However busy Gerland gardeners may have been to ensure this game would not be cancelled due to the current cold wave striking in Europe, the French football authorities tried to get a few more degrees in anticipating it to 4.15 PM instead of 9PM, in the hope that a few sunrays would heat up the atmosphere.

By Chris Wright

Je suis bostin' for a slash

It's pretty damn parky over in France at the moment, with freezing temperatures (we're talking -13ºC in places) threatening to disrupt the weekend's football fixtures not that Saint-Etienne 'keeper Jeremie Janot is remotely fussed, for Monsieur Janot has devised a fool-proof method to beat the cold snap as a game ticks over into it's latter stages.

Benfica 21 year old striker Nelson Oliveira could be moved out on loan as the Eagles are said to be offering his services to French clubs Bordeaux and Saint-Etienne. The Portuguese U21 year old international is not currently getting much playing time at the Luz and with the signing of Djalo will have even less first team action.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a small article selecting the best eleven in Europe who wear the number thirteen shirt. I thought I'd look into this subject further and I believe that if you take the top five leagues in Europe (Spain, Italy, Germany, France and England) that the highest number you can make an eleven from (you need a goalkeeper remember) is 33.

AS Lyon Duchère vs. Olympique Lyonnais

Coupe de France, Round of 64

Coupe de France greets us on the other side of the winter break, and OL travels to, well, Lyon. The fourth division team of Lyon Duchère, the youth club of Eric Abidal, hosts Olympique Lyonnais, the big boys this time.

Olympique Lyonnais vs. Evian TG FC,

Matchday 18, Ligue 1

Finally a Champions League Knockout stages draw that spelt relief for Lyon. In their 9th consecutive appearance in the Round-of-16, they meet APOEL FC; the Cypriot side that managed to finish ahead of Zenit St.

4 months. 4 months since we couldn't count on a full squad. And boy, was it felt. But could our initial fortunes be coming back to us? All of a sudden, no more injured (except Tafer and substitute keepers Vercoutre and Lopes), no more suspended (Dabo has served his three matches after being sent off against Saint-Etienne).

A proposal: when we wile away the hours compiling lists of the Greatest Ever Footballers, we are doing a disservice to this form of discourse if we do not take its premises seriously. To pretend that we can go on existing without this genetically-hewn proclivity for reducing the world to an Excel document is both futile and obscene, and we've no interest in arguing as to whether Grand Ranking is really a childish waste of everyone's time.

FC Sochaux-Montbéliard vs. Olympique Lyonnais,

Ligue 1 , Matchday 13.

It is time to pick up the pieces. Real Madrid redefined the words ‘Demolition Derby' for us these past few weeks. But more significantly, they've left Lyon on the verge of being knocked out from the Champions League after the group stages.

Olympique Lyonnais vs. AS Saint-Etienne

Ligue 1, Matchday 12

Celebrations of victory over derby rivals Saint-Etienne in the Coupe de la Ligue Round of 16 turned sour following news of further injury to crucial squad members. Long time back up keeper Rémy Vercoutre and in-form winger Michel Bastos made their way into the injured list.

AS Saint Etienne vs. Olympique Lyonnais

Coupe de la Ligue 2011-12, Round of 16.

It was this cup victory that sparked the rise of the club in the decade gone by. Coupe de la Ligue is back for another year. Olympique Lyonnais may have moved to bigger, better and eventually more elusive title challenges lately, but a Ligue cup remains an important opportunity not only for clubs from lesser tiers to challenge the top teams, but for established teams to try out the depth of their squads.

Inter Milan is in rebuilding mode under a new manager after a brutal start to the season, and today will offer new manager Claudio Ranieri and his side a tough test to see just how far along the blue side of Milan has come.

Napoli will provide the challenge, as Edinson Cavani and the crew from Naples look to boost their own Serie A title hopes.

Champions League Group Stages – Matchday 2 – Sep 27, 2011.

My good performances are only coming out because the team is a well oiled machine right now and they are creating far more chances for me than I used to get, and that's because there is more quality in our play.

By Alan Duffy

Joe Cole rediscovered some of the old razzle dazzle in a superb debut performancet for Lille in Ligue 1. The tricky winger came on as a sub in the second half against Saint Etienne and was soon involved in the action, embarking on a fantastic slaloming run through the opposition backline before pulling the ball back for Ludovic Obraniak to give the Ligue 1 champions a 3-1 victory.

Loaned out Liverpool man Joe Cole could make Lille debut against Saint-Etienne, boss Rudi Garcia confirms

The French champions' head coach has revealed that the England man is in contention to start his first game for his new club after completing season-long deal on deadline day

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-09-09 11:47:00 from: Goal

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

By Alan Duffy

Following on from Man City bigwig Gary Cook's distasteful email cock-up comes the bizarre news that another cancer-related story seems to have been a total hoax.

It had been widely reported in the media that former Fulham and Sunderland midfielder Steed Malbranque had recently decided to quit football altogether in order to care for his son, who had been diagnosed with cancer.

Levante is set to snap up Liverpool flop Nabil El Zhar after he was released from his contract at Anfield.
The Moroccan winger was touted as a potential star of the future when he arrived from Saint Etienne five years ago but he has failed to establish himself on Merseyside.
And having made just 32 appearances for Liverpool, he has now reached an agreement with the club to terminate his current deal.

In a surprise swoop, U.S. captain Carlos Bocanegra has transferred from Saint Etienne to three-time defending Scottish Premier League champion Rangers. The move comes the same day that U.S. teammate Alejandro officially completed a move to Glasgow, the duo joining Maurice Edu at Ibrox.

Liverpool endured a frustrating opening day setback as Sunderland show resilience and courage with a touch of class from their new signing.
Liverpool showed off all their new major signings in front of their home crowd. For the first half Liverpool looked dangerous and inventive with Suarez forcing Richardson into a bad back pass which the striker pounced on and rounded the keeper; only to be brought down by Richardson.

Saint-Etienne youngster Loris Nery is attracting the attention of Liverpool director Damien Comolli, who previously used to ply his trade at the French club.
Nery is a 20-year-old defender who signed his first professional contract with the Ligue 1 side last August and made his debut the following month.

Sin duda este gol aparecera en todos los rankings del año , un golazo en el partido de Union de San Felipe 1 1 La Calera del futbol chileno el goleador Matias Urbano nos regalo una muy buena postal futbolera.

"Estaba chequeando el tema del gol en internet como uno de los más vistos.

The U.S. v. Mexico rematch friendly is less than a week away, and today Jurgen Klinsmann unveiled his first list of call-ups as the head coach for the national team. The Mexico friendly comes at a tricky time for the U.S., as the bigger European leagues are kicking off this month and Klinsmann might have hesitated to call-up players overseas in these leagues.

GK: Bill Hamid (D.C.United), Tim Howard (Everton) DEF Carlos Bocanegra (Saint-Etienne), Edgar Castillo (Club America), Timmy Chandler (FC Nürnberg), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Michael Orozco Fiscal (San Luis), Heath Pearce (Chivas USA), Tim Ream (New York Red Bulls) MID: Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Ricardo Clark (Eintracht Frankfurt), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04), Brek Shea (FC Dallas), Jose Torres (Pachuca) FOR: Freddy Adu (Benfica), Juan Agudelo.

By FRANCO PANIZO

Franck Ribery recently said he could be as good as Leo Messi if he kept himself injury-free this coming season.

Well, so much for that.

Ribery could miss the start of the Bundesliga season after picking up an ankle injury during Bayern Munich's training session on Sunday.

Lille is closing in on Saint-Etienne winger Dimitri Payet, despite an interest from Liverpool.
Goal.com UK revealed Reds director Damien Comolli is eager to lure the 24-year-old to Anfield, but he is not keen on matching the French club's asking price, around €12.3 million (£11 m).
Rather, he has valued the player at €6.

Newcastle United allegedly maintain a strong interest in Saint-Etienne's Blaise Matuidi and Paris Saint-Germain's Mevlüt Erdinç. According to 'France Football' (as well as our very own Chronicle) the French revolution is far from over at Newcastle. Apparently we are still pursuing a legendary 'double swoop' for Blaise Matuidi and Mevlüt Erdinç.

Liverpool is weighing up a bid for Saint-Etienne star Dimitri Payet, but will not pay the French club's £11 million asking price.
Damien Comolli, the Reds' director of football, is a huge admirer of the winger having worked with him at Saint-Etienne before leaving for Liverpool last November.
Payet, 24, is the subject of interest from Qatari-owned Paris Saint-Germain as well as French champions Lille, who are looking to replace Arsenal-bound Gervinho.

Come join Minnesota supporters of the Men's National Team, along with readers of IMSoccer News, duNord Futbol, and the Dark Clouds supporters group for a US National Team watch party.

The US National Team plays Jamaica in a CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinal game, June 19 with a 2:00 p.

Some good news today, well we think it's good news. Blaise Matuidi - Newcastle after this player Newcastle have launched a doubly bid for Swiss winger Tranquillo Barnetta and Saint-Etienne's France midfielder Blaise Matuidi. With a new mess having been created at the club, we have to hope that new players will be brought in [.

Saint-Etienne striker Emmanuel Riviere confessed he is flattered to be linked with top clubs around Europe, including Arsenal. Speaking to Sky Sports, the 21-year old explained that if manager Arsene Wenger is monitoring his progress it ...

L'Equippe are reporting that Newcastle may go after Saint-Etienne midfielder Blaise Matuidi. Blaise Matuidi-Would Newcastle really be interested? Blaise Matuidi is a 24 year old French International who has 3 caps for France. He has been at Saint-Etienne since 2007 where he has made over 100 appearances for the Ligue 1 club.

By Chris Wright

You'll have to bear with me on this one as I've had to translate the accompanying info for this clip into English myself and my French isn't exactly...how you say?...tres bonne.

From what I can gather, a Saint-Etienne supporters group (ultras?

uno de los mejores goles de la historia del futbol mundial lo anoto de tiro libre Roberto Carlos este brasileño que esta a punto del retiro aun mantiene mucha calidad en sus pies, ¿no lo creen? pues observen el siguiente video de un entrenamiento.
foto por Diogo França

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With France's next Euro Qualifier a week from today, let's a take a look at where things stand:

France's Upcoming Matches
Friday, June 3, 2011 – Qualifier 6 of 10 – Away to Belarus
Monday, June 6, 2011 – A friendly away to Euro 2012 co-host Ukraine
Thursday, June 9, 2011 – A friendly away to Euro 2012 co-host Poland

Euro Qualifying Group D Standings
France – 12 points from 5 matches
Belarus – 8 points from 5 matches
Albania – 8 points from 5 matches
Bosnia and Herzegovina – 7 points from 4 matches
Romania – 5 points from 5 matches
Luxembourg – 1 point from 6 matches

Here are the players called up to face Belarus, who defeated France 1-0 in Paris in September.

A Federação Francesa de Futebol definiu as nove cidades que receberão as partidas da Eurocopa de 2016. Bordeaux, Lens, Lille, Lyon, Marselha, Nancy, Nice, Paris e Saint-Denis foram escolhidas nesta sexta-feira. Já Saint-Etienne e Toulouse estão na lista reserva.
A cidade de Lens, localizada no norte da França, foi escolhida apesar de seu clube ter sido rebaixado para a segunda divisão nacional.

PARIS, France — The French football federation has named the nine cities that will host matches during the 2016 European championships. Bordeaux, Lens, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nancy, Nice, Paris and Saint-Denis were chosen on Friday ahead of Saint-Etienne and Toulouse, which have been named as reserve locations.

Ligue 1: 35° giornata analisi e commento Di Stefano Lazzarato Turno infrasettimanale caratterizzato da 29 gol ed un solo 0-0, ha visto la debacle del Lione matematicamente fuori dalla lotta scudetto. Auxerre ormai salvo, mentre tenta un recupero disperato il Lens tornato alla vittoria dopo sei gare.

What seemed like not much of a title race in England has suddenly become a contest as Chelsea's win on Saturday has given Manchester United a reason to feel some pressure.

Chelsea's win against Tottenham means Manchester United will need to secure all three points from its visit to Arsenal today in order to avoid losing even more ground heading into their meeting with Chelsea next week.

Liverpool Director of football Damien Comolli has highlighted the qualities of potential target Blaise Matuidi.
The Saint Etienne midfielder has been linked with a summer move to Anfield as part of the anticipated wave of summer signings.
Comolli is set to use the aide of statistics to help him decide on which players will make the grade at Liverpool.

Carlos Bocanegra and Saint Etienne overcame an early deficit to down visiting Nancy while Quentin Westberg watched from the bench for Evian in Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 action in France.