Go ahead, take a little sniff. With the addition of Rafael Márquez, the NY Red Bulls have put together a team bound to impress. There's been a lot of atteniton thrown to the front line in the past few weeks, but Márquez is the piece that takes this team from contendor to champion. You'd think with Henry and Angel up top the wins would come with ease, but a potent attack isn't automatic, and holding a lead is not easy. Having seen some of the world's best offenses bearing down upon him, Márquez will sit either in the back line or just in front of it and look to interrupt the attacking motion. He'll also lend vision moving forward, starting counters with intelligently played balls and knowing when to settle the team into a patient attack. Classy players that they are, Henry and Angel are already
Let's get the hype going with a couple of quick links. Commentary to follow as the hour comes closer. The MLS and CONCACAF Champions League schedules aren't exactly friendly to Galaxy players right now (nor to Toronto's squad for that matter), and Bruce Arena has a player fitness angle to consider. The game is this Wednesday—that's tomorrow btw— and while United have about half a first team squad, they're still a force. Speaking of MLS and England coming together, Sir Alex has given a nod to Mr. Bradley potentially taking over the reins at Craven Cottage. Not so sure that's a great first move for the coach, but it would definitely cement Fulham as my EPL team of choice. Past the bump for the MLS squad. 2010 AT&T MLS All-Star Game Roster Goalkeepers (2): Donovan Ricketts (LA Galaxy), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake) Defenders (7): Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Jamison
New ‘Pool manager Roy Hodgson has waited patiently to hear from his Argentine holding midfielder who’s been vacationing after World Cup duty. His patience has paid off with an immediate transfer request from the snaggle-toothed hatchet man upon stepping foot inside the training facility. This isn’t exactly shocking news, and the Daily Star suggests plans are already in place for Inter to send Sulley Muntari northward, while Hodgson wants to also add Hammer Scott Parker with a share of the Mascherano proceeds. Better news about Torres, who is apparently happy to come back to the Reds: "As far as I know he is looking forward to coming back here on Monday," said Hodgson. "He is enjoying a holiday - a well-deserved break as he has not had one for three years - spending a lot of time with his family, keeping a low profile."
Just let me readjust my ball. I can't believe we're only coming across this site now. Part of the Spoiler network, Sporno is just the site you need when you want to prove to your soccer-hating friends that this really is an amazingly queer sport full of svelte Europeans rubbing their naked legs against one another. Sport tries its best to be clean, porno is always dirty. Sport is noble and healthy. Porno is always bad and wrong. Yet for all their efforts to keep a distance, they just can’t help running into each from time to time and making sporno, without meaning to at all. The Spoiler is a little like TMZ for footballers, though they haven't taken such a deep swig of celebrity Kool-Aid. The opposite maybe, but only because they put themselves first. Still, it's occasionally nice to be reminded that professional sport is only a distraction.
Great recap of Italian football conspiracy theories over at the Independent, work done by one John Hall, who looks all of 18 years old. For those of you who don’t know what the moviola is, its basically a hugely popular trial by slow motion where each and every aspect of the weekend’s games is replayed and replayed in glorious freeze-frame motion until the whole memory of the sporting weekend is tainted by controversy and conspiracy.
Macoumba Kandji - clearly looking to step up We just sat down after a full day in the city (pick up this morning in some serious heat on the Nike Fields in the LES, followed by dim sum at Ping's (22 Mott, on the recommendation of the Singaporean who organizes the aforementioned pickup game--good call), followed by an early beer at Der Schwarze Kolner back here in the neighborhood for a friend's birthday); just in time to see the New York Red Bulls kick off against Man City in the final game of the Barclays New York Challenge. (Unfortunately we missed seeing Sporting Clube of Portugal play both Fri night v Man City and in the first half of today's doubleheader in Harrison v Tottenham--of the Portuguese clubs, we're partial to SCP, just by fact of having visited their stadium last Oct in Lisbon, and having
"Let's lose the next and crash out of 2010, yes?" 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.
