It's a rivalry that goes back decades. Some say that it's political, whilst others point at matches from the past that have inflamed sensibilities in a world that seems to consider the art of taking offence to be the next step in the evolutionary chain. Both sides of the divide sees the other as being the absolute opposite without ever seeming to take the similarities between their two nations into account.

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The international break means there will be little club news to report. But it seems some sort of groundwork is already being set in motion, with the transfer window a month and a half away.

Here's Schalke defender Marcelo Bordon, in an interview to German newspaper, Bild on goal keeper, Manuel Neuer:

"I know it would be terrible for the supporters of the club, but you have to keep the situation of the club in mind.

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So in the end, Alfio Basile's army weren't able to obtain a crucial away victory against Los Millionares (how dare you mistake them for Chamillionaire!) but at least they came away with a 1-1 draw. As expected, El Monumental had all the ingredients for an emotional game and things got heated when Ariel Ortega hit his arm on Boca's defender, Julio Caceres' neck.

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The Beauty: Ms. Gemma Atkinson is famous. For what? I don't know. Let's see. She's worked as a lingerie model and men's mag centerfold (so she's comfortable wearing next to nothing). She's been a "TV personality" (aka reality star). She's also plied her trade as an actress on soap opera programs like Hollyoaks.

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We are starting to get just a little worried that the sale of the Newcastle club, which seems to be in full tilt right now, will produce even more soap opera chapters on Tyneside, and that cannot be good. Mike Ashley a disgrace to the Newcastle club And we have to hope the players and Chris [...] Click to continue reading...

Still reeling from the shock revelation that the word "gullible" had been removed from the dictionary, we at AANP Towers were sent scrambling to our official panic stations yesterday as news of ‘Arry's alleged departure spread like wildfire. The panic button was hit, the lights flashed and the stern lady kept announcing "This is not a drill".

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Chris Hughton has continually refused to get entangled in the mess at Newcastle this season, to his great credit. Chris Hughton - future doesn't bother him There has been the ongoing soap opera of selling the club, or should we say trying to sell the club. And now the distinct possibility that Newcastle will have to pay [. Click to continue reading...

Ooohh I do love a good football story.
One of the latest story lines in the soap opera that is the Football League revolves around Sol Campbell.
I have to confess I was surprised when he went to Notts County. It seemed a really odd move from where I was sitting but I just thought I was probably missing something. Click to continue reading...

Fabregas rips into banned Adebayor
Full Article

LONDON — Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas has hit out at former team-mate Emmanuel Adebayor's violent conduct which led to a three-match ban for the Manchester City striker on Thursday.

Adebayor was handed the ban by the Football Association for stamping on the face of Arsenal's Robin van Persie during a stormy Premier League match which City won 4-2 last week.

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Fabregas rips into banned Adebayor
Full Article

LONDON — Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas has hit out at former team-mate Emmanuel Adebayor's violent conduct which led to a three-match ban for the Manchester City striker on Thursday.

Adebayor was handed the ban by the Football Association for stamping on the face of Arsenal's Robin van Persie during a stormy Premier League match which City won 4-2 last week.

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If you had a German name and researched it, you'd probably end up learning that 800 years ago a poor pig farmer built his hut right beside a hole in the ground and so your family was subsequently named after this hole. A Portuguese or Brazilian name on the other hand is more like a soap opera and includes the names of your father, mother, first girlfriend, your father's mistress, your mother's gardener etc.

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So there, I did poorly on my predictions for the World Cup qualifiers with two 1 – 1 draws and the quasi certitude that France will finish second in group 7 behind Serbia and will battle with the likes of Portugal, Greece or Russia for a World Cup spot, not an easy task...

The pastel Gaucho enters the Ligue 1 Pampa. Click to continue reading...

My, my. The drama we've had in the United Soccer Leagues in the last week is enough to support a new soap opera. Perhaps USLLive.com should branch out. Here's an episode guide, in case you're just catching up. It's a long story already, so get some popcorn and settle in.
First, we got the news that some outfit called "NuRock" had acquired United Soccer Leagues:

Rob Hoskins, Chairman of NuRock Soccer Holdings, commented, "Our vision for USL is to become the most competitive and profitable pyramid of soccer leagues in North America, while providing affordable family entertainment, and serving as the inspirational destination for professional and amateur youth soccer players in the U.

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Stuff to read while you watch an absolutely clinical own goal.... Valencia: Football club or soap opera? (SoccerLens) Brazilian fans select their beauty queen for the year. (Futbolita) Zenit buy back traitor who left for hated rivals; fans slightly displeased. (Zenit Offside) The night before Match of the Day. Click to continue reading...

Reportedly the second richest club in the world behind Manchester City, based in the English capital, and with a starting eleven who hail from all corners of the Earth; No, not Abramovich's Chelski, but rather Flavio Briatore's venture just down the road, Queens Park Rangers. Just last night Flav was sat in the Director's box with his latest swimwear modelling eye-candy, watching the next instalment of QPR's quite embarrassing soap opera as they go one down to Bristol City.

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Newcastle fans should know this week, hopefully by Wednesday, whether Mike Ashley will remain in charge of the club. or whether Barry Moat is the new owner with Alan Shearer as manager. Alan Shearer should know very soon Not too much new news this morning yet on the ownership soap opera at Newcastle. Click to continue reading...

Livingston's financial collapse has started to turn into a bit of a soap opera with, as Gavin Saxton reports, the Scottish Football League having taken severe action against the stricken club.

Rob Freeman has already given some of the background to the ongoing saga at Livingston, but since then the situation has developed apace, leading to three clubs being moved between divisions three days before the start of the season, Livingston not playing any games pending their appeal(s), other clubs playing "provisional" fixtures, and the Scottish Football League left pondering a change to their rules to enable clubs to bypass unscrupulous owners.

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via AP

Dear God... don't you chicas think that Amauri over here should have been cast in a Sunsilk ad alongside those Bollywood beauties? Even Del Piero wants to hug his hair. It looks like the Wind in the Willows!

Anyway, if you've been reading us for a while, you'd know all about the Amauri-Brazil-Italy soap opera.

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The soap opera of Mike Ashley trying to sell the Newcastle club to Barry Moat has taken on a new turn today. Barry Moat deal agreed but must deposit money by Friday Apparently Mike Ashley now wants Barry Moat to deposit the money for his bid into a specified bank account by the end of [...] Click to continue reading...

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- For cutting-edge, updated-throughout-the-day, football-only news about QPR: Visit the QPR Report Messageboard (and quasi blog)! Feel free to just read. But your posts are welcome! All views genuinely welcomed!
- Follow QPR Report on Twitter --- QPR REPORT FACEBOOK
- Two QPR Fans Arrested
- The New League Rules and Youth
- Next: Exeter - The last time QPR played Exeter was in March 1966, just days before Rodney Marsh signed for QPR! Click to continue reading...

Toon Army soap opera lurches from the sublime to the ridiculous!

Alan Shearer could return as Newcastle manager as early as next week — but only if owner Mike Ashley is willing to accept a £70million offer for the club from Geordie businessman Barry Moat.

Shearer said: ‘If someone comes in and buys the football club and wants me as manager and everything is right, and they want to get the club back up to the Premier League, then I would dearly love the chance to finish what I started last season.

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One of the greatest soap opera returns to television screens on Friday and it will provide us fans with the characters that will love and the ones we love to hate. No this is not Eastenders or Coronation Street it's the Football LEAGUE!

The three Coca-Cola leagues, that are arguably the most competitive leagues in the world, are packed with teams all eager to hit the ground running at the weekend.

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David Beckham's ego is off the charts. He is not bashful in the least bit, as noted from his underwear ads and from his attitude towards his career.Â

He has expressed himself with the press on a range of topics. Most recently, he appeared with ESPN and answered questions regarding his notorious outburst towards fans from the stands.

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chamakh to arsenal?

hello fellow gooners! A fairly busy day for us. Patrick viera story heats up and wenger makes contact with bordeux. What do you make of this:

Bordeaux president Jean-Louis Triaud has taken a phone call from Arsene Wenger in regards to Marouane Chamakh.

The Arsenal boss made contact with the Ligue 1 champions during the club's recent pre-season trip to Canada.

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St Etienne's Blaise Matuidi (L) maybe on his way to the Emirates

L'Equipe is reporting Arsene Wenger approached Bordeaux president Jean-Louis Triaud inquiring about the services of Marouane Chamakh. The Bordeaux striker had his heart set for Sunderland when Laurent Blanc excluded that move saying it represented a step down and calling for him to remain in Bordeaux.

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The English Premier League is one of the most popular football leagues in the world for many reasons, especially its coaching soap opera. No other league has managed to turn coaching vendettas and spats into a complex, highly entertaining mix of both low and high art in the manner that the EPL has achieved.

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First off, if you only click one link in this blog post make it this one, a 16-picture gallery by readers of English newspaper The Guardian illustrating the Landon Donovan-David Beckham soap opera. Some hilarious stuff in there.

Donovan was still addressing the issue Friday in Kansas City before today's nationally televised game (live at 6 p.

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For those of you just joining our soap opera, As the Liver Pools, here's the story thus far...

Our captain, Steven Gerrard, is in court over affray charges from last season, Xabi Alonso could be going to Real Madrid any day now, Mascherano's agent is holding us hostage, Aurelio is out 'til Christmas, Agger is out for a month, El Zhar and Skrtel are also injured.

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This is the man who is dividing soccer fans across America.
Those of us who read and write blogs, follow the message boards, and use the internet to keep up with our soccer are a different breed than the casual fan. It's easy to forget and think that our voice is the most important, but we're outnumbered. Click to continue reading...

By Andrew Dixon - MIAMI, FL (Jul 14, 2009) USSoccerPlayers -- Don't get it twisted: the thing most American soccer fans will remember about the summer of 2009 will be the Confederations Cup. Yes, the Gold Cup is nice and I hope we win. The soap opera version of Major League Soccer is kinda fun too. But to me the second event thus far is Oguchi Onyewu's signing with AC Milan. Click to continue reading...

I've decided to take a mini-VCF vacation. There are several reasons I'm taking a hiatus (summer time in New York impedes my blogging schedule), but the main reason is that I'm burned out by all this Dalport/Villa transfer/Soriano stuff.

I didn't fall madly in love with VCF because of these muppets and they won't take that love away from me.

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And when I say fun, I should say 'fun' ... I guess this beats selling the entire team to a bunch of overseas scammers, eh? Oh wait ...

Anyways, what's new with the ongoing soap opera/telenovela known as 'As The Mestalla Turns?'

Let's find out ...
- If you read yesterday's comments page, you know some of our fine readers have been knocking on doors and trying to find out all they can about Dalport.

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I'm still trying to wrap my head around this ... so you mean to tell me Vicente Soriano is back, he's the new boss, an American company is supposedly involved, the debt will be wiped out and all is well in our ongoing soap opera?

NO ME DIGAS!!
I was enjoying the American 4th of July holiday yesterday afternoon, sipping on a red wine and eating a chicken shish kebob in the woods of upstate New York when my phone vibrated.

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Newcastle fans would have hoped the soap opera at Newcastle, well the latest one, would have been finished and over, before the players returned to pre-season training yesterday. Alan Shearer - continues to wait in the wings But it was not be to be, as the club continues to look completely at sea, and the sale of [. Click to continue reading...

The Newcastle soap opera continues, with Branko Culina taking a second shot at the A-League after the surprise departure of Gary van Egmond.
Culina has a considerable cheer squad within Australian football, with one of his long-term fans welcoming his return with open arms. If he can indeed get Newcastle playing football similar to that of his Sydney United and Sydney Olympic sides during the fading days of the NSL, the fans will be grateful. Click to continue reading...