Benfica - Most popular for 2007
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Have you ever wondered why Freddy Adu tends to do so well in competitions like the U20 World Cup,
but for the most part looks mediocre in the MLS? Well, it's really not that hard to figure out. In
the U20 World Cup, Adu was playing against players closer to his age, though most of them lack the
experience he has gained by being in the MLS since 14.
Freddy Adu opens up on his transfer to Benfica, his time in MLS and his own play in a new SI piece
out today. Although there are a number of interesting questions in the piece, the part that I'm
sure is going to attack the most attention is his take on MLS and their treatment of him.
When asked about how the league created the idea of Adu as savior of American soccer, he says:
I had to be the bad guy after a few years and say: "I'm not doing this
appearance.
The rumors are everywhere, Freddy Adu is about to sign with Benfica in Portugal if the club can
agree to terms with MLS. Could it be that Adu has played his final MLS match and is ready to try
his luck in Europe?
The timing of this move would be good for Adu and not that bad for the league. Freddy is coming off
a strong U-20 World Cup where he earned much international praise while MLS is focused on Beckham,
ie they have a bigger name to promote.
Yesterday's Games Rangers 1, Crvena Zvezda 0 A last gasp Nacho Novo strike helped Rangers survive
a physical onslaught and leave Ibrox with a 1 goal lead and a firm away goal advantage (in the
sense that they kept Red Star to zero). DaMarcus Beasley worked a solid 70 minutes or so getting
beaten, punched, and dropkicked [...]
It looks as though the Freddy Adu era in the MLS is about to come to a close. Young Adu is about to
land a nice deal with a very good European club possibly sometime this week. Benfica, the
Portuguese powerhouse is set to offer the MLS a hefty amount for Adu's services. The MLS owns [...]
Freddy Adu has made his way to Europe and it looks like the expectations have followed him across
the Atlantic as a local sports daily greeted his arrival with the headline "Son of Pelé."
News headlines aside, as many people have pointed out, this might just be the best move Adu could
have made as Benfica has a great history of developing younger players and is in a league that is
driven more by technical skills then pure physicality.
Benfica has offloaded another Portuguese talent. Valencia scored the 21 year-old for something
between 12-15 million Euros.
My first reaction: wtf is Benfica doing?
My second reaction: Camacho must be at least mildly impressed with Adu to sell Fernandes.
We'll just have to see what happens on Sept. 2nd when Nacional hosts Benfica.
Another Argentine is set to move to Europe - but for a change this won't affect the domestic game
unduly. César 'Chelito' Delgado, formerly of Rosario Central, has for the last four years been
impressive for Mexico's Cruz Azul, and now looks set for the move across the Atlantic, probably to
Benfica of Portugal.
LA Galaxy win first SuperLiga Match; FC Dallas Draw
God I love Landon Donovan! This guy has a nack for making people eat the same stuff that they throw
at him. After the Beckham circus match Saturday night, pretty much everyone dropped Donovan on his
head for missing the open header late in the match and basically being invisible through out the
entire match.
Rangers vs. Crvena Zvezda (Red Star Belgrade) Ibrox DaMarcus Beasley and his new club will face the
Serbian champs at home in the first leg. With already one goal in the competition and the
possibility of more racial taunts coming today, we could probably expect a hat-trick from Beasley
(only mildly joking). Beasley and Jean-Claude Darcheville's pace [.
I know this is a tad late but I just came across this video and haven't seen it anywhere else.
It's a fairly thorough highlight segment of Tuesday's Champions League qualifier between Benfica v.
FC Copenhagen. I don't speak Portuguese, but it sounded like the commentators were liking what they
were seeing from Freddy Adu, who [...]
I sincerely hope that Benfica's Augustin Binya is hit with a harsh ban for his horror tackle on
Celtic's Scott Brown. Actually, to term it a tackle is an injustice. It really was nothing more
than an assault and attempt to injure Brown. The closest I've seen to this is when Manchester
United's Roy Keane tried to do in Alf Inge Haaland. There was a bit of history to that one as Keane
felt Haaland had taunted him when he was injured in a match in 1997 when Haaland was with Leeds.
The 18-year old showed his true colors at U-20 World Cup and now, about $4 million later, Benfica -
a storied Portuguese superpower, legendary for being Portugal's soccer savior Eusebio's stomping
ground - has won the signature of Freddy Adu. Confirmation here.
The task will be a tough one - Benfica has won the signatures of some highly rated players this
summer.
Andrea Pirlo with a brilliant free kick.
Andrea Pirlo finds Inzaghi across the box and the Italian puts it away with flare.
Here are my top goals from yesterday's Champions League matches. Click the link to see the clip.
Cheers.
Andrea Pirlo easily takes Man of the Match as he nets on a brilliant free kick and then sets up his
poacher extraordinairre, Fillipo Inzaghi, as AC Milan beat Benfica at the San Siro, 2-1.
Christiano Lucarelli puts Shakhtar Donestk up 2-0 over visiting Celtic with this class header.
capt.cb44eab5ab324be5ba4bcba07cdeb269.italy_soccer_champions_league_xac110
Originally uploaded by Milan Time
Shakhtar Donetsk 1 - Benfica 2 (Champions League, Diciembre 4, 2007)El ultimo mes ha iniciado y la
primera ronda o la fase inicial ha terminado. Ya hay equipos eliminados y clasificados.
Benfica midfielder Augustin Binya has been banned for six UEFA matches following his red card for a
high challenge on Scott Brown in a recent Champions League match against Celtic. This is the
correct decision on what can truly be described using that oft-thrown around term -- horror tackle.
As we showed in an earlier post, Binya was clearly looking to inflict some hurt on Brown and was
successful in doing so.
It's hard to imagine but the final is a mere 288 days away! :) With that in mind, the draw for the
third and final round of qualifying for the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League group stage was held on
Friday and some interesting matches should emerge. Last season's runners-up, Liverpool FC, will
have to overcome Toulouse FC. UEFA Cup holders Sevilla FC must find a way past AEK Athens FC,
Scottish champions Celtic FC will have to get past FC Spartak Moskva and Arsenal FC will face AC
Sparta Praha.
Except for one. The winner of Sevilla and AEK Athens will move on. That game will be played
September 3rd. Here they are by seed - the draw will be held today, early afternoon EST. Pot 1/#1
Seeds AC Milan (Cup Holders) Barcelona Liverpool Inter Milan Arsenal Real Madrid Chelsea Manchester
United Pot 2/#2 Seeds Valencia Lyon Porto Sevilla/AEK Athens PSV Eindhoven AS Roma Benfica Werder
Bremen Pot 3/#3 Seeds Celtic Schalke 04 VfB Stuttgart Steaua Bucharest [.
I had a pretty decent day with the predictions yesterday, so let's see if I can keep it going.
Today's matches feature some teams that desperately need to put points on the board, including
Liverpool and Werder Bremen. Let's take a quick look at the matchups.
Besiktas - Liverpool
On the back of their derby win over Everton, Liverpool will look to get their Champions League
campaign rolling.
The top game in La Liga was undoubtedly the Barcelona derby. Andres Iniesta struck first for Barca,
but Coro equalized midway through the second half. Earlier, Real Madrid saw off seventh-placed
Racing Santander at the Bernabeu. Top-of-the-table Real got a brace from Raul and didn't seem to
have much trouble, winning the game 3-1.
The third qualifying round completed on Tuesday and Wednesday (except for the postponed AEK
Athens - Sevilla match) and there were few shocking results except for the ouster of Ajax by SK
Slavia Praha. This will be a major disappointment for Ajax as they lost to FC København in the
third qualifying round a year ago. Stanislav Vlček (pictured below on the left) was the hero for
Slavia scoring twice to propel the Czech side into the group stage for the first time in their
history.
FC Porto 0, Liverpool 2
This match could very well end 0-0, it just depends on how FC Porto manager Jesualdo Ferreira
approaches the match. With Torres, Gerrard, and Mascherano likely to start, it won't matter how
brilliant Quaresma, Lucho Gonzalez, and Jorge Fucile play.
Real Madrid 3, Werder Bremen 1
Real Madrid is just playing too well right now for pretty much anyone to go into Santiago Bernabéu
and beat them.
Group standings. Group A FC Porto 1, Liverpool 1 Jermaine Pennant was sent off with 30 minutes
to go, but Liverpool survived finding the equalizer well before Pennant's ejection and hanging on
from there. Lucho Gonzalez converted an 8th minute penalty to put Porto up early. Marseille 2,
Besiktas 0 Having trouble finding domestic success again, but Les Bleus found a way past [.
Liverpool 2, Marseilles 1
Anfield gives the Reds a huge advantage even with former players Djibril Cisse and Bolo Zenden on
the opposing Marseille side. The French side should be better rested, but ten days is almost too
long and it's not as if Liverpool played just two days ago. Four days should be adequate rest for
the Reds especially since they'll infuse some players like Peter Crouch, Ryan Babel, and Steve
Finnan into the line-up, none of which played on Saturday.
The luck of the Irish was on Celtic's side today, as Gordon Strachan's team advanced to the
Champions League Round of 16 despite losing the final group stage game at AC Milan. Celtic Chairman
John Reed should send a thank-you letter to Oscar Cardozo and Benfica Lisbon, as the Portuguese
side beat Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1 on a brace by Cardozo, which assured Celtic's advance.
The stories of legendary proportions continued to be written on Tuesday night as Group D was
decided. In a stunning reversal of fortunes, former Group D leaders Shakhtar Donetsk were knocked
out of all European competitions last night. Oscar Cardozo was the hero for Portugese giants
Benfica as he scored two goals in the first half.
Camacho is most well known for his links to Real Madrid as a player (a whopping
414 appearances at the Bernabeu) and a coach (from 2004-5). The Spaniard has also been capped over
80 times for the Spanish national team and coach the team from 1998 up to the 2002 World Cup. No
one will question his experience as the new man at Benfica, but they will see the fact that he has
never spent more than 3 seasons - in a managerial position - at one club (unless you count the
Spanish national team).
Home Away
Oct 3, AC Milan (h); Sep 18, Shakhtar Donetsk (a);
Nov 6, Benfica (h); Oct 24, Benfica (a); Nov
28, Shakhtar Donetsk (h); Dec 4, AC Milan [.
Tickle Sheffield Wednesday come from behind again to dispatch Blackpool 2-1 and crawl out of the
Fizzy Soda Pop League drop zone. Just a bit more consistency should see the Owls move into the
relative comfort of midtable, though it sure would be nice to be challenging for something other
than safety from relagation--again . . . In other 2-1 come from behind home wins--Freddy strikes
again,
Following up on my prior post on coaching changes, news has emerged today that yet another change
has occured. Ronald Koeman, the former Ajax and Benfica boss, has resigned his role as manager of
PSV Eindhoven to take on the vacant managerial role for Spanish club Valencia. The La Liga side are
thought to have reached a financial agreement with their Dutch counterparts for compensation.
When I took my seat last night and surveyed the scene, I couldn't help but think back to the empty
shell of a stadium that greeted the teams arrival in the CIS quarter final last week. As YNWA
bellowed from the stands, the fabled and lauded European atmosphere crackled and exploded into the
floodlit night.
While we are quite rightly praised for this atmosphere, European nights bring out the best and
worst of the Celtic support.
Freddy Adu has finalized his move to Portuguese club Benfica, according to the AP. Pending a
medical, Adu will officially join the club, despite already taking part in training with the
players. Adu is set to sign a five year contract.
Freddy deserves this. He put up with all the wunder kid crap that the league tossed on him over the
last four years, dealt with trying to play different positions and formations and even dealt with
being in Salt Lake.
Fullback of Sao Paulo Edcarlos, who has been sounded by several European clubs, finally is leaving
Brazil. His new club will be Benfica, which decided to get Latinoamericanized completely.
A single point from today's group stage finale at AC Milan will be enough for Celtic Glasgow to
advance to the UEFA Champions League Round of 16. The trip to San Siro comes at an opportune time
for Gordon Strachan's men; The Rossoneri are an even .500 (7-7-4) in Serie A and Champions League
competition this season and have not won at home since Oct.
As AC Milan will be heading to Tokyo to compete in the FIFA Club World Cup against Boca Juniors and
other regional champions, the final group games in Group D have been bumped up to today.
Coming off last week's results, AC Milan have already qualified for the next round but will want to
finish on top of the group.
