Russia hoped its impressive showing at Euro 2008, when it produced majestic performances against Sweden and the Netherlands in reaching the semifinals, would end the cycle of underachievement and herald its arrival as a major player in the international game. It failed to qualify for the World Cup two years later, though, losing in a playoff to Slovenia, which prompted the departure of manager Guus Hiddink. He was replaced by fellow Dutchman Dick Advocaat, who has stuck largely to the same core of players -- which has led to accusations that he is biased toward the Zenit St Petersburg he led to the UEFA Cup in 2008.
Barcelona captain Carles Puyol says Tito Vilanova is "the ideal man" to replace Pep Guardiola as Barcelona coach.
Fernando Llorente's dramatic last minute goal sealed an all-Spanish Europa League final as Athletic Bilbao booked a clash with Atletico Madrid in Bucharest.
Two goals from Colombian striker Falcao put Atletico Madrid in the driving seat as they defeated fellow Spanish side Valencia 4-2 in the first leg of their Europa League semifinal.
Real Madrid saw their lead in Spain's La Liga cut to just four points after being held to a 0-0 draw by Valencia Sunday.
Valencia led a trio of Spanish clubs into the semifinals of the Europa League with a 4-0 thrashing of AZ Alkmaar Thursday.
A glorious attacking display by Athletic Bilbao earned the Spanish side a 4-2 win at Schalke in the first leg of the Europa League quarterfinals at the Veltins Arena on Thursday.
Bayern Munich cut Borussia Dortmund's lead at the top of the Bundesliga to two points with a 2-1 home win over Hanover Saturday.
Premier League champions Manchester United have moved four points clear of rivals Manchester City at the top of the table after winning 5-0 at bottom club Wolverhampton on Sunday.
World Sport reporter Zayn Nabbi describes the scene inside the stadium as paramedics tried to revive Muamba.
The English Premier League top two Manchester City and Manchester United suffered embarrassing defeats in their Europa League last 16 ties Thursday.
As Cup final victories go, Liverpool's Carling Cup final success (3-2 in a penalty shootout) over Cardiff City on Sunday was particularly unconvincing. When a Premier League team plays a side from a lower division, even if it plays a team from lower down the same division, anticlimax is probably the best it can hope for; to win by a comfortable two- or three-goal margin.
Manchester United joined neighbors Manchester City in the last 16 of the Europa League but were given an almighty scare by Dutch visitors Ajax in their second leg tie Thursday.
Manchester City powered into the last 16 of the Europa League with a 4-0 win over holders Porto Wednesday at the Etihad Stadium.
Rivals Manchester City and Manchester United prospered in the unfamiliar territory of the Europa League as both recorded away victories in the first leg of their last-32 ties.
Tottenham Hotspur secured an emphatic 4-0 win over Shamrock Rovers Thursday but still failed to make the last 32 of the Europa League.
Brazilian side Santos booked their place in the FIFA Club World Cup final on Wednesday with a 3-1 defeat of Japanese outfit Kashiwa Reysol in Toyota City.
Chelsea have qualified for the last 16 of the European Champions League after two Didier Drogba goals helped them to a 3-0 Group E victory over Valencia at Stamford Bridge.
The "always a bridesmaid, never a bride" quips about Brad Guzan's European career can head to the back burner. At long last, Guzan is Aston Villa's No. 1 goalkeeper. With Monday's word that regular starter Shay Given will be out for the next month after tearing his hamstring in the first half of Aston Villa's 1-0 loss to Manchester United on Saturday, the Villans will turn to the 27-year-old Illinois native between the pipes. Guzan looked at ease upon entering against the Red Devils and didn't concede a goal, though he was hardly put to the test in 52 minutes.
Veteran Spanish striker Raul extended his European scoring record as Schalke beat Steaua Bucuresti 2-1 on Thursday to reach the knockout stages of the continent's second-tier competition.
The renaissance months for DaMarcus Beasley and Herculez Gomez have come to an abrupt halt.
The last time Herculez Gomez was on this kind of a run, he ended up with a scoring title and a ticket to South Africa.
The UEFA Europa League is seen by some as a schedule-congesting, second-rate competition.
English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur eased past Irish champions Shamrock Rovers in their Europa League Group A match, but only after surviving a massive scare against the part-timers.
Anticipated debuts, goal-scoring forwards and a potential renaissance.
Some big-name clubs were in action in European football's second-tier competition on Thursday, but most attention was focused on Istanbul for the visit of little-fancied Maccabi Tel-Aviv.
If only Jozy Altidore and Robbie Findley had found this kind of form 15 months ago.
Former Chelsea assistant manager talks to CNN about the possible arrival of Andre Villas-Boas at Stamford Bridge.
Already the vultures are hovering. Porto will be back in the Champions League next season, but the problem is that it is unlikely to be this Porto, the side that has dropped just four points in the league all season, and swept all before it in Europe.
As the calendar gets set to turn to May, there's no better time to assess the promotion and European competition hopes and relegation fears among the Americans playing abroad.
After 188 minutes of wildly entertaining, at times outrageously open football Tuesday, it all came down to Bastian Schweinsteiger's tired legs. The Bayern Munich midfielder failed to keep up when Goran Pandev started running from the halfway line and could only watch in horror as the Macedonian smashed in the epic winner that sent Internazionale into the quarterfinals of the Champions League.
Maurice Edu has scored his fair share of crucial goals. He's also had one infamously waved off on the world's biggest stage.
A quick look at storylines entering this weekend's Barclays Premier League action:
And so, after the Barcelona and Real Madrid Teams of the Decade, here's La Liga's finest XI from 2000-2010. First, though, a few things worth noting about all three teams:
MADRID -- The phone lines opened at 10 a.m. on Tuesday. At the same time, ATMs all over Spain were activated. Tickets were on sale for Atlético Madrid's Copa del Rey match against Universidad de Las Palmas at the Vicente Calderón -- the ground where the fans are proud of their loyalty and where season-ticket sales actually increased in the summer in which Atlético was relegated. When the lines closed that evening, 12 long hours later, 24 tickets had been sold.
Roy Hodgson always was likely to face two problems at Liverpool: that his football was too boring for the fans, and that his training was too boring for the players. A certain stodginess leading to long-term grumbling was perhaps to be expected, but what nobody predicted was that Liverpool would be as bad as it has been so far this season, and that there would be immediate outrage.
With the qualifying rounds and draws of the major European competitions in the rear-view mirror, a number of Americans learned their UEFA Champions League or Europa League fates this past week.
In what was a rather quiet week for American soccer players abroad, aside from Sacha Kljestan's second goal for RSC Anderlecht and Clint Dempsey's returning to the starting lineup for Fulham, one up-and-comer managed to make some serious career headway.
The Premier League is effectively a series of mini-leagues, and for many sides, seeking promotion or avoiding relegation is the main goal of the season. There is a clutch of sides for whom relegation should be no more than a distant threat, but for whom European qualification is an impossibly distant prospect. Here we look at three of the mid-table sides that may be moving up or down a notch this season:
Roy Hodgson arrived at Fulham in 2007 without much fanfare. He was regarded, probably largely because of an unhappy spell at Blackburn Rovers, as a mediocre manager who'd had reasonable success abroad with a string of mid-ranked countries -- Finland, Switzerland, Sweden -- but who couldn't really cut it at the highest level. His two years of rebuilding work at Internazionale in the 1990s, in which the Italian club finished seventh and third and reached the final of the UEFA Cup, was broadly ignored.
Atletico Madrid face second-bottom Valladolid Wednesday, the team that's won just six times all season, and it's Valladolid everyone expects to win. But Atletico doesn't mind. It expects Valladolid to win too -- and it won't be bursting any blood vessels to ensure otherwise.
If Liverpool had played its entire season at home, it'd be in fourth right now, cosily certain of Champions League football after the summer and in absolutely no danger of finishing below noisy neighbors Everton. The team has taken an impressive 28 of the last 30 available league points at Anfield.
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