Everton 2 - 2 Standard Liege

Hmm, what do Everton do to deserve drawing such tough oponents. Seriously : Villareal, Dinamo Bucharest, Metalist Kharkiv and now Standard Liege.

We are looking seriously ropey at the back but good going forward....I am the most pessimistic, glass-half-empty of Evertonians but it has to be said we were the better side tonight. Click to continue reading...

It's been an odd weekend. I'm still trying to regulate sleep after two middle-of-the-night U.S. matches in five days. But the games go on, so let's persevere... #1 - Jozy Altidore made a very strong La Liga debut as Villarreal scored a 1-0 win over Deportivo on Sunday. The U.S. international came on at halftime and displayed an array of power forward skills, drawing raves from Spanish daily Click to continue reading...

I'm amazed Theo Walcott can sleep at night, what a shocking season the lad's had so far, only one international hat trick and several first team starts under his belt already. But seriously, there has been a lot of unfair criticism of Walcott so far this season and his sterling performance last night should hopefully shut these idiots up for a few minutes. Click to continue reading...

So one of the hardest aspects of all this is determining what's "politically correct" to say about your team when they're in a slump. Obviously, it's not like we're oblivious to the fact that we haven't been very good lately. I've tried to do my best to read the blogs, boards, etc. and try to get a sense for what people are thinking. Click to continue reading...

How's it going? In the wake of my whining about Bob and Co. after Saturday's narrow 1-0 win in Cuba, an excellent set of reactions to my reaction found its way into the FBF mailbag. You can read the full text of Mr. Anonymous' commentary here, but I'm going to break out my reaction to his reaction to my reaction (dizzy yet? Click to continue reading...

The real world is rubbish.  In the last two weeks I've been offered a new job, accepted it, had people try to change my mind, lost sleep, gained germs, got up early to get through all my work, stayed late to get through my work, then on Friday, at about 4pm, I finished the presentation, [...] Click to continue reading...

Sorry for not getting at least a little bit out on the Rapids. Between the parents being in town, work, and trying to find time to sleep there hasn't been room for other things. It was wonderful to get up this morning and see the Rapids had racked up a win. With how messy the teams in the West are this year, not only are the Rapids not the worst in the league but it's still not overly hopeful for them to take 3rd or 2nd. Click to continue reading...

I've gotten a few emails - well, ok, one, about not posting much these days. It's nice to be missed, I guess.

What's funny is the idea that I've somehow slacked off on my duties, or that this blog falling behind the pack in some way is supposed to wound my pride.

The simple reality of the media world today is that the blogs where writers are getting paid to blog should be the best ones out there. Click to continue reading...

Here is your first moving picture taste of the post-game festivities following United's win over the Battery. Comments from Tom Soehn, Bryan Namoff, Clyde Simms, Louis Crayton and Santino Quaranta on the win and some unbelievable footage from the field celebration. We'll hit you with a full-on Access United tomorrow, but we didn't want you to wake up Thursday morning without something to enjoy.

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EXCLUSIVE : DO NOT WATCH SKY SPORTS NEWS FOR 4 HOURS SOLID BEFORE GOING TO BED. Stuart Brandwood confirms "You will not get any sleep whatsoever". Reporter in Liverpool reports no sleep for 7 hours. Scrolling ticker going through head all night.

After all that it seems Everton pulled a rabbit out of the hat by bringing in a new record signing in Belgian midfielder Marouane Fellaini. Click to continue reading...

Newcastle have completed the signing of Spain Under-21 striker Xisco, 22, on a five-year deal worth £4.8m from Deportivo. Necessary move before Owen heads to Tottenham so that Berbatov can head to United so that Campbell can go to Hull so that everyone go home and sleep? "Newcastle sign Xisco for £4. Click to continue reading...

Apols for light posting, issues galore at the minute, and I got about an hour's sleep last night. But I've done this for the Times, about Jimmy Bullard.  It's not quite what I wanted it to be, but given the way my brain's working (it isn't) it'll have to do. I'm not sure what's happening transfer wise. Click to continue reading...

"I eat Football
I sleep Football
I breathe Football
I'm not mad, I'm just passionate"
Thierry Henry Click to continue reading...

Well, first of all, you may have noticed that I can no longer post as Tom, so I came up with this very witty moniker, but I can assure you that it is actually me (which may or may not be a good thing).

Secondly, due to a communications/brain fault on my part, and a memory like a sieve, I'm afraid I completely forgot that I had to write today's blog, despite it SAYING ON YESTERDAY'S PAGE THAT I HAD TO WRITE IT.

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A lot of time you'll hear the phrase that something was so dull it puts you to sleep. Most of the time it's a figure of speech -- like, for instance -- who actually watches paint dry? Saturday morning the second half of Arsenal's 1-0 loss to Fulham at Craven Cottage indeed put me into slumber land. One minute I'm stretched out on the couch and its around the 55th minute of Arsenal's hapless Click to continue reading...

 The morning after let's me see things so much clearer.  I 've got some post-match thoughts which many of you might share (Carlos Ruiz anybody), and some quotes from Tim Howard about Senor Ruiz.Carlos Ruiz After a good night's sleep, I'm still fuming at Ruiz.  He is a dirty dirty player and I'd say just about [. Click to continue reading...

Toronto, don't sleep! Ain't no party like a DeRo party 'cos a DeRo party don't stop! Click to continue reading...

This Anfield flop can be sold without anyone losing too much sleep and apparently this Bundesliga club is keen on bringing him in so Rafa will be pleased! Why not join the discussion at the COS forum? Hamburg coach Martin Jol has vowed to bring in some new faces this month, and ... Click to continue reading...

Oh my gosh, guys. I've been at school for the past week to help with the orientation of the new students. That includes freshmen and transfer students. It's been a crazy week of planning,, meetings, running around, and pretending to like some certain person who happened to be my awful roommate from last year.

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First (from The Writer's Almanac), a wonderful poem by Marge Piercy to start your day with something introspective - before diving into the usual sports-centric deluge! This poem runs along the thought-path I was pursuing last night just before sleep. Guess it may be time to get reacquainted with myself . Click to continue reading...

I'm still sort of recovering from last nights match. Hopefully someone will put up a post-mortem, but not likely not me; I'm still too raw from it all.

The day before yesterday, well the night really, I couldn't sleep, I was thinking that this is the kind of Corporate Hood think that really really makes my guts clench (From the LA Times Grahame Jones piece):

"Tim Leiweke, chief executive of AEG, which owns the Galaxy, said Monday's developments cleared the way for the Galaxy to "straighten the ship out" and regain some forward momentum.

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August is already the busiest month I have and then you throw in the Olympic Games - and it's a wonder I've found time to sleep at all. It looks like most of you took the week off to watch... Click to continue reading...

Granted it was a truly awful performance from the lads but there's no need to lose any sleep over it. Standard Liege, despite fielding a few kids were clearly up for what was likely their biggest match of the season. No doubt in a couple of weeks we should beat them at home though.
With Alonso now cup tied it's unlikely we'll sell him this year so hopefully Rafa will invest in a much needed (and desired) winger now instead of Gareth Barry. Click to continue reading...

My cell phone's alarm did all it could to shock me out of my sleep and comfy sofa at 3:59 a.m., but I really couldn't wake up until 4:06 and didn't tune in to the match via Internet until 4:12.... Click to continue reading...

Stuff to read while you unknowingly tell your wife about your affair while you sleep...... Should you boo your own team? (SoccerLens) Fabio Capello's new weapon: A married Rooney. (Times) Fenerbahce joins The Offside team. (Fenerbahce Offside) Premiership just a two horse race. (Guardian Unlimited) An interview with ESPN's jack of all trades, master of none, Rob Stone. Click to continue reading...

Do you boo players from your own club? If you do, how can you sleep at night? To boo a player playing for your club is seen as the ultimate act of betrayal by some and a birthright by others. If you have paid your hard earned cash to watch a well paid player flop around [...] Click to continue reading...

Given the result of last night's game, being in the post-game locker room was no picnic. Moods deteriorated even more on the bus ride home, courtesy of a six-hour trip that saw the Black-and-Red arrive at RFK Stadium after 2:00 a.m. this morning. The team was given a bit of extra time to sleep this morning before reporting to training for recovery/pre-game preparations.

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If you weren't in attendance for the Red Bulls-Barcelona match on Wednesday I've got a little something to show you. And if you were there but you spent half-time trying to get a beer, get to the bathroom and get the digits of one of those scandalous little Red Bull Girls, you might want to see this as well. Click to continue reading...

I am going to do my best to recreate the "magic" of the 2002 World Cup by waking up early tomorrow morning to catch the US vs. Japan. No, not 3 am early, but maybe 5:30 so I can start up the DVR and see the entire match before heading to work. We'll see if my ambitions match my ability.

Check out today's US Soccer Studio 90 post. Click to continue reading...

So I woke up early this morning and realized it was a good thing I couldn't sleep. The US women's game is on and I went to find the channel it's on... and realized that I don't get MSNBC.

Crap.

Everyone here is still sleeping so I can't exactly call my satelite company right now for fear of waking up the entire Bueno household. Click to continue reading...

Morning everyone. I woke up early this morning unintentionally and can't go back to sleep even though its now 3 1/2 hours until the Stuttgart game starts...I think. I hate all these time changes when they travel all around Europe.

So as I was thinking last night I thought of a question that really puzzled me; why does Emmanuel Adebayor take so much stick while Robin van Persie always gets the benefit of the doubt? Click to continue reading...

Don't sleep on tonight's rematch of last year's Superliga shocker (2-0 to Houston at home) and CONCACAF CHAMPIONS CUP rock n' rollercoaster (5-2 to Pachuca at home). It's all kicking off at Telefutura 10pm EST. Can't wait. Click to continue reading...

I don't want to appear to be counting chickens before they're hatched, and hopefully I'll have more to write about this early next week, but I wanted to say one thing upfront. Georger said similar in the comments last night, but I want to expound on it as well.

If it comes down to Robbie Keane or Gareth Barry, I'm taking the somersaulting Irishman (worst celebration ever) every time. Click to continue reading...

...Sounds like a pretty scary concept for a horror movie, yes? After tonight, consider my blood duly chilled.

And speaking of horror shows...ugh. Somebody shoot me. No wait, shoot me with a heavily-dosed tranquilizer dart, the kind that will make me sleep for 36-48 hours.

To paraphrase Hunter, strange weirdness and bad craziness is in the air. Click to continue reading...

The first 45 minutes of Group B SuperLiga action in Foxborough showcased choppy football at best and cheap shots at worst. In what may have come to characterize the Mexico – US rivalry, a 41st minute elbow to the face of Nyesi courtesy of Juan Pablo Rodriguez earned the Primera División and occasional Mexican National team star a red card for his trouble. Click to continue reading...