The Scoop

Sorry , I've been out of the circle recently but, I've got my eyes and my toes with the missus! Nevertheless, there are some transfers around...
Roque Santa Cruz to Blackburn Rovers!

Enjoy Mates!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GMu1K1926c&mode=related&search=

everyone loves a little Mourinho.

Havin' a Laugh

I almost had a laugh when I read this...

"JERUSALEM, July 16 (Reuters) - Israel has presented its candidacy to host a major European soccer final in 2010 or 2011, the Israel Football Association said on Monday."

Not gonna happen.

Transfers

Ludovic Guily has signed a 3 year contract with AS Roma for €3.5M.

Jorge Andrade moved from Deportivo La Coruña to Juventus, who are building up their squad this season, for a cool €10M.

Argentina defender, Roberto Ayala made a u-turn from his agreement to join Villareal and signed with Real Zaragoza instead.

Hammers tell Tevez "NO"

West Ham have stalled the Carlitos Tevez transfer for the moment by not giving permission to go through with the Manchester United medical. This sort of nonsense doesn't help anyone involved.

Drogba seeking attention or serious???

Drogba quit stunner

By GARY PAYNE
July 17, 2007

COMMENT ON THIS STORY


DIDIER DROGBA has rocked Chelsea by admitting: I could still quit the club.

Barcelona and Porto have both shown interest in the Blues striker this summer.

And he could be away if an offer comes in that is too good to refuse — with AC Milan also keen to sign him.

Drogba, 29, said: “For now things are still fuzzy, not clear. Yet any good offer could tip the scale in another team’s favour.

"I have heard there are offers from Porto, Barca and the rest. But I’ve not made up my mind.

“There is no season I don’t have many offers. Yet as a disciplined player I look at my career, which is uppermost, and my family.

“I would love to stay in England. I want to improve on my last season’s performance and to win more titles in England.

“But any strong economic pull can make me change my mind.”

Jose Mourinho would almost certainly block any move for the Ivory Coast star, who hit 33 goals last term and signed a four-year deal worth £90,000 a week last November.

Even so, Drogba’s latest warning will come as music to AC Milan’s ears.

They admitted yesterday that he is on their list of five summer targets.

Drogba added: “I always give my team 100 per cent. But if I feel I’m not being taken care of, I quit.”

Top 20

The Telegraph rates the 20 finest matches ever played. The following are the top 5.

5. Hungary 4 Uruguay 2
World Cup semi-final, La Pontaise stadium, Lausanne, June 30, 1954
4. West Germany 3 France 3
(West Germany 5-4 on pens)
World Cup semi-final, Sanchez Pizjuan stadium, Seville, July 8, 1982
3. Real Madrid 7 Eintracht Frankfurt 3
European Cup final, Hampden Park, Glasgow, May 18, 1960
2. Liverpool 3 Milan 3
(Liverpool 3-2 on pens)
Champions League final, Ataturk stadium, Istanbul, May 25, 2005
1. Italy 4 West Germany 3
World Cup semi-final, Azteca stadium, Mexico City, June 17, 1970

Interview with Laurent Blanc

As some of you know I sometimes post interviews up here for you to read. This isn't one of the, shall we say, 'beefier' ones, but Mssr. Laurent Blanc was a key part in the great France squad of the late 90's and his honours frankly speak for themselves. So, I figured some of you may want to read it. Here it is.

Sub-20 World Cup

Here is a small article about the fall of the "Fantastic Four"? Now I don't know about the US being part of a supposed "Fantastic Four" as I was quite surprised at their accomplishments these past weeks. I think they did quite well and looked solid in the process. Then again, we all have our own opinions.

The Scoop

Roy Keane has signed Kieran Richardson from Manchester United. I think this is a good move for Roy. Keiran is a good player, and did fairly decent at United. He should stand out at Sunderland where he'll get alot more pitch time.

Jerzy Dudek is on the verge of a move to Real Madrid where he plans on ousting Iker Casillas for a starting position I suppose. I think there is a Polish joke in here somewhere?

I have no clue what is going through Rafa's head, but he's the boss, so ehhhh? What is one to say? He's still in the market for an extremely slow right back, Gabriel Heinze. Personally, I think it's a poor choice...especially for and outrageous £6M! Don't do it Rafa! We already have a useless Palletta! We don't need a useless Heinze! Yikes!

Chelsea want to recoup some of their lost SWP money by selling Dutch winger, Arjen Robben to Real Madrid for a cool £17M.

Hammers are upping their price for Tottenham/England striker, Jermaine Defoe to £14M.

Villa sign another former Hammer. A pretty good one too. Marlon Harewood joined Nigel Reo-Coker at Aston Villa today.

Tottenham are planning a £12M swoop on Chelsea utility player Shaun Wright-Phillips.

Copa America

Brazil beat Argentina two years in a row now in the Copa America Finale. This year it was Brazil 3- 0 Argentina in what was a very uninspiring display from the Argies. Pick yourselves up and wipe off that dirt from those lovely blue and whites and get on with it. You can play much better than that. To be fair there Baptista and Alves had really nice goals. Wagner Love set that final goal up like a maestro!

Ouch!

Fabio Aurelio looks to be on the injured list at the start of next season.

The Scoop

A while back we scooped a transfer rumour that Rodrigo Palacio would be heading to Barcelona, but after all their transfers that have come through in the interim, it seems Arsenal may take a shot at the Boca Junior striker for £15M.

Holy Smokes! Look who's upped his stock and made the news pages again. Freddy Adu! This time it seems Tottenham Hotspur are looking to swoop in for his signature. Make the move now...and bring Altidore with you!

The Scoop

Carlitos Tevez will be in Manchester for a medical next Tuesday. I assume he will be on loan (with Manchester United) afterwards as Mascherano is with us (Liverpool) at the moment. The finalization will come later on as there is just too much dodgey business that went on with the original Argentinian transactions to West Ham. Not to mention the FA is looking over shoulders at the moment. Bloody wankers (West Ham, not, well, sure, the FA as well)!

Northern Ireland's David Healy has signed for Fulham for a bargain £1M. They also bagged Paul Konchesky today too.

Becks in LA

David Beckham will be presented tomorrow at the Home Depot Center, where the Galaxy play their matches. They even got a new kit for him! Check it out. That's good because those other ones were awful. This one looks pretty clean though. Almost like Real Madrid's except for the yellow on there.

Sub-20 World Cup

United States 2 - 1 Uruguay
The U.S. advanced to the quarter finals of the Sub-20 World Cup yesterday with a late match winner from Michael Bradly.

Copa America

Argentina advanced to the Finale of the Copa America last night with yet another stunning performance from Juan Roman Riquelme and his compatriots.
Argentina 3 - 0 Mexico

The Scoop

Rafa Benitez has sealed the deals with Yossi Benayoun and Ryan Babel.

Real Madrid are in contact with Juan Roman Riquelme's handlers.

Sunderland have signed Michael Chopra from Cardiff City for £3.5M.

David Nugen and John Utaka signed for Pompey yesterday.

Javier Saviola is on the brink of a move to Real Madrid from Barcelona. Oooohhhh, what a kick in the huevos!

The Scoop

Cheslea have completed the signing of Florent Malouda from Olympique Lyonnais. I have a feeling Arjen Robben may be moving on to Real Madrid soon with this signing.

Arsenal will today complete the £7.5million signing of Auxerre defender Bakari Sagna and then make a £13m bid for Newcastle striker Obafemi Martins.

Rafa seems to have set his scope along with £13.5M on Dutch/Ajax midfielder, Ryan Babel.

Sven has made his first signing. Rolando Bianchi will sign for Manchester City from Serie A outfit, Reggina.

FRT's very own Mustafa Redonulous' prediction may have begun to bear some fruit with Khalid Boulahrouz on the verge of a transfer to Seville in a drop your loss transfer.

Jason Koumas will arrive at Wigan today for a record £5M.

The Scoop

Well, I was looking through the the premier French sporting website L'Equipe, to see if there was any ripping of the U20 Brazillian National side and found out that Yaya Toure made a move from Monaco to Barcelona under our Football Round Table noses.
UPDATE: Holy smokes! I should check the French sites more often as I found that Eric Abidal , the French International Defensman, made his move to Barcelona for €15M too. I don't think they took to losing La Liga on the last day of the season too well. I actually would have liked to see Rafa grab that boy.

Oh yeah, Djibril Cisse actually did leave Liverpool for L'OM yesterday, along with Bolo Zenden. No information is available yet on the deal.

We all knew this was coming...

Here comes the tidal wave of taking the piss on Sven from the English press. No doubt throughout the season it will turn into a full fledged tsunami.

I mean I don't blame them, hell, NOBODY can blame them, especially since he's been pocketing a cool £9,000 a DAY for the last year since he stepped down as England Manager. No doubt he learned that racket in Italy!

Stupid Rule UPDATE...

FIFA is backing down from its ban on international soccer matches in Bolivia's Capital of La Paz. Now if they will only trash the rest of this completely useless rule. What the hell were they thinking?

Sub-20 World Cup

USA 2 - 1 Brazil
"Freddy Adu set up two goals for Josmer Altidore as the United States claimed an unlikely three points against Brazil in Ottawa."
'Unlikely' my foot, I knew they were going to beat them. Check the post from yesterday!

50 Worst Premiership Players

The other day I found a 'Worst Eleven' list, but today I found the granddaddy...The 50 Worsts Premiership Players

5. Arnold Sidebottom (Manchester United)
4. Istvan Kozma (Liverpool)
3. Gus Caesar (Arsenal)
2. Thomas Brolin (Leeds United, Crystal Palace)
1. Ali Dia (Southampton)

Iain Dowie is in that list and they had a link to his finest goal...an extremely good own goal! I keep laughing at that one! It's pretty funny.

Done Deal

Sven Goran Eriksson is unveiled as new Manchester City boss as Thaksin Shinawatra is the proud new owner of Manchester City.

I think the title says it all

"South American soccer federation miffed at U.S. for sending 'B' team"

Fantasy Footie, Sir Alex Style

David McDonnell has an article from The Mirror on just that.

Wazza's aim is true

Copa America

Liverpool's very own Javier Mascherano banged home the match/group winner in today's Argentina vs. Paraguay Copa America match. Argentina won the tie 1 - 0 with that goal. Messi came in late in the match to supply a much needed boost.

Sub-20 World Cup

Today at 19:45 the USA will face Brazil. The winner of this match will guarantee it's passage through Group D in the tournament. I'm looking forward to this match. The USA will beat them, just watch!

The Scoop

Has the Premier League tossed a stick into the Manchester United spokes concerning the Carlitos Tevez transfer?
UPDATE: It seems the Manchester United legal teams have ironed out this minor bump in the road. Taking a page from the Liverpool/Mascherano transfer.

Will Rafa's aim be true when he fires off a bid for Portugeezer Ricardo Quaresma?
UPDATE: Porto tell Rafa to go talk to the bank and come back later as £15M just won't cut it. I wonder how much Porto has banked in the past 5 years by selling off players?

West Ham are reportedly going to sign the putter swinging Craig Bellamy from Liverpool for £9M. No confirmed reports if a full set golf balls will be included in this deal.

While Rafa has the transfer book open on his desk, it seems he is set to dump Bolo Zenden's pay packet off to L'OM. Along with Djibril Cisse.

Sheffield United are not giving up hope

Now, Sheffield United are taking the 'Tevez Issue' to a high court to try and get £50M in compensation.

Freddy Adu's Hat Trick

The other day the US Sub-20 team gave Poland a clinic on finishing with a 6 - 1 drubbing. I never thought I would pen those words. Nevertheless, here is Freddy Adu's hat trick. These are some nice goals too!

Tottenham Hotspur are trying to be a contender

They have a Hat Trick of signings (not one is a midfielder!) they just unveiled.
Younes Kaboul, Darren Bent and Gareth Bale.

The Scoop

Florent Malouda is on the verge of a Chelsea transfer.

FOOTBALL ROUND TABLE EXCLUSIVE (nicked from The Daily Mail): HOLY SMOKES! Is this true?

"Carlos Tevez last night agreed to join Manchester United in a permanent deal worth more than £20million."

I hope not! I hope not, for selfish reasons (I believe all of our 6 readers know this), but if he will be staying in the Premiership, that is a good thing. The Premiership already has lost a legend striker in Thierry Henry. That was quite a disappointment. With Carlitos Tevez staying in the Premiership, I believe it will open many doors throughout the world and open the Premiership up to the entire world.

Of course, Chelsea fancy their chances on Daniel Alves these days. They are such a third wheel!

Nigel Reo-Coker is now a Aston Villa player.

Everton have sealed their bid for Phil Jagielka.

Timo Hildebrand has switched from German Champions, Stuttgart to sunny Valencia. Good move Timo!

Told you I'm on it!

Our boy, Fernando Torres, is now a Liverpool player. I cannot wait to see him hone his skills in the Premiership! Again, nice job Rafa! I really hope we get our ROI on him. Score some goals my man, show the nay-sayers what you are about!

World Class and Above...

I was listening to the podcast of World Soccer Daily and they posed this to their audience.

"Would you get rid of Frank Lampard, given the chance?"

I would. I have to agree with Steven Cohen that Michael Essien would score the same amount playing in the same position as Frankie.

Frank is a fantastic player but his price is only going to go down from now onward. His value probably went down this year compared to last year as it is. Unless that boy scored 30 goals this year, he will not increase his valuation around Europe. Let's be serious, he's not going to bag 30 goals.

Personally, I think Michael Essien could play ANY position, including goalkeeper! I do not know, but I suspect he is the passionate player who just wants his boots on the pitch. That is what I like about him. That boy is happy for the minutes he plays, not where those minutes are played. World Class.

Premiership Worst Eleven

The other day I found an article about the finest of the Premiership. Today, it is the poorest of the Premiership signings. There is no order in this one though.

Yo Rafa, Extend Our Boy's Contract!

"The England forward (Peter Crouch) has two years left on his contract and has yet to be approached with an offer to extend, while others, such as Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Momo Sissoko, Xabi Alonso and Steve Finnan, have all held negotiations."

Oh! I'm shocked, just shocked!

West Ham will not be docked points and Sheffield United still got beat in that last match.

The Scoop

Fernando Torres has cut his holiday short and apparently passed the medical examination at Liverpool. He will be presented later on today. Nice! Now go get a winger Rafa!

Uh oh, this is no way to be a 'professional'...Benni McCarthy is a 'no-show' for Blackburn's pre-season training...bye the way, I still keep looking at the picture below! That should get the Pulitzer Prize for Photo Journalism!

Picture of the Day

Chile's National Team at Copa America with Rainbow and guest. I just may make this my wallpaper!

Copa America

Yesterday Roque Santa Cruz got some company atop the Copa America scoring charts from Robinho.
Brazil 3 - 0 Chile
Here are the goals.

There was another match witch was quite boring. Although, Omar Bravo scored a nice header to give Mexico the three points.
Mexico 2 - 1 Ecuador

The World's Top 50 Footballers

Gabriele Marcotti of the Times names his top 50 footballers these days.
His top 5 picks:

5. Micheal Essien
4. Samuel Eto'o
3. Christiano Ronaldo
2. Ronaldinho
1. Kaka

The Scoop

Louis Garcia has moved to Atletico Madrid, apparently paving way for a Fernando Torres move to Anfield. We'll keep you up to scratch on that move.

Arsenal get rid of Thierry Henry to Barcelona and promptly sign someone named Eduardo Da Silva.

West Ham United have signed Julien Faubert from Bordeaux for £6.1M.

Everton had to apologize for living in a dream world, claiming they landed Juan Roman Riquelme

Speed Demon, David Suazo signed for Inter Milan last week. Sorry to be 'Johnny Come Lately' on this slice of news, but well, you know. We'll definitely keep you up to snuff on the Torres deal. That I promise!