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Pirlo again was just so impressive.

Why is it that England so often finds a way to lose on the world stage that breaks your heart?

Success was never a destination for Chuck Noll. It was not a road that had an ending, rather always a new beginning. It was a journey, a path that never allowed for complacency or made room for satisfaction. Along the way, the lesson he instructed was always the same, whether it was life or football: Getting to the top is not nearly as difficult as staying there.

No head coach in National Football League history has ever enjoyed as much success as Charles Henry Noll, the only coach to win four Super Bowl trophies. And he did it in a six-year span of the 1970s in which the Steelers, the franchise he transformed from doormat to dynasty, became one of the most dominating teams of any NFL era….”He will go down as the guy who helped create the mystique that exists now with the Steelers,” said former coach Bill Cowher, who replaced Mr. Noll in 1992 and accumulated 161 victories and one Super Bowl title in 15 seasons with the Steelers, second only to Mr. Noll’s 209 victories in 23 seasons.

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Wow.

Still sitting here in eerie silence. Robin Van Persie’s first goal changed that game.

For the World Cup I said my one hope was that the referees would not unduly impact the outcome so far two games two fiascoes.

Blast it.

The Church of England has released Prayers for the World Cup, including prayers for the England Team ahead of England’s first match against Italy.

The Prayers have been written by the Bishop of Leeds, the Rt. Revd. Nick Baines, who originally penned them during the last football World Cup in South Africa in 2010 and has posted them on his blog.

In addition to prayers for those participating in the World Cup and those travelling to “join in the party” there is also a prayer for those for who “are simply not interested” by the competition.

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The most downcast soccer fans in the world ”” relative to the quality of their national team ”” are the citizens of England.

Only 4 percent of English respondents named the home country when asked which team would win the World Cup, in a recent Upshot/YouGov study of 19 countries. Of the 19 countries, only respondents in Costa Rica, which doesn’t crack the top 25 in various world rankings, were so pessimistic.

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Ugh.

Days before the opening of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Facebook and Twitter have launched tournament coverage areas. Both social networks figure to have a big presence in the way people watch and follow the action and they are understandably trying to capitalize on that with some custom features.

Facebook, the world’s largest social network, has launched a page that aggregates popular public posts about the World Cup and features a match tracker. Also unveiled was a fan map, which shows a geographic breakdown of the fans of 10 prominent player Facebook pages. For example, it shows that Cristiano Ronaldo, the world’s most followed player on Facebook, has 84 million fans. What might surprise is that by Facebook’s data, he’s huge in Sri Lanka, where his popularity is 20.5% “above average.”

Twitter is using the World Cup as a chance to sign up new users, enticing people to join by giving new accounts the opportunity to declare allegiance to a country and select a pre-made image as a new avatar. Twitter has also created a custom World Cup hub for the tournament and for individual matches. You can also now tweet to include a country’s flag, a feature called “hashflags” that was in use during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Pop star Shakira showed the feature off in what appears to be a coordinated launch for the product. Twitter will use these mentions in its “World Cup of Tweets,” which will go live on Thursday.

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Would like fine games where the referees don’t impact the outcome.

This was a very enjoyable match to watch. Simona Halep has a bright future ahead of her.

The Telegraph has a chart there to help and Peter Ould is running a competition you can enter there.

Some glimmers of offensive flair, but many worries about defense. I enjoyed the first half especially–KSH.

FIFA’s investigative report and related documents, which were obtained by The New York Times and have not been publicly released, raise serious questions about the vulnerability of the World Cup to match fixing. The tournament opens June 12 in Brazil.

The report found that the match-rigging syndicate and its referees infiltrated the upper reaches of global soccer in order to fix exhibition matches and exploit them for betting purposes. It provides extensive details of the clever and brazen ways that fixers apparently manipulated “at least five matches and possibly more” in South Africa ahead of the last World Cup. As many as 15 matches were targets, including a game between the United States and Australia, according to interviews and emails printed in the FIFA report.

Although corruption has vexed soccer for years, the South Africa case gives an unusually detailed look at the ease with which professional gamblers can fix matches, as well as the governing body’s severe problems in policing itself and its member federations. The report, at 44 pages, includes an account of Mr. [Ibrahim] Chaibou’s trip to the bank, as well as many other scenes describing how matches were apparently rigged.

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He and Donovan have had their issues, most notably last year when Klinsmann did not hide his disapproval of Donovan’s four-month sabbatical from soccer. Donovan worked his way back, but it had been clear for a while that Klinsmann believed Donovan’s form had declined.

Yet many other coaches would have kept Donovan based on his past, bowing to the tendency to trust in the familiar when situations are uncertain. Athletes often feel that way, too; Donovan’s teammates, including Tim Howard and Michael Bradley, said as recently as this week that they believed he was critical to the team’s success.

Klinsmann was not interested. He did not discuss his roster decisions with any of the team’s veteran leaders ”” “Our picture is different than what a player has of his teammate,” he said ”” and acted swiftly and decisively.

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Ángel di María the best player today he deserves the most credit for the win.

By the way, di María will be playing w/ Lionel Messi in the world cup–Argentina will be dangerous

When the hosts of the 2014 World Cup take on Croatia in the opening match of the tournament on June 12th, God will also be on the pitch. And whoever opens the score sheet for Brazil, it’s likely that Jesus will get the credit.

Everyone knows that football is a religion in Brazil, but religion itself finds its expression in the game, and the players’ behaviours on and off the pitch reveal much about the country’s changing religious landscape.

You will still see players making Catholic gestures such as the sign of the cross, but recent years have seen more evangelical expressions of Christianity. After their victory in the 2002 World Cup final, the whole team knelt in a huge prayer circle, with some players stripping off their shirts to show t-shirts emblazoned with the slogan “I belong to Jesus.”

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St Paul’s Anglican Church in Monaco is getting geared up for a busy few days. On Sunday 25 May normal services of worship are being curtailed as the roads of the Principality will be taken over by the Grand Prix so worshippers are being encouraged to pray early by attending the 8am service on that day.

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Looks like a 3 year contract–check it out and there is more there.

In honor of Mother’s Day, we salute servicewomen who face the dilemma of leaving their children to serve their country, and we rejoice in their emotional returns….

Watch it all–Kleenex likely necessary; KSH.

Atletico Madrid and Barcelona will play a La Liga title decider at the Nou Camp stadium next weekend after the front runners drew on Sunday to set up one of the most dramatic finishes in Spain’s top flight for more than 60 years.

On a day of nerve-jangling tension, when leaders Atletico came desperately close to a late goal that would have clinched the championship, the Madrid club had to come from behind to rescue a 1-1 draw at home to Malaga while second-placed Barca were held to a 0-0 stalemate at Elche.

Real Madrid dropped out of the title race when they suffered a surprise 2-0 loss at Celta Vigo that left them five points behind their city rivals with one game remaining.

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Manchester City have won the Premier League title with a 2-0 win against West Ham United.

Goals either side of half-time from Samir Nasri and Vincent Kompany saw City capture the title with an easy victory.

Manuel Pellegrini’s side led second-place Liverpool by only two points heading into the match.

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Long before head coach Doc Rivers found himself defending his Los Angeles Clippers players who were the unwelcome participants in team owner Donald Sterling’s racist comments all week, he was concerned about another sensitive subject: religion.

It was late 1999, the start of Rivers’ first season as coach of the Orlando Magic, and he saw a situation in the locker room that he felt needed to be addressed.

As his players took part in the pregame prayer that was part of their routine, Rivers noticed something he didn’t like.

“I looked up in one of the prayers, and Tariq (Abdul-Wahad) had his arms folded, and you could see that he was really uncomfortable with it,” Rivers said. “So the next game, we were standing up in a circle, and I said, ”˜Hey guys, we’re no longer praying.’”

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Watch it all from ESPN’s E-60.

The firing Tuesday of coach David Moyes followed Manchester United’s worst on-pitch performance in 24 years, seemingly vindicating those fans who foresaw failure under the team’s American owners.

From the point of view of those owners, the acquisition is hardly a bust. Since the Glazer family””owners of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers””gained control of United in 2005, team revenue has nearly doubled on the strength of licensing deals with corporate giants around the world. Since a 2012 offering that transferred 10% of the English soccer club to the public, the value of United shares has climbed 34% to $18.78. That suggests that the franchise is worth $3.1 billion””more than twice what the Glazers paid.

But their quick firing of Moyes””who only this season took over following the retirement of the legendary Alex Ferguson ””suggests the Glazer family doesn’t regard United’s popularity as unshakable, especially at a time when other Premier League teams are pursuing global sponsors and audiences and spending lavishly on players.

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You spend anytime around the 44-year-old [Clemson Coach] and you are going to hear about Jesus, Scripture, and the power of it all. It isn’t necessarily, or at least not always, done to proselytize. It’s part of how he talks, how he lives. Faith, Family, Football ”“ that’s about it with him.

There is no delineation.

For the people at the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a non-profit out of Madison, Wis., there needs to be or he shouldn’t have his job.

In what is, if nothing else, an absolutely fascinating subject, the FFRF sent a letter of complaint to Clemson this week about “several serious constitutional concerns” over how “Christian worship seems interwoven into the Clemson football program.”

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It starts with a reading from John’s gospel and is deeply moving–watch it all.

The Rev David Smith from Oakfield Methodist Church, Rev Kelvin Bolton from Christ Church and Holy Trinity and Father Stephen Maloney from All Saints Church Anfield led the service and read the names of the 96 from the Book of Remembrance.

It took eight poignant minutes.

The stadium then fell silent for a minute in memory of the victims of that terrible day in Sheffield at the FA Cup semi-final in 1989.

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