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Zlatan Ibrahimovic suffered a slight leg strain back on Nov. 7 against Mallorca that kept the striker out of international duty with Sweden this past week. Ibrahimovic began training this week in preparation for Saturday's match on the road against Athletic Club Bilbao.

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Bad news for Barcelona today as they revealed that striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic will miss this weekend's game against Athletic Bilbao due to a hamstring injury.

Barcelona says the injury was discovered following medical tests Thursday after the Sweden striker felt discomfort on Wednesday.

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The Germans become comic book heroes before our very eyes. Looking back at Russian disappointment. (Russian Football Now) Hands were flying in Brazil yesterday too. (See The Cup) The US World Cup uniform leaks. (Football Fashion) The pitch invader from Sweden-Denmark gets a huge fine. (BBC) Take the stadium aerial challenge and waste loads of time at work. Click to continue reading...

Video Info:
18.11.2009 - Friendly Game
Italy - Sweden 1:0

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It is the last international match day of the year and we will be treated both to some decisive World Cup qualifiers as well as some quality international friendlies.

You already know about today's qualifiers, but there are also some great friendlies, including Germany-Ivory Coast, Italy-Sweden and Netherlands-Paraguay.

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USA - Denmark starts on ESPN Classic at 2:30pm and picking up on ESPN2 when their coverage of Ukraine - Greece (starts at 1pm) ends. ESPN Classic will show the entire game uninterrupted. GolTV has Italy - Sweden at 2:30pm. Setanta has Bosnia - Portugal at 2:40pm and Slovenia - Russia on Xtra at the same time (5pm on Setanta). Click to continue reading...

Zalaegerszeg Ultras, Hungary

Photo credit: Rasiermesser Kalle on Flickr, via the Pitch Invasion Photo Pool.

Related posts:

1. Photo Daily: Újpest FC Ultras Pyro Display Pyro display by ultras from the Hungarian club, Újpest.

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I didn't really have a favourite Swedish Superettan (second tier) team to support until recently. But then Luka emailed The Offside and persuaded us to start a blog for Assyriska Föreningen, and I've been following their fortunes through the season. Assyriska finished 3rd in the Superettan, which was enough to earn a promotion/relegation playoff vs the [. Click to continue reading...

The oldest professional football club believe it or not faces the possibility of court proceedings for non-payment of taxes.

Months after a Qadbak Investments, a Middle East company, whose owners remain largely unidentified bought over Notts County, they are faced with a huge tax bill which had accrued under Blenheim 1862, the former parent company.

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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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All the stuff being covered outside the unfriendly confines of the award winning Dirty Tackle...

The derby match between St. Pauli and Hansa Rostock once again brings fire and violence and police involvement, this time inflamed by St. Pauli's Deniz Naki. [101gg]

Every fan attending the Dynamo Kiev v Inter Champions League match will be given masks to protect against the terrifying dangers of swine flu.

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Final weekend, AIK lead IFK Göteborg atop the Allsvenskan table by a lone, solitary, unloved point. AIK play, you guessed it, IFK Göteborg in Gothenburg; Charlie Kaufman could hardly have scripted this better. With matters level at one late on (4.10 post-jump), Stefan Selakovic of IFK unleashes the most audacious left footed curler from the [. Click to continue reading...

Some news to read as you reflect on how little sun they must get in Scotland. (Probably safe for work. If your boss isn't offended by a few short seconds of naked buttocks.) (Spotted on 101 Great Goals) Sweden goes down to the wire: A preview of the final round for the [...] Click to continue reading...

Hungary vs. Sweden, Puskás Ferenc Stadion, September 5th 2009. Sweden won the 2010 World Cup qualifier 2-1.

Photo credit: photoreti via the Pitch Invasion photo pool.

Related posts:

1. Photo Daily: NK Maribor Fans Are Lonely Fans in Slovenia look lonely.

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Henrik Larsson and a teary-eyed farewell. Dinamo Zagreb get a heavy sentence from UEFA. (Dinamo Zagreb Offside) Where are the Carling Cup Cinderellas? (Fanhouse UK) The problems at Real start deep within. (SoccerLens) Sport.co.uk lists ten poor transfers. (Sport) UF gives their take demolishes that list. Click to continue reading...

Sweden and Celtic FC football legend Henrik Larsson has played his final professional match at age 38. Larsson featured in Helsingborg's 2-0 Allsvenska defeat to Djurgarden last night to bring an end to a storied career that began in 1988. Larsson leaves the game with over 300 goals scored for the likes of Helsingborg, Feyenoord, Celtic [. Click to continue reading...

Our series on supporter tifo displays on Pitch Invasion jumps from Northern Ireland to Sweden.

Below is a compilation of displays by supporters of AIK (Allmänna Idrottsklubben). AIK were founded in 1891, and after being one of the dominant forces in the early decades of the Swedish league, have only had sporadic success in recent years.

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Brazil didn't start the sixth World Cup in Sweden very well: on their first two matches they had defeated Austria 3-0 and tied 0-0 against England (this was the first goalless draw in a World Cup), and it came down to their last first round match where they were facing a strong USSR side that still had a chance at the quarterfinals. Click to continue reading...

Do you know who the unofficial world football champions are? It's not Italy, they're the official world champions by virtue of being World Cup holders. The unofficial world champions are in fact the Netherlands. Who says? The Unofficial Football World Championships people says, that's who.

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Henrik Larsson, the once ageless wonder who'd begun to show plenty of age, has finally decided to hang up his boots with near immediate effect. Three games remain in a rather pedestrian Helsignborgs season and three games remain in Henrik's footballing career. Unless he's summoned back for World Cup 2014 qualifying, of course. Click to continue reading...

Palermo centre-back Simon Kjaer has dropped yet another strong hint that he could leave Sicily next year.
The 20-year-old has impressed in Serie A after joining the Rosanero in the summer of 2008 and has been frequently linked with Turin giants Juventus, but he has confessed that English giants Liverpool might be his first choice. Click to continue reading...

The draw is in. Eight team compete for the last four spots from the European zone.

France line up against Ireland in a two match playoff next month. In the other head to head, Portugal face Bosnia, Russia play Slovenia, and Greece take on Ukraine.

Raymond Domenech who has survived innumerable calls for his dismissal gets one more chance to silence his critics.

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While everyone was busy anxiously awaiting FIFA's latest release and the seeding for the playoff spots, UEFA was busy concocting a ranking of their own and releasing it under unsuspecting eyes. At this point it means little and will only serve to put Euro 2012 qualifying seeding into perspective, still some way off yet, but it's always interesting to see how others differ from the entirely rubbish FIFA ranking system.

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Briefly, I thought I would highlight a few of the best squads in the European bracket that will not play in next years World Cup in South Africa. It is never fun to be a team with a reservation in Heartbreak Hotel, but at least these teams will get a brief vacation this summer. Plus it beats making it there with great expectations and then losing in the finals.

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I think I've found someone who can solve the country's fiscal woes. Just one primary question: are you at all concerned about an uprising?#1 - Get this. Well, maybe sit down first. You aren't ready for it, no matter how tough you think you are. Please table any glass ewers you may be holding. Your knees will wobble. Click to continue reading...

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and his Sweden national teammates narrowly failed to qualify for a UEFA World Cup qualifying playoff spot on Wednesday night. The Swedes did what they could by beating Albania 4-1 in Solna. However, their progress in the qualification process was made impossible by Portugal's 4-0 trouncing of minnows Malta. Click to continue reading...

After beating Albania 4-1 in match that even the local press called "meaningless" since they had already been doomed to miss out on qualification for South Africa, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and his Swedish teammates hit the clubs of Stockholm following a farewell dinner for departing national team manager Lars Lagerback.

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Denmark's last match against Hungary was a quite pathetic 0-1 loss (in fact, the first world cup qualifying defeat in Copenhagen since 1981....), but didn't mean anything because of Denmark's 1-0 victory against Sweden last Saturday, that had already given the Danes their ticket to South Africa next year. Click to continue reading...

Sweden eased past Albania but failed to qualify for the play-offs as Portugal beat Malta.

1-0 Mellberg

Don't forget to check out Online Football Manager!

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Going into today's international fixtures, several countries are playing for the World Cup livlihoods, including Honduras, U.S. opponent Costa Rica, Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador, Portugal and Sweden, among others. Check out this great breakdown of the day's matches and the implications they contain from Soccernet. Click to continue reading...

Portugal moves into Wednesdays qualifier against Malta with their destiny firmly in their own hands. The Portuguese made sure of this by defeating Hungary on Saturday after Denmark did them a favour in defeating Sweden, these two results have Portugal now sitting in second spot, one point in front of Sweden going into the last matchup of the round. Click to continue reading...

Is there is no rest for the World Cup-bound? In addition to tomorrow night's qualifier finale against Costa Rica, the Yanks will march on to Aarhus in November for a friendly versus Denmark on the 18th. There is also talk of matches in the spring against the Dutch and the English...to which I say "bring it". Click to continue reading...

The U.S. men's national team wasted no time scheduling an opponent for a November friendly after qualifying for the 2010 World Cup.

The United States will travel to Europe next month to take on fellow World Cup qualifier Denmark on Nov. 18 in Aarhus. The announcement came just three days after the USA qualified for the World Cup with its 3-2 victory vs.

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The U.S. men's national team wasted no time scheduling an opponent for a November friendly after qualifying for the 2010 World Cup.

The U.S. team will travel to Europe next month to take on fellow World Cup qualifier Denmark on Nov. 18 in Aarhus. The announcement came just three days after the USA qualified for the World Cup with its 3-2 victory vs.

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How often are so many soccer stories on the wire that involves Sweden or Swedish players and coaches?
First off, Sven-Goran Eriksson fired his coach at Notts County. Then he immediately had to deny that he's taking the job.
In semi-related news the Swedish FA had to deny approaching Sven for its soon-to-be open position of head coach. Click to continue reading...