Without a doubt, the book that Simon Kuper (British author and Financial Times sportswriter) is most famous for is Soccernomics. Soccernomics takes a look at the analytical side of the sport; the statistics, the psychology, and the economics behind why certain trends and results in soccer are the way they are.

2012, after 2001?
Today is a crucial day as we'll know whether we continue our currently successful run in 4 competitions. Since the last victory against Dijon, OL players and staff didn't focus on the all important incoming clash at the Velodrome against Marseille, which could condition the path of the two clubs in L1.

The Stade-de-France crowd booed at full time, but this team is miles ahead of the Domenech sides from around 2007 through 2010 that were so poor to watch.

I'm a big fan of the current team, but to be winners, we need a little bit more quality from these players.

Did anyone [read more]

Results don't matter – well, until they do. Let me explain.

We keep hearing that results don't matter when it comes to friendlies. U.S. manager Jurgen Klinsmann keeps saying it. He doesn't give a German lick about results, he told us again last week.

Heck, I've written the same thing time and again.

PARIS, France – The United States Men's National Soccer Team's struggles to generate offense continued on Friday as they fell 1-0 at Stade de France and are now 1-4-1 under head coach Jurgen Klinsmann.

The Americans kept the French quiet during the first half, but the home side came out with renewed life in the second period, keeping the visitors pegged back for much of the final 45 minutes and eventually finding the back of the net.

Another friendly. Another 1-0 loss.

The U.S. men's national team was unable to score for the fourth time in six games under new head coach Jurgen Klinsmann, and as a result fell, 1-0, to France at Stade de France on Friday.

Loic Remy scored the game's only goal minutes after entering in the second half, but the result could have been worse for the Americans if not for several quality saves from Tim Howard.

France vs USA 2011 Score 1-0 Highlights Video Goal Remy is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

France vs USA 2011 Score 1-0 Highlights Video Goal Remy is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter France vs USA 2011 ( France vs United States 2011) Score and result:- France vs USA 1-0 ( Loic Remy) Stade de France, Paris- 11 November, 2011- International soccer friendly Loic Remy's second half [.

A 72nd minute goal from Loic Remy was all France needed for a 1-0 win over the United States at Stade de France on Friday. USA goalkeeper Tim Howard did a lot of work to keep the score manageable, with France holding a decisive lead in shots taken and shots on goal. Hugo Lloris kept the clean sheet for France.

TEAM USA - EL EQUIPO DE TODOS
The Senior team is in France, while the Olympic team is in Germany
dN
Brian Straus of Sporting News does a Q & A with head coach Jurgen Klinsmann.
Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated examines today's France-USA game.

The U.S. National Team will play France today for only the third time in history, and only the first time since 1978 at Stade de France in Paris.

Cherundolo is one of three players on the U.S. roster who is the captain of his club team
Here's all the news and notes you need to get prepped for the USA's first match against France since 1979, and the first ever in the famed Stade de France. A few to get you started ..

By Clemente Lisi – Harrison, NJ (Nov 10, 2011) US Soccer Players -- The USA gets their first game with France since the Carter administration, Friday in the famed Stade de France in suburban Paris. The contest, arguably the toughest game thus far for the USA under coach Jurgen Klinsmann, will allow the Americans to put into practice all they have learned from their new coach since August.

Paris' Stade de France is one of the world's most storied stadiums. Though it has only been used for 13 years, it has already hosted a FIFA World Cup and a Rugby World Cup-the only stadium to do so. On Friday, the Stade de France will welcome the U.S. Men's National Team for the first time.
The 81,338 seat venue was built in 1995 in preparation for the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

It has been confirmed that a knee injury will rule Manchester City's French midfielder Samir Nasri out of Friday night's high-profile exhibition against the United States at Stade de France.

Nasri suffered from issues with his knee tendon following City's UEFA Champions League win over Villarreal last week and did not make his club's starting line-up for the thrilling 3-2 Premier League triumph over QPR on Saturday.

Nasri has pulled out the squad injured (Malouda, Remy, and Cabaye are also injury doubts), but we all know that Lyon have an attacking midfielder who can do the job just as well, or better, on his day: our very own Christian Gourcuff. But Gourcuff is left to watch from home as his club teammate Maxime Gonalons has been called up.

Euro 2012 Qualifying Playoffs: Portugal, Czech Rep, Turkey & Croatia on the line - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

The likes of Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, and England have all booked their places in Euro 2012 already, but four tickets to the festivities in Poland and Ukraine still have yet to be punched.

Landon Donovan may have a big decision to make today.

As you probably know, Donovan is on Jurgen Klinsmann's list for a pair of friendlies across the Atlantic, starting with the bigger one on Friday, against the 1998 World Cup champs just outside Paris at Stade de France.

Donovan also has his next chance at MLS hardware just around the bend, as his Galaxy has advanced to the 16th MLS Cup final.

The U.S. Men's National Team has begun gathering for the final time in 2011, with 19 of the 22 players on the roster already having made the trip to Paris. Tuesday will see the arrival of Kyle Beckerman and Landon Donovan, who travel together following LA Galaxy's 3-1 win against Real Salt Lake in the MLS Western Conference Championship, as well as DaMarcus Beasley.

By Connor Walsh The United States has finalized its next pair of matches with double European dates in November. The team will travel to France for a match with the 1998 World Cup Champion Les Bleus at the Stade de France on Nov. 11, followed four days later with a trip to Ljubljana, Slovenia for [..

STARTERS
Its official - France v USA - Fri Nov 11 in Paris at Stade de France - 2pm CT on ESPN2.
-Alright, who out there in du Nord land has frequent flyer miles to get you & me to Paris for this game. I will get us the game tix.
dN
Ticket sales in Seattle for the Sounders final regular season home game on Saturday have now topped 61,000!

The US Soccer Federation announced on Friday that the National Team will play France at the Stade de France at 3pm ET on November 11th. The game will be shown on ESPN2 and Univision. "France is traditionally one of the best teams in the world," coach Jurgen Klinsmann said in a press statement. "When you look at their history, the players that have come through their team and what they have accomplished, you have to.

Newcastle fans will take a particular interest in the game tomorrow night at the Stade de France in Paris, where France will be taking on Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Euro 2012 qualifiers. Yohan Cabaye in action for France France currently head Group D with 20 points from their 9 games, and Bosnia and Herzegovina are [.

Yohan Cabaye won his 7th cap for France last night as France beat Albania 3-0 in a Euro 2012 qualifier at the Stade de France, and England could only draw 2-2 at Montenegro, after Wayne Rooney was sent off with England leading 2-1. Wayne Rooney - sent off at Montenegro Cabaye started the game and played for the first 47 minutes [.

In October 2001, the national football teams of France and Algeria faced off in a long-awaited, and (at least in principle) "friendly" international game at the Stade de France in Paris. The event was trumpeted as an opportunity for reconciliation, a symbolic end to the conflict between the two countries, and an opportunity for a French nation increasingly shaped by it's Algerian immigrant population to find peace within itself.

UEFA has confirmed eleven stadia as venues for the 2016 European Championship.

The French Football Federation have finalised the following as host cities:
Paris - Stade de France 81,000, Parc des Princes 51,000
Marseilles - 67,000
Lyon - 51,000
Toulouse - 41,000
Saint Etienne - 41,000
Bordeaux - 42,000
Lens - 45,000
Lille - 50,000
Nancy - 35,000
Nice - 35.

Barcelona have won more doubles than anyone in Europe - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Barcelona rose from a very controversial semifinal against Real Madrid to a very fine performance in the final against Manchester United. A performance that has quietened the outcry of Mourinho-hopefuls against Barca's theatrics in the Bernabeu with a little help from FIFA again.

Mais um amistoso, foi disputado no dia 29/03/2011, na cidade de Saint-Denis-FRA, no stade de France, onde jogaram as seleções da França (18º no ranking da FIFA) e a seleção da Croácia (8º no ranking da FIFA).
Antes desse jogo, as 2 seleções jogaram:
Copa do Mundo
1998Saint-Denis 08/07/1998 FRA2:1 (0:0)CRO Semi-finals
Eurocopa
2004Leiria 17/06/2004 CRO2:2 (0:1)FRA First stage
Amistosos
2000Zagreb 28/05/2000 CRO0:2 (0:1)FRA 1999Saint-Denis 13/11/1999 FRA3:0CRO
O árbitro desse jogo, foi: Alan Kelly-EIr

PARIS, France — Lille claimed their first French league title since 1954 despite being held to a 2-2 draw at French Cup final victims Paris Saint-Germain in a heated encounter here on Saturday. Victors over PSG in last weekend's cup showdown, Lille required just a point to complete the second league and cup double in [.

Europe is treading clumsily where America has learned not to tread long ago.
The recent row over the possibility of quotas of non-black players in France's national football academies showed how Europeans still do not 'get' race and are prone to reflex comments of xenophobia and maybe worse.

Apologies for the temporary hiatus from blogging. Thankfully Jeff did a great job of recapping the recent matches against Luxembourg and Croatia.

Probably the biggest recent story in group D is the suspension of Bosnia from all international competitions. I do believe this destroys any hopes of them qualifying for the tournament as I do not think they will be able to fix things before their next qualifier on June 3rd.

Así como los clubes y las federaciones tienen su escudo distintivo, muchos estadios alrededor del mundo están sumando una imagen identificatoria a su estampa de hormigón. En la Argentina se destaca una joya arquitectónica en la capital de la provincia de Buenos Aires: el Estadio Único Ciudad de La Plata.

I've been a good fan: sticking with the French through the decade since 1998, through ups and downs and waves of absurdity. I managed to get through the experience and the aftermath of the 2006 World Cup, though it did take writing an entire book about the history of French soccer to do so. I hobbled through the Shakespearean tragedy of 2008 European Cup, watching my hero Thuram outrun and outfoxed in one game, then exiled to the bench for his final match for France.

Mais um amistoso, foi realizado no dia 09/02/2011, na cidade de Paris-FRA, no Stade de France, onde jogaram as seleções da França (19º no ranking da FIFA) e a seleção do Brasil (4º no ranking da FIFA).
Antes desse jogo, as 2 seleções jogaram:
Copa do Mundo
2006Frankfurt/Main 01/07/2006 BRA0:1 (0:0)FRA Quarter-finals1998Saint-Denis 12/07/1998 BRA0:3 (0:2)FRA Final1986Guadalajara 21/06/1986 BRA1:1 a.

Before I start I want to make it clear that there are no words I can use in order to describe how it felt to finally beat Barcelona. When my father called me after the final whistle, I was still inside the Emirates, crying like a baby. And when he asked me why I was crying, I realised that only an Arsenal fan knows what that moment represented.

It's one of the oddities of international football: the French team, which often struggles against not-so-great opponents and has had tremendous ups and downs in the last decade, nevertheless seems to have one superpower: they consistently defeat Brazil. If I'm not mistaken, Brazil went undefeated in World Cup play between their loss in the 1998 Final of the World Cup and their less to France in 2006.

Meaningless international football is usually akin to watching WWF... totally pointless! Not tonight my little furry gooner friends (and enemies)

Jack takes centre stage for England, and with Theo providing width for the team, we get to see a game with real Arsenal presence. Wait, better yet, we get to see old big head Nikki B taking centre stage for the opposition on his home turf.

Wednesday, February 9, 2010 2:00 P.M. ET
Stade de France, Saint-Denis, France

Its time for a serious friendly as the Seleção Brasileira travel to Saint-Denis to play Les Blues at the Stade de France.

France is rebuilding after their World Cup disaster. New manager Laurent Blanc had a great deal of success at Bordeaux.

A More Meaningful France-Brazil Match Than Today's (12 Juin 1998, Paris)

There is a full slate of meaningless international friendlies today, with all the European powers in action and most of those matches available for viewing here in the US (at least on ESPN3).

We may peek in on France-Brazil or Argentina-Portugal.

Robinho has a word or two to say to the press

Brazil's first outing of the 2011 sees them lock horns with France in an international friendly later this evening. Coach Mano Menezes hands Bayer Leverkusen midfielder, Renato Augusto, his first cap. Inter Milan keeper, Julio César, makes his first appearance since Brazil went out of the South Africa World Cup to the Netherlands.

PARIS, France — France coach Laurent Blanc on Thursday omitted former skipper Patrice Evra from his squad to face Brazil in a February 9 friendly at Stade de France but insisted his reasons were purely tactical. Manchester United defender Evra had been available for selection after serving a five-match suspension following his leading role [.