Speaking just for myself and not Arsenal supporters in general, if the rumours are true that
Cesc Fabregas wants to come back to the Gunners, I have a couple of choice words for him and
they're not too kind. The way Fabregas left the team was one of the most annoying and distasteful
situations in recent memory for me.
Carroll looking pleased with his new shirt...
Image: caughtoffside.comAfter a brilliant performance against Manchester City last weekend
Liverpool will certainly fancy their chances against Wenger's Arsenal side that have recently lost
the extremely influential Robin van Persie. The Reds deserved to win last weekend but a couple of
silly mistakes cost them.
Reports from China indicate Didier Drogba and his former Chelsea team mate, Nicholas Anelka
could leave Shanghai Shenhua because the club is unable to meet its wage commitments because of an
escalating shareholder row. Both Drogba and Anelka earn a mind boggling £300,000 per week to play
for 10th placed Shenhua.
After spending several seasons with Fulham of the English Premier League, America's best Soccer
player was ready for a change.
Clint Dempsey was pursued by different clubs, mostly from EPL and some from other international
leagues. He finally made his decision Friday and signed for almost 10 million a year for three
years (28.
Liverpool legend Kevin Keegan has hailed the appointment of Brendan Rodgers as new boss, insisting
that the former Swansea manager can bring exciting football to Anfield this season.
Rodgers was appointed as Kenny Dalglish's replacement at the start of the summer, and has already
stamped his authority on the club as he looks to instill a similar system to that which earned him
plaudits at the Liberty Stadium last year.
As you probably already know, in Brendan Rodgers' recent press-conference, he stated, "For
players to be associated with Liverpool is great, but the reality is we've only made three or four
enquires about players and we hopefully can close out one deal this week."
Two of the players strongly linked with a move to Anfield this summer are Roma starlet Fabio
Borini and Fulham's Clint Dempsey.
Former Manchester United striker Andy Cole has reminded young Red Devil Danny Welbeck that next
season will be the time for him to step up and prove that he can consistently lead from the front
at the highest level.
Welbeck scored 12 goals for United last season and was rewarded with selection into Roy
Hodgson's Euro 2012 squad.
We are six weeks into the Apertura 2012 in Liga MX, and we're finally starting to see a few
teams separate themselves in the league table. While some have risen, others have fallen and now
we're starting to see the normal carousel of managers Mexican fans are accustomed too. Three
managers are out of work and there are a few more that are walking thin lines.
After a shaky last week, the San Antonio Scorpions solidified themselves as the cream of the NASL
crop. With a dominating 4-0 win over the second place Tampa Bay Rowdies, the Scorpions have
clinched at least a playoff spot with 6 games left in their schedule.
The U.S. Women's National Team will advance to the Olympic semi-finals after defeating New
Zealand 2-0 in Newcastle on Friday.
Goals from Abby Wambach and Sydney LeRoux combined with Hope Solo's third consecutive shutout
punched their ticket to the next round, where they will face either Canada or Great Britain.
Liverpool have again been heavily linked with Chelsea's young striker, Daniel Sturridge.His asking
price is now thought to be £25 million which is out of Brendan Rodger's price-range. However, the
new Liverpool Manager is hoping to off-load Charlie Adam, Jay Spearing and Stuart Downing to raise
funds to buy the striker from Chelsea.
He's listed as 6'2", weighing 180 pounds. He looks like a pure athlete, like he could have played
American football or NBA basketball. But, Mario Balotelli is a forward in Soccer, a goal-scorer, a
striker.
He's coming off excellent performances in Euro Cup 2012 that raised his profile worldwide.
At the end of the 2011 season, there was every reason to believe the Philadelphia Union were
embarking on a steady climb. Having gained valuable playoff experience, the young team would seek
to acquire a proven goal-scorer and build depth at center back before pushing deeper towards the
MLS Cup. Home field advantage would remain a strength - the team had only lost 4 of 32 regular
season games played across two years at PPL Park and Lincoln Financial Field.
Pride is a funny thing. Everyone is repeatedly told while growing up that you should have pride
in your work, pride in your appearance, pride in your family and pride in who you are. Alternately,
pride is one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Too much pride, we are also told, is a bad thing.
Jerry Bengtson, with Revolution head coach Jay Heaps, holding his new Revolution #27 jersey.
(Photo credit: New England Revolution)
The New England Revolution has signed Honduran forward Jerry Bengtson on a transfer from
Honduras' CD Motagua.
Bengtson recently led La Liga Nacional de Honduras in scoring for three straight seasons will
make his way to MLS and is the club's second Designated Player on their roster.
Sporting Kansas City won the US Open Cup Final on penalties. A team that couldn't manage to
score in the run of play took the 99th US Open Cup through a marginal penalty call early in the
match and a re-kick awarded during the penalty kick sequence. The first PK, the only goal scored by
Kansas City, was off a call that can only be called odd.
The Chicago Fire have added some punch to their attack, signing a Designated Player from Europe
that is joining the club after spending the last three seasons in Belgium.
The Fire announced Tuesday that they signed Dutch forward Sherjill MacDonald from Belgian Pro
League side Germinal Beerschot AC.
Spurs beat the New York Red Bulls 2-1 in a friendly dubbed the Barclays New York Cup (probably
by an intern). For pulling off what is easily the greatest sporting accomplishment anywhere in the
world this week, Spurs were awarded medals the size of dinner plates while goal-scorer Gareth Bale
was given a miniature Man of the Match trophy that was surely more satisfying than any Olympic
medal.
Terrence Boyd is the toast of Austria after he scored 2 goals (1st and 4th) and sets up another
(3rd) in Rapid's 4-0 victory.
-Soccer By Ives has a link to video highlights.
The Rapid fans seem pretty fired up about their new striker.
dN
Herculez Gomez scored the game winner for Santos Laguna.
At practice yesterday, you know when the weather was decent enough to do that sort of thing,
Sigi Schmid again talked about the possibility of loaning Steve Zakuani, but noted that the
situation is a bit complex. Not only are there MLS Reserves games coming up (August 6th at Starfire
v the LA Galaxy is next), but this isn't just about some lower division club wanting to get a name
MLS player and a few extra hundred tickets sold.
MLS goals were scored by leading goal-scorer Chris Wondolowski, Chris Pontius and Eddie
Johnson.
There were many recognizable players from the MLS squad. Thierry Henry, David Beckham, Landon
Donovan, Graham Zusi, Jay DeMerit, Kyle Beckerman and Dwayne DeRosario created for each other and
all the other All-Stars to ensure that MLS held up to high standards.
One of Soccer's toughest challenges in becoming more mainstream and surpassing other spectator
sports in popularity is breaking through on the statistics front.
Americans are so wrapped up in stats that often they seem more important than the games themselves.
Osvaldo Alonso and Eddie Johnson were both named MLS All-Star Game reserves by head coach Ben
Olsen on Sunday. The Seattle Sounders will now be eligible to play against Chelsea on July 25 in
Philadelphia.
It is the first All-Star game selection for both players, who are each enjoying solid seasons
for the Seattle Sounders.
Last week, I caught up with all-time leading USA goal scorer, Landon
Donovan - a short profile and some thoughts on how American soccer should pursue its own
style and method.
Landon Donovan was in the Bay Area last Saturday scoring for Los Angeles Galaxy
in his team's 4-3 loss to the San Jose Earthquakes before a sell-out crowd at Stanford.
Towards the end of last season, taking positives from a game was an accompanying headline for
much of our terrible run-in. It had become a by-word for we've lost again and where can we cover
over the fact that we're blowing third place?
Without wanting to moan after one game, it therefore brought back memories to see the club's
official Twitter feed announce that Brad Friedel was ‘taking positives' out of a defeat.
If one thing is for certain in the Liga MX, surprises are a given. This year, two teams fit that
description after just four weeks into the Apertura 2012. Toluca, who lost last year's league
leader in goals Ivan Alonso to an unexpected retirement, and newly promoted Leon continue to
impress and look like the real deal.
Alex Morgan scored seconds before the end of extra time to send the U.S. to the 2012 Olympic
Gold Medal with a 4-3 win over Canada.
The U.S. fought back from three deficits and overcame a historic hat-trick from legendary
Canadian striker Christine Sinclair to grab a 4-3 win over Canada on Alex Morgan's 123rd minute
extra time stunner in Olympic soccer semifinal action at Old Trafford in Manchester, England on
Monday.
Article by Doak Gips If there was any doubt who is the number one
team in the NASL, there is no doubt anymore. Seriously. The Scorpions stamped that and put it away
this past week. With a defense that is making Scorpions 'keeper Daryl Sattler look like Iker
Casillas, and an offense with the the NASL's leading goal-scorer in Pablo Campos, the Scorpions
look like they plan on demolishing everyone the rest of the way through the league.
Wayne Rooney had a good season for Manchester United, but it's hard to define what role he plays
for the team. Playing in the deep-lying forward role in United 4-4-1-1 system, he functions as both
the main creator and a dangerous goal scorer, but that hasn't always been his role. In 2011/2012,
he was responsible [.
As we've seen with the bunga bunga parties and relations with underage prostitues that ended his
marriage and mishandling of Italy's economic crisis which forced him to resign as prime minister,
Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi has never been one to consider the potential consequences of his
actions.
The San Jose Earthquakes and FC Dallas played to an entertaining draw on Saturday night, but it
was a scoreless one due to both sides failing to put away chances.
The Earthquakes and FC Dallas played to a goal-less draw at FC Dallas Stadium, a result that
extended Dallas' winless streak to 13 games and gave Western Conference leaders San Jose its first
cleansheet since March.
Player ratings for Sunday's match won't be quite as in depth as you're probably used to. This is
primarily because we four writers here at Stumptown Footy are running into ourselves trying to
finish up the post game coverage of the Colorado game while also getting all our preview game
material ready for tomorrow's game.
