AEK Archives 22 November @ 05:25 AM EST
Recently promoted Kavala's impressive form in the Superleague has continued after they managed
to get a late win against AEK. This win means that Kavala has managed to take points from each of
the big three (a draw against Olympiakos in Karaiskaki and a home draw against PAO).
Though Kavala's first goal came off of a penalty which was a clear dive and a few calls weren't
made in our favour, Kavala were clearly the better team.
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For those of you who think my Jenas-bashing is sounding like a broken record, I am proud to
announce that this week I come to praise the man, not than bury him. Well alright, "praise" might
be a little strong, but this is at least intended to be a mite more constructive than the usual
tirade.
The sight of our hero lining up for England against Brazil last week may have been a touch
bewildering (on the basis of which games exactly did Don Fabio make that particular selection?
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FC Barcelona traveled to face Athletic Bilbao on Saturday, November 21, 2009 in the Spanish
Primera Division (La Liga). With Real Madrid's win earlier in the day, Barcelona would need a
victory to stay top of the table. Were they able to get it? Here's a recap of the match along with
video highlights.
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Real Madrid resumed their 2009-10 Spanish Primera Division (aka La Liga) season on Saturday,
November 21, 2009 with a match against Racing Santander. They could temporarily go top of the table
with a win as Barcelona were playing the late match on Saturday. Here's a recap of the match along
with video highlights.
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EPL Talk 21 November @ 04:21 PM EST
Thank god the Premier League is back. Nothing against international football, but there's
something very comforting with getting back into the ritual of watching Premier League football and
being familiar with the surroundings, the pace of the game and the excitement it creates.
So the Liverpool against Manchester City game on early Saturday was the perfect
re-introduction to the Premier League.
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Manchester United hosted Everton on Saturday, November 21, 2009 in the English Premier League.
With Arsenal losing in the earlier matches, it was a chance for Man U to move back into second
place in the league table while Everton is looking for any result on the road. Here's a recap of
the match along with video highlights.
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English Premier League leaders Chelsea hosted Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, November 21,
2009. Wolves are struggling and any points at Stamford Bridge would be welcome but probably
unrealistic. Here's a recap of the match along with video highlights.
Chelsea beats Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-0 Video Highlights
Chelsea wasted no time putting the match out of reach as they scored three first half goals.
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Liverpool hosted Manchester City in the English Premier League on Saturday, November 21, 2009.
The match took place at Anfield as Steven Gerrard returned to the line-up for Liverpool but
Fernando Torres was out with an injury. Were Liverpool able to get a much needed win or did
Manchester City show they are ready to challenge for a top four finish?
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Adelaide dominated this game and yet pulled it out of the fire in injury time. GC went down to 10
mid way through the 1st half and should have been 9 by half time. Adelaide had perhaps the highest
possession of any team this season 70% plus, huge numbers of corners, many free kicks but couldn't
get anywhere near goal.
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If you're only going to have 5 players play well, make sure they include at least three
defenders and the goalkeeper. I'm writing in a vacuum I did have the Setanta commentator who
rightly pointed out how poor France were, but I have to say that I thought France were
shocking.
Good performances: Sagna, Evra, Gallas, Lloris, Anelka
Poor: Henry, A.
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The United States traveled to play Denmark for their second friendly of the international break.
They lost to Slovakia 0-1 on Saturday and were looking to get a result on Wednesday's match. Here's
a recap of the match along with video highlights.
Denmark beats the United States 3-1 Video Highlights
The United States did not come out strong as Denmark had most of the possession and chances
early.
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Like many, many fans, I suffer from a ridiculous superstitiousness on match days. Whether it's
which part of my wallet I keep my ticket in, or making sure that every last possession in my house
is lined up at strict 90-degree angles, I'm on it. I've gone through several phases with pants, and
this particular "irrational" fear has led to a quite farcical situation whereby I have to cover my
eyes
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Project 2010 16 November @ 01:16 PM EST
The USA played the first of its pre-World Cup friendlies against Slovakia on Saturday. With
nothing to play for, Bob Bradley utilized the opportunity to test his team's depth. The
results? Despite the 0-1 defeat, there were more positives than negatives.
Most promising of the group were the performances of our center backs and central midfield.
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As Taylor mentioned, I will be one of the day-to-day writers for my beloved Red Devils. So let's
get this party started by doing a massive recap of our past "big" games:
CSKA Moscow vs MUFC (CL Group)
The Good : Well we qualified, and that's what really counts doesn't it ?
The Bad : As much as I love him, I'm going to have to call out Mikey Owen.
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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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A single goal is all that separates the sides heading into Wednesday's second leg in Montevideo
after Costa Rica and Uruguay played out a well fought battle in San Jose. It was Uruguay's captain
fantastic Diego Lugano who grabbed the games only goal and gave his team the perfect platform to
complete the job on home turf next week.
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Photo by ISIphotos.com
The U.S. men's national team played without several star players and still managed a respectable
performance in a 1-0 loss to an underwhelming Slovakia.
Marek Hamsik's penalty kick provided the difference, and also changed the tone of the match as
Slovakia played like a team content with a 1-0 victory.
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Photo by ISIphotos.com
The U.S. men's national team played without several star players and still managed a respectable
performance in a 1-0 loss to an underwhelming Slovakia.
Marek Hamsik's penalty kick provided the difference, and also changed the tone of the match as
Slovakia played like a team content with a 1-0 victory.
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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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See The Cup 14 November @ 02:42 PM EST
Brazil and England was going to be a reserve festival, as injuries took away many players from
the match. So if in theory this is a match with no favorites, in reality, Brazil got that title as
it had less players in the ER. Brazil had the responsibility to play better and add another match
to the unbeaten streak against England that is 19 years-old.
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Slovakia and the United States played in a friendly on Saturday, November 14, 2009. Both teams
have qualified for next summer's FIFA 2010 World Cup Final. Here's a recap of the match along with
video highlights.
Slovakia beats United States 1-0 Video Highlights
The United States dominated possession, especially in the 2nd half, but struggled to convert any
chances as they lost to Slovakia.
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1. Making Possession Count: Slovakia had limited opportunities and never really threatened the
United States goal from the run of play in the first-half and early in the second. On the other
end, too many of the US chances ended up directly at the keeper. Whether it was from distance or on
the run with time in the box, the shot selection wasn't causing enough problems for Slovakia keeper
Jan Mucha.
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The United States had a hard time getting their attack in sync on Saturday in Slovakia, losing 1-0.
Though the US dominated possession, they couldn't turn that into goals. Slovakia took full
advantage of their best chance of the game, a 26th-minute penalty when Vladimir Weiss was taken
down in the box.
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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.
______________________________________________________________________________
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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Bath City drew 1-1 with Staines Town Tuesday night. Pretty much everyone says it was a forgettable
match. This is hardly surprising given that both clubs had just defeated League 2 opposition three
days previously in hard-fought FA Cup matches. Staines had been victorious 1-0 over Shrewsbury
Town. Likewise, Bath City had come out on top 2-0 over Grimsby Town in THE GREATEST FOOTBALL GAME
EVER PLAYED ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD!
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EPL Talk 11 November @ 02:47 PM EST
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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Real Madrid hosted Alcorcon in the Spanish Copa del Rey on Tuesday, November 10, 2009. Alcorcon
stunned Madrid in the first leg with a 4-0 win. Here's a recap of the second leg at the Bernabeu
along with video highlights.
Real Madrid beats Alcorcon 1-0 (loses 1-4 on aggregate) Video
Highlights
1st Half
Real Madrid were embarrassed in the first leg and had to score at least four goals to have a
chance at advancing.
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Soccerblog 10 November @ 08:45 AM EST
It is now more like a hernia rather than a milder tear. Which means that Bendtner needs surgical
intervention and is likely to be out for 6 weeks or more.
Thomas Vermaelen and William Gallas have been very good so far on set pieces but Bendtner would
have given an aerial threat to get around Chelsea's physical defense (the Blues visit the Emirates
on Nov 29th) and win back possession.
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And those words are: Meeting the challenge.
Right. So before the first playoff leg I predicted a series score of 2-1. Then before the second
playoff leg, seeing the kind of chaos the two teams were creating and the resulting goals, I
predicted 2-1 for the game on Sunday.
So, looking at a 3-2 aggregate and a 1-0 second leg scoreline, you can see that I bloody well
can't predict anything when it comes to these two teams.
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While I've been moving, things have been falling apart in south-central Ireland. In the middle of
last week the directors of the team resigned, followed by the manager on Friday. This was leading
up to the team's final game of the season on Saturday at home to Shelbourne. Earlier int he week te
fixture was called off, but the fans got together with the remnants of the team and figured out how
to make it work.
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Reina
Johnson Skrtel Agger Insua
Lucas Mascherano
Benayoun Kuyt Riera
Ngog
Goals:Ngog 13'
Chucho 26'
Jerome 45+3'
Gerrard 71' (pen)
The beach ball season rolls on. That's seven league games without a win against Birmingham.
And both sides will feel cheated.
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See The Cup 09 November @ 01:13 PM EST
Without even stepping into the pitch on the weekend, Sao Paulo did something that has been very
common for the club lately: It reached the top of Campeonato Brasileiro. In the 34th round of the
tournament, the club, who fights for its 4th Brazilian title in a row, benefited from the defeats
of Palmeiras and Atletico-MG.
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Some good news, and a timely reminder for those currently in possession of the starting positions
of the quality we do possess in the defensive area:
Nedum Onuoha will begin his comeback from injury in earnest in Abu Dhabi on Thursday
night.
The former England under 21 captain, who has been missing from the squad since the 4-2 win over
Arsenal in September, had a gentle run out with the reserves in a friendly at the weekend and is
ready to step up is bid to return to first team action.
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