Desculpe, but it's our third Greaseano Saturday in a row and unfortunately, his persistent ankle injury means that he'll not ferociously parading around the field in the Derby Madrileno tomorrow. Yes, we hear the dejected howls all the way from the Moon, but they're doing all they can for him in the trance land of Amsterdam, so ya'll better APPRECIATE.

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Now that Argentina has finally secured a spot in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, they can present the new uniform to be used next year. The new kit is very loyal to past Argentinian shirts and does a great job of keeping the pajama feel

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Ligue 1 teams had an amazing week in the Champions League (not so much in the Europa) that somewhat validated my prediction of French teams being real contenders this year. While Bordeaux won with class and Lyon once again upset Liverpool in the same manner they did 2 weeks ago, Marseille destroyed Zurich and are now in a position to make Real and Milan sweat. Click to continue reading...

World Cup hosts South Africa recalled controversial striker Benni McCarthy Thursday for mid-November home friendlies against Japan and Jamaica. The scorer of a record 31 Bafana Bafana (The Boys) goals was ignored for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa after shunning a call-up for warm-up games against Norway and . Click to continue reading...

Morning to the blog, guys and gals.
Just a bit of breaking news, Jamie Coyne will not be going to Wellington after he was ruled out with a thigh injury. What makes this even more interesting, was that no one picked on this at yesterday's presser, the assumption was that there were no new injuries. Click to continue reading...

David Beckham journey continues as recent confirmed reports in Italy suggest that he is on his way back to AC Milan for another loan deal. We have witnessed in the past big players moving from their clubs like Brazilian legend Ronaldo moved from Inter Milan to Real Madrid, Luis Figo from Barcelona to Read Madrid, Andriy Shevchenko from AC Milan to Chelsea, Thierry Henry from Arsenal to Barcelona, recently Kaka from AC Milan to Real Madrid and other big players had to move from one club to another at some stage of their careers.

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]Let the FIFA World Cup 2010 madness begin! The Chile national team recently qualified for their first FIFA World Cup since France 1998. As one might expect, the natives are excited and restless and would love to accompany their team to South Africa. However, the cost of the trip from Chile to South Africa with hotel [. Click to continue reading...

People living in poverty near Soccer City stadium outside Johannesburg battle police during anti-World Cup protests. Local residents demand houses rather than world-class stadiums.
Recommended reading: Ashwin Desai's The Poors and this article.

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Image via Wikipedia Although many have called it unfair, the seeding system adopted for the play off matches to decide the final four European teams that will make it to the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa, has produced four potentially exciting match ups. The two leg matches will be played on November 14th [. Click to continue reading...

As the transfer window continues to creep closer many disgruntled players are beginning to air their dirty laundry. One of these upset players is thirty-one year old Benni McCarthy of  the Blackburn Rovers. McCarthy really can't be blamed either. The vet who has been with the squad since 2006 has been allowed only one start all season and Blackburn continues to struggle to seek positive results.

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You've got to give Steve McClaren some credit. The man was a pitiful England manager, but for a brief moment in time he was able to derail one of the most powerful forces in modern football: David Beckham.

When Becks stepped down as England's captain after the 2006 World Cup, McClaren dropped him entirely from the team.

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

If you had asked me six months ago who was England's best centre back I would have undoubtedly said Rio Ferdinand. However posed with the same question now I would be a little less sure. I think that the talk that he's "over the hill" is overly dramatic, but Ferdinand's form this season has definitely been more than questionable.

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We all know about 34 year old David Beckham, a cracking set piece taker and he has a phenomenal range of passing but he was never the quickest or the most skilful of players. Due to his ability to whip in a dangerous ball from anywhere on the pitch he has never had to change his game, but during the first leg of LA Galaxy's play off against Chivas, Becks showed us a few new tricks.

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Supposedly he'll be back in mid-July 2010, after the World Cup concludes.

He'll join Milan Dec. 28 after the Galaxy's post-season tour and remain with the Italian club through the end of their season in May.

"After the wonderful experience of last season we are very happy to see David Beckham again wearing the red and black colors," said Adriano Galliani, Vice President and CEO of AC Milan.

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It's November, which means it is time for SBI to crank out last month's Q&A installments.

While a few weeks have passed since questions were submitted, most questions are still just as relevent today as they were two to three weeks ago.

U.S. national team questions rule the day as usual, with more World Cup questions starting to filter in now that the Americans have qualified and the clock is ticking quickly toward South Africa.

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It's November, which means it is time for SBI to crank out last month's Q&A installments.

While a few weeks have passed since questions were submitted, most questions are still just as relevent today as they were two to three weeks ago.

U.S. national team questions rule the day as usual, with more World Cup questions starting to filter in now that the Americans have qualified and the clock is ticking quickly toward South Africa.

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By Clemente Lisi - NEW YORK, NY (Nov 2, 2009) USSoccerPlayers -- With World Cup qualification in the books, the US National Team has the next seven months to prepare for South Africa. Achieving success at the World Cup comes through a combination of hard work and luck. In other words, things have to fall into place at exactly the right time to make the difference between getting bounced in the first round or making. Click to continue reading...

Carlos Alberto Parreira

The recent re-appointment of Carlos Alberto Parreira as coach of South Africa, replacing fellow Brazilian Joel Santana who had been hired on Parreira's recommendation, ignited that perennial question: is a national team, particularly one on the periphery of world football, better served by a local or an outsider?

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On Friday night in Asunción, adidas and the Asociación Paraguaya de Fútbol officially presented the Paraguay adidas World Cup 2010 home (or first choice) kit to be worn by Roque Santa Cruz and company in South Africa next year. La Albirroja (Red and Whites in English) are World Cup bound once again after finishing one point [. Click to continue reading...

Watching Juve-Napoli yesterday, I noticed something. If this is 4 out of our back 5 for South Africa, we're going to be in some trouble. Canna struggled hugely with pacey guys like Hamsik and even GC looked a bit off his game. Grosso is still great going forward but defensively Click to continue reading...

On the 14th November Diego Maradona's Argentina will face Spain in Atlético de Madrid's Estadio Vicente Calderón in a friendly as the first part of their preparation for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. On Friday, Maradona named his squad for the match, which will consist solely of players playing for clubs outside Argentina, [. Click to continue reading...

Following recent leaks of the adidas Germany and Spain World Cup 2010 home jerseys, one of the shirt that France will supposedly wear in 2010 has appeared on the internet. As with all leaks, whether of not this kit is real is debatable. Also, its appearance at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa next year [. Click to continue reading...

Photo by ISIphotos.com

One of Major League Soccer's biggest free agents will be leaving MLS this winter, but he may not be gone for good.

Chicago Fire star Cuauhtemoc Blanco has signed a contract with Mexican second division club Veracruz for the 2010 season, but will have an opt-out clause in his contract that will allow him to return to the Fire after the 2010 World Cup, multiple reports out of Mexico have revealed.

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Photo by ISIphotos.com

One of Major League Soccer's biggest free agents will be leaving MLS this winter, but he may not be gone for good.

Chicago Fire star Cuauhtemoc Blanco has signed a contract with Mexican second division club Veracruz for the 2010 season, but will have an opt-out clause in his contract that will allow him to return to the Fire after the 2010 World Cup, multiple reports out of Mexico have revealed.

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Emile Heskey has been offered words of encouragement from Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill. Heskey is known to be unhappy with his lack of playing time at Villa Park, and with his World Cup spot on the line, O'Neill indicated that Heskey still figures into his plans.

The former Liverpool striker has been heavily linked with a move in January, but O'Neill's comments suggest that he can relate to the striker's situation.

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With the world writing about South Africa ahead of the 2010 World Cup, Goal.com thought it was time to find out what people who actually live in the host country have to say.
We talked to three young, talented and passionate people who call the Rainbow Nation home. Click to continue reading...

A song for South Africa (well, France at least) Sometime we lack skill / And sometimes we lack speed / Who needs Steven Ireland? / Bring back Andy Reid We have all heard of World Cup songs, but World Cup play-off songs might be a new one. Here's To Trapattoni has been written by the Corrigan Brothers [. Click to continue reading...

Now that we have officially qualified for the World Cup, it is time for the first installment of Bradley's Babes: 23 for 2010 our attempt to answer the question, "Who should we take along?"Â Â But instead of taking the standard approach doing our best to guess who Bob will take to South Africa we decided to focus on who we would like him to take.

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Though it was against lower opposition, you have to be impressed by Gabriel Obertan's performance yesterday at Oakwell. He has pace, a lot of it, and you could not question his other areas of his game such as his dribbling or his passing ability.

It was very impressive considering that he just come back from a long lay-off in the sidelines.

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World Cup hosts South Africa appointed Brazilian Carlos Alberto Parreira coach on Friday, a South African Football Association spokesman said. Parreira returns to a post he relinquished in April last year when his wife became seriously ill in Rio de Janeiro, and he was succeeded by compatriot Joel Santana. Click to continue reading...

They Think It's All Over... presents a WDKF Wednesday column which looks at the sinister motives behind FIFA's peculiar decision to change the workings of the away goals rule for the upcoming Asia/Oceania World Cup Playoff. Click to continue reading...

Keeping football real. Hundreds of older South African women play football after cleaning houses, cooking meals, or selling food along township's streets. 83-year-old Nora Makhubela, a survivor of eight strokes, told Reuters: "I pray every day to God to keep me alive until 2010. I would really love to watch the games," she said.

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They Think It's All Over... is pleased to see that David Beckham is heading back to AC Milan. Click to continue reading...

First things first, the US MNT has added another friendly to the November schedule by announcing their stop in Slovakia four days before playing Denmark, which will make for a good pair of measuring stick matches against a couple of fellow World Cup qualifiers on European soil. Both Slavakia and Denmark finished atop their UEFA qualifying groups, so these matches should provide a good show of where we stand against quality competition several months removed from the Confederations Cup.

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