MLL: Midweek Edition
July 31, 2008
Check out some shtuff around the MLS neighborhood while you wonder how a Canadian woman can give birth to her 18th kid (couldn’t they just crawl out at that point?!):
- Daryl eloquently describes the elation of Houston once again facing New England in an important final (this time, its Superliga!)
- James with the Crew gives an excellent, in depth analysis of their shutout victory over Colorado - and heaps some praise onto Will “Ricky Bobby” Hesmer.
- Sean with the Fire lets Tom Petty do the talking, as they welcome home their prodigal son, and now US Legend, Brian McBride!
- While Akeem celebrates in another excellent Salt Lake win, Robert with TFC laments on what could have been, and gives some much deserved love for Sutton.
- Sean over with San Jose has found hope in numbers! San Jose do have a shot! Check it out. And while your doing that, enjoy some tunes from Seans collection.
- And finally, I do a quick Red Bulls roundup, talk about the season ending injury of Oscar Echeverry, and give the Red Bulls Blog a helping hand.
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Daily Calcio News and Notes: 7/31/08
July 31, 2008
Here’s what I scrounged around for today:
-Milan striker Marco Borriello has been operated on and will now start his recovery. Reports are he will be out for around 2 months. (could be less if he puts a lot of hard work into the recovery process.)
-Pierluigi Casiraghi is predicting a big Olympic performance from Lazio striker Tommaso Rocchi. Casiraghi says that Rocchi has the experience and skill to score many goals in Beijing. The Azzurri debut on August 7th vs. Honduras.
-According to Tuttosport, Lippi is ready to call Amauri up to the national team. The problem is that Amauri doesn’t have an Italian passport yet, so he can’t be called up. The FIGC is reportedly pushing Juventus to get the paperwork done quickly.
-Corriere dello Sport is reporting that Lazio may sign a well known player in the coming days. Who is it? Swedish midfielder Freddie Ljungberg, who would arrive on a free transfer and is willing to cut his salary to join the Biancocelesti. He is seen as Behrami’s replacement, and Behrami was transferred to West Ham, Ljungberg’s last club.
-For weeks we have been reading that Roma are close to signing Real Madrid and Brazil midfielder/striker Julio Baptista. Reportedly the deal is now as close as ever, since Real Madrid are close to completing the deal for Rafael Van der Vaart, which would allow Baptista to leave. After the whole Mutu debacle, I think we should wait until Baptista is actually at the Trigoria training ground holding up a Roma kit before we think the deal is done.
-The 2008/2009 Coppa Italia starts on August 9th and the bracket is out. Everyone praise the good Lord because Roma and Inter are on the same side of the bracket, meaning finally no Roma-Inter final this season!
-Newly promoted Lecce have signed Palermo midfielder Fabio Caserta. The 30 year old arrives on a 3 year deal. Caserta impressed many in Catania’s first season in Serie A and was signed by Palermo, where he did a discrete job in midfield.
-Nicola Legrottaglie, Giorgio Chiellini, and Christian Molinaro would all welcome Dejan Stankovic at Juventus. The Serbian midfielder was close to signing for Juve but the fans are the against the move since Stankovic is an Inter player. However the three Juventus defenders all said that they would welcome Stankovic, and Legrottaglie used the example that a few years ago Fabio Cannavaro was bought from Inter and turned out to be an excellent signing.
-Goalkeeper Massimo De Sanctis, who was Italy’s third keeper at Euro 2008, is close to moving to Turkish giants Galatasaray. De Sanctis spent last season at Sevilla but wasn’t a regular starter and wants to move somewhere where he will play all the time. It seems as the deal is done, since Sevilla have not even decided to bring De Sanctis to the preseason Moscow tournament (which Milan are also participating in). EDIT- This has since become official.
-And to conclude, yesterday was “Cassano-day” in the small northern town of Moena, where Sampdoria is doing their pre-season training. Antonio Cassano arrived for his first day of training and was all smiles. The fans cheered for El Pibe di Bari and he signed autographs for 17 minutes. He also sat down and had a long chat in Spanish with Samp’s new Uruguayan striker Bruno Fornaroli, who in his presentation interview called Cassano “one of the best 5 players in the world”. Marcello Lippi is also visiting Samp’s training next week to look at certain players, and Fantantonio will most certainly be one of them. It finally appears that Cassano will finally start a season in shape and in form, and if things go well this could shape up to be his best season as a player yet.
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PSG Hogs the Headlines
July 29, 2008
PSG has been all over the headlines this summer, with some high profile signings, the possible apointment of Lillian Thuram to their front office, arbitration for their being banned from the Coupe de la Ligue as well as having a drawn out transfer saga with one Jimmy Briand of Rennes. Here is the latest on the appeal for the Coupe de la Ligue campaign.
Of course we all remember PSG were banned from the 2008/2009 edition of the tournament after a section of their fans held up a banner during the Coupe final against Lens which said ‘Paedophiles, unemployed, inbreeding, welcome to the North’. (Distasteful to say the least).
Yesterday the French Olympic Committee (CNOSF) asked the FFF to reconsider the ban and called for PSG to be reinstated to the competition. The FFF dont like to be undermined, and have upheld the decision after an emergency meeting on this morning, rejecting outright CNOSF’s suggestion that PSG play a Ligue 1 match behind closed doors as an alternative punishment.
‘The Board have refused the proposal of replacing the ban on PSG from the Coupe de la Ligue 2008/09 with the obligation on the Parisian club to play behind closed doors a league match at the beginning of this season’, read a statement posted on the FFF website.
‘It considered that the punishment of a ban from the next Coupe de la Ligue, taking by the Disciplinary Commission of the LFP and confirmed by the Appeals Commission, constitutes an appropriate sanction to the specific nature and seriousness of the facts.
‘It equally considered that since these happened in the Coupe de la Ligue, it was logical and fitting that the punishment involved the Coupe de la Ligue and not French championship Ligue 1.’
So PSG will not play in the Coupe this year, unable to defend their title. I think its fair punishment, PSG must be held responsible for their radical fans, especially at a cup final like that. Up next, is the rather exhausting transfer saga that is Jimmy Briand. These words are from his own mouth:
‘I extended last summer so as not to stay with only one year on my contract and so it would allow the club to get some money from my departure,’ Briand told Le Parisien. ‘We had a deal.
‘By nature I’m an optimist. I hope everything will be sorted as soon as possible, even if the transfer market is open until August 31.’
‘I’m in the same frame of mind as I have been since I came back from holiday,’ he added. ‘And even if I am back in training with Rennes, I have already thought of myself as Parisian for many weeks now.
‘I’m a pro therefore I’ll do pre-season properly but I won’t play for Rennes anymore. That’s categorical. I’ve repeated that to the coach, the president and the sporting director.’
‘Because of the way in which all this has happened and the remarks made, I feel betrayed. From that point, I can’t give myself any more to a club that lied to me.
‘My words are strong because I’m not in the frame of mind to play here anymore.
‘I was disappointed when the directors told me they didn’t want to let me go anymore.
‘They knew last season that I would leave this summer, so it was up to them to anticipate it.’
‘Everyone needs to do some effort,’ he added. ‘In relation to their first offer, PSG have progressed.
‘Today, Rennes have dug their heels in a bit over the price. But I have good faith that everyone will revise their position.
‘If Rennes decide not to let me leave, I won’t leave. But I will fight until August 31 to go.
‘While waiting, I don’t want to play [for Rennes] or appear on a team-sheet.’
PSG is said to have increased their offer to 8.5 million euros, which Rennes is flatly refused. After the somewhat idiotic bargaining position of Maurice Cohen, president of Nice, over the Baky Kone transfer to Marseille, it looks like Rennes is following suit. They are asking for an amount that does not represent the price of the player, even with the agreed upon release of the player by Rennes management. Is Ligue fastly becoming the EPL, where small clubs hold bigger clubs randsom for players, only drive up the price when they look to buy players as well? Or is this the best way for the big clubs to compensate the smaller clubs, so that they stay economically viable and competitive on the field? A difficult question indeed…
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Moutinho Tries the Crying Game, Boavista Officially Sent Down
July 28, 2008
After using this space sparingly to pitch a bitch about how the Portuguese Liga has been Le Suck on the news front all summer, finally something concrete and commentable (that’s right, wordsmith in tha hizzouse) came out this past weekend. Let’s walk the transfer wire tightrope, shall we?
Sporting Captain Gets a Manny Ramirez-esque “Injury” And Cries Out For a Transfer — As Sporting geared up for their mostly meaningless 2-0 preseason pseudo-derby win over Benfica this past weekend, João Moutinho’s press conference crybaby act after the Blackburn match still resonated through. Players and coaches alike fielded questions from a stunned media who witnessed Moutinho resoundingly declare “I want out!” After Everton had a 11.8 million pound (that’s a big bitch!) bid rejected, Moutinho showed his frustration with the negotiations and went all hissy fit on the club.
I can’t stand when players pull shit like this. The beauty of this negotiation is that the “team’s”(Everton) agent and the player’s agent are the same guy, Pini Zahavi. Why do clubs have agents? Can’t players deal directly with the club rather than have thirteen different middlemen? And isn’t there some sort of conflicting interest hurricane going on when a players’ agent also represents an entire club? How do you prevent tapping up in that situation? Maybe I’m a bit undereducated when it comes to the nature of European sport dealings, but this is a concept that’s quite foreign in the land of “soccer” and diplomacy.
Moutinho’s buy-out clause in the contract he signed JUST LAST YEAR (short sighted about your future much, João?) is nearly triple the amount that Everton have offered as a transfer fee. In spite of this mess, I’d bet on Moutinho’s agent negotiating a higher transfer fee with, err, umm, himself, and having Moutinho rather unceremoniously headed to Everton by the end of the week. It’s a sad set of circumstances since Moutinho, as captain, has grown into a sort of iconic figure at Sporting. I completely understand that the inevitability of a successful player going abroad always looms in the Portuguese League, but he could have probably served himself better by doing this pouting behind closed doors. This method of acting like a baby never flies well with anyone. Unless you’re a baby, of course. Then you can have the strategically placed candy bar next to the check out lane. It all makes me wish I had the burden of being tied to a contract where I play a game for tens of thousands of currency a week. Where would I put it all?
Boavista’s Vista Not So Boa — The league came out today and decided for the final (actually the fifth officially “final” time) that Boavista’s actions and involvement in the Golden Whistle bribery scandal were severe enough that relegation to the next division down is proper punishment. Paços de Ferreira are the big winners here, as their head is spared the chopping block and they’ll have another chance to be whipping boys in the top flight of Portuguese football.
I hope appeals aren’t allowed at this stage. This Golden Whistle scandal has to go away for fuck’s sake. I can’t take this bunk anymore. We’ve been embarrassed enough, let’s just pick up the pieces and move the hell on. Thank you.
Thank God Moutinho needed a nap and a bottle or else this week would have started off the way the last one ended: just plain shitty.
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MLL: Weekend Edition
July 28, 2008
Here is some stuff you may have missed over the weekend (especially if you were in Amish Country):
- Bask in the glory of Christian Gomez All Star performance with our writer Kyle at the Colorado Offsides!
- Bask in the glory of DeRosarios All Star dominance with Houstons Daryl as well - and what is this about Waibel being a future kicker (aren’t all soccer players kickers?)? Check it out.
- James with the Crew Offside shares his thoughts on the potential match ups between the Crew and Rapids.
- Want to share your thoughts on the Dallas / Galaxy game? Laurie opens up the forum to the readers once again in her always popular “Leave Comments Here” game thread.
- I give you my thoughts on the San Jose / Red Bulls clash - and so does Sean with the Quakes!
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