In a week's time we will know a near complete list of the nations who will be competing to lift
the World Cup in South Africa. The first legs take place on November 14, with the second legs on
the 18th. The African nations qualification process takes a little longer, so I'll be focusing on
the Republic of Ireland Vs France, Bosnia-Herz Vs Portugal, Russia Vs Slovenia and Greece Vs
Ukraine.
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Portugal will most likely be missing Cristiano Ronaldo when it hosts Bosnia-Herzegovina on
11/14/09 as it looks to build some momentum prior to the return leg in Bosnia on the 18th of
November. Unfortunately for the Portuguese the latest report claims Ronaldo will be out for about a
month which means he will not feature in both matches for the national team.
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La Liga Talk 16 September @ 03:30 AM EST
"Please, no acclaim, I'm just a humble footballer... who scored twice from two incredible free
kicks."
The group stage of the Champions League began on Tuesday evening, and two La Liga outfits looked
to initiate the exorcism of their personal demons.
Real Madrid and its galácticos played its first Champions League match of the season
against an upstart FC ZĂĽrich team who, before the match, seemed more interested in whom they would
swap shirts.
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La Liga Talk 14 September @ 11:51 AM EST
Sergio Agüero and Atlético Madrid cannot see or find their form.
Atlético Madrid prolonged their faltering start with a 1-1 draw against Racing Santander on
Saturday. Even with a man advantage for the majority of the second half, they lacked the
finishing touch to nip the win from a feisty Santander side.
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Anfield Talk 09 September @ 11:09 AM EST
Portugal and Atletico Madrid midfielder Simao Sabrosa has apparently once again remained beyond
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez's grasp, as details have emerged that Atletico's director of
sport, Jesus Garcia Pitarch, refused to sell Simao, one of the club's prized assets, to the Reds
this summer.
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Soccerblog 06 August @ 07:58 PM EST
The CL draw will take place today. The choices are Fiorentina, Atletico Madrid, Celtic FC, RSC
Anderlecht, and FC Timisoara. So who will it be?
Fiorentina: The Violas were in the news recently with a possible Felipe Melo transfer to Arsenal
which fell through. He eventually went to Juve. The club finished fourth in the Serie.
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Anfield Talk 22 September @ 11:13 AM EST
Atletico Madrid sounded a warning to Liverpool, whom they meet in a Champions League Group D clash
next month, with a 4-0 thrashing of Recreativo Huelva at the weekend.
Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez will need to beware of Atletico's Argentine striker Sergio Aguero, who
scored his fourth goal in a week to set Atletico on their way.
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Another masterful, comfortable victory in front of the Atleti Faithful Coupet;
Seitaridis, Ujfalusi, Perea, Antonio López; Maniche (Éver 68'), Raul García,
Simão (Luis García 56'), Maxi; Sinama-Pongolle & Kun Agüero (Miguel 60') GOALS
8′ Agüero, set-piece taken by Simao. 52′ Maniche, incredible effort.
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This may or may not be significant, but...according to AS, there was a heated argument between
Simão and Seitaridis over a strong challenge by the Greek during a training session.
Forlán, Miguel, & Cléber prevented the argument from escalating by pushing the two
players away from each other. Predictably, the rumour is that Seitaridis is frustrated [.
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Lots of players on international duty for EURO and WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS.
Ujfaluši played a full 90 minutes for the Czech Republic's opening game against Switzerland.
Simão played 83 minutes for Portugal against Turkey.
Seitaridis & Heitinga have games this coming week. Speaking of Seitaridis, I do recall reading that the Greek might leave the club this summer.
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It's been another rollercoaster of a season, hasn't it? Lots of highs, lots of lows, and I'm glad
it's all over because my nerves are shot... Let's have a look at our pre-season objectives: -Be
crowned Liga Champions. (too many dropped points) -Win the UEFA Cup. (dumped out at the hands of
rubbish Bolton) -Win the Copa del Rey.
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Or, will we throw it all away in the final games of the season? I don't think I can take much more
of this, to be honest. Our next fixtures: -home to Recreativo Huelva -away to Espanyol -home to
Deportivo la Coruna -away to Valencia This will be the longest four weeks of our lives. Meanwhile,
we are linked with Oporto's Argentine left [.
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The Other Madrid Derbi. #4 Atleti 54 ... #13 Getafe 41 STARTING 11: Leo Franco; Antonio López,
Pablo, Perea, Pernía; Camacho, Raúl García, Maxi, Luis García; Forlán and
Agüero. SUBS: Abbiati, Zé Castro, Seitaridis, Cléber, Jurado, Miguel, Mista. This
lineup frightens me a little bit, I won't lie.
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I can't even bring myself to discuss yesterday's game. It's like a bad taste that just won't go
away. Anyway: Good News: Ajax have confirmed our signing of Heitinga- 10 million euros. Bad News:
Simao's injury this past weekend might mean that he'll be out for the rest of the season.
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WORDPRESS, the site that hosts my blog, has changed a few things recently. Long story short, I
finally figured out how to updated my sidebar with the goals. Next five games: -away to Real
Valladolid -home to Real Betis -away to Getafe -home to Recreativo Huelva -away to Espanyol With
the exception of SuperGeta and perhaps Espanyol, I think we have a [.
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It's been a busy few days for me that time of year you know how it is! But here's a new entry with
some of this & some of that. Firstly, Jornada 29: Sevilla 1 Atleti 2. Not much to say except that
it's a massive boost for our goal of securing a Champions spot! Abbiati; Antonio LĂłpez, Pablo, [.
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Three goals scored, we're still in Champions a good day at the office for Atleti. Abbiati; Antonio
LĂłpez, Pablo, Perea, PernĂa; ClĂ©ber Santana, RaĂşl GarcĂa (Ignacio Camacho 56'), Luis GarcĂa
(Miguel 62'), Simão (Jurado 83'); Forlán & Kun Agüero. GOALS 24′ Simão header 38′ Forlán,
assist SimĂŁo.
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A bit of a busy few days for me recently- I apologise for the lack of entries and commenting on
other blogs. I hope to get back to my normal routine soon enough. KUN TALK OF THE TOWN Ever since
his performance against Barcelona, the press have been gushing about him- and rightly so. KUN is
world-class [.
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Firstly, I just want to say it's snowing A LOT over here. Just a brief summary of things after
yesterday's disaster: Aguirre & just about every player interviewed by the press have said the same
thing that we will concentrate on securing a Champions spot. If we don't, we stand the chance of
losing our best [.
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Firstly, this game will be televised (en vivo) in the US 3.00pm, NY time, GolTV. Secondly, this is
a must-win game against a team that is struggling to avoid the drop this season. [At the moment,
they're #15 with 26 points.] NB: We've played them already (0-2 victory); Refresh your memory on
that game here and here.
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After 17 long years, Los Colchoneros finally collect 3 points at Estadio Riazor against a very
poor, clueless Deportivo. BRIEFLY: Our overall game was average, but the goals were of the highest
quality. Abbiati; Perea, Pablo, Eller, Antonio LĂłpez; RaĂşl GarcĂa, Jurado (73′ Luis GarcĂa),
Maxi, Simão (75′ Reyes); Kun Agüero (67′ Cléber) and Forlán.
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Los Colchoneros celebrate the win that sends them to the top of Group B. TACTICS: Abbiati; Perea,
ZĂ© Castro (Reyes 60′), Eller, Antonio LĂłpez; RaĂşl GarcĂa, ClĂ©ber (Simao 46′), Luis
GarcĂa, Maxi; Forlán and Kun AgĂĽero (Pablo 90+5). GOLS 33′ Salpingidis 73′ Luis GarcĂa
(tremendous bit of skill by Kun & Reyes) 90+3′ Simao (GOLAZO free-kick) It wasn't the greatest
game, [.
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The other Madrileño derby! For those of us in the USA, it will be live on GolTV. STARTING 11:
Abbiati, Eller, Perea, PernĂa, Maniche, RaĂşl GarcĂa, Simao, Maxi, AgĂĽero & Forlán. Will
Aguirre choose Antonio LĂłpez or Valera as right-back? We'll have to wait & see. At this very
moment, he's unsure.
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Atleti reach the final 32 of the UEFA CUP. Abbiati; Antonio LĂłpez; Pablo; Eller, Pernia; SimĂŁo
(Maxi 67′); Motta; Cleber (Maniche 73′); Luis; AgĂĽero; Forlán (RaĂşl GarcĂa 72′). UNUSED
SUBS: FalcĂłn; Reyes; Mista; Perea The good news is that Perea, recovered from his injury, but
still not quite ready to start, was able to sit this one out.
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Finally! Club action is back on schedule! I'll post up the squad list here once it becomes
available. Good news: Forlán should be fit to play this Sunday, having recovered from that
muscular injury. Will he start or not? That remains to be seen. Here are a few words from the
Uruguayan: "Sunday's match is going to be difficult [.
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Leo Franco; Seitaridis (Eller, 46'), Perea, Pablo, Antonio López; Maniche, Cléber, Simão (Motta,
73'), Reyes (Luis GarcĂa, 59') Maxi; Kun AgĂĽero We had a glorious opportunity to return to a
Champions League spot & failed miserably. Instead, we are #6 with only 1-2 points separating us
from Racing Santander & Sevilla. What else is there to say?
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What do you get when you have a team with the best attack and the worst defence in Liga? You have
Atlético de Madrid, my friends. I'm absolutely disgusted, stunned, and embarrassed by this loss.
Our defence destroyed the hard work of our attack each and every time we took the lead. Who,
specifically, was at fault? [...]
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Early Forlán goal was enough to see off Levante. It wasn't the sharpest performance indeed, we
'suffered' through long portions of the game because of the slim lead. The most important thing,
though, is that we held on to collect the 3 points. Leo Franco; Perea, Pablo, Zé Castro,
Antonio; RaĂşl GarcĂa, Maniche, Maxi, Luis GarcĂa (61′ Reyes); AgĂĽero (89′ Jurado) and [.
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Brief, Random, Unstructured Notes First some good injury news: Reyes, Zé Castro, Motta (hell
froze over?), Miguel, & Valera were all fit to participate in today's (Friday) training session.
The players who travelled to Moscow trained for less time than the newly fit players, of course.
Seitaridis and Mista are the only players who are still too injured to [.
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Kun, Kun, Kun! TACTICS: Christian Abbiati; Antonio LĂłpez; Pablo Ibáñez; Eller; PernĂa; ClĂ©ber
(65′ Maxi); RaĂşl GarcĂa; Jurado (75′ Maniche); SimĂŁo (69′ Luis GarcĂa ); Forlán; AgĂĽero
GOALS 16′ Agüero (assist by Jurado) 27′ Bilyaletdinov 47′ Forlan 61′ Odemwingie 64′
Odemwingie 85′ Agüero CLICK HERE FOR VIDEOS OF GOALS!
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Atlético light up el Vicente Calderón with a goalfest! [Great photo, no?] I followed the game
via live text on El Mundo and Internet radio because it was unavailable on TV. Even though I didn't
watch it with my own eyes, it was a very exciting game to follow. We came back from international
break with passion [...]
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Finally! Liga returns this weekend! More on the next Jornada soon, but for now here's some wrap-up:
*Maniche played 59 minutes for Portugal against Kazakhstan while Simao remained sidelined with an
injury. Here's hoping he is fully fit for Sunday. *Seitaridis played a full 90 for Greece in their
EURO qualifier against arch rival Turkey. Ah, I [...]
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There's not much to write about in the way of games yet since we're still in the middle of
international break. So, here are a few things that have caught my eye recently. More to come
before the end of the week. Roberto Batres. The Madrid-born Atleti B midfielder is scoring
quite a few goals this season in Segunda División: [...]
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[EURO and World Cup Qualifier games = 13th & 17th.] SPAIN (EURO): PernĂa and Pablo. U21 SPAIN:
Raul and Jurado. URUGUAY (World Cup Qualifiers): Forlan. GREECE (EURO): Seitaridis. ARGENTINA
(World Cup Qualifiers): Maxi and Kun. PORTUGAL (EURO): Simao and Maniche The international break
comes at a good time. For one, Motta, Leo Franco, and possibly Mista should be available by
Jornada 8.
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Thoroughly deserved victory over a Racing side that did absolutely nothing prior to and after the
sending off of Jordi in the 69th minute. We had the better chances throughout the game. GOLS RaĂşl
GarcĂa 11′ Kun 69′ [Assist by Reyes.] Forlán 76′ [Assist by Kun.] Simao 86′ [Assist by
Luis.] Here's Aguirre's squad: Leo Franco; Seitaridis; Perea; Pablo; PernĂa; Maniche; RaĂşl [.
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