Alright well I promised it so here it is: Manchester United vs Everton preview (fancy pictures included):

This match marks the return of the EPL after one hell of an international break. We saw Russia fail to qualify for the World Cup in 2010, and Ireland being cheated defeated out of a birth.

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This past week(s) we've have a couple united boys playing for their countries, attempting to qualify for South Africa. While its not directly "United Related", there's no way I cannot bring up the most blatant handball since Maradonna's "Hand of God".

So a quick roundup of the scores and the United personnel playing before I get to more on to what is going to be the single most discussed play in recent times:

France 1 1 Ireland (2-1 Aggregate)
France : Patrice Evra
Ireland : John O'Shea, Darren Gibson

Portugal 1 B&H (2-0 Aggregate)
Portugal : Nani

Okay, so the handball (seen/touch/heard) 'round the world.

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Man Utd utility man contractually obliged to use the word 'cleat' In these crazy days of superstar footballers, viral marketing and global recession, boot deals have become a thing of the past for all but the game's most marketable elite. And when OTP thinks of marketable players John O'Shea is not one of the first that [. Click to continue reading...

Patrice Evra has confessed that he is on the receiving end of some piss taking after he rinsed his English United team-mates for failing to qualify for Euro 2008.

With Darren Fletcher's Scotland missing out on the World Cup, Evra has revealed how Fletch tells him they will be spending the summer together, after France fail to beat Ireland in the qualifier.

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Manchester United and France left-back Patrice Evra has told the press of his inability to drink his favorite drink, Sprite, after seeing nothing but green in it. France take on the Republic of Ireland this weekend in a crucial World Cup qualifyer, and Evra has quickly learned to despise all things green.

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Brek Shea, Eric Avila, Josh Lambo, and Peri Marosevic are all heading to South Africa. Click to continue reading...

Reports today suggest that both Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand are both doubtful for Saturday's match at home to Blackburn Rovers, presumably meaning we will have to rely on Jonny Evans and Wes Brown to play in the centre of our defence.

Both Vidic and Rio have been criticised for their recent form, particularly in light of the Liverpool game, when Rio was out-muscled and out-run by Fernando Torres, and Vidic was sent off for his third game in the row.

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Chivas USA 1 Earthquakes 1

San Jose have pulled level after 21 minutes, former Galaxy defender Brandon McDonald heading home a Shea Salinas cross from close range, splitting two Chivas USA defenders in the process. A free kick on the right wing started the move.

No shutout for Chivas USA tonight then.

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Why bother? United already have a fantastic right back!

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Manchester United have been linked with a move for Inter Milan right-back Maicon.

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FC Dallas forward Brek Shea says that rumors of his move during the January transfer window to Premiership club Fulham are unfounded. Click to continue reading...

Here we go:

• Cruyff questions the length of Messi's deal.
  
• West Ham front office in a transfer rift?
  
• Vieira and Chelsea?
  
• Roma eyes Fiorentina winger.
  
• Beckham may return to MLS.
  
• I'm Barca for life, says Rafa Marquez.
  
• Agger considered retirement.

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Extra Footie is reporting that Fulham are interested in buying Brek Shea from FC Dallas for £2 million. Good for him. I know he's a top prospect for the USA and Dallas, but I was pretty unimpressed with his performance at the u-20 world cup.

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Looks like the youngsters at FC Dallas won't all be there much longer. According to some reports from England, Fulham may be after Dallas striker Brek Shea.

Fulham boss Roy Hodgson looks set to plunder the US market once again with reports suggesting that he is keen to lure FC Dallas starlet Brek Shea to Craven Cottage in the January transfer window.

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Sad? Kinda...
Though the team was headlined by a dude named Brek Shea, and even those that follow this kind of thing weren't too hopeful of the American side.
Still a little depressing that we weren't even a high-enough ranked third-place team in group stage to stay alive.
The coach Thomas Rongen (above) blamed his player's lack of game experience. Click to continue reading...

All through this season, United have scored a total of 3 goals in the first half of their matches. It's ok to take some time to settle into the game, but 45 minutes in a 90 minute game, seems slightly out of place. It's not even surprising anymore when United fall behind. Everyone just hems and haws and waits for the inevitable equalizer.

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Defending English Premier League Champions Manchester United struggled on Saturday against Sunderland as they could only manage a 2-2 draw. Here's a recap of the match along with video highlights.

Manchester United draws with Sunderland 2-2 Video Highlights

Manchester United did not come out strong and Sunderland would take advantage.

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The U.S. Under-20 national team has its fate in its own hands. A win or a tie today vs. South Korea (12:45pm, ESPN2) in its final Under-20 World Cup group match will put the Americans into the second round of the tournament. A loss would leave seriously jeopardize the U.S. team's chances of advancing.

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South Korea, that is.Coach Thomas Rongen runs the same eleven:Perk; Williams, Opara, Agbossoumonde, Flores, Arguez, Jeffrey, Duka, Cruz, Shea, TaylorWe're under an hour from kickoff, back in a spell...--- Greg Seltzer Click to continue reading...

We're on the road to the World Cup, and this week languagecaster takes a look at one of the countries that has already qualified not a big name, but a country hoping for big things. Come along to the site at languagecaster.com to find out which country we are featuring and to read about many other footballing stories.

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Daniel Feuerstein, Richard Farley of World Soccer Reader and Mad About Futbol, Ignacio Rodriguez of Traffic Sports and host Kartik Krishnaiyer break down the US U-20 team in its forst two World Cup matches. Among the issues discussed are:

- The emergence of Tony Taylor
- Brek Shea's dispointing first two games
- Red Bull New York's long term vision for player development
- Dilly Duka and Red Bull
- Gale and Miami FC
- Traffic Sports USYNT player development program
- Kye Davies vs Jorge Flores
- Rongen's 4-3-3

And much more.

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Ryan Giggs has had a brilliant impact on our start to the season, proving critics wrong who doubted the reasoning behind making him being named PFA Player of the Season last year.

Against Arsenal, it was Giggs who provided the ball in to Wayne Rooney which saw us win the penalty, as well as the cross which Diaby headed in to his own net.

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The U.S. Under-20 national team takes on Cameroon today (12:30pm, ESPN) in a match it needs to win to keep its hopes of advancing to the second round going.

The Americans dropped a 3-0 decision to Germany in their opening match, while Cameroon opened its tournament with a 2-0 win vs.

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Saturday's Premier League action provided us with some very entertaining action with no shortage of goals. While the Premier League table once again has a familiar look, the attacking quality this weekend has compensated for this.

Firstly the new league leaders Manchester United grabbed a two goal win over Stoke.

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The English Premier League had eight matches on Saturday with most of the top teams winning. The one shocking result of the day was Wigan Athletic upseting Chelsea 3-1 to give them their first loss of the season. The other top teams such as Arsenal, Manchester United, and Liverpool all won. Here's a recap of these tops teams in the English Premier League from Saturday, September 26, 2009 along with video highlights.

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It was the two experienced heads that inspired victory at the Brittania Stadium. At a combined age of 49, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs both played their part.

From the off, Scholes was the driving force. Ryan Giggs came on a substitute and created both goals as Manchester United beat Stoke 2-0.

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Manchester United go top of the league after beating Stoke 2-0 away from home. Ryan Giggs grabbed both assists after coming on as a second half substitute, with Dimitar Berbatov and John O'Shea scoring.

"VIDEO: Berbatov & O'Shea Goals Against Stoke" was originally published at The Republik of Mancunia. Click to continue reading...

Goals from Berbatov and O'Shea are enough as Sir Alex's Man United side beat hard working Stoke City.

0-1 Berbatov

0-2 O'Shea

Don't forget to check out Online Football Manager!

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The German U-20 national team easily defeated their American counterparts 3-0 in the first match for both teams at the FIFA World Cup in Egypt Saturday.

The U.S. started auspiciously, with sloppy defensive errors, briefly regained their balance then gave up a penalty kick that was easily converted by Semih Aydilek.

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The U.S. Under-20 men's national team begins World Cup play today against Germany (10am, ESPN Classic) knowing that points are vital from this match in order to help qualifying out of a loaded group that includes Cameroon and South Korea.

The Americans will be looking to improve on a quarterfinal appearance for the 2007 U.

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We're about 45 minutes from kickoff, which means line-ups are in. The U.S. Under-20's are running a 4-3-3, and are listed here in our standard positional form (by line, R-to-L), while Germany are simply listed in order by shirt number:Perk: Mayen, Agbossoumonde, Opara, Davies, Powers, Jeffrey, Diskerud, Ownby, Shea, TaylorZieler; Jung, Jungwirth, L. Click to continue reading...

Paul Kennedy of Soccer America previews the United States Under-20 team as they head into the FIFA Under-20 World Championships.
Rongen's U-20s are surely the least fancied U.S. team to play in the world championships in a generation. A core of each U-20 team comes from the U-17 team two years earlier, but the 2007 U. Click to continue reading...

Nicholas "Niko" Gkionis is a friend of mine, a special guest Online Soccer Academy player, and has guest blogged and appeared for JMSocccer10.com a few times. Recently we have been talking and hopefully soon he will be posting on a regular basis. Today he talks about making his 1st team debut with his professional club in Belgium Royal Football Club de Liege.

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I know it's the Carling Cup, but, you know, it's Arsenal, and maybe you're looking for an excuse to waste time at work. That's what I'm here for.

Arsenal: Starters: Szczesny, Gilbert, Silvestre, Senderos, Gibbs, Wilshere, Coquelin, Ramsey, Traore, Watt, Sunu Bench: Shea, Bartley, Eastmond, Randall, Barazite, Frimpong, Vela

West Brom: Starters: Kiely, Barnett, Zuiverloon, Olsson, Jara, Thomas, Teixiera, Korren, Dorrans, Moore, Cox Bench: Carson, Meite, Martis, Mulunbu, Bednar, Reid, Woods

Interesting that Vela starts on the bench.

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FCD's Brek Shea scored in the 2-0 US win in their final tune up game. Click to continue reading...

I am glad to say it is Friday. Somehow this week has flown by me here but thankfully we have a weekend full of soccer ahead of us here. Two games tonight, with one just about underway in New York, and plenty more tomorrow and Sunday. Nearly every game has playoff implications surrounding them.

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