The stage has been set for Sunday’s Confederation Cup final. The United States will take on South American powerhouse Brazil. Brazil secured their spot in the final with a late goal from Daniel Alves in the 87th minute of the match. Alves came into the game as a sub only 6 minutes before that. After a foul right outside the 18, Alves stepped up and rifled a shot to the far post that went right by South African goalkeeper, Itumeleng Khune. Brazil held their ground for the remaining minutes and took away a 1-0 victory.
The US has already seen Brazil in the Cup and suffered a 3-0 defeat. At least they know what to expect and can prepare appropriately.
Valenica defender Raul Albiol has signed with the ever expanding Spanish club Real Madrid. This will help as Real lost defender Cannavaro to his home country of Italy. Real’s hopes of signing David Villa seem to be over as he reportedly has refused the over to move to the team. In an attempt to make up for the trade, Real has set their sights on Karim Benzema, but that too has caused them some trouble as Lyon has stated the player has no interest to leave.
An unlikely journey into the second round of the Confederation Cup gave the United States the chance to take on FIFA’s number 1 ranked team in the world, Spain. With a 3-0 victory over Egypt and Brazil taking care of business against Italy, the US was able to squeeze through the first round with only one W and continuation based on goal differential.
Coming into the match against Spain, few thought that Coach Bradley’s team had much chance to even keep it close. Spain entered the game with zero losses in 35 games and a winning streak of 15. Oh, and by the way, the US had never beaten them before.
One of the only ones to actually predict a US victory was former US player and Hall of Famer Alexi Lalas. He predicted the US to be the victor in a 1-0 game. Well, he was wrong, the US came out on top with a 2-0 victory! With goals from Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore, the US is heading to the finals against tomorrows winner in the Brazil v South Africa match.
The bad news is that we will be without Michael Bradley, as he was shown a straight red late in the match, our third red in 4 games. Spain also showed the weakness in the back that comes with constant pressure and ultimately proved that Tim Howard is one of the best goalkeepers in the world. After already facing Brazil in the first round, it goes without saying that we would much rather face South Africa, but only tomorrow will tell the fate for Sunday’s game.
Jermaine Jones, a German midfielder, has decided to come play for the US Men’s National Team in hopes of securing some playing time in the future. Jermaine, who’s father is a US citizen, has been playing for Schalke in Germany, and had a few caps for the German National team in a few friendlies. It is unknown how much time, if any, Jones will see as he is 27 years old and never practiced with the team prior to now, but at least we have another experienced international player to add to the roster.
Jones is not the first player with dual citizenship to decide to forgo his international career abroad and come back for some PT in the States. We wrote about the young Italian American star, Vincenzo Bernardo, who chose to play internationally with America after deciding he mad more room to grow into a position with the US.
Ronaldo is reportedly going to be receiving roughly £107m for a six year contract with Real Madrid. That is over $175 million in USD over the lifespan of the contract. That on top of the $131 million transfer fee that Real will be mustering up to Man U. Kinda makes ya wanna vomit to think of how much money that is to play a game. This claim came out very quickly as both clubs reportedly said they expected the deal to be closed by June 30th.
The next superstar in Real Madrid’s bulls-eye is David Villa. Reports are coming out that the team is making moves to bring the Valencian forward over. Not sure how much money the club actually has to be signing all these players, but it doesn’t seem to be an issue as they have shelled out the biggest contract in football history, not to mention they are paying Ronaldo more than any other athlete in the world, ever. President Perez stated that the moves will not put a huge amount of debt on the organization and they expect the moves to quickly turn a profit for the team.
Former defender Fabio Cannavaro doesn’t believe that new additions will actually help the team and was quoted as saying “The club is going to have to do more because these players will not solve the internal problems”. Cannavaro, who wanted to return to Italy to finish his career made the move to join Juventus and is expected to retire with the club barring any unforeseen circumstances.
€93.9m, that’s what it costs to buy one of the world’s top football players. Real Madrid offered Manchester United the large amount of money to start negotiations on personal teams with the young phenom in hopes of closing a deal by the end of the month. For months, talks have been whirling around this deal, its amazing it is now actually coming to fruition. Once again, the new Real President Perez has had an impact on the club and its transfers as he vowed earlier this month he would do whatever needed to get the Portuguese player.
As a Real fan it is hard to come to terms with Ronaldo coming over, on the one hand he will undoubtedly help the team on the attack, which they have had some trouble with lately, but on the other hand, I HATE RONALDO. I also don’t like how the club is throwing an outrageous amount of money at every amazing player, ESPN today referred to the club as the New York Yankees of soccer. Not something I like to hear.
I am also curious how this will play out for some of the current players and roster spots as van Nistelrooy is starting to get older and more injury prone. Raul is starting to show the signs of his age and has mentioned wanting to wrap up his career in the near future. With the mid-season addition of young attacker Huntelaar, this is sure to mix up the starters for next season. The midfield is also pretty sound with Robben, Sneijder and Van der Vart. Either way this transaction will have a huge affect on both the Premiership as well as La Liga.
With so much hype about European football it is great news that a few teams over there will actually be coming over to play in the US. The World Football Challenge begins in just a month, with the first game on July 19th. Inter Milan, Chelsea, AC Milan and Club America will all be playing one another in a miniature tournament in various locations across the United States beginning at Stanford Stadium in California. On top of that, Real Madrid agreed two weeks ago to play against DC United in August, so if you are a fan of European play, this is your chance to see the teams play without having to make the expensive international trip. The games are as follows:
Sunday, July 19 – Palo Alto, CA Club America vs. Inter Milan
Tuesday, July 21 - Pasadena ,CA Chelsea FC vs. Inter Milan
Wednesday, July 22 – Atlanta, GA AC Milan vs. Club America
Friday, July 24 – Baltimore, MD AC Milan vs. Chelsea FC
Sunday, July 26 – Foxborough, MA AC Milan vs. Inter Milan
Sunday, July 26 – Arlington, TX Chelsea FC vs. Club America
Real Madrid has made numerous moves and much speculation has surrounded the team as talks of Ribery, Kaka and Ronaldo potentially might join the team, but now it is official. The Brazilian superstar Kaka has signed a 6 year, £59m contract with the Spanish juggernaut Real to help compete next season against Barcelona, who took the La Liga title handily this year. With the addition of Kaka and potentially others in the future, Madrid has high hopes to successfully regain the dominance they once had in Spain. The board has also finalized voting on the new President for the club, Florentino Perez, who has had a huge influence on all the transfers that have and could take place.
The US suffered a tough loss against Costa Rica last week but bounced back to defeat Honduras 2-1 with a diving header by Carlos Bocanegra to secure the victory. The US is currently in second place in the table of six, with the top three teams advancing and the fourth to play a play-in game. The next match for the US is against Mexico whom we were able to beat in our last meeting 2-0 at Columbus Crew Stadium. We must now travel down to Mexico for the match, which has always been very difficult for the US with the bad air quality and outrageously loud fan base. Mexico has been struggling and sits in fifth place with only one win and 3 points compared to the United States 10 points. Needless to say the US has looked sluggish in their last few matches and many wonder how long they can keep afloat against their competition, especially as they are sure to face more talented and skilled teams if and when they actual qualify for the tournament. Coach Bradley has a lot of work to do to get his team ready for that kind of competition.
After a long departure, Soccer Gambit is back up and running.
So many things have happened it is hard to know where to start. First off, Manchester United took a fall from grace as Barcelona defeated them 2-0 off goals from Messi and Eto’o to win the Champions League. The best part was watching Ronaldo at the end of the match as he became obviously frustrated with his teams and his own performance. Undoubtedly this has caused a big stir in the discussion over who is the best soccer/football player in the world, Messi or Ronaldo. With the victory most people’s votes have now swung towards Messi, but the Portuguese attacker still holds his own on the pitch.
With Liverpool and Chelsea still only 5 pts behind Manchester United, this weeks games as always will be critical.
Chelsea matches up against Tottenham who has struggled this year. Alternatively, Peter Cech has been showing some signs of weakness. In last weeks Champions League game he seemed a bit shaky, it wouldn’t surprise me if Tottenham was able to put at least one by the previously proclaimed greatest goalie in the EPL. The last time the two teams met they drew at 1-1.
Liverpool takes on Aston Villa who currently sits behind Arsenal. Liverpool has been playing amazingly since the return of Gerrard and it seems likely the will take this game as well. They too ended their last match up in a 0-0 draw.
Manchester United is playing against Fulham, who the creamed last time 3-0. With the amazing attacking force of Ronaldo, Tevez, Rooney, and more it is hard to believe the team ever losses. So basically Liverpool and Chelsea need to make sure they can keep adding to win categories and hope that Man U makes some mistakes.
To add fuel to the ever continuing fire over David Beckham, Real Madrid apparently is trying to buy the veteran for about £10m from the Galaxy. The deal would come through during the summer. Understandably the Galaxy might be a bit fed up with all the hassle over Beckham’s contract, but after all this you would think they would try to keep him. He does bring the crowds to the games. Last year when Beckham came to DC to play United, RFK was slammed. I have never seen so many people at a DC United game, and The Screaming Eagles are the best supporting fans in MLS, so that says a lot.
Apparently the deal would only be attempted if Florentino Perez becomes the new President of Real Madrid, which is still unknown. I want to know what the deal is with Ronaldo. Real Madrid keeps insisting he will be joining the team, and Manchester United and Ronaldo keep saying that it is untrue. Someone needs to get to the bottom of this.
