November 2009 Archives

Catch me a clue. Where was Wenger being small minded about Didier Drogba as claimed by The Guardian's Kevin McCarra ? He was not overly effusive and why should he be? His team got beaten. But he was not belittling Drogba. Far from it.

" You would be surprised by the number of balls he touched today. Jimmy Greaves was a great player, you still remember him. And Drogba is a great player, nobody can deny that. He's very efficient. "

Comparing him to Jimmy Greaves is not small mindedness. I would say its quite laudatory. And he was making the point that the Arsenal attack with all that possession was quite inefficient.

Clubs splashing the cash on the middlemen. Not a story that gets enough attention:

1 Man City £12,874,283
2 Chelsea £9,562,223
3 Liverpool £6,657,305
4 Tottenham £6,066,935
5 West Ham £5,527,548
6 Arsenal £4,760,241
7 Wigan £3,576,972
8 Portsmouth £3,184,725
9 Bolton £3,166,611
10 Everton £2,008,407
11 Sunderland £2,007,040
12 Aston Villa £1,708,374
13 Blackburn £1,610,885
14 Hull £1,599,188
15 Man Utd £1,517,393
16 Fulham £1,469,258
17 Wolves £1,235,703
18 Birmingham £974,982
19 Stoke City £716,042
20 Burnley £468,398

Total £70,692,513

West Ham, Wigan, Bolton, Hull and Portsmouth really burned some serious cash which seems not to have served them well. Stoke City and Burnley on the other hand have done really well with their small amounts and so has Man Utd, who are surprisingly quite conservative with their agents fees. The worst offender is Man City which has parted with almost £13 million for a series of boring draws and an underwhelming 7th position.

£70m in total fees. You could buy a Kaka or a Burnley for that amount.

What is the FAI chief, John Delaney smoking?

Thirty three teams for the World Cup? The Republic of Ireland has requested Sepp Blatter for a spot in the World Cup after Thierry Henry's illegal hand decided France would go through.

This matter will be brought up for discussion in the executive committee meeting on Wednesday. Complicating the matter is Costa Rica's contention that Uruguay benefited from an offside goal which denied them a place in the World Cup. Blatter will have to accommodate them also, if Ireland is granted its wish.

Seems like this can open up a whole lot of aggravation on the part of other countries who will naturally complain that they missed out on a spot because of a refereeing error or a dive. FIFA already denied the FAI's request for a replay which would have been the fairest solution.

How will you accommodate an extra team? Thirty three is an imbalanced number. Will one group have five countries? Even if Costa Rica gets in then there will be two groups of five each. That itself will lead to protests because those countries will have to play an extra match which gives the other countries an unfair advantage.

It is strange given that a few days ago FIFA was cavalierly considering throwing Chile out of the World Cup on a flimsy pretext. That country had qualified fair and square but FIFA got huffy considering the national association's expulsion of a club amounted to interference in league competition. And now we have a situation where a country could get a chance at the World Cup on a hypothetical. Yeaay! Its leprechaun gold.

Blatter after being virtually tongue tied following Henry's blatant handball is giving this importance because it creates the impression that he cares deeply about Ireland's feelings and the fairness of the game. It will get shot down in the executive meeting but he gets to varnish his tough on crime credentials.

Most Irish fans had milked this of all melancholia by now but John Delaney seems keen on flogging a dead horse.

Well deserved win for the man who occupied centerstage in Barca's glorious treble - The Champions League, the Liga title, and the Copa Del Rey.

He pushed out Cristiano Ronaldo beating him handily with a record 473 votes to 233 votes reversing last years results when Ronaldo beat him 446 votes to 281 votes to win the title. Messi becomes the first Barca player since Ronaldinho won it in 2005 and the first Argentinian to win Europe's player of the year award.

Messi also led a trio of Barca players with Xavi (170) and Andres Iniesta (149) in the top four. If you count Samuel Eto'o, now with Milan who was fifth (75) in the ballot, then Barca finished with four in the five top spots.

For the record, Messi top scored in the CL with nine goals including the second goal against Man Utd in the final. His impressive form carried over to the Liga where he scored 23 goals in and 6 goals in the Copa Del Rey.

He is also the sixth Barcelona player to win the award. Apart from him and Ronaldinho, the other winners are Rivaldo (1999), Hristo Stoichkov (1994), Johan Cruyff (1973, 1974), and Luis Suarez (1960).

Watching Chelsea play Arsenal, one got the impression that they bode their time soaking up the pressure and then on cue, destroyed Arsenal through three surgical strikes, one self inflicted. A headless chicken performing a death throe dance before crashing lifeless.

It was a cool, calm, and collected hit job provided by players who have light years in experience. In fact, with players like Michael Essien, Frank Lampard, John Terry, and the rest, Chelsea are a self coached squad. Carlo Ancelotti can just show up and collect his paycheck. Seriously.

Didier Drogba was the Arsenal killer again and this time we did not have Mikael Silvestre to tee of against. But it was Ashley Cole from the left who provided the quality two crosses before halftime that broke Arsenal's back. It was a bit surreal to see Dani Alves do the same from the right in El Clasico a few hours later with his picture perfect cross laid on Zlatan Ibrahimovic's footstep to be delivered past Iker Casillas and send Madrid home. The two wingbacks seemed to have merged thought and action together and worn the same shirt. No wonder they are the best in the business.

We can say we were robbed off a legitimate goal and Wenger might be technically correct that the 'score was an unfair reflection of the game' but these are just semantics. 3-1 is not a zero sum game as Wenger would have us believe. Again, ball possession does not count for much if you cannot score and we have gone through this ad nauseum. Chelsea just waited in the middle as Arsenal ran out of ideas with no player to go to provide a summation for all that possession.

Eduardo has lost his zip with his self confidence pretty much rock bottom after his long injury layoff and the dive that shook the world. He looked tentative, a step slower, and hustled off the ball as was every Arsenal player. Chelsea's physicality was underscored by the sight of Vermaelen, one of our strongest players caroming off Drogba without the striker wavering in his trajectory one bit. We are a physically underwhelming team and that was clearly underscored in this game.

Drogba's presence in the box sowed the seeds of doubt and self destruction. An Ashley Cole pass was delivered right into a big fat seam between Vermaelen and Gallas, and Drogba was there to put a knee on ball for the first goal. A panicked defense was undone a couple of minutes later as Vermaelen unfortunately became an own goal honoree. The Belgian defender trying to get in front of Drogba could only manage to deflect it into an empty net as Almunia had already strayed off line. All this within minutes away from halftime. In the second half, self assurance went missing once again when Drogba lashed in a free kick as the wall completely failed to deal with the ball and Carvalho ducked in time to expose Almunia.

Before that time Song had been strangely substituted by Walcott, Eduardo by Vela, and Nasri for Rosicky but there was no meaningful impact provided by these changes. More ball possession, little else.

We have now gone two Premiership games without scoring a goal. For a team that has averaged three goals per game, this amounts to a drought.

Eduardo and Vela from their performances do not seem to be the answer. RVP's season is effectively over, he might be back for the last two games if at all. To pin it all on Bendtner when he returns will be asking too much. We might have a dozen players sharing the goalscoring load but that is no insurance against the top teams who we are 1-4 against (I am counting Spurs, City, and Sunderland too). We need to get busy in the January transfer market. The gap is mounting but with a little bit of luck things could turn around but first, we have to take care of our own end.

Two goals from the dreaded Drogba left Arsenal with no comebacks.

As Neil Diamond said sometime somewhere "Money talks,but it can't sing and dance,and it can't walk."
Real Madrid found out that it can't help them to beat Barcelona even when they were down to 10 men for a good bit of the game.Ibrahimovic came off the bench to score this superb volley ,and the moneybags had to pack up their bags and go home.

Here we are. This is the true test - will Real's money win over Barcelona? Who is the best player in the world?

Stay tuned.

As an appetizer, watch this classic - when Cruyff destroyed Real:

Three years have gone by and it's still not really clear what provoked Zidane to end his international career the way he did.
Here's an interesting attempt to answer the question - thanks to Doug Shield for the link.

West Ham took a 5-0 lead and then gave away 3 goals in the last 23 minutes to give their supporters some anxious moments.

Rooney was the hat trick hero of a game that had more than it's fair share of penalties..

Even worse news. From the Arsenal website.

"Advice was sought from the leading ankle specialist Mr Niek van Dijk, who confirmed that more extensive damage had been suffered than was first diagnosed. In order to repair his ankle, Robin will undergo surgery next week in Amsterdam to reconstruct the ligaments. The Club's medical team anticipate that a full recovery will take between four and five months."

The initial assessment was that the ankle ligament was partially ruptured and could be managed by conventional physical therapy intervention requiring 4-6 weeks to recover.

A new scan and study in hospital, found three of the four ligaments in his right ankle were ruptured in the Italy friendly.

It looks like a Grade 3 complete tear of probably the medial (inside) ligaments because there are four of them. Usually, the lateral (outside) ligaments are more prone to injuries cause by outside shearing forces, like that of a tackle. However, a combination of both medial and lateral ankle ligaments could be involved too. (Magee's Orthopedic Physical Assessment, 2nd Edition, 1992).

Most ankle ligament ruptures involve the the anterior talofibular ligament in conjunction with the the calcaneofibular ligament. Rarely, the posterior talofibular ligament. Ligamentous injuries could be associated with damage to the cartilage (ankle arthritis is a long term effect) and in severe rotational injuries the ankle (the talus) could be fractured.

The upshot is the ankle is unstable in these type of complete tears and surgical intervention is the preferred route to ensure against permanent ankle instability (the ankle either rolls in or rolls out).

Van Persie needs reconstructive surgery which indicates that it is not a matter of just repairing and reattaching the torn ligament back to the bone. The structural integrity of the ligament has been compromised (either too weakened/ destroyed) which means that Van Persie needs new ligaments recreated usually from a cadaver tendon graft.

"It is so frustrating to be out for months," Van Persie said. "I was having a super season with the team. I had never felt as strong and powerful as this year. Apart from, I think, two matches, I either scored or made goals in all the games we played this season.

We can't seem to catch a break. This is not good news to uplift one's spirits on the eve of a game against a team like Chelsea.

N. Waleed sends us this clip with Maradona using his hand on three other occasions apart from the infamous hand of God goal against England in the 1986 World Cup.

1981 against River Plate, 1985 Napoli, 1990 WC against USSR.

Dani Alves on the showdown between Real and Barca at Camp Nou and the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo will be making his first appearance against them as a Merengue.

"I'd rather have a great team than cling to a single player."

A bit brutal. Raul, Karim Benzema, Xabi Alonso, and Kaka would have something to say to that I am sure.

Some days it just isn't worth getting out of bed.Like the day Jurgen Sierens,of the Belgian side Roeselare scored this own goal.He lost sight of the ball,tied himself in knots trying to find it and scored an own goal in the process.

Remember last summer, when the news was Dubai International Capital (DIC) was so close to buying out Liverpool from Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

Well, the club would have passed from one group of bankrupt owners to another if the deal had gone through. Dubai Inc., is now so deep in debt that they have asked creditors for a grace period till May to pay off $60 billion. Abu Dhabi had to step in and save Dubai with a cash infusion this February.

Richard Williams does not see what is obvious to Arsenal fans.

" and the unconvincing performance of Alexandre Song, the latest candidate - following the discarded Gilberto Silva, Mathieu Flamini and Lassana Diarra - to plug the midfield gap left by the departures of Emmanuel Petit and Patrick Vieira. "

Au contraire, Song has been a rock solid performer this season.

Apparently William Gallas has problems putting his contact lens on because the left eye is still so swollen from the collision with Arshavin's head in the Standard Liege game.

Wenger was not overly optimistic about his chances. "I cannot say that William Gallas will play, unfortunately. The ankle should be alright but the eye is still very, very, very swollen.

If Gallas is not ready, then we might have to trot out Silvestre which is a very unappetizing thought. One can almost hear Didier Drogba salivating at the prospect.

Arseblog's suggestion is to consider shifting Song to center back and use Denilson to hold midfield. Song has seen duty as a center back before, so he should be comfortable pairing Vermaelen. One would have preferred Diaby in place of Denilson for the holding role should Wenger explore that route but Diaby happens to be one of the 8 Arsenal injuries.

If we win the match, then the gap with Chelsea is narrowed to five. Win the extra game in hand, it cuts down to two. Lose and you can only hope to close to five again. So this is as important a match as it gets.

Chelsea are relatively healthy with Frank Lampard ready to play on Sunday. Carlo Ancelotti's dilemma is the opposite of Wenger, he has so many options, he does not know who to play.

'I think I have five midfielders in very good condition, Ballack, Lampard, Essien, Mikel and Malouda, and I have to put in the pitch only three players. It will be difficult for me,' Ancelotti said.

Jack Warner must be basking in all the love and affection he is getting from the USA, Australia, and now, the UK whose 2018 bid is in serious jeopardy.

He looks like he is talking from both sides of his mouth after meeting with Gordon Brown yesterday. Three if you count Australia. Yes, his mouth has many sides.

"He said, and I agreed with him, that England has the best infrastructure to stage the tournament and that after a 52-year gap this is England's time."

Less than a week ago.

"The United States can count on the full support of CONCACAF, including Chuck Blazer, Rafael Salgueiro and myself," said CONCACAF president and FIFA vice president Jack Warner.

Two weeks ago.

"Australia created the best ever Olympics and demonstrated an ability to host and manage some of the biggest sporting events in the world with class, expertise and with a dedication to excellence. If there is a country that truly deserves to host the FIFA World Cup, then it is the island continent of Australia".

In the end it will be what you can do for Jack Warner. Andrew Jennings has done excellent work documenting Warner's long history of corruption.

If you got an email with this in it it's not with John Terry's permission.

This is what he had to say
"An email inviting commercial endorsements for me has been published," he said. "This email was sent without my authority or knowledge and was not approved by me (or those advising me). I have nothing further to say on the matter."
They have also managed to spell the word influential wrong.

Chile came back from the brink of losing their place in South Africa 2010.FIFA had given Chile's football association (ANFP) 72 hours to make a chilean club called Rangers drop a court case that disputed their relegation from the Clausura championship,
Rangers took legal action after they were docked three points for fielding one too many foreign players under the Clausura's 6+5 rule.This earned them an automatic relegation according to FIFA rules, They took the matter to the legal eagles forgetting completely that FIFA strictly forbids any government or civil interference in football matters.
What followed was a strongly worded threatening letter from FIFA to the ANFP threatening the worst.Chilean football fans who would be getting to see their country play in a world cup for the first time in 12 years were glad to know that the Rangers have succumbed to the arm twisting and the Chilean world cup dream is back on track.

As fans of The Cult, it is good to know that there was a modicum of self awareness in Ian Astbury's self indulgent days while becoming fat and bloated with an incomprehensible baritone. Those days saw Billy Duffy doubling his duties as guitarist extraordinaire and on tour psychoanalyst to the troubled Astbury.

Billy Duffy on the days following their last song (She Sells Sanctuary) written with a British audience in mind. There is a football analogy to their success.

"Sonic Temple put us on another level, " says Billy Duffy, " A bit like Watford getting promoted to the Premiership. I think you find your own level, and our level wasn't quite that. We do still play the odd arena in Canada, but I honestly feel we're like a very good first division football team. We had a couple of good seasons in the Premiership but we couldn't take the pressure, and we plummeted down. That's where we find ourselves. And believe me, it's not so bad." (Mojo Magazine, February 2008).

Here is Sun King with its inevitable comparisons to Jim Morrison and American Prayer. Love it or leave it.

Fernando and Marouane Chamakh make Juventus pay. Bordeaux's impressive display gives them as much claim to the CL title as anyone.

With none of the big clubs looking self assured or dominant in their CL campaign so far, this could be the year of Les Girondins. They have dispatched Bayern and Juventus convincingly in a tough group. And they have done it with their set pieces and inventive midfield play led by Jaroslav Plaisil and Yoann Gourcuff.

Sure, Barca toyed with Inter in their destruction but Inter preserved their historic record of making everyone look good in the CL even as they pulverize the Serie competition. Chelsea seems to have no problems dispatching their opposition but when its Atletico who are permanent wastrels of talent and a toothless Porto without Lisandro Lopez it is easy pickings. Plus, there always seems to be that crucial slip up on the road to the title.

Arsenal look good but when the opposition is Standard Liege, AZ Alkmaar, and Olympiakos then it is prudent to hold off on predictions. As an Arsenal fan, our inconsistencies and defensive limitations continue to be a thorn as the stakes get bigger.

Real might pick up with Cristiano Ronaldo back in the squad but he also happens to be the reason why Man Utd will not challenge for this year's CL. Not to mention that Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic's defensive steel seems to be the lore of yesteryears. And Liverpool is out, a victim of Rafa's haphazard signings, bewildering squad rotations, and injury to key players. Milan seems to be overcompensating right now but one has to seriously doubt the viability of a group of older stars as the season wears on.

Bordeaux have a young side, naturally mobile and hungry. What makes it different is their organization and self awareness which I think comes from having a coach like Laurent Blanc.

Even with Gourcuff missing, the midfield driven by Jaroslav Plaisil, Wendel, and Gouffran were everywhere as they made inroads into Juve's vaunted defense led by Chiellini and Grosso. All held together admirably by Alou Diarra, whose muscular performance was one of the highlights. Maroaune Chamakh was a force as the Italians targeted him in a series of fouls, one which proved costly as Plaisil floated in a free kick that Fernando was able to head home before the half. Chamakh added to their tally in stoppage time as he took advantage of Juve's slack defending to buy his header. Their phenomenal success on set pieces has broken the back of the big two teams in their group.

Bordeaux remain the best team on display in these group stages. And if they can keep up the level of performance seen against Juve, their entry into the CL finals should not be a surprise.

How in blazes did Diego miss that sure shot equalizer a few yards out of goal in the 64th minute? In fact, his deflection took the ball out of Amauri's reach as both players breached the Bordeaux defense to arrive at the same time to receive Del Piero's cross. Cedric Carrasco was at both their mercy.

Both Amauri and Del Piero looked on in disbelief. The moment seemed to crystallize Dunga's reluctance to pick Diego for the Brazil squad given his obvious talent.

Diego before he could become the victim, hit back at Ciro Ferrara.

"It's not a fitness issue, it is an organisational one," he told Tuttosport before apparently calling into question boss Ciro Ferrara's methods.

"Ferrara must identify these problems and explain to us how to solve them because we have to get out of this situation."

Its a bit rich blaming Ferrara for "organizational issues" when he could have at least given Juve a fighting chance to force a draw. Now, they have to face Bayern Munich at home if they want to progress onto the knockout stage.

....or something that looks like volleyball.The heading on the video calls it badminton but that's taking things too far.

On November 19th, 2009 Ante Sapina and his brother, Milan were arrested with three others in Berlin on charges of fixing lower division matches in the Bundesliga. A total of 17 arrests were made in a crackdown on an international gambling syndicate that is said to have fixed 200 such matches in 9 countries. The UEFA special investigator in charge, Peter Limacher said the revelations represented "clearly" the worst ever match-fixing scandal in European football. He also called it the "tip of the iceberg."

With Ante Sapina's arrest, the match fixing scandal has come full circle when Sapina and his two brothers, Filip and Milan were arrested for masterminding the Robert Hoyzer match fixing scandal that engulfed the lower divisions of the Bundesliga in 2005.

23 matches were said to have been rigged or attempted to rig with Sapina said to have made at least €2m euros of them. In just one single match, a second division game between Karlsruher SC and MSV Duisburg on December 3, 2004 Sapina allegedly bet €240,000 and won €870,000. The gambling syndicate operated out of Milan Sapina's sports bar, Cafe King where Robert Hoyzer, the referee would meet up and decide the matches to be fixed.

Hoyzer came under suspicion when a number of questionable calls were made in the opening day of the German Cup on August 21, 2004 which Paderborn won 4-2 against favoured Hamburger SV on the strength of two dubious penalty kicks. Striker Emile Mpenza was also sent off.

He resigned following the match and an investigation was launched by German authorities into allegations of his role in match fixing. Hoyzer co-operattion with the investigation uncovered his ties and others to the Sapina brothers and the gambling syndicate and a number of arrests were made.

On February 12th, 2005 he was himself arrested for concealing the extent of his involvement. Hoyzer was imprisoned for 2 years and five months and banned for life from officiating matches, Ante Sapina received 2 years and 11 months with his brothers receiving lesser sentences. Another referee Dominick Marks received 18 months. Hoyzer and Sapina also faced civil damage claims from betting agencies who lost money and the DFB to compensate cheated teams.

The Hoyzer scandal resulted in the DFB and UEFA establishing an early warning system with the gaming site Betradar to detect unusual betting patterns but as this latest match fixing scandal shows the system is not fail safe. The scandal has led to the DFB and the German League joining hands to set up a task force to investigate the 32 matches under suspicion.

Ante Sapina was by accounts an obsessive gambler and in his court confessional he described his fascination with gambling since the age of 16. He also said his first big "breakthrough" came in 2000 when he doubled his money by betting on Bayern Munich to win the German championship.

His association with the high living Robert Hoyzer who in his testimony admitted that fascination with money was his primary motive behind his involvement, began on a drunken May night in 2004 when he was introduced to the referee through his cousin. That was when the idea of fixing matches was first hatched up but in the accusations and counter accusations it is unclear whose brainchild it was.

More relevant to the present scandal is how Sapina would chafe at the betting limits and the excessive scrutiny of matches in Germany. He would talk about how leagues in Greece, Italy, and Eastern Europe were far more lax. In an interview, Hoyzer says:

He also confirms that Ante Sapina branded Greece a "betting paradise" in court, compared with Germany. "In Germany they investigate everything." In Greece and Croatia, everything was more rosy for the Sapinas. Ante once told me that in Greece there was no limit as to how much you would bet, unlike in Germany."

Sapina's involvement is primarily confined to matches in the lower German leagues but court documents reveal that he had built contacts in Greece, Italy, Turkey, Austria, and the Czech Republic which were used to influence the outcomes of matches. In Greece, an UEFA cup match between Panionios and Dinamo Tbilisi came under investigation when the Greek team won 5-2. There were unusually high betting volumes before the match. Hoyzer reveals that Ante Sapina's Greek contact was a Thessaloniki man "Costas" whose relationship with someone very powerful in the national league, someone who knew the coaches, referees, and players intimately was used to get inside information.

German authorities also discovered a series of text messages in Sapina's cell phone from a player in Turkey just before a big match who wanted a team mate to join him in the fix. A price was negotiated and Sapina flew into Turkey with €15,000 where he received two text messages from one of his brothers '[team name deleted] wins 210[000], [draws] 430,000,' said the first. 'Only tell him what he really needs to know!!! Please!' said the second.

Sapina is also under suspicion in the present investigation for his role in fixing 14 matches in the Croatian league. German authorities have contacted the Croatian police to find out if Sapina operates bank accounts and owns property in Zagreb. A Slovenian man, Dragan Mihelic was stopped at the Croatian border after an arrest warrant was issued in Germany for fraud and money laundering in connection with the match fixing scandal.

Just like the recent arrests made at Galleon Capital for suspected insider trading which netted that hedge fund billions of dollars in profit, the money trail leads to entities who have access to information about soccer matches which include agents, referees, players, coaches, and even possibly a collective of teams banded in agreement to game the system. The less scrutinized subterranean levels of the smaller leagues where wages and salaries are paltry are ripe for the picking. And the money is coming from outside Europe. William Gaillard, and UEFA official in the days following the Hoyze scandal had this to say:

"The fixing might be done by Europeans but the cash depends on millions of punters in Asia, punters free to bet on games on the other side of the planet in real time."

It is perhaps unsurprising that clubs which are being investigated happen to be in the smaller leagues as five others came under scrutiny which include KF Tirana (Albania), KS Vllaznia (Albania), FC Dinaburg (Latvia), NK IB Llubljana (Slovenia) and Honved (Hungary). As given above Ante Sapina's network, theirs and similar such crime syndicates have operations spread far beyond their country's borders. Where have we heard about non- state actors and easy recruiting tools before?

Alejandro Moreno is an original Union

Exciting times for the Union.

Their first squad has Alejandro Moreno, the Venezuelan veteran forward who has had many MLS seasons and a big contributor to the Crew's success in the last couple of years. Defender Shavar Thomas of Chivas who has spent about 6 years in the league including three years with the Wizards. Stefani Miglioranzi of the Galaxy who cut his teeth playing for Portsmouth and Swindon Town before leaving for the MLS. Miglioranzi was mentioned as a possible substitute for David Beckham in the MLS Cup final but never came on. The Union also have Seattle Sounders highly rated prospect Sebastian Le Toux, who was the Sounders first pick up in their expansion.

The 10 selected include:

Goalkeeper: Brad Knighton (New England Revolution)
Defenders: Jordan Harvey (Colorado Rapids), Dave Myrie (Chicago Fire), Shavar Thomas (Chivas USA)
Midfielders: Andrew Jacobson (D.C. United), Stefani Miglioranzi (LA Galaxy), Shea Salinas (San Jose Earthquakes), Nick Zimmerman (New York Red Bulls)
Forwards: Sebastien Le Toux (Seattle Sounders FC), Alejandro Moreno (Columbus Crew)

Peter Nowak is a strict disciplinarian. He does not tolerate star vibes and his benching Freddy Adu while at DC United was part of his "tough love" routine, so having a low key squad maybe his personal preference. Having said that, it will be surprising if a few eyebrows are not raised at his selections.

Having an experienced goalkeeper is an important part of building an expansion team so it is a bit surprising that the Union did not go for Pat Onstad or Kevin Hartman. Even Josh Saunders proved himself very capable. Onstad might be old (42 years) but he has been instrumental to the Dynamo's success and the spring in his step belies his age. Luciano Emilio is a consistent goalscorer and would have been preferable to Moreno (41 goals in 83 matches as compared to 44 goals in 218 matches should be a no brainer). The midfield looks questionable, a Clint Mathis or an Amado Guevara would have been a good addition.

This is by no means "the written in stone" squad. Trading and DP selection could change all that, so by the end the 23 man squad might have just a few of the original 10 chosen. That was the case with the Sounders too as they were left with Le Toux, Nate Jacqua, and Brad Evans from the initial selection while adding Freddie Ljungberg, Fredy Montero, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, and Steve Zakuani amongst others. So Nowak might have a few tricks left up his sleeve.

One of the most stark features of the Algeria vs Egypt imbroglio is the undercurrent of contempt that most Egyptians seem to harbour for the rest of Africa. Its a sort of "us" and "them" mentality.

When Alaa Mubarak, who rarely gives public interviews, called all Algerians "mercenaries", he seemed to be articulating the opinions of millions of Egyptians towards their African brethren.

"There is nothing called Arab nationalism or brotherhood, this is just talk, that doesn't mean anything in reality.... When Algerians learn how to speak Arabic they can then come and say that they are Arabs."

This is what sticks in the craw of most Egyptians. That a supposedly "inferior nation", an "usurper" of pan Arabian nationhood as espoused by Gamel Abdel Nasser has the temerity to beat them in a soccer match. These feelings of injustice are being cleverly exploited by Hosni Mubarak who has been the de facto ruler for many decades in a country with weak democratic credentials to drum up support for his regime once again.

The premium on Arabian purity extends to the Sudanese. A big part of the anticipated Sudanese support for Egypt in the Khartoum clash was based on the fact that there are thousands of refugees in Egypt fleeing the civil wars in that country. What is less known is that these refugees are subjected to intense racial discrimination in that country because of their colour. They cannot seek jobs in a country that is reeling from record unemployment. The refugees in turn look to Egypt as a transit point to their ultimate destination, in a strange twist, Israel.

The Egyptian media dismiss them as "Africans", making a derogatory distinction between them and the rest of Africa. As this article points out:

" Ask most Sudanese, Somalis, Ethiopians or any other person of dark skin and they will relate stories of racism: not getting to rent a flat because the landlord thought they were "dirty" and would "destroy the place."

The 81 year old president has finally found a heir apparent in son, Gamal Mubarak. It is a strange conundrum because the pan- Arabist position furthered by Nasser was catered towards the Western world while the Islamist position was much better articulated and accepted by the Muslim Brotherhood. The disputed soccer match has come at a convenient time to create an artificial hypernationalism to set the stage for Gamal Mubarak's entry into politics. It was much easier years ago before oil and Israel sidelined Egypt's pre-eminent position in the Arab world.

Its getting tres tiresome. Noun, verb, referee's fault.

Ben Foster won't be the one to say, "I tello so." Besiktas continued the theme of the underdog shocking the top dog as Man Utd were undone at home for the first time in eight years at Old Trafford in CL competition in the group stage. The last team to do so was Deportivo La Coruna in 2001.

Besiktas hero was Rodrigo Tello who hoisted a speculative long range bomb which deflected off Rafael enough to fortuitously alter the trajectory of the ball and strand Ben Foster in goal. Sir Alex played his B squad with Gabriel Obertan, Kiki Macheda, and Danny Welbeck. So even as we take nothing away from Besiktas historic win, we have to put this match in perspective.

This loss does not do anything to dampen Man Utd's CL aspirations as they had already qualified for the knockout stage.

No it's not action imposed by the FA for any kind of managerial misbehaviour.It's his wife who has done the confiscating. Sam Allardyce has had his mobile telephone confiscated by her to prevent him ringing his stand-in during matches while he prepares for heart surgery

Inter Milan lost 2 - 0 to a Barcelona that had a missing Messi,an incapacitated Ibrahimovic and a Yaya Touré who was absent due to swine flu.Gerard Piqué and young Pedro Rodríguez finished things off in the first 26 minutes.
Mourinho,whose default position is usually not humble pie,was forced to accept the superiority of the champions.

Watch Barcelona v Inter Milan in Sports  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Perish the thought of Rafa going anywhere even as more and more fans have serious doubts whether Liverpool's future lies in the correct hands. Its becoming harder to watch Rafa's scribbling each passing game to exactly what effect?

The club came out with a strong statement in his defense after their CL exit. Strange when you think that a couple of years ago, George Gillett and Tom Hicks were secretly trying to jettison him in favour of Juergen Klinsmann. But the economics of the situation are dire. He just renewed a five year contract four months ago and it would cost Liverpool a hefty £20m to pay him off if he was replaced. The sort of money that the club does not have.

That is by itself not insurmountable. So what can one do?

A few options

Each fan could contribute an extra £20 to the boot Rafa out campaign. Since I assume there are hundreds of thousands of LFC fans, the £20m could be arrived at very quickly. Or LFC could pay the £20m and impose a surcharge on every ticket or merchandise sold to recover the cost.

If Manuel Pelligrini does not succeed at Real, then they might be in the market for a new manager very soon. Rafa's reputation remains stellar in the Liga and he could be a very plausible Real target. Liverpool could negotiate a contract buyout with the world's biggest spenders if they become serious about Rafa coming on board.

Avram Grant was the technical director at Portsmouth when he was hired by Roman Abramovich in 2007 as Chelsea's director of football. A few months later, Jose Mourinho was sacked and Grant was named Chelsea's manager.

In his return, he was appointed by Portsmouth as director of football in October 2009, and within a month is a frontrunner to succeed Phil Hart who was given his marching orders.

Grant's appointments as director of football are proving to be the death rattle of his club managers.

One feels bad for Paul Hart who strived to do the best he could do with a weakened squad. His tenacity earned the respect of his players and the fans. It looks like the Portsmouth board pulled the rig under him when he least expected it. This will prove to be an unpopular move.

A shockingly early CL exit. Today, Liverpool won against Debrecen, a victory that became moot because Fiorentina beat Lyon, 1-0.

They now enter the Europa Cup.

Except this is Liverpool. Four years ago, they were on top of the world. Rafa was invincible.

It has all gone horribly wrong. The rest are also rans. Rafa's scattershot approach to player selection has left Liverpool on thin ice. The team can only depend on a few reliable players and in the absence of the two biggest names the club has struggled. Meanwhile we are treated to about 10 minutes or even less per game from Xabi Alonso's anointed successor, Alberto Aquilani. Not exactly what one would call a winning formula.

Steven Gerrard has already turned his attention to the stepsister of European competitions, the Europa Cup. This sets up an interesting conundrum.

Should Liverpool abandon any pretense of winning any cup and focus on making a concerted push towards retaining a top four finish so that they can challenge for next season's CL? Or fight for a cup which many clubs overlook and do not send their best players to.

Liverpool's tenuous financial situation will be a factor. The club is far more dependent on CL money than the other big clubs to offset their disadvantage in domestic earnings. There will be a serious drop in cash flow now they have failed to advance to the knock out stage but it does not compare to the loss that they face if they do not make it to the CL at all.

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Arsenal won against Standard Liege, 2-0 but at tremendous cost. Kieran Gibbs is out with a fracture of the first metatarsal which means he is out for the next three months. His injury came in the dying minutes of the match, a cruel blow once again. The Standard Liege holding midfielder, Eliaquim Mangala tackled him with his studs up making contact with Gibbs foot after the Arsenal man had unleashed a shot at goal. Gibbs sat on the pitch in no obvious discomfort but once he got up it was clear he could not put weight on his left leg.

He was on track for the Chelsea game after sustaining an ankle bruise in the U21 match against Lithuania which sidelined him for the Sunderland game. One would have thought Wenger would give him a bit more time to recuperate and pressed Silvestre into the match. Against Liege, even Silvestre's errors would surely not cause damage. So Wenger's eagerness to start Gibbs was a bit puzzling and as it turned out, catastrophic.

As it is Silvestre was introduced in the second half of the match in place of William Gallas. The French defender looked like Arturo Gatti with his swollen right eye almost closing. He had butted heads with Arshavin when both jumped up for a header of a Fabregas free kick. The Russian was taken off for a few minutes bleeding from a head gash.

It was Gallas looking woozy and unfocused who was the major concern and it was first feared he had suffered a concussion. But now it looks like he will be back for the Chelsea match. He also has an ankle injury. Arshavin's head was also involved earlier as off a Fabregas corner the ball ball ping ponged between defenders, goalie, and the goalpost in a frantic sequence before Thomas Vermaelen's blast cannoned off Arshavin's head as it sped to goal and the Russian toppled over. Arshavin had managed to save the Liege goal twice.

Performance wise, it was Song again who was the most impressive performer. He was a beast in the backfield and he also managed to get up the pitch to try his hand at scoring a goal. He came close. Nasri showed good hustle and a nice finishing flourish for his goal and I am glad that Denilson coming back from injury got a huge confidence booster with a sweetly timed shot which dipped over the Liege goalkeeper.

Meanwhile, what does the gaffer do about the left back situation? Bring in Armando Traore who is also returning from a groin strain and looked unimpressive against Sunderland? Or go with Silvestre as makeshift left back and preserve the Gallas - Vermaelen central pairing? If Silvestre was avoided altogether, Wenger could consider moving Vermaelen to the left, his old position in Ajax and pair up Gallas with Senderos in central defense. Gael Clichy is about three weeks away.

AS Roma captain Francesco Totti celebrated his return to football with a hat trick against Bari.
It was his first game after six weeks of sitting out following a knee operation.Marcello Lippi was guarded in his praise..

Sepp Blatter removing his iPod and looking around at the boardroom.

" We had a flare up in the Middle East. And something that Roy Keane got very excited about. Yes, yes, I know that thing about ..... pocket money too."

Gets a call on his cell phone.

"Hello. Yes, Michel. What! (lowering his voice).Scharner scored a goal with his hand? Redknapp is angry it could have been 9-0. Its going to be tough but I told you we had a deal. No video technology, no replay and I get the Europe votes. Yes, hold firm on the extra referees thing? Got that."

Hangs up. Clears his throat. Gets another call.

"Hello. Michel (again lowers his voice). Henry is going to name his next child Eire? That's brilliant! France- 40 votes, Ireland - 2 votes. Got that."

Hangs up. Clears his throat once again.

"Well our position is the same as Roy Keane who speaks for all of us. To blame Thierry Henry is not done when they really should not be training in Saipan. I mean, c'mon - how many balls do you think they lost at sea? Its a wonder they got balls at all. Air soccer? Ask Ritchie Blackmore. He came to me, Sepp- I used to play air guitar and I had no gigs. That's when I turned to Fender, now I got gigs."

He pauses.

" See what I am saying?"

" I like reality TV. But do you think I want to watch players sweating or spitting in slow mo. There maybe a market for that sort of thing. Maybe Ali G has some insights."

"That's all for now. Toilet break. Meeting adjourned."

Wenger introduces his club vs country interjection in this World Cup season.

For those dreaming of saving themselves for the world's biggest stage, forget it, the club comes first. They are the one who pay the salaries and like every other employer, they demand performance. Fair enough.

Wenger mentions Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit as examples of players who managed to combine a successful club season with World Cup glory.

Yes. That Chelsea match looms large. Time to get those World Cup cobwebs out of the mind after international week. And those who do not perform, the bench awaits you.

"You have no respect from the manager if you don't do anything with your club and you have more chance of being on the bench than to play."

Arsenal will see a big part of their squad on display in the World Cup. Bendtner, RVP, Fabregas, Sagna, Gallas, and Clichy. Capello will also take Walcott and possibly Kieran Gibbs in the England squad.

Egypt's hissy fit continues.

Hosni Mubarak: "I want to say in clear words that the dignity of Egyptians is part of the dignity of Egypt. . . . Egypt does not tolerate those who hurt the dignity of its sons."

Well, Mr Mubarak who has gamed so many elections, he is a virtual dictator by now, saw no problems in the violence perpetrated on the Algerian players who were in Cairo for the playoffs There is video evidence to corroborate the accounts of the players. Following the match, 20 Algerians were injured by stone throwing mobs. This despite the Egyptian government giving written assurances to FIFA that it would provide security for all the fans.

In a distinctly different style of retaliation, Algerians caused economic hardship to Egyptian businesses in Algiers. The Orascom compound was looted and millions of dollars damage done. The government slapped Jezzy, Orascom's subsidiary with a tax bill of more than $500 million to add insult to injury. However, no Egyptian was physically harmed in Algiers.

Even the incidents of violence on Egyptians fans by Algerians after the Fennecs won in Khartoum is based on hearsay. The Sudanese government were unhappy at the hysterical reaction of the Egyptian media to a few isolated incidents. They were blamed for not providing security.

The main instigator of this whole row appears to be President Hosni Mubarak's elder son Alaa who attended the match and appeared on Egyptian TV, slamming the Algerian fans as "mercenaries" and said the Egyptian team had faced "terror and self-pressure" in Khartoum. Contradicting him was Hatem Al Gabali, Egypt's Health Minister who said no Egyptian was seriously injured and every fan had returned back safely.

The Algerian ambassador is now being threatened by expulsion. Cultural and economic sanctions are being considered. The Egyptian envoy to Algeria has been recalled and he will not return till matters are resolved satisfactorily. The bad blood has spilled over to the players as Amr Zaki, a Portsmouth target has refused to join because the club has an Algerian defender, Nadir Belhadj in their midst.

Meanwhile, the Algerian Embassy in Zamalek came under siege from thousands while others used aerosol cans to torch Egyptian businesses and openly rioted with their own police causing casualties. The media continues to drum up outrage over the supposed ill treatment of the Egyptian attendees in Khartoum. The long and short of this is that the Egyptians want an apology by Algerian president Abdrlaziz Boutaflika and a replay of the match.

I wonder what Roy Keane would want to say to the Egyptians on this one? "Take it on the chin and stop your childish tantrums."

Meanwhile, there are saner voices who lament that this reactionary tit for tat compulsive behaviour is putting the historical connections between the two countries to a severe test.

Union fans will be waiting in anticipation for Wednesday, 25th November. On that day, the newest member of the MLS family gets to choose its team in the expansion draft.

So who do they pick? There are a number of big name players available for the draft.

Amongst goalkeepers Pat Onstad, Josh Saunders, and Kevin Hartman are proven goal stoppers. In defense, Chris Klein, Todd Dunivant, Gonzalo Segares, Robbie Russell, Chris Albright, Jay Heaps, and Frankie Hejduk all provide steel at the back. Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Ricardo Clark, Alejandro Moreno, Amado Guevara, Eddie Lewis, Clint Mathis kept the midfield motor running for their respective teams. And up front Luciano Emilio scored 10 goals, Yura Movsisyan had 8, and Chris Rolfe showed he was no slouch with six.

With the Seattle Sounders a stunning success in their first year, RSL winning their first MLS title four years after they built up through the expansion draft, the Union could become a big story in a traditional town known for its American sports teams.

We now know that David Beckham suffers from a mild form of asthma since childhood according to his spokesman which accounts for his use of an inhaler during extra time.

He was also shrugging of a cold and on top of this needed pain killing injections for his ankle bruise. What you had was a player who was noticeably short of breath and limping badly as the match wore on. This was his second extra time game in a week.

No one plays Beckham the way Bruce Arena does. He has not seen a full game in Milan and as an England player for more than three years now. Beckham's utility is almost like that of a special teams player in the NFL. He would be ideal if there was some sort of changeover allowed in soccer.

By the time Findley had scored, Beckham was noticeably labouring. In fact, Donovan Ricketts it can be argued was let down by Beckham's poor defensive instincts which let in Findley's equalizer. As the game ground towards extra time, it became clear Beckham was eager to get rid of the ball at first touch which led to a number of predictable or misplaced long balls. Beckham's corner taking was also noticeably ineffective and RSL had no problems dealing with them.

I know playing his first MLS final was a big occasion for Beckham and a chance to right every wrong. But in retrospect, it looks likes like a big mistake to have kept him that long. He should have been substituted soon after the first half and a faster, fitter Dema Kovalenko brought in. This overshadows Arena's other controversial decision of keeping Ricketts on the pitch soon after the goalie hurt his hand in an awkward collision with Omar Gonzalez.

The president of Fimalac, Marc Ladreit de Lacharriere calls for a replay. Fimalac is better known through its influential subsidiary, Fitch Ratings which assesses financial risk management by assigning company ratings.

" In accepting a win by cheating, France is permanently compromising its reputation and its image abroad. It will not be easy to soften the severity of the comments that we are currently hearing. So much the more so because we have the reputation as "lesson givers" the world over. In the national context, how will parents, educators, and teachers be able to tell their students not to cheat when the captain and coach of the French national team do it? "

Marc Ladreit de Lacharriere

I wonder what rating he would give FIFA? A possible D in integrity. And an F for innovation. Since company business is affected by such ratings, how about we introduce similar ratings for organizations like FIFA and the IOC?

Giuseppe Postiglione, the president of FC Potenza, a third division club (Lega Pro Prima Divisione) has been arrested along with eight others on suspicion of manipulating the outcomes of matches through bribery, threats, and links to organized crime. The arrests were carried out by Potenza anti-mafia prosecutor Francesco Basentini. (link to video).

Postiglione is suspected of having been involved in the effort to manipulate the outcome between second division Lecce and Ravenna in 2008, having pocketed 86,000 euros after betting on the match.

He became the youngest CEO of an Italian club when he took over Potenza in 2006 at the age of 24. The club is struggling in 15th place this season.

This is part of an ongoing effort by investigators to uncover what is turning out to be the biggest match fixing scandal in Europe which is said to have influenced the outcome of 200 matches in 9 countries. 17 arrests have already been made.

In another historical initiative Wigan's players have pledged to refund the ticket price for any of the club's fans who attended their side's 9-1 debacle against Tottenham.While it has been firmly established now that Jermain Defoe did not create history by scoring those five goals there are however a few other dismal bits of history in the infamous game.
It was the worst defeat that Wigan have ever had to endure in their 31 years of existence.
They have been left with the worst goal difference in the premier league standings and Defoe's goals included the second fastest hat trick in the premier league.

Roy Keane has not exactly covered himself with glory either, injecting his bile against the FAI's demand of a replay.

Its time to give up Saipan, paisan.

Time to "move on" as John Delaney, FAI chief so succinctly put.

Those Tractor Boys are not doing well under Keane too. They have won one match and are just one place above dead last in the Championship. Maybe its the substandard facilities that are the problem?

Thierry Henry's actions after his "Hand of Frog" assist on goal. He regrets celebrating the goal. But not actually the goal itself. What has he done so far to absolve himself?

He consoled Richard Dunne.

Then in his press interview, he said he had handled the ball but he consulted the referee and the referee said nothing.

He stepped it up saying that he was open to a replay.

Now, he says he wanted to quit the game not because he felt remorse but because in the aftermath, the French Federation did not support him leaving him lonely.

Great player, double faced.

I think we should install confession boxes on the pitch or some sort of confessional depending on the players religion so that we do not have to put up with these painful displays of public catharsis.

South Africa is introducing special courts that will mete out instant justice for crimes perpetrated during the World Cup.

The murder rates have climbed down steadily from 50 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2000 to about 37 per 100,000 in 2008. SA has also improved its 2nd position in the violent crimes list to 9th position. But it is still too high.

Seems like the South Africans would like to keep the courts even after the World Cup.

The first time in the MLS, an 8th seed beat the top team.

You can see Ricketts react to Movsisyan's shot which was blocked by diving to the left and then struggling to recover to his right when Findley had the ball. That hand must have hurt and one really wonders whether Arena should have not substituted him with Josh Saunders right after he sustained his injury. But Ricketts would have been better served if Beckham had not been caught ball watching and closed down the gap between Findley and the goal.

The better team won even if it went to penalty kicks. Qwest Field was jam packed with 46,000 soccer fans and they saw an entertaining final even though the quality was missing at times.

The goalkeepers were central to the game just as they were in the Fire vs RSL and Dynamo vs Galaxy matches a weekend ago. Nicky Rimando played well beyond his small frame once again and was the deserved MVP of the game. When he saved Edson Buddle's effort it was left to Robbie Russell to score the winning penalty past Josh Saunders

RSL's is a Cinderella story. The team with the worst winning percentage in the playoffs and the eighth seed marched on beating the Crew coming from behind two goals down to win 3-2 and then dousing the Fire. They were going to meet the top seeded LA Galaxy with Landon Donovan the MLS player of the year with Edson Buddle, David Beckham, Mike Magee and a revamped defense which went from the most porous to the stingiest in a season with Donovan Ricketts a huge presence in goal. Surely, their luck would run out in the final?

As it turned out, luck had very little to do with their win.

RSL was the better team by not a little but by miles. They enjoyed huge advantages in ball control and chances on goal. Their players were fitter, faster, and scrappier and as the game went on the Galaxy faded especially in the second half. But it all began on a disastrous note as Javier Morales had to leave the game early in the first half with a knee strain sustained in a collision with Beckham. Jason Kries was forced to introduce veteran Clint Mathis and he shouldered the creative burden with Andy Williams, the first player chosen by RSL out of the expansion draft.

RSL seemed a bit spooked with the protean LA attack with Donovan, Beckham, and Magee switching points of attack. In the 41st minute on a fast developing counterattack, Beckham fed a delectable ball to Donovan running down the right and the POY delivered a picture perfect cross right to the footsteps of Mike Magee. The Galaxy held on to finish the first half a goal up.

In the second half, Jason Kries had to make his second substitution with Ned Grabavoy coming for Will Johnson who had not really recovered from a bout of food poisoning last week. RSL began exerting their dominance in midfield moving the ball around with ease as Beckerman, Mathis, and Williams started finding Findley and Movsisyan upfield.

At one stretch the possession stats were 80% in favour of the RSL as the Galaxy were pinned back in their half finding it difficult to effectively clear the ball. In the 49th minute Donovan Ricketts fell down when Findley ran into him. As the goalie lay on the ground writhing in pain it was unclear what the injury was but the replay showed Omar Gonzalez running back to help, sliding onto his right hand in a three way collision.

Ricketts injury would be controversial. Should Ricketts have continued with a hand contusion? It was to prove critical because he hurt himself again falling on his right side fifteen minutes later to stop Robbie Findley from sneaking his equalizer in a goal mouth melee. Bruce Arena could have introduced Josh Saunders, equally effective in goal during Ricketts layoff with injury. Immediately after the goal, Ricketts signaled he was done for the match and he left nursing his hand. Josh Saunders was finally introduced, possibly overdue. For RSL, Kries bought in Fabian Espindola, the overrated Argentinian coming in for Movsisyan. Espindola provided the pirouettes but not the finish.

The Galaxy was able to get some possession back but it was mostly concentrated along the fringes with a lack of a holding presence in center midfield. Beckham by now was telegraphing his corners and his crosses and the RSL defense led by Olave and Nat Borchers dealt with them quite adequately. The match ended with both the teams tied but with RSL definitely on the up and up with Beckerman providing the vital presence in the center that the Galaxy lacked.

Extra time came and went with more of the same from RSL as they kept the attacking pressure up with Findley coming close twice to ending it for the Galaxy with a falling AJ DeLaGarza blocking a shot at the last minute and the other chance finding the side net. Mathis also had a well taken free kick end up in the side net. On the other end Chris Klein's header just went wide of the goal. Just before extra time ended, Mathis feeds the ball to Williams in a perfect place to take a shot but he remains inert and collapses to the ground in exhaustion

It was left to the PKs. And Beckham got the Galaxy off to a perfect start. Mathis provided a fitting response. Berhalter buried his. Findley did the same. Kirovski provided the first sour note when his effort was batted away by Rimando. Beckerman stepped up in great position to give RSL the lead but his shot was saved by Saunders. Then came Donovan who has been perfect in his PKs and he blasts the ball over. Its a huge miss and the Galaxy captain looked bereft.

Ned Grabavoy converts for RSL. Its 4-3. Mike Magee has to make his PK to keep the Galaxy alive and he succeeds. The stage is set for Andy Williams, the ideal man to bring history to the club which he has been part of since its existence. But his exhausted effort runs straight to Saunders for an easy save. Mike Magee's shot is on the money. We are deadlocked. Chris Klein puts his effort in and Chris Wingert answers for RSL. Deadlock again. Edson Buddle bundles his shot down the pipe and Rimando comes up with another save. It is left to Russell and he makes no mistake.

Congratulations to Real Salt Lake, the 2009 MLS champions.

MLS CUP 2009
LOS ANGELES GALAXY vs REAL SALT LAKE
QWEST FIELD, Seattle, Wash.
November 22, 2009, 5:30 p.m PT/ 8:30 p.m EST (ESPN; Galavision) / KICKOFF 5:55 p.m.PT/8:55 p.m EST.

Can Real Salt Lake continue to lift above its weight against the likes of Landon Donovan, David Beckham and the LA Galaxy? They meet the Galaxy at Qwest Field, home to the Seattle Sounders and the most passionate fans in the MLS.

The Galaxy for all their firepower are 5-5-5 all-time against their Western Conference counterparts and were 0-1-1 against them in the regular season. So they know that RSL will not be an easy team to beat.

Their manager is Jason Kries who has an interesting factoid as a player. Kreis is the only player to bag the historic first goal for two clubs. He struck first for Dallas and for RSL. Sounds like a good omen for a manager taking a club to their first ever MLS final. For all his feats as a striker, Kries was never able to crack the US national team.

As this article points out, many in his team seeming to be heading the same way. Real's strength lies in the fact that their players live under the radar away from the national limelight. That suits them as it appears that they made it to the MLS finals through stealth. But they have beaten the Crew and Fire against conventional wisdom.

Only Robbie Findley seems to stand a realistic chance of replacing Charlie Davies on the MNT and his performance in the finals will be keenly followed by Bob Bradley. The rest of the RSL standouts, Kyle Beckerman, Nat Borchers, and Nick Rimando run up against a strong depth chart in their respective positions.

David Beckham will be playing with painkillers to combat a bone bruise. RSL will hope that Jamison Olave, easily their best defender against the Fire will be hundred percent fit. RSL has some very good speed up front with Yura Movsisyan and Robbie Findley which should keep the Galaxy's Omar Gonzalez and Gregg Berhalter on their toes. On the other hand, the Galaxy will offset that with their superiority in set pieces and fast counterattacks.

I am looking for an upset. It will be the best thing for the game.

9 goals was a flattering tally of goals. Not to take anything away from Jermain Defoe and Aaron Lennon, who was on fire. 3 assists and one goal is a very nice number indeed and Capello would be touched in the head not to include him in the starting XI. Niko Kranjcar also provided some moments of brilliance.

But the Wigan defense was not just shambolic, a high school team could have walked over them. Emmerson Boyce, Titus Bramble, Mario Melchiot, and Erik Edman were woeful. I just watched in disbelief as Edman just whiffed miserably on a clearance of a long ball by Vedran Corluka to gift Defoe his fifth goal.

In fact, one can argue that there was not one goal Defoe did not score that was in some way the result of an inept defense. It became de riguer to see Defoe moving at an angle to the right and pulling the ball past Kirkland as Boyce and Edman toiled to keep up with him. The overweighted right flank gave Spurs seven goals (Crouch's opener, all of Defoe's five, Lennon's only goal).

Apart from running up the score, this result will now be treated as prima facie evidence by pundits to predict Spurs will elbow out Arsenal to finish ahead of them.

The French public overwhelmingly (81%) believe that the French team does not deserve to go to the World Cup. An even bigger percentage (88%) believe that Thierry Henry was wrong to use his hand to assist in William Gallas extrat time goal.

Just a moral victory but at least there is some honour left. It also indicates the out of touch response of FIFA and the French federation. If football was truly the sport of the people, then there would have been a replay. And those 81% are also saying that Raymond Domenech does not deserve to continue as the French coach.

Amidst all the swirl of Hiddink's possible moves, the Chelsea rumours seem to carry most credibility. They could soon have Guus Hiddink back as technical director. It would look a bit crowded at the top with Carlo Ancelotti as manager, Frank Arnesen as director of football, and Ron Gourlay elevated to CEO in place of Peter Kenyon.

Hiddink was for better or worse, an employee of Roman Abramovich whilst the coach of the Russian national team.

Now, that they are no longer a part of the World Cup equation, the Chelsea owner must have come to the conclusion that Hiddink's contract to end in June 2010 would serve no further purpose. As this Guardian article points out, the Dutchman's future was also in doubt with changes in the Russian football federation creating less salubrious circumstances for his continuation.

What Hiddink's responsibilities in that role might be and how it overlaps with Frank Arnesen's job as director of football is yet to be fleshed out. Arnesen was mostly concerned with the scouting and development of the youth squad but he has increasingly become stretched with an increased role in supporting Carlo Ancelotti with first team responsibilities. But this is almost too tempting not to conjecture that this is less about Arnesen and more to do to keep Ancelotti on a short leash, even though the Italian has on the face welcomed the move.

It is no secret that Abramovich desires the CL title and it will be the benchmark that Ancelotti will be measured upto. Ancelotti has been the beneficiary of the shot in the arm provided by the performances of Frank Lampard, Michael Essien, Florent Malouda and Didier Dogba which occurred in Hiddink's heading off the crisis. Especially Lampard and Drogba. Something the Italian is cognizant of.

Ancelotti might have been half joking when his reaction was, "It's not a problem." Jokingly, he added: "Maybe I could take a little holiday." Hiddink's addition could be invaluable to the push for the elusive CL. At its most negative, his presence could be yet another center of power to polarize the club in case Ancelotti stumbles. How the stay at home Italian and the Dutch journeyman interact will be an interesting story to follow.

When is the last time a player scored 5 goals in a premier league game?Never is the answer apparently.Jermain Defoe created history by scoring 5 out of the 9 goals that were scored by the Spurs against a Wigan team that are still trying to come to terms with being on the wrong side of a historical event.

Correction: As pointed out in the comments, Jermain Defoe did not create a Premiership record. He tied with Andy Cole (Man Utd) against Ipswich in 1995 and Alan Shearer (Newcastle) against Sheffield Wednesday in 1999. For an added bonus the most number of goals in a single match in English top flight football is Ted Drake's (Arsenal) 7 goals against Aston Villa in 1935. The non-top flight football record (Football League) was established a year later by Joe Payne with 10 goals scored for Luton Town against Bristol Rovers. Luton beat Bristol, 12-0 on April 13, 1936.
...and I'm glad that's cleared that up anyway.

Tottenham-Wigan 9-1 All Goals - The best bloopers are here

Sunderland went ahead with a Darren Bent goal in the 71st minute and held on for the win. A somewhat lucky goal but the they are getting quite the reputation as the club that the big four fear the most. Liverpool and Man Utd have had their share of difficulties with them, so it was never going to be easy for Arsenal.

Having said that, could Arsenal have done more to win? There was a definite drop off in the energy levels in the Arsenal side following the international week which saw Fabregas, Sagna, Gallas, Diaby, and Arshavin on duty. A refocus on club football was going to be an issue. A lack of inches was another. At 5'11" Thomas Vermaelen is our only "giant".

But against Sunderland, who are not exactly an overpoweringly physical side this really should not have been a problem. Plus, an undersized John Mensah providing a new central pairing with Paolo Da Silva. So Sunderland had as many defensive questions as Arsenal's left back quandary. Wenger chose to begin Armand Traore in place of Silvestre. Aaron Ramsey began in place of Arshavin with the Russian probably suffering the psychical injuries of his country's loss to Slovenia. And Eduardo was the lone striker Wenger resorted to in his conventional 4-5-1 formation.

Ramsey did not reproduce his form and Eduardo looked tentative. Those misses against Spurs are not the signs of a confident finisher and it continued against Sunderland. The lack of clear scoring chances led to Arshavin entering the pitch and thereafter Vela and Walcott to neutralize Bent's goal. But I have seen enough matches to realize there is a definite Jekyll and Hyde quality to Arshavin. A more passive Arshavin and a rusty Walcott did not provide too many highlight moments.

Song had a much bigger impact on the game than Fabregas and created the a few good scoring chance, especially the one for Eduardo. But chances were at a premium with Rosicky and Fabregas having the best shots at goal. At the other end, Sunderland's Lorik Cana continues to prove that he remains Steve Bruce's most canny signing along with Bent.

With Arsenal its a pattern of a series of sublime high scoring games leading to a let down. What Arsenal have yet to show is whether they can eke out a 'dirty victory' and next Sunday, they come up against a team that has shown a mastery in that art form.

I have to add that it is the first time this season, Wenger seems to be showing signs of explicit doubt:

"It is a massive setback because you need consistency to win a title. And today we were not capable of doing that and it raises question marks."

Chelsea is the only team in the Premiership left with goals conceded in the single digits. Arsenal has given up more than twice that number with 15. The Blues with Essien, Mikel, and Ballack are going to do what they do best, bump the Arsenal midfield off the ball to negate the edge in speed and creativity, and give few chances to get into a rhythm. Arsenal has to counteract with 'testy' and 'angry' football to match that physicality.

If Henry's "hand of gaul" can be described by words like "stealthy" and "covert" this man's effort can be described by words like "Oh my God " and "what is he trying to do?"
Brisbane Roar's Henrique's red card winning effort against Melbourne Victory.

Bad news for Barca.They were held to a 1 - 1 draw by Athletic Bilbao.Messi received this kung fu kick in the face early on in the game. He was back on his feet in a while but not for long.He was substituted in the 75th minute with a suspected muscle tear in the thigh.

Chelsea give Wolverhamptom a 4 - 0 mauling.

Darren Fletcher's first goal was an action replay flashback of Zidane's classic strike in the Champions League final of 2002.Video of that famous goal here for comparision.
Man U went on to kill the game 3 - 0.

Martin Skrtel put Liverpool ahead but Man City came back with two goals from Adebayor and Stephen Ireland.Benayoun restored parity for the Reds almost immediately and that's how it remained till the final whistle announced the end of play.Benitez is still looking for that winning formula.

The match fixing scandal has tainted 32 matches in the Bundesliga lower divisions. The investigation into it have been widened the dragnet. Former and current players of VfL Osnabruck have come under suspicion.

Thomas Cichon, former captain of Bundesliga third division side VfL Osnabruck who now plays for Moroka Swallows in South Africa, is alleged to have accepted an undisclosed amount of money to lose to Augsburg's (17 April 2009) by three goals. He is also said to have accepted 5000 euros to lose to Nuremburg (13 May 2009) by a margin of two goals.

Also falling under suspicion are Thomas Reichenberger, a striker for Osnabruck who is said to have accepted 25,000 euros for the planned defeat against Nuremburg.

Marcel Schuon, another former player who now plays for SV Sandhausen also accepted 25,000 euros for the same game against Nuremburg. He went missing for three days and was said to have been arrested at a pub.

Due to these losses VfL Osnabruck was relegated to the third division in 2009.

A DFB referee officiating the Regional South games has also been implicated in the betting scandal, his identity as yet unknown.

This scandal in terms of the amounts of money, number of matches fixed, and countries involved dwarfs the Robert Hoyzer led Bundesliga scandal in 2005. Hoyzer was sentenced to two years and five months in jail in December 2006.

A bit of conjecture here. The injury news is looking a bit more positive but that might not be what could be worrying Arsene Wenger now.

He has to get William Gallas and Bacary Sagna to refocus on club football after the Ireland France odyssey. Gallas of course was one of the principal characters in the France farce and might be in for some stick with fans with Irish national players in their club like City and Aston Villa. And Arshavin might be feeling blue after the Russian flame out.

Their rebounding from these distractions might pose some problems. Wenger will have to get them mentally ready for the games ahead.

17 arrests for a match fixing scandal which affects 200 matches in nine European countries.

The matches include the Bundesliga second division, and the leagues in Belgium, Switzerland, Croatia, Slovenia, Turkey, Hungary, Bosnia and Austria. 12 Europa matches and 3 CL matches are said to be manipulated this year, and it is unclear as to whether it is the group stage or qualifying rounds.

UEFA is calling it the biggest match fixing scandal to hit Europe.

Its been a hectic roller coaster ride in the soccer world this week.

Douglas Adams will tell you that the best way to escape from the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal is to close your eyes.It is so mind boggling stupid that it thinks if you can't see it, it can't see you.
Our own football version of the Bugblatter is sitting with mouth tightly closed and is thereby firmly convinced that no one will notice that he hasn't bothered to say anything about the Henry Handball issue one way or the other.

The Egyptians summon the Algerian envoy twice, recall their envoy from Algiers. Sudan summons the Egyptian envoy in Khartoum. The Algerian embassy is currently under siege in Cairo with thousands of fans trying to storm their compound. It's all happening in rapid succession.

Now Egypt has upped the ante threatening to pull out of football for two years in protest of what happened to fans, sports officials, and players in Sudan.

It is no coincidence that these actions like recalling the Egyptian envoy to Algeria and now threatening withdrawal is happening while FIFA has launched disciplinary investigations into what happened in Cairo. It gives the Egyptians a moral high ground by manufacturing outrage, so very opposite to the genuine sense of injustice that the Irish feel at possibly missing out on the World Cup.

One of the overlooked aspects of this imbroglio is the fact that the Egyptians exploited their historical ties with Sudan to take sides before the match. The reaction to their overtures was decidedly lukewarm. After the match was over, the Egyptian media accused Sudan of not protecting their citizens in some isolated and minor incidents. This angered the Sudanese government who summoned the Egyptian envoy to register their protest at these unfair accusations and lack of appreciation at accommodating a match of this magnitude at short notice.

The Algerians are also turning the screws by slapping Djezzy, the Algerian subsidiary of Egyptian telecom giant Orascom, with a $596.6 million bill for outstanding taxes.

The match is long forgotten.

Sports pundits and fans are going full tilt at Thierry Henry calling him a "cheat", "morally reprehensible", "unsportsmanlike", "a snake oil salesman".

Richard Williams crosses that line when as a Brit he forgives Maradona's hand of God goal saying it amounts to breeding.

"To rank the incident in Paris alongside Diego Maradona's "Hand of God" in 1986 is misleading. That was a street kid's instinct, acclaimed by his compatriots as revenge for Antonio Rattín and the Malvinas. Henry may come from Les Ulis, a quartier difficile outside Paris, but he is a sophisticated man, and a much decorated one. A chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur should have done better - by his opponents, by himself, and by the game."

For all the pundit pyromania, it is fellow players that are rallying around Henry. David Beckham became the latest to offer his support. And even members of the Irish team have refused to criticize Henry directly with Damien Duff, saying that he would have probably done the same if given the opportunity.

Media overkill is basically helping players close ranks on themselves.

The debate really should be more about why France continues to underwhelm. Thierry Henry's actions benefit Raymond Domenech the most. The media has turned Sauron like to the French striker and away from the managerial career of the insipid Domenech.

Even the talk about this permanently dooming Thierry Henry's career and his livelihood is nonsense. If he produces goals at the World Cup next year, this will be a tempest in a teapot. Yes, the Irish will boo him in the bars if they can stomach seeing France play their opponents but that will be all. I can say with confidence Diego Maradona is calling up Henry right now and telling that this is the best thing since his hand of God goal and it has nothing to do with breeding.

Author Randall Barfield sends us 10 questions from his Little Soccer Quiz Book.

See how many you get right >>

1. Sir Alex Ferguson is boss of which UK team?
2. In what city is the Santiago Bernabeu stadium located?
3. Where is player Brandi Chastain from?

4. Who presented Pele his Lifetime Achievement award?
5. Which team was Francesco Totti playing for in 1999?
6. What position does Thierry Henry play?
7. Robinho left Brazil in 2005 to play in which country?
8. In 2005 Messi won both the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball awards. What is the purpose of each award?
9. Which nationality did Messi obtain?
10. What is Beckham's full name?

Answers (no peeking!):

1. Manchester United; 2. Madrid; 3. San Jose, California; 4. David Beckham; 5. Roma; 6. striker or forward; 7. Spain; 8. G-Boot: for being the top scorer with 6 goals, G-Ball: for best player of the Football World Youth Championship; 9. Spanish; 10. David Robert Joseph Beckham.

SoccerBlog.com interprets your results:

10 out 10 = you can act smug all day...
7-9 right = you could be a referee at the World Cup
5-7 right = you have FA administration potential
3-4 right = you can coach Argentina
1-2 right = are you Sepp Blatter?
0 right = congratulations, you're a US citizen!

My introduction to Daniele De Rossi was the vicious elbow that he threw at Brian McBride, leaving his face bloody in the USA vs Italy match in the 2006 World Cup. It left a negative impression of him but here is De Rossi doing something rare in football nowadays, acknowledging that he used his hand to score a goal against Serie side Messina.

Roma were down a goal and this would have been a welcome equalizer. For that he deserves all the kudos he can get.

One can argue that the stakes are not as high as as an entry to the world's biggest stage which only happens every four years. But De Rossi shows us how Thierry Henry could have changed the discourse on the Ireland vs France match.

He might have had parents in Ireland name their babies after him. In France, Raymond Domenech's painful reign would have come to an end. And maybe we would not be subjected to Richard Williams writing crap like this. Then again, I am not so sure (about Williams).

Arsene Wenger had some good news.

"After being assessed by the Arsenal medical staff, the club can confirm that Kieran Gibbs has sustained severe bruising to the bones and soft tissue of his right foot."

There is no fracture of the metatarsal as feared at first. Gibbs injury is short term and he should ready to face the highly anticipated Chelsea showdown. Now, Wenger has to fill his spot for the Sunderland match.

Armand Traore is just returning from a groin injury and his inclusion would be premature. Wenger could push Vermaelen to left back and pair up Senderos with Gallas. Or he could start Mikael Silvestre. The last option sounds distinctly unappealing.

Wenger also gets back Denilson, Vela, and Fabianski for the Sunderland match. There is a possibility that Abou Diaby also maybe ready in time.

Amidst all the drama with the Ireland vs France match and earlier the Egypt vs Algeria showdown, the USA played a friendly with Denmark. Bob Bradley started Jeff Cunningham and I am happy to say, it turned out well because he scored his first international goal and nearly set up Altidore with another. Thomas Sorensen was a bit off page with some of his goal handling and Cunningham pounces on one of his mistakes to score.

The USA played decently in the first half. But the second half was a different story as Martin Olsen's substitutes provided an immediate impact. All their goals came off defensive lapses on the part of the USA. Carlos Bocanegra was just awful in this match.

First Danish goal:

Notice how the US defenders did not track the long ball to Johan Absalonsen. They had their backs turned towards the pitch and were blindsided when the ball landed in the box with Absalonen getting his foot on the ball. If Bocanegra or Spector had faced the pitch they would have seen the ball coming, and could have resorted to more effective marking.

Second Danish goal:

Frankie Hejduk no longer has the speed or the jumping ability to deal effectively with the ball and Michael Lumb gets to it first. As the ball falls free, Absalonsen and Spector converge on it with the Dane coming away with it. As he races down the left, Bocanegra who was marking Jørgensen, charges towards him leaving Jorgensen to break free and head to the near post. The end result, Bocanegra is stranded in no man's land, Bornstein is forced to run across goal to cover the near post exposing the far post giving Absalonsen the freedom to pass to the arriving Soren Rieks for a simple goal.

Third Danish goal:

As Jacob Poulsen runs down the left towards the center, it is Robbie Rogers Stuart Holden giving chase as Hejduk is left stranded further up field. When Poulsen flops, the ball is pushed out to open space. Rieks manages to avoid Rogers Holden's slide as the ball bounces off his foot in front of him. Again Bocanegra who was marking Bernberg rushes out, again gets stranded as Rieks flicks the ball into the gap which has opened up for Bernberg to tap the ball home.

Lots of reactive defending giving too much space to the Danish attack, back pedaling, getting caught out of position, and ineffective clearances of the ball. It was a forgettable match for Frankie Hejduk and Carlos Bocanegra. At least Hejduk could blame a long international layoff for looking so rusty. But Bocanegra does not any such excuse.

Its not just the Egyptian and Algerian governments having a holy go at each other.

The replay request is now being echoed in the upper echelons of the Irish government as Brian Cowen, the Irish PM is now suggesting that he will approach the French premier Nickolas Sarkozy to discuss a replay and circumvent FIFA's objections.

Francois Fillion, the French PM thinks that that is not such a good idea.

The Irish justice minister, Dermot Ahern minced no words.

"There was no justice last night in Paris." He said of France's decisive goal: "If that result remains, it reinforces the view that if you cheat you will win."

The Irish loss has plunged the country into gloom, a familiar melancholy. Woe is us. Even Ahern ended his ire on a gloomy note.

"They probably won't grant it as we are minnows in world football."

Berbatov scored twice in a friendly against Malta and went on to become Bulgaria's leading goalscorer - notching up 48 goals in 74 games.

Landon Donovan - Most Valuable Player of the MLS for the 2009 season..

The Egyptian ambassador to Algeria was recalled by Cairo as the soccer feud between the two countries has now escalated into a full scale diplomatic row.

It is also believed that Hosni Mubarak himself called the Algerian ambassador, Abdel Qader Hadja hours before the recall of the Egyptian envoy, to voice his grievance over the assaults on Egyptian citizens who went to Khartoum to support the Egyptian team."

An eyewitness account of what happened.

Egyptian fan Abdel Rahman Magdy, who had flown to Sudan to attend the match told Daily News Egypt: "As we were leaving the stadium towards the airport, we heard what we thought was a bullet but then we found out that it was a stone... suddenly we were being pelted with stones by Algerian fans and by the time we reached the airport the windows on our bus were all broken; everyone was frightened even the driver."

Egypt alleges that about 20 people were injured after the match. In Algeria, Egyptian businesses have been attacked. The Orascom compound in Algiers was vandalized and millions of dollars of property was damaged or stolen. The CEO of the company has requested the employees to return back to Egypt because of he cannot guarantee their safety.

Its a bit rich for Egypt to be retaliating like this since the violence began in Cairo with the bus carrying the Algerian soccer team attacked by a mob leaving three players injured. Given the context of the bitter and violent rivalry between the two countries, what did Egypt expect? The Algerians to turn their face away to their soccer team being attacked?

Two of his former projects, Australia and South Korea, that he nurtured to World Cup glory are in. Russia, his current and most talented team which in actuality should have the easiest of playoff passages, are out.

Thierry Henry's left forearm makes first contact with the ball but then as the ball bounces off ever so slightly his hand comes up and he steers the ball onto his foot. The first touch was inadvertent but his second touch had clear intent. What is so amazing about this is that the linesman on the opposite side should have seen happened because as far as one can see his vision remains unobstructed with Henry furthest out clear of the Irish defenders and Shay Given.

Did you notice William Gallas walking off with a look in his eyes as if he expected any moment that the goal was going to be waved off? There was a decided lack of enthusiasm in their celebrations. Thierry Henry in the interview:

"I will be honest, it was a handball. But I'm not the ref. I played it. The ref allowed it"

Actually, this owning up by Thierry Henry should settle it. He did his part to win the match for France. It is the responsibility of the referee and his assistant to see whether it was won fair and square and they failed. This jawing back and forth about who is at fault is a simple matter of law and order. No one expects players to stop cheating. That will be a basic circumvention of human nature. We have cameras in stores to prevent shoplifting. Referees need help otherwise they are in danger of becoming the most lampooned profession.

FIFA to Ireland: Thou shall not qualify. Internalize the meme, you will not win a playoff game.

Seems like a whole lot of past and present Arsenal connections have played or are playing a very influential part in the France vs Ireland match and its aftermath.

The latest is Liam Brady calling FIFA for a replay which he says would be only fair given that it was a clear handball by Thierry Henry that set up William Gallas equalizer. Again, everyone in the world saw it happen except the referees. Even Thierry Henry acknowledges that he handled the ball. "Handled" stretches credulity. "Bagging it" is more like the proper description.

Brady's thesis is that FIFA loads the dice in favour of the big name teams. Mainly, the playoff matches are based on the country's seeding which pits bigger teams against the smaller teams. This puts enormous pressure on the refereeing crew to ensure that the big teams get through.

Whatever the merits of Brady's argument, the fact is that the Swedish referee Martin Hansson missed, or far worse, chose to overlook an obvious call.

Wasn't it just the other day that Kevin Hackett was asking Premiership referees to position themselves on the pitch for better viewing angles? Well, we can see that out of position referees can cost the game as much as out of position defenders and goalkeepers. Unlike those errors which are an essential part of the game, we can do something about costly refereeing errors. VRT anyone?

Montevideo, Uruguay was the site of raucous celebrations as the Charruas drew the Ticos at the Centenario but thanks to their away win at Estadio Saprissa on November 14th clinched passage to the 2010 World Cup on goal aggregate.

Sebastian Abreu lost his markers after Diego Scotti centered his cross, to head the ball home past Keylor Navas to put the Uruguayans ahead but the Ticos equalized minutes later with Fernando Muslera diving to the left to get a hand on Alvaro Saborio's shot but unable in the end to keep it out of the back of the net.

Before Adebayor, Robinho and the other eight strikers at City, there used to be Georgios Samaras. Although highly touted by Stuart Pearce, he failed to make an impact in the two years while at the club.

When Sven Goran Ericksson was made manager Samaras was confined mostly to the bench. He transferred to Celtics last year and has finally found success, scoring some very important goals. Yesterday, he turned goal provider, setting up Dimitris Salpigidis cool finish with this delicious pass that split the Ukraine.

Otto Rehhagel's boys may not play the most beautiful football but their lack of big name players and patient style can lull you into complacency. Ukraine becomes one more nation to find out to their detriment.

L' Equipe on France's entry into the World Cup makes no excuses.

"Henry controlled the ball with his hand."

The article lambastes the team. When you call Kevin Doyle, the Leo Messi of the match then you know something is terribly wrong. If it was not for Hugo Lloris, France would not have qualified.

The French team on Wednesday was scared of everything, the loss of self esteem, their emotions, and most plausibly, the fear of elimination.

At the end of the game, there was an apologetic air, as French players shook hands with the Irish, seeming to say," Sorry, good game."

Slovenia wins over nine man Russia through Zlatko Dedic's toe poke goal in the 44th minute.

Raul Meireles second half strike sink Bosnia's hopes.

Antar Yahia became the hero of Algeria as they beat Egypt. His superb volley off a Ziani cross in the first half made the difference. The Fennecs enter the World Cup for the first time since 1986.

Thierry Henry clearly handled Florent Malouda's delivery and then picked out Gallas in front of goal, who drove home the equalizer in extra time. The referee Martin Hansson and his assistant did not see the infraction.

The goal nullified Robbie Keane's 32nd minute opener. And cruelly snuffed out Ireland's chances. For most part of the match, Ireland was the better team, enterprising in attack and stout in defense. The Irish could have gone ahead with John O'Shea and Damien Duff but they muffed simple chances. The French in contrast played insipidly failing to achieve any real threat on attack.

Naguib Sawiris feels that the match should be postponed

Want an Orascom cell phone?

Egypt's giant telecom company, Orascom had its Algiers compund burned and ransacked by thousands of Algerian fans. Property worth $5m was either destroyed or stolen according to Orascom's CEO Naguib Sawiris.

He also said Orascom had evacuated 20 Egyptian staff members and their families from Algeria, following the incident. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry summoned Algeria's ambassador to express their concern about the safety of their citizens in Algiers.

Fearing even more damage, Sawiris thinks that it's a good idea to postpone the match to bring the temperature down.

He is ranked 60th in the Forbes 400 richest men in the world with $12.7 billion in personal wealth.

The Battle of Omdurman commences today.

The Egyptians are this close to wresting the last qualifying spot from Africa at the expense of Algeria.

The backdrop has been a war of words between the two countries and their supporters, resulting in violence before the Cairo clash in which the bus carrying the Algerian players was stoned and left members of the team bleeding. Following the match, 32 fans including 20 Algerian fans were attacked in Cairo and Nasr City.

Algiers International Airport was ransacked by fans, returning disappointed after the Fennecs lost to the Pharaohs. In Marseilles, France - home to thousands of Algerians, shops were looted and cars overturned and burned.

The Sudanese government has deployed 15,000 security personnel and reduced the seating capacity of the stadium to a more manageable 35,000. 120 ambulances with 400 medical personnel are on the spot to manage medical emergencies. The airport has been busy with 48 planes ferrying Algerian fans and another 18 from Egypt while thousands more are making the trip by bus. Each is limited to 6000 fans.

A diplomatic detente has been established between the two countries. It is not time to point fingers. Let the coaches and players have their day.

"We play football for fun not to create a war," said Hassan Shehata, the Egyptian coach. "It will be a tough game. Both teams have an equal chance of winning and going to the World cup".

Algerian coach Rabah Saadane wants to start with a tabula rasa mentality.

"This is another game, we have forgotten what happened in Cairo, we will focus mainly on the psychological preparation of the group. The Fennecs are prepared for everything, the training on Monday ended with an exercise of shots on goal ..."

This game will go down in the annals of history as another example of how soccer is not just another sport but a way of life, in some cases, the only way. Aaah! Ugly, convoluted, mutated passion but passion nevertheless. We can only hope the fallout is limited.

Japan is the latest in the series of protestors wanting to end the din created by the vuvuzela."We have requested that the South African FA cut that noise out,You can't hear yourself speak. I will be bringing it up (with FIFA president Sepp Blatter)," " is what Japan Football Association (JFA) president Motoaki Inukai had to say.after Japan had drawn their game against SA with no goals being scored.
Japan defender Tulio said: "You can't hear what your team mates are saying from two metres away. You have to go up to them to give instructions."

The USMNT meet Denmark, today at NRGi Park, Aarhus, 8:30 p.m. local time (2:30 p.m. ET), and the match will be broadcast live on ESPN Classic at 2:25 p.m.

There maybe a reason for Bob Bradley's faith in Jonathan Bornstein. They both began their national careers on 20 January, 2007 against Denmark and Bornstein repaid his coach's faith by scoring the game winner. Memorable debuts for both.

The teams have a very even 1-1-3 record but this is the first encounter on Danish soil. Benny Feilhaber will be back in familiar territory as he plays for AGF Aarhus.

Bradley will be missing Clint Dempsey, Chad Marshall, and Steve Cherundolo who have returned to their clubs. Instead, he has Ricardo Clark and Stuart Holden in the squad after their MLS duty got over following the Dynamo loss to the Galaxy.

Against the Slovakia, the US despite its superior ball possession became a long distance shooting threat with its inability to penetrate the defense in the final third. The US went down the middle with its inability to effectively widen the game and find overlapping positions. The lack of service saw Altidore drift deeper down the pitch.

Holden will bring his speed, versatility, and crossing ability to good effect. He can be utilized down both wings. Sacha Kljestan should occupy left midfield. Feilhaber occupies the central midfield position.

It will be interesting to see if Michael Bradley shows the same sort of discipline which he brought to the holding midfield position against Slovakia. His link up play with Feilhaber was a highlight. I think Ricardo Clark is a much better defensive prospect and could be used as a substitute if Bradley wants to hold the score.

Conor Casey is frankly a terrible choice to partner Jozy Altidore. He is like Altidore except for the talent. A quicker smaller player like Jeff Cunningham will be a better choice, given his versatility. With his assist record he gives as much as he gets and I can see him providing the vital link into the box along with Holden.

Intriguingly, Edgar Castillo of Tigres is in the roster. FIFA has granted him a one match special dispensation to play even though he has already represented Mexico. The Spector- Bocanegra central partnership worked well against Slovakia. I don't see why Bornstein gets to play but maybe against Denmark, there is some historically good karma. But I would put Castillo and Clarence Goodson in the line up.

The Danes will be marshaled by Christian Poulsen, no stranger to controversy and hard tackles. Ask any Swede. They score few, concede even fewer. Scoring however, has been a problem for them in the last few matches and they have cooled off considerably, losing their last qualifier against Hungary. Both their top scorers are not in the squad with Soren Larsen not being picked and Nicklas Bendtner out with a groin injury. Morten Olsen has picked players who did not exactly feature in the World Cup run up. Look for them to capitalize on set piece opportunities.

The match is another opportunity for the USA to get out of the CONCACAF zone and experience what a well organized defense looks like. The Slovaks were hard to break down and the Danes will be equally challenging.

It took 20 seconds to shatter the France's march to the 1994 World Cup. In the 90' minute Emil Kostadinov lashed a ball past Bernard Lama to win the game for Bulgaria, 2-1 and shatter French hopes for qualifying for the 1994 World Cup. David Ginola could have run out the clock but his errant cross led to the Kostadinov disaster. After the match, Bulgarian talisman, Hristo Stoichkov shared his thoughts on the match:

"And to think that a month ago we thought we were out. The French were so scared they played with their buttocks clenched. We knew that's how they would be and our tactics were based on that. They played for a draw and never went looking for the win. They didn't deserve to qualify and we hit them where it hurt the most."

This thought consumes France on the eve of the Ireland encounter. Raymond Domenech says that Les Bleus will play for a victory. He does not want to go to the penalty shootout because the French have a terrible record. Who scores first is critical because in the Domenech era, France have never lost in 90 or 120 minutes when they open the scoring. In contrast, when they give up a goal their recuperative powers have been weak. Three wins, five draws, and ten losses.

Gerard Houllier, the French manager in 1993 resigned following that match. It is fair to say that Domenech, who has escaped a number of times before might not be able to escape this one if France loses.

Doesn't the Iraqi Olympic Committee realize that soccer trumps everything? It brings every Shia, Sunni, Chaldean, and Kurd together.

After all what have they accomplished that can compare to the 2007 Asian Cup win. Now, they are busy trying to lord it over the Iraqi Football Association by dissolving it over '"financial irregularities and failure to hold elections."

Robin Van Persie flew today to Belgrade to meet with Marijana Kovacevic, a Serbian housewife who uses fluid from horse placenta to massage injured tissues enabling it to heal faster. At least that is what many footballers using her treatment claim.

RVP did not seem to know much about her or the therapy:

"She is vague about her methods but I know she massages you using fluid from a placenta," he said. "I am going to try. It cannot hurt and, if it helps, it helps."

This summer RVP got his molars removed because they were supposed to the source of his musculoskeletal injuries. This may have been a real stretch but in actuality, there is strong evidence of a connection.

Placenta therapy definitely takes it to an altogether different level. There are however, scientific studies that show that application of placenta creams and gels speed up the healing of previously non-healing wounds. PGIF (Placenta Growth Factor) promotes wound healing in diabetic patients, wounds which are notoriously slow to heal. It does so by promoting the growth of new blood vessels and repair.

The benefits of this type of therapy seem plausible in patients with pathological or surgical wounds, basically with compromised health but RVP unlike them has no underlying condition. He is healthy.

These studies also suggest acceleration in skin repair. Skin is more superficial than ligaments. So it is questionable whether there is improved healing in deeper muscle and ligamentous fascia with just massaging the skin with the placental fluid. There has to be a way of transporting it to the ruptured ligament site possibly by iontophoresis.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is far more commonly used to healing wounds and promoting union of fractures. Wayne Rooney used it to heal his metatarsal fracture before the 2006 World Cup. The jury is out on the effectiveness of this approach, although most big rehabilitation centers have a HBT unit.

Bottomline: Van Persie needs enough rest and immobilization for the ankle ligament to repair completely. He will require lots of physical therapy after the pain and swelling subsides. An incompletely healed ankle sprain invariably leads to chronic ankle instability. For a footballer, that could mean a premature end to his career.

Gibbs limped off with an ankle injury after a 12st minute tackle forced him out of the U21 Euro match against Lithuania. He is to undergo an X ray as a precautionary measure and more information on the extent of his injury will be available later this week.

With Gael Clichy out for a month with a back injury, the left back position was a lock for Gibbs. With his potential layoff, the depth chart plummets. Wenger's mood will not definitely be improved by this news. He has already got into with Stuart Pearce on his use of Theo Walcott in the U21's and this will not engender any further warm feelings between the two.

A few options available.

There is Armando Traore, who is also just returning from a groin injury after missing the Carling Cup fixture against Liverpool. He is back in training. Traore has been almost exclusively used in the Carling Cup matches and his last appearance was this September against West Brom where he logged 69 minutes. He saw extensive Premiership match experience with Portsmouth where he was on loan last season.

If Traore is not fit the other option is to reposition Thomas Vermaelen at left (his old position at Ajax), bring in Senderos to partner Gallas, with Bacary Sagna at his usual right back position. Hopefully, if Gibbs is to be out, it will be just for the Sunderland match. Anything to avoid Silvestre.

Abou Diaby also sustained a calf injury which will also keep him out of the Ireland match tomorrow. There is no other news on his injury and how long he is expected to be out.

These international fixtures have turned out to be a disaster for Arsenal. We also have Gallas, Sagna, and Arshavin to play their WC playoffs tomorrow. Lets hope they keep healthy.

Not since the famous rumble in jungle between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Zaire has there been so much excitement in Africa over a sporting event.As Sudan gears up to host the second leg of the Algeria - Egypt world cup qualifier security seems to be in place on a war footing.15,000 police will be deployed to prevent a repeat of Saturday's violence in Cairo. There will be strict segregation of fans inside the stadium. The capacity has been cut by 6,000 - to 35,000 - and supporters of each side will get 9,000 seats each.More..

Some uplifting news for the Liverpudlians. Stevie G is ready to rock n' roll against City this weekend. Will Liverpool join the list of clubs that have stuck it to City?

Personally, I think Liverpool played well against Birmingham - they faltered familiarly on set pieces but overall they were a number of positives.

Glen Johnson was unstoppable. Mascherano had a good game. Lucas was solid. Ngog minus the dive showed he could be the real deal. It will be important for him to continue in the same fashion as Torres is out till December. Aquilani in his cameo looked impressive. He should be ready for City for his first complete game.

Its all pretty confusing but it seems that Raymond Domenech was complaining that they were really playing the English B squad. Or some bowdlerized version which of course even if untrue is used to motivate your players. Which is what got Richard Dunne all bent out of shape. He had been using Domenech as comedy material before the match.

On the pitch, the Daily Mail (never the best source) reports, Lass said something like," F*** you, Irish p****, you are out " or as per the Irish Examiner, Keith Andrews was named a female anatomical part. That's a far cry from insulting the Irish nation.

He did not say, "Dolores O'Riordan is s**** " or "Guinness! I wouldn't give my dog Guinness." Or some David Trimble type of backwash. Now that would really spell trouble.

On the other hand, Lass is saying that the Irish are just sowing trouble. He is innocent and he certainly did not insult the Irish. End result, 25,000 Irish fans are descending on the Stade De France this coming Wednesday. 25,000! Surely that can't be true. Even Patrice Evra is having a hard time wrapping his head around that number.

Of course, no one can skewer the Irish as well as the Irish. That is why you have playwrights like Enda Walsh. This might be the football equivalent of the Walworth Farce.

Earlier this summer, the football world was shocked by the tragic death of Espanyol captain Dani Jarque, who dead of a heart attack at the age of 26.

And now, Antonio De Negris, a striker for Greek team Larissa, and a former Mexixcan international who was capped 16 times is dead at 31 of a suspected heart attack. He is best known for scoring a superb goal against Brazil in the 2001 Copa America on debut. He leaves behind wife Sonia and their five-year-old daughter Miranda.

Why is this man not in the All XI?

Its the numbers you produce and not the little things that you do on the pitch to improve your team which seems to drive the MLS All XI. Even when you factor in stats it does not seem to add up to why Cuauhtemoc Blanco was left out.

Blanco played 21 matches, started in 15 of them and in 1452 minutes of playing time he scored 5 goals and 8 assists. He scored 1 game winning goal and assisted in three others. The Fire made the playoffs and lost to RSL in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Lets compare his stats to the midfielders who made the All XI roster.

Dwayne De Rosario played 28 matches, started in 27. In 2444 minutes, he came up with 11 goals and 6 assists. He scored two game winning goals. Toronto did not make the playoffs.

Stuart Holden played 26 matches and started in all of them. In 2340 minutes, he scored 6 goals and assisted in 4 others. Of them, 5 were game winning goals and he assisted in 2 others. The Dynamo made the playoffs but lost to the Galaxy in the Western Conference.

Freddie Ljungberg played 22 matches, starting in 21. In 1836 minutes, he scored 2 goals and assisted in 9 others. He scored one game winning goal and assisted in five others. Seattle made the playoffs but lost to the Dynamo.

Shalrie Joseph played 27 matches, starting in 24. He played 2228 minutes and in that duration, scored 8 goals and assisted in 8 others. He scored two match winning goals and assisted in two others. New England made the playoffs but lost to the Fire.

Landon Donovan played 25 matches, starting in 23. In 2152 minutes, Donovan scored 12 goals and assisted in 6 others. He scored three game winning goals. The Galaxy are in the MLS finals.

These five midfielders played between 384 minutes (Ljungberg) and 992 minutes (De Rosario) more than Blanco, yet even in that attenuated time, his stats are comparable. In fact, he had more assists than anyone except Ljungberg and he tied with Shalrie Joseph. He also had three more goals than Ljungberg. And his four game winning contribution is better than Landon Donovan and De Rosario.

More to the point, he is the undisputed catalyst of his team. He takes every free kick, every corner. And he is excellent at them. He is like the director in a movie set who yells out Lights, Camera, Action. The other midfielders distribute their play making capabilities with players like Amado Guevara (Toronto), Brad Evans (Dynamo), Osvaldo Alonso (Seattle), Steve Ralston (New England), and David Beckham (Galaxy).

In my opinion, Freddie Ljungberg and Dwayne De Rosario have weaker cases. I am not saying that they are undeserving but Blanco on the strength of his contribution to his team deserves to be ahead of these two players in the All XI.

Vote for the African Premier League player who has been the best ambassador for Africa here.. The winner will be declared on the 30th of November 2009
Drogba for example. He signed a new advertising contract with Pepsi and pledged the entire £3m he earned from the deal to the setting-up of a hospital and orphanage in Ivory Coast. Niall Quinn, the Sunderland chairman who famously donated his testimonial money to charity, described Drogba's decision as 'sheer class' and one that would 'help counter the belief that the Premier League is packed full of mercenaries'.
More on that story and other players representing Africa here...
Some of the other nominees are Adebayor,Essien,Kalou,Song etc..

A Moroccan fan seeing his team going down by 2 goals to Cameroon in their World Cup qualifier decided to go on and score a goal for them.

Watch More Football Highlights at MySoccerPlace.net

Haris Seferovic takes advantage of a slow reacting Nigerian defense to head the ball home in the 63' minute off a corner. There were some tense moments for the Swiss when Stanley Okoro's header hit the upright but Siegrist saved the ball in the scramble.

Congratulations to the Swiss for their first ever FIFA world title!

After RVP's injury, the news that Eduardo is being sent to Liverpool makes as much sense as a Sarah Palin presser. A slow news day during international week.

Ramsey was incandescent in Wales 3-0 victory over a disjointed Scotland side. The third goal reminded me of the way Fabregas took off against Spurs for his goal. And now George Burley faces the axe.

A brief statement on Arsenal's website updates RVP's status. He will be traveling back to London this week and resuming his care with the Arsenal medical staff at London Colney.

They also confirm the 6 week convalescence period.

Elsewhere in the Arsenal blog world:

Arseblog mentions, the silver lining is the pretty straightforward series of fixtures till Xmas other than Chelsea and Liverpool (both clubs have their injury woes too). Hopefully the 15 other goalscorers for Arsenal will step up. Maybe Song will add to the list and score four.

A Cultured Left Foot bemoans pointless friendlies which serve little purpose other than becoming repositories for the wounded.

Gunnerblog thinks its time for Eduardo to step up and points to his brace in the Croatia match as a positive sign.

Goodplaya also believes that Eduardo will come into his own and RVP's contribution although significant should be looked in the context of Arsenal's goal scoring wealth by others.

So we can all agree that friendlies are pointless and that RVP's absence will hurt but it is not as cataclysmic as feared. Go Gunners!

It is hard to see England overcome Brazil even if they were at full strength with Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, and Glen Johnson given how the Brazilians moved with ease around the pitch. Meanwhile, the English attack was barely able to make a dent.

Fabio Capello probably knows by now that Brazil is the team to beat. Extrapolate that to a potential Brazil vs Spain match up and Capello much prefers Brazil because Spain's Achilles heel is its defense. We saw some of that in Confederations Cup and unlike Brazil, Spain was unable to recover.

I think in everyone coaches mind except Dunga's there is a bit of a reality check going on. The drumbeat that next year might be England's year is going to quieten because in reality, the squad looks quite unsettled. Meanwhile Dunga's rebuilding is almost complete. Even in goal, traditionally an afterthought, Julio Cesar looks rock solid and rated amongst the best.

Sani Abacha stadium in Kano, Nigeria was one of the venues of
the U-17 World Cup.

Why would you name a stadium after a military dictator notorious for the execution of Ken Saro Wiwa and 8 other Ogoni activists in 1995 for protesting the exploitation of their land by multinational oil companies? These oil companies also enriched Sani Abacha's coffers.

Abacha is said to have looted about $5 billion and he and his family members including son Mohammed, transferred this money to Swiss and Gulf state banks. Some of it has been recovered after years of negotiating with the Swiss government. Abacha usurped power from Moshood Abiola, Nigeria's duly elected President imprisoning for four years when he refused to cede his electoral mandate.

Nigeria is now beginning to establish democratic roots, transparency, and accountability. By all accounts it enjoys a free and vibrant press which was not always the case. The Abacha dictatorship is a throwback to a darker era. So why celebrate him? He and his family are now well known in the world as names used commonly in the 419 scams.

The Guardian picked Liverpool to win the Premiership. We can see how well that is turning out.

Now, they are picking Chelsea to win the Treble. This comes from Paul Wilson who predicted that Chelsea would fall out of the top four.

RVP's convalescence time has been reduced to 4-6 weeks, less than the two months feared. He has a partial tear of the ankle ligament. A Dutch official said it was not a fracture but there was still significant ankle damage.

"It's impossible to put an exact time frame on it because some players heal more quickly than others. It's not a short-term injury."

4-6 weeks is much better than 8-10 weeks or even out for the season. However it is still a hefty chunk of time and with Nicklas Bendtner missing for a month with groin surgery, Arsenal are missing their big guns. The undersized Eduardo, Vela, Walcott, will have to step up.

From the looks of it is a Grade 2 ankle sprain of the anterior talofibular (ATF) ligament which is the most frequently injured of the three ankle ligaments . A partial tear means some instability but far less than a Grade 3 which is a complete tear which would require casting or even surgical intervention.

Grade 2 can be managed by immobilizing the ankle with an air splint and reducing swelling and pain through NSAIDS and ice packs. Usually partial tears of the ATF heal in 4-6 weeks. RVP will have to use crutches for non-weight bearing (probably for a week) till he can resume pain free walking. Physical therapy will begin once that stage is achieved.

Could this man be back as Nigeria's coach?

A Diego Maradona comparison is too tantalizing. A team that has managed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup despite the incompetence of the coach. Nigeria needed help from Mozambique who beat Tunisia, 1-0. For their part Nigeria overcame Kenya, 3-2 with a brace from Obafemi Martins in a tense match.

However in Nigeria the NFF is going to do something about it and plans are afoot for securing a foreign coach. Shaibu Amodu seems to have worn out his welcome many times before but this time it appears to be for real.

"That we are at the World Cup is not because of Amodu but because of God's mercies for us. I do not want to remember our performance in the match against Kenya because the coach almost ruined us. But God saved us and we thank him for using the players to salvage our great country", said the enraged PTF official.

So who is it going to be? Bora Milutinovic is looking for a job. He has had experience coaching Nigeria in the 1998 World Cup leading them to the second round. He would love to go to South Africa and prove that he can do better than Carlos Alberto Parreira. Maybe Clemens Westerhof can be lured back to coaching their team again to their glory days in the early 90s.

RIP: Robert Enke: 24 August 1977- 10 November 2009

A sight never seen in Germany as tens of thousands turn AWD Arena into a church to pay their last respects to Robert Enke and to support his wife, Teresa a brave figure in black, who knew best her husband's terrible depression and in the end could do little. She received a standing ovation.

45,000 fans attended the service which was attended by a host of politicians and sports personalities including former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Juergen Klinsmann, Theo Zwanziger, and the German national team. A wreath was brought in by captain Michael Ballack and Per Mertesacker and laid beside the coffin. As Enke's coffin was driven away, the anthem "You'll Never Walk Alone" was played.

Theo Zwanziger, DFB president took the opportunity for more openness and to call attention that players are humans too.

"I think that Enke would have called on the fans to show more humanity and more civil courage, they should stand up to oppose the taboos that still exist in our professional sport," Zwanziger said.

"Do not simply look at what sport seems to be. Think of what makes up a person, of weaknesses and doubts," he added.

Enke's death sparked a outpouring of grief in Germany and it has opened up a debate on how footballers cope with personal and professional issues. We see the player but do we see the person?

Many of us think that players with their inflated egos and salaries live life with blinkers on. We have gotten so used to their using denial, rationalization, and projection to defend their actions. Think about Adebayor, it was not love for the buck but being unloved at Arsenal that led him to City. But what if you live by different principles. Maybe for Enke, it was the opposite, a constant struggle for control that seemed tenuous. Losing a living, breathing daughter, the fear of a younger player taking his spot, or being injured left him vulnerable. And these fears without any of these protective defense mechanisms multiplied to the point that even his wife could not be of help. Enke turned on himself.

A 63' strike by Haris Seferovic gives Switzerland their first ever FIFA world title. They withstood a furious onslaught by the Super Eaglets. Nigeria outscored the Swiss in every statistical department except the one that counted most.

For his potty mouthed outburst following Argentina's win over Uruguay. (translation)

Here is an even more graphic video.

Till three weeks ago, Maradona remained unrepentant.

"I was getting it off my chest, and I don't regret it," Maradona said. "I gave my mother a kiss on the forehead and told her: 'If I was wrong I ask your forgiveness, but nobody else'. It had been building up. I apologise to the ladies, but not to those who talk about football on television. What I said was also late - outside family viewing hours."

Today FIFA banned him for two months with a $24,000 fine. All smoke, no fire. He will miss a total of one match. Seriously, he has always been a loose cannon so this is nothing very new.

I think the fascination with Maradona is that at heart he is still a performer. Part of this vicarious process is his oracle like pronouncements which come like clockwork of who will be the next Maradona. There seems to be no end. Just like his limitless call ups now exceeding 70 players. He seems to find it difficult to remove himself enough to be objective in his understanding of the game.

I prefer the Maradona who would show up in the Bombanera terrace and cheer on Boca. He is a perfect mascot. As a coaches go, Carlos Bilardo, Marcelo Bielsa, Carlos Ischia, and even Alfio Basile would have been better choices. At this stage Julio Grondona is doing Maradona a favour by trying to keep his legend alive.

Costa Rica's new coach Rene Simoes has had a mixed bag of results. The Ticos beat his old team, Trinidad and Tobago handily, 4-0. The USA were able to claw back a draw against them with Jonathan Bornstein's equalizer (which made him a hero in Honduras) at RFK stadium.

However, the Ticos suffered a setback at home against Uruguay in the playoffs to decide the World Cup spot between the 4th placed CONCACAF and 5th placed CONMEBOL teams. They now travel to Montevideo with the harder task of winning on the road.

* Please turn the volume down as it is an overexcited announcer with a high pitched voice and there maybe some loss of hearing associated.

Switzerland vs Nigeria, Sunday 15 November, Abuja, 19.00 (local time)

Can the Eaglets make it a weekend to remember for Nigeria with their senior counterparts pipping the Tunisians with their 3-2 victory over Kenya for a 2010 World Cup spot?

The Golden Eaglets have a team full of homegrown talent in marked contrast to the number of players on the Swiss team who have found homes in Europe's top leagues.

Stanley Okoro and super sub Emmanuel Sani, the standouts of the Nigerian U-17 squad who have been instrumental in guiding them to the finals are products of local academies like the rest of the squad.

In contrast, Frederic Veseli, Switzerland's creator in chief plays for Man City's reserve squad. Benjamin Siegrist, the outstanding goalie is now in Aston Villa, and Sead Hajrovic is an Arsenal prospect on central defense. Pajtim Kasami performs holding duties for Lazio and is on loan from Liverpool's youth academy.

The Algeria vs Egypt match was played In the backdrop of potentially escalating violence, a build up to the game which saw the stoning of the bus carrying Algerians and injuries to three of their players.

Following the match, violence broke out in Marseille. In Egypt, 32 fans including 20 Algerians were hurt in clashes in Cairo and Nasr City.

Amr Zaki, the former Wigan striker who initially lighted up the Premier League after arriving from Zamalek before going AWOL resurfaced to put the Pharoahs ahead in the 2nd minute. The goal would not be enough. With Algeria bottling up the attack an increasingly desperate Egypt looked for the critical second goal. It miraculously came in stoppage time when Mohamed Aboutrika swung in a cross which found Emed Moteab. His weak header had enough of an angle to beat the Algerian goalkeeper to the delight of millions of Egyptians. With that goal, the Egyptians drew level in points and goal difference.

Now the action moves to Sudan on November 18th for the final spot from Africa. It is already being billed as the Battle of Omdurman. Amongst the Sudanese, sides are already being picked.

Positives:

A) The USA with their below full strength team played patient ball control. They took their time to build up their attack. Having no Donovan and Davies meant that the US had to give up their fast counterattacking edge. But the tactical switch was achieved quite effectively showing that the US is capable of this approach.

B) Fluid, one touch football in midfield considering the Slovaks were pretty physical tacklers. Some of the link up play was truly inspiring between Bornstein and Dempsey, Bradley and Feilhaber.

C) Michael Bradley dropped back to holding midfield from his previous high position where he was less effective. Benny Feilhaber showed some good creative touches. Robbie Rogers brought energy down the right flank. Clint Dempsey looked involved for a change, a contrast from his usual waxing and waning self. On defense I think Jonathan Spector did very well as a makeshift central defender alongside Carlos Bocanegra. Brad Guzan brought of some fine saves.

Negatives:

A) No one came close to being Charlie Davies's replacement . Conor Casey was a non-factor. Eddie Johnson's return was unmemorable. He stayed too far up field with the Slovaks able to cut off service. When he did get it he always seemed a step slower or not physical enough. Jeff Cunningham was bumped off the ball easily. One Charlie Davies attributes was his strength. Although short he was strong as a bull and kept his legs moving making it hard to dispossess him of the ball. Robbie Findley looks like he has fewer competitors.

B) The US could not leverage their impressive advantage in ball possession in the last third of the field against a well organized and compact back four led by Martin Skrtel. This is a potential drawback. They face a similar set against Denmark led by Christian Poulsen, a familiar hard man in European circles. Outlet passes were rare and the US were forced into long distance potshots. The more free wheeling CONCACAF defenses provide far more opportunities.

C) Jonathan Bornstein. He got beaten for speed against Vladimir Weiss who was was going to milk that foul. The penalty was the difference. Bornstein who has switched back and forth from attacking midfielder to left back in a trend started by Bradley when he was Chivas's coach is a bit like Spurs Gareth Bale. He shows good attacking instincts and scores some big time goals but he does not track back enough and his tackling skills are suspect. However in all fairness there are few good options. It continues to be a position of weakness for the US.

Vladimir Weiss Sr and Jr prevailed over Bob and Michael Bradley in the father - son showdown. The match was attended by 7200 fans, a big letdown considering this was the first encounter between the two countries. Maybe it was disapproval at Eli Roth's gothic horror stories of Bratislava or the cold or that there was not much at stake. Or a combination. But I have heard more noise in a New York anti gentrification street fair.

As an Arsenal fan, this is disastrous news.

RVP is feared to have torn his ankle ligaments as he went down after a heavy challenge from Giorgio Chiellini in the Italy vs Netherlands friendly. He is undergoing an ankle scan in the Netherlands to ascertain the exact damage.

Wenger must be going out of his mind. It was just a couple of months ago that he felt strongly about Capello overusing Walcott. There is no official news on the Arsenal website as they are probably keeping their fingers crossed till more information comes in. Lets hope it is less serious than it looks.

RVP was in top form, scoring at will and setting up goals for others. He had already scored 7 and was on track for a 20+ goal season for the first time. With Arsenal facing a possible long RVP layoff and Nicklas Bendtner out for at least another month, the Arsenal attack becomes short statured very quickly. The lack of inches on Eduardo, Arshavin, Rosicky, and Fabregas mean fewer aerial options. RVP's versatility also gave us the more attacking 4-3-3 formation.

Three big saves by Rimando in the penalty shootout keeps the Fire out. Ned Grabavoy nails the winning penalty kick after Fabian Espindola misses his chance. The Fire fell victim to a peculiar directional bias that made them test Rimando low on his left as Thorrington, Pause, and Prideaux became predictable.

Rimando's gesture to Javier Morales to keep his chin up after the crestfallen Argentinian midfielder missed his chance to bring RSL parity was part of his heroics. He nearly pulled it off when he stood up just a fraction late for Wilman Conde's direct blast at goal and the ball sped through his hands for a 3-1 lead.

Findley who had faded after his first half effort was superbly saved by Jon Busch stepped up and kept RSL alive. Talk about pressure. Then comes Rimando's superb save of Thorrington's angled shot down his left which he anticipates and parries away and RSL were down 3-2.

Beckerman with his Rasta locks flying, slots the ball past Busch coolly. Veteran CJ Brown keeps Chicago ahead. Will Johnson, a Fire reject faced down his old club and converted his PK to put the shootout on level terms. Pause tries the same left side diving low and the short Rimando parries it out again.

It is left to the over rated Espindola, the target of much orgasmic delight from Chris Sullivan and Max Bretos, the two boobs babbling about his penalty taking prowess; to put the nail in the coffin. "You could not ask for a better penalty taker' intones Sullivan. On cue, he muffs his shot by a mile. Grab your ankles, Sullivan.

Prideaux falls prey to the same tactic of shooting down Rimando's left with the goalie in a zone by now. Finally, it all ends when Ned Grabavoy puts the exclamation mark on RSL's dream run up to the big dance.

Congratulations to Jason Kries and Real who were unable to overcome the Red Bulls last year. This time they did it against the highly favoured Fire.

To add insult to injury Sir Alex will now be compelled to give interviews to the BBC or face disciplinary action.He has not been on speaking terms with the BBC since 2004 when Panorama ran a documentary which portrayed his son, Jason, an agent, as using his father's status to gain influence in the transfer market.
More on that here..

For once the luck of the Irish deserted them and Nicolas Anelka kept France on course for South Africa with a lucky second half goal...

The Galaxy weathered two power outages, a disallowed goal by Andrew Hainault, and a dominant Dynamo display in the second half to score two extra time goals.

Landon Donovan becomes the MLS all time leader in goals scored as he converted the penalty after Alan Gordon was brought down by Ricardo Clark in the box. David Beckham set up the first goal with his curling fee kick and in the ensuing melee in front of the Dynamo goal, the ball came loose to Gregg Berhalter, who tapped the ball home. Congratulations to the Galaxy to make it to the finals after failing to make the playoffs three years in a row.

But the Dynamo had some great chances and Donovan Ricketts had to look very sharp against Brian Ching and Brad Evans. On replay, Andrew Hainault's goal looked legitimate and it was Ching who got pushed down by AJ DeLaGarza.

And yes, there are questions as to why it is not a two legged conference finals.

Today, the Eastern Conference finals begin with RSL meeting the Fire. For MLS fans, a Fire vs Galaxy finals would be a mouth watering prospect with Blanco and Beckham go head to head in a battle of the heavweights.

From the NYT's "The Lede"

Coca Cola invokes the infamous 1989 match between Algeria and Egypt as part of their present ad campaign. Its all about marketing emotions and Coca Cola brings it up without any reference to the violent underbelly of that encounter.

A cellphone camera captures the stoning of the bus carrying the Algerian soccer players by Egyptian fans as they travel through Cairo.

Matches between these two countries have never ended well. In 1989, the two teams met and the match ended in an orgy of violence on and off the pitch with an Egyptian supporter losing an eye and an Interpol arrest warrant for an Algerian player.

An Algerian player Rafik Helliche arrived at the hotel, bleeding from the shattered glass, in an interview said, "We lived a Hitchcock-like scenario."

FIFA has written to the Egyptian government asking for written assurances to provide better security even as the go ahead was given for the match. Algerian fans have also complained that they have not been given tickets to the game after buying them. A war of words has broken out on the Internet with Algerian fans mocking Egypt for losing the Six Day war to Israel (called "Naksa") and accusing them of selling out Palestine. Egyptians retaliated by bringing up France's occupation of Algeria that enslaved them.

The Algerians can lose by a goal and still qualify. Two goals down will force a tiebreaker to be played on November 18th. The Egyptians get through with three clear goals. About 70,000 fans are expected with about 2000 Algerians in attendance. Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and his Algerian counterpart Abdelaziz Bouteflika will also be present for the match. It will be a supercharged atmosphere with passions running high. Hopefully it all goes well.

For the first time since the last time in 1982,New Zealand have qualified for the World Cup Finals.It will the first time that both the Kiwis and the Socceroos will both be going to a World Cup finals.New Zealand beat Bahrain 1 - 0 in the second leg to make history.Rory Fallon and goalkeeper Mark Paston were the heroes of the game.Fallon scored the only goal and Paston saved a penalty...

Their last appearance was in the 1982 World Cup. This time they beat Bahrain, 1-0 with Plymouth's Rory Fallon scoring a goal just before half time.

The All Whites had to go through some very anxious moments in the second half as Abdulla Omar was brought down in the box by Toney Lochhead for a penalty. The visiting Bahraini fans began celebrating as a draw would mean qualification. But Syed Adnan's weak effort was saved by goalie Mark Paston, to the delight of thousands of home fans.

There is a special connection to the last All White success. Fallon's father Kevin, was the assistant coach of that 1982 team. After the match, Fallon said he had not yet caught up with his father.

"I'm looking forward to that. Someone said he was crying before the match. I just want to thank him for all those 6am starts when I was six and the time he has put into me."

Congratulations to NZ on this special victory!

From the US Soccer website's game notes:

There are a few instances in sporting history of father's coaching their son's at the highest level. A couple of famous ones include - Cesare and Paolo Maldini in soccer and Cal Ripken Sr. and Jr. in baseball.

"But how about having two teams with this phenomenon playing against each other - anyone heard of that happening? There is a good chance it will occur this Saturday. Squaring off against U.S. head coach Bob Bradley and midfielder Michael Bradley will be Slovakia head coach Vladimir Weiss (himself a former professional) and a young midfielder at Manchester City by the name of Vladimir Weiss Jr. If you trivia buffs can find another instance of that happening, we're all ears."

A sharpshooting contest which Jozy Altidore wins with some sweet stuff. Steve Cherundolo is hard done by poor service in the end. The clip shows Altidore really relaxed with his infectious personality coming through.

The US meets Slovakia for the first time. Bob Bradley has some serious questions up front with Charlie Davies out.

Who will partner Altidore? Bradley has called up a pair of players with huge promise who have yet to deliver. For all their hype, Jeff Cunningham and Eddie Johnson's national careers have been dogged by underwhelming performances and attitude problems.

Conor Casey's brace against Honduras gives him plenty of cache but like Altidore, he is reliant on service to score goals, lacking that creativity. Eddie Johnson also is a straight to the goal type of striker.

That leaves Cunningham. I know, I know. He tends to be a little Napoleonic. But he is a fantastic assist man in addition to being a goal scoring threat. If you look at England's plethora of goals scored in the qualifiers, it has been pulled of in no small part by Wayne Rooney's immense contribution as an assist leader. He makes Emile Heskey or Peter Crouch look threatening. Bradley should seriously consider starting Cunningham just behind Altidore for that reason alone.

The Slovaks play a 4-5-1 with a huge emphasis on midfield control. They do not score too many goals and if one takes away the group abuse of San Marino in the WC qualifiers, then the situation becomes even more dire.

They also tend to give away goals, mostly to Slovenia. Who as it turns out should have actually qualified for SA in all fairness but are to set to play Russia in the playoffs for the last four European spots. Thanks to an own goal by Seweryn Gancarczyk, now a hero in Slovakia. Slovakia was able to overcome Poland. Jerzy Dudek was in goal. Need I say more? The dude man was always going to make things interesting.

Their goalie Jan Mucha has been a big factor in their first ever WC qualification while veteran Misoslav Karahan and increasingly Zdeno Štrba, perform holding duties. In attack Napoli's Marek Hamsek shows plenty of promise as the midfield spark. Robert Vittek, their main target man has been quiet so far but Vfl Bochum's Stanislav Sestak has picked up the slack with six goals in six games.

Slovakia seem vulnerable to counterattacks and the USA with its speed should be able to overcome the back four led by Peter Pekarik, Martin Skrtel, Marek Cech, and Jan Durica. Like most other Eastern European teams, Slovakia play a very physical game and have already accumulated a number of yellow cards. This is a friendly but look for a tough tackling match.

The USA will do well to remember that Slovakia managed to overcome the Czech Republic and Poland in their group and qualify for the first time. They stuck it out.

It's a feminine version of a little Ronaldinho.And she has all the skills.

Three ads on the build up to the World Cup.

As the big day gets closer....

And closer...

A smart Alex.

Sir Alex Ferguson was given a four match touchline ban and a fine for 20,000 pounds following his attack on Alan Wiley's fitness. But the referees union is still baying for evermore blood. Here is Alan Leighton of Prospect, the referees union.

"From our point of view it is disappointing. The Football Association had a chance to make a point and they flunked it," Leighton said. "We don't think this is sending the right message out to other managers.

The simmering anger felt at Man Utd because of Sir Alex's attack is palpable. It is one thing, criticizing a referee's decisions. Making fun of his physiognomy is beyond the pale. The union is drawing the line on the cheap shot. As already seen in the Chelsea match, he can rant and rave all he wants. But nobody seems to be buying.

Nassim Ben Khalifa, the face of the U17 Swiss squad

In a few minutes the Swiss U-17 squad will take the field to face Colombia in the U17 World Cup semi-final. It is worth commenting that one has to look once or twice to find a name of Swiss extraction in the squad.

Nassim Ben Khalifa, their pre-eminent striker is a second generation Swiss with Tunisian roots.

Ben Khalifa has scored some big goals including the stunner against Brazil in the group stage. His extra time PK knocked off Germany in their round of 16 epic. And facing the Italians in the quarter finals, Khalifa scored the opening goal against the run of play.

He finds admirable company in muscular Haris Seferovic of Grasshoppers FC. The Bosnian born U-17 striker has kept up with Khalifa scoring three goals, including a brace against Japan.

The Swiss steel is provided by Pajtim Kasami, whose holding capabilities were spotted by Liverpool scout Piet Hamburg for their youth squad. Kasami was born in Struga, Macedonia. His trajectory is being keenly watched by a number of clubs including Lazio, his current club. The Gunners also boast Swiss representation in Bosnian born center back Sead Hajrovic, who was signed this summer from Grasshoppers for £300,000. He was also courted by Man Utd and Everton.

In Ghana, where they are still basking in their U-20 team's accomplishment, the progress of the Swiss team is being closely watched because of Ghanian born Kofi Nimeley

Nimeley who moved to Basel when he was six with his parents is another central figure in his squad's steel curtain that has kept them afloat in tight games. Like many other Ghanians, his hero happens to be Michael Essien.

Players like Seferovic, Pajtami, and Hajrovic are part of the influx of Balkan migrants streaming into Switzerland after the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia. Over 20% of the non-EU immigration comes from the four countries of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, and Croatia. The Kosovo war of independence also saw thousands flee Serbia, like the parents of midfielder Granit Xhaka.

There are also sizable numbers from Africa especially from war torn Congo where reserve goalie Joel Kiassumbua is originally from. Other countries with large representation of immigrants include Turkey and Iraq. Like other EU countries, the immigration conundrum has attracted fierce opposition from far right political parties who have sought curbs and restrictions on the flow of immigration. The asylum track is different from the Swiss need for highly skilled workers with IT expertise who unsurprisingly come from India.

Switzerland has always had strong European immigration with Italians leading the way in the first significant wave of immigration in the 1870s when thousands of labourers came across the border into Locarno to build the Gotthard tunnel. EU immigration still totals about 60% of the total with Italy, Germany, and Spain leading the way. So the names Bruno Martignoni, Robin Vecchi, and Ricardo Rodriguez should not raise too many eyebrows. In fact, Severino Minelli, a Swiss-Italian defender played 80 internationals for the Swiss team and was part of their 1934 and 1938 World Cup squads.

With Gokhan Inler and Hakan Yakin, players with Turkish roots, leading the way the Swiss national team qualified comfortably ahead of Greece in their group for the 2010 World Cup. Immigration is changing the face of Switzerland with noticeable benefits to their national aspirations after languishing almost 50 years with their last significant campaign, a quarterfinal entry in the 1954 World Cup.

French third division side Amiens took on Variety Club of France for a charity match.A free kick from Zidane during the game was a reminder that he could still be up there with the best in the world.

The carpet bagger wants to leave but an angel waits in the wings.

Something about Brazilian music not being good enough for the neighbours.

Mark Hughes seems to be doing a good job of getting rid of all the Brazilians in the team. Elano, Jo, and now Robinho. We can also look forward to the African clique, Adebayor and Kolo Toure, being broken up. Soon City will be Blackburn West with probably Tevez and Roque Santa Cruz to give it an exotic look.

Happier days: With Louis Van Gaal at Barca

From what one can gather, Robert Enke kept a terrible secret.

He hid his depression to himself, fearful if it became public, his adopted daughter would be taken away, he would lose his sport, and his family destroyed.

As his widow, Teresa says, "I tried to be there for him."

"When he was acutely depressive, it was a difficult time. We thought we'd manage everything. We thought with love, we could do it. But you can't."

Enke's depression seems to have begun while at Barcelona under Louis Van Gaal, Bayern's present manager.

He had arrived in 2002 from Benfica where he was a fan favourite and team captain under Jupp Heynckes. Enke's strong performances had attracted wide attention even as Benfica struggled on the pitch and financially as well. Plenty of clubs came knocking including Arsenal, Man Utd, and Atletico before he signed for Barca on a three year contract. Enke's dream of playing for one of the game's giants had come true.

But it all went terribly wrong in his debut as minnows CF Novelda humiliated Barca, 3-2 in the Copa Del Rey. His performance came in for strong criticism from captain Frank De Boer and other players. Enke was to lose his starting place.

As his psychiatrist Dr. Valentin Markser reveals, " For the first time he experienced rejection and public criticism. During this time, he began to doubt himself."

Enke was soon loaned out to Fenerbahçe coached by Christoph Daum in exchange for fan favourite Rüştü Reçber. It proved to be an unpopular move with fans. The simmering discontent came to a boil when the club lost to local rivals Istanbulspor, 0-3 in Enke's first match. He was forced to run from the pitch as fans pelted him with bottles and cigarette lighters.

The Barca and Fenerbahçe experience seem to have taken a mental toll with Enke becoming increasingly depressive and fearing further failure. He began treatment under Dr Makser in the summer of 2003 which went on every day for the next several months. Thereafter, his mood stabilized and he returned to Barca for a successful loan spell at CD Tenerife which led to an eventual Bundesliga homecoming when he signed on for Hannover 96 in 2004.

Things looked very promising as he became a Hannover 96 stalwart and his impressive performances earned him two Bundesliga best goalkeeper titles. But Enke was soon overwhelmed by a personal tragedy. In 2006, Enke was confronted with his biggest crisis: His infant daughter's death of a congenital heart condition. He became severely depressed requiring treatment once again.

Things began looking up last year after Jens Lehmann's retired following Euro 2008. Joachim Low elevated him to first choice goalie for the national team. He and his wife Teresa adopted an 8 month daughter Leila last May. Yet again, Enke had to undergo a series of crises, as a broken scaphoid requiring surgery sidelined him for two months pushing his national appearance to January 2009. In August an intestinal bacteria forced him out for more than two months and he ended up missing four WC qualifiers.

In his suicide note, Enke said he was sorry that he misled his family and the medical personnel into believing he was better. It is quite possible that he believed it would be a matter of time before another crisis confronted him. This would indeed be his life, the silver lining beneath the dark cloud was becoming harder to see or believe in.

The solitary 81st goal that Rafael van der Vaart scored was all Real Madrid could come up against lowly Alcorcón.In contrast Barcelona continue to score prolifically bashing Cultural Leonesa 5 - 0 in the process.Goals from Bojan Krkic (two),Pedro, Messi and Xavi.

In Bob Bradley's search for Jozy Altidore's strike partner now that Charlie Davis is unfortunately out for six months or more recovering from that horrific car crash.

Johnson has always been an enigma. Great promise and an ability to get behind defenses with his speed. His was a blazing start with the MNT as he scored 7 goals in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers including a goal on debut against El Salvador and a hat trick three days later against Panama.

He was unable to do much in the World Cup and since his move from RSL Kansas City to the Premiership his career has cooled off precipitously. He has struggled to make appearances in Fulham and with few club opportunities his national call ups have become rarer. His last match was against Barbados on June 22, 2008.

Johnson is a rangy, straight up and down type of center forward unlike the more versatile, powerful Charlie Davis who loves roving down the left and creating chances for his team mates. For Johnson to score, he has to get a clear long ball or a pass as a direct route to the goal. Davis is far more elusive. Conor Casey also introduces the same redundancy as Johnson.

The more promising Jeff Cunningham who is an equally adept goal provider has a few knocks going against him. He is a bit on the wrong side of 30 and despite his stellar MLS career has yet to score for the national team in 10 appearances. He has bounced around quite a bit after his six years at the Crew giving his career an unsettled look.

Much has to do with attitude and adjustment issues. Wearing a jersey with 96 emblazoned on it for 96 goals scored should be a quick giveaway. He came to Toronto with great expectations but wore out his welcome quickly with coach John Carver. After failing to put the ball into an empty net which would have given TFC a win over Montreal in the Canadian Championship, Carver said, "You want my honest opinion on that? I am thinking, 'How did he score 99 goals?' That's what I thought."

He was traded soon after to Dallas. He has done extremely well there winning his second Golden Boot title with 17 goals and 8 assists. The second number is what one needs to focus on when we talk about strike partners for Altidore. A smaller, quicker, creative slot striker who can ping the ball back and forth to open up space will prove a perfect counterfoil to the more centrally situated Altidore who plays well with his back towards goal. Davis was the hidden assist man in the US team as Donovan got things moving.

Cunningham could turn things around in his favour very quickly if he gets playing minutes against Slovakia and turns in an impressive performance. He maybe ready to vindicate Bob Bradley's confidence and shrug off those question marks about attitude and no shows.

Bradley should also seriously consider Robbie Findley who is having a whale of a time at RSL with 12 goals and 4 assists. He is focused on the Eastern Conference finals against the Fire but will become available after the season gets over.

Keith Hackett stating the obvious.

"I have said to managers in the past that this is an area of great difficulty for referees and it can come down to the viewing angle of the referee."

I think it is time to give him the goods on the human eye. The game has gotten a lot quicker and the art of deception even more perfect. The eye's memory remains limited and parallax can induce trickery. We can bring more witnesses like Platini's extra two referees but they are still not going to cover every viewing angle.

Peter Walton might self flagellate himself when he sees what Ngog did but the world knew it much before. The diver knew, the defender who tried tackling him knew, the spectators in the stands knew, and the millions of TV viewers knew. It is the one person who influences the game so much who remained oblivious. In the land of the one eyed, the blind is king. That seems counterintuitive but that is exactly what we are doing.

To stop diving we need video replay technology. London is a city under maximum surveillance and it is a bit creepy to find cameras everywhere but it also keeps the city safe. Alex McLeish could have asked for a replay with the match on the line. Peter Walton would have complied. The matter would have been settled with more gloom for Liverpool. Ngog's reputation in tatters. And Hackett would not be bringing up viewing angles. Even small clubs have a fail safe option.

All that talk of righting the ship turned out to be bluster as in the Copa Del Rey return leg against Alcorcon at the Bernabeu, Real was able to muster only one goal through Rafel Van Der Vaart. The yellow jerseys of Alcorcon were everywhere as they stifled Raul, Gago, Van Nistelrooy, Kaka, and Lassana Diarra.

Juanma was a colossus in goal for Alcorcon. The third division club moves onto the next round as Real crash out of the Copa Del Rey.

After the match the Bernabeu erupted in a standing ovation for Alcorcon's heroic performance. Even the commentators were overcome as one of them brought up Ronaldinho's scintillating display four years ago as a reminder that Real fans enjoy good football

The knives are out for Manuel Pellegrini once again. The fans were calling for his head and booing him for his decision to take off Lassana Diarra and bring in Marcelo.

The Marca thundered "The team was without a soul and it never looked like threatening lowly Alcorcon".

For all the huge signings at Madrid only one has worked with any degree of success and that is Cristiano Ronaldo. With his injury keeping him out- Kaka, Benzema, and Alonso have struggled to establish any coherence. It has been a grab bag of old horses and some overlooked ones like Raul, Lassana Diarra, and Gonzalo Higuain who have kept Real in the race.

Germany's number one goalie Robert Enke, who played for Hannover 96 was found dead at a level crossing in the town of Neustadt am Ruebenberge. As per police, indications are that Enke took his life by throwing himself in front of a train. Enke was 32 years of age.

Enke had missed his last four international games because of a bacterial infection and had just gotten back to the game, playing in Hannover's fixture against Hamburg. He was married and had just adopted an 8 month daughter in May this year.

Three years ago, his daughter Lara died at the age of two during surgery to correct a serious congenital heart defect. Enke had gone through intensive counseling after her death but there are indications that he had not gotten over that great tragedy.

After Jens Lehmann retired from the game following the 2008 Euro, Enke took over and Joachim Low stated he was his number one choice to go to the 2010 World Cup.

After he could not play against Azerbaijan because of his mysterious bacterial condition, Enke told Bild.

"I've been through a lot: professionally and personally. I do not know if anyone can direct life. But this much I know: you can not change it. You have to accept putting up with an injury, you have to accept it when you lose a game, and you have to accept that you have a child who is seriously ill and dying. "

But it has left German football in a state of shock. DFB president Theo Zwanziger reacting to the news, "Unbelievable, unbelievable. Robert Enke was a wonderful man, who took some hard knocks in life." There were spontaneous funerals by Hannover fans and elsewhere in Germany.

His old club, FC Barcelona observed a minute's silence before their Copa Del Rey fixture against Leonesa.

One remembers Sebastian Diesler, Bayern's precociously talented midfielder whose career was cut short by severe depression and injuries. A different story but depression was the common element. Maybe Enke had gotten tired of accepting. One does not know.

Lyon 5 Marseille 5 at the Stade De Gerland. November 9, 2009. A nail biting epic with end to end action. This match will be talked about for years to come.

With L'OM cruising 4-2 it appeared as if the match was done but Lisandro Lopez who surely must be on Maradona's radar for his late goal scoring exploits brought them back on par in the 81st and 84th minute. Michel Bastos put them up in the 89th minute for a shortlived minute as Jeremy Toulalan scored an own goal for the final say.

The oldest professional football club believe it or not faces the possibility of court proceedings for non-payment of taxes.

Months after a Qadbak Investments, a Middle East company, whose owners remain largely unidentified bought over Notts County, they are faced with a huge tax bill which had accrued under Blenheim 1862, the former parent company. The understanding was that £400,000 owed in taxes would be paid off as part of the negotiations to take over the club.

Well, it seems Qadbak has reneged on its promises. The club has been in the news for its firing of Ian McParland, a popular manager; the Sol Campbell no show, and Sven Goran Ericksson's Sweden courtship, and countless stories about its layered ownership.

Their performance on the pitch has been up and down. They are presently fourth in League 2. After their lightning fast start they have had to win at home to make up for their poorer away form with three consecutive losses. Dag and Red are above them in the race to get out of League 2 while Rotherham and Chesterfield are tied with them on points.

It is now more like a hernia rather than a milder tear. Which means that Bendtner needs surgical intervention and is likely to be out for 6 weeks or more.

Thomas Vermaelen and William Gallas have been very good so far on set pieces but Bendtner would have given an aerial threat to get around Chelsea's physical defense (the Blues visit the Emirates on Nov 29th) and win back possession. His touch has also gotten better. So this is is a significant blow.

A 21-year-old Saudi striker Nawaf Al Abed scored the definitive fastest goal ever recorded in a professional football match. The match was played between Al Hilal and Al Shoalah and he scored from the halfline for Al Hilal 2 seconds after kickoff.The ref had just about finished blowing the whistle to indicate the start of the game when he had to blow it again.
The Al Shoalah keeper seemed to suffer a bout of temporary amensia because he made to attempt to stop the shot even though it was within his reach.

Ljungberg was the target of some tough tackles. Playing in a dust bowl also did not help. He was not happy.

"The game was a big brawl, it was not much of a football game," Ljungberg said. "I don't want to be a bad loser. I congratulate them and I wish them all the best, but it was mostly a big brawl and probably the pitch didn't make it any easier."

Seattle lost to Houston at Robertson Stadium, the old Univ of Houston football field which is in need of major overhaul.

David Beckham chooses the LA Galaxy over breaking Peter Shilton's record 125 England appearances. He can at best case equal it.

Its the pragmatic choice. He earns good money to leaven that disappointment. And the possible gratitude of thousands of Galaxy fans if he takes them to the MLS finals.

Darren Fletcher in particular. He was the hatchet man in Utd's win over Arsenal on August 29th and did quite a number on Cesc Fabregas.

Well, after the match Arsene Wenger talked at length about the anti-football display. He did not mention Fletcher's name but everyone can read between the lines.

It seems Fletcher is convinced that the referees have picked up on the anti-football remarks and are now targeting him. They are more likely to give free kicks against him like the one that Chelsea was awarded after his challenge bought down Ashley Cole. The free kick led to the Terry goal.

"I think we're starting to see Mr. Wenger's comments starting to influence referees, which is a shame really."

Strangely enough, Wenger's comments seem to have actually influenced Fletcher himself. He was pretty innocuous in the Chelsea match. It seemed more a case of a make up call by Martin Atkinson following the non-call on Jonny Evans studs up charge on Drogba.

I am not sure why the referees waited that long to test Wenger's thesis. It's been almost six
weeks since those remarks were made. But those cunning little so and so's selected the big Chelsea showdown to catch Fletcher in their dragnet?

Wayne Rooney's mouthing 12 men also seems to be doing more harm than good. A fair bit of paranoia in the Man Utd dressing room nowadays. But if you have a manager who harangues referees for every adverse result, it is a self inflicted wound.

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Birmingham was hard done by Peter Walton's decision to award a PK after the French striker went down in the box from a tackle by Lee Carsley. Problem was Carsley never touched him. Steven Gerrard subbing for the injured Riera converted the penalty and Liverpool scraped a draw.

After the match, Carsley had this to say:

" It's a joke. I knew I didn't touch him and I said to the referee to book me or send me off, it would have made me feel better. I'm sure he (Ngog] has got a family, well if I went home having done that I'd be embarrassed. You're supposed to be teaching your kids an example and that is just an embarrassing case of cheating. But the lad's taken a chance and got his team a point so I'm sure they'll be patting him on the back."

Never truer words. This is just getting way out of hand. And Platini's little experiment of introducing extra referees will also fail. Either we install a moral spine in every player which will never happen or get some way we can review these calls.

Cameron Jerome strike was goal of the season material (video) and Chucho Benitez got his first Premiership goal (video)as Birmingham went ahead after conceding an opening goal to Liverpool as Ngog buried a fierce volley at the back of the net. (video). Glen Johnson's impeccable attacking instincts and some equally fine goalkeeping by Joe Hart fully on display.

Hart and the Birmingham defense came under siege as Liverpool dominated the second half but it took Ngog's 'embarrassing case of cheating' to get them the draw. On the other end, Liverpool showed its weakness in defending set pieces conceding the Benitez goal. Alberto Aquilani made his Premiership debut six minutes before the end. Fernando Torres did not play as the physios work on his hernia problem. And now Yossi Benayoun maybe out with a hamstring tear.

Pat Onstad deserves a medal. Keeping two own goals out. The second one was a sequence of goal line saves in the 42nd minute as Freddie Ljungberg's free kick was helped along by Ricardo Clark with Onstad backpedaling to parry it out before it crossed the goal line and then falling down to bat the ball away from Fredy Montero's opportunistic foot.

Brian Ching scored the goal in 96th minute as the Sounders were unable to clear Mike Chabala's cross which hit Brian Mullan fortuitously in the arm straight to Brian Ching who volleyed it past Kasey Keller. However, Sounders came close to equalizing when Ljungberg with a long range effort from the left almost sneaked the ball past Onstad who again managed to keep it out.

Most of the Dynamo's attack originated down the right with Dominic Oduro proving to be a handful.

The Sounders were beaten but the huge positives are its memorable entry into the MLS and the devout and passionate home fans. They have energized the league. Sigi Schmid will be back and the Sounders will only get better.

David Beckham switches attack with a swerving long ball down the left to Donovan. The Galaxy skipper crosses into the box to Mike Magee who is brought down by Yamith Cuesta's challenge. Ricardo Salazar points to the spot as Magee writhes in pain. Donovan converts the PK after an interminable wait. Beckham retired hurt with back spasms thereafter but he did his bit to help the Galaxy enter the Western Conference finals.

The Galaxy looked vulnerable with Omar Gonzalez again having some nervy moments which might explain the sort of lukewarm celebration of the penalty.

For Chivas it was their third consecutive exit from the playoffs.

The Galaxy now meet the Dynamo who also beat the Sounders, 1-0.

Yet another ref was at the receiving end of a Ferguson tirade.. His indignation was justified but he has be getting sick of yelling at a different ref at the end of each match.

Chelsea 1 Man Utd 0 at Stamford Bridge.

Not exactly classy football but Man Utd was the team with better ideas and creativity. It also unfortunately had more loose cannons, specifically, Jonny Evans.

In fact, Evans provided a menace that the Chelsea attack had a hard time mustering. Would he get a red card, cough up a penalty? As Drogba clattered to the ground his legs flailing, there was a look of dread in Evans eyes. Luckily for him, Martin Atkinson never saw his high charge with studs to Drogba's chest. Instead, he went for the yellow card for Drogba adding to the sense of wrongdoing as the Ivoirian lay horizontal in obvious pain.

It turned out Atkinson was choreographing something more significant as minutes later he called foul on Darren Fletcher upending Ashley Cole while they scrapped for the ball. The Scotsman protested that it was a legitimate tackle. A make up call? The set piece taken by Deco skimmed over a host of players with Terry's head ever so slightly making contact. An upright Drogba pulls down Wes Brown that instant and the ball sails into the net unimpeded. Drogba had again influenced play with his consequential trickery. Chelsea went ahead against the run of play.

It did not end there. Carvalho was called for a late tackle against Rooney which did not go down well with Evans who shoved aside the Chelsea defender. Atkinson intervening with two yellow cards.

A lot of drama after the first half's two highlights. An fingertip save by Van Der Saar turning away Anelka's shot and John Terry writhing in pain after his goolies said hello to Ashley Cole.

Man Utd let one get away. Wayne Rooney continues to get better and better. But it was the team that has trademarked winning ugly, again coming through.

The upshot is that Arsenal retain their second place in the league as Chelsea climb five points clear, setting up a very crucial 29th November clash at the Emirates.

Patrick Nyarko was elusive and hard to pin down by the Revs

How did Pat Phelan not bury that pinpoint Kenny Mansally cross into the back of the net? It was the clearest look at the goal all night and Phelan heads the ball out. He could have been a hero forcing extra time. As it turned out, the Fire did not have to go through that route.

What can you say of Cuauhtémoc Blanco? He was the engine that drove the Fire all night long and his nifty bit of footwork finished off a really nice bit of hustle shown by Patrick Nyarko to put Fire over the top. Nyarko also provided Blanco with the second best chance when the Mexican midfielder stroked the ball over Reis and it hit the crossbar. John Thorrington came up with the first goal after Marco Pappa deferred to him.

Nyarko's introduction came at the cost of Brian McBride who had to leave after a collision with Matt Reis.

In retrospect this forced move by Denis Hamlett proved pivotal to the game as Blanco, Thorrington, and Pappa abandoned the long ball to the box approach which had proved a failure against a vigilant Reis and with Nyarko blistering the right with his speed and Thorrington down the left, the Fire really opened up their game as Blanco and Pappa, always a livewire, working inside began taking their chances.

Not to cast aspersions on McBride, he remains a great warrior and a playoff goal leader, but the Fire's over reliance on the big target man and the attack was beginning to look one dimensional. Nyarko's arrival changed all of that. I remember reading Jonathan Wilson's article of a "false nine" and here was a perfect example as Emmanuel Osei had a torrid time defending him.

Shalrie Joseph was kept quiet though out the match by Brandon Prideaux, Logan Pause, and CJ Brown who disrupted the midfield presence of the Revs, helping the Fire especially in the second half exert control of the ball. Mauricio Castro's exit with a gashed hand also took away a step or two. An early chance by Edgaras Jankauskas and the last minute nailbiter by Pat Phelan were their two clear looks.

The Fire is slowly tipping this absorbing rivalry their way. The Revs with their critical injury problems had no Chris Albright, Taylor Twellman, and Steve Ralston, all huge playoff performers. Steve Nicol has some heavy rebuilding to do but first, tip your hat to the man. He took his lumps for his overcautious and defensive approach in the regular season. In the playoffs it was different, as the club with the deck heavily stacked against them responded with an attractive brand of no holds barred soccer. This is what the MLS should be about.

The Fire now meet Real Salt Lake in the Eastern Conference Finals and we get to see Cuauhtémoc Blanco again. And just for the name, Baggio Husidic.

Pedro scored 2 goals against Real Mallorca - It was his eighth goal of the season in five competitions, a feat unmatched in Barca history.The other goals came from Henry and Messi and Barca ended the game with the scorecard reading 4 - 2.

The Ronaldo less Real Madrid held on to win a hard fought 3 -2 victory over Real Mallorca

The £50m Carlos Tevez and Emmanuel Adabeyor combination are getting paid did not motivate them enough to score a goal or two.Manchester City were unable to prevent the poorest paid side in the league - Burnley from picking up their first away point of the season.

Arsenal dance with Wolves.

An own goal by Ronald Zubar gets things rolling. A fine steal by Song puts Aaron Ramsey through as he and Eduardo race ahead. Ramsey passes to Eduardo as they cut off Josh Craddock and then waits for the return because of his clear look at goal. Instead, Eduardo chips the ball over and it deflects of Craddock and loops over Wayne Henessey for the second goal.

Eduardo then races to the sideline and exposes his undershirt which has the words Paz Na Villa Kennedy RJ which in Portugese means Peace in Villa Kennedy, Rio de Janeiro. This is what Eduardo wanted the world to see.

The third came off a beautiful bit of control by RVP as he laid off Sagna's cross straight onto Fabregas feet, one touch and the ball was in goal. The last Arsenal goal came courtesy Arshavin who took a tennis like passing shot past Hennessey after the Wolves goalie parried a corner. Wolves came up with a consolation goal by Craddock.

Tomorrow is the big Chelsea vs Man Utd match. For now Arsenal are in second place.

The Fire meet the Revs today at Toyota Park, 8:30 PM

New England are up 2-1 in the first leg and are in great position to cause the second upset of the playoffs. This match is of great interest for Fire fans because it could also be Blanco's last MLS game as he is out of contract and is returning to second division Mexican club Veracruz.

Blanco has not stated whether he wants to return to the MLS. His priority is the 2010 World Cup. But the Fire should try and lure him back. He gives them the creative force and more than that, the Fire gets back one of the most colourful characters in the MLS who is a huge draw amongst fans.

For New England, their African contingent showed up big for the last match and it was Kenny Mansally's free kick guided in by Emmanuel Osei into goal that sparked the Revs comeback. Sana Nyassi and Kheli Dube were very active in attack and gave the Revs many looks. But the men to watch out for is Shalrie Joseph and able deputy Jeff Larentowicz who won the midfield battle against the Fire at Foxborough. They will have to do the same to quell a Fire that will be desperate to keep their hopes alive. John Thorrington could be back to give them a lift and so could Gonzalo Segares in defense.

Drogbalicious.

He takes over everybody
Sinewy hard, on a goal scoring spree

He gallops on the field, on a tear

He is on his way to critical mass
A nuclear weapon laid bare

And underneath his shorts
He turns on twin burners in his arse

He makes Rio look flabby

Silvestre now that was one bemused chappie,

Chelsea are losing, Ancelotti wears a frown

Jose looks a bit Sourinho

Drogba scores two, turns it upside down

We have seen it before, in the FA, CL, and the Prem

I hate to have to say it but Drogba is a s**tstain

(all players except those from Chelsea)
Drogba makes us look like muppets

(one player)
I'd like to say worse:
He gives me gas

(all fans except those from Chelsea weep)

(all fans except those from Chelsea)
He makes us sick to the stomach that Drogba
He gives us gas and it's not the beer we chug
He makes us look like muppets that Drogba

(Sung to "How do you solve a problem like Maria" from the Sound of Music)

Some WWF and some WTF moments in the BYU vs New Mexico match. These girls could whip Vinny Jones anytime. And Julie Foudy had to spin the indefensible. "Ponytail whiplash" like "tennis elbow " could become a recognizable sports injury.

Atletico have not won at the Bernabeu in 10 years. The last time October 30th, 1999 when Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink with his brace and Jose Mari won a now historic victory. Sergio Aguero was 11 years old.

Hasselbaink was virtually unstoppable and so was Joan Capdevila, now at Villareal. That year Atletico was relegated even as Hasselbaink scored 24 goals in his 34 appearances. After those heady days at Leeds, Atletico and Chelsea, his career devolved into ever briefer tenures at smaller clubs. He's now linked with Woking FC, a non-league team.

Some familiar names associated with Real: Raul, Guti, and Casillas in the present squad. Long time Bolton midfielder Ivan Campo, Liverpool bust Fernando Morientes, Milan's Clarence Seedorf whose Bernabeu return a fortnight ago ended badly for Real, long time nemesis Samuel Eto'o now at Inter, set piece extraordinaire Roberto Carlos now at Fenerbahçe.

The two teams meet today in the Madrid derby. Atletico is struggling to reproduce its sparkling form last season and is in the relegation zone. Real has questions of its own but a win will give them first place over Barca who have also not looked assured and face a tough opponent in Mallorca this weekend.

Dear Arsene,

Praise is good but it should be meaningful. Robin Van Persie is having a fantastic season but to say he is the best striker in the Premiership is jumping the gun. Didier Drogba will have some words on that. Comparing Van Persie to Dennis Bergkamp is definitely jumping the shark. Actually could we do away with comparisons or bold predictive statements altogether till the season is over?

One notices when you say Abou Diaby is the next Patrick Vieira, he goes out of his way to prove otherwise. At the AGM, there was this huge pronouncement that Arsenal was to lift a major trophy this year, promptly greeted with a dismaying performance against West Ham. At this point Arsenal is on a great streak but lets put a bit of perspective. They are on a stretch against should we say, lesser opposition, and yes, Spurs is exactly that. Something about putting lipstick on a pig. Chelsea looms large and if we win, be sure to overdo the bravado. Till then hold of the cavalry charge.

I was called an Einstein when I was young and occasionally correct about something but it all ended badly because at this point I am not headlining the Nobel committee's list of nominees for coming up with a beautifully simple algorithm to stave off global recession. I am a few inches from a knuckledragger, a blogger for goodness sake. I say to you, with all due respect. Giving praise to a young team is an exercise in balance. Give too much or at a magnitude over the top and you risk a let up. Which unfortunately seems to happen. So till we actually have RVP perform day in and day out, Diaby take down the attack like ninepins every match, and Arsenal end up with the CL or the Premiership, could we guarantee pursed lips? Deal or no deal?

Yours sincerely,

Shourin Roy
New York City, NY

All in the way of preparation for his Street Striker show - which is a UK wide competition to find the nation's most skilful street footballers.

Injury problems. Shoddy defending. Indifferent form. His burgeoning interests off field. Rio Ferdinand's season has been on the wane.

It was on display against Ukraine and since then it has gotten worse. A struggling Rio futilely pulling on Fernando Torres jersey in the Liverpool match as the Spanish striker blasts the ball past Van Der Saar. That was a statement.

He has been ruled out of the Chelsea game because of a calf injury which is convenient because he would have to defend Didier Drogba, in brutal form this season. If Torres can shrug Rio off, Drogba can easily strap him on the back and run a sub 10 second sprint towards goal. Sir Alex would have kept him on the sidelines even if fully fit as he increases Jonny Evans playing minutes.

Rio has a few things to ponder before his 31st birthday tomorrow. Maybe the MLS?

RSL was down on the strength of two Schelotto goals by the 35th minute and it appeared as if Crew would be able to get over the one goal disadvantage and advance to the quarter finals. But RSL struck back from a Javier Morales goal two minutes later. Ten minutes later, RSL were awarded a penalty by referee Baldemero Toledo, a dubious call on Frankie Hejduk as Espindola went down a bit too easily. Robbie Findley converted the penalty and RSL had drawn level before the half.

In the 74th minute, Andy Williams received a short corner, and drove the ball into a thicket of players in front of the Crew goal. The ball skipped over Beckerman and Gavin, lodging itself in the back of the net.

The Crew threw everything into attack, including the kitchen sink but Nick Raimondo was stellar in goal. The defending champions were knocked out. It was their third consecutive home loss and it proved the costliest. RSL heads to the conference final for the second time in a row. Kudos to Jason Kreis and RSL for this momentous victory.

A temporary reprieve for Chelsea and they will be allowed to sign new players. CAS has yet to render its final verdict. Gael Kakuta's four month suspension has also been lifted.

I weep for the Newcastle fans who have to put up with this execrable name. How about MikeAshleydumbass@StJames'Park while we are at it?

I remember living in Miami when they renamed Joe Robbie stadium, home of Miami Dolphins as Pro Player Stadium which I thought was soulless but inoffensive. Now it is called LandShark Stadium. Yes, LandShark Stadium is the home of the Dolphins. Bizarre. The name sounds so apt for a greedy real estate developer. Which is what South Florida is all about. But even after all the renaming it was always Joe Robbie Stadium to me.

Ashley has been crass and will remain crass. So to the fans, you have a good manager in Chris Hughton and a group of players that are performing well under him. Hopefully, all this means a return to the Premiership which is most important. Even as you flinch when reading the name in the newspaper or hearing the name on the telly, remember it will always be St James Park. Once you enter the stadium, erase all doubts.

The British Empire fought for this!

The Daily Mail goes patriotic after Jan Moir's homophobic innuendo and their divers perp walk. But it seems a bit fascist in its endeavour. After all, the very people they want to honour fought that scourge in World War II. And yes, it is also true that the British Empire was not welcome in many countries.

Arsenal succumbs because they have to show their "English" credentials otherwise it would be confirmation that they are dark foreign agents. Think of those Francophones eating poppydust. Whoohoo! Makes my goolies tingle. But good on you Man Utd, Liverpool, and Blackburn.

Anyways, here is the poppycock barometer. And see if this merits inclusion.

from Wesley Sneijder

They are left needing a miracle to qualify after a late late Lyon equaliser.

OLLIVERPOOL - The funniest bloopers are right here

" Mmmmmmm. Where is my Rolodex? "

With Franck Ribery out, Bayern has been struggling without his creativity. They lost to Bordeaux, 0-2 in the CL and are almost out of contention to make the round of sixteen.

In the Bundesliga, Bayern are in sixth place with 19 points after five wins, four draws, and two losses. It has not been a scintillating season but then again only four points separate the top team (Bayer Leverkusen) and Bayern, pointing to a far more fluid situation in the Bundesliga as compared to the Premiership where Chelsea has established itself as the team to beat.

However, Van Gaal's tenure has not lived up to his billing and compared to Klinsmann at a comparable stage, it falls short. He was touted for his discipline and tutelage of young players but so far he has failed to get the players to perform. The club spent 70 million euros on Mario Gomez, Ivica Olic, Anatolyi Tymoshchuk, Danijel Pranjic and Edson Braafheid. Mark Van Bommel and Anatoliy Tymoschuk have been ineffective in midfield. Hans Jorg Butt has not inspired confidence in goal. Tymoschuk's inclusion seems to mirror Rafa's obsession with Andriy Voronin. Both are especially immobile players with a heavy touch.

Van Gaal seems to rotate his striker corps a lot giving it an unsettled look and scoring is down relative to how potent the attack looks on paper with names like Gomez, Luca Toni, and Miroslav Klose. Their most attacking player against Bordeaux was the evergreen Arjen Robben, making a remarkable recovery from knee surgery just a month ago. Robben was the star of that 3-0 win over Wolfsburg which was followed by a 5-1 clobbering of Dortmund but the scoring after those high voltage games have faded. It will be a month before Ribery returns and Bayern has to figure out a way to create goals without him in the forthcoming matches.

The Zapatero government is proposing a tax rate hike from 24% to 43% for overseas players who earn more than 600,000 euros ($884,600) a year. Spain is reeling from the recession with 20% unemployment.

This will effectively end the "Beckham Law", named when the tax rates were amended in 2002 for the English midfielder to make it attractive for him and and other highly sought talent to come to the Liga.

The hike will come into effect from January 1, 2010 and it is not retroactive so high priced talent like Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahamovic will not be penalized.

You realize the Liga's power in Spain's politics.

The Liga's favourable tax rates coupled with the higher cost of living in England mean the Premiership has to pay their players more to break even with their Spanish counterparts. This season only Man City came close while the rest of the Premiership became less competitive. It is noteworthy that the Liga seems to live in a cocoon, spending hundreds of millions of euros in transfer money even while Spain's economic woes have deepened. The proposed tax hike has been met with fierce resistance by the Liga honchos and one of the actions contemplated is a strike.

Contrast this with the Gordon Brown government's 50% tax rates applied to those earning £150,000 (167,000 euros/$247,882) which adversely affects top earning league footballers. It met with little opposition from the Premiership.

Even with the Liga's apparent thumb in the eye for the economy, matches have been overflowing with fans which points to the drawing power of football as a form of escapism from times of stress. A strike could prove unpopular with millions and the Zapatero government risks losing even more support further increasing the likelihood of future opposition gains.

But just in case, all else fails, there is this.

These USA vs Italy matches have gotten to be quite something. The U- 17 World Cup match today was no exception. A missed penalty made the difference.

The USA had their chances including a penalty awarded for a handball on Federico Mannini in the 17th minute. But Jack McInerney saw his penalty kick saved by replacement goalie Francesco Bardi. It proved costly as Italy went ahead through Giacomo Beretta in the 29th minute as the striker became the recipient of Pietro Iemmello's header straight into his path.

Nick Palodichuk had a big match for the second time as he headed the ball after the resumption of play for the equalizer. The US dominated proceedings and controlled the ball with McInerney unable to finish Luis Gil's good approach work. The Italians struck again as Iemmelo this time became the goalscorer with his one touch strike. The USA had a golden chance before the end of play to draw level with substitute Victor Chavez dragging his shot wide of Bardi.

Wilmer Cabrera has done a great job with these kids. The US was profligate in not finishing off chances but what is heartening to see is the first genuine signs of understanding the importance of ball possession. There is a tempo, a nascent pacesetting quality that one saw in these matches.

In this match the USA retained the ball 55% to Italy's 45%. This is quite startling because possession stats usually favour Italy. Compare that to the far poorer ball possession/ control of the USMNT in the Confederations Cup and you can see why Brazil was able to come back.

The Slam! Bam! Wham! Thank you, Donovan! style is very pleasing at its counterattacking best. The rest is an after thought:The ability to slow down, retain control, and make the other team earn possession. Against quality opposition this proves to be an Achilles heel. It is too late for Bob Bradley to take the emphasis away from the pedal to the metal approach for the upcoming World Cup but in the junior teams there seems to be a better balance. I fully envision a multifaceted 2018 World Cup team that will be a force to reckon with.

Arsenal came into its own with crisp, free flowing football. Cesc with a brace, Nasri with a very welcome contribution on his return, and Diaby rounded up the scoring. But Arshavin was the source having a hand in three of the goals. And Wenger singled him out.

Wenger highlighted Andrey Arshavin - who had a hand in three of the goals - for special praise, saying: "He was outstanding. He gave the ball every time a fraction of the second you wanted him to give it and that is top quality.

Arshavin's singular trait is a short reaction time between goal and foot, which is great because Arsenal finally have a trigger man but at times, I have noticed he is not in the best position to shoot effectively or lets up an opportunity for someone else to shoot by not passing. Today, he was selfless.

Almunia made a terrific save parrying Pelle's snapshot onto the crossbar but also did very little to stop Jeremain Lens shot which scored Alkmaar's only goal.

Drogba,rising from the ashes of a three match suspension,was back to his dreadful best.He scored both the goals in Chelsea's two all draw against Atletico Madrid.

Sir Alex Ferguson has referee issues again.He called referee Olegario Benquerenca's decision not to give Darren Fletcher a penalty in the Man U v/s CSKA champion's league clash the worst decision he has ever seen.Meanwhile the game ended at 3 goals a piece.Michael Owen's goal stretched the offside rule to the limits of its credibility.

Stan Koenke just bought up 427 more shares. His holding increases to 29.6%, less than a percentage point from the automatic trigger for a full offer for the club.

No knowing if the Denver Nuggets owner is planning a bid. But he still owes £50m for the shares that he bought from Danny Fiszman and the Carr family. The consensus is that it will take him a while, maybe years to pay them off.

Kroenke's personal worth has increased to presently over £2.2b from £1b in 2005 even as the recession has stalled his real estate ventures. He is also mentioned as the frontrunner in the St Louis Rams buyout where he already owns 40% of the stake. However he might have to give up ownership of the Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, and Colorado Rapids as the NFL does not allow cross ownership of other sporting franchises.

I think he has solid business acumen but where does Arsenal fit into Kroenke's frenetic buying out of sporting franchises?

He took over the co-ownership of the St Louis Rams in 1995 and the team enjoyed their best year in 1999 when they won the Super Bowl with Kurt Warner and Marshall Faulk. They have been in steep decline since then. The Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2001. They have not repeated that success. The Nuggets and the Rapids are perennial doormats in the NBA and the MLS. The Rapids after his 2004 takeover from Phillip Anschutz have missed the playoffs three times in succession and attendances have plummeted.

The indifferent record of his sports teams cannot all be blamed on one man but there appears to be a pattern of benign neglect after he buys a team.

The Arsenal Supporters Trust issued a statement.

"The AST has repeatedly stated that we are generally opposed to a takeover and would fight any plans that require the club to incur debt to pay for a takeover as has happened at Manchester United and Liverpool.

"The AST's own assessment of today's development is that a takeover is not imminent and that today's purchase is the consolidation of an existing position."

Update: My bad. The Nuggets have done very well in recent seasons after years in the wilderness. They made it to the Western Conference finals last year losing to the Lakers. Obviously Kroenke has spent money on them as Brian points out. But his record with sporting franchises remains mixed. The obvious disappointment remains the Colorado Rapids whose performance remains underwhelming even with their extensive tie ups with Arsenal and Pachuca. . . .

Band news for Clichy. A suspected stress fracture of the back will keep him out of the AZ Alkmaar return leg at the Emirates tomorrow and league fixtures against Wolves, Sunderland, and Chelsea.

Clichy's injury leaves Kieran Gibbs as the starting left back.

Nicklas Bendtner is also out for a month with a groin strain.

Wenger on the injuries:

"We fear a stress fracture of the back for Clichy and if that's the case he will be out for a few weeks.

"Nicklas (Bendtner) we still don't know yet but he will be out at least for four weeks."

Good news is that Tomas Rosicky is back in action.

The bad news just keeps getting worse for Liverpool with Torres to join Steven Gerrard as a possible candidate for surgery. He has a hernia which could be cured with a long layoff of a month but if symptoms persist then surgery will be the other alternative.

Rafa has no choice but to play Torres in today's match against Lyon at the Stade de Gerland. A loss could effectively end their CL hopes as Fiorentina face an easier task in Debrecen. Alberto Aquilani might also be pressed into service ahead of schedule.

Its a crocked squad with Martin Skrtel (muscle), Albert Riera (hamstring), Martin Kelly (ankle) already out. Making the last minute list are Glen Johnson (calf), Daniel Agger (back), Fábio Aurélio (calf) and David Ngog (ankle).

It is almost cruel to pile on Rafa at this point. And it is silly to accuse him of making these bargain basement deals when the same defensive unit playing healthy gave up just 27 goals last season. As an Arsenal fan, I am ecstatic that Thomas Vermaelen and William Gallas are combining so well but we are a few injuries from Mikael Silvestre.

One of the great disconnects in the Argentina World Cup qualifiers was the anemic performance of Leo Messi when compared to his stellar Barca exploits. It was as if there were two different performers inhabiting the same body.

Maradona might have come to the realization that Messi needs the sort of laissez faire environment that he enjoys at Barca where his creative genius alongside that of Iniesta and Xavi create parallel points of attack. But this takes place after players become familiar with one another over time. Without them, Messi would be about half as effective. It appears that Maradona is now trying to bring in players and experiment with positions that can replicate Barca. Its noteworthy that the team chosen to play Spain has not one domestic player as all of ply their trade in the European leagues.

But is it worthwhile building a team around one player? Even Maradona with his precocious talent and superlative ego would say that it is an onerous responsibility. After the opener against Italy in the 1986 World Cup, Maradona said, "I wasn't alone; we had a team. Bilardo had found the team he was looking for."

In the 1986 World Cup, Carlos Bilardo employed a unique defensive position as Jose Brown was positioned as sweeper back behind two stoppers in Oscar Ruggeri and Jose Cuciuffo. The wide midfielders were Ricardo Giusti on the right and Julio Olarticoechea on the left with Sergio Batista holding and Hector Enrique in the center. Jorge Burruchaga was the attacking midfielder sitting behind Maradona and Jorge Valdano.

Given the paucity of quality full backs in the Argentinian team, a full four man complement might be difficult. Bilardo's 3-4-1-2 formation should get consideration or rather another variation, the 3-4-3. You have three decent central defenders in Daniel Diaz, Walter Samuel, and Martin Demichelis. Maxi Rodriguez and Jonas Gutierrez can provide the speed down the flanks, tracking back to help out defensively, in effect creating a flexible five man defensive front while Mascherano holds the center and Pablo Aimar takes over the attacking role.

The Benfica man is finally healthy and in great nick. With Aimar and Messi you get a protean attack that can change shape and speed. Veron introduces predictability like he did against Paraguay keeping Messi in stasis. Angel Di Maria plays down the left, Gonzalo Higuain in the center, and Messi off to the right. I think Maradona should keep Veron ready for his set piece expertise if the attack is stalling or Argentina has fallen behind.

In fact, Maradona can tap into a ready resource. With Aimar, Di Maria, and Javier Saviola at Benfica, you get the benefit of a cast of players playing together in key attacking positions who can complement Messi. Benfica rather than Barca is a more realizable route.

With his contribution key to the Galaxy making the playoffs, Beck's Milan departure raises fewer eyebrows. He will play his first Serie game on January 6th and if all goes as planned, he will join the Galaxy after the World Cup.

I am of the camp that the criticism which he received on his return was fully deserved. Donovan's remarks were on the money although he should have had a man to man with Becks instead of whingeing to Grant Wahl. Anyways, after initially reacting badly, Becks settled down and helped the Galaxy in their push towards the playoffs. As long as he remained committed, Galaxy fans began accepting Becks desire to play for England as something that they could live with.

"I'm completely focused on ending this season on a high note with my club by winning the MLS Cup," added Beckham, referring to the MLS play-offs

If he does that, he will leave the fans in a better mood. A much warmer welcome awaits him when he comes back in July 2010.

The video is self explanatory

A 2 nil win over Getafe when they were down to 10 men and the ghastly memories of the 4-0 thrashing by Alcorcón still fresh in their minds is just what the doctor ordered.Morale for the CL clash against AC Milan coming shortly would have received a significant boost.They are now just one point behind Barcelona.Higuain scored both goals.

Good on Sir Alex if this indeed works.

HAMM:
This is not much fun.
(Pause.)
But that's always the way at the end of the day, isn't it, Clov?
CLOV:
Always.
HAMM:
It's the end of the day like any other day, isn't it, Clov?
CLOV:
Looks like it.

(Samuel Beckett, Endgame, 1957)

One has to wonder whether Rafa is having a good time coaching Liverpool these days. Its a bit hard to say when someone's emotional firmament is as sparse as Rafa's. But he seems to be going Gerard Houllier's way.

Rafa seems to be in the crosshairs again as he pulled Fernando Torres and Yossi Benayoun out of the Fulham game in another whimsical tactical switch.

One would think that the Man Utd win would be a big momentum builder and the two principal architects of that huge win would play though the Fulham match. It was illuminating to see Torres walking away with his eyes rolling as Babel took his place and Benayoun make way for Nathan Eccleston with a bewildered look as both clearly disagreed with Rafa's decisions. It was as if Rafa wanted to purge every memory of that Man Utd victory.

There is a case for Torres being protected as he is not a 100% fit but Benayoun whose creative presence is desperately needed cannot be explained.

One is reminded of the demise of Gerard Houllier in 2002-2003 whose tactical mistakes and inexplicable and unpopular substitutions hastened his exit. He also made a slew of transfer busts balanced out with some absolute gems.Yes, history does repeat itself.

Houllier like Rafa gave hope bought on with early success as Liverpool's manager leading them to the FA Cup, the League Cup, and the UEFA Cup in 2001 before spending most of the 2001-2002 season out with emergency heart surgery for a dissected aorta. In his absence, his assistant Phil Thompson took over as caretaker manager and under his guidance Liverpool achieved their best second place finish.

Patrick Barclay on those last days:

" Even Houllier's most ardent admirers would have to admit that his astute acquisitions - Didi Hamann, Sami Hyypia, Stephane Henchoz, John Arne Riise, Milan Baros and Gary McAllister come to mind - must be balanced against the likes of El Hadji Diouf, Salif Diao, Bruno Cheyrou and Bernard Diomede."

Rafa's record is equally schizophrenic. Jermain Pennant, Mark Gonzalez, Fernando Morientes, Craig Bellamy, Andrea Dossena proved duds. But then there is the sublime with Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso, Pepe Reina, Yossi Benayoun, and Javier Mascherano. He also persuaded Steven Gerrard to stay on and was responsible for Jamie Carragher's transformation to central defender. And we have yet to see Alberto Aquilani other than a pleasing cameo.

Even the current injury crisis has a whiff of Houllier missing Owen and Kewell after a defeat by Southampton.

" Can I just stress the fact that I wonder how Manchester United would cope without Van Nistelrooy, Scholes and Giggs or Arsenal without Henry, Bergkamp and Pires. This is what we have got. Five of the players who started against Everton were missing today, and the rest are not at the level we need because they are too young."

Has Rafa made a calculation that the Premiership is a lost cause and is now trying to salvage the CL campaign? Or has he mentally made an even bigger leap somewhere else? The first is a tactical move which could go horribly wrong but it still means that Rafa is committed. The other is when you look to replace him.

Maybe it is Kenny Dalglish and if one hazards a guess, Phil Thompson if he can be persuaded to return to Anfield. But Patrick Barclay ends with a warning "But the more money football craves the sillier it gets and even Liverpool, sad to say, have come to this."

Rafa should be given the benefit of the doubt.

The man of the moment for the Galaxy

For a moment Donovan Ricketts looked like he was going to burst a blood vessel after the Chivas attack had carved up the LA defense again and again. After he saved a sure goal from Maicon Santos he launched into a tirade against his defenders. His fury was absolutely justified at those bunch of clowns. Before that he was forced into a superlative save from a thunderous shot by Paulo Nagamura. To add to his woes, he picked up a hip flexor strain and provided Bruce Arena some anxious minutes.

The underdog theme seen in the MLS playoffs was very evident in this match too as Chivas held the more high profile Galaxy with Landon Donovan and David Beckham to a 2-2 draw.

All four goals came from atrocious mistakes although it can be argued that Maykel Galindo's effort was also a piece of good anticipation.

Maicon Santos got things rolling for Chivas in the 4th minute as he latched onto a heads up pass made by Kljestan. However a backpedaling Omar Gonzalez gave up too much space and then Ricketts reacted too late to his driving shot hit low and hard to his left. Mike Magee's equalizer came 10 minutes later as Cuesta flubbed a clearance over his head and gifted the ball to the Galaxy midfielder who put it past Zach Thornton.

Things got worse for Chivas in the 42nd minute when a goal mouth scramble results in a half clearance out of the box which goes to Santos who instead of controlling it, mishits it and sends it back. The ball lands at the feet of Donovan who is onside and fights of Talley for the goal. Right after resumption, Preki introduces Galindo who immediately puts the Galaxy defense on notice with a shot that just goes over the cross bar. But in the 51st minute Omar Gonzalez makes nowhere back pass which Galindo picks up, accelerates, turns around Ricketts to get the equalizer.

Beckham was on the money with his passes but the Chivas defense was quite vigilant and he was unable to do much damage. Jonathan Bornstein and Cuesta tangling with Becks a few times. Both Galindo and Eddie Lewis proved to be effective substitutes for their teams with Galindo blistering the Galaxy's left flank and Eddie Lewis reciprocating against Chivas. There were some great opportunities when Alan Gordon dragged a cross too far ahead of Donovan and the ball rolled harmlessly over the sideline. Soon after it was Donovan's turn to provide but Gordon failed to connect.

There was some rough stuff between the two teams. Becks seemed to be involved in most of them. The Galaxy "go back home" now to face Chivas but it was underwhelming stuff from the top rated team. Donovan perked up in the second half and Beckham seemed to be more interested in being ornery. Veteran Eddie Lewis was far more effective.

The MLS playoffs so far have proved very competitive and the tense edge to them have been very welcome.

Sunday's edition of FSC's business minute sponsored by British Airways discussed the economic implications of David Beckham's arrival at Milan. Keith Costigan, Warren Burton, and Chris Miles all nodding in agreement that Becks arrival would bring back the crowds to the San Siro, boost T shirt sales, and relieve them from the desperate reality of rapidly emptying coffers.

Again no hard numbers, no charts. If Beckham's Milan move improves the club's finances so tangibly, as he should have last season, then why did they need to sell Kaka? Its a bit mind boggling to think that T shirt sales from a sagging global brand like Beckham could turnaround the Serie's problems of vanishing TV money and overall lukewarm attendances. Its a tough sell and there are no numbers quoted to back it up.

I did not know that the MLS was a giant holding area for players seeking addiction counseling.

Through the Revs vs Fire match, Sullivan and Bretos in their verbiage sprinkled the word "intervention". Even in their word salad, that word stuck out. Whereas Bretos usage was confined to the more physical aspect of the game when a defender cut off a pass or cleared a corner, Sullivan's was a bit more cognitive when he said that Jeff Larontewicz's "intervention" pushed Shalrie Joseph to play better.

Intervention is the term used by friends or family to get someone to seek professional help with an addiction or some kind of traumatic event or crisis.

Intervention is an active process. Actually, in baseball, the coach and players arriving on the mound to chew things over with a pitcher in trouble could be termed an intervention. But I have yet to hear Tim McCarver describing it like that.

Since such "interventions" on their star player will constitute yellow cards for every player and a coaching ejection in a soccer game, I respectfully suggest Chris Sullivan and Max Bretos find a better descriptor. Leading by example, influencing, intercepting, are some alternate suggestions. Jeff Larentowicz helped Shalrie Joseph get his groove on. Now that's more like it.

The MLS playoffs have been engrossing and so far the upstarts have given the finger to the favourites.

This time it was the Revs taking it to the Fire who had all their big named players while the Revs have been without Twellman and Ralston. But the Revs African contingent stepped up admirably as Sainey Nyassi, Emmanuel Osei, and Kenny Mensally had a huge game. As the Fire took the lead through a Chris Rolfe goal it seemed a bit bleak for the Revs in the first 20 minutes.

Shalrie Joseph with deputy Jeff Larentowicz thereafter began asserting control over the midfield and creating chances with the Revs coming close through Larentowicz and Osei. The equalizer came at the stroke of half time as a beautifully dipping free kick by Mensally was flicked into goal by a streaking Osei.

The second half saw Joseph drifting further upfield, Larentowicz holding the midfield and Nyassi operating on right and Castro subbing for Mensally, bringing his energy down the left.

The Revs were rampant and it was only Baggio (no points for guessing the inspiration for that name) Husidic's laser shot which clanged off the underside of the crossbar and bounced down on the goal line giving the Fire their best second half chance. But it was Shalrie Joseph's long legs giving the good old toe poke following a confused goalmouth scramble following Jon Busch's save of Pat Phelan that gave the Revs the matchwinner and his first playoff goal. He now has an enviable 9 goals in 13 goal attempts.

The Fire had some Blanco moments but the defense led by Darrius Barnes, Kevin Alston and Jay Heaps kept the midfield maestro relatively quiet.

Onward Revs! We will see you at Toyota Park on the 8th of November. May you flip the bird.

A 35th minute goal by Jack McInerney was enough for the USA to beat the UAE.

A snapshot by Nick Palodichuk was parried by Ahmad Shambih in the UAE goal and the ball fell to the prowling McInerney who made no mistake.

The UAE also made it to the next round based on the Fair Play rankings.

Nice bit of stimulus. 65,000 and 100,000 total new jobs would be created in the various host cities during the preparation and operation of the tournament in the year of the event. If the USA does get awarded the 2018 or 2022 World Cup, one of the goal will be to generate immediate tangible effects.

David Downs, the USA Bid Committee Executive Director on this aspect:

"Our goal is to have an even greater impact during the eight to 12 years leading up to the event that will stimulate the development of the game and the soccer economy, both at national and international levels."

This is an important goal given that employment will continue to lag as the economy limps back to some semblance of normalcy. Skeptics of the whole venture would be a bit more assuaged. There is a section of the US that would inevitably cheer on Barack Obama's failure to land the World Cup. For them there is no silver lining.

Eastern Conference Semifinals - First Leg
New England Revolution vs Chicago Fire
Sun., Nov. 1, Gillette Stadium (2 p.m. ET; FSC/FSE)

DF Chris Albright (L lateral meniscus tear); MF Steve Ralston (R ACL tear); FW Taylor Twellman (concussion)

That is pretty much the meats and bones of the team gone there. But the Revs have managed to play rope a dope soaking up the pressure with their defense. Their back four Emmanuel Osei, Kevin Alston, Jay Heaps and Darrius Barnes along with Matt Reis have been stingy. Their ultra defensive tactics have drawn criticism from some quarters including Kevin Payne, DC United's CEO, arguably sour grapes but declining attendances give some credence to his grouse.

The meeting between these two is an almost automatic, their fifth in a row in the playoffs. The Fire beat the Revs last year halting a three year losing streak.

Today's match will pit Cuauhtemoc Blanco, one of the MLS most creative midfielders against Shalrie Joseph, the Revs spark on attack. Blanco has been in the news for his purported move to second division Veracruz in the Mexican league after the playoffs to prepare for the WC and his return to the Fire is in question. This could be his last few matches for the Fire and he takes the pitch after some concerns over his fitness.

Forwards Edgaras Jankauskas and fKheli Dube will be the men to watch for but only an amnesiac will give them an edge over the Fire in an area dominated by Brian McBride and Chris Rolfe. McBride has continued to do what he did after leaving Fulham and provide big time goals for the Fire. and like Blanco could be making his last few appearances. He is out of contract after this season.

The Revs have an edge in Shalrie Joseph, arguably the best attacking midfielder in the MLS today whose midfield control will be critical. He has to do two things, keep the ball enough to create chances against a rejiggered Fire defense and minimize giveaways that give the Fire an advantage.

Attrition will be key between these two defensive minded teams. The Revs have given up 37 goals, the Fire four less. The Revs will clog up midfield and get markers behind the ball to disrupt the Fire flow and hope that Joseph can create enough for a matchwinner. He makes few goal attempts but he is deadly accurate. 8 goals in 12 SOG is very impressive. In fact, this could turn out to be a key stat.

Chelsea didn't even have to wait for four days to beat them four zero again.

Remember this scissor kick against Sunderland a couple of weeks back ? Well he came up with this bit of brilliance against Blackburn yesterday.

Jack McInerney and the US take on UAE

USA vs UAE, Ijebu Ode, 1 November 2009, 16:00 (local time)

Follow the match on ESPNU, ESPN360.com and Galavision starting at 10 AM.

The final day of the World Cup U-17 group stage.

A US win will get them into the last 16. A loss or a draw will mean an agonizing wait to find who fills the last two spots as the best third place finishers. Germany and New Zealand are through. Waiting in the wings are Brazil and Netherlands who are hoping that they can pip the UAE, USA, South Korea and Uruguay.

The UAE are ahead with one more goal scored even as the GD between the two countries is the same.

This is the first meeting between the two countries. A lot will be riding on forward Jack McInerney and midfielder Alex Shinksy. McInerney scored his 10th goal this year in the opening match against Spain which the US lost, 1-2 and Shinsky scored the winner against Malawi. But the US has been guilty of squandering goalscoring opportunities even as they have retained the edge in ball possession in both matches. They will have to do better against a UAE squad that has been more effective in scoring goals.

Manager William Cabrera on what the US should do:

"We'll be working on improving our finishing. We're well organised, we quickly move into the opposing penalty area, but we fall short when it comes to converting our chances."