The World of Football/Soccer.

[bababui]

Chelseas bid for Kaka is insane. And doesnt he play the same position as Lampard?

Chelsea usurp Real Madrid with £73.5m bid for Kaka? - Transfers - ESPN Soccernet

[ukhotstove]

Adams not going to Celtic

Thank God

Bruce leaves ANOTHER team.

Year then he'll leave them like he as done before

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by bababui

Chelseas bid for Kaka is insane. And doesnt he play the same position as Lampard?

Chelsea usurp Real Madrid with £73.5m bid for Kaka? - Transfers - ESPN Soccernet

Chelsea need a striker imo, I know they have Drogba and Anelka but both of them could self implode at anytime. Transfer system went insane long before this bid.

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich

If Schalke win the league next season can we declare Magath the best manager in Europe?

Think I'm right in saying he hasn't won anything in Europe or ever been in a final so until he does that then no.

[mlyons]

Originally Posted by bababui

Chelseas bid for Kaka is insane. And doesnt he play the same position as Lampard?

Chelsea usurp Real Madrid with £73.5m bid for Kaka? - Transfers - ESPN Soccernet

More like Deco, I think. Deco and Lampard were playing together fine before Deco fell apart. Both Kaká and Lampard are attack-minded midfielders, but they go about it differently.

Regardless, I think Milan are crazy to even be thinking about letting Kaká or Pato go. Those are the guys they need to rebuild around, not let walk away. Unless they're planning on completely blowing the team up and starting from scratch with eight or nine new players with the cash raised (which strikes me as a bad idea), I don't really get what they're thinking.

[phightin]

I think that if Chelsea did bring the likes of someone like Kaka it would signal the end for Lampard or Deco who they would probably look to move else where *cough Inter. But I agree for Milan to get rid of Kaka or Pato at this point wouldn't be a wise move considering a couple key additions around those guys could be more than enough to bring the team back to the top. Anyway...

For all my fellow US fans out there last night was awful. We still can not produce any results in a hostile environment on the road, but more importantly the team looked flat out horrendous throughout the match, one of the worst performances I've seen from them in quite some time. Firstly, our genius coach Bob Bradley decides to lineup in a 4-3-3 attacking style formation with three forwards at the start. Many idiots over here praised this with the typical American sports mentality of "wow an attacking formation on the road, guy has balls he's trying to go for the win..." They don't realize in wc qualifying that against a decent side in a hostile environment on the road you play defensively and don't mind taking a draw if it suits your position in the standings. Line-up in a defensive 4-5-1 or 4-4-2 and look to counter etc no need for any of that so it's no surprise that the Ticos scored within the first minutes of the match. It was complete mistake hiring this moron with his idiot son in the midfield, and if the USSF had any sense they would finally bring in a european who knows what he's doing from a tactical standpoint and has played the game at a high level. When the head of your national team has never even managed to play in the professional ranks as a player he has no business being in that position.

Secondly, the team is very young and inexperienced, and while this isn't necessarily a bad thing they still do not have the right players on the field. Beasley is not a left back, and just putting him out there because he's left footed is a joke. He looked lost, confused, and wasn't able to effectively mark, tackle, and maintain his position throughout the match. Also, get Michael Bradley, the idiot's son, OUT OF THE MIDFIELD. He was without a doubt the worst player on the pitch last night, and i don't know how he has managed in europe to maintain his place at BMG. I have literally played with dozens of players at the college level who are more composed than him when the ball is at their feet, and it's honestly disgraceful to watch. I know that he works hard and gives a tremendous amount of effort, but at that level your central midfielder has to be someone who can effectively string passes and create opportunities on the pitch, overall has to have some technical ability etc. Another thing is the team should be centered around Dempsey. He is far and away currently the best player they've had over the past few years and the attack should flow through him whether they play him more central or on the flank as they usually do. Not Donovan, not Bradley, not altidore, this is Dempsey's team and if the US wants to accomplish anything against teams of high caliber on the attacking end needs to be centered around him. The one silver lining of this game was that I actually was very impressed with Adu’s time out there after coming on as a sub. He actually looks like he has improved a lot since I last saw him, and was composed enough to create space for himself on the ball getting a couple shots off from the top of box. I would have no problem with him starting in the middle next time around.

Overall, this is a young inexperienced team that most likely will be another 3 and out in 2010 unless something miraculous happens over the next year which i doubt. Hopefully, another world cup failure will finally bring in a high level manager who is capable of implementing a sophisticated system and identifying the players needed to produce results.

[ukhotstove]

Rumours are though that Milan have to sell to buy and with most of their players above the 30 mark it looks like selling Kaka and Pato maybe what they have to do.

[mlyons]

I'm surprised Silvio Berlusconi hasn't just passed a law to give Milan more money.

[bababui]

Mexico loses for the third time in four games. hehehe

[Tommysixfingers]

Sweden lost to Denmark for the first time since '96 (I think) yesteday. 2 goals in 6 games in so far. That won't take us to the WC. People are screaming for Lagerbäck to retire today.

On a tragic note, in the locker room after the game, Henrik Larsson was informed that his brother had passed away in the evening.

Football isn't that important when you put things in perspective.

[bababui]

Originally Posted by Tommysixfingers

Sweden lost to Denmark for the first time since '96 (I think) yesteday. 2 goals in 6 games in so far. That won't take us to the WC. People are screaming for Lagerbäck to retire today.

On a tragic note, in the locker room after the game, Henrik Larsson was informed that his brother had passed away in the evening.

Football isn't that important when you put things in perspective.

Sad news about Larsson. RIP

Ibrahimovic just doesnt seem to be able to score much outside of Serie A.

I loved the way Denmark played when they had the Laudrups. Their matches in the 98 WC against Spain and Nigeria were classics.

[Russ]

I can't believe Larsson is till playing for his national team. I'm going to watch some saved by the bell reruns.

[bababui]

The USA pretty much guaranteed qualification.

[kenyan_cheena]

Australia has qualified for their second straight World Cup!

[ukhotstove]

Japan are through as well.

[ukhotstove]

Nearly forgot South Korea as well.

[Tommysixfingers]

Originally Posted by Russ

I can't believe Larsson is till playing for his national team. I'm going to watch some saved by the bell reruns.

The truth is that Larsson has passed his best before mark by a couple of years.The sad part is that Sweden doesn't have a better alternativ except for Ibrahimovic today.

Still, if I was managing Sweden I would go for Elmander or Rosenberg instead of Larsson as none of the three is able to put the ball in the net lately. At least that would give Elmander or someone else valuable experience instead of clinging to a soon to be 40 year old. Why not give Henok Goitom a real chance?

On the other hand an arguement could be made that the best players should always play, no matter if they are 25 or 38.

As for Ibrahimovic's inability to score...Well, the players that backs him up at Inter are on another level than the guys that currently occupy the Swedish national team.

[phightin]

Originally Posted by bababui

The USA pretty much guaranteed qualification.

If they would have lost or tied at home last night they would have been in trouble, but I agree they should still finish 2nd or 3rd and qualify as they usually do. But the bigger issue is that the team still played flat most of the game last night, and tactically was a mess as well. It seems we literally have regressed on the national stage over the past few years, but I'm chalking most of it up to poor coaching. Bradley (who has never even played at the proffessional level mind you) has absolutely no business being the head of the program, and has been tactically out played time and time again along with playing favorites in his side despite performance. If the USSF had any sense they would bring in a highly qualified european, but they want to have a say in the team selection process which is why we're continually stuck with a douchebag such as Bradley at the helm.

[rudel.dietrich]

The USA has qualified but does not look good at all. The game against Costa Rica was an embarassment to the program.

I don't know why, but I find myself hoping North Korea will qualify. They are a very underrated program.

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich

The USA has qualified but does not look good at all. The game against Costa Rica was an embarassment to the program.

I don't know why, but I find myself hoping North Korea will qualify. They are a very underrated program.

I don't think the USA have qualified as of yet, the nations that have qualified at this moment in time are Australia, Japan, South Korea and Holland.