Demonstrating a miraculous level of insight into exactly what will successfully lure punters into a half-full stadium, Bolton Wanderers are to offer FREE BEER this weekend to the first 1,000 supporters through their doors. Not just that though, because also half-time food and drink costs will be heavily subsidised, with prices tumbling to £1. Click to continue reading...

In light of the recent accusations that Lyon get favored by arbitration by getting calls decided their way and the brouhaha over video replays, I thought I would post the results of an in depth investigation by Nice Matin, who took a look at every single error in every single Ligue 1 match in the 2007/2008 season.

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Why can't the Roar play like this at home?

And, the A-League evens up again.

If the Roar had strikers who can score they should have got 7. At the other end Reddy only made one save. The Roar were almost completely dominant except for the final kick.I counted at least 5 serious fouls that were play on and they were all in the first half when no cards were given. Click to continue reading...

Tonight the Galaxy tries to keep its flickering post-season hopes alive in a must-win showdown in Bridgeview, IL against the Chicago Fire. Chicago has been struggling of late, losing the last two games by a combined score of 6-1, but the legendarily leaky Galaxy defense might be just what they need to get back on their game.

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It was a fantastic result yesterday. We played some brilliant football and even some Spuds I know were forced to admit that Arsenal are looking good.

I couldn't resist telling them though that Spurs are the STRONGEST team in the league by far. After all, they are holding up 19 other clubs! Click to continue reading...

Wow. Wow. Melbourne do it again with just 10 men. And an Archie special in the last 4 seconds.
But the real message from this and the Sydney/CCM match was the A-League is now all about speed and strength combined. If you don't have this physicality across the park, you are making up the numbers. Click to continue reading...

Rafa Benitez was left cursing a 'massive' refereeing error which denied Liverpool a crucial opener in Saturday's stalemate with newly-promoted Stoke.

Steven Gerrard appeared to have opened the scoring after just three minutes only for the linesman to flag for no valid reason.

"Nobody knows why it was disallowed," Benitez told reporters after the final whistle at Anfield. Click to continue reading...

You don't expect Persik to get much on their travels, especially when they are shorn of their leading scorer Christian Gonzalez, and last night was n o exception as they got beat 2-0 by Persela at a poorly lit Surajaya Stadium in Lamongan.

Giving away free kicks on the edge of the area is never a good idea when you have Marcio Souza ready to have a pop but the Persik defence did it time and time again. Click to continue reading...

Lamongan will never be known as a football hotbed yet today their football team sits atop the ISL looking down on more established names like Arema, Persik and Persib. And this despite starting the season with a 5-2 tonking by Persib.

Much of Persela's progress, I hesitate to use the word success because they have nothing, is down to Brazilian import Marcio Souza now in his third season with the side from the north coast of East Java. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez paid tribute to much-criticised Premier League new-boys Stoke but warned: "We have the best midfield player in the world."

Benitez's unbeaten Reds face Tony Pulis' promoted Potters at Anfield intent on strengthening their position in the Barclays Premier League table, ahead of the clash between rivals Chelsea and Manchester United 24 hours later. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez hopes full-back Fabio Aurelio recovers from a calf injury to face Stoke having failed to make the midweek trip to Marseille.

Andrea Dossena was a less than convincing alternative at left-back in France, while Benitez must also decide whether to recall Robbie Keane to partner striker Fernando Torres. Click to continue reading...

Usually when we think of goalkeeper's scoring goals, we think of those keepers that take free kicks and penalties for their club, past and present (Jose Luis Chilavert, Rogerio Ceni, Hans-Jorg Butt), but there are always the goalkeepers that come up in the last minute of the game with their team down by a goal and get a touch on the ball and score themselves.

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I will never be ashamed of being a D.C. United fan.

I have never been ashamed of a D.C. United team.

However, I am ashamed at this game. Not even at the players, and how they played it, but rather ashamed that it has come to this. With a home match that is crucial to United getting out of the group stage of the CONCACAF Champion's League, D.

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It was nice to see the Rapids pick up their 3 win in 5 games with Gary Smith in charge on Sunday. The only other time the Rapids have gone into half-time with a 2-0 lead this year was the July 4th game against New York Red Bull. That game was also at home at Dicks Sporting Goods Park.

With better finishing and possession against Chicago, the Rapids could have done more damage to the league's best road team.

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FO hero Jonny Brain

Weekend Wager summary -- Despite the ignominy of Gillingham's freakish 7-0 defeat at Shrewsbury it was a satisfactory first week for FO's bets. A one point stake on each of the 15 selections returned an overall profit of approximately four points. Hats off to Macclesfield goalie Jonny Brain who put behind him a dreadful start to the season, keeping out 24 Bournemouth attempts and landing a FO a 4/1 winner. Click to continue reading...

I guess he's not as old as some people thought.

Seriously, I don't understand why people even bother debating on who the best free kick specialist is. In the game today, there is surely no one better than our very own reincarnation of Jesus.

His goals were exactly what Lyon, down by two goals, needed to get back into the match.

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Chelsea defeated Manchester City 3-1 as the brilliance of human innovation and skill did not prevail over a well oiled footballing machine that further established its dominance in the Premier League with ruthless efficiency. It's clear that Manchester City still have a lot more players to buy(already questions must be asked of Manager Mark Hughes in having Stephen Ireland starting ahead of Elano)and more time to develop team chemistry. Click to continue reading...

I'm not jumping on the bandwagon, England have been disappointing me for years. My loyalties are somewhat divided in any case, my old man is Scottish but my Grandad played for England. I see myself as English though and there is nothing I like more than going out with mates cheering on the side in the big competitions. Click to continue reading...

France turned in a woeful performance to open their World Cup qualifying campaign, one they will want to forget. Austria opened the scoring with two very similar free kicks, with France looking like they didn't know what they were doing.

It was a collective failure to defend set pieces, but Mexes, on the first goal was horribly exposed. Click to continue reading...

The Roar off season focus on attack and neglect of defence has come to roost. A-League teams are usually built from the defence forward.

After two games of domination and no result, the Roar either had to show their striking talent has teeth or face the consequences of an off night. The Central Coast defence was a solid wall. Click to continue reading...

Phrases like "taking candy from a baby" come to mind when Clichy repeatedly takes the ball away from a hapless opponent and darts upfield. He took a swerving shot on target today. If he starts adding goals to his game, we'll have to break out the 10s (9).

Nasri - Settling in nicely. Click to continue reading...

Bert van Marwijk led Feyenoord to the UEFA Cup victory in 2002. Or did he? This is probably one of the best free kicks ever! Eat your heart out Platini, Beckham and Roberto Carlos. Pierre was da man! Click to continue reading...

Martin O'Neill...A Simple Plan

2007/8 Review

When Martin O'Neill joined Aston Villa in August 2006, he had spent most of the previous six years managing in Scotland. However the Premiership had already seen the prototype of O'Neill's Aston Villa in his final year at Leicester. With his last major signing for the Foxes, he bought athletic striker Stan Collymore. Click to continue reading...

Here is an interesting article that for Republic of Ireland forward turned London Times columnist Tony Cascarino wrote about David Beckham's recent performances for the English national team. I completely agree with Tony based on the England games that I've seen live. The English team are tolerating Beckham purely for his ability on free kicks and corners, but they really do need a more complete player like a David Bentley or Aaron Lennon (if he can recapture his form). Click to continue reading...

MARKHAM - Two 'Magical Men of Mayhem' were pulling out the tricks last night, as Eddy M. and Mark C. led the Pistolas to their latest victory.

Eddy 'M.VP' didn't need many games to return to his All Star form as he netted a hat trick. With 5 goals in his last two games, you'd never know he was injured all these weeks. Click to continue reading...

Stuart Baxter said that the Israel game would be a dress rehearsal for the Germany match in September, and he was pretty relieved that it went as well as it did. The high spot was Veli Lampi's full debut, as the former TPS right back looked solid and put in some excellent crosses including the [...] Click to continue reading...

For Australian football's sake...go! There comes a time in everyone's career when it is time to move on...for Graham Arnold, for his own sake if no-one else's it's now.

Arnie has had two Campaigns, an Asia Cup and an Olympic campaign, where he was the Coach.

Who ever gets two Campaigns to fail in World Football? Click to continue reading...

Australia went out of the Olympics tonight. They lost 1-0 in Tianjin to the Ivory Coast.

And whilst they gave perhaps their best performance of the tournament they never really looked convincing in the the final third, not tonight, or indeed in the whole tournament.

They told us they were a great group of players, battle hardened having qualified through Asia. Click to continue reading...

Remember on the old Match of the Days and they'd give you slow motion action replays because they only had a couple of cameras at the games?

Now imagine a whole game of slow motion football! I've only seen 45 minutes so far of Persita and Persiba but apart from the rhyming names not much has happened. Click to continue reading...

In a sparsely populated Bung Karno Stadium last night these two sides from the opposite ends of Indonesia did their best to produce a game of football.

Persipura dominated the first half but a barrage of free kicks failed to break the deadlock and it was painfully clear they missed their strike force of Jeremiah and Goncalves, both suspended for acting like idiots in their last game against Sriwijaya. Click to continue reading...

Argentine football is to use a quickly-vanishing spray in an attempt to stop defensive walls from creeping forward at free kicks.

Referees will pace the regulatory 9.15 metres between the ball and the nearest defender and then spray a white line on the pitch to mark the correct position of the wall.

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But you'd have guessed that so it's rather a redundant headline.

Indonesia v Malaysia 0-2
Australia v Singapore 1-1

Great result for Singapore against an under strength Australian side. As is often the case with Australian sporting sides, when things don't go their way they take the battle to another level. Click to continue reading...

Just got finished watching the match immediately following my three hour drive home from Virginia Beach. At least I should say I just got finished watching 81 minutes of the match. I missed the rest thanks to the lights at RFK delaying the match past 10:00 pm. What's with that anyway? That's just embarassing. Click to continue reading...

Does Barry's imminent departure mean more fantasy return from Blog Favorite Ashley Young this season? Just thinking that the corners and free kicks that Barry would have taken last season will now come to BFAY. And with BFAY listed as a midfielder this season in the Yahoo!UK game instead of at forward. Click to continue reading...

Marcos Senna is listed as a midfielder but his usefulness lies in his being a utility player capable of coming forward on attack, falling back to defend, and controlling midfield. He is strong in the air, very capable with free kicks, burns up the outside turf to slice in a cross, quick and decisive in his tackling, and shows some dribbling chops too, turning and twisting his way through defenders.

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