Two stories coming out of Manchester today couldn't be more opposite. The blue half will garner an incredible amount of respect and praise for its plans to spend an obscene amount of money to redevelop the area around the City of Manchester Stadium. The red half, meanwhile, is using some heavy-handed tactics to try to suppress the rising tide of interest and support for the green and gold brigade and their support of the Red Knights campaign to take over Manchester United.

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I'm not afraid to admit it. I love talking about the NASL. The old one. Not the new one.* Something about multitude of teams (24, at one point), their nicknames (the "Rogues?" Really?), the plastic pitches, and, of course, the players. Pele. George Best. Franz Beckenbauer. Johan Cruyff. Ringo Cantillo. Click to continue reading...

We keep hearing about how foreign players and coaches have 'difficulties' with their club in this region. It can be lack of payment, lack of information, contradictory information, whatever.
So how to make the best of it? How to cut through the cultural differences, avoid the language faux pauxs and have a bloody good laugh? Click to continue reading...

So apparently England's World Cup 2010 base, the Royal Bafokeng Sports Campus in Rustenburg, South Africa still needs a little work. Sort of. As I understand it, there are certain projects going on at Royal Bafokeng that won't be completed until 2013. These projects have little to no impact on England's stay in June and (hopefully) July, but that hasn't prevented tabloids going wild with apocalyptic stories.

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Bath City and Havant & Waterlooville battled out a tough 1-1 draw last night at Twerton Park. I suppose that I should feel disappointed about this -- a victory would have finally pushed City up into the playoff spots. And a victory didn't seem too much to ask. After an strong start to the season, Havant had slid down to the nether regions of the Conference South table. Click to continue reading...

It has been well publicised in the English sporting press over the past month or so that the recent cold spell here in the UK has wreaked havoc for the football fixture list – with the lower leagues in particular falling foul of the heavy snow fall, frozen pitches and treacherous conditions in and around the grounds. Click to continue reading...

Puma's WPS game ball make
the rounds through the City of Brotherly Love.
Ball sightings have been reported in places like the famous steps of the Museum of Art, the Italian market and at the World Famous Geno's in South Philly. Evidently, the ball has been seen incognito all through town. Click to continue reading...

Since yesterday's tragic events, the Togolose team have decided to quit the competition. I fully understand their decision. Souleymane Habuba, the spokesperson of the Confederation of African Football (CAN), said that the Togolese should have taken a plane instead of driving through the unstable Cabinda region by bus.

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Harry Redknapp has insisted that he understands Liverpool's decision to ask the Premier League to call off Sunday's game against Tottenham.
Liverpool had asked the authorities to give them permission to cancel the game as early as this morning.
"I've just heard it, so conditions up there must be bad," said Redknapp. Click to continue reading...

This is an interesting video I caught on the blog of my favourite radio program dedicated to football, RMC's After Foot. I will write another post about this French talk show which I find really excellent.

Anyway, it is incredible to see all the steps needed to make a football which seems to be such a simple object.

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Today's Bath City match against Weston-super-Mare was postponed today in very controversial circumstances. Since Monday's home match against Havant & Waterlooville was called off as well, any decision not to play was bound to upset a lot of fans. What happened today, though, appears to go beyond disappointing and move into the realms of farce, gamesmanship, and shame. Click to continue reading...

The Christmas holidays were getting a tad boring so I flicked on the telly and The Big Match Revisited was on, unfortunately there was no Arsenal Playing it was Fulham and Manchester City. I started to watch these 22 men playing on what looked like a ploughed field all covered in mud, amazingly there was still some good passing but I started thinking how football has changed.

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Date:� Monday December� 28th 2009
Ground: Bower Fold
Comp:� Conference North
Match:� Stalybridge Celtic� A� Southport A� HT:� 0-0 ATT:�
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � Abandoned on 85 minutes scoreline 0-0 due to floodlight failure

Additional: Entrance £10, Programme £2.

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Plastic Carpet

2010 is upon us, which means that it's the time of year when we journalists, pundits, analysts, and/or columnists take stock of the year that has passed and provide you with our lists of the past years highlights and lowlights. So, to start things of for me, here is my take on the lowlights of the year that was in American soccer, in no particular order:

The Continued Presence of Plastic Pitches:

Nothing irks me more than watching a professional sport that is being played on a plastic pitch or field.

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Big Story

Last week, we covered the major dispute in Australian sport over the country's 2018/2022 World Cup bids, with the more popular rival footballing codes of Rugby League and Aussie Rules Football attempting to stick a knife into the bid over the use of the country's major multi-purpose stadia by complaining about potential scheduling interruptions and pushing for� compensation.

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The 1995 Springboks are celluloid heroes too

After praying for New Zealand, Paraguay, and Slovenia but instead getting, Mexico, Uruguay, and France in Group A it looks like tough going for the Bafana Bafana. Only a fool on the hill give it a chance of getting to the second round.

"Bafana Bafana's loss to lowly Iceland proved what some of us have been advocating for months - that the national team is a mediocre team led by a clueless coach," as one columnist wrote in October.

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In November, Adidas unveiled its new kit design for Bafana Bafana, South Africa's national team. The project is aimed at uniting all South Africans in support of both the football tournament and national team Bafana Bafana. The word Mzansi is isiZulu for "south", and is commonly used to refer to South Africa. Click to continue reading...

Barcelona vs FK Rubin Kazan

Barcelona are on a revenge mission in Russia after being beaten at the Camp Nou a fortnight ago by the Russian champions.

Barca are dejected after Rubin's win.

Group F is the closest group in this year's group stage of the Champions League. Click to continue reading...

FIFA and Desso Sports Systems will be collaborating to promote artificial grass for football, and to establish one international quality standard for artificial grass. The contract with Desso Sports Systems fits in with FIFA's long-term vision to further improve and promote artificial grass for football, both on a professional and a community level. Click to continue reading...

After the World Cup qualifiers have finished and the dust has settled, languagecaster.com returns to it's World Cup Stars series. We've already talked about Pele and Maradona, this week it's the turn of a goalkeeper. Come along to the site at languagecaster.com to find out who we feauture and for lots more.

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So after months of wondering what the second season of the W-League would bring, now Round 1 has come and gone. It had a grand final rematch that went all too much the same for Canberra fans at Ballymore and the rest of the girls all had a chance to play on the best pitches in Australia as curtain raisers for A-League games. Click to continue reading...

So we're a month or so in to 2009/10, and it's been pretty hectic, to say the least. Lots of flashpoints, talking points and most importantly, lots of football. So what have been the characteristics of this opening month that have captured the imagination?

1.� � � There has been an awful lot of football played.

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As Liverpool transformed itself into an unstoppable juggernaut at the end of last season, one of the primary factors was the dazzling form of Yossi Benayoun. This season, it is crucial that someone else emerges from the pool of inconsistent and underachieving talent currently in the squad and follows in the little midfielder's footsteps. Click to continue reading...

If only I had enough time on my hands to do something this involved. Mind you I would do something else with the time but still it'd be nice to know that I had the option to create and destroy pitches, prisons and whatever else I saw fit all with the aid of small, plastic choking hazards. Click to continue reading...

Well, that was pretty scrappy and crappy. But the Rapids escaped with a point. Conor Casey continued his amazing run of goalscoring with a penalty kick in almost the fifth minute of injury time to get the equalizer after San Jose had scored one of the softer goals the Rapids have conceded this season in the 8th minute. Click to continue reading...

Perhaps one of the most exciting matches we will see all season, our first Champions League test has us facing Inter Milan, where players from both sides will be set against their old teams and Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola go head to head...
This match promises excitement and entertainment, we're sure it'll be a hell of a spectacle given the circumstances. Click to continue reading...

Atletico Madrid's Diego Forlan says that the breaking point in his two year stint with Manchester Unted came when he dared to defy Sir Alex's footwear advice. He recalls the harrowing incident:

"Ferguson wanted me to play with high studs, the interchangeable ones that suit wet pitches, but I feel more comfortable in low ones.

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Diego Forlan's last game for Manchester United was on the opening day of the 2004-2005 season, on a day where Miller and Djemba-Djemba started in midfield, with Roy Keane filling in at centre back during an injury crisis.

A fortnight after leaving United Forlan scored for Villarreal on his début.

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FIFA's international Fairplay Day didn't go so well in China.
Refs in the Chinese Super League were spit at, verbally assaulted and had shoes throw out 'em by players on club officials from numerous teams.
Penalties were handed out like fliers to offenders in the wild league by the Chinese FA. Click to continue reading...

In this interview (originally published on A Liverpool Thing) with their new chairman Chris Stirrup, Paul Grech asks a few questions about AFC Liverpool's progress after a couple of seasons, including the $64,000 question of whether the club has become to close to the club that it was supposed to formed as a reaction to.

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A Beautiful Game by Tom Watt is a collection of interviews with the world's leading players.
Excerpts ...
This is Messi reminiscing about how he first fell in love ......with the game.
"There was green around the house but no garden to play football in.

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It was a tough season where there was disappointment on the pitch and problems off it. No, we're not talking about Liverpool FC's last season but rather the first one in AFC Liverpool's history. The club set up by Liverpool fans who wanted to rekindle the experiences of old set off with a lot of enthusiasm but soon found the going much harder than anticipated as different opinions started pulling it apart. Click to continue reading...

It has been a difficult start to the new season for Durham City AFC. Newly promoted into the Unibond League Premier Division - their second successive promotion - they may have been expecting the start of a brave new world and a push for Conference football, but the dream has started to unwind after just a couple of weeks and the club may be heading back to the Northern League, from whence they came.

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A great article on gender issues in soccer:

Nearly every feature story on Marta makes a big deal out of how she grew up playing with boys as if this were unusual. Of course it's fun to read about Marta's childhood years fighting macho attitudes on dusty pitches and in the street — but just once I would like to see it acknowledged that her experience is not extraordinary.

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This video really needs no words, as it's destined for YouTube infamy. But you know, plenty of people invade pitches. They run on, get their moment in the sun, maybe attack a player or two, spend a few hours in the slammer, but few, if any, truly leave a mark. This Copa Sudamericana fan - perhaps [.. Click to continue reading...

Gordon Smith is a man who, judging by his ever present tan, enjoys summer. For years now he has preached the joys of summer football with an evangelical zeal the equal of anything Billy Graham ever managed.Perhaps he is scarred by memories of turning out on the mudbath pitches that British football used to do so well. Click to continue reading...

Gordon Smith is a man who, judging by his ever present tan, enjoys summer. For years now he has preached the joys of summer football with an evangelical zeal the equal of anything Billy Graham ever managed.Perhaps he is scarred by memories of turning out on the mudbath pitches that British football used to do so well. Click to continue reading...

Barca's plane arrived in Los Angeles earlier today! "Australia" was the in-flight movie the lads enjoyed during their twelve hour flight, also biding their time by playing cards or catching up on their sleep.
The team had departed yesterday from El Prat Airport in Barceona, and the peoplke there just wouldn't leave Ibra alone. Click to continue reading...

It's pretty much unarguable that the game best suited to the (more or less) uniquely American "All Star Game" construct is baseball.
Virtually everything in that game, with the exception of some defensive technicalities (and even most of those are universal) is done individually: one guy pitches the ball, another guy tries to hit it, a third guy tries to catch it. Click to continue reading...

Imagine listening to all that twaddle down the years about Small-Sided Games.
It develops your skill, it's great for technique, we must change blah blah blah.
I played small-sided games all my life, on the street with drains for goals. North of England, you know, life was tough we got up before we went to bed! Click to continue reading...