Random News

...ah, it's good to be back. Wisconsin was cold, cold, cold. So here we go:

CSKA Moskva v. Arsenal -- Halftime, Moskva 1-0 Arsenal. Yikes.

Petr Cech -- So I'm not a big fan of Chelsea, but holy cow. I didn't see it, but Cech apparently has a fractured skull from the weekend's game against Reading (Chelsea won, 1-0). Stephen Hunt's knee hit Cech's head in a collision minutes into the game. Drogba was quoted as saying, "Don't tell me tall stories, this was not an accident...He (Hunt) saw that he was going to collide with Petr and he didn't try to avoid it. The worst came after that. When Petr was carried out of the ground, he (Hunt) was laughing..." Can't say whether or not it was an accident, since I didn't see it, but if Hunt was laughing, that's pretty inexcusable, accident or no.

To add to the drama, it apparently took the ambulance 30 minutes to reach Cech. Jose Mourinho is rightly furious, and has demanded to know why. Reports are that Cech has regained consciousness, but his dad says he won't play football for a year. Reading has released a statement supporting Hunt.

Get better Petr.

Ballon d'Or Nominations -- Some good names here (but we all know who I'm rooting for). My picks for the short list highlighted. Who do I think will acutally win? Hmm. Probably Cannavaro. Maybe Ribery, for his come-from-nowhere World Cup performance. Maybe Henry, because it's just his turn.

Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Tim Cahill (Everton), Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Gregory Coupet (Lyon), Cristiano Cris (Lyon), Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Deco (Barcelona), Mahamadou Diarra (Real Madrid), Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Michael Essien (Chelsea), Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), William Gallas (Arsenal), Gennaro Gattuso (AC Milan), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Ludovic Giuly (Barcelona), Fabio Grosso (Inter Milan), Thierry Henry (Arsenal), Juninho (Lyon), Kaka (AC Milan), Miroslav Klose (Werder Bremen), Philipp Lahm (Bayer Munich), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Jens Lehmann (Arsenal), Claude Makelele (Chelsea), Florent Malouda (Lyon), Edison Mendez (PSV Eindhoven), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan), Lukas Podolski (Bayern Munich), Carles Puyol (Barcelona), Franck Ribery (Marseille), Ronaldinho (Barcelona), Juan Roman Riquelme (Villarreal), Arjen Robben (Chelsea), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Willy Sagnol (Bayern Munich), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Andriy Shevchenko (Chelsea), John Terry (Chelsea), Lilian Thuram (Barcelona), Tiago (Lyon), Luca Toni (Fiorentina), Fernando Torres (Atletico Madrid), Patrick Vieira (Inter Milan), David Villa (Valencia), Gianluca Zambrotta (Barcelona), Zinedine Zidane (Retired).

Aragones Stays -- Under-fire Spain coach Luis Aragones got a vote of confidence from the national football federation despite his team having lost two of their opening three Group F Euro qualifiers. Why, why, why?? Federation president Angel Maria Villar said Aragones "would see his contract through to the end." A 2-1 win over Argentina in a friendly gave Aragones, who has been in charge of Spain since 2004, some breathing space. Villar denied that he had been in contact with coach Miguel Angel Lotina as a possible replacement for Aragones.