Despite Conor Casey's franchise record of 16 goals in a season, an incredibly productive year for Omar Cummings (eight goals, 12 assists), and a full complement of attacking defenders who didn't send the ball into the stands every other play, the Colorado Rapids limped through the final games with insufficient ammunition when the stakes were highest. Click to continue reading...

When Owen Hargreaves finally returns from injury, in what may be his last chance to achieve his prime, United manager Alex Ferguson can again field his strongest midfield.
But the Englishman, so influential in United's 2008 European double-winning season, is not the only significant addition required to create United's most balanced side. Click to continue reading...

The carpet bagger wants to leave but an angel waits in the wings.

Something about Brazilian music not being good enough for the neighbours.

Mark Hughes seems to be doing a good job of getting rid of all the Brazilians in the team. Elano, Jo, and now Robinho. We can also look forward to the African clique, Adebayor and Kolo Toure, being broken up.

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I have to say I'm quite liking Arsenal's current situation; the team is playign really well and everyone off the bench also fits in exceptionally, which is great and the first time I believe this in a while! To add to this the media are not rating us this may be a bit down heartening for the players but there is currently no pressure on them, unlike Chelsea Man Utd and Liverpool.

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As previously mentioned, Wayne Rooney's son Kai Wayne Rooney was born yesterday. Wayne skipped out on Manchester United's training session to be at the hospital for the birth and was expecting a boy, but was that all? The following is a transcript of Wayne's conversation with the doctor immediately after Kai's birth.

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Moving as I do mostly through non-footballing circles, I've been asked, "hey, what's the deal with Toronto FC? Did they make the playoffs? I heard they lost something like 10 nothing to some nobody team in the states."
These post-mortems can get boring, so let me just throw down my two-cents on this club as I see it so we can all move on. Click to continue reading...

Gary Neville is happy with our performance yesterday against CSKA Moscow but is already looking forward to Anfield.

"I think we were a constant threat," said Neville. "In the first half Fabio and Nani down the left were very difficult to play for them. And then in the second half Antonio started to get a lot of the ball and we were a constant threat behind them on the wings, and I think we had the better chances and most of the play as well.

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Sir Alex Ferguson is happy with our 1-0 away win against CSKA Moscow last night with Antonio Valencia bagging the winning goal.

"I think we should be proud of it," said Ferguson. "It's not easy away from Europe because we've been to some fantastic places over the years. Maturity there is a way you play in Europe away from home and I think you saw tonight we showed good patience in the game and kept good possession, I think that's a key factor.

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It's bad enough we have had a horrible season. It's bad enough that we played basically the same lineup that has given us little to cheer about throughout the season (with Zusi and Zoltan being the exceptions). Saturday we decided to give the Sounders some help by giving away 3 goals on big mistakes.

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The Crew outshot United 8-2 in front of 16,000 rain soaked fans last night at RFK Stadium.

None of The Massive's shots found the net.

Columbus, who needed the win to secure their second-straight Supporter's Shield, played as sloppy as the marsh-like field. There was little spark to be found all night, and the few times The Crew threatened to score the chance was squandered.

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The great thing about following two football clubs is just as one is making you want to rip out your own insides from all the wasted chances, awful defending and lack of attacking spirit, the other comes from a goal down to Chelsea to win it 2-1 completely and utterly against the run of play thus throwing the Premier league intelligentsia (if you can call it that etc. Click to continue reading...

One of the things I hate about people, life if you may, is when promises are broken. If you can't keep 'em, don't make 'em! I once told my friend I'd visit him when he was living in a different city. But due to one thing or another, I never got around to it.

If we are to believe what Ramsey has said recently, Wenger is looking to start him in 15-20 games this year.

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This is the kind of space Xavi thinks he deserves.

The theory is that because of the low amount of scoring in football, using particularly protective and cynical tactics ruins the sport whose nature inhibits a high amount of goals per match. Football's common nickname is "The Beautiful Game," but from where did that phrase initially originate?

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Sulley Muntari's agent, Frank Schreier, said that both Inter and Spurs are in talks. I'll tell you what, this is one deal that I'd be over the moon at.
Harry has said a few times that we lack bite and he's not wrong. We saw what happened in the Manchester United, Chelsea and Bolton games. Click to continue reading...

Ok i dont think anybody will disagree with me when i say that yesterdays match was far from pretty.

Our midfield was not fluid.

Our attack was lackluster.

Our wings fairly ineffective.

Our defense and goal tending however was vastly improved.

While i will say that Bruno is no substitute for Miguel on most days, he was sufficient on sunday.

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Young Hotshot Carlos Vela was introduced after 77 Minutes in tonights UEFA Champions League clash with Olympiacos Piräus, as Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger has decided to give the young Mexican a run out to replace French midfielder Abou Diaby.

The plan of the French man was that Vela can force some problems on the wings for the back four line of Olympiacos.

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Good to see a footballer showing his human side!

Portsmouth Vs Tottenham Tickets Still Available!

Bordeaux winger Geraldo Wendel has moved to distance himself from reports linking him with Tottenham.

The Brazilian midfielder is reported to be a target for Harry Redknapp as he looks to add extra creativity to his ranks.

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Liverpool's No.9, who was in blistering form against West Ham at the weekend, told LFC Weekly magazine: "Under Rafa I've started to play much more in the middle. I've scored a lot of goals from this position, rather than playing further out towards the wings.
"I like to play between the centre-backs and keep them busy and leave some space for the midfielders. Click to continue reading...

A quick roundup of the news in bullet form. I'll be doing this a bit, school is killing me at the moment.
1. We beat Santo Andre 1x0 with the goal from Germano in fairly drab game. It seems that against weaker teams the guys take it easy. Missing Ganso is a going to be a huge problem. I'm still wondering how he got called up but Dentinho is still with Corinthians. Click to continue reading...

I like this novel approach to piracy protection :
It's not a bug in the game's code, it's a bug in your moral code
Anyone who attempts to direct Batman using the "glide" button finds that the feature has been disabled, causing the Caped Crusader to plunge to his death.
One gamer who got his hands on an early copy of the PC version, which is released this week, reported the apparent bug in a hastily-typed post in the game's official forum, complaining that Batman kept dying in a cloud of poisonous gas. Click to continue reading...

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                                                          Photo by ISIphotos.com

I bet you didn't expect to see them this quicky, did you?

The questions are still pouring in, but I've managed to knock out the first batch of answers to the latest Q&A.

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                                                          Photo by ISIphotos.com

I bet you didn't expect to see them this quicky, did you?

The questions are still pouring in, but I've managed to knock out the first batch of answers to the latest Q&A.

Click to continue reading...

With the use of wing backs decreasing in the modern game, Chile coach Marcelo Bielsa has set his side up to play in an intriguing 3-3-1-3 formation but he must be wary of the it's weaknesses.
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Three years ago, during England's ill-fated 2008 European Championship Qualifiers, then manager Steve Mclaren made a bold move which shocked and surprised everyone; he was to play a 3-5-2.

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The US did not play particularly well, but three points is three points. After the loss at Azteca, the most important thing the US needed to do was put a W up on the board, and they did that. There passing was poor, their link-up play was stilted, and their defense of the wings was a constant worry, but they got that vital win.

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Things are pretty grim when you start getting excited about a win over Bolton. To say that the team bounced back would be overstating their performance. It was looking like Liverpool were going to suffer another defeat or at least a draw until Sean Davis was sent off. With 80% possession, we have got to be playing better.

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The game against Trelleborg meant another 1-0 game win for AIK. But it wasn't just another 1-0 win in the sense that AIK played one of their best games of the season. Great play along the wings for once and Antonio Flavio proved that he can perform at a level above the opposition. Excellent technique from the young Brazilian tonight. Click to continue reading...

Can we say we are safely through having secured a half-time lead? Well I think so, although it's a shame that we had to take the lead with a penalty coming from a dive from Eduardo.

Considering how easy the game is, I don't think we needed to invent a penalty so I'm disappointed with the Croatian, who kept his cool to score and make up for a big miss early in the half.

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Thank you all for your participation in this weeks poll. Interesting outcomes. The poll asked "Which 5 players would you retain for next season" and here are your results:

#1 - 15% of the vote

JUAN PABLO ANGEL

The Red Bulls Captain has carried on this season with injuries that have hampered his performance and kept him off the pitch for long stretches.

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Morning all, hope you're well. Been a bit busy over the last week or so so I haven't had much of a chance to write quality articles, and in my opinion it's better to post a few quality articles than post shite ones all the time.
What a start to the season we've had then, eh? I'll admit I was worried that we might draw or even lose at Everton to start the season. Click to continue reading...

Yesterday Santos played to a scoreless draw away against Cruzeiro in a thoroughly entertaining game. The end to end action saw chances a plenty for both teams. However, due to some exceptional goalkeeping - and some poor finishing - the game ended scoreless.
Luxa started with this lineup for the 1st half
FelipeLucas--Fabão--Sabia--ParáGermano--Souto--Mancha--P. Click to continue reading...

Same Perth unfortunately. Outplayed Wellington and then lost to the home teams only shot in target in the second half.
Sydney are now playing like Brisbane. Two speedsters down the wings in Deming and Brosque. Great one two from Bridge to Brosque's head, then back to Bridge to finish off.
Wellington has a way bigger fan base than Gold Coast with 10,000 turning up in 7 degrees and rain v Gold Coast's perfect football watching weather. Click to continue reading...

One point from two home games is hardly something to be pleased about, but last night's comeback draw felt like a win. The revamped back line was quite atrocious at times in the first half, but tightened up considerably in the second period. Not coincidentally, Melbourne showed a lot more class going forward after the break.

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Rafa is known to be an admirer

LIVERPOOL have made a cheeky enquiry about Aston Villa's young star James Milner.
Anfield boss Rafa Benitez is a big admirer of the emerging England winger but has received little in the way of encouragement.

Milner cost Villa £12million from Newcastle last August and has three years left on his contract.

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Brucey is putting together a nice little squad of players, isn't he? Of course, his signing as manager was a boost to the club. He knows his business, can recruit players and can get a team punching above their weight... if he/they are also prone to lose the plot from time to time. It also helps that he has the continued financial backing of the Sunderland board. Click to continue reading...

I keep going over a few different things in my head for this big game today. While we all know the US has never won in Mexico I do feel that this time things could be different. At the very least a draw would be huge but a win would easily signal a trip to South Africa for this bunch.

So what steps do the US need to take to get a least a point out of this trip to the Azteca?

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