May 28th, 2008
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Reports in Italy claim the Viola paid €15m for the striker, he will earn €1.65m per season plus bonuses and he has signed a five year deal.
Written by Darkvader on May 28th, 2008 with no comments.
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The former Parma hit-man has been playing second fiddle at the Rossoneri for the past couple of seasons and he has spent the majority of the campaign on the bench.
His performances were woeful and he has been quickly shipped out to La Viola who have confirmed the deal.
A statement on the club's official website reads: "Fiorentina would like to communicate that the club has signed Alberto Gilardino from AC Milan on a permanent basis.
"Gilardino will be unveiled to the press at 12.30 on Thursday at the Artemio Franchi stadium."
Reports in Italy claim the Viola paid €15m for the striker, he will earn €1.65m per season plus bonuses and he has signed a five year deal. read more form goal.com
Written by Darkvader on May 28th, 2008 with no comments.
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As the resident Frenchman here at UF, I naturally took it upon myself to conduct the Euro 2008 preview for the French national team. This was mostly to avoid the barrage of jokes sure to be present had anyone else been allowed to write this preview. But also because I have an unnatural man-love for Gael Clichy.
UPDATE: After cutting down his roster on May 18th, Domenech has finally revealed the final roster for the Euro 2008 team. Look after the jump to see how many I got correct.France enters the Euro 2008 competition 7th in the current FIFA rankings, having barely qualified for the competition by 2 points over Scotland (to whom they lost twice in qualifying - apparently we fear kilts). Les Bleus are the only national team besides Germany to have won more than one European Championship, winning in 1984 (when the competition was held in France), and again in 2000 (beating Italy in the finals in the Netherlands).
In Euro 2008 France was placed in Group C with Romania (game on 6/9), the Netherlands (game on 6/13), and Italy (game on 6/17). France drew 0-0 with the latter in qualifying, after beating them 3-1 in an earlier qualifying match.
Although he has publicly stated that he will not name his team until May 18, it is expected that coach Raymond Domenech will bring the following players to Euro 2008:
(GK) Gregory Coupet; Mickael Landreau
(DEF) Willy Sagnol; Lillian Thuram; William Gallas; Eric Abidal; Gael Clichy;
Phillipe Mexes; Patrice Evra
(MID) Patrick Vieira; Claude Makelele; Franck Ribery; Florent Malouda; Samir Nasri;
Hatem Ben Arfa; Jerome Rothen; Alou Diarra
(ST) Thierry Henry; Nicolas Anelka; Karim Benzema; Sidney Govou
UPDATE: The actual squad (my picks in bold) chosen by Domenech is:
(GK) Gregory Coupet (Lyon); Sebastien Frey (Fiorentina); Mandanda (Marseille)
(DEF) Willy Sagnol (Bayern Munich); Lillian Thuram (Barcelona); William Gallas (Arsenal); Eric Abidal (Barcelona); Patrice Evra (Manchester United);
Jean-Alain Boumsong (Lyon); Francois Clerc (Lyon); Sebastien Squillaci (Lyon)
(MID) Patrick Vieira (Inter Milan); Claude Makelele (Chelsea); Jeremy Toulalan (Lyon); Lassana Diarra (Portsmouth); Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich); Florent Malouda (Chelsea); Samir Nasri (Marseille)
(ST) Sidney Govou (Lyon); Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea); Thierry Henry (Barcelona);Karim Benzema (Lyon); Bafetimbi Gomis (Saint-Etienne)
If you're keeping score at home (and I know you are), that's 15 out of 23 correct, for a 65% accuracy rating. While I am not surprised by the exclusion of Mickael Landrau, given that PSG was on the verge of relegation this year, I am somewhat befuddled by the choices of: (1) Boumsong over Clichy (did I mention I have a man-crush on him?); (2) Diarra over either Flamini or ben Arfa; and (3) Gomis over Djibril Cisse, although Gomis was the first player since Zizou to score a brace in his international opener (against Ecuador yesterday).
And now for the important questions:
(1) Could England beat this team? Don't be ridiculous! The last 3 meetings between France and England have resulted in France 1 - England 1 (international friendly), France 2 - England 1 (Euro 2004), and France 1 - England 0 (international friendly).
(2) Can they win Euro 2008? Of course they can! Ladbrokes currently has France at 9-1 odds to win the competition.
(3) What is their pre-made excuse for not winning Euro 2008? Youth and age? This is our first international competition in over a decade without Zizou? We didn't feel like it?
(4) What is their biggest question mark? The chances of this team revolve around whether the wily veterans such as Gallas, Vieira, and Henry can merge well with the youth movement of Ribery, Ben Arfa, Nasri, and Benzema. While the youngsters have begun to make a name for themselves in their domestic league (and in Germany in the case of Ribery), Euro 2008 represents their best opportunity to date to burst onto the international scene. Nasri, in particular, needs to have a good tournament in order to avoid falling into the shadow of the other 3.
(5) Who is their worst player? What are you talking about? They are all brilliant players! Alright, it's Willy Sagnol. Although he has been a defensive stalwart in the past, his current age and lack of speed can be easily exposed against even middling international competition. Plus, he still rocks a porn-stache.
Written by Darkvader on May 28th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Euro 2008 and Les Bleus and The NY Kid.
Marco Van
Basten has said that Robin Van
Persie is a special player and could prove useful for Holland in Euro 2008.
I totally agree, but then Van
Basten suggests that Arsenal rushed Van
Persie back from injury too soon, and as a result, Van
Persie suffered an injury relapse.
Now correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm sure that the Boy Wonders injury woes last season began in a meaningless friendly for Holland!
Now I know Van
Basten couldn't have foreseen this injury coming, but what right does he have to question Arsenal about when Van
Persie could return to action?
None in my book.
Van
Basten and Holland do not pay Robins wages each week, Arsenal do. And do him and Holland care that he wasn't available to play for Arsenal as a result of the injury in that meaningless friendly?
Of course not.
Van
Basten doesn't care that we lost a vital player for most of the season, and he doesn't pay Van
Persie's wages so what is it to do with him?
Nothing.
Did we get compensation for the time that Robin was out as a result of that meaningless friendly?
Of course not.
And finally, did Arsenal FORCE Robin to play after the injury resulting from that meaningless friendly?
Of course not.
Robin felt fit and able and surely would have said otherwise if he didn't.
I agree Marco that Robin IS special, I just hope you return him in one piece, not in the condition he came back in last year.
Keep it
Goonerish...........
Written by Wrighty7 on May 28th, 2008 with no comments.
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As the soccer community prepares for a USA-England friendly today at Wembley Stadium, word comes out that the United States may be prepared to
bid for the 2018 World Cup finals.
England travel to Trinidad tomorrow before Sunday's friendly. The primary motivation behind the trip is to get on FIFA vice-president Jack Warner's good side and back the FA's (England's Football Association) World Cup bid.
Warner is also president of the North, Central American and Caribbean Confederation (CONCACAF). Warner has long indicated that he would prefer to see the tournament held in his region, and confirmation that the US is preparing its own bid to host the finals appears to damage the FA's prospects.
"We will be making a decision in the next two or three months, but we are looking very seriously at (making a bid)," said US Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati yesterday.
"I can't think of any reasons why we wouldn't bid for the tournament. We've done this before (1994) and been successful at doing it before. The bid process has become very competitive and whether playing a game in Trinidad has anything to do with that I am not sure. But I think the FA are more sophisticated than to think they are going to get Jack Warner's vote on the back of playing one game. There aren't any CONCACAF bidders at this point, and Mr Warner is the president of CONCACAF."
Only last year Warner described England as "an irritant" in an interview conducted with the BBC's World Service and said he'd "fight" moves to bring the competition to England for the first time since 1966. "Nobody in Europe likes England," he said.
He was more conciliatory in interviews earlier this year, but his long-standing belief that the 2018 tournament should be held in the CONCACAF region would suggest he will side with any bid mounted by the US.
While
Major League Soccer (MLS) is just coming to prominence, the United States clearly boasts the infrastructure to host the finals with Gulati confident all rival bids from Europe can be deflected. "Clearly England will have a very strong bid, Spain and Germany would be formidable candidates," he said. "But we are going to focus on the quality in the US. There is no country in the world in a better position in terms of stadium facilities and size than us.
"We have got 50 stadia of 70,000 capacities capable of hosting the World Cup. We could have hosted the competition in 1998 in stadiums that didn't even exist in 1994, and the same goes for 2002 and not use any stadiums that existed in 1998.
"We are determined to finish what we started in 1994. We are the most diversified nation in the world. If Nigeria and Ghana played each other, it would sell out. If Australia played Costa Rica, it would sell out. When we staged a third-place play off between Sweden and Bulgaria in 1994 there were 85,000 people there. My point is that it is not a question of fearing any country. We think we'd have a great bid, great structure and a great landscape."
Gulati also hinted at the intriguing possibility that the Community Shield, the traditional curtain-raiser to the new Premier League season, could be held in the US in the future. Such a plan would reopen the furious debate over the Premier League's controversial scheme to play a 39th league match abroad, though it remains a possibility attractive to the American game.
"We hosted the Italian equivalent of the Community Shield in the mid-1990s," added Gulati. "It would be very different to holding a Premier League game, but we would consider it and be open to the idea."
MY POV: Interesting comments by Gulati. Looks like the USA is very adamant that they (we?) have the infrastructure, the manpower and the money to host the '18 tournament.
As an American, I'd love to see the World Cup in my backyard. Certainly, Gulati is spot on when it comes to comments regarding the stadia and the fact about our diversity.
Speaking of the Community Shield, it was announced today that the Italian Supercoppa between Roma and Inter Milan will be played at Giants Stadium this August. The game was played at Giants Stadium in 2003.
Still, one must think England will be strong competitors for the finals. What do you think? Who would you like to see hosting the 2018 finals?
Written by Darkvader on May 28th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on England and English Premiership and FIFA and Major League Soccer and United States.
That handsome young man to the left there, in that beautiful blue kit, is Samir Nasri, most recently of Olympique Marseille (l'OM). We (meaning me) have discussed Nasri
before, noting that he is one of the rising stars of French soccer (note to US sportswriters - please make up your minds as to whether the "next Zinedine Zidane" is Nasri or Benzema. Also, fuck you for comparing any French player of Algerian descent to Zizou). Clearly, since I am a Frenchie Gooner, I am ecstatic about...
recent reports that Arsenal will soon complete the £11 million signing of Nasri . Arsene obviously felt that the loss of Flamini and Hleb in the middle was detrimental to the team (particularly given Flamini's rapport on the pitch with Fabregas), so he did what he does - replace one Frenchman with another. In 30 matches in Le Championnat, the midfielder had 6 goals, 10 assists, and 0 cards (aww, such a good boy). Personally, I believe that Nasri is a better midfielder than Hleb, and he is far more likely to be happy at Arsenal than Hleb was. Ultimately, Nasri most likely decided that in addition to the money, he would rather finish in 3rd place and 4 points out with Arsenal than finish in 3rd place and 15 points out with l'OM. Truth be told, Arsenal has a far better chance of winning the EPL (suck it, Barclays) than Marseille does of winning Le Championnat (stupid Lyon).
Below, some video of Nasri doing his thing, with a bonus French rap soundtrack.
(*update* - new video, due to stupid YouTube copyright blah, blah)
Written by Darkvader on May 28th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Arsenal and Les Bleus and The NY Kid.
Watch West Ham United Football Team matches' goals, highlights, clips from the EPL English Premier League.
Choose from the videos below:
Villa: Young, Barry. West Ham: Solano, Ashton
Man U: Cristiano Ronaldo (2), Carlos Tevez, Michael Carrick
West Ham: Dean Ashton
West Ham: Bobby Zamora, Carlton Cole Derby: Tyrone Mears
Kevin Cyril Davies
Sunderland – Kenwyne Jones, Andy Reid. West Ham - Fredrik Ljungberg
Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, Michael Ballack, Ashley Cole
More EPL H/Ls
Written by ListenUp on May 28th, 2008 with no comments.
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Watch Birmingham City Football Team matches' goals, highlights, clips from the EPL English Premier League.
Choose from the videos below:
Bir City: David Murphy, Cameron Jerome (2) Fabrice Muamba. Rovers: Morten Gamst Pedersen
Brian McBride, Erik Nevland
Villa: Young (2), Carew (2), Agbonlahor. Bir City: Forssell
Bir City - Mauro Matias Zarate; Everton - Joleon Lescott
Bir City– Mauro Matias Zarate (double) Gary McSheffrey (penalty). Man City – Blumer Elano (penalty)
Reading: Andre Bikey (twice) Bir City: Mauro Matias ZarateBir City:Mikael Forssell (3), Sebastian Larsson Spurs: Jermaine Jenas
More EPL H/Ls
Written by ListenUp on May 28th, 2008 with no comments.
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Paycheck not big enough to make Cappello-style tax dodging worthwhileIn just over two hours time, the USA will take the field at Wembley against mighty England. A grudge match that is at least 100 years older than the invention of association football! While us Yanks may have taken the lead in all things political, economic, and cultural, those limey bastards still play a pretty mean game of footie.
Some things to consider:
Whenever English players put on the England shirt, they play like shit. Millions of trees have been felled in the service of journalists seeking an explanation, but right now its an immutable law of global football. Also, the Man U/Chelsea players are not going to be giving anything close to 100% of their efforts in this game, no matter what they say publicly.When England came over to play the US in Chicago a few years back, it was pretty easy to tell which country funneled its best athletes into (proper) football. The English players were so much more physically gifted and technically skilled than our players, who uniformly looked like the annoying younger brother playing AYSO soccer. Our best players play for Fulham, Herenveen, and the LA Galaxy. England's best players play for Liverpool, Chelsea, and Manchester United. Hah, see, you guys don't have anyone playing for AC Milan either, do you?
For example, the first choice center back pairing for the US is a guy whose benching at Fulham coincided with a miracle run to stay up, and a guy who was deemed surplus to requirements at Newcastle, not exactly a bastion of clean sheets. England's first choice center back pairing, meanwhile, is Brave John Terry and Rio Ferdinand. I think they are both cunts, but I respect their talent. Outside of goalkeeper, our best players probably would struggle to scrape onto the bench.
Now, all of that said, I still hold out hope that we pull off a decent result today. Remember, one team cares about this game much more than the other (literally, like half our team is out of a club right now and desperate for some attention). England's players are looking forward to a summer of WAG weddings, awkward staged beach scenes, and Vegas buffoonery (seriously, TIET and Kickette are pretty much the only blogs with anything to write about right now). I'm clearly the only one drinking the Bob Bradley Kool Aid, though, as the rest of my blogmates uniformly picked England. So call me crazy, but I'm going with 2-1 to the Yanks, as Michael Bradley finally puts in a good game with the Nats.
Written by Darkvader on May 28th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on England and Ian and USMNT and WAGs and friendlies.
I admit I
reported the rumors that Jones Soda would be the new Seattle Sounders FC kit sponsor. I was wrong. So wrong. Good thing I'm not a journalist and the good folks at the
Wall Street Journal are because they
got it right.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft will be the Sounders new kit sponsor placing "Xbox 360 LIVE" on the front of the jersey. The Redmond, Washington based technology company is reportedly paying the MLS club $4 million a year over 4 years. Coincidentally, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is one of the owners of the new Seattle Sounders team.
UPDATE: Below is the image captured from the Sounders webpage of the new jersey. It's only a representation unfortunately.
Written by Darkvader on May 28th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Faulty Rumors and Microsoft and Seattle Sounders FC and The Fan's Attic and kits.
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The former Parma hit-man has been playing second fiddle at the Rossoneri for the past couple of seasons and he has spent the majority of the campaign on the bench. 
