One thing about not blogging for a week is you can sit back and watch the hysterical reactions going on in the world of football without feeling like you have to dive in and add your voice. It has been one of those weeks.

First we had the curse of the international break rear its ugly head again, in the form of injuries to Van Persie and Gibbs.

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So, that's what a victory tastes like. After five games without a win and four without a goal the Bialo Czerwoni finally managed to defeat their opponents, though we had to wait for a game against the mighty Canada for them to do that. Mind you, what I find more important is that two 20 year olds, Maciej Rybus and Maciej Sadlok, showed some national team promise.

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Image via Wikipedia The Russians would be kicking themselves for not completing the match on Saturday as a shocker allowed Slovenia to qualify for South Africa at Russia's expense. The Russian team had a one goal advantage but squandered, missed and ultimately lost everything at the hands of the lesser favoured opponents. Click to continue reading...

I understand it is normal at the end of AFC games for both teams to line up at the end of the game in the centre circle and shake hands with their opponents and match officials. Last night Kuwait didn't, preferring to slink off down the tunnel.
All in all I don't think the Kuwaitis will look back on their Jakarta trip with a great deal of fondness. Click to continue reading...

Marcelo, Drenthe nor Arbeloa satisfy & guarantee the left back positionwhich has been the place that opponents have exploited to "smash"the REAL MADRID defence & score goals. It was evident in the SevillaFC, AC Milan & Alcorcon losses of late.With this problem in need of urgent solution, Club Director GeneralJorge Valdano may have a name, & the local media is publishing thatthere are already Click to continue reading...

Former Arsenal star Robert Pires has his fingers crossed that the Gunners can overcome their usual ‘November curse'.
Generally, Arsenal are struck down by poor form and injuries in November which goes a long way to wrecking their title hopes and it hasn't begun too well this time around either with the injury to key striker Robin van Persie and the absence of fellow strike man Nicklas Bendtner. Click to continue reading...

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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The FIFA U-17 World Cup finished on Sunday, November 15, 2009 with the championship and third place match. In the finals, host country Nigeria played Switzerland while Spain took on Colombia for third place. Here's a recap of both matches along with video highlights.

Switzerland beats Nigeria 1-0 to win U-17 World Cup Video Highlights

The match was scoreless through the first half despite a strong start from Nigeria, who were the host country of the tournament.

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To defend against the breakaway, teams must be prepared to face an attacking opponent with fewer than optimal numbers. Sometimes, only the goalie is left in the sole line of defense against two or three opponents dashing towards the goal. Your team must practice defending with numbers down to better prepare for coming up against a breakaway. Click to continue reading...

Part of the reason I've been MIA these past few months is I returned to an active role in our league's administration after taking a year off AND was coaching 4 teams, most without any of my children on them. I really should learn to say no. When a U12 coach had to step aside right as the season got underway, we couldn't find anyone to step in for him.

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A Slovakian team that was (apparently)� good in European qualifying, but not well ranked by FIFA, � played a defensive, counter-attacking game against the USA in a partially filled stadium, on a pretty ugly field and won 1-0 on a weak penalty call. � � Not what you call must-see-TV, so it is probably good that not many people saw it.

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The long, two-year road to South Africa has finally come to a conclusion. So far, 23 teams, including host South Africa, have qualified for the World Cup (here's a list of 2010 world cup teams).

Four will be known after the Nov. 14 matches, while the remaining five will be known after Nov.

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KV crosses the reader-contributor divide to give us his take on the subtleties of Arsenal's 4-3-3 system.
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From time immemorial variation has led to the survival of species. Slight variations have caused species to evolve through the years, making them more adept to the environment.

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Lucas has vowed to put his Anfield agony behind him to drive England nuts in Doha on Saturday.
The Liverpool man is intent on a Brazil win to help rubber stamp his own World Cup hopes and prove his team can emerge as champions next summer.
Midfielder Lucas said: "This match is a friendly - but in name only. Click to continue reading...

Sir Alex Ferguson has been handed a four match touchline ban as well as a £20,000 for questioning the fitness of referee Alan Wiley.

After spending an unusually long time to book Anton Ferdinand in the second half, Ferguson claimed this was because Wiley needed a chance to get his breath back.

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As he pauses a moment in the contemplation of why most of his goals are scored two at a time, Bojan wants everyone to excuse our lack of updates lately, and hopes that we can get things back on track during this international break! We'll have to do without the match report for Barca's 5-0 trumping of Cultural Leonesa, but here is the match-related aftermath. Click to continue reading...

During the halftime show during the Liverpool/Birmingham match, Danny Murphy basically said Liverpool weren't scaring their opponents these days. Unfortunately, he's too right.

Against Birmingham City, Liverpool enjoyed more possession than an NBA forward playing one-on-one with a five-year-old (sorry, I'm reading an enormous book on basketball right now and it's filtering into my football psyche).

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News that Charlies Davies was released from the hospital this week was welcome news to U.S. Soccer fans. Now the long journey begins for the Sochaux striker as he battles back to save his career after suffering life-threatening injuries. With Davies likely sidelined for the 2010 World Cup, it's never too soon to speculate on who needs to step up and score in South Africa.

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Starting this weekend, the final slots for the 2010 World Cup will be decided around the world. So, let's have a bit of fun with the playoffs.
Today until Saturday, entries are open for picks for the first leg of the CONCACAF/COMNEBOL and UEFA first legs and for the AFC/OFC second leg. We'll pick the CONCACAF/COMNEBOL and UEFA second legs starting on Sunday or Monday. Click to continue reading...

Christian County Rush U7 2009

Congratulations to the Christian County U7 team who just completed an undefeated season at Lake Country Soccer. The team includes, from left to right: Riley, Lucas, John, Jose, Dake, Nick, Sam and Chance, as well as Thomas who unfortunately missed the final game. Click to continue reading...

Christian County Rush U7 2009

Congratulations to the Christian County U7 team who just completed an undefeated season at Lake Country Soccer. The team includes, from left to right: Riley, Lucas, John, Jose, Dake, Nick, Sam and Chance, as well as Thomas who unfortunately missed the final game. Click to continue reading...

United States National Team coach Bob Bradley announced the roster for this week's friendlies against Slovakia and Denmark. The late announcement was due to the availability of players from Major League Soccer, with four teams exiting the playoffs over the weekend. "These matches present a terrific opportunity to continue building on the nucleus of our team, and at the same time evaluate more of the player pool against very good opponents," Bradley said. Click to continue reading...

A lot of you might have noticed the poppy flower adorning attire of managers, broadcasters, players' shirts etc. to mark Remembrance week. Sportsmail (or, indeed, the Daily Mail) have led this campaign to get all Premier League clubs to have an embroidered poppy on club kits. Personally, I didn't have much of a problem with a campaign of this sort.

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Elizabeth Lambert is a college football defender playing for New Mexico in the Women's Mountain West Conference college tournament. In the game against Bringham Young University (BYU), things got a little rough with Elizabeth. Things got so rough that she earned the nickname Elizabeth "cheap-shot" Lambert.

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This is some serious girl on girl action and not in a good way. For some reason New Mexico defender Elizabeth Lambert decides to start an all out war on her opponents. Watch as the puts in some unsubtle moves that would make Julian Dicks wince! Thanks to The Spoiler for the heads up on this one.

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As French Revolutions go, Arsene Wenger's transformation of Arsenal in 1996 was decidedly less brutal than its 1789 predecessor. But at the beating heart of a side that espoused the values of a liberated style of football was a totemic figure who struck fear into the hearts of opponents thanks to his formidable talent and fiery competitiveness. Click to continue reading...

Real Salt Lake finished off a huge first round upset tonight, defeating the Columbus Crew 3-2 at Crew Stadium to win their Eastern Conference Semifinal series 4-2 on aggregate.

Real Salt Lake got behind the 8-ball early in the game, surrendering two first half goals to fall behind the Crew 3-2 on aggregate.

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Olympique de Marseille emerged triumphant against FC Zurich on Matchday 3, and Matchday 4 was no different, as the Ligue 1 side comfortably eased past their opponents on home soil. Silvan Aegerter scored an own-goal to begin the proceedings, while Fabrice Abriel, Mamadou Niang, Hilton, Benoit Cheyrou, and Brandao added one each to showcase the dominance. Click to continue reading...

With the much anticipated Keizer game rescheduled until Spring, the fall season has come to a close for Sodium. It did end on a high note with the decisive defeat of the Sherwood squad. Remember, the Spring league will be the one that counts towards State Cup standings and placement!
Starting 11/7/09 with a doubleheader, OPL League! Click to continue reading...

Wayzata 2-1 Woodbury

The Wayzata Trojans are now nine straight games undefeated and against some pretty good opponents. Not bad for a team with a 12-6-4 record. Meaning almost all their wins have come at the most important time, the end of the season.

The Trojans struck first 15 minutes into the second half.

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Wayzata 2-1 Woodbury

The Wayzata Trojans have now gone nine straight games undefeated and against some pretty good opponents. Not bad for a team with a 12-6-4 record. Meaning almost all their wins have come at the most important time, the end of the season.

The Trojans struck first 15 minutes into the second half.

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We finished the regular conference games this weekend extending our unbeaten run to 11 games. We have only conceded 6 goals in the last 10 games, so our defense deserves a lot of credit.

When I say our defense, I should really say our defensive play. We have to defend from all positions all over the pitch and the hardwork our forwards put in pressurising the opponents in our attacking third deserves as much credit as the defenders working hard in and around our penalty box.

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Missouri State Bears, Gerard Barbero (2012)

The Bears play their final regular season home game this year on Wednesday, November 4, at 1 p.m. when they face the Evansville Aces at Plaster Field. A win will guarantee the Conference Championship for the Bear's, giving them 22 points in 9 games with one remaining.

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Here are some more stats for you as the Wizards season is now over. Unfortunately most of them are depressing. You'll be seeing more stats this week as I get the information finalized.
KC scored 33 goals this season, tying the 99 and the 01 Wizards for the lowest scoring team in Wizards history. Click to continue reading...

Arsenal 3-0 Tottenham

For a football fan, there can be few things as satisfying as an epic goal bundle.

In order to achieve optimum conditions for bundles, several key elements need to be in place. Surprise is definitely one. Scoring against your old rivals is another.

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