According to all sources (Sport, Mundo Deportivo, Marca, As...) VILLAREAL player ( on loan to Recreativo) & Uruguayian young defender MARTIN CACERES will be a FC BARCELONA player today. Both Villareal & Barça have an agreement which
costs 17M€ & a 4 year contract for the defender. Barça beats Real Madrid who was also interested for the services of Caceres considered one of Footballs promising defenders.
Lastly, the rumours are hot & "Sport" speculate on Eto´o, Ronaldinho & Deco for next season. The Barcelona based daily
sees Eto´o at Chelsea ( although Inter & Ac Milan are also very interested), Ronaldinho at AC Milan ( although Manchester City have made a higher bid) & Deco at Inter Milan.
It´s all a question for Eto´o & Ronaldinho of price as Barça wish 40M€ per player & are holding steady in order to get the price
Djibril Cisse, human canvas [This is Extra Time] MISL folds. What will I do with my Dino Delevski jersey? [Soccer America Daily] Headline: Ancelotti denies Chelsea link. Subtext: He's so going [Guardian] Aston Villa to be just like Barcelona. By having a kids charity sponsor their shirt [Guardian]
Oh man. This is much easier when you just send us stuff. Hit us up at unprofessionalfoul [at] gmail [dot] com. We promise not to bite too hard.
Germany couldn’t have asked for a better group, really. They should go through easily –possibly all the way to the final, what with having the easier side of the draw and (practically) home field advantage. I expect Croatia to be the team to join them in the quarter-finals. Poland did very well in qualifying, but I don’t think they can keep it up in the tournament. Australia will just be hoping that they can manage to pick up a point or two.
AUSTRIA FIFA rank: 101 Odds of winning: 100-1 Coach: Josef Hickersberger How they got here: Qualified automatically as co-hosts Past record: This is their first ever appearance in at a European championship, and their last World Cup was 1998, when they were eliminated at the group stage Questions to ask:
Will their own fans get behind them, seeing as they were circulating a petition before the tournament trying to get the team to drop out?
Captain Andreas Ivanschitz is supposedly known as the Austrian David Beckham: is that a good thing or not?
How bad is it when the only name on the roster I recognize is Middlesbrough’s Emanuel Pogatetz?
Why to cheer for them: You feel like the home team ought to win at least one game.
CROATIA FIFA rank: 13 Odds of winning: 12-1 Coach: Slaven Bilic How they got here: Qualified top of their group, ahead of Russia and England Past record: Finished third in their group at Euro 2004; also eliminated at the group stage in the 2006 World Cup Questions to ask:
How will they cope without Eduardo up front?
Will playmaker Luka Modric prove that he was worth all the money Tottenham just paid for him?
Just how cool is Slaven Bilic?
Why to cheer for them: They’re the official dark horse candidates of the tournament.
GERMANY FIFA rank: 5 Odds of winning: 4-1 Coach: Joachim Low How they got here: Qualified easily, but – perhaps intentionally – slipped to second in their group behind the Czech Republic Past record: Finished third in their group at Euro 2004 (they haven’t won a game at the Euros since 1996!); third place in the 2006 World Cup Questions to ask:
How will Jens Lehmann perform, after spending most of the year on the Arsenal bench? And will he start a fight with anyone?
Michael Ballack, now in form for Chelsea, will be running the midfield, but which of their plethora of strikers will be providing the goals up front?
Will Jogi Low (and his natty scarf) prove that he was really the brains behind their 2006 World Cup campaign?
Why to cheer for them: They actually know how to win on penalties.
POLAND FIFA rank: 27 Odds of winning: 50-1 Coach: Leo Beenhakker How they got here: Somewhat surprisingly, finished first in their group ahead of Portugal and Serbia Past record: They’ve never qualified for a European championship before; went out at the group stage at the 2006 World Cup Questions to ask:
How *did* they manage to do so well in qualifying?
Why does Poland seem to produce lots of good goalkeepers and not much else?
They’re defensively disciplined, but do they have anybody who can grab a goal for them when they counter-attack?
Why to cheer for them: You like watching Artur Boruc taunt opposing fans.
AJAX OF AMSTERDAM & Dutch International forward KLASS JAN HUNTELAAR is close to finding an understanding with REAL MADRID, according to agent Vicenzo Morabito & Sp. daily “Marca”.
Real Madrid & Huntelaar have been talking for months & now
his agent confirms that positions are getting closer & both parties
are working very hard to find a common ground. Sounds promising
Portugues coach MOURINHO was presented to media as the new coach of INTER MILAN. This is not the important part for SFS, what is of interest is his comment that he only needs two to three new players for his new proyect.
Two of those players are Spanish based & currently at FC BARCELONA, one is fellow country men DECO & the other is SAMAUL ETO´O. The former has a high probabilty of joining his ex-coach at Oporto while the former has a 35-40M€ price tag that maybe a bit stiff for the Italian Club. Stay tuned!
Holland's known for many things: bicycles, liberalism, marijuana and perhaps one of the most dreadful domestic football leagues. It's a great place to visit when you're a young, itinerant backpacker with a thirst for boobs, booze and brazen displays of idiocy, but I digress. There's more to the place than that.
Despite the dismal showing that is the Eredivisie, the country has been steadily pumping the rest of the footballing world full of talented players for a good two decades now, and while hardly any of them succeed in England [here's looking at you, Dirk Kuyt and Afonso Alves], they become quality players if given the right climate and care in which to grow. A bit like their weed, really.
Watching the three of them play together was like watching a masterclass in what football should be. Gullit had the pace and the skills, Rijkaard was the prototypical brutish enforcer in central midfield, and van Basten just couldn't stop bloody scoring. The trio tore up all comers on the world stage and then ran riot through Serie A when they all played for AC Milan from 1987-1993 [how on earth did Berlusconi pull off that package deal?].
A joy to watch and a joy to listen to, the Netherlands enjoyed their best ever team.
It speaks volumes of their place on the world stage that this regional dominance amounted to little in the big tournaments; at the peak of their dominance, from 1983 [when many of their best players burst onto the scene: Ronald Koeman, Jan Wouters, Marco van B, Gullit, Jan van Tiggelen, Danny Blind] to the mid-90s, they won one European Championship in '88 and precious fuck-all outside of that.
It's tough when all your stars vanish at the same time, although they had an embarrassment of riches to replace them all with, thanks to the magic of the Ajax youth program: Overmars, Bergkamp, Edgar Davids, Patrick Kluivert, Roy Makaay, Clarence Seedorf, and Aron Winter.
And still nothing! All that mercurial talent wasted!
Moving to the present day, they've aroused yet another bumper crop of talent that is currently peddling itself all over the continent, including Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder, Rafael van der Vaart, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and the hilariously regal-sounding Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink.
Add to that the frustrating injury-plagued winger Robin van Persie [or, as he's known, Robin van Porcelain], and there's no reason why they shouldn't perform well.
A familiar pose for RvP
The Netherlands are the ultimate disappointers on the world stage. Some would choose England right away, and personal heritage aside, I'd put that tag firmly on van der Sar and co. Why? They've created some of the world's most memorable players, and at one point, had a team with no perceivable flaws from top to bottom. And they still couldn't win.
They come into Euro '08 with a strong, young squad full of attacking flair, and another horrible Eredivisie-bred defense. If that league could teach the offside trap successfully, we should all cower in fear and bow to your South Africa '10 Champions, The Netherlands.
On to the squad, and then on to the questions!
GK --- Edwin van der Sar [Manchester United], Maarten Stekelenburg [Ajax], Henk Timmer [Feyenoord]
MF --- Demy de Zeeuw [AZ Alkmaar], Orlando Engelaar [FC Twente], Nigel de Jong [Hamburger SV], Ibrahim Afellay [PSV], Wesley Sneijder [Real Madrid], Arjen Robben [Real Madrid], Rafael van der Vaart [Hamburger SV]
FW --- Robin van Persie [Arsenal], Dirk Kuyt [Liverpool], Ruud van Nistelrooy [Real Madrid], Klaas-Jan Huntelaar [Ajax], Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink [Celtic]
----- Could England beat this team? Yes. We could. I am confident in that. As evidence, I point to our so-so team in Euro '96 who managed to put 4 past van der Sar and co. I reckon we could do the same again, thanks to that leaky backline.
Breakout Player? It has to be Huntelaar. He's been incredible for Ajax since joining them in 2005 [70 goals in 82 appearances], and already managed 7 in 12 for the National Team. Still relatively unknown at this point, this will be the tournament where enough people see him and his goalscoring, and he parlays it into a move to Italy or Spain, like most do from that neck of the woods.
Biggest Question Mark? Whether their defending can hold up. Traditionally slow and clumsy at the back, they'll inevitably struggle against the Mediterranean twinkletoe players in the tournament, and might concede more goals through penalties than anything else. They also lost the speed demon Ryan Babel to injury, so you wonder whether their other brittle wing options can hold up against the rigors of playing more than one game per week.
Worst Player? Khalid Boulahrouz. Average in Germany, signed for big bucks to Chelsea, failed to win any hearts with a string of shaky performances and a straight red card at home to Arsenal at the end of the 2006/07 season that ultimately cost them a chance for the EPL title. He's absolute toss.
Can this team win Euro 2008? Nope. No chance, sorry. They'll lose players to injury and they'll cough it up again in the quarter-finals or so. Huntelaar's goal-scoring will not be helped by the slew of goals teeming in at the other end.
What is the squad's pre-made excuse for not winning Euro 2008? Um.... at the risk of overkill: their defending is terrible?
In a remarkable turn around, Sky News says that Chelsea have agreed personal terms with the current AC Milan manager, Carlo Ancelotti. The only major thing remaining is reaching a settlement over the amount of compensation to be paid to the Milan Club. This would not be a major stumbling block because when the billionaire owner, Roman Abramovich has decided that he wants something, he gets it. This comes as a huge surprise to me, because only days before Milan released a statement that they won’t release Ancelotti, but anything can happen in football.
So, finally after weeks of speculation, its a man with a pedigree of winning the Champions League twice in seven years. Coming from Milan, hope that he doesn’t become an another Andrei Shevchenko. To be honest, I don’t quite like him. He relies too much on old players and you’ll see us buying players who are over 32, unless Roman interferes and changes his policy.
Reading through some of the comments on my article yesterday you would have thought I'd started World War Three!
What I don't understand is all I'm doing is expressing an opinion on how I see things at Arsenal. Now my blog is a place for opinion to be debated. That's what its there for. I have no problems with people who don't agree, but can't we Gooners sometimes agree to disagree?
The amount of times I got called a mug or a cunt for just expressing my opinion's yesterday was unreal. It was disgraceful at times. And it doe's piss me off. I wont bow to name calling, no matter what I'm called, I think its pathetic and childish.
If I write an article and you don't agree with it, don't call me a cunt, why not debate in a civilised way? I have no problem with people disagreeing, but theres a wrong way and a right way to say it.
It seems at times that Gooners are splitting into two camps. It shouldn't be like this at all. We should all be Gooners together and just because we may not agree on things it doesn't mean we have to argue and call each other cunts.
Yesterday all I wrote was that we were told new signings were on the way in two-three weeks, about three and half weeks ago. It didn't happen, and I was disappointed. Hardly negative stuff. I never said sack Wenger, only asked why say things and not deliver.
The response was mixed, as I expected, but some of the abuse, from my so-called fellow Gooners was despicable.
I know Wenger will sign players, I know Wenger is the best manager and best thing to have happened to Arsenal and I know he will get things right. But cant I question things from time to time? That's why I have started a blog.
People have said that my articles are getting pessimistic, when I started, people said the articles were to upbeat! Writing a blog isn't easy. I can't please everyone. I will upset some people, but it's just my opinion on things.
Read the top of my blog, what doe's it say?
"An honest opinion on all things Arsenal, well, I'll try"
That's all my blog is, my honest opinion on all things Arsenal. So if you don't agree, fair enough, just question me and my readers, don't abuse me. Just because I may not agree with you, doe's that give you the right to name-call? I don't think so.
At the end of the day, I know Wenger will sign players and will get it right for Arsenal. He is the best man for Arsenal, and everyone knows it. But doe's that mean I can't sometimes question things at Arsenal? No, it doesn't.
There will be things that I will agree with and won't agree with at Arsenal. And I will write about it. You may or may not agree, but be reasonable about it. We all want the same thing, Arsenal to be successful.
Because your internet access only goes so far, we are here to let you know exactly how things finished up in Scotland, and how that jibes with what we wrote at the halfway point. The top and bottom picks look pretty good, but the middle gets kind of murky. Oh well, no one is perfect. SPL Final Standings Celtic (89 points) Right off the bat, here's one I got correct, and even for the reasons stated. Back in January, Rangers and Celtic were in a dead heat, and Rangers had two games in hand--aganst Gretna and St. Mirren. On the surface, it would look like Rangers had the advantage. Instead, as I astutely pointed out, Rangers were set to face some serious fixture congestion, and they did. As April and May unfolded, Celtic kept winning in the league, unburdened by cup runs. Rangers on the other hand were chasing an impossible quadruple. As Rangers were facing a need-to-win match seemingly every three days in the last month, they faltered, giving Celtic the title.
Rangers (86) As mentioned above, Rangers were done in by their quadruple dreams. Back in January, they had just been knocked out of the Champions League into the UEFA Cup. I opined that they would go further in the UEFA Cup than Celtic in the Champions League, but I had no idea they would go so far. Rangers made it all the way to the final, where they lost 2-0 to Zenit St. Petersburg. What killed Rangers' ambition in the end was not the SFA, no matter what fans may think, but too many games in general. when the season ended on May 24 with a win over Queen of the South in the SFA Cup final, Rangers had not had a midweek without a game since March 22. From March 29 to May 24, Rangers played 18 matches. To their credit, Rangers were in every competition to the end, and could have pipped Celtic on the last day of league, if they had bettered Celtic's result. Celtic won, Rangers lost, and the dream was over. Rangers do finish with the cup double to hang their hats on.
Motherwell (60) This is where the prediction start to look rather dodgy. In January, Motherwell had just lost their captain Phil O'Donnell after he collapsed and died on the pitch against Dundee United. I said that the death would cause Motherwell, at the time in third, to freefall in the standings and that a sixth place finish would be lucky. Boy was I wrong. Instead, all of the teams around them faltered and Motherwell turned out to be surprisingly resilient. For their season-long effort, the team will be rewarded with a UEFA Cup spot next season.
Aberdeen (53) Sure, it was a homer pick, but it looked so good on paper. Based on their shock advancement in the UEFA Cup and their early activity in the January transfer window, I thought Aberdeen would easily end up third in the league. Instead they managed a pretty shocking fourth. I say a shocking fourth place because of how they got there. After Aberdeen was dumped out of the UEFA Cup by Bayern Munich, everything fell apart. Aberdeen was struggling with injuries at the time, with up to 9 first-teamers out of the lineup. The Bayern loss was in the middle of a 9-game non-winning streak where Aberdeen fell from fifth to ninth in the league with four games left before the split. Aberdeen got 9 of 12 available points, and pipped Falkirk into the top 6. From there, Aberdeen did well enough to overtake Hibs and Dundee United for fourth place. If only they had not met the beast that is Queen of the South in the Scottish Cup semis (after knocking out Celtic-away!).
Dundee United (52; +6GD) First of all, for those of you who are not familiar with Scottish football, I have to say the following: This team is Dundee United, not Dundee. Dundee FC are another team entirely who actually play across the street from Dundee United. Dundee are currently in the First Division. Thank you for playing attention. Dundee United spent most of the season battling Motherwell for third spot. That is, until the split, when United decided winning was useless and pulled off two draws to go with three losses. All in all, a pretty good season for the Terrors, they just got done in by their poor run over the last third of the season. Ending the season pulling 14 points from 14 games is never going to get you into Europe.
Hibernian (52; +4GD) Finishing sixth by way of goal differential was Hibernian. There is not much to say about Hibernian's season. Like Aberdeen, they had a good, early '08 run to get into the Top 6. Once the split occurred, they played as poorly as Dundee United. A perennial mid-table finisher finishes mid-table.
Alright, so I got the correct teams in the split, though I nearly dropped the ball on Motherwell. Let's speed through the bottom half, shall we?
Falkirk (49) Poor Falkirk. Done in on the last day of the pre-split season by way of losing to Aberdeen 2-1 when only a draw was necessary. Though they had slim European ambitions, such a loss hits a team hard financially, as you miss out on a likely home tie against either Rangers or Celtic, or both, depending on how the regular season broke down. I must say, this was a pretty strong season for Falkirk. They challenged for a Top 6 spot until the last day and looked fairly dangerous all season long. If they keep it up, I would look for a fourth place finish out of them next season.
Heart of Midlothian (48) Here is a team that did much better over the second half of the season, but still never got over the hump. Back in January, this team fell all the way to 11th place after five straight losses. Things looked bleak for the Lithuanian-backed club. However, they found some form and started to alternate wins with losses and climbed up the table. An eighth place finish flatters their mid-season form.
Inverness CT (43) ICT never jumped out of the Bottom 6 all season, despite having ample opportunity to do so around the mid-season mark. A horrible run in February and March saw them take two points off of nine matches. Unfortunately, given their location and ambition, this is probably as high as we will see them finish in the next souple of years. Look for their manager, Craig Brewster, to move on to great things over the next decade.
St. Mirren (41) St Mirren was another team that never got out of the Bottom 6. A big reason for that was their stunning inability to score goals. They scored 26 in 38 games, less than relegated Gretna. If not for Gretna's troubles, this would have been one hell of a lucky team to escape relegation.
Kilmarnock (40) The team I bag on for being boring finishes 11th. Back in November, they had reached up to fifth place and looked to be doing very well. By the time January rolled around, Kilmarnock had already slipped to ninth and were sinking fast. Will be part of the relegation battle again next year.
Gretna (13) What can I say about Gretna that I have not said already? Well, this: the team no longer exists as of today, June 3. Things started off rocky in the south and never got better. Their point total is artificially low because of a 10-point deduction for going into administration, but Gretna never were going to threaten to stay up. A sad end for a club that made a pretty fun run up the leagues, all the while engendering hatred from the rest of teams in the country.
Hamilton Academical take the lone promotion spot into the SPL, besting Dundee (remember what I said above?) by seven points in the First Division. It will be their first time in the Scottish top flight in 20 years. At the bottom of the First Division, Stirling Albion was relegated, while Clyde fought off Second Division challenges for their First Division place. However, since Gretna was demoted to the Third Division (and now out of the SFL entirely), playoff losers Airdrie United were promoted into the First Division, joining automatic promotees Ross County.
In the Second Division, Berwick Rangers were left for dead at the middle of the season, and Cowdenbeath joined them in going down. Arbroath won the playoff into the Second Division, with Stranraer taking the "Gretna back door" promotion. Those two join East Fife, who won the Third Division by a whopping 23 points, securing their promotion in March.
Finally, now that Gretna is out of the league entirely, who will be invited to the SFL? There have been four names bandied about, and I'll give them to you in the order of the likelihood they will get the invitation.
Spartans FC - This was the team who tried to buy their way into the league by taking over the debts for Gretna. They have a nice size stadium with all of the necessary trimmings to be allowed into the Third Division, though some may have taken offense to their gambit to buy their way in.
Cove Rangers - My pick for inclusion would be Cove Rangers. Scottish football has always suffered for too much congregation around the forty mile wide belt between Edinburgh and Glasgow. Cove Rangers are situated just south of Aberdeen, Scotland's third largest city. If the three East of Scotland League teams split votes, Cove Rangers may just slide in.
Preston Athletic - Word is they will change their name if admitted to the SFL. Don't hold your collective breath. Their stadium still needs expensive updating to get up to SFL standards, and with that being part of the reason for Gretna's demise, I think the SFL will be loathe to go down that path again so soon.
Annan Athletic - Truly on the list as a sentimental choice, as this team's home is rather close to Gretna. Stadium is up to snuff, I believe, but their election to the SFL is highly unlikely.
You need to go to the excellent billsportsmaps.com for the image at the top. He does some great work there.
Ah yes, it’s that time again, when I decide to make predictions about the outcome of a major tournament and invariably turn out to be completely wrong. Woo.
The Euros are interesting because you don’t get too many small teams who are just there to make up the numbers, like you do in a World Cup – indeed, the weakest team here are probably co-hosts Austria. That makes it more likely that some of the big teams could be knocked out in the group stages, while an underdog goes on to win it all, like Greece did in 2004. (Although I don’t think that’s likely this time.)
One other point to note is the bizarre way that the teams have been seeded in the groups: The four seeds are Switzerland and Austria, the two co-hosts; defending champions Greece; and the Netherlands, based on the unfathomable UEFA coefficients. With Switzerland, Austria and Greece all guaranteed a top seed, it was actually better to finish second rather than first in your qualifying group, because it gave you a chance of drawing them in the group stages. Anyway, on to those groups:
GROUP A: Czech Republic, Portugal, Switzerland, Turkey
Portugal should be able to win the group without too much trouble, and will probably make it as far as the semi-finals. On paper you’d expect the Czech Republic to finish second, but Switzerland could ride their home support into the knockout stages. Not that it matters much anyway, because whoever comes second will probably just lose to Germany in the quarter-finals.
CZECH REPUBLIC FIFA rank: 6 Odds of winning: 18-1 Coach: Karel Bruckner How they got here: Qualified first in their group, surprisingly ahead of Germany Past record: Lost to Greece in the semi-finals at Euro 2004; eliminated in the group stage at the 2006 World Cup Questions to ask:
Who will step up to replace injured captain Tomas Rosicky?
How important will Petr Cech’s performance be? And will he make it through the tournament without being kicked in the head?
Will we get the Euro 2004 Milan Baros – the tournament’s top scorer – or the more familiar Premiership Baros, who tends to run around like a headless chicken and miss easy goals?
Why to cheer for them: You have a soft spot for big Jan Koller, an old-fashioned target man who is basically the Czech version of Danny Dichio
PORTUGAL FIFA rank: 9 Odds of winning: 7-1 Coach: Big Phil Scolari How they got here: Qualified second in their group, behind Poland Past record: Lost to Greece in the final of Euro 2004 and to France in the semi-final at the 2006 World Cup Questions to ask:
Can Cristiano Ronaldo carry the team, or will he collapse under the weight of his own ego?
With Pauleta’s retirement, do they have anyone who can lead the line effectively?
Will Deco pull himself away from partying for long enough to pull the strings for them in midfield?
Why to cheer for them: You have fond memories of their game against Holland at the last World Cup and are hoping for similar fireworks this time. Maybe Phil Scolari can punch somebody again.
SWITZERLAND FIFA rank: 48 Odds of winning: 25-1 Coach: Kobi Kuhn How they got here: Qualified automatically as co-hosts Past record: Bottom of their group at Euro 2004; went out in the round of 16 at the 2006 World Cup Questions to ask:
Can they reproduce their defensive form from the World Cup, when they didn’t concede a goal in open play?
Have they gotten any better at penalties since then? Because that penalty shootout against Ukraine was the worst I’ve ever seen, and I say that as an England fan.
Actually, do they have anyone who can score goals, period?
Why to cheer for them: You want to see Philippe Senderos smile for once.
Turkey FIFA rank: 25 Odds of winning: 40-1 Coach: Fatih Terim How they got here: Qualified second in their group, just ahead of Norway Past record: Didn’t qualify for Euro 2004, and lost to Switzerland in a playoff to qualify for the 2006 World Cup Questions to ask:
They shocked everybody by finishing third at the 2002 World Cup; could they do that again?
Do they have enough quality in midfield and up front to compensate for their dodgy back line and erratic goalkeeping?
Will they start another post-game rumble with the Swiss, like they did after that 2006 playoff game?
Why to support them: They probably have the most insane fans, so that’s always fun.
