Controversy surrounded France's qualification for the World Cup against Ireland. So much that French president Nicolas Sarkozy apologized while the Irish have demanded that the match should be replayed (this was rejected by FIFA).The problem is France's equalizer in extra time (that brought France ahead 2-1 on aggregate, and gave them the spot in South Africa) where Thierry Henry is clearly seen Click to continue reading...

This is going to be the strangest, most illogical football rule you see all day, so prepare yourself or your brain just might melt and slide out your ear...

Second division club Portimonense won their Carlsberg Cup (Portugal's league cup) first group phase by simply substituting in a 19-year-old goalkeeper (pictured above.

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If you have any reasonable level of motivation on Friday, you're a better person than I. I spent about half the time I usually do trying to find interesting links for today's edition of...

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It's been six days since US National Team forward Charlie Davies was seriously injured in a car accident that took the life of a young woman. As I've written, and as others have reiterated, the...

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I was in a pub in Århus, casually, and started watching the Premier League match between Sunderland and Liverpool. Not long into the match, saw one of the strangest goals I have seen: Glen Johnson shot on goal for Sunderland, and a beach ball that had been thrown onto the pitch got in the way of the ball, changing its trajectory into Liverpool's goal. Click to continue reading...

Another requisite round of crazy talk from the CONCACAF big cheese, with his true colors on full display for the world's appreciation... Turning to bidding for the 2018 World Cup, Warner called the English campaign "lightweight,'' complaining that... Click to continue reading...

The cost-control restrictions that Major League Soccer places on its teams are sometimes viewed as unnecessary and capricious by many of the league's fans; this is especially true for fans of clubs...

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As an American soccer fan, it's incumbent (or so it seems) that I defend the sport constantly against ad hominem attacks by those that hate the game. It's an extra part of the "job" that comes with...

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The rules of soccer (or football, or more specifically "association football") are, as in every sport, ever changing and evolving. Substitutions, the offside rule, methods for breaking ties: over...

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In the match between Brazil and Egypt, an Egyptian player made a save on the line in the last minute of the match. Initially, the referee called a corner, but apparently, after his 4th referee called his attention, called the penalty kick, whereby Brazil won on a goal by Kaká. This was the just thing, and should show that TV images are useful for referees. Click to continue reading...

During the recent FIFA Congress in the Bahamas, world soccer's governing body passed new rules regarding international players; no longer will youth internationals be required to declare which nation...

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Happy Memorial Day boys and girls. I hope you are enjoying your holiday while properly honoring those who gave their lives to protect our country. While many of us are enjoying hamburgers, hot...

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Or, A Post Kind of Like The Last One, With Different Words

"The losers owe their loss to him and the winners triumph in spite of him. Scapegoat for every error, cause of every misfortune, the fans would have to invent him if he didn't already exist. The more they hate him, the more they need him."

- Eduardo Galeano, Soccer In Sun and Shadow

Referees serve some of the game's most cruel paradoxes.

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Or, A Post Kind of Like The Last One, With Different Words

"The losers owe their loss to him and the winners triumph in spite of him. Scapegoat for every error, cause of every misfortune, the fans would have to invent him if he didn't already exist. The more they hate him, the more they need him."

- Eduardo Galeano, Soccer In Sun and Shadow

Referees lie at the center of the game's most cruel paradoxes.

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Change for the better
12 Early Rule Changes That Transformed The Sport Of Football
1. The offiside rule as we know it today was implemented - 1873
2. Teams forced to change ends at half-time - 1874
3. Introduction of the crossbar (rather than a piece of tape) - 1875
4. Match length set at 90 minutes - 1877
5. Click to continue reading...

One of the golden rules of writing a blog - whatever you write - is to post an entry everyday, at least.
Me, I have been naughty. This is my first entry since Christmas Eve.
Well I think I can be excused. There has been too much happening over the last six days - Food, drink, merriment, sale shopping and getting ready to go on holiday at the weekend. Click to continue reading...

I had a great conversation with Jonathan Starling of the Third Half podcast last week. We discussed the upcoming UEFA Cup group stage, UEFA's stance on debt-laden clubs, the situation at Ajax and many other topics. I've posted the Champions League Talk segment of the show here as a separate podcast file but if you'd [. Click to continue reading...

This may be a bit long-winded and rambling but I hope you stick with me as there are a number of important points to discuss.  UEFA recently released a publication entitled "Safeguarding The Heritage And Future Of Team Sport In Europe", which outlines UEFA's stance on principles of good governance, player agents and home-grown players. Click to continue reading...

Would that I could use all of my journalistic know-how to explain offsides half as well as this.
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Although I am sure that I have admitted many, here is a quick list of rule changes, schemes and slight changes to officiating that have been introduced in top level football world wide. Bear in mind that all of these took place in the last couple of years; FIFA, the top flight leagues and Football Associations are clearly rule happy. Click to continue reading...

Three Lions haters, line up for this one. FIFA announced today that England's win over Trinidad and Tobago will stand and continue to be considered an "A" class international, despite England making an illegal seventh substitute in the match. Apparently, allowing the seventh sub was nothing more than a clerical error on the [. Click to continue reading...

This isn't the first time we've talked about equitable playing time here, but we recently had a ras hof parent complaints in our Rec league, so we took some action and that spawned an interesting debate among our coaches. Our league mandates that all Recreational players should play a minimum of 50% of the match, except [. Click to continue reading...

If you are an MLS fan you have sure heard about the discovery process at some point. The discovery process is used to determine which teams get new players coming in to MLS. If a team has a claim on a player and the league signs the player, then the team gets the player. Simple enough? Definitely.

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Something tells me I may not be the only one out there that feels this way but with the way the MLS is growing and the new international player rules, I think it is time for the MLS to take serious looks at players in Africa. I thought of this a few weeks back before the [...] Click to continue reading...

Of course, the initial reaction was always going to be, "Wow, MLS has rules? Neat!" Cynicism aside, there are some pretty interesting changes afoot, as detailed in Goff's massive post on the subject. Some morsels to chew over: Grandfather Clause or Dangerous Precedent? The Grown-Ass Man, Captain Kissypants, and the Flopping Fish are all considered grandfathered under the DP rules for 2008 and Click to continue reading...

The MLS released the complete list of players available for today's 3:00 p.m. ET waiver Draft, to be conducted via conference call. Below is the order of the draft and the available players. The MLS Waiver Draft Selection Order: 1. San Jose 2. Toronto 3. Salt Lake 4. Los Angeles 5. Colorado 6. Columbus 7. Click to continue reading...

Offside confuses soccer parents - there is no denying it. I chuckle because I see some soccer parents who played AND have coached, yelling at referees for offside when it clearly wasn't. So how would you explain offside to soccer parents? Josh at Throughball found a soccer parent asking that very question though he's not [...] Click to continue reading...

I honestly didn't see very much MLS action this weekend since I was on the road until the early evening on Sunday. I did however catch the LA-Toronto game and I heard a very interesting tid-bit from the ever so annoying Rob Stone. Stone called his usual game with the usual crew (including Allen Hopkins [...] Click to continue reading...