Given a choice between watching soccer and blogging about it, I'd much rather do the former, but the scant rewards Wednesday for doing so included a tepid Manchester United 0-0 draw with Spain's Villareal in the UEFA Champions League and a surprising 2-0 win by Marathon of Honduras over Cruz Azul in the CONCACAF version

I will likely impose radio silence again today with two UEFA Cup games on Fox Soccer Channel (Spurs-Wisla Krakow at noon followed by Tim Howard's Everton against Oguchi Onyewu's Standard Liege) and New York meeting Sigi Schmid's Columbus Crew over on ESPN2 at 4 p.

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Pablo Zableta admitted it was a dream come true to sign for Manchester City .The Argentina defender completed his £6.5million switch from Espanyol today.(the sun)

And Zabaleta, 23, said: "I am very happy to come here and play in the Premier League. "Playing in England has been a lifelong dream which has finally come true by moving to City. Click to continue reading...

According to "Marca" & "Mundo Deportivo", VALENCIA CF Argentine International midfielder & recent Olympic Gold Medal winner, EVER BENEGAS ( pictured below) flew yesterday to Madrid for... Read all the news, results, details & comments in English on Spanish Football & Sports Click to continue reading...

The discussion before the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing began largely centered around Brazil's quest for their first ever Olympic title. The question of how the Olympic gold medal could escape the most successful and internationally recognised football nation of all time was one which was frequently asked in the build-up to the games, and one which would often baffle. Click to continue reading...

MARKHAM - After winning the last 5 straight games and 8 of their last 10, Pistolas FC dropped the last game of the regular season 2-1 to Silver.

Playing their 2nd game in 4 nights, the team looked sluggish all around showing only few signs of determination.

But with the previous game ending in a lopsided 6-1 Titans FC over Limeys FC, the boys in black weren't as pressed into a must win situation and experimented with an unusual lineup. Click to continue reading...

I know I promised I wouldn't watch or care about the women's nation team of the US till the team was cleared of the punks.

I was watching the Brasilian women's team, they just happened to be outplaying the US team once again. Hope Solo, remember her, kicked off of the team for talking, she won gold this week for the women's national team. Click to continue reading...

The USA Women got revenge on Brazil, and their own former head coach Greg Ryan for that matter, by returning to China one year after their World Cup semifinal meltdown and winning the Olympic Gold medal 1-0 in Extra Time. Fantastic win! See Olympic Soccer Scoreboard section for more.

~and~

Bruce Arena on why he hired Dave Sarachan as his assistant coach in LA: "I realized that if I was going to take on this challenge I'd need to have a second-in-command who, when I get assassinated, could take over right away. Click to continue reading...

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/olympics_blog/2008/08/soccer.html

The Columbus Crew's Nigerian midfielder Emmanuel Ekpo has a chance this saturday to add an Olympic Gold medal to his resume. He and the rest of the Nigerian Olympic team will take on defending champion Argentina for the Olympic gold. Click to continue reading...

Not bad for a team that not quite 11 months ago crashed out of the Women's World Cup, in the same country, to the same opponent. The US Women's National Team won its third Olympic gold medal in four tries Thursday, beating Brazil 1-0 on Carli Lloyd's overtime strike. US goalkeeper Hope Solo, banished from the team [. Click to continue reading...

Nigeria squares off against Argentina in Saturday's Olympic gold medal final and while the game is a repeat of the 1996 gold medal match that Nigeria won 3-2, can the Super Eagles' offense deal with Lionel Messi and the Albicelestes this time around?

Argentina are favored after their 3-0 destruction of Brazil in the semi-finals. Click to continue reading...

The Olympic gold medal men's match is once again set. The two foes are familiar faces on this stage, Argentina and Nigeria. Perhaps it's Argentina's turn to pull even in today's rematch in Beijing; because 12 years ago in Athens...Georgia that is...Nigeria won their first and only international trophy in the form of Olympic gold. Click to continue reading...

It's been a crazy day, and I got a late start due to rising from 4-6 a.m. to watch the USMNT squeak another "Boring, Boring Arsenal!" victory - and not the fun, sarcastic kind. Anyway, here we go... #1 - Our U.S. ladies had an uphill struggle against Brazil until the final whistle, but an extra time Carli Lloyd rifle job was all they'd need to claim a third Olympic gold medal in four tries (and Click to continue reading...

Seeing Nicole Petignat on Monday reffing the USWNT-Japan game brought back some really, really bad memories. Having a moment or two, here, I thought I'd Google her and see what came of it. I found, as one might expect, that she's probably human, and probably interesting, and probably not the evil (or at least unnecessarily [. Click to continue reading...

Everyone in Women's Professional Soccer is pulling for a US victory tomorrow both from a patriotic and a business perspective.

The prevailing thought is that a return to a world championship, if not world dominance, would provide a good kick start for WPS.

A gold medal for the US would certainly provide a boost for the League for all the obvious reasons, but i think it's also important to recognize that the League benefits if Brazil wins. Click to continue reading...

At the age of 22 Spaniard RAFAEL NADAL has already notched up 30 individual titles ( including 4 French Open & 1 Wimbeldon), a Davies Cup title & now an Olympic Gold Medal after defeating... Read all the news, results, details & comments in English on Spanish Football & Sports Click to continue reading...

Here are some words and phrases you can hear on languagecaster's Full Podcast's Good, Bad and Ugly section - a review of the footballing news. For more English practice check out our worksheets, football glossary and English for football phrases as well as the Learners' Podcast. To be in full swing - to be up and [. Click to continue reading...