Check out the New Talent Scout Page!

I had some time to kill, so if you look to the right hand side of your screen just above the blog archive you will see a nice link to the new site that is a library of talented young prospects and many other links and places for you to enrich your knowledge of the up and coming youth that the footballing world has to get excited about.
Sticking with the library metaphor, we only have about five books available for you to check out. Bear with me, more are on the way and I prefer quality over quantity so more, very thorough and accurate, scouting reports will be headed your way in no time!

FC Basel March on to the Swiss Cup Semi Finals

Basel can celebrate reaching the semi finals in the Swiss Cup
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FC Basel march on to the semi-finals of the Swiss Cup after defeating Lausanne on their home pitch at St. Jakob Park 5-2. The last time these two sides met in the competition was in the 2010 final, also at St. Jakob park where Basel were the victors by six goals to nil. 

Weekend Action from the EPL and the FA Cup

Action from the weekend includes FA Cup and English Premier League match reviews. Fernando Torres' goal drought is lifted as he nets two against Leicester in the FA Cup. Manchester United sit at the top of the table but City are hot on their heels and have a game in hand. Liverpool look to be back in winning form as they defeat Stoke 2-1 in FA Cup action and the latest news on Fabrice Muamba following his unfortunate incident at White Heart Lane. 

Fabrice Muamba in Critical Condition- Thoughts and Prayers For Him and His Family

Soccer communities around the world will have Bolton Wanderers midfield player Fabrice Muamba in their thoughts and prayers this evening as he remains in critical condition in a North London hospital. Muamba collapsed on the pitch during Bolton's FA Cup quarter final match against Tottenham Hotspur at White Heart Lane. At the moment it is unclear as to what exactly happened, but an official statement on the club website disclosed that Muamba was admitted to a Heart Attack Center in a North London hospital and is in critical condition in intensive care.
Please hope and pray for a good outcome for this young player. Muamba is only 23 years of age and is a talented young player who plays a key role in the Bolton squad. Our thoughts will be with him and his family.

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it."

~Helen Keller~

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The road to Munich continues!
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Basel’s dream campaign comes to an abrupt and cruel end as Mario Gomez hits four past the Swiss side in Bayern Munich’s 7-0 demolition of the knockout stage newcomers. The Bavarians were able to turn the tables after a 1-0 defeat in the first leg, cruising into the quarter finals on a high and keeping their hopes of featuring in the 2012 UEFA Champions League final at the Allianz Arena alive. While 2010 finalists Bayern Munich kept their campaign alive, 2010 winners Inter Milan crashed out of the competition against underdogs Olimpique Marseille who paid a visit to the San Siro from South of France, losing 2-1 on the night but going through on a dramatic away goal in stoppage time. Real Madrid follows in the footsteps of fellow Spanish side Barcelona and progress at the expense of Russians CSKA Moscow, who had managed to hold them to a 1-1 draw in Russia after a dramatic late goal in stoppage time. Chelsea were the last team to progress on to the quarter finals as they go through after added time thanks to a goal from Ivanovic in the 105^th minute.

FC Basel's Campaign Through the Eyes of a Super Fangirl

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Well, I'm not going to lie. Yesterday I was moved to tears as I had to sit through 90 minutes of my beloved FC Basel being slapped around by Bayern Munich. For those of you who don't know, although at this point I am confident the entire soccer universe has heard, we lost 7-0 at the Allianz Arena. I didn't cry because I was a bad sport, I didn't cry out of anger and honestly I wasn't even that upset about us crashing out of the knockout stages (I don't think I would have been able to handle another high-stress game like our last three UCL fixtures), I was just devastated that such a dream campaign had to end that way, and I felt so bad for the eleven men getting annihilated on the soccer pitch. Instead of focusing about yesterday, I'd much rather focus on everything leading up to it and select some of my favorite things from FC Basel's 2011/2012 UEFA Champions League campaign.

This Week in the Knockout Stages...

Lionel Messi: undeniably good
guardian.co.uk

APEOL’s dream campaign continues after a dramatic penalty shootout in Cyprus. Benfica will go through at the expense of Russian side Zenit St. Petersburg while Barcelona showed why then are the best team in the world as they dominated the two fixtures against Bayer Leverkusen. Arsenal were nearly able to turn a 4-0 deficit into a 4-4 draw but fell short by just a goal while AC Milan squeaked by the London side and into the quarter finals on the long road to Munich in May.