Results 9/29 Hibriten 4 Patton 1 Doug Terry Josh Stamey getting up in an earlier game this season. Hickory 4 Fred T. Foard 0 Four first-half goals lead to easy HHS win Robert C. Reed Hickory High's Tyler Collins (6) trys to gain possession of the ball as Fred T. Foard's Tyler Turner attempts to hold him off. Click to continue reading...

Flight from LA to Honduras: 11 hours
Flight from Honduras to DC: 8 hours
Flight from DC to Dallas: 6 hours

So DC United has spent over 24 hours on airplanes in the last week. And those are three separate days in the past week that we did not have an opportunity to practice. I don't mean to make excuses, but it's hard to believe that a team playing in this situation really has a fair chance. Click to continue reading...

As with the game against Manchester United, I felt awful before this game. And, as with the game with Manchester United, I shouldn't have bothered. Rarely have Liverpool dominated with such ease at Goodison Park (61% of possession, the stats showed at the end) and really it was a game that could have been won by a bigger margin. Click to continue reading...

Well, that was a bit fucking shit, wasn't it? Not exactly the 83 nil we were hoping for, and perhaps it's reward for exactly that kind of attitude. Not that I'm saying it's my fault. Oh no, we all know who's fault it is.

First things first, all credit to Hull. They did completely the opposite of what many teams do when they play us at home; instead of smothering the midfield and putting 10 men behind the ball, they came to play football, and that they certainly did.

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M'gladbach fell further in the league table today, dropping a 1-0 result to Hamburg SV (they now are second to last in the table).  Michael Bradley was an unused substitute, and you have to wonder what the manager is thinking.  Gladbach is disastrous in possession and also has shown really poor tackling in the midfield, [. Click to continue reading...

Newcastle United continued their recent disastrous form and found themselves 2-0 down at the interval against Blackburn Rovers this afternoon at St. James Park. ! more > Blackburn took the game to Newcastle and for the first 30 minutes or so Newcastle held their own fairly well, and had lots of possession, but Sebastien Bassong still had to [. Click to continue reading...

Fate has no meaning in Rafael Benítez's managerial lexicon but he is prepared to make an exception in the case of Steven Gerrard's 100th goal for Liverpool. Only an errant decision denied the Liverpool captain his milestone against Stoke City at Anfield last weekend. That the opportunity now arises at Goodison Park, a ground where Gerrard has been baited mercilessly in recent years, has caused even Liverpool's arch-pragmatist to believe the outcome may be scripted. Click to continue reading...

This game had classic written all over and it sure fitted up to its billing as Persik took a surprise three points from Bung Karno Stadium.

You never know what you're getting from Arcan Iurie's men on the road. Last time out at Persela they were feeble but not today. Not after Christian Gonzalez was allowed space in the box after 4' minutes and gave the White Tigers an early lead. Click to continue reading...

Telegraph on the Blackburn game - I forgot I hadn't posted this.   Shows we got things about right with the possession winning bars (given it was an away game, etc).  Also Gera and Davies swapping wings confused the density map tracking so we can't really tell what the team looked like.   Looks fairly normal though. Click to continue reading...

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MLS/Craig Merz - Padula a quiet leader for Crew
Columbus has 8-0-1 record with Argentinean defender in lineup
Gino Padula has missed nearly two-thirds of the season with an injury, but has still had an impact for the Crew.

COLUMBUS -- Good luck charm or just plain good? Click to continue reading...

What was with the end of that match? Calling the game in the middle of a breakaway? Next to just before a PK, that is the most absurd time a ref could possibly call a game in soccer. If you watched the game from your home (at least the part that made it on the air), you heard a lot of complaining about inconsistent officiating, but over all, it seemed pretty normal for MLS.

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Rafa Benitez was left to rue a "strange" decision that saw the Reds denied a goal, in a frustrating 0-0 draw with Stoke at Anfield. Stevie Gerrard had a goal ruled out by referee Andre Marriner, as he gave Dirk Kuyt offside, even though he didn't even touch the ball and there was no flag from the assistant. 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...

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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The greatest thing about beating [finally] Manchester United, is that the lads performed very well in doing so, and this without Torres and before Gerrard even got on the pitch. Very attack minded, excellent possession, and dominant for the majority of the match.

How can I even begin to choose a man of the match, there was so many stand out performances. Click to continue reading...

United have become so accustomed to winning at Anfield these days that we now expect to win, whereas in years gone by it was the other way around, so losing by the odd goal in three as we deservedly did was something of a shock. The result has given United fans and Ferguson in particular a lot to think about regarding selection issues. Click to continue reading...

Reina
Arbeloa Carragher Skrtel Aurelio
Benayoun Alonso Mascherano Riera
Kuyt Keane

Goals:
Tevez 3'
Brown (og) 26'
Babel 77'

Finally. And what a way to do it.

United made a dream start, with early pressure leading to a Tevez goal within three minutes when Berbatov beat two men to the byline and was able to cut back to Tevez (Mascherano failed to follow him into the box). Click to continue reading...

Image via Wikipedia the new york red bulls came to the chicago fire ready to play. this game was end-to-end entertaining soccer for 90 minutes. i can't believe the pace that both teams managed to keep up for the entire match, and i also can't believe we left there with no points and gifted chicago with three more in a tough 1-0 loss. Click to continue reading...

New Brazilian striker Vitor Flora has thanked Lucas Leiva, Fabio Aurelio and Diego Cavalieri for helping him settle into new surroundings at Melwood.

The 18-year-old striker - who signed for the Reds last month - admits having fellow countrymen already at the club has made life a whole lot easier for him. Click to continue reading...

Six points in the bag and little doubt the US will advance to the hexagonal. However the truth be told I think the United States finishes third in the hexagonal on current form and must improve its linkup play and general possession play in the final four matches of this qualifying stage. With this in mind this is the lineup I would like to see tomorrow assuming the bucket is being used by Bradley again.

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Six points in the bag and little doubt the US will advance to the hexagonal. However the truth be told I think the United States finishes third in the hexagonal on current form and must improve its linkup play and general possession play in the final four matches of this qualifying stage. With this in [. Click to continue reading...

Yep, after a long hard day in the sun, is there anything better than a cool pint of Becks. The taster, texture and refreshments it provides is perfection. Although I o not understand it, there slogan is 'different by choice.' David Beckham is also different from any other player in the England squad. Click to continue reading...

Wake Med Soccer Park is one of the finest venues in the United States to watch soccer, if you have a car. The total absence of public transportation to the stadium would be more noticeable if anyone seemed to mind.
A light crowd came out to see the last place Hawks roll the dice in their bid to reach the post-season. Click to continue reading...

Andorra are currently holding England 0-0 at half-time, with England enjoying nearly all of the possession but are still without any goals. Here are 5 observations made from the game: 1. With Beckham on the bench, no-one in the England team can cross the ball (perhaps maybe Lampard, when he wants to). Click to continue reading...

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Guardian - Steve Claridge - Scouting Report: Emmanuel Ledesma
The Queens Park Rangers' midfielder is a versatile and entertaining talent although he has yet to adjust to the physical side of the game

The first thing that strikes you about Emmanuel Ledesma is that he is very much a reflection of the Queens Park Rangers team, in the way he plays the game and the positions he takes up. Click to continue reading...

I just watched the game via the archived stream on MLSNet. This team looks completely different from the team that lost to Chicago just a week earlier. At home.

Probably because it basically is a completely different team when you put in Landon Donovan, David Beckham and Eddie Lewis all at the same time.

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Well its a tough start to the season as Roma have drawn at home to Napoli before 30,000 at the Stadio Olimpico. Alberto Aquilani started the scoring at the 29th minute giving the Romans a valuable home lead that they held into halftime.But ten minutes after the restart Napoli's Slovakian midfielder Marek Hamsik levelled the score at one. Click to continue reading...

MARKHAM - After a strong season and better play this year, Pistolas FC dropped an unlikely 4-1 loss to Silver.

Missing many quality players in Ivano, David Breau, Gus, Jay Shumski and Andrew Traetto the team didnt have many options in changing things up or trying different options.

Poorly scheduled as an early start on the the Sunday of the long weekend, the game started quickly without necessary defencemen Rocco and Luch, and Silver got out to an early 2-0 scoreline. Click to continue reading...

At times this season, it's seemed like the Wizards don't realize the game if 90 minutes long. They played about 55 minutes against Colorado earlier this season before playing the last 10 to get the win in that game. They played 70 minutes against Chivas USA before sitting back and letting Chivas almost get a point. Click to continue reading...

Newcastle have been very much second best in the first half against Arsenal at the Emirates, where Arsenal have dominated possession. But for the brilliance of Shay Given, who made two top class saves. And two open goal misses from Gallas and Van Persie Arsenal could have, and should have been well ahead after 45 [. Click to continue reading...

IT'S A CRUEL GAME The amazing thing about the sport of soccer remains the fact that on any given day a team can beat virtually any other team. Other sports pay this alot of lip service, but it just isn't true. In football time of possession and total yards inevitably lead to victories. The same is true of basketball and baseball where looking at shot percentage and strikeouts you can tell who Click to continue reading...

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Bristol City Official Site SATURDAY'S GAME WILL BE DIFFERENT
Read City captain Louis Carey's exclusive website blog, only on bcfc.co.uk.
We were gutted to lose our unbeaten run and go out of the Carling Cup at Crewe on Tuesday night.
It came on the back of such a great all-round performance at Coventry. Click to continue reading...

After another two hours of torturous footballing tedium interspersed with (inevitable) periods of headless chikenry and a disturbing lack of creativity, here are my ratings for Liverpool FC's alleged 'team'.

Reina – 8

Man of the Match. If not for Reina's superb saves, Liverpool would be in the UEFA cup right now. Click to continue reading...

I'm not going to dwell too long on the events of Sunday's crushing defeat to Real Madrid in the 2nd leg of the Spanish Supercopa.

It would have been nice to win the trophy, but let's be honest with ourselves: It's a glorified friendly.

I know, I know. A lot of you out there will disagree with me.

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Ian Rush has hailed Liverpool's ability to grind out results but is now calling for them to start winning in style.

The Reds legend is delighted Rafael Benitez's side have taken maximum points from their opening two league matches and now wants them to step it up a gear in terms of performance levels on the pitch. Click to continue reading...