2010 is on the horizon and it's safe to say that it's been a wonderful decade for football. We here at Footy Factor have taken the opportunity to celebrate the greatest teams, players, and matches of the past 10 years. Â Next up...

Free Kick Taker of the Decade

Winner: Juninho Pernambucano.

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Hungary vs. Sweden, Puskás Ferenc Stadion, September 5th 2009. Sweden won the 2010 World Cup qualifier 2-1.

Photo credit: photoreti via the Pitch Invasion photo pool.

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U.S. fans play tribute in the ninth minute of their World Cup qualifier against Costa Rica to #9 Charlie Davies, critically injured earlier in the week.

Photo credit: dcunited on Flickr, via the Pitch Invasion Photo Pool.

Related posts:

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Sigi Schmid makes his return to Columbus this weekend in one of the biggest storylines heading into MLS Week 29.

Schmid and his Seattle Sounders head to Crew Stadium to take on the red-hot Columbus Crew in Schmid's first visit since guiding Columbus to the 2008 MLS Cup title and leaving to take the Seattle job.

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Sigi Schmid makes his return to Columbus this weekend in one of the biggest storylines heading into MLS Week 29.

Schmid and his Seattle Sounders head to Crew Stadium to take on the red-hot Columbus Crew in Schmid's first visit since guiding Columbus to the 2008 MLS Cup title and leaving to take the Seattle job.

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Fans of Club Nacional de Football, Montevideo, Uruguay. April 30, 2009.

Photo credit: Joelr on Flickr, via the Pitch Invasion Photo Pool.

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Atlético Venezuela fans

Photo credit: FANATICO TOTAL DL FÚTBOL on Flickr, via the Pitch Invasion photo pool.

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Anyone who watched World Cup 2002 will remember this inexcusable piece of play-acting from Brazilian maestro Rivaldo.
Turkey defender Hakan Unsal was sent-off as a result of the incident, which makes Rivaldo's histrionics even worse.
Luis Felipe Scolari, who was managing Brazil at the time, offered this lame interpretation of the incident:
"The ball hit him on the knee and then bounced upwards. Click to continue reading...

1. Is It That Time Already?
It could be a case of "art" imitating life, or more likely a chronic lack of preparation, but I have followed West Ham's lead by leaving it 'til the last possible moment before preparing in earnest for the start of a new season. Click to continue reading...

His name is Ronaldo Luis Nazario de Lima. You may remember him by the crazy haircut at the World Cup 2002 or by his numerous injuries, but let me remind you he was voted FIFA Player of the Year on three occasions and was nicknamed O Fenomeno. Well, he's been a laughing stock of the footballing world after making a switch from Real to Milan and later to Corinthians, mostly because of his weight problems.

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Brazilian coach, who is currently employed in Uzbekistan, found some time to give his thoughts on the burning issues in football. Big Phil believes that main reasons behind Ronaldinho's downfall are the fact that he is overweight and that he's lost the passion for the beautiful game.

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London- Watching the Miracle of Bloemfontein from England was doubly delightful as the BBC were forced to eat their words on the US for the first time since World Cup 2002.Korea was a flash in the pan, as the 2006 edition and the US defeat to England at Wembley last year confirmed, you see.3-0 and 4-0 to the Spanish, confidently predicted the punditry duo of former Arsenal and England defenders Click to continue reading...

Check out this piece of cheating from Mohammed Gassid, the Iraq goalkeeper, in the Spain v Iraq game last night.
After gathering the ball from a set piece header, he tries to make out that the on-rushing Sergio Ramos has kicked his face as he lept over him.
Replays show that no contact was made what so ever, with Gassid rolling around on the ground clutching his face whilst Ramos looks bemused as to what has just happened. Click to continue reading...

This post originally ran on our sister blog, Fire Alexi Lalas. Since it is related to the USMNT, we thought we'd re-post it here on Project 2010.

Steve Davis recently had an article appear on Soccernet, "Current U.S. team no better than 2006 version." The title alone was enough to make me re-open FAL.

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Steve Davis recently had an article appear on Soccernet, "Current U.S. team no better than 2006 version." The title alone was enough to make me re-open FAL. Here are my favorite parts:

As the national program goes, the belief is that it's long been on the incline.

Sounds about right.

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It appears that the LA Galaxy's Landon Donovan is determined to prove his critics wrong as he looks back to test his skill in "Futbol Europa". So much so that he fancies a trip back to Germany according to this report from Steve Goff of the Washington Post. Here is an excerpt:

"Remember this summer when USA/Galaxy forward Landon Donovan talked about giving Europe another try?

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Roy Keane of all people shouldn't have done this. Keane whose spat with Mick McCarthy led to the Irish legend missing World Cup 2002 has now seemingly pulled a stunt of equal temerity. Bowing to pressure from Keane, Dwight Yorke, the captain of Trinidad and Tobago has withdrawn from the squad due to take on [. Click to continue reading...

Bruce Arena gets down to work at his first Galaxy coaching session.
Photo by Sean Hiller.

The former U.S. National Team coach was officially introduced as the Galaxy's coach Monday.

It's a move that suggests more than a few parallels with Arena's last MLS coaching job in New York, an angle I explored in Tuesday's column.

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This is Russia coach Guus Hiddink, playing football with visually impaired kids in S. Korea at 'Hiddink Dream Field II' in Pohang, S. Korea. The field was built in honor of Hiddink, who guided S. Korea to the semifinals in World Cup 2002 an unexpectedly strong performance. He was in the country [. Click to continue reading...

What's that I smell? Is that...Luciano Moggi? More questions now surrounding thaegitimacy of two matches in Serie A this season, after a year of refereeing which brought back memories of World Cup 2002 and everything Juventus did for a 3 year period. The incidents involve the actions between one Atalanta player and five Livorno players and [. Click to continue reading...

Spain, in the course of less than one month, have exorcised the demons which have haunted them for over a decade.
Let's run down the list and show how Spain dispatched the superstitious demons which have haunted them so.
Demon: Quarterfinals. The Spanish have not been past the quarterfinals in the Euroepaan Championship since 1984, and haven't advanced past the quarterfinals in the World Cup since 1950. Click to continue reading...

Photo by ISIphotos.com

On the strength of a stingy defense, quick and skillful midfield and a wonderful finish from Fernando Torres, Spain is the new European Champion.

It was definitely refreshing to watch a team win a tournament by playing beautiful attacking soccer and not by turning the game into a defensive-oriented bore-fest.

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All eyes seem to be on Spain for tomorrow's Euro 2008 final.
Neutral fans are mostly dreaming of a beautiful team who play the Beautiful Game slaying a 34-year old jinx in a red and yellow climax. But if big-match history counts for anything, the winners' enclosure will be black and white instead. Click to continue reading...

Turkish international goalkeeper Rustu Recber announced that he has retired from international football following Turkey's semifinal defeat against Germany. Rustu has a 14 year career with Turkey and has 119 caps to his name. The former Fenerbahce ace and 2002 World Cup star, Rustu Recber has finally decided to call it a day. Click to continue reading...

"They can play games like this, when maybe they are not the best team, and still win. That is why they are so good."
Fatih Terim, Turkey's coach, could have uttered these words tonight, but in fact it was Bruce Arena after Germany had edged the States 1-0 in Ulsan in the 2002 World Cup quarter-final. Click to continue reading...

Steve's Stats: Analysis of Goalkeeper Performance at the Quarterfinal Round for 20 June 2008: Croatia x Turkey
by Steve Amoia for Keeper Skool
Croatia cruised through the first round, winning all three games, and only conceded one goal. Turkey gave us one of the most exiting games of this tournament during their last match against the Czechs.

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Now Euro 2008 is in full swing, spare a thought for those not invited to the party.
36 European nations failed to make it to the Alps. England might stand out among them, but also missing is 2006 World Cup quarter-finalists Ukraine, plus nations of the calibre of Belgium, Serbia, Denmark, Slovakia, Norway and Ireland. Click to continue reading...

Right this is more like it, welcome to the first preview for Group C (aka 'the Group of Complete and Utter Total Annihilation'). Every tournament throws up a 'Group of Death' and this is the big one for EURO 2008 containing World Cup Finalists (but strangely Celto-phobic) France, World Champs, Italy, eternal nearly men, Holland and the not-to-shabby Romania. Click to continue reading...

Lastly and probably, leastly in Group A, we come to Turkey, featuring one of only two English born players in the tournament, Leytonstone lad Kazim Kazim (known to Bury, Brighton and Sheffield United fans as "Colin"). 
If you don't know the other English born player, then you obviously weren't paying attention during the last World Cup, I'll tell you at the end of this blog. Click to continue reading...

Five days after Mexico beat Ghana 2-1 in London, Hugo Sanchez was fired as Mexico's coach. How so? He had only been in charge a year and a half, so what went so badly wrong?
Under his tenure, Mexico lost the Gold Cup final 2-1 to the USA in Chicago, but that should have been no reason for dismissal since the CONCACAF bragging rights definitively crossed the Rio Grande when the States downed El Tri 2-0 back in the 2002 World Cup. Click to continue reading...

FIFA President Sepp Blatter has signalled that the policy of World Cup rotation is about to be ditched.
Speaking to the BBC, Blatter admitted he would welcome England bidding for 2018, a tournament which under the present model, should be held in North or Central America.
"I am advocating we open the market," said Blatter. Back in May, he described rotation as "a milestone", speaking to FIFA delegates in Zurich, while only a month ago, announced that a final decision on rotation with regard to 2018 would come at the end of October. Click to continue reading...

Photo credit: esthet on Flickr, via the Pitch Invasion photo pool. Click to continue reading...

Photo credit: Pete the Swede on Flickr, via the Pitch Invasion photo pool. Click to continue reading...