Great news, all Liverpool fans! Injury treatment in Serbia has reaped handsome rewards and the injured are now fighting fit!
Albert Riera, Yossi Benayoun, Fabio Aurelio, Steven Gerrard, David Ngog and Glen Johnson are all declared fit and ready to take on draw specialists, Manchester City. Click to continue reading...

France qualified for the World Cup in South Africa in the summer thanks to a William Gallas header against Ireland in Paris. With French supporters everywhere celebrating, replays showed in the build-up to the goal, Thierry Henry hand-balling the ball onto his foot to cross. Of course, that is against the rules and it is very unfortunate that he should have done that however, would we be complaining if Kevin Doyle had done it for Richard Dunne to score?

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AP Photo/Scott Heppell With Liverpool cast aside through recent poor performances, Chelsea v. Manchester United at the Bridge presented a mouth-watering meeting between the league leaders and the reigning champions. And you were not s... Click to continue reading...

Rafael Benítez today shrugged off the growing pressure on his position at Liverpool ahead of Sunday's game against Manchester United at Anfield. Liverpool desperately need a win after four consecutive defeats, and Benítez will give Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres and Glen Johnson - all groin injury victims - as long as he possibly can to prove their fitness. Click to continue reading...

I have a huge amount of respect for Frank Lowry. Five years ago Frank was the driving force behind the rebirth of football in this country. The creation of the A-league, the move to Asia and the recruitment of Guus Hiddink all contributed to a resurgence of the game here in Australia.
However I do wonder if Frank understands that all of this new found love for the game may evaporate if a few missteps are made. Click to continue reading...

This is a bit late, but necessary. Brazil lost the final of the U20, but the result was just a detail (besides the fact that young Brazilian squads always lose to African nations). The real question is: what can we expect of those players in the future?

Possibly, 1 or 2 will be adult World Cup material (in my opinion, one of them will be Giuliano).

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Excellent article in today's Times. Oliver Kay discusses the narrowing of the gap between the supposed 'big four' and the nearest challengers. Applying a social class structure to teams in the Premier League, he opines that the so called 'middle class' (Tottenham, Manchester City, Aston Villa, etc) are becoming more and more of a genuine threat to the domestic supremacy of the 'aristocrats' (Manchester United, Chelsea, etc). Click to continue reading...

Its been just over a month since I last put fingers to keyboard and tapped out a paragraph or two for this blog and a lot has happened in that time. Crowds continue to be a major talking point and I was very pleased to see Gold Coast and Brisbane take steps to reduce their ticket prices and make them more affordable for the general fan. Click to continue reading...

In a press conference, Diego Simeone was asked about Argentina's current place in the WC qualifiers and about Messi's poor performances with the national team.

Here's Simeone's analysis of the national team's struggle in the WC qualifiers.

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Cristina Cubero, a writer with the Catalan newspaper Mundo Deportivo appeared on the TyC Sports show, Gol de Medianoche, and talked about the views that fans and football writers in Argentina have about Messi.

In every poll that has appeared in the Argentine media recently the majority of the people voted that Messi should no longer be in the starting lineup.

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After a fantastic result against local rivals Luton last Tuesday night, Boro returned to action against a much improved York team who found themselves in the playoff places after a poor season last year. Martin Foyle has signed some good players over the summer and have certainly made a claim to be this years surprise package.

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Has our Argentine had his head turned?

Portsmouth Vs Liverpool Tickets Still Available!

Given the incessant speculation linking Javier with a move to Barcelona and the then subsequent poor performances from the usually reliable Argentinean is it fair to assume he may well be pining for a move to the La Liga giants?

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In the 2006-7 season Blackburn came to the Grove and scored in the third minute. Arsenal went on to win the game 6-2.

Yesterday Blackburn scored in the fourth minute and the result was exactly the same. I don't think it'd be unfair to say Arsenal might have scored more too, in what was probably their best attacking display of the season.

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Saint Etienne started this season just like they ended the last one, with poor performances and they quickly found themselves in the relegation zone. Seeing that the team have taken the wrong path, the club management decided to act and brought a couple of very good players in the dying moments of the transfer window, but it was Argentine striker Gonzalo Bergessio who stole the spotlight in the last few weeks and he certainly looks like the man that can turn things around for Les Verts (The Greens).

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Internazionale vs FC Rubin Kazan

A match against the Champions from Russia might be exactly what the doctor ordered for Internazionale after some poor performances recently. Inter lost their first league game of the season on Saturday against Sampdoria and the week before had put in a very unconvincing match against Napoli in a 3-1 win.

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The latest news from the Premier League this evening suggests that Portsmouth have appointed former Leeds United legend Gary McAllister as Paul Harts Assistant Manager. The Premier League strugglers surely need all the help they can get after a disastrous start to their season in which they have so far lost every league game and are already staring down the loaded barrel of top flight relegation. Click to continue reading...

Well, our match in Giannena starts in a little under an hour. Our most likely starting lineup is said to be Saja, Araujo, Majstorovic, Arce, Juanfran, Jahic, Guerreiro, Hersi, Manduca, Nemeth, and Blanco. We will be going 4-4-2 with Blanco and Nemeth up front. A good line-up in my opinion, very strong, with some experienced players.

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The Colorado Rapids traveled to California yesterday to prepare for tonight's game against San Jose before, bizarrely, playing the same team again next Wednesday at DSG Park. What an important game tonight's game is. After losing at Toronto to record their fourth straight away defeat, the Rapids know that a point tonight against a struggling team will be the least they can come away with before, hopefully, picking up three points at home next week. Click to continue reading...

1. Opposition
Eternal bridesmaid's, Liverpool, are in town this week, clutching the withered bridal bouquet of Manchester United's dominance.
The Reds have suffered a couple of blips already this season, with losses to tottenham and Villa. They do, however, come to Upton Park on the back of a 4-0 victory at home to Burnley, largely courtesy of ex-Hammer, Yossi Benayoun, who scored three and set up the other. Click to continue reading...

Since the Rosario fans and Rosario stadium did not win the Brasil game for Argentina as many people thought, it looks like the next WC qualifier against Peru will be played in River's stadium.

The stadium change was made into an important issue and a point of contention by Maradona but the national team's dreadful performance against Brasil made obvious what an irrelevant issue the stadium change was all along.

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Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez has hit back at critics who have targeted Jamie Carragher.
The Reds have made a stuttering start to the new Premier League season, losing 2-1 to Tottenham on the opening weekend and slipping up at home to Aston Villa.
They have conceded seven goals in five games but Benitez believes it is unfair for the defenders to be blamed for poor performances. Click to continue reading...

According to Ole, there will be changes to the callups for the remaining WC qualifiers.

Apparently more players from the domestic league will be called up and some of the European based players like Gago, Maxi Rodriguez and Diego Milito will not be called up for the remainder of the WC qualifying campaign.

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Manchester City away from home last season was when we really hit the bottom and you would expect to see changes and lessons learned after that.

Unfortunately, not for us. Same old players, same old mistakes, same old tactics and same old players out of position. I wish I could say I don't know why Nicklas Bendtner, who clearly said he hates to play on the wing and did so well as a central striker for Denmark was played on the right, but I have the answer.

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The US did not play particularly well, but three points is three points. After the loss at Azteca, the most important thing the US needed to do was put a W up on the board, and they did that. There passing was poor, their link-up play was stilted, and their defense of the wings was a constant worry, but they got that vital win.

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Stillkicking is lost in the North Woods this weekend, so I'll be filling in for the time being.
What is there really to say about this game? Personally I had a new experience during this one, I managed to sleep through most of the second half, something I have never done before. At least during a TFC game. Click to continue reading...

It is not debatable that MLS' signature team has taken hits to its aura in the last two years. An ongoing stadium crisis which sees DC United caught in a political football and in the crossfire of a local newspaper whose hypocrisy seems to be never ending. Add to that the Red and Black's poor performances in continental competition (where DCU previously distinguished itself in a way other MLS teams had not) and continued struggles in MLS.

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2008 MLS Referee of the Year Jair Marrufo (pictured above with Sr. White), Michael Kennedy (hearing it from Jay Heaps to the left and below there) and the reliably bad Abbey Okulaja (who is so bad I will not stoop to searching the Internet for an image of him)have all been suspended for the rest of the season by the USSF. Click to continue reading...

Barnsley manager Simon Davey has left the club by mutual consent - thereby becoming the first managerial casualty of the English Championship season. A string of poor and abject performances by the Tykes has seen the pressure mount on Davey - and there were angry scenes as fans protested outside Oakwell stadium following the club's defeat to fellow Championship strugglers Reading on Saturday. Click to continue reading...

Things have been a little uncomfortable for Major League Soccer's FC Dallas lately. Poor performances, bad results, a badly-located stadium and low attendances have led to outspoken criticism of the front office by supporters not only of FCD, but of MLS as a whole. The cold, hard truth of football is you can get away with almost anything if you're winning on the pitch.

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Chelsea totally tore up Sunderland, a pretty decent side, today. I have no idea why Paul Wilson wrote that the Blues would be the first to drop out of the top four. Maybe he got too much sun in Mallorca. Something about the coach being new to the Premiership. At this point this Blues team could coach themselves.

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2010 looks very promising now by looking at our league, players and top team performances. The poor performances by Galatasaray and Fenerbahce would see injured national team players and poor form. The coaching staff of the 2008-2009 season were terrible. Our key players s were injured for most of the Click to continue reading...

On this week's main report from languagecaster's podcast we find out from an Arsenal fan what he thinks of his team's chances this season. The transcript from the interview is below while you can listen by clicking here.

Listen to this week's show here Transcript

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

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Next up for Stevenage is the longest trip of the season and hopefully, like last season, the venue where Boro win their first 3 points of the season. The start of the season has been a bit of an anti-climax compared with the way we ended the last campaign. At the moment, two poor performances have yielded just two points against newly promoted opposition and a lot more was expected when the fixtures were announced.

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Liverpool lost 3-0 to Espanyol tonight, as the La Liga outfit celebrated their first game in the new Estadi Cornella-El Prat in style, with goals from Luis Garcia and a brace from Ben Sahar sealing an impressive victory for the hosts.
Reds manager Rafa Benitez acknowledged that his side were very much second-best, with the Spaniard admitting the home side thoroughly deserved their win. Click to continue reading...

Reports in The Times and both London Lite and The LondonPaper state that Eboue is on his way to Fiorentina. � The Times goes on to say that the player, or rather his agents have agreed a 5 year deal. � Fiorentina have offered £5.6m, whilst Arsenal values the player at £8.6m.

Fiorentina's coach Cesare Prandelli said: Eboue is a very important player.

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