Today’s top
stories:
Liverpool
have agreed to a deal with Southampton that will bring 32 year old striker
Rickie Lambert to Anfield for a fee of £4 million. Scored 16 goals with 12
assists last season. Sister took to Twitter to express her joy. He is
undergoing medical today.
Arsene
Wenger has agreed to a three year contract extension with Arsenal that will
keep him there through 2017. The deal will likely be announced tomorrow.
In other Arsenal news, Atletico
Madrid have rejected Arsenal’s £9 million bid for their right back
Juanfran. We’ll keep an eye on this and see if another offer is made.
In Tottenham rumors today, Roberto Soldado is expected to
leave the club for Atletico Madrid, while they will keep the services of Erik
Lamela. Atletico Madrid meanwhile have continued their transfer saga with Diego
Costa moving to Chelsea.
Bild
is reporting that Dortmund and Roma have reached an agreement for the
transfer of Ciro Immobile for a rumored fee of €18.5 million. The four year
deal is expected to be finalized soon.
In
other Roma transfer news, the club has apparently set an asking price of €35
million for dissatisfied central defender Mehdi Benatia.
Cristiano
Ronaldo took to Facebook to say that he never gave the interview with the Sun
that they had published. Comes in the wake of rumors of an arrangement where
his brother would stop drinking if he won the Champions League, which has also
been found to be untrue. In short, the Sun needs to get its shit together.
In news from La Liga, Eibar
will celebrate their promotion to La Liga next Saturday with their fans
using confetti that they purchased from Barcelona, after the club did not earn
a home victory against Atleti on the final match day. Good bit of thrifty
business.
Barcelona
has announced that they expect both Cesc Fabregas and Javier Mascherano to
stay at the club through next season.
The
Norwegian and Russian Football Associations have come to an agreement to
eject fans that wave rainbow flags in support of LGBT rights.
CONMEBOL has
announced that Jamaica and Mexico have been invited to participate in the
2015 Copa America in Chile.
Betting
has been suspended for the Celtic manager job and it is expected that Roy
Keane will take the helm for them.
World Cup News:
Cristiano
Ronaldo is reportedly still struggling with the thigh injury that caused
him to miss time towards the end of the La Liga campaign. Went the full 90 in
only 2 of Madrid’s final 10 matches.
Vicente
Del Bosque has revealed that he is confident Diego Costa has the fitness to
make the final 23 for Spain. Has previously delayed announcing the squad because
of Costa’s ongoing fitness concerns.
Coast
Rican striker Alvaro Saborio has been ruled out of the World Cup after
fracturing a metatarsal.
Japan’s official mascot for the World Cup this summer is
none other than my favorite Pokemon, Pikachu. They released a national team
jersey with Pikachu on the front. Check
it out here.
FIFA
has ordered Spain to wear white in their Group Stage match against the
Netherlands. Claims Spain’s traditional red uniforms did not offer enough of a
clash against the Netherland’s blue. Sounds like a quick way to grab a few
million in kit licenses.
Yesterday’s
notable matches:
Campeonato Braziliero
Serie A
Flamengo and Figueirense played to a 1-1 draw. Alecsandro
opened the scoring 20 minutes in before Everaldo Stum equalized two minutes
later.
Santos managed a 2-0 win against Bahia. Alan and Lucas Lima
both getting on the score sheet in that one.
International
Friendlies:
Lithuania defeated Finland 1-0 thanks to a goal from Arvydas
Novikovas
Cameroon fell 2-1 to Paraguay in their warmup match. Oscar Romero
and Roque Santa Cruz scoring for Paraguay and Maxim Choupo-Moting for Cameroon.
The indomitable lions haven’t looked great in their tune up matches, we’ll see
if they can get it together for the tournament.
Latvia and Estonia ended in a scoreless draw. So the teams
went to penalties where Latvia won 4-2.
Georgia defeated Saudi Arabia 2-0. Goals from Tornike
Okriashvilli and Vladimir Dvalishvili
Turkey took down Honduras 2-0 thanks to goals from Mevlut
Erding and Caner Erkin
Upcoming matches
for today:
Full slates of matches for the League of Ireland and Serie B
in Italy.
International Friendlies will put:
Qatar against Macedonia
Iran will take on Angola
Austria will face Iceland
Switzerland faces off against Jamaica
England take on Peru in their tune up match
Spain will flex their muscles against Bolivia
Uruguay warm up against Northern Ireland
Boznia-Herzegovina face C’ote D’Ivoire
...And finally Chile will see Egypt.