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...

Watch the first video - Nike ad - then watch the English FA's parody of it.
I'd love a promotional video like this for the women's game. It's funny how you can use the misery of the lowest levels of Sunday leagues to romanticize the sport when it comes to men, but the women's game is cast as squeaky clean and relentlessly upbeat (when it is represented at all). Click to continue reading...

A video clip of what transpired in the Milan match

If Becks wants to make friends with the Galaxy fans maybe he should make an appeal to the Home Depot authorities to revoke the lifetime ban on the fan who entered the pitch to confront him.

Yes, it was stupid behaviour on Josh Paige but really there should be no call for such severe punishment.

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Tomas Rosicky's return will allow Arsenal to play a more fluid and expansive game again after the relative failures of last season.
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It was October 2002 when many Arsenal fans would have first seen Tomas Rosicky in action.

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He was know as "Skippy" during his long spell at Liverpool and for those of us who were lucky enough to watch him play, we can all agree that there's only one Craig Johnston. Whilst he never truly made his mark like many legends before and after him, Craig made his impact at the club in another way: opening doors for Aussies after him to have a shot in the Premier League.

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He was know as "Skippy" during his long spell at Liverpool and for those of us who were lucky enough to watch him play, we can all agree that there's only one Craig Johnston. Whilst he never truly made his mark like many legends before and after him, Craig made his impact at the club in another way: opening doors for Aussies after him to have a shot in the Premier League.

Click to continue reading...

He was know as "Skippy" during his long spell at Liverpool and for those of us who were lucky enough to watch him play, we can all agree that there's only one Craig Johnston. Whilst he never truly made his mark like many legends before and after him, Craig made his impact at the club in another way: opening doors for Aussies after him to have a shot in the Premier League.

Click to continue reading...

A couple of days ago, the Australian squad for the Asian U-16 qualifying series in Canberra in October was announced. One thing that immediately catches the eye in the list is that it features no fewer than seven players from the Sutherland Sharks club.
There may be all sorts of factors involved in this apparent anomaly (especially the very healthy player base that the club has to choose from), but can their over-representation be put down, in part, to the artificial pitch they have been using for the last few years? Click to continue reading...

So, it has taken a little while but we finally blended the LA Vale boys and the Dinamo boys. There's a long story in there - and I'm not sure if I'm ready to write it down yet - but Matty, Baldy Nick and Chappers joined Dinamo Spartak this season.
They're kicking off in Municipal Parks Over 30 'A' Division, and in all of the duck-like action the over 30 games kicked off last week under the radar. Click to continue reading...

So, it has taken a little while but we finally blended the LA Vale boys and the Dinamo boys. There's a long story in there - and I'm not sure if I'm ready to write it down yet - but Matty, Baldy Nick and Chappers joined Dinamo Spartak this season.
They're kicking off in Municipal Parks Over 30 'A' Division, and in all of the duck-like action the over 30 games kicked off last week under the radar. Click to continue reading...

The biggest story of the Sixth Round was Tampere United's decision to play their home tie against Jaro at Tammela Stadium, a ground considered by many to be Finland's best. The significance of this is not obvious to those who have not been closely following Tampere football in recent years, so I will recap briefly.

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It's been almost 31 years since Argentina saw themselves in a precarious situation and a shift of venue did all the difference in the world for the eventual world champions back then. A loss to Italy forced the Albiceleste to leave Buenos Aires for Rosario and the confines could not have been better. Click to continue reading...

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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