Amongst all the transfers this summer, it was the Milan clubs who swapped strikers, which has
been the most surprising and well planned by Internazionale. Inter's 28-year-old Italian striker
Giampoalo Pazzini suffered a poor year with the Nerazurri, playing in 33 matches and
only notching 5 goals.
Real Madrid and Portuguese national Fabio Coentrao has joined his teammates Mesut Ozil and
Cristiano Ronaldo, by adding a Ferrari California 4.3 (for the geeks, this model runs at 4,300CC
with speeds of up to 193 MPH!) to his car collection. With Coentrao's four-match ban coming into
effect soon, the defender will have plenty of time to drive around Madrid!
It would seem that, if you have designs on turning out for Manchester United, then persistence
is key.
After spending the last few years relentlessly pestering Sir Alex Ferguson,
badgering him for a kick-about, it now appears that the United overlord has buckled and is
seriously considering allowing Usain Bolt to represent the club in a friendly against the Real
Madrid Legends pencilled in for next summer.
Cristiano Ronaldo did not celebrate either of his first two goals of the season in Real Madrid's
3-0 win against Granada (video of the first here). After the match he made it clear that he did
this with purpose, but he also left a bit of mystery about it all as he refrained from getting too
specific.
Three of Sporting Kansas City's four players on international duty had games scheduled last night,
but only one of those 3 saw the field. Roger Espinoza's Honduras teammates were in Cuba for a
mid-day kick off in their World Cup qualifier. Espinoza had to sit out the game due to his red card
against Brazil in the Olympics.
Yup, the 'ole get the cookie from the forehead into the mouth game*
Two nights before the opening game of the 2012 U-20 Women's World Cup, the U.S. U-20 WNT used part
of their evening to engage in some team building exercises modeled around the Minute to Win It
games.
To no one's surprise, when you put a group of highly competitive individuals into a room with some
funny games to play some serious competition will ensue.
Solo: A Memoir of Hope is the story of a deeply charismatic outsider. She is a lone wolf,
but she was also a prom queen. That's the paradox of Solo's persona: she's the outcast in the
middle of every drama, the anti-social social phenomenon. Solo might be an independent spirt, but
this book is centered on her relationships with other people.
Hope Solo has returned home after winning her second Olympic gold medal as a member of the U.S.
women's national team, but claims made about the 2007 World Cup fallout in her well-timed new book
"Solo: A Memoir of Hope" are diverting attention from her Olympic success. And now former U.S.
coach Greg Ryan is deny an allegation Solo makes in the book that he shoved her during a heated
meeting where Ryan told her she wouldn't be playing in the team's semifinal against Brazil at that
World Cup.
I went into Wednesday's game with a slight ray of optimism and hope that f the Portland Timbers
were able to focus and win on the road -- for the first time this season -- that they would then be
in a decent position and shape to make a daring late-season play off run. As slight a chance that
might be, it was there prior to the game against the Colorado Rapids.
Well what do we have here? Could it be... should I say it? Oh what the hell, I'll say it. Could
it be that the Portland Timbers have found themselves in the midst of a winning streak? I don't
want tog et everybody's hopes up being that it's only two wins, both of which were at home, but I
think it's safe to say that the Timbers' performance during those two games were markedly better
than they were in the months since John Spencer left.
Wow, what a busy week! The FO have announced season tickets would remain flat, the field would
be widened, TicketMaster would be fired and Caleb Porter would be hired.
What's that? We have two games in six days against the Colorado Rapids? Oh ... right.
When Stumptown Footy previewed the Colorado Rapids ahead of their first match this year against
the Portland Timbers, the Rapids weren't in great shape.
I'm Sorry, You Were Saying Something About My Substitution Strategy?Last Saturday saw the
lowly Portland Timbers visit Red Bull Arena for a match that was highly anticipated by many Red
Bull fans who had to endure a horrible performance at Houston and a not-entirely-convincing win at
home against the same team in previous weeks.
When David Ferreira returned to the field for FC Dallas on July 4 against Toronto FC, it was a
welcome sight for FCD fans on several fronts. Not only was it great to see "El Torito" back on the
field after a 14-month absence due to injury, but his return sparked his teammates to up their own
level of play.
For the first time in their brief MLS History Portland has scored 2 away goals and not only have
did they score two but one of them was a late equalizer. With all that said there were not that
many players to choose from for Man of the Match honors as quite a few players had pretty poor
performances, so let's see who the writers thought was their MOTM.
Preparations for two World Cup qualifiers against Jamaica continue for the U.S. men's national
team, and according to U.S. Soccer, all 23 players had arrived in Miami (Nick Rimando will replace
Sean Johnson in camp after the first match) ahead of Tuesday's training session.
Anfield - still a fortress or an opportunity for three valuable away points? (Photo: Not
forgotten)
Liverpool v Arsenal   Anfield, Sunday, September 2 1:30 p.m.
Liverpool won't be including Clint Dempsey in their side to face Arsenal on Sunday, mainly
because they drew the wrath of their fans more than Arsenal did after the debacle that saw him end
up at Spurs.
David Luiz may have performed poorly against Atletico Madrid
in the Super Cup last Friday, but now that he is with his irmãos in the Selecao, he can
fully focus on pulling off the best pranks in expense of his teammates. The Chelsea
jokester was called up for Brazil's upcoming friendly matches against
South Africa (in Sao Paulo) and China (in Recife) on Friday and
Monday respectively.
As it turns out, being a young footballer for the European champions has its odd points. First,
we have Chelsea's annual Academy dance-off. One by one, the club's youth players were thrust into a
small room lined with the entire senior squad and told to dance while the audience films and
laughs.
Manchester United forward Robin van Persie believes that the introduction of Paul Scholes and
not his hat-trick was the main reason why the Red Devils came from behind to beat Southampton 3-2
yesterday.
Van Persie scored United's first equalizer minutes following Rickie Lambert's early opening goal
and even after Morgan Schneiderlin restored the Saints' advantage, the Dutchman added two late
goals to secure all three points for Sir Alex Ferguson's men.
Luis Suarez and Fernando Torres became Liverpool teammates for a mere matter of hours before the
latter joined Chelsea on deadline day in January of last year.
But the forward duo will finally have the opportunity to play alongside each other - well at least
in the imagination of Steven Gerrard, after the Reds captain revealed he had picked both players
for his fantasy football team.
Maurice Edu's transfer saga has taken a bit of an odd turn.
Two days after Rangers manager Ally McCoist claimed that League Championship side Ipswich Town
had made an offer for the U.S. international, the club's manager, Paul Jewell, denied that his club
had done such a thing.
Maurice Edu and Geoff Cameron teamed together in central defense to do their part in the U.S.
men's national team's first-ever win on Mexican soil last week. It appears as if the two may be
joining forces much more frequently for the foreseeable future.
According to Rangers manager Ally McCoist, Edu's representation alerted him to a potential
transfer to Stoke City, a move that would facilitate his transfer out of the fourth-tier Scottish
club and into the English Premier League where he would be teammates with Cameron.
Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart has urged his teammates to fight successfully for silverware
every season but admits that the roller-coaster 2011-12 title race left him sweating on the final
match-day.
City, who controlled their destiny going into the last game of the season at home to QPR, needed
to match Manchester United's result to lift the title at the Red Devils' expense.
U.S. national team center back Geoff Cameron, who recently left the Dynamo to sign with Stoke City
of the English Premier League, has written an open letter to his Dynamo fans and former teammates
and coaches. My Dear Houston Dynamo family, I would like to thank the Houston Dynamo for a
wonderful four years.
Most managers in the Eredivisie, adhering to the unwritten code, would stop short of describing
a player as 'world class' or remotely anywhere near the reason being as it would be interpreted as
overhyping a talent nowhere near the finished article.
Shalrie Joseph helped tilt the midfield battle on Wednesday. (Photo: Kari
Heistad/CapturedImages.biz)
For 21 minutes, the New England Revolution played and looked like the team  Jay Heaps
envisioned. New England pressed. It attacked. The ball moved quickly and players whipped in early
crosses.
Since being acquired by the Revolution in early July, Revs striker Jerry Bengtson has traveled
back to his home in Honduras, made trips to Chicago and Miami, and made the long trek to London to
represent his country at the Olympics.
All that travel has undoubtedly taken a toll on the Honduran striker, but Bengtson believes with
all that in the rear-view mirror, he can finally settle in with the Revs and start producing at
Gillette Stadium.
Throughout the season DC United has pursued a team identity with limited success. Through some
extraordinary individual efforts and occasional combination play by a few players at a time, United
won a good share of points, but never quite seemed as solid as they could be. A certain confidence
was lacking.
Major League Soccer scheduled three games for Wednesday's international match day. While Landon
Donovan was playing the first half in the USA's win over Mexico, his Los Angeles Galaxy teammates
were in Columbus drawing 1-1 with the Crew. Jairo Arrieta opened the scoring for the home side in
the 47th minute with Robbie Keane equalizing in the 64th.
If you thought the end of last week was all about Lance Armstrong's warts 'n' all confession to Oprah, you would be wrong for this side of the Atlantic there was a one-on-one interview with someone equally forlorn and desperate for people to hear his side of the story. We're talking about Dietmar Hamann [.
With Iceland international and longtime European club standout Eidur Gudjohnsen set to join the
Seattle Sounders in training this week, we figured it would be good to ask someone who was a little
more familiar with his skill set than us. Ryan Rosenblatt, the editor of the new United States
soccer blog Stars and Stripes FC, is very familiar with Gudjohnsen and had this to say about the
soon-to-be-34-year-old:
Eidur Gudjohnsen became a constant wanderer of late, but not because he couldn't find a
home.
Now that Zlatan Ibrahimovic has left Milan to score all of PSG's goals, Stephan El Shaarawy has
spoken about the delicate care he requires from his teammates. Much like a Mogwai that can't be fed
after midnight or get wet, a Zlatan requires certains things in order to keep him from turning into
a gremlin.
The U.S. U-20 WNT had must have been energized by their walk-through at Miyagi Stadium on
Saturday evening as the bus ride home got a bit rowdy. In the sense that the team sang songs all
the way back to the hotel.
Seems there is a game where one players sings a few lines from a song, then if another player
hears a word in that song that reminds her of another song she starts singing that song and the
rest of her teammates join in.
U.S. forward Katie Stengel was nice enough to get her brother a gift while the team was in
Hiroshima, purchasing for him a small fishing pole. The only issue is that when Stengel tried to
bring it on the plane to Sendai here in the Miyagi prefecture for the USA's third group match, she
found out that apparently one can't bring a fishing pole on a plane (even though it was a small
one).
With all of the talent that Mikey Lopez had around him last season, it was understandable for
the U.S. Under-20 midfielder's contributions to get a bit lost in the shuffle at the University of
North Carolina.
The club has announced the signing of Alexander Büttner from Vitesse Arnhem after a Dutch
newspaper broke the finalisation of the deal this morning.
"Joining Manchester United is one of the best days of my life," said the player.
"It's a team I have admired for many years now and I can't wait to join my teammates and play
my part in helping the club be successful.
For many years, the U.S. Women's National Teams playing in world championships have painted
their nails in various patriotic colors and designs and this year's U-20s are keeping up the
tradition.
Fortunately, midfielder Mandy Laddish is a talented nail painting artist and she has turned her
hotel room into a de facto Salon, with teammates making appointments to come by and get their nails
done.
Former Arsenal defender Alex Song finalised terms for his move to Barcelona
today a five-year contract worth €19 million (according to El Mundo Deportivo)
with a buy-out clause of €80 million. The Cameroon international is expected to arrive in the
city tomorrow, and will be revealed as an official Barcelona player on Monday at 9:30am, right
before the customary medical at the Barcelona Hospital at 10am.
Danny Cruz rejoins former USMNT U-17 teammates Sheanon Williams, Zac MacMath and Amobi Okugo after
being traded for Lionard Pajoy and an international roster spot.
