Daily Dose: April 26th, 2011.

Mario exacts his revenge .

It’ll never end. ( Studs Up )

Sweden and Cyprus. ( The Best Eleven )

Those sneaky Spanish ballboys. ( ESPN )

EPL Blog awards. ( EPL Talk )

People are mean, dgibbo28 edition. ( Guardian )

Relegation is childish. ( Umbro Twitter )

What can you do for me. ( Surreal Football )

Does anyone actually have a job? ( The Fundesliga )

…

Daily Dose: April 25th, 2011.

Hotel Ternana. ( The Score )

The Black Army. ( EFW )

Why this will never see the light of day… ( Football Fashion )

The unheralded. ( Footballing World )

Ugly times in Argentina. ( AP )

Fernando’s miracle. ( Dirty Tackle )

Asking the important question. ( Has Fernando Torres Scored For Chelsea )

…

Balotelli Blows Raspberries

Italy is playing Slovenia today in a rather important qualifier. Mario Balotelli may not be everyone’s cup of tea – is he anyone’s, really? – but he is undoubtedly one of the most talented athletes in the game, much less available to Cesare Prandelli.

However, he (and Daniele De Rossi) will not be there for disciplinary reasons. Basically: behave yourself on the pitch for club, or …

Daily Dose: March 23rd, 2011.

Just the worst teammate.

[ Dirty Tackle ]

Sepp’s FIFA twilight is in his hands. ( The DA )

Platini for prez (FIFA prez). ( AP )

The problem with Galatasaray. ( Scouting Romania )

A Polish derby. ( EFW )

Like a foreign language or something. ( Studs Up )

Looming June football. ( La Liga Loca )

…

Mario Balotelli: Yet Another Undercover Ninja

More ninja theatrics in the world of football, this from another boy well-known for his ways on the wrong side of acceptable, Mario Balotelli. His first mistake was the inability to put on his bib, a task mastered by even the most unskilled of ninjas.

This failure fresh in mind, Mario then went into overkill ninja move with a double abdomen-leg kick, which saw him earn a red card. …

Pepe: Undercover Ninja

Nigel de Jong is easily the posterboy for footballers who lies on the opposite end of the legality spectrum, largely based on his impressively bad body of work, but also because his name is both easy and fun to conjugate. ‘

However, were we to review this policy and elect a new ninja assassin supremo, there can likely only be one man: Pepe. He’s already enjoyed a lengthy ban for curb …

No Such Thing As A Good Deed When Tackling A Mankini

Oh, this bizarre world of this ‘football’: man tackles Borat – very well, it must be said – and is sent off for his good deed.

[Ashley] Vickers told the Dorset Echo: “I’m dumbfounded and speechless. A guy ran on to the pitch without any of the stewards getting near him and I thought I was doing them a favour. My only thought was to get hold of him so we could get on with …

Offside Roundtable: The Cascadia Summit

After a two year hiatus, the Cascadia Rivalry is back. The Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps are rejoining the Seattle Sounders in what could be the most intense three-way rivalry American soccer has ever seen.

With the new MLS season only two weeks away, teams are in the midst of preseason training and friendlies. This weekend, the Sounders will be hosting their northern and …

NFL Scouting English Brawls

Macclesfield and Wycombe enjoyed a “brawl”, of sorts. Not an all-time epic, but one small thing of note. Ricky Sappleton, the big boy who starts the whole thing after a slew of quasi-legal tackles, is ushered into the mix. One might even say a “pile”, a la American football. And then he’s pushed…and pushed…and pushed…and only until his own teammate shoulder throws him, hit …

Battle of Man Utd & Marseille Transmits to the Airwaves

It’s a strange and small battle in the grand scope of the world’s grandest club tournament. Very strange, very small, but such a petty request, petty quarrel it’s interesting.

The Champions League knockout war between Manchester United and Marseille has gained another, third battle in the form of the disagreement over radio rights fees. Marseille allowed the English to broadcast free …

Djibril Cisse: No Fan Of Greece

When making the move from one of the major leagues in Western Europe to Greece, life in the headlines is going to dwindle a bit – for good or for bad – after the hero’s welcome thrown at the airport.

Very few in world football could turn this tide; one such man is Djibril Cisse. Football’s most phantasmagorical mane just cannot get out of the headlines right now – and boy does he …

How the Champions League Teams Spent Their Weekend

Starting Tuesday, the last 16 teams in the Champions League start to fight it out for the championship of all Europe. This was the weekend before the big show for eight of those teams, which tends to be a time where their mostly smaller opponents see a chance for an upset, as the big boys rest players and prepare. Unlike most pre-European weekends, almost all of the eight contenders won …

Four Europe-based players to watch in the South American U-20 Tournament

The South American Youth Championship , like most youth tournaments, is dominated by domestic-based players. After all, most national youth teams aren’t going to fly the average 18 year old footballer across the world for a month in the middle of their club season. But of course there are many 18 year old footballers who are far from average, and so there are a couple of Europe-based …

Lionel Messi Wins Another Ballon d’Or, Now Needs A Trophy House

He’s the best player in the world. Individually, he was the best for club throughout 2010. Individually, he was the best player in the World Cup until his team was dumped out. ‘

And for all this, they’ve handed him the Ballon d’Or for the second year straight, last done by Marco van Basten in ‘88-’89, and doing do as the first non-World Cup winner in a World Cup year since …

El-Hadji Diouf: Rebel without a cause…

James Dean..he is not!

Diouf is on a streak.   Unfortunately, it’s with his mouth and not his feet.  The player – who isn’t known for sugar coating his feelings – has once again let his antics take center stage instead of his talent.  The Senegalese player, who has yet to score in the EPL this season for Blackburn , once again courted controversy with his reaction …