Chelsea v Wigan Highlights

Wow, when bad gets worse... After losing 4-0 to Blackpool on opening weekend, Wigan loses again, this time 6-0 to Chelsea. And Chelsea is making that run for the title and try to set the pace early by scoring 6 in back to back games. Anelka and Kalou both score twice in the thrashing.



Video: RUtube

Arsenal v Blackpool Highlights

Blackpool couldn't hold up their goal differential that they racked up last week here against Arsenal. Walcott gets a hat trick and Chamahk gets one as well after missing several chances. Ian Evatt got himself sent off in the 31st min which gave Arsenal a pk and started a landslide that Blackpool wasn't able to dig out of. Arsenal wins 6-0.

(Forgive the crap audio on the feed)



Video: Supermaksim92

Spurs v Stoke Highlights

Spurs come out winners, 2-1 with a late effort by Stoke denied on the goal line by Lady Fancier Crouch who some claimed handled it on the goal line, but even the replays were kind of iffy. It looks like it hit his chest but either way, the 2nd goal by Bale was a beaut. That's two towards my prediction of 10 for the man to watch for the season (for those of you counting at home). Not bad for a team that was forced to trot out a 4-5-1 formation with only one striker making the game day roster due to mid week injuries at Young Boys.



Video: MyBabyBackRibs

The Beautiful Game (pt 5)

Waterlogged pitch in Avon, IN (2008)

Photo: Wunderground.com

Even More of Kids Try This at Home

Carilho90 is back with another one of his tutorials. What are you doing still sitting there, get your ball out and get working on these:



Video: Carilho90

Useless...

Yeah, so what do the sign at right and the stadiums from the 2010 World Cup have in common? You guessed it, they're both useless.

According to South African Rugby Union President Oregan Hoskins:

"What we are discussing today should have been discussed before we built the stadiums. It is tragic for us as a nation that we have to act in reverse. In 2007, before the new stadiums were built, I wrote to the minister of sport and said I foresaw major problems coming and I asked for the intervention of the ministry. Unfortunately, we were all taken up by the soccer World Cup and in the hype we forgot we should have been talking to each other. We want to use the new stadiums. We want to take the game to the people, but these issues are going to stand in our way in a big way." - ESPN

So it looks like the $1bil+ spent on soccer stadiums for this year's tourney are not capable of supporting more popular sports in South Africa, like cricket and rugby in their present states.

Poland v US Friendly Scheduled

You are invited!

Where: Soldier Field, Chicago
When: 7pm CST on Oct 9. 2010 (also on FSC)
What: USA takes on Poland in a 17th matchup between the two countries.

Please RSVP with USSOCCER.

The US has won 3 of the last 4 against Poland, but Poland comes to play in a city with one of the largest populations of Poles outside of Poland. Tickets should go on sale soon.

I can already taste the kielbasa and Żywiec beer right now. Time to tell the boss you're busy that day, and make a road trip with obligatory tailgating.

Photo: US Soccer and Żywiec beer

'Staschecastle United

Apparently, in an effort to garnish support from fans, some of the Newcastle players are going to go without shaving until they win a Premiership match this season. Question now is how long till they give up this futile effort? Maybe they are just banking on the fact that their next 4 EPL opponents are Aston Villa, Wolves, Blackpool and Everton.



Video: STE93Newcastle

Blackpool Chairman Quits 1 Game into EPL Season

No, it's the Chairman, Karl Oyston, not the team manager Ian Holloway, just to be clear. Blackpool is a scrappy team and has done well to bring in the type of players it wants, and the type who all play for each other. Honestly, this is a rarity in many professional sports teams, and a tip of the hat to outgoing Chair Oyston on his sticking to his morals although this does not extend to his father (majority shareholder Owen Oyston) who has been in trouble in relatively recent years for other things which we do not condone.

Oyston will stay on until a suitable replacement is found for him. Last year, Blackpool managed to spend only £40,000 in agent fees (just 1/10th of what the remaining current teams in the EPL spent on average).

How Did I Miss This?

ESPN... nice. You found a way to take a take a good team's name and make some hilarity out of it. See, it was bad enough that playing on the astroturf yesterday saw Young Boys put in three quick goals on Tottenham in the first 30mins, but now you have to play the double entendre game. Touche, ESPN, touche.

Yesterday's match 3-2 upset was second fiddle, I guess, to the fact that Young Boys are relieved that their new stadium will be built, judging by the "Young Boys Wankdorf Erection Relief" article that you ran.

Thanks to one of our readers for catching this.

Oh, and in case you wanted to check out the highlights of the Spurs/Young Boys game, here you go:



Spurs just weren't ready for the speed (just before the 2nd goal, the german announcer is saying "a bit to quick and a bit too good" and later says its a "debacle" after the 3rd goal), but once the tactics changed at half time, Young Boys couldn't keep up. I don't expect them to put up as much of a fight at White Hart Lane in the 2nd Leg. It seems their whole goal was to knock Spurs out quick with a high goal tally that would be hard to come back from. Good on them for sticking with a plan and executing to perfection that first half.

Video: TVstarsfootball

Viva Futbol Vol 57

Oh, it's about that time. Little highlight to get you through that long Wednesday. Enjoy.



Video: Alarazboytv

Jermaine Jenas to Juventus?

Did I just wake up in Bizarro world? Is someone playing a joke on me today? Jermaine Jenas, the same guy who warms the bench at Tottenham. The same guy who once every 3-4 games will have a decent game, then fade back into the pitch like we are down a man? Okay, if someone really wants to pick up the tab on him, have at it.

We've been hearing rumors for a while that he may be going to Italy's Series A, but we heard the same thing about Bale, and that's not happening now. The latest out is that Juventus and AC Milan were battling it out for Jermaine. Perhaps they got it confused with Spurs forward Jermaine Defoe, who knows... Anyways, the jist of it is that Jenas will be moving to Juve on a season long loan with the option to buy for around £10 million.

Maybe this is just the EPL's way of getting back at the Italians after Mutu's short stint to Chelsea or Corrado Grabbi's move to Blackburn (that's about £21.8 mil on the two who played a combined 57 games and both washed out and yes I understand that Mutu's washout was due to drugs).

Wow. Just, wow.

Photos: Telegraph/Getty and DC Comics

The Soccer Inside... US Deaf Soccer

...with Chris Jones, USA Deaf Soccer Men’s Goalkeeper and Ken Noll, a US Deaf Soccer Team Forward/Current US Deaf Soccer President.

In the wake of the World Cup in South Africa, many new fans, and some old ones, want to find something about soccer that relates to them. Some find a certain player whom they follow for the rest of their career. Some choose a team to follow. Here is why yours should be Chris Jones, Ken Noll and the USA Deaf Soccer team…

Wait. What? The US has a deaf soccer team? Yeah. Actually, I’m sure many of you that watched even a modicum of the 2010 World Cup were assaulted by the news that Slovenia had a team competing. Slovenia has a population of just over 2,000,000 people. In the US alone, according to a National Health Institute Study, we have about 1,000,000 people above the age of five that are considered functionally deaf.

Many of you might not even realize it, but you have cheered for a team that uses a mainstreamed deaf invention, the huddle. Yes, the huddle, as used in football, was created by deaf football players to keep opposing teams from reading their signing of plays, and this soon carried over into mainstream sports.

Gyau Goes 90

One of the guys for our future USMNT lineup, Joesph Gyau, started and went the full 90mins in a 2-0 win for Hoffenheim 1899 over TSV 1860 Munich's U19 team in the A-Junioren Bundesliga Süd/Südwest. Gyau didn't get the goals or assists, but this is a good start for him. Give him a year or two in the academy system and this guy will be yet another in a pipeline of stud mids/forwards for the US.

Photo: Hoffenheim