Fly to the Home of Football

England is recognised worldwide as the home of football as we know it today and the North West is a real hotbed of passionate and loyal fans that flock from all over to see their heroes play each weekend. Manchester is home to two very famous football teams: both steeped in tradition and with illustrious and colourful histories.

Manchester United, also known as The Red Devils, play their home matches at Old Trafford - often dubbed 'The Theatre of Dreams'. Their stadium currently has a capacity of over 76,000 and holds the largest number of spectators of any club stadium in the U.K. Only Wembley has a larger capacity. Old Trafford also has the honour of being the only UEFA 5 star rated facility in England which is testament to the large amount of investment that's been put into it over the years.

With legendary players over the years including Bobby Charlton, George Best, Denis Law and more recently David Beckham, it's clear to see why Manchester United have built up such a strong following all across the world. With triumphs like the famous treble of the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League in 1999 and the more recent double of 2008, the club has gone from strength to strength and is ranked as the richest in the world, with an estimated 330 million supporters worldwide. The draw of Manchester United remains as strong as ever and many fans frequently jet in from other continents just to experience the unique Old Trafford atmosphere.

Across the divide lies Manchester City F.C., formed in 1880 and originally known as St. Marks (West Gorton) before later becoming Ardwick A.F.C. in 1887. Their name was changed to Manchester City F.C. in 1894. Maine Road was the home to the club from 1923 to 2003, after which they moved into their plush new ground. The City of Manchester Stadium in Eastlands has a 48,000 capacity and was originally purpose-built for the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games.

Manchester City may not have enjoyed the on-field success of their rivals, but they can boast a whole host of their own stars from across the years including Mike Summerbee, Francis Lee, Colin Bell and Denis Law, who crossed the city divide to play for both clubs. The club's fans were recently voted the most loyal in the Premiership by the British Football Fans Association and they can count celebrity fans Ricky Hatton and The Gallagher Brothers from Oasis as fervent supporters.

The club was subject to a takeover in 2007 by former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and as a result the club's popularity and profile has soared in that part of the planet. They have also established partnerships with others in China, Russia, Switzerland and Australia, which will undoubtedly boost their global appeal and see flights to Manchester made by football fans a much more common occurrence and proof that football remains as popular as ever in this part of England.

Daniel Collins writes on a number of topics on behalf of a digital marketing agency and a variety of clients. As such, this article is to be considered a professional piece with business interests in mind.

Playing Soccer With Kids

In this day and time, parents feel a great need to keep their children occupied and problems. One way they found to keep them occupied was letting them play a game that they liked and I practice the skills they learned in books and classes at school. Parents find that soccer gave their children an outlet for their frustrations.

soccer has also enabled children to build their self-esteem and be around children who have the same interest in a sport that they had found personally rewarding. With a soccer game, children have the opportunity to meet new friends and have all kinds of pleasure. Soccer is a good thing for children in many ways and parents really play because it has helped their children improve their skills as a team.

The parents love their children to watch play soccer. They can sit for hours watching on the ground and know they are not only learning to play the game better every day, they were also strengthening muscles and pace of learning throughout a party. With soccer, the children were entertained for hours and parents need not worry about where they were or who were with them.

Soccer is a game that is played with two teams of learning skills of teamwork is a daily event. Each soccer team is composed of eleven players who are assigned various positions on the ground. soccer is a hobby of many countries and once children learn the subject of this sport, it will be kicking goals in their opponents net all the time.

By developing skills kicking, children also learn the importance of their level of play is the rest of the team members. By playing soccer, children also learn to play by the rules and coordinate their methods of play with eleven other people from their team. They also learn the consequences of using other body parts to score a goal because when they use their heads or arms, they learn quickly on sanctions that are assessed for the violation of the rules of soccer.

Children are able to build their strategy skills by learning to use their torso and head to maneuver the ball down the field. With a little interceptions while using the head and torso, they are able to place the ball where they want the scope of their opponent 's goalkeeper. They also learn how the goalkeeper did their work and are surprised when they use their arms and hands to push the ball in play and away from the goal that they work so hard to achieve.

Learn about famous soccer players and soccer facts at The Soccer Coach site.

Avoiding Injuries While Playing Soccer

Here are some tips that can help protect your children against injury during the game of soccer.

Football is a game that can submit physical players to injuries, some of which may be very serious. Although the physical contact between players is not a planned part of the game of football, the inevitable clashes during a match are as much a part of the game controlling the ball.

From a spectator, football does not seem physically as a brutal event, especially how some players through the trajectory of arrivals as gazelles in the middle range. Sometimes, soccer players simply view each other mode of ballet. But for anyone who has been on the football field in competition, the risk of getting hurt is always present and it is probably not a football player who has not touched the ground or bounced off of an opponent or had cuts and bruises.

These minor incidents do not pose any real threat to a soccer player of the physical well-being. Like all soccer parents can attest, the physical contact while playing soccer is inevitable. The obvious question then is - how can we keep in touch inevitable to cause more than a few aches and pains?

There are two aspects that come into play when considering the precautions that can be taken to keep your youth soccer player to be injured seriously. One thought and often the primary consideration, of course, is soccer shin guards, the only real protection that a physical soccer player door. In addition to shin guards, a soccer player's body is virtually unprotected. And that vulnerability to injury is what makes the second consideration of paramount importance.

Soccer children must be taught to reflect on how to avoid injury as part of the game. It is the mental attitude and knowledge of a player's own ability to anticipate potentially dangerous situations and take steps to avoid that can make the difference between being able to get up off the pitch and to play on or get washed away.

Too often, young soccer coaches, in their zeal to compose a winning team, spend too little time on safety. Playing security can be strengthened with pre-game and post-match examples of what happens when certain measures are taken and what can be done differently to achieve a more secure outcome the next time a situation similar arises. And children need to understand that the danger may come not only from their own actions but those of other players on the field. They need to know how to avoid a charging opponent, while keeping control of the ball.

The key is to teach your children an awareness of safety aspects of the game of soccer. Then, parents need not fear for their children's safety on the soccer field when they are properly trained. Children have a sense inherent to prevent damage and parents enough to ensure that their children keep this strong sense and how to apply it in a given situation.

The bottom line - no potential glory on the soccer field is worth sacrificing his body. It will be another day and another glory when good judgement is used.

Visit The Soccer Coach to learn about soccer positions and soccer moves.

The 10 greatest ever soccer players in MLS history

The 10 greatest ever players in MLS history

Walter Zenga (New England Revolution)

The man they nicknamed Uomo Ragno (Spider-Man), was an ever present in the Inter Milan goal through the 1980's, making no less than 328 appearances and appearing for his country 58 times.

Even more impressively, in Italia 90 set a record of keeping 5 consecutive clean sheets, totalling 518 minutes without conceding a goal, a record that still stands today.

He is now the manager of Serie A side Catania.

Richard Gough (Kansas City Wizards/San Jose Clash)

A no-nonsense centre half and one of Glasgow Rangers most successful ever players, winning 9 titles as part of the infamous '9 in a row' team. Gough also amassed 61 appearances for the Scottish national side. His spell at Rangers was interrupted by a brief stint with Tottenham Hotspur, only to return to Rangers, becoming the first ever Scottish player to be sold for over £1,000,000.

He spent 2 years in the MLS with Kansas City Wizards and San Jose Cash, being named in the MLS XI of the Year whilst with the Wizards.

Lothar Matthaus (Metrostars)

Perhaps not just one of the greatest players in the history of the MLS, but in the history of soccer. Winning World Soccer Player of the Year, European Footballer of the year and Fifa World Player of the Year, Matthaus could play in defence or midfield, with a rocket right foot that earned him the status of Germany's most capped player.

His managerial career, however, has not been as successful as his playing days, with short spells in Brazil, Austria and Serbia, and as of now in Israel as the manager of Maccabi Netanya.

Roberto Donadoni (Metrostars)

A vital key in AC Milan's success through the 80s and 90s, when very few could argue against them being the best club side in the world (other than Barcelona's dream team). Notorious for effortlessly running past players on the right flank, Donadoni collected 5 Serie A titles, 3 European Cups, 3 European Super Cups and 2 Intercontinental cups before moving on to the Metrostars, where he was named in the Best XI in the 1996 Season.

Now boss of the Italian national side, Italy are left with a mountain to climb in order to progress to the quarter finals after disastrous results against Holland and Romania.

Maurice 'Mo' Johnston (Kansas City Wizards)

Mo Johnston was a Scottish centre forward starting his career with Partick Thistle, and then spending a couple of seasons at Watford before his move to Celtic that would later earn him hatred across Glasgow.

Leaving Celtic for Nantes, vowing to never return to Scotland, Johnston reconsidered and done a U-Turn, claiming to sign for Celtic again at the end of the season. As the summer approached, Johnston changed his mind once more, this time signing for arch rivals Rangers. This infuriated Rangers fans as Johnston is an ex Celtic player and supporter, but worse still, he was Roman Catholic. Celtic fans turned on him, opting for the nickname of Judas, replacing his former moniker of MoJo, Rangers fans disliked him from the start.

Nevertheless, he scored 46 goals in 100 games, before moving back to England with Everton. This unsuccessful spell was followed by brief stints with Falkirk and Hearts, before joining the Kansas City Wizards, spending 5 seasons there.

Hw was more recently head coach of Metrostars, before being given his marching orders, taking over the helm of Toronto FC.

Mo Johnston's last minute winner for Rangers vs Celtic, 1989

Denilson (FC Dallas)

At 21, Denilson became the most expensive player in the world when Spanish outfit Real Betis paid approximately $32,000,000 to Sao Paulo for his services. Renowned for his dazzling stepovers and skinning opponents on the left flank, he was regarded as one of the most promising players the game had seen.

Sadly, the promise he showed never really developed, mostly down to his selfish play by holding on the ball for too long, or as the UK would say, 'ball-hogging'.

He only played 7 games for Dallas before returning to his native Brazil.

Carlos Valderrama (Tampa Bay Mutiny, Miami Fusion, Colorado Rapids)

Considered the greatest Colombian player of all time, his creativity and flare was only surpassed by his hair - a curly orange electrified afro. Elegant and intelligent with the ball at his feet, El Pibe (The Kid) never actually ran anywhere on the pitch, but with his level of skill, why bother? His status of legend was confirmed in 2006, when a 22 foot bronze statue of him was erected in his home town of Santa Marta. Brilliant.

Spending 6 years in the US, Valderrama still holds the record for the most assists.

Youri Djorkaeff (Metrostars)

Aptly nicknamed 'Snake', Djorkaeff was a cultivated attacking midfielder and formed a crucial partnership with Zinedine Zidane, resulting in France winning the 98 World Cup and Euro 2000.

Banging the goals in for Monaco, he spent one season at Paris St Germain before signing for Italian giants Inter Milan and Kaiserslautern, when somehow Bolton Wanderers persuaded him to sign.

He became Metrostars 'MVP' during his brief spell in the US, before an ankle injury forced him to retire.

Hristo Stoichkov (Chicago Fire, DC United)

Unpredictable and quite possibly insane, this tricky Bulgarian had everything: pace, mesmerizing dribbling and a devastating shot. Barcelona snapped him up from CSKA Sofia, where his temperament, passion and goal scoring record immortalized him as a Barcelona great.

He was also instrumental in Bulgaria's unexpected run in the 94 World Cup, during which time they made it to the semi final, losing to Italy. Stoichkov also earned the Golden Boot, finishing joint-top with Russia's Oleg Solenko.

David Beckham (LA Galaxy)

The man who needs no introduction, 'Goldenballs' is the most famous soccer player on the planet, who's brand is more renowned than his free kicks and defence-splitting passes.

A style icon for every male in Britain whilst playing for Manchester Utd, Beckham's commitments to his life away from soccer meant that his relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson was likely to deteriorate, as it did to the extent that Ferguson managed to kick a soccer boot at Beckham's eye, requiring stitches.

Fast forward a couple of years, Beckham joins 'Los Galacticos', winning the Supercup in his first season. He had to wait until 2007 for a major honour though, when Real won the Primera league.

Whilst at Galaxy, his career has seen a couple of milestones, a 100th cap for the England national team, and a stunning 70 yard goal against Kansas City Wizards, almost mirroring his efforts for Man Utd against Wimbledon in 1996.

Greg Power is the owner of soccer jersey, nutrition and soccer training aids/