Say what you will, but Liverpool needed some female charm last night to help them get past Manchester City and onward to Cardiff for the Carling Cup Final. Sassy Soldier Sisterhood that's what we're talking about! Listen, if Liverpool's owner John Henry hadn't brought Linda Pizzuti to Anfield, that 40th minute penalty would've been rejected and Craig Bellamy would not have ended up as the undisputed Man of the Match.

Prior to Liverpool's league victory at Stamford Bridge a couple of weeke ago, Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas argued that Liverpool were 'challenging for the title' this season. The increasingly outspoken manager has now reiterated that view, but is the idea of Liverpool as title challengers just wishful thinking?

Other than against Bolton, Liverpool played their best football of the season against an out-of-sorts Manchester City last weekend. Due to their physical exertions in the Champions League, the Citizens looked short of match fitness and were sluggish against the mighty Reds. But that does not take away a great performance by Liverpool at Anfield.

The AFC told the Indonesian Football Association the new season had to begin by a certain date or they would lose the right to enter teams in continental football next season. So, amid much ballyhoo, the Indonesia Premier League kicked off on 15 October when Persib hosted Semen Padang.
A few more games were scheduled but never took place and the competition, fully one game old, went into hibernation for the SEA Games, a period of six weeks.

Former Galaxy greats Cobi Jones and Chris Klein marked the installation of two Starlight Children's Foundation FunCenters at Children's Hospital Los Angeles Wednesday ahead of MLS Cup. More than 7,000 FunCenters, which include a TV, DVD player and video game system, have been installed nationwide (Photo courtesy MLS).

Oh Cristiano, how we had faith in you, hon. Perhaps in hindsight, it was all wishful thinking about intoxication.

Spotted moving his metallic feet and poorly-tailored jeans down the Marca red carpet last night, CR (plus his manager) was on hand to accept the Pichichi award for being La Liga's highest scorer last season.

If you write an optimistic match preview and it just doesn't pan out, it's never fun writing the post-match report. Such are the perils of wishful thinking. You have to walk back to the discussion with tail firmly between legs, no one's fault but your own.

Kyle Walker proves the match winner.

Alex Oxlade Chamberlain telling the ball to heel

Alex Oxlade- Chamberlain, another "wide eyed wide player" who Arsene Wenger has chased for 17 of his 18 years of existence is on the verge of joining Arsenal after undergoing a medical. He is from Theo Walcott's former club Southampton and has similar attributes to Theo which sort of makes him redundant.

There's a great Japanese movie I watched several times in the dorms in college. It was simply called Ping Pong and it was about Ping Pong (surprise!). It was the first time I had ever heard the word skunk used as a verb, and it meant when your opponent completely dominates you in a shutout or lopsided victory.

Allegedly Daniel Sturridge is not on Pardew's shopping list of players he'd like to bring to St James' Park and Mevlüt Erdinç may be on his way to Lille. Speculation and a hell of a lot of wishful thinking from fans has had us linked with the possible transfer of Chelsea's Daniel Sturridge for a [.

The Los Angeles Galaxy come to San Jose for the first leg of the California Classico tomorrow afternoon. The Quakes and Galaxy are two of the hottest teams in MLS right now. Los Angeles is on a 9 game unbeaten streak and San Jose went 6 games unbeaten before falling to Sporting KC last weekend in Kansas City.

Centerbacks can play too.

[101gg]

• Wishful thinking. (Studs Up)
• Actual thinking. (Back Page Football)
• Scuba Roger. (SB Nation)
• Sell Cesc. (Guardian)
• Celebrating Leo. (Dirty Tackle)
• Greenland footy. (The Best Eleven)
• Expensive Bafana.

As the transfer window creeps ever nearer, many fans and blogs are beginning to speculate on who will transfer in and who will be let go, or traded elsewhere. Given the Portland Timbers recent run of bad luck, I'm inclined to join in. Something is not right with the team and, as such, we'll probably see at least a couple trades during the transfer window.

Today we have a new Guest Post from DelhiGunner, who has just moved the url of his blog to blogspot and wants to tell my readers about it. You can now find it at this link Delhi Gunners. Today he is talking about the futility of wishful thinking in the transfer market...... What About [...]

Short of the Premier League changing its mind and awarding Arsenal the league title for plucky against-all-likelihood endeavour, the one thing that would have kicked the summer off in a marvellous and positive fashion would have been some early incomings.

Wishful thinking, it seems, seeing that a) in signing terms it's early doors (whatever early doors are) and b) the futures of two very important players are obfuscated if, indeed, obfuscated is the word I'm looking for.

Just like in 2009, Manchester United have won the title with a game to go, meaning there is the opportunity to rest players before the Champions League final.

On the final day two years ago we played Hull who were in a relegation fight. De Laet, Gibson, Martin, Welbeck and Macheda were amongst the starting line-up but still managed to win 1-0.

Zed Zed Top. Two better legs than TFC v Edmonton
Second legs don't happen a whole lot when you play without a single table. Okay, The NutCan and the MLS format have nothing to do with each other but furniture puns are so rare in football blogs. Sue me IKEA. Despite such houseware platitudes, Toronto FC indeed found itself in The NutCan Semi-Final 2nd Leg tonight at BMO Field, a week after dispatching their opponents FC "We Heart Tories" Edmonton 3-0 in the 1st Leg.

Maybe it's wishful thinking, but if Chelsea beat Manchester United at Old Trafford next Sunday, the Blues will move into first place with a better goal difference, blowing the Premier League title race wide open when everyone thought it was already...
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Frank Yallop called for a players only meeting Monday at 9 am. Yallop was thoroughly disgusted with the way the team played in last Saturday's 2-1 loss to Chivas USA. In a game Yallop described as a must-win, he felt the team played poorly and without fire. Yallop also hinted at some drastic roster changes for this Saturday's match against Philadelphia, "There might be a few [new] guys starting.

Maybe it's nothing more than wishful thinking, but the Sounder at Heart crew thinks this could be the week Alvaro Fernandez reclaims his starting spot, taking the right midfielder spot in our projected lineup when the Seattle Sounders visit the Colorado Rapids tonight. There doesn't seem to be any reason for Sigi to rush Fredy Montero back, and with the game being played at altitude, bringing him on as a late sub would make a lot of sense.

Charlie Davies' quest to return to the Charlie Davies of old has taken him to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he began his one-week evaluation by D.C. United today.

Davies could see action on Friday when D.C. United plays its first intra-squad scrimmage of the camp. With his paperwork coming through on Thursday morning, the FC Sochaux striker can begin showing D.

With the ridiculously priced £3million accepted, Steven Pienaar's signature confirmed and enhanced Harry Redknapp's reputation as the premier wheeler dealer manager of the Barclays Premier League. Once again, Harry Redknapp effortlessly adds established stars to his Spurs squad. 'Arry just cannot resist a deal, can he?