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France suspends their entire squad

July 23, 2010 — by Sean

The French have a friendly against Norway in a couple of weeks, but exactly who’ll be playing is a complete mystery. From the Guardian, among others:

The 23 members of France’s World Cup squad have been suspended for the country’s next game. The decision was taken during a meeting of the French Football Federation Federal Council on the recommendation of the national side’s new coach Laurent Blanc.

This on top of the Ribery/Benezema underage prostitution scandal has been great for continuing France’s World Cup ridiculousness. Party on, Bleus.

Another German standout at the World cup has had his head turned by a glamor club. Khedira scored the winning goal in the third place game with his header against Uruguay, and has been a rock as the holding midfielder at Stuttgart. Now Mourinho is showing interest, and Sami is listening:

“I am mulling over the thought of making a move to Real Madrid, ” Khedira told Bild. “The club has confirmed that they are interested. Real Madrid is the biggest clubs in the whole world and Jose Mourinho is one of the most successful managers in the game.

It’s always a gamble to leave the small pond, especially when you’ll be fighting the likes of Madrid’s first team for a place on the pitch. Mourinho tends to like veterans who play out his tactical game, but he has shown some development skills over the years (most recently with 19 yr-old defender Davide Santon at Inter) so it’s unlikely he’s about to bring on an expensive bench warmer.

Commentary News

Henry on Good Day NY

July 22, 2010 — by Sean — 9

I’ve been watching Rosanna Scotto and Greg Kelly in the morning for…well never, but I see them a lot on the Soup, constantly upping the ante on idiocy. There are a few gems from their Thierry Henry interview, particularly when they suggest he’s just come back from winning the World Cup, and when they ask him when the MLS season starts (it’s mid-season already, people).

On his part, Henry could’ve dressed a little better. I know it’s just these two Fox drones, but a t-shirt, jeans, and high-tops? We know you want to live “downtown”, but you do know khakis are the new skinny jean, no? Anyway, here’s the clip. Welcome to America, where we like blowouts.

News

Barclays NY Challenge: Red Bulls, Tottenham, Man City, Sporting Clube de Portugal

July 21, 2010 — by Suman — 3

It’s been 10 days since the World Cup ended, and if you’re like us, you’ve filled the days and nights watching replays of last year’s Champions League matches and episodes of “The Greatest” and “Great Rivalries” on FSC and FSE.

But here comes the Barclays New York Challenge (also on Twitter and Facebook), just in time to rescue us from this purgatory of top-flight-football-lessness. Four matches over 3 separate days, with our very own New York Red Bulls hosting Prem Leaguers Tottenham Hotspurs and Manchester City, and Iberian powers Sporting Clube of Portugal (commonly but mistakenly called Sporting Lisbon).

The schedule is as follows (all times ET, and all matches played at the quite nice and quite new soccer-specific Red Bulls Stadium in Harrison NJ, and all games will be televised on Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Sports en Espanol, and also streamed online via some website called Veetle):

July 22 – New York Red Bulls v. Tottenham Hotspur (8pm)
July 23 – Sporting Lisbon v. Manchester City (8pm)
July 25 – Sporting Lisbon v. Tottenham Hotspur (1pm)
July 25 – New York Red Bulls v. Manchester City (3pm)

Commentary News

Werder Bremen Should Sell Mesut Ozil

July 21, 2010 — by Sean — 3

Ozil was one of the breakout stars of this summer’s World Cup, and as such the 21 yr-old is garnering interest from big clubs outside Germany. He’s in the last year of his contract with Werder Bremen, a side that finished 10th in the Bundesliga last season (though they had top 3 finishes the five season prior to last).

Bremen want to resign the playmaker, but it seems crazy considering he’d draw around €20M for a transfer fee, and if he doesn’t extend his contract with Bremen he’ll be able to take his leave next summer on a free transfer. Better to take a page from Lyon’s book, and sell the young star at a massive profit, rather than try and hold on. With the money they’d make from Ozil, they could buy 5 young promising Turks and a couple new first team players to strengthen the squad short and long term.

Somewhat tangentially: Lyon are simply the best at finding underrated (thus cheap) players, developing them, and selling them when high-paying clubs come in with their wallets open. Check out the book Soccernomics for a really nice breakdown of Lyon’s strategy in the transfer market.

News

Man United in Philly

July 21, 2010 — by Sean — 5

News

Santos Star Neymar Still with Club…for Now

July 20, 2010 — by Sean — 2

So everybody wants a piece of the goal-scoring phenom Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, more easily: Neymar. He’s a speedy, quick footed attacker who is of course a whiney brash little thing seeing that he’s all of 18 yrs-old. Playing alongside Robinho and Ganso has certainly helped him this year, but he is the type of player who would surely excel in any system that could feed him the ball 35 yrds out, as he’s quite capable of dribbling through the remainder of the defense from that point.

Clubs have lined up to get him, with Real, Chelsea, West Ham, Man City, and Barça among the suitors (yes, the Hammers don’t exactly fit with the level, but they do (try) and play possession football and are generally easy on the eye, though they lost often last season). Chelsea have felt the first sting of rejection, as their €20M offer was dismissed.

News

Fulham: Jol Problems?

July 20, 2010 — by Sean

Jol — Where is that boy with my herring?

Trouble brewing for Fulham, as Martin Jol’s club Ajax don’t look like they’ll release their manager without a fight (perhaps you remember him from his run at Spurs). From Fulham’s Cheif Executive Alastair Mackintosh as reported by ESPN soccernet:

“There have been quotes attributed to Martin Jol in the Dutch media suggesting he has changed his mind and wants to stay, but that is not our understanding of the situation and we believe the quotes are ambiguous. We feel Martin still wishes to join Fulham.

“However, Ajax refuse to even discuss compensation and are clearly using this window of opportunity to try to persuade Martin to change his mind. There is the possibility that Martin could walk out on Ajax, but there are talks ongoing and there is the hope that everything could be settled amicably.”

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