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%image% Australia scored a surprising 2-1 victory over European heavyweight Germany at Borussia Park on Tuesday.Despite Mario Gomez’ first half goal, the Australians rallied in the second half to topple the home side.

A neatly-taken goals by Blackpool’s David Carney, the 1000th goal conceded by Germany, and a penalty from Luke Wilkshire, consigned the Germans to defeat.

A late goal from Asamoah Gyan earned Ghana a 1-1 draw with England at Wembley.

Recent Liverpool signing Andy Carroll put the Three Lions ahead just before the interval but the English were denied a victory over the World Cup quarter-finalists when Sunderland forward Gyan curled in a fine goal for the Africans.

France and Croatia played out a scoreless draw at the Stade de France, in a rematch of the 1998 World Cup semi-final which saw Croatia coach Slaven Bilic controversially have his opposite number Laurent Blanc sent off.

World Cup semi-finalist Uruguay overcame a late comeback to grab an entertaining 3-2 win over Ireland.

A Shane Long headed effort cancelled out Diego Lugano’s goal but then strikes from Edinson Cavani and Abel Hernandez put the Uruguayans 3-1 ahead.

A Keith Faley penalty gave the Irish a chance but the Uruguayans held on.

The hosts of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, Russia and Qatar respectively, played out a 1-1 draw in Doha.

Qatar grabbed a surprise lead through Mohamed Kasoula, but they were denied a famous victory when Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko equalised with a shot that Qatari goalkeeper Meshal Mubarak got a hand to.

Former World Cup champions Italy beat Ukraine 2-1 in Kiev thanks to goals from Giuseppe Rossi and Alessandro Matri.

Greece was held to 0-0 draw by Poland in Piraeus despite a handful of scoring opportunities falling their way in each half.

Portugal beat Finland in Aviero thanks a brace from debutant Rúben Micael.

Canada edged out Belarus at a near-empty stadium in Antalya in Turkey courtesy of a 58th minute strike from Houston Dynamo defender Andre Hainault.

A Michael Krohn-Dehli winner saw Denmark come out on top against Slovakia. Denmark drew first blood after an own goal from Slovakia’s Kornel Salata although the Slovakians drew level Filip Holosko but it was the Brondby midfielder who had the last laugh for the Danes.

A solitary goal separated Bulgaria and Cyprus with the Bulgarians coming out on top courtesy of a contentious Martin Petrov goal.

In Asia, China resoundingly defeated Honduras by three goals thanks to a from goal from Huang Bowen, and a Yang Xu double – all of which were set up by Schalke midfielder Hao Junmin.

In Latin America, Ecuador were held 0-0 by Peru in The Hague, Netherlands.

The Peruvians, who were reduced to 10 men, managed to hold on after goalkeeper Salomon Libman’s saved Ecuador captain Walter Ayovi’s penalty in the first half.

A Matias Fernandez free-kick and Jean Beausejour strike saw Chile beat Colombia 2-0.

Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas has thanked Arsenal for helping make him into a World Cup winner, but his future at the Emirates Stadium continues to look uncertain.

Barcelona target Fabregas was forced to wear the shirt of the Spanish giants while in Madrid celebrating Sunday's World Cup final victory with his international team-mates.

Barca pair Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique ambushed the Arsenal skipper and pulled the shirt of his boyhood club over his head while he was on stage addressing Spanish fans.

Fabregas has already been the subject of one unsuccessful bid from the Catalan club this summer and is reported to have told manager Arsene Wenger of his desire to leave north London after seven seasons.

The 23-year-old looked embarrassed to be the victim of the prank, but his future in England continues to look uncertain despite admitting he owes a debt of gratitude to the Gunners and Wenger.

"This is for the Arsenal players, the Arsenal fans, for the manager and all his staff," said Fabregas.

"I have had lots of texts and Blackberry messages. My phone is full.

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"I had a text message of congratulations from Arsene Wenger. He said I deserve it. I just think this is for everyone at Arsenal who helped me get to where I am now.

"I am really proud to be an Arsenal player."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

‘We are in transition.’ The phrase that seems to have become the excuse for all managers after a period of bad performances and indeed results. Wenger has been using it for the last 6 years at Arsenal, and now AVB and Chelsea have become the latest to wheel out the most overused excuse in football.

Now don’t get me wrong, you cannot have constant success all the time – eventually the spine of a team will ages, and new players will have to be brought in, which inevitably becomes a transitional time, and for one, maybe two seasons this is fine, and both fans and owners need the common sense to understand and respect this.

However, multiple seasons down the line, the same excuse quite frankly cannot wash. Wenger has used said excuse for years now, and whereas immediately after the departures of Campbell, Henry Bergkamp and the like, not to mention the emergence of the ‘young guns’ this was acceptable, and people would have happily given the Gunners a couple of seasons to develop and progress as a team, six years and zero trophies later – arguably going backwards – this simply cannot be the case anymore.

Now they are going through a period of so called transition again with the departures of key players and the arrival of new ones, but how long can this cycle go on for without Wenger coming out and offering a real explanation for the perceived lack of success?

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Some teams are genuinely having a season of transition – look at Chelsea – AVB has to contend with the entirety of his spine ageing at the same time, and all losing that extra bit of pace that made them so special – and in Abramovich he has an owner who has as much patience as Joey Barton does with the cast of TOWIE. Now I am not suggesting allowing AVB the next ten years to build what resembles a winning team, but a couple of seasons of patience will do Chelsea no harm in the long run.

Likewise with Liverpool, under the ill-fated reign of Hodgson and before that the end of Benitiez’ time in charge, Liverpool were simply not good enough, and using the excuse of ‘transition’ could not be tolerated. However, at this minute in time, under King Kenny, they are slowly rebuilding a team worthy of challenging for major honours, and patience is required – but said time will not last forever, and eventually fans will expect progress to be made.

One of the teams who dispel the ‘transitional’ excuse are United, who have been reinvented multiple times under the 25 year reign of Sir Alex Ferguson, who has the uncanny knack of knowing when it is time to move players on or bring new blood through. Yes, they may go a couple of seasons without trophies or a title, but no more than that and Fergie would never attempt to excuse poor performances season after season by trying to say that the team had lost their spine and were trying to rebuild. One season maybe two, certainly not more than that.

Do not misunderstand me – I am not trying to advocate trigger happy owners sacking managers after one season without a trophy, I am simply trying to make the point that aside from blaming the referee, the most overused and pathetic excuse in football is to claim a team is in a transitional phase – at least sometimes it really is the referee’s fault!

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Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger insisted the Premier League remains his top priority after the Gunners thumped Leyton Orient 5-0 in the FA Cup.Orient secured a lucrative fifth-round replay at the Emirates thanks to a last-gasp equaliser in their opening tie, but a Nicklas Bendtner hat-trick and goals to Maroune Chamakh and Gael Clichy ensured there would be no such fairytale on Wednesday.Arsenal advance to a thrilling showdown at Manchester United in the quarter-finals, but with leaders United a mere four points away on the Premier League table Wenger said the Gunners were focused on the top-flight silverware this season.”The league is a vital race. For us, the most important one,” Wenger said.”It will be interesting until the end of the season. Every game now is a cup game – we had one tonight, and will have one on Saturday (against Sunderland).””The race is tight, exciting. I don’t rule out Chelsea or Manchester City because everybody can drop points everywhere. If we maintain our consistency we have a very good chance.”Arsenal let slip the Carling Cup trophy with a 2-1 loss to Birmingham City in Sunday’s final at Wembley, and Wenger was pleased to see his charges return to their winning ways so convincingly.”It was a good response, we took the game in a serious way. It was good to win the game,” he said.”We are in a fantastic run. On Sunday we lost a game in special circumstances.”Orient boss Russell Slade praised Arsenal for ruthlessly responding to their 1-1 draw in the reverse fixture.”It was a difficult night for us. Chances were few and far between,” Slade said.”Arsenal were in the mood tonight and made life difficult for us. They played some wonderful football and we tried to live with that.””They are a group of internationals who are very focused and disciplined and their attitude tonight was spot-on.”

Pre-season is now in full swing as teams get ready for the 2010/11 Premier League season and hope to get up to speed so they can start with a bang. Chelsea are no different, as the Premier League champions prepare themselves for the defence of their title. Given the strength of Manchester United and Arsenal, the positivity coming out of Liverpool and the money that Manchester City are splashing around, that could be a difficult task. Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti seems pretty relaxed about the situation though, here he is with Director of Football Frank Arnesen keeping an eye on striker Daniel Sturridge amongst others. What are the Chelsea top two thinking?

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This week you can win a £50 iTunes Voucher!

Our prize has been provided by VoucherCodes.co.uk (www.vouchercodes.co.uk), a money saving website offering big discounts on World Cup kits and training gear with discount codes at Kitbag: (http://www.vouchercodes.co.uk/kitbag.com).

To see the FootballFanCast.com Caption Competition Terms and Conditions click here.

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And check out our Caption Competition Gallery for some inspiration and to see the winners so far.

Last week’s winner: Mark Ross – click here to see all entries

West Brom take part in their second Midlands derby within the space of a week as they make the short trip to an Aston Villa side who were thumped 4-0 at Manchester City seven days ago.

The Villan’s were unbeaten prior to their trip to the Etihad Stadium and will need to set themselves up a lot better than they did last Saturday with boss Alex McLeish unhappy with his sides ‘comedy cuts’ defending. You could be forgiven for thinking Villa were up against a City side in superb form but the truth is they made it too easy for the hosts and will need to up their concentration levels against Albion. Lets not forget it was their first defeat of the campaign and an unbeaten run of seven games has silence a few of the Holte End regulars who were unhappy after McLeish’s appointment following his stint in the Birmingham dugout. The Scot has certainly made them harder to beat and is finally getting some end product from Gabby Agbonlahor who has four goals to his name already this season. Derbies are Villa’s specialty too having lost only of their last 11 at home – a 1-0 defeat to Wolves in April. They haven’t suffered back-to-back league defeats in 16 games so the omens are good for the home faithful. Their cause will be helped by the return of  defender James Collins who looks set to return and partner Richard Dunne who will be making his 500th club career start.

Roy Hodgson’s Baggies have started their season in reverse to their Midland’s rivals having lost four of their eight games winning only two. Their latest conquest came last week against Wolves at the Hawthorns and relieved some of the pressure on Hodgson’s shoulders. The former Fulham boss has been unable to replicate the success he endured at the club towards the end of last season but that 1-0 win seven days ago went a long way to getting the club back on track. Peter Odemwingie was the match winner last week scoring his second goal of whats been a disappointing start to his second year as a Baggie. Injuries have hampered his progress so far but he looked back to his best forming a potent link up with Shane Long. The Republic Ireland striker has hit three goals from seven shots on target this season but will have a hard job penetrating Villa’s watertight defence. In fact this will be West Brom’s 100th away Premier League fixture but they’ve only tasted victory 11 times away from home. The return of Zoltan Gera and Steven Reid will put a smile on Hodgson’s face and the pair could play vital roles in their chances of coming away from Villa park with maximum points.

Key Players 

Gabriel Agbonlahor – Whatever McLeish has done to Agbonlahor it certainly is a miracle. He is fast becoming Villa’s key player with his exciting displays and lung bursting sprints being combined with a final product. The Villa striker has been in clinical form scoring half of the sides goals already and his pace will be key to overcoming West Brom this week.

Peter Odemwingie – After a stuttering start to the campaign Odemwingie looks to be getting back to his best and his goal against Wolves last week was expertly taken. His runs off the shoulder of defences and penchant to be in the right place at the right time will be an important factor if the Baggies are to unlock a stern Villa defence.

Prediction: 2-1

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Aston Villa’s Gabriel Agbonlahor is the only player in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index’s top ten NOT from Man Utd, Man City, or Chelsea. He is the 8th ranked player and 3rd ranked striker (behind Rooney and Aguero) Agbonlahor also has a 67% shots on target rate (more than Rooney, who has 59% on target) West Brom’s Peter Odemwingie scored his second goal of the season last weekend and rose 16 places to 102nd in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index Odemwingie’s two goals have come from 12 attempts at goal with 67% of shots on target

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Real Madrid eased their way into the Champions League quarter-finals with a comprehensive 3-0 win over Lyon at the Bernabeu on Wednesday.Real, who held a narrow advantage on away goals after the opening leg in France ended 1-1, always looked in control at home and gave up few chances while creating plenty of their own.Portuguese ace Cristiano Ronaldo was back in Jose Mourinho’s 11 after recovering from a hamstring injury, lasting 73 minutes and playing a hand in Marcelo’s opening goal.French striker Karim Benzema put the tie beyond doubt after the hour, and Angel Di Maria added another for good measure as Real clinched the tie with a 4-1 overall aggregate.The result gives Real a boost of confidence as they head back to La Liga to face city rivals Atletico on Saturday.The hosts were creating trouble for Lyon from the outset and needed just five minutes to come close to an opener through Sami Khedira, whose header from their first set-piece struck the left post.Goalkeeper Iker Casillas produced a fine diving save to redirect Cesar Delgado’s swipe from range beyond the right post – one of Lyon’s few real opportunities in the first half – while at the other end Lyon custodian Hugo Lloris did well to punch Ronaldo’s flat attempt over the bar.But a Real goal seemed inevitable given their complete dominance, and it came in the 37th minute after some terrific by-play between Marcelo and Ronaldo.The Brazilian left-back bullied his way to the edge of the area on a one-two with Ronaldo, cut inside a sliding Dejan Lovren and chipped his shot beyond Lloris to lift the Bernabeu to full voice.Benzema, who had found the net eight times in his past six matches, started to press for a goal of his own in the shadows of half-time.He found his way past Lloris with a header on 42 minutes, though it was rightfully disallowed for offside, and three minutes later Lloris produced an acrobatic leap to tip the Frenchman’s finish over the bar.But there was still time aplenty for the former Lyon man, whose 66th-minute goal owed much to a terrific ball by Marcelo.The Brazilian’s deep through pass cut Lyon’s defence open, allowing Benzema to go one out with Lloris in the area and slide in an easy finish.With the tie all but sealed Lyon’s heads bowed, allowing Mesut Ozil to get away a deft flick-on for Di Maria to race through and place his shot under the bar on 76 minutes.

It looks as if Eduardo’s Arsenal career is coming to an end this summer after Arsene Wenger told the striker that he is not in the first-team plans. Although it may appear to be a sad decision, is it in fact a correct one by the Arsenal boss?

The Croatian international has really struggled to find his form since suffering his horrific leg break two season ago, which could have ended the strikers career, and it now appears that Wenger has no choice but to sell him during the summer window.

Last season, Eduardo managed to accumulate a total of 32 appearances for the Gunners in which he found the net 5 times, a disappointing return for a player of his goal scoring ability. The forward has failed to score a goal in his last 12 Arsenal appearances and with the arrival of Marouane Chamakh this season looking to form a partnership with Robin van Persie, Wenger believes Eduardo is better off revitalising his career elsewhere.

It’s a very sad situation for everybody involved at Arsenal especially for Eduardo himself. The Brazilian born hitman arrived at the North London club in 2007 and looked to be a very clinical striker in international and club football. Undoubtedly he was one of the best finishers in the world and looked to be a great acquisition from Wenger. His performances haven’t been the same and when he did play last season he didn’t look comfortable as usual, which is very understandable considering his circumstances he endured.

The Arsenal faithful (or at least a majority of them) will feel that Wenger’s decision is a justified one, but deep down many will feel for the Croat. Conversely, a number of Gooners maybe bewildered at the prospect of Eduardo heading for the exit doors this summer, as they may think that the club have limited options up-front.

The Gunners do look adequately equipped in the forward department for the upcoming season, but some of the fans may think otherwise. If Eduardo was to leave as speculated, then Arsenal would be left with Robin van Persie, Carlos Vela, Nicklas Bendtner, Theo Walcott (he can play as striker), Andrey Arshavin and the Moroccan international Marouane Chamakh in the attacking sector, surely that is enough firepower right?

Eduardo remains a fan favourite, but unfortunately has failed in his attempt to recapture his first season form at Arsenal. So, taking all this into consideration, it does seem to be the correct decision by Wenger to relieve Eduardo of his duties this summer, even though it is a poignant one for many to take.

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With the departure of Robin Van Persie to Manchester United, it looks like Arsenal are on the verge of losing another key man as Barcelona line-up a move for midfielder Alex Song.

According to the Evening Standard, Barcelona’s vice president Josep Maria Bartomeu was in London for the last few days to hold formal talks over a potential deal to bring Song to the Camp Nou. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has publicly stated he will not allow a sale to happen – but it is rumoured that, although happy at the Emirates, Song will not sign an extension to his current contract, which expires in three years.

Worried over a repeat of the Samir Nasri situation, where Arsenal’s negotiating position was severely weakened by the Frenchman having only 12 months left on his contract, the club may consider cashing in on 24-year old Song now.

The Gunners are keen to hold out for their £18m valuation of the Cameroon international, a price-tag that Barcelona are yet to match. The lure of joining the Catalans is tangible, and their interest in Song is thought to be because of his versatility – as he is comfortable playing as a holding midfielder or as a centre-back.

Barcelona begin their La Liga campaign with a match at the Camp Nou against Real Sociedad on Sunday evening.

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Referee Phil Dowd was the pantomime villain in Saturday’s Midlands Derby after he controversially Aston Villa’s sent Chris Herd off as West Brom snatched their first league victory at Villa Park in 32 years.

Goals from Jonas Olsson and Paul Scharner gave Roy Hodgson’s side a well deserved 2-1 win after Darren Bent had given the home side the lead from the penalty spot. However Herd’s red card 10 minutes before half time was the main talking point with many feeling his altercation with Olsson in the penalty area wasn’t worthy of such punishment. It proved to be the difference as Albion claimed their second consecutive win and made it four game unbeaten. 10-man Villa, on the other hand, have lost their last two and will feel they deserved more after sacrificing the lead Bent had given them from the penalty spot. They started the game strongly and should have opened the scoring only for Bent to fire his shot over from eight yards after collecting Barry Bannan’s mis-hit shot. The diminutive Scotland midfielder was next to try is luck flashing a volley just wide of Ben Fosters goal as Villa pushed for the opener. They should have been down to 10-men on the quarter hour mark after Alan Hutton’s two footed lunge on Shane Long saw referee Dowd produce only a yellow with the Irish striker leaving the field on a stretcher. It got worse for the Baggies moments later after Steven Reid’s hesitation saw him bring Gabriel Agbonlahor down in the area allowing Bent to convert from 12-yards.

The goal woke West Brom up as they finally started to play some football before they were handed a spot kick of their own in controversial circumstances. Olsson and Herd tangled off the ball as they waited for a free kick to be taken with the Swede going to ground prompting Dowd to send the Villa man off much to their supporters bewilderment. Captain Chris Brunt stepped up but embarrassingly sliced his penalty wide of the goal as the hosts breathed a huge sigh of relief. They couldn’t hold on though and were pegged back just before the half time whistle when Olsson towered above the Villa defence to head home Brunts corner to the derision of the home fans.

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Their man advantage started to pay dividends and Scharner lashed home what ultimately turned out to be the winner acrobatically lashing home a corner from the left. Despite their efforts Villa struggled to rescue the game and tired quickly leaving them open to attacks on the break. They almost conceded a third when Peter Odemwingie was played in but the Nigerian mis-kicked in front of goal as the visitors held on to claim a memorable win over their Midlands rivals.