The Gazzetta dello Sport is arguably the most famous sports newspaper in Italy, selling more copies than rivals Corriere dello Sport and Tuttosport. It is world famous for it's pink pages and has been printed in pink since 1899. The current head editor of the Gazzetta, Luigi Garlando, has always been a critic of Lippi since his return to the national team, has always been pro-Cassano, and doesn't understand why Lippi hates to answer questions at press conferences.

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Bosingwa ruled out for three months
Via the official Web site: "Chelsea Football Club can confirm that José Bosingwa underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee this week. His recovery time will be approximately three months."

S***. At least we have an in-form Branislav Ivanovic to continue in his absent.

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The clubs at the top of the table keep crawling along. The clubs at the bottom keep sinking. Referees had a forgettable weekend and in between a player and a coach dropped bombshells.

Philipp Lahm. Bayern's disappointing draw at home against Schalke. Robben's moment of madness for which he should have seen a red card.

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Look at that sweater. That is not a sweater that a sane man wears. Since taking over as manager at Barcelona, Pep has been something of a touchline fashion icon, but this...this is madness.

Look at it it's like he cut two different sweaters down the middle and sewed them together to form one headache-inducing schizophrenic bastardization of clashing designs.

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Leo and Pep do press conferences prior to tonight's freeze-fest against Rubin Kazan, and look great while they're at it. Leo's got this whole I'm-thinking-ginger-stubble-totally-works-for-me look, while Pep is sending out I'm-just-too-hot-to-handle vibes even in the midst of his epic stare-down with the microphone. Click to continue reading...

A new version of Football Manager is released today, which makes this, in my house at least, a time of hushed reflection. The old era is passing away, the new era is rising up before us. Everything we knew and loved is sliding into the sea, while before us, like a mountainous country, is thrust a terrifying and exhilarating possibility.

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Before the last game, a few players and front office people came out to the tailgates to socialize and drop off some "refreshments". Adam Cristman is injuried so he was out there...Kevin Souter, currently on the DL and doing a great job as a fill in broadcaster stopped by also. Here is posing with Mike of Down the Byline fame. Click to continue reading...

The most glaring difference between this and the last AGM is not the shareholders' attitude. It is Arsene. His demeanor was completely different this time around, and with good reason. Though that reason may not be down to results entirely.

Of course, we still get Arsene's standard lines about "belief," the "real spirit in the team," etc.

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Rafa Benitez, prior to substantial weight and facial hair gain
I. Manchester United @ Liverpool: A must win game for under fire manager Rafa Benitez, but one that if he wins - will put Liverpool just 4 points behind United after 10 games. Not too much to worry about then if Liverpool can pull off the win against the league leaders. Click to continue reading...

Miles and Barton in the Studio

As Fox Soccer Channel's Nick Webster told me, "Americans have more access to soccer from around the world than in any other country on earth." That is undoubtedly true. On any given weekend, you can flip around the dial and find the EPL, Serie A, La Liga, the MLS, the Bundesliga, the Mexican leagues, French Ligue 1 and an odd assortment of other broadcasts from around the world, not to mention the weekday Champions league games.

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One of the common themes from press conferences and interviews with Mark Hughes this season has been his satisfaction with the current make up of the squad. This time he is praising the application and attitude to the training sessions:

City's boss also admitted that not every player in the squad he inherited last year was able to rise to the challenge of his demanding regime - but there is no dissent in the camp today.

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Argentina's 2010 World Cup qualification campaign isn't likely be forgotten easily by anyone who followed it from beginning to end. For anyone who wants to read a little about the likely fallout from the decision to give the managerial job to a certified nutter, without (too much) mention of crotch-grabbing in press conferences, you can [. Click to continue reading...

Fans of a bit of blue will be happy with the news that Argentina has now finally booked their place at South Africa 2010.
It's not just on their famous striped shirts however that the blue will be found but also coming from the mouth of Diego Maradona if his latest press conference is anything to go by. Click to continue reading...

A burning sense of injustice could spur on South Korea's two teams remaining in the Asian Champions League. In the first leg of their respective quarter finals, both Pohang Steelers and FC Seoul suffered defeats on their travels to Uzbekistan and Qatar respectively.
The K-League clubs have a chance to right the perceived wrongs on Wednesday evening in the second leg of their encounters. Click to continue reading...

The impossible continues since getting sent off against Cagliari last Sunday, Jose Mourinho has cut off his own source of lifeblood by refusing to talk to the media. In his place, Mourinho sent out Esteban Cambiasso for the press conference ahead of Wednesday's 3-1 win over Napoli a match Jose was banned from and today he had new boy Lucio fill in for him in the presser ahead of tomorrow night's match.

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Domenech reflects on his French future

With France's spot at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa still unclear, the FFF must surely be pointing the finger of blame at the manager rather than the squad. Â Another draw last week leaves France chasing the leaders in the table and looking over their shoulders at who may take their place in the playoffs.

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Your early look at the news ahead of tomorrow's team press-conferences, after the jump. Bilyaletdinov starts, takes kicks and leaves with a groin injury Guillermo Franco joins West Ham. He's 32-years old. I figure him for no more than cover for CCole. Lucas Neill joins Everton. Another defender who can play right and center. Click to continue reading...

11. Has to give Ali Gerba hairstyle tips
10. Not allowed to Wikipedia "Kevin Keegan"
9. Has to be Prom DJ at MLSE exec's kids' high schools
8. Must let Mo Johnston sit on his shoulders during all future press conferences.
7. Can challenge Pinball Clemons to a wrestle
6. Gets to live in CNE's Food Building
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• Fabio Aurelio (pictured above scoring a nice free kick against United last season) should return to action this weekend for Liverpool. [USA Today]

• Portsmouth sign a former Manchester United star player. Unfortunately for Pompey, it's Danny Webber - who was a star for United in the U-17 team - famously scoring 16 goals in 11 appearances for United in 1998, including 5 against Fulham.

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In a bid to up our "real news" coverage, we're bringing you some video links of Yoann Gourcuff and Xabi Alonso from two seperate press conferences last week.

Yoann gives it beautifully in French, allowing us to see how little attention we actually paid in language class, and Xabi gives a good does of sexy Spanglish.

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In a bid to up our "real news" coverage, we're bringing you some video links of Yoann Gourcuff and Xabi Alonso from two seperate press conferences last week.

Yoann gives it beautifully in French, allowing us to see how little attention we actually paid in language class, and Xabi gives a good does of sexy Spanglish.

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Watch World Cup qualifiers live here.

International press conferences at the best of times tend to be mundane, by the numbers affairs filled with platitudes by the key figures within the national side. Not much changes when it comes to conferences prior to World Cup qualifiers, or even the finals itself, but within the words always lies a common train of thought: There are few, if any greater honours in football than representing your country at the World Cup.

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I don't know how many of you subscribe to the Arsenal TV thing on the official site. Those of you that don't really ought to, even just for a day, to watch Arsene Wenger's press conference yesterday. It was a masterclass. For me Wenger's press conferences are always interesting but yesterday's was a real classic.

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I just got back from vacation so I won't have time to put up a mega Serie A preview like I would've wanted, but by now we have an idea at where the 20 Serie A clubs stand for the coming season. So Serie A finally kicks off tomorrow with Bologna-Fiorentina and Siena-Milan, and the rest of the games come our way on Sunday.

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Your first look at the rumour, innuendo, injuries and team news ahead of tomorrow's pre-match press conferences.
Zola closes on Chamakh

Meanwhile, left-back Herita Ilunga's facial injury means he is rated as doubtful to face Tottenham on Sunday in the Barclays Premier League clash at Upton Park.

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Well, the MLS International transfer window has passed on the Lake Ontario breeze once again with only a Fellinga to show for it. While its never a good policy to buy someone just because they are foreign (see Welsh, Tebily, Robert, Ruiz etc.), Toronto is a multicultural place and the fans do like to see that global flair. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool boss makes a spectacle of himself It hasn't taken Rafa Benitez long to get back into the swing of his crazy press conferences. Following Liverpool's defeat to Tottenham on Sunday, the Spaniard was asked what he thought of referee Phil Dowd's performance. Benitez reached into his suit pocket, pulled out his glasses, showed them to the [. Click to continue reading...

Right... ¿Qué es eso, futbolitas? It seems that Carlos Tevez has been compared to Marxist revolutionary leader, Sr. Che Guevara himself on the cover of ShortList magazine. Nice colours, but everything else is a big no-no!

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With apologies to our former colleagues at Yahoo!Eurosport, here's an early look at the team news floating around the interwebs in advance of tomorrow's pre-match press conferences.
Fit again Foster and Brown set to lift champions United

Ben Foster and Wes Brown are likely to be fit for champions Manchester United's opening Premier League game at home to Birmingham City after a close-season full of injuries and high-profile departures.

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Morning, morning, here we go then. It is, as Joey Tempest would say, the final countdown to the new Premier League season, so let free your flaxen curls and your tight jeans and your synth led rock anthems and ... erm ... I dunno. Get ready, or something.

At some point this week I'll do the customary pre-season state of the nation type post, assessing the squad, where we're strong, weak and downright arousing.

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So the draw has just been done and Arsenal have been drawn with none other than Celtic f.c. After much hype from Sky sports all week along with BBC sport; arsenal can be drawn with celtic, Arsenal to be drawn with celtic, arsenal and celtic can possibly meet i find it sooo predictable and quite annoying that we have got celtic.

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Various things to discuss this morning and I'm gonna start with the marmite like story of Eboue; You either want him to go or want him to stay, theres nothing else to it. Well the latter has won because it appears he will be staying at Arsenal.

Fiorentina announced last week that the deadline for the deal to complete was Wednesday, and they also said Arsenal had to lower their asking price of £9 million, in my opinion understandably so.

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All the stuff being covered outside the unfriendly confines of the award winning Dirty Tackle...

You know its time for anger management classes when you find yourself storming out of press conferences after your team beats AC Milan 4-1. [Goal]

Fat Ronaldo had liposuction while in the hospital for his fractured hand.

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The Wizards dropped two more points at home last Saturday night when they drew with the Galaxy 1-1. Compared to last year, the Wizards are struggling at home this year. The Wizards are 3-3-3 at home this season, earning them 1.33 points per game when they play at Community America through 9 games. Compared to the rest of the league at home, the Wizards are tied for the 3rd worst points per home game (PPHG) record so far this season, with Dallas and San Jose. Click to continue reading...

The Beckham Experiment: How the World's Most Famous Athlete Tried to Conquer America by Grant Wahl
If you've been following MLS in the last month you've heard about the uproar that this book has caused. Donovan calling the world's most famous player a poor teammate and a cheapskate, Beckham calling the book "unoffical" or "unauthorized", and MLS trying to stay out of the way. Click to continue reading...