August 2009 Archives

Sevilla were down to 10 men as Frederic Kanoute was sent off for a challenge on Carlos Marchena in the first half. Andres Palop was under siege most of the time as Villa, Silva, Pablo, Mata and Banega swarmed the defense. It was Ever Banega, the moody ex-Boca midfielder that provided the spark for the two Valencia goals. Check out Pablo's exquisite finish of a Banega pass.

Banega was supposed to go to Everton taking over for the injured Mikel Arteta but I guess that is not happening.

From their website:

For the purposes of clarity and in order to correct early mis-reporting of his injury, Luka Modric suffered a fracture to his fibula on Saturday which does not require surgery and simply requires the wearing of an aircast protective boot.

It is anticipated Luka will be back in training after six weeks.

Ibra scores his debut goal. A pinpoint Dani Alves cross and the Swede made contact diving down to score with his head. An exclamation point after two other goals also headers. The first by Bojan of a Xavi corner and then Keita soaring high to head home another Alves cross.

Barca start their Liga defense in impressive fashion. Spotted Jose Mourinho in the stands. Was he checking out Ibra, wondering if he had made the right move?

The Nehru Cup (International Football Tournament) is a tournament organized by the All India Football Federation. It was launched in 1982, but was not held between 1998 and 2007. After the trophy was won by the Iraq in 1997, it was reinstated only in 2007.
India - whose current FIFA ranking is 156 beat Syria who are ranked 95.
So that's a bit of cheer for a team that is being called the worst in the world.
That accolade comes from Simon Kuper and leading sports economist Stefan Szymanski.They have called India the wooden spooners of global football arriving at the conclusion by factoring in variables such as population, GDP and football experience.
However despite them having come to such a gloomy and depressing conclusion this victory gives India coach Bob Houghton a hat-trick of titles. He earlier guided the team to the last Nehru Cup crown in 2007 and to the AFC Cup Challenge in 2008.
What was it that Aragorn said ?...."There's always hope"

How low can you go ?This has to be the most likely winning candidate for this particular record. Paul Scharner for Wigan against Everton.A little lower and he would have been ploughing a furrow in the ground with his nose.

The greatest sprinter in history kicks off for Real Madrid's opening game for the new season.All part of Real Madrid's strategy to race ahead of Barcelona this season.

What is anti-football?

Paul Dirac's thesis that there exists anti-matter, i.e., the opposite of normal matter, was proven right by the discovery of a number of anti-particles. Positrons, anti-protons, and even anti-atoms have been discovered. When matter and anti-matter collide they produce explosions of pure energy and both particles are completely destroyed. We can create such anti matter by smashing atoms at high speeds through accelerators.

Arsene Wenger has a physicists sensibility.

He claims to have discovered anti-football and it is at Old Trafford. When anti-football and football collide then it produces bookings and penalties. In this case, there were nine bookings and one penalty. The balance was not to Wenger's liking. In the field of particle physics, matter always scores out against anti-matter because there are such few anti-particles. However, in football the opposite holds true because there is a phenomenon called Old Trafford-ish. It creates more anti-football and it can overwhelm football as it did Arsenal this weekend.

Yes, we were the recipients of some harsh bookings, a non-call on a clear penalty, and a possible bogus penalty call but to call it anti-football is a bit over the top. Its the same reaction to Eduardo's dive which Wenger is so quick to point out. Sir Alex might have come up with an enforcement plan for Fletcher to execute; unaesthetic certainly but hardly illegal. Arsenal still gets the majority of the blame for not winning this match. I say this as a fan.

After walloping league leading Dagenham the Magpies lose to Barnet, 0-1 this weekend and lie in 5th place in League 2. Their first speed bump came against Chesterfield, losing 1-2 after a cracking start against Bradford and Macclesfield scoring nine goals and none against.

Sol Campbell was signed five days ago but did not play.

An unusual goal. Becks talks about it:

"I didn't anticipate the ball bouncing and going through the way it did," Beckham said. "With it being a (humid) night and a wet pitch, I knew I had to hit it down because it was bouncing awkwardly. Sometimes they can end up in the crowd, but thankfully it ended up in the back of the net."

The Galaxy are right behind Houston in the Western division. They won against Chivas in the Super Clasico at home. Interestingly they are stronger on the road, one of only two MLS teams to have a winning record and a positive goal differential, the other being Chicago.

La Gazzetta Dello Sport profiles Jozy Altidore under this headline.

It is the usual missive on his massive presence.

What's intriguing is that he is juxtaposed against Freddy Adu.

Altidore's move to Hull is seen as a step in the right direction whereas Adu's European perambulations are going nowhere. It is even more strange given that Adu is just a year older than Altidore and still is part of the USMNT although his Gold Cup recall was driven by Bob Bradley's desire to see him improve his form.

What a difference two years makes. It seems just yesterday that Adu helped Altidore score two goals in a memorable win against Brazil in the U-20 World Cup. Yet, here we are and Adu has already become a byword in unfulfilled promise and fading prospects.

"The goal is to avoid becoming "the new Adu", given that poor Freddy seems destined to remain a great promise unfulfilled."

"The fact is that today Altidore is the most interesting player in the U.S. landscape."

What a difference a goal can make. Altidore's Drogba like performance against Spain in the Confederations Cup semi-finals created international shockwaves. Suddenly the Spanish media that did not give him the time of day while at Villareal were hailing the new Beast. Reactions by his team mates especially Joan Capdevila were sought and clubs came calling taken by his physical presence.

However, it is useful to keep all of this in perspective because before this rejuvenation his career trajectory was uncannily similar to that of Adu's. Altidore was heading towards insignificance with his Villareal career, shunted to second division Jerez where prospects did not improve. Adu's move to Benfica saw little action and he was traded to Monaco where he again drifted in and out of the first team.

Adu has to rebuild his career and get regular first team action. He is hamstrung by the fact that he has to compete with a group of established attacking midfielders who take precedence over him in national appearances. He has to figure whether he wants to be a big fish across the pond or if he wants another lifeline in the Mediterranean. The smart move might be coming back to the MLS. Ask Landon Donovan. Otherwise articles about his premature demise will keep on coming.

It is already the Juventus of Diego.

The club maybe able to complete its remarkable turnaround since its return to Serie A in 2007 by challenging Inter for the Scudetto this year. If they win, it will be in no small part to their Brazilian imports, especially Diego.

Diego's two goals and Felipe Melo's injury time score finished off a Roma side which lost two games in a row but not its character. They still have Daniele De Rossi whose cracking shot from 30 yards out will probably make the best 10 goals. It came after Marco Cassatti's momentary lapse of reason gifted Diego the ball and the Brazilian maestro outran three Juve defenders giving chase before putting the ball past Julio Sergio.

Diego's trickery disoriented Phillipe Mexes and led to even better second goal. This was a very good Roma side who kept Buffon on his toes. Francisco Totti and Mirko Vucinic both had very clear chances. This should be considered a significant victory.

Have at it before the video is removed (7+ minutes).

Bayern had to be at its best to keep away Grafite and Dzeko away and Joerg Butt came up with some excellent saves. But the day belonged to Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben. The French attacking midfielder who came on in the second half and the Dutch winger in Van Gaal's 4-3-3 formation combined impeccably to rip the Wolfsburg defense with precision passing and clinical finishes.

Robben showed no signs of slowing down. At age 25, he is shrugging off a ball hog mentality. His truly great days lie ahead if he can remain healthy.

Arjen Robben announced his Bundesliga arrival by scoring a brace in Bayern's 3-0 win against Wolfsburg.

Wesley Sneijder was put into action right away by Jose Mourinho in Inter's blowout of Milan. Later, Mou praised him saying that Sneijder was an essential part of bringing balance to the club.

Earlier on, Sneijder hinted at Real's bad behaviour.

What happened with me is very strange," said Sneijder. "They (Real Madrid) treated me very badly but to tell the truth I would prefer not to talk about it."

How long before the Dutch exodus make Real fans long for those days?

Not a lot of love going on for Leonardo, Adriano Galliani, and Silvio Berlusconi after Milan's collapse to Inter.

Berlusconi's call "Milan, believe in yourselves" is answered with derision.

Believe what? The tales of Santa Claus?

But when will we begin to wake up and not give 'even one euro' to this team as long there is Galliani and Berlusconi?

Leo is an incompetent, the proof is that he always asks Tassotti what to do.

I feel sorry for Leonardo but nobody expects him to perform miracles with these players. Except Berlusconi: the one who has not yet realized the potential of this team is Berlusconi, the dreamer, in the true sense of the word!

No, Cristiano Ronaldo did not steal the show in Real's opening encounter against Deportivo. Nor did Karim Benzema.

The attacking punch came from Lassana Diarra who orchestrated moves deep in midfield. The French holding midfielder scored the winning goal and provided the assist that led to Ronaldo's PK. The penalty was the only highlight in the former Man Utd man's otherwise forgettable debut. Raul scored one opportune goal and was involved in the penalty that led to Ronaldo opening his account.

In a continuing theme from pre-season which saw Arjen Robben, Gonzalo Higuain, and Xabi Alonso shine, the old guard and the lesser lights combined to distract from the real story: Real's porous defense which gave away two goals.

Ezekiel Garay and Raul Albiol were woeful. Riki rose above the earthbound Garay and Albiol to head home. Then Andres Guardado's cross was neatly trapped by Valeron who shot home as the defense was again caught napping. Real should be bolstered by the return of Sergio Ramos and Pepe but if this match makes one thing clear, defense is an afterthought. Manuel Pellegrini should not expect Fiorentino Perez's attitude to be any different from his Galacticos days.

Jose Semano of El Pais reacts to Real's performance:

"Florentino Perez always idolized Madrid from his childhood, of Kopa-Rial-Di Stefano-Puskas-Gento: five forwards."

"Madrid were struggling to dictate the game and obviously won't be a balanced and well calibrated side anytime soon but their box of tricks is limitless."

All well and good. But what makes one think that the attack will bail out the defense. As Chelsea showed in the first leg of the CL semi-final against Barca, there are ways of dealing with a potent offense. Some of the smaller clubs will do exactly that as Real tries to overwhelm them. Such exertions have cumulative effects later in the season. A group of talented soloists are always exciting to watch but it is as a team that you win. Barca has found that balance and nothing that Real produced today suggests that they are ready to displace the Catalunyan club.

Good for him. The farce that followed was painful to watch.

My impression, Almunia is going for the ball which bounced away from his hands. He did not deliberately bring down Rooney. Notice Rooney's trailing left leg, it is dragging deep on the pitch which suggests that he was already going down much before contact having already lost control of the ball. So it is he who should have been booked. Mike Dean got this wrong too.

Again, this shows why video technology is so important.

Hat tip to Harsh who sent this.

Apart from the couple of times that the Bolton team wandered up the field to score their two goals the game was played entirely around their own penalty area.Liverpool buzzed around and up and down and round and round the Bolton goal like a swarm of red bees searching for a missing hive.Gerrard bought an end to the frenzied search for a winner by finally managing to put the ball past the goalkeeper after 83 long minutes of buzzing around.Bolton were held hostage in their own half for so long that there was a serious possibility of the entire team succumbing to the the stockholm syndrome.Goals here..

The clash of the Milans proved to be a bit of an embarassment for AC Milan.Inter stormed to a four zero win.Goals from Thiago Motta, Diego Milito and Maicon gave Inter a 3-0 lead at half-time and Dejan Stankovic added a fourth midway through the second half.Mourinho,gracious in victory as usual,said with characteristic humility - "We should have scored more"

Wenger got sent off the field for kicking a water bottle.Van Persie's last gasp goal had been ruled offside.Who wouldn't have kicked a water bottle at that?In fact,in the light of all the frustration that preceded that offside call,all credit must be given to Wenger for only kicking a water bottle and not kicking anything else. But a self righteous rule book toting fourth official thought otherwise.He complained to the ref who then gave Wenger his marching orders.If ever there was a fourth official who needed to be kicked where it matters it was him (or do I mean he?).However Wenger restrained himself and moved off into the Man U portion of the stands in a dignified manner.This was also found unacceptable to the official and the farce continued till Wenger moved into an area that the rule book allowed water bottle kicking managers to stand in after they had been sent off.In the first half Arshavin was brought down in the penalty area-shortly before he scored that brilliant goal.The ref didn't see anything that violated the rules and a legitimate penalty was denied.Not exactly a game where the officials covered themselves with glory for being impartial and accurate and objective in their decisions.

If we can take anything from this match, it is this: Man Utd will have to rely on such huge slices of luck if they want to win the Premiership.

For Arsenal, even the best laid plans can go awry. As shown admirably by Abou Diaby.

Discipline has never been a friend of the young no matter how talented.

One moment of madness and Man Utd were two goals to the good in a matter of minutes. I can only feel for Arsene Wenger who looked like someone had landed a blow right to the solar plexus. Till then Utd had done very little. In fact, Arshavin's stinging shot that flew past Ben Foster's hands was a perfect summation of the Gunners dominance.

Emmanuel Eboue showed why he should be Wenger's next transfer project. His booking over a foolish dive with Eduardo's hot of the presses incident shows a clueless player. It is dangerous because it can harden negative perceptions of a team.

These lapses should concern Wenger. The time for moral victories is over. Arsenal might have been a better team but these moments of indiscipline proved costly.

Manchester United v Arsenal

Saturday, August 29, 2009, 17:15

Cesc Fabregas is out which is a big loss but we know that the Gunners can win without him.

His absence makes the Gunners less predictable in their pace setting. The CL encounter which Man Utd handily won was largely due to their successful disruption of Arsenal's passing game as the busy legs of Evra, Rooney, Park Ji Sung, and Fletcher set up a series of blockades taking away the passing lanes with their swift tackles and interceptions. It was only late in the match that Arsenal was able to muster up some coherence but by that time it was too late.

Cristiano Ronaldo's ability to up the tempo seemingly at will meant that Man Utd was most dangerous during lapses and lulls. Fast counterattacks and opportune spells of domination especially in the beginning of the match and towards the ends of the halves.

This season has been up and down with a desultory win over Birmingham, a shocking loss to Burnley, and a second half flurry of goals that buried Wigan. The strand in this inconsistency is Wayne Rooney's over due fulfillment as a potent inside threat. He scored his 100th and 101st goal against Wigan and leads with three league goals. Sir Alex will be looking to him to deliver.

For the Gunners, there are encouraging signs that their defense is gelling. William Gallas and Thomas Vermaelen have successfully formed a physical presence in the center, Rooney and Owen's sweet spot. They have also been impressive in set pieces adding to Arsenal's varied goalscoring sources. Alexander Song, the most improved player has been robust in center midfield and will need to continue his form against Nani, Scholes, and Rooney.

A win at Old Trafford will be an emphatic affirmation of the Gunners trajectory, a loss will open up questions against quality opposition. Wenger's theme of frugality, emphasis on youthful talent, and the loss of seemingly indispensable players will once more be put to the test. The good part is that the club they face are also undergoing a seismic shift after years of stability.

Prediction: Arsenal wins 2-1.

"What matters is that when the people voted, he came second behind me. Nobody can take that away from me." Maradona
The latest chapter in this Argentine Brazilian story is set to be written on the 5th of September.It's getting to be quite a saga now. Here's an excerpt from an earlier chapter found on wikipedia..
FIFA conducted a fan poll on the Internet in 2000, to elect the Player of the Century. Maradona finished top of the poll with 53.6% of the vote. Subsequently, however, and contrary to the original announcement of how the award would be decided, FIFA appointed a "Football Family" committee of football experts that voted to award Pelé the title. Maradona protested at the change in procedure, and declared he would not attend the ceremony if Pelé replaced him. Eventually, two awards were made, one to each of the pair. Maradona accepted his prize, but left the ceremony without waiting to see Pelé receive his accolade.
The internet poll gave Maradona 53.6% of the votes.Pele came a poor second with 18.5% of the votes.The "experts poll" gave Pele first place with 1705 votes.Maradona came fifth with 1214 votes - Cruyff,Beckenbauer and Alfredo di Stefano got more votes than him.The FIFA magazine and Grand Jury gave Pele first place also with 72.8% of the vote.Maradona came third with 6% of the vote.Di Stefano was in 2nd place.
However the rivalry theme of this saga is getting a bit boring.Too many chapters with the same premise.The story needs some new ideas or some twists in the plot....!

A sickening tackle on Eduardo more than 18 months ago leaves him a doorstep from a permanent end to his career.

Clips of his mangled ankle with the bone protruding out is replayed again and again, evoking a visceral reaction of horror and disgust that fails to lessen in intensity each time its shown. The culprit Martin Taylor is given a 3 game ban and the FA turns down FIFA's request for increasing the number of matches that he should sit out. The FA divines there is no intent in the player's part to cause grievous harm.

"Serious foul play carries a three-match ban and the only cases where that has been increased is where there has been a clear case of intent and no-one is suggesting that happened in this case."

Fast forward to the present times, as Eduardo is penalized for his dive by UEFA against Ceeltic and assessed a two match ban. The association decides that in this case there is intent to deceive the referee.

Uefa has studied the video footage and concluded that Eduardo has a charge of "deceiving the referee" to answer.

A potential career ending injury results in a three match ban whereas a dive that has no material bearing on a match brings on a two match ban. Taylor's intent was not to cause Eduardo injury but he did anyway and horrifically. Eduardo's intent was not to deceive but the referee was deceived anyway resulting in a PK.

English managers came to the fore to defend Taylor as a player without malicious intent. It was also quite obvious that the FA was in damage control mode. Unlike Eduardo, Taylor never had to answer to them even as a minimum requirement.

See, even Steven Gerrard had no intention of rearranging Malcolm McGee's face. It happened anyway for which his friends are serving time. Its self defense in Gerrard's case and affray for his buddies. It is small wonder that Gerrard's self entitlement has roots in the punditry who have chosen to turn a blind eye to his diving.

Divining intent is untidy, circumstantial, and ultimately biased. The narrative depends on who writes it as Edward Said so eloquently pointed out in his treatise Orientalism. In this case video technology can be used to evaluate deception whereas Neil Warnock can scream till he is blue in his face on a legitimate goal disallowed. Eduardo is not English and no one likes Warnock.

Eduardo could have been slapped with a fine. UEFA chose the politically expedient route of assigning intent over context. I wonder if the FA will step in just as they did Taylor and defend Eduardo. Something tells me I should not hold my breath.

More silver.Barcelona claimed a late victory over Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Super Cup in Monaco.The goal came from Pedro Rodríguez in the 115th minute.Zlatan Ibrahimovic is still getting warmed up and didn't do anything particularly spectacular.Messi on the other hand,for whom spectacular is normal, did his usual stuff,a pass from him setting up the goal for Rodríguez.

Eduardo's dive might have been despicable but here is a video of Steven Gerrard elevating it to an art form. Its the complete package. No one talks of the Liverpool talisman because it provides a different narrative from foreign footballers ruining the English league with their cheating ways.

I suppose Eduardo's dive fits well with Mark Hughes xenophobic description of what Arsenal does as ' a touch of the dark arts.' It might explain the over the top reaction.

His first strike in Man City colours..........

Accusations and speculations and the growing possiblity of a two match ban..

...with a first half hat trick over Anderlecht,showing Lyon fans that there is life after Karim Benzema.

There's a crusader-ish kind of flavour to this Adidas Ad.Best understood if you speak Portuguese- or is it Spanish I'm thinking of ? No that's Portuguese.
Scary anyway...........!

Brilliantly described as follows...

Eduardo came up with this against Celtic to claim a penalty,a goal and subsequent calls for a UEFA ban - for cheating.

Arsenal Cheats - Click here for more blooper videos

Remember this goal against Arsenal? Remember that unbelievable debut hat-trick ? He was going to be the next legend .And then he went and got lost somewhere in Cristiano Ronaldo's shadow.
Now maybe he's going to live up to all the hopes and fill that Ronaldo shaped vacuum in the Man U forward line.He's been in the zone long enough.

Their first loss at Anfield in the league in 32 matches was made worse by the fact that they have already lost as many league games this season as they did in the whole of last term.Benítez had called on Liverpool to make Anfield a fortress but the fortress is looking a bit weak in the foundations and it has been breached..

A good sign for Dunga’s Brazil.

Now let’s hope the Milan fans keep Ronnie out of the clubs as Shourin had pointed out earlier…

The world of football swirls on.

Rooney scores his 101st goal, Ronaldinho announces his revival with a delectable bicycle kick which would have sent the Serie into raptures had it worked, our prayers are with Calum Davenport, Liverpool slides down further with a defeat to Villa, and Lescott is finally traded to City.

Meanwhile the parental units are visiting, so I will be tied down for a bit.

But wild horses won't keep me away from the big showdown between Arsenal and Man Utd this weekend.

Till then, my friends!

Kaka Real Madrid from rocoyprus on Vimeo.

More shiny stuff in the Barcelona trophy cupboard. Two goals from Messi and one from Bojan Krkic gave them the Spanish Supercup with a 5 - 1 aggregate score against Athletic Bilbao.Picture of Guardiola looking really happy here..

Well the hope that Chelsea would beat Fulham by three goals so that the headline could be even more like "The taking of Pelham 1 2 3 " didn't materialise and I have to be content with the way it reads now. Goals by Drogba and by Anelka below....
The video replays showed that in the first goal the top part of Drogba's body was offside when the pass was made - he was leaning forward.His feet were onside.
How does a linesman deal with that...???

Link:

Meanwhile over at Serie A a number of Siena players were seriously incensed with Alexandre Pato's antics after being the two goal hero of the game that they lost 2 -1.Not sure what he actually did but it apparently had something to do with his sticking his tongue out...?

All the goals of the Man U - Wigan game here..

The head, his arse, and now the chin. We wait with bated breath for William Gallas to use his codpiece for the next goal.

A bit grainy in quality.

But there is no mistaking Eduardo's delectable change of speed and pinpoint cross which finds the arriving Diaby for a nice summation. A second even simpler Diaby goal follows before Pompey answers through Younes Kaboul. I see a problem. Almunia reacts too late and then is not physical enough to challenge Kaboul, who literally flies over him to head the ball down.

Its Gallas's chin which connects on the third goal and then RVP threads a pass that Fabregas would have been proud of for Aaron Ramsey's goal.

Don't get me wrong. I am very happy that Abou Diaby and William Gallas are on the leader board as far as scoring goals is concerned. As long as Arsenal wins, it does not make an ounce of difference who scores the goals. But here we are three games into the season with three wins and 12 goals scored.

Robin Van Persie: Zero
Andriy Arshavin: Zero
Nicklas Bendtner: Zero

These are the front 3 in the 4-3-3 formation that Wenger has thrown at the opposition.

When you peel off the facade, the threat lies elsewhere. Arsenal's scoring:

The back four with four goals: Gallas having scored three with three different body parts (I believe only the crotch is left) and Vermaelen. Even that one own goal should actually be credited to Clichy

The midfield: Six goals with Fabregas, Diaby, Ramsey, and Denilson sharing honours. .

The only goal that a frontman has scored belongs to Eduardo. There are eight different players who have contributed to the twelve goals scored.

Now this is not to say that RVP, Arshavin, and Bendtner have been spectators in this goal fest. They have had their chances and Arshavin came close. RVP has had a hand in three goals. But if you were to tell me that RVP and Fabregas were going to be tied for assists then it is time take a big gulp which is what I am doing right now. As hard as it is for me, it is downright disorienting for the other teams with all these role reversals.

See Wenger's front three are actually goal providers even though they are listed as strikers and Gallas ostensibly a defender is actually a goal scorer. So is Vermaelen but he is both. Fabregas who should be in Milan and Barca simultaneously is secretly at Arsenal. He is like Dr Manhattan of the Watchmen. But behind him is it Diaby or is it Song? I thought I saw Eboue darting ahead but wasn't that supposed to be Sagna. Is it going to be Arshavin or Clichy down that left flank and can we talk of them in the same breadth?

It's going to get even better when Walcott, Rosicky, and Nasri come back. Because that will add to the confusion. And so will Jack Wilshere.

Meanwhile the rest of the clubs are on track with few surprises as to their goal scorers. It is Wayne Rooney, Emmanuel Adebayor, Didier Drogba, Fernando Torres, Jermain Defoe, and Darren Bent.

Barclays Premier League
Venue: Emirates Stadium Date: Saturday 22 August Kick-off: 1500 BST

Head-to-head

• Arsenal are unbeaten in the last 19 league and cup matches against Portsmouth (W11, D8).

• Portsmouth last beat Arsenal in March 1958, a 5-4 home win in the old First Division. Their last win at Arsenal was in September 1955.

Last time Arsenal met Portsmouth Carlos Vela scored his first goal in the Premiership and Nicklas Bendtner added two more. Vela strangely enough has dropped out of sight although he was a big part of Mexico's win against the USA in the Gold Cup and the World Cup qualifier, so there is evidence that he does exist.

Clubs like Pompey can potentially trip up Arsenal just like Hull did last season at the Emirates. The Gunners never really recovered from that loss.

"Last year if you look well we got a big blow against Hull at home because if we won that game we would have been top of the league," recalled Wenger.

"On that day we didn't do it and we never came back to the top of the league the whole season. We lost ground."

Injury update: Vela is out with an ankle injury. Eduardo might see action.

Glen Johnson might end up proving his critics wrong.

Amongst them Arsenal's Paul Merson.

"I've got nothing against the player, I think he was outstanding for Portsmouth last year, but I just don't think you should be spending that amount of money on somebody who plays at right-back."

So far the right wing back has proven to be an outstanding acquisition.

The beautiful Moses Mabhida stadium nearing completion

Durban's ambitions don't stop at just the World Cup.

"City officials aim to turn Durban into Africa's capital for sports, entertainment and other events and make no secret of their ultimate target - to host the Olympics."

The centerpiece of this venture is the 60, 000 seat state of the art Moises Mahbida stadium. With its distinctive arch that spans 350-metres (1,150 foot) long arch, shaped like the Y on South Africa's flag, symbolising the unity of a long-divided nation.

The city plans to push for the 2020 or 2024 Olympics. In the meantime, officials are trying to persuade the Sharks, the rugby team to move to the stadium once the World Cup is over.

Stuart Pearce's decision to play Theo Walcott in the Euro U-21 has come in for criticism from Arsene Wenger as the Arsenal midfielder continues to be sidelined by a back strain. He has been ruled out for the big match on August 29th against Man Utd as well as England's World Cup qualifier against Croatia on September 9th.

Wenger said:

"It was a selfish decision by Pearce, he just wanted the results. I spoke to Capello and him and expressed my point of view to them."

The extended time away on national duty has led to Walcott spending less time preparing for the arduous Premiership season and his back problems might be a result of that inadequate preparation. It needs time to heal and once the season begins there is always pressure to rush the player back. As Wenger mentions, it is not just a loss for Arsenal but England too pay the price.

I think the verdict is mixed. Which manager does not want results. Although seeing England getting thrashed by Germany one does not know what Pearce actually wanted. But Walcott is at that cusp, at that age and as proven against Croatia last time around, a rare entity; a U21 player enjoying national success. It inflates expectations at both ends. Lets face it why would Pearce not pick him?

Unfortunately he also happens to be very injury prone. He also is the only Gunner to make the national squad in recent times, the most visible evidence of Wenger's claim to a generation of indigenous players being spawned in his backyard. I think there are a number of strands here. Wenger might be venting but are Pearce and Capello at fault? Hardly.

The Hong Kong businessman whose investment firm Grandtop International Holdings has raised an all cash £57m offer of a complete £81.5m takeover of the club (FT link) He already owns about 29.9% of the company.

Steve McManaman, who is a close friend and executive director of Grandtop International has been an important figure in Yeung's pursuit of Birmingham for over two years. The former England and Liverpool midfielder is expected to be an important part in the Blues boardroom. Karren Brady will continue as managing director and Alex McLeish as the coach. David Gold is going to be retained as honorary chairman. Yeung failed in his first bid because he could not come up with the money to buyout the shares of David Sullivan, Ralph and David Gold who now stand to gain £40m from Birmingham's sale.

The reason why Yeung increased his exposure:

The Premier League recognises that the development of the football game in the PRC is critical to football's future as the world's sport of choice. It was announced in July 2009 that Premier League matches for the forthecoming 2009/2010 season will be broadcast in China on free to air state broadcaster Guandong TV, exposing the Premier League to a significantly sized television audience in China.

Grandtop engages in sourcing and trading apparel. It involves in trading sportswear and other apparel; and provision of entertainment services in Hong Kong, Macau, and the United Kingdom.

A closer look reveals that all is not rosy with the company.

Grandtop's audited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2009 showed revenue of HK$10.6 million (31 March 2008: HK$20.6 million), loss before taxation and after impairment losses of HK$91.7 million (31 March 2008: loss of HK$151.7 million) and net liabilities of HK$65.2 million (31 March 2008: net assets HK$12.6 million).

Analysts grading Grandtop International Holdings Limited have warned that the company faces weak business growth and run by inefficient management.

There is no cheering going on as Blues supporters are wary in the wake of what has happened to Portsmouth.

"I don't think there's excitement on the terraces, more apprehension after what happened in 2007," Linda Goodman, chairman of the Birmingham branch of the supporters' club, said. "I think Blues fans would like more information on where he's [Yeung's] getting the money from, considering he's willing to pay £20 million more than he was two years ago, since when his company's struggled and there's a world recession going on."

With Yeung's takeover, half of the Premiership clubs now belong in foreign hands.

Changing landscape

• Birmingham (tbc): Carson Yeung, Hong Kong

• Fulham: Mohamed Al Fayed, Egypt (since 1997)

• Chelsea: Roman Abramovich, Russia (since 2004)

• Manchester United: Glazer family, United States (since 2005)

• Portsmouth: Alexandre Gaydamak, Israel (since 2006)

• Aston Villa: Randy Lerner, US (since 2006)

• Liverpool: Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr, US (since 2007)

• Manchester City: Sheikh Mansour, Abu Dhabi (since 2008)

• Sunderland: Ellis Short, US (since 2009)

• West Ham: CB Holding, Iceland (since 2009)

The Dutch double down. I think Robben's celebration is a pointed reminder of how Real treats its Dutch contingent and how unsettled is its future.

The arrival of Kaka, Ronaldo, and Benzema is Real's 2.0 version of the Galacticos necessary to wrest the Liga back from Barca and put Real back as favourites to win the CL but we can also argue that it is a calculated move to undo the club's Dutch policy that has cost them a not insubstantial amount of €120m over three years to ransack players from one country - Van Nistelrooy, Van Der Vaart, Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben, Huntelaar, and Drenthe for very little gain.

Only RVN's smashing form panned out as he scored 45 goals in 67 league games over three seasons. He is out with a knee injury, the only player in that sextet that can claim legitimate reasons for not playing. Juande Ramos under utilized the rest of the them with Sneijder and Van Der Vaart used from the bench.

So far it is only Huntelaar that has left for Milan. His place has been taken by Karim Benzema. In midfield, Wesley Sneijder and Rafael Van De Vaart will get very little playing time with Kaka and Alonso ahead of them. With Raul Albiol and Marcelo ahead of him, Drenthe is also expendable at the left back position.

Robben's price tag and now his form off the bench has led Pellegrini to declare him off limits. But Robben so far has looked even better than Cristiano Ronaldo which could lead to an interesting tussle between the two. When he is on top, Robben can be a killer, with his speed, changes of pace, and ability to expand and collapse the game.

However, the transfer market away from Spain is depressed and to recoup about €100m in player sales going forward will be enormously difficult. Real might have to wait till January as clubs scramble to find players who can push for the title or stave off relegation.

A country whose folklore is so rich and replete with hobgoblins, pixies, gnomes, druids, and writers like Shakespeare, Arthur Conan Doyle, JRR Tolkien, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, and now JP Rowling has not kept up with a commensurate streak of imagination when it comes to naming their clubs.

I mean how many clubs can be called United, City, County, and Athletic. The more mildly interesting named Wanderers have two representatives in the Premiership. Even if we go into colloquialisms which provide a richer vein of fan imagination we get Reds, Blues, Clarets, or some bird species. Corruptions provide a bigger range like Latics and Toon. We can even commend the Mackems, Pompey, and the Toffees for their uniqueness. As an Arsenal pedant, the name Gunners sounds relatively juicy.

But can this compare to the Kashima Antlers, Sanfrecce Hiroshima, or the Shimizu S Pulse (you can plug this one on for a happy ending) of the J-League. Closer to the English league, Kilmarnock meets Motherwell. You need no nicknames as Scottish towns are more imaginatively named. Love you, Bolton.

The Liga has its share of Real, Atletico, and Sporting but they score out with names like Los Colchoneros or Boquerones. Yes, the quality of football is better too.

Sevilla and Sporting Gijon are both Rojiblancos but the former are also called Los Nervionenses referring to Nervion where the club is located. Chelsea and Birmingham are both Blues but the London club were also called the Pensioners in the past which of course in Roman Abramovich's time makes as much sense as a hole in the head. The temporary confusion when both meet is quickly sorted out looking at the scoreline.

Italy loves its colours too but no two teams are called Violas or Giallorossi. They also venerate the Large Glass Snakes, the Flying Donkeys and the Old Fool. Which the protagonist in John Bunyan's book missed out on his way to Celestial City.

In the MLS, Beckham mistook the Galaxy for the Galacticos but after singing "We are the World" with Donovan (the player) he still wants to become one of Berlusconi's Boyz which we also call AC Milan. Despite the vigorous product placement (Alecko Eskandarian drinking Red Bull), the MLS markets calamitous one like the San Jose Earthquakes. There is nothing like a natural disaster associated with an area to drive up depressed club attendances.

Then again there is always the Bundesliga. Now that is a real schalke.

...beating the lions in the lion's den -though a Martin Petrov goal. The lions in their den did not play their entire first eleven (Guardiola brought in a lot of young reserve team players and left many of his big stars on the bench) but Mark Hughes' is smiling anyway.He's feeling like a bit of a lion tamer already.

When does it become a moral imperative for the government to intervene and head of potential riots?

When it comes to football, specifically Argentinian football. Cristina Fernandez, the PM poured in $155m to head of the debt crisis of the league which had led to a delay of a week in the start of the Apertura.

She bought the TV rights so that matches could be telecast free of cost to millions after the AFA walked away from an agreement with private broadcasters that would have paid them half the money, i.e., $70m. This would have fallen short of the amount of money needed to plug the financial hole that the clubs find themselves caused by the depressed transfer market leading to less payoffs. The global financial turmoil has caused a drop off in players sales to richer overseas leagues.

"Today is a historic day for football, for the AFA, for Argentines and for the possibility of living in a more just and democratic society,' Fernandez said.

'It's not good ... that only those who can pay can watch football."

A pointed observation directed at the entity that was rebuffed by the AFA, the Grupo Clarin, the TV and media conglomerate that controls the broadcast of these games though their partner TyC (Torneos y Competencias) also has a deadlock on the control and dissemination of the news business unduly influencing the political process from a right wing perspective. Yes, think Fox News, WSJ, and other Rupert Murdoch run news organizations controlling the mediascape.

The Clarin group and the center leftist Cristina Fernandez government, more specifically her husband Nestor Kirchner have engaged in a series of feuds brought on by the government's desire to break the monopoly on the broadcast business and create smaller and more progressive news outlets. The Clarin group has in the past actively campaigned against the elections of the Kirchners with critical opinion pieces.

On March 18th this year the government introduced a media reform bill seeking to undo regulations put into place by dictator, Jorge Rafael Videla whose iron fisted rule from 1976 to 1981 led to state sponsored violence targeting thousands of students, political activists, and trade union leaders in a series of arrests, kidnappings, forced disappearances, torture, and executions. When he finally relinquished power in 1981, it is estimated that 30,000 Argentinians had "disappeared" (desaparecidos).

Maria Trigona of the CIP writes Videla "censored most of the press and implemented harsh laws to prevent opposition from being publicly expressed. Media legislation from Argentina's dictatorship is still intact today."

The nation's top three stations continue to remain in the hands of major economic groups: Daniel Hadad, the right-wing media tycoon, retains Channel 9 until 2019; Clarín group will own Channel 13 until 2025; the Spanish company Telefónica will hold on to Telefé (Channel 11) until 2025.

Fernandez introducing the bill called it an important step in ensuring a diversity of opinion by increasing the presence of community based and non for profit media groups. The reform also includes airing football matches on free channels. It is no wonder that Grupo Clarin is in vehement opposition to these changes.

"All Argentines have the right to expression and to cultural assets that can't be monopolized by one sector or one company."

However, these words are self serving because these monopolistic licenses were actually approved by her husband, Nestor Kirchner while in power, reflecting a time when Grupo Clarin enjoyed a cozy and comfortable relationship with the government. Clarin was bailed out of bankruptcy in 2002 when the Duhalde government intervened to stave of creditors which continued under Kirchner. It turned sour last year after the media coverage over the government's proposal of taxing farmer's profits and the subsequent revolt that followed turned critical. Clarin called Fernandez "imperious" and "out of touch".

The solid support that she once enjoyed began to crumble and in a recent state election held in June, the JP lost the majority in the lower house of Congress, while Kirchner was humiliated by coming second in the election for deputies, including losing Buenos Aires, their traditional base of support. Most political analysts now believe that these losses could prove fatal to Christina Fernandez chances of being re-elected in the 2011 elections. Saving the Apertura is viewed as a populist measure intent on rejuvenating the party.

The person charged with the last minute volte face in negotiations with the TyC, Julio Grondona, the AFA president was also responsible for selling TV rights to private operators for profit in 1991. The pay per view contract was used to enrich companies like Direct TV and Grupo Clarin while the TV money was used to pull the league out of financial dire straits.

"When I started my tenure 30 years ago, the only channel to broadcast football was Channel 7; and after everything that has happened since, here we are again, back at Channel 7"

The TyC president, Marcelo Bombau claims that Mr Kirchner persuaded Mr Grondona to switch the contract at a late-night meeting, and says he will sue the association. Officials later denied that the meeting took place.

Diego Maradona has waded into the controversy with his support of the media bill.

"This law would allow everyone in Argentina to watch big sports events for free," said Maradona.

Meanwhile another Boca figure, arch conservative Mauricio Macri, who is Buenos Aires mayor and a former president of the club is now leading the charge against the Kirchner government and is the public face of the opposition.

Clarin has lost this one on the pitch. But behind it lie the many visceral connections between Argentina's politics and media with its national passion. It neatly encapsulates the term "political football."

Wesley Sneijder is apparently being the shown the door by Real Madrid.Arjen dedicates the last goal he scored against Borussia Dortmund to his friend by including him in the goal celebration..

Les' cough up the cash.

The ball is in Mark Hughes court. Is he prepared to draw a line in the sand with Joleon Lescott? I think what gets overlooked in all this is a manager's ability to assess the true value of a player. Having loads of money can skew that. Maybe Moyes can stir up that "wait a minute" moment.

However, Lescott is certainly not £30m worth. Nemanja Vidic is £30 or more. Lescott is at tops £20m. Hughes might not want to go for him at that price as he seemed pretty satisfied with how the defense handled his former club. If he does, and many stranger things have happened, then Moyes is not just getting rid of a player who is souring the club with his attitude but also enriching his club beyond measure.

But this is a test for Lescott too. If City walks away from the deal, Moyes can take the player down a peg or two. It is an Adebayor sort of situation where it will ultimately be his performance and his interaction with fans that will decide his future at Everton.

At this point those who disparage Moyes should remember that this is the manager who put together an Everton squad at little cost but manages to challenge the big four every year. They have gotten off to a very bad start but if there is a manager who can make this hangover disappear it is Moyes. If Lescott goes, Moyes can target less pricey players, possibly Matthew Upson or Steven Taylor.

Hull City went down 5 - 1.The barrage of goals and the two wins out of two are leading to the inevitable speculative talk of Spurs getting into the big four this season.

Portsmouth will be relegated if the club does not stop hemorrhaging players. A new consortium is bidding to takeover led by Peter Storrie, the current CEO. Continuing doubts over Sulaiman Al Fahim's ability to fund the club is prompting this move. There is a possibility of Storrie's group linking up with Al Fahim's Asia Associates in a 50-50 partnership.

Manager Paul Hart is aware that if the situation is not resolved favourably that the club will probably stand little chance of remaining in the Premiership. The uncertain future of the club is leading David James to consider other options. Pompey have already lost Glen Johnson, Peter Crouch, and Jermaine Pennant while Hart has bolstered his squad with Bosmans like Aaron Mokoena, Steve Finnan, and Antti Niemi.

Marouane Chamakh is finding out that Bordeaux is a club that has shackled him to his final year of contract. Cue Sepp Blatter and "slavery". He is in danger of missing out on West Ham as Les Girondins is set to reject their 8million euros offer.

"West Ham are the latest to come in. It's only in the past week that they have shown an interest. But I am seeing what happened with Arsenal all over again - the problem is Bordeaux. So it is very tricky.

"I am going to wait until Monday to announce that I will stay."

"I had to rediscover my smile and the pleasure of playing."

So far he has not had any problems scoring goals with three so far in Bordeaux's two wins.

I think Wenger has it right. As one of the most astute men in the business, his contention that the the European Super League will materialize needs to be taken seriously. At this point does anyone not want to see a regular Barcelona vs Chelsea match the results which are not dictated to by a one off encounter and/ or spoiled by refereeing decisions.

It will also be a far more direct measurement of league strength. The debating point is what effect will this elite league have on the national leagues? Wenger believes that entry into the European Super League will be merit based and for that reason co-existence of the national leagues is just as important. Therefore, the mechanism of relegation and promotion are preserved.

Others like David Conn believe that the influx of vast sums of money into the European Super League will destroy the Premiership structure as it will be hard to market matches between Hull and Wigan.

But that is already happening. The Premiership is actually without formalization, a two tiered structure where a billion people watched Arsenal battle Man Utd to a draw two seasons ago. As the Premiership is presently configured this is immaterial because matches are sold in a package so clubs that do not generate the viewership of the big four are inoculated and share TV money. The destructive aspects of that structural collapse were seen recently in the SPL, where TV broadcasters were chary of picking up anything other than the Old Firm rivalry when Setanta collapsed, almost dragging the league into oblivion.

I think the Wenger's preservation of relegation and promotion are very important and that this will keep the national leagues alive ensuring against abandonment of viewership. How that will be worked out is a huge question. Invariably, the clubs from the smaller leagues will be most transitory. Clearly they also stand to benefit the most. The threshold may possibly need to be changed by increasing the number of relegation and promotion spots making it more fluid.

The Super League would be a natural outgrowth of the CL being unable to attract the big clubs to compete because of its restricted remuneration. The Europa Championships was precisely established because clubs were unwilling to sacrifice their first squads for the small amounts of TV and prize money generated by the UEFA Cup. I see these as refinements and increments to the day the European Super League is finally born. Whether this is to be celebrated or reviled might be a different debating point but it is where the game is headed.

Putting four goals past Stoke City would have helped to take away some of the misery of their opening defeat against the Spurs the other day.Goals from Torres,Johnson,Kuyt and Ngog.Visible below till as long as the youtube video lasts....

Jermain Defoe scored a hat trick as Spurs took apart Hull. The other goals came from Wilson Palacios, already an indispensable figure in midfield and Robbie Keane. Aaron Lennon assisted in two goals, Robbie Keane in two more, and Tom Huddlestone had a hand in the opening goal by Defoe.

Luka Modric provided the pacesetting and the deft touches.

Stephen Hunt scored the only Hull goal.

On the strength of their display in these two wins, Spurs definitely look ready to break into the the top four. They have a settled back four with Bassong fitting right in and Wilson Palacios providing the tough holding cover for the likes of Luka Modric, Robbie Keane, and Jermain Defoe.

Coyle answers all those doubters and naysayers.

"It is a timely and terrific boost because anyone outside this town would have looked at the first five fixtures and think we would be sat here with zero points."

On the enormity of what they were up against.

"I was in good form before the game and I felt that if we go to our maximum and had a little luck, that we could get a positive result.

"Then the TV flashed up that in their last 17 games against newly-promoted clubs they won 17, drawn nil and lost nil. Goals for 44, goals against 7.

"I wished I had the TV off at that point, so I tried to hide that from the players and keep them in a positive frame of mind and they have done all we asked of them."

Man Utd's visit to Turf Moor turned into a nightmare as Premiership minnows Burnley shocked them with a win that will go down in the annals of that club's history. 41 years had elapsed since Burnley's last victory against Man Utd at home.

Robbie Blake smashed home a thunderous volley after Patrice Evra's failed to effectively clear Stephen Jordan's cross in the 18' minute. An effort that would have made Cristiano Ronaldo proud. It came after sustained pressure of a minute as the Man Utd defense was stretched thin and unable to clear the ball.

The same Robbie Blake could have become a villain after Owen's pass found Evra in the box and the goalscorer fouled the Frenchman just before the half was over. Michael Carrick stepped up and goalkeeper Brian Jensen became another Burnley hero as he stopped the shot. Utd had missed a golden opportunity.

Michael Owen missed two clear chances as he failed to head Evra's cross in the first two minutes of the game and then headed Wes Brown's cross wide with Man Utd behind. He was substituted after 62' minutes by Berbatov ending his evening of frustration.

Later Sir Alex bemoaned the missed opportunities and bad calls:

"We were too frivolous with the chances we had," Sir Alex told MUTV.

"Sometimes we were taking touches on the ball instead of shooting quickly. And in the last twenty minutes, we rushed and made one or two bad decisions."

However it was too early to hit the panic button as Sir Alex took heart from the number of missed chances. "Hopefully we get as many on Saturday."

Utd will travel to Wigan on the 22nd before returning home to face Arsenal on the 29th.

For Burnley, kudos on their victory. They were magnificent. Brian Jensen was truly a Beast stopping everything that Man Utd threw at him.

Even Sir Alex acknowledged what a special moment this was for the Clarets.

"You can't deny them their victory. Every member of their team worked their socks off and the fans were fantastic, they got behind them all night, cheering every kick of the ball."

Can this man exult any less?

Bayern Munich fully understands that its nemesis is Felix Magath who left the club disgraced two years ago. He came back to win the Bundesliga with Wolfsburg. Before the season was up, the protean Magath had signed a deal as Schalke's new coach.

Both clubs are on top of the Bundesliga while Bayern has managed two effete draws.

Under the new leadership of Louis Van Gaal, player are still struggling to familiarize themselves with his coaching style. Franck Ribery is gradually being eased in after injury concerns but his diminished minutes obviously robs them of their most creative player. Uli Hoeness has also revealed that they would have let Ribery go if someone had offered 100m euros this summer. Hoeness is preparing for a huge transition of his own as he cedes his responsibilities to Christian Nerlinger in the day to day workings a sports director and ceases to be the familiar face on the Bayern sidelines.

These developments just add to the distraction already caused by changes in the managerial and player department. The two draws against Bremen and Hoffenheim have dealt a severe reality check to the inflated expectations built up by pre-season wins over Man Utd and AC Milan.

Van Gaal made a very good first impression with the establishment when he said this:

"Self-confident, arrogant, dominating, honest, hard-working, innovative, but warm and familial too. I recognise my own personality in these concepts, and I think that's why I'll fit in here. The Bayern München culture and the Bavarian way of life fit me like a warm coat."

But he also cautioned not to expect results anytime soon which is where they could be a divergence in expectations.

"That's not something that's going to come about in the space of a couple of months. It could take two years", he said, while adding however, "You can trust me."

VfB Stuttgart's Mario Gomez is a huge signing and could provide an instant impact but the loss of Lucio and Ze Roberto has also robbed Bayern of defensive strength. Van Gaal is a conservative and believes in a small squad which has led to a mass uprooting of players. There could be further departures. It gives Bayern an unsettled look.

Felix Magath could continue to celebrate as Bayern basically mortgaged its success on short term gains two years ago when it hit a blip.

This story is getting familiar as what was then just a breach is now seemingly a deluge.

Nemanja Vidic's agent has stated that it his client's "dream" to play for Barcelona. Vidic won every player category last season at Man Utd and his pairing with Rio Ferdinand was crucial to the club's reclaiming the Premiership. His performances have earned him a nomination for European footballer of the year. It is small wonder that big clubs have come knocking.

The transfer will not happen anytime soon. Man Utd will hunker down and make it non-negotiable to buy themselves time. A case could be made for Jonny Evans and John O'Hara as shown in the Birmingham match but breaking up the partnership with Ferdinand would make it extremely difficult for Man Utd to compete with the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, City, and even a shabby Liverpool.

What is interesting is the MO that is being employed here. It seems to follow the path of least resistance. Cristiano Ronaldo's transfer saga began a year ago, as the player expressed his unhappiness and claimed it would be a "dream" to play for Real. Man Utd trained its fury on Ramon Calderon. Meanwhile a "penalty" that could see Real lose £25million if they failed to land Ronaldo became part of the moral obligation. But the foundation of the move was already laid down.

After the season was over, the record sum of £80million considerably mollified Man Utd's stance and facilitated his transfer with few ruffled feathers.The same thing is happening with Franck Ribery as Real's overtures for him have been repeatedly rebuffed by Bayern. But the Spanish club is being patient as they set about bringing him to the Bernabeu next season. In a year's time Bayern might like to add to its coffers while targeting cheaper midfield talent from their own backyard. Cue Wolfsburg's red hot Zvjezdan Misimović.

The Liga is selling itself as the place to be. Vidic like Ronaldo has hit a ceiling with the Premiership. Ribery might want to extricate himself from Bayern where one has to be a player politician to deal with its internecine management. There are less challenges and smaller shoes to fill where they are now. Real and Barca are playing a waiting game. Spain is now the Mecca of world football.

..if you happen to be standing on your head while doing so.Robbie Fowler found this loophole in the book of rules.He kicked out at Gold Coast United midfielder Anderson and got him on the chest.But he was upside down at the time.So he escaped censure ,got a disapproving look from the ref... and the game went on.And why was he standing on his head ? This is a possible answer.His team was losing 5 - 0 at the time,there were 5 minutes left to go and he was trying to get a different perspective on the whole thing.

Usain Bolt's 9.58 second 100m dash has given rise to a healthy debate of sorts here about who the fastest football player on the planet might be.The following data is about a year old (dated data).It gives the sprint parade top 10, commissioned by Nike and put together by Opta Sportsdata (the first figure is to the ball - on a 45 metre course - the second figure shows the speed running with the ball).

1. Cristiano Ronaldo : 20.9mph -- 20.8mph
2. Andrew Johnson : 20.6 -- 20.7
3. Fernando Torres : 20.5 -- 20.6
4. Kenwyne Jones : 20.7 -- 20.2
5. Ashley Young : 20.4 -- 20.3
6. Aaron Lennon : 20.6 -- 19.6
7. Cameron Jerome : 20.3 -- 20.1
8. Shaun Wright-Phillips : 18.9 -- 21.2
9. Jermain Defoe : 20.4 -- 19.2
10. David Bentley : 20.0 -- 19.8

A familiar name to Arsenal fans resurfaces at VfB Stuttgart and shows a bit of magic for his new side against Romanian side Timisoara

Hleb has been in the news for his obeisance to Arsene Wenger and regreting his move away from Arsenal. "For me, leaving Arsenal was not a good move."

Argentina made a deal with the government to broadcast matches free of cost on non-cable channels when the AFA was unable to get the private TV broadcasters to pay more for the TV rights. The league will begin their new season this coming weekend.

The deadlock has seen a delay with the league set to start August 14th. The AFA was holding out for more money after the footballers union said that about $8 million in wages was still owed to the players from their clubs. The league were hoping to fund the shortfall through increased TV revenue.

Chelsea lighting up the stadium of light with their 3 - 1 victory over Sunderland...

Chelsea totally tore up Sunderland, a pretty decent side, today. I have no idea why Paul Wilson wrote that the Blues would be the first to drop out of the top four. Maybe he got too much sun in Mallorca. Something about the coach being new to the Premiership. At this point this Blues team could coach themselves.

They should be considered the favourites. You have the best goalie. A defensive line that gives up the least number of goals. A physical and fast midfield. And a frontman who takes no prisoners as he mows down defenses. Now add to it the touch of creativity that Deco brings and the floodgates open up. Chelsea have the complete package.

Deco was Big Phil Scolari's first signing in 2008 but fell out of favour after a hot start to his Chelsea career hit by a double blight of injuries and poor performances. He lost his starting place and when Scolari was sacked his Chelsea career was thought to be over. Jose Mourinho his former coach at Porto made overtures for an Inter change and Deco was all set to go when Massimo Moratti made his age an issue.

He decided to stay back but was rarely used by interim coach Guus Hiddink. Indeed, the Hiddink revitalization centered around Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, and Michael Essien as Deco was pushed back to the shadows. Under Carlo Ancelotti, Deco has reclaimed his starting position and in the two games played so far, his influence has been unmistakable. We should remember before Andres Iniesta was on everyone's lips there used to be Deco and he won the CL with Porto in 2004 winning MVP honours and then with Barca in 2006.

Against Sunderland, Deco played conductor as he was responsible for the series of sequences that led to Drogba getting tripped up by George McCartney in the box. Frank Lampard was the beneficiary as he converted the penalty. Later, Deco was himself in the spotlight as he scored a wonderful goal off a diagonal shot just off the inside of Martin Fulop's post. He was applauded by the Sunderland fans for his display as he was substituted by Daniel Sturridge.

A well struck free kick by Fabregas inadvertently hit William Gallas on the back and took a fortuitous deflection into goal but even if it had not there was an outside chance that the shot might have been able to evade the hands of Artur Boruc. The second goal was an own goal as an unfortunate Gary Caldwell diverted a Gael Clichy cross past his own keeper. It was the result of some good work by Abou Diaby coming on late in the second half who laid a fine pass to Clichy.

It was not all Arsenal though as Celtic came close in the first half when Scott Brown was brought down in the box after some stellar work by Aiden McGeady for a possible penalty but it was waived off by referee Massimo Busacca. Later in the half, Almunia was just able to get his hands on Scott Brown's spinning kick.

The Gunners return to the Emirates with a fantastic result and will play the second leg as huge favourites to go through to the group stages of the CL.

A good bit of analysis.

And Martin Skrtel is out for at least two weeks with a cracked mandible. Which leaves Rafa Benitez with few options other than to start 18 year old Daniel Ayala as Daniel Agger is still out with an injury. Unless he can sign up Ryan Shawcross or Michael Turner in time.

Already pundits are writing off Liverpool's chances which might be a bit premature but they make some compelling points.

The Zlatan and Messi combination is set to be the star attraction at Barcelona's pre-season game against Manchester City on Wednesday.

It will take place in 10 years or so as the top clubs open up an insurmountable division between them and the rest of the national league. The cream of the crop will play against each other in an European Super League as the Champions League becomes less prestigious.

"I see more a European league developing over time rather than one team going out of the country," said Wenger, when he was asked whether he could envisage Celtic or Rangers joining the Premier League. "The national leagues will survive but maybe in 10 years, you will have a European league."

Tim Vickery observes:

This idea of representation is especially strong for the South Americans, where the shirt of the national team is such an important symbol of the country.

Back in Brazil and Argentina, the European-based stars are always liable to be branded as mercenaries who are out of contact with the game in the land of their birth - when in fact the players make sacrifices to play for their national team that many Europeans would not be willing to undergo, especially in terms of travelling time.

The Euro-centric nature of football cuts traveling time for European players drastically as it barely takes couple of hours for Michael Ballack or a Cesc Fabregas to return to Germany or Spain to play a World Cup qualifier.

Certainly David Beckham, one of the few exceptions, would vehemently disagree, the time to fly from LA to London is probably similar to the time Robinho takes to fly from Man City to Rio de Janiero. Becks seems to be taking his national career more seriously than his club much to the chagrin of the Galaxy fans. So Vickery's observation that these players are wishy washy when it comes to national duty is a false dichotomy.

Yes, I think in general the passion for football in Brazil and Argentina is far more intense than in Europe and there might be resentment at the European mercenaries. But the nationalism notion is far more complex. Paradoxically, a feeling of pride is bought on by the number of Brazilians representing other countries. The surfeit of talent has led to a horizontal displacement of Brazilian imports who find clubs and countries willing to naturalize them. The list is truly global. India, Japan, Tunisia, Spain, Switzerland, Mexico, Bolivia, Croatia are but some of them. By that token European players are far less likely to change their nationalities. Miguel Almunia's case is an exception and that is why the English media is taken up by the story.

The picture of Gazza crying and being consoled by Sir Bobby Robson knowing fully well if England were to progress past the 1990 World Cup semi-finals that he would not be part of it convinces me that nationalism cannot be doled out in such absolute terms.

The nominees are out. Barca dominates the list.

Goalkeeper of the Year: Petr Cech (Chelsea), Victor Valdes (FC Barcelona), Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United).

Defender of the Year: Gerard Pique (FC Barcelona), John Terry (Chelsea), Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United).

Midfielder of the Year: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Xavi Hernandez (FC Barcelona), Andres Iniesta (FC Barcelona).

Forward of the Year: Samuel Eto'o (FC Barcelona - now Inter Milan), Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona), Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United - now Real Madrid).

My bet is on Andres Iniesta.

A virtual tool to train the budding young player or teach the parent coach in real time and harness the formidable powers of social networking and portable devices to disseminate that knowledge?

iSoccer is the brainchild of former Stanford University NCAA standout Scott Leber. Portability and flexibility are the two keys.

Players can download training sessions onto their iPod or iTouch, take it to the pitch, watch the skill demonstrations and then practice and record the results. iSoccer will give an estimated 20 million kids and their parents free access to tools needed to assess skill levels, evaluate improvement over time, and design player specific training programs.

Pilot programs underway in Northern California, Arizona and Michigan have proven to be successes and coaches have embraced the new technology. Leber is clear that iSoccer is not going to supplant coaching per se.

Leber says "Knowing what to teach and how to teach it has always been a real challenge for youth soccer coaches, many of whom are well-meaning parent volunteers who lack formal training," he explains. iSoccer will help clubs and coaches fill that gap."

I think what this training program does best is lay a valuable foundation and ensure uniformity in skill level. It is a closed chain method. However for a sense of how much real improvement one makes, actual match play with peers is indispensable. Beyond that for the serious player looking at a professional career there is conventional coaching, that means a trained man in shorts, barking at you, doing drills, and talking strategery.

Well, I'll look for groups of kids at every street corner juggling and doing scissors.

The iSoccer website >>

David Beckham's studs up tackle on Peter Vagenas was not particularly intelligent but we have seen him having these behavioural paroxysms before. It was boneheaded knowing that the attack was strapped without Landon Donovan making him even more indispensable.

The incident took place in the 16th minute leaving the Galaxy without his services for the majority of the game. Donovan a doubtful starter, recovering from swine flu came on in the second half but was not very effective.

Even Bruce Arena found it indefensible:

He said: "When you throw yourself into that kind of tackle there's a chance you're going to get sent off. He's been in enough rodeos to know that."

Ricardo Salazar was definitely card happy as he booked Tyrone Marshall twice, ejecting him and Eddie Lewis. The Galaxy were reduced to ten men and the Sounders were able to notch up a victory through goals scored by Steve Zakuani and Fredy Montero.

A short documentary on the dire straits the Magpies faced less than two years ago. How times have changed.

Today, the are flush with ME money and have Sven Goran Ericksson on board. They just signed Kasper Schmeichel from Man City on a record signing (in the range of £1m) and there are rumours that Sol Campbell and Patrick Vieira are targets.

Yes, and they have started their League 2 season in smashing form. Today they dispatched Macclesfield, 4-0 which makes it 9 goals in two matches.

Last evening I caught a bit of the RSL and Houston Dynamo game and I was reminded of the incessant verbiage of Max Bretos and Christopher Sullivan who have the attention spans of fruit flies. Their attention to the match waxes and wanes as they offer their diatribe on what the match should look like which bears little resemblance to how the match is actually playing out.

I have no idea how Sullivan divines the coaches intentions as he neatly compartmentalizes what each club should do. Does Dominic Kinnear understand that the only way his club can win is if it capitalizes on set pieces? Does Jason Kries know that unlocking Robbie Findley is the only way to keep their playoff hopes alive? Sure, we all do it and I am sure each coach understands the strengths and weaknesses of their clubs but I have never heard anyone lay a narrative down in such bulleted fashion. Its like a Powerpoint presentation.

These prescriptions fall by the wayside as the game devolves into an untidy smorgasbord of bodies tumbling, yellow cards, red cards, stray passes, and very few goal scoring chances. Meanwhile Sullivan is droning on about RSL missing Yura Movsisyan. On the pitch, Clint Mathis has lost his mind once again. He is freaking out at the referee. Then he is ejected. The two chatterboxes suddenly stop their word cloud and pay interest. There is talk about Mathis low boiling point. But wait, every psychosis has a causality. The film rewinds and shows Findley clearly obstructed a number of times in the Dynamo box for a potential penalty call before the referee books the striker for a foul which sets off Mathis.

This was a golden chance for the two to take a stand on whether a penalty was missed, to offer an opinion on whether Mathis might have had a case, to actually comment on a pivotal moment in the match. But they never uttered a word as the footage rolled by. The moment was lost. It was time to cut to a commercial. It was time for me to switch to Deportes.

Man Utd did enough to beat Birmingham, 1-0 despite the absence of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, their regular center backs both out with injuries. Jonny Evans and John O'Shea took their place and managed to keep the Blues away.

Michael Owen came on the 74th minute for Dimitar Berbatov and had some nice touches. He even scored a goal which did not count as he was a yard offside, had another more legitimate chance a minute later but his shot bounced off Joe Hart's foot and went out for a corner. The other debutant Antonio Valencia also had a quiet game showing some glimpses of his athleticism and crossing abilities.

The star was Wayne Rooney who is discovering his scoring touch after being pushed into the background by Cristiano Ronaldo. He scored his 99th goal for his club and his goal (link) came courtesy of an on the money cross by Nani who shows he is ready to throw of his showboating shackles for a more meaningful contribution.

Berbatov had his moments in the opening minutes and then woke up late in the second half as his brilliant header was saved on the line by Lee Carsley before his substittution. I think Man Utd fans by now have seen enough of Berbs to realize that his basal metabolic rate resembles that of a sea cucumber only sparking to life when a defender clatters into him. But these sparks are dangerous and attractive to watch. His form will be much debated during the season.

Ben Foster showed in an instant why Fabio Capello thinks so highly of him when Christian Benitez raced down the pitch, cut inside, and angled a shot to the far post which the Man Utd back up was able to flick over. A late equalizer would have made Sir Alex very unhappy.

For Birmingham, there is satisfaction in knowing that although they lost the match they never shamed themselves. Joe Hart was a monster in goal and he was helped by some stellar defending by Frank Quedrue, Gregory Vignal, and Stephen Carr. Up front Cameron Jerome was a forceful threat, James McFadden was a workhorse, and Sebastien Larsson created a number of openings. But it is Christian Benitez who might have the most impact. I have seen the Ecuadorian play and he is a physical force; quick, strong, and hard to bring down.

There was a gulf between Javier Mascherano and Steven Gerrard for a vast duration of the game which got much better when Yossi Benayoun was introduced for Ryan Babel who continues to be wasteful. The reedy Israeli midfielder got the Reds back into the game with his clever link up play but one wondered why Rafa Benitez took so long. Before that the Reds were a one note team trying the long ball to Torres who had a very forgettable game. By the time the first half ended the other striker, Dirk Kuyt had drifted across deeper and deeper to help the ineffective midfield.

Benitez is betting on Alberto Aquilani but the Roma man is not due back till October. By that time it might be too late. It was left to the individualistic talent of Glen Jonhson to provide the most memorable highlight as he was brought down by Heurelho Gomes after dancing around the Spurs defense. Steven Gerrard took full opportunity of the PK to equalize. Liverpool's bench strength does not inspire confidence as Benitez brought on out of shape Andriy Voronin to try and get back in the game.

Spurs on the other hand have Luka Modric who stamped his presence on the midfield creating a number of chances that Keane was unable to finish of. Wilson Palacios was a motor in the middle. Jermaine Defoe was a constant threat around the box. Benoit Assou Ekotto scored his first goal for Spurs with a left footed rocket and Sebastien Bassong was able to ward of Jamie Carragher for his winning header on his club debut. The injuries to Carragher and Skrtel might have led to a drop off in defensive intensity but for the most part the defense held together well. It is the present lack of a creative midfield force and the over reliance on Torres which will give fans sleepless nights. Steven Gerrard is not the sort of player to build goals. Benitez might have no choice but to start Benayoun till Aquilani gets back to match fitness otherwise Reds fans will start bemoaning Alonso's departure.

Rooney's 34th minute goal gives Man U a sedate 1 - 0 win over Birmingham....

Anyone following English League by now knows the strange case of Freddie Sears's goal being disallowed after it clearly went in before hitting a stanchion and bouncing out. The referee Rob Shoebridge awarded Bristol City a goal kick after extensive consultation with the linesman as disbelieving players surrounded him. City was at the end of a bad call themselves as he disallowed a Paul Hartley goal for offside. It probably was a make up call. Neil Warnock was understandably livid and his accusations of poor sportsmanship and cheating ignited a war of words between the two clubs.

Goal line technology is good for the blood pressure but bad for football folklore. Purists will say that these are the moments that live on and breed rivalries which fuel book sales. Somewhere there are Hobbits that rule the game and we always have to go back to the Shire to find time standing still.

However, this incident is bound to add to the debate over whether we can trust human judgment. It proves more and more that we need a fourth official to review decisions. The matter would have been resolved in seconds for all the time it took Shoebridge to debate the goal with his crew. We can restrict the number reviews to limit the disruption to the flow of the game.

An early candidate for goal of the season as Colombian striker Hugo Rodellaga's perfectly dipping shot flies over Brad Friedel sending Wigan one up. Jason Koumas makes it two. Villa fall to Wigan at home and the fans are none too happy. I have a feeling the name Hugo Rodellaga will be on the lips of many soon.

Adebayor celebrated the goal by taking a swipe at the club where he spent three years.

"At Arsenal the fans would boo me, so it's nice to be at a club were the fans love me," he said. "The stick wasn't fair."

Very classy. Ade could not just be happy scoring his debut goal. He better keep scoring goals otherwise the welcome mat at City might disappear too.

As for City, beyond the Adebayor flash and the dependable Steven Ireland, there was little else noteworthy. It was Shay Given and the inability of Rovers to finish their chances that enabled a win. So yes, it was a win on Hughes return to Ewood Park but there were quite a few wrinkles especially on defense.

A touching moment during the Everton match as Cesc Fabregas holds up a jersey bearing Daniel Jarque's number after scoring his second goal. The Espanyol skipper died tragically of a sudden heart attack a week ago at the age of 26 plunging Spain into a pall of gloom.

Managers:
Carlo Ancelotti (Chelsea): A last gasp win over Hull City gave the former AC Milan manager a win in his first Premiership game.
Roberto Martinez (Wigan): Villa left to boos over their comprehensive defeat at the hands of the Latics

Players:
Emmanuel Adebayor (Man City): Arsenal's reject opened his account with a 3' minute goal as City pulled past Rovers.
Stephen Hunt (Hull City): The ex-Reading striker signed by Hull two days ago got his first goal in a losing effort to Chelsea
Thomas Vermaelen (Arsenal): The ex-Ajax defender playing taller than his 6'0" frame scored the second goal in Arsenal's rout of Everton.
Darren Bent (Sunderland): The game winning goal by the most (in)famous Tweeter in football history on his debut for the Black Cats.

The 6 -1 scoreline equals the record for the biggest opening-day away victory in Premier League history.

Cesc Fabregas had a monster game with 2 goals and 2 assists. Denilson got the ball rolling and Thomas Vermaelen, William Gallas, and Eduardo Da Silva also added to the tally. The scoring explosion came despite Arshavin, RVP, and Bendtner failing to get on the scoresheet.

Louis Saha prevented a complete Everton shutout by scoring an injury time goal.

The Gunners dominated ball control with 56% possession and were dealdy accurate with 9 shots on goal for a 67% conversion rate.

Alexander Song had a solid performance in the center of midfield which to me was one of the most encouraging signs. Thomas Vermaelen was a rock in central defense denying Leon Osman twice. Eduardo looked nippy and opportunistic in his appearance of the bench belying any injury concerns.

Magnificent start to the Gunners season away to one of the strongest teams in the Premiership. Lets hope this form continues on as we target 82 points which should be good for the Premiership.

Goals from Denilson, Vermaelen, and Gallas against Everton keep the Gunners in the driving seat.

Fabregas assisted in two of them. And no, he was not holding a passport in his hand and there were no travel bags.

Link:

Sections of the Italian media are speculating that Milan president Silvio Berlusconi will announce a big-money signing for the club on Monday night before the Trofeo Berlusconi, and according to UnoNotizie.it this player will be Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas.

The €30-35 million required to complete this capture will be recovered in part by the sale of Andrea Pirlo to Chelsea.

We wait with bated breath for the Everton vs Arsenal match to start. Will Cesc show up in a Milan jersey? That will be a dead giveaway. But wait. Wasn't he going to Barca just two days before?

I think Milan will announce the birth of Silvio Berluscon's love child. What do you think?

Carlo Ancelotti gets his first Premiership win.

Didier Drogba showed ominous form by getting both goals in Chelsea's win over Hull City.

The goal winner came in the 91st minute as Drogba fired a shot from inside the box to the bottom right corner of the goal. The assist was provided by Deco.

Hull took a brief lead in the 27th minute when Stephen Hunt scored a goal before Chelsea came back 9 minutes later though Drogba's equalizer.

Chelsea 2 Hull City 1

Everton's Jack Rodwell (L) and Arsenal's Jack Wilshere (R)

Everton vs Arsenal
Barclays Premier League
Venue: Goodison Park Date: 15 August 2009 Kick-off: 1730 BST

Head-to-head

• Arsenal have only lost at Goodison Park four times in 17 Premier League matches.

• The Gunners thrashed Everton 4-1 on the opening day of the season at Goodison Park in 2004 and repeated the same scoreline, again on Merseyside, in December 2007.

• Arsenal also beat Everton 2-1 on the opening day of the season at Highbury in 2003.

Wenger will go for the 4-3-3 formation playing against David Moyes 4-5-1. Mikel Arteta is out with a knee injury as is Phil Jagielka. Arsenal will have to do without Samir Nasri, Tomas Rosicky, and Theo Walcott. Which could mean two of the hottest English prospects, Everton's Jack Rodwell and Arsenal's Jack Wilshere will see extended minutes.

The last time they met, January 28, 2009 Everton nearly pulled of a win before RVP equalized with a last ditch effort in the 90th minute.

The TIM trophy is an annual Italian tournament that has been around since 1922.AC Milan had their worst showing in it ever as they finished at the bottom with zero points behind Inter Milan and Juventus.They also failed to score a single goal in their two matches..Ronaldinho justified AC Milan fans' anxiety about him.They were right to tell him to go to stop partying and go to bed the other day.Sloppy play by him helped Juv to the second goal.

The Republic of Ireland were on the receiving end of Cahill's goalscoring skills in the recent friendly against the Socceroos.He scored two out of the three goals that Ireland lost the game by.This inspite of the fact that he has a grandmother from Cork and that Cahill is an extremely irish name.

Nicklas Bendtner will look at his 52 number jersey and remind himself that this is double his previous 26 number jersey. He will then go out and score double the goals that he did last season. Devilishly clever. Looking forward to that 30.

Anyways, its a special number for him. Maybe going 52 times to clubs before his pants fell down?

The BBC airs a special on how the Premiership sells itself abroad.

For the first time annual revenue is expected to exceed £1bn, with much of this success fuelled from abroad.

Matches will be beamed into 575m homes in 211 territories around the world and a total of 90,000 hours of action will be broadcast.

The current overseas deal runs from 2007 to 2010 and is worth £625m, equating to about a third of the total television revenue the Premier League receives.

Abu Dhabi Sports Channel paid up a staggering £194m for the TV rights almost three times the amount paid up by Sports Arabia last year.

The growth is being fueled in Asia which seems to have weathered the recession better than most other regions. China is the big engine where the Premiership will get a huge boost once matches are free to air on TV for the 2009-2010 season. It accounts for a potential 30 million viewership which plummeted to 20,000 in 2007 when pay per view was introduced. But its big in India and Malaysia also where children stay up till late to see these matches.

Every Premiership club went on an overseas tour. From Burnley to Chelsea. From Hull to Spurs. Chelsea pocketed a cool £2 million for its appearances in the USA.

Landon Donovan's listless defending of Efren Juarez's run down the right flank that created Sabah's game winning goal was one of the pivotal moments of the Mexico match. Well, there is a reason behind it.

He apparently has the H1N1 virus which causes swine flu leading to a feeling of lethargy at the Azteca. He had apparently been feeling ill since the USA squad met for training camp in Florida.

"I've never felt that bad," said Donovan. "The last time I was there [at Estadio Azteca] I didn't feel that bad. I just felt lethargic, slow. I didn't feel normal."

He is keen to start against the Seattle Sounders this weekend but there is a possibility he might not be allowed to play given the contagious nature of the flu and its potential spread to other players including David Beckham. How is that for upsetting a relationship on the mend? It takes a week after symptoms resolve to resume human contact.

Entier into Le Professeur's mind. Martin Samuel gets the scoop in Wenger's most detailed interview since he arrived in England thirteen years ago.

Wenger comes across as a multifaceted man obsessed with football, utterly devoted to it, willing to engage in its minutiae.

"For me, football dominates all the time. When you are 30 years in this job you have to be, somewhere, crazy, because you cannot say it has not had a psychological impact. You live it, you think it, there is no escape. There is madness in my obsession as there is in that of anyone who is at the highest level in sport."

There is a higher calling to this single minded obsession. An escape from drudgery and inelegance.

"I believe the target of anything in life should be to do it so well that it becomes art. You read a book and the writer touches something in you that you would not have brought out of yourself. He makes you discover something interesting in your life. If you are living like an animal, what is the point? What makes the day interesting is that we try to transform it into something that is close to art. When I watch Barcelona, it is art."

He is introverted, sparing in his emotions, quick to take offense, very aware of the consequences of words, yet at the same time eternally optimistic. There is a metronome that Wenger has self consciously set for himself which is impervious to the rhythms of instant gratification sweeping the football world. It builds a system that is internally organized, self paced, and free of excess. I think Wenger gets very little appreciation for this alternate philosophy which explains his pain at being the target of the shareholders wrath at the AGM.

"I would build a team, and we would compensate by creating a style of play, by creating a culture at the club that, because the boy comes in at 16 or 17, when he goes out he will have a supplement of soul, of love for Arsenal because his team has been educated together. This will give us strength that other clubs will not have.

'It is strange, I know."

Which is why I am almost sure if Wenger had been induced somehow into taking up the Real job he would have turned to the cantera within a few years to fill the squad with players developed from within the ranks retaining one or two high priced transfers. It would have set up a clash in philosophies and deadlines with the Real establishment leading to an early departure.

I think Wenger is the opposite of an Alan Greenspan. He will neither create a bubble nor a shortcut. He is also a humanist. It is important to win titles preserving rational thought and responsible behavior that ultimately enhance the quality of life. Wenger cuts a lonely figure in the midst of the chattering class and inflated expectations.

Phil Brown confirms that striker Alvaro Negredo has been a Hull City transfer target. The club has been negotiating with Real for about six weeks and a deal is likely to be concluded soon. Real's insistence that a buyback clause be inserted into the contract has slowed down the process.

The Spanish giant will get £12 million for his transfer which will be a rare event since most of the focus this season has been of their profligate spending.

However, with the Negredo negotiations out in the open, other clubs have stepped up their interest. The striker has said that Roma remains his first choice. Phil Brown was hoping that the transfer would be conducted in relative secrecy.

"We're in that horrible position where we're talking about a player but he's not ours," said Brown.

"I'm very mindful of that but with everyone knowing about it, the chances become less and less.

If Hull City can pull this off then it will be a coup, a very big coup.

Barca is to meet Atletico Madrid this Sunday without Leo Messi recuperating from an adductor strain. Pep Guardiola does not want to take a chance and aggravate his injury. He is likely to rest Thierry Henry and Zlatan Ibrahimovic also recovering from injuries.

Messi is also requesting Pep Guardiola time off to prepare for the colossal Argentina Brazil World Cup qualifier that takes place September 5th which means he will miss the Liga opener against Sporting Gijon. He will play till the 28th and then fly to Buenos Aires to train with the Argentine squad before they take on Brazil.

Argentina is precariously poised in fourth place just ahead of Ecuador and Maradona will be counting on Messi's services to pull of a win against the Brazilians who occupy the top spot in the South American zone.

Brilliant.

Proof of the massive interest in the USA vs Mexico World Cup qualifier as one million visits were logged on www.aztecadeportes.com for their webcast of the match.

Even Mexican president Felipe Calderon followed the match online while in flight from Mexico to Colombia for an official state visit.

Thomas Vermaelen is back but the injury news regarding other players is not too good. Wenger will be without Samir Nasri for 6-7 weeks and Tomas Rosicky for another 2-3 weeks. He is also without Theo Walcott (back spasms). Abou Diaby also looks doubtful.

So the midfield looks ready to bring on Denilson. Jack Wilshere or Aaron Ramsey could also get a look.

In defense Johan Djourou (knee) is out for a month. So Wenger's will not have his first choice replacement should Gallas or Vermaelen be unavailable through injury, suspension, or loss of form. Lukacz Fabianski has knee cartilage problems that will keep him sidelined for two months. Vito Mannone becomes Almunia's back up.

I think the extensive injury list somewhat undermines Wenger's assertion that Arsenal are ready to win the Premiership.

"I know people have no patience any more but I agreed on a structure at the club that I believed could work, and we are at the period now when we will see whether I was right. To talk of winning the league is an audacious statement but I built this team and I want to deliver."

The Premiership is not ten games long. When we talk of going the distance it requires players remain healthy so extensive retooling of the squad becomes unnecessary. It is not a matter of just maturing mentally or honing your talent. Arsenal have been physically fragile and we have lost key players regularly. That is a worry.

Jermain Defoe came to England's rescue by scoring both goals after Rio Ferdinand and Gareth Barry gifted goals to Netherlands. His effort was much appreciated by the manager.

"He is one of the best English forwards," said Capello.

"He is very fast, he is always in front of the goal and technically he is very good."

Defoe's game is routinely praised by both club as well as country managers, yet he has trouble breaking into the starting squads on club level as well as nationally. He was overlooked by Sven Goran Ericksson for the 2006 World Cup, used as bait by Martin Jol to get Darren Bent when at Spurs, transferred back after spending one season at Pompey. He is a player adept at making an instant impact, so he should be a strong consideration for the 2010 World Cup.

Carlos Costly proves his last name right against the Ticos

With Honduras thrashing the Ticos, 4-0, Los Catrachos move ahead of the US on goal difference. The Ticos retain the top spot with 12 points. Mexico find themselves in fourth place.

The Ticos are looking a bit vulnerable here and will be looking to regroup in San Jose for a huge encounter against Mexico next month. The US take on El Salvador at Sandy and Honduras face Trinidad and Tobago at home. El Salvador and T&T can still make it to the three qualifying spots so the race is very open in the Concacaf group.

Los Catrachos and Mexico are on the upswing while the Ticos who barely made it out of the group stages in the Gold Cup meanwhile have lost ground. They have an inferior goal differential to the US and Honduras that could prove pivotal. The US meanwhile might have an easier time against El Salvador at home but will be without the services of Oguchi Onyewu. The two teams battled to a 2-2 draw at San Salvador in the first encounter.

An absolute gem of a pass by Landon Donovan that splits the defense and Charlie Davis superb finish. It was just the sort of start the US needed. But it was shortlived. A blistering strike by Ismael Castro levels the score. You can see how much open space was given up by Bocanegra and Onyewu. As the match went on, the US increasingly played in its own half as El Tri applied a chokehold.

The defining moment came in the 81st minute. Efren Juarez beating a tired Donovan in a footrace taking it deep into the box, his pass bounces of De Merit and rolls to Sabah who plasters the ball over Tim Howard, who should have done better.

Bob Bradley pointed out to the weakness I have highlighted in the US team. It is an issue that can still be corrected before the World Cup begins.

"Overall, our defending was very good. On the other side, I think we could still connect some more passes and hold the ball a little bit better. I think that probably was the area that let us down the most."

The tribute of a minute of silence has been replaced by a minute of applause.Whether it is more appropriate to have silence as a tribute or applause as a tribute is debatable.It's easier to do the applause.The silence can always be broken by any speaking out of turn type of lunatic who likes to hear the sound of his own voice.The silence is harder to hold.And more meaningful too maybe.We have too much noise and too little silence in any case.The EPL is going to have the applause tribute on their games slated for the 15th and 16th of August.This round of applause came at the start of a friendly between England and Holland that ended with the score reading two goals each.(Goal Video)

A game dominated by El Tri as the US increasingly doubled down in their half after Charlie Davis superb finish of a Donovan through pass in the 9 minute. The lead was short lived as Ismael Castro equalized about 10 minutes later belting a ball from about 30 yards away.

Blanco was the pick of the players controlling the midfield. Once he was subbed in the second half Dos Santos came into his own. The pace of the match was dictated entirely by the Mexicans as fatigue took its toll. In the 82nd minute Juarez beat Donovan down the right, DeMerit tackled the ball but it fell straight to Sabah who finished of the chance.

The US continued its futility at the Estadio Azteca and now the all time record stands at 0-19-1.

Once again the US was found wanting in possession. I have said this, the US does a superb job of converting goals with the opportunities it gets but it has difficulties in retaining the ball. That might work against lesser teams but with the tougher opposition that is almost always playing with fire.

Oguchi Onyewu, Jay DeMerit and Carlos Bocanegra were booked and Onyewu will miss the next match against El Salvador on September 5th.

A view of the Estadio Azteca stadium in Mexico.The only thing missing is Harry Potter and chums flying around on broomsticks.Quidditch looks like it could be played here....!

Kaka had the following to say about the World Cup qualifier between Brazil and Argentina in early September...
"Argentina aren't too well, while Brazil, with a victory, will qualify for the World Cup"
Shortly after saying that he went for a walk and got lost. and the cops had to get into the act to get him back home.Not a good omen..!

The match, which will be broadcast live on mun2, Telemundo, and the Futbol de Primera Radio Networks, kicks off at 3 p.m. CT from the famed Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. Additionally, ESPN will provide unprecedented studio coverage, highlighted by a 30-minute SportsCenter 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifying Special from outside Estadio Azteca beginning at 2:30 p.m. CT.

• The U.S. holds a lifetime record of 0-22-1 on Mexican soil, the lone result a 0-0 draw on Nov. 2, 1997, in Mexico City.

• Since the rivalry between these two teams began in earnest in 1990, the sides have played 29 times, with the U.S. holding a 13-8-8 advantage. Five of those games have been played in Mexico - all in Mexico City - with the U.S. posting a 0-4-1 record. Two of those games were played at neutral sites, with the U.S. posting a 2-0 win at the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea Republic and prevailing 4-1 in penalties after a 0-0 draw at the 1995 Copa America in Uruguay.

I shall highlight four factors that will prove decisive:

The impregnable fortress of the Estadio Azteca

"We lost the 1986 (FIFA World Cup) Final in the Estadio Azteca which, in my opinion, is the most beautiful stadium in the world. I love it, simple as that. It will go down forever as the greatest footballing symbol there is, even though there are other footballing temples scattered around the world."
Rudi Voller, former Germany forward

The Estadio Azteca is the mother of all stadiums, a historic structure that can seat 105,000 fans. It saw Maradona's "Hand of God" goal, the "Goal of the Century", and the "Game of the Century" in which Italy beat Germany in the 1986 World Cup semi-finals, 4-3 in extra time.

Since the rivalry began in earnest in 1990, the US has played Mexico at the Azteca five times for a 0-4-1 record. Goals have been particularly hard to come by with Eddie Lewis goal in a 2-1 loss on March 27, 2005, the first since 1984 on Mexican soil. Mexico has only lost one World Cup qualifier at the Azteca, falling to Costa Rica 2-1 on June 16, 2001. Mexico took a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute, but Costa Rica scored in the 72nd and 86th minutes for the victory.

The cavernous stadium located 7,400 feet above sea level with more than 100,000 fans using their vocal chords, drums, horns, banners, face paint, flares, can be a disorienting place for the opposition. It maybe the most effective 12th man for the Mexicans. As Bruce Arena describes it:

"The conditions at Azteca are difficult. You have around 100,000 people. The stadium is massive. The sightlines are real difficult for players. There are literally probably 20 yards from the touchline to the dugouts. You see that and the field looks like you're out in the country.

"Then you start dealing with the heat and the altitude and it gets to your head. Not only your head. The physiology is difficult. I remember games where we had oxygen at halftime. It's hard. It's an awesome home-field advantage."

The Estadio Azteca is the best friend that El Tri can hope to have.

The wrath of Aguirre

It takes one match to change the perspective on a rivalry that has been as one sided in recent times and Javier Aguirre did it with Mexico dismantling the USA thoroughly, 5-0 in the Gold Cup final. The loss ended a 9-0-2 streak dating back to 1999. Critics might argue that it was a second and even third string US team that suffered such a loss but in such events, perception is key.

A psychological leg up is what Mexico needed and that is what they achieved. No one remembers the personnel, it is the results that are bandied about in the message boards and the team lockers. The US team arrived to chants of "cinco, cinco, cinco" from Mexican fans, in reference to El Tri's 5-0 win

What Aguirre has done in a short while is instill a pragmatic spirit in a team that has talented individuals who have not come together in the past. Mexican soccer has always suffered from the most impractical distractions. In the past, naturalized players on the national squad have riven the fiercely nationalistic soccer establishment.

Guillermo Franco who scored the equalizing goal against Costa Rica in the Gold Cup semi-final and then added another in the 5-0 blowout against the USA is Argentinian born. His selection to the 2006 World Cup sparked a furor against then coach Ricardo La Volpe. Critics felt that Cuauhtemoc Blanco and striker Adolfo Bautista were being sacrificed to these foreign born players. Now, the controversy has largely died down and Franco's services as a super sub have been utilized without any eyebrows being raised.

Aguirre's sideline antics have also raised the temperature a notch or two. He has not been charitable in his description of the US team and has downplayed the one sided history in recent times.

"they live off opponents' errors, and stack eight in the back and use the clock in their favor"

Now he relishes the prospects of taking them on their home turf.

"When we play against them," he added, "they take us up north, to the cold, where there are few Mexicans,. Now we're back home with our fans, and 100 percent Mexican flags in the stands -- our people, our passion and conditions that suit us."

Aguirre's ornery spirit is what a team like El Tri need after the cool demeanour of Sven Goran Ericksson and they are responding to him.

Mexican midfield control and ground game

Mexico will dominate ball possession. The Gold Cup saw the birth of Giovani Dos Santos and his busy motoring legs. Dos Santos has replaced Blanco as the most popular player in Mexico. Like one time Barca team mate Leo Messi, Dos Santos likes to run wide on the right wing and cut in controlling the ball with his favoured left foot. He is a classic pibe with a low center of gravity which makes his swerves, feints, crossovers very effective in tight spaces since he needs smaller translations.

Dos Santos has also become adept at distributing the ball especially picking out fellow English leaguer Carlos Vela who should see second half action today. Gerardo Torrado picks up the ball deep in midfield and relays it to either Dos Santos or Albert Medina, the latter who can play on either wing and overlaps with Dos Santos. Then there is Andres Guardado, the speedy left winger who likes playing wide, creating space and drawing defenders to him, enough for full back Carlos Salcido to overlap and relay the ball to Vela or Sabah.

US counterattacks, set pieces, and aerial ability

If Mexico is all about the ground game, the USA will execute through the air and snappy counterattacks through speedy Donovan and Charlie Davis. They will have to make their briefer possession count. With Altidore at the head of the attack they can stretch out the Mexican defense and create enough scoring opportunities between the three of them. The Mexicans give up inches to the central defenders Oguchi Onyewu and Carlos Bocanegra who will be big in the box. The US should preserve one of their strengths, their effective shots on goal to goals scored ratio. They have proven to be excellent sharpshooters. Picking up Dempsey through crosses and hoping what he seems to do best, taking advantage of a missed clearance, a fumble, or a rebound and score goals.

The US should go all out for an early goal. So they need to turn on the jets and create enough chances to get the crowd out of the game. If a goal is possible, it then amounts to retaining enough possession which the US failed to do against Brazil in the Confederations Cup final. It might prove a bit easier against Mexico should they go a goal up.

In the end though, home field advantage will prove decisive.

My prediction: Mexico 2 USA 1

The Gunners are reportedly haggling for Hangeland. But Roy Hodgson is looking for more Brede and a couple more tuppences. Wenger is ready to bid £10 million but Hodgson is holding out for £15m for the 6' 5" giant defender who will also be utilized by Arsenal to fix the floodlights should they fail. Hodgson no doubt has heard Le Prefesseur has about 40m in his kitty through his transfers.

I think it makes sense to get Hangeland. From previous history Thomas Vermaelen undoubtedly a quality signing, appears injury prone. As is William Gallas and Johan Djourou who picked up a knee injury that will sideline him from tomorrow's Italy Switzerland friendly. If Senderos gets signed by Everton it is not in the realm of impossibility for a Song and Silvestre pairing up which could mean a premature end to all our hopes.

FIFA has yet to put out a statement expressing its condolences on Jarque's death. Its front page has an article on who will win La Liga and a public forum on what football moment caused you the most heartbreak. Suffice to say it was not Dani Jarque they had in mind. They did not even report on Jarque's body brought back to Barcelona for his final farewell.

Unlike Marc Vivien Foe's tragic death that occurred in the 2003 Confederations Cup semi-finals played between Colombia and Cameroun, Jarque collapsed in a hotel room far from a pitch or a FIFA mandated tournament. Foe was remembered in a moving eulogy by his son before this years finals between the USA and Brazil that left many moist eyed, including mine. Sepp Blatter had this to say about Foe:

"One of the legacies of Marc-Vivien Foe's unfortunate death is that Fifa is providing medical care and aid where we possibly can. Foe's death has brought a new approach to the prevention of health, disease and cardiologic problems in football organisation. More and more, a special cardiologic check-up has to be done before tournaments - just as Fifa has done with the eight teams at this year's U-20 World Cup in Egypt. Another result was that Fifa has now recommended that a defibrillating machine should be present in all stadiums where football is played."

Blatter might be protecting his turf but in matters football, FIFA has micromanaged many aspects that appear intrusive or unsavoury including siding with Cristiano Ronaldo at his unhappiness remaining at Man Utd last by calling him a slave. We can rewrite the history on that one with Ronaldo's record weekly wages at Real. This is one issue that FIFA should micromanage. I think FIFA with its billions of dollars should team up with a group of universities and fund research on these heart problems that seem to be the cause of a number of tragic deaths in young players. In the meantime call for more stringent testing and monitoring, better equipment including the right type of defibrillator, and player counseling.

Fans line up at the Cornella El Prat to pay their respect to Dani Jarque

Spain paid its respect to Espanyol skipper Dani Jarque whose body was brought back to Barcelona and lay in repose at the chapel of the Cornella- El Prat.

A number of clubs showed up to say farewell to the young defender who tragically died three days ago at the age of 26 years of a sudden heart attack. Sevilla who had to endure a similar tragedy two years ago with Antonio Puerta sent Andres Palop and manager Manuel Jiminez. Barca was represented by Joan La Porta, Pep Guardiola, and Andres Iniesta. Real's delegation included Fiorentina Perez and captain Raul and Valencia similarly sent Manuel Llorente and captain David Albelda.

Meanwhile, there are proposals for honouring him such as retiring his number and renaming the stadium. These are palliatives in my opinion, the more noteworthy way to remember him is to establish the sort of stringent testing that can detect this condition. Let Jarque's death not be in vain.

Arguments for both sides can be made.

It is a fascinating story but if we all know David Moyes, it is this, he is a man of principles. I think he is one of those vastly under rated managers who has proven both tough and shrewd with his signings. Today, Moyes rejected City's offer for Lescott.

Moyes said: "Joleon Lescott put in a written transfer request this morning which I immediately rejected. We will continue to work with him as we appreciate his many qualities as a player. I have said all along that I have no intention of selling my best players. Joleon is simply not for sale."

A couple of points.

Everton's success is built around a narrow bandwidth

Since becoming manager in 2002, he has transformed the quality of the midfield and the defense. Like Pep Guardiola who changed Iniesta from a number four to an attacking midfielder, Moyes gets tremendous credit for molding Mikel Arteta into a creative force. The former La Masia product at the top of his game is as good as Cesc Fabregas.

Arteta's absence last season was less felt as Marouane Fellaini and Steven Pienaar stepped up admirably. At this point, the midfield is on arguably on par with Man Utd and Arsenal's. They can score goals as Fellaini and Tim Cahill both combined for 16 goals.

The midfield outburst pushed up Everton's tally to 55 goals which was just as well as the attack had to rely less on the potentially potent but inconsistent and injured duo of Louis Saha and Yakubu Aiyegbeni. These signings remain a question mark.

The attack should improve with Arteta's return but if we examine the league positions of Everton in the last three seasons, it is a team that enjoys a healthy goal differential with a very narrow bandwidth. Everton's achieved a sixth place in 2007 with a GD of +16. It improved to fifth place in the next two seasons with a GD of +22 and +18. In that time there were 52, 55, and 55 goals scored against 36, 33, and 37 goals given up. Before these seasons, Everton slipped down the table to finish in 11th position in the 2005 season with a -15 GD as it tanked in scoring as well as defending.

Moyes stamp of success took him all of three years to achieve and it is predicated on holding onto a squad that he began rebuilding in earnest three years ago. Any transfer as big as Lescott's will shake this delicate balance.

Lescott gives much needed flexibility in the absence of Jagielka

Joleon Lescott is protean. Originally, a central defender, he has seen success as a left back. He moved out to the wing when Phil Jagielka and Joseph Yobo combined well two seasons ago. When Yobo got hurt Moyes shifted him back to the center back position. The transition proved so effective that it pushed Yobo to the bench. But Jagielka's injury in April reintroduced Yobo into the starting XI and the Nigerian combined well with Lescott.

Leighton Baines was pushed out to left back and proved to be very effective down the left flank with Pienaar. With Jagielka out till December with an ACL repair, Lescott will once again be paired up with Yobo. The other option is Jack Rodwell whose erstwhile role as a holding midfielder is being changed under Moyes tutelage to a center back prospect. He is Lescott's long term replacement but requires another season to take over.

Moyes is still negotiating with Arsenal on Senderos who will compete with Yobo for Jagielka's position. But the window of time is getting tight with Everton's first match against Arsenal this Saturday. Finding a replacement even half as comparable to Lescott's quality will be very, very difficult.

Still in the football business passing up £20m is a huge gamble but Lescott might be worth even more next season. Now, Moyes has to persuade him to remain in Everton and play distraction free.

Italians raised their eyes and their glasses to the sky on Monday as they celebrated the Night of the Shooting Stars,also known as the Night of Saint Lawrence since it falls on his feast day, in the hope that their wishes would come true.Now in its 12th year, Calici di Stelle (Goblets of Stars) will bring about a million people together in over 200 locations to watch the falling stars in this International Year of Astronomy.
AC Milan fans however had more than a wish and a prayer to say when they saw one of their own falling stars - Ronaldinho - partying at 1:30 am.They briefly told him to go to bed.
And while on the subject of falling stars here's another one that's fallen from grace.Wales captain Craig Bellamy was declared unfit to play in his country's friendly against Montenegro but somehow seemed to manage a mysterious recovery and was then seen in full training for Manchester City.More on that unfolding stellar mystery here..

Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack cross over, score a goal with a sizzling kick.

Fabio Capello sees a bright future and if all goes well and Arsene Wenger plays him more and more, Wilshere could see action in the 2010 World Cup. He dazzled in the Emirates Cup and has carried that form forward in all the other preseason friendlies.

Wenger sees a bit of Rooney.

"I believe what is good in Jack's case," said Wenger, "[is] he reminds me a bit of Rooney when he started"

Capello on Wilshere.

"He plays without fear, with confidence," said the Italian. "And the other players passed the ball always to him. This is not normal to be so young and so good."

Brian Eastick, England's U20 coach.

"Jack Wilshere is a real talent and we think he'll be knocking on the door of the U20 and Under-21 teams this year."

Wilshere will get a chance to further burnish his chances as he gets a U21 call up for today's today friendly against the Netherlands. He made it to the team following Patrice Muamba's injury. Next month he will see action as part of the U20 squad that contests the 24 team World Cup in Egypt.

Not bad for a lad who turned 17 earlier this year.

Electronic Arts Inc announced today that Cuauhtémoc Blanco of Chicago Fire and Sacha Kljestan of Chivas USA will be featured on the front packs of FIFA Soccer 10.

Frank Lampard seen recently in the FA Community Shield match coolly striding forward and slotting the ball past Ben Foster for the first penalty kick will also be featured on the cover.

Yes, the MLS has truly arrived. Take that Beckham.

El Diego comes off sounding more like a doting grandfather than a coach of a national squad that is struggling to put together a string of coherent performances.

He gets very passionate about Fidel Castro.

"After that we just sat there for hours talking about politics. Six or seven hours easily. I killed myself laughing with him. He's a living legend and there's no one in the world with his charisma. No one, not even the Pope!"

Meanwhile Daniel Passarella, breaking a two year silence also gave an interview. As a player he earned Maradona's respect even though they had their disagreements, had this to say:

"Maradona as a player has vast experience but limited experience as a coach before taking on the national job. He had to deal with many other issues in his life and is presently facing an important transition in his thinking as a coach. He must take on different issues. My opinion is well intentioned."

The Salgaocar U-15 team from Goa played five matches against opposition from all over the world in the Nike Manchester United Premier Cup and ended up at the bottom of the table with the score card reading as follows.
vs Right to Dream (Ghana) 0-5
vs Atlas FC (Mexico) 0-9
vs Werder Bremen (Germany) 0-4
vs MTK Hungaria FC (Hungary) 0-2
vs Changchung Yatai (China) 0-3
Coach Francisco Bruto Da Costa's boys were overwhelmed by opponents superior both in physique and in skills.The team's performance shows the huge gap between the top football playing nations and India, even at the sub-junior stage.
The coach however had this to say "Don't go by the scoreline. It was a great experience for the boys. I hope they go back and put to use what they have learnt during this fantastic stay here," They also got to meet Sir Alex Ferguson and got to watch the friendly between Man U and Valencia.You'll be hearing Philster's version of the experience here as soon as he gets back to school.

LA Galaxy win their first match against New England at Gillette Stadium since July 1999. Donovan hit an unbelievable bender with the ball defying the laws of physics. How on earth did he do it? The Galaxy are scoring goals but more importantly their defense is giving nothing away. Becks was less visible in this match probably conserving his energy for the Netherlands friendly and I have to say that Becks has not played a major role in the Galaxy doing well. Just as well.

Sven Goran Ericksson on the sidelines saw the oldest club in the world get a flying start to their season. Notts County took apart Bradford City, 5-0, a club that finished 10 places ahead of them last season. We shall monitor the club's progress as it tries to climb out of League 2.

"Just this one afternoon started the whole thing off - there was no prolonged courtship ... In a desperate and percipient attempt to stop the inevitable, Dad quickly took me to Spurs to see Jimmy Greaves score four against Sunderland in a 5-1 win, but the damage had been done, and the six goals and all the great players left me cold: I'd already fallen for the team that beat Stoke 1-0 from a penalty rebound."
Nick Hornby in Fever Pitch (1992) on the origin of his lifelong love of Arsenal.

Simon Kuper writes in an excerpt of his new book Why England Lose (written with sports economist Stefan Szymanski) that the quintessential football fan made famous by Hornby, the monogamous blue collared fan who professes undying allegiance to one club is a romantic myth. The fan is more likely to treat the club like a brand creating a shiftier association. He might actually, heavens forbid, support more than one club at a time earning Hornby's sobriquet of a "sod-that-for-a-lark floating punter".

Kuper analyzes fan attendances and finds the attrition rate very high. 50% of the fans never make it back for one reason or the other. However the Hornby stereotype persists. There are sociological reasons for this phenomenon.

"In a country that is unusually rootless, this account of fandom tells a story of roots, of belonging - a lifelong love of the club your father or grandfather supported before you."

The British working class has moved on. Changed the nature of their jobs and addresses, disconnected from their antecedents. No other country in Europe felt the changes of the Industrial Revolution wrought as viscerally as did England and no other country felt its dismantling effects as keenly as huge swaths of textile and steel mills disappeared from the hinterland. A generation of Britons entered colleges and universities in the 1960s finding work in a new economy, relocating to different towns and cities with which they might have very little previous connection. Unless you are a Hull City fan where the address of the Industrial Revolution and the new economy coincide.

That well maybe. But going to a football game is far more canned than it previously was. There are limits to the sort of behaviour that used to be prevalent in the 70s and 80s. The game has been taken over by corporate sponsors who have added so many more embellishments that it is hard to figure out what drives fan attendances. Is it the prawn sandwiches or the type of beer? The credit card offered by Man Utd? Shifting through all this and gleaning kernels of true allegiance is tough.

The book is supposed to be football's version of Moneyball, the tome that gave us an inside looks into Billy Beane's novel approach to baseball using statistical analysis to improve the Oakland Athletics from a small club with a motley crew of talent to perennial winners. It led to a revolution as sports could now use inexpensive talent and rely less on X factors like work ethic and camaraderie by using data sets of baseball statistics to achieve dramatic improvement. Basically, number crunchers converged in backrooms of every baseball establishment to pour over SPSS data sets of every baseball statistic possible and come up with various regression models to explain variance and rule out chance. Soon everyone was using it, from college basketball to the NFL. leading to a glut in the pathway to the playoffs. That is where it all ended as the playoffs itself became a model for human error.

However as this review points out, football unlike baseball or NFL, is hard to break up into discrete data points because of the nature of the game. There is software like ProZone to chop up sequences but it remains imperfect. Thus, football is as yet a statistically impoverished sport. The most one can do is analyze penalty kicks. Which is why rich clubs stack their squads with high priced stars because it increases the chances of a win whereas X factors like work ethic and camaraderie although hard to measure is what makes football so much more compelling than watching fat bottomed sluggers amble around bases after hitting a homerun. Somewhere in a university lab for hard science, Barry Bonds work has been made easier by a number cruncher.

Thierry Henry misses a pretty easy chance in the 28' minute after being put through by Messi. Chivas come back strongly with a goal as Ramon Morales was on target to forcefully head the ball past Victor Valdes in the 50th minute from a pass by Xavier Baez. Barca were able to force a draw 14 minutes later as Dani Alves looped a dipping cross across goal that took the defense by surprise but found Bojan Krkic on the left. The striker coolly tapped the ball in.

This set the tone for Jesus Padilla to pull off a last gasp shocker but after getting by Puyol, he crashed the ball into the post from a difficult angle in the 87th minute. The Mexicans were able to slow down Barca with their strong defense even as they ceded control ovover the ball. Messi having an off day also helped. Pep Guardiola made wholesale changes in the second half bringing on Krkic and Gudjohnsen who quickened the pace.

The match attracted 61,572 fans to Candlestick Park, the largest crowd to watch a Bay Area soccer match since the Women's World Cup at Stanford in 1999.

A tame surrender by Man Utd. Patrice Evra was just awful. I still can't believe he was given the spot after bumbling against Bayern about a week ago. Chelsea looked awfully confident. They were deserving winners of the Community Shield trophy.

Before the PKs, the match ended, 2-2 with Nani's spectacular goal giving Man Utd a first half lead. But Chelsea came back in the second half through Ricardo Carvalho's equalizer. In the 71st minute Frank Lampard put the Blues ahead with a controversial goal as Evra lay injured 70 yards away having collided with Ballack. Referee Chris Foy waved on play. Just when it appeared Chelsea would get the win, Wayne Rooney scored a last minute equalizer. Later, Sir Alex complained about Foy's decision.

I think Paul Wilson has a touch of the sun when he predicts Chelsea will fall out of the top four ceding to City.

I peg the Blues to win. They are the most physical of the big four and finished very strongly last season. Ancelotti has been fortunate to retain most of the squad despite his boss wiggling his hips furiously at Silvio Berlusconi in giving up Essien for Pirlo (probably the lamest rumour), whereas the other three clubs have sold/ lost key players. So misunderestimate (as Dubya would say) Chelsea at your peril.

This deserves a separate blog posting. Dani Jarque's death has once again brought ARVD/ ARVC (Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia/ Cardiomyopathy) into the spotlight.

Johns Hopkins is one of the leading centers for ARVD research. The website states "ARVD, a rare heart disease, is one of the leading causes of sudden death in young athletes."

There is research to suggest that ARVD has a strong genetic heritable component where parents with a specific gene mutation pass it on to their children. There is also evidence that it could be due to an infection of the heart muscle.

The Cleveland Clinic website is very informative and gives the following information on ARVD

A family history of ARVD is present in at least 30 to 50 percent of cases.

The mutation causes heart muscle of the right ventricle (RV) to be replaced by fat and/or fibrous tissue. The right ventricle is dilated and contracts poorly. As a result, the ability of the heart to pump blood is usually weakened. Patients with ARVD often have arrhythmias (abnormal heart rhythms), which can increase the risk of sudden cardiac arrest or death.

Symptoms include:

Ventricular arrthythmias: Irregular heart rhythms originating in the ventricles or lower chambers of the heart - The most common is ventricular tachycardia.
Palpitations: Fluttering in the chest due to abnormal heart rhythms
Dizziness, lightheadedness, or fainting caused by irregular heart rhythms
Sudden cardiac death - can be the first sign of ARVD
Heart failure - shortness of breath with activity, inability to carry out normal activities without fatigue, swelling in the legs, ankles and feet (edema)

Genetic testing is now carried out in major university hospitals like Johns Hopkins and Harvard. ARVD can be established through medical history, physical exam, and tests (echocardiogram, Holter monitor, electrophysiologic testing, cardiac MRI, and/or cardiac CT scan).

Treatment include taking medications for controlling arrhythmias, electrical catheterization, and implanting cardiovertor defibrillators into the apex of the right ventricle.

There is a lot of information on ARVD/ ARVC on this website, including a variety of diagnostic and treatment options.

As another round of Manchester United Chelsea rivalry prepares to get underway Nani struck the first blow for Man U.Here's the first goal in the Community Shield game.John Terry is not happy.

I had been predicting this for quite sometime. Mike Ashley would face tremendous problems selling of Newcastle at his asking price.

Barry Moat the businessman interested in buying out Newcastle has balked at Ashley's valuation of £100m. Moat is offering £70m. The two sides were looking to resume negotiations this Friday and it was rumoured that the club would eventually go for £80-£90m. But now it is being reported that Ashley has had a change of heart and is taking the club off the market. If the takeover talks fail then so go the chances of an Alan Shearer return.

The annual wage bill of £65 million hangs like Damocles sword over all these negotiations.

Does Ashley want to sell the club? I think not. My theory is that he is going to play out this waiting game while he becomes a less divisive figure. Call it attrition. With all the speculation, rumours, half truths, at the end of the day there is still Ashley. Fans want stability.

Then there is the late Sir Bobby Robson who laid the blame for Newcastle's travails on Dennis Wise, the awol director of football and not on Ashley. This is a small modicum of vindication for the embattled owner. The wool was pulled over his eyes by people who should have known better which players to get. Whether you believe it or not, Ashley's complicity has been washed over by the statement of a legend. I am sure Ashley revisited his article. If you look at Ashley's statements in the past there is a sense of disbelief that he was so maligned by fans. He was very quick to mention bailing out the club with his own money and taking on its considerable debt.

Ashley's attention maybe directed elsewhere as Sports Direct International, the chain of retail stores of which he is an owner became victim of Iceland's financial meltdown losing 91% of its profitability and now facing charges of unfair competition through the acquisition of 31 from rivals JJB in towns where they already have a presence. He was ordered to sell five stores by competition regulators but just like the club has yet to find a buyer.

What might give Ashley hope is, Sports Direct has also been tremendously successful over the long haul and so far there has been a slow but unmistakable uptick in stock prices. Analysts are now projecting a 10% growth rate for 2011 and so far this year revenues have increased 8.56% over last year even as profits have tumbled. Analysts now rate SPD as a buy over sell with the consensus being a hold stock. In the five year record SPD has outperformed the FTSE 100 with a +393.06% to +9.07% rate of return. New stores are projected to open up in the North East and the sports jersey sales have been fairly strong. For Ashley this glimmer of hope lessens the pressure to sell the club.

I think most Toon fans will make do with Ashley as owner as long as he keeps a low profile, wears a purdah, and does not go out drinking beer with them. The team acquitted themselves well against West Brom in their Championship season opener with a draw but they need an manager. There is talk of bringing David O'Leary. The ex-Leeds and Villa manager is well known for first year results and nurturing young players. However his long term prospects are quite mixed.

The post Cristiano Ronaldo era ends. The Ancelotti reign begins. The Michael Owen experiment will get proof tested. Lots of little subtexts to the Community Shield match which takes place today at Wembley. Kick off at 1500 BST

Chelsea's attack will be without the services of Joe Cole and Yuri Zhirkov, out through injury.

Man Utd's defense has been plagued by injuries and Nemanja Vidic, Wes Brown, and Gary Neville will not be playing the match. The Red Devils are also without Van Der Saar.

Ancelotti seems to be relishing the spotlight:

"It will be the first time for me to be at Wembley. It is not a friendly game, it is very important for us. We play against a great team. They were in the final of the Champions League last season."

Chelsea (from): Cech, Hilario, Turnbull, Belletti, Alex, Terry, Carvalho, Mancienne, Bosingwa, A Cole, Ballack, Sturridge, Mikel, Deco, Lampard, Anelka, Drogba, Ivanovic, Kalou, Ferreira, Malouda.

Man Utd (from): Foster, Kuszczak, O'Shea, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra, Valencia, Fletcher, Carrick, Scholes, Anderson, Gibson, Nani, Giggs, Rooney, Owen, Berbatov, Macheda, Tosic, Fabio, Cleverley, De Laet.

Arsenal lost against Valencia by the same score that Man U beat Valencia the other day.Two - zero.Definitely not the kind of performance to prepare for the game against Everton on matchday one.

It appears that Milan fans have decided to become the moral police for Ronaldinho's fondness for the night life.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Ronaldinho and goalkeeper Dida were in a Milan night club when they were approached by fans who instead of asking for their autographs berated them for staying up so late. These fans voiced their displeasure at the progress of the club and forced both players to leave.

With Kaka leaving for Real, Silvio Berlusconi has asked Ronaldinho to take over the creative role. He also made Ronaldinho promise that he would behave professionally. So far it has not been a good start as the club lost all their matches in the US including one against Inter. They were also beaten by Bayern in the Audi Cup.

Bob Bradley named his 20 man squad that will meet Mexico in the World Cup qualifier on August 12th at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. This is shaping up to be the one of the biggest clashes in the history of the rivalry.

Stuart Holden and Chad Marshall were in outstanding form at the recently concluded Gold Cup and have been awarded by being named to the squad.

It will be interesting to see if Bradley gives Jose Francisco Torres any playing time. The midfielder who has Mexican heritage (his father) had the opportunity to play for both countries but chose to play for the USA. He now plays for Mexican league team Pachuca but if Bradley decides to give him minutes expect the raucous Azteca crowd to give him a toasty reception. But his introduction is highly unlikely as buzzsaw midfielder Benny Feilhaber who provided an instant spark of the bench in the Confederations Cup should get the start.

Bradley will rely on his European league players like Jozy Altidore (now with Hull), Charlie Davis (Sochaux), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan), Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes) to give the team a boost. Only Landon Donovan of the LA Galaxy provides a local flavour to the starting XI.

One of the more debatable selections is Conor Casey over Kenny Cooper. The Rapids striker was sparingly used in the Confederations Cup and is yet to score a goal in his national appearances. He has been a domestic force with a hat trick scored in yesterday's rout of Chivas but it probably is his Bundesliga experience that gets him the nod. However, we can make a case for Cooper too. The 1860 Munich centerforward was a very effective sub in the Gold Cup. He already has 4 goals in 9 matches.

U.S. roster

GOALKEEPERS: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa, England), Tim Howard (Everton, England)

DEFENDERS: Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes, France), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover, Germany), Jay DeMerit (Watford, England), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan, Italy), Jonathan Spector (West Ham, England)

MIDFIELDERS: Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach, Germany), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Clint Dempsey (Fulham, England), Benny Feilhaber (AGF Aarhus, Denmark), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), José Francisco Torres (Pachuca, Mexico)

FORWARDS: Jozy Altidore (Hull City, England), Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Charlie Davies (Sochaux, France), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy)

At 0-22-1 at the Azteca you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure the odds of the US winning against Mexico is slim. And Obama is known to be a voracious reader of sports stats which makes me believe that he is aware of this record.

So he is quite realistic when asked about the chances of winning against Mexico.

"I wouldn't bet any money on it."

He could have easily chosen a more jingoistic tone which probably would have scored a few points with Landon Donovan.

This is also some smart football diplomacy involved as Obama prepares to fly to Mexico City for the North American Leaders' Summit where he will meet Mexico's Felipe Calderon and Canada's Steve Harper. There are plenty of sticky issues but none more than the drug wars in Mexico that have ravaged that country claiming more than 12,000 lives in less than three years. Dealing with this huge problem has tested the goodwill of both countries. Mexico has pointed to the huge number of weapons coming over the border as a prime reason for the huge spike in homicides and have complained about not getting enough cooperation.

Here is an assessment that most pundits can agree with on the Confederations Cup performance and one that shows that Obama keeps his ears tuned to anything on the sport.

"Certainly we've improved," Obama said of the U.S. team. "We almost beat Brazil."

Shocking news. Jarque was just 26 years of age. He apparently died of sudden cardiac arrest and could not be revived.

"The doctor Cervera carried out CPR on the player and used a defibrillator, which showed that the arrest was non-responsive.

"The medical services continued carrying out CPR, administering adrenaline and atropine for an hour, but the player's heart did not react, so finally that determined his death."

Espanyol were in Italy preparing to play Bologna this Sunday in a friendly. The club has canceled the match and the rest of the tour and will fly back to Barcelona. Sports director German de la Cruz said:

"Our players and staff are utterly bereft. They cannot take it in. A few hours ago he was a team-mate and now he is gone. It's awful. Inexplicable. We put our players through exhaustive medical checks before the start of pre-season training and not the slightest problem was noted."

This tragic death comes two years after Sevilla defender Antonio Puerta collapsed on the pitch in the club's opening day match. He was diagnosed with Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia (ARVD) which is a form of a cardiomyopathy which afflicts young adults and potentially leads to fatal right ventricular arrhythmias. Puerta died after suffering "multiple organ failure and irreversible brain damage as a result of multiple prolonged cardiac arrests."

A month and a half ago, the world remembered Mark Vivien Foe who collapsed six years ago in the 2003 Confederations Cup semi-finals playing for his country Cameroun against Colombia. He suffered cardiac arrest brought on by the same cardiomyopathy that afflicted Puerta. Six months later, Hungarian midfielder Miklos Feher of Benfica died at age 24 years while playing against Vitoria Guimaraes.

We do not know whether Jarque had the same condition but by the suddenness of his death, there is a strong suspicion that there could be an underlying ARVD. Unlike Foe and Puerta, Jarque's death did not take place on the pitch but in his hotel room. He was talking on the phone to his girlfriend who was in her final months of her pregnancy when he suddenly collapsed. His frightened girlfriend called fellow team mate Ferran Corominas who had to climb into the room along with tour manager Jose Maria Calzon and they found Jarque on the floor. The team doctor Miquel Cervera was summoned and CPR was administered and a defibrillator used but to no avail. Jarque was probably dead by the time the Florence EMS arrived with the proper equipment. The brain suffers irreversible damage once blood supply stops more than four minutes.

Jarque was part of the 2002 squad which also included Fernando Torres and Andres Iniesta that won the U19 European title. With Espanyol he won the Spanish cup in 2006 and was runner-up in the UEFA Cup in 2007. He spent his entire playing career at Espanyol having risen from the youth ranks. Coach Mauriciol Pochettino made him captain replacing veteran Raul Tamudo because of his strong defensive performances.

Espanyol recently inaugurated their glittering new stadium, the Cornella-El Prat with a thumping win over Liverpool just a few days ago. The players had expressed their delight at the new venue.

Amongst them Jarque. " "People in the stands enjoyed themselves, and we had fun on the pitch. I got goosebumps - we can accomplish important things here if we have continued support." He also expressed his optimism at Espanyol's prospects. "Next season we can pursue other goals. We [Espanyol] are going to grow slowly. Our objectives are currently quiet, but ultimately we must try our luck and try to enter Europe."

I can only say that the Cornella El- Prat will be a somber place when the Liga gets underway on the 30th of August. Espanyol travel to Atletico Bilbao before hosting Real Madrid on the 13th of September.

Jarque's death should spur FIFA into drastic action and they should introduce rules make ARVD testing mandatory. Players discovered with such conditions can then be counseled. Football is a contact sport and knee and ankle injuries are commonplace but no one expects a tragedy of such magnitude.

Ronaldo scoring what I think is his first field goal for Real Madrid as they go on to beat Toronto FC 5 - 1. (All goals here..)

And Ronaldo's ghost is causing problems here...

A misleading kind of headline.It's not bad grammar.What it means is that he scored a hat trick in Roma's 7 -1 victory over Gent in the Europa (formerly UEFA) cup game and two goals in the earlier leg of the competition against the same team.Goals of the 7 -1 victory ....

Matthew Booth's story reminds one of how sports in SA was and still is segregated along racial lines.

Cricket and rugby were always the sport of choice for the privileged white population. Football was more the sport of the poorer blacks and the coloureds majorities living in shanty towns playing the sport on hardscrabble grounds. The sport was organized as a means of fighting apartheid and it played a major part in SA's isolation for almost 30 years from any sporting contact with the rest of the world. Bafana Bafana played their first match in 1992 after the Botha government renounced apartheid.

Makhaya Ntini became the first black test cricketer in 1997. He was controversially indicted on rape charges two years later which almost terminated his career. Ntini successfully fought the charges and six months later was reinstated to the national team. Fighting of the negative connotations of the case, Ntini rebuilt his career and is now the leading wicket taker for the Proteas. He paved the way for more non-white representation and now the Proteas boast Hashem Amla, the gifted right handed batsman of Indian origin, whose spectacular form against the hitherto invincible Australians exposed major drawbacks in their bowling.

These examples show that the walls are slowly crumbling and crossover stories are becoming more commonplace. However, the opposite route of whites entering the world of football is less explored. Matthew Booth apart from his skill will also be known as the player who broke those lines. He stands out literally at 6' 6" as the only white player in an otherwise black team.

"To play football, I had to go to a local club after school. It had an open-door policy allowing blacks and whites to play together, which was probably against the law at that time.

"It meant that from the age of five I was playing alongside black and coloured kids, when my schoolmates would never have come into contact with them."

He also cautions against reading too much into his story. Although, football is hugely popular, it still reflects an imbalance in the economic bottomline. One does not get rich playing league matches in SA.

"Football has been construed as a black sport here in South Africa and that means it hasn't got the money it deserves," he says.

"Rugby and cricket are seen as the white sports and they get the money and the sponsorship."

Booth is urging the South African government to invest more in grassroots football and to stop school sports being played along racial lines.

His marriage to Sonia Bonnaventia, a supermodel who grew up in Soweto, took him far away from the leafy suburbs of white Fish Hoek in Cape Town but closer to the hearts of black South Africans. But Booth is not just a great story in racial transcendence because in the end it is performances that matter and he has been a force in the backfield for Bafana Bafana. Which is why he is a fan favourite no matter which colour.

The Gunners face the Bhoys on August 18th in Glasgow before returning to host them on August 26th. The first time these two teams will face each other in European competition.

Great. No Atletico or Fiorentina to contend with.

The CL draw will take place today. The choices are Fiorentina, Atletico Madrid, Celtic FC, RSC Anderlecht, and FC Timisoara. So who will it be?

Fiorentina: The Violas were in the news recently with a possible Felipe Melo transfer to Arsenal which fell through. He eventually went to Juve. The club finished fourth in the Serie. They have Adrian Mutu who was recently ordered by CAS to pay €17.17 million to Chelsea as compensation. Mutu came to the Blues from Parma on a record €29.4 million transfer fee. He was terminated from Chelsea and banned from football for 7 months after he failed a drug test for cocaine. Mutu and Gilardino have formed quite a partnership with 33 goals scored last season. With Riccardo Montolivo, a Lippi favourite, Fiorentina are a threat. They met each Arsenal in the 1999 group stages and won through a Gabriel Batistuta goal.

Atletico Madrid: They were beaten 2-1 recently by Arsenal in the Emirates Cup on the strength of two Arshavin goals but showed some spark with a German Pacheco equalizer. Ex-Arsenal winger Jose Antonio Reyes was part of the squad. The team was under strength without Pichichi winner Diego Forlan. They finished fourth in the Liga on the strength of his 32 goals. Apart from Forlan and Reyes, they have Sergio Aguero, Maxi Rodriguez, Luis Garcia, Simao Sabrosa, and Jose Manuel Jurado. Each one is a proven goal scoring threat and they have been at one point or the other an integral part of their national team. Out of the five, Los Colchoneros are the most dangerous.

Celtic FC: Undermined by the departure of their best player, Shunsuke Nakamura to Espanyol. Celtic will be looking to Shaun Maloney, Aidean McGeady, and Scott Brown to provide some answers. They have never met Arsenal in European competition but as per CL lineage, they enjoy more success having won in 1967 and entering the finals in 1970. Those were the days of Jock Stein, Tommy Gemmell, and the Lisbon Lions. Celtic get to the CL beating Dinamo Moscow, 2-1 on aggregate in the qualifying rounds.

RSC Anderlecht: The most successful Belgian club. Anderlecht was in the news recently when their defender Jelle Van Damme was sued on racism charges by Oguchi Onyewu while the US defender was at Standard Leige. The club debuted Nii Lamptey, an enormously talented player instrumental to the success of the Ghana youth squads of the 1990s whose story of too much too soon has become a tragic byword in international football. Anderlecht won against Sivasspor, 6-3 on aggregate in the qualifying rounds.

FC Timisoara: The Romanian club has never won the Romanian league with second place as their best finish last season. They are in an ownership dispute right now. They booked their place in the draw with two draws against Shakhtar Donetsk, progressing on away goals.

The answer is pretty self evident. No Fiorentina and Atletico.

Wenger says that there might be one or two more signings but Patrick Vieira is not one of them. The Special One confirms that there has been no contact.

Please give us time to mourn the amount of ultimately useless Vieira analysis which Soccerblog devoted to his return. However we were hardly the only culprits. Every media outlet burned valuable newspace on this eventual non-event.

Born under a bad sign.

Tomas Rosicky is out for 6-8 weeks with a hamstring injury picked up in training that could sideline him for the first four matches. He joins Samir Nasri on the injury list. Eduardo just returning from arthroscopic surgery might be susceptible to more niggling injuries. Add RVP to the physically fragile and we again have a squad that might not make it to 38 matches.

Paging Gary Lewin.

Couple of fast switches here.

Alberto Aquilani moves to the Reds on a 20m transfer. He will come with a reputation as an exciting playmaker, a long range threat, and an excellent deadball expert. Rafa on Aquilani:

"He can play a little bit higher than Javier Mascherano - maybe between him and Steven Gerrard.

"He has good passing - the final ball is good - and he also works. If he can settle down properly in England he can be a very good addition."

Carving out a name in a Roma team full of creative midfielders is not easy but Aquilani has done it. He also brings valuable international experience. The only weak link is an ankle injury which needed surgical intervention this May. He has not played since March and has been restricted to 14 appearances. Usually rehabilitation of ankle injuries take up to a year. Match fitness will be an issue.

Klaas Jan Huntelaar finally finds a home away from Real. This time it is the Rossoneri who will try and resuscitate the Ajax centerforward's wayward career. Stuttgart and Tottenham missed out. Huntelaar was an afterthought in Real's attack and frankly a criminal waste.

It also leads to a corollary, if you are a Dutchman with talent do not ever take up a Real opportunity. They will dump you. Real's indiscriminate Dutch policy which should be the target of a criminal investigation has seen Huntelaar, RVN, Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder, Rafael Van Der Vaart, and Royston Drenthe languish on the bench. They are good enough for the Dutch national team but not good enough for the club side.

"There is a lot of politics at Tottenham, but that's Tottenham as a club," added Bent.

With Daniel Levy, every day is one more day spent in politics, one day less on football. I have no idea why this man wants to be chairman of a club. He should contest elections for the Tories.

Anyway, Bent's Twitter rant apparently helped seal the most expensive signing in Black Cats history.

Elsewhere, the NFL is banning Twitter because of the potential of leaking out sensitive information like player injuries, coaching tactics, and feuds on the team which can give the opposition a leg up. Guaranteed the NFL is a pretty paranoid league but there should be some general guidelines for other leagues too. I assume common sense will be one such guideline that individual coaches could reinforce.

Very cool.

A moving tribute to the King of Pop. Rio talks about getting Bad, his first MJ album from his mum. Music from the Arctic Monkeys. A clip of Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. Some awesome skills from Cristiano Ronaldo and Robinho. Interviews with Usain Bolt, Vincent Cassel and Roger Federer. Lots of nice gadgets and clothes. And a plug for the Homeless World Cup starting September 6th in Milan.

Check it out >>

The Sounders got pounded 4-0 in front of 66,848 fans, a record for a football match in Seattle. Messi scored two delectable goals. The first a beautiful curling shot which beat Keller. A nice bit of ball control led to a second goal after Xavi set him up with a beauty of a pass. Jeffren Suarez added a third and Pedro Rodriguez completed the rout.

Henry Cavendish discovered hydrogen. 200 years later Sir Alex discovered Ronaldo.

Some very prominent names have started circling around the Man Utd coaching job perhaps sensing Sir Alex's imminent retirement. Jose Mourinho has expressed his desire to coach the Red Devils and so has Eric Cantona. But I can say that they will have to wait a considerable amount of time to before that happens. In the meantime they can get themselves a degree in comparative rhetoric a la Sir Alex.

Why do I think Sir Alex has at least another three to four seasons before he decides to hang up his boots?

The competitive fires burn even more brightly

Even by off season trash talking standards this year is an outlier. The sheer volume of Sir Alex's verbal brandishing has been astonishing. Today, he waded into Liverpool's chances giving them failing grades. A few days ago it was Real that was his recipient. His recent accusations of City's profligate spending as arrogant and stupid had his junior counterpart backpedaling furiously. He declared Arsenal would fall out of the final four because of the lack of funds. Perhaps this is a natural consequence of the old lion feeling a bit wounded at all the premature assessments of a club's demise from the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez, two central characters in the club's success and whose treatment at the hands of the manager could not have been more polar opposites. Tevez's bitter accusations struck a raw nerve.

The post Cristiano Ronaldo challenge at Old Trafford

A lesser manager might have retired after the greatest discovery on British soil since Henry Cavendish discovered hydrogen. After all taking a pimply buck toothed prodigy for £12 million pounds and transforming him into the most sought after global icon would be considered enough of an epoch, a beautiful retirement epitaph. The complexities of creating another era through different actors after years of beautiful simplicity at the legs of one is one of Sir Alex's greatest challenges. Creating a visual analogue of 100 goals might be one way of getting players to score without their chief weapon.

The Michael Owen experiment

If the biggest story in the Premiership achieves success then Ronaldo will be erased to a warm fuzzy footnote. Owen's arrival at Old Trafford is a bailout of a player who was consigned to a heap. He is a huge gamble but if he succeeds, then another superlative beyond genius needs to be found. Managers seldom commit to such bold strokes without a huge personal investment and a desire to see this bear fruition. Owen's presence is not an overnight commitment. Sir Alex will need time.

City's ascendancy. Not on my watch.

The club crowing the most nowadays might have to be administered a warm water enema. Sir Alex has called out City's spending, embroiled himself in a verbal back and forth with Carlos Tevez, taken offense at a poster, claimed that Adebayor would have been a Man Utd player. With the derby a thousand times more contentious, would someone like Sir Alex give up the reins? Actually, without the gimmicks, it represents a serious opportunity to settle a more fundamental debate. Can a club can buy its way instantly as opposed to a more deliberative building block style. Sir Alex would love to be the catalyst that settles the issue.

....scoring his debut goal for Man U at the age of 19 years - he is 7 days away from becoming 20 on the 12th of August this year.His goal was the second in Man U's 2 - 0 win over Valencia - a game in which also saw Man U's first summer signing Antonio Valencia shine against his namesake club.

Les Girondins stock is incredibly high because Laurent Blanc whose footballing IQ must make him the Albert Einstein of the sport has fashioned a team in which "eleven players think the same thing at the same time."

The French Ligue threw up so many surprises last season. Lyon's uninterrupted reign was finally ended and Guingamp won the Coupe De France. It was only the second time a Ligue 2 team achieved this distinction. Even Bordeaux's Ligue title chase had the dizzying look and feel of the Bourne Ultimatum. Surely, all these events count for the surge in optimism.

So does the club that comprises players with a total valuation of about 30m euros have what it takes to win the big dance? Well, the CL threw up Porto as 2004 champions. They beat AS Monaco. France can look to L'OM in 1993. PSG won the C2 version in 1996. Valencia entered the finals in 2000 and 2001 (pre David Villa distortion in player valuation). There are plenty of small clubs which have managed to enter the quarterfinal stage. Bordeaux can dare to dream and with Yoann Gourcuff and Jaroslav Plaisil they have the players to pull it off too.

The Football Federation of Australia (FFA) announced that it would impose two-match bans on players found guilty of diving, or "simulation", to win a penalty or have an opponent sent off.So scenes like these are going to disappear from Australia.

FIFA is yet to go where FFA are going mainly because of their obstinate stance on refusing to use technology.For years FIFA have stated in their disciplinary code that 'the disciplinary decisions taken by the referee on the field of play during a match are final.'Hence if a referee misses an incident during a match, there is no way to retrospectively punish that player.

Every year it is the same. There will be a club that will drop the Gunners down from the top four. Two years ago, it was Spurs. Last year it was Villa. This year it is City. Each and every year, the club has proved them wrong. For a lefty publication, The Guardian really digs high flying big spenders.

I think getting rid of Adebayor will open up the attack tremendously and with Arshavin set to for his first full season, a 4-3-3 looks very possible. Fabregas who looked a bit spent because of last summer's Euro 2008 campaign will start fresher. And I have always been impressed by Tomas Rosicky. He is actually an excellent box to box player. With Arshavin and Rosicky the jets will be on. Throw in Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey and the midfield looks awesome.

Bendtner is much improved and ended the season on a very productive note. Eduardo is back after a long injury layoff and we have seen some delectable stuff from him when he was healthy. Then there is RVP, hopefully those niggling injuries related to his molars have been taken care of with dental surgery. A healthy RVP will be good for 15 goals and may create an additional 10 more.

There are some question marks on defense and hopefully by the end of the season Wenger can come up with one more experienced centerback and a holding midfielder. Alexandre Song, Denilson, and Abou Diaby remain the weak links.

Wenger plays Cool Hand Luke.

"In five months, if he doesn't prolong his contract, Chamakh will be free to talk to any club and Bordeaux won't get anything," Wenger told L'Equipe. "In the current context, to me, it is over. Let's say that at the moment it is terminated.

The difference is £10m. Like I said in the cold calculus of football business Chamakh's antics can very well have cost Bordeaux even that amount.

Probably Alonso's most scintillating moment. Followed by Baros equally scintillating reaction!

Finally the saga is over although Liverpool is being coy over the exact price which is believed to be close to £30m. The club released a statement.

"Liverpool Football Club this evening confirmed they had reached agreement for the sale of Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid, subject only to a medical. The terms of the deal will remain confidential and undisclosed."

He will join his former Liverpool team-mates Alvaro Arbeloa - who moved to Real last week for £3.5million - and goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek at the Bernabeu.

Alonso became a pawn in the convoluted Gareth Barry courtship and when the Villa midfielder decided to stay on last season only to join City this year, Rafa decided that Alonso was invaluable and rebuffed Real's overtures at first. Florentino Perez was chary of giving more than £30m for Alonso and offered a lesser amount which Liverpool rejected. It was only when Jorge Valdano impressed the owner of Alonso's importance to the Real midfield that Perez finally acquiesced.

I think Liverpool can forget David Villa unless they can come up with more than £50m which is a huge amount of money for a club that has had such a torrid time getting re-financed. Jamie Carragher has been talking up Steven Gerrard as a second striker behind Fernando Torres. Personally, Gerrard is less of a creative force than Alonso, so formalizing a striker role is an important part in his evolution. Alberto Aquilani can take over playmaking duties.

"Football scouts pick out a disproportionate number of blond players, presumably because the colour catches the eye. This is known as an "availability heuristic" - when information stays in your memory even though it's irrelevant."
A collection of four more such soccer related observations here..
"Gerd Müller was also a preposterous hero. He had a huge backside and looked hideously unnatural, but he more than any other footballer in history was blessed with a supernatural awareness of where to run, when to run there, and how to get the ball past the keeper."
Statistics and picturesque descriptions of 5 other great finishers of the game here..
And if that's not enough here are the 10 greatest EPL strike pairs of all time.

During a recent African Legends match, Nigeria's best known talent showed some of his old magical flourishes reminiscent of his Bolton days. He twisted and turned, sprayed trademark precise matches, tracked back to help the defense and played with an alacrity that belied his 35 years of age. His performance and the crowd's eruption into "We want Jay Jay, We want Jay Jay" is now fueling rumours of a possible comeback to the Super Eagles in their World Cup quest. It has left fans and pundits divided. That they are having such a dialogue reflects an unease about the Super Eagles chances of qualifying for the World Cup.

Why not? France turned to retired Zinedine Zidane, Claude Makelele, and Lilian Thuram in the 2006 World Cup. It almost won them the title. Cameroun's Roger Milla was 38 years old when he played in the 1990 World Cup and his four goals helped Cameroun reach the quarterfinals. So Okocha is in some illustrious company. He retired from football after being released by Hull in 2008, so it is safe to say that the competitive fires still lurk within. A World Cup run with its limited number of appearances and a big possibility of making an instant impact could prove to be a huge temptation.

So far he has played the waiting game and remained mum on his comeback but Shaibu Amodu will be hard pressed to refuse the huge boost that Okocha's presence could give his squad. Plus, he would be available for the matches unlike the Premiership players who have been awol from some of the crucial qualifiers. So far only Nwankwo Kanu and John Utaka, the two Portsmouth strikers have shown up for every match. The Nigerians for all the talent on the team have struggled in some of the matches against lightweight opposition because of the lack of a quality playmaker. John Obi Mikel is unsuited in that role and so far all that attacking firepower looks disjointed and unglued.

Tunisia is on top in Group B with the Super Eagles behind by two points and they face each other in a battle for pole position on September 6th at Abuja. The Super Eagles battled to a crucial draw against Tunisia in the first match at Rades. The return match will decide who gets to South Africa. That match could also see Okocha suit up for a surprise appearance. The debate over whether Nigerian will qualify has been overshadowed by the possibility of the comeback of the year. It would be expedient to bring back Okocha at this stage but at the cost of younger talent that needs to be nurtured? The debate reflects Nigeria's uneasy transition as a generation of more successful players retires to a more untested group of players who play mostly overseas.

Ronaldo's contract lasts till December and he has indicated that he will renew it for another season before he retires at the end of 2010. O Fenômeno will then become an ambassador to Corinthians.

The cozy confines of Craven Cottage, a haven for US footballers could be home for Jozy Altidore after languishing at Villareal with a loan transfer to second division club Xerez that saw mostly bench time.

His Confederations Cup form brought back the focus on the big powerful striker especially the way he flung Villareal compatriot Joan Capdevila like a rag doll to score the first goal against Spain.

Altidore is not just being pursued by Fulham but he is also attracting the attention of Phil Brown at Hull as well as David Moyes at Everton. Both Fulham and Hull are preparing rival bids of £6.5million for his services. Personally, he would be better off at Fulham where he could reprise Brian McBride's role. With Dempsey it would form the core of the US attack minus Landon Donovan.

The Telegraph has an article on the Arsenal youngsters who might be ready for the big stage.

Jack Wilshere is already making waves. He is now officially the most exciting talent in English football since Gazza. His performance in the Emirates Cup was singled out by Wenger.

"I've been especially pleased with the performances of Wilshere over the past couple of days because he has shown how much he has progressed over the past 12 months and he clearly has a promising future ahead of him."

We have already seen Kieran Gibbs who filled in admirably for Gael Clichy. OK. I did see that unfortunate slip that gave up the goal against Man Utd but other than that he was very dependable and even showed some attacking flair.

Fran Merida has been making rapid strides and he was on display in both Emirates Cup matches where he assisted Eduardo in the second goal against Rangers. In an interview with Sky Sports, he says he is determined to get more playing time and elevate his status within the squad.

"I think a success would be to push up in the first team, get some more chances and progress," Merida added. "That is all I can do and I will try my best."

The article also mentions Sanchez Watt, Emmanuel Frimpong, and Rhys Murphy.

Here are a few more that the article did not mention:

Aaron Ramsey already made his complete Premiership debut this May against Pompey after being on the bench for most of the season. He made a total of 22 appearances and hopes he can partner Cesc Fabregas in the midfield. Ramsey is stronger and quicker and has larger ambitions.

"I definitely feel ready to push for the first team," Ramsey told Arsenal.com.

Wenger might not have to look too far for a holding midfielder. Francis Coquelin, an aggressive midfielder with strong tackling skills and often compared to Claude Makelele might get some more playing time after pre-season appearances against Barnet and Szombathelyi Haladás. He could get some valuable grooming from Patrick Vieira should he join from Inter.

Henri Lansbury had an outstanding U- 19 European championship scoring three goals and assisting in as four more sparking England's entry into the finals after beating France 3-1 in extra time in the semi-finals. Lansbury's form caught the eye of UEFA who named him in the list of top ten outstanding prospects. Fran Merida also made the list.

Gavin Hoyte may also be ready for the big time. The right back is physically strong and quick. Wenger could use him as cover for Bacary Sagna should he get injured. Hoyte also excels at playing center back which provides another option to Toure and Senderos having departed.

Andres Sanches, the president of Corinthians is in England and undergoing negotiations with Liverpool over the sale of Lucas Leiva. It seems that an agreement will be reached soon for the ex- Gremio midfielder who has seen limited playing time with Javier Mascherano, Steven Gerrard, and Xabi Alonso ahead of him.

He came on for an injured Gerrard in the CL quarterfinal second leg and scored the equalizer with a scorching shot in an exciting up and down match that saw Chelsea go through on a 7-5 aggregate.

The Sun is reporting that Salomon Kalou could be Arsene Wenger's next signing. The Blues have been offered £6m for the Ivoirian winger although they are holding out for £8m. Kalou has been been offered a generous increase in his weekly wages, actually double, to £60,000 and a five-year contract.

Kalou indulged in some hyperbole back in February about Le Professeur.

"He is a very great coach and I know that every single player in the world dreams of playing for him.

"I have a lot of respect for him, he is one of the best coaches in the world"

Kalou's minutes were probably going to drop further with Florent Malouda and now Yuri Zhirkov coming to the squad. He will be good cover for Samir Nasri who will be out for at least the first month and a half of the season recuperating from his fibular fracture. The Ivoirian is speedy, likes to cut in, and shoot with his preferred right leg and shows good crossing ability.

However as seen in the Emirates Cup, it is not the attack that needs fixing so much as the defense. We need that holding midfielder and one more experienced center back.

I think the sales of Penderyn should go through the roof at this news. I have a bottle which I found in a NJ shop and am dying to open it.

Russian fans who probably don't need any excuse for drinking have been advised to down shots of whiskey to ward off swine flu when they visit Wales next month for the World Cup qualifier. The president of the Russian supporters association had this to say:

"We urge our fans to drink a lot of Welsh whisky as a form of disinfection," the VOB president, Alexander Shprygin, said. "That should cure all symptoms of the disease."

I wonder if the CDC knew that curing swine flu was that simple. Maybe the drinking age should be lowered to include toddlers?

Sir Bobby Robson 1933 to 2009.

ALL proceeds including writers and performers royalties for "Sir Bobby's Song" will go to the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.

Written and recorded only hours after Sir Bobby passed away - is on sale through www.coquet-shack.com or www.arkade.com/artists/JohnDLewis.aspx.

John D Lewis, the artist who wrote and sang this song writes on the website:

The day Sir Bobby died there was a song in my head. I don't know why, how ... or where it came from. Within 30 minutes, the words and music were complete and a few hours later, it was recorded.

God Bless you Bobby. Rest In Peace.
John D. Lewis

Its a very catchy and hopeful song. There is a bit about the Toons winning the Championship and FA Cup that will bring a wry smile.

....they looked like they could have gone on all evening.Then another chap came along and removed the flag and the game went on.

One reason and only one reason for bringing Marouane Chamakh is that he has such a compelling last name. If he scores the winning goal for Arsenal against Man Utd, you can be sure to hear more Chamakhdowns.

But the big news is that the striker needs no Michael Owen like glossy brochure and is in London to negotiate on his behalf. The striker has gone rogue. He blistered his club for trying to run his career and from his words has made it pretty untenable for a return.

"Already I am told that Sunderland is not the club for me,' said Chamakh. 'But since when does a club chose the future of a player? Then my bosses tell me they will let me go to one of the "Big Four" like Arsenal.

'Everything is being done to prevent my move, I do not understand given how much service I have given to Bordeaux."

Bottomline in the cold calculus of football business he can now be had for a smaller price.

The Daily Mail reports that Roman Abramovich has tired of ceding the title of most hated owner (customary reference to Mike Ashley inserted here) to Florentino Perez and is willing to splash more than £100m on getting Andrea Pirlo, Franck Ribery, and Sergio Aguero to Stamford Bridge.

I think Pirlo could be induced to make the move to Stamford Bridge with a decent enough transfer fee of about £15-20m and Atletico could be tempted by a £45m offer for Sergio Aguero. But it will be very interesting to see the Ribery transfer happen, assuming they are serious about landing the Bayern midfielder. Everyone and anyone in the Bayern cabal has weighed in on Ribery with their valuations and judgments on the prospective owners. Bayern has always proved to be a tough club to negotiate with because it is not one owner but a composite where each one needs to be placated and made to feel that he is the final arbiter of that deal. The Owen Hargreaves negotiations went on for over a year before he came to Man Utd.

Uli Hoeness valued Ribery's legs at £50m each. Franz Beckenbauer gave a less segmental £80m justifying the price based on Cristiano Ronaldo's record transfer. Karl Heinz Rummenigge lashed out at Florentino Perez for being disuptive to the club with his underhanded liaisons with Ribery's agent.

John Terry has made signing big name players a condition of his staying on at Stamford Bridge (apart from that small matter of a £25,000 weekly wage increase) and since Abramovich has his undivided attention, he will most likely comply. Here is an insight into Terry's master class on salary negotiations.

After all that twittering and dithering, Darren Bent lands up in Sunderland for £14m. He is undergoing a medical.

Steve Bruce's signings have proven prudent with Lorik Cana, the highly rated holding medio from Marseilles, striker Fraizer Campbell, a standout from the Man Utd youth ranks, and Toluca's longtime defensive leader Paolo da Silva.

Sunderland might very well be a surprise. They could finish in the top ten this season.

Fact file from 1933 to 31st July 2009 here and some really great pictureshere..

Jack Wilshere opened the scoring after 90 seconds and scored another one at the other end of the game.The final score was 3 - 0 with Eduardo being the other scorer.The way it happened here..

"When you look at Arsenal you see all the great players have left and are now in the past," Toure was quoted as saying in British media on Sunday.

"Players like (Thierry) Henry, (Patrick) Vieira and (Ray) Parlour that brought success to Arsenal and I believed it was right at this stage of my career to also move on."

This is not an Arsenal problem. It has its roots in the way the game is economically structured. Man Utd formalized an under 26 year cap on players that is by and large adopted from Arsenal's policy of canny and lucrative player sales. Toure's sale netted the Gunners £15million. So far Wenger has managed to raise about £50 million enough to get a couple of quality players.

More punditry from Toure:

"The best teams are at the top only because they have the best players and to get those players you have to spend a lot of money."

Real and City have not yet impressed in their preseason and they are a long ways of from winning a title.

Or maybe Toure was just reacting to a cozy clique being broken up.

Man Utd's policy of uprooting underage Brazilian talent like Fabio and Rafael Da Silva and going after highly rated Dodo has come for scathing criticism by some, including legend Carlos Alberto who famously accused the Red Devils of "raping" Brazilian football.

The knock on all this poaching is that these players rarely get to play in their own clubs having been brought up the ranks before they are scouted by the big European clubs and enticed by the large sums of money. Usually the trend is to target impoverished neighbourhoods in Brazil or in the West African nations as they are repositories of abundant and cheap talent. The premature flight of these players have led to circumstances where they fail to live up to their potential. Anderson's stunted growth as a player after being touted as a creative and attacking force comparable to Ronaldinho is often cited as an example. He is now a glorified mop up man for United.

Individuals like Carlos Alberto can frame it in overtly moral terms by using terms like "raping". Eye catching and graphic but ultimately ineffective. However distasteful this practice maybe, it taps into the core of today's economic reality. The selling clubs in his country do not object as they get recompensed money that they would rarely get to see and a young player gets an opportunity to burst onto the world stage. It is a winning situation for all parties involved.

However this completely transforms when terms like "trading in minors" are used. The case moves beyond the realm of the individual to a more complex and systemic human rights issue. It leaves a moral stain. The case of Paul Pogba crossing over to Man Utd raised the ire of Le Havre. In this case it is a club situated in the EU doing the objection and using words that raise a red flag.

"At a time when numerous parties - including at European Union level, governmental (level), or within Fifa or Uefa - are speaking out against the 'trading of minors,' Manchester United does not hesitate to uproot a 16-year-old kid."

The EU has been in the forefront of this problem censuring countries in Eastern Europe and South Asia for sex worker and minor trafficking. The Pogba case creates double standards. It also taps into the UEFA"s suspicion of rapacious English clubs. Michel Platini has been disturbed by what is happening in his own backyard and has called for a end to this practice. UEFA's member countries have agreed in principle to prevent the transfer of players under the age of 18 years and is in the process of introducing legislation.

"Paying a child to kick a ball is not that different from paying a child to work on a production line. Both amount to exploiting child labour. And when you pay a child or their parents to travel overseas, when you uproot them from their home environment, when you make them emotionally disorientated, I call that child trafficking."

Le Havre's have calculated that their reaction will see Platini wade into the Paul Pogba issue. It is small wonder that Man Utd have strongly objected to Le Havre's statement saying that they complied with UEFA's regulation. The backlash over Kiki Macheda's transfer has been raised to another level and it reflects an awareness of UEFA's recent work on stemming this seamier side of the transfer trade. To be fair, it was not just Man Utd chasing down Pogba but also Arsenal and Liverpool who wanted to sink their teeth into the French-Guinean defensive midfielder touted as the next Claude Makelele but it was Man Utd that beat them out. Which leads us to a perfect conspiracy theory. Who contacted Le Havre and told them to put out such red blooded words?

The winner of our adidas "Step into Messi's Shoes" contest is:
Romano Brecht from South Africa.

Congratulations, Romano!

Send us your info ASAP, so adidas can ship you the boots!

The potential threat to tourists visiting sex workers and contracting the HIV virus becomes a hotly debated issue for the South African National Aids Council (SANAC). The SA health minister laid out the dangers.

"2010 is going to come with good things but it may also come with dangerous things," Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said after a Sanac plenary meeting.

"I mean, we will be having lots of visitors here, we know there will be lots of visitors who come here for sex, you can't hide that. It happens and what will be the effects on this country?"

The SA government could take steps to decriminalize sex workers, give them security from harassment and abuse, educate them on safe sex, and certify brothels as safe sex zones which would ease tourist's anxieties.

It was Becks as we should remember him. A laser light of a free kick beats Jose Manuel Pinto all ends up.

The Emirates pays tribute to the legend

Arsene Wenger on Bobby Robson:

"It was a shock because Bobby was a man of exceptional stature and someone I loved because he had an optimistic view of mankind and a positive vision for football," said Wenger.

"It's a very sad day for English football but football overall."

Robson's nurturing of youthful talent within the club ranks and prudent signings must have resonated with Wenger too.

Chelsea found themselves 2-0 down courtesy of sloppy work in defence. Jimmy Kébé and Scott Davies did the damage to the score line.Salomon Kalou scored Chelsea's first goal in the 89th minute and Alex Pearce then brought matters to a conclusion by scoring a last gasp goal (for the oppostion into his own goal unfortunately) Embarassment and blushes etc were thus avoided by Chelsea (but not by Alex Pearce)

Wenger swells his transfer kitty to about £50 million with Phillipe Senderos on his way to Everton. The big Swiss defender will go for a reported £6 m.

Everton is preparing for Joleon Lescott to head to City after they rejected a bid of £18m. The defender is reportedly preparing to hand in a transfer request which will make it harder for Everton to stop the eventual sale. Their need for another quality defender becomes dire should Lescott depart for City.

Toure and now Senderos departure makes the Gunners center back depth chart shallower. We have Vermaelen and Gallas but the quality and experience drop of quickly after the duo. Gallas injury late last season exposed the central defense weakness especially in the ignominious defeat against Chelsea at the Emirates. With both Gallas and Vermaelen injury prone, I think it will be in Arsenal's best interest to bring another tough center back with proven experience to the squad.

Good luck to Senderos. His best year was undoubtedly the 2007-2008 season when he came in for Toure making 31 appearances and scored a couple of important goals.

There is a very good chance that Alberto Aquilani is going to be part of Rafa Benitez's negotiations once Xabi Alonso makes his transfer request final. That will end the saga of Real's overtures to the Spanish international that seems to have consumed Liverpool for the better part of this summer.

The David Villa link to Liverpool is just pure horse droppings at this point. There is no way that Liverpool can top more than €55m which is what Barca offered for the Valencia striker even when factoring in the dream price of €36m for Alonso. But Aquilani could easily come for that price. Plus, hasn't Liverpool figured out that even a player of the calibre of Villa needs the creative output of an Alonso to score goals? Aquilani is far more useful.

The buzz is Daniele De Rossi has also been linked to Arsenal. We know that Roma's financial situation is precarious and the takeover by a Swiss consortium led by Vinicio Fioranelli has collapsed. But even given these dire circumstances, Roma is not about to sell off both De Rossi and Aquilani at the same time; these two key players have been entrusted with keeping them competitive in the top tier of the Serie. If they do, they are in deeper trouble than expected. Of the two, Aquilani is definitely more expendable and might net the Giallorossi a tidy sum of money. So for those Arsenal fans fooled by the rumour mill, Rossi is staying on and has no intentions of moving.

Silvio Berlusconi maybe clueless about his club but surely if this deal goes through then he is not just clueless, he is stupid too. Guaranteed Pirlo is an Ancelotti favourite but why would Milan sell their most pace setting playmaker for just £8 m euros and striker Claudio Pizzarro who only seems to thrive in the Bundesliga? Its bit insulting to Pirlo actually.

Update: AC Milan general manager Adriano Galliani has told Chelsea their reported offer for Andrea Pirlo is too low to consider. Well, it now remains to be seen whether Pirlo hands in a transfer request.

The Emirates Cup began on a winning note. It was good to see Tomas Rosicky back in the side and he did not do badly in the first half of play.

Wenger employed a 4-3-3 with Eboue, RVP, and Bendtner up front. But things really took off when Jack Wilshere came on in the second half. The sedate pace picked up. Things got heavy duty with Eduardo, Fabregas and Arshavin were introduced in the 66 minute. Suddenly Arsenal was humming. It was Fabregas combining with Arshavin as the Russian slid home a half volley in the 86 minute that Asenjo could no keep out. But Arsenal let in Atletico on a terrible defensive lapse that saw German Pacheco burst through and sidefoot the ball past Vito Mannone. Wenger was livid!

Then came Arshavin's second goal and match winner in the last minute. The Russian chased his half volley and just when it seemed it was going over the right sideline, he slid and managed to squeeze the ball from a virtually zero angle turning it into the left hand corner of goal. It all took place in a flash. Russian roulette anyone?

Gascoigne's tearful visage was one of the iconic images of the 1990 World Cup

Bobby Robson had to console Paul Gascoigne when the midfielder broke down after being booked in the 1990 World Cup semi-finals against Germany which meant that he would miss the finals if England went through. Today, Gazza in a tearful remembrance paid tribute to the manager who gave him his national debut.

"I'm speechless. I'm devastated. Bobby was like my second dad. I was like a son to him.

'I love him. And his wife Elsie - I'll always be there for her. I'm sort of numb."

Never hold back, Gazza. Never.

Salgaocar Sports Club, India, will rub shoulders with the best teams in the world in the finals of the Manchester United Premier Cup Under-15 football tournament in Carrington, Manchester from August 5 to August 9.The team is made up of school going youngsters from the state of Goa.
The team members:

Players: Albino Gomes, Shilton Fernandes, Meldon D'Silva-captain, David Costa, James Fernandes, Amiruddin Shaikh, Ryan Fernandes, Placidinho Fernandes, Sheldon Rodrigues, Brandon Fernandes, Quelan Fernandes, Joln Da Costa, Rayman Fernandes, Philster Pereira, Tunard Fernandes, Nickson Castanha.
All of them would be year 10 students studying in different schools around Goa.Philster Pereira for example happens to be a year 10 student studying in Regina Mundi High School.While the rest of his classmates are currently ploughing their reluctant way through their First Mid Term Examinations, Philster is winging his way to England - living his dream.All credit to Salgaocar Sports Club for giving him and the other kids such a glorious opportunity.