Sorry that we are so late with this, but some of us had to give a graduation speech at the local college and had to prepare for that. Anyway, better late than never, I suppose.

The big match of the weekend, of course, is the European Super Bowl as Inter Milan and Bayern Munich face off in the UEFA Champions League final on Fox at 2:45 this afternoon.

It's that time of the season again!!! Time to dust off the old Magic Eight Ball and hose down the old crystal ball. In the past, we've done a lot of predictifying here at World Club Rankings, typically with the Champions League, UEFA Cup and the Copa Libertadores. Our results have been mixed, a little better with the Champions League than with the UEFA Cup, but that doesn't dissuade us from trying it again.

STARTERS
Landon Donovan & Tim Howard got a shot at some UEFA Europa League action today as they hosted Sporting of Portugal in a Round of 32 First Leg match. Everton won the game 2-1, but the away goal could cost them dearly. They held the lead until very late when a defender was called for a Penalty and given a Red Card.

Okay, I'm way late with the predictions, huh? Hell, the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals are already complete. Making predictions now seems to be cheating, kind of. Not really, though. My predictions are based solely on the rankings and since seven of the eight Champions League quarterfinalists are ranked, you already know how I was going to predict.

Ruud van Nistelrooy's international career appears to be over after the veteran striker missed out on Bert van Marwijk's 30-man preliminary World Cup squad.
Squad:
Maarten Stekelenburg (Ajax), Sander Boschker (FC Twente), Michel Vorm (FC Utrecht);
Vurnon Anita (Ajax), Khalid Boulahrouz (VfB Stuttgart), Edson Braafheid (Celtic), Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Feyenoord), John Heitinga (Everton), Joris Mathijsen (HSV), Ron Vlaar (Feyenoord), Gregory van der Wiel (Ajax) en Andre Ooijer (PSV);
Otman Bakkal (PSV), Mark van Bommel (Bayern Munchen), Wout Brama (FC Twente), Orlando Engelaar (PSV), Nigel de Jong (Manchester City), David Mendes da Silva (AZ), Stijn Schaars (AZ), Wesley Sneijder (Inter), Rafael van der Vaart (Real Madrid), Demy de Zeeuw (Ajax) en Ibrahim Afellay (PSV);
Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool), Jeremain Lens (AZ), Eljero Elia (HSV), Ryan Babel (Liverpool), Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (AC Milan), Robin van Persie (Arsenal), Arjen Robben (Bayern Munchen).

Another round of the World Cup completed, another butt-kicking laid out by Germany and another move up the rankings for Bayern Munich. Okay, not a real "move-up" since it already was number one in the Fantasy World Cup Club rankings, but it solidified that ranking by picking up more points than any other club this week, 31.

To most people, Andrey Arshavin would have registered on their consciousness in the summer of 2008. He was boyish in his looks; his plum cheeks and fluffy hair were never going to hide his impish charm but it wasn't before long he displayed all his cunning trickery. Suspended for the first two games of the European Championships with Russia one of which included a 4-0 defeat to Spain Arshavin made an instant impression.

Today, Futebol Finance released their list of top 25 clubs with the most fans of Facebook. The results aren't too surprising, with the top 25 dominated by the usual suspects of European and South American clubs. MLS failed to crack their top 25 with a small footnote that Real Salt Lake had only 37,000 fans.

Liverpool have contacted Girondins Bordeaux left-back Benoit Tremoulinas with a view to bringing the Frenchman to Anfield in the January transfer window, according to French sources.
Tremoulinas, a product of Bordeaux's youth system, is a very combative full-back, with good technique, speed and vision.

STARTERS
Freddy Adu started and scored the game winning goal for Aris!!! I bet that was a big one for him. And as a wrote last night on Twitter: My eyes welled up with tears as I watched Freddy Adu score a goal for Aris tonight. I had no idea I cared about the boy! Watch it here.

STARTERS
The USA will play 2 games in the run up to the World Cup, starting with the Czech Republic on Tue May 25 (location TBA), and Turkey on Sat May 29 in Philadelphia at Lincoln Financial Field.
-Turkey has hired Guus Hiddink as they new head coach. He will take over the team after the World Cup as they head into Euro 2012 qualifying.

25/04/08 v Yemen 1-0 Friendly
21/05/08 v Bayern Munchen 1-5 Friendly
07/06/08 v Malaysia 1-1 Friendly
11/06/08 v Vietnam 1-0 Friendly
24/07/08 v New Zealand 2-1 Friendly
21/08/08 v Cambodia 7-0 Independence Cup
25/08/08 v Myanmar 4-0 Independence Cup
27/08/08 v Indonesia Under 21 1-0 Independence Cup
29/08/08 v Libya 3-1 Independence Cup (Game abandoned half time after Libya refused to come back for 2nd half.

Well it's time for the semifinal predictions for the Champions League and Europa League. I keep reading about how the clubs will have to take busses or trains in order to make it to the matches this week. If they travel by train through France, especially from Barcelona, I'm going to be pissed because France wouldn't let me travel to Barcelona from Montpellier by train because of the French rail strike.

The Special One.

The man. The Legend. The Special One. Jose Mourinho, for those who had not already clued in. Young, as far as managers go, and already rated as one of, if not the best manager in the world. Mourinho, currently at Inter, is en route to winning not just the Serie A title, but also the Coppa Italia and the Champions League.

By Eric Beard

While most people have jumped aboard the Jose Mourinho or the Louis van Gaal boat prior to today's big clash, that wasn't always the case. In fact, only about a dozen of you out of 50 predicted that Bayern or Inter would win the Champions League back in the quarterfinals with our "Top of the League Tourney".

Okay, sports fans. I told you that I would be back every now and again throughout the summer and here I am. It's time for the first update with respect to the 2010 Fantasy World Cup Club Rankings.

How are the players from your favorite club doing in the World Cup? I'm sure you know the answer to that since you're following them very closely.

Efsane Goller serisinde Dünya Kupası'ndaki Alman fırtınasına saygımızdan ötürü bir Eintracht Frankfurt-Bayern Munchen (1975) maçının golü var. Bayern kadrosunda Beckenbauer, Gerd Müller ve Sepp Maier gibi sadece ülke tarihinin değil dünya futbol tarihinin de en büyük futbolcularından bir kaçı yer alıyor.

Just before the World Cup started, we posted RPI rankings of all of the clubs in the tournament, as well as many others. Not many of the rankings panned out, but the top three were: 1. Brazil, 2. Spain, and 3. Netherlands. So, we're not shocked that the two best clubs in Europe are facing off in the championship match.

Wow, it's finally over. It's got to be my all-time favorite World Cup. Of course, it helped that I got to watch all of it in Madrid, including the finals at Plaza Cibeles with 250,000 screaming, crying, singing, dancing, cheering Spaniards as Spain took home the cup. But enough about me.

The battle for the Fantasy World Cup Club Championship came down to the final minutes.

By Darshan Joshi, writing from Sydney

Now that the pride that accompanied all things German during the World Cup has somewhat calmed down, and Paul the Octopus has, as some have concluded, jumped ship to the SS ‘predominantly' Barcelona, and two of the Bundesliga's World Cup stars have engaged in shaking Florentino Perez's golden hands with their trouser pockets lined with hundred euro bills, German eyes turn from Spanish shores to their own – the Bundesliga kicks off on Friday evening (with an absolute screamer).

At last, we are back to club action and the return of the WCR Top 25 Clubs in world football. I know there are lots of people out there who have an affinity for international football but I just can't get into qualifying for continental tournaments and international friendlies. What I can get into, of course, is what we are all getting into this weekend.

With the words "... he wants to leave, and I just can't believe it...", Sir Alex Ferguson probably released the most speculative statement of the year, with Manchester United superstar Wayne Rooney heavily linked with a move away from Old Trafford.

Wayne Rooney, who in August released a statement claiming he wants to end his career in Old Trafford, suddenly finds himself in the thick of the international press, with manager Sir Alex Ferguson revealing that England and Manchester United's number 10 wants to leave, and has wanted to leave since as early as just a few weeks after the World Cup in South Africa.

Club
1 FC Internazionale € 48,759,000 2 Manchester United FC € 45,811,000 3 FC Bayern Munchen € 44,862,000 4 El FC Barcelona € 39,061,000 5 Arsenal FC € 33,359,000 6 Chelsea FC € 32,167,000 7 FC Girondins de Burdeos € 29,740,000 8 Olympique Lyonnais € 29,060,000 9 Liverpool FC € 28,877,000 10 Olympiakos FC € 27,694,000 11 Real Madrid CF € 26,825,000 12 VfL Wolfsburg € 26,006,000 13 Sevilla FC € 24,373,000 14 AC Milan € 23,766,000 15 VfB Stuttgart € 22,946,000 16 ACF Fiorentina € 22,431,000 17 Juventus FC € 21,452,000 18 Besiktas JK € 21,116,000 19 El PFC CSKA Moskva € 20,992,000 20 FC Porto € 18,734,000 21 AFC Unirea Urziceni € 17,720,000 22 Rangers FC € 17,124,000 23 Olympique de Marsella € 16,962,000 24 AZ Alkmaar € 16,278,000 25 Club Atlético de Madrid € 15,079,000 26 FC Rubin Kazan € 13,224,000 27 FC Dynamo Kyiv € 12,322,000 28 R.

Despite Pepe Reina's denial of reports that he's looking to leave Liverpool, the Reds have already lined up a replacement for the Spaniard should he depart, according to German reports.
The 4-4-2 Web site claims Liverpool are looking at VfL Wolfsburg goalkeeper Diego Benaglio.
Bayern Munchen are also said to be interested in the 27-year-old Swiss stopper, who is contracted to Wolfsburg until the end of the 2012/2013 season and is valued €10M-15M.

Oh stop laughing!
Persebaya are reported to be interested in signing former Bayern Munchen striker Roy Maakay to spearhead their bid for promotion from the Divisi Utama next season or their Liga Primer Indonesia debut season.
Apparently the fact that two other foreign signings reportedly backed out of signing for the club for fear of sanctions from the FA doesn't seem to be an issue.