Schalke: The outfit currently sits in fifth place in Germany’s Bundesliga.
Burning Question: Will 23-year old Peruvian forward Jefferson Farfán showcase his skills or will the summer signing continue to see limited playing time? €10 million is a lot to pay a benchwarmer. He competed against Twente last season so expect at least one goal from the match.
Paris Saint Germain: This legendary club sits midtable at 11th place in France’s Ligue 1.
Burning Question: Does 35-year old defensive midfielder Claude Makélélé have enough left in the tank to lead his side into the final 32? The former Chelsea player returned to France after four successful seasons with the London club. PSG will rely on his vast amount of “big match” experience.
Back in the mid-1980s, you could count the number of Americans playing soccer in Europe on one hand (maybe even one finger). Today, over seventy Americans ply their trade in European leagues. While those numbers correctly indicate American soccer has made huge strides over the last two decades, they also are somewhat misleading.
Why?
Because although there may be five dozen or so Yanks playing in Europe, very few play in the top European leagues. Moreover, those who have cracked the top European divisions are not making much noise. At least not this year.
Croatia had never lost an international game at home prior to yesterday’s qualifier against England. The last time England had come to Maksimir Stadium, they were trounced 2-0 due to Steve McClaren’s tinkering with a new formation.
Fabio Capello decided to employ a standard 4-4-2 against Croatia yesterday and the only thing he tinkered with was the lineup as he inserted Arsenal midfielder Theo Walcott in place of David Beckham on the wing. Capello’s decision to bench Becks for the faster, more dangerous Walcott paid huge dividends as Walcott proceeded to score his first three international goals in a 4-1 drubbing of Croatia.
US Men’s National Team fans, your mission, should you decide to accept it, is as follows:
Acquire Neven Subotic.
The target is a 6-foot-4, 19 year old future soccer star. He was born in 1988 in the small town of Banja Luka in what is now Bosnia. In 1990, he moved to Germany after war broke out in his homeland. In 1999, he moved to America with his family. Mr. Subotic’s last known whereabouts were Borussia Dortmund of the German Bundesliga where he is expected to emerge as a starting center back.
Anyone who has ever seen Ben Affleck and J-Lo’s classically pitiful cinematic plutonium bomb, Gigli, knows that its one of the worst movies ever painfully recorded on film. It’s so bad, it makes Affleck’s horrible holiday follow up, Surviving Christmas, look like It’s a Wonderful Life.
Gigli is the punch line for many, many jokes. It’s universally regarded as perhaps the most abhorrent waste of money the film industry has ever seen. It’s Hindenberg bad. It’s Costner bad. It’s possibly worse than some tropical diseases bad. Just ask Affleck. Even he’ll tell you.
U.S. MNT midfielder Michael Bradley, aka “MB”, was dealt by his Dutch side SC Heerenveen to a newly promoted member of Germany’s first division. The team’s name?
Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Gesundheit!
I think I will just stick with “BM” rather than trying to type that again. So, MB is going to BM. What does it all mean?
It means the naysayers will say “nay” and argue Bradley should have been dealt to a superior team, like an EPL or Spanish Primera club. Well, if those clubs had thought Bradley was ready, they certainly would have dealt for him. We here in the U.S. tend to be biased about our player’s ability, and in the Bradley case, clearly expectations for the lad were exorbitantly high.
Real Madrid has sent Robinho to Man City and the only person more upset about the move than Ramon Calderon is Mr. Abramovich. Real Madrid wanted to keep him, Chelsea so coveted him, but now the young Brazilian is Mark Hughes’ weapon.
I doubt Calderon ever wanted to lose Robinho. Wanting to get rid of a kid with those skills? No way. Calderon may be blind, but he’s not stupid.
No, Calderon only sold Robinho because the price was so sweet. It’s reported to be four years, 32.5 million pounds. Not too shabby. Since Robinho’s heart was no longer in Madrid, it can only be a good thing for Mr. Calderon that Robinho has been removed.
While Ronaldo, Kaka and Torres are undeniably three of the best goal scorer’s in the world, if I were starting a squad from scratch and could have any player in the world, I would likely select my choice for the #5 best player in the world:
Cesc Fabregas.
Why would I want Fabregas, who has only scored 14 goals in 138 caps for Arsenal, over his more prolific contemporaries?
SL Benfica’s Freddy Adu now finds himself competing in France on a season-long loan with AS Monaco. Here is a closer look at the some of his Ligue 1 teammates.
Flavio Roma: The captain of the squad, the 34-year-old Italian goalkeeper was rumored for a return to his native country this summer but appears to be staying with Monaco where he has played since 2001.
Lucas Bernardi: The 30-year-old Argentine defensive midfielder has also been with the club since 2001. He has made five senior appearances for Argentina since 2004.
England manager Fabio Capello must have been channeling the” Wally With The Brolly” aka Steve McClaren. That can be the only logical answer for his decisions this week.
First of all the decision to name John Terry as England captain was the wrong one. Terry is a great club captain. He rallies the troops and is very good in the air. But in case Capello had not noticed, mobility, quickness and speed are not big parts of Terry’s game. And in the international game, these are skills that every center-half must have. See the first Czech Republic goal on Wednesday as an example of where Terry is not quick enough to handle a quick turning forward. Terry’s lack of pace means that England are forced to defend to deep, creating big gaps in the field. By naming Terry captain, Capello is committing to having Terry on the team sheet every game, and against quicker European teams, England will get caught out.
