The Side: If Sigi Schmid could get on The Price Is Right, I am betting Drew Carey would ensure he got through to the Showcase Showdown. How could he deny Sigi, who in just one season turned Seattle into a bona fide contender for the MLS Cup. Sigi has always been one of the best coaches in the league, but he is also buoyed each game by the terrific response he gets from the side's supporters.

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photo credit: josef.stuefer

Moscow did it. They beat Sevilla and advanced to the Quarterfinals of the Champion's League. This is a feat that United and Chelsea could not muster yet the Russians are here and looking very good.

It would be easy to say that Sevilla is "down" and that makes all the difference, but you still have to play these matches and Moscow played well.

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Kevin Nolan has been one of the real leaders on Tyneside this season, and has missed just one game this season through suspension. Kevin Nolan - epitomizes Newcastle Spirit Kevin talked today about relegation last year and this season's revival: "I've said it before, but a lot of us had our pride stung by what happened last [. Click to continue reading...

Is what my boys did tonight.
I know GB's posted already but, as she has said, The bear is home alone.
They were beaten, fair and square, by a better side. Lille, are one of those teams in Europe who have form for this sort of behaviour. Strangely enough, they don't respect The Premiership. Click to continue reading...

photo credit: LaiLa DueLLe

The Side: Red Bull may "Give You Wings", but the New York Red Bulls were more likely to "Give Supporters Stings" in 2009. They were historically terrible. The only thing more shocking than their uninspired play was the fact that the team had rallied to reach the MLS Cup Final just one year before.

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The United States Soccer Federation has released the roster for the US Women's friendlies later this month. The US plays Mexico on March 28th in San Diego (5pm - FSC) and March 31st in Sandy, UT (9pm - ESPN2). GOALKEEPERS (3): Nicole Barnhart (FC Gold Pride), Jill Loyden (Chicago Red Stars), Hope Solo (St. Click to continue reading...

photo credit: Space Ritual

The Side: A galaxy is a cluster of stars. Ironically, the LA Galaxy are not a cluster of stars. Nope, they have maybe two or three stellar players, but they do not have a cluster. I don't think they will be as successful this year as they were last year, but I am certain they will be better than they were in 2008.

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Remember how earlier I mentioned England were heading to Austria in May for a World Cup training camp? Well the above video is to promote a competition from Mars (the nougaty/caramely chocolate bar people) in which you can win a trip to Austria to see the England players in training for World Cup 2010.

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Many some of you can probably wear this t-shirt with pride. Homegrown scoring chart toppers. (The Best Eleven) Paolo Rossi and the fight back in 1982. (Football Italiano) Billboards are the new Sharpie-d piece of a cardboard. (EPL Talk) Popping your collar has never been so patriotic. (Football Fashion) The real reason Dunga won't call up Ronaldinho. Click to continue reading...

Patrice Evra lifted his first trophy as Manchester United captain, after Gary Neville started the match on the bench, as well as Ryan Giggs and Rio Ferdinand missing the game through injury.

Our French full back has today revealed his pride in being the captain and becoming the second Frenchman after Eric Cantona to lift a trophy for us.

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Wayne Bridge has announced he is quitting the England squad. Everyone's talking about it.

But we have yet to hear from the most influential demographic in football today: Kickettes, of course!

Below we outline the two prevailing views, handily condensed so you can read them over a coffee and maybe even a tiny little muffin.

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Wayne Bridge has announced he is quitting the England squad. Everyone's talking about it.

But we have yet to hear from the most influential demographic in football today: Kickettes, of course!

Below we outline the two prevailing views, handily condensed so you can read them over a coffee and maybe even a tiny little muffin.

Click to continue reading...

Golasa is better looking than Ribery and has similar pace
We've brought up future (Fantasy Premier League) stars in the past, usually focusing on teenagers getting tracked by the Big 4 clubs - but today we'll focus on a barely known Israeli stud Eyal Golasa.
We first mentioned Golasa back in August, but today we link to this very in depth profile of the young Israeli up and comer by our buddies at A Football Report. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool midfielder Alberto Aquilani is proud that the Reds fans seem to have taken him to their hearts so soon after his summer arrival from Roma.
One expression of that affection has been the banner which was unfurled at Anfield not long after his arrival bearing the legend 'Il Principino - A Hero has Arrived'. Click to continue reading...

photo credit: Zemlinki!

The Side: The Former Burn are hoping to deliver at Pizza Hut Park this year after spending the last few seasons out to lunch. They made a heroic run at the playoffs last year though. It was Jeff Cunningham who ignited their offense and took them from basement dwellers to playoff contenders.

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Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher feels that he and his team-mates have reacted well to the criticism that came their way earlier on in the season.
The centre-back believes that he worked hard to get his form back after the Reds' well-documented early-season woe.
But he is still surprised by the intensity of some of the criticism that came his and Steven Gerrard's way, with fans' expectations of local stars much higher than for other players. Click to continue reading...

photo credit: markwgallagher

The Side: The Rapids are one of my favorite teams for some reason that is completely unknown to me. I have some family in Denver, but I have never enoyed a game at the Dick and share no sentiment towards the Mile High City generally.

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photo credit: Hamed Saber

The Side: The Goats had a decent 2009, but they once again failed to collect any hardware. Plus, they lost Preki to the cursed Reds, so 2010 isn't exactly looking like the year they will finally break through. Sure, they still have the silky smooth playmaker known as Sacha Kljestan (who probably leads the league when it comes to having his named misspelled), but I just don't think they will make a run this year.

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Sotirios Kyrgiakos has spoken of his pride at having his name sung by the Kop.
The Greek defender's chant has popped up on several LFC forums and is sung to the tune of 'Oh Campione'.
It goes: "We thought his days were numbered, now he plays here every week. We can't pronounce his surname so we call him Nick the Greek. Click to continue reading...

On Thursday, US Women's coach Pia Sundhage announced the roster for the Algarve Cup. The US open against Iceland on February 24th. They play Norway on the 26th and Sweden on March 1st to finish out their group. GOALKEEPERS (3): Nicole Barnhart (FC Gold Pride), Jill Loyden (Chicago Red Stars), Hope Solo (St. Click to continue reading...

By TRAVIS CLARK

Preseason can be the a difficult time for MLS rookies. They have to get acclimated quickly to new surroundings, new teammates, and impress their new coach in hopes of earning precious playing time. For Teal Bunbury, his first few weeks with his Kansas City teammates have been a fun and exhilarating experience.

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By TRAVIS CLARK

Preseason can be a difficult time for MLS rookies. They have to get acclimated quickly to new surroundings, new teammates, and impress their new coach in hopes of earning precious playing time. For Teal Bunbury, his first few weeks with his Kansas City teammates have been a fun and exhilarating experience.

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[101gg] The cosmos is a wonderful, wacky and vindictive place. The corner which houses the football gods right next to the modeling gods, the vanity gods and the stupid purchases gods is a swirling hell fire of pride and authoritarianism. They make the rules, they determine the order of things, and they decide who [. Click to continue reading...

The Women's Professional Soccer league held a dispersal draft for the right of the players that were formerly apart of the Los Angeles Sol. The Sol ceased operations in late January. To some surprise the first pick by Saint Louis Athletica was for USA midfielder Shannon Boxx. The World Player of the year, Marta, was picked third by FC Gold Pride. Click to continue reading...

Ok, we're only posting this photo because the fabulous Cristianeeee is in it! But as always, the big news in women's football today belongs to Marta "O Melhor" who has joined FC Gold Pride in the USA. She was formerly a player of Los Angeles Sol (where she did those awesome appearances with Kobe) but sadly, LA Sol's potential new owners backed out at the last minute as a result, their players had to look for other teams.

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Women's Professional Soccer held its dispersal draft Feb. 4 for players' rights previously held by the Los Angeles Sol, whose operations were discontinued Jan. 28. FIFA World Player of the year Marta fell to FC Gold Pride with the third selection, instantly making the Bay Area club favorites in the 2010 title chase--if they can sign the Brazilian. Click to continue reading...

By Ollie Irish

Simply awesome:

"A drunken unemployed plasterer who was found urinating on the French loaves section of a large supermarket in protest at the infamous handball incident in the France vs Ireland World Cup qualifier, was this week given a suspended sentence, fined and bound over to keep the peace.

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Think they want Marta? Both players Athletica traded, Kia McNeill and Angie Kerr, played significant minutes for the team last year, so this deal has some risk to it. However, they already picked up Lindsay Tarpley, and plugged some holes (in theory) with their draft pics.
Pending the dispersal picks, Althletica have the potential to be really fricking good this year. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool goalkeeper Jose Pepe Reina admits the players have been hurt by the club's poor performances this season.
But the Spain international said a sense of pride had forced the squad to face up to their problems and he believed their recent good run showed what could be done when they worked hard together. Click to continue reading...

Rafael Benitez says Liverpool's fans should share his pride that Juventus want to make him their new manager.
On Friday the Spaniard spoke of being flattered by the apparent approaches from the Turin club, increasing speculation the Anfield manager will leave at the end of the season.
Speaking after Saturday's 2-0 win over Bolton Wanderers in the Premier League, Benitez praised the Liverpool supporters who sang his name and believes they should take the advances from Juve as a compliment. Click to continue reading...

James McCarthy has 'scotched' recent tabloid rumours that he may be interested in representing Scotland, rather than Ireland.
McCarthy has represented Ireland at under 18, under 19 & u21 levels.
In a message posted on the Ireland football forum You Boys In Green, McCarthy mentions how it would be a dream to be selected to play in the Ireland senior squad and it would create great pride within his family, should he manage to make it into Giovanni Trapattoni's starting eleven. Click to continue reading...

Tomorrow's game between Man United and Man City doesn't need any building up. The second leg of the Carling Cup semi-final will be one hell of a match to watch with passion, honour, pride and a date...
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A pictorial special devoted to Persitara - The Pride of North Jakarta Click to continue reading...

Hey, in the wake of Dan's article and my own piece, I decided to solicit the opinion of one of my favorite authors and good friend Dave Lifton for his thoughts. His thoughts are below.
Quote: I've been coaxed out of soccer-blogging retirement by Aaron, who wanted me to contribute something to what he called "National Rip On Kartik Week. Click to continue reading...

By Thomas Rooney If there is one thing that Cristiano Ronaldo loves doing, it is scoring goals, it is something he takes a great deal of pride in. He can put one away from every angle, in any game and... Click to continue reading...

photo credit: Dionetian

Sevilla's flag flies high...for now.

Sevilla put a 3-0 beatdown on Coruna in the King's Cup yesterday and gave themselves a much needed "pick me up" even if this game doesn't count on the La Liga table.

There's something about "non-league" matches that can really help or really hurt a club.

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Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has launched a staunch defence of his record at the club as speculation about his future refuses to die down.
The Spaniard insists there have been huge improvements since he took over in the summer of 2004 and that has restored pride among the staff and fans. Click to continue reading...

Anyone for a ticket to Liverpool's Fourth Round FA Cup game?

That's right you read that right. Out of the Champion's League, out the League Cup, 7th in the League... and now beaten by Reading in the FA Cup. Instead of getting behind the team when they faced Reading, hours before kick off Anfield officials emailed season ticket holders advertising tickets to the fourth round game against Burnley.

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Kansas City Wizards fans will see a familiar sight when they receive the new Yellow Pages in the coming days:
In a press conference today at the Wizards' Swope Park Training center, Wizards Executive Vice President - Revenue Andrew Steinberg, AT&T Area Market Manager Jayne Anglesano and Wizards midfielder Jack Jewsbury gathered to reveal the cover of the latest edition of the Kansas City Yellow Pages, featuring the Kansas City Wizards and its fans. Click to continue reading...

In bringing Sol Campbell back Arsene Wenger has done something that I never thought he would ever do and re-signed a former player.
Wenger is a stubborn man but perhaps this sudden change of policy is the sign of a person who will even go against his own principles to bring back silverware to us. Click to continue reading...