What you missed while Richard Branson was becoming Captain Nemo…
- UEFA Champions League roundup: Chelsea 0-1 Manchester United, Barcelona 5-1 Shakhtar Donetsk.
- CONCACAF Champions League roundup (bold advances to the final): Cruz Azul 1-1 Monterrey.
- MLS roundup: Vancouver 1-1 New England; New England needed an injury time equalizer to draw against nine-man Vancouver.
- U.S. Open Cup roundup: Philadelphia 2-2 DC United (2-4 pen), Houston 0-1 Sporting Kansas City.
- UEFA has opened an investigation into allegations of racial chanting from Rangers fans during a recent Rangers-PSV Eindhoven match.
- Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti
accepted that his poor team selection and inability to remove a struggling Fernando Torres from the game may have, tactically, been a poor decision that had a negative effect on Chelsea’s ability to retain possession in Manchester United’s half and, more crucially, scorehad an angry confrontation with referee Alberto Undiano Mallenco over why Chelsea wasn’t given a penalty for a clear foul on Ramires. - Chelsea captain John Terry is also mad about the uncalled penalty, but strangely silent on his inability to intercept the Ryan Giggs cutback pass that led to Wayne Rooney’s goal.
- Bad news for Wayne Rooney: his two match ban for swearing into a camera after scoring a hat trick against West Ham has been upheld by the FA. Good news for Wayne Rooney: he can go back to drinking Pepsi now that Coca-Cola has dropped him as a corporate sponsor.
- Arsenal aim to shore up their defensive problems by purchasing 15-year old attacking midfielder Kristoffer Olsson from IFK Norrköping.
- Tottenham winger Aaron Lennon wasn’t happy that he was turned into a scapegoat for Tottenham’s loss to Real Madrid.
- Lebron James has bought a minority share in Liverpool. Yes, that Lebron and that Liverpool.
- Liverpool have announced a summer tour of Asia that will take them to China, Malaysia, and Korea.
- Liverpool and Juventus have opened talks regarding the transfer of Alberto Aquilani.
- Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton doesn’t think England will ever win the World Cup, and thinks that the continued inclusion of players like midfielder Gareth Barry is a big part of the problem.
- Villareal have their sights set on the Europa League title.
- AC Milan playmaker Alessandro Nesta, 35, is looking to play one more season before retirement.
- AC Milan midfielder Clarence Seedorf would be open to a move to Corinthians once his contract expires at the end of the season.
- Roma centerback Philippe Mexes will probably join AC Milan once his contract expires at the end of the season.
- Zenit St. Petersburg were fined 300,000 roubles following a racial incident involving Anzhi Makhachkala captain Roberto Carlos earlier this season.
- In Copa Libertadores action, Santos striker Neymar was sent off for donning a mask of himself after scoring the winning goal against Colo Colo.
- Roy Keane has been linked with the vacant Melbourne Victory managerial post.
- The American U-20s were eliminated from the U-20 World Cup following their 2-1 loss to Guatemala yesterday.
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If it weren’t for his claim to be the best English midfielder, I’d be willing to entertain the idea that Joey Barton has long been a misunderstood genius whose violent propensities stemmed directly from a lack of appreciation by his peers.
On the other hand, the fact that Joey Barton can pick out many of the England side’s flaws demonstrates just how asinine the folks running the team really are.
I actually think that Barton is someone who, when he’s just talking, makes a lot of sense (you can even see where he’s going with that “I’m England’s best midfielder” bit, and he’s not 100% wrong). The problem is that there’s a lot of dissonance between what Barton says and how Barton acts; just reading what he says makes him appear a lot more thoughtful than he acts and plays.
All that being equal, though, he’s better than Gareth Barry and would’ve tried to stop Ozil; determination and drive are just as important as technical ability on the international level, and Barton is someone who, in spite of his flaws, would play his ass off for the team, unlike several of the players who actually played for England this year.
You’re completely right and, honestly, I do think his feeling that people don’t appreciate what he offers is somewhat responsible for his past “indiscretions” (as in he was an immature guy and people around him never showed him how he could channel his frustrations until he hooked up with Hughton).
He most certainly plays his ass off and has regularly impressed me when he’s in the side (that is, as long as he’s not ballooning crosses over the end line). I think the attention paid to any rough play on the pitch is exacerbated by the fact that most watchers of the game still wait for him to snap and do something ridiculous, similar to the way people remain suspicious of newly-recovering addicts.
Thanks for the Torres bit. I thought I may have been overreacting a bit about Ancelotti’s tactics, but at least it wasn’t just me. I think the last time I was this mad about a manager’s choice of starting XI and substitutions was at Bob during the Ghana match last year. I don’t see how Ancelotti and I were watching the same match yesterday. Drogba was the only one who even remotely looked like he was capable of scoring, while Torres continually missed placed passes (not to mention a complete sitter). Just typing this has made me mad again. Ugh! I need more coffee.
Lebron James and Liverpool are a perfect partnership, when you stop to think about it. The only way it could be a more perfect collaboration is if the Yankees owned Liverpool instead of the Red Sox.
The collection of douchebaggery there is quite impressive as it currently stands, though.
As a Clevelander and a Liverpool fan, you have no idea how much this partnership irritates me.
Last night’s Revs-Caps match was the worst officiated (in both directions) MLS match I have ever seen.
Wanna guess who the ref was…?
Coulibaly?
Although Hassli getting sent off for taking his shirt off when already on a yellow is pretty funny.
The match was so out of hand at that point that I just laughed.
For the record, Hassli doesn’t strike me as an, ah, “intellectual.”
I thought you were referring to Jasen Anno, he of the awful sending off of Omar Bravo v. Chicago 2 weeks ago, with something like 1 PK & 1 red per every match he officiates. But Toledo is pretty bad too.