(Davy expects African sides to edge traditional Latin and Continental powers, but fancies England for the Cup. Below he discusses the likely England squad, highlighting what he expects to be the historic contribution of England's black players.)
To be King in Africa, a useful prerequisite is to be a Black Prince.

Click to continue reading...

. Manchester City were up against the first of the ‘Big Four' since their splash on the transfer market, and the Eastlands club came out of the encounter with flying colours. Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia bled his side when he made a mistake that saw him being marked down as the scorer, but for all the wrong [. Click to continue reading...

We're heading towards the 4th gameweek of the Fantasy Premier League soccer manager game. Again, there are soccer matches that look easier to some teams than others. So, time to see who you want on your team this gameweek.
Here are the fixtures:
Chelsea v Burnley
Blackburn v West Ham
Bolton v Liverpool
Stoke City v Sunderland
Tottenham v Birmingham
Wolves v Hull City
Man Utd v Arsenal
Portsmouth v Man City
Everton v Wigan
Aston Villa v Fulham
West Ham goes to visit Blackburn and I think they won't be too modest guests. Click to continue reading...

"I'm heading north!", Emmanuel Adebayor. Photo by Tom Dulat/Getty Images Europe. There is still a few weeks left before the transfer window shuts, the best bit of business this summer looks like a tie between; Arsenal off loading their lethargic front man, Emmanuel Adebayor and Man City acquiring the services of the tireless forward, Emmanuel Adebayor. Click to continue reading...

It's not often that another team in England, let alone in Manchester, hogs the headlines more than Manchester United. But it's not often that a British team gets bought over by an Abu Dhabi investment group, although football clubs are starting to replace private islands and super-yachts as the new playthings for the filthy rich.

Click to continue reading...

Shaun Wright-Phillips held a charity motorcycle ride in London yesterday and showed up on the back of Wayne Bridge's bike, wearing a World War II helmet (0:23 into the video). I'm hoping he did this for comedic effect.

It's hard to make too much fun of Shaun, though, as the ride benefited the Education for the Children Foundation.

Click to continue reading...

Shaun Wright-Phillips may not think so, but there could well be some similarities between Chelsea and ourselves - from his own perspective at least.
Now, with the summer additions, Wright-Phillips could find himself on the outside looking in, much like his time at Chelsea.
Mark Hughes now realistically has two players in every position. Click to continue reading...

After tons of leaks and pictures of their new signings prancing around in it, English Premier League megarich club Manchester City have officially released their 2009/10 Umbro home kit. Umbro is promoting the kit as Tailored in England like they did with the England Umbro 2009/11 home kit. Below is a good look at the strip [. Click to continue reading...

SHAUN Wright-Phillips will miss England's World Cup qualifying double header with Kazakhstan and Andorra next month with a knee injury.
The City winger would almost certainly have been in the squad Fabio Capello is due to announce on Sunday.
However, City boss Mark Hughes has confirmed that Wright-Phillips' plans to play against Bolton at Eastlands on Sunday have been scrapped.

Click to continue reading...

Could Manchester City finally put their 33 year major trophy drought to bed this season by winning the UEFA Cup this season? Why not, what  with Ajax crashing out last night at the hands of Marseille and Zenit St Petersburg and CSKA Moscow losing today, the competition for the trophy is getting into the nitty [. Click to continue reading...

In response to Dexy's article on the most hated players I have attempted to compile a list of ‘most loved'. These are not necessarily the ones who are the most influential in scoring/creating goals but are ones that any supporter, whether they follow that club or not, will appreciate simply for their likability. Click to continue reading...

On Wednesday night, Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate became incensed when Man City's Shaun Wright-Phillips dived to win a foul. After the dimunitive star was substituted, Southgate and Wright-Phillips got into a verbal spat that resulted in SWP giving the two-fingered salute to Southgate. Now, SWP may face a FA charge of bringing the game into disrepute. Click to continue reading...

MANCHESTER, England (AFP) - Robinho produced another captivating display to inspire Manchester City to a thumping 6-0 win over Portsmouth here Sunday.
This crushing win left his new club fifth in the Premier League table while Portsmouth dropped down into 12th place.
Robinho, making his second league appearance since joining from Real Madrid for a British record 32. Click to continue reading...

NICOSIA (AFP) - Cash-rich Manchester City needed a brace from Brazilian striker Jo to overcome Cypriot minnows Omonia Nicosia 2-1 in this UEFA Cup first round, first leg tie here on Thursday.
Omonia surprisingly went ahead from Klodian Duro's direct free kick on the edge of the area after 49 minutes but Jo grabbed the headlines with two second-half goals to clinch victory. Click to continue reading...

Manchester City could become the new powerhouse of English football. For anyone that doesn't know, City was recently bought by an Arab company Abu Dhabi United Group which means that City now has more money to spend then ever before. City has brought in Shaun Wright-Phillips and Robinho this offseason, and reports are coming in on last minute bids that were also made by City. Click to continue reading...

I just wanted to include a link to another article from former Republic of Ireland forward Tony Cascarino that he wrote for the London Times where he comments on Robbie Keane's move to Liverpool and Shaun Wright-Phillips' move back to Manchester City. Cascarino gives an excellent analysis of Keane's problems settling in at Liverpool that makes for a very interesting read. Click to continue reading...

Shaun Wright-Phillips' days of running deliriously around Stamford Bridge have finally come to end. Hallelujah!

SWP completed a £9 million move to the club he left for Chelsea, Manchester City, this week. According to the Gurdian, his father, Ian Wright, said it was the first time his son had smiled in ages.

Click to continue reading...

The way Chelsea Football Club ruined Shaun Wright-Phillips is a travesty. Go back in time to 2005 and the dimunitive winger was tearing down the right wing at the City Of Manchester Stadium. The player was such a joy to watch as he took on players and went on mazy runs often beating two or three [.. Click to continue reading...

Shaun Wright-Phillips left Manchester City three years ago for a transfer fee of 23 million. Now he's headed back for an undisclosed fee. Wright-Phillips signed a 4 year deal with City and said, "Obviously I'm delighted to come back to City and I just can't wait to get started again." Wright-Phillips is just like Andriy Shevchenko, as he was a big money Chelsea man who couldn't break into the Click to continue reading...

It is 'rumoured' from a friend who knows a friend who is in the know!!! Nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more that Shaun Wright-Phillips is on his way from Chelsea to Portsmouth on loan for the season. How can this be you might ask? Click to continue reading...

Although we've all been waiting for the eventual signing of The Rock, John Mensah -which should happen today, Monday- there are other smaller happenings in the Mercato. I apologize for the shortness of the piece, but transfer news is scant lately. I thought I'd throw in some tiny morcels of info to keep the stomach growling to a minimum for those of us who are genuine transfer news junkies, and for those of us who don't read French.

Click to continue reading...

Half of me is looking forward to settling on the couch tonight to watch the Yanks run out against Spain. Cold beer in hand, I'll have the opportunity to watch Clint Dempsey and the boys prove to themselves -- and everyone else, me included -- that they're not as bad as last week's 2-0 drubbing at the hands of England suggests. Click to continue reading...

Really? Do the kids spend the day just sitting around and occasionally getting up to stretch?

Click to continue reading...

Well I wanted a new feature this year and, after a long thought process (about a minute or so) I opted for the one that would cause me to get laughed at/yelled at/argued with the most (and guess what? that's the point). So tell me who I missed, who I should watch out for, and [...] Click to continue reading...

Goal.com reports that Shaun Wright-Philips is injured and is likely be out of footballing action for a few weeks at least. This comes as huge blow to the player, his club Chelsea and England coach Fabio Capello. Wright-Philips have been given his fair share of chances in the Chelsea first team and the player has [. Click to continue reading...

Today's Chelsea-Tottenham game promises to be a mano-a-mano bust up between two dwarf wingers with England aspirations. Chelsea have Shaun Wright-Phillips who at 5ft 5½in is ½ an inch taller than Spurs' Aaron Lennon, but the Tottenham man claims he is harder, stronger, and faster under Juande Ramos' new keep-fit regime. Click to continue reading...

Following England's 3-0 victories over Israel and Russia, a lot of talk has emerged about who is England's best side. With the emergence of Gareth Barry in midfield and the inclusion of Shaun Wright-Phillips on the right, it has been brought to the forefront whether players who were unavailable due to injury, most notably David Beckham and Frank Lampard have lost their spots. Click to continue reading...

- A Belgium man has been arrested and charged with slashing the tires of dozens of vehicles with France license plates in Tournai. His reasoning? That French fans were bragging during the 2006 World Cup. After undergoing a mental evaluation he was declared sane and now faces prison time.
- If you didn't know, Turkish clubs Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray have a fierce rivalry, some say one of the most intense in the world. Click to continue reading...

If I had to pick two players on the England squad that it wouldn't bother me if they retired to a life of gardening and never wore the Three Lions shirt again, I'd be hard up to get past Peter Crouch and Emile Heskey.
Crouchy, despite his knack for scoring goals, is a turnover machine and because of his height tends to have fouls called against him more often then not especially when playing balls in the air. Click to continue reading...

The Three Lions led by their inspirational leader, Steven Gerrard, easily brushed aside Israel and garnered three crucial points to better their position to advance to the 2008 European Championship.
The first half was thoroughly dominated by Gerrard, Gareth Barry, and Joe Cole, who had little problems controlling and keeping the ball in the Israel half though their efforts were nearly undermined by lackluster efforts from Emile Heskey, Michael Owen, and Shaun Wright-Phillips. Click to continue reading...