With the international breaks at an end for a fair few months now, Tottenham have an opportunity to lock their collective mind on continuing their impressive progress in the Premier League. Wigan visit the Lane tomorrow afternoon and as enigmatic as the visitors appear to be at times, Spurs' slick passing should be more than a match for them and provided the strikers can locate their specially made shooting boots, there could be goals in the offing. Click to continue reading...

Keith Hackett stating the obvious.

"I have said to managers in the past that this is an area of great difficulty for referees and it can come down to the viewing angle of the referee."

I think it is time to give him the goods on the human eye. The game has gotten a lot quicker and the art of deception even more perfect.

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Chelsea 1 Man Utd 0 at Stamford Bridge.

Not exactly classy football but Man Utd was the team with better ideas and creativity. It also unfortunately had more loose cannons, specifically, Jonny Evans.

In fact, Evans provided a menace that the Chelsea attack had a hard time mustering.

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Major League Soccer is growing and improving but outsiders often criticise the league for having a lack of quality. It is a relatively fast football played in the US, with plenty of big, athletic players of the kind which is becoming so important in so many footballing countries across the world.

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Zavon Hines, grown not made
Zavon Hines is the rare English academy product to make it all the way up the youth ranks and onto the first team - for both club and (almost) country - and today he showed again why sometimes pure speed, will and trickery is really all you need.
While Hines (4. Click to continue reading...

dig, dig, dig.

Good afternoon everybody! I thought it would be a good opportunity to do another live match report as this is naturally such an important match. The big news to start off with is that we're playing in a 4-3-3 again with an attacking trident of Bentley, Crouch and Keano.

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Bendtner to repeat this act?

As an Arsenal fan, today is the day we wait with abated breath. This is the first fixture I look for whenever the new season kicks-off. For Gooners, it comes no bigger than the North London Derby. Spurs visit Ashburton Grove looking to find the first league victory over Wenger.

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The third C-word to consider is choking. Can you have both 'choking' and 'complacency' in one game. I believe you can. Hello, Gooners wherever in the world you are reading this. As promised this is my second preview-ish post to the game against West Ham. Why two posts BEFORE a game? Special games need special focus.

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In anticipation of World Cup 2010, from time to time Premiership Talk will review some of the interesting topics in international football. This week we'll start with the list of the ten best players who have never appeared in the World Cup, courtesy of World Cup Odds. You can vote for your choice at their website.

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TORONTO - The schedule has finally been released, and Pistolas FC find themselves in tough against the likes of teams like GU, The Zat Knight, alongside more well known teams such as Braga Contracting, Original 21 and the ever flashy FC Bada Bing.
GU and The Zat Knight are unknowns to the PFC organization, and as we've learned in our experience, never underestimate an opponent. Click to continue reading...

That was bizarre. But it ended up being bizarre with a good ending, so whatevs.

With a shocking last second goal from Jonathan Bornstein off a corner, the US came back to draw 2-2 with a time wastey Costa Rica and finish atop the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying group. Atrocious defensive play marred the first half for the US and put them in that 2-0 hole, but their tenacity down the stretch was admirable and perhaps a credit to their desire to put a smile on Charlie Davies' face.

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Stuart Pearce's England U21 squad for last Friday's European U21 Championship qualifier against Macedonia included players from towns such as Essex, Doncaster and Basingstoke; so it was ironic that a man born in Jamaica, the island nation in the Greater Antilles with a population of just 2.

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They came, they tried, and they failed.

Arsenal bagged all three points against Greek side Olympiakos to cement their place at the top of Group H.

Robin Van Persie and Andrei Arshavin grabbed the goals for the home side after a dominant display pleased the Emirates crowd.

The score line did not deem fair as keeper Nikopolidis kept the Gunners at bay.

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They came, they tried, and they failed.

Arsenal bagged all three points against Greek side Olympiakos to cement their place at the top of Group H.

Robin Van Persie and Andrei Arshavin grabbed the goals for the home side after a dominant display pleased the Emirates crowd.

The score line did not deem fair as keeper Nikopolidis kept the Gunners at bay.

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Fernando Torres scored a hat-trick s Liverpool gained revenge for last season's 2-2 draw also at Anfield.
The Spaniard opened the scoring on 20mins with a bit of trickery before drilling home in the far corner.
Hull grabbed an instant equaliser when a poor headed clearance by Skrtel fell to Brazilian Geovanni whose low shot beat Reina. Click to continue reading...

The Carling Cup game against West Brom the long awaited season debut of Carlos Vela. Vela was injured whilst away with Mexico missing most of the pre-season. Wenger obviously though that Carlos was not 100% and waited until midway through the second half before allowing the Mexican striker to make his season's bow in front of an admiring audience at the Emirates.

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A fantastic performance by the FK squad on Saturday night as the lads played FC Valhalla off the park - beating them 4-1. We conceded the early goal of course, it's the Dinamo way.
We didn't go to The Daily Pint afterwards because we were tending to Jason in the Emergency Room. He took a ball in the eye - a deflected shot that came off Kato's knee. Click to continue reading...

A fantastic performance by the FK squad on Saturday night as the lads played FC Valhalla off the park - beating them 4-1. We conceded the early goal of course, it's the Dinamo way.
We didn't go to The Daily Pint afterwards because we were tending to Jason in the Emergency Room. He took a ball in the eye - a deflected shot that came off Kato's knee. Click to continue reading...

Going to the game I started thinking to myself: how is it that I'm always tense before a match? Whilst everyone around me was confidently predicting 5 or 6 nil wins, I was praying that Debrecen wouldn't cause some surprise.
Forty five minutes into the game and my fears were being fulfilled. Click to continue reading...

Too often last season Wenger deployed Bendtner as a wide player, whilst not in an orthodox left-wingers role, sufficiently wide to keep out of the penalty area. The same pattern has been repeated this season, resulting in the young Denmark striker pleading for Arsene to play him in a more central role.

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Now the Manchester United boss deems them worthy of his 'Mind Games' trickery.

Sir Alex Ferguson believes Tottenham are genuine top-four contenders as he prepares to take his Manchester side to White Hart Lane.

Harry Redknapp's side have started the season with four straight wins and a string of imposing performances.

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Qualification sealed in style.

It was a game that Fabio needed to win and a victory the fans wanted to see in order to shake off any nerves surrounding qualification for South Africa 2010, in the end it was a performance to remember by a side who must not choke next summer.

It was a near faultless display from an England side clearly reaping the rewards of being coached by one of the all time greats of the game, for it should not be underestimated the impact Mr.

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Should Jermain Defoe be starting for England ahead of Emile Heskey?
After the Slovenia friendly, where JD netted a fabulous goal and demonstrated more of his outrageously good form, I made the case in conversation that he shouldn't. My reasoning being that Heskey, for all the clumsiness and complete and utter lack of goals that he brought to the table, garnered the best form out of Wayne Rooney. Click to continue reading...

Three headers score the goals.

Cristian Castillo puts El Salvador up through a beautiful bit of trickery by Ramon Sanchez that freezes three US defenders allowing him to loft a cross that finds Castillo heading the ball past Tim Howard.

The US replies through Clint Dempsey (third time lucky) and Jozy Altidore.

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In recent days, a series of videos has popped up on YouTube featuring Zidane quietly displaying a wide array of talents in and around a hotel, as filmed by a kid with a camera.

Though the concept is pulled off well and the product placement is subtle, the clips are actually viral videos for a company called Grand Optical, hence the eyeglasses Zidane wears in each.

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Talented Dane on his way back to St James' Park.

Sky Sports is saying Peter rejected two previous offers from Newcastle, because he was not too happy with, but finally signed the Dane. We assume the deal he has now is not as good as the 6 months deal he had earlier this year – but that is hardly surprising.

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This source suggests that Harry is closing in on the classy wide man.

Tottenham's pursuit of Martin Petrov gathers pace

Harry Redknapp stepped up his interest in Martin Petrov, of Manchester City, last night after Luka Modric broke a leg during Tottenham Hotspur's 2-1 victory over Birmingham City.

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It is already the Juventus of Diego.

The club maybe able to complete its remarkable turnaround since its return to Serie A in 2007 by challenging Inter for the Scudetto this year. If they win, it will be in no small part to their Brazilian imports, especially Diego.

Diego's two goals and Felipe Melo's injury time score finished off a Roma side which lost two games in a row but not its character.

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Great way to spend some of that Cristiano Cash!

Arjen Robben is just one of a highly talented pack of Dutch internationals who seemingly have no future at the Bernabeu but the former Chelsea winger could well be the best bit of business Sir Alex does this summer.

With all that spare Cristiano Ronaldo cash burning a hole in his back pocket a move for Robben would seem to be a pretty intelligent one.

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French Ligue 1 has emerged as one of the strongest and most exciting leagues in the world and French teams often boast a lot of talented players. The clubs have excellent youth academies, whereas the coaches are not afraid to hand talented youngsters the chance to shine, which is why we see a number of young stars ready to conquer Europe every single year.

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In recent months, Arsenal fans would have seen Nicklas Bendtner deployed in many different positions. Left Wing, Right Wing, Lone Striker and Second Striker but the debate today is where do you think Nicklas is used to his full capability?.

Left Wing:

Many of use may of seen Nicklas Bendtner play out on the left wing rarely for Arsenal and Denmark.

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With the Premier League about to spark into life this weekend, COS reporter Adam Hennessey casts his eye over the players he feels will have an impact this coming season, but players who readers may not know much about.

Aston Villa are known for having a highly productive youth setup. In recent years, the likes of Gabriel Agbonlahor and Craig Gardner forcing their way into the Villa senior set up, and now the latest product of the Villa academy is ready to make a name for himself.

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No. 1 for England? You wouldn't start on my Sunday League team in L.A., mate
The countdown to the season is truly on now - just five days to go, and we got a taste of what's to come yesterday as Chelsea took down Manchester United in the Community Shield on penalties. I watched the match with pen and paper in hand - and here are some of my player specific reactions and ratings - on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest). Click to continue reading...

So, the much Emirates cup is here. We have grown to love this competition because it shows we have a ground big enough to attract the cream of the crop. Real Madrid, Juventus, Inter Milan, Valencia have all visited here before. While PSG are not exactly a big name, Rangers and Atletico Madrid are. And we are playing these two teams this year. Click to continue reading...

Sounders Move On To Open Cup Final at RFK Stadium
A Physical Rematch
This was a game that was extremely physical from the kickoff until the final whistle, in Seattle's 2-1 home victory over the Houston Dynamo after 120 minutes at a sold out Starfire Sports Complex. In the first minutes of the game Houston sent a message to the Sounders and Fredy Montero when he was fouled on his first touch, which let him know the Dynamo defense was going to be physical when he or any of the Sounders had the ball. Click to continue reading...