Soccer News and Opinion

Milan 3 Lazio 1

Gianfranco — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:54:36 +0000

I have to admit when I saw Reja’s 3-4-1-2 formation I was nervous that Milan would be unable to cope with Lazio’s width and that they would lose the vital numbers game in the midfield. Cisse’s early goal seemed to affirm that point with a lack of pressure from the midfield causing disarray in the defense and poor ...

El Clasico As Vintage As They Come: CDR Barcelona 2 - 2 Real Madrid Match Review

Yazan — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:08:28 +0000

[caption id="attachment_7383" align="aligncenter" width="652" caption="What a night"][/caption] El Clasico at its best, entertaining from start to finish! Real Madrid entered the game knowing they needed a 2 goal clean sheet win or by winning the game with a score line greater than 3 goals to go through to the CDR semis. All that against Barca, at the Camp Nou, and ...

Legend that is Sportsmail claims we're in for Pogba, van der Wiel

Jack — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:47:46 +0000

Sportsmail strikes again. Though we may have to start giving the masked man/woman/thing a little more credit on the back of breaking the Willian negotiations last week. This time around, the Daily Mail's journo in the field, with a little help from the Mirror, suggests Chelsea are ready to make key moves for both Paul Pogba and Gregory van der ...

Match Preview: Liverpool v. Manchester United, 01.28.12

Ed — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:15:11 +0000

Liverpool's big week culminates with Manchester United's trip to Anfield in the fourth round of the FA Cup tomorrow, two weeks ahead of their visit to Old Trafford in league. United had the more arduous task in the third round, traveling across town to the Etihad, where they scraped past City in a 3-2 win. Liverpool eventually eased past Oldham ...

Preview: FC Bayern vs. VfL Wolfsburg (Updated)

phil — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:50:57 +0000

In Match Week 19 of the 2011-2012 Bundesliga season. Everyone already knows, but just to hit all the necessary weekly notes: Bayern comes off a disheartening 3-1 loss to Borussia Monchengladbach, in which offense, midfield, defense, and (especially) goalkeeping failed to measure up to Bayern standards. Still, we sit at the top of the table, and a victory here would ...

Halfway Incoming

chris — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:05:23 +0000

The Loaner: Part Simon I'm going to do something rather ridiculous here. Quite ridiculous, really. This is rather easy to say since it's not my money - any millions I have in the bank are earmarked for the scientific realization of those much ballyhooed pink fluffy unicorns and the fucking gorgeous rainbows they dance upon - but put me in charge (heaven ...

Catch Up Mode

MAD — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:51:27 +0000

Okay, I’ve been out for a while with a couple of issues, none of them serious, but all time consuming and important, so I wanted to get an apology out of the way first – yeah, yeah, I know, ‘ings is tough all ovah… On to more important questions like "How can I watch the Inter Babies beat Sporting?" or "Is ...

Preview: QPR vs. Chelsea in FA Cup Round 4

phil — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:26:14 +0000

Coming off a Premier League win that demonstrated that Mark Hughes finally may have the club headed in the right direction, Queens Park Rangers host Chelsea in an FA Cup Match this Saturday. QPR barely even made it this far, requiring a replay to edge past MK Dons earlier this month. Chelsea, meanwhile, looked sharp in their Round 3 match, ...

Napoli Manager to Miss CL Tie + News & Notes

Devin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 06:52:38 +0000

Whoa. I forgot we were still involved in the CL for a second. More, after the jump: The Shove Heard Round Naples Get this: Napoli's manager, Walter Mazzarri, has been banned by UEFA for two matches after shoving Nilmar during Napoli's final group stage match with Villareal. So, the man essentially responsible for turning the Naples outfit into a well-oiled, counter-attacking machine ...

Video: Salomon Kalou's lethal volley against Burkina Faso

Jack — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:29:24 +0000

Some good - and some bad - news for Salomon Kalou today at the Africa Cup of Nations. We'll start with the good, the real good. Kalou opened the scoring for Côte d'Ivoire in their 2-0 win against Burkina Faso tonight. Peep Sal's excellent volley in visual form below. The volley was the cherry on the top of what was another fine ...

Bayern Munich Signs The Common Man

chris — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 04:09:10 +0000

High up on the list of things no to do with football fans is to promise the unveiling of a big new signing and then fail to follow through. Worse is to promise a big signing and then come through with someone who won't even find the end of the bench on the reserves. Like Bayern did this afternoon, requesting ...

Jose Being Jose, In A Parking Lot

chris — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:41:08 +0000

That's Jose after last night's Clasico, hanging out in the Camp Nou parking lot next to the referee's car. He's not waiting to tell him how much he enjoyed his performance or beg him for the maker of his cologne, I can tell you that much. Google Translate can do the rest. The man just loves staying out of the spotlight, ...

Video: Liverpool v. Manchester City Extended Highlights

Noel — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:30:36 +0000

Because knowing the final score makes Joe Hart's heroics far less frustrating. Because Craig Bellamy is fantastic, even if for the final twenty minutes he was on the pitch it was hard not to worry his knees would explode every time he took off. Because the crowd was absolutely phenomenal and we could easily have devoted an entire entry to ...

Parker departs on loan

Thomas Hill — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:46:59 +0000

Injury-plagued defender Ben Parker has joined Carlisle on loan until February 25th. The move will give Parker the opportunity to gain some fitness, after a torrid few years with constant injuries. After playing some behind-closed-doors games at Thorp Arch, Parker will now step up in level and move to Carlisle who currently play in League One. During his time with the ...

Coppa: Milan v Lazio

Gianfranco — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:00:05 +0000

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Cristiano Throws A Clasico-Sized Fit

chris — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:35:22 +0000

A Clasico which lived up to its name? But of course. And Cristiano was seen off the ball throwing what should now be one of his toddler tantrums? But of course. It's not one of his finest, in fact it'd have a hard time cracking his top five, but it's nice to know that even as he seems to be maturing, some ...

Liverpool 2, Manchester City 2: On to Wembley

Noel — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 08:23:23 +0000

Liverpool 2 Gerrard 40' (pk), Bellamy 74' Manchester City 2 de Jong 31', Dzeko 67' "Would it be a risk to play defensively?" the reporter asked Kenny Dalglish as Liverpool prepared to face Manchester City at Anfield in the second leg of the League Cup semi-finals. "Well," said Dalglish, "we won't play defensively." "Because you're at home?" asked the reporter. "Because we're Liverpool," said ...

Expect our Belgian contingent to expand by the end of the week

Jack — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:16:18 +0000

Buy Belgian. Ho. We talked yesterday about the club allegedly reentering talks with Racing Genk over the transfer of the young Belgium international Kevin De Bruyne. Those talks (gasp) are actually true. This according to a spokesman for Genk: Dirk Degraen is in London and the expectation is that it (the transfer of De Bruyne) will be finished this week. The assumption is ...

Napoli v Inter - Liveblog

Kirby — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 03:00:59 +0000

Will The Pandev Effect reign supreme at the end of tonight's proceedings? Join me 15 minutes before game time to find out! Napoli v Inter ...

Transfer rumours: Osborne, Roberts, Cywka and Sharp

Ben — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 02:47:19 +0000

[caption id="attachment_1343" align="aligncenter" width="594" caption="Berkshire bound?"][/caption] We've come into some money so the rumours are flying. Michael Owen, Arshavin and even Pavlyuchenko have been touted. Get a grip people, here's the more likely... Karleigh Osborne As previously discussed, the versatile defender at Brentford looks set to be arriving at the Mad Stad sooner rather than later. The 23 year old is out of ...