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Match Focus: Underachieving Giants Hamburg and Schalke Headed in Different Directions

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Match Focus: Underachieving Giants Hamburg and Schalke Headed in Different Directions It makes sense that the Bundesliga has the longest winter break of any of the major European leagues. Frankly, the total commitment to attacking football and the lusty atmospheres in the stands means that players and fans alike are more than deserving of a breather at Christmas.There could be no mor...

Match Focus: PSV and Ajax Resume Rivalry as Eredivisie Returns

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Match Focus: PSV and Ajax Resume Rivalry as Eredivisie Returns Eric Gerets still remembers tasting the hatred every time he faced Ajax. When I arrived at PSV, we broke Ajax's hegemony. I don't think I'm liked very much over there, but I don't like them very much either. Gerets, a tireless right-back who spent seven successful years in Eindhoven, succinctly summ...

Match Focus: Something Has to Give in Atlético vs Barcelona

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Match Focus: Something Has to Give in Atlético vs Barcelona On the surface it brings forth an old cliché, of the best attack versus the best defence. Barcelona against Atlético Madrid on this occasion, however, is so much more than that. It’s an early title decider. Using that term in the same breath as Atleti’s name has been, putti...

Match Focus: Debuchy & Santon Crucial In Newcastle's Win Over United

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Match Focus: Debuchy & Santon Crucial In Newcastle's Win Over United Prior to the weekend, the last time Newcastle United won a league game at Old Trafford, the mobile phone had yet to be invented, the Sydney Opera House was over 18 months away from completion and it would be over 5 years before current Tottenham head coach André Villas-Boas was born. The Magp...

Match Focus: The MLS Cup Final - A Statistical Preview

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Match Focus: The MLS Cup Final - A Statistical Preview After two years of dominance by the glamorous and free-spending Los Angeles Galaxy, the MLS Cup final will this season feature two of the league’s best-run clubs, Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake.While it is hardly a Cascadia rivalry there is some competition between the two sides, givi...

Match Focus: Differing Defences Set the Tone in Der Klassiker

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Match Focus: Differing Defences Set the Tone in Der Klassiker The Signal Iduna Park was its usual buoyant self on Saturday evening, but that’s a given. Ten years ago, on this correspondent’s first trip to the famous stadium, it was much the same; not a spare seat in the house and not a minute’s peace for one’s eardrums, even though Boru...

Match Focus: Efficient England Stifle Ukraine but Lack Attacking Verve

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Match Focus: Efficient England Stifle Ukraine but Lack Attacking Verve There is something slightly mystifying about the reaction to England’s draw in Ukraine on Tuesday. It is 60 years this November since Hungary came to Wembley and thrashed England 6-3, ending once and for all any realistic assumption of English superiority, and yet still it pertains, still a st...

Match Focus: Seattle vs Portland the Main Event in MLS Thus Far

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Match Focus: Seattle vs Portland the Main Event in MLS Thus Far The play-off season looms in the distance and the pressure is starting to build across Major League Soccer. There have been some titanic battles this year but Sunday night’s Cascadia Cup clash between the Seattle Sounders and the Portland Timbers feels like the climax of the season so far.Almo...

Match Focus: Combined England and Brazil Starting XI

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Match Focus: Combined England and Brazil Starting XI The England national team - four words to strike fear into the hearts of the modern day football fan. Be it live on TV or at Wembley, supporters will bemoan the dreary approach the Three Lions will adopt as a means of boring their opponent into submission and, as proven on Wednesday night, the 1-1 d...

Dortmund vs Bayern: Where the Champions League Final will be Won and Lost

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Dortmund vs Bayern: Where the Champions League Final will be Won and Lost Bayern Munich fans mockingly sang football's coming home as they watched their side cruise to a 3-1 victory at the Emirates Stadium in the second round of this season's Champions League. Dortmund fans may well join them this weekend when the two sides meet at the same location (albeit at a rebuilt s...