Fighting Talker

Ed has a good piece on Thierry Henry already up so I won't harp on too much further on the result itself. I am biased, he's one of my 3-4 favorite players of all time. At this moment, I feel more pity for him than I do anything else.

Instead, I want to focus on the true cause of Ireland's injustice yesterday, soccer's continued refusal to institute any kind of replay review system. FIFA's constant harping against replay review becomes more and more insipid by the day. I do not understand how a billion dollar business like soccer could allow its major events to be tainted by the...

Or two, maybe.

I was unable to see today's Ireland-France match live due to work, but it was fascinating to see soccer writers and fans and the like posting away on Twitter and elsewhere after the goal that carried the French past Ireland and into the 2010 World Cup.

And I thought to myself - how bad could it have really been? Some have said Thierry Henry was offside to start with; but I can't comment on that for all the replays I've seen are after the ball is played to him.

Knowing there was a handball coming from what everyone had posted, I wasn't...

According to Steve, Guillermo Barros Schelotto is available might be available after rejecting Columbus' demand of reduced wages.

Uh oh.

Can someone please cut Kevin Payne's phone lines? How about shutting down his cellphones too... and AIM.... and Twitter.... and semaphores. Just shut them all down. Please, Kevin, don't take the lazy route and try to sell some tix by grabbing hold of another slow and overpriced Argentine. GBS has been great for Columbus, but...

This week the Premier League rejected a proposal by the Bolton chairman to include Celtic and Rangers in a two-tiered Premier League with the Guardian saying that 14 clubs voted against it.

There are two ideas here that want to handle separately. First is the Celtic and Rangers problem. Clearly, they have outgrown the SPL and its financial limitation, chiefly television rights fees. From their perspective, I can completely understand their attempt to go anywhere in search of the cash to match their clearly lofty ambitions. But, from the Premier League's perspective, it doesn't...

According to Reuters and Kicker, Germany and Hannover goalkeeper Robert Enke killed himself today at a railroad crossing. Details are only now starting to emerge, but it is a terrible tragedy for all involved. Enke was 32.

I’ve always said that one of the realistic options for the disaffected USL owners was to leave and then just setup their own league away from the USL umbrella. Today, that appears to be what has happened, with everyone bailing on Francisco Marcos and the USL. I have not been following this all that closely, but where does this leave Portland, who has one more year to go before they join MLS. Vancouver, who also joins in 2011, is part of the new league? Of course, it’s also unclear what the other non-breakaway club (Austin, Cleveland, New York, Puerto Rico, Rochester and Tampa Bay) plan on doing....

Starting this weekend, the final slots for the 2010 World Cup will be decided around the world. So, let's have a bit of fun with the playoffs.

Today until Saturday, entries are open for picks for the first leg of the CONCACAF/COMNEBOL and UEFA first legs and for the AFC/OFC second leg. We'll pick the CONCACAF/COMNEBOL and UEFA second legs starting on Sunday or Monday. Same rules apply as in our Champions League Predictions. My predictions and commentary are included as well.

CONCACAF-South America
Costa Rica vs. Uruguay: Saturday in San Jose.
I am hugely...

Late notice on this one thanks to the dunderheads at Comcast and some other issues beyond my control, so as a result, everyone who posts any pick at all gets 10 bonus points today.

Decent lineup of matches in the Champions League today, and like yesterday, these are the reverse fixtures of Matchday 3. That might not be good news for Liverpool, who have to find a way to reverse their last result while playing away today. Rangers also might not be looking forward to today’s task, as they try and avoid further embarrassment at Unirea Urziceni.

You know the scoring...

I am making my way through Soccernomics and as you might imagine, I am liking it very much. I am going to be writing about it in pieces rather than in an enormous thesis-length review. I don't think the book is perfect, but I think the authors do a very good job at shining a very different light on the sport.

Much, much more to come.

DC United has posted on its blog that Coach Tom Soehn has decided to "remove his name from consideration for the club's head coaching position ahead of the expiration of his three-year contract at the end of the calendar year."

Despite Steven Goff's strange defense of Soehn yesterday (Tom must return his calls), Tommy must have known that his days were numbered or gotten word that DC was already deep in talks with a successor.

I have no doubt whether Tom Soehn is a good guy or a solid citizen, but I have massive doubts over his ability to coach a soccer team. I wish...