This movie could easily have been titled, Little Zizou: A Gratuitous Reference To or the Incredible Vanishing Zidane. Apart from some TV clips and some newspaper articles of him visiting Bangladesh there was nothing else on Zidane.

I happened to see it in a recent NY festival.

New England Revs drew 5,221 fans for their first leg game against Chicago. Just woeful. The other games were somewhat better but it is an overall problem with MLS playoffs. Don Garber pathetically defers to better TV ratings and media coverage compensating for the no shows in the stadium amongst the spectators.

Just a trifle better than Sarah Palin. The guy is so not looking forward to this journey. The VW road to the MLS Cup. I would not be too sure of soccer's popularity or Routan sales after this.

An old and deep rooted fear was stoked by a SA minister promoting the World Cup at the Beijing Olympics. Dr Essop Pahad, was recently reported as saying that ‘Even though they are a minority, there are still a lot of whites who don't support Bafana Bafana". In addition, he reportedly stated: "They also don't care that the World Cup is being staged in South Africa'.

Last Saturday afternoon FIFA president Sepp Blatter, 72, roared out of an Alpine mountain tunnel in his £100,000 luxurious 6.2 litre Mercedes sports car, smashed into a slower-moving car he was trying to overtake, lost control and cannoned across double white lines, hitting an oncoming VW Golf.

England's goalie may not be on Hank Paulson's shortlist for pulling us out of the financial crisis but even he gets how serious it is and his criticism on how the sport is dominated by a few big players is spot on. It is also a refreshing change to hear NFL style drafts being commended for introducing parity.

Recently Lord Triesman spoke at a conference about the dangers of mounting debt that English clubs face and advocated a more forceful regulatory role for the FA.

Speaking at the same conference, Richard Scudamore, Premier League chief executive, gave Lord Triesman's views short shrift, saying it would be mistaken to suggest all debt was untenable.

The most overt sign are the vanishing shirt sponsorships.

However the credit crisis is wreaking havoc with the nuts and bolts of running a club. The club that appears to be most in the dock is Portsmouth where owner Arkady Gaydamak is facing mounting losses to the tune of $140 million.

Music Video Code by FootyFilms.com

Just terrible defending from Alexander Song who coughs up the ball to Kieran Richardson then dawdles up to Grant Ledbitter rather apologetically. Ledbitter lets fly for a super goal as Almunia gets beaten all ends up as Arsenal look on stunned.

Courtesy Sarah Palin:

Asked about the economy, Palin suggested talking to a parent at a soccer game. "I'll betcha you're going to hear some fear in that parent's voice," she said. Asked who was to blame for the subprime lending crisis, she said, "Darn right it was the predator lenders.

"Eat for Goals "is a book created by UEFA and the World Heart Federation.It is about good food, cooking and football. It has been created to encourage young people to be more conscious of living active lifestyles and eating well. 20% of children in the EU are overweight and the rate of increase of childhood obesity is ten times higher than in the 1970s.

The Wall St financial bailout collapsed today and amongst the banks that could be hit hardest is Royal Bank of Scotland who were going to be one of the largest beneficiaries. The bailout would have allowed RBS to offload billions of dollars of toxic assets and loans. This year itself RBS wrote down $10 billion in losses from worthless subprime securities.

Amr Zaki is proving to be the "thinking out of the box" player that Wenger prefers. With a nice affordable price tag.

He is on loan to Wigan and it is because of his performance that pundits suspect that Wigan are better than they look. Steve Bruce is all praise for the EPL's top scorer.

The creator of Rio's World Cup Wind Ups is fronting the Nigerian consortium bidding for Newcastle.

Here is a sample >>

Zola's face is a cartoonist's dream

Chelsea's greatest player is now West Ham's manager.

What does he bring to the table that Alan Curbishley could not? And what should he focus on?

Zola was the heart and soul of a Chelsea squad that saw success before the Abramovich era completely skewed the Premiership.

Wenger has made signing a central midfielder to complement Cesc Fabregas a priority. With Flamini's departure, the team has a huge void to fill. His successful partnership with Fabregas in midfield was the salient feature of Arsenal's matchplay.

There have been numerous links to Gareth Barry and Xabi Alonso, both who in my mind lack the speed and industry of a Flamini.

Bentley, an Arsenal product did not leave on the happiest of terms as he could not break into Arsenal's first team. He appears to have carried a grudge and joining Spurs seems to have loosened his lips.

On October 29th, Spurs visit the Emirates and as per Bentley he is relishing the encounter.

Hmmmm. Eighteen years since they won their last title. Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler, Emile Heskey, Milan Baros, Luis Garcia, Peter Crouch, have come and gone. Both Fowler and Owen are in the Premiership top 10 goalscorers list.

Admittedly, Keane brings some serious firepower, getting many goals from deflections and spills.

Dileep Premachandran points out that cricket is not the only sport that captures the imagination of the Indian public. In a phenomenon that is an inextricable part of the rise of the Indian middle class, soccer the global game, has caught on, creating a fanbase that is probably as knowledgeable and argumentative as any.

John Graham Mellor aka Joe Strummer of Clash fame was a Chelsea fan but that was when it was a club for the working class. His songs railing against fascism, racism and menial jobs resonated with millions in Thatcherite Britain. And his dictum of affordable music for fans almost bankrupted the group.

Quick which one? Or both?

As per Chelsea, two days ago it was Robinho that was supposed to alight on Stamford Bridge on a bid of £40m. Today it is Kaka for double the price. How about importing the whole Brazilian and Portugese team and rendering the Premiership moot? Having Big Phil makes these pipe dreams possible.

Ask Diego Maradona and he will spit in Sepp Blatter's eye when he so self servingly talks about players living in modern slavery. It is as laughable as Phil Gramm's dismissal of the dismal US economy as a 'mental recession'.

In Blatter's case, it is a total derailment of reality.

Brad Guzan becomes the latest addition to the most enduring US export to the Premiership. The Chivas USA goalie joins Martin O' Neill's squad subject to Home Office approval on a £2m transfer.

Guzan bolsters a squad short of experienced goalies with Scott Carson returning to Liverpool and Thomas Sorensen released.

Expect David Villa not to be in the line up, the Valencia striker has a muscle tear in his thigh and has been ruled out.

Expect Cesc Fabregas to start. Arsenal's maestro has been having quite a tournament

Expect Michael Ballack to be a gametime decision.

Expect a foul filled initial 20 minutes as the Germans try and break the rhythm of the free flowing Spanish midfield.

Marcos Senna is being celebrated as a find, a player finally giving teeth to the much maligned Spanish defence, a noteworthy ally in its potent attack. But he is in a minority because this Euro shone a spotlight on the number of flatfooted defenses which became red meat for swift counter attacks.

Spain made it to the Euro finals after 44 years. So long ago it came during Francisco Franco's iron fisted rule, an era abhorred and overturned by thousands who have made Spain, a beacon of democracy and social progressivism.

Today's match against Russia turned out to be anti-climactic as Guus Hiddink's team was a shadow of itself, tentative and tremulous.

Tommy Smyth is an execrable piece of humanity. After the Turkey - Germany match, he condescendingly dismissed Turkey's performance as "No one will remember who played the semi-finals, it only matters who won, and Germany won." He then went into a paean on how Lahm scored a goal which strikers would be well advised to watch.

Its a pretty empty studio at halftime for the last round of matches. Rece Davis with Julie Foudy. Its a relief not to hear or look at that gnome Tommy Smyth who pound for pound is the most obnoxious and annoying sports pundit. His buffoonish attempts at humour are usually swatted away by Derek Rae with , "I won't go there.

Thierry Henry loves to get cute in front of goal. All flashes and finesse touches. And today he scored a stunning goal just that way. Unfortunately, it was into his own goal as he stuck out an instinctive foot to a Daniel De Rossi free kick and deflected it neatly into the right hand corner.

Jay Sugarman, Daniel Day Lewis lookalike

Don Garber announced a new MLS franchise in Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. The ownership group is headed by iStar's CEO, Jay Sugarman,one of the best compensated CEO's in the US. One of his partners is Nick Sakiewicz, a two-time winner of the MLS Executive of the Year award, and former GM of the Tampa Bay Mutiny and Metrostars (now NY Red Bulls).

THe NYT has an article highlighting the flood of kids with ACL injuries requiring surgery or bracing to restore knee stability. Conventional wisdom is that children break bones more easily than incur ligament damage. At stake is the mythic strength of children's ligaments. The article opens up many more questions.

The aftermath of the bitter and divisive 2000 US presidential elections spawned a myriad of political blogs disillusioned with the bias of the mainstream media (MSM) narrative. On either side of the divide, blogs became agents of change challenging the MSM and supporting candidates who hew more closely to their vision.

Arsenal polished off Blackburn with goals from Senderos and Adebayor.

It increases the gap between Man U and Chelsea as the season heads to its fatiguing climax of FA, CL, and league fixtures. Great win!

The match has started and it promises to be a fitting finale to one of the freest flowing and attacking expositions of soccer of all times. Egypt met Cameroun in its Group C encounter and won, 4-2. Samuel Eto'o scored both goals but he was overshadowed by the sensational Mohamad Zidan and Hosni Abd Rabou.

It is often said that you can never count out Man U till the final whistle is blown. As if on cue, last Saturday, Carlos Tevez stuck a dagger into the heart of Spurs in the final seconds of the match as Man U walked away with a face saving draw after their opponents put on a magnificent display.