Bad Thierry Henry. You cheated and you are the hero of all of France for it. Somewhere Michel Platini is dancing because you did it. Somewhere Sepp Blatter and the rest of FIFA are doing an Arsene Wegner impression. In Ireland your face will end up on dart boards and was the reason that children cried themselves to sleep last night. Click to continue reading...

Regardless of this result, regardless of any strange non-goal goals, regardless of anything, I remain
Absent the Hainault goal, the result was a well-fought one and deserved, just really, really not what I wanted.
More to be written on this at another date. For now, I sleep late tomorrow and the offseason begins. Click to continue reading...

Well I'm sure you've seen the score by now. I don't really have the heart to repeat it. You may have noted that this is incredibly late. As I said previously I had to visit England to visit my dying grandmother (she passed late Monday night), I got home yesterday at midnight Texas time, 6 AM my body clock time, after no less than 24 hours of traveling.

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Saturday's FA Cup First Round Proper match against Grimsby Town was my first ever visit to Lincolnshire. I'm ashamed to say, it was only my third foray north of Birmingham. On that count alone, I looked forward to the journey.
Of course, most everyone else I know thought the idea of going to Grimsby and back in a day was crazy. Click to continue reading...

I can't sleep. Maybe it's the decongestants I've been taking to try and clear this bloody thing, perhaps it's the fact that everytime I put my head down I feel like the world is spinning so fast it's going to throw me off, whatever it is is, here I am, doing a whole lot of nothing cause that's all I'm capable of.

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Michael Owen says playing for Manchester United is his priority and he wants to score goals so we win, not so he gets picked for England.

"England is something I don't really think about," said Owen. "It is probably something people talk about a lot more than I think about really.

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Getting extra sleep over an extended period of time improves athletic performance, mood and alertness, according to a research abstract that will... Click to continue reading...

Well folks, you may have noticed a total lack of new content around here. My wife and I welcomed twins into the family at the end of September and sleep deprivation has ensued. So, blog is not getting a lot of attention.
But I do want to call your attention to this, the US U-17 Men kick off their World Cup in about an hour and 15 minutes, at 1 pm central time. Click to continue reading...

It looks like Gerard Pique has replaced Samuel Eto'o this season as the player who most often shows up late to training. And today was no exception, with Geri arriving five minutes later than the 11:30 deadline (pictured). Naturally he's up for a fine now; all the better for the club's contributions to medical research. Click to continue reading...

Evening all.

Apologies for not finishing my preview post/s. However considering the game is on Sunday I thought delaying it was a reasonable thing to do. Besides fatigue has got the better of me completely today. It is a strange feeling when one minute there is enough energy within me to challenge Usain Bolt to a race, but the next minute it feels as if challenging Michael Essien in a sleep marathon contest was more appropriate.

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Lionel Messi

Ah! Maybe if I go to sleep I'll wake up and see this was just a nightmare and we didn't lose to a team with a name that sounds like a magician. ... When I do wake up I'm just going to play Legos all day and forget about this. ... It's not working yet. .

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This is a reprint of a post from the U13 season. Posted April 30th, 2009. A lot has happened in 6 months, but I felt this is just as important now as it was back then.
This will be the last post prior to the first Quarter Final game. I want to take this opportunity to address what it means and what it takes to be, not only a Championship caliber, but any, team. Click to continue reading...

Sorry, we're literally laughing at that picture. Damn tipo, we know you want to answer to your critics and all that...but your facial expression will not summon a deal from Signor Armani anytime soon!

Anyway, Milan fans can now celebrate and sleep in peace for the next 2 days (at least) over their 2-1 victory over Roma.

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My day could not be made any better, following Chelsea's loss to Villa and Manchester United eventually getting past Bolton, Liverpool suffer their fourth defeat from nine matches will send me to sleep happy. The manner of how Liverpool conceded the goal just makes it that bit sweeter...

But bétisier Sunderland Liverpool
Uploaded by alloelo. Click to continue reading...

It is true. 7 goals this season and McLeish's Birmingham have scored them all AFTER 75 minutes. (courtesy of optajoe). When it comes for providing entertainment for value, I've heard that the Blues fans are now asking for refunds on free Birmingham city tickets.

So if we click and when we do, we should put Birmingham to sleep BEFORE they wake up.

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Peter Crouch

Doing the Home Alone face every time I yawn is still totally hilarious and not at all played out. ... Also totally hilarious: the fact that I, Peter Crouch, have a hotter lady than David Beckham. ... Then again, I don't have a filthy hobo beard, so maybe that makes sense now.

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If results went a certain way today, Argentina could have found themselves watching the 2010 World Cup finals from home. They didn't and Diego Maradona can sleep easier tonight - Argentina is in. The two-time World Champions got a 1-0...

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Of course, I was a Phillies lover before, but after last night's top-of-the-9th heroics, how can you not love that team? Bring on the Dodgers ... and let's have a repeat of last year! I went to sleep thinking of my Dad, and how excited he'd have been (gave him a congratulatory phone call, in my mind).

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Mourinho takes questions from a bunch of really small italian reporters ...and looks really happy for a change.
One of the kids took a particular interest in Mourinho's status as one of the highest earning trainers in football, asking if he gets paid even when Inter don't win.
Mourinho replied: "Usually the Coaches earn more when they have been sacked than when they are working, but I prefer to work than earn more.

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Fernando Torres

Trying to sleep like this makes my groin feel like spicy mustard. ... Writing books is easy when you don't actually have to write them. ... International breaks are weird. Mostly because Vicente del Bosque might not be alive anymore. ... I hope no one is robbing my house right now.

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I woke up early on Sunday morning with a mood of excitement and trepidation. Normally, I like to sleep in a bit on Sundays because they have a more relaxed feel, and because our cats give us the morning off and don't bang around our house that much to keep us awake. Click to continue reading...

It's been a fairly busy day around these parts. From catching up to things, to getting back to the daily grind at my normal job, and to getting back to work on things with this site. I wanted to kick off with a couple items that a few of your have emailed me and commented on recently here. Its mostly end of year items and seeing how we are towards the end of the season it is fitting to revisit some of these things.

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Are there more nerve-jangling games than against Liverpool? Whether the tightly-contested, tactical games of the Mourinho era or the goal-fests under Hiddink, games against Liverpool in the last few years have had that little something extra. Before heading to the game yesterday, I was surprised to learn however that not only have Liverpool failed to score at Stamford Bridge in the league over the last five years (aside from last year's winner, an own goal), Chelsea hadn't managed a win over the reds at home in three years.

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Are there more nerve-jangling games than against Liverpool? Whether the tightly-contested, tactical games of the Mourinho era or the goal-fests under Hiddink, games against Liverpool in the last few years have had that little something extra. Before heading to the game yesterday, I was surprised to learn however that not only have Liverpool failed to score at Stamford Bridge in the league over the last five years (aside from last year's winner, an own goal), Chelsea hadn't managed a win over the reds at home in three years.

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The Manager would like to apologize for the relative lack of blogging. He's been scouring YouTube looking for new talent to sign. Well, actually he's just been stuck at work for 12 to 14 hours a day. But with tonight at home to catch up on football (and soon, sleep) we'd like to give you the first part of the weekend review early. Click to continue reading...

Brazil star Adriano had a candid interview the other day about his days in Italy. Apparently his discontent professionally, as well as the loss of his father, pushed him to drink.
And drink a lot.

"I was fine only when I would drink and I had no urge to stop. I went out every night.

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Nice article in The Nation from Jeff Biggers on the fight against mountaintop removal.
"When the Environmental Protection Agency declared this year on September 11 that all pending mountaintop removal mining permits in four Appalachian states stood in violation of the Clean Water Act and required further review, Lora Webb didn't have time to join in any celebrations. Click to continue reading...

Bobo Vieri recently appeared on the Italian TV show noted for its managerial lap dances, Chiambretti Night, and spoke about the tons of fun he and Fat Ronaldo used to have in their days at Inter:

"When I was at Inter, Ronaldo was the player who trained less than anyone else, because he was the best footballer in the world and it is true that we went back home at between 5 and 6 in the morning.

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"When I was at Inter, Ronaldo was the player who trained less than anyone else, because he was the best footballer in the world and it is indeed true that we went back home at 5-6 AM," he confessed.
"We went clubbing. Then, I used to sleep for a couple of hours and went on to the pitch to train, while he laid down on the cot and ate brioches and cappuccino. Click to continue reading...

I went and ran my mouth the other day about how Chelsea was tough and they had leadership and that I didn't think they would go undefeated, but that they were stalwarts that were NOT to be messed with. So what do they do right after I say that? They lose! To a club with a losing record!

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Afternoon all,

the findings of the last 24 hours have shown that A) Bordeaux president Jean-Louis Triaud is an idiot. B) Bordeaux president Jean-Louis Triaud is stupid, and C) Bordeaux president Jean-Louis Triaud needs to be put to sleep like a rabid dog.

He has accused the boss of distracting Marouane Chamakh and making his interest in him public before talking to Triaud:

"What I do not like in the behavior of Arsene Wenger, who is doing this again today, is that at the beginning, he declared his interest in Chamakh, a long time before calling me, then he ended up doing so.

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Great to see Yakubu score last night and especially nice to see him make a beeline to Mick Rathbone (Everton's head physio) and hug him. Pretty good goal too...he just makes goal scoring look so easy.

Hull looked very poor it has to be said...very funny to see Barmby get mugged in the build-up to our 4th goal.

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Lionel Messi

Will Maradona really snort me if we don't make the World Cup? ... It's almost like football is too easy. They should have us play against robots with laser eyes instead of all these bad teams. ... I wonder if Zlatan would let me hide under his nose when it rains.

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Which Manchester United WAG's match day fashion approach do you like the best?

Ana Vidic (with baby Stefan) and her effortless denim casual new mum, no sleep, no-makeup but looks better than 90% of the population look?

Coleen Rooney with her ain't-no-wedged-baby-foot-under-my-ribs, heartburn-day and-night-situation going-to-stop-me-from-working-my-sparkles look?

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Which Manchester United WAG's match day fashion approach do you like the best?

Ana Vidic (with baby Stefan) and her effortless denim casual new mum, no sleep, no-makeup but looks better than 90% of the population look?

Coleen Rooney with her ain't-no-wedged-baby-foot-under-my-ribs, heartburn-day and-night-situation going-to-stop-me-from-working-my-sparkles look?

Click to continue reading...