“With political chaos continuing in Honduras, the possibility exists that the United States’ crucial World Cup qualifying match, scheduled there on Oct. 10, will be moved to another country. Honduras’s ousted president, Manuel Zelaya, has furtively returned to Tegucigalpa, the capital, and entered the Brazilian Embassy. The crisis has led to the closing of all Honduran airports, a curfew and roadblocks. The only way into the country is by land through El Salvador.” (NYT)

” Football was never a ticket to fabulous wealth in Zimbabwe, at least not for players who stayed in the country. But the economic situation has made it ever harder to play simply for the pride and pleasure of pulling on local team colours. Before the economic downturn in the late 1990s, the simple pride of appearing for the local team inspired many young Zimbabwean footballers, who were not necessarily choosing soccer as a career to earn a living.” (IPS News)

“I must admit, Nigerian legend Jay-Jay Okocha was one of my favorite players of all-time to watch when he was in his prime. He was tricky, skilled, entertaining, and most importantly, good. I’m really surprised he never won African Footballer of the Year in the late 90’s/early 2000’s. I stumbled upon these youtube videos this morning of Okocha explaining how he pulled off some of his signature tricks and moves in a training session.” (The Best Eleven)

“As he trotted along the touchline at Anfield last Wednesday, Andriy Voronin was greeted with generous applause. It probably had something to do with the fact that, a matter of metres away, the rather more popular Javier Mascherano was also warming up. Nonetheless, it was a moment the Ukrainian may want to savour.” (ESPN)

“As you may or may not have noticed we have been running a new video feature down the sidebar of late. Well, now is the time to formally introduce Just-Football TV, a new section on the site we hope you will enjoy. Hidden somewhere deep amidst the colossal, maze-like pixellated jungle that is Youtube I’ve become increasingly aware lately that there are some absolute gems out there as far as football videos go.” (Just Football)

“The missus and I were in Boston this past Saturday afternoon with some time to kill, so I thought we’d try and find a place to catch the West Ham v Liverpool match. Our journey began in Cambridge, around Harvard Square. Perhaps it’s because the kids at that institution are too busy planning winter break ski vacations in Austria or copying MySpace to make millions or splitting the atom or whatnot, but there aren’t too many bars in the yard.” (EPL Talk)

“‘I noticed in this weekend’s Observer that a Colombian player was sent to prison earlier this year after shooting a fan,’ wrote Ed McMillan last week. ‘Other than the obvious Cantona kung-fu kick, are there many other example of players attacking supporters, particularly their own?’ Eric Cantona is by no means alone in his aggressive attitude toward supporters. Javier Flórez was the Colombian midfielder who went too far after losing in a local tournament final earlier this year. The Atletico Junior player shot at a group of supporters, killing one, who chanted ‘weak, weak, weak’ at him as he drove past. Flórez explained he was ‘drunk and angry’ when it happened, following his release from prison on a £45,000 bail.” (Guardian)

“FC Barcelona continued their excellent run in the league with a 4-1 demolition of Racing Santander at El Sardinero stadium. Two goals from Messi and one each from Ibrahmovic and Pique was enough to see Barca comfortably past Racing. Like the weekend it was a sensational first half display which put Barca in command. Now Barca has moved three points clear and the pressure will be surely on Madrid to respond against Villareal.” (All About FC Barcelona)

La Liga 2009/2010 – (VIDEO MESSI)
“RACING DE SANTANDER lost to an overpowering FC BARCELONA 1-4 as Barça continues on its merry way of total dominance of the ball & play.” (Spanish Football Sports)

Racing Santander (1) vs Barca (4) Highlight (All About FC Barcelona)

“Too much of a good thing, this maybe the dilemma that is rattling the mind of REAL MADRID Coach Pellegrini as he figures out how to balance & create a clock working team. The observations & the experience up till now show a potential dependence on midfielder Xabi Alonso as ‘Director of the Orchestra’ & a lack of a stable ongoing tactical set up in the team’s line-ups.” (Spanish Football Sports)

Sébastien Bourdon (1616-1671)
“David Ngog struck the only goal as a much-changed Liverpool side sneaked past a fired-up Leeds 1-0 in the Carling Cup tonight. The Premier League giants were outplayed by the League One leaders for much of the third-round tie but Ngog netted against the run of play after 65 minutes.” (ESPN)

Leeds United 0, Liverpool FC 1: Reds exorcise Carling Cup ghosts of the past
“THEY came to relive the old times at Elland Road last night. Thankfully for Rafael Benitez, however, the same did not apply to his team. Liverpool began the process of exorcising the ghosts of the recent Carling Cup past by claiming narrow victory at Leeds United. Dismal defeat in this competition at Tottenham Hotspur last year, along with previous capitulations against Arsenal and Crystal Palace, had sparked debate over the strength in depth of his squad and the effectiveness of the Academy.” (Liverpool Daily Post)

Leeds restore pride in defeat
“LEEDS UNITED ultimately lost this tie but, along the way, Simon Grayson’s charismatic League One pace-setters will surely have gained a whole load of new friends. If last night was a throwback to compelling contests of yesterday when Leeds, and not just Liverpool, were major football powers in the land there was none of the gratuitous snarling or snide tackling of old from the men in white.” (Irish Times)

VIDEO: Leeds United 0 – Liverpool 1
(Liverpool Kop)

“There were some crucial matches on Sunday in the top European leagues such as Manchester United v Manchester City in the English Premier League. All the top leagues were in play including the Italian Serie A, Spanish La Liga, German Bundesliga, French Ligue 1, and of course the English Premier League. Here are video highlights for all of the matches.” (The 90th Minute)

“Last year all the talk in the Turkish league was of how lowly Sivasspor could break the established order at the top. The start to this season, however, has proved that fairytales do not happen and that the power of the big clubs in the country will continue to trump the plucky underdogs as long as the quality players remain. Two of the country’s biggest, Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray, have begun the season in flying form. With 100% records after six games, they have opened up a six-point gap over their nearest challengers, Eskisehirspor, and look like pushing each other all the way to the finishing post.” (ESPN)

“Florentino Pérez, president of Real Madrid football club, will accept nothing short of the biggest, brashest and best football club that money can buy. And therein lies the problem for this soft-spoken, besuited, self-made billionaire. While Real Madrid fans are enjoying the start of the Champions League with new hope and a bevy of superstars, critics are accusing Mr. Pérez of ruining the sport.” (WSJ)

“Regular readers of Avoiding the Drop may recall the inaugural entry in the ‘Football Cup Primer’ series from a couple weeks back. That entry discussed the FA Cup, one of the oldest and largest competitions in the world for any sport. The Football League Cup is not that competition. The confusion between the League Cup and the FA Cup is easy to understand. A big part of this confusion comes from the fact that the matches that are most easily watched – the third round of the League Cup and the ninth round (or ‘Third Round Proper’) of the FA Cup – tend to feature the same set of teams; by that point in the FA Cup, there are usually only one or two non-league sides remaining, and the League Cup’s only drawing from teams in the Football League.” (Avoiding the Drop)

“Raphael Honigstein makes his living as a football interpreter. Best known in the English speaking world for his columns on German football in the Guardian and participation in that newspaper’s well-known football podcast, he plays the reverse role in his home country, acting as English football correspondent for the Suddetsche Zeitung. This dual role – explaining German football to the English and English football to the Germans – puts him in a fairly unique position among football journalists. And it left him well placed three years ago to find a German publisher for ‘Higher, Better, Faster, Stronger’, a guide to English football which has just been re-issued in English as Englischer Fussball.” (Pitch Invasion)

“What Rafa said at half time….. Then a quick reminder of the Liverpool AC Milan Istanbul 2005 story…” (SoccerBlog)

“The map shows the clubs in the 2009-10 Serie A season. It is the 78th season of the competition. Reigning champions are Internazionale. In the gallery below are the top 6 drawing clubs from the 2008-09 Serie A season. Stadium names, locations, and their capacities are listed, along with the clubs’ average gates.” (Bill Sport’s Maps)

“Where England lay down roots in South Africa next summer could be key to their hopes of winning the World Cup. That’s why coach Fabio Capello has been so exacting in choosing the base for his team. The Italian wants a private and secure hotel that boasts excellent training facilities and is based at altitude. After looking at sites in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Polokwane, attention has focused on the Royal Bafokeng Sports Campus in Rustenburg.” (BBC)

“I can not remember John Lukic ever making a save. Through the fog of the many mistakes that littered his career, Lukic enjoyed two spells at Arsenal and Leeds during his 23 years as a professional that saw him pick up three league title medals, twice as a Gooner and once with Leeds. Not a show-off, he was a keeper who got the job done with the minimal of fuss, but when he got it wrong he did so with considerable commotion and this greatly overshadowed his abilities between the posts and unfortunately for him this was a relatively common occurrence.” (Three Match Ban)

“AS THE race debate rages on throughout SA and political parties use race as a sledge hammer to divide constituencies, it is worthwhile casting our gaze back to a previous Soccer World Cup host country that was equally divided along racial fault lines, but emerged united from hosting the Fifa World Cup. Prior to the 1998 Fifa World Cup, the host nation France was riddled with xenophobia and labelled ‘the most racially troubled country in Europe’”. (Business Day)

“Regulators can try to push the world in a certain direction. But there is never a guarantee that forces in society will embrace the spirit as well as the letter of rule changes. A case in point could be the ‘home-grown player’ clause that the Premier League clubs have just agreed. The original intention is presumably to ensure opportunities for local talent. A quota of eight squad players will need to have been developed by the club for three years between the ages of 16 and 21. But since no mention is or can be made to nationality, the dangers of an own goal are clear.” (BBC – Tim Vickery)

“Borussia Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion is rarely mentioned in the same breath as Peterborough United’s London Road but both are at the centre of one of the hottest debates among football fans of recent years: the issue of standing at matches. The Taylor Report’s seemingly incontrovertible conclusions sprung up in the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster and its preceding long decade of trauma and, in tune with alive and kicking. So, it was with a sense of heady nostalgia that I took up my place against the foremost crash barrier at the Moys End on Saturday. True, just last year, I had had an opportunity to relive my formative years at Dagenham, but this was a fairly high profile league game, just one notch below the Promised Land.” (thetwounfortunates)

“And then there were two. Four games into the Serie A season, nobody should be too shocked to find Juventus top of the table on 12 points. Rather more will be surprised to see Sampdoria, fresh from a 4-1 win over Siena, alongside them. Never in the club’s history – not even in the title-winning season of 1990–91 – have Samp lasted this far into a league season without losing or drawing.” (Guardian)

“Mission accomplished, Argentina beaten and World Cup qualification achieved. Brazil coach Dunga was reminded, however, that there were times when the press and public had called for his head. ‘They weren’t only after my head,’ he replied. ‘It was head, body and soul as well.'” (World Soccer – Tim Vickery), (World Soccer – Tim Vickery)

“Barcelona continued their superb start to the season and signalled their intentions to reclaim the Primera Liga title with a stunning 5-2 victory at home to Atletico Madrid on Saturday night.
Pep Guardiola’s side got off to the perfect start when summer signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic bagged his third goal in as many league starts after just two minutes at the Nou Camp.” (ESPN)

Barca Thrash Atletico Yet Again; FC Barcelona – 5, Atletico Madrid – 2
“For the second time in a row, Atletico Madrid’s visit to Camp NOu turned out to be a nightmare. But it was better than last time, I mean they score one more and conceded one less too this time around. With this heavy defeat Atletico’s start to the season has gone from bad to worse. First half goals from Ibrahmovic, Messi, Alves and Keita, and an injury time strike from Messi condemned Atletico’s to their heaviest defeat this season.” (All About FC Barcelona)

FC Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid Highlights
“I am not exactly sure whether tehse videos will remain forever. Youtube may remove them soon. Till then enjoy.” (All About FC Barcelona)

“Alright class, it has been brought to my attention from a group of cantankerous students that I have not taught you the darkest of arts- referee complaints. While normally I would bite my thumb at the mere hubris of a student requesting an addendum to my carefully planned curriculum, I realize my oversight has hindered a key aspect of pro soccer enjoyment.” (futfanatico)

“Throughout my life I’ve been both types of fan, loyalist and leach, depending on the sport. There is logic and even romance in each. But as I age I’m attracted more and more to the latter, to the Chuck Klosterman sort of sports fandom that resembles musical taste – polygamous and fickle. I think this is common for a lot of modern sports fans, the mass consumers of entertainment that we are. But such anti-affiliation, although aesthetically pleasing and easy, undercuts some of the most fundamental aspects of fandom no matter how much it tries to objectify a sport.” (Foot Smoke)

“Remember how we never win a match at the San Siro? And how, not counting the Champions League final in 2020, which was against Manchester United and thus not exactly at the San Siro, we haven’t done so in this decade, or at all since a highly random 4-3 win over Inter in the Champions League quarterfinals in 2019? And remember how I have a huge psychological hangup about this, and while not exactly intimidated by Inter and A.C. Milan—hard to be intimidated by teams you so roundly excel in most competitions—still go into each new season with the thought that those six points are essentially out of play more or less openly in mind?” (The Run of Play)

Peter Paul Rubens 1577 – 1640, Abraham Meets Melchizedek
“Fernando Torres scored twice as Liverpool held off a brave fightback from West Ham to earn a deserved victory in a five-goal thriller at Upton Park. Torres put the Reds in front in the 19th minute with a fine solo goal before debutant Alessandro Diamanti equalised from the penalty spot. Dirk Kuyt’ restored Liverpool’s lead in the 40th minute but Carlton Cole levelled again a minute before the interval. It was the irrepressible Torres, though, who settled a pulsating contest when he headed home from close range in the 75th minute.” (ESPN)

West Ham 2 – 3 Liverpool
“Fernando Torres scored twice to help Liverpool overcome battling West Ham. Zavon Hines hit the post before Torres poked in the opener, but Alessandro Diamanti scored a debatable penalty that he appeared to touch twice. Dirk Kuyt stabbed in Steven Gerrard’s header and West Ham fought back with Carlton Cole nodding in Mark Noble’s corner just before the interval.” (BBC)

West Ham United 2 Liverpool 3: match report
“It must make Rafael Benitez shudder to wonder what he would do without Fernando Torres. Liverpool were stumbling towards two more dropped points now before the Spaniard contrived one of his extraordinary sleights of hand, ghosting through West Ham United’s defence for a headed winner that his team scarcely merited.” (Telegraph)

Liverpool’s Fernando Torres kills off West Ham resistance
“Liverpool and their supporters came close to departing east London despondent about ending the 20 years of title torment they are constantly reminded of. Until Fernando Torres gave them late victory and three vital points it seemed Rafael Benítez would be forced into more fast talking about why those hopes are so quickly going wrong.” (Guardian)

Fernando Torres rises to secure victory for Liverpool
“LIKE the nation’s other all-red institution, normal delivery has still not resumed at Liverpool. Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard are back in their most creative places, the goals and the wins have started flowing again, but there is something fundamentally awry with a Rafa Benitez team that defends like Postman Pat.” (Times)

“Scotland’s remaining European representatives Rangers and Celtic suffered mixed fortunes during their latest continental charges. While the debate about Scotland’s failure to reach the World Cup finals continues to rumble on the Old Firm are expected to restore some much needed pride for the country.” (ESPN)

“Will England win the World Cup? Frankly, who knows? It is pointless, nine months before the competition begins, to speculate based on the present strengths and weaknesses of the side and their main rivals. In 2006, Brazil were regarded as runaway favourites, based largely on the way they slaughtered Argentina – plus ça change – in the 2005 Confederations Cup Final in Frankfurt. Come the tournament they were laboured, with Ronaldinho hopelessly ineffective and the strike partnership of Adriano and Ronaldo looking unfit.” (Footballing World)

“The cities of Manchester and London will be divided this weekend as two of England’s most fiercely contested and eye-catching derby matches capture the attention of football fans around the globe. But Manchester United v Manchester City and Chelsea v Tottenham Hotspur pale in comparison to some of the most bitter derbies fought around the world. As part of the build-up to another ‘Super Sunday’, ExtraFootie takes a look at the five greatest derbies in world football.” (Extra Footie)

“After three days of play, the Serie A table is full of early season surprises. Juventus top the table with 9 points, along with Sampdoria and Genoa. Inter and Fiorentina follow on 7 points, while Milan are still on 4 points after a draw against lowly Livorno. In a warm up for the impending Champions League both Inter and Juventus earned a relatively comfortable 3 points, but the story of the weekend was the impressive performance of the Genoan teams — Genoa beating Napoli 4-1 at home and Sampdoria winning 1-0 against Atalanta in Bergamo courtesy of the skill of Antonio Cassano.” (First Touch)

“The latest video flashback takes us back to 1988 when England was a terrible football team despite finding glory just two years later in the 1990 World Cup. This video features Brian Clough and Brian Moore. Cloughie makes a flub in the beginning of the analysis but doesn’t seem to care, which is followed by commentary from the legendary Brian Moore and Trevor Francis in this match which ended 0-0.” (EPL Talk)

“Arthur Wharton was the world’s first Black professional footballer. Despite his sporting prowess, he was never fully accepted and died a forgotten man. Arthur Wharton was born in Jamestown, Accra, Gold Coast (now Ghana) in 1865.” (David Patrick Lane), A Burning Black Star (DPL)

“Italian football received a badly needed fillip in early September when Marcello Lippi’s World Cup winners left some unimpressive recent performances behind them with a convincing 2-0 World Cup qualifying win over Bulgaria. This win meant that Italy could then travel to Dublin in October for what might otherwise have been a very difficult qualifier with the comfortable cushion of a four-point lead over Giovanni Trapattoni’s Ireland.” (WorldSoccer)

“Cesar R. Torres is an associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology, Sport Studies and Physical Education at the College at Brockport, State University of New York. He is also president of the International Association for the Philosophy of Sport.” (NYT)

“As a footballing metropolis, Glasgow and its environs more or less have it all. There is Celtic, Rangers, Partick Thistle, Hampden Park and Hamilton Crescent, where the first ever international match was played. Not far away are clubs like Motherwell, St.Mirren and Hamilton Academical. Glasgow has had its European champions, its fan tragedies, glories and financial disasters and, as we’ll look at today, clubs who have come, gone and returned again — such as Clydebank FC.” (Pitch Invasion)

“I’m extremely excited to find that the book written by the man who to me most epitomizes the history of British football is available free online. John Cameron was a Scot who began his career playing for the great amateur side Queens Park. He went on to star for Everton, then won the FA Cup with Spurs in front of 114,000 people at Crystal Palace. He coached in Germany before World War One and was interned at the Ruhleben camp in Berlin alongside, amongst others, Steve Bloomer.” (More Than Mind Games)

“We now return you to your regularly scheduled Rankings. Sorry for the near month-long lapse, but it’s been a busy few weeks of international play. What we’re left with here is a funny window of time early in the season in which some of the power clubs are taking their time to warm up, while other teams are making early shots across the bow of their respective leagues. That’s why you’ll find, for instance, Manchester City up high this week, yet Arsenal and Liverpool — both winners in their Champions League openers — are missing due to some dodgy league results. In the meantime, we’ve got a couple of clubs on here that aren’t at the summit of their leagues, but sometimes, you’ve just got a feeling. As usual, give me an earful here, and enjoy this week’s rundown.” (SI)

“Life without a home computer isn’t as bad as you might think. Life, does in fact, move on without minute-by-minute status updates, viral videos and Yahoo! top news. Thankfully, while Dell computers and customer support are lacking, at least they sent a technician to my home to replace my faulty motherboard and processor within a couple days of its failure.” (Thats On Point)

“Our list of some of the worst transfers in football (you may also find some of these in our list of the best and the most bizarre transfers)… ” (MidfieldDynamo)

“In the 1970s, John McDermott started taking pictures of the North American Soccer League, photographing players like George Best, Franz Beckenbauer and Pelé. He became a regular contributor to Sports Illustrated and Newsweek, and has covered every World Cup since 1982. He was a member of the FIFA Photographers Pool at the 1998 and 2002 World Cups. In his second Ultimate XI for the Goal blog, McDermott puts down the camera and grabs his headphones to listen to the tunes that make being a soccer fan anywhere in the world a treat (or not) to the ears … the best soccer songs on the planet (in order of preference).” (NYT)

“Germany, Serbia, Ecuador. December 4th is a day I’m dreading. It is the day of the World Cup draw, and those three teams are the average group that the USMNT would be drawn into. Throw in the USA and you have current FIFA ranks 4, 11, 13, and 36. The worst case scenario is Brazil, Netherlands, Australia or 1, 3, and 14. That first group is close to a group of death, the second one surely is.” (Match Fit USA)

“Here’s a few videos of the dedicated, loud, and fanatical supporters of Turkish soccer. They definitely know how to create an intimidating home atmosphere in Turkey.” (The Best Eleven)

“FC Barcelona started their UEFA Champions League defense with a goal-less draw at San Siro. This is never a bad result but with the chances we had we could have come out with three points with ease. It was a clash of the best atatck in the world against one of the most organised defense in the world. This was billed as the match-up between Eto and Ibrahmovic. Eto never had a sniff of our goal but Ibrahmovic wasted some golden oppurtunities.” (All About FC Barcelona)

Eto’o and Ibra fail to hit the target
“Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Samuel Eto’o were both kept under wraps by their former team-mates as Inter Milan held Champions League holders Barcelona to a goalless draw at the San Siro.” (ESPN)

Inter vs Barca Player Rating
(All About FC Barcelona)

“Whether you like them or not, you have to give UEFA credit sometimes, for despite their overwhelming inconsistency of action, there’s one thing about which they’re unbelievably consistent: being utterly stupid. One minute, they’re accidentally reinforcing an arbitrary new law that might actually help rid the game of a modern-day scourge, and the next, they’re deliberately backing down and making themselves look wimpish in the process.” (UnprofessionalFoul)

“Tonight’s Europa League matches have generated more media interest than is usually given to Europe’s secondary club competition but it has nothing to do with the new league format and silly name change. The games will be watched with keen interest because they will involve two extra officials stationed behind the goals.” (WSC)

“Dirk Kuyt’s 12th goal in 35 Champions League games for Liverpool saw the Anfield men claim an opening Group E victory but there was nothing to suggest a Madrid final in May is on the cards.” (ESPN)

LFC 1-0 Debrecen: IN PICTURES
“Dirk Kuyt fired to earn Liverpool three points from their Champions League opener with Debrecen. We got some great snaps on the night – here’s our best.” (Liverpool FC)

“Cristiano Ronaldo’s transfer from Manchester United to Real Madrid is a landmark transfer in many ways. Financially speaking, at a credit crunch-busting £80 million it is the most expensive transfer in world football history. In terms of precedent it is huge. As one of the biggest clubs in football it is almost unheard for a player at the top of his game to want to leave Old Trafford, let alone for Sir Alex Ferguson to allow it. But Ronaldo’s move to the Bernabeu is also ground-breaking in another sense. It is hugely important in terms of what it represents for world football because it symbolises a new era, a seismic shift. In terms of worldwide glamour and appeal it represents the passing of the baton from England to Spain.” (albion road)

“I caught Joan Oliver one recent Saturday lunchtime, when he had found a rare bit of peace in his empty office in Barcelona, away from the madness of football’s transfer market. FC Barcelona’s chief executive is presiding over an off-the-field achievement as remarkable as the club’s European and Spanish titles on it. Barça is poised to become the club with the highest revenues – about €400m. Better yet, in an industry that burns money, they have made profits for six consecutive years. The team that starts its defence of the Champions League on Wednesday is also a proper business.” (FT – Simon Kuper)

 
“The undoubted eye-catcher of the opening round of the Champions League group stages is Barcelona’s visit to Inter Milan. With a cast of stars of the world game and characters like Jose Mourinho basking in the limelight, it’s a game that has, as the Spanish would say, plenty of morbo about it. As Phil Ball said in his excellent book with the same title that came out a few years ago, it’s a word that entails a lot of slippery little notions that just won’t rub shoulders with a convenient English synonym.” (BBC)

“I’m writing this from Oviedo, in the region of Asturias in the north of Spain. It took me seven hours to get here by bus on Sunday, and when I arrived my host unfortunately (but very kindly) took me on a tour of the city which was actually en fiestas – specifically the Fiestas de San Mateo in which people were making the habitual amount of noise, and eating and drinking as if the word ‘recession’ were some kind of myth associated only with the rest of Europe.” (ESPN)

“2009-10 UEFA Champions League Group stage begins 15th and 16th September. The headline-grabbing match on Tuesday the 15th is Olympique Marseille (France) v. AC Milan (Italy). The marquee matchup on Wednesday the 16th is Internazionale (Italy) v. FC Barcelona (Spain). The matches involving the 5 clubs from Great Britain…15th Sept., Besiktas JK (Turkey) v. Manchester United (England); Chelsea (England) v. FC Porto (Portugal). 16th Sept., Liverpool (England) v. Debrecen (Hungary); Standard Liège (Belgium) v. Arsenal (England); VfB Stuttgart (Germany) v. Rangers (Scotland).” (bill sports maps)

“The UEFA Champions League group stage begins today with an interesting series of matchups and rivalries. Here is a brief look at three big ones that jump out from this week’s fixture list…” (NYT)

“The U.S. has produced some world-class goalkeepers over the years, none more accomplished than Brad Friedel and Kasey Keller, two ageless lions who are still prowling the pipes at, respectively, Aston Villa and Seattle. But if there’s one American who reminds me the most of Hatch, the fearless Allied keeper played by Sylvester Stallone in Victory, it’s Tim Howard.” (SI)

“The 2009/2010 UEFA Champions League proper gets underway this evening as the 32 teams that made it into the group stages begin the long battle ahead on the route to Madrid. No matter your thoughts on the competition, one thing for certain is that the Champions League brings together most of the best players in the world. But we all know about the Ronaldos and the Kakas of this world already. What about the star players who are perhaps lesser known by the competition’s wide viewing audience? Here Just-Football.com presents 10 players for you to keep an eye on in this year’s edition of the Champions League…” (Just Football)

“The BBC’s increased coverage of our division this season is by no means restricted to the visual medium. There has been an encouraging upping of profile on Radio too and one of the best examples of this is a new magazine programme titled, with bounteous imagination, ‘5 Live Football League’, an hour long meander through the issues of the week in all three lower divisions, on Monday nights at 9pm.” (thetwounfortunates)

Crossing of the Rhine by French Troops in 1672, (1699). Joseph Parrocel
“After a week of professional and methodical International football, the passion of the Premier League happily returned this weekend and amidst the action also helped to display the ambiguity of emotion. Manchester City’s Emmanuel Adebayor is possibly the greatest exploiter of this word after he explained away the unnecessary boot force used on Robin van Persie’s face by pleading emotion was the cause.” (Three Match Ban)

“It has taken but a month for Paul LeGuen to engineer a remarkable turn around in fortunes for Cameroon, placing one of Africa’s most consistent performers back on track for World Cup qualification. After failure at Rangers and the two seasons of contrasting fortunes at Paris Saint-Germain, the star of the taciturn French coach looked to be fading – his three successive Ligue 1 titles with Lyon dimming in the distance.” (WorldSoccer)