Goatee devotee Rafa Benitez is always quick to show his appreciation towards fellow proponents of facial hair. And judging by his excited response to Andre Villas Boas' ginger beard including some inappropriate touching the Spaniard might be considering converting to a full beard. Via 101GG
1. It's safe to say this match was won in exactly as we all expected: a Xabi Alonso brace,
comprising a header and a penalty. 2. France come under attack from Europe's powerhouse, do little
except retreat and then give up with a whimper. Talk about stereotypes. 3. France tried to keep it
tight at [..
On the same day as reports that Chelsea players responded to Andre Villas-Boas harsh
critique of their recent performance by giving it right back to him, Porto president Pinto da Costa
announced that Villas-Boas is being undermined by players who still exchange text messages with
Jose Mourinho.
There is a lot young footballers must learn, especially coming up at a big club in a big city
like Atletico Madrid, but one lesson that should go without saying is not to shop in your local
rival's club store. And if you do, just don't stop to take pictures while you're still inside
it.
Highly touted 17-year-old Atletico Madrid midfielder Oliver Torres did both of those things when
he stopped by the Santiago Bernabeu to buy a pair of boots at the Real Madrid shop days after
making his first team debut for Atletico.
Following a series of incidents that have drawn accusations of blatant diving and scorn from
fans around the world, Manchester United winger Ashley Young has admitted failure in his attempt to
design rocket-propelled football boots.
"When I joined Manchester United, I knew I had to improve my game," Young told reporters.
Apologies for lack of posting. For one thing there doesn't seem much concrete to talk about:
will they, won't they, etc... For another our increasingly antiquated work IT setup has made it all
but impossible for me to post from there. No, don't get me wrong, I work hard, honest, just that I
used to do a lot of writing first thing in the morning or at lunchtime.
Apologies for lack of posting. For one thing there doesn't seem much concrete to talk about:
will they, won't they, etc... For another our increasingly antiquated work IT setup has made it all
but impossible for me to post from there. No, don't get me wrong, I work hard, honest, just that I
used to do a lot of writing first thing in the morning or at lunchtime.
Soccer-Science seeks to bring a scientific focus to the game we love. I apologize for the
nerdiness, but such is my fascination with the field. Stick with me through the stuff you may have
slept through in school, and please don't come after me like Ogre from Revenge of the Nerds.
There will most certainly be some entertainment in the process.
Man City's official YouTube channel has provided a lot of unexpected entertainment over its
relatively short existence and has already become a model for other clubs to follow. It does,
however, go off the rails from time to time (City kitman Les Chapman's "nature watch" segment where
he tracks down a ginger kid in his underpants).
Shalrie Joseph is gone. He is no longer a member of the New England Revolution. It is time to
move on.
The oddest part of this whole Shalrie trade is that ultimately we do not know what to make of
the spare piece we received. There is a second round pick in the SuperDraft - a tool for getting
players that is slowly and surely losing its relevance.
After a forgettable first half the Rapids got a lead and then blasted Chivas in the last 10 minutes
of the game. The first 45 was a bunch of wasted chances and uninspiring soccer that the Rapids were
slightly better at. After the break Colorado didn't wait long to strike. Off a corner in the 50th
minute Cascio chested the ball down around the 6 on the far post.
It probably shouldn't be, but everything about this strange and unsettling (especially those
eerie freeze-frame eyes at 0:35)...
"Police burst into the laboratory to find several half-naked bodies floating in the
blood-specked pool, as if someone had thrown a toaster into a pond full of Koi carp.
Arsenal's best breakaway act of 2011 returned to London last night to present the BRIT awards for
Best Breakthrough Act to ginger troubadour Ed Sheeran. Cesc Fabregas teamed up with Pussycat Doll
Nicole Scherzinger to present the award and managed to avoid fluffing his line. Perhaps he was
scouting for new music for Pep's next [.
Praise Iker! AVB is back in football management, having been confirmed as the new manager of
Tottenham Hotspur this afternoon. In football terms, this news is being greeted with varying
degrees of scepticism, but the thought of his seeing AVB's expressive arms and ginger beard
flailing about on EPL touchlines next season fills us with unbridled joy.
There were joyful, joyful scenes at Ewood Park last night, where Blackburn were relegated from
the Premier League after losing 1-0 to Wigan. Bunting was hoisted, clothing was removed, devilled
eggs and ginger ale were passed round and everyone present congratulated Steve Kean and Venkys on
their efforts with a big singsong on the pitch after the game someone even bought their chicken
along to join in the end-of-season festival of sheer delirious happiness.
There were joyful, joyful scenes at Ewood Park last night, where Blackburn were relegated from
the Premier League after losing 1-0 to Wigan. Bunting was hoisted, clothing was removed, devilled
eggs and ginger ale were passed round and everyone present congratulated Steve Kean and Venkys on
their efforts with a big singsong on the pitch after the game someone even bought their chicken
along to join in the end-of-season festival of sheer delirious happiness.
Don't fuck with the Moses. It's safe to say Saturday's EPL goal-eruption (via Eddie van Halen)
further drove home the point that the marathon English soccer season, which begins in the heat of
August, runs through the bleakness of winter and concludes, once again, in the ginger-baking heat
of May is like eight or nine different mini-seasons in one.
One of the least edifying spectacles in modern football is that of managers attempting to
deflect criticism for a defeat by making spurious attacks on the opponents who beat them.
I like to think of myself as a connoisseur of this phenomenon, having watched our own otherwise
distinguished coach, a certain Mr Arsène Wenger, pull the very same trick on numerous
occasions.
One of the least edifying spectacles in modern football is that of managers attempting to
deflect criticism for a defeat by making spurious attacks on the opponents who beat them.
I like to think of myself as a connoisseur of this phenomenon, having watched our own otherwise
distinguished coach, a certain Mr Arsène Wenger, pull the very same trick on numerous
occasions.
Mirror: What are the odds Thierry Henry plays for Arsenal next season too? Derek
McGovern's Bets of the Day
Who said the Premier League was no country for old men? First Paul Scholes, now Thierry Henry
– two men with the combined age of Ryan Giggs. Giggs and Scholes are now so old, they argue over
who walked further to school as a kid.
And ... I'm a ginger, too. It's fitting, isn't that the final two matches during the Premier
League's rock 'em, sock 'em, player fitness be damned, 30-matches over 10 days "Holiday Program"
included Newcastle United smacking Manchester United around the ground formerly known as St. James
Parks, as well as American goalie Tim Howard launching a ball 100 yards, hitting the perfect angle
and
Suarez Soolsma in da house!
Welcome to our newest regular feature "Chants on Goal" where we bring our Yorkies' flavour to TFC
terrace songs and chants. We're not trying to reinvent the BMO Field choir-wheel but giving you a
few of our ridiculous favourite "hits" for you to enjoy and, if you feel the musical urge, bring
them to your corner of the stadium.
"Kiss me, I'm orange!"We promised we wouldn't talk about this godforsaken story
anymore until there was confirmation - but we are renowned liars... and desperate for some news.
With that, there is movement afoot on the most protracted TFC transfer saga of the off-season,
Richard Eckersley aka "The Ginger Affair".
Napoli beat Juventus 2-0 in the Coppa Italia final to spoil the end of Juve's undefeated season
and finish Alessandro Del Piero's Bianconeri career on a sour note. For Napoli's Marek Hamsik, who
sealed the win by scoring the second goal in the 83rd minute, it was also an end of sorts as he
lived up to a promise he made about his trademark, powerful and robust mohawk.
Gabon striker Pierre Eymerick Aubameyang has been catching the eye at the Africa Cup of Nations,
not only for his stellar performances but also for his incredibly uninhibited choice inÂ
follicular arrangement, opting for a ginger Mohawk formation that is pitched firmly halfway
between looking 'out-bloody-rageous' and 'like the matted hair that tends to accumulate in and
around the wrong end of a dog'.
Now that Andre Villas-Boas' brief and confrontational reign at Chelsea has been mercifully end,
giving way to the club's resurgence under caretaker manager Roberto Di Matteo, all the little
details about how AVB and Chelsea just weren't a good fit for each other are coming out.
According to the London Evening Standard, some in the dressing room came up with a nickname for
Villas-Boas, who served as Jose Mourinho's opposition scouting video compiler in his first stint at
Chelsea.
When doing research on U.S. midfielder Jeff Larentowicz, we kept coming across the nickname 'Ginger
Ninja" written in stories here in the United States. It even followed him abroad when he went to
train with Bolton.
So where did the comic-book, action-hero type nickname come from?
"Back in 2007, I scored a goal against the Chicago Fire," Larentowicz recounted.
"When AVB gets there, he'll know,
By the dyed ginger mo',
That he's climbed up the stairway to Ade..."
In which Andres Villas-Boas gets out the stepladder for a Norman Wisdom-style hi-larious 'little
and large' comedy photo with new Spurs signing Emmanuel Adebayor as if he'd just purchased some
seven-foot tall NBA player.
Here's a fun fact about being 0-0-9 AND national champions at the same time : you start to expect
things.
The mighty Robins looked really good against Vancouver mid-week and their persistence / luck paid
off (finally). So as an opportunity to build momentum, the scheduling gods predicted both TFC's
pending mediocrity and corner-turning momentum to hand us a date with one of the second-worst teams
in the league in Philadelphia.
The Red Bulls managed to repulse wave, after wave, after wave of determined Houston Dynamo
attacks and came away with their third 1-Nil victory in a row this past Wednesday night. This one
wasn't a classic by any means, and only noteworthy for the Alamo-like stand our still shorthanded
team made to preserve the 1-0.
Here's a depressing statistics for Chelsea fans: based on his strike rate with the Blues, it
would take Fernando Torres around 20 years to score 100 goals. Potential transfer target Neymar, on
the other hand, yesterday completed a career century on his 20th birthday, five games into his
fourth top-flight season.
