Once again, sorry for the lack of activity on this blog. I'm still looking to hire some full time writers so bare with me on this one. Secondly, apologies is this post has a rather sombre tone it just feels as if, maybe especially towards the latter end of the year, that its not been a great year for football in general.

Heather O'Reilly is competing against some of the best footballers of today for the FIFA's Puskas Award, which recognises the 'Best Goal of the Year'. Of course, everybody has their own interpretation of what constitutes a "great goal". Neymar, Lionel Messi, Rooney, Giovani dos Santos and Ibrahimovic have all scored some of the most beautiful ones this year, but so has Heather!

I'm sorry I tried to ban your trumpet. Handshake? Sure, racially approve your opponents on the pitch just don't you dare try to ban the vuvuzela. Sepp knows discrimination when he sees it and he will not stand for it.

By Alan Duffy

"La la la la la la la la..... I can't hear you... La la la la la la la .... Everything is fine..... La la la la la la"

Why hasn't Sepp Blatter been awarded a Nobel Peace Prize yet? He surely is the new Gandhi?

Following on from his suggestion that female footballers should wear skimpy outfits to make the game more popular, and that gay people visiting the World Cup finals in Qatar should simply refrain from sexual activity while in the country, the champion of civil rights has now devised an answer to the problem of racism in football, something that is once again in the spotlight.

En Marzo del año entrante se revisará la aplicación de la tecnología en el Futbol, primordialmente se aplicará ésta en la linea de gol para evitar errores desastrosos como el que le ocurrió a Inglaterra en el pasado mundial y no le fue hecho válido un gol legítimo.
De ser así, en la temporada 2012-2013 de la Premier League utilizará esta tecnología, y es probable que en la Eurocopa también, se revisará y se medirá su eficacia para tentantivamente si Fifa lo aprueba implementarlo en la copa del mundo de 2014.

It's going to take a while for me to shake the cobwebs off from my matted hair and let my pupils dilate so that they can adjust to the sunlight. Bear with me, for it has been a really long time under that rock, and as much as the cool, lovely shade it offers seems like heaven for all of us sweating through the Indian summers, it isn't really a fun hangout sort of place.

Their Words During his stay in Zimbabwe, Blatter met the country's President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai separately, and discussed with both the football development challenges the country is presently facing and the ways to move forward and exploit the potential of game. from FIFA's press release.

By Chris Wright

Surely even those with the most liberal interpretation of the 'ball to hand' rule must admit that Equatorial Guinea Women defender Bruna probably should have conceded a penalty for her little brain-wobble against Austrailia?

Fortunately, especially for the referee's sake, the Aussies eventually went on to win 3-2.

Unwisely.

Football's in rough shape. FIFA's corrupt. Sepp was relected. You can't seemingly go a day without match-fixing allegations. And we're still dealing with

So FIFA is going about cleaning up the game with a panel of "wise men". They began with Johan Cruyff, which is all good and well.

Danny Jordaan, vice-presidente della federcalcio sudafricana, commenta la riconferma di Sepp Blatter come presidente della FIFA Author: Omnisport-it Tags: News FIFA World Cup Football Italian Posted: 01 June 2011 Rating: 0.0 Votes: 0

Por snedecor
- Oye, Sepp, mira, es que tu rival Bin Hammam tenía pensado organizar una reunión con los presidentes de las federaciones caribeñas para comentarles un poco por encima su proyecto y bueno, ya sabes cómo son estas cosas, a lo mejor les ofrece algún dinerillo... Unos 40.000 dólares o así, pero para cubrir sus gastos, no es para que luego le voten ni nada de eso, ¿eh?

For allll the marbles. Funny (is that the word I'm looking for here?) that on the eve of the biggest club game on the planet, Uncle Sepp is embroiled in a FIFA investigation taking a peek into ignoring allegations of bribery over the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Without knowing much beyond the small morsels we have, I will say this: Vladimir Putin threw his support behind Blatter today.

- Jason Davis
It's lunchtime in America (or was when I started this), and soccer fans everywhere are lining up to support Grant Wahl's newly announced candidacy for FIFA president. It's time for a new voice. An outsider. A guy whose name doesn't rhyme with "splatter" or "pin yuh mom.

The little Messi had a big weekend too.

• Calling the Goal Fairy. (Cheeky Chip)
• Sepp reverses the field. (WFI)
• Arsenal-Newcastle not an int'l conspiracy. (Avoiding The Drop)
• Carroll is breaking down barriers. (Fisted Away)
• Liverpool's kit shop.

The best thing about National Holidays falling midweek, is that they make the whole week seem really short. And allows one to stay up and watch midweek games well into the wee hours of the morning without worries of being late for anything. Thank you, Constitution of India.

How to land on the bench real quick.

[101gg]

• Fixing the world, one hug and corner at a time. (Reuters)
• Arsenal's new blueprint. (The DA)
• Mysconceptions and Mario Balotelli. (Futfanatico)
• Crossing the Merseyside divide. (The Spoiler)
• WWIII: Sepp v Qatar.

Uber-creep Sepp is back to his old tricks, offering up his weekly soundbite that is both confusing and probably a little bit offense.

This week's target: economically-challenged housewives. A group that, according to his Seppness, deserves to be randomly fired under the bus from time to time.

Without changing a thing, the face of the World Cup has already changed greatly for the near future. The award of Brazil is about as traditional as it can get, but Qatar in 2022 will see the first World Cup in the Middle East, in an Arab nation. So that's a large change.

The rumblings of a potential winter World Cup would give it an odd feel.