Isn't it typical, you wait all year for a horse story and then two come along at once. Like the number 7 going up the Ormeau Road in Belfast, or whatever your local bus is that decides it's too afraid to drive up a road on it's own so it'll wait for it's mate.

I'm still really sick, be prepapred for a hell of a lot more nonsense ahead.

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Rafa Benitez faces more battles between club and country if Liverpool fail to get their season back on track.
The World Cup will become an unwanted distraction for the Kop boss unless his side is competing for honours in the New Year.
Star players Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres are putting their bodies on the line to help save the club's faltering season. Click to continue reading...

Kaká battles it out

A second-half goal by Nilmar was the difference in a forgettable match between Brazil and England in Qatar on Saturday.

The Villarreal man struck in the first minute of the second period after heading in a lovely floated ball from ex Manchester City player, Elano.

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Bad news. Our list of the fallen is now about as long as Peter Crouch's leg. The BBC so kindly tells us that we're missing Rio Ferdinand, Steven Gerrard, Ashley Cole, David James, Theo Walcott, Emile Heskey, David Beckham, Aaron Lennon, Carlton Cole, John Terry, Frank Lampard, and Glen Johnson.

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Poor run of form, you say? Every team has them. Manager on the brink of extinction? Extinction doesn't exist, just ask Kirk Cameron (who may or may not be batshit crazy). Injuries spreading like chlamydia in Deadwood? Al Swearengen says injuries are for ********** **** (audio NSFW). Bring on Birmingham City.

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With the Carling Cup sending us back to Manchester Shitty for a rematch sooner than any of us imagined, VP has given the boss the perfect excuse to add more experienced first teamers to a Carling Cup squad, which, we have to admit, would struggle against Shitty's first team if we sent just kids. He has made it very clear that he wants to play this one, and you just know he wants revenge for what the ex-25 did. Click to continue reading...

It seems that whenever I write an article for this site it's about one of two things; Scottish football's decline or uprising. No prizes for guessing which one this falls under, with the issues surrounding that of Rangers dominating the back pages north of the border for most of the past few weeks.

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Well done to Arsenal on Wednesday, a deserved victory in a game that featured a mixture of first-teamers and youth talent for both sides, as well as the highly anticipated debut of Alberto Aquilani for the Liverpool. Emiliano Insua scored his first for the club, hitting a half-volley from about 25 yards out that left Fabianski with no chance.

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Yesterday I posted about the US U17 team training in KC in their preparations for the U17 World Cup and how there was likely to be a game while the they were here. Today on Bigsoccer, Robb posted again saying that the game would be Tuesday out at Swope Park.
I've gotten some more information on the game. Click to continue reading...

I've deliberately avoided all the post World Cup qualification hooplah. Mostly because the usual questions: "Can we win it this time?" etc, make me want to stab myself in the leg with a pencil. And anyone who uses the phrase "Can England win it? Yes. Will they win it? No." should be reminded that
a) It's not clever or original if a thousand other people have already said it first, and
b) You deserve to be stabbed in the leg with a pencil.

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- Barca coach Pep Guardiola stars in a new book entitled "Paraula Pep", or "The World of Pep". The book is the result of the success of a television program by TV3 under the same name, which was broadcasted in the week before Barca's CL victory in Roma. Editor Ernest Floch was quick to take the initiative to commision the book, which records the phrases that have been considered outstanding in the path of Guardiola on the bench of FC Barcelona, and that define his philosophy. Click to continue reading...

Big Story

At the age of 18, most would say Shane Supple had it made. Subbed on for Ipswich in the thirty-fifth minute against Leicester, he kept a clean sheet for the rest of the match. Supple's future looked bright, but almost as soon as he debuted for the first team, the Dublin native met with Roy Keane to effectively end his young career.

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Adriano shows off his skills to ex boxer Popó

Tonight, Brazil take on Chile in the estádio de Pituaçu in Salvador in the 16th round of the World Cup qualifiers.

This could be the time for Dunga to give some of his squad members a run out as Brazil have already qualified for South Africa and the coach is without a number of first teamers.

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Barca's first final of the season is the second leg of the Spanish Supercup against Athletic Bilbao, and we're in this to win. We have a strong feeling Barca will be getting the season's first silver tonight, as we go into this match with a 2-1 lead and on our own turf... not to mention that several of our stars who were injured for the first leg will be able to play this one. Click to continue reading...

Women's Professional Soccer had plenty of positives in its first year. Attendance was within estimates, though maybe tilted toward the low end of the range. Ratings were pretty good. The league got a little bit of media attention despite a lack of cooperation from wire services.
Best of all, the quality of play was terrific. Click to continue reading...

It feels like we were anticipating more from Ibrahimovic. He did good enough, but really wasted some chances. Of course, we aren't laying judgment on the guy after his first forty five minutes playing, but it could have been better.
That said, Ibra was recovering from injury and this was his first match in weeks, and his first match on a new team, where he still needs to find his place and touch; so we're letting this go. Click to continue reading...

The new grass on Camp Nou makes its debut for Barca's traditional Gamper Cup match, this year facing Man City, the host of such stars as Robinho, Adebayor, Messi's compatriot Carlos Tevez, and Yaya's older brother, Kolo Toure.
Messi and Ibra both got their greenlights to play yesterday, and will be able to particpate in this match. Click to continue reading...

Barca's first competitive match of the season is here, as the team heads out to face Athletic Bilbao for the Spanish Supercup. The title will be played out over two legs, and Barca play the first leg away, the second at home. A comfortable result in this match will make things alot easier when we meet Athletic again on Camp Nou; but this match could be tough, especiallly seeing as the opposition have the home advantage. Click to continue reading...

With most of the players off with their national teams, Barca's sqaud is looking scanty with only Valdes, Pinto, Jorquera, Henrique, Maxwell, Victor Sanchez, Iniesta, Pedro, Bojan, Henry and Ibrahimovic left; along with B-teamers Fontas, Muniesa, Jonathan and Jeffren.
Training goes on however, and Ibrahimovic worked right along with the rest of the players for the first time, after recieving his greenlight from the medics. Click to continue reading...

Oh Sweet Jesus!

Czech Republic winger Rosicky has only just returned to action after 18 months out through injury.
However, according to the Sun, Rosicky suffered a strained hamstring in training on Wednesday and has been told by medical staff that he will be out of action until the middle of September.

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The Chicago Fire will look to win its first trophy since the 2006 U.S. Open Cup by defeating Mexican side Tigres in the 2009 SuperLiga Final tonight at Toyota Park (8pm, Telefutura).

The Fire will look to become the second straight MLS team to win the SuperLiga title after New England won it last year.

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The Chicago Fire will look to win its first trophy since the 2006 U.S. Open Cup by defeating Mexican side Tigres in the 2009 SuperLiga Final tonight at Toyota Park (8pm, Telefutura).

The Fire will look to become the second straight MLS team to win the SuperLiga title after New England won it last year.

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Before yesterday's game against Rangers, Wenger was trying desperately to quell the ever-increasing excitement over the performances of Jack Wilshere, after the precocious teenager had played a starring role in our second half improvement against Atletico Madrid, saying 'Don't get too carried away after 45 minutes in a friendly'.

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It was the perfect set up; A Mexican squad in dire need of a win to gain back confidence, A U.S. squad playing with benchwarmers. U.S. Soccer executives probably didn't figure on 5 - nothing.Â

The damage is done. After huge summer gains with the American sports fans, U.S. Soccer blunders.

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Reading Football Club is an association football club, based in the English town of Reading, in Berkshire. They will start the 2009/10 season in the The Championship after losing to Burnley in the semi-finals of the 2008/2009 Championship play-offs. Earlier today, the Royals launched their Puma 2009/10 away kit. Click to continue reading...

So here we have it, where better to have a good old fashioned London derby than Beijing, as Redknapp and Zola give a good run out for their top notch first teamers you'll never guess who got the winner! Oh yes, the player West Ham fans love to (and have every right to) hate. Mr. Jermain Defoe!

• Spurs SET for FANTASTIC £24m DOUBLE STRIKER SWOOP!

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- The team's off to L.A. today! The second step of Barca's preseason, after the Wembley Cup, is the United States tour, which will kick off in California (against LA Galaxy - hello there Becks) before the squad continues to San Fransisco and Seattle. Pep's taking the entire squad with him except for Caceres and Hleb, also calling up B-teamers Muniesa, Fontas, Jeffren and Jonathan. Click to continue reading...

Is it me or do the Spuds and Sunderland seem to be linked with every player linked to us? What's going on there? Are they just saving on scouting and piggy-backing on our system? Are they aiming above themselves or are the papers trying to drag us down to their level?

If a midfielder is available for £5million and goes to Sunderland instead of Arsenal it means we didn't go for him.

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The way we see it, this match report can take two possible courses: we could go into a lengthy analysis of Pep's outfit and his eccentric hand gestures from the sidelines all match long, or we could talk about how the kids played.
Because Barca's lineup was almost compeltely made up of just kids from the B-team. Click to continue reading...

The first match is near, and we can barely contain our excitement. It seems like ages since we've seen the boys play (in reality only about two months) and we just can't wait for this!
Barca opens preseason against English club Tottenham as part of the Wembley Cup friendly tournament, which also features Scottish club Celtic and Egypt's Al-Ahly. Click to continue reading...

- Leo sends everyone greetings from Barca's training camp, Bisham Abbey, London, and begs for someone to please make Pep take it easy on them. The coach's been working the boys extra hard today, with two training sessions involving a mixture of physical and tactical exercises. They focused on ball skills, defensive pressure and building stamina, with Pep in the midst of everything making the sure the players were doing things right, and interrupting frequently to correct them (pictures below). Click to continue reading...

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The Summer of Soccer continues to open eyes. Sports fans are taking a second look and new fans are getting hooked. This period of time has undoubtedly been Soccer's most historic in the U.S. But are sports fans getting confused and could this confusion be counter-productive?

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In an earlier post, I wondered why Bob Bradley had named seven arguable A-teamers to the Gold Cup roster when he (a) knew he would be losing 3-4 starters during the course of the Gold Cup and (b) had no intention of using them in the tournament. In that post, I argued that Bob Bradley might be one of the worst planners ever.

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Offseason's over and preseason's begun! We're so happy that the boys are final back and in action. We've missed them!
The B-team lads as well as a couple of first-teamers all reported to take their physicals yesterday, while the rest of the team are due back today - that is, except for those who have permission to stay later and won't return till the 27th: Dani, Pique, Puyol, Busquets, Xavi, and Iniesta. Click to continue reading...

Davy Arnaud has been a consistent performer for the Kasnas City Wizards since entering MLS in 2002. Playing along the likes of Josh Wolff, Preki, Kerry Zavagnin and Chris Klein (all former US national teamers) in the KC midfield and attack, Arnaud developed versatility unique to most American attacking midfielders.

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