In part 7 of our Portland Timbers season preview, we look at the Timbers midfield in greater detail. Melding some holder players with MLS veterans and talented youth should energize this group greatly, and give Coach Caleb Porter plenty of options to populate his game-day lineup.
The Portland Timbers added their third designated player when they acquired Argentine midfielder Diego Valeri on loan from Club Athetico Lanus for the 2013 season. Valeri will occupy an international spot on their roster, and by the remarks made after the deal, the team is hoping this relationship will be a long standing one.
The worldwide players' union FIFPro and FIFA has announced the 15 midfielders shortlisted for the FIFA/FIFPro World XI 2012, part of the 55-player final shortlist to be revealed at a press conference in São Paulo on 29 November 2012.
After the unveiling of the five shortlisted goalkeepers and the 20 shortlisted defenders, the shortlist of 15 midfielders is now also known.
Chelsea have sold and loaned out Raul Meireles and Michael Essien and I get the impression that
quite a few Chelsea fans are asking why?.
I admit, I was surprised to see the Meirles story break and for then for the deal worth £8m to be
concluded fairly quickly especially after Chelsea loaned Michael Essien to Real Madrid.
When the news of a ‘partnership' between Spurs and Real Madrid was announced on Monday, the
cynical amongst us assumed that it just meant that the Spaniards would have first option on Gareth
Bale. That may still prove to be the case but in the meantime, could Tottenham be about to sign one
of Real's midfielders before the transfer window closes?
Luka Modric completed his move to Real Madrid yesterday and in typical 'Los
Blancos' fashion, walked the lawns of the Bernabeu with his "familia" in his new
'No.19′ shirt. Everybody's done it Rafael van der Vaart's presentation some five
years ago was particularly adorable (but, oh how ugly did it end?
BRIDGEVIEW, IL- On a night when the Chicago Fire needed a result badly to keep their playoff
prospects strong, Patrick Nyarko helped deliver a dream start.
The rest of Nyarko's FIre teammates saw to it that the perfect start culminated in the ideal
result.
Sunday night our Chicago Fire return home to take on the third-place Houston Dynamo at Toyota
Park as they look to improve upon the insipid 4-2 loss in the nation's capital to D.C. United from
last Wednesday. Houston will be coming off a 1-1 draw in Thursday night's CONCACAF Champions League
game in Honduras and will try to improve their league standing after two disappointing home draws
against Columbus and Toronto.
Yesterday, I touched upon what strikers we could use with the recent news revealing that Wenger has £40 million to play with in January. Looking at our midfield, it seems a bit lacking in quality at times. Without Diaby our midfield doesn't seem physical enough for games like Stoke, West Ham, Man City etc.
Abou Diaby has been outstanding since his return to the Arsenal team this summer, and Arsene Wenger has admitted that he took a calculated gamble by putting him on the pitch against Chelsea this weekend despite knowing that the French international wasn't at 100% before the game.
The gamble didn't come off though as Diaby broke down after just 17 minutes of the game, but Wenger doesn't seem overly worried about it.
Poor Cesc: torn between the love for his adopted family in London and his birth family
in Catalonia, he decided last summer to return to his original home, only to find himself not
fitting in properly there anymore.
Poor Cesc: torn between the love for his adopted family in London and his birth family
in Catalonia, he decided last summer to return to his original home, only to find himself not
fitting in properly there anymore.
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers is adamant Britain can produce players as technically proficient
as their continental counterparts.
Rodgers has endured a difficult start to his reign at Anfield, with his style of play taking time
to take hold at the Merseyside club.
The Northern Irishman places a premium on technical ability in his midfielders - describing Joe
Allen and Arsenal's Santi Cazorla as "the two best players on the field, the two little guys, the
technicians" after last week's defeat to the Gunners - but such comfort in possession is generally
a characteristic more commonly ascribed to foreign players.
Arsenal's transfer window: Big changes at the Emirates for second summer in a row - originally
posted on Soccerlens.com
The Emirates Stadium's revolving door continued to swing this summer, as Arsenal looked to sign
attacking quality but also sold two of their most impressive performers from last season.
Mikel Arteta was one of Arsenal's outstanding performers last season in his first year at the club.
The Spaniard is continuing his good form this season and his compatriot Santi Cazorla has slotted
in to the Gunners's side like a Premier league veteran. The performances of the two midfielders has
gone largely unnoticed in Arteta's [.
Arsene Wenger is well aware that Arsenal have lost a goalscoring genius in Robin Van Persie, but he
is certain that the Gunners new arrivals and our midfielders have the ability to make up for our
loss. After ending the first two League games without a goal it was obvious that the Arsenal-loving
media (sarcasm!
Arsene Wenger has leapt to the defence of Olivier Giroud and
Lukas Podolski, and has assured Arsenal fans that his misfiring
attackers will soon start scoring goals.
Arsene Wenger has admitted that Arsenal are still "in the market" to try and add "quality players"
to the squad, but he made it quite clear (unless he was being economical with the truth) that he is
NOT looking for any defensive midfielders, which would seem to rule out any bid for Yann M'Vila.
"I'm [.
Just two weeks ago the scouting report on Chivas was that they were a miserly team that didn't
score much but didn't allow many goals either. So naturally their following game versus the Seattle
Sounders featured 8 goals, including Fredy Montero's first hat trick and some pretty unimpressive
defending from Seattle that meant a 10 goal game wouldn't have been unthinkable.
The Sounders put a big dent in Chivas USA's playoff chances last week and have a chance to
finish them off with a knockout punch next week. Sandwiched between is the first of a one-two punch
against the other team vying for the playoff spot the Vancouver Whitecaps seem so desperate to
vacate.
FC Dallas won three matches in the first four months of their season - from March to the middle
of July.
The USA return to World Cup qualifications today with their match against Jamaica at Kingston.
They are without Landon Donovan and Michael Bradley who are out with injuries. Amongst the
midfielders, Bradley has an established reputation for his box to box contribution and link up with
the strikers up top.
Vicente Del Bosque has announced his Spain squad for the games with Saudi Arabia and
Georgia.
The Saudi game, to be played in Pontevedra on September 7, is a friendly and will act as
preparation for the first World Cup 2014 qualifying match against Georgia in Tbilisi four days
later.
My apologies for posting my thoughts on the match too late – I've only managed 3 hours of sleep
since the night of the match (until last night). But, even as the fanfare from our victory dies
down in the wake of being drawn with the Champions of Germany, Netherlands and England in the
Champions League, I continue to find myself waxing lyrical about last Wednesday's (or in my case,
Thursday early morning) match.
Assembling this week's column has been a difficult undertaking. The transfer deadline arrives
imminently and, at time of writing, there are still so many issues to settle. Circumstances alter
at light speed and that's going to feel like a gentle cruise compared to what this evening will
bring. Even for someone like me that has an allergy to transfer speculation (I used to refer to it
as ‘speculitis' but that sounds like an unfortunate ailment one might catch at a mate's stag do)
last season's deadline day had the feel of watching someone nervously clipping wires on a time
bomb.
The Union midfield did well to silence Fernando Cardenas and the Revolution's midfielders.
(Photo: Walter Silva)
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. A game to forget for the both the New England Revolution and the Philadelphia
Union. A dour 0-0 draw where neither team really showed a desire to score a goal or put the
opponent on the back foot.
When you take the hands out of a game, you remove man's special tool for refined play and
frustration becomes the order of the day. The low scoring rate in soccer reflects that reality.
There are two ways to address the problem, run up your opponent's frustration by forcing him to
make more passes to get to the goal or minimize your own frustration by accepting the delay and
beating it with cunning and skill.
When you take the hands out of a game, you remove man's special tool for refined play and
frustration becomes the order of the day. The low scoring rate in soccer reflects that reality.
There are two ways to address the problem, run up your opponent's frustration by forcing him to
make more passes to get to the goal or minimize your own frustration by accepting the delay and
beating it with cunning and skill.
Monday afternoon the New England Revolution announced that they acquired two-time MLS All-Star
Juan Toja through the MLS Allocation process, after Toja officially signed with the league last
week.
Toja will join the club upon the receipt of his International Transfer Certificate and U.S. P-1
Visa, and will occupy an international player slot on the roster.
Monday afternoon the New England Revolution announced that they acquired two-time MLS All-Star
Juan Toja through the MLS Allocation process, after Toja officially signed with the league last
week.
Toja will join the club upon the receipt of his International Transfer Certificate and U.S. P-1
Visa, and will occupy an international player slot on the roster.
So, transfer deadline day is finally over and Fulham managed to secure three signings to add to
the team. Some quick thoughts on each one:
Dimitar Berbatov
Obviously the star signing of Fulham's transfer window. The loss of Moussa Dembele upset many
but the signing of Berba on a two year contract had most Fulham fans dancing a jig of delight.
So, transfer deadline day is finally over and Fulham managed to secure three signings to add to
the team. Some quick thoughts on each one:
Dimitar Berbatov
Obviously the star signing of Fulham's transfer window. The loss of Moussa Dembele upset many
but the signing of Berba on a two year contract had most Fulham fans dancing a jig of delight.
Bayern Munich have announced the signing of highly rated Spain midfielder Javi Martinez in
controversial circumstances, with the player's former club Athletic Bilbao claiming that they never
allowed the player to enter transfer discussions.
Martinez, once a top target for English champions Manchester City, arrived in Munich on Tuesday
to begin talks with the Bundesliga giants amid reports that his La Liga club were still unwilling
to offload him.
One of the Premier League's most infamous midfielders could be on the verge of a move to France.
Current Queens Park Rangers midfielder Joey Barton has hinted that a move to Ligue 1 giants
Marseille is inevitable, and it could just be a matter of days before he officially completes the
move.
The Portland Thorns added more players to their roster today with the announcement that they had signed four new players. The players are midfielders Becky Edwards, Allie Long and Nikki Washington and defender Nikki Marshall. All four of the players had played for the US youth national teams at one point and two of them played college soccer at University of North Carolina, where Cindy Parlow-Cone was an assistant coach.
Revolution forward Diego Fagundez tries to escape Dynamo wingback Corey Ashe in a May 19th clash between the clubs. (Photo: Kari Heistad/CapturedImages.biz)
Before we review this week's questions, let's review the following issues confronting Jay Heaps before the opening whistle at BBVA Compass Stadium:
Being as Klinsi seems a bit allergic to playing central midfielders with possession/playmaking
capabilities, I am here to provide him some antihistamine. It's a new clip of nearly every goal and
assist notched by Mikkel Diskerud for club and country. I say "nearly" because it is missing one
Stabaek and one Gent assist.
We all know how bad the performance was last Friday night. We all know that Chelsea were well below
par on the night and they have all openly admitted to the same. I wanted to have a proper look at
game to see where things went wrong and I have to say that Atletico exposed Chelsea's defensive
weakness time and time again and they were in fact that good!
Between Boxing Day and New Year, Wayne Rooney, Darron Gibson and Jonny Evans went out for a meal
and a few drinks with their WAGs.
The three players were dropped for our next game against Blackburn, amidst rumours that they
were unable to train properly, presumably due to a hangover.
United went on to lose that game, with Rafael and Park starting as our central midfielders.
