Stuff to read while you trick people into unknowingly assisting in your bank heist....... Dirk Kuyt: Air guitar champion. (The Spoiler) The best name in European football now has a rep at The Offside. (Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Offside) The cruelest yellow card in history. (Bundesliga Offside) Scottish football = not very good right now. Click to continue reading...

The Football Association have today rejected an appeal by Everton against the wrongful dismissal of midfielder Tim Cahill during Saturday's derby game against Liverpool. Cahill, 28, was shown a straight red card for a tackle on Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso and will now miss the Toffees next three Premier League games. Click to continue reading...

Ten-man VfL Wolfsburg missed their chance to go third in the Bundesliga with a 2-1 defeat at Karlsruhe on Sunday after defending champions Bayern Munich suffered their second consecutive league defeat.
Having smashed minnows Oberneuland 7-0 in the German Cup in midweek, Wolfsburg were brought crashing down to earth when Karlsruhe midfielder Massimilian Porcello curled in a free-kick on 51 minutes to take a 1-0 lead. Click to continue reading...

Real Madrid have not lost the killer instinct they demonstrated to devastating effect in the first half of last season and which effectively gave them their second successive league title. Playing one man down for most of the second half they saw Betis equalise their early goal and then lay siege to Iker Casillas's goal. Click to continue reading...

Steven Gerrard threw himself to the ground as soon as he got in to the box, the "big and hard" scouser apparently not as tough as his fans would like to think he is. Tony Hibert kept out of the referee's way, waiting to receive the yellow card Mark Clattenburg had in his hand. Then [...] Click to continue reading...

Well, not quite, but with 4 players on Chivas, and their coach being former Kansas City Wizards, it certainly seems like it. There will be plenty of old faces on the opposite side of the ball tomorrow, as Chivas has former Wizards Carey Talley, Shavar Thomas, Alex Zotinca, and recently acquired Sasha Victorine, along with the greatest Wizard of all time, Preki on the Chivas USA bench. Click to continue reading...

Kansas City travel to the HDC to take on the Chivas USA.

First question (as always this season) is who is healthy for the match?

Zack Thornton, Lawson Vaughn, Raphael Wicky, and Eric Ebert are all out. Maykel Galindo may make it to the bench. Jonathan Bornstein, Carey Talley, and Paulo Nagamura all suffered individual light injuries, nothing to serious, but may have limited participation in this game.

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A win is always welcome at this venture of the season. With every match extremely crucial to having a shot at the postseason, these three points will go a long way. The new signings (not so new anymore) Abe Thompson and Herculez Gomez left a strong mark on the match, with Gomez looking dangerous on a number of different occasions.

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Going into the "the biggest game of the season so far" this weekend with Chelsea much had been made of the United's early season form. At Anfield last weekend, the Champions only played for 25 minutes; after that opening spell the home team took control and went on to win after coming back from a goal behind. Click to continue reading...

After giving up a goal just 71 seconds into the match - and earning deafening boos from the almost capacity crowd - the Galaxy came back to score three straight, the first three goal outburst in a half since May for L.A.

It should have been four - Edson Buddle couldn't beat D.C. goalkeeper Louis Crayton (a Liberian who played most of his career in Switzerland and was picked up by D.

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There are a number of elephants but three are obvious.

Elephant 1. The ref was not up to it. Here are two incidents:

- on 59 minutes Matt McKay and Elrich end up in a tangle on the Newcastle penalty box. Elrich gets up and grabs McKay by the throat. Ref doesn't see this. Then they push each other. Click to continue reading...

This post is moan.

The referee in the Dynamo Kiev - Arsenal match called a penalty on Bacary Sagna when the actual incident was a foul by the Dynamo Kiev foward; one worthy of a yellow card.

The call was a mistake. Mistakes happen, and it was a clever bit of cheating by the forward, reaching behind his back, grabbing Sagna's jersey, falling, and bringing Sagna down with him. Click to continue reading...

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Norwich City vs QPR
Norwich City Football Club
0 - 1
Queen's Park Rangers Football Club
Date:
17/09/2008
Venue:
Carrow Road
Attendance:
24249
Referee:
R Shoebridge

DESPITE mounting a frantic late assault on the visitors' goal, City fell victim to a 1-0 defeat at home to ten man QPR at Carrow Road. Click to continue reading...

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See also earlier reports and comments

Telegraph/Trevor Haylett - QPR make light of Matt Connolly's dismissal
QPR's credentials as a force to be reckoned with in the Championship promotion race were underlined at Carrow Road where they secured victory despite playing with 10 men for 65 minutes. Click to continue reading...

What a wild weekend in Argentina as we saw several ties, red cards, and maybe the best game in Jujuy. Here is the good and the bad from the weekend.

The Good -
Adrian Gonzalez (San Lorenzo) - The San Lorenzo forward scored two goals in an important win for the cuervos over Rosario Central. Click to continue reading...

Debuts for Sulky-smooth and Riera went better for the Spaniard
Liverpool beat the old Red Menace 2-1 in the early Saturday fixture- a great way to kick off the weekend.   Berbatov cut back a nice pass that found Tevez totally unmarked and making no mistake; his countryman and friend Javier Mascherano didn't seem to realize the kickoff had happened two minutes prior. Click to continue reading...

In the aftermath of what turned out to be an Anfield horror show on Saturday by the Red Devils, Fergie hinted that he was a little bit perplexed as to why new signing Dimitar Berbatov didn't build on this excellent contribution which led to United taking the lead in the opening minutes of a pulsating clash. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool made the sort of statement of intent that Rafa Benitez had been praying for on Saturday - but he insists his team can still improve.

Five successive defeats by Manchester United in the league and a succession of hard-luck stories against the Old Trafford men had meant that Benitez has never experienced league victory over Sir Alex Ferguson. Click to continue reading...

Well that was a nice way to get things going again, eh?

Blackburn away is never easy, it wasn't easy yesterday, but we spanked home 4 goals meaning in the last 3 games we've scored 10 and conceded none. It's good preparation for the midweek trip to the Ukraine and we didn't suffer any kind of Interlull hangover which we are prone to now and again.

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How is it that taking off your shirt is an automatic yellow card, yet Khano Smith aimed a fire-arm (it was a musket loaded with blanks, but still) at the crowd after scoring against Chivas USA and got nothing? I'm not mad at him at all for it, I just don't get how that is not excessive celebration. Click to continue reading...

Mexican legend Cuauhtemoc Blanco announced his surprise retirement from international play following El Tri's 2-1 victory over Canada in World Cup qualifying on Wednesday night. The 35-year-old midfielder came into the game in the 89th minute to the delight of his fans and, not surprisingly, picked up a yellow card shortly thereafter. Click to continue reading...

The Wizards are back on the field on Sunday when they travel down to Houston to take on the Houston Dynamo. KC has been busy the past couple days, adding two forwards to their roster by way of trades. Both Herculez Gomez and Abe Thompson are going to be available for selection for the game on Sunday. Click to continue reading...

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Damien Delaney reportedly not in the Republic of Ireland's starting lineup against Georgia...Shabbaz Baidoo is set to link up with Danny Cullip at Lewes..Jake Cole Injury


No Delaney: BBC: "Hunt and Whelan in Republic team WORLD CUP . Click to continue reading...

Well, business is back to normal after the Kandji disaster last week. Weeks of good news and achievement took a backseat to the alleged communist behavior of the MLS. But people do forget rather quickly, especially after the team has performed so damn well in a historically disasterous period for previous Metro/Bull squads.

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The end of Chivas USA's participation in the inaugural CONCACAF Champions League effectively came in the 62nd minute when Luis Moreno equalized to tie this game 1-1.

But that put the score 3-1 on aggregate meaning Chivas USA needed not two goals (because away goals count double in the event of a tie), but three more goals within a half hour to move on.

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The curse of living in the western US...I get home and matches are in progress. Nevertheless, let's go.Scores and commentary after the jump. I decided to put the most recent updates at the top. New England 0-4 Joe Public (Joe Public win 6-1 on aggregate)Real Estelí - Montreal Impact (Montreal Impact lead 1-0 on aggregate)Chivas USA 0-0 Tauro FC 11' (Tauro FC lead 2-0 on aggregate)1932: Dominguez was shown a yellow card for his tackle in the box, but he should have been shown a red card for being the last man and denying a goal-scoring opportunity. Click to continue reading...

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INDEPENDENT/By Graham Nickless - Bristol City 1 Queen's Park Ranger 1: Cerny's new freedom has security benefits for QPR
Radek Cerny is enjoying his relaxed new lifestyle and new sense of freedom at Queen's Park Rangers compared to the stressful way of living he experienced at Tottenham Hotspur. Click to continue reading...

Game story.

Notable:
*Chivas USA was without seven players due to injury and suspension: Maykel Galindo (sports hernia surgery), Jesse Marsch (fractured jaw), Claudio Suárez (R hip strain), Carey Talley (L thigh strain), Raphaël Wicky (R ankle surgery), Alex Zotinca (R knee surgery) and defender Shavar Thomas (yellow card accumulation).

Click to continue reading...

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QPR took the lead through Blackstock; saw an equalizer; 1-1 at Half-Time...Saw Ledesma sentoff in the second half...Final score 1-1

Table:
Wolves 4 10
Preston 4 10
Birmingham 4 10
Bristol C 4 8
Sheff Utd 4 7
Reading 4 7
Swansea 4 7
QPR 4 7
Updated Table

REPORTS

Bristol City Official Site
Dele Adebola earned City a point against ten man Queens Park Rangers in a hotly-contested Coca-Cola Championship match at Ashton Gate. Click to continue reading...

MLS Scoreboard

Week 23
Matches & Scores:
-Fri Aug 29
Salt Lake v Colorado - 8pm central on Direct Kick
-Sat Aug 30
New England v Los Angeles - 6:30pm central on HDNet & Direct Kick
DC v New York - 6:30pm central on FSC
Dallas v Columbus - 8pm central on Direct Kick
San Jose v Kansas City - 9pm central on Direct Kick
Chivas v Toronto - 9:30pm central on Direct Kick
-Sun Aug 31
Houston v Chicago - 6pm central on Direct Kick
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

League Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle on how wrong most people, himself included, were on the contributions Cuauhtemoc Blanco would have on the Fire and the league. Click to continue reading...

With the transfer window set to slam shut until January and with no new signings on board Fergie will be concerned with United's lacklustre display in the Super Final in Monaco that ended with Zenit St Petersburg lifting the trophy by the odd goal in three. Vidic's consolation goal led to a late attacking flurry by the Reds, but for too much of this match United were very much second best all over the park. Click to continue reading...

Paul Scholes tonight attempted the "Hand of God" and succeed in getting sent off. The former England international had already been booked at the time when he hand balled the ball into the Zenit St Petersburg net.

Manchester United were trailing at the time when Scholes attempted, what Diego Maradona did against England all them years ago, The Hand of God. Click to continue reading...

Another game, another goal. This time, it's from Jose Francisco Torres, and this time we've got highlights.



Torres started and played 58 minutes for Pachuca in their 2-0 win over Puebla. He picked up a yellow card as well as scoring his first-ever goal in the Primera Division.

Also in action. Click to continue reading...

Welcome back to a new season of Manchester City football!

Yes, I understand that two league matches, and a round and a half of UEFA Cup matches, have already been played. But, there hasn't been anything worth remembering until the Citizens 3-0 dismantling of West Ham this past Sunday. A friend of mine, who is a Hammers supporter, informed me that City was lucky that they were able to play most of the match a man up as West Ham midfielder Mark Noble was sent off in the 39th minute with his second yellow card of the day. Click to continue reading...

Our beloved Serie A kicks off this weekend and it's preview time. After thinking that last season was a tough season to predict, this season it becomes even tougher. There are so many quality sides in the top flight this season that it is really hard to predict who will finish where this season.

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