Because he was brought in by the ancien régime. Florentino Perez wants glory for himself, winning with a team of old-timers like Casillas and his own star signings. A 'Robben vs Sneijder' (both of whom Pellegrini allegedly wanted to keep) in the final would be a massive cockslap in his face. Even better would be Barcelona winning it on Real's turf (though to me Inter look too solid to concede two goals in the second leg).
NY Red Bulls to host Juventus on May 23rd along with Man City, Tottenham, and Sporting Lisbon in the NY Football Challenge (July 22 - 25). I'm not sure how much interest in MLS there is amongst the regular visitors of this thread, but I'm thinking about heading down for the challenge to catch a game or two. I hope Chelsea and a couple other giants hop over here again in August like they did last summer and head to NY. Charlie Davies will not play for Sochaux before the season ends. I don't understand how you couldn't pick him for the roster after the summer and fall he had, but I guess we will see.
This is awesome news. I'll definitely be at the Juve game, and possibly some of the challenge ones as well. I was at the Red Bulls home opener this year and although it's not really in the best area, the new stadium is probably the nicest in the MLS and easy as hell to get to. I'm excited as hell to see the kind of crowd and atmosphere they'll have when they play Juve.
What do you think of Lindpere? I haven´t seen a single Red Bulls game as they are so late for me and I have only seen the highlights.
Fucking relegated... devastating. I'll still be hitting the bar tonight though with my Burnley shirt proudly on my back.
This game was like watching a dog trying to climb out of a car sinking in the river. Barca tried hard without success for most of the time, then came so close to getting out of it, but went down in the end. Pique's finish for the goal was class. He, a central defender, did that turn in the box with the skill befitting the very best strikers. Very impressed with it.
Just watched liverpool play a disgraceful game of football. I streamed it on Foxsports online. No wonder you yanks think football is a crap sport, commentary and ad's like that.... "Coming soon, NEW rivaliries, NEW contenders.... the womens soccer leauge!" what the fuck. Fuck you America leave our sport alone and leave women out of it. Also, if Fullham win, Burnley get into the Europa Leauge! Come on Fullham!
I´d love to see Burnley bounce back to the prem. Sides like Bolton, Wigan who can´t fill their stadiums in the prem shouldn't really be there. Sucks that Portsmouth wont be able to play in Europe. They would have deserved it and they could really use the money. Hopefully Burnley get a spot though. Massive game against hot spuds this Wednesday. Did anyone see the MOTD last Saturday? They were all on about how Villa was the better team and that spuds had better players both individually and collectively. WTF? I really hope City will beat them to shut up all of those who have been spewing bile especially that twitching taxdodging cunt ´arry.
Right, the preliminary squads of 30 for the World Cup have been announced. Any thoughts / comments? I'm not even going to post about Bafana Bafana - whomever they pick will suck (exception: Steven Pienaar). Some surprises for England. I hope Dawson gets into the final squad, even though he plays for Spurs. King is also deserving, even if he is a potential walking sicknote. No place for any guy named Young from Aston Villa, though. Why the fuck that slow-ass Carragher was called up I will not understand. Gary Neville is a better right-back, as is Luke Young. Warnock was a bit surprising, too - I felt sure Bolton's Cahill would get in - he's had a strong season. I had hoped Sol Campbell would get recalled, but no luck. Barry was also a surprise, considering he can't take part in the camp due to injury. I hope Carrick doesn't make the final squad - he's shit. I'm glad Zamora wasn't included, but disheartened Heskey was - Heskey barely makes the bench at Villa. Agbonlahor is much more deserving of a place. Capello has said he might include one or two players not involved in the training camp, though... No Totti or Del Piero for Italy - that's surprising, considering they've both had good recent club form. Haven't seen Spain's selection yet, but no place for Vieira or Benzema in the French squad. Domenech is a useless shit anyway - Laurent Blanc can't replace him fast enough.
I have no idea how Raymond Domenech saw fit to not include Samir Nasri or Karim Benzema in his 30 man preliminary squad. I mean, I know he can't tell his arse from his elbow but they are two of the finest young players France has produced over the last few years. Even though it galls me as an Irishman to say so, I think France will get to the quarter finals at least, they've been handed a very manageable group. Regarding England, I think Capello has lost the plot bringing Carragher back into the fold, and trying to bring back Old Man Scholes. It shows a lot about his lack of faith in the younger players that two players who are over the hill were both seriously considered for trips to South Africa
I was shocked as well. From the USA persepctive, we're all a bit shocked (especially casual fans) that Charlie Davies wasn't included. My take on it is that they must know a lot more than the public to make this call now. Many are saying something like "Well he could help us if we get through to..." which is nice but it still a roster spot that could be used. The biggest problem for the Yanks is up front, plain and simple. Altidore needs to play like a vet and if he doesn't use his massive frame to create plays then nothing at all might happen up front. We've got some hot strikers, (Hercules Gomez and Edson Buddle), but both have 0 experience on the international scale. Forward we go... THE YANKS ARE COMIN'
I really wasn't surprised by Benzema at all. He's barely seen any first-team playing time this season and when he has, it's been disappointing. Obviously he's a phenomenal young talent with alot of potential, but if he's picking the squad based on current form, leaving Benzema at home seems like the better decision. And I can't believe I'm agreeing with him here because he truly is incompetent. Edit:: Just looked up his stats just to be sure. He's started three games in 2010, and none since Jan 30, coming on as a late sub in the others. And only has three goals in that span. Not exactly an impressive run to be heading into a World Cup with. Although the inclusion of Cisse is pretty damn confusing too.
That one is very easy to understand. He likes a shitty forward with no ball skill who used to have pace. Like you said, Domenech is incompetent. I really can't stand him. Oh, and he likes Djibril's haircut.
Just after watching the Fulham Atleti match, and it seems to me that Clint Dempsey would be a more than capable frontman based on his performance against a decent centre back partnership. He has pace, ball control and no little amount of skill to help hold the ball up and bring the rest of the team into attack. Realistically, the US should be aiming for a last 16 berth, and with a bit of luck they may able to advance further than that. Shame for Fulham to get beaten in extra time though, they put up on heck of a fight and you could see they had left everything out there on the pitch. I suppose with Atletico playing 4 strikers for most of the game, they were eventually going to break through again, and probably deserved their victory in the end. Still don't see why everybody drools over Aguero though
You are all talking about Domenech but what about Maradona? If Argentina had a proper manager they could actually win with the team they have.
That's True. El Diego is pretty useless as a manager. The tosser came here sometime in March to check out the training camp, and lambasted the facilities. I thought that was hilarious, though. I reckon Manuel Pellegrini is not for long at Real Madrid if they fail to get the Primera title - next manager of Argentina perhaps? If memory serves, he is Argentinian...
Source Oh, wonderful! Turns out one of the major reasons that Davies wasn't picked for the team was that the president of his French club wrote Bradley a letter refusing to medically clear him and said they would not release him to play in the World Cup. This, of course, despite the fact that the president hasn't even spoken to Davies since the accident. Sure he's not 100% right now, but he says he will be by the time the tournament kicks off. And with how weak the squad is looking up front at the moment, it would have been nice to at least see him on the preliminary roster. In short, fuck France.