Arrival of Match Day Five brings forth the ancient rivalry of A.C. Milan against F.C. Internazionale. Welcome to the Derby della Madonnina. I was alerted to Mark Meadow's article, Friday afternoon question: Which is the best derby? this afternoon of course and it reminds of how wild things get at the San Siro when these clubs meet. This year's […]

Schalke has a superb record against Köln, but manager Christopher Daum has only ever lost twice in seventeen matches against them in the Bundesliga. That form continued today as Köln walked away deserved 1-0 winners against the league leaders. Indeed, the score line doesn’t do justice to the performance by Köln. They completely outplayed the […]

Wolves ( W-W-W-W-W) v Bristol City ( W-L-D-D-W) 7:30 est Barnsley (D-L-L-W-L) v Norwich ( W-L-W-D-D) 10:00 est Blackpool ( W-L-W-W-L) v Coventry ( W-D-D-L-L) 10:00 est Burnley ( D-W-W-D-D) v Preston ( L-W-D-W-D) 10:00 est Cardiff ( D-W-D-D-D) v Birmingham ( L-W-W-D-W) 10:00 est Charlton ( D-W-L-L-W) v Sheffield Wednesday ( D-L-W-D-D) 10:00 est Doncaster […]

Time to check in with the FA Cup again as the Second Qualifying Round gets under way. So far, I've seen a couple of my initial teams drop by the wayside as have their replacements. This stage of the tournament is quite tumultuous but still exciting for the clubs involved. 160 clubs are involved in […]

In a new experiment, I am going to try a weekly wrap-up of news stories that caught my eye but that I don't think require pages of analysis as I am prone to doing 🙂 So, here they are, concise and hopefully interesting. UEFA are expected to formally confirm in December that Wembley will host […]

Following Albert Riera’s timely arrival at Liverpool on the last day of the transfer window, Rafa Benitez finally has two good wide players to deploy in his line-up who he can trust to produce excellent performances consistently. Ryan Babel can be played on either flank, but now that the left-footed Riera has turned up he […]

The indispensable American Soccer News had a good story on Don Garber’s plans for MLS 2.0, which will be discussed later this year with the league’s board. While Commissioner Garber deserves lots of credit for steering MLS away from the troubled waters that threatened its existence a few years back, the arrogance and hubris of […]

The indispensable American Soccer News had a good story on Don Garber's plans for MLS 2.0, which will be discussed later this year with the league's board. While Commissioner Garber deserves lots of credit for steering MLS away from the troubled waters that threatened its existence a few years back, the arrogance and hubris of […]

As we reported on a number of weeks ago, the UEFA Executive Committee has finalized the change in name of the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League starting in the 2009-10 season. Along with the new name come major changes to the competition, which will feature a 48-team group stage. Changes to the name, […]

Say what you will about Maradona — he never put on a suit. Michel Platini on the other hand is on one hell of a roll at the moment. Earlier this week, he went off Arsene Wenger as if the man had murdered half his family, instead of appointing youngters to play at the highest […]

Newcastle United has named Joe Kinnear as their interim manager until the end of October. Newcastle Executive Director Dennis Wise must have had his grubby hands involved in the appointment of Kinnear. The Irishman managed Wimbledon from 1992 to 1999. But while Kinnear never managed Wise at Wimbledon, there's undoubtedly a close connection between him […]

The number of Premier League clubs owned by Americans became four this week after Dallas-based businessman Ellis Short acquired controlling interest in Sunderland. Short now owns the largest single stake of Sunderland at more than 30 per cent, and gives him effective control of the northeast club. He joins fellow Americans Malcolm Glazer, Randy Lerner, […]

After a Football Association appointed arbitration hearing ruled in the favor of Sheffield United earlier this week, lawyers in England must have smelled blood because now up to 12 Sheffield United players who were relegated at the end of the 2006/2007 season are seeking legal advice regarding the possibility of suing West Ham United for […]

To promote the upcoming release of FIFA 09, EA Sports came up with a remarkable way of advertising the new version of the game. During halftime of the Chelsea against Man United match last weekend that was televised on Sky Sports in England, EA debuted a four minute TV commercial starring Wayne Rooney and Gonzalo […]

By Brian Phillips, Run Of Play I can still remember the day I first asked myself the question. Accrington Stanley had gone down to Leyton Orient in an early-round Carling Cup match, and like all other football fans everywhere in the world, I immediately logged on to the website of The Sun in order to […]