Another sign of the intent that Galatasaray have on becoming one of Europe’s elite teams, on Monday they announced the hiring of Roberto Mancini to replace the sacked Fatih Terim.

Mancini has signed a three-year deal with the Turkish giants worth a reported €3.5m for this season plus an additional €4.5m for each of the next two seasons. The former Man City boss will reportedly earn a €300,000 bonus if the club win the Turkish title and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.

Defending Turkish champions Galatasaray spent big 18 months ago on the likes of Didier Drogba, Wesley Sneijder, Felipe Melo and Hamit Altintop and that investment paid off with a championship.  Read more... (189 words, 1 image, estimated 45 secs reading time)

Brazil are in Boston for tomorrow nights match against Portugal at Gillette Stadium and tonight’s practice was open to the media. I just could not turn down the opportunity to see the Samba Boys up close so I headed down to Gillette for the show.

And it was worth. I have watched Manchester United and Barcelona practice before and those practices were tightly scheduled. Everything had a purpose and went for a specific period of time. That was not the case with a Luiz Felipe Scolari practice.  Read more... (360 words, 3 images, estimated 1:26 mins reading time)

Chris Wondolowski scored two more goals as the United States advanced to the Gold Cup quarterfinals with a 4-1 win over Cuba today.

Cuba shocked the American fans when they took the lead in the 36th minute when Ciprian scored from Martinez’s cross.

But the U.S. equalized just before halftime when Landon Donovan scored from the penalty spot after Castillo was brought down in the box.

Jurgen Klinesmann must have really given the American players the hairdresser treatment at half-time as it was a much better US performance in the second half.  Read more... (289 words, 1 image, estimated 1:09 mins reading time)

Bradford City is within reach of Wembley after stunning Aston Villa 3-1 in the first leg of their Capital One Cup semi-final.

Bradford, who knocked out Arsenal in the quarter-finals, are now only 90 minutes away from becoming the first side from the lowest tier to reach the final of this competition since Rochdale in 1962.

The Bantams scored first when Villa failed to clear a corner and when Hines’s shot was blocked, it fell invitingly for Wells to sweep a powerful finish past keeper Shay Given to spark wild scenes of celebration  Read more... (287 words, 1 image, estimated 1:09 mins reading time)