BBC is reporting that William Gallas has been relieved of his duties. He was also not present on the bus to City.

Gallas days are over at Arsenal as I see it. He burned up precious goodwill with his team mates following his rant and embarrassed Wenger in the process. While Gallas might not have meant it that way, it came close to insubordination.

On 5 September 2008, Senegal met Algeria at the Mustapha Tchaker Stadium in a World Cup qualifier. In the 81st minute, Cheikh Gueye scored an own goal which leveled the game for Algeria. 7 minutes later, Rafik Saiki stuck a dagger into Senegal by scoring the winner. Algeria won the match.

Most Americans now prefer diplomacy towards Iran rather than seek a knee jerk military solution.

After virtually turning off the charm school for eight years and surrendering foreign policy to the unilateral wet dream of Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney, Americans have woken to an unfamiliar sense of vulnerability brought on by two draining wars and an unraveling economy.

Pim Verbeek looked like he wanted to pluck every nose hair off Harry Kewell. Why Kewell remains on this team is beyond me. He lacks speed and gives up the ball too easily.

Then again he wasn't the only Socceroo who looked like he was on Mary Jane. The Socceroos somnambulated through the match.

Add another blow to Arsenal's nightmarish season.

Theo Walcott is out for six weeks with a shoulder dislocation and further depletes the roster missing several key personnel through suspensions and injuries: Fabregas is out against City; RVP serving his three game suspension; Eduardo not due back till the middle of December; Rosicky's rehabilitation remains shrouded in mystery; Sagna and Toure at also out with injuries.

Maradona measures the miss in the 1966 final

I had no idea that Argentina was playing England.

A proxy war has broken out between the two rivals with England a bit sniffy at the Scottish adoration of the one that broke their hearts with the most infamous goal in the game's history.

Finally, it would appear that the Kolkata clubs, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan are showing signs of life. East Bengal ran out winners against league leaders Sporting Clube de Goa, 3-1 while their city rivals Mohun Bagan beat JCT, 2-0.

They are now bunched in the middle of the table along with minnows Mumbai FC who have not been able to sustain their fantastic start and have lost some momentum in recent weeks losing to Air India and drawing with Churchill Brothers.

For the price he is asking for. Not at this time.

Zabeel Investments backed out of spending money on the Addicks which was going for a far cheaper price than Newcastle. They are a big moneyed player in the ME which is in far better shape than the English economy now projected to be in a deeper recession than previously forecast.

Anytime you talk about Arsenal, you have to qualify it with the paeans that Arsene Wenger so richly deserves. We did not see this sort of soccer in England as a system till he came on the scene. But Jason Burt clearly lays out the head in the sand mentality that seems to have taken hold of Wenger.

Real is ruled by a cabal of madmen and amoral shysters straight out of Herzog's Aguirre, The Wrath of God. They have no allegiance to anything or anyone, not even to a title it would appear.

Real's vote of confidence in Bernd Schuster should be taken with a huge grain of salt.

Diego Maradona landed in Scotland just before Wednesday's game and with a curt "I don't speak English" blew by TV crews, hundreds of reporters, and throngs of adoring fans hoping to catch a glimpse of the most famous name in soccer. (Video here)

He was protected by a dozen police officers and private security guards who escorted him to a waiting bus.

Sinisa Ubiparipovic should now be worth more than his $33,000 annual salary.

One of the standouts in NY's historic playoff march has been Ubiparipovic. And he is a flesh and blood person, although his name suggests a character out of a Dostoyevsky novel.

Ubiparipovic was an in and out presence on both attack and defense during the regular season stepping in for the fading Jorge Rojas and provided two invaluable game winning assists, including the one that scored the fastest goal in club history in the season opener against Crew in April.

Arsenal vs Villa was supposed to showcase the best and brightest talent. But only one team showed up to play and it was not Arsenal. Yet again.

Arsene Wenger deservedly receives many plaudits for encouraging youthful talent but on Saturday we were reminded that Martin O' Neill has been no slouch in that department either.

Jones puts a crimp on Gazza

Man City is in the midst of collective player angst and Elano adds to the chorus who have abandonment issues with Mark Hughes.

The problem is that City lacks gritty players who so populated Hughes' Blackburn squads. These squads were always bit discomfited with the finer aspects of the game.

Now it is Oscar Ruggeri.

Maradona wants the former Boca defender and 1986 team mate as his assistant. Ruggeri, an outstanding defender for his country has a poor record in managerial positions. It has led to a standoff between Julio Grondona and Maradona, with threats that he will resign if Ruggeri is not included.

The UK is probably going to get shafted if this is true.

Obama's election as president has so boosted the US in the eyes of FIFA honchos that if it turns out infrastructure and organization are similar between the leading contenders, the deciding factor could be Obama in awarding the 2018 World Cup.

These statements should be treated as a conspiracy against Arsenal to lull them to sleep. How many opposing managers have said similar things in order to fatten the heads of William Gallas & Co. only to see them fall in the next match. Its become psychology 101.

A preamble to present day Arsenal games now means cradle snatching Wenger trotting out ever younger squads with every season.

Remember Alexi Lalas and his grandiose pronouncements on how Becks would single handed turn the MLS into a world beater. It seems like eons ago. Well, he isn't too happy at the way his man has inveigled his way to Milan (Sports Business Daily, Nov 7, subscription needed).

"Hello, a courtesy telephone call, a little bit of respect to call the coach so that head coach Bruce Arena knows what's going on, knows that you're being shopped around.

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.

Richards puts on the burners

The NY Red Bulls came through for the greatest win in their 13 year history. Leading the charge was Dane Richards who had the game of his life and a hand in all three goals. He scored the first goal, was responsible for the PK that Juan Pablo Angel converted for the Red Bulls second goal, and then sealed the deal when his pass was converted by John Wolyniec for the third and final goal.

Today, in the longest time, the US will get to that mountain top.

I suspect we are in for many morning afters. It was Stoke this time. We are getting to the point where it is hard to say who showed up to play or who should have done what or what the next excuse will be. There is a giant feeling of unsettled in the squad.

Arsenal has already proven susceptible to open field shots and this time it was Rory Delap's throw ins that were their undoing.

The Wizards went ahead with a 53rd minute goal by Arnaud and then played the last 15 minutes a man down when Hercules Gomes was sent off with a red card. They stemmed the tide of chances till the very last minute when Steven Lenhart scored of a Moreno pass in the 92nd minute.

KC travels to Columbus for the second leg to play the team with the best home record.

The words exchanged between Sir Alex and Ramon Calderon might escalate into a diplomatic fracas between the Spanish and British government. It re-opens wounds.

With Spain electing one of the most progressive governments even by Western European standards, it has since actively embarked on distancing itself from Franco's totalitarian legacy.

Marca's cover morphs Sir Alex into the Franco of Manchester

Man Utd boss Sir Alex Ferguson came off the sidelines accusing Sepp Blatter, FIFA's president for acting like an African despot and then lambasting Ramon Calderon, Real Madrid's president for behaving as if the club were still run by Generalissimo Francisco Franco.

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'.

Brand resigned today from his BBC radio show following obscene calls left on the phone of Andrew Sachs that spurred outrage. The 78 year old Sachs played Manuel in Fawlty Towers. Russell Brand and Barack Obama are both West Ham fans. Inquiring minds want to know if Obama wants to continue to associate with a known perv who supports the same club.

If Maradona can take Boca out of their current neurosis and put them on top of the table, I will be one step closer to believing that he can guide Argentina back to the days of the 1986 World Cup.

After all there should be no shortage of inspiration since La Bombanera is Maradona's stomping grounds.

FC Barcelona signed CAA Sports, the agency that represents David Beckham and Fredrik Ljungberg to represent the club in many areas including marketing its slogan "More than a Club" and advising it on the MLS expansion process. CAA Sports could also be involved in the development of a Barcelona franchise in Miami if the city is awarded an expansion team in Miami.

The reasons Zabeel Investments gave for not pursuing the Addicks were concerns regarding foreign ownership and the economic downturn in the UK. However, the financial crisis has also left Dubai vulnerable.

The booming real estate market that has changed its landscape has been fueled by a ballooning debt which tops $47 billion and is expected to grow further leaving Dubai exposed to the vagaries of the financial crisis.

It could be over £20m. For that price they could have gotten Arshavin.

Harry Redknapp gets points right away for ass kissing Daniel Levy, on whose feet this whole mess should be placed.

Lets see what Redknapp can do with a dysfunctional team which seems to be busier with its own infighting than on playing well.

On the other hand, you have to feel for Juande Ramos, who probably wishes that he never had given in to Levy's pursuit.

This would be the best news in the world. Let it please be Arsenal in some capacity or the other. When Bergkamp retired, a little part of me died.

The person most in the dark appears to be Bruce Arena who woke up to the news that his prized midfielder was shipping out.

"The first I heard about it was today but I would think, given the position the Galaxy is in and the fact that we're rebuilding our team and trying to have a successful year, it would seem very odd to me if we were loaning out our top players at the start of the season.