ESPN has released their schedule for the upcoming World Football Challenge which includes Chelsea, Inter Milan, AC Milan, and Club America. Here's the full press release.

ESPN and ESPN2's 2009 World Football Challenge Television Schedule and Commentators

All Matches in High Definition; Coverage on ESPN Deportes and ESPN360.

Desperation creeping in as Serie A side tries hard to appease angry supporters!

Milan are planning to sign Arsenal star Cesc Fabregas, with Rossoneri club president Silvio Berlusconi having given the move the go-ahead.

According to Tuttosport, vice president Adriano Galliani has a pre-agreement in place with Berlusconi over the Spanish international, and Gunners coach Arsene Wenger has promised he will sell Fabregas to the Italian giants.

Update: Manchester City have signed Carlos Tevez on a 5-year deal.

It looks to be a busy week ahead in the transfers world. A lot of money could be set to change hands in the Premier League and across Europe, though if Sir Alex Ferguson is to be believed, none of that business will be taking place at Old Trafford.

Ancelotti very keen on brining former player to west London.

The Rumour

AC Milan are interested in Chelsea defender Michael Mancienne.

Corriere dell Sera says Milan chiefs have expressed interest in the England U21 international during talks over the future of Andrea Pirlo.

It's still a few months before the start of the European soccer leagues and teams are stating to make moves in the transfer market. Here are some of the latest transfer stories.

AC Milan looking at Adebayor - "AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani has revealed he has talked to Arsenal about the possibility of signing Emmanuel Adebayor.

WTF!

Sections of the Italian media are speculating that Milan president Silvio Berlusconi will announce a big-money signing for the club on Monday night before the Trofeo Berlusconi, and according to UnoNotizie.it this player will be Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas.

The €30-35 million required to complete this capture will be recovered in part by the sale of Andrea Pirlo to Chelsea.

This weekend will mark the official end of the season in Europe's top leagues, and after that, we can look forward to the start of the summer transfer window. As the window approaches, the transfer news and rumors are running rampant, and while a number of top clubs are already busy making signings, many more are trying to make sure they're not too far behind.

Latest news and gossip on transfers in the English Premier League - Former Real president Ramon Calderon claims the Ronaldo deal was arranged a year ago.

Marcelo Lippi finalized his Azzurri squad for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup and the big news is that Inter's teenage sensation Davide Santon. The youngster played mostly left back for Inter but is seen as a player who can play on both sides.

Three red-hot attacking players with breakout seasons in the 08-09 Serie A campaign were left off the list in favor of more veteran Azzurri players.

The summer transfer market is now open. You know what that means, don't you?

Links with nearly every star under the sun (c. Kaka). Yes, wonderful links to wonderful players; links which are promptly denied or deleted with extreme force. Some of these rumors, mind you, have substance ...

Swiped this photo from #8220;Ivanna#8221; over on the HABs blog. (Ladies, click at will. Gentlemen, don#8217;t say I didn#8217;t warn you.) Ivanna thought there was somthing just a little#8230;off about this photo. I agree. And after much Offside research, I have uncovered the true story. (I swear.

Juventus appear set to make a move for Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso once again this summer.
The Old Lady seemed on the verge of signing the midfielder last summer but the move eventually collapsed and the Bianconeri plumped for Danish international Christian Poulsen amid widespread protests from fans.

Parece que la venta de Kaká al Real Madrid ha hecho mucho daño en el Milan. A las contínuas muestras de desacuerdo que ofrecen los seguidores rossoneros a su directiva en los últimos días, se le unen ahora las declaraciones de Andrea Pirlo y Alexandre Pato, dos de los jugadores más importantes del plantel ahora dirigido por Leonardo.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

The U.S. men's national team will play its first rematch from the 2006 World Cup today as they take on defending World Cup champion Italy (2:25pm, ESPN).

The U.

Yesterday my boys team lost a champion ship game playing the whole match a man down.Its a killer on three fronts.The impetus to attack is stemmed by a constant fear to defend first.Secondly the amount of ground to cover makes it a physically exhausting endeavour as the game ages and thirdly it concentrates your shape preventing a team from really creating width which means its easier to re-steal possession when your the fresher team with a man advantage.

The Daily Mail reports that Roman Abramovich has tired of ceding the title of most hated owner (customary reference to Mike Ashley inserted here) to Florentino Perez and is willing to splash more than £100m on getting Andrea Pirlo, Franck Ribery, and Sergio Aguero to Stamford Bridge.

I think Pirlo could be induced to make the move to Stamford Bridge with a decent enough transfer fee of about £15-20m and Atletico could be tempted by a £45m offer for Sergio Aguero.

Sections of the Italian media are speculating that Milan president Silvio Berlusconi will announce a big-money signing for the club on Monday night before the Trofeo Berlusconi, and according to UnoNotizie.it this player will be Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas.

The €30-35 million required to complete this capture will be recovered in part by the sale of Andrea Pirlo to Chelsea.

Don't trust the numbers you read between Milan and Werder Bremen in the title: the scoreline may say 2-2 but this was match with only one team on the grass. And it certainly wasn't the Rossoneri. For not only did Werder fight back from an (undeserved) 0-2 half-time deficit: the German side had literally every [.

What happens when you conjure Severus Snape aka Alan Rickman with a football. You get Andrea Pirlo. They look alike.

Italy has winnowed their squad down to 23 players for the Confederations Cup and here's what it looks like:
Goalkeepers (3): Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Marco Amelia (Palermo), Morgan De Sanctis (Galatasaray);
Defenders (8): Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Gianluca Zambrotta (Milan) Fabio Grosso (Lyon), Davide Santon (Inter), Alessandro Gamberini (Fiorentina), Nicola Legrottaglie (Juventus), Andrea Dossena (Liverpool);
Midfielders (6): Mauro Camoranesi (Juventus), Gennaro Gattuso (Milan), Angelo Palombo (Sampdoria), Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina), Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Andrea Pirlo (Milan);
Forwards (6): Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina), Vincenzo Iaquinta (Juventus), Fabio Quagliarella (Napoli), Luca Toni (Bayern Munich), Giuseppe Rossi (Villarreal), Pepe (Udinese).

THE U.S. "They are a different squad from the one that participated in the World Cup. The manager's son, who plays in midfield, is very good and they have, as usual, Donovan, Dempsey and Beasley. They play in a 4-4-2 formation, with Donovan as a support player. Their physical form is great and we must watch out for them.

... of the year goes to Rod Liddle of the Times! Congrats guy!

The so-called journalist's latest drivel attempts emphasis on attempts to drive a stake through Chelsea supporters' hearts with a blend of humor, sarcasm and downright hatred. It's a fairly poor attempt to be fair no, actually this is ghastly.

Chelsea, unaware that no means no, made a silly bid for Alexandre Pato which was firmly rejected (they say "English club", but they're not fooling anyone). Then Silvio Berlusconi all but offered up Andrea Pirlo to London due to his silly wages, but Andrea and his hair are not interested in moving away from Milan.

To fans of Calcio it's still as vivid as ever: The vision of Fabio Cannavaro lifting the World Cup aloft remains the proudest of Italian memories in a difficult recent history. But with one year to go before the 19th World Cup Final, Cannavaro and his Azzurri have a lot of hard work to do if the national team are to avoid an embarrassing fate in their defence of the trophy.

UPDATE: According to the Daily Mail, Chelsea have offered Claudio Pizarro as well as Michael Mancienne on a season-long loan in exchange for AC Milan midfielder Andrea Pirlo.

July 13th, 2009 According to Salvatore Landolina at Goal.

As anticipation grew, the media focused on whether or not Jose Mourinho could overcome a Milan side...
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Three points in the bag, and thank you Bulgaria. Italy's week-end couldn't have started better: a win against Montenegro (courtesy of Pirlo and Pazzini) and the Berbatov boys neutralizing Trapattoni in Dublin, Marcello Lippi must be rather satisfied & smiling at his boys' performance: Saturday's was match which, for lack of a mind-blowing performance, the [.

According to Grahame L, Jones at the Los Angeles Times, winger David Beckham will not follow AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti to Chelsea if Carlo decides to leave. Beckham said,

I don't think that's a possibility, to be quite honest.

Rumor has it Florentino Perez's first act after hiring Manuel Pellegrini will be to install a revolving door in the Bernabeu dressing room. Out will go half the back line, Gonzalo Higuain - productivity matters not if your name isn't in lights - and the Dutch national football team. And the first order of business [.

With the retirements of Luis Figo,Paolo Maldini,Pavel Nedved and the possible transfers of Kaka to Real Madrid.It struck me how next year in the Serie A will be so fresh and new,but also very scary in regards to what this means for the Serie A as a European power player. Add to this the rumors that Carlo Ancelotti will also take with him Alexandre Pato and Andrea Pirlo and what comes of this for the Serie A?

Sportmediaset.it notes that Andrea Pirlo met with Chelsea officials and the English club could make an offer for the A.C. Milan midfielder.
Read On -- Chelsea To Offer Milan €25 Million For Andrea Pirlo via Goal.com
Related -- Chelsea: Transfer Rumours 2009-10 Coverage Center and A.

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Marco Amelia (Palermo), Morgan De Sanctis (Galatasaray) Defenders: Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Gianluca Zambrotta (Milan) Fabio Grosso (Lyon), Davide Santon (Inter), Alessandro Gamberini (Fiorentina), Nicola Legrottaglie (Juventus), Andrea Dossena (Liverpool) Midfielders: Mauro Camoranesi (Juventus), Gennaro Gattuso (Milan), Angelo Palombo (Sampdoria), Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina), Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Andrea Pirlo (Milan) Forwards: Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina), Vincenzo Iaquinta (Juventus), Fabio Quagliarella (Napoli), Luca Toni (Bayern Munich), Giuseppe Rossi (Villarreal), Pepe (Udinese)

When two hundred Milan fanatics gathered outside the club headquarters just over a week ago in protest at the preordained transfer of messiah Kaka to Spanish titans Real Madrid, a sympathetic Adriano Galliani pledged "a great attacker will arrive" to expand on the current-base of quality in the chase for their first Serie A championship since 2004.

Part Three of a Series on American Style

*As the U.S. National Team attempts to qualify for the World Cup in 2010, I will write a series of pieces concentrating on the style, or lack of it, of American soccer. See the other two here and here.

Watching the U.S. play Italy in the Confederations Cup made glaring all the differences we already knew existed between the two teams.

Egyptian Italian Job - Image from Associated Press

Egypt experienced one of their greatest moments on the international football stage when they upset World Champions Italy 1-0 in a Confederations Cup group B game played in Johannesburg on Thursday night.

It could well be argued that the African champions were full value for their half-time lead, but the second stanza was however a different story as the European side had numerous excellent scoring chances, only to be denied time and time again by sensational goal keeping by an inspired Essam Al-Hadari, who made several heroic saves to preserve the slender lead.

The clearance sale at Milan continues and Andrea Pirlo looks to be the next player to leave San Siro. The latest reports are suggesting Milan are ready to accept Chelsea's €23 million offer for the veteran playmaker and they are likely to invest the money in Cesc Fabregas.

Chelsea are looking to continue their midfield bolstering with the acquisition of the coveted battler Daniele de Rossi. Chelsea secured their first major transfer of the summer window with Monday's £18 million purchase of Russia international Yuri Zhirkov, but look set to embark on their own wave of Galactico recruiting as a report in an Italian [.

UPDATE: According to Salvatore Landolina at Goal.com, Marca is reporting that Chelsea are close to signing AC Milan midfielder Andrea Pirlo after making a bid of €18million.

July 7th, 2009 According to Chelsea's official website, Chelsea are looking for a "marquee name.

Milan have been looking for ways to spend part of the money from Kaka sale on new players but Rossoneri are yet to attract a big name signing. After failing to lure Edin Dzeko and Luis Fabiano to San Siro, it seems that Silvio Berlusconi has no other choice but to rely on Ronaldinho.

It's safe to say that Darren Bent is leaving Tottenham, but for who? It looked like Sunderland was a go for Bent, but until all of the i's have been dotted and all of the t's crossed, nothing is definite.

Along with late bids for Bent, this morning's roundup is packed chock full of Portsmouth tidbits, and we've also got the latest on Chelsea's pursuit of AC Milan's Andrea Pirlo, Hull's pursuit of new striker(s), and much more.