Amid talks of a possible stay in Milan for David Beckham, AC Milan Vice President Adriano Galliani denied any possibility of acquiring the midfielder. He states the reason being that it doesn’t make sense with all the sponsorship deals.
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Are you serious?!
This was the first question most people asked upon learning that one of the most controversial players to ever play the game is about to land the head coaching job for the Argentina World Cup Team.
According to that AFA, it sounds like the deal is pretty much done. The Vice President of the Argentinian Football Association’s national team secretary Luis Segura said Tuesday that ”the appointment will be official when the AFA’s Committee approves it. And the next meeting is scheduled for next Tuesday. I believe there will not be any more meetings with the other candidates.”
Now I know Maradona is widely considered one of the best players to ever play the game (or the best ever if you’re from Argentina), he led Argentina to a World Cup title in 1986, won the golden boot for the same World Cup, was voted by fans along with Pele as the FIFA Player of the Century, and much more. What about his coaching experience?
Well, so far he has two months as the coach of Deportivo Mandiyu 1994 and Racing Club for four months in 1995. Hardly the resume one would seek for such a prestigious position as the head of one of the World’s strongest sides.
Maradona told FOX Sports: ”The offer from Julio Grondona attracted me a lot. As soon as it is confirmed, I will start working, but I can say I am very proud.
”I’m putting everything aside for this. There is nothing that can make me look past the national team. Today my path is the national team, my task is to talk to the players and build a solid group.
”I am sure the guys and Argentinian football will pull through. think we must make the players understand that our shirt is the most important thing, that they cannot exchange money for glory.
”Glory is much more than money. I know they know that, but we must make them remember that every day. We have enough quality to calm the nation. The road to the World Cup is not easy, but I believe in the Argentinian players.
”Everybody wants to play at the World Cup but we must show our traditions and our style on the field.”
Currently Argentina is 7th overall in the FIFA World Rankings. It will be interesting to see what the great Maradona can do with such a strong team.
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Desperate to remain on England’s World Cup squad, Los Angeles Galaxy star David Beckham is considering playing with Serie A powerhouse AC Milan during this year’s MLS off-season.
The details of the contract are still somewhat vague, although while being interviewed by the reporters at Milan’s Malpensa airport AC Milan Vice President Adriano Galliani expressed confidence that David Beckham would be playing for his club “for some months on a free loan.”
Galliani continued, saying, “Beckham has chosen Milan. Our squad is ultra-competitive and it will remain this way, but Beckham is something different and intriguing.”
Timing couldn’t be better for Beckham, who is trying to remain a viable candidate to play on the 2010 England World Cup team. Playing for Milan will allow Beckham to maintain his fitness while playing at a much higher level than what Major League Soccer has to offer–almost certainly helping his World Cup prospects.
Beckham will finish his season with the LA Galaxy this Sunday as the team failed to make the playoffs. Due to a Galaxy promotional tour in both Australia and New Zealand, Beckham and Milan will have to wait until the beginning of 2009 to begin their formal engagement.
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After years of mediocrity when it comes to World Cup Play, England has finally started to hit it’s stride and use the immense talent it has on the club. A large part of the professional play comes from the head man, Fabio Capello.
Not only has he been able to organize and find the right fit for his team, he has also been able to get Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard to play together on the same pitch for the same club - something that has never happened before with any type of success.
His no excuses, detail oriented approach to the game and his team has paid off greatly posting 4 wins in 4 matches. He has also reinvigorated a lack luster Wayne Rooney who has scored 5 goals in the last 3 games.
Kudos to Capello for bringing England back to how they should be playing.
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The U.S. silenced a few critics who said they weren’t able to score and that they didn’t have anybody willing to step up and take the role of dominant goal scorer. DeMarcus Beasley showed us, and the world, that he has a knack for the back of the net and when given chances, he can take advantage of them.
I was pleasantly surprised at how well the U.S. team dominated the middle of the field. Obviously Cuba isn’t a great team, but there were a few possessions where the USA showed its dominance and ability to move the ball quickly and to find the open player. The match was no contest from the beginning. The US squad clearly dominated in time of possession as well as shots and shots on goal. This time, luckily, the US played the roll of Varsity Team and Cuba looked like the Junior Varsity squad out there.
While Tim Howard’s streak of shutouts was broken up by an incredibly lucky toe poke by Cuba’s Hensy Munoz, the US defense should go away happy with their play. Rarely did Cuba have a real opportunity to score.
They haven’t qualified yet, but they looked good and perhaps they finally have the right pieces in place to make a decent run during the World Cup.
Tags: Cuba Soccer, Demarcus Beasley, US National Team, USA Soccer | Comments (0)
Three-time World Player of the Year Ronaldo recently received an offer to play for French team Paris Saint-Germain amidst the flurry of attention he has recently received. The injury-ridden Brazilian is coming off of a near career-ending knee injury and is finally ready to begin training again.
After suffering the injury eight months ago, Ronaldo was released by AC Milan over the summer. While nursing his injury, Ronaldo’s options are remarkably many as he has become an acquisition target for Manchester City and still has the option to remain with Flamengo.
“Paris is a city that I love and they have a great project to win the league title,” Ronaldo told Gazzetta dello Sport.
“However, at City I have Robinho, who is a great friend of mine.
“But we will see, in the past few days we have spoken.
“For the time being, my only aim is to return to playing, the rest will follow.”
Loading ...Tags: Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Ronaldo, World Player of the Year | Comments (0)
Head Coach Bob Bradley announced last week the 23 players he will include on the roster for the U.S. Men’s National Team’s World Cup Qualifying match versus Cuba this Saturday. The game will begin at 7 pm EST at RFK Stadium in Washington DC and can be viewed on ESPN Classic.
© John Todd/isiphotos.com
The United States can clinch a spot in the final World Cup qualifying round with a win over Cuba this Saturday.
As far as the roster is concerned, it appears that we’ll be seeing the same old crew we usually see. Whether or not Bradley chooses to use his roster in a different, more effective way is yet to be seen. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am tired of seeing boring games where the U.S. has trouble putting a solid game together…even when playing against a poor team. We’ll see if Bradley has come up with a better scheme tomorrow evening.
The U.S. Roster Saturday will include:
GOALKEEPERS (3): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa, Tim Howard (Everton FC), Troy Perkins (Valerenga IF).
DEFENDERS (8): Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes), Danny Califf (FC Midtjylland), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Michael Orozco (San Luis), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock).
MIDFIELDERS (7): Freddy Adu (AS Monaco), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers), Michael Bradley (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Maurice Edu (Glasgow Rangers), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Danny Szetela (Brescia Calcio), José Francisco Torres (Pachuca).
FORWARDS (5): Jozy Altidore (Villarreal C.F.), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy).
Tags: U.S vs Cuba, US Soccer, World Cup Qualifying | Comments (0)
After almost four full years of playing soccer on the University of Utah’s football field at Rice Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, UT, Real Salt Lake finally has a place to call home: Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, UT.
“Our guys have been waiting for this for a long, long time,” general manager Garth Lagerwey said. “They’re going to be really excited and it’s certainly going to be a really good game. All that rolled together makes for a pretty phenomenal atmosphere.”
The stadium seats 20,008 and is expected to be filled to capacity for tonight’s game against the New York Red Bulls; a team RSL has never beaten and who is among the teams fighting with RSL for a playoff berth.
Really, it doesn’t get much better than this,” mentioned defender Chris Wingert . “This is what everybody plays for, and with the stadium full, it’s going to be really exciting.”
The game can be viewed tonight at 8 pm MST on ESPN2
Tags: MLS News, MLS Soccer, New York Red Bulls, Real Salt Lake, Rio Tinto Stadium | Comments (0)
The Spanish Men’s National Team appears to have extended its lead over the rest of the world as it remained in first place for the fourth month in a row Wednesday.
Although Spain’s recent World Cup qualifying wins have come over weaker teams Armenia and Bosnia, the top ranking remained in tact. Second place Italy held its ground as well with qualifying wins over Georgia and Cyprus, and third place Germany managed to secure its ranking with its solid qualifying play.
The Brazilians managed to make a leap in the rankings despite a tie in qualifying play against Bolivia and a 5-0 win over Chile. Brazil jumped the Netherlands to secure the fourth place ranking.
Unfortunately for you United States fans, the Americans are nowhere to be found in the FIFA rankings this month…well, unless you take a look at the bottom end of the list!
1. (1) Spain
2. (2) Italy
3. (3) Germany
4. (6) Brazil
5. (4) Netherlands
6. (5) Croatia
7. (7) Argentina
8. (8) Czech Republic
9. (12) Russia
10. (9) Portugal
11. (11) France
12. (14) Cameroon
13. (10) Turkey
14. (15) England
15. (16) Bulgaria
16. (19) Israel
17. (18) Greece
18. (13) Romania
19. (26) Ukraine
20. (22) Uruguay
Tags: FIFA rankings, World Cup 2010, World Cup Qualifying | Comments (1)
David Beckham, Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder, will miss their upcoming match against Houston due to receiving a fifth yellow card in the Galaxy loss to Columbus. Landon Donovan will also miss the game due to being called up for the U.S. National match against Cuba on Saturday.
So, what I’m saying is, mark up another loss for the Galaxy this Sunday.
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