“The US is going to South Africa. As I followed Grant Wahl’s twitter feed of Saturday’s game from San Pedro Sula, an odd experience of using a 2009 technology to get around the 1980 closed circuit, I was surprised, impressed, and pleased with the fortitude Bob Bradley’s men showed in Honduras. Having not been able to watch, I imagine the game to have played much like the Confederation’s Cup this summer: the US offering just enough tactical and technical savvy to complement their most distinctive quality of sheer determination. There are still many questions as to how far that combination can take the US at the World Cup finals, and I’m sure much will be written on that topic between now and next June. But for me the US victory, along with the crystallizing of all the nations that will be at the finals next summer, raises a more difficult question: will I be in South Africa with them?” (Pitch Invasion)

“Heck of a game here on Saturday night: Ireland 2, Italy 2. Italy qualified for the World Cup and the Republic of Ireland was guaranteed a play-off spot. Some of the younger Irish players — guys who toil for Championship clubs in England — played the game of their lives. The odd thing is that even before the thrilling, fast-paced game began, Ireland knew it was certain of a playoff spot. Earlier in the day, Bulgaria had collapsed against Cyprus, losing 1-4, and the hierarchy in Group 8 of European qualifying was solidified.” (NYT)

“The town of Pavia, half an hour from Milan, is famous for several reasons. It has a 14th century university, some famous wines and extreme weather with humidity and mosquitos in the summer followed by thick fog in the winter. The local football team, AC Pavia, is much less well-known – they have never played at the top level and their most recent season in Serie B was in 1954-55. The club gets some media attention these days, however, because of a 38-year-old midfielder called Benito Carbone, widely regarded in Italy as one of the potentially great players who never quite made it” (WSC)

Luciano Spalletti had to call it quits
“No one can ever suggest that the 2009-2010 Italian season got off to a quiet start. Within two rounds of matches, Internazionale had already stuffed cousins Milan 4-0 in the first Milanese derby of the season, while consecutive defeats against Genoa and Juventus had prompted Roma coach Luciano Spalletti to resign.” (WorldSoccer)

“Rio Ferdinand is perhaps one of the more unlikely of digital ambassadors. Before yesterday’s online-only broadcast of Ukraine v England, the defender offered his opinion on the unique way the game would be broadcast to the nation. ‘I’m sure it’ll be the way forward and in the future it’ll probably be the reality. I think it’s a good way to gauge how many people are interested,’ Ferdinand told BBC Sport. The Manchester United man’s view was one shared by many online who breathlessly predicted it would change the face of sports broadcasting. Perhaps the digital question was still playing in his head, judging by his performance in the game. (SoccerLens)

“The latest qualifiers came from the Americas, where Chile, the USA and Mexico made sure of places with victories early yesterday. With the five qualifiers from Saturday and 11 other countries, including hosts South Africa, which had qualified earlier, the total is now 19. In all, 32 teams will play in the 2010 World Cup. Yesterday’s qualifiers followed Ivory Coast, Germany, Denmark, Serbia and Italy, who won spots on Saturday.” (Timeslive)

“By Wednesday night the make up of the automatic UEFA qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup finals will be known and it is at least possible, if not likely, that there will be one or two surprises amongst them. Serbia, for example, only need one win from their two remaining matches against Romania and Austria to condemn France to second place in their group, whilst it is almost certain that, in spite of having two comfortable home matches against Hungary and Malta as their final two fixtures, the “lottery of the play-offs” will be the best that Portugal will be able to manage and they might yet even lose out on second place to one of Denmark, Sweden or even Hungary. Even Germany may only finish in second place in their group, a scenario which will become considerably more likely should they lose to Russia today.” (twohundredpercent)

“The CONCACAF region is still very close and all six remaining teams were in action on Saturday, October 10, 2009. The United States could clinch a spot with a win while Honduras and Costa Rica are in 3rd and 4th. Mexico will all but clinch a spot with a win as they have a better goal differential than Honduras and Costa Rica. Here’s a recap of all the matches in CONCACAF 2010 World Cup Qualifying along with video highlights.” (The 90th Minute)

U.S. Advances to 2010 World Cup
“Conor Casey plays soccer with the blunt, straight ahead resolve of a punch. His shaved head lends to that fistic impression. There is no need to go around others in his path when he can go right through them. His knees have often failed him, as has his touch with the United States national team. In 14 previous appearances, he had not scored a goal. His breakout performance Saturday night amounted to perfect timing, as did Coach Bob Bradley’s decision to put Casey into the starting lineup. The 6-foot-1 forward scored twice in a frantic, mesmerizing game that gave the United States a 3-2 victory over Honduras and a berth in the 2010 World Cup, which opens next June in South Africa.” (NYT)

Player Ratings: U.S. vs. Honduras
“It is this simple: the United States has qualified for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa — 10s for everybody! Easy. Saturday night’s 3-2 win over Honduras in San Pedro Sula means the U.S. and Mexico have claimed two of the three automatic berths from the Concacaf region. The win, powered by two goals from Conor Casey, rendered Wednesday’s game against Costa Rica superfluous … for the United States.” (NYT)

Mexico 4 – 1 El Salvador
“Mexico became the first nation in North and Central America and the Caribbean to clinch a World Cup berth, beating El Salvador 4-1 Saturday to eliminate the visitors. Marvin Gonzalez’s own goal put the hosts ahead in the 25th minute at Azteca Stadium, and Cuauhtemoc Blanco (71st minute), Francisco Palencia (84th minute) and Carlos Vega (90th) added goals.” (ESPN)

“Substitute Martin Palermo struck two minutes into stoppage time to give Argentina a 2-1 victory over Peru in a dramatic finale to their World Cup qualifier on Saturday. The victory keeps alive Argentina’s hopes of reaching the 2010 finals as they climbed into fourth place in the South American group before their last qualifier away to Uruguay on Wednesday. The top four go through to South Africa.” (ESPN)

Forlan keeps Uruguay hopes alive
“Uruguay claimed a crucial victory away to Ecuador to keep their hopes of World Cup qualification alive going into the final round of fixtures in the South America zone. An injury-time penalty from Diego Forlan gave the Charruas victory at the Olimpico Atahualpa and they now need a win over Argentina on Wednesday to achieve automatic qualification.” (ESPN)

Madness reigns in South America
“Madness. That’s the only word to describe Saturday’s action in the South American zone as the qualifying competition for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ entered its penultimate round. Making the headlines were two Argentinians who share the same nickname of El Loco (The Madman); Chile coach Marcelo Bielsa, who saw his team win a thrilling encounter in Medellin to return to the world elite for the first time since France 1998, and Albiceleste striker Martin Palermo, who came off the bench to secure the most dramatic of winners for against Peru.” (FIFA)

Maradona’s redemption?
“It’s been a long and interesting life in football for Diego Armando Maradona. Outrageous talent, uncontrollable egotism, and a tendency towards controversy matched by few others (check out his crazy, stream-of-consciousness autobiography for all the gory details). Since he first laced up his boots as a jinking juvenile at Argentinos Juniors all those years ago, the Argentine icon has played a central role in quite some number of memorable matches. Sadly, the content of Maradona’s managerial career to date has proven rather less memorable. Until the events of Saturday night in Buenos Aires.” (Footballing World)

“Spain remained on course to complete a perfect record in qualifying as they made it nine wins from nine with victory over Armenia in a rain-drenched Yerevan today. In a clash between a Spanish side who had already secured their spot in next year’s World Cup finals and an Armenia team whose outside hopes of going to South Africa had vanished long ago, it was the European champions who came out on top thanks to Juan Mata’s second-half penalty.” (ESPN)

Gilardino secures Italy’s spot
“Giovanni Trapattoni came within three minutes of a famous FIFA World Cup™ victory over his native Italy as the reigning champions got out of jail at the death to ensure qualification for South Africa 2010. Substitute Alberto Gilardino snatched a 2-2 draw with a 90th-minute strike just three minutes after Sean St Ledger thought he had blown the race for automatic qualification from Group 8 wide open.” (FIFA)

Rep of Ireland 2-2 Italy
“The Republic sealed a World Cup play-off spot while Italy confirmed their place in South Africa as group winners after a dramatic draw in Dublin. Stoke City’s Glenn Whelan gave the hosts the perfect start with a superb 20-yard strike after eight minutes. The Italians levelled on 23 minutes through Mauro Camoranesi’s header.” (BBC)

“Back in May, before I knew that academic statisticians were eavesdropping on my thoughts, I mused on Sport Is a TV Show that “judging the footballing abilities of two football teams is so difficult that football itself is often a bad way to do it.” I was writing about matches that end in penalty shootouts, but the thought applies just as well to matches in which one team plays better than the other team but loses anyway. As we all know, that’s not an uncommon occurrence—it happens much more in soccer than in any other sport I follow—which is one reason the soccer punditry is so zealous in proclaiming after every whether the winning team really deserved to win. Scoring in soccer is so much more difficult than scoring in other sports, and matches are so much more likely to come down to two or three individual moments, that there will always be an interesting gap between results and merit.” (Run of Play)

The Rape of the Sabine Women, Poussin Nicolas
“Robert Green became the first England goalkeeper to be sent off as Fabio Capello saw his 100% World Cup record smashed to pieces by the Ukraine. Green was dismissed for a professional foul just 15 minutes into what turned out to be one of the worst defensive performances in Capello’s time in charge. Wayne Rooney is exempt from criticism after a towering display which he nearly capped with a last-minute equaliser. But at the back, it was a collective nightmare.” (ESPN)

Robert Green sees red as Ukraine catch England off guard
“England lost their unbeaten record, a goalkeeper and both their starting wingers in the Ukrainian city of rocket science, and though Fabio Capello will have been pleased enough by the spirit and determination shown by his 10 men in an inconsequential fixture, some old flaws were exposed that the Italian appeared to have corrected.” (Guardian- Paul Wilson)

Ukraine launch a late bid for second in space-race city
“The obvious pronunciation challenges are not the only reason why Dnipropetrovsk has failed to feature much on the map of world football. The city’s role in the former Soviet – now Ukrainian – space programme made it one of the Soviet Union’s most closed cities until the early 1990s. Correspondence was often via mail boxes located in other places.” (Independent)

Ukraine 1 England 0: match report
“Perhaps it was best this was not shown on television: some of this wasn’t fit for watching before the watershed. With flares thrown from the crowd, threats of abandoning the game, sporadic racist chanting directed at England’s black players, terrible defensive mistakes, a red card and Fabio Capello’s first defeat in a competitive game this was not a game for the faint-hearted England fan.” (Telegraph)

England’s perfect record goes up in smoke
“Ten-man England saw their 100 per cent record in their World Cup qualifying group disappear after Serhiy Nazarenko’s deflected shot gave Ukraine a vital win in Dnipro. Nazarenko’s shot hit Ashley Cole and flew past David James for the 30th-minute opener. James had come off the bench after Robert Green was sent off for bringing down Artem Milevskiy in the 13th minute, but Andriy Shevchenko’s spot-kick hit the post. The foul came after Rio Ferdinand had let a long ball go through and allowed Milevskiy on goal.” (TimesOnline)

UEFA – ESPN Soccernet – Oct. 10, Oct. 11, Oct. 14
CAF
CONCACAF
CONMEBOL

“For all the jitters about security ahead of Saturday’s match, the scene appears to be pretty much normal. While there were military when the team’s flight arrived Thursday at Ramon Villeda Morales International Airport, it was only a fraction of the security force that blanketed the team at the last two World Cups in South Korea and Germany.” (Telegraph)

“As regular readers of Just Football will know, Argentina are in real danger of not making it to the 2010 World Cup. Their last 2 qualifiers yielded exactly nil points, and as they teeter dangerously on the brink of elimination we want to know whether you think Diego Maradona and co will make it to South Africa. Cast your vote in our poll on the right hand side of this page. First though, the lowdown on how Argentina got into this mess in the first place…” (Just Football)

“If you read our post on the subject earlier on in the week, you may have noted that the price of watching this weekend’s World Cup qualifier between Ukraine and England was listed as £4.99. As hopes of a last minute highlights package fade fast with rights holders Kentaro stating that they feel that the coverage should be “all about the internet”, it is worth pointing out to potential viewers that this price has already been raised to £9.99 (as of midnight last night), and that it will be hiked up again to £11.99 at midnight tonight.” (twohundredpercent)

“After UEFA’s spectacular cock-up regarding the whole Eduardo diving affair recently, it looks like FIFA’s vice-prez Jack Warner wants in on the action. Warner suggested today that referees need to toughen up on players who dive or overact on the pitch and that in next year’s World Cup in South Africa, those judged to be attempting to con the referee could be sin-binned for five minutes.” (They think its all over)

“If a soccer game falls down in the woods does it make a sound? As outlined earlier in the week, when the U.S. travels to hostile Honduras Saturday night’s for the penultimate 2010 CONCACAF World Cup qualifier it will have a nice 1982 vibe to it for the fact that it’s only available in select closed circuit establishments. (And if it were 1982, a U.S. soccer match wouldn’t be televised and the computer you’re reading this on would be engaging the Russians in a game of nuclear chess.)” (That’s On Point)

“Where have all the English goalkeepers gone? Why is Fabio Capello’s choice so limited? Here we look at the great men between the Three Lion’s posts over the years – and the limited choices available now. ” (Telegraph)

“Saturday is the pivotal day in Group One, with the top four playing each other. Regardless of the result in Denmark, Portugal or Hungary will be out of the running for an automatic spot as they play each other and a draw at the Dr. Magalhaes Pessoa would leave both all but out of the tournament; otherwise the losing team will be eliminated.” (ESPN)

“From France blowing it against Bulgaria to England holding out in Rome, we look at half a dozen classic qualifying deciders” (Guardian)

“When Giovanni Trapattoni took the surprising decision to extend his remarkable managerial career and become Republic of Ireland boss last year, the date of October 10, 2009 would have been instantly circled in his diary. In the ambitious mind of this ceaselessly passionate 70-year-old, the visit of his native Italy to Dublin in the penultimate round of World Cup qualifiers was always likely to represent his date with destiny and, to an extent, that seemingly unlikely scenario has come to pass.” (ESPN)

“The interlull is the bane of the club soccer fan; it’s like an early bye week, a rained out game, and a west coast road trip all rolled into one. The potential for player injury is still there, the benefit for the club that’s actually paying the player is not, and international managers still need players in order to get results. On top of that, many of the matches are lopsided. Take Malta in Group 1 of the UEFA qualifiers; nine games in, they still have yet to score a goal, their goal differential is -22, and their best result is a scoreless draw with Albania. This is not always riveting stuff.” (Avoiding the Drop)

“Ok, so we didn’t quite break our eye socket blowing our noses but I bet it hurts just as much. As befitting a site the critics prefer above all others, Inside Left injured itself while out doing a wonderfully middle-class pursuit, namely skiing. On a green slope. On the last run. On the last day. Two years ago. Yes, as the evenings draw in and the weather gets colder, Inside Left’s old skiing injury is flaring up again. A particularly hard fall on the last day of our holiday has taken care of our tendons, leaving them inflamed and very, very sore. We’ve not slept for two weeks and we’re in constant pain, making typing a very painful and unpleasant experience. There’s no action in the SPL this weekend, so over at The Scottish Football Blog they have a very good ‘report card‘ on the season so far, thankfully – given our injury – saving us the effort of having to write it.” (Inside Left)

“It might not live up to the halcyon days of the 1980s but the Merseyside derby still has the ability captivate a wider audience. The recent triple bill ending with Everton�s dramatic, late victory in the cup demonstrated this despite the efforts of ITV technicians. The sides first met in the League in 1894 with Liverpool triumphing 3-0 at Goodison Park. There have been 206 matches between the sides with Liverpool leading 79-65 in victories. The derby also holds the record as the most played FA Cup tie (22). The derby was at its greatest during the 1980s.” (midfielddynamo)

“Brian Clough was one of British football’s most controversial characters. Brash, outspoken, and fiercely ambitious, the former Forest, Derby, and Leeds manager is one of the game’s great cult figures. Loved by fans but loathed by the football authorities, Clough was one of the biggest stars in seventies and eighties Britain. One of the first people to realize the link between football and celebrity, the opinionated North-easterner quickly became the television face of football, never missing an opportunity to pontificate, or even better, to needle his enemies.” (First Touch)

Actor Michael Sheen Talks English Football and “The Damned United”
“Michael Sheen is building a film career out of playing characters from British popular culture. First it was Tony Blair in ‘The Queen.’ Then came David Frost in ‘Frost/Nixon.’ Now in ‘The Damned United,’ which opens tomorrow in new York and Los Angeles, he’s taken on the role of one of the most charismatic characters in English soccer history: Brian Clough, the legendary coach at Derby County, Nottingham Forest, and briefly, Leeds United, where his tumultuous tenure forms the premise for the film.” (WSJ)

In ‘The Damned United,’ A Cocky Coach Is Doomed
“The bloody, bruising, take-no-prisoners world of English soccer in the 1960s and early 1970s is the backdrop for the new feature film The Damned United. But viewers don’t need to know a thing about soccer — or like it — to appreciate the remarkable man at the center of the movie: Brian Clough. Clough was the manager of a terrible team from Derby County in the basement of England’s professional soccer league. But Clough did two miraculous things.” (NPR)

“The timing was definitely odd. Usually in professional sport, the norm is that you have the rules of the competition laid out for everybody before it begins. That way all involved know exactly where they stand and any room for misunderstandings is minimised. Pretty basic stuff, right? Well, if you are FIFA apparently not. Because, rather than get all the rules and criteria for World Cup qualification established early, Sepp Blatter and co waited until only two games of the European World Cup qualification group stages were left to announce that they will be using a seeding system for the European play-offs.” (Just Football)

“I find myself asking it all the time: how old is that player? My last such quandary was over Arshavin (older than I would have guessed). Before that it was over Jovetic (younger than I would have guessed). When I’ m looking up a player’s age for an article or to settle a bet or for the hell of it and a date before 1980 pops up, my initial reaction is: ‘Wow, he’s getting old…’ But wait… I was born before 1980 (by nine months). I’m not getting old. Am I??” (EPL Talk)

“For my money, the lesser of the great ’60s tranche of managers, but the better man of the lot of them. He reminds me of my Uncle John RIP.” (James Hamilton)

“With the final set of World Cup 2010 qualifying fixtures coming up for many teams, David Scullion takes a closer look at which teams are on the brink of qualification. (SoccerLens)

“I thought about just posting the screenshot of the match report with no commentary, under the theory that what you fill in with your own imagination would be more intense than anything I could describe. But that isn’t really true, and besides, you don’t need this one to be made more intense. Even buffered in prose, this one is intense enough. Off we go.” (The Run of Play)

“Can it be only two weeks since West Brom’s stunning 5-0 win at co-promotion favourites Middlesbrough? For since that game, which left many pundits regarding Albion as automatic promotion shoe-ins, an autumnal chill has descended on the Hawthorns, blowing away the sunny late-summer optimism.” (thetwounfortunates)

“With the Italian Serie A campaign not yet two months old, Roberto Donadoni is out of a job. The former Italy boss was fired as the coach of Napoli on Tuesday, days after a 2-1 loss to AS Roma. Donadoni, who was hired in March, was 2-1-4 in his brief stint in charge of Napoli, which is 15th in Serie A.” (NYT)

“Arsene Wenger might think the Scots are still influential in Europe, but he’s about the only person left who does. It being October, it must be just about time for Scottish football pundits to do their usual soul-searching, surveying the wreckage of another failed qualification campaign for the national team, while both the Old Firm sit bottom of the European groups and all the various other qualifying round defeats are already forgotten along with most of the names of the East European teams who inflicted them. Plus ça change, as the French might put it.” (twohundredpercent)

“Are you and England or USA fan? Planning to watch this weekend’s World Cup qualifiers on television? You better start making new plans then. Team USA is playing away to Honduras, and needs to keep picking up points in order to book a spot in South Africa.” (World Cup Blog)

“It’s South America’s newest force against the oldest when Ecuador meet Uruguay this Saturday in a crunch World Cup qualifier. It is a match with much to teach about the geography of the continent and the history of the game in this part of the world. Introduced mainly by the British, football first caught on in the South Cone, in Montevideo and Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo – a region that was going through large scale immigration and rapid urbanisation.” (BBC – Tim Vickery)

“Attendance in the Conference is up 10.5%. Last season, the final average attendance for the entire league as a whole was 1,857. This season, as of 4th October, 2009, the average is 2,051. The main reason is the huge gates, in Non-League terms, of Luton Town and Oxford United (in the 5,00o-6,000 range). The Oxford v. Luton match of 8th September (a Tuesday) drew 10,613. (!) Also, Mansfield Town, another former Football League club, is seeing a big upswing at the turnstiles, with a 40% increase from last season, to 3,392 per game. And one of the newly promoted clubs is AFC Wimbledon, who are seeing a 20% increase to 3,844 per game. Two more clubs in the Conference are drawing above 3,000 per game: Wrexham (3,734) and Cambridge United (3,032).” (billsportsmaps)

“The Damned United debuts in American movie theaters this Friday, October 9th and, courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics, they’ve suppled the readers of EPL Talk with an exclusive clip from the film which features — without a doubt — the best line from the film.” (EPL Talk)

“At San Siro in Milan on a Saturday night, the game is three-quarters done, the team is not playing well, and the home crowd needs a focal point for its discontent. When Inter’s coach withdraws a player, he becomes the butt of their discontent. He is Sulley Muntari, and as his number is illuminated, the tifosi whistle and bay at him. Muntari’s tears are visible on the big screen. Sometimes we must ask, why must soccer be such a bear pit?” (NYT)

“Henry Winter is one of Britain’s most respected football journalists and currently works for the Daily Telegraph. His career started at the Independent and he moved to The Telegraph in 1994. A familiar face on Sky’s Sunday Supplement, Henry was been kind enough to have a quick chat with us about himself and football.” (EPL Talk)

“Liverpool, by any measure, have had a stuttering start to the season. Three losses in the league(more than last season already we are consistently told – although it wasn’t Liverpool’s losses last year that caused them to come 2nd in the league… rather the number of draws against weak opposition. Liverpool, after all, came top of the top four table by quite some margin. It did not matter a jot) and a poor, poor performance against Fiorentina can at best be called stuttering, at worst a crisis but is probably a shade closer to the former than the latter.” (Left Back in the Changing Room)

“Scotland’s clubs have had many glory nights in European football history. To mark Rangers reaching the quarter final of the UEFA Cup in 2008 we’ve put together a Top 10 of the best of them. The dates perhaps reflect the waning influence, not just of Scottish clubs in Europe, but of all small nations. The behemoth that is the Champions League has seen to that. All the notable, recent achievements by Scottish sides have been completed by the Big 2 in Glasgow. Indeed, Celtic’s 2003 UEFA Cup campaign, knocking Barcelona and Liverpool out en route, came very close to inclusion.” (midfielddynamo)

“Apologies for the relative silence here. The book – 2-3 years away at best – is taking up most of my erstwhile blogging time. Congratulations are in order to Tiberius for this, which is long overdue.” (James Hamilton)

“While Honduras finds itself increasingly isolated after its president was deposed in a coup d’état, the poor Central American nation is gaining respect in another area of consuming international interest — soccer. A home victory against the United States on Saturday would virtually assure Honduras of qualifying for the World Cup for the first time since 1982. Barring a dramatic incident, the country’s 7.8 million residents will — for two hours at least — be largely focused not on the continuing political crisis but on perhaps the most anticipated sporting event ever held in Honduras.” (NYT)

“This is a video list of World Cup goals that have something to do with player appearance. Starting out are the top 5 bald player goals, followed by Bad Haircut, Baby-Faced Assassin, and Mustachioed Goals.” (The Best Eleven)

“1. Draws Galore. Despite what some people might say, there’s nothing innately boring about a sports match ending in a draw. While I’ve heard many arguments for penalties to decide league matches as well as many even worse ideas, a good hard fought draw between two evenly matched sides can be a great sporting spectacle. However, it had seemed so far this season, that the draw may have been on its way out, as in the first seven ’rounds’ of this season (i.e. before this weekend) there had been only four drawn fixtures. …” (They think its all over)

“One of punditry’s perpetual rhetorical teasers is to ask how the players of certain eras would fare in today’s game. It’s a bit like wondering how Henry the Eighth would govern modern Britain or what sort of script Shakespeare might have produced if he’d been commissioned to write an episode of Doctor Who. Given the futility of musing on how Tom Finney would fit into a 4-5-1 aimed at grabbing a 0-0 away draw, you’d think that former players would know better than to get involved in such discussions.” (WSC)

“What did Big Phil do to those guys? For a long time—say, from the latter days of Mourinho through the start of the Hiddink Intercession—the Chelsea dressing room was a hive of choler and pique. The players visibly didn’t like each other, didn’t trust their manager (whoever he happened to be), and generally had the air of passengers who have all privately concluded that the ship they are on is sinking as they eye the exits and edge toward the only lifeboat.” (Run of Play)

Valentin de Boulogne, Soldiers Playing Cards and Dice (The Cheats)
“Second-half goals from Nicolas Anelka and Florent Malouda gave Chelsea a deserved 2-0 victory over Liverpool and put them two points clear at top of the Barclays Premier League. The France international struck first in the 60th minute when he finished off a sublime low cross from Didier Drogba as Chelsea defied their critics with a performance of grit and quality.” (ESPN)

Chelsea 2 – 0 Liverpool
“Nicolas Anelka and Florent Malouda sent Chelsea back to the top of the Premier League as their second-half goals gave Carlo Ancelotti’s side a deserved victory over Liverpool at Stamford Bridge. The enigmatic Didier Drogba – who mixed theatrics with threat in an encounter that was competitive rather than compelling – won the battle of the strikers with Liverpool’s Fernando Torres to make decisive contributions and set up Chelsea’s win.” (BBC)

Henrique Hilário proves he is no laughing stock
“Chelsea were supposed to be saddled with a weak link here though, if Liverpool had arrived sensing vulnerability, their confidence ultimately proved misplaced. Henrique Hilário made his first Premier League start of the season, and only his second since New Year’s Day 2008, against the Merseysiders with Petr Cech suspended, many of the home fans still pining for their departed regular understudy Carlo Cudicini and the visitors smelling blood. It says much for the Portuguese that he appeared to take all of this in his stride.” (Guardian)

Crisis, what crisis? Rafa tells everyone to calm down
“Manchester United, after losing at Burnley, and Arsenal, following two defeats in Manchester, have heard talk of an early-season crisis and come through it. Now it is the turn of Chelsea and Liverpool, who go into their meeting at Stamford Bridge today on the back of a performance or two that fell below expected standards. Carlo Ancelotti’s team were out of sorts in defeat at Wigan and scarcely much better against Apoel Nicosia; Rafa Benitez’s, beaten by the three decent sides they have faced, were as poor as he had known them in the first half against Fiorentina. Both managers raised their voices with unusual force.” (Independent)

Nicolas Anelka takes Chelsea back to the top of the Barclays Premier League
“Nicolas Anelka scored for the first time against former club Liverpool and Florent Malouda added a second in stoppage time to take Chelsea back to the top of the Barclays Premier League. Anelka was left with a simple tap-in on the hour after Didier Drogba capped a superb break with a wonderful cross from the left and the Ivorian was provider again in the 91st minute, escaping the clutches of Jamie Carragher on the opposite flank to set up Malouda.” (TimesOnline)

English Premier League – Sat, October 3, Sun, October 4 (ESPN)

La Liga – Sat, October 3, Sun, October 4 (ESPN)

“Two goals from Kenny Miller slashed Celtic’s lead at the summit of the Scottish Premier League to a single point as Rangers claimed victory in the first Old Firm derby of the season.The striker returned to haunt his former club once again with two early goals to put the Scottish champions in the driving seat at Ibrox.” (ESPN)

Stage set for McCourt
“Big games often produce new heroes and matches don’t come any bigger than Old Firm clashes. But is there anyone lurking in the shadows at Rangers or Celtic destined to make a real surprise impact in this weekend’s Glasgow derby?” (ESPN)

Rangers 2 – 1 Celtic
“Rangers survived a spirited second-half onslaught by Celtic to win the first Old Firm match of the season. Kenny Miller showed pace and poise to meet a Kris Boyd through ball and slot past Artur Boruc in eight minutes.” (BBC)

“Last week’s ‘3 To See’ brought wins for Schalke 04, FC Porto and Independiente in a weekend of derby matches and bitter rivalries. This week 5 of the 6 teams chosen were in Champions League action in midweek, with mixed results. How will they fare heading into what are some big, tasty looking games?” (Just Football)

“Ever wonder what the old English First Division was like before it became the Premier League? Thanks to YouTube and a tip from reader Chris, we’ve uncovered the one-hour review show of the 1990-91 First Division season when Leeds United won the title. The video review (broken into six 10 minute segments) is incredible to watch for many reasons.” (EPL Talk)

“There are 48 clubs in the Group Stage of this the inaugural Europa League competition. The biggest difference between the Europa League and the competition it replaced, the UEFA Cup, is that the group stage now consists of 12 4-team groups playing home-and-away matches against the other 3 teams in the group. The UEFA Cup had 8 5-team groups playing single matches against the other 4 teams in the group.” (billsportsmaps)

“Shortly before kick-off at Stamford Bridge tomorrow Fernando Torres will lower his haunches and stare impassively at the ranks of blue ahead. He performs the ‘crouching Torres’ act in front of thousands every week but ask the Spaniard why and a man comfortable to open up on fatherhood, family and life in the public eye recoils.” (Guardian)

“‘The Golden Age’ is a Queens, NY league of mostly Latino players over 40 – it is also the title of a brilliantly filmed and edited documentary celebrating the global game and its particularly migratory character within the US. The film makers manage to capture the skill and energy of the players who slog out their season in Corona Park/Flushing Meadows, on the grounds of the 1964 Worlds Fair – I have never seen a documentary about the grassroots game that actually captures what it feels like to play and participate in a league like this one. And the documentary fleshes this out with terrific portraits of la cultura futbolística in the countries in which many of these guys grew up (Chile, Paraguay, Colombia). In many ways, the hour-long film is a pure luxury. You can watch it at voces.tv.” (From A Left Wing)

“Anybody regularly watching La Liga since Sky popularised it in recent years would be led to believe that the Spanish game is based purely on fancy media-puntos, jet-heeled wingers and silky-skilled strikers. And they’d be about right. But back in the 70’s and 80’s the same skill and flair was on show but was counterbalanced with a number of brutal defenders, the likes of whom would make modern day so-called football hard-men run off crying to their Mummies…” (midfielddynamo)

“In the early 90s, for me no Saturday evening was complete without getting the Football newspaper, giving a comprehensive match report on Cardiff City’s latest embarrassing away defeat. This was before the internet so the only news you could find on the match came from the vidiprinter on Grandstand (just the result) or fifteen or so lines on Ceefax/Teletext. But like Ceefax and Teletext, these newspapers are becoming a thing of the past and have effectively been replaced by the internet and rolling news footage from Stelling and co. on Sky Sports News.” (mirkobolesan)

“I have three principle memories of Best there, and these are: (1) he was always in Marsh’s company (2) he was otherwise left as alone as anyone else (3) I never saw him drink any alcohol. Those were the last days of lunchtime drinking, and we usually put away a couple of pints each. Not him.” (James Hamilton)

“Since the start of the new season, there has hardly been week go by that hasn’t seen a full roster of midweek matches take place. This, however, hasn’t ever been thus and until surprisingly recently football under floodlights was all but barred by the Football Association. Much as many of us feel that three o’clock on a Saturday afternoon is the ‘natural’ home for matches, there remains something special about matches played in the evening. Floodlights have the effect of lending an air of theatre to a football match. They enhance the senses in a very literal sense. Colours are brighter and stand out more. The blackness of the sky acts as a roof, bringing the crowd closer to the match. Nothing can quite match the intensity of a Tuesday evening match being played at full pelt in front of a baying crowd.” (twohundredpercent)

“Their players have only just received their first income since July, and even that is still not enough to make a decent living: this is not the Premier League, not even Portsmouth. But even this small mercy for the players was all thanks to one fan, whose last will was to donate some money to his beloved club. The story of Hutnik Krakow’s faithful fanbase doesn’t start there, though.” (Pitch Invasion)