At half-time in this game, I have to admit that I was struggling to think about what I would write in my post-match report. However, and thankfully, the game came alive in the second-half, and will probably live long in the memory of Arsenal fans for years to come. My thoughts as follows:
* As I said, it didn't look like it was shaping up to be a classic in the first-half.

Guest Post: I have Been to the Mountaintop: Rethinking Success for MLS

On the road tonight, so here is an encore of the most popular guest post in Footiebusiness history. The original generated a significant amount of comments. Back live on Monday.

Once again, we are fortunate to have a guest post from Dave Laidig.

A significant portion of the proceeds ($10 per scarf) from all pre-orders this week of the new Pitch Invasion bar scarf will be donated to benefit the Operation Pitch Invasion charity in Portland, Oregon. Here's why...

When supporters of the Portland Timbers, organized by the 107ist Trust and Timbers Army, announced in 2011 that they were launching a new charity called Operation Pitch Invasion to support the growth of the game at the grassroots level in Portland, Pitch Invasion's interest was piqued by more than just the Doppelgänger.

By Chris Wright

This is quite sweet. While making his way into the club's training ground, Raul is handed a CD by a group of Schalke fans. The CD contains a version of the 'theme tune' - a chant titled 'Señor Raul' - they had recorded themselves.

Raul then proceeds to play the CD on the short drive through to the pitches, singing along and waving his fingers merrily, before cranking up the volume just before the final turn and cruising into the car park with his own theme song blaring from his car.

By Ulysse Pasquier

Anyone who follows football knows the amount of emotion that the sport can bring in a split second. From total despair to intense euphoria, every fan is ought to have experienced his fair share of hair-raising moments. What happened at the Emirates yesterday however transcended all these feelings.

John Barnes spoke out in defence of Liverpool Football Club on Saturday, telling ESPN that the Merseyside club are no more racist than any other in the country.
Liverpool have seen their reputation damaged by the drawn-out Luis Suarez saga, which has seen the Reds defend their player despite a guilty verdict of racial abuse delivered by the FA.

John Barnes spoke out in defence of Liverpool Football Club on Saturday, telling ESPN that the Merseyside club are no more racist than any other in the country.
Liverpool have seen their reputation damaged by the drawn-out Luis Suarez saga, which has seen the Reds defend their player despite a guilty verdict of racial abuse delivered by the FA.

Suarez bans himself from saying "negro" on English pitches Liverpool have gone some way towards repairing the damage done by their mismanagement of the Luis Suarez racism controversy after their star striker issued an apology. Only yesterday, manager Kenny Dalglish was sticking to his guns as the club continued to claim they were being victimised [.

Mouth-watering affair, eh? Once again we hit the point in the English Premier League season when the weather gets cold, the pitches get icy and the powers that be decide its best to cram in as many games as possible hell be damned for the players. We'll get into that a little more later, but for now it's games .

Got, Not Got: Bring back Hull City's Boothferry Park Fer Ark's sake...

It's been labelled ‘football porn' for ‘nostalgia junkies', and ‘the best book about our national game since Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch'. 'Got, Not Got' is this year's must-have football nostalgia book.

Backpackers FC is a unique sports holiday that enables you to work, play football and play some more in Perth, Australia's sunniest state capital, enjoying over 3000 hours of sunshine a year. In 2012, Backpackers FC will kick off their inaugural season in the Perth Metropolitan Football Competition.

So Joseph Blatter made a slightly less questionable pronouncement last week by repeating his call for Major League Soccer to switch to a European calendar. I wrote a long piece earlier this year explaining the reasons why MLS won't, and to be honest shouldn't. I am not sure that a person like Blatter truly appreciates the challenges that a fall-to-spring MLS would face, from weather to pitches to media, and when he says that such a move would improve the popularity of the sport in this country, I find it challenging to believe that he knows what he is talking.

Backpackers FC is a unique sports holiday that enables you to work, play football and play some more in Perth, Australia's sunniest state capital, enjoying over 3000 hours of sunshine a year. In 2012, Backpackers FC will kick off their inaugural season in the Perth Metropolitan Football Competition.

Raining on his parade One of the things we sadly miss about the commercialisation of our beautiful game is games played on awful pitches. It was football's greatest leveller, and made two things much easier: 1. Non-league sides causing amazing giantkillings 2. The creation of 'comedy' football videos However, when Tonga met the Cook Islands [.

Racism in football has never, and will never, be eradicated.

As social culture has changed, racism in society has become so much rarer, and where it does exist the views are expressed much more privately meaning the rest of society can get on with their lives without having to listen to such pig-ignorant and historic views.

Brazil beat Gabon 2-0 in a friendly to-night on a soggy Libreville pith with goals from Sandro and Hernanes. Let's hope the Gabon pitches hold up better to rain in February when the co-host the African Nations Cup with Equatorial Guinea.

Brought to you by brazil jersey at Bizrate.com//adserve.

George "Geordie" Armstrong died of a brain haemorrhage after collapsing on the training field 11 years ago on the first of this month. He was a year younger than me and joined the club as a 17-year-old, two years after I had first claimed my permanent place on the terraces as a 15-year-old. He was my first footballing idol and was to be associated with the club on and off for 39 years.

GENESIS 1-1 HOUGHTON RANGERS (after extra time; Genesis won 9-8 on penalty kicks)
Saturday 29th October 2011
Leicestershire Intermediate Cup 2nd Round Lodge Farm, Oakley Drive, Loughborough
The drive from the University to Oakley Drive is less than a mile but with having some time to kill between the games I went and had some lunch before arriving at the venue about ten minutes before kick off.

Morning chums!

Football returns tomorrow. For some. The rest of us have to wait until Sunday to sit around hungover and watch Arsenal, but it's coming. And with that comes the news. The life-blood of this very site. Stuff about Arsenal. It's marvelous. Arsene Wenger has been talking about various things and we can pore over every word, examing them, analysing them, and seeking to be offended at the slightest little thing.

A number of Tottenham players were in action last night including Younes Kaboul, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Luka Modric. Pav was on the score sheet for Russia once again in their 6-0 rout of Andorra but elsewhere, one man stood out above all else.

Gareth Bale scored and starred in Wales' impressive 1-0 win in Bulgaria last night.

Written by gunnerN5

The period from 1996/7 to 2010/11 has been magical for us Arsenal supporters. We've been fortunate enough to have seen an English club play Wengerball.

Never in our 125 year history have Arsenal supporters been able to watch such exquisite football played by such a World class assembly of players.

Written by gunnerN5

The period from 1996/7 to 2010/11 has been magical for us Arsenal supporters. We've been fortunate enough to have seen an English club play Wengerball.

Never in our 125 year history have Arsenal supporters been able to watch such exquisite football played by such a World class assembly of players.

Liverpool first-team coach Steve Clarke believes the time is now right for captain Steven Gerrard to step up his bid for regular football.
Gerrard was left out of Fabio Capello's squad for Friday's Euro 2012 qualifier in Montenegro as he has played just 56 minutes of football in three substitute appearances this season.

It was widely believed that nothing could out incompetence the previous regime at the Indonesian FA but the new mob are doing their damnedest. Days after announcing clubs like Persis were among the most professionally run in the country they decided to keep the league as it began last season, promote the four clubs who got promoted, reinstate the three clubs who quit mid season, promote the only team who got relegated and promote two other teams because they were big clubs!

I admit it. We were dead wrong. After questioning the wisdom of the Tampa Bay Rays for starting Matt Moore in Game 1 against the Texas Rangers, Moore went out there and dominated. And really, "dominated" doesn't give the kid enough credit.

In seven innings of work, Moore gave up two hits and two walks.

By Chris Wright

As you may have heard over the past few days, Man City are currrently immersed in plans to develop the 80-odd acres of derelict wasteland currently lying vacant next to the Etihad Stadium...

...into a new, £100-million training complex complete with 15 full-size pitches (including one indoor pitch), on-site sleeping accommodation for 72 players (40 youth teamers and 32 members of the first string), a medical/rehab centre (for Kolo Toure) and a 7,000 capacity stadium for reserve and youth string matches.

Stephen Strasburg may have trouble staying healthy, however the superstar prospect for the Washington Nationals doesn't have trouble living up to expectations. In his first start in a year a following Tommy John surgery on his elbow, Strasburg pitched five shutout innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night.

Ouch! Doubters have always said that plastic pitches are dangerous but probably not for this reason. Republic of Ireland defender Richard Dunne managed a massive faceplant on a metal grid surrounding the pitch. The Aston Villa man made a sliding tackle on Russia's Yuri Zhirkov, but ended up smacking his face on the drainage [.

Just Football presents... The Study of English Football [Introduction] is a post from: Just Football

by Andreas Vou

It was after the English national football team's 1-2 defeat to France in November 2010 that, when reading what was written in the press after the game, I reached the final straw.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have had a difficult season on and off the diamond. But don't blame Clayton Kershaw. The 23-year-old hurler has had a Cy Young caliber season. On Thursday, the Dodgers ace proved his worthiness once again against the Milwaukee Brewers.

In eight inning of work, Kershaw gave up five hits walking none and striking out six.

DERBY ROLLS ROYCE LEISURE 2-7 ALLENTON UNITEDSaturday 13th August 2011Midlands Regional Alliance Premier DivisionRolls Royce Sports Ground, Moor Lane
Last week I a saw last seasons Midlands Regional Alliance (MRA) runners-up in action and today sees me take a look at the defending champions Allenton United.

DERBY ROLLS ROYCE LEISURE 2-7 ALLENTON UNITEDSaturday 13th August 2011Midlands Regional Alliance Premier DivisionRolls Royce Sports Ground, Moor Lane
Last week I a saw last seasons Midlands Regional Alliance (MRA) runners-up in action and today sees me take a look at the defending champions Allenton United.

When WNT stars Abby Wambach and Shannon Boxx threw out ceremonial first pitches before the MLB American League baseball game between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees at Fenway last weekend, there were probably a lot of soccer fans watching baseball for the first time. Goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc posted this pic of the players jumping before the big pitch.

Stephen Strasburg's return from Tommy John surgery began on Sunday afternoon in Hagerstown, Maryland. That's where he made his first minor league rehab start after undergoing reconstructive elbow surgery.

In the Class A game, Stephen Strasburg looked about as good as the Washington National could have hoped.

Wait, even the Nicaraguans have a roof?One of the great joys of CONCACAF Champions League is the opportunity to tour some of the stadiums of Central America. If the "always fair and balanced" officiating wasn't enough to contend with, clubs of TFC's ilk have to be introduced to "exuberant" fans, pitches that resemble the surface of the moon and projectiles filled with all types of joyful human gifts.

We're now tantalisingly close to the SPL's opening weekend. July isn't yet out but already the sense of anticipation is growing.
The churlish prediction for the season ahead would be that "it can't be as bad as last time." But this being Scottish football we know that's not true. It can be every bit as bad.

Today in Frankfurt, Germany, the USA WNT faces Japan in the Final of the 2011 Women's World Cup in an attempt to win the trophy for the second time in 12 years. I think it's fair to say that 95% of soccer fans around the world, especially, of course, in the US and Japan, will either be watching the match live, or be monitoring the score via whatever.

It's Kanga Cup week and visitors have come from Sydney, Witsundays, NT, Tassie, NZ, Phillipines, Malaysia and Korea to name some of the 230 plus teams in Canberra this week.
It's cold, it always is in July in the Capital but two things have got my goat this week.
Lots of great football, cheery spirit and great comaraderie.

The first time I passed through Switzerland I had the impression it was swept down with a broom from one end to the other every morning by housewives who dumped all the dirt in Italy...

Sam Allardyce is cracking the whip with his players by introducing triple sessions for the squad during these early stages of pre-season.

[101gg]

• Height: it's a number. (The Best Eleven)
• Stealing ideas. (Argie Bargy)
• Brazilian pitches on the table. (KCKRS)
• A Venezuelan revolution. (IBWM)
• Loving Malmo. (Football In Sweden)
• Samir's truth. (The DA)
• Another great website.