There were no surprises on Saturday while watching the U.S. men's team struggle in Bratislavia. No Landon Donovan and no Charlie Davies removes the two fastest, most dangerous attacking players. Watching Clint Dempsey lumber up and down the pitch, hoping for something a bit extra, wasn't enough.

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Galaxy 0 Dynamo 0

This is a helluva game - or at least it has been since the lights came back on, with the Galaxy having the better of the attacking chances and restricting Houston to some long-range efforts.

First, in the 25th minute Stuart Holden cleared a Landon Donovan header off the line.

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Ahead of the upcoming important Premier League match against Chelsea this Sunday, Man United defender Patrice Evra has said that he never loses against Chelsea. Over recent season's Evra has had one or two controversial moments at Stamford Bridge. The main one was after a game, things kicked off with Chelsea staff, you can read more about it here, here and here. 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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Saturday
Sporting the new uniforms for fall the lady warriors broke open the 2009 OPL Tournament with a scoring barrage against PCU Impact.
Following a rain-out [vs. OSA Inferno] at PCC Rock Creek the game originally slated for 7:30pm, against PCU, was moved up to 4:30pm and move to the REC Center. Click to continue reading...

Real Salt Lake beat defending MLS Cup champion Columbus 3-2 on Thursday night and 4-2 on aggregate to advance to the next round of Major League Soccer's playoffs. Crew midfielder Guillermo Barros Schelotto returned to the lineup after being benched for game one and looked like the hero. He scored in the 19th and 35th minutes to put the Crew ahead on aggregate. Click to continue reading...

RSL was down on the strength of two Schelotto goals by the 35th minute and it appeared as if Crew would be able to get over the one goal disadvantage and advance to the quarter finals. But RSL struck back from a Javier Morales goal two minutes later. Ten minutes later, RSL were awarded a penalty by referee Baldemero Toledo, a dubious call on Frankie Hejduk as Espindola went down a bit too easily.

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A kick in the stomach. There's no better way to describe a game where, with a squad decimated by injuries, Liverpool went to Lyon and totally dominated. With better finishing, the contest should have been over by half time and when Ryan Babel scored, it looked as if Liverpool were going to get a much merited win. Click to continue reading...

The U.S. Under-17 men's national team will look to extend its winning streak to three games today when it takes on Italy in the second round of the Under-17 World Cup in Nigeria (10pm, ESPN360.com).

The Americans defeated Malawi and United Arab Emirates to reach this stage, and now face a strong Italian team that rolled to the second round.

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Carthage Tigers, Juan Ortiz (2010)

#2 Carthage Tigers 2 (OT)
#3 Willard Tigers 1
In what was easily the most exciting game of the night, the Tigers (16-5) were staring defeat squarely in the face before scoring a pair of goals in the span of three minutes, spilling into overtime, to shock the Willard Tigers 2-1. Click to continue reading...

The Revolution might have entered the playoffs in eighth-place, but that didn't matter on Sunday at Foxborough. Chicago went up in the 17th-minute when Chris Rolfe scored, and that almost held into halftime. Emmanuel Osei equalized for the Revolution two minutes into first-half stoppage time. Shalrie Joseph scored the winner in the 75th. Click to continue reading...

Chelsea Reichard, Jordan Miller and Heather Thomas scored as the Regis University women's soccer team defeated Colorado Christian 3-1 on Saturday in Denver.

Five minutes, 18 seconds into the second half, Reichard scored to put Regis up by one. Katie Horn assisted her on the play. 19 seconds later, Colorado Christian's Mallorie Kenczewicz tied the game on an assist from Jessica Smith.

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This was Everton's third successive home game draw and Villa's third successive draw.Diniyar Bilyaletdinov had opened the scoring for the Everton but John Carew equalised within two minutes of the restart to tie the game 1-1 at Goodison Park. Click to continue reading...

Let the trash talking begin ahead of the Arsenal vs Spurs derby.

Robbie Keane bites the bullet as he claimed that Spurs are ready to overtake Arsenal. A feat last achieved 14 years ago.

"We are at the same level as Arsenal now. If you look at the two squads, you look at us and think we're definitely on a par but that will only be judged at the end of the season.

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Cavalieri
Degen Skrtel Kyrgiakos Insua
Spearing Plessis
Kuyt Voronin Babel
Ngog
Goals:
Merida 19'
Insua 26'
Bendtner 50'
Any loss is disappointing, especially when the team's already lost six, but this one doesn't sting too bad. Arsenal, with Nasri, Bendtner, and Eduardo in the line-up, didn't exactly play the Super Teens, and probably deserved their victory. Click to continue reading...

It's a Saturday night, and I didn't want to watch the damn game at a pub on an f'ing delay for whatever reason MLSE had in mind. And technically, should "f'ing" begin with an "an" instead of an "a", because if you say it, it's more like 'effing'... semantics.
We've got a damn rain delay. Sure, there's thunder and lightning, but big deal. Click to continue reading...

This is a game Newcastle started with two of their defense missing went one goasl down at the half, survived amissed Doncaster penalty after 75 minutes and Kevin Nolan scored the inner two minutes into injury time another blase 3 pointds from Newcastle it wasn't. And to add further to our problems in defense, [. Click to continue reading...

Yes, sir. When Helmond Sport handyman Charles Kazlauskas finally ties it (video link) up 3-3 midway through the second half, he runs to grab the ball and bring it back to the center spot in search of a winner.Of course, AGOVV Apeldoorn scored to reclaim the lead two minutes later, requiring another HS equalizer - which they got for a 4-4 draw. Click to continue reading...

AC Milan came from behind to beat Real Madrid 3-2 at the Bernabeu last night in their UEFA Champions League Group C meeting. Alexandre Pato's goal sealed the comeback win for Milan with two minutes left. Raul had put Real ahead in the 20th following an error from Milan goalie Dida. However, Milan drew level on a [. Click to continue reading...

Rangers went one up after just two minutes but were then torn apart by Romanian side Unirea.

1-0 Ricardo (Own Goal)

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Just happened to catch Keith Costigan, Warren Burton, and Chris Miles this Sunday talk about the economic import of the 2010 World Cup. This complex issue got about two minutes.

First, none of the three really work on this particular aspect of the sport. And it showed. There were banalities - it is good for the host country and the fans of the qualifying countries who go to pubs to see matches, boost the local economy.

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Enter Sasha McDonnell, the first professional woman player who caught my attention, somewhat by accident a few years ago. One of the reasons I came across her was she's a Brisbane girl, so I was mightily annoyed last year when she signed with Canberra.

Sasha (second from left) just after her goal

The way I discovered she had signed for Brisbane this season, believe it or not, was Wikipedia, which also had the W-League table updated before the official A-League site. Click to continue reading...

Well, well, well, yesterday was fun, and then it wasn't and then it was. At half-time we were all sitting wondering how we weren't at least six goals clear, Van Persie and Diaby had given us a two-goal lead within the space of two minutes and a rout looked on. Rosicky missed three glorious opportunities but spurned them all, probably because I had money on him to score.

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Arsenal hosted Birmingham City on Saturday, October 17, 2009 in the English Premier League. Here's a recap and video highlights of the match.

Arsenal beats Birmingham City 3-1 Video Highlights

Arsenal cruised to a 3-1 in against Birmingham City on Saturday, October 17, 2009 in the EPL.

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... on this week's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Vocabulary support can be found for the words in bold at the foot of the post.

The Good

What more could you want from a game? Argentina met Peru, the latter team with no chance of qualifying and seen by many as a whipping boy ready to roll over for Argentina and allow Maradona's team the chance to get to the finals, and produced a thrilling, nerve-shredding qualifier.

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Tonight the USMNT play Costa Rica in Washington D.C. at 8pm eastern time. Game is live on ESPN2 and Galavision.  The boys clinched a World Cup spot on Saturday night against Honduras so the game is for pride now to be number one in the CONCACAF group. In a sad turn of events, if you haven't heard, USMNT forward Charlie Davies was seriously injured in a car crash that saw his friend die.

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An early penalty and late spot-kick miss condemned Liverpool under-18s to their fifth defeat of the season in the FA Premier Academy League at they lost 1-0 to Bolton Wanderers at the Kirkby Academy.
Liverpool had hoped they had turned a corner with the previous week's 4-1 victory over West Bromwich Albion. Click to continue reading...

STARTERS
YES! YES! YES! We are going to South Africa! It's now official, the USA have qualified for the World Cup for the 6th time in a row! Wow! We have come a long way since I was a kid learning about the game in the mid-70's.
dN
The Associated Press has quotes from MLS commissioner Don Garber talking about the league figuring out a way to match the international calendar. Click to continue reading...

Thirty-two minutes into the Fire's 2009 home opener against the New York Red Bulls, Fire midfielder Marco Pappa lit up a windswept, rain soaked Toyota Park crowd when he smashed a 20 yard half volley off the post and into the back of the net. Pappa's goal - which would prove to be the game winner - set the tone for a fantastic start to his 2009 campaign, and gave fans hope that the 21-year-old Guatemalan would emerge as the Fire's next big-time offensive threat.

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Ireland's dramatic 2-2 draw with Italy may have secured them a 2010 World Cup play-off place but for captain Robbie Keane the result triggered mixed emotions.
Ireland thought they had snatched a win over the world champions when Sean St Ledger put them into a 2-1 lead with three minutes remaining on Saturday. Click to continue reading...

With only three games on the schedule, Toronto did themselves no favors giving up a late goal. Meanwhile, Columbus continued their impressive late season run at the top of the table with a win over New England. Out West, Chivas USA qualified for the playoffs. San Jose 1 - Toronto 1 Toronto got on the board two minutes into the second-half through Nana Attakora and looked good for the three points at BMO Field. Click to continue reading...

Honduras 2 U.S. 3

Game story.

Former Galaxy striker Carlos Pavon proved once again why he failed so abysmally in MLS, missing a crucial penalty in the 87th minute for Honduras that sealed the U.S. win. And then he missed another sitter two minutes later.

Still, it looked to me a legitimate Honduras goal was called offside.

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FC Dallas forward Conor Casey was the hero for the United States on Saturday night in San Pedro Sula, scoring two goals as the US came from behind to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. It wasn't easy, with both teams saving the offense for the final 45 minutes. Julio Leon put Honduras up two minutes into the second-half, but Casey answered back in the 58th. Click to continue reading...

On Friday, Florida Southern (8-5-0) was able to get three goals past Spartan keeper, Kendall Bourdon, in the opening twenty-two minutes and then sit on that 3-0 lead until full time. The UT (5-7-1)defense was able to recover after the opening barrage and only gave up one shot after going down the three goals, however, the Spartans were not able to get any goals back. Click to continue reading...

Thanks to 101 Great Goals for giving us the heads up on this one. This is not to say that Chelsea fans are the only ones out there acting in such a disgraceful manner but nonetheless this is truly despicable and something all football fans probably wished was something that was consigned to the dark days of the game.

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