I'm Thankful for Footie

Praise Jesus.


Amen.

Amy Lawrence: Europe's young managers show what they can do – everywhere but here

The Champions League is full of recently retired players excelling in management. None of them works in England.

UEFA Champions League: Team of the Week

Goal.com runs through the best in show from matchday 5 of the Champions League...

Rustu

Alves Pique Sharonov Tremoulinas

Hleb Fabregas Cisse Krasic Pedro

Chamakh

UEFA Champions League: Wednesday Reports

Manchester United 0 - 1 Besiktas
United left with work to do
United's kids not quite ready



Bayern Munich 1 - 0 Maccabi Haifa
Olic gives Bayern hope





Bordeaux 2 - 0 Juventus
Chamakh seals top spot


AC Milan 1 - 1 Marseille
Lucho denies Milan


Porto 0 - 1 Chelsea
Anelka swoops late as Blues stroll


Real Madrid 1 - 0 FC Zurich
Ronaldo returns


The Path to the Knockout Stage + Complete Standings

England: Wednesday Premier League Reports + Table

Fulham 3 - 0 Blackburn
Dempsey double downs Rovers


Hull City 3 - 2 Everton
Tigers hold on for vital victory

Chelsea	13	33
Manchester United	13	28
Arsenal	12	25
Tottenham Hotspur	13	25
Aston Villa	13	22
Manchester City	12	21
Liverpool	13	20
Sunderland	13	20
Stoke City	13	19
Fulham	13	18
Burnley	13	17
Blackburn Rovers	13	16
Birmingham	13	15
Everton	13	15
Hull City	14	15
Wigan Athletic	13	14
West Ham United	13	11
Bolton Wanderers	12	11
Wolverhampton Wanderers	13	10
Portsmouth	13	7

Just the Basics Today

A day of travel (over the river and through the woods) so just the basics today. Besides Paul Hart's sacking and the Champions League, there's not much going on. Be safe. -Sanford

UEFA Champions League: Wednesday Preview

Chelsea and Manchester United can win their respective UEFA Champions League groups with qualification to the knockout phase already assured.

There is significantly more at stake in Group C, where all four clubs retain hopes of qualification, although heavyweight duo AC Milan and Real Madrid currently occupy the top two berths.

Milan play host to third-placed Marseille, who are just one point adrift of the leading duo, with Leonardo's men knowing victory would be enough to see them through.

Real welcome an FC Zurich side spanked 6-1 by Marseille in their last outing, but the Spanish giants must be wary after the Swiss club claimed a shock success at the San Siro in September to secure their only success so far.

Preview

UEFA Champions League: Tuesday Reports

Liverpool crashed out of the UEFA Champions League and Rangers tumbled out of Europe completely as Arsenal cruised into the last 16.

Debrecen 0 - 1 Liverpool
Reds win but crash out
Liverpool's bread and butter look stale
Uncertain future awaits

Fiorentina 1 - 0 Lyon
Viola through at Liverpool's expense

Barcelona 2 - 0 Inter Milan
Barca dominate Nerazzurri
A complete performance

Arsenal 2 - 0 Standard Liege
Gunners top group
Horror foul leaves Gibbs with broken foot

Rangers 0 - 2 Stuttgart
Germans too good

Bottom of the table Pompey sack manager Hart

Portsmouth have sacked manager Paul Hart after the club's poor start to the season left them rooted to the bottom of the Premier League.

UEFA Champions League: Tuesday Previews

Liverpool, Barcelona and Rangers are all facing the prospect of crashing out of the UEFA Champions League in the penultimate round of group games.

Debrecen vs. Liverpool
Victory in Hungary may not be enough
Carragher remembers past failures
U.S. TV: Setanta (LIVE at 2:45pm), FSC (5pm)

Barcelona vs. Inter Milan
Reigning champs face tough test
Eto'o can haunt former club
Barcelona on the brink
U.S. TV: FSE (LIVE at 2:45pm), FSNet (5pm), FSC (7pm)

Fiorentina vs. Lyon
Both clubs look to advance
Fiorentina raise stakes
U.S. TV: Fox Soccer Channel (LIVE at 2:45pm)

Arsenal vs. Standard Liege
Draw at home enough for Gunners to advance
Standard boss hopes to exploit Arsenal weakness
U.S. TV: Setanta (4:45pm), FSC (9pm)

Rubin Kazan vs. Dynamo Kiev
Russian champs look to continue success

Rangers vs. Stuttgart
Must win for both clubs

World Cup 2010 Draw: All You Need to Know

What: Fifa World Cup 2010 draw
Where: Cape Town, South Africa
When: December 4, 2009 5pm GMT.

The 32 teams will be seeded in four pots to be confirmed, perhaps, as late as the eve of the draw itself.

The 90-minute ceremony will take place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. More than 2,000 guests will be present in addition to a media presence of around 800.

Fernando Torres: exclusive interview with Liverpool and Spain's 'El Nino'

Spanish striker Fernando Torres talks about life at Liverpool and in the Premier League, and how he had managed to avoid the limelight despite his football superstar status.

Second-tier soccer league dubs itself the NASL

The new NASL has nine teams: Carolina RailHawks, Atlanta Silverbacks, Crystal Palace Baltimore, Miami FC, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact, St. Louis Soccer United, Tampa Bay Rowdies and Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

Ljungberg Wants to See Arsenal Steel

Freddie Ljungberg knows all the questions about Arsenal's durability. Do they have substance to go with their undoubted style? Character as well as creativity? Depth as well as desire? In short, when the going gets tough, can Arsenal get going?

Sepp Blatter calls emergency Fifa meeting after Ireland's controversial defeat

Sepp Blatter has called an emergency meeting of Fifa’s executive committee to discuss the fallout from Ireland’s World Cup qualifying play-off elimination by France.

The meeting will be held only two days before the draw for the finals in South Africa.

Sid Lowe in Spain

It's not supposed to be this way. Carlos Marchena's not supposed to score and he's certainly not supposed to score the same day David Albelda does.

Even the most evil men are capable of beauty once in a while.

Raphael Honigstein in Germany

A masterful display at Freiburg confirmed Mesut Özil's status as the best player in the league, a one-man source of creativity.

Mesut Özil streets ahead of rivals to inspire Werder to greater heights.

Paolo Bandini in Italy

After seeing off Fiorentina 3-2, Parma find themselves fifth in the table and that certainly is an extraordinary achievement.

Seventh sister back on the scene as Parma perk up sibling rivalry.

Jonathan Wilson in Eastern Europe

The Dutchman's ignoring of Rubin players may have helped them retain the title and cost Russia a World Cup finals place.

Rubin Kazan have good reason to thank the blinkered Guus Hiddink.

Phil Ball in Spain

The trouble with the 'clásico' (Barcelona v Real Madrid, in case you didn't know) is that in the week preceding this apocalyptic fixture everything seems conditioned by its looming presence. It might have been better for the clubs themselves to have played the game on a weekend which neither preceded nor succeeded a Champions League midweek, but the gods of destiny preferred to keep things boiling over, sitting up there in the clouds this summer, poring over the fixture list.

Grant Wahl: Q&A with MLS Commish Garber

Our discussion addressed a number of topics, including his views on using instant replay in soccer officiating (in the wake of the controversy in Wednesday's World Cup Ireland-France World Cup qualifier), the MLS salary cap, Landon Donovan's future in MLS, a move to a single table, consensus-building with MLS owners, and his thoughts on my book, The Beckham Experiment. The following conversation has been edited for space and clarity:

Bobby McMahon Column

Not since Zinedine Zidane lined up Marco Materazzi’s chest with his head in Berlin over three years ago have so many opinions, distortions, hyperbole and hypocritical utterances been spewed forth.

The “Henry Incident” has provided an opportunity for outlandish stereo-typing and xenophobia. Opportunists have embraced a platform from which to moralize while others see the chance to advocate the red herring solution of video replay. (When Tony Cascarino lectures on ethics and fair play and isn’t laughed out of town then the apocalypse must be at hand.)

Fifa shows Iraqi footballers the red card after Sunni-Shia struggle

Iraqi football teams have been banned from all international competitions after sectarian infighting among the country’s sports officials.

England: Top 10 Drubbings

Goals fly in from all angles, with scoreboards threatening to blow a fuse and reporters racing through pencils as they frantically scribble away in an effort to keep up with the action unfolding in front of them.

These are the games which really capture the imagination - at least for the players and supporters of the side in the ascendancy.

Tottenham followers enjoyed one such afternoon on Sunday, with Spurs putting nine past hapless Wigan, so here skysports.com takes a look at a few other top flight fixtures which have seen the netting take a pummelling.

Monday MLS Breakdown: RSL's MLS Cup Triumph Is No Overnight Success

Few gave Real Salt Lake much of a shot to defeat Los Angeles and win its first MLS Cup. Kyle McCarthy explains how RSL positioned itself for glory and grasped the opportunity in the Monday MLS Breakdown.


MLS Final Player Ratings

Spain: La Liga Weekend Round-ups

Real Madrid have moved to the top of the Liga table after beating Racing Santander while Barcelona were held at Athletic Bilbao.
Saturday


Valencia moved back into the Primera Liga's top four on Sunday with a convincing victory on their travels.
Sunday

Italy: Serie A Team of the Week

Ronaldinho (Milan): Arguably the former Barcelona star’s best match this season. A full ninety minutes of ingenuity and creativity. His one-touch assist for Pato was sublime and his penalty was dispatched with confidence. He is thriving in Leonardo’s system and enjoying his football again.

The Rest

Italy: Serie A Weekend Round-ups

Inter Milan stretched their lead at the top of the table as Parma prevailed in a five-goal thriller at Fiorentina.
Saturday


AC Milan edged a seven-goal thriller against Cagliari, while Francesco Totti was the hero for Roma.
Sunday

England: Premier League Weekend Review

Tottenham Hotspur went scoring bananas in a humiliation of Wigan Athletic, their North London rivals Arsenal saw their title aspirations suffer a blow while struggling pair Hull City and West Ham United played out a six-goal thriller.

Review

England: Premier League Special Reports

Kevin McCarra at Anfield
Liverpool 2 - 2 Manchester City


Richard Jolly at Old Trafford
Manchester United 3 - 0 Everton


Kevin Palmer at Stamford Bridge
Chelsea 4 - 0 Wolverhampton Wanderers


Dominic Fifield at White Hart Lane
Tottenham 9 - 1 Wigan

Weekend previews

Shockingly there's a full weekend of soccer action about to start. I know, how can that be?!?! Have the authorities lost their minds? With Thierry Henry roaming the streets, handling a ball, destroying a nation's economy, causing cancer and eating children, it's hard to believe European governments are allowing people out of their houses. Madness. It'll end in tears, especially as he's now got Roy Keane on his side.


The Times EPL preview
Sky Sport's EPL preview
Lawro

Goal's Bundesliga preview

ESPN's Serie A preview

ESPN's La Liga preview

Argh -- been busy today

Blame it on my Liverpool supporting Uncle who is in from his retirement compound in Thailand. Hopefully I'll get some previews up later today. Thankfully countries playing countries is behind us for a spell and we can focus on the true beautiful game: club football. -Sanford










His fault...

Roman Abramovich's Tab at Nello's

2010 FIFA World Cup: Line-up For The Finals

Hosts South Africa

Europe England, Spain, Italy, Germany, Holland, Serbia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Denmark, Greece, Portugal, Slovenia, France

Africa Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria

Asia Japan, Australia, South Korea, North Korea

Oceania New Zealand

Concacaf United States, Mexico, Honduras

South America Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay

Interactive Guide

International Friendly: Denmark 3 - 1 United States

Take one look at the scoreline from the United States' 3-1 defeat by Denmark, and it's tempting to assume that the more inexperienced elements of manager Bob Bradley's lineup were to blame. But closer inspection reveals that some veteran performers should bear most of the responsibility.


Winners and Losers

Lessons learned from Denmark and Slovakia

2010 World Cup Qualifying: France 1 - 1 Ireland

Trap's dreams denied by missed chances and underhand tricks



Cascarino: Henry is an insincere cheat


Richard Williams: How Henry could have handled it all so differently



Maher: Ireland hard done by



Barclay: Lucky Domenech spared trial by video



Lee Dixon: Henry has tainted his reputation





Amy Lawrence: Trap finds no luck


Bitter Keane blasts FIFA, UEFA & Platini


Fifa rejects calls for replay after Henry handball

2010 World Cup Qualifying: Slovenia 1 - 0 Russia

Slovenia reached the 2010 World Cup finals at the expense of nine-man Russia thanks to Zlatko Dedic's 44th-minute goal on a dramatic night in Maribor. Russia, who had Aleksandr Kerzhakov and Yuri Zhirkov sent off in the second half, were left to rue some poor defending and an overall disjointed performance.


Hiddink tight-lipped about future after Russia fail to qualify

2010 World Cup Qualifying: Bosnia-Herzegovina 0 - 1 Portugal

Portugal belatedly secured their place at next summer's World Cup with an impressive performance in Zenica. After scraping a 1-0 win in Lisbon at the weekend with a laboured showing on home turf, Carlos Queiroz's side upped their game to close out the qualifying play-off and book a ticket to South Africa.

2010 World Cup Qualifying: Ukraine 0 - 1 Greece

Dimitris Salpigidis scored the only goal as Greece clinched a place at the 2010 World Cup courtesy of a narrow victory over Ukraine at the Donbass Arena in Donetsk.




Agony for Sheva...

2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifying: Uruguay 1 - 1 Costa Rica

Uruguay struggled to tame Costa Rica before booking their place in the World Cup finals with a 1-1 draw at home in the second leg of their South America/CONCACAF play-off on Wednesday. The match was held up for nearly five minutes near the end because of fighting between a Uruguay camera crew near the touchline and the Costa Rica bench amid a nervous denouement.

2010 World Cup Qualifying: Algeria 1 - 0 Egypt

Algeria qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1986 with a disciplined if patchy display, in a match as testy as it was tense. Antar Yahia's winner emphasised the commitment to attack the Algerians have shown throughout qualifying: the scorer was a right-back on a far from unusual foray. "We played good football throughout the qualifiers and we showed great fair play," said Algeria's coach, Rabah Saadane. "I want to thank the supporters – it is an immense joy to have qualified for the World Cup for them."

Twittering...Tweeting...Twitting?

Forgot to mention that I'm all a twit today as the matches progress. Here's my name:

Sanfordssoccer

I think that's all you need, but I might be wrong.

-Sanford

2010 FIFA World Cup Playoff Previews

Bloody hell. It finally all comes down to this. After today, we're done.

CAF
Egypt vs. Algeria
12:30 EST
Khartoum Stadium, Khartoum, Sudan
Preview
Preview II
Battle for final African spot at fever pitch

UEFA
France vs. Ireland (1-0 agg.)
3pm EST
U.S. TV: Setanta
Stade de France, Paris, France
Preview
Preview II
Ireland ready to turn belief into historic result
Last chance for Trap's plan to pay off


Bosnia-Herzegovina vs. Portugal (0-1 agg.)
2:45pm EST
U.S. TV: Setanta
Bilino Polje, Zenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina
Preview
Preview II

Ukraine vs. Greece (0-0 agg.)
1:00pm EST
Donbass Arena, Donetsk, Ukraine
U.S. TV: ESPN2, ESPN360
Preview
Preview II

Slovenia vs. Russia (1-2 agg.)
2:45pm EST
Stadion Ljudski, Maribor, Slovenia
U.S. TV: Setanta
Preview
Preview II

Intercontinental
Uruguay vs. Costa Rica (1-0 agg.)
6pm EST
Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay
Preview
Preview II

Top 10 Worst Players To Ever Wear The No.10 Shirt?

Carlo Garganese runs down the Top 10 list of players who should never been allowed to wear the sacred No.10 shirt…

Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher risk film row

Liverpool have risked a furore over a film starring Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher that portrays Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, as a whisky-guzzling drunk and Gary Neville, the club’s captain, as a rat who “hates Scousers”.

Gerrard and Carragher were joined by Rafael Benítez, the Merseyside club’s manager, at the premiere of Fifteen Minutes That Shook The World in Liverpool on Monday evening.

Samuel Eto'o rewards winning Cameroon squad with £29,000 watches

The Internazionale striker Samuel Eto'o has celebrated Cameroon's qualification for next summer's World Cup in South Africa by buying every member of the squad a £29,000 watch.









Nice watch...

Some Scotland players 'too thick' to understand tactics, says Craig Burley

Some of Scotland's players are "too thick" to understand George Burley's coaching methods, according to the sacked manager's nephew, Craig.

West Ham United club shop to sell limited-edition Katy Perry lingerie

The American singer appeared at the ceremony in a West Ham basque, complete with the team's badges on her chest, prompting the club to commission a special limited-edition range of underwear for sale to fans. West Ham say they were "responding to huge demand".

Arsenal problems mount as Kieran Gibbs suffers foot injury

Gibbs becomes the 12th player on Arsenal's ever lengthening injury list – he had been the club's first-choice left-back due to a stress fracture of the back suffered by Gaël Clichy.

Gibbs was forced out after only 21 minutes of the game against Lithunia, with initial reports suggesting he may have broken a metatarsal.

International Friendly: U.S. faces another test on European soil against Denmark

When the United States originally set up this Wednesday's friendly against Denmark, it was thought that the encounter would provide a fair assessment of where the Americans stood in comparison to another World Cup contestant. The chance to look at some fringe members of the team was also a benefit. Yet with both sides missing considerable chunks of their squad due to a combination of injury and club considerations, the match now appears to be veering toward experimental overload.





Wednesday
U.S. vs. Denmark
NRGi Park; Aarhus, Denmark
2:30 p.m. ET, ESPN Classic, ESPN2, ESPN360.com