Friday Backpasses: This is good fun

Attenzione: There's a big move happening tomorrow. Commenters may have to re-register with WordPress. Hopefully, everything will go smoothly and the downtime will be minimal.

There is absolutely no chance that Mexico-US will be on ESPN. Sorry [Soccer Insider]
Platini: "If Cristiano cost 92m, when I was 23 I would have cost 93m.” [The Spoiler]
If the above video was too clean cut for you, here's seven minutes of Roy Keane [Dirty Tackle]
Ha ha. Screw you, red half [EPL Talk]
League One map for next season. These are always great [Bill Sports Maps]

Ray Stubbs to ESPN(UK). This is a big deal [Guardian]
Some good, young talent is out there, ready to be snapped up [Premiership Talk]
Ljungberg to stay in Seattle [The Beautiful Game]
Zizou to go to Germany to free Ribery. Will likely surrender instead, but get in a few headbutts first [ONTD_FB]
It's confusing, but there was a Champions League draw today [UEFA]

Finally:
Your TV hopes that Celtic don't make the televised schedule of the Champs League, especially the HD ones [Football Shirt Culture]

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Thursday Backpasses: What's this?

Two words that immediately send my head into song. Oh, and there's something over there -->

Arsenal invite 15 year old Montenegrin to trial. Sounds exactly right [Sky Sports]
New Jersey reporter rips on Becks [100 Percent Soccer]
Sepp Blatter falls. You'll watch and laugh [World Cup Blog]

Iker Casillas has a hot new squeeze [ONTD_FB]
How Seattle Sounders attendance would stack up around the world [The Offside]

Finally:
An honest look at the state of growing soccer in America [TIAS]

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Wednesday Backpasses: One more time

Last chance: you can win a book! Simply email us at the address in the sidebar, subject line WAHL to be entered in our random draw for the new Becks book. Drawing tomorrow.

Hey, this is timely! Wahl v. Becks at today's press conference [The Offside Rules]
(Very) Short Q&A with Zizou in Cali [100 Percent Soccer]
Panini stopping production in Germany. Good enough reason for a slideshow [Bild]
Bradley Wright-Phillips to take his handbag stealing act to Plymouth [Eurosport]

Drogba and Bosingwa's bans reduced on appeal [BBC]
Headline win: Nancy boys call off England tour in fear of "swine flu" [Soccernet]
King Kev is not getting old, he swears [The Spoiler]
Danny Szetela to DC United a done deal [Behind the Badge]

Finally:
There's an easy answer why Guadaloupe are not FIFA members--blame France [World Cup Blog]

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Tuesday Beckspasses: Still time left

Reminder: you can win a book! Simply email us at the address in the sidebar, subject line WAHL to be entered in our random draw for the new Becks book.

WTF is a mun2? [MFUSA]
Sacha Kljestan has a potty mouth [The Offside Rules]
Yes, the 1-1-8 is coming to the EPL [NCNB]

Which EPL club has the most annoying fans? No, Norwich is not in the EPL [PIES]
Looking at the design of branding in soccer [Blue Sombrero]
Interview with the new director of Liverpool youth academy [Fox Soccer]
Longer interview with Grant Wahl [TIAS]

Finally:
Which EPL players are very nervous about their blood tests? [People UK]

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Monday Backpasses: We love you too, Derek Taylor

Heard on last night's Fox Soccer Report:

After the break, Beckham calls an unprofessional foul on Landon Donovan

Thank you, Derek Taylor, for acknowledging your readership of our fine blog.

Pulled out of the ether: a fine Southampton goal from 1981 [PIES]
MO7 just doesn't have the same ring to it [Guardian]
Bayern would be well-served to offload Ribery now [The Spoiler]

An early look at what soccer programming will be on FSN. Looks like FSN and FSC will both show Champions League matches [EPL Talk]
Lukas Podolski trained in his undies [ONTD_FB]
Charlie Davies heads to Sochaux after all. Shame about their new shirts [NYT Goal]
Portsmouth's ownership situation is not really resolved [The Football Blog]

Finally:
Bookmark this page for European season start dates [The Offside]

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Friday Backpasses: Zero Effect

Tonight's Guest Backpasser: LB

One of my favourite movies of recent times, and I cannot understand why it seemed to fail so completely and utterly. Pullman and Stiller work surprisingly well together as a idiosyncratic Sherlock Holmes & Watson, the script is fresh, the characters compelling and funny, and you can't go wrong with a soundtrack by the Greyboy Allstars, no sir. As I lie awake with LB jr taking a late-night nap on my belly, I'm reminded of its excellence Plus Bill Pullman drinks Tab! That's just insane!

Anyways, around this time in the early hours of Saturday, July 25, a bunch of us will be stumbling around Baltimore's Inner Harbor. I cannot wait!

Ronaldinho's is in danger of becoming fat, like orca fat. Meelan are scared [Wales Online]
Nike's been juicing with their new soccer balls. At least the next John Terry PK miss will occur with a sexier ball [Gizmodo]
Citeh allow Jo to spend more time at Everton on loan [Guardian Sport]

Manchester United miss out on yet another player, as Huntelaar agrees to shift to Stuttgart [Sky Sports]
Tranny involved in Originaldo scandal last year dies of AIDS [Brisbane Times]
Diadora goes belly-up; Scotland need new shirt maker [BBC Sport]
American coach to take over the reins at beleaguered Scottish First Division club [Boston.com]
Aberdeen decide to sue Elton John for pitch damage that happened 5+ years ago [Evening Express]
Some info on the NYC soccer movie festival [NY Times]

And finally:
Sad news about former Blackburn/Scotland legend Colin Hendry. His wife died following complications from botched cosmetic surgery [Guardian.co.uk]


.

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Thurday Backpasses: Big Days Coming

Two weeks until Baltimore. Other changes in the works as well.

Pies loves hair lists. I'll own up. I had a mullet [PIES]
Atletico Madrid player tries to upstage new cross-town rival by getting into a huge car crash. Let's see C-Ron try this [The Spoiler]
Davies to Sochaux? [SBI]
Mexico-USA to take place in the middle of the f--king day [Match Fit USA]
Originaldo to be greeted by trannies when Corinthians go to Flamengo [Dirty Tackle]

UEFA's rule changes screwing over the fans [WSC]
EPL faces uphill battle in Youtube lawsuit since they have no copyright in US [EPL Talk]
2009 MLS All-Ugly Team [NYT Goal]
Hull's Geovanni working as a part-time pastor in the offseason [The Sun]

Finally:
You and me both, lady [Guardian]

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Wednesday Backpasses: Where'd you go?

If you're reading this, you are doing better than any of us. Apologies for the extended outage. Best we can tell, it was on Blogger's end. We will be switching away soon. Suggestions on migration welcome.

Not even going to bother with a jump tonight. Shit sucks.

Liverpool and Arsenal preseason picspam [ONTD_FB]
Michael Owen will not bring in lost shirt revenue to Man U. Maybe Red Devils fans are smarter than we thought? [Dirty Tackle]
Nando's baby came. Only a matter of time until they have the same haircut [Kickette]
Five pretty good bargains available for transfer [Premiership Talk]
Arseblog made a Adebayor promotional booklet. Watch out for the PDF [Arseblog]
Greg Lalas explains how the US can get a WC seed, plus he hates on blogs [SI]
This haircut was all the rage. Fess up if you had one [PIES]

We hope to see you tomorrow, but who knows?

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Tuesday Backpasses: Who the hell are these guys?

Arsenal back at training today. Almunia forgot his shorts (they'll just photoshop those in later), Senderos is back and Rosicky was not just a fevered dream.

Some back story on new Everton signing Anton Peterlin [PIES]
The madness of the USMNT [When Saturday Comes]
How accurate are your favourite newspaper's transfer predictions? [The Offside]
Some iconic stands of the EPL [EPL Talk]

Wayne Rooney tried to look even more like a rugby player [Mirror]
Underperforming national teams [Avoiding the Drop]
Will NYRB even reach 20 points this season? [WV Hooligan]

Finally:
Stuart Holden blogs, with a baaaaaaaaaaaad title [Houston Chronicle]

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Monday Backpasses: Soccer fight!

Does David Moyes know that much better than anyone above the PDL in America. Plus, tansfer rumors [NYT Goal]
Or, Gooch could be going to Real Madrid. Highly unlikely, I think [ONTD_FB]
Ajax look into signing keeper who fans like to taunt because of his weight [101GG]
Falcao (not the one you are thinking of) scores a pretty nice goal [The Spoiler]
Well, that's one way to make sure Almunia makes the save [Two Footed Tackle]

Man U's new training top evokes a unfortunate uniform of the past [PIES]
Ever wonder where English players not good enough to play in England go? [WSC]
Fox appears to be bringing footy back all across their networks [EPL Talk]
John Oster, the spit roaster, is owed back pay by Crystal Palace [Sky Sports]

Finally:
How unlikely is the Indonesia bid for 2018? Let's just say that whatever the odds are, they are not long enough [SPAOTP]

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Thursday Backpasses: Treat it like a Friday

It seems that a lot of people with better jobs than mine have tomorrow off. As such, we will have a three day weekend. If big news comes up, we'll hit it; otherwise, we will gorging ourselves, as is the American way.

Here's something to chew on: Little Mikey Owen to Man U? [Premiership Talk]
Or should he go back to Pool? I find that highly unlikely [The Shankly Gate]
This goal is almost Ibrahimovic-like in its finishing. Shame about that [101GG]
Hmmmm. Not sure if I want. Bradley's extra call ups for the Gold Cup [SBI]

Horse-faced Ruud could be doing the reverse Benzema [Soccerway]
Gay goings on in Uganda. Ha ha. FUFA [The Independent]
Notts County trying to become "Formerly the Oldest Football League Club In The World" [Two Hundred Percent]
Final Nielsens for US-Brazil--about 4 million. [Soccer Insider]

Finally:
If you love comedy dives, this is the video for you [The Offside]

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Wednesday Backpasses: Fletcher'd?

No foul. He got a touch on the ball, see? [Pies]
Odd article about Arsenal and Robin van Persie. Cult-like shenanigans [NotW]
This guy's a better bluffer than the guy who got in the Man U team photo [Dirty Tackle]
Because they did so awesome in the Confederations Cup, CONCACAF are allowing the US to carry 30 players for the Gold Cup. Everybody gets a medal! [SBI]

Finally:
Colbert had a footie segment. 'Nuff said [ONTD_FB]

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Tuesday Backpasses: Another day down

Hate for The Sun, complete with funny swear words [Arseblog]
Adriano has no idea what number he wants to wear [Dirty Tackle]
USA-Brazil ratings are. . . lower than I would have expected. But still good [Match Fit USA]

Guy who snubbed US before now wants to snub Mexico. Ay de mi [US Soccer Players]
Robert Kraft smartly walked away from buying a money-pit club [Times Online]
Games managed: zero. Death threats: more than zero. That would be enough for me to quit too [Off The Post]

Finally:
Burnely continue their summer of FAIL by scheduling a game in SoCal on the same night Chelsea and Inter Milan tilt at the Home Depot Center [NCNB]

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Monday Backpasses: Winnars!

No fear everyone. Now that the Confed Cup is over, you can follow Robosoccer [Robocup 2009] (H/T: NCNB)
Which big club should you pull for? [EPL Talk]
Should Landy have won the Bronze Ball over Deuce? [Soccernet]
Explaining why the US loss was not a choke [The Big Lead]

Abbey Clancey bikini pics. Difficulty: some Nacho Pete [Daily Mail]
Chin up, US soccer fans/ESPN haters. Canadians have it worse than you [The 24th Minute]
The real reasons real 'Mericans hate soccer [East Coast Bias]
Possible big winners from US's performance in South Africa? Charlie Davies and Rico Clark [SBI]
10 lessons to take from the Confederations Cup [World Cup Blog]

Finally:
The 2009 Barclays EPL (suck it, Barclays!) Photographic Awards. L like 6, 7 and 15 [Guardian]

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Friday Backpasses: Three seconds of explosive hilarity

James Milner did his best to assure himself the future England captaincy. His PK had the balance of John Terry with the placement of David Beckham. (It's the first one)


Betfair had all of $51 bet on the US at 999-1 to win the Confederations Cup [NYT Goal]
Burnley are already asking to be relegated. Could we see a sub-10 point season? [Dirty Tackle]
Early word on the ESPN World Cup broadcast team [The Big Lead]

Scottish club on the brink of collapse. Unfortunately, it's the epitome of a poorly-run club [Two Hundred Percent]
True Hoop's take on the SiC [True Hoop]
Man City's Felipe Caicedo too black to dine in his own country [Off The Post]
Want to bet on the Confederations Cup final? Look at these stats first [The Spoiler]

Finally:
At 1.21 PM on this Iran liveblog, there is a call for the US to wear green wristbands in the Final on Sunday. If that's something you can get behind, there is contact information. Sorry about the partisan blog link [HuffPo]

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Thursday Backpasses: A little tease

We'll have our full roundup of the Showdown in Chinatown tomorrow morning. All of the great stuff we did last year, plus video. I haven't seen it yet, I'm salivating.

Torres does his PES shoot. The first pic is not too flattering [Liverpool Reds]
Blind Item: Which EPLer hid his injury to get a new contract? [The Spoiler]
Is wiki vandalism never not fun? [Off The Post]

MyFC is losing membership fast [When Saturday Comes]
Is there a sea change happening on what people think about Landon Donovan? [Match Fit USA]
ESPN setting up new channel in UK for ex-Setanta content [Guardian]

Finally:
New Chelsea 3rd kit. It's appropriately hideous. Plus, those GK socks! (in the comments) [ONTD_FB]

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Wednesday Backpasses: Screw You, Sanford

Nothing like my state's governor dicking around to bring my mood down. Oh well. OOO-SAH, OOH-SAH, OOH-SAH!!!

Relive today's match in still picture form. Were Torres and Gooch the only two to swap jerseys? Scandal! [Daylife]
Looking into the EPL Actim Index [Avoiding The Drop]
To Denilson: just go away already. Oh, he did? OK then [Dirty Tackle]

Brazil and their special 4-2-3-1 [Guardian]
MLS punishments are harsh. Two games for dissent [Ginge]

Finally:
This was the end of Setanta in the UK [The Spoiler]

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Tueday Backpasses: I hate Illinois Nazis

Note to self: When starting soccer club in SC, don't invite the KKK to sponsor it. This is the German version [The Spoiler]
Why Setanta failed, in list form [Two Hundred Percent]
Mexico sends B squad to US Invitational [SBI]
$6M will buy you a pretty decent club [NCNB]

Please remember to secure your changing room before the match. Peru, we are looking at you [Guardian]
One smart guy and a buncha maroons [Blog Critics]
Yes, South Africa will have a problem with all of these new stadia [USA Today]
Roman Bednar gets off lightly [BBC]

Finally:
Vay-kay pics. Includes WAGs. And Mardona [ONTD_FB]

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Monday Backpasses: 1000

Get to know Stephen Constantine. Seriously, it's worth the time [Wall Street Journal]
Brian McBride gets a restaurant named after him at Fulham [Fulham FC]
JF Torres may be moving to Spain. In other news, Bob Bradley wants to be hired by Deportivo so he can bench Torres there too [Televisa Deportes]
The Japanese have weird insults [Dirty Tackle]

Jozy's Spanish is--not so good [USA Today]
Bunyodkor, the asshole Uzbeks' super club [SoccerLens]
Ruud wants every Dutchman, except him, to leave Real Madrid [Guardian]

Finally:
Yes, the first Champions League draw happened today. No, we didn't notice [UEFA]

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Friday Backpasses: Call him up now

This, my friends, is the future of US soccer. Enric Alegre may only be 10 and living in Spain, but I say call him up to the full NT now. Lock him in!

Liverpool jump the gun on a transfer [Dirty Tackle]
Especially when it looks like he may not be going there [ONTD_FB]
At least they are not the only EPL team screwing up on the interwebs. Is this considered tapping up? [ONTD_FB]

British dads must really suck if this guy is the best [Kickette]
More time lapse video of Red Bull Arena going up. How long will this damn thing take? [Red Bulls Reader]
Portland bid and stadium may not be off the rails after all [Oregon Live]

Finally:
Congrats ladies, you've got STDs. *wink* [The Sun]

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