Morning all, happy Friday to you all.
So unless 12-year-olds read this blog, we all know that WWE (or WWF for all those hardcore "attitude" fans) is fake. Fake as Pamela Anderson's 'assets'.
So it was weird to see that some of the Australian media taking the Hulk Hogan/Ric Flair press conference a bit too seriously. Click to continue reading...

The FIFA U-17 World Cup finished on Sunday, November 15, 2009 with the championship and third place match. In the finals, host country Nigeria played Switzerland while Spain took on Colombia for third place. Here's a recap of both matches along with video highlights.

Switzerland beats Nigeria 1-0 to win U-17 World Cup Video Highlights

The match was scoreless through the first half despite a strong start from Nigeria, who were the host country of the tournament.

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A single goal is all that separates the sides heading into Wednesday's second leg in Montevideo after Costa Rica and Uruguay played out a well fought battle in San Jose. It was Uruguay's captain fantastic Diego Lugano who grabbed the games only goal and gave his team the perfect platform to complete the job on home turf next week. Click to continue reading...

A full list of those players affected by the Interlull was posted yesterday on the official site. While we have to accept that the French players and Arshavin have two games due to their play-off duties, it's a bit disappointing to see that Cesc could potentially play for Spain and Robin van Persie twice for Holland in meaningless friendlies.

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Guingamp pulled off a shock result by beating FC Nantes 2-0 away from home.

Nantes we favorites to win the game as Guingamp were struggling in the relegation places ahead of the match and Nantes were set to regain a promotion place.

Christian Bassila gave EAG the lead in the 32nd minute, heading home an Alharbi El Jadeyaoui corner, Gilmar then sealed the victory in the 72nd minute when he headed Guingamp into a 2-0 lead.

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Was Wes Brown fouled by Drogba?

Manchester United should feel hard done by. A fine display and they are right to feel aggravated. Jonny Evans and Wes Brown were terrific while Darren Fletcher was United's best player, but it wasn't to be their day, as John Terry's header deep in the second half was enough to send Chelsea five points clear.

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From Stamford Bridge, Attendance 41,836 , Referee Martin Atkinson Chelsea 1 0 Manchester United

John Terry (76)

View Video Highlights Chelsea Team Statistics Manchester United 1 Goals 0 6 Shots On Target 2 3 Shots Off Target 9 3 Shots Blocked 7 0 Corners 7 1 Offsides 2 13 Fouls 15 3 Yellow Cards 3 0 Red Cards 0 46. Click to continue reading...

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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AC Milan faced Lazio in the Italian Serie A on Sunday, November 8, 2009. Milan struggled to start the season has started to find their form as they look to climb the Serie A table. Here's a recap of the match along with video highlights.

AC Milan beats Lazio 2-1 Video Highlights

AC Milan was in total control of the match but had to hold off a surging Lazio in the second half.

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This was brought to my attention in the play-by-play thread on Bigsoccer: Did you notice that MLS has changed its rules for playoff yellow card suspensions? I'm not sure if this was put into place this year or last year, but it definitely was not the case as of 2007. Two yellow cards in consecutive games mean a suspension. Click to continue reading...

Arsenal traveled to face Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, November 7, 2009 in the English Premier League. The Gunners were 3rd in the league table and could move into 2nd with a win. Here's a recap of the match along with video highlights.

Arsenal beats Wolverhampton 4-1 Video Highlights

Arsenal cruised to victory over Wolves on Saturday in the EPL.

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At last the 'maybe' penalty goes our way and Van Dijk steals the first half from Adelaide.
Reinaldo, Van Dijk and Nichols where way too strong for Adelaide's defence. Reinaldo and Van Dijk's one touch passing was fantastic to watch. We need to see more of this at home. Mitch scored a cracker that hit the bar, bounced in - behind the line, then out. Click to continue reading...

The UEFA Europa League had a full set of group stage matches on Thursday, November 5, 2009 including Hamburg SV v Celtic. Here's a recap along with video highlights of the match.

Celtic draws with Hamburg 0-0 Video Highlights

Celtic had only one point heading into the match while Hamburg with second in the group with six points.

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Defending UEFA Champions League title holders FC Barcelona continued their 2009-10 season with a trip to face FK Rubin Kazan. In the last round the Russian club shocked Barcelona with a 2-1 win. Was Barcelona able to get some revenge or did Rubin Kazan get another surprise result? Here's a recap of the Wednesday, November 4, 2009 match along with video highlights.

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I did not know that the MLS was a giant holding area for players seeking addiction counseling.

Through the Revs vs Fire match, Sullivan and Bretos in their verbiage sprinkled the word "intervention". Even in their word salad, that word stuck out. Whereas Bretos usage was confined to the more physical aspect of the game when a defender cut off a pass or cleared a corner, Sullivan's was a bit more cognitive when he said that Jeff Larontewicz's "intervention" pushed Shalrie Joseph to play better.

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As mentioned before, I'm skipping the high school season; in this case because I've got other regularly occuring activies that happen the same days as high school games - and frankly sometimes I just need a year away (see many many rants about high school soccer). But I am working games at the same sport-centered school I've been fortunate enough to work for the last two winters. Click to continue reading...

AC Milan takes on Parma in the Italian Serie A on Saturday, October 31, 2009. Was Milan able to win and move up in the Serie A table or was Parma able to get a result at the San Siro? Here's a recap along with video highlights of the match.

AC Milan beats Parma 2-0 Video Highlights

The match really started to pick up around the 10th minute.

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FC Barcelona takes on Osasuna looking to keep their lead atop the Spanish Primera Division (La Liga) table. Who won the match and was Barcelona able to win or did Osasuna get an upset? Here's a recap of the match along with video highlights.

FC Barcelona draws with Osasuna 1-1 Video Highlights

Barcelona once again dominated possession as they usually do every match but couldn't score in the first half.

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Real Madrid takes on Getafe looking to keep pace with FC Barcelona in the La Liga on Saturday, October 31, 2009. Were they able to win or did Getafe score an upset? Here's a recap along with video highlights of the match.

Real Madrid defeat Getafe 2-0 Video Highlights

Real Madrid did not start out strong as the match was scoreless through 15 minutes.

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Guingamp suffered a 3-0 defeat away at Laval last night, a result that sees them drop into the relegation zone for the first time this season.

Guingamp went behind in the 34th minute, Steve Haguy opening the scoring for the Tangos (1-0, 34 mins).

The game reamined 1-0 until the 81st minute when EAG cracked and conceeded 2 late goals.

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STARTERS
What does Dan Loney thing of the LA v Chivas playoff series: "Ideally, this would be a Loser Leaves Town match. If the Galaxy wins, Chivas moves. If CUSA wins, Beckham never returns. I could handle that." Read the whole thing here. Pure genius.
MLS PLAYOFF NEWS
I cocked this one up pretty bad - I woke up this morning and realized that I had forgot to link to the only MLS Playoff Preview you need to read - from Paul Demko at Bunky County. Click to continue reading...

This morning FIFA confirmed the match referees who will be in charge of the CONCACAF/CONMEBOL playoff. Alberto Undiano Mallenco, who is from Spain, will direct the first leg. He was the match referee for the 2007 U-20 World Cup final, the most recent Real Madrid-Barcelona match, and a number of UEFA Champions League matches. Click to continue reading...

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Fredy Montero hopes for better success in front of goal in Houston

The Seattle Sounders and Houston Dynamo played a highly contentious match on Thursday evening to a 0-0 draw. A capacity crowd of 35,807 at Quest field in Seattle saw a match that contained 6 yellow cards (3 for each side) and countless missed opportunities on both sides.

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Liverpool will be forced to maintain the feel-good factor built-up after the Manchester United win last weekend by travelling to Fulham without key pair Glen Johnson and Steven Gerrard, as confirmed by manager Rafael Benitez.
The Spanish boss stated today, Friday, that influential attacker Gerrard is still suffering from a persistent groin problem, and that roaming right-back Johnson is sidelined due to a calf injury. Click to continue reading...

Blood, noise, yellow cards and a disputed whistle outnumbered scoring chances as expansion Seattle made its MLS postseason debut with a scoreless tie against the more experienced and bullish Houston Dynamo on Thursday night.
Seattle couldn't take advantage of dominating possession, or the energy created by 35,807 fans at Qwest Field. Click to continue reading...

Pulsating atmosphere. A sea of green with a few flecks of orange. Deflected passes. Lots of opportunities. Awful finishing. Pat Onstad's momentary lapse of reason. Nate Jacqua bloodied and bandaged carrying on like a gladiator. Lots of fouls and yellow cards.

These were some of the more visceral images of the Seattle vs Houston match which ended in a fascinating draw but not before they proved that the shortest distance between two points is a not a straight line.

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The Major League Soccer playoffs began on Thursday, October 29, 2009 with the Seattle Sounders FC hosting the Houston Dynamo. It was a sold-out and very loud crowd of 36,000 at Qwest Field in Seattle for the match. Here's a full recap of the match along with video highlights.

Seattle Sounders FC draw with the Houston Dynamo 0-0 Video Highlights (will be added later)

1st Half

Houston had the first great chance of the match as Stuart Holden sent a corner into the box and Andrew Hainault headed the ball just wide of goal.

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The English Carling Cup wrapped up its fourth round (round of 16) matches on Wednesday, October 28, 2009. The favorites on Wednesday advanced as their were any upsets. Two of the matches included Chelsea v Bolton Wanderers and Manchester City v Scunthorpe United. Here's a recap along with video highlights of both matches.

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From Oakwell, Attendance 20,019 , Referee Chris Foy Barnsley 0 2 Manchester United

Danny Welbeck (6)
Michael Owen (59)
Gary Neville (s/o 63)

View Video Highlights Barnsley Team Statistics Manchester United 0 Goals 2 4 Shots On Target 5 12 Shots Off Target 3 1 Shots Blocked 2 9 Corners 9 2 Offsides 1 15 Fouls 9 3 Yellow Cards 2 0 Red Cards 1 44. Click to continue reading...

Alan Smith has served his second one match ban of the season, for 5 yellow cards, and will be back in the team for the visit to Bramall Lane next Monday night. Alan Smith - will always be an aggressive player Newcastle manager Chris Hughton spoke about Alan today and told the Evening Chronicle: "Alan Smith is [. Click to continue reading...

Guingamp suffered their first home defeat of the season last night at the hands of Harve AC.

Victor Zvunka opted for a 4-2-3-1 formation with Mustapha Allaoui leading the attack, Alharbi El Jadeyaoui also returned to the team in place of Richard Soumah who dropped to the bench.

Guingamp started brightly creating several opportunities but were behind after just 8 minutes, Nicolas Gillet volleying the ball past Trevisan (0-1, 8 mins).

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Following United, the expectation is our lads will create at least five clear cut chances and at the very least, one will get put in the back of the net.

At Anfield yesterday this wasn't the case but the frustration we feel through the hangovers today could have been avoided if several things had been done differently.

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The English Premier League had four matches on Sunday, October 25, 2009 including West Ham United v Arsenal. The match important for West Ham who are struggling at the bottom of the table. Arsenal, on the other end, will be looking to remain near Chelsea at the top of the table. Here's a recap along with video highlights of the match.

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Sir Alex Ferguson believes his Manchester United side did not get a fair crack of the whip from referee Andre Marriner at Anfield.
Nemanja Vidic was sent off for two yellow cards and Ferguson questioned a number of the official's decisions as they slumped to their first defeat in 12 games in all competitions as Liverpool triumphed 2-0. Click to continue reading...

From Anfield, Attendance 44,188 , Referee A Marriner Liverpool 2 0 Manchester United

Fernando Torres (65)
David Ngog (90)
Javier Mascherano (s/o 90)

Nemanja Vidic (s/o 89)

Liverpool Team Statistics Manchester United 2 Goals 0 5 Shots On Target 3 6 Shots Off Target 2 5 Shots Blocked 3 5 Corners 1 1 Offsides 3 20 Fouls 13 2 Yellow Cards 3 1 Red Cards 1 42. Click to continue reading...