Cole Out Gallas In - Reyes Out Baptista In - Cygan Out

Taking it down to the wire, Chelsea and Arsenal are about to complete the deal in a swap of Ashley Cole for William Gallas and £5-£8 million. Gallas just completed his medical and Cole has already completed his. So now they have one hour to get it all signed and wrap this mess up. Bye Bye Cashley - Welcome another Frenchman to the team.

Jose Antonio Reyes and Julio Baptista are trading teams. This is a one year loan deal with option to purchase next summer. Reyes will be off to Real Madrid and the Brazilian will be on his way to Arsenal. I welcome this move. Both played at Sevilla and in about the same amount of time Baptista scored 51 goals to the 21 of Reyes. I think we are getting a good deal.

In other transfer news "He's Bald, He's Shit, He Plays When No Ones Fit" He's Pascal Cygan and we just sold him for £2 million to Villareal. Best of luck old bald one.

Transfer Window Closes Tonight - EPL Summary (Arsenal WTF)

11:59:59 PM is the deadline for all transfers until the window opens up again in January. As several big announcements have come out, we have come to find that Tevez will not be a Gunner, but a Hammer. Arsenal has once again blown the opportunity to pick up a much needed player. Reyes still hasn't been sold and neither has Cole. So what does this mean for both of them? Collect large salaries and not play an ounce of time at Arsenal - that would be it.

I have no idea what's going through David Dein's head at the moment, but it's shoved so far up his ass he has no clue what to do. BUY NOW! We need help and you're not helping anyone by letting every other team pick up top players as we stay with the same mid-table team we had last year. Can you tell I'm pissed? COME ON ARSENAL!

Taken directly from the BBC, because I'm too lazy to write the summaries, here is what has happened so far - updates will come as needed. Hopefully to the Arsenal summary:

MIDDLESBROUGH: Jason Euell (1636) has completed a deal that sees him go from Charlton to Boro. The club are also confident Robert Huth's move from Chelsea will be concluded by midnight, according to chief executive Keith Lamb. Apparently his Chelsea counterpart Peter Kenyon has yet to put pen to paper on the contract as he is dealing with "other business".

WEST HAM: News of a signing at Upton Park - but it has nothing to do with Argentina internationals Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano from Corinthians. West Ham say there are still "a few details to be tied up" after news of the move first surfaced on Tevez's personal website, but they have bagged Czech Republic under-17 keeper Marek Stech (1324). Admittedly, it is not exactly in the same league.

TOTTENHAM: Spurs have won the race to sign Fulham contract-rebel Steed Malbranque (1306). Martin Jol has the best part of £18m burning a hole in his pocket and some of that could be going on Pascal Chimbonda as Wigan accept a bid for him. Julio Baptista and Stewart Downing have also been linked and where will Jermain Defoe be playing this season?
FULHAM: Going the other way in the Steed Malbranque to Spurs deal is Wayne Routledge (1306) who has moved to Craven Cottage in a one-year loan deal. Massimo Maccarone has also been rumoured to be heading to the Cottage, but Sylvain Legwinski has left for Ipswich.

PORTSMOUTH: Former England international striker Andrew Cole (1053) has finalised details of his move from Manchester City. Hajduk Split star Niko Kranjcar is having a medical ahead of a £3.5m move, Auxerre defender Younes Kaboul is a rumoured target and Stephen Appiah of Fenerbahce is another possibility. Defender Andy O'Brien has been linked with a move away.

ARSENAL: Are those new phones at the Emirates Stadium ringing hot? The silence suggests not. Having seemingly missed out on Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano, the focus could now be on Real Madrid's Julio Baptista and a proposed swap deal with Jose Antonio Reyes. The Spaniard, in his 545th comment on the subject this summer, says he still knows nothing about a "dream" move to Real. And will Ashley Cole be an Arsenal player at the end of the day?

ASTON VILLA: Villa, the quietest Premiership team in terms of summer signings, are in talks with Newcastle's James Milner. Having signed Stilian Petrov, Martin O'Neill could also be tracking down another former Celtic player, defender Didier Agathe. But Javier Saviola has turned his nose up at a move to Villa Park and will stay with Barcelona.

BLACKBURN: Jonathon Douglas has moved to Leeds, defender Andy Todd is being tipped for a move from Ewood Park and Lucas Neill has been linked with Liverpool. But it is not all about selling at Rovers who have been tracking midfielder Kristoffer Haestad.

BOLTON: Sam Allardyce may feel pressured into action with the news that striker Kevin Davies is out injured for six weeks, even though Nicolas Anelka has already signed. Zenit St Petersburg's Pavel Mares could join.

CHARLTON: New Addicks boss Iain Dowie has not wasted any time in dipping his toes into the transfer market, and even on Wednesday he spent £3.7m on Souleymane Diawara. Uruguayan midfielder Omar Pouso has been linked with a loan move, but Jason Euell has gone to Middlesbrough.

CHELSEA: Is the summer's longest-running transfer saga finally going to come to an end? Ashley Cole either signs for Chelsea today or stays at Arsenal until January - at least. And, if he does go, will William Gallas be moving the other way across London? While talking about the deal that sees Robert Huth heading to Middlesbrough, Boro chief executive Keith Lamb revealed Peter Kenyon was locked in "other business". Something's afoot at the Blues then.

EVERTON: Following the captures of £8.6m Andy Johnson and £5m Joleon Lescott, David Moyes is not expected to splash his cash too liberally. But one player is heading for the door as Kevin Kilbane is expected to sign for Wigan.

LIVERPOOL: After splashing out nearly £25m over the course of the summer, boss Rafa Benitez is unlikely to be too desperate for another big name and it has all gone quiet on the Lucas Neill front. The Anfield wage bill has been reduced with the departure of Florent Sinama Pongolle on loan to Recreativo de Huelva in Spain and Jan Kromkamp could be heading to PSV Eindhoven.

MANCHESTER CITY: Boss Stuart Pearce is closing in on the capture of PSV Eindhoven's USA international winger DaMarcus Beasley. That will come as a boost to the club after veteran striker Andrew Cole followed David James in taking the Eastlands exit route to Portsmouth.

MANCHESTER UNITED: Will Sir Alex Ferguson add another big-money signing to his squad after the £18.6m capture of Michael Carrick? Not unless his luck turns. A move for Bayern Munich's Owen Hargreaves seems to be off and France international striker David Trezeguet has suggested he is happy with Juventus, despite the club's relegation.
NEWCASTLE: In the last week Glenn Roeder has bolstered his Newcastle attack with the signings of Obafemi Martins and Guiseppe Rossi, who joined on loan from Manchester United. James Milner is in talks over a move to Aston Villa, but will there be more arrivals on Tyneside?
READING: Steve Coppell has shown no great desire to break up last season's Championship-winning squad and is not expected to make too many dramatic raids in the transfer market. Never mind "too many", that should read "any" judging by the right royal hush coming from Berkshire.

SHEFFIELD UNITED: The Blades are on the lookout for a striker. They have been linked with a £4m deal for Preston's highly-rated England Under-21 striker David Nugent and Colin Kazim-Richards should wrap up a move from Brighton.

WATFORD: It is all quiet at the Hornets, but any big action at Vicarage Road was always unlikely. They re-signed former player Tommy Smith from Derby on Wednesday.

WIGAN: Kevin Kilbane and Graham Kavanagh have left the Republic of Ireland squad's preparations for their weekend international against Germany for medicals. While Kilbane looks to be heading to Wigan from Everton, Kavanagh is heading for the Latics door and a move to Sunderland. And will Pascal Chimbonda get his much-wanted move to Spurs today? Looks like it. The Latics have accepted a bid for the right-back from Tottenham.

One More Reason to Love Zizou (yes, and Ronaldo too)

Am I slightly obsessed with Zidane? Clearly, yes. But stuff like this just feeds my obsession: today, Zidane and Ronaldo, both United Nations Goodwill Ambassadors (and both 3-time FIFA World Players of the Year), along with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) today issued a joint statement supporting plans to build a cleaner, healthier, energy-efficient public transport system in South Africa in time for the 2010 World Cup.

“The FIFA World Cup is a stage for the skills and talents of the world’s finest footballers, and teams. But it is also a real opportunity to showcase the talents of engineers, designers, architects and city planners and their solutions for a cleaner, fairer, and ultimately more just planet,” they said.

And look how cute they look together. Sigh.

Getting Nervous...

...about September 6, even though of course (of course!) I know France will win. Some of their best players aren't playing, but of course we've lost ours (boo hoo), although we've still got Henry, Vieira, Thuram and crew -- no small matter. Plus you gotta think Zidane's going to give them a little advice and counsel.

Despite the fact that I hate Italy, I like Buffon (and Cannavaro, for similar reasons), and this picture is why. Believe this was taken after Buffon amazingly stopped Zidane's amazing header in the final. Class. His take on the upcoming match here.

This photo makes me so sad. I'm not over it, not yet.

Domenech v Chelsea

French coach Raymond Domenech is back at it again after several battles with Chelsea over French players. This time Domench is coming out and saying that playing for your national team takes priority over your club team.

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho accused Domenech of treating Makelele "like a slave" by refusing to accept his retirement from international football. Domenech told the French Football Federation's website: "We need players, we don't hold a knife to their throats. "We have the priority and right to choose players for internationals."

This all came about when Claude Makelele was called up to play for France in the upcoming Euro 2008 qualifing rounds. Makelele came out of international retirement to help the French Squad make it to the finals of the World Cup. Now he is being asked to join the team again in their efforts to qualify for the European Championships. This will cause him to miss several Chelsea matches for every match he plays for France.

Makelele says he will honour his call-up and told French TV station TPS: "My coach's words are a bit strong." He added: "He's probably gone too far. But his disappointment is logical.
"Even if my club doesn't agree, I will humbly honour that call. "There was an agreement after the World Cup that I would retire," said Makelele. "But I spoke with the French team coach and he believes I am still able to bring something extra to the team. "I don't blame him (Domenech) for anything and I will go back and play with France." "It is normal to wear my country's shirt. The French team remains something huge to me."

Mourinho's response the all this was "Makelele is not a football player - Makelele is a slave." "He's played the biggest game you can, the World Cup final, and now wants to retire but the coach told us if he is not playing for France, he is not playing for Chelsea," said Mourinho.
"We know the rules. You are a slave, you have no human rights."

So the big question this brings up is, should a player be for his club or country first. Let me tell you from my perspective, a player should be for the club. The club pays your wages and is your day to day job. The country will call you up when needed and pays a significantly lower amount of money for you to play. Since you earn your living off of the club, you should always chose club before country. Some are confused because it is an honor to play for your country, but your contract is to the club. So chose the club before country. This in the opinion of Dave P. only and if you don't like it, tough.

Keane is Back

Roy Keane is back in the UK, but only this time as a manager. Roy Keane signed a three-year contract Monday to be Sunderland's new manager, a move that came just minutes after he watched the Black Cats beat West Brom 2-0 with Niall Quinn on the bench.

Keane has a reputation for a fierce temper and a demanding nature. At Man United, he criticized high-profile players for not playing hard enough. He also had a feud with Quinn, once calling his fellow Irishman a "muppet."

Keane's carrer has been all but that of an angel. He played for Man Utd for most of it and then went on to finish off at Celtic. During his time on the Irish National Team he create plenty of controvery and walked out on the 2002 World Cup Team on Japan. This left a lot of fans bitter.

So let's see if Keane can drive them down into the second division or raise them back to the EPL.

I personally would like to see the prick fall flat on his face. I couldn't stand the guy as a player and I certainly won't have any more respect for him as a manager. He was certainly a great player in his day. He always gave Arsenal a lot of trouble. Kean and Patrick Vieira used to go at it all the time. Never liked him - read his autobiography for the hell of it - still didn't change my opinion.

Is it Time to Panic - Week Two

Manchester City 1- 0 Arsenal
Arsenal came off a mid-week victory over Dinamo Zagreb to secure a spot in the group stage of the Champions League. The other teams selected to their group are CSKA Moskva, Porto and Hamburg. This will be a tough group to play in. After this weekends performance against Man City it will even be tougher.

The match took place in Manchester this weekend. Arsenal with only one point from the first week could have put themselves in a good position gaining 3. Having beaten City in every match for the better part of the past decade, this would be their first fall. Manchester City would end up winning this match on a Joey Barton Penalty in the 40th minute to finish it off 1-0. It was a bad day for Arsenal fans. The team looked flat footed and couldn't pass a ball for shit. Let's hope when we return from the International Weekend that we get it together.

Charlton 2 - 0 Bolton
Two red cards and two goals by Bent seal this match up for Charlton getting their first points of the season. Charlton were reduced to 10 men when Hermann Hreidarsson was sent off for elbowing Kevin Davies. Davies was then sent off for elbowing Amady Faye, and Bent put the PK away to seal the victory and three points.

Fulham 1 - 0 Sheff Utd
In the 40th minute Jimmy Bullard curled a free kick to the upper left hand corner past Paddy Kenny to give Fulham the 1 Nill victory. These were Fulham's first three points of the season. Not a very exciting match to see but a crowd of about 18,000 were on hand for this one.

Liverpool 2 - 1 West Ham
Zamora scored and early goal in the 11th minute to put the Hammers up 1-0. In the span of three minutes, Liverpool would draw and take the lead of this match. Defender Dan Agger scored on a beautiful shot in the 41st followed up by a Peter Crouch goal in the 44th. Dirk Kuyt, the new signing for Liverpool, came in midway through the second half and created a lot of good opportunities.

Tottenham 0 - 2 Everton
The match of the week as far as I'm concerned. Any time Spurs lose, it's the match of the week. The match was well played to 0-0 going into the half. Everton's Kevin Kilbane sent off for two bookable offences after only 32 minutes leaving the team to play with only 10 men. Calum Davenport turned Joleon Lescott's header into his own net after 53 minutes to put Everton in front. Andy Johnson slid home Phil Neville's cross to seal the win 13 minutes later. Still 2 points ahead of Arsenal in the table but that won't last.

Watford 1 - 2 Man Utd
Sitting top of the table for the moment, Man Utd have played some pretty impressive football without Wayne Rooney in the line-up. United had taken the lead on 12 minutes when Louis Saha set up Mikael Silvestre to drive low into the corner. But Watford did not roll over and Damien Francis levelled before half-time from Ashley Young's cross. In his 600th appearence for Man Utd Ryan Giggs scored the winner on a pass from Darren Fletcher.

Wigan 1 - 0 Reading
Heskey, who had earlier headed against the post, latched on to Lee McCulloch's flick and slotted the ball past Readings keeper Marcus Hahnemann. This was the first goal for Emile Heskey since February. Wigan played a tight D to hold this one to the final whistle.

Aston Villa 2 - 0 Newcastle
Martin O'Neil has had a pretty good start to his campaign with the Villans. Luke Moore pounced after Newcastle failed to clear a free-kick and slotted in a low shot to put Villa ahead.
Juan Pablo Angel ran on to a subtle Gabriel Agbonlahor pass and side-footed home to double the lead. Villa have now taken 7 of 9 points on the season.

Blackburn 0 - 2 Chelsea
After losing at Middlesbrough in midweek, Chelsea had looked out of sorts before they took an early second-half lead thanks to a penalty. Andre Ooijer was penalized for holding John Terry and Frank Lampard put the penalty past Brad Friedel. Substitute Didier Drogba inflicted more misery on Ooijer when he shrugged off the Dutchman before putting a shot past Friedel for the second goal.

I Don't Care How Good Looking You Are

First of all, playing for France is a privilege, playing for Chelsea is a job. Yes Jose, there is a difference. You're lucky Makelele is being so nice about it. This was just stupid, and if you were in America, you would have been fired. One more reason to hate Chelsea.

Random Reviews #2

Soccer in Sun and Shadow, by Eduardo Galeano, a well-known Uruguayan writer and poet -- and you can tell. His imaginings are lyrical, wistful, poetic. Soccer as a metaphor for life, pensive, introspective. Not for hooligans. I read it on a cold, rainy weekend in New York. It made me sigh.

How do you spell relief?

Thuram and Makelele are staying. Phew. See you September 6, Azzuri.

The New Twist

Looks like the drama continues with Cashley Cole and Jose Antonio Reyes.

Inter Milan have now been rumored to have enter the picture offering £20 million for Cole. Could Cole end up being run out of the UK to Italy. Then his wife can go and spend all his monry on trashy Italian clothes.

I personally would like to see him go to Italy and not Chelsea. The only way that I would want Chelsea to get him is if Gallas is part of the deal and he comes to us. Thanks to Arseblog for the beautiful picture of Cole.

Athletico Madrid have now wntered the picture showing interest in Jose Antonio Reyes. Reyes wants to join Real Madrid because it is his dream club to play for. It would be great if we dumped him on Athletico Madrid - he'd be so close to his dream without actually getting it.

Arsenal play Dinamo Zagreb today for the 2nd leg of the Champions League qualifier. Arsenal hold a 3-0 lead on aggregate. So basically Zagreb would have to score 4 goals to win this leg. Let's hope that this doesn't happen.

Rumination #2: The Fate of Juventus

Yesterday Juventus announced that it would abandon the sports justice system and turn to an Italian administrative court and fight to overturn sanctions imposed by a football federation tribunal last month. The Financial Times (!) reports that a decision in favour of Juventus could have nullified the sanctions against the other clubs involved in the scandal, creating uncertainty as to which teams make up the A and B leagues, which in turn could have forced Federcalcio to suspend the football season opening. And here's the kicker -- because this action challenged Uefa and Fifa rules on dispute resolution, the appeal to a regular court could lead to Juventus being expelled from both organisations. WOW.

The appeals were rejected today by an administrative court, so it looks as though the original penalty stands. I don't understand this -- was this really worth the risk of being expelled from Fifa and Uefa? Or of delaying the start of the Italian football season? Am I missing something? Because to me, all this seems foolhardy, to say the least.

So matchfixing notwithstanding, how do we feel about Juve? Well, it's mixed.

On the one hand, it had/has some of my favorite players: (need I say it) Zidane, Vieira, Thuram, Ibrahimovic, Cannavaro, Buffon. On the other hand, players I hate: Zambrotta (even though he's with Barca now), Del Piero, etc. Plus I hate their uniforms -- they remind me of that get-out-of-jail-free guy from Monopoly.

On the one hand, the whole organization is clearly corrupt, as any examination of its history reveals. On the other hand, so is every other damn club in Italy, not least AC Milan, owned by Silvio Burlusconi, that icon of moral rectitude. So it's maybe not fair that they get punished so harshly when the others basically get a slap on the wrist.

So who knows? I'm inclined to write off all Italian football. I hate their style of play anyway -- no creativity, no flair. Catenaccio my ass.

Greetings from Amsterdam

...the land of Ajax and FC-some-club-I-can't-spell. I tried watching a game in Dutch, but couldn't understand a damn thing, so settled for watching that really, really bad Freddy Prince, Jr. - Jessica Biehl movie. Right after A Walk to Remember and Sweet November as the worst movie ever made. Back to New York on Wednesday. Till then, niet roken (no smoking -- the only Dutch I know).

After Three Months The EPL is Back

After three months off theEPL is back in full swing. Here are the results from this weekends play.

Arsenal 1 - 1 Aston Villa. The Villans Melberg scored a header in the 52nd minute of the game at Ashburton Grove. For the better part of the match Arsenal dominated play, but couldn't put anything in the back of the net. Finally in the 83rd minute Gilberto scored to tie it up. Not a good start for the Gunners playing their first EPL match at their new stadium.

Bolton 2 - 0 Tottenham. Bolton took the early lead at the Reebok on a goal by Davies in the 8th minute. Campo would follow up in the 12th with a beautiful shot to the lest corner. Good thing to see Bolton take down Spurs. Hopefully this will be a pattern for Spurs all season.

Everton 2- 1 Watford. The newly promoted Watford had it's struggles with Everton. Johnson scored one in the 14th minute to give Everton the lead. From there they scored again in the 81st minute to be followed up by a Watford goal in the 87th.

Newcastle 2 - 1 Wigan. Not getting a strong start as last year, Wigan go down to Newcastle at St. James Park. Parker scored in the 37th minute to go up 1-0. In the second half Wigan tied it up in the 58th minute with a goal by McCulloch. Before the celabrating stopped 5 minutes later Ameobi put in the game winner for Newcastle.

Reading 3 - 2 M'Boro. In one of the more exciting matches thi weekend Reading take the home victory over a struggling Middlesborogh. Downing scored in the 10th followed up in the 20th by Ayegbini to take the 2-0 lead for Boro. Shortly before half Reading came back to draw it up in the 42nd and 43rd minute with goals by Kitson and Sidwell. Lita put Reading ahead in the 54th and that would give them their first ever EPL victory.

West Ham 3 - 1 Charlton. Despite going up 1-0 on a penalty kick by Bent in the 14th minute, Charlton couldn't hold their lead. Going into the half up 1-0 Charlton blew it and lost this one 3-1. Goals for West Ham: Zamora (51), Zamora (65) and Cole (90).

Portsmouth 3 - 0 Blackburn. Kanu has a big day scoring 2 goals on his first appearance in a Pompey jersey. Sol Campbell and David James also made their team debuts. Blackburn look to be falling apart this year. Brad Friedel is getting up there in age and the team hasn't done much on the transfer market.

Shefield Utd 1 - 1 Liverpool. Sheff Utd got screwed when the late penalty was called for hacking Gerrard. They were leading 1-0 and finished up 1-1. The bright spot for Sheffield Utd was certainly Paddy Kenny. The keeper kept just about everthing out of the net. Hew was solid in the Coke League and continues to be in the EPL.

Chelsea 3 - 0 Man City. Terry, Lampard and Drogba all scored in this one. Chelsea looked good this week after a poor performance last week. I still have them - wore my IFCUKIN8CHELSEA t-shirt for this one but it did me no good.

ManUre 5 - 1 Fulham. Man U just pounced on Fulham from the first minute of the match. This one was over practically before it bagan. 4 goals in the first 20 minutes including an OG by Pearce. The athers were scored by Saha, Rooney and Ronaldo. Rooney followed up with another in the second half. Fulhams only goal was an OG by Ferdinand. Man U look good this year, just hope it's all downhill from here.

Coming up this week is the 2nd leg of the Champions League qualifiers. Arsenal take on Dinamo Zagreb on Wednesday the AG.

Madeline Says Hi!

Madeline just wanted to say Hi! More Soccer news tomorrow.

Ruminations on Beckham

I like David Beckham. Always have. Even though he is, shall we say, a bit dim. Even when he had his hair in cornrows, which looked completely ridiculous and I can't believe he went to see Nelson Mandela that way. And yes, even when he married Posh, of the 600 sunglasses and scary sternum (seriously, Victoria -- EAT!). I was proud when he called the Spanish ref's mom a whore -- in Spanish. Who knew he had such a facility for languages?

I like him because he has a certain innocence about him, because he seems like a nice guy and because though his celebrity sometimes obscures it, he is a pretty damn decent player.

So he doesn't deserve to be kicked off the England team. Oliver Kahn took the same thing with grace, and I suppose Beckham will too. But honestly, after reading this, I think he should say fuck McClaren, I've done my time. Take your hope and shove it.

The Season Is A Startin

Not proper English for a title, but that just the way it goes. The EPL kicks off it's season tomorrow Here's the fixture list:

The Red Teams are who I predict will win, both black means a draw.

Saturday, 19 August 2006
Arsenal v Aston Villa, 15:00
Bolton v Tottenham, 17:15
Everton v Watford, 15:00
Newcastle v Wigan, 15:00
Portsmouth v Blackburn, 15:00
Reading v Middlesbrough, 15:00
Sheff Utd v Liverpool, 12:45
West Ham v Charlton, 15:00
Sunday, 20 August 2006
Chelsea v Man City, 16:00
Man Utd v Fulham, 13:30

Looks like Arsenal have decided to drop Cashley Cole from the lineup tomorrow. He says he's willing to play for the team, but Arsene wants nothing to do with him in the opening match against the Villians. There are many key players still out for Arsenal including Senderos, Rosicky, Lauren and Reyes. So it will be interesting to see how Arsenal will do in the home opener at Ashburton Grove(aka Emirates Stadium).

All in all some good exciting match ups on both days. The newly promoted Reading team has a couple of Americans playing for them. So hopefully we can see them get started on the right foot. Bobby Convey and Marcus Hahnemann will see their first EPL experience. Good Luck to them!

Time to get started.

Holland Determined Not to Win

More perplexing news: Ruud van Nistelrooy, another name I can never spell, has once again been left out of the Holland squad ahead of the Euro 2008 qualifiers with Luxembourg and Belarus. The Sporting News reports that the Real Madrid striker was omitted from coach Marco van Basten's party for the recent friendly against Republic of Ireland, having previously been dropped from the starting line-up for the World Cup last-16 match with Portugal, which saw the Oranje eliminated.

What up with this? Does he not want to play for Holland? Does the coach not like him? Hmm.

Dunga Comes to Senses

...and calls up Ronaldinho and Kaka for upcoming friendlies with Wales and Argentina. Cafu, Ronaldo and Adriano still out.

The Verdeamarelos (I've never heard them called that) will meet their South American arch-rivals on September 3 at the newly-built Emirates Stadium in north London before taking on Wales at the nearby White Hart Lane two days later.

The EPL Today

Dirk Kuyt looks to be making a move from Feyenoord to Liverpool this week. Terms have been agreed to between the two clubs and now he has just gone in for his physical to make sure everything works. "For me, Liverpool is sure to be the dream club I was looking for," 26-year-old Kuyt told the Reds website. "There was more interest from abroad, but for me there was nothing of the calibre of Liverpool, a brilliant club with an enormous reputation." The move is said to be for around £10 million.

Bayern Munich's Owen Hargreaves in on the verge of a move to Manchester United. Bayern are reluctant to allow the move and have bumped the price up to get him to stay. It sounds like Hargreaves want to make this move regardless of what his club thinks. The deal is said to be for about £13 million. "To play (for Manchester United) is a great opportunity and I would be happy if I got that chance." Hargeaves has been with Bayern since he was 16 years old. He plays for the England National Team even though he lived most his life in Canada. He feels that playing in the EPL will strengthen his skills and an international player as well. Time will tell if this will happen.

Michael Owen may end up sidelined for the who season. Owen has had several knee injuries and will undergo surgery in September to fix his cruciate ligament. With rehabilitation ad all, it could take up to 9 months to recover from this. Owen joined Newcastle from Real Madrid for £17 million last season. Since joining, he spent a good portion of last season out with a broken foot and now this. I had surgery on my ACL and there is a long process and rehabilitation to recover. I think we will be lucky to see him by the end of the season.

And for our final bit of news today, Willian Gallas still wants to leave Chelsea. Mourinho insistes that he will not let Gallas go anywhere. The 28 year old French player has publically expressed that he wants to leave the club. He told French publication L'Equipe: "I still want to leave Chelsea. I hope things will get sorted out fast but it does not prevent me from playing. " "Do I feel things are dragging on? Yes and no. My team-mates help me feel fine during training." Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck recently told BBC Radio Five Live Sport: "We're not interested in transferring him to a Premier League club or another club in Europe. "He has one year on his contract and we expect him to fulfil that." So the Gallas saga continues. Hopefully they will give him to Arsenal in trade for Cashley Cole.

That's the news for today!

Sing It, Nelson

Italy 0 - 2 Croatia

Dunga -- Genius or Idiot? You Decide.

Sooo. Not sure what Dunga, the new Brazil coach, is thinking, but apparently none of Brazil's best players -- Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Kaka, Adriano -- have been called up for today's friendly against Norway. I guess it's only a friendly, but you would think Brazil needed a good showing after their disappointing World Cup performance (although I still maintain that their loss was due to a superior performance by Zidane, Henry et al, not by Brazil not playing as well as they could). Perplexing, especially since Brazil have apparently never beaten Norway. Norway! At least Robinho will be around. I like him.

Les Bleus Take On Bosnia-Herzegovina

The French team takes on Bosnia-Herzegovina (in Sarajevo!) in their first game since the World Cup. Two years ago Bosnia surprised the French with a 1-1 draw in Rennes. Let's hope we can win a decisive victory -- I think the team will need to know they can win, and win well, sans Zizou. I can't seem to find news that Thuram and Makelele aren't playing, so I assume they are. If I am understanding my French correctly, you can watch the game on the Web, here.

Cashley Cole's New Book Already in Bargain Basement

Cashley Cole's new book isn't even out yet and it's already set to be in the bargain book section. Hell, it might not actually get published. Here's the sysnopsis of Ashley Cole's My Defence: Winning, losing, scandals and the drama of Germany 2006: His phenomenal skill on the pitch and the controversy which has plagued him off has made Ashley Cole one of the most talked about players in recent years. Here, from inside the England dressing room, he tells the full inside story of their bid for World Cup glory in 2006. But this is also much more than a World Cup diary. Cole talks openly about the 2005 'tapping up' scandal, when he was fined GBP 100,000 by the FA following a meeting with Chelsea's Mourinho and Kenyon in a hotel room, and the media storm that followed. He reveals the ups and downs of his 2005 season at Arsenal, the last at Highbury before the move to a new stadium, and his struggles with injuries and form. And he also, of course, discusses his relationship with Girls Aloud's Cheryl Tweedy and the run-up to their wedding just after the World Cup.

My opinion without having even turned a page of it- CRAP! Don't even waste your time reading this little publicity stunt by Cole. He wants people to think that they will learn the dirt on Arsenal. Complete Bullshit, you need to respect the team you play for and not pull a stunt like this. I think he's just a puppet being handled by his wife Cheryl Tweedy from some crap girl group called Girl's Aloud. He's trying to be too much like David Beckham and won't be able to pull it off. Look at the wedding pic they did, horrible.

You had a lot of good years at Arsenal and now you have become to big for the team - well go and join Chelsea where you will be nothing more than another overpaid player who won't be taking home the Champions League Trophy again this year.

Theo Walcott Gets His International Debut

Seventeen year old Theo Walcott made his international debut today playing for the U21 England National Team. England played Maldova in the U21 match on Tuesday ahead of tomorrows Men's National Team Fixture.

Only 3 minutes into the match Walcott scored. The 17-year-old headed Leighton Baines' cross home early on to become the youngest scorer in England U21 history.

The match ended up ina 2-2 draw which leaves England in a struggle to gain a spot to the next round of qualifications. The group also includes Switzerland who has a strong team this year.

In other news Andreas Isaksson was purchased by Man City today from the French club Renes. The deal was said to be for around $3.5 million. The 24-year-old Sweden International recently played in the World Cup and has 42 caps to his countries team. This move comes after Man City sold David James to Portsmouth early last week.

Dean Ashton, the 22 year old West Ham player suffered a broken ankle and will be out of tomorrows International match against Greece. Aston suffered the injury in the England training camp. Ashton was set to be in the starting lineup getting his first cap for England, now he will be sidelined from the EPL for the next 12 weeks. Steven Girard will be filling in the role of David Beckham in tomorrow night's match.

Thuram, Makelele -- Please Stay!

Patrick Vieria, whose name I can never spell, has said that he thinks Claude Makelele and Lillian Thuram will stay on with Les Bleus. I hope he is right -- Thuram is the backbone of the excellent French defense, and all three work so well together. It won't be the same without them. We can't afford to lose these guys and Zidane, all in one year!

Nedved Retires from International Football

Pavel Nedvěd (not to be confused with John Denver) has confirmed he will retire from international football after the Czech Republic's home friendly against Serbia on Wednesday. "I have no health problems, but it's time to give younger players a chance," said Nedvěd. He's going to keep playing for Juve though. Pictured here with his trophy for European Footballer of the Year (2003) from France Football magazine.

The Passing of An Era

Then.

Now.

At least they gave it to someone worthy.

La Liga Invades the US

Real Madrid and Barcelona wrapped up a week of friendlies in the United States playing two MLS teams on Saturday. Both clubs packed stadiums and brought out the crowds for their brief US tours.

Barcelona took on the NY Red Bulls at a packed Giants Stadium with 79,000 in attendance. Ronaldinho started the match along with many of the other big named players. Scoring started early as a pentalty kick was awarded to Barca in the 13 minute. Red Bulls defender Marvell Wynne pulled down Samuel Etoo in the penalty area. Ronaldinho's penalty kick beat goalkeeper Tony Meola to his left.

The Red Bulls tied Saturday's game in the 39th minute, when Ronaldinho gave the ball away to Dema Kovalenko in his own zone. Kovalenko then pushed the ball ahead to Edson Buddle, whose shot was deflected by Barcelona goalie Victor Valdes.

The score remained tied leading into halftime. In the 51st minute of the match Messi took a ball down the right and made a perfect cross in to Ronaldinho who put in tin the back of the net to go up 2-1.

Eleven minutes later, Messi got his score by drawing Conway out of the goal, then shaking past for a 3-1 lead. Barcelona's final goal came in the 87th minute, when Javier Saviola went unabated to the goal after receiving a pass from Messi.

The final score ended up 4-1 in this exciting matchup. "Every game is important to us because we always want to leave a good impression for the public," Rijkaard said. "I think the emotion was great and everyone enjoyed the game. I think the Red Bulls played a good game. They didn't come here just to defend us - they came to participate and it turned out to be a good game for the spectators."

Following this match was Real Madrid taking on Real Salt Lake in Salt Lake City, Utah. Real Madrid brought a full squad to the US including players like David Beckham, Raul, Roberto Carlos, Ruud van Nistlerooy and Robinho.

The match started off with Real Salt Lake marking tightly and not letting Real Madrid get in many opportunities. The first goal came late in the first half on a Penalty kick. Ruud Van Nistlerooy took the penalty to put Madrid up 1-0. In the second goal came later with Robinho getting the pass fron van Nislerooy to put it in the back if the net and finish this one off at 2-0.

Tempers were flaring in the second half and this friendly match became a little less than friendly. A red card issued to Salt Lake's Atiba Harris in the 58th minute. Harris was ejected for taking out Sergio Ramos by sliding into the Spanish defender with his cleats high.

Real Madrid left the US with a 1-0-1 record after a draw with DC United earlier in the week. Looks like they have a lot of work to do to get ready for La Liga's opening weeknd.

On the English front, Liverpool beat Chelsea 2-1 to take the first piece of silverware for the season. The FA Community Shield match was help in Cardiff's Millineum Stadium again this year. Wembley was schedule to be completed but is still having problems getting the final construction done. Riise picked up the first goal on a counterattack putting the ball passed Cudichini to put Liverpool up 1-0. Later int he first half Chelsea's Shevchenko handled a Lampard cross niclely and placed it in the back of the net.

This would remain the score until late in the match when Craig Bellamy would take the ball down the left wing and place a beautiful ball right on the head of Peter Crouch, who put it in the back of the net. John Terry was no where to be found in this picture. The final score ended up 2-1 and Liverpool collected the first trophy of the season. Could we be seeing Chelsea move in the direction of Real Madrid? Buying loads of players and then winning nothing. Let's hope so. Tune in next week as we kick off the EPL Season.

Rooney Out - Coke Championship Gets Its Start

Wayne Rooney will likely miss the start of the EPL next week with a groin Injury. Manager Sir Alex Ferguson said Rooney was struggling to be fit for the home game against Fulham next Sunday. "It is going to be a push for Wayne to be fit," he said after United beat Sevilla 3-0 in a friendly on Saturday. "He has a groin injury, which is causing a little bit of bother at the moment. It is nothing serious but there is a worry about next Sunday." Rooney last played in the 3-1 victory over Porto eight days ago. Pictured with Rooney is Ruud van Nistlerooy who has since left the team and moved on to play at Real Madrid.

Chelsea are claiming that William Gallas won't be going any where this coming season. With all the talks about a possible transfer to Arsenal and other EPL teams, it all comes down to no offers have been made and he will continue to play for Chelsea.

Nothing new on the Arsenal front. All remains the same coming into the weekend.

The Coca-Cola Championship League kicked off it's season last week. After playing 3 matches Burnley, Plymouth, Cardiff and Birmingham.

Results today: Cardiff 1-0 Coventry, Colchester 1-2 Barnsley, Hull 1-2 Derby, Leicester 3-1 Ipswich, Norwich 3-2 Luton, QPR 2-0 Southend, Sheff Wed 1-1 Burnley, Southhampton 0-0 West Brom, Stoke 0-0 Birmingham, and Sunderland 2-3 Plymouth.
Just a little smile from our future Lady Gunner. Hope you're all having a good weekend. :)

Thank God It's Friday: Today's News

Former England captain, David Beckham, has been dropped from the first team squad by Steve McClaren. McClaren has decided to take his team in a new direction which will not include Beckham. He is leaving the door open for him to come back, but this will not be likely with the exception of maybe a testimonial. Not sure this is a good move on the new bosses part. I would have dumped Sol Campbell, Owen Hargraves and Michael Owen, but not Beckham. He is still the best free kick taker on the team and has such an amazing ability to send the ball to the foot of any player. Big mistake in my opinion, but then again, I'm not the boss.

David James has mmae the move to Portsmouth. Manchester City sold the 34 year old keeper for £1 million. With the addition of Sol Campbell and now James, things could bbe looking up for Pompey.

The deal to sell Jose Antonio Reyes to Real Madrid from Arsenal has now taken on a few potential changes. Looks like Real are willing to trade Baptista and a sum of money to get Reyes. Baptista joined Real Madrid last season, but has struggled to get into the starting lineup. What do they think they will be getting with Reyes. I welcome the possibility of having the big Brazillian Baptista playing up front with Henry, Adebyore and van Persie.

The struggle continues to work out a deal to get Cashley Cole over to Chelsea. Some of the sticking points that are holding it up are about £5 million in valuation price and who will pick up Cole's £1 million bonus this year. There is a possibility that if Cole really wants to move that he will have to forgo the bonus to get this all worked out. TH14 has been talking publically and has expressed that he would really like Cole to stay at Arsenal. I don't care either way. The guy is talented and has done a lot for Arsenal. I would only want him to stay if his heart was in it.

Thomas Gravesen looks to be ready to make a move from Real Madrid back to England. Currently it looks like Newcastle might pick him up.

Just posting this picture of our future little lady Guunner along with her pal Gunner Rex because she's so damn cute. No other reason. Enjoy the weekend!

Reliving Past Glories

So last night I watched the 1998 World Cup final, France 3-0 Brazil. Ah...despite the sucky quality of the VHS tape, what a game! France really played as a cohesive team -- especially at the end when they were one man down.

And why can't Brazil ever play like Brazil against the French -- I'm not complaining, but the same thing happened this year, when Brazil had a whole team of outstanding individual talent. Anyway, watching the game made me feel good. On to 2010.

Patrick Vieira Named Captain of Les Bleus

Another reason to love the French team. Allez Les Bleus -- I hope you kick Italy's ass on September 6.

How Can You Not Love This Guy?

He smiles even when he is fouled, even if the stupid referee doesn't make the call. I'll never love anyone the way I love Zidane, but I like this guy an awful lot. And the second half of the game with Club America yesterday -- WOW. I see why Barca are the champions -- nice passing. Saviola and Messi were amazing, and Deco is always a favorite. Ronaldinho made it all happen though -- three goals in ten minutes (Saviola, Ronaldino, Eto'o)! Barca would've won but for that own goal (but CA deserves a LOT of credit too -- nice first half on their part). Final score 4-4.

Today's Football News

John Terry has been named the new captain of the England squad after David Beckham resigned from the position at the end of the World Cup. The new England coach, Steve McClaren, had cut it down to either John Terry or Steven Gerrard. Both are the captains of their club teams and both have shown good signs of leadership. The only reason I might have chosen Gerrard is that he is more polished when dealing with the press. Outside of that, John Terry will do a good job and control his team from the center back position. Good luck to you JT.

Arsenal and Chelsea have temporarily discontinued talks over the sale of Cashley Cole. It is said that Arsenal are looking for £25 million for Cole and Chelsea aren't willing to pay it. So Cashley might end up playing another year with the Arse. On the same subject of sales, talks between Real Madrid and Arsenal have also stalled because Arsenal want £16.5 million for Reyes and Real Madrid are offereing £10 million. Arsenal paid £16.5 million only 2 1/2 years ago for Reyes and feel his value is still about the same. Personally I'd dump the guy for £5 million at this point and be done with it. Why waste any more time having players on your team who don't want to be there. Just get it done.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic will follow other Juve teammates in the mass exit before the season starts. Ibrahimovic has made the move to rival Inter Milan for approximately £16 million. Juventus was relagated to the second division starting the season of with negative points. The move was simply made for him to compete at the highest level. Good move on his part to get back to the top level. Nedved I think is making a mistake staying with Juve who is going to struggle to get back to the top.

And finally............ David James is rumored to want to leave Manchester City with a move to Portsmouth. James lost his spot as England's number one to Paul Robinson last year. He has pretty much sucked in the international game for quite a while. James, who is 36, is in the last couple years of playing and wants to move south to be closer to his lady. I'd rather play for P'mouth this coming season as well. James is such an inconsistant keeper, he will make great saves and then let in easy ones. If I were Man Citeh I would sell him.

Cheers!

Random Reviews

How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization. By Franklin Foer. A great book, even if you're not a soccer fan. But if you are, you gotta pick it up. Foer uses soccer almost as a metaphor for a country and/or region's culture -- the viciousness of Red Star Belgrade; the purity of FC Barcelona; the wierd tolerance of Tottenham and Ajax; and the sad state of Brazilian soccer. I read the whole thing in a weekend.

Ginga. God, a great documentary about Brazilian kids who aspire to play professional soccer. It makes your heart bleed. Go see it (it plays every once in a while on Fox Soccer Channel).

What Up Europe?

Okay, so let's say you're a soccer club. Let's say you're owned by a gazillionaire who can afford to buy the best players in the world -- Terry, Drogba, Shevchenko and the cutest man in soccer, Ballack. Then let's say you're playing an American team ('nuff said). Who wins? That's right, the AMERICANS. What up Chelsea?

In other news, Barca had a 1-1 draw with Chivas Guadalajara (in a game where the offsides rule was apparently suspended). Nothing against Chivas -- hard not to root for the underdog -- but where was Ronaldinho?

Barca is currently playing Club America -- CA just scored, 3 minutes into the game, Marquez answered with an amazing header. It's 1-1. We'll see...

Goal - The Dream Begins Movie Review

GOAL! The Dream Begins was first released in theaters in England about a year ago and didn't have much success there. Well it didn't have much success in the United States either.

This film directed by Danny Cannon (Judge Dredd, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer) tells the tale of a Mexican boy who jumped the fence and snuck across the boarder into the United States along with his father. Like many people who did this, they made their way to Los Angeles to start a new life. Santiago Munez was his name. He worked hard for his fathers landscaping company and loved to play soccer. All he dreamed about was making it in the big leagues one day and then a scout saw him play.

I actually enjoed watching this film even though it resembled the likes of Rudy and Hoosies, just not taking place in Indiana. It's one of those rags to riches stories about the boy who wants to play professional soccer and gets the opportunity but struggles along the way. There's nothing fantastic about the movie, it's just a good fun soccer movie to watch. The downside of the whole thing is that alan Sheerer makes a cameo and I really can't stand the guy even if he is one of the best players.

This is the first in a trilogy of GOAL movies. The second movie will be out in 2006 and takes place with Santiago playing for Real Madrid. GOAL 3 is said to take place with him playing in Argentina, but no confirmation on that yet.

The movie will be out on DVD on September 12th. You can always pick it up or buy it at http://www.amazon.com looks like it will run you $19.99.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Reyes Hoping to Move and Henry Talks about Cole

Jose Antonio Reyes wants to make the move to Real Madrid. Talks are currently in progress between the two clubs with an asking price around £10 million. Hopefully we move quickly and get this Twat sent off to Real Madrid as he really hasn't made that big of an impact on the squad since arriving.

Reyes himself has been quoted in a Spanish paper as saying "Me and my family are somewhat tense at the moment and want to make sure things don't collapse." So goodbye and good luck. We don't need an inconsistant player like you on our team. Arsenal took Reyes along on the trip to play Dinamo Zagreb but he was not used for the match. This allows us to keep his value up as he will not be cup tied in the Champions League and will be eligible to play for Real Madrid.

In other news Thierry Henry has spoke out about the potential departure of Ashley Cole. "The loss of Vieira to Juventus was massive - like it would be if Ashley goes," Henry told The Sun newspaper. "Obviously we want him to stay. He is one of the best left-backs in the world. We would miss him badly," Henry said.

Cole has been a big part of the Arsenal defense up until this past season where he spent most of the season out injured. He was involved in a tapping up scandal with Chelsea and ever since has been on bad terms with Arsenal.

So now it's time for Cole to move on like his other English teammate Sol Campbell did, moving to Portsmouth yesterday. It would be nice if we could work out getting Gallas from Chelsea as part of the deal, but all will be told in the coming days.

Arsenal Win First Leg of Champions League Qualifier

Cesc Fabergas scored two goals today along with one by Robin van Persie to take Arsenal to a 3-0 victory on the away leg of the Champions League qualifier against Dinamo Zagreb.

Cesc played a tough match contoling the ball well in the midfield. His first scoring opportunity came in the 63rd minute of the match when Hleb passed the ball forward to van Persie who played to Cesc on the right and knocked it home. One minute later is was van Persie who would score on a long pass from Hleb to put Arsenal up 2-0.

In the 73rd minute of the match Cesc took on two defenders and burried the ball in the back of the net for the third Arsenal goal. Final score of the match was 3-0.

Today line up included:

Manuel Almunia, Emmanuel Eboue, Kolo Toure, Justin Hoyte, Johan Djourou, Francesc Fabregas, Gilberto, Alexander Hleb, Tomas Rosicky, Mathieu Flamini 82, Robin Van Persie, Emmanuel Adebayor, Jeremie Aliadiere 82

In other Arsenal news, Sol Campbell signed a deal that will take him to Portsmouth today. Jose Antonio Reyes is pushing for a move to Real Madrid as he traveled with the team, but did not play. Ashley Cole faked injury to stay home to help secure his potential transver to Chavski in the next couple days.

Arsenal have been rumored to be ready to sign Franck Ribery from Marseille. This should get done by Friday if it's going to happen. We will soon see.

Adieu Zizou

Merci pour le rêve. We'll miss you.