Posted July 31st, 2008

Posted under Olympics

UPDATE 8/1: Marseille have not got the memo from FIFA that they must release players for the Olympics. The Nigerian Football Federation claimed that Marseille is refusing to release defender Taye Taiwo to join up with the Olympic team.

“We have sent them two letters already on this matter after the Fifa ruling and we hope they will co-operate with us,” NFF spokesman Ademola Olajire said. “I think Fifa will step in if they refuse him an opportunity to represent his country at a big stage like the Olympics.”

Marseille said they are not releasing the player because there is an issue over his eligibility to play at the Olympic games.

UPDATE 7/30: FIFA have ruled that clubs must release players under the age of 23 to play in the Olympic games. The decision came from Players’ Status Committee member Slim Aloulou who acted as a single judge.

Barcelona, Werder Bremen and Schalke have all filed complaints with the Court of Arbitration for Sport who will now hear the case. The Olympics start next week and Olympic squads have start their preparation for the games. Barcelona have blocked Lionel Messi from linking up with Argentina in hopes of a ruling in their favor.

UPDATE 7/27: Sepp Blatter’s letter has got a massive return to sender from European clubs as they still refuse to release players to go to the Olympic games. The games are less than two weeks away and clubs are going to dramatic measures to prevent players from leaving. Some players in Germany are having their passports taken as the issue continues with a deadline now looming.

The general secretary of Serbia’s FA, Zoran Lekovic said: “Our players have been put under great pressure. They have been threatened with suspension, monetary fines and the termination of their contracts, and passports have been taken from some of them. I have unofficial information that at the beginning of next week, one of FIFA’s directors will make a final decision on about 50 players.”

European clubs are now taking action meanwhile FIFA continue to posture over the issue. There are 12 days until Olympic soccer kicks off so they will have to step in soon. If FIFA fails to do anything this could be a huge victory for clubs regarding the issue of releasing players for future events and not just the Olympics.

7/23: Sepp Blatter has finally decided to clarify FIFA’s stance on clubs having to release players under the age of 23 for the Olympics. The FIFA chief sent a letter to all member associations reminding them of that fact. “The release of players below the age of 23 has always been mandatory for all clubs,” Blatter wrote. “The same principle shall apply for Beijing 2008.”

Team after team after team has tried to find one way or another to prevent their players from leaving. While the letter states that clubs must release players to play in Beijing, there was no mention of any repercussions that teams could face should they continue to prevent players from going.

While Blatter finally acted on the situation, this will probably not be the end of the matter. German clubs, Schalke and Werder Bremen, have already failed cases in the Court for Arbitration for Sport and the issue looks nowhere near a resolution.

Posted July 31st, 2008

Posted under Major League Soccer

Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando has been named the MLS Player of the Month for July. Rimando had three shutouts during July and only allowed one goal during the month.

Things continue to go well this season for RSL. They are now in first place out West and have a four point lead over Houston and Los Angeles. RSL supporters not only have a good team on the pitch but they will have a sweet new stadium for the team to play in come October. This is the first time in nearly two years, 23 months to be exact, that a Real Salt Lake player has won the MLS Player of the Month award.

Posted July 31st, 2008

Posted under EPL, Fights

UPDATE 7/31: Joey Barton’s past has once again come back to haunt him. The Football Association have charged Barton with violent conduct after pleading guilty to attacking then Manchester City teammate Ousmane Dabo during training. The incident occurred in May 2007 but the FA decided to not pursue charges until the criminal case against Barton was concluded.

Barton was released from prison on Monday and was expected to join up with Newcastle United sometime in early August. Those plans could now be put in to jeopardy with this latest charge against the midfielder. There is no maximum sentence which could be issued to Barton by the FA and a lengthy ban plus a fine would be the likely outcome for the 25-year-old if found guilty.

Newcastle United released a statement on issue: “Newcastle United can confirm that it has received documentation from the Football Association stating that it is charging Joey Barton with misconduct in relation to the incident that occurred with Ousmane Dabo in May 2007, at a time when he was a registered player of Manchester City,” read the statement. “The club has sought clarification from the Football Association as to why this decision has been reached now, given the incident occurred nearly 15 months ago. Joey will be requesting a personal hearing in relation to the charge and the club will be making no further comment on the matter at this time.”

It is to see why Newcastle would be upset by a possible ban for Barton but one look at Dabo’s face is argument enough that he should punished for his actions.

UPDATE 7/28: Joey Barton has been released from prison a day after Newcastle United manager Kevin Keegan said he and the team were going to stand by the player. Barton made no comment on being released and it is unknown if he will be able to adjust to life “on the outside.”

Barton will be joining up with teammates sometime this month but no timetable has been set for his return. He will most likely be unavailable for the start of the season.

Newcastle United manager Kevin Keegan is ready to welcome Joey Barton back to the team after his stint in prison concludes. Barton is in jail after attacking a teenage boy and punching one man 20 times on December 27th. Barton has been in jail since May and his future with Newcastle had been in doubt.

Magpies’ owner Mike Ashley wants to reduce the wage bill at St. James Park and could have used Barton’s trouble with the law as an excuse to release him. Keegan however convinced Ashley to give the former Manchester City player a second chance with the club.

“People have opinions, and you must respect those, but mine is to give him another chance and back him,” Keegan told BBC Radio. “There are a lot of things he needs to put right but I think he can do it.”

The video of Barton attacking man is pretty bad. The only thing worse is after pummeling that man he literally knocked the teeth out of a 16-year-old boy.

Posted July 31st, 2008

Posted under EPL, England, Tottenham, Transfers

Tottenham Hotspur unveiled David Bentley as their newest signing to complete a busy 24 hours for the London club.

The deal will cost Spurs an initial £15m, with add-on clauses that potentially could see the fee rise to £17m. Bentley wants to make sure Spurs get their monies worth this season.

“The club has paid a lot of money for me and I want to repay that,” Bentley added. “I’ve never been happy with second best and I will give everything to succeed.”

Bentley could be joined by Zenit St. Petersburg duo Andrei Arshavin and Roman Pavlyuchenko after it was revealed that Spurs are in a talks to sign both players. Both players will offset the loss of Robbie Keane, who left Spurs for Liverpool yesterday.

If those two sign for Tottenham they will not have to worry about Jermaine Jenas and Michael Dawson leaving the club, both signed one year contract extensions that will keep them at the club until 2013.

Spurs even got it done on the pitch, beating Leyton Orient 5-1. Darren Bent had a hat trick and Luka Modric scored his first goal for the club.

Posted July 31st, 2008

Posted under Fights, Major League Soccer

The New England Revolution advanced to the Superliga final with a win over Atlante 1-0. The game was marred by a post match altercation in which three Atlante were shown a red card. Revolution defender Jay Heaps also picked a red card in the skirmish and will now miss the final.

The game itself also saw two red card handed out to Atlante players Alan Zamora and Luis Gabriel Rey as tempers flared during the second half. It was refreshing to see players show some fire during the match, something the majority of Superliga games have been missing.

Posted July 30th, 2008

Posted under CONCACAF, Major League Soccer

The Houston Dynamo knocked out defending Superliga championship Pachuca thanks to goals from Bobby Boswell and Corey Ashe. The Dynamo will now play the winner of the New England Revolution - Atlante semi-final in the Superliga final.

Was it just me or was there more hype around the group stage matches than this game? The tournament already has credibility issues so you would think someone in the PR department would at least try to generate some buzz for the semi-finals of the tournament.

Posted July 30th, 2008

Posted under EPL, La Liga, Real Madrid, Transfers

UPDATE 7/30: Real Madrid will sign Hamburg midfielder Rafael Van der Vaart over the weekend according to Madrid president Ramon Calderon. The Spanish giants had a six million euro bid for Van der Vaart rejected last week but an improved bid of ten million euros could be too good for Hamburg to turn down.

The two clubs will be in London this weekend taking part in the Emirates Cup, a pre-season tournament hosted by Arsenal. Officials from Real Madrid are confident that a transfer will take place shortly after it was revealed that Van der Vaart had a clause in his contract that would allow him to leave Hamburg for one million euros next season.

7/25: Real Madrid had a six million Euro offer for midfielder Rafael Van der Vaart rejected by Hamburg. The Dutchman admitted that he wanted to stay with HSV this season but a move to Madrid could prove too good to turn down. Van der Vaart denied Tottenham early in the summer and has also dismissed speculation linking him with a move to Newcastle.

A move to Madrid would see him link up with current Oranje teammates Wesley Sneijder, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Arjen Robben and Royston Drenthe. Van der Vaart would also give Madrid an attacking option from the center of midfield, something the team has been lacking at times.

In other Real rejection news, It appears Madrid have set a self imposed timetable over a move for Cristiano Ronaldo. Los Merengues could be willing to give up their hunt for the Portuguese attacker as early as August 8th. The team have set two previous deadlines already, June 7th and July 17th, but neither has stopped Madrid from continuing to pursue Ronaldo.

Madrid’s captain and vice-captain weighed in on the topic of Ronald. Raul said, “I don’t see why he would cause problems. We already have a great squad, with a lot of big players and it is obvious that if a player of a very high level joined he would be welcome and helped to adapt.”

Vice-captain Guti added, “From the people that know him that I have been able to speak with, they all say he is a good person and a team player, so from that, I think everybody will work to achieve the maximum.”

If Guti would speak to someone from Manchester United right now he may get a different perspective or two about him being a “team player.”

Posted July 29th, 2008

Posted under France

The French Football Federation have upheld a ban of Paris Saint Germain that prevents them from participating in next season’s Coupe de Ligue. PSG won the competition in 2008 but will now be unable to defend to the trophy. The club had been hoping to play their League Cup games behind closed doors as an alternative to the ban.

The FFF decided to ban PSG after the club’s supporters put a banner calling the people of northeast France pedophiles, unemployed, and inbred during the second half of the French League Cup final. PSG where playing Lens, a team from northeast France, who fans were outraged by the banner.

This once again brings up the issue of who is ultimately responsible for the actions of the fans. The FFF claim the reason PSG received the ban was due to PSG security officials helping fans put up the banner. The players, however, had nothing to do with any of this but will now be unable defend the trophy they earned on the pitch.

Posted July 29th, 2008

Posted under Major League Soccer

Real Salt Lake continued their amazing season with a 2-1 victory over Toronto FC Monday night. The sees RSL move four points clear of the 2nd place Houston Dynamo in the Western Conference. The lone bright spot for the TFC had to be Amado Guevara’s brilliant free kick goal.

Real Salt Lake does not have another league game until taking on Houston in a Western Conference showdown on August 16th. Instead, they have a friendly match with Everton FC during their two week break while other teams continue playing in league.

Posted July 28th, 2008

Posted under EPL, Liverpool, Transfers

UPDATE 7/29: Robbie Keane was unveiled as a Liverpool today completing his move from Tottenham. The Irishman said he could not pass up the chance to partner Fernando Torres.

“It is hard to leave Tottenham with some of the players they had, like Dimitar Berbatov, who I had a great relationship with but Torres is probably the best striker in the world right now,” Keane added. “Hopefully we can play a lot of games together and do well.”

The team announced Keane will wear the historic number seven jersey at Liverpool. Kevin Keegan and Kenny Daglish wore seven during their time at Ainfield.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez said about Keane taking the number, “We were talking about the number, and the big names that have had this number, so it will be inspirational for him to have it too.”

Keane will play his first game for Liverpool in their pre-season friendly against Villarreal.

7/28: Robbie Keane has joined Liverpool after the two teams finally agreed to terms. The fee for Keane is believed to be £19m plus potential for a further £1.3m. The Irishman had agreed to a four-year contract with Liverpool over the weekend. The deal also includes Tottenham dropping their official complaint to the Premier League about Liverpool’s handling of the move.

Keane was delighted to join Liverpool, the club he supported as a boy, but had nothing but positive things to say about his previous employers. “I would like to place on record my thanks to the board, players and fans of Tottenham for the past six years, which were the best and most enjoyable of my career to date,” Keane said.

Spurs chairmen Daniel Levy was still upset at the way the transfer was conducted. “I don’t regard it as a transfer deal - that is something which happens between two clubs when they both agree to trade - this is very much an enforced sale,” Levy said.

It will be very interesting to see how Rafa Benitez shuffles the line-up to accommodate Keane in the starting XI. Steven Gerrard could be bumped out to the wing, a position he does not care for, to make sure that Torres and Keane start up front.

Posted July 28th, 2008

Posted under Chelsea, EPL

Luiz Felipe Scolari has big plans for Chelsea. Scolari has countered Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson’s claim that his team are too old to win by saying Chelsea can win the league, FA Cup, Carling Cup, Champions League, and any other competition they may enter this season.

“We are in four competitions this season and I will try to win all four, and the players will do the same,” Scolari said. “You know, it’s very difficult but we have the team to do this, we have the players to do this. Chelsea have given to me everything that I want.”

Winning the quadruple would be an unprecedented achievement for Scolari. Of course, it will be easier said than done and the future of the team still has some questions surrounding it. While the Portuguese boss is happy with his team now, Scolari’s squad could undergo some changes before the season kick-offs later this month.

Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon said the team is planning to keep Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, and Andrei Shevchenko despite speculation linking them with moves away from the team. Kenyon was also adamant that Chelsea change the style of play at club.

“The first objective was to improve the infrastructure and win trophies. It’s what our fans want and we succeeded. But football’s about entertainment and we want to play good football,” Kenyon said. “We want to be a team that wins in style and that’s about the club growing up.”

Can Chelsea ever shed the notion that they bought their success and be accepted by neutral fans as the club that plays exciting football?

Posted July 28th, 2008

Posted under Major League Soccer

The Galaxy looked helpless against a sharp FC Dallas as the Hoops recorded a 3-0 victory. Kenny Cooper’s stock will continue to rise after scoring two goals in the match. Rosenborg and Cardiff have already had bids accepted by the MLS for his services and this game could have very well been Cooper’s last for FC Dallas.

If Eduardo Dominguez performance was a sign of things to come for the Galaxy defense, they will regret waiving Abel Xavier. Xavier was sporadic but Dominguez was a complete mess. Then again the other Galaxy defenders did not give him much help on his debut and there might not be a defender in the world who can cure that mess.

In a battle of last place teams, the San Jose Earthquakes and New York Red Bulls ended all squared at one. Darren Huckerby scored his first goal for the San Jose to equalize after the ‘Quakes allowed a poor own goal. The horrid San Jose offense will be hoping for goals as Huckerby and Scott Sealy continue to improve their partnership up front.

The Chicago Fire and Kansas City Wizards ended in a scoreless draw at the Community America Ballpark. The Wizards are now unbeaten in seven straight games.

Steven Lenhart had a hell of a debut for the Columbus Crew. He managed to score a goal and get sent off in the first half as Columbus held on to beat the Rapids 2-0. The Crew are now one point behind the New England Revolution in the MLS Eastern Conference.

Posted July 26th, 2008

Posted under EPL, Major League Soccer, Transfers, Yanks-Abroad

UPDATE 7/26: It is official, Brad Friedel has completed his move to Aston Villa. That was not the only good news on the day for Villa. They also beat Odense BK 1-0 to earn a spot in the UEFA Cup this season. Friedel signed a three-year contract at Villa Park which would also rule out him returning to the MLS anytime soon.

Friedel said that he was not planning on returning to the MLS in an interview in April but then again he was also never planning on leaving Blackburn:

“Part of me a while ago would have said yes; now I will probably stay and play with Blackburn for the rest of my career,” said Friedel.

Blackburn Rovers have accepted a £2million fee from Aston Villa for American Brad Friedel. The 37-year-old will still have to agree to a contract and pass a physical before officially joining Villa.

Friedel also happens to be the second American goalkeeper named Brad to sign with Villa this after Brad Guzan left Chivas USA for a move to Villa Park. Guzan is yet to get a British work permit and will miss the start of the EPL season playing in the Olympics for the U.S.

It will be an interesting competition between the two when Guzan joins up with Villa. Then again this could also be a preemptive move on Villa’s part if Guzan fails to land a work permit and they have to send him out on loan this season.

Posted July 26th, 2008

Posted under Celebs, Manchester United, Women

UPDATE 7/27: Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson does not believe Cristiano Ronaldo is partying too much and claimed the 23-year-old is not drinking during his time in Los Angeles.

“He was always scheduled to have this time off in Los Angeles. There was no harm in going there,” said Ferguson. “He was doing some commercial things. We have someone out there with him.”

Well you can be the judge of what he is and is not doing in Hollywood…

7/26: A week after telling Paris Hilton to get lost,Cristiano was back at again. Ronnie was unimpressed when The Hills star Lauren Conrad approached him for a picture at some party they were both attending. Not only did he blow her off but he went out of his way to humiliate her.

According to someone at the party; “Lauren approached him and asked for a picture of them to be taken. But he just blew her off and refused.

Cristiano turned to his friend and said in his heavy Portuguese accent: ‘Who is this woman?’

Lauren was mortified. She told her friends she couldn’t believe he’d talk to her like that. Worse still, she couldn’t believe he didn’t know who she is.”

Absolute class from Ronaldo there. If you do not know who Lauren Conrad is you are not missing much. LC, as she is known as, has been in a couple of MTV “reality” shows and now apparently thinks she is a major international star.

Do they even show The Hills in Europe?

Ronnie’s adventures in Hollywood were not all bad news. He did find time to hook-up with Niki Ghazian. She was the one to admit to the fling in a recent interview

Ghazian explained the situation, “…the club was nearing closing time and Cristiano got up on his crutches to come over to the bar to talk to me! The first thing I asked him was why he asked Paris to kick rocks. He explained to me that he likes curvy girls with tone and that he found Paris “gross”. We talked for a little longer and made arrangements to head elsewhere after.”

Cristiano left an impression on Hollywood. It would be pretty great if signed for the MLS instead of Madrid just so he can continue to piss off LA socialites. One week in SoCal and the guy is already a legend in the making.

Posted July 26th, 2008

Posted under EPL, Manchester United

The long strange road involving Carlos Tevez and his contract is about to come to an end. Manchester United are about to make Tevez the most expensive player in EPL history by paying around £35 million to MSI, the investment firm that owns Tevez’s rights. The current highest deal is £30.6 million Chelsea paid AC Milan for Andrei Shevchenko. (How’s that working out for you, Chelsea?)

The Agentine’s agent/owner Kia Joorabchian said United hold the option to but the player but a deal will not happen until after the transfer window closes. Tevez is currently on loan to Manchester United and they are paying £5 million a season to lease the 24-year-old. If Manchester United do not make the deal permanent by January Tevez will be free to talk to other teams about a possible move.

Tevez joined the Red Devils a year ago in one of the most complicated moves in history. The Tevez case has seen the EPL ban clubs from dealing with players who are not owned solely by clubs as third party ownership became in serious issue in England.