Sunday's final vs Japan is going to be verrrryyyy interesting!! 2 completely different teams but with the same die hard attitude! I'm torn over who I want to win, because I'm not totally sold on the US team yet. Their style is...not so attractive, but their chemistry and attitude is immense.
We'd like to thank Rob Kirby, one of our many Arsenal-supporting field agents, for the following take on Arsenal's "imminent" demise. Don't look back. The football media establishment says that Arsenal is out of the title race even before anything's begun. With the imminent exits of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri (on the heels of the £7M Manchester City signing of left back Gael Clichy), pundits have already decided the Arsenal season is done, dead and buried. Supporters, angry over last season’s utter capitulation, are screaming for Wenger’s head, seeing big names go but none coming in. For the past two transfer windows, everyone was in agreement. We needed a quality goalkeeper, a rock-solid central defender (or two) and a defensive midfielder as backup and competition to Song. And for the past two transfer windows, we got none of them. And now we need a left back
Sure, Copa América has Messi, Forlán, and Neymar. Yes, it will be a very interesting test for Mano Menezes. Yeah, it's nice to see the young Brazilian and Argie talent that's been shining in leagues around the world. And I'll grant you that, despite lackluster performances from Brazil in its first game and Argentina in its first two, there are good reasons to expect both to put on an offensive show in this Copa America. Both Brazil and Argentina are using very offensive schemes, and both have players who can make things happen. Plus the third traditional power in South American soccer, Uruguay, has a pretty good team, the one that went farthest in the last World Cup and the one with the best player from that tournament. And we can't forget Chile or Colômbia, both of which bring some interesting players. There are lots of reasons to watch this
Nasri out the door for Miami-based chicken fighting league on higher weekly wages than current Arsenal offer. So, Clichy is off to Man City. Better him than Sagna, for our right back is quite a feisty, efficient, and productive gem. (Ohh, I love me some Sagna! He won't ever leave, will he?) In addition to Sagna, "those who won't leave, or we'll be in real trouble": Song, Wilshire, Ramsey, van Persie, Vermaelen, Djourou, Walcott. The rumour-mill has Nasri and Cesc leaving soon. I want to say "good riddance", but it just doesn't feel right to be that angry... If Nasri leaves, then there is a huge gap in the Gunners' Clichy-less left side. English-boy Kieren Gibbs can fill left-back or left-midfield, but he needs experience... Another signing would be in order should Nasri flee. The gossip columns mention Villa's Stuart Downing as a possible signing? It
Anyone up for watching five matches today? We're nearing the end of the lull between the end of the European club season and the start of the major international tourney of this summer (Copa America, which starts a week from Friday)--but the three remaining competitions we've been tracking converge today, yielding up five matches to watch: the semifinal matches in both the UEFA U21 European Champions and the CONCACAF Gold Cup, and the 2nd leg of the Copa Libertadores final between Santos and Peñarol. Here's today's schedule: All Times U.S. Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4) (Local Times in parentheses) UEFA U21 European Championships Semifinals (fixtures via here) 22 June 2011 12:00 (18:00) Spain Semi-final 2 12:00 (18:00) Belarus Viborg Stadion, Viborg Referee: Markus Strömbergsson (Sweden) Preview 22 June 2011 15:00 (21:00) Switzerland Semi-final 1 15:00 (21:00) Czech Republic Herning Stadium, Herning Referee: Robert Schörgenhofer (Austria) (Both these matches will be
Two weeks ago, storied Uruguayan club Peñarol stunned Argentinian Clausura table-toppers Vélez Sársfield to set up a historic matchup against Brazilian side Santos for this year's Copa Libertadores (1st leg tonight is tonight in Montevideo; 9pm ET on Fox Deportes in the USA). A couple days later we received this message from a Uruguayan friend--born and raised in Montevideo as a supporters of los Aurinegros, los Peñarolenses: Can you take 3 days to go to São Paulo? I am in some state of delirium. Here is the story, still in progress, of where that delirium has taken him: Forlan's Wall Photo - June 2, 2011 After that initial message, our friend (let's call him Forlán, after another lifelong Peñarol supporter and prodigal son of Montevideo who has gone abroad to pursue his craft; the real Forlán, btw, is a newly inducted honorary member of the club ahead of tonight's game*)
Welbeck & De Gea: Opponents on Sunday, Teammates in the Future We posted on Sunday ahead of the Spain-England Euro U21 Championships matchup, which ended up in a surprising 1-1 draw--a very good result for England. We got this recap of the game from a longtime ManU supporter that many of know as Meathead (aka @tetedeviande--most recent tweet: "Wesley Sneijder would be a welcome addition to Utd, if for no other reason than Yolanthe Cabau"): Barcelona may have had their way with Man United, but United boy Danny Welbeck notched yesterday for the England U21s vs Spain!!!! He showed great calm in front of goal. Love that kid. Bojan wasn't in the Spanish lineup, but Thiago and Jeffren were, as was Herrera, who scored with a hand ball. Spain is really talented, and they play a lot like Barca. They also had Juan Mata and Javi
[Editor's note: We welcome back contributing writer and longtime friend Ryan Reft. He's kindly allowed us to repost this essay from his groupblog Tropics of Meta. For some of his past contributions to CultFootball see here, here and here.] Over the past fifteen to twenty years, historians have increasingly emphasized the role of sports as both a driver and reflection of society. The recent Bill Simmons-inspired and ESPN-produced 30 for 30 documentary series tackled a number of difficult subjects via sport. In "The Two Escobars", directors Jeff and Michael Zimbalist travelled through 1980s Columbia, following the lives of Pablo (international drug dealer/murder/local philanthropist) and Andres Escobar (captain of Columbia’s 1994 World Cup team murdered in a nightclub alteration several months later). The two unrelated protagonists encapsulated the travails of late 20th century Columbia. Drug money filtered into the nation’s soccer infrastructure, boosting its competitive success but also adding layers of
