Raul Goes the Way of Beckham

Reuters reports that Spanish captain Raul was dropped from the national squad today. Sad.

"I have chosen the players who I think are in the best form at this moment in time," coach Luis Aragones (we all know how I feel about him) told a news conference. 'This is a decision for this match alone and I'm not going to deny any player the right to play for Spain in the future...I haven't spoken to Raul about it. I don't usually talk to the players unless they are injured."

I know that Raul wasn't always in the starting lineup for Spain during the World Cup, which of course begs the question -- why make him captain? I wonder who will be captain for this game. Assume not my favorite, Xabi Alonso.

Raul, 29, said he respected Aragones's decision and would work hard to regain his place. More grace -- ol' Zlatan could learn a thing or two from Raul and Beckham.

Procrastinating in New York

11 PM Wednesday. Supposed to be writing a memo for work. Instead...thought I would give you, my reader(s), the latest.

Surprise Pick. The Fox Soccer Channel guy thinks that Olympique Lyon are going to win the Champions League this year. Love Arsenal, love Barça -- but man wouldn't it be cool to have a non-big-money club win for once (and a French one at that!). I also love that one of their best players is named Fred.

Ronaldo vs. Messi. Pele thinks Messi will be the best player in the world by 2010 -- when he's what? 22? I don't know about that -- I like Messi, and he will probably be the best someday, but Ronaldinho will still be around in 2010, as will Thierry Henry, who I am convinced is actually getting better with age. Plus he'll have some serious competition from Cristiano Ronaldo, on whose back Man Utd are currently standing (love that photo of him -- praying during the last minutes of the Euro 2004 final). I don't like Wayne Rooney, at all, so we won't consider him here.

Et tu, Eto'o? (Sorry. Couldn't resist.) Following Hargreaves and Cisse before him, Samuel Eto'o today tore his meniscus in the 65th minute of the Champions League game against Werder Bremen. Apparently the meniscus is somewhere in the knee, in this case the right one -- Eto'o tore the cartilage. Ouch. Get well soon -- we like you.

Glee. After Juve, the team I hate the most? AC Milan (not you, Kaka -- we love you): besides being Italian, it's owned by Berlusconi, who is in my top 10 of most-hated non-dictator world leaders. Anyhoo, despite the fact that the club has some of the best players and certainly some of the world's highest (football) salaries, little Lille held it to a 0-0 draw. Nice.

Drogba Hat Trick. Chelsea 3-1 Levski Sofia. All Drogba, all the time (although Ballack did have a beautiful shot too). I've liked this guy since I saw him at a press conference during the World Cup, and some reporter asked him about their chances. "Il faut rêver," he said. We must dream. Yes indeed.

Skinny Scores -- Twice. Peter Crouch (who I always want to call Barty Crouch -- remember, from Harry Potter) had a damn good night -- two goals, and the second one was a doozy. I wonder if they will now make him a jersey that comes all the way down to his wrists.

That's it. Must go write memo.

Two More Clean Sheets for the Arse

Arsenal finally get their first win at Ashburton Grove with a 3-0 win over Sheffield United. Not the most exciting first half. Arsenal fell into the usually thing where they play at the other teams level. We were passing poorly and just not getting the opportunities in the first half. It wasn't until the 64th minute when William Gallas scored his first goal as an Arsenal player. So lets think about this - Gallas plays in his 3rd match and scores a goal - how many did Ashley Cole score last season? Certainly a great transfer for us at this point, hopefully he continues to get stronger. Henry put a nice pass into Cesc who tipped it on and Gallas came in an poked it in the back of the net.

Four minutes later Thierry Henry came down the left side and drove a ball across the goal. Jagielka took an almighty swing - but could only manage to spin the ball with the outside of his foot into the far corner. Putting Arsenal up 2-0.

In the 81st minute we would see what is a rare occurance, or was, the 3rd goal was score by Henry with his head. Emmanual Eboue sent in a nice cross to Thierry who headed it home. There really haven't been to many Henry headers, but they seem to be happening more and more. Final score 3-0 to The Arsenal!

Here's the rest of the EPL scores for the wekend:

Aston Villa 2-0 Charlton
Fulham 0-2 Chelsea
Liverpool 3-0 Tottenham
Man City 2-0 West Ham
M'brough 0-1 Blackburn
Reading 1-1 Man Utd
Wigan 1-1 Watford
Sun., Sep. 24
Newcastle 1-1 Everton
Mon., Sep. 25
Portsmouth 0-1 Bolton

On Tuesday Arsenal took on former Champions League winners FC Porto at Ashburton Grove. It seems as though we play a totally different type of game when playing against European teams versus The EPL.Arsenal missed a great opportunity when Robin van Persie had a beautiful ball played to him 7 yards out and he put it right over the top of the goal. It wouldn't be until the 40th minute when we saw a replay of Saturdays match. Emmanuel Eboue sends in a nice cross from the right side putting it on Thierry Henry's head and into the back of the net. Porto seemed to control the possession, but Arsenal had the better opportunities. They went into the half up 1-0. Three minutes after the start of the second half, Hleb put the second one in for us. He received a nice ball from the defense and took the shot from just outside the box and stuck it in the corner of the net. Arsenal would finish this one off 2-0 and at the moment have all 6 points and are two wins and no losses in the group Stage.

Here are the rest of the Champions Leage results for Tuesday:

Real Madrid 5-1 D. Kiev
Steaua 0-3 Lyon
Benfica 0-1 Man United
Celtic 1-0 Copenhagen
CSKA 1-0 Hamburg
AEK 1-1 Anderlecht
Lille 0-0 Milan

Here are the matches for Wednesday:

Bremen vs. Barcelona
Levski vs. Chelsea
Inter Milan vs. Bayern
Spartak vs. Sporting
Bordeaux vs. PSV
Liverpool vs. Galatasaray
Shakhtar vs. Olympiakos
Valencia vs. Roma

Euro 2008 Mascots Unveiled

The curse of the cheesy football mascot continues.

Sepp Blatter Actually Has a Good Idea

Will wonders never cease.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter said today that future World Cup finals should not be decided by penalties and said changes could be in place for the showpiece tournament in South Africa in four years. Italy's win over France on penalties was "a tragedy," he said.

His solution would be to have a replay, a golden goal or to gradually deduct players in extra time. "We have four years or so, so I think we have time," Blatter said at a Swiss Chamber of Commerce event in Zurich, adding that high-level discussions would start soon.

"When it comes to the World Cup final it is passion, and when it goes to extra time it is a drama," the head of world football's governing body said in an earlier speech. "But when it comes to penalty kicks it is a tragedy...Football is a team sport and penalties is not a team, it is the individual."

Amen to that brother. Too bad it's too late for France. But we'll see you in 2010, Italy. Assuming you qualify.

The Homeless World Cup

The Homeless World Cup is being held from September 24-30 in Cape Town, South Africa (South Africa won the opening game against Chile, 2-1). I had not heard about this until today, but I wish I had: the organization uses street soccer as a way to improve the lives of the excluded, homeless and/or poverty-stricken players. This year 48 countries -- from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe -- are participating (the photo is of the Cameroon team warm-up). Pretty damn cool, and a nice reminder of the power of sport in general and football in particular.

Show your support and buy a t-shirt here -- I did.

Not Sure Whether to Be Mad or Sad

We all know racism on the pitch is alive and well (a-hem, World Cup '06), but it's still hard to believe, and disturbing to see. For some reason I found these photos particularly disturbing. Seem to be mostly Italy and Spain, but I know even England and my beloved France are not immune. Sigh.

Weekend's Coming Up, Time for Footy

This one's for you Shona - Good old Arsenal's Freddie Ljungberg the CC Model :)

Not much excitement this week outside of the BBC Panorama program accousing everyone one and their mothers of wrong doing in the EPL. Now it's come down to lawsuits and investigations for the next several months. We will see where it all goes.

So this weekend we have Arsenal v Sheffield Utd on Saturday, games on FSC at 10am EST(7am PST). Looks like Thierry Henry and Robin van Persie should be back for this one. I would stick with Rosicky as attacking central mid and leave Adebayor up from for at least the first half. They did really well against Man U. Paddy Kenny is a great keeper for Shef U - I don't think it will be easy to get anything by him. Tune in and watch it should be a good match.

Aston Villa v Charlton might not be the most exciting match to see. Charlton has struggles a bit at the start of the season and Villa have been playing awesome. Look for Martin O'Neil's boys to run right over Charlton.

M'Boro v Blackburn has two mid-table teams looking to get a few points this weekend. Robert Huth will have to wait to make is EPL debut with his new club. All in all not the best one to watch this weekend.

Chelsea v Fulham could be an ugly one. Fulham lost mid-week in the Carling Cup to 3rd division Wycombe Wanderers. They will be without McBride, Bocanegra and Diouf. They have struggled a bit and will have a tough time this weekend. Chelsea will see Robbin back in as Ballack starts his 3 match ban for his red card last weekend. Joe Cole should be returning as well.

Man Utd v Reading has potential. Reading are playing at the top of their game at the moment. Maybe they can kick United while they are dowm from last weeks losss to Arsenal.

Liverpool take on Spurs in what will hopefully be a complete blow out. I hate Spurs and always wish them the worse out on the field. Liverpool have been struggling, but this might be a quick 3 points for them this weekend.

Man Citeh v West Ham will be another mid-table battle. Macherano already wants to leave and he's only been with The Hammers for a couple of weeks. Still he hasn't seen a victory and really would prefer to play in Italy. I think The Hammers will get their first win with the new boys this weekend.

Newcastle v Everton, Bolton v Pompey and Wigan v Watford - boring boring football. No more needs to be said.

So let's hope it's a victorious one for our Arsenal and just a good exciting weekend of football.

Cheers!

Good News for Ligue 1

(Reuters) -- The French government is preparing legislation that will allow professional soccer clubs to list on the stock market if they present a strong business plan, Sports Minister Jean-Francois Lamour said on Wednesday.

Despite the success of the French national team over the past decade, the national club championship is regarded as one of the least attractive in Europe and has struggled to hold on to star players lured by high profile foreign clubs.

Champions Olympique Lyon, chasing a sixth successive title this season, have said they may be interested in a share listing, which could give the club the means to compete with European giants like Barcelona or AC Milan.

About frickin' time! It's way past time for Ligue 1 to get the same kind of respect as La Liga or the Bundesliga. I hope Olympique de Marseille (my Ligue 1 favorites) will go public as well. Would love to see the next Ronaldinho there.

Xabi's 70-Yard Wonder Goal

Did anyone see the Xabi Alonso goal against Newcastle? Amazing. After Zidane's amazing volley in the 2002 Champions League Final, this is the best goal I've ever seen. There are no videos of it yet, but apparently this is his thing -- in the January 2006 FA Cup, he scored two like it: one from 40 yards, and the other from well inside his own half (65 yards). Watch the second one here. But honestly, the one today was better.

On a side note, I've always liked Xabi as a player, but a-hem, it turns out he's pretty cute too. : )

Gimme a Break, v. 2

What is in the football water today? First an influx of foreigners threatens Scandinavian football (see below) and now women in Romania (all women) are industrial spies: on Tuesday Dinamo Bucharest banned women (for two hours) from buying tickets for the Wednesday soccer derby against Steaua Bucharest, amid accusations that they were infiltrators from the rival club. Come on guys -- seriously?

That's Dinamo up there, consoling themselves after Romanian women infiltrators made them lose. Sigh.

Gimme a Break

The national team coaches of Sweden, Norway and Denmark "warned" their respective countries that the growing number of "ordinary" foreign players in domestic club sides shut out local talent and could damage the game at national level.

"In the last few years we have seen the number of, at best, ordinary foreign players rising in Scandinavian clubs," Lars Lagerback of Sweden, Aage Hareide of Norway and Morten Olsen of Denmark said in a statement. "If foreign players do not raise sporting levels in the three countries then they just take up places in squads that would otherwise go to domestic talent and this has a negative impact on the development of Scandinavian talent."

Here's the best part: the note said that in the Swedish premier league alone the number of foreign players almost doubled between 2002 and 2005 to 21 percent. Wait, what? Let's say it again: 21 percent of domestic players are foreign nationals, of which only some are "ordinary." And this is, apparently, threatening domestic talent.

Point #1: This argument would be lame even if it came from, say, McClaren or Aragones (who I still hate), both of whom coach national teams with a significant number of foreign players (how many Spanish players play for Barça anyway? Two?) in domestic leagues. But less than 21 percent can hardly be considered a threat of any sort.

Point #2: Unlike national teams, clubs are only about talent, not about the best talent they are allowed to use. Clubs want, and get, the best talent they can afford -- so even if some foreign players are "ordinary," they are clearly still better than whatever the clubs can find at home.

By the way, the photo is of the 1958 World Cup final, Sweden v. Brazil, before the vast influx of foreign players ruined their national teams. Appropriately enough, Brazil won 5-2 (that's Pele on the right, waving his arms).

Big Sam Could Be In Trouble and 'Arry As Well

Last night the BBC aired it's program Panorama and claimed that there are EPL managers who have taken payoffs to sign players. The big one to come out was Big Sam Allardyce.

Allardyce is said to have taken bungs from agents to sign players. Agent Teni Yerima claims he bribed Allardyce in the past. Another agent, Peter Harrison, describes offering to pay the Bolton manager's son Craig, who Panorama claim received secret payments from agents during three transfer deals.

Bolton came out with a statement today. "the allegations broadcast very seriously" but also vowed "not to over-react". Bolton say they will launch "a thorough and robust investigation into the allegations".

I'm sure Big Sam has been involved, but will somehow escape and punishment. The odds of Big Sam losinghis job jumped from 16/1 to 3/1 after the story hit the press. We will see what happens. Agents are all scum and that's how they live their lives, milking people out of money and paying people off to get bigger payoffs themselves.

Old Harry Rednapp is also accousted of "tapping up" a player. "Tapping Up" is esentially speaking to a player without the permission of the other team. Ashley Cole and Chelsea were fined heavily. Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp is secretly filmed talking about Blackburn defender Andy Todd. Redknapp denies his conversation about Todd with Harrison amounted to "tapping up". Redknapp's assistant at Portsmouth at the time of the filming, Kevin Bond, is secretly recorded admitting he would consider discussing receiving payments from a proposed new agency involving Harrison. Harry denies all claims as does his Assistant.

There were a couple other things to come out of this story on the BBC. The documentary also shows Chelsea's director of youth football, Frank Arnesen, secretly filmed making a illegal approach for or "tapping up" Middlesbrough's England youth star 15-year-old Nathan Porritt. Chelsea have denied meetings that were filmed broke any rules. They said the same of the Ashley Cole incident but lost points and money.

Panorama claim that 18 past and present EPL managers have had wrong doings as far as "tapping up" and bungs go. We will see what the FA investgates and what comes of it all.

Arsenal 1 - 0 ManUtd

Sorry I've been really busy and had not had a chance to post my update on this weekends EPL matches. Well, there's only one that matters and it was the 1 - 0 victory over Man Utd by Arsenal.

It was certainly a pretty thrilling match. In the first 15 minutes both goalkeepers made mistakes and it looked like it was going to be a crazy match. After that, things settled down and Arsenal really put it together.

Arsenal looked like the team of mid-week in Hamburg, putting together a beautiful passing game and hold possession for about 65% of the match. Rosicky seemed in his place pushing to the center from his usual outside position. Hleb took command of his position as well and controlled the ball really well. Mad Jens got it together and made some brilliant saves especially towards the end of the match.

Early in the first half a pentalty was called and Gilberto stepped up to take it. I didn't have a good feeling, because he took one mid-week and made it. I figured the ManU keeper knew right where he was going. Sure enough it was saved.

Cesc Fabregas really looked like shit all match, but somehow pulled it together in the 84th minute with a beautiful pass to Adebayor who put it in the back of the net for the games only goal.

Well the 3 points brings us up to 10 this 34 matches left in the season. Hopefully we are our way to getting back to the top.

The rest of the scores:

Bolton 0-0 M'brough
Charlton 0-1 Portsmouth
Everton 2-2 Wigan
Sheffield Utd 1-2 Reading
Watford 0-0 Aston Villa
Sun., Sep. 17
Blackburn 4-2 Man City
Chelsea 1-0 Liverpool
Tottenham 0-0 Fulham
West Ham 0-2 Newcastle

The Miracle Match - aka - The Game of Their Lives

So I picked up this movie last week on DVD. It played briefly in theaters last year and didn't last for more than about a week. So for me it was a matter of wanting to see this because it is a film about soccer. Here's my brief review:

This film is about the coming together of the 1950 US Men's National Soccer Team. There really wasn't a lot of funding in those days for the sport and its popularity was big among the European immigrants. The team was made up mainly of players from St. Louis and New York. Gerard Butler plays the leader of the St. Louis Boys Frank Borghi and Wes Bentley plays Walter Bahr, the leader of the East Coast team.

The movie is more about the building of the relationships of the teammates than it is about the game itself. There were plenty of struggles getting it together. The US Men's National Team played a few warm-up matches that they struggled through. Gavin Rossdale, former lead man of Bush and Husband of Gwen Stefani, plays the English top player Stanley Mortenson. Mortenson brings a team over to the US that just rips them apart. Because of this the US are basically not even recognized in the 1950 World Cup as a contending team. Odds makers didn't even give them a slight chance.

As we already know the US drew England in the first round and basically didn't stand a chance. Against all odds the US team played "The Game of Their Lives." People should already know this as it's in the description of the film so I don't think I'm spoiling anything.

John Harkes, former US player, plays one of the teammates and Patrick Stewart plays the narrator and former player in current day.

It was a good film. It really was more of a movie of the relationships leading up to the final match than it was about soccer. There's some good soccer action, but funny to see Bush frontman playing a top player for England. It gets a little slow at times, but hang in there, it's a good story.

Title: I Got Mad at the Setanta Commentator and Felt the Need to Show My Support

F@*k you Mr. Commentator, we don't need you and we don't like you.

HA HA HA HA

Can you imagine any other team doing this? Fabio, how could you? I'm not complaining, per se, (although -- Gattuso, blech, hate him) but I do think it's kind of cheesy, like those fireman-of-the-month calendars. (Dave, for you, I left off the picture.)

Grace from Beckham

I knew Beckham would take being dropped from the England squad with grace (see previous post), and he has. No public shows of bitterness, name-calling, sulking, pettiness.

"I know people said I should have seen it coming," said Beckham. 'But I never saw it coming. It was a total shock. I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. It's a terrible feeling not playing for England after 10 years of being involved."

McClaren revealed the kind of man / coach he is by breaking the news to Beckham in a phone call. "He said with moving on there come casualties and `you are one of the casualties'." Nice Steve. Very classy.

Beckham continued, "He [McClaren] has made a decision. But it's not bitterness that I feel. It's more disappointment and hurt...I thought I could move on with the team and not get left behind but now I have got a burning desire to prove him wrong."

I hope he does. Even when Klinsmann took Kahn out of the starting lineup, he still kept him on the team. I think this whole Beckham thing is personal, and that just sucks.

U.S. Courts Sven, Who Apparently Courts Everyone Else

So apparently Sven-Goran Eriksson is being considered as a replacement for Bruce Arena as coach of the United States, reports the New York Times. However, it seems the U.S. may not be able to make his salary demands.

You would think that since he knows what it’s like to be forever picked on, he would take the job out of pure pity.

Other high-profile coaches have also been linked with the U.S. coaching position, including former Germany coach Jurgen Klinsmann – who lives in Southern California, and Jose Pekerman, who led Argentina at this year's World Cup.

On a side note, I was about to type that Sven's girlfriend, Nancy Dell'Olio, is a 'ho. As she totally is. But then, it turns out, so is Sven. An old 'ho at that. Man, if I was a former model-turned-secretary, or even a not-repulsive-but-clearly-slutty "property lawyer," there is NO WAY I would pick this guy. Not even if he got me tickets to all France games for the next 50 years. Blech.

Anyhoo, despite all this, I hope Sven gets the job. Klinsmann is too good (and too in shape). I like him a lot, but he gives me an inferiority complex. And Pekerman is too…skeletal.

Ibrahimovic Secretly Six Years Old

Striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is refusing to play for Sweden in the next two Euro 2008 qualifiers because he was sent home for staying out late before the Liechtenstein game (which they tied). Ibrahimovic and teammates Christian Wilhelmsson and Olof Mellberg were sent packing by coach Lars Lagerback two days before the September 6 game.

Dude, you broke the rules, and you gotta pay. Do us all a favor and stop sulking.

Ibrahimovic will miss Sweden's home game against Spain on October 7 and the away game against Iceland four days later. But Wilhelmsson and Mellberg will play, the Swedish football association said.

“If a player does not want to play, for whatever reason, then I do not see that he gives anything to the team. Then I would rather have a player who wants to take part 100 percent," Lagerback added.

I used to like ol' Zlatan. And now I like his coach.

Big Weekend

Who cares about the rest of the EPL this weekend, Sunday is a big day with Chelsea v Liverpool and Arsenal v ManUtd (Manchester United).

Arsenal have yet to win a match this season and Man Utd have won all four. This match will be played at Old Crapford and will be a tough one for Arsenal to take. Arsenal will be with out Thierry Henry and Robin van Persie for this one. Kolo Toure is expected back as well as Freddie Ljungberg. For Man Utd Cristiano Ronaldo will be returning, but Ryan Giggs and Park Ji-Sung will be out because of injuries.

Always a big rivalry and always a tough match for either team to win. I was at the match last year at Highbury, which ended in a 0-0 draw as well as the one the previous year that ended 1-1. Man Utd are on a high and Arsenal a low. Hopefully this will be the match that we decide to show up for and get it done. In the last 8 meetings Man U have won four and drawn 4, so this will certainly make it tough for Arsenal. Keep your fingers crossed that we can pull it off.

Liverpool and Chelsea will meet for the second time this season. Liverpool beat Chelsea in the opening match of the season, the Community Shields, 1-0. Both teams will be playing with full squads that will make this a good match to see. Hopefully we will see Ashley Cole put one in the back of his own net, just to make him look like an ass.

Both matches should be exciting. I might have to head down to the pub for them. There will be crazy amounts of Mancs (ManU fans) out which could be good and could be bad. I haven't been in any fights so they can't be that bad.

My 2nd-Favorite Argentinian International Retires...

...from international football (at the age of 28!), which makes me very sad. According to Reuters, Riquelme said he had taken the shock decision because his mother has been suffering from health problems: "Since the World Cup, my mother has been taken to hospital twice and my responsibility is to take care of her." Hmm. I sense there is a back story here.

Anyway, he was a pleasure to watch, and we'll miss him. Adios, Juan. I guess we'll have to visit you in Spain.

Champions League Group Stage - Round One, Day Two

Not as exciting of a day as far as goals, but certainly as far as excitement. Man United played Celtic to a very thrilling 3-2 final, while Lyon took down Real Madrid 2-0.

Arsenal proved once again that they have a team good enough to compete in Europe. They beat Hamburg 2-1. Gilberto Silva converted the 12th-minute penalty and Tomas Rosicky doubled Arsenal's lead with a 20-meter shot in the 53rd minute. Hamburg goalkeeper Sascha Kirschstein gave away a penalty and was sent off. A long goal kick by Lehmann found Emmanuel Adebayor on the left and he passed to Robin van Persie, who was tripped by Kirschstein's hand as he tried to round him. Gilberto conveted the penalty. Boubacar Sanogo pulled a goal back for Hamburg in injury time.

Here's a summary of the results for today:

Dynamo Kiev 1-4 Steaua
Lyon 2-0 Real Madrid
Man United 3-2 Celtic
Copenhagen 0-0 Benfica
Porto 0-0 CSKA Moscow
Hamburg 1-2 Arsenal
Anderlecht 1-1 Lille
Milan 3-0 AEK Athens

Champions League Group Stage - Round One

Here's a recap of yesterdays Champions League Group Stage matches. Lots of big scores for the first round. Barcelona came up big with five goals, while Bayern and Roma put four in. The most exciting match of the day was Olympiakos v Valencia.

Chelsea 2-0 Bremen
Barcelona 5-0 Levski
Sporting 1-0 Inter Milan
Bayern 4-0 Spartak
Gal'tasaray 0-0 Bordeaux
PSV 0-0 Liverpool
Olympiakos 2-4 Valencia
Roma 4-0 Shakhtar

Today we will see the second half of the group playing, here's the fixture list:

Dynamo Kiev vs. Steaua
Lyon vs. Real Madrid
Man United vs. Celtic
Copenhagen vs. Benfica
Porto vs. CSKA Moscow
Hamburg vs. Arsenal
Anderlecht vs. Lille
Milan vs. AEK Athens

Since I have a bias, I will specifically talk about Arsenal. Arsenal are playing away to Hamburg at 11:45am PST today. We will be without Thierry Henry who was injured in the France v Italy match last week. We will be featuring the two new members of Arsenal, William Gallas and Julio Baptista. It's going to be a difficult match for us playing away, but hopefully we will come out with at least a draw. The Lyon v Real Madrid match should also be an exciting one to watch. Lyon is top of the league and has a pretty tough team.

The FA Throw the Book At Thatcher

Ben Thatcher's forearm smash into the face of Pedro Mendes earned him one of the heaviest punishments ever handed down by the Football Association last night when he was banned for eight matches and warned that any further transgressions might incur a 15-match ban - a Premier League record.

Based on the time of the suspension Thatcher will not be eligible to play for Man City until its match against Middlesbrough on October 30. He has already been fined four weeks wages and won't face any other financial penalties. The Football Association hearing has also basically handed him a two year probabtion. If in the next two years he does anything that is construed as violent behavior, he will automatically get a 15-match suspension.

Thatcher has written a letter to Mendes appoligizing for his actions. He has also released a statement through his agent that he "Deeply regretted" his actions in the match against Portsmouth.

I'm glad to see them hand down a big suspension to Thatcher. It was a terrible what he did and he deserves every bit of the punishment. Hopefully he will learn from his actions and play a little bit cleaner in the future.

Latest FIFA Rankings

1. Brazil
2. France
3. Argentina
4. England
5. Italy
6. Holland
7. Czech Republic
8. Germany
9. Portugal
10. Spain

Am surprised by Italy and Holland -- I know they must take World Cup performances into account, but Italy hasn't won a game since and Holland has only won one, and by one point at that. Also surprised by Germany, since they haven't lost a game and they won one 13-0. Clearly I am missing something.

FIFA Scandal #100034

According to AP, Britain's Daily Mail reported that FIFA vice president Jack Warner of Trinidad and Tobago (one of Sepp Blatter's closest allies) was involved in the sale of thousands of World Cup tickets on the black market. The paper obtained confidential reports produced by auditors Ernst & Young for FIFA revealing that Warner made at least $933,000 trading in World Cup tickets.

This is apparently not the first time Warner has been under scrutiny for ticket sale issues: in February, he was cited by FIFA for an ethics violation because the only company selling World Cup tickets in Trinidad and Tobago was a travel agency owned by Warner's family. And Trinidadian government officials have also alleged that Warner used political contacts to secure stadium construction contracts at more than double their original cost.

FIFA really, really needs to clean house. Not only Warner, but ah-hem, also Sepp Blatter, who among other things has said that football is a man's game and women should only play if they wear skimpy shorts. Much to the Portuguese team's delight, I am sure, he has also defended diving, saying it has its place and that he used to do it himself as a player. I bet.

Time for you to go gentle into that good night, Herr Blatter.

P.S. I knew Zizou would come through on that stupid Robben Island idea.

Luis Aragones Offers Resignation

Luis Aragones, the 68-year-old coach of the Spanish National Team, has offered up his resignation.

The Spanish board has met and will not accept it. So it looks like we will continue to have a racist running the Spanish team until they continue to fall apart.

I was hoping the guy would just go away after he made the comments about Thierry Henry, but no, he continues to fool Spain into thinking he's a good coach. What has he done and what have they done? Nothing. Time to let him go.

Soccer is NOT Apartheid

Everyone knows I am a devoted France fan, which means I love (love) Zidane, and hate Materazzi. I was heartbroken after the World Cup, and still am, kind-of, about the way Zidane ended his amazing career. However, even I understand that there is a difference between the Greek tragedy of the World Cup 2006 final and real human tragedy.

Today, FIFA announced that for whatever reason it wants to stage a reconciliation between Zidane and Materazzi, which is stupid in and of itself -- let it go, Sepp. But get this! They want it to be on Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years. COME ON. The idea that a World Cup game, no matter how controversial and heartbreaking, could in any way compare to the suffering of black South Africans in general and Nelson Mandela in particular is insulting. What the hell are they thinking??

EPL Wrap Sept 11

We've come into the 3rd weekend of the EPL and still Arsenal have only picked up 2 points and are in 17th place close to the relagation zone. Not that they will be relagated, but if they keep this pace up we won't be watching Champions League Football next season.

Reading 1 - 0 Man Citeh
In the 24th minute Bobby Convey sent in a cross to Ingimarsson who headed it home for the 29th consecutive home match without a defeat.

Everton 3-0 Liverpool
Andy Johnson had the game of his life as he contributed to all three goals scored in this Everton victory. Johnson hit the net twice and Cahill put the other in. Quite an embarassment for Liverpool losing this derby.

Arsenal 1-1 Boro
Morrison scored a nice through ball in the first half to out Boro in the lead. It would take a second half penalty scored by Thierry Henry to draw this match at 1-1. Boro played the second half down a man after Boateng was sent off for his second yellow in the match. Arsenal dominated the offense, but just couldn't put it home. Sitting now in 17th place, we have a lot of work ahead to make the top 4 spots.

Bolton 1-0 Watford
Gary Speed, on his 37th Birthday, put home a penalty kick in the 90th minute of the match for the 1-0 victory. Referee Mark Clattenburg pointed to the spot after Danny Shittu had needlessly tripped Idan Tal. Nicholas Anelka made his Bolton debut having made some contributions, but nothing spectacular.

Chelsea 2-1 Charlton
Drogba and Carvalho each scored in the 2-1 victory over Charlton. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink put one in for Charlton. Not an exciting victory, but puts Chelsea up to 4th place at the moment.

Newcastle 1-2 Fulham
Scott Parker put the ball in the back of the net in the 8th minute of this match to give the Magpies a 1-0 lead. It would take until the 82nd minute for the Newcastle fans to watch a sure victory fall completely apart. Brian McBride scored a goal in the 82nd minute followed up by a Carlos Bocanegra goal with 4 minutes left to give Fulham the victory.

Portsmouth 1-0 Wigan
Benjani Mwaruwari scored the only goal in this Portsmouth victory. Pompey had a great opportunity on a Sol Campbell header that hit the post but failed to go in. On the other end he goofed up and missed a ball that David James ended up making a good save on.

Sheff. Utd 0-0 Blackburn
Not much to say here 0-0 boring boring football.

Man Utd 1-0 Tottenham
Ryan Giggs scored a rebound goal that put ManU up early in the match. Tottenham fought hard, but couldn't put anything in the net. ManU has had a great start to the season. I just hope they will fall soon - maybe start next weekend against Arsenal.

West Ham 1-1 Villa
Carlos Tevez came off the bench to make his debut as a Hammer, but nothing to show for the most part. Liam Ridgewell scored in the 4th minute of this match to put Villa up 1-0. It wouldn't be Tevez or Mascerano that would pull this one equal, but Bobby Zamora with his 5th goal of the season to end this one a draw.

Champions League and UEFA are coming up mid-week and then back to the EPL next week where Arsenal will take on ManU at Old Trattford. Hopefully we will see an Arsenal victory for the first time this season.

Wayne Rooney is at it Again

Wayne Rooney has been suspended from both International and EPL Football for the past couple weeks. Internationally it was for his straight red card in the match against Portugal. In the EPL is was because of the elbow he threw in a pre-season un-friendly against Porto. The guy has caused enough trouble on the field and now it once again has happened off the field. rooney was involved in an altercation with Blackburn player Michael Gray.

Rooney was out to dinner with his fiance Colleen McLoughlin and a group of their friends at the Panacea restaurant in Manchester. Michael Gray apparentlt approached the table and began exchanging words with Rooney.

"Wayne and Coleen were enjoying a night out with three other couples and were having a quiet dinner when Michael came up to their table uninvited," said a spokesman for the striker. "Michael then began making a number of remarks which were offensive to Coleen and Wayne's other female guests. Several times, Wayne asked Michael to leave. It was a brief incident and as far as Wayne is concerned, he bears no ill-feeling towards Michael."

Although it looks like Gray may have been the one to start the incident, Rooney didn't seem to back down. With Rooney already on suspension the last thing he needs is to have news like this hitting the press. Manchester United will not be taking any action against Rooney in this situation, but he needs to keep himself clean or there will be action in the future.

Rooney will be the next Keane or Beckham if he doesn't watch out. He is constantly being watched by the press and any off-field actions will obviously be reported in the paper and get back to old Red Nose. He has a lot to learn, but still hasn't grown up. Get a clue numpty.

Juve to Appeal Point Loss

If it isn't bad enough that Juve were relagated to Serie B, they were also docked 17 points and are starting the season already that far behind everyone else. The club has lost most of it's top players who all moved on to top club teams around Europe. At this point I think the punishment really has been handed to them. But they won't go down easy.

Juventus lodged an appeal with the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) on Wednesday after deciding against taking their case to the civil court. Fifa had warned Italy could be thrown out of Euro 2008 qualifying if Juve continued their civil action. Not really sure why one club would affect the national team, but they are already in danger of not making it based on their first two qualifying matches.

As much as it sucks for the fans of this club to have to go through with all of this, match fixing is a big deal and the punishment is deserved. They even took away the last two titles that Juve won and handed them to the runners-up. I think is it will be a few years before Juve will recover from all of this. I just hope the lesson was learned.

Ruud Accuses Sir Alex Red Nose of Betraying Him

Ruud has moved on to a big contract at Real Madrid and has decided not to just keep his mouth shut. He has come out publically and said that Sir Alex Red Nose betrayed him by not playing him in the Carling Cup Final win over Wigan. "To me this felt like a stab in the back," said Van Nistelrooy.

Ferguson said in August that Van Nistelrooy's reaction to being dropped was one of the main reasons for his departure to Spain - and the Dutchman backed this view.

"The first three-quarters of last season went well for me, but the final part is best forgotten," he said. "My situation with Sir Alex started to change and it became difficult for me and him to work together."

Ruud has been pleased with his move to Real Madrid. "I feel like I have been here for 20 years and moving here is the best thing that has happened in my life," he said. "Being at Madrid is fantastic. The people are wonderful and that is a massive thing for me. I've had a great first impression of Real Madrid. "The club has a fantastic set-up with marvellous people. The atmosphere at training is perfect - it's just wonderful."

So good old Sir Alex Red Nose loses another player because he doesn't know how to manage his team. Beckham took off after several altercations with Ferguson and then it was Roy Keane's turn to walk out. Somehow this guy keeps having successful teams, but are his players really happy?

Bastards

Today, in Iraq, a popular soccer player who was a member of the country's Olympic team was kidnapped in Baghdad. Ghanim Ghudayer, 22, considered one of the best players in Baghdad's Air Force Club, was snatched on Sunday evening by unknown assailants in the al-Amil neighbourhood in the west part of the capital where he lives.

Samir Kadhim, head of the Air Force Club, said the player had been preparing to go to a training session when he was intercepted by the assailants in two vehicles. Kadhim said Ghudayer had recently signed a one-year contract with a club in Syria and had been planning to leave Iraq within a few days.

Oh COME ON. It's bad enough that the damn terrorists target our military, international aid workers, the Iraqi police, Iraqi politicians, etc. And I know that they have killed Iraqi civilians in the pursuit of some unknown jihadi goal. All of this is outrageous and although I am against state-administered capital punishment, I, as a non-state entity, would be happy to kill any of these guys. Really. (Well, maybe.)

But because this is a soccer blog, allow me to express my specific outrage (or just rage) at this senseless, completely pointless violence. What did the terrorists think this would do -- make Iraq lose more games? THAT would show those infidels. Grrr.

They better give him back.

League Tables Going Into the Weekend

??????????????????????????Where's Arsenal?????????????????????????

Well we are back to League Football this weekend, here's where we stand in the top leagues, top 5. Keep in mind that Italy hasn't started yet, so they aren't listed. Most teams just started and the teams on top probably won't allbe there in April.

EPL
1. Man U - 9pts
2. Portsmouth - 7pts
3. Aston Villa - 7pts
4. Everton - 7pts
5. Chelsea - 6pts

Ligue 1
1. Marseille - 10pts
2. Lyon - 10pts
3. Lille - 9pts
4. AS Nancy - 9pts
5. St. Etienne - 8pts

La Liga
1. Sevilla - 3pts
2. Getafe - 3pts
3. Barcelona - 3pts
4. Deportivo Coruna - 3pts
5. Valencia - 3pts

Bundesliga
1. Nurnberg - 7pts
2. Bayern Munich - 7pts
3. Schalke - 7pts
4. B. Monchengladbach - 6pts
5. Werder Brehmen - 6pts

Barça to Save the World (or at least its children)

Another reason to love the home of Ronaldinho, Thuram, Messi, Deco et al. Today Barça president Joan Laporta announced that the club will begin sporting the UNICEF logo on its shirts in next Tuesday's Champions League match with Levski Sofia, signaling its five-year agreement with the organization. Under the deal, announced Wednesday, the team will contribute about Euro1.5 million to UNICEF every year. The logo will bear the slogan "Barcelona, more than a club, a new global hope for vulnerable children." (For such a noble effort, that sure is one sucky slogan. You know some bureaucrat at UNICEF wrote it. Blech.)

I think this is ridiculously cool, and other teams (ahem, Chelsea, Real Madrid, AC Milan) would do well to emulate them.

As we all know, the front of Barcelona's maroon and blue striped jersey has never carried advertising in competitive games, although the team has advertised Catalan station TV3 on the left arm of its shirt since 2005.

Mes que un club indeed.

The Latest on Euro 2008 (or, poor San Marino)

A gratuitous photo of San Marino. They deserve something today.

Azerbaijan 1 - 1 Kazakhstan
Armenia 0 – 1 Belgium

Finland 1 – 1 Portugal
Huh. This is surprising -- Portugal, with Deco, Ronaldo and others, is really pretty good (as we saw in the World Cup). Would've thought they would win this by a lot.

Poland 1 – 1 Serbia
Ukraine 3 – 2 Georgia
Lithuania 1- 2 Scotland

France 3- 1 Italy
Allow me to savor this for a bit...ahhhh. Once again, all is right with the world.

Norway 2 – 0 Moldova
Turkey 2- 0 Malta
Bosnia-Herzegovina 1 – 3 Hungary
Slovakia 0 – 3 Czech Republic

San Marino 0 – 13 Germany
Okay at some point Germany needed to stop scoring out of pure pity. This just isn't nice. (Am also surprised that the coach played his starting lineup here -- clearly San Marino wasn't any sort of threat).

Russia 0 – 0 Croatia
I would just like to note here that Croatia beat Italy, but friggin' Russia managed to hold them scoreless. 'Nuff said.

Israel 4 – 1 Andorra

Macedonia 0 – 1 England
Once again, a mystery. Objectively speaking, England has one of the best squads on the pitch. Thank god they won, but come on guys, ONE goal?

Sweden 3 – 1 Liechtenstein
Iceland 0 – 2 Denmark

Northern Ireland 3 -2 Spain
I hate Spain solely because of their racist coach. However for such a supposedly good team...Northern Ireland? Seriously?

Bulgaria 3 – 0 Slovenia
Albania 0 – 2 Romania

Netherlands 3 – 0 Belarus
Thank god. If they had managed to lose to Belarus I would have lost all respect for them.

How Can Anyone Like Chelski?

Chelsea are so petty over all the issues going on with William Gallas. They have gone as far to now say that Gallas threatened them to score an own goal if he were forced to play againt Man City. Gallas, who was sold last week to Arsenal, said Chelsea's management "lacked class," a shot at billionaire owner Roman Abramovich and manager Jose Mourinho. At least he's willing to fight back and not let Chelsea keep up all this bullshit.

"I am surprised and shocked by these remarks," said Gallas, who trained Tuesday with France for Wednesday's European Championship qualifying game against Italy. "I never said that I would score an own-goal," he added. "I was very firm in my will to leave, that is clear, and I will explain at the appropriate time why." Gallas called Chelsea's charges "eccentric" and "very petty," and then ripped Mourinho and Abramovich.

French Coach Domench has once again had to go up against Chelsea with a battle against a French player. "I think that it is a shame that Chelsea can say, think, or even imagine that Gallas would betray his teammates during a match," Domenech said. "It's scandalous," Domenech added. "William has proved over the years that he is a loyal teammate. He has the strength of mind to block these things out. But I repeat, it's scandalous."

I just wish more people would rebel against Chelsea and the loads of money they have spent to get a title. Still with all of that, they haven't been able to get to the Champions League final. I hope they fall flat on their face this year and pull a Real Madrid.

Somewhere Zizou is Laughing

...and so am I. France 3-1 Italy. YAY! YAY! YAY!

Govou scored twice (god bless him), Henry once. Italy got four yellow cards (Cannavaro, Perrotta, Gilardino, Zambrotta) to our one (Henry). So Italy has yet to win a game. Awesome. And for everyone who thought France was riding on Zidane's skill alone (ahem, like the stupid World Cup commentators), y'all can kiss my ass.

WE WON WE WON WE WON!!!!!! I need to go get some (French) champagne.

Brazil Sweep North London

While the Euro 2008 qualifiers are going on, Brazil paid a visit to North London playing two matches this week. They started out Sunday playing against Argentina to a sold out crowd of 60,000 at Arsenal's new stadium Ashburton Grove (Emerites Stadium). They followed up on Tuesday playing Wales at White Hart Lane, the home of Spurs.

Sunday's match was actually watched by more people than any of the Euro 2008 Qualifiers the day before. Brazil were on fire and took down a good Argentinian team 3-0. Elano, a little-known midfielder who plays for a Ukrainian team, scored in the third and 67th minutes for his first international goals. Kaka struck in the 89th with a run that started in his own half. Brazil only started 3 of their team that played in the World Cup this summer. Argentina fielded a pretty strong team as well with Carlos Teves and Javier Mascherano, who recently signed with West Ham both played and looked rusty. Messi also played but didn't produce anything.

"Of course, we expected to perform well," said Dunga, the Brazilian coach. "But not like this." "This match is not going to define everything," Dunga said.. "But it's always good to beat Argentina."

On Tuesday Brazil took on Wales in another international Friendly. this time they played five miles up the road in the stadium that's home to the scum of the earth, Spurs. Brazil won this match 2-0 in a relatively mediocre match. Right-back Marcelo hit a swerving shot through a crowd to give the five-time world champion a 58th-minute lead at Tottenham's White Hart Lane stadium. Vagner Love doubled the lead in the 74th with a header.

White Hart Lane has a capacity of 38,000 but only 20,000 showed of this match. Guess it would have been better if they would have played the match in cardiff closer to the Wales fans.

So Dunga is getting it togehter and starting to look to the future. He has four years to build up another powerhouse team that can maybe wipe out France in the finals in South Africa.

Materazzi Speaks About Zidane Incident

Nothing negative about Zidane here, just a little more on the whole incident and what Materazzi had to say. I think Materazzi is still a little prick. He is suspended for todays big France v Italy match.

"I was tugging his shirt," he told Gazzetta dello Sport. "He said to me, 'If you want my shirt so much I'll give it to you afterwards.' I answered that I'd prefer his sister. It's not a particularly nice thing to say, I recognise that. But loads of players say worse things. I didn't even know he had a sister before all this happened."

Pile of crap if you ask me. I think there was a lot more said than that. I don't think that Zidane would have done what he did over a little comment like that. We may never really know the truth or at least not until Zidane comes out with an autobiography. Just to throw it out there as he has gone public probably just to get the fans going for the big match today.

On the match itself, here's a quote about the match from the French. "It might be revenge for the fans but not for us," conceded Lilian Thuram. "If we beat them that doesn't really prove anything. The final is long behind us now."

I completely agree with this, as the match is just a Euro 2008 qualifier and doesn't have anywhere near the impact as the actual final did. Now if France play Italy in the final then it really will mean something.

(Some) Croatian Fans Suck

We all know how I feel about Italy, but this shit is inexcusable. Shame on you Croatia / Croatian fans -- with your history, you should know better.

Euro 2008 Roundup

We start, as always, with France. On the eve of their rematch with Italy, both Henry and Thuram saying the goal is not revenge, but points. Of course, but don't think there isn't a bit of revanche in there as well. I imagine -- and hope -- someone has made a call to Zidane for counsel. Too bad they're not playing in Marseille -- now THAT would be interesting.

Italian captain Cannavaro insists his country's poor performance (beaten by Croatia, a draw against friggin' Lithuania!) in the qualifying rounds is due to bad luck. Uh-huh.

Meanwhile, Materazzi has revealed the supposed details of his infamous exchange with Zidane, saying that he did indeed insult his sister, although at the time he didn't know Zizou even had a sister. That may be true, and honestly, I'm inclined to believe that part. But I very much doubt that a) such an innocuous comment would elicit that kind of response and b) that FIFA would have fined / suspended him for that. There's no way what he said wasn't racist and incindiary in some way shape or form -- even the lip-readers say so. But no one will really know, I suppose, besides the two involved. Sigh.

In other news, UEFA have warned that any racist abuse of England players by Macedonia supporters will not be tolerated in tomorrow night's Euro 2008 qualifier (UEFA has the power to throw any country or club out of their competitions, which include the European Championships and Champions League, if players are subjected to racism). The Macedonian Football Association were punished after England's last match in the country three years ago, when the likes of Emile Heskey were taunted because of their race. Dude, nothing makes me angrier, soccer-wise, than racism on the pitch (see also, Luis Aragones). Bastards.

On the same topic, kind-of, why is everyone treating the Macedonia-England game as some sort of big challenge? Seriously? I mean they beat Greece for god's sake -- hasn't McClaren over the trial period yet?

Slovakia meets the Czech Republic tomorrow as well. Am hearing good things about Slovakia, but I can't imagine the Czechs won't win this one. In old news, Holland barely eked past Luxembourg, 1-0, in a performance even their coach denounced. Hmmm. Hopefully they'll rebound -- how can you not like the Dutch?

Finally, how is it that clearly-non-European countries like Kazakhstan and Israel can play in European championships? Don't get it.

That's it for now -- stay tuned for my emotional post, one way or the other, tomorrow afternoon.