Somma hopes to continue his goalscoring at Leeds with the national side. Today's friendly seems like a pretty straightforward affair, but what would sporting news be if we didn't inflate pseudo controversy into "genuine" talking points? (The answer is legitimate journalists, but we'll ignore that for now). Hot in today's news cycle is Davide Somma, who has been called up for the South African side, and who has vowed to "destroy" the US in today's game. Why for, Davide? Seems the 25 yr-old Leeds player could've represented the USA through some quirk of birth, but was consistently overlooked by Bradley and the US coaching staff. I wanted to play for them so badly and they ignored me. I want to destroy them and it feels good. I am so pumped up for this match. Somma has only had two practices with Bafana Bafana, and admits he doesn't know much about the
In preparation for tomorrow's Brazil-Argentina "friendly", we in the CultFootball pressroom have been having some exchanges as to whether or not Ronaldinho's form warranted his call up to the side, especially after having been so unceremoniously dumped for the summer's big tourney in S. Africa. Mark Gannon, our man in Brazil, lays it out plainly below. The best player in the world: ~2003-2007 I watched the season of The Simpsons after Conan O'Brien left to take over Late Night, but I didn't like it, so I stopped watching the show. The next year, friends started telling me about episodes that actually sounded good. It seemed like the show might actually be back on track, so I thought I might try to watch it again. I'd still forget to tune in most of the time, and on the occasions when I did, it sucked. But frequently, when I didn't watch, my friends would tell me
More on the who's and what's later today and early tomorrow before the afternoon game in South Africa, but for now here's the official roster (includes a couple local boys for the NY Red Bulls who are getting their first senior team call-ups, and rightly deserved). Players Pos. Ht. Wt. Birthdate Hometown Club/College Caps/Goals Agbossoumonde, Gale D 6-2 185 11/17/91 Syracuse, N.Y. Estoril Praia (Portugal) 0/0 Agudelo, Juan F 6-0 180 11/23/92 Barnegat, N.J. New York Red Bulls 0/0 Bedoya, Alejandro M 5-10 160 04/29/87 Westin, Fla. Örebro (Sweden) 5/0 Borchers, Nat D 6-2 175 04/13/81 Tucson, Ariz. Real Salt Lake 2/0 Bornstein, Jonathan D 5-9 145 11/07/84 Los Alamitos, Calif. Chivas USA 35/2 Bunbury, Teal F 6-2 175 02/27/90 Prior Lake, Minn. Kansas City Wizards 0/0 Carroll, Brian M 5-10 155 07/20/81 Springfield, Va. Columbus Crew 7/0 Cervi, Dominic GK 6-6 205 07/09/86 Norman, Okla. Celtic (Scotland) 0/0 Diskerud,
Wednesday brings a number of full slate of international friendlies--some 20 matches, taking place all over the globe. See here for the full list of fixtures--for those of us in the US a few the most attractive matchups will be broadcast live: Brazil-Argentina (12pmET on ESPN2 & ESPN Deportes; tape at 10pmET on ESPN Deportes): The big one of the day! The South American rivals meet in a neutral location--Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar. South Africa-USA (2pmET on ESPN2, ESPN Deportes & Galavision): The USMNT returns to South Africa to face the World Cup hosts in Cape Town. England-France (3pmET Fox Soccer Channel): live from Wembley! Portugal-Spain (4pmET on ESPN Deportes; tape at 8pmET on ESPN Deportes): The World Cup champions will travel to Estadio do Luz in Lisbon to meet their Iberian rivals. Except for the England-France match, the above matches plus a handful more will be streamed
Asamoah Gyan's School of Dance Up until a couple weeks ago, it seemed as if Chelsea were going to run away with the Premier League title (even the Special One chimed in all the way from Madrid to that effect!), as they rolled through the first 10 games of the season: 8 wins (a few of them blowouts), a draw, and a hard-fought 1-0 loss to Man City. Then came a surprising 2-0 loss to Liverpool. Perhaps that could be explained away: the game was away at Anfield Park, Liverpool is actually a "big club" (according to tradition if not the current table), and Fernando Torres suddenly rediscovered his scoring touch. But after yesterday's shocking result--a 3-0 loss at home to Sunderland!--Chelsea no longer looks invincible, and we have at least a 3-horse race for the title. Sunderland had performed doggedly but modestly through their first
I'm telling you, it was THIS BIG Milan beat Inter yesterday in the 175th Derby della Madonnina, 1-0 from a penalty taken by Ibrahimovic in the 5th minute (or around the 5th minute, very early at least). It was a rough game, with both sides playing very physically. The Rossoneri were more determined to sit in defense and disrupt Inter's attack, though they did put together some dangerous movement in the final third, while Inter never looked like they would score, their attack fizzling consistently before reaching the danger area. This was in no small part due to Gattuso's doggedness and complete disregard for personal safety. There were plenty of points to consider in the game: Ibrahimovic sending Materazzi to the hospital, the bench-warming skills of Ronaldinho, the speed and strength of my new favorite Milan player Kevin-Prince Boateng...but let's focus on Inter's coach instead. Benitez
Yo tengo una tía que toca la guitarra! Madrid kept their season motoring along with a determined win against a stubborn Gijón over the weekend. Gritty defending from the team ranked just above the relegation zone made Madrid work hard to find entry, and the goal only came late in the match, with Higuaín tapping in a deflected Benzema header right at the goal mouth. Notable absence at pitch-side was Jose Mourinho, who is serving a two-match ban for abusing the officials in his last outing. The camera occasionally focused on him high in an executive suite, where he looked generally unhappy. He'll be back in time for El Clásico, no worries. Otherwise it was a plain affair, made a bit livelier by some guardian insight on facial hair: For those who don't know him, Manolo Preciado has the most magnificent moustache known to managers. The
As per our custom, some prime picks from the full listings provided by Steven Goff at the Washington Post. If you see one match this weekend... Saturday Juventus-Roma 2:30 p.m. FSC: Matchup between two giants who aren't up to form this season. Both are looking to hit the turning point before the impending holiday break. Barça-Villarreal 4pm ESPN Deportes: In-form Villarreal are hanging onto the coat-tails of the big two and they make the trip to the Nou Camp on Saturday in third place and just two points behind Barça. Teaneck NJ-born Rossi & Brazilian Nilmar are the starting strikers and leading scorers, while Altidore has played in the Copa del Rey & Europa league, but has only one La Liga appearance. Newcastle-Fulham 5pm FSC: Andy Carroll at one end, Clint Dempsey at the other. No Joey Barton in the middle though, he's out in the
