Australia's second game of the 2009 under-16 AFC championships has just wrapped up and it's another win for the Aussie team. Which means, barring any huge upsets, they have made it through to the semi-finals of the titles. To make it to next year's under-17 FIFA women's World Cup, they need to finish in the top-three so it means they are halfway there. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina has said that he does not believe an early European exit for the club would be a complete disaster.
Reina knows that his side must win their two remaining games and hope already-qualified Lyon can do them a favour against Italian side Fiorentina, but maintains that the Reds' rich European history makes up for this season's woes. Click to continue reading...

Just as the Second World War had started at the beginning of the football season, it ended in Britain, at least at what would have been the end of it. It took, however, many years for the country to recover from the end of the fighting, so perhaps it is unsurprising that the Football League was unable to resume fixtures for the start of the 1945/46 season.

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The first round of MLS playoffs (aka MLS Conference Semi-finals)� always spurs heated discussion about its playoff format as well as the League's two conference structure.

Let's take an overview of various playoff format options and League structures� for Major League Soccer.� There should be three objectives to a playoff format and League Structure:

1) Crown a worthy champion

2) Entertain the fans

3) Maximize revenue for the teams and League

No matter what playoff format is used or what tweaks are made to improve it, a percentage of fans will criticize it and offer other imperfect solutions.

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I'm sure you're all like me out there in the Gooner Nation. Still luxuriating in the warm glow of the derby win last Saturday over the Forces of Darkness. The cod DVD cover doing the email rounds with Spurs releasing a highlights video of the first forty-two minutes of the game is absolutely delicious.

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We finished the regular conference games this weekend extending our unbeaten run to 11 games. We have only conceded 6 goals in the last 10 games, so our defense deserves a lot of credit.

When I say our defense, I should really say our defensive play. We have to defend from all positions all over the pitch and the hardwork our forwards put in pressurising the opponents in our attacking third deserves as much credit as the defenders working hard in and around our penalty box.

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It's the FA Cup First Round this weekend so, in the first of five pieces about the Oldest Cup Competition In The World (and there's a phrase that is probably copyrighted by The FA), we take a look back at Wycombe Wanderers' run to the semi-finals of the competition in 2001.

The FA Cup is a competition that throws up surprise results every season, but some records remain and one that may never be broken is that no-one from the bottom two divisions of the Football League has made The FA Cup final.

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The playoff version of the SuperClasico got off to a bang with a 2-2 draw. (Getty Images)

Some could say the results we saw in the first week of the playoffs were fairly expected. The SuperClasico ended in a draw that I think most folks expected to get; Real Salt Lake found a way to get a win over the Crew at home; Seattle and Houston battled it out to a scoreless draw; and maybe the only real shocker of the weekend was the Revs beating Chicago 2-1.

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Local band The Jons have been named the winners of Southend's Battle of the Bands.

In a musical spectacular, The Jons saw off competition from Lazarus Rose, Vacant Touch and The Peppermint Apes to win the seven-week competition, organised by Southend Radio 105.1.

The Jons, whose music is described as an infectious blend of bouncy ska, punk and indie, wowed the crowds at Southend's Marine Parade on Saturday night (31 October), with hundreds of fans enjoying their energy-charged performance, and then taking part in a text vote to make them the winners.

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Well here we go again.

Having lost the past two semi-finals, or conference finals, or whatever you're calling them, the Fire are entering the post season yet again with the taste of a lot of post season success, turned disappointment in their mouths.

Two years ago, we rocked DC United's world after they won the Supporter's Shield, and we snuck in -thanks to Thorny's 90′-, by dropping them first round only to be taken out by a Taylor Twellman bicycle kick from hell.

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Saturday October 31st
1:00 pm – Greenwood (2) vs Thomas Jefferson (7)
3:00 pm – Richland (3) vs Laquey (6)
5:00 pm – New Covenant (4) vs College Heights (5)
Catholic has a bye as the #1 seed

All games will be played at Springfield Catholic on Saturday 10/31. The Semi Finals on Monday, 11/2 are scheduled for Cooper #3 at Lake Country Soccer.

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Saturday October 31st
Greenwood (2) 9
Thomas Jefferson (7) 1

Richland (3) 1
Laquey (6) 6

New Covenant (4)
College Heights (5) -

Catholic has a bye as the #1 seed

All games will be played at Springfield Catholic on Saturday 10/31. The Semi Finals on Monday, 11/2 are scheduled for Cooper #3 at Lake Country Soccer.

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A Michael Stewart goal sent Hearts through to the semi finals as they put paid to Celtic's CIS Insurance Cup hopes.

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Arsenal face Liverpool tonight in the Carling Cup, a competition that Wenger has religiously used to give reserves, youth players and first team squad players a run-out. � We have had some success over the years, reaching one final and three semi-finals, so the policy has its merits. � I would like Wenger to take the competition a little more seriously and start to use more experienced players the closer got to the final.

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ERIC SAMUEL
The Sultan Mohd IV Stadium in Kota Baru is a "football heaven" for Kelantan coach B. Sathianathan.
The former national coach said that teams should look forward playing in Kota Baru and not be intimidated by their partisan fans.
"The kind of atmosphere you get playing here is lacking in Malaysian football," said Sathianathan after Kelantan, backed by a sell-out 25,000 crowd, defeated KL Plus 3-0 in a Malaysia Cup quarter-final second-leg match on Saturday to advance 4-1 on aggregate. Click to continue reading...

Springfield SC, U14 Champions at Fall Classic

The Springfield Soccer Club once again made its' presence known at a local tournament with several convincing tournament championships this past weekend. The tournament started out on a brisk Saturday morning with the familiar red and black uniforms active on many fields. Click to continue reading...

Springfield Catholic, Justin Bowenschulte

The seedings for the district tournament for 2009 are available below. Springfield Catholic is the host of this years playoff soccer, the 1st round and semifinal round will be played on their pitch at the High School with the Final booked for Cooper #1 at Lake Country:

1.

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Springfield Catholic, Justin Bowenschulte

The seedings for the district tournament for 2009 are available below. Springfield Catholic is the host of this years playoff soccer, the 1st round and semifinal round will be played on their pitch at the High School with the Final booked for Cooper #1 at Lake Country:

1.

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A good result finally. The men from Stamford Bridge raised their game to pick up a handsome 4-0 win against Athletico Madrid. Chelsea had proved their progress to the semi-finals of Champions League last season was no fluke. Click to continue reading...

I never thought I would see the day but there are increasing calls from the Inter faithful for Jose Mourinho to leave.

The self styled "special one" who won the Champions League in 2004, as well as league titles in Portugal, England and Italy, is under intense pressure as Inter's alarming European form continues to slide downwards.

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I am touched by the hand of *boilk* this morning. Stupid delicious gin and tonics.

It's a big day at the club today. The AGM takes place this afternoon and, all things considered, it should be a much calmer event than the last official meeting. Back in April things were stormier at a special shareholders meeting, so much so that certain segments of it didn't make the official broadcast and we know that Arsene took offence at somebody labelling Sylvester geriatric when we all know that whatever else Sylvester still has the funk.

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The biggest live music competition in Essex returns to Southend seafront this Saturday (24th), as local bands battle it out to be crowned Battle of the Band champions 2009.
It's the second set of semi-finals this weekend with The Peppermint Apes, Vanity Clause, The Summer Regret and Lazarus Rose performing live on the Southend Radio SoundStage from 6-8pm. Click to continue reading...

Krisztian Nemeth, Hungary Under-20s' number 9Hungary's progress to the Under-20s World Cup semi-finals in Egypt has brought to the spotlight the country's close links with Liverpool Football... Click to continue reading...

Terim has managed Turkey since 2005 and took them to the semi-finals of Euro 2008, where they lost narrowly to Germany.
Happier times... Click to continue reading...

The Black Satellites dance their way to the U-20 World Cup semi-finals in Egypt (Getty)Just four teams remain in the 2009 Under-20s World Cup as the competition reaches it's semi-final stage in... Click to continue reading...

Hark back to 2006. It was the first season at The Grove and despite many more tickets being on sale on a match-by-match basis, many gooners couldn't get a ticket to watch their club in the plush new stadium. It was nigh on impossible for Red members to get a ticket.
In those times, we couldn't buy a home draw in the Carling cup. Click to continue reading...

Before Gary Neville got fined £5k for his celebration against Liverpool, what irked me the most about Robbie Fowler's five digit salute a week before was that he had no claim to Liverpool's European success.

Whilst wearing City's blue shirt, he had ten years at Liverpool, 330 appearances to his name, and just five trophies.

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Today the Montreal Impact take on the Puerto Rico Islanders in the 2nd leg of the USL1 Semi finals in Puerto Rico.� Game time is 5pm central time.� Montreal currently leads the series 2-1 with a victory in Montreal this past Thursday.

Montreal's leader in games played this season, Joey Gjersten, took some time out of his busy weekend to answer a few questions for us.

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Selangor's skipper "Towkay" Soh Chin Aun (left) in an aerial duel with Singapore striker Arshad Khamis back in 1976 at the National Stadium.
Only those who had been through that era are probably the only guys who would appreciate that unique footballing rivalry between Singapore and Selangor. Click to continue reading...

AFC Cup
Binh Duong v Chonburi 2-0 (Philani, Molina) 18,000
But South China from Hong Kong are in the semi finals...where they play Kuwait SC. Binh Duong play Al Karamah from Syria in their semi. I wonder...for the legs to be played in arab countries, will they appoint arab refs? Click to continue reading...

Thai Port v Nakhorn Ratchasima 3-1
BEC Tero v Bangkok United 2-0
TTM v Surat Thani 3-0
Bangkok Glass v Osotsapa 2-2 (Osotsapa win on penalties)
Has any team ever reached the semi finals of a cup competition in the same season in two separate countries before? 'Cos TTM Samut Sakorn have done just that in both Thailand and Singapore. Click to continue reading...

It wasn't as exhilarating as last year, when the Islanders scored 3 goals at home (the last on the 119′, in overtime) to win the series 3-2 on aggregate; but the Islanders duplicated the feat: To knock out the Rochester Rhinos of the USL Playoffs.

After losing 2-1 to the Rhinos last Thursday in the away leg of the 2009 USL Quarter Finals, the Islanders won 4-1 in the return leg in Bayamón to win the quarterfinal match up with a 5-3 aggregate, and eliminate the Rhinos from the playoffs for the 2nd year in a row.

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It wasn't as exhilarating as last year, when the Islanders scored 3 goals at home (the last one on the 119′ in overtime) to win the 2008 Semi-Final match up 3-2 on aggregate; but the Islanders duplicated the same feat this year: to knock out the Rochester Rhinos of the USL Playoffs.

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It wasn't as exhilarating as last year, when the Islanders scored 3 goals at home (the last one on the 119′ in overtime) to win the 2008 Semi-Final match up 3-2 on aggregate; but the Islanders duplicated the same feat this year: they knocked out the Rochester Rhinos of the USL-1 Playoffs.

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Click on the "envelope" for a bigger view
Scribed this on the back of an envelope.
Please don't be confused by those "arrows" and the hideous handwriting (it was a scribble-on anyway), allow me to explain with some helps from the "wiki" pages on the subject.
As you can see for yourself on the top of the envelope, I scribbled "Top 8 (AFL)", while at the lower half of it, you should noticed the words - "Super League (RL)". Click to continue reading...