04.02.2012 - El Athletic de Marcelo Bielsa y el Espanyol de Mauricio Pochettino dieron un desigual espectáculo en San Mamés, empatando en 3 un partido cambiante (box to box) y con todos los condimentos.
Bielsa "es mucho más que un entrenador... Me unen lazos emocionales muy fuertes.

GOKSEL GUMUSDAG(L),LUTFU ARIBOGAN (C) ,MEHMET ALI AYDINLAR (R)
Just before 24 hours before, he said he was going to stay as a boss of Turkish Football Federation, despite the pressure from media and some teams!
What happened in the past 24 hour ,that changed, Mehmet Ali Aydinlar's opinion?

Sporting have lost midfielder Stijn Schaars for up to three weeks after the player suffered a left thigh injury, while on another front striker Bojinov looks to be headed out of Sporting on loan with possible destinations being Lecce, Dynamo Kiev or Trabzonspor at this time.

The Ivory Coast won their first match of the 2012 African Cup of Nations today, a 1-0 defeat of Sudan with Didier Drogba scoring the lone goal.

Curious as to their current FIFA ranking and who else might likely put up a fight against the Elephants, I looked it up. Learning that they rank 18th internationally didn't surprise, but the fact that only 5 other African countries make up the top 50 did.

The Ivory Coast won their first match of the 2012 African Cup of Nations today, a 1-0 defeat of Sudan with Didier Drogba scoring the lone goal.

Curious as to their current FIFA ranking and who else might likely put up a fight against the Elephants, I looked it up. Learning that they rank 18th internationally didn't surprise, but the fact that only 5 other African countries make up the top 50 did.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Teyyip Erdogan and "Turkey's Chief EU Negotiator Egemen Bagis seen amongst the crowd." PHOTO BY (AA)
Thousands of Fenerbahce fans and fans from several Turkish clubs, bid farewell on Sunday to Lefter Kucukandonyadis, one of Turkey's top football players, who has died at 86.

Kolo and his brother will soon meet up with fellow academy-ites Kalou, Eboue and Gervinho at the African Cup of Nations in .

When Gervinho, Salomon Kalou, Emmanuel Eboué and the brothers Touré convene in for the African Cup of Nations tournament to play for the Ivory Coast, it's a high school reunion of sorts.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, BUT NOT SO HAPPY TURKISH FOOTBALL
First,over the years, people who has follow me here,I would like to wish all of you Happy New Year and thank you, for following my blog...
The year 2011, was UGLY for Turkish Football!
The scandals,allegations,TFF's backtracks and uncertainty in Turkish Football, carried over to 2012!

The Third round in Ziraat Turkish Cup matches announced today in Istanbul....
14 winner teams from second round will join 15 teams from Turkish Super League and three teams from the Banka Asya league that was promoted to Turkish Super League,,,..
The third round matches will be only match.

Liverpool target Teo Gutierrez has been made available by his club - but only if his £8m valuation is met.
The Racing Club de Avellaneda forward has been attracting the attention of a number of clubs across Europe and the impending eight game ban Luis Suarez is facing has heightened Liverpool's thoughts of adding another striker to their squad.

16 down, one week to go, before the short winter brake in the Turkish Super League...
Yes, it was fast and jam packed 16 rounds in the Turkish Super League...
After playing matches on the weekend and weekdays, Turkish Super League's first half will be over after this Wendsday and Thursday.

17.12.2011 - Con goles de Susaeta (´6) y Toquero (´85), Athletic de Bilbao venció (2-1) a Zaragoza (Ponzio´21 penal) en San Mamés por la 17º jornada de la Liga española, para terminar el año en la 8º posición (22 puntos).
Si bien los equipos modestos son los que más problemas traen a los de Bielsa, este partido parecía apuntar a goleada.

EUROPA LEAGUE LAST 32 DRAW

Porto v Manchester City

Ajax v Manchester United

Lokomotiv Moscow v Athletic Bilbao

Salzburg v Metalist Kharkiv

Stoke City v Valencia

Rubin Kazan v Olympiacos

AZ Alkmaar v Anderlecht

Lazio v Atletico Madrid

Steaua Bucharest v Twente

Viktoria Plzen v Schalke

Wisla Krakow v Standard Liege

Braga v Besiktas

Udinese v PAOK

Trabzonspor v PSV Eindhoven

Hannover v Brugge

Legia Warsaw v Sporting

* First legs to be played February 16, second legs February 23

EUROPA LEAGUE LAST 16 DRAW

FC Salzburg/Metalist v Rubin Kazan/Olympiacos

Legia/Sporting v Porto/Manchester City

Steaua/Twente v Viktoria Plzen/Schalke

Wisla/Standard Liege v Hannover/Brugge

Stoke/Valencia v Trabzonspor/PSV Eindhoven

Alkmaar/Anderlecht v Udinese/PAOK

Lazio/Atletico Madrid v Braga/Besiktas

Ajax/Manchester United v Lokomotiv Moscow/Athletic Bilbao

* First legs to be played March 8, second legs March 15.

By Alan Duffy

It may well be the preserve of Thursday nights and Channel Five, but the Europa League, now ready for the knock-out stages is still peppered with some of Europe's big guns. Probably the biggest in the competition, Manchester United, will face another all-time European great, Ajax, in the last 32, a tie which has more than a hint of glamour.

The busy week ended with a change on top only with goal difference....
Galatasaray perhaps is the best team of the week, in my opinion....
They have beat, two important opponents in four days, last week...
Galatasaray scored six goals and only allowed only one goal.

Good news to Besiktas fans and some others ....
Besiktas Deputy Chairman Serdar Adalı, Besiktas protocol and security chief Ahmet Ates, coach
Tayfur Havutcu, İstanbul Büyüksehir Belediyespor (İBB) players Ibrahim Akın and İskender Alın,
Sivasspor goalkeeper Korcan Celikay and Diyarbakırspor player Abdurrahman Yakut, who were released.

Let me say this before I say anything...
Trabzonspor and Trabzonspor fans will never forget Inter Milan!
The score came out of Milan in the last minutes of the match, against CSKA Moscow ,really hurt Trabzonspor and their fans...
Let's not forget ,Trabzonspor is the only team who got four points from Inter in this group.

On another night of drama in the Champions League Lyon, Basel and Napoli all moved onto the round of 16, while last season's beaten finalist Manchester United was sent to the Europa League.

The most unlikely team to progress to the knock stages was Lyon, who needed Ajax to lose at home to Real Madrid while they beat Dinamo Zagreb and overturned a seven-goal deficit.

After the dust settled from Wednesday's shocking UEFA Champions League group results, the final 16 teams have emerged to make it to the knockout stage.

The draw is set for Dec. 16, and teams from the same group or same league cannot meet in the first knockout round. The teams in each pot are:

GROUP WINNERS - Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Benfica, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Arsenal, APOEL Nicosia, Barcelona

RUNNERS-UP - Napoli, CSKA Moscow, FC Basel, Lyon, Bayer Leverkusen, Marseille, Zenit-St.

STARTERS
Claire Newell & Paulo Kelso of the Telegraph report that the FBI is investigating suspicious activity around the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids and FIFA presidential election.
dN
Mexico has scheduled 2 friendlies early next year in the USA:
-Wed Jan 25
Mexico v Venezuela - in Houston
-Wed Feb 29
Mexico v Colombia - in Miami
DU NORD AT THE CONTROLS
du Nord at the Controls - Tue Dec 6, 2011 - Brand new music mix at Spotify
TEAM USA - EL EQUIPO DE TODOS
Steve Davis of Sports Illustrated looks at who may or may not get called in to the USA January camp.

Next time, rake the cleats, Rooney my boy.

And as Matchday 6 of the Champions League separated the wheat from the chaff, the next eight into the Europa League knockouts are:

Valencia
Olympiakos
Porto
Victoria
Plzen
Manchester United
Manchester City
Lyon FC Basel
Trabzonspor

Manchester United failed to beat Basel, so MUFC goes to Europa while the Swiss progress to the knockouts.

Many thought that one Manchester side would see its Champions League dream come to an end tonight but in the end, it ended up being the fate of both.

City and United, the two Mancunian giants battling at the Premier League summit, will now battle together in the Europa League after failing to get the desired results tonight.

It's the final day of the UEFA Champions League group stage, meaning that there is high potential for drama across Europe.

Much of the focus will be centered on St. Jakob Park in Switzerland, where FC Basel will try to do the unthinkable and prevent Manchester United from making it to the knockout round.

After seeing Chelsea avoid embarrassment with a convincing UEFA Champions League victory on Tuesday, Manchester United will hope to follow in its fellow English club's footsteps when it takes on FC Basel in Switzerland (2:45 p.m., Fox Soccer Channel).

Both teams trail Benfica in Group C, and while either team could win the group with a result and a Benfica loss to underdog Otelul Galati, the reality of the situation is that the game is a de facto second-place match.

A lot of pundits in Europe are saying Lille will join Inter Milan to reach last 16 in the champions league!
That could be on the paper but, they wel be wrong too..
Trabzonspor, could well surprise Lille in France and join Inter Milan!
Players like Halil Altintop and Burak Yilmaz, could well make a diffrence in this match.

After the week 13, in the Turkish Super League, we have a new top three in the standings!
While Fenerbahce and Galatasaray kept their place in the standing ,after Manisaspor could not win away match in Mersin, Besiktas captured the second place after they beat Orduspor, Monday night in Antalya, Turkey.

In the qualification group stage process in the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League, the fight to qualify in Group B looks to be quite a difficult task for all teams concerned.
The Italian outfit Inter Milan have won Group B by a achieving a total of 10 points, with no other team being able to catch them.

(Photo by TFF )
Turkish National under 17(16) will play thier second match on Friday against USA Under 17 team at 5:00 PM,ET and the match will be broadcast live on Fox Soccer Channel
Young Turks loss their first match to Brazil with 1-0 score.....
On the other hand Young Yankees, tied with France.

All Besiktas need is a win in Tel Aviv, tonight....
With a win Black and White Eagles of Turkey, will go through...
Maccabi Tel-Aviv at bottom Group E with one point from four games.
They are five points behind second-placed Besiktas, who beat them 5-1 in Istanbul in opening group match.

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MANISASPOR KEEPER ILKER AVCIBAY.....
Before the week 12 , started, I have mentioned that week 12, will be wide open for surprise scores and results before the weekend matches!
On Friday, The top team in Turkey, Fenerbahce, had a chance to open the gap with a win but they draw against Genclerbirligi.

It was a mixed week for Serie A clubs competing in Europe's top competition. An enthralling encounter with the world's best side ended in disappointment for AC Milan, while city rivals Inter did just enough to earn qualification into the knockout stages with a draw in Turkey. But for calcio fanatics, the highlight of this week's Champions League action came from a 2-1 contest at the Stadio San.

Ad un passo dal...possibile. Quello che era un sogno al momento del sorteggio si sta trasformando in una meravigliosa realt . Al San Paolo, nella quinta giornata del Girone A di Champions League, il Napoli compie l'impresa contro il Manchester City, battuto per 2 a 1, e si avvicina al traguardo della qualificazione agli ottavi diContinua a leggere .

Shall we kick off proceedings with a game of 'Guess the Tushie?' Your recently demonstrated prowess in the area implied you like it. PHILIPPE DESMAZES/AFP/Getty Images.

Apologies for the dearth of flesh in today's round-up, Kickettes; it seems that the weather is closing in across Europe and the nekkid has gone into hibernation.

Trabzonspor vs Inter Milan 1-1 Highlights Video Champions League 2011 is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Trabzonspor vs Inter Milan 1-1 Highlights Video Champions League 2011 is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Trabzonspor vs Inter Milan 2011 ( Trabzonspor vs Inter video below) Score and result:- Trabzonspor vs Inter 1-1 ( Altintop/ Alvarez) Trabzon, Turkey- Champions League- 22 November, 2011- 19.

Trabzonspor's Halil Altintop (L) celebrates with his team mates after scoring a goal against Inter Milan during their Champions League Group B. soccer match at Huseyin Avni Aker stadium in Trabzon,Turkey.
This has to be the one of the best match, Trabzonspor played at home in front of home crowd in the Champions League.

Inter Milan, Bayern Munich and Benfica all advanced to the knockout stages tonight, while Ajax and Napoli took huge strides towards joining them. Meanwhile both Manchester teams, City and United, are in real danger of being sent to the Europa League.

Inter knew before their game against Trabzonspor that all they needed was a point to win the group after Lille surprised CSKA Moscow and won 2-0 in Russia.

Manchester United vs Benfica 2-2 Highlights Video Goals 2011 Champions League Jones Aimar Fletcher Berbatov is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Manchester United vs Benfica 2-2 Highlights Video Goals 2011 Champions League Jones Aimar Fletcher Berbatov is a post from Soccer Blogger.

The penultimate matchday of the UEFA Champions League group stage kicks off with a number of teams poised to clinch berths in the knockout stage, cement their place atop the group table or at the very least stay in contention for a third-place finish and a drop down to the Europa League knockout stage.

By Geoff Reid

Group A
Bayern Munich vs Villarreal from the Allianz Arena, Munich
After losing on the weekend at home to rival Borussia Dortmund, Bayern manager Juup Heynches believes it's good for his team to have this came only three days later.