's Olympic Stadium the Bird's Nest. It's a showy step in Italian football's attempts to keep pace with the Premier League's branded behemoths and one that also includes a breakaway league reminiscent of England's league transformation in the 1990s.

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Sweet merciful relief: Yoann Gourcuff is still single.

Remember the model, Marie Steiss, that he was spotted with in New York City? Apparently, the massive global furore over their hook up has resulted in more details coming out about their dinner date.

The pair share a solicitor, Maître Didier Poulmaire.

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Sweet merciful relief: Yoann Gourcuff is still single.

Remember the model, Marie Steiss, that he was spotted with in New York City? Apparently, the massive global furore over their hook up has resulted in more details coming out about their dinner date.

The pair share a solicitor, Maître Didier Poulmaire.

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As discussed yesterday on this site with our retrospective of the 1999 Confederations Cup run by the United States it's possible even realistic for a properly motivated American team to beat European sides outside of Europe. Keep in mind a European country has never once one a FIFA competition outside Europe.

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Stakes are high on Wednesday night as Finland and Russia take on the pitch at Helsinki's Olympic Stadium for their World Cup 2010 qualifier. With Germany having the upper hand in group 4 and Wales, Azerbaijan and Liechenstein pretty much out of contention, the stage is set for Finland and Russia to seal the fate of the second spot that would mean a place in the play-offs for whichever side claims it.

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'I love you Jari', reads the banner. Picture from Lauri Ouvinen.

He wears the number ten shirt, he is the best footballer his country has ever produced, and today at the Olympic Stadium he showed just why he's so integral to the national side. Yes, AC Siena playmaker Mario Frick finally ended Liechtenstein's nine-game goal drought with a close range finish in the 13th minute after a well-worked move down the left, ensuring a nervy evening for everyone with Finland sympathies.

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STARTERS
Does anyone know if Chris Pontius of DC United is related to Pontius Pilate of the Roman judicial system? I was talking to Christian Miles of Fox Soccer Channel about this, and we didn't know the answer. We figured one of you would.
dN
The BBC is reporting that Ellis Short has become the 4th American to buy an English Premiership team - he has bought out 100% of Sunderland. Click to continue reading...

STARTERS
Huge Congrats go out to Maurice Edu, DaMarcus Beasley and Oguchi Onyewu as their teams Rangers and Standard Liege have won the Scottish and Belgian championships, respectively. Awesome seasons for these guys! Edu lead a special charge as he moved into the starting lineup 2 months ago and Rangers has won every single game since then! Click to continue reading...

REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi<./small>

FC Barcelona arrived at 12:35pm local time in Rome ahead of their match against Manchester United. Head coach Pep Guardiola brought all 24 players on the professional roster along with Marc Muniesa and Alberto Botía from the youth team. All board members along with Joan Laporta also traveled with the team although only 9 members will be allowed in the royal box.

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History will be made when FC Barcelona meet Manchester United in the Olympic Stadium at Rome. No team has ever been successful in defending the UEFA Champions League title and no Spanish team has ever achieved a treble. So it is sure that one record is to be brocken, but which one? Manchester United most probably would have the entire squad minus Fletcher to chose for the final. Click to continue reading...

United have received permission from UEFA to hold a tribute for Sir Matt Busby prior to the start of the Champions League Final. One half of Rome's Olympic Stadium (the Curva Nord) will be transformed into a 16,000 piece mosaic/mural meant to honor the late Manchester United manager, who would have been 100 years old the day before the final.

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Oh, what a pity, Wolfsburg and Stuttgart won, Bayern and Berlin didn't. It could've been really close and thrilling at the season's finale, next weekend but unfortunately two competitors were not able to do what they had to. Winning, that is. The games:

Hannover 96 – VfL Wolfsburg 0-5

No surprise, another embarrassment by the club from lower Saxony.

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