Earlier today, me, narcissistically posting in Pitch Invasion's Sweeper, which was awesome enough to link to me three times, and oh, yeah, had a bit about the depressing match fixing revelations coming out of Europe:

Anyway, Declan Hill is working on his "told you so" blog entry right now.

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Went past the Mercedes garage yesterday. Big, shiny car in the window, apparently the best model in its class that money can buy. So went inside, and offered a quarter of the asking price, because I reckoned that car wanted to come home with me. Know what happened?
Yep, I was slung out on my ear. Click to continue reading...

With December fast-approaching, The Season is in the air. Christmas? Absolutely not. It's awards season. The Argentine sensation known as Lionel Messi has already nabbed the Onze d'Or, a precursor to the Ballon d'Or (with a heft more patriotism) which has predicted the BdO three times in the last four years. Click to continue reading...

And those words are: Meeting the challenge.

Right. So before the first playoff leg I predicted a series score of 2-1. Then before the second playoff leg, seeing the kind of chaos the two teams were creating and the resulting goals, I predicted 2-1 for the game on Sunday.

So, looking at a 3-2 aggregate and a 1-0 second leg scoreline, you can see that I bloody well can't predict anything when it comes to these two teams.

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Chelsea has turned the swag on of late (no souljaboytellem), wouldn't you say? Since the defeat to Aston Villa (five matches): 19 goals scored, 2 conceded. The real test, however, comes today when the reigning champions three times running visit Stamford Bridge. Manchester United travel to the Bridge for a 1 v.

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First of all, go vote for the AT&T Goal of the Year and Degree Men Save of the Year awards. Both Arnaud and Lopez are up twice for the Goal of the Year honor and Hartman is up three times for the Save of the Year award. You can find links to the highlights of these plays at previous posts below. Click to continue reading...

Chivas USA 1 Galaxy 2

Looks like we have the most entertaining game of the playoffs so far on display here this afternoon in Carson.

The upper deck has filled in nicely, too, which means a good walk-up (must be the quality of those previews this morning).

This game has threatened to spiral out of control a couple of times, with the fast pace contributing to errors in the middle of the park.

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This was just before we visited Reading.� � They had six points on Bolton and eight on us.� � Birmingham had six points on us and two on Bolton for that matter.� � � � That day we had a bit of fun.� � � Hade was driving so Toby and Matt headed over to ours, and stopped off at the Tooting branch of Woolworth's (now history) for some inflatables.

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But Torrance's Shannon Boxx is not among the 10 female players on the FIFA short list this year.

Marta has won the award three times in succession.

Here's FIFA's list of the male and female nominees as announced today.

And here's the WPS press release heralding the accomplishments of the players nominated who play in the league:

Sonia Bompastor FRA/Washington Freedom - Led the league in assists (6) while tallying four goals and was selected as WPS Player of the Month for May.

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The Tottenham bus having temporarily run out of petrol against Stoke and been pushed into a lay-by got back on the road again in the Carling Cup by beating Everton. It was fortunate that after Stoke we had a home tie in our favourite competition and were playing opponents who were forced to play three times in six days and were, like us, missing senior players. Click to continue reading...

Was that Barca out there last night? Because all we saw was a blue and red steamroller which, engineered by perfection in the form of Seydou Keita, charged onto the pitch full speed ahead and flattened the quaking opposition. Zaragoza never stood a chance against a Barca side that came out last night with more hunger than we've probably seen in them this season. Click to continue reading...

West Ham 2-2 Arsenal

There are draws that seem like wins, and there are draws that seem like defeats. Today's was both depending which team you support.

Deeply frustrating if you're an Arsenal fan though. Coming back from two goals up might be a theme of the weekend, but it doesn't make it any less infuriating, does it?

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Three times Saturday, freshman forward Thienoko Kone gave the Madison Area Technical College men's...
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I'm not quitting, and neither is Rob. But we both have other blogging commitments and so could definitely use some help here on England WCB. Especially as we begin the buildup to the big football show that is World Cup 2010.

Much like Fabio Capello, we won't settle for just anyone.

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On the day that retired ex River Plate, Argentinos Juniors, Villarreal, Cruzeiro and Argentina full back Juan Pablo Sorín was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of Belo Horizonte (the city he's lived in three times during his spells at Cruzeiro), FIFA confirmed that another former Argentina player is held in rather less high esteem. Click to continue reading...

An almighty cock-up This menacing half-hearted chip from outside the box was so difficult to handle that Milan goalkeeper Dida fumbled it about three times. Having bounced the ball off both knees and scrambled around his penalty area after the ball, the Brazilian keeper is stranded as Raul taps the ball into the back of the [. Click to continue reading...

By Graig Carbino - ALBANY, NY (Oct 21, 2009) USSoccerPlayers -- Landon Donovan has done it again. Yesterday it was announced that the LA Galaxy midfielder had won the 2009 Honda Player of the Year Award. This is Donovan's sixth time capturing the title of "best US National Soccer Team player." He took home the award three times running from 2002 through 2004 and has just completed the triple again from 2007 to Tuesdays ceremony. Click to continue reading...

For ranking methodology and other information about the series, see the original post. To read the about the No. 8-rated stadium, the Monumental in Buenos Aires click here. To see all "soccer mecca" entries click here.
7. Camp Nou, Barcelona
Open since: 1957
Capacity: 98,000
Tenant(s): FC Barcelona
World Cup hosts: 1982
In its relatively brief (by soccer mecca standards) history, Barcelona's Camp Nou has hosted some memorable matches: a World Cup, a memorable Champions League final (very memorable for Manchester United fans) and an Olympic gold medal game, to name but a few. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool youngster Jay Spearing is too young to remember the last time the Kop tasted league title success and he admits Manchester United's dominance of the Premier League has been a painful experience to bear for the Merseyside local.
The Wirral born midfielder also claims this season is the most important of his career, suggesting he has to show Rafa Benitez what he is capable of. Click to continue reading...

Hello hello hello. Did you miss me? I promise that I had every intention of blogging at least once while in Amsterdam, an intention which can be confirmed by knowing that the first thing I asked the hotel reception was 'how much is your broadband?' It was her answer that prevented any further progress with the matter. Click to continue reading...

Ferguson very keen on Russian custodian

Portsmouth Vs Manchester United Tickets Still Available!

Manchester United encouraged to step up interest in goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev
Manchester United have been encouraged to step up their interest in Russia goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev following CSKA Moscow's decision to listen to offers for the 23-year-old in January.

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Arsenal midfielder Tomas Rosicky confirmed he met with Arsene Wenger but denied they discussed his contract now that the Czech International is back from injury.

Speaking to Deniksport.cz, Rosicky said:

I have spoken with Mr Wenger on this matter. It is not the most actual thing, though, and there are no negotiations running these days.

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Arsenal midfielder Tomas Rosicky confirmed he met with Arsene Wenger but denied they discussed his contract now that the Czech International is back from injury.

Speaking to Deniksport.cz, Rosicky said:

I have spoken with Mr Wenger on this matter. It is not the most actual thing, though, and there are no negotiations running these days.

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The Oregon prep boys soccer team has lost only three times this season. The Panthers get a chance...
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John Terry has played first team football for Chelsea for eleven seasons. In that time they have finished 3rd, 5th, 6th, 6th, 4th, 2nd, 1st, 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd in the league, giving them an averaging finishing place of 3rd. Yet those title wins five and six seasons ago have given Terry ideas above his station.

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Steve Bruce has spoken about his first memory of Ryan Giggs as a teenager taking the piss on the training ground.

"My first memory of Ryan was Fergie nicking him from City," said Bruce. "Ryan would have been 14 or 15 at the time. Sir Alex was saying, 'We've got this young kid coming over today, he's going to train with the first team, so just be careful with him.

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I've noticed that when I feature music from an opposing nation the day of a game, the U.S. lose. Bad. It's happened three times now. So that's over. Sorry, fine Cameroonian musicians who'd I'd otherwise love to highlight. Too bad for you.Now, for those long hours until our team gets to try and make things right (a ka the fourth longest wait in life). Click to continue reading...

While having to pick the ball out of his net three times against Germany, U-20 keeper Brian Perk still sees the team's second half performance as a silver lining for the rest of the tournament. Click to continue reading...

Arsenal have done it again in the League Cup.
It wasn't the 6-0 that they had at this point last season, but a couple great late goals, both involving Ramsey and substitute Carlos Vela, have Arsenal through to the next round. The 56,000 supporters in attendance and the rest of us watching on Arsenal TV Online (ATVO) enjoyed it tremendously. Click to continue reading...

What a Manchester Derby. Man United took the lead three times, only to find local rivals Man City come back three times, at least untill the 95th minute, where Michael Owen forever endeared himself to the Man United support by popping up with a last gasp goal. An absolute sucker punch for City, whose spirit [. Click to continue reading...

Rio Ferdinand made his first league appearance of the season in the 3 – 1 victory over Spurs on Saturday after recovering from a thigh injury sustained in training. His prolonged absence from the team has given the United captain plenty of time to reflect and he has admitted he felt sick after the Champions League final defeat in Rome.

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Ahead of our first Champions League game of the new campaign against Besiktas tonight, Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra have reflected on the pain defeat in Rome caused.

"Having lost a Champions League final, I know what it feels like," said Rio. "It was sickening in Rome because we felt we were on the cusp of greatness, so to lose the way we did was really difficult.

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FT: Liverpool 4 Burnley 0
The above scoreline will be a wonderful sight to all Liverpool fans. Yossi scored three times and Dirk had one as Liverpool cruise to a comfortable victory. Benayoun was terrific throughout, as were Dirk, Riera, Gerrard and Lucas. Liverpool took some time getting into the game, but after about 20 minutes, completely controlled the game and never really looked in danger. Click to continue reading...

OK, we are now two games into pre season and we came down to earth with a bump last night.

We played against a school with three times the enrollment we have, a school that has had its best start to a season in their history, a team that was 3-0 and had scored 14 goals conceding none....we lost 4-0.

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Wolff celebrates a goal earlier in the year. He now has three two-goal games this season.
As we first guessed here late Saturday night, striker Josh Wolff has been named MLS Player of the Week for his outstanding two-goal effort against New England. Not only did he score two goals himself, but he set up Claudio Lopez's opener and played the ball the turned into an own goal. Click to continue reading...