The Three Lions Meet the Azurri!

Italy v. England at the Stadio del Alpi - it doesn't get any bigger than that, does it? Unfortunately, the nattering nabobs here at work have scheduled me for meetings throughout the afternoon. I'm going to try my best to drop in and out. It all starts at 2:45 EST (the Brits finally moved the clocks up this past weekend). Enjoy!

Becks and Corden - D&J Briefs

Brit comedian James Corden has got a new late night talk show and he's pulling out all the stops to promote it. Here's an underwear ad spoof that he did with David Beckham. Enjoy!

England v. Lithuania Live!

It's another big day of Euro 2016 qualifiers today, as England take on Lithuania at Wemberley. As usual, on a Friday, I'll be racing back to the office from an irritating committee meeting in order to be here for kick-off. Join me from 3:45pm EST (we're still four hours behind the GMT) for all the action here on the LOB. Come on, the Three Lions!

How Big is Your Club?

So, we always talk about which club is the biggest? Is a club a big club or not?
Are Untied #1
What teams outside the Premier League high up in the table?
Is Sheffield Wednesday a big club????

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3011776/Are-Manchester-United-Liverpool-Arsenal-Chelsea-biggest-club-Sportsmail-s-study-finally-settles-football-s-great-debate.html



Your thoughts

UWS

Footie Trivia Question of the Week

Okay, chaps - with the international break breathing down on us this week, I thought it might be appropriate to lob an international-themed trivia morsel out at you:

"Name the top international goalscorers for the following national sides (bonus points if you can also list the number of goal each has scored!):

England (easy one, eh?) -
Germany -
Italy -
Spain -
Netherlands -
France -
Portugal -

Good luck!

Premiership Plus Predictions Game - Week 30 Update

As we drift into another lengthy international break, it's a good time to take stock of our PPP standings. Young STRose was starting to get pretty excited on Saturday, after Harry Kane scored a hat-trick for Spurs, making him the temporary Golden Boot Boy, which would have robbed me of six points in that bracket. That is, until Mr. Jazz Hands - Diego Costa - notched his 19th on Sunday. Otherwise, despite all of the sturm and drang over the weekend, things are largely the same, with Chelsea on top, Leicester on the bottom and the same figures jostling for promotion in various positions. Here are the current standings:

1. Blue Devil - 45 points
2. STRose - 44 pts
3. Chelskilad - 41 pts
- What's Up Wheaton Simon - 41 pts
5. Swansong - 35 pts
6. The Red Dragon - 34 pts
7. Gooner71 - 33 pts
8. The Red Devil 1FCK - 31 pts
9. Yellows - 30 pts
10. Man Utd Rules - 26 pts
11. Someone Said - 24 pts
- United We Stand - 24 pts
13. West Ham Rising - 16 pts

MLS 20 - Week 3 Update

The third weekend of the MLS season had loads of firsts, starting with the inaugural match for the new look Red Bulls at their new Avaya Stadium, which saw them prevail 2-0 over DC United with goals from Bradley Wright Phillips and former LUFC loanee Lloyd Sam.

It was a low scoring weekend with a lot of draws. I was happy to see my beloved NE Revolution gaining its first point of the season with a 0-0 draw in our home opener to Montreal. We often have a stuttering start with away matches before it's warm enough to host a match at Foxboro.

On the West Coast, FC Dallas are the hottest team in the league, notching their third win over the weekend away to Philly Union. Just behind them, San Jose claimed its second win of the season at home to Chicago Fire, who have nil point after three matches. Ouch!

Let's hear how the season has started for your side and what you watched over the weekend. Cheers!

Still the Biggest Game in the Country?

Good Morning fellas. Another big day of games in the Premier League. Hull City take on top of the table Chelsea, QPR have a must win game against Everton BUT the BIG ONE opens up the day's play
Liverpool host Manchester United. Can United do the double over their big rivals? I hope so... though Liverpool have not lost in the league since their three nil loss to United.

Join me

UWS

Another Saturday on the Road

Hiya, boys - alas I'll be on the road heading back to Fred-town today, so I'll be missing another big Premiership Saturday with you. But I thought I'd start us off with this post. If you have a chance, I'd love some updates during the day. I'll be back with you early doors tomorrow morning. Cheerio!

Premiership Plus Predictions Game - Week 29 Update

We're rounding the home stretch of our Premiership Plus Predictions Game, with fewer than 10 matches remaining. That said, there are still plenty of points to play for and every chance that someone (if not Someone Said - sorry) could unseat me at the top of charts. Chelsea still seem like presumed champions, Liverpool and Arsenal are now favorites for the FA Cup final and the favorites are still in the Champions League and Europa League with only a few rounds to go.

Here are the current standings:

1. Blue Devil - 46 points
2. Chelskilad - 44 pts
- STRose - 44 pts
4. What's Up Wheaton Simon - 41 pts
5. Swansong - 35 pts
6. The Red Dragon - 34 pts
7. Gooner71 - 31 pts
- Red Devil 1FCK - 31 pts
9. Yellows - 30 pts
10. Someone Said - 27 pts
11. Man Utd Rules - 26 pts
12. United We Stand - 24 pts
13. West Ham Rising - 16 pts

Big Tuesday Night

Champions League and Championship Football tonight
Can Arsenal recover after the disaster at the Emirates?
Bayer Lev visit Atletico  as well
Domestically, the top teams play tonight as well
Bournemouth visit  Cardiff, Watford visit Wigan and Derby host Boro
Exciting night!
Spring Break for me so no class tonight.... Join me

UWS

A Really Busy March Saturday

There's a lot on offer today as NBCSN is televising two London Derbies and a Northwest Derby while BEIN is televising  two promotion six pointer involving East Anglian teams. whether or not you are on vacation , there are great matches to view.

Premiership Plus Predictions Game - Week 28 Update

Hiya, lads. I'm here on Friday to account for the PPP standings before we hit another big weekend of domestic footie. In the last week, we've seen some big results in the FA Cup, Champions League and Europa League, so, while the scores haven't changed much, the implications of these results will be felt later on in the competition as the points are totted up. Arsenal's big win over United in the Cup last Monday, for example, knocked five of us out of that tournament. Similarly, Chelski's devastating exit in the Champions League hurt Chelskilad in more ways than one but then benefited Red Devil who has PSG in the CL. So, here are the current standings:

1. Blue Devil - 45 points
- STRose - 45 pts
3. Chelskilad - 41 pts
4. What's Up Wheaton Simon - 40 pts
5. Swanson - 35 pts
6. The Red Dragon - 33 pts
7. Gooner71 - 31 pts
8. The Red Devil 1FCK - 30 pts
- Yellows - 30 pts
10. Man Utd Rules - 26 pts
11. United We Stands - 25 pts
12. Someone Said - 24 pts
13. West Ham Rising - 14 pts

Europa League Round of 16 Live!

If it's Thursday, it's the Europa League! This afternoon, we've got eight cracking Europa League first leg fixtures kicking off mostly around 4pm EST. The only English interest is in the delectable clash between Dynamo Chicken Kiev and some Everton Toffee pudding. Join me for all the action here on the LOB!

Chelsea v. PSG Live!

I'm back on Wednesday afternoon to follow the big Champions League match up today between Chelsea and PSG. It's well poised at 1-1 from the first leg in Paris, with the Blues holding the away goal advantage. Join me from 3:45pm onward for all the action here on the LOB.

Major League Soccer - Week 1 Update

The 20th season of Major League Soccer kicked off this weekend and I made a promise to myself that I would pay attention to the league than I have for some time. So, I'll be updating league play at the beginning of each week. This season sees two new expansion teams - New York FC who will play their games at Yankee Stadium and Orlando City who are connected to Man Citeh. Each have new marquee players - US international Mix Diskerud for NY and Brazilian World Cup winner Kaka for Orlando. Both were on the scoresheet in the opener between them on Sunday.

That helped what was a relatively quiet start for the league, with the sell-out crowds seeing a lot of close, low scoring matches. 8 of the 10 matches were goal-less at half-time and there were two 0-0 draws in the end. But the stars showed up big. Joey Altidore is back in the MLS and he steered his new club Toronto FC to a 1-3 victory, including a "Panenka" penalty that was on all the highlight reels. And Clint Dempsey helped Seattle roll over my beloved Revolution 3-0. Gooner's DC were off to a winning start over Montreal Impact with a debut goal from Jairo Arrieta, as were MLS champions LA Galaxy who won 2-0 over Chicago Fire.

The Western conference still looks stronger than the Eastern conference, with LA, Seattle, all Houston all instant favorites. Here are the results from the first weekend:

Vancouver Whitecaps 1 Toronto FC 3
Seattle Sounders 3 New England Revolution 0
Orlando City 1 New York FC 1
Sporting KC 1 New York Red Bulls 1
Houston Dynamo 1 Columbus Crew SC 0
LA Galaxy 2 Chicago Fire 0
Portland Timbers 0 Real Salt Lake 0
Philadelphia Union 0 Colorado Rapids 0
DC United 1 Montreal Impact 0
FC Dallas 1 San Jose Earthquakes 0

I'd love to hear your thoughts about the league's opening and if you enjoyed any of the first weekend matches.

Champions League Tuesday!

The Champions League is back today with the second legs of two knockout round matches. Real Madrid did over Schalke 0-2 in the first leg, so their second leg at the Bernabeu should be a cakewalk. On the other hand, Porto and Basel are locked at 1-1 from the first leg with Porto with the edge on that away goal. Tune in with me at 3:45pm EST for all the action.

The Big One!

We've suffered through one of the more turgid weekends of domestic football that I can remember only to finally come to the big one - Arsenal v. United - on a bloody Monday afternoon. Those on the other side of The Pond will be able to feet up with some fish and chips and a pint while this is on but for those of here in the colonies, we're right up against a busy work afternoon. Hence, I'll be sneaking a peek at the beginning of this match before running down to my 4:30 class. May the best side win!

The "Barely Any Footie On Offer" Sunday

Morning, chaps - it's "Spring Forward" day in the United States, but the UK has yet to fix their clocks, so we're only four hours ahead of Blighty now for a couple of weeks. That means that today's Cup Quarterfinal between Liverpool and Blackburn begins at noon EST (11am CST). Make sure to tune for all the action with me.

Two FA Cup Quarterfinals , One Premier League Match , and Some Football League Matches

It's a mixed bag today as we start with an interesting FA Cup Quarterfinal as the Bradford City Bantams host the Reading Railroad. THis match kicks off at 745 AM on FS 1. This is followed by an Evil Prem Match from SFL as the Spuds host Evil QPR. Ipswich vs Brentford is on BEIN at 10 AM as well. The final match is bak to the quarters as Villa host the Baggies on FSC Plus ion a repeat of their Prem meeting on Tuesday..

Nick Hornby on Bullseye!

Heads up, Hornby fanatics. Our Nick is the featured guest this week on the NPR culture chat podcast "Bullseye" podcast hosted by Jesse Thorn. He spills the beans on his entire career but focuses on excellent new novel "Funny Girl." You can download it from iTunes and all the usual sites.

Relegation Dogfight Tuesday!

It's relegation dogfight Tuesday in the Premiership, with several bottom of the table match-ups to follow. Tim Sherwood's new Villa side take on West Brom, Hull meet Sunderland and rapidly improving Palace meet Southampton. Along with that, there is a full slate of Championship offering as well. Join me for a cuppa and a natter, won't you?

Premiership Plus Predictions - Week 27 Update

Evening, chaps - it's PPP time again! And it's been a big week in domestic and European football since we last took stock of things. Liverpool, Spurs and Celtic all went crashing out of the Europa League last Thursday, with several of our participants losing points. And Chelski won out in the League Cup Final on Sunday defeating Spurs. The main beneficiary this week was our current champion Simon, who grabbed six points for that Chelski win and five other points for Liverpool's ascension. Could this be the start of another late run to the title for Simon - we'll soon see!

Standings:
1. The Blue Devil - 45 points
- STRose - 45 pts
3. Chelskilad - 41 pts
4. What's Up Wheaton Simon - 38 puts
5. Swansong - 36 pts
6. The Red Dragon - 33 pts
7. Gooner71 - 32 pts
8. The Red Devil 1FCK - 31pts
- Yellows - 31 pts
10. Someone Said 24 pts
- United We Stand - 24 pts
12. Man Utd Stands - 22 pts
13. West Ham Rising - 12 pts

A Really Ginormous Sunday Triple Header

 I'm up at the crack of Bloody dawn, but I think it will be worth it as we start with Liverpool vs Citeh followed by the Gunners vs the Toffees and concluding wiht the capital One Cup Final at Wewmbuhlay where it's Chelsea vs Spurs. Set your strawberry alarm clock and join me.