Conditions | Liverpool v Man City - live!
Hit refresh for the latest news or tick the auto-update button below. Email any thoughts and suggestions to tom.lutz@guardian.co.uk56 min: "I presume Aquilani is fit now, but he is still not starting," says Stephen Bell. "Does this mean him and Gerrard can't play together? If so... oh Rafa..." I...
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 | Republic concede defeat in replay bid
'Calls have fallen on deaf ears at French Football Federation'
FAI's John Delaney also thanks 'solidarity of the French people'The Republic of Ireland have been forced to admit defeat in their efforts to be granted a replay of their World Cup play-off clash with France. After Fifa re...
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 | Hiddink clears the way for Chelsea return
Carlo Ancelotti says he is happy to work with Dutchman
Roberto Mancini favourite to be Russia's new coachGuus Hiddink plans to return to Chelsea as technical director following his failure to guide Russia to the World Cup. Hiddink said yesterday that an announcement on his future cou...
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 | Allardyce faces surgery to ease chest pain
Allardyce has been suffering from 'chest discomfort'
55-year-old 'very disappointed' to miss Bolton fixture
The Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce will miss the next three Premier League matches as he is to undergo surgery after suffering "chest discomfort." The Rovers boss will be...
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 | United unwilling to loan out Foster
Foster feels he needs to play to make World Cup squad
Ferguson sees John O'Shea as next long-term captainSir Alex Ferguson will reject any attempt by his back-up goalkeeper Ben Foster to secure an England place for next summer by going on loan from Manchester United for the rest of t...
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 | Europe hit by 'biggest-ever' match-fixing scandal
Champions League fixtures among games under scrutiny
Arrests made by police in Germany and SwitzerlandAround 200 games across nine countries have been implicated in the biggest match-fixing scandal to hit European football, with German police yesterday warning the cases they had ...
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 | Beckham to take injection for MLS Cup final
Los Angeles Galaxy face Real Salt Lake in final
Midfielder hampered by bruised ankle boneDavid Beckham will have a painkilling injection to be fit for tomorrow's MLS Cup final, the Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder said tonight. Beckham, 34, has been struggling with a bruised bone in his...
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 | Championship: Swansea 1-0 Derby County
An unexpectedly exotic flourish, a rising diagonal shot by the marauding Argentinian left-back Federico Bessone, ended Derby's resistance last night and propelled Swansea above Cardiff into third place in the Championship – their highest position since 1983. The difference then was that John To...
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 | Stoke City v Portsmouth
Perhaps Sky should have considered dropping the 'Super' prefix of their live Sunday package when pairing this game with Bolton v Blackburn but an apathetic audience should not overlook the importance that this fixture holds for either side. Last month Pompey were encouraged by their 4-0 Carling C...
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 | City slickers and cartwheeling keepers
Jonah Lomu on the rampage, one of the greatest ever half-time mascot routines and the imperious Roger Federer also feature1) Ahead of Liverpool v Manchester City this weekend, here's a classic encounter between the teams from 1977-78. David Fairclough puts Liverpool ahead with a cracker, before g...
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 | Teams that have done a Wimbledon
Plus: Planespotting; Nikita Khrushchev, Scottish football fan?; and scoring with a rabona. Send your questions and answers to knowledge@guardian.co.uk"German side TSG Hoffenheim and Italian side Como have played in the top five tiers of their respective national league systems in this decade alon...
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 | You are the Ref
Click to enlarge and debate the answers below the line. Keith Hackett's official verdict appear in Sunday's Observer and here on Monday.Competition: win an official club shirt of your choice
For a chance to win a club shirt from the range at Kitbag.com send us your questions for You are the...
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 | What's the French for handball, Thierry?
Thierry Henry's left hand was so fast four Swedish men could not see it help to stop Ireland from qualifying for the World CupA quiet week for Irish football, then, the highlight of which for me was probably when I was on BBC's Newsnight accepting David Ginola's apologies from an embarrassed Fren...
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 | 'It was a terrible feeling, a sense of fear'
Ivan Klasnic reveals the story behind his two kidney transplants and the debt he owes his familyIvan Klasnic winces as he remembers the day his life was turned upside down. It was November 2005 and Werder Bremen had just beaten Udinese 4-3 in the Champions League. But for the striker whose goals ...
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 | The Joy of Six: great matches since 2001
From the 2005 Champions League final to a Prenton Park classic, here are half a dozen of the best games of the noughties1) Milan 3-3 Liverpool, 2005 Champions League final In 2001 a prankster named Karl Power crept into the Manchester United team photo ahead of their quarter-final second leg...
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 | Fifa gets its wish as big boys scrape in
There will be no complaints from Fifa, TV broadcasters or fans that the best nations qualified for South AfricaMost of the leading countries have made their way to the 2010 World Cup finals, even if some took a devious route. France have probably got over the sense of shame, assuming there ever w...
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 | Scotland must get back to basics
John Kennedy's retirement was another blow for a Scotland team short on talent and coherencePerhaps it was inevitable, but the confirmation a week ago that Celtic's John Kennedy had been forced to retire from professional football still struck an emotional chord with even the most hardened Scotti...
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 | Saturday clockwatch - live! | Tom Bryant
Hit refresh for the latest updates, or turn on the auto-update button below. Meanwhile punt your thoughts on English rugby's kicking game, the 3pm kickoffs or anything else to tommyturbo100@hotmail.com2.05pm: Here's the England team that's going to be spanked by to face New Zealand and, by a stro...
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 | Rafael Benítez defends David Ngog before Manchester City test
Benítez insists Ngog is honest despite diving furore
Liverpool manager ready for 'important' fixtureRafael Benítez has accepted today's Anfield visit of Manchester City represents "make-or-break" for Liverpool's domestic ambitions but not David Ngog's reputation for gamesmanship. The...
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 | Gael Kakuta poised for Chelsea debut against Wolves
Carlo Ancelotti says Kakuta is best teenager he's seen
Ban for allegedly breaking transfer rules lifted by FifaCarlo Ancelotti may today hand a Premier League debut to the best teenage footballer he has ever seen, a player who until now has been synonymous only with controversy. A...
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 | Draws stand in the way of City's top-drawer aspirations | Paul Wilson
Today's game at Anfield offers Mark Hughes's team the ideal opportunity to break a run of stalematesIf Mark Hughes has learned one thing in the last month, it is exactly what Rafael Benítez and Liverpool learned last season: draws can drag you down. Five draws, which is what Manchester City have ...
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Letters: Why Thierry is mal comme un perroket
Of course the English don't hate, despise nor fear the French, but an incident in a game of football in France requires a leading broadsheet English newspaper to cover the story by an article on its front page (Hands-on Henry becomes public enemy numéro un, 20 November), a half-page article on pa...
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 | Should Sepp Blatter lock himself in a cupboard? | Barney Ronay
Maybe the Fifa president should take himself out of circulation for a while and have a damn good thinkFirst we were cross with Thierry Henry. This turned out to be an unsatisfying experience, like shouting tiny, pathetic inaudible words of remonstrance through the gummed-shut side window of your ...
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 | Thierry Henry bit the hand that fed his good name | David Lacey
Thierry Henry's calculated handball showed football is all about getting away with what you can when you canIt is understood that the canonisation of Thierry Henry has been postponed indefinitely. During his eight years at Arsenal Henry came to represent what football ought to be about, yet in th...
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 | Frank Lampard follows Robin van Persie to see 'placenta therapist'
Lampard travels for 'placenta treatment' in Serbia
Arsène Wenger supports alternative therapiesFrank Lampard has become the latest Premier League player to visit the Serbian doctor Marijana Kovacevic as he tries to speed his recovery from the thigh tear suffered while on England ...
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| Thierry Henry says rematch with Ireland would be 'fairest solution'
Henry embarrassed at nature of France's victory
Arsène Wenger backs striker's plea for a rematchThierry Henry has admitted that replaying France's World Cup play-off against the Republic of Ireland would be "the fairest solution" following his handball in the build-up to Les Bleus' d...
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 | Thierry Henry's handball puts goalline referees on Fifa's World Cup agenda
Fifa to discuss introduction of extra assistants in March
Four home unions vital to fast-track plan for South Africa 2010Thierry Henry's handball against the Republic of Ireland could lead to Fifa fast-tracking the introduction of two additional referees in time for the World Cup in ...
The Guardian |
 | Walter Smith rules himself out of running for Scotland job
Craig Levein the favourite to succeed George Burley
Walter Smith denies job is a poisoned chaliceWalter Smith has confirmed he has no interest in replacing George Burley as the Scotland manager, but insisted the post should not be regarded as a poisoned chalice. Smith, who managed ...
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| Hand of Thierry Henry rubs shine off the golden generation
French football fans are red-faced over Les Bleus' World Cup qualification at the expense of Ireland"What does it mean to be French?" mused a jocular Jean-Michel Aphatie on primetime television shortly before his national side took on Ireland in the Stade de France. "It's loving France so much th...
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