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No TGIF during the International break, so it gives me a chance to go back to traditional blogging. The subject for discussion this week is the vexed question of silverware at Arsenal football Club. The persistent refrain of Arsenal MUST win something this season if the youth experiment is to be hailed as a success is rather doing my head in. Click to continue reading...

Good news for the Premiership as Barclays have extended their global title sponsorship of the Premier League for a further three years.

The new £82.25m deal is a 25 percent increase on the previous three-year contract, will run from the 2010/11 season to the end of the 2012/13 season.

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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...

Not good news for Liverpool's match-winners ahead of Saturday's game at the Stadium of Light. Torres aggravated his adductor while on international duty, and Gerrard's groin flared up in the match against Ukraine. Krygiakos is cleared, but he's not likely to feature against Sunderland.

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THE 'Football Gods' have a sense of humour, eh?
Yesterday's game against Brisbane was possibly one of Perth's worst performances this season and yet they managed to win 4-2.
That's football, folks.
Brisbane, admittedly, were nowhere near full strength, though they had a intimidating front three of Henrique, Reinaldo and Sergio Van Dijk. Click to continue reading...

by CARL ELDRIDGE Arsene Wenger has condemned Arsenal's travelling fans for the abuse they hurled at Emmanuel Adebayor in the Manchester City game, screams this morning's Sun. Accept, er, he didn't condemn them at all.

Their preposterous reporter, the Liverpool-supporting Anthony Kastrinakis (BTW, the Arsenal head of communications is also a Liverpool fan), runs with the story despite AW stating he didn't hear it so can't comment on it.

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According to press reports this evening, the Blue Square Premier has been unable to reach agreement with the new boy in the British pay television market, ESPN. This comes as no great surprise. For one thing, lower division football doesn't exactly fit in with the profile that the nascent channel has built up over the last couple of months, a profile based upon top European football, Premier League football and American sports.

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For Premier League fans around the world, the last couple of weeks have been almost too painful to endure as something very important seems to have disappeared out of our lives. But with yet another international period finally in the books, we can once again look forward to the return of our most beloved brand of football this weekend.

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Of all my travels in Europe, particularly Germany, I have never seen a football mad city so deprived of the beautiful game. For years Leipzig has been starved of the quality football it truly deserves. FC Sachsen Leipzig and 1.Lok Leipzig, the two "top" clubs in this beautiful eastern German city brought the town nothing [. Click to continue reading...

While Singaporeans continue to analyse their defeat by Liverpool and question the future of the game, check out threads on Kallang Roar and HWZ, there is the small matter of the SLeague to be addressed. And Sunday night sees Tampines Rovers v Singapore Armed Forces at the Tampines Stadium.
If this was the EPL then Football fans in Lion City would have been fed a non stop diet of analysis and views on TV, in newspapers and on the internet. Click to continue reading...

The fallout from the demise of Setanta UK is set to start with the Scottish Premier League, Football Association and Blue Square Premier League in turmoil after missing out on millions of dollars of cash and the worry of finding a new suitor to step in to rescue the organizations.

But it's not just the leagues and associations that are impacted by the collapse of Setanta UK.

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Watch the U21 Euro 2009 live here.

The 2009 European Under-21 Championship will take place in Sweden from 15 June to 29 June. While it's expected to be overshadowed in press coverage by the dress rehearsal for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the U21 Euro 2009 still promises to be a showcase of quality football and a chance for European football fans to evaluate the young stars of tomorrow (be it for their clubs or national teams).

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Rafa Benitez may have made some absurd comments this season, but Liverpool football club played some high quality football over (if not right through)Â the last 9 months.

Be it shaking up the Madristas or drubbing the champions at their home, Stevie G and his troops sure had their moments.

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Remember ESPN's ‘One Game Changes Everything' ad campaign for the 2006 World Cup in Germany?
Simple. Poignant. Brilliant.
On Tuesday, ESPN executive vice president of content John Skipper said the network plans its "biggest marketing campaign ever" for the 2010 World Cup. Click to continue reading...

Tournaments like Arsenal's 'Emirates Cup' and AJAX's 'Amsterdam Tournament' have become big draws for football fans looking for some quality football in the summer season. With high quality clubs and big venues, you almost get the same experience of an early season Champions League group stage match in what is the slowest time of the year for the sport.

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It seems just about right that the two best teams in Europe will be battling out for the ultimate prize come the end of May. Two teams that boast the two greatest players in the world and two teams that play the most mouth watering football in the world. It is a dream final.

Barcelona and Manchester United are teams that are like no other.

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Now that the Coca Cola Championship has come to a halt (temporarily, at least, with the playoffs still to be played), us Premier League fans have three new teams to look forward to seeing next season. While only Wolves and Birmingham have locked up promotion spots for next season, within the next few weeks we'll know who out of Reading, Burnley, Sheffield United, and Preston North End will be playing top flight footbal come August.

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Manchester United 5-2 Tottenham

Manchester United recorded a stunning second half comeback after some inspirational football from both Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney.

Sir Alex Ferguson must have had an inspiring team talk at half time as his side were trailing 2-0.

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The NSW Premier League is now seven rounds old, and the big story so far has been the blistering pace set by Croatian-backed club Sydney United. They have chalked up six wins out of seven, the most recent being a 6-1 demolition of a foundering APIA-Leichhardt at Edensor Park last Sunday.
Following their memorable 2006 title success, United underwhelmed in 2007 and 2008, showing only flashes of quality football, and the atmosphere at Edensor was nothing like what it used to be in NSL days. Click to continue reading...

Has playing Real Madrid in the round of 16 ended our chances of winning the Champions League this season? I happened to spot this little gem on the 606 boards at the Beeb.

2003 Juventus beat Real Madrid (semi-final), AC Milan beat Juventus in the final
2004 AS Monaco beat Real Madrid (quarter-final), Porto beat Monaco
2005 Juventus beat Real Madrid (round of 16), Liverpool beat Juventus
2006 Arsenal beat Real Madrid (round of 16), Barcelona beat Arsenal
2007 Bayern Munich beat Real Madrid (round of 16), AC Milan beat Bayern
2008 Roma beat Real Madrid (round of 16), Man Utd beat Roma
2009 Liverpool beat Real (round of 16) , Chelsea _____ Liverpool ?

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So, La Liga is starting two weeks late as per usual. There are some positives though. I'm back from any holidays in time to watch it for one. Teams also start with there full squad, rather than half the Premier League teams who look to buy in players in the last two weeks of the window. The english scum who go to places like the Costa del Sol and Benidorm are out of the country. Click to continue reading...

Photo from Reuters

Mexico was fortunate to escape with a 2-1 win at Azteca tonight over a Honduran side filled with quality. Honduras played some quality football and was unfortunate not to secure at minimum a point as Mexico despite being out thought and flustered much of the night used two Pavel Pardo goals in a three minute span late in the match to escape.

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Photo from Reuters Mexico was fortunate to escape with a 2-1 win at Azteca tonight over a Honduran side filled with quality. Honduras played some quality football and was unfortunate not to secure at minimum a point as Mexico despite being out thought and flustered much of the night used two Pavel Pardo goals in a [. Click to continue reading...

Today sees the final day of the ASEAN Under 16s that have been held in Jakarta over the last week or so. They have been a lot of fun with some quality football produced by the kids.
No surprise really that the final features Australia and Bahrain but only seconds came between Malaysia and the Aussies. Click to continue reading...

The absence of quality football stadiums has again been highlighted by the examples of two clubs based in and around Jakarta.
Persita Tangerang's Benteng Stadium was deemed inadequate for Super League football and, being unable to do anything for themselves (even their coach lacks the necessary license) they have been told to play their first two games bloody miles away. Click to continue reading...

Fabio Capello has sensationally claimed that his tenure as England supremo has already been a huge success, as for the first time in the last four tournaments, England have successfully avoided the heartbreak of a quarter-final defeat.
Speaking outside the FA's (s)wanky Soho offices in Golden Shower Square, the swarthy tactical mastermind pointed out that England fans would be happy to be sat at home enjoying the Schadenfreude of watching the distress of the Croatian, Dutch, Italian and Portuguese supporters, as their hastily applied face paint ran down their cheeks like so many multi-coloured tears, rather than drinking their body-weight in beer and proceeding to throw white plastic chairs at riot police as a coping mechanism to deal with the overwelming frustration of yet another wasted summer watching a load of over-hyped, overpaid, flangemuppets blast penalty kicks into orbit. Click to continue reading...

The latest home defeat to a team from the Gulf, this time Bahrain, has meant the Thai national team's World Cup qualifying hopes have all but disappeared. Played in extremely humid conditions and in front of only a half-full Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok, the home side played all the quality football but a lack of [. Click to continue reading...