May 30, 2009
May 29, 2009
VIDEO: Messi and C-Ron
A lookback -- albeit a biased one -- at the performances of the two best players in the world from the Champions League final.
Special talents those two.
Reported Real Madrid moves
Florentino Perez: In as prez.Kaka: In as superstar.
Manuel Pellegrini: In as coach.
Arsene Wenger: No longer interested.
This all according to this article The Spoiler found. The odds of it all happening?
Who knows...
Kobe blasted in English paper
Oh the tongue-in-cheek air of superiority from the English about their football.The L.A. Times caught a bit of trash talk directed at Barca fan Kobe Bryant before the Champions League final in the Guardian.
"Kobe who?" asked the newspaper. "Apparently, he's big in America, but so is shooting your friends. The L.A. Lakers' main attraction claims that he's Barcelona through and through and he loves watching soccer when he's not counting his money."Shooting your friends, WTF. Go fix your teeth you sodding redcoats.
Kobe is winning. Barca is winning.
English soccer -- and the rags that support them -- is losing.
Playboy models and hairnets
German national team practice is the place to be!Word is the chick was there to help promote the team in Asia. The 'keeper had the dressing on his head due to a recent injury.
Either way, it makes for great viewing.
Thanks to Dirty Tackle for the find.
Paolo Maldini's sendoff ruined
Apparently a small group of fans held up a mean banner up during his last game.The Italian legend was hurt.
"I was a wounded man," Maldini told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "The stadium was full of families and 70,000 people who were cheering me. It's a shame those 500 ruined the party."Somebody call the world'ssmallest violin whambulence.
What's next? Crying over not having a bronze statue outside the stadium.
You were great, but you're not a god. So a couple people weren't bowing down to you, so what? Everyone else was cheering their hearts out!
Insane bus driver kills 4
A diehard Manchester United fan in Nigeria took the Champions League final loss a little too hard.OK, way too hard.
So hard that when he drove his bus past a group of celebrating Barcelona supporters, he decided to drive though the crowd -- he killed four people and injured 10 others.
"The driver had passed the crowd then made a U-turn and ran into them," [a police spokeswoman] said.This guy is definitely destined for some of those inner circles of Dante's inferno.
Scholes to Stoke as player-coach
Wha?The Daily Mail tells us that the United legend Paul Scholes was been offered an auspicious deal from the upstart boys at Stoke that involves the promise of a coaching future in the Premiership.
Manager Tony Pulis sees the Manchester United midfielder's vast experience as a key ingredient for extending their stay and is ready to hand him a playing contract with the promise of a coaching role on top.That would be crazy and he should do it.
Sportsmail understands Stoke are prepared to pay a nominal fee for Scholes' services and are expecting an answer from the 34-year old former England playmaker in the next few days.
He barely gets any time with the first team and involved commits atrocious tackles when he does.
Fernando Torres signs Liverpool extension
The uber-talented Spanish forward will be a Red for quite a bit longer it seems.A new four-year deal has him under contract until 2013. Rafa was gushing about him to the club website.
Every major side would want him in their team, but he has shown how much he wants to achieve success at Liverpool by committing his future to the club. He's a special talent, but still has the hunger to improve his game.Kuyt, Agger and Gerrard have all also renewed.
So they're probably good enough to contend for second-place next season. Maybe first if Ronaldo bolts.
Southampton staff working for free
A goodwill gesture -- that's what they call working with the knowledge that you won't get paid for it.Financial problems at the club have kept players and staff from their deserved paychecks. Southampton is in talks with four ownership groups in hopes of selling.
They are hoping something is resolved in the next week.
The team were relegated from the Championship last season and will start next campaign in League One on minus 10 points as a punishment for their financial affairs.Probably not helping. But the freefall is probably bad enough.
May 28, 2009
To the victors...
...goes the celebratory parade!Word is up to a million came out to party.
Must be nice to be Barca these days. All things are peachy for the treble winners, but what will the team look like next year...?
England W.C. bid gallery
The Guardian folk did the best they could with a weird subject -- England's World Cup bids for 2018 and 2022.Like giving David Beckham a grizzly beard.
Peru soccer team in crisis
The players are threatening to boycott.The changes some big changes to take place if they're going to willingly suffer some embarrassing CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying results.
But, of course, said boycott would happen after June's qualifiers.
"From June 24, they will not accept a call-up from the national team until their demands have been met," [players union president Francesco] Manassero told a news conference on Wednesday. "We need to take urgent action to change football in our country."Not really sure why. They haven't qualified since 1982.
And they're in last place this year.
And I don't think anyone knows what the demands are.
But at least Peru soccer got in the news... right?
Open season on Ryan Babel
Sounds like Liverpool is gonna let the young Dutchman seek out another club.I'm actually kind of excited for this, because I've always thought Babel would do better away from those stinking Reds.
Jonas Bros in Brazil?
Sporting a national team kit? I'd like to think they're not heartthrobs over there, but it looks like they are.Sigh...
New EPL owners
Kudos to Texas businessman Ellis Short. Thanks to him Americans have staked out four Premiership teams.He's taking over Sunderland 100 percent.
Atta boy.
The league also has to welcome some new Arab owners. Word is United Arab Emirates businessman Sulaiman al-Fahim has said his company is gonna buy Portsmouth.
The teams finished 16th and 14th in the league, respectively, so some new blood and money is probably a good thing for all parties.
Excuse No. 1: Rooney's stolen boots
How could United expect to contend after Wayne Rooney had his boots stolen. The guy had to play in the Champions League final barefoot?*Not fair.
“This was either an opportunistic crime by someone who knew the worth of these boots, or sabotage by a Barcelona fan."I think it was Tevez. Or Sven.
(* -- tongue in cheek)
VIDEO: Pope blesses the UCL refs
God didn't want the beautiful game marred by horrible officiating, like in the semifinals.
Thankfully it wasn't.
Start the Ronaldo watch
When the potential quadruple champions had to settle for a ho-hum double, it couldn't mean good things in keeping Ronaldo at United.Of course, that was probably the first question to the Portuguese winger after the big game yesterday.
When asked after United’s 2-0 loss to Barcelona in the Champions League final whether he would be at Old Trafford next season, the reigning world player of the year said: “I don’t know.”Start the countdown now.
Champions League thoughts
Let's do 'em bullet-style, that's always more fun.- Xavi is the best. No surprise he's on the reigning European national team and club team champion. There is not a player in the world I enjoy watching more. And only the post denied him from a great goal.
- All the same praise goes to Iniesta.
- Barcelona playing with a lead is a beautiful thing. Though it doesn't leave for much late-game excitement because they're gonna win. But that passing display was magical.
- People have been harshly criticizing Ronaldo's efforts, I thought his impact was ten-fold greater than anyone else on the Red Devils.
- Especially Rooney. Ugh, what a stinker from him.
- POYs Vidic and Giggs looked pretty average if not mediocre out there. Especially on that first goal Nemanja. Yeesh.
- Spotless game from the refs I thought. Well done dudes.
- Welcome Pep Guardiola to the ranks of the great. Fergie's tactics looked poor in comparison.
- What an effort from Carlos Puyol.
- The Gladiator-themed in the beginning was epic.
- I, for one, missed Darren Fletcher. I didn't miss Dani Alves.
- What a game. Nothing like soccer played at the highest level.
- The champions are coming to Seattle!
Peter Nowak to coach the Philly Union
Ives says so, it's got to be true.The new Major League Soccer expansion franchise starts play next season. No chance they'll be as awesome as the Sounders FC -- in all ways.
He's going to be introduced at a presser on Friday.
Great get for the league. Great get for Philly. Great stuff.
May 27, 2009
VIDEO: The UCL highlights
Thanks, as always, to 101 Great Goals for all their work finding highlight packages out in the vast internet.
Pranking LINKS
Did you here what those cheeky Rangers fans did? Not the militant ones that attack and kill people.Well not only did their team win the Scottish league title, but on the last day of the season the clever Rangers fans texted misinformation about a goal that wasn't to their Celtic-supporting friends -- which then mistakingly believed they had a chance at the championship.
Suckas!
- Newcastle owner apologizes for drop. [BBC]
- Evra is recruiting Ribery to United. [ESPN]
- USMNT v. Iran? Really? [SBI]
- Open season on Cisse? Who's biting? [ChronicleLive]
- Holy bleeding WAG. [The Original Winger]
- Ronaldo suspended for pulling hair. [SI]
- Mooning fans = red card, pink slip. [SportsRubbish]
- Aston Villa after Michael Owen? [Eurosport]
- MLS newcomer rankings. Though apparently Kasey Keller is the league MVP, but only seventh on this list. [CHI]
- Lots and lots of Torres goals. [101GG]
Juninho leaving Lyon
Poor French team. They've been stealing his Brazilian brilliance for too long. But seven league titles is pretty impressive.Sounds like the press conference got a little emotional.
"He asked us yesterday to let him go as free agent. For all he has done and for all he represents for us, we thought it would be fair to agree," Lyon chairman Jean-Michel Aulas told reporters on Tuesday."Juni is going to leave us," he added as the 34-year-old player burst into tears next to him.So sad...
Brazilian fans attack team
Holy crap. Isn't Brazil supposed to be the land of pretty sunsets, nice beaches and joga bonito?Not rabid fans that break into a team practice and assault the players. That's what happened to Fluminense the other day in Rio.
Television pictures showed around 30 supporters running on to the field as the players were training. One man was seen to aim a punch at the midfielder Diguinho, who hit back and tried to escape through a side door. Reports said fans retreated after a security guard fired two shots into the air.The gunshots are a point of contention as the team claims no employees carry guns.
Hmmmmm.
The practice carried on indoors, though I can't imagine the play was very sharp. Fans continued to protest outside, apparently they don't like the team's recent form (work not-so-hard, play harder).
Nothing like a little vigilante justice. Eh?
Carlo could snub Chelsea?
of AC Milan if the club ask him to stay at the San Siro.
Well that's interesting, and certainly a wrench in Roman Abramovich's plans. I bet the Russian can't wait to get Guus on the phone and beg him to come back.
Nothing worse than a waffler. Or someone who can't seem excited for one of the premier coaching jobs on the planet.
Bundesliga stars on the move
Diego (left) is going to Juventus. A life-long dream fulfilled:"I am enthusiastic about Juventus and I am proud to be a part of this prestigious club which I have dreamed about since I was a child.And Mario Gomez (right) is headed to Bayern Munich. Nothing exciting about that one.
MLS power rankings -- week 10
Man, I am getting fed up with all these ties. Both with the Sounders FC and around the league.Seattle has had four straight draws and I read somewhere that 40% of Major League Soccer games this season have ended without a winner.
Ugh -- even the soccer purists are turning.
My disdain for draws, and teams that get a lot of them, will be reflected in the rankings this week.
This means you D.C., Columbus and L.A.
1. (1) Chivas USA 7-1-3
2. (2) Chicago Fire 4-0-6
3. (4) Seattle Sounders FC 4-2-4
4. (3) D.C. United 3-1-7
5. (5) Houston Dynamo 4-2-3
6. (7) Toronto FC 4-3-4
7. (6) Kansas City Wiz 4-4-3
8. (8) Colorado Rapids 3-2-4
9. (10) Real Salt Lake 3-5-2
10. (9) Columbus Crew 1-2-6
11. (11) New England Revolution 2-3-4
12. (13) N.Y. Red Bulls 2-6-3
13. (12) L.A. Galaxy 1-1-8
14. (14) F.C. Dallas 1-6-3
15. (15) San Jose 'Quakes 1-6-2
UCL mascots
Things are getting a little crazy in Rome. Too much nice Italian wine.Looks like one Puyol dude carrying the trophy with a Messi dude?
Great picture finds by Futbolita.
Champions League final prediction
Here it is. The big day.I'm kinda nervous. But not in a girly Dimitar Berbatov-way -- who recently said he might not step up to take a penalty kick after his FA Cup embarrassment. That's the kind of killer instinct you look for in your forwards, right?
It looks like Rio, Thierry and Iniesta will all be playing. That's good. No excuses for the loser.
Let's see, two great offenses, maybe a slight edge to Barcelona. But I strongly favor United's midfield and defense.
I call it a 2-1 win for the Red Devils.
33' -- Rooney (Carrick)
68' -- Ronaldo (un)
82' -- Eto'o (Messi)
May 26, 2009
SSFC qualify for U.S. Open Cup
Former Edmonds-Woodway and Washington star Kevin Forrest scored the game-winner on a diving header and the Sounders FC beat Colorado 1-0 in the final round of U.S. Open Cup qualifying on Tuesday.Looks like Seattle is looking at another deep run in the tournament.
Rangers fans are crazy
Congrats Rangers on winning the Scottish league title. Thats all the praise you get, because your fans are out of control.Turns out a group of em, referred to in this story as "militant Protestant supporters" drove into a Catholic area of town and attacked some Celtic fans -- killing one.
The hooligans came donning Rangers jerseys, scarves and also weapons. Meet the victims:
Kevin McDaid, 49, was fatally bludgeoned while his wife, Evelyn, and a 46-year-old Catholic neighbor, Damien Fleming, were both injured. Fleming was reported in critical condition.That is damn crazy. I hope the attackers are locked up for a long time.
Police said they arrested seven men on suspicion of involvement in the attack.
Decisions for Scolari
Phil Scolari says he's juggling multiple coaching offers. And why not? He's one of the best unemployed bosses out there.Turns out, he's gonna make a decision soon.
One of the leaders? Uzbekistan champion Bunyodkor.
Has he really fallen that far? Come on dude. Make a splash or stop stealing headlines.
Congrats to Wolfsburg
Like I never thought Newcastle would get relegated, I certainly never thought Wolfsburg would be able to hold on and win the Bundesliga.Word is they overcame a bit of a celebratory beer jinx on the way.
Congrats to them. Now go out and make some babies.
France kits in braille?
The French Football Federation as a cool tribute to Louis Braille lined up.To honor the 200th anniversary of his birth, the French national soccer team will have jerseys made with the names written in braille.
Coach Raymond Domenech said Monday the jerseys will be worn for the exhibition game against Nigeria on June 2 in Saint-Etienne.The team is joined with a federation for the blind and some uniforms will be available for sale through auction.
Sounds like a great idea, definitely original, and for a good cause.
Beckham to Chelsea with Carlo?
Though official word hasn't come yet, everyone fully expect AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti to take the open Chelsea job.If that happens, rumor is he might bring David Beckham with him to Stamford Bridge.
Sounds crazy, but there is at least some semblance of logic to the rumor.
Can't see it ever happening though.
VIDEO: Special1 TV inks Obama
Expect an American influence from Washington D.C. in the next season...
Jose staying at Inter Milan
He just signed a contract extension through 2012.Turns out that 99.9% chance of staying was true. Too bad, because I would've enjoyed if that 0.1% chance took him to Real Madrid.
With the Serie A titles flowing in, have to imagine that more Champions League glory is the next step.
USMNT roster announced
These guys will be representing the good guys for some upcoming World Cup qualifiers.All the usual suspects. No messing around in W.C. qualifiers.Goalkeepers: Tim Howard, Brad Guzan.
Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra, Jonathan Bornstein, Danny Califf, Jay DeMerit, Frankie Hejduk, Oguchi Onyewu, Heath Pearce, Jonathan Spector, Marvell Wynne.
Midfielders: Freddy Adu, DaMarcus Beasley, Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey, Maurice Edu, Benny Feilhaber, Sacha Kljestan, Pablo Mastroeni, Jose Francisco Torres.
Forwards: Jozy Altidore, Brian Ching, Charlie Davies, Landon Donovan.
EPL wraps up
Newcastle was relegated. They actually got relegated.It had been a fear for a while, but I never thought it would actually happen. Via renaissance or conspiracy, I figured there was no chance the Premiership would allow Newcastle to drop.
Hull City stays up, just barely. And it looks like a new club, Burnley, has earned promotion to the EPL.
I've heard Burnley can be quite racist and all but one of its players is white.
May 22, 2009
It is so time for the weekend
I've been working like a dog this week for the day job. Only two more weeks of prep sports.I'm about to pass out.
[Thanks to Futbolita for the picture inspiration]
The return of Diadora
As you know, I've always been a soccer gear junkie.When I was a kid, my dad had these awesome Diadora indoors that I wore as often as I could get away. When they got in pretty bad shape, I claimed them for my own and wore them into the ground.
That said I was glad to see Diadora Soccer is getting back into the mainstream. The kind people over there recently sent me a pair of great shoes to add to my indoor soccer cleats collection.
I got some LX LT ID shoes (pictured) that reminded me of those old shoes I used to wear as a kid. Just newer, better and awesome.
Go buy a pair.
Henry/Iniesta: will they play?
Barcelona recently lost Dani Alves for the season.Turns out Andres Iniesta and Thierry Henry are also injury doubts. I've seen reports that they will play and some that say they won't.
Certainly something to keep an eye on as gameday approaches. Injury news over five days can change about 5,239 times.
VIDEO: Keeper eats a forearm shiver
Not necessary. As my high school team's emergency fourth-string 'keeper, I would know...
Evra: the man in the spotlight
Things I never want to be: a beekeeper and a left back that has to guard Leo Messi.That duty will fall to Patrice Evra in the Champions League final. I have a feeling the Argentine is due for a huge game.
Though the Frenchman is quite confident:
‘I don’t have to prepare any differently because it’s Messi, because every day in training I am up against people like Rooney, Berbatov, Ronaldo and Tevez, so you know what to do against big players,’ added Evra.Only five more days!
Two Ronnys snubbed by Dunga
Check out Brazil's roster for the Confederations Cup. You'll notice a couple big names missing.If you can't tell who they are from the picture and the headline, maybe this isn't the blog for you:
Dang. They're loaded still. That game against the U.S. should be, well, interesting.Goalkeepers: Julio Cesar (Inter Milan), Gomes (Tottenham Hotspur), Victor (Gremio)
Defenders: Maicon (Inter Milan), Daniel Alves (Barcelona), Alex (Chelsea), Juan (AS Roma), Lucio (Bayern Munich), Luisao (Benfica), Kleber (Internacional), Andre Santos (Corinthians).
Midfielders: Anderson (Manchester United), Gilberto Silva (Panathinaikos), Josue (VfL Wolfsburg), Ramires (Cruzeiro), Elano (Manchester City), Felipe Melo (Fiorentina), Julio Baptista (AS Roma), Kaka (AC Milan)
Forwards: Alexandre Pato (AC Milan), Luis Fabiano (Sevilla), Nilmar (Internacional), Robinho (Manchester City).
Alfonso Alves gallery
I really don't know who this guy is. Guardian readers tell me he's in the Premiership and he sucks.Good enough reason for me to make a bunch of funny pictures at his expense.
VIDEO: Holy crap volley
This is brilliant. In my dreams I hit these strikes.
Damn professionals are good enough to do it in real life.
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