Today’s top
stories:
Frank Lampard and David Villa have both announced they will
be joining MLS expansion franchise New York City FC next season. Villa
apologized to Atletico and said the offer was too good to pass up.
Rickie Lambert completed his move to Liverpool. Prompting Southampton
to release a statement saying they would not be accepting any more offers
for their young talent and that they were sticking to their vision.
Marca
are reporting that Alberto Moreno is on his way to Liverpool for a fee
close to £18 million.
Meanwhile another
rumor has him moving to Real Madrid, to be finalized after the World Cup. We’ll
keep you posted.
Video
making its way around Youtube where C’ote D’Ivoire right back Serge Aurier
says he is joining Arsenal. Later retweeted a similar rumor, we’ll see if
anything gets done there.
Sergio Aguero has been quoted as saying he would “love”
a move to Barcelona.
Inter Milan are rumored to be in the market for out of favor
Manchester United striker
Chicarito.
Roy
Keane has decided to honor his commitment to the Irish National Team and
will not be taking the manager position at Celtic.
The Daily Mail published a fake interview with Paul Pogba
over the weekend. You know it’s the silly season when this starts happening. These
companies are motivated to print these interviews because there aren’t harsh
enough financial penalties to motivate them not to.
In tragic news from over the weekend, a match
in the Northeast Nigerian town of Mubi in Adamawa state was bombed killing 40
people. The area has been the previous location of several Boko Haram
attacks. Appears that fans were targeted.
World Cup News:
FIFA
is in trouble after emails have leaked, which show payments that total $5
million were made to voting officials during the 2022 World Cup bid campaign. The
payments were made by Mohamed Bin Hammam, the Qatari FIFA representative. FIFA
now faces calls from their own vice president and the
head of football associations around the world to re-vote on the 2022 World Cup
host country. Both the United States and Australia are rumored to be in the
running.
- Bin Hammam used 10 slush funds controlled by his private
company and cash handouts to make dozens of payments of up to $200,000 into
accounts controlled by the presidents of 30 African football associations who
influenced how Africa's four executive members would vote.
Sky
Sports has obtained classified FIFA documents that show at least 7 friendly
matches were fixed in the run up to the World Cup in South Africa. Convicted
match fixer, Wilson Raj Perumal organized a front company to supply referees
for the matches in question. Match officials received up to $70,000 per match.
Five of the fixed matches involve South Africa including their 4-0 win over
Thailand, their 1-1 draw with Bulgaria, a 2-1 win over Columbia, a 5-1 win over
Guatemala, and a 1-0 win over Denmark. Other matches under investigation
include Nigeria’s 3-1 win over Korea and Japan’s goalless draw with Zimbabwe.
It has been announced that the Netherlands will play the
unconventional 5-3-2
formation during the World Cup. Could simultaneously get the most out of
Arjen Robben and Robin Van Persie while compensating for a shaky defense.
Brazil Luis Felipe Scolari has declared himself less than
satisfied with Brazil in recent training sessions. Says
he will carefully consider lineup in friendly with Panama on Tuesday. It is
rumored that he is experimenting with different starting XI’s in training.
New Jersey born, Italian striker Giuseppe
Rossi has been left off of Cesare Prandelli’s final squad for Italy.
Unfortunate for the striker who is returning from injury after scoring 16 goals
last season.
British comedian Simon Brodkin almost managed to sneak onto
the English World Cup plane, before being recognized by English players and
escorted away.
Pavel
Pogrebnyak has been left off of Russia’s World Cup roster.
Several national teams have released their final rosters
including Germany, the Netherlands, Cameroon, Russia, and Italy.
Notable results
from the weekend:
On Friday:
Qatar and Macedonia played to a goalless draw.
Iran and Angola played to a 1-1 draw.
Austria and Iceland also played to a 1-1 draw.
Switzerland beat Jamaica 1-0 thanks to a goal from Josip
Drmic
England soundly defeated Peru 3-0. Daniel Sturridge opened
the scoring with a beautiful curler after cutting in from the right side. Gary
Cahill and Phil Jagielka both added goals from set pieces.
Spain ran out 2-0 winners against Bolivia. Fernando Torres
opened scoring from the penalty spot and Andres Iniesta added the second.
Uruguay managed a 1-0 win over Northern Ireland. Christian
Stuani scoring the only goal in that match.
Edin Dzeko’s brace gave Boznia-Herzegovina a 2-1 win over C’ote
D’Ivoire. Didier Drogba scoring the consolation goal from a free kick. Les
Elephants rested many of their starters for this match.
In our last Friday match, Chile won 3-2 over Egypt. Egypt
jumped out to a 2-0 lead after just 16 minutes thanks to goals from Mohamed
Salah and Khaled Kamar. Chile stormed back with a goal from Marcelo Diaz and
two from Eduardo Vargas.
On Saturday:
We start off our international friendlies with two scoreless
draws one between Italy and Ireland and the other between Portugal and Greece.
One of the best performances from Ireland in recent memory.
Finland defeated Estonia 2-0.
Croatia defeated Mali 2-1, thanks to Ivan Perisic’s brace.
Cheick Mady Diarry scoring for Mali.
Algeria defeated Armenia 3-1.
Norway and Russia played to a 1-1 draw. Oleg Shatov scored
just 3 minutes in for Russia, but Anders Kondrasen later equalized for Norway.
Romania defeated Albania 1-0 thanks to a goal from Razvan
Rat.
Latvia took down Lithuania 1-0.
A Robin Van Persie goal five minutes in gave the Netherlands
a 1-0 win over Ghana.
Mexico again looked impressive in their 3-1 win over
Ecuador. Luis Montes scored a beautiful goal, but misfortune struck only two
minutes later when Segundo Castillo and Montes collided during a tackle. Really
ugly stuff because it resulted in Montes breaking two bones in his leg and
Castillo suffering a torn ACL. Montes will be sorely missed in the Mexican
midfield. His replacement Marco Fabian added the second goal and Giovani Dos
Santos scored the third. Enner Valenica added a goal for Ecuador late in the match.
Colombia and Senegal played to a 2-2 draw. Teofilo Gutierrez
and Carlos Bacca scored for Colombia in the first half. 2nd half belonged
to Senegal with goals from Moussa Konate and Cheikh Ndoye.
In Saturday MLS action:
Seattle dominated in a 4-0 win over Real Salt Lake. Goals
came from Chad Barrett, Marco Pappa, Gonzalo Pineda, and Obafemi Martins.
Toronto FC and Columbus Crew played a thrilling 3-2 match
where Toronto ran out winners. Justin Meram opened scoring for Columbus and
Jermaine Defoe equalized three minutes later from the penalty spot. Agustin
Viana gave the Crew the lead in the 65th minute. Defoe then added
his second to equalize before Doneil Henry headed home the winner for Toronto.
Fabian Espindola gave DC United a 1-0 win over Kansas City.
Now tied with Robbie Keane for 5th in goals scored on the season.
Philadelphia Union cruised to a 3-0 win. Conor Casey scored
a brace, and Cristian Maidana added the 3rd for the Union.
San Jose took down FC Dallas 2-1. Blas Perez opened the
scoring for Dallas before San Jose responded with goals from Atiba Harris and
Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi.
The Montreal Impact defeated the New England Revolution
thanks to goals from Jack McInerney and Andreas Romero.
Yesterday in more MLS action:
Landon Donovan again scored in a 1-1 draw between the LA
Galaxy and the Chicago Fire. Jeff Lawrentowicz scoring from the penalty spot
for the Fire.
Colorado defeated the Houston Dynamo 3-0. Two goals from
Deshorn Brown and a third from Kamani Hill giving them the win there.
Portland and Vancouver played a 7 goal thriller in their
clash this weekend. Maxamiliano Urruti opened scoring 3 minutes in. Pedro
Morales then gave Vancouver the lead thanks to two strikes from the penalty
spot. Erik Hurtado and Jordan Harvey then gave them a three goal lead before
Portland mounted a comeback. Gaston Fernandez and Will Johnson scored to make
it 4-3, but they were unable to find an equalizer.
In our weekend results from the NWSL Women’s League:
On Saturday the Western New York Flash fell 2-1 to the Houston
Dash. McCall Zerboni scored for the Flash while Nina Burger and Tiffany McCarty
scored for the Dash. Abby Wambach had to leave the match after only 25 minutes
picking up an injury, but I have it on good authority she was able to celebrate
her birthday on Saturday night. She turns 34 today, Happy Birthday to the
American legend.
The Washington Spirit managed to come back from a 2-1
halftime deficit and win 3-2 over the Boston Breakers. Lianne Sanderson opened
scoring for Boston, but Washington leveled just 5 minutes later from Christine
Nairn. Sanderson then added her second before halftime. Jodie Taylor then scored
twice in the second half to give the Spirit a big win. Diane Matheson getting
assists on both those second half goals.
The Seattle Reign remain undefeated, overcoming a 1-0
halftime deficit over Sky Blue FC. Katy Freels
opened scoring for Sky Blue just
before halftime, but the 2nd half was all Reign. Nahomi Kawasumi
scored the first and third goals for Seattle with Kim Little notching the
second.
International friendlies from yesterday:
Israel beat world cup bound Honduras 4-2. They don’t look to
be in good form heading to Brazil.
France and Paraguay played to a 1-1 draw. Antoine Griezemann
scored a beautiful 82nd minute curler, but an error from Hugo Lloris
allowed Paraguay to draw level from a Victor Caceres header.
Belgium looked in great form during their 2-0 win over
Sweden. Romelu Lukaku continued his red hot form with another goal and Eden
Hazard added the second with a spectacular run and finish, giving the Red
Devils another tune up win.
Cameroon and Germany finished level at 2-2. Samuel Eto’o
opened scoring in the 62nd minute before Germany stormed back with
goals from Thomas Mueller and Andre Schurrle. Maxim Choupo-Moting continued his
great form with the equalizer for Cameroon. Manuel Neuer, Philipp Lahm, and
Miroslav Klose all sat out this match for Germany.
The USMNT looked much better yesterday in their friendly send
off match against Turkey. Fabian Johnson opened scoring for the Von Trapps,
with a great run and finish. Crucial pass was provided by Michael Bradley who
played a spectacular chipped pass right into Johnson’s path. Clint Dempsey then
capitalized on a defensive error and scored from short range in his return to
the team. Selcuk Inan scored in the 90th minute from the penalty
spot after Geoff Cameron handled on the goal line.
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