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LIVERPOOL, England -- With their title dreams extinguished, Liverpools players circled the pitch inside Anfield Stadium, heads bowed, to the backdrop of another passionately sung rendition of club anthem "Youll Never Walk Alone. Cheap MLB Jerseys ." The final match of the Reds season could have been a celebration of the most unlikely championship triumph in Premier League history. It ended up being a tale of what might have been. Liverpool came up short Sunday in its bid for a first league title in 24 years, finishing two points behind champion Manchester City despite a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Newcastle. Brendan Rodgers team did their part on what proved to be an anticlimactic last day, passing the 100-goal mark for the league campaign after near-identical strikes in the space of two second-half minutes by Daniel Agger and Daniel Sturridge. That clinched a club-record 26th league victory. But Liverpool was also relying on a favour from West Ham at Etihad Stadium, which was always unlikely to happen. City won 2-0, keeping the trophy out of Liverpools grasp. "Im devastated for the fans," Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard said. "Although weve made them dream, Im devastated we didnt go that one step more." If there was any frustration inside Rodgers after the final whistle, he hid it well. For Liverpool had the destiny of the title in its hands just three weeks ago, when it beat Norwich 3-2 for an 11th straight win. Then came a decisive nine days when Rodgers side lost 2-0 at home to Chelsea before conceding three goals in the final 11 minutes to draw 3-3 at Crystal Palace. It meant there was more hope than expectation heading into the Newcastle match. "We finished the season winning 12 games out of 14," Rodgers said. "So the players have shown incredible level of consistency and quality in that period ... wed prefer to finish top, but its a great mark of progress this season." Anfield has seen previous last-game drama, with Arsenal winning 2-0 here in 1989 thanks to an injury-time goal from Michael Thomas to snatch the title from Liverpool. Twenty-five years on, Journeys famous song "Dont Stop Believin" blared out before kickoff. But all hope among Liverpool fans was gone by halftime, with their team 1-0 down thanks to Martin Skrtels own goal in the 20th minute and City having virtually guaranteed finishing first by going 1-0 up against West Ham. After a poor first half, Liverpool steeled itself to finish the season on a high, with Gerrard crossing for Agger to volley in after 63 minutes and then producing a similar delivery for Sturridge to tap in at the far post. It was all in vain. "When we went in front and there was no roar from the crowd, I realized the story was elsewhere," Rodgers said. Having started so positively, Newcastle imploded after the break in conceding two quick goals and then seeing Shola Ameobi and Paul Dummett both sent off. Ameobi received two yellow cards in 10 seconds for dissent as he argued with the referee about fouls in the build-up to Liverpools goals, before Dummett departed after a high challenge on Luis Suarez. Sunday was all about Liverpool, though, not Newcastle. From a seventh-place finish last season, Liverpool almost achieved what many considered impossible. "The word now is belief -- belief that we can be up there challenging," said Rodgers, who read out to his squad before the match a letter from a young fan called Ben -- sent before the start of the season -- which urged the players to believe they could win the title. "Probably at the time, the players and maybe the staff all thought the letter was maybe far-fetched," Rodgers added. "But I truly believe we could progress. "For us, its been a wonderful campaign of growth and development." The Premier League remains elusive to the 33-year-old Gerrard, who sees hope for the future. "I thought my days of title races had gone," he said, "but having played with this group of players this year the dream is back. Although Ive only got a couple of years left I still believe I can get there." Edinson Volquez Jersey .Balotelli uploaded on Instagram a picture of the video-game character Super Mario, with whom the Italy international shares a nickname, with text around the image including jumps like a black man and grabs coins like a Jew. Cole Hamels Jersey . Maximilian Arnold put Wolfsburg ahead in the eighth minute, when the stationary Fallou Diagne allowed him to guide Patrick Ochs cross beyond the helpless Freiburg goalkeeper, and Ivica Olic doubled the lead three minutes later after Luiz Gustavo did well to set him up. http://www.cheaptexasrangersjerseys.com/?tag=cheap-nomar-mazara-jersey .C. -- Marcus Paige and his North Carolina teammates have endured so many wild swings -- big wins, surprising losses, NCAA drama -- that no one can blame their Hall of Fame coach for wondering whats next.MANKATO, Minn. -- Whenever Mike Zimmer has felt uneasy about the safety situation on his defence, hes called Chris Crocker to come in and stabilize things. So its no surprise with the safety position opposite standout Harrison Smith up for grabs, Zimmer is bringing back old reliable one more time. Crocker signed a one-year deal with the Minnesota Vikings on Monday, giving Zimmer some much-needed insurance on the unproven back end of his defence. Each of the previous two seasons, as defensive co-ordinator in Cincinnati, Zimmer talked Crocker out of retiring to play for the Bengals. Zimmer also brought Crocker with him when he moved from defensive co-ordinator of the Atlanta Falcons to the Bengals in 2008. Now that Zimmer is in his first season as a head coach with the Vikings, Crocker is again coming back to help him out. "I never retired," said Crocker, who had 37 tackles and two interceptions in 12 games last year. "You always are kind of ready. Especially when you know you got a guy like Zimmer that you can play for. You know we have rapport and we talk often and in this part in my career I wouldnt want to go (with) anyone else. Im not starting over, I wannted to play for a guy who has meant a lot for my career and Ive given him everything that I have. Jurickson Profar Jersey. Just empty the gas tank and see where it goes." The position opposite Smith has been in flux since Zimmer took over. Robert Blanton appeared to be in line to be the starter but injured his hamstring during training camp and will likely miss several weeks. Jamarca Sanford missed much of the spring with injury and has yet to impress in training camp. Mistral Raymond has been equally unimpressive to this point and Andrew Sendejo was just activated from the physically unable to perform list on Monday. "Ive given everything I have to him," the 34-year-old Crocker said of Zimmer. "I think Ive been accountable. Thats the biggest thing that Ive not only been accountable, but Ive been a playmaker for him and thats all he can ask for in a player. "From a coaching standpoint hes just so honest and you can really appreciate that the guy is going to tell you whether youre good or whether youre bad, but at the end of the day youre going to know where you stand. Ive always played at the highest level playing for a guy like that." ' ' '