The real tragedy here is the loss of that innocent banana.

Its not England that's racist, is the Scots that came down the North to watch their shite team get handled by a 19 year old Brazilian, and they couldn't deal with it. The Italians however, definitely have a huge problem with race. I would say out of all the countries in Europe, Italy and Spain are the worst when it comes to racism.



Guys, I don't think Fabregas is going anywhere this summer. Arsenal are asking at least €50 million for your Captain, I can't think of any club who would be willing to pay for him, other than Barca or Real. However, Real Madrid just spend big for midfielders Özil and Khedira, not to mention they have the very promising Sergio Canales ready to go. So confident in their midfield are Real, they are looking to sell the underperforming Kaká in the summer:

Real Madrid 'look to sell Kaka in the summer' - Telegraph

I see Kaká going back to AC Milan, or maybe even moving to Inter. Manchester City might also be willing to spend to bring him to Eastlands. After the money we burned on Torres, I don't see Roman spending another €50 million on yet another aging star.

Cesc is Catalan too, so I can't ever see him playing as a 'Galactico'. Barça also already have 2 midfield playmakers in the form of Xavi and Ineista, both of which show no signs of slowing down. Ask yourself what club has the money and the need for a midfield playmaker?

Cesc Fabregas expected to stay at Arsenal as Barcelona baulk at paying €50 million fee - Telegraph

This. Such a waste of good food. What kind of idiot would throw a perfectly good banana onto a soccer pitch???

45 and I think Cesc is gone. But I do agree Barca is pretty much the only team who will buy him and he'll be happy to play for. I think his Arsenal blood is enough that even if Mancini wanted Mansour to pay the full 50m, Cesc will never play for any other team in the EPL. Nor Real given his Catalan roots (we'd get some pretty fun stories out of the Spanish media if that happened though!). But the argument that Barca have the playmakers already is flawed, since they had them last year too - that didn't stop them from trying. Idiots.

What the hell happened to Kaka? He was lighting it up as little as two years ago...I don't think even Man City will get him, not with David Silva in the side. Although who knows what happens with the Citizens, they might blow up the entire team if they don't get a CL spot, and start over :rofl2: I could see him back in Serie A. Really don't think he has a spot at Chelsea, his free-flowing game doesn't really fit. Seems to me Chelsea's front line is very demanding of the ball, and it'd reduce Kaka's effectiveness.

Hell, I don't even want him at Arsenal. Go figure.

Other news - I feel REALLY bad for Kevin Doyle. Always puts in a solid 90 minute shift for Wolves, lost to injury in an international friendly. It's not even a team I care for, but good god I hope someone can figure out a different schedule for soccer. These internationals are killing clubs!

Blackburn - Hey Venky's! What the F*CK are you doing??? Ruud van Nistelrooy back to the EPL???? Wow, imagine if they got all of their transfers to go through. Ronaldinho, Beckham, and van Nistelrooy making up 30% of your outfield? They don't need a physio, they'd need a geriatrics ward!!!

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...elrooy?cc=5901

I'm gonna pick up one of the red USA shirts today :tup:

Which is why I couldn't understand why they wanted to spend the money so badly last year. I suppose they want to add depth to the bench, but they've gone and signed Mascherano. Lets not forget they also have Keita, Jeffrén, and Busquets. Not trying to diminish the quality of Fabregas, but where does he fit? Barça already have a lot of debt, and in hindsight, it was probably better for their club to pass on signing Fabregas until his stock goes down a bit, if that ever happens.


Unless Florent Malouda or Zhirkov is sold, there isn't a place for him here either. We still have Kakuta on loan at Fulham, and we are already looking at much more promising Brazilian, who's skills were on display this weekend against Scotland.

I can't picture a move to the Premier League for Kaká. There are only about 6 clubs in the top flight that could actually pay him, and all are crowded already with midfielders. However at the end of the day, you never know really. I would have never guessed we'd sign Torres during the transfer window, and its still a little strange to see him wearing a Chelsea shirt.


Its hard to choose between the two. Answer the call for your country and run the risk of injury at the expense of your employer? Such is the life of a footballer I suppose. I don't know how much they can actually change with scheduling. Unless they want footballers playing year round, there's not much that can be done.


I like the new kits too, but what a terrible game. There were a few bright moments, but as a whole we looked pretty bad. I wish we could score a clean goal without relying on the opponents keeper to screw up.

I really hoped Klinsmann would have become the US National Team Manager, as I feel our boys would benefit tremendously from a foreign coach with experience playing and coaching in the highest level of football played in Europe. Here is a manager who has coached Germany to a World Cup Final, and I'm pretty sure has better credentials than Bob Bradley to coach a national team. He nearly landed the England job. I can understand the patriotism of an American coach for the national team, but I would gladly accept a foreign manager if it meant getting a higher quality team. Maybe one day US "soccer" federation will wake up.

My problem is Bob Bradley hasn't woken up to the fact that his son is effing horrible in our midfield. There's a reason why he's benched at Aston Villa (?) all of the time.

Aguedelo is earning high marks left and right, but I think he's going to end up very much like a cross between Theo Walcott and Darren Bent. That was a great poacher's goal, but the rest of the time he was on the pitch it seemed like he ran around a lot, but didn't do much else - a la Walcott. Put in a few shots on goal that had the crowd going 'oooh!!!' but never troubled the keeper - a la Bent.

I just think the international friendlies is rough in that they take club players, potentially crock them in a meaningless fixture, then return them to the club and go "heh...oops?". I wish the international squads had a bit more responsibility to injuries. I mean, it's the same thing that happened to Arjen and Bayern Munich, right?

So yeah, Adil Rami looked fantastic today, & then he hurt his shoulder/neck trying an overhead kick off a corner. The medics had his neck stabilized but he was moving one of his arms. I hope he's ok.

It was amusing seeing Blanc & Slaven Bilic joking after the match (Blanc lightly elbowed Bilic in the semifinal of France 98 who writhed on the ground as though he'd never walk again & got Blanc sent off & consequently missed the final).

Robin's injured again.

edit - oop, looks to be 'dead leg', and he should be fine for blackburn. Whew!

What exactly is a dead leg?

Rumor is a German threw it hahah

I'm watching Germany vs Australia from earlier. I want to watch the USA match but there's a mean storm here so the signal is being interrupted.

Watched the USA match. Pretty disappointing. Paraguay are so hard to watch as they always park the bus hard. The new kit is hot.

/choppy thought impressions

Back to Germany match.

I was very impressed by Blaise Matuidi for France today. I think he'd look great in red & white.

Aguedelo played very well again today. I'd start him alongside the toothless Altidore.

I bought the white Arsenal jacket with goal club points, and nabbed the red soccer shirt while I was at it :tup:

I imagine I've spent over $10,000 with Eurosport & have been a Goal Club member since the program launched & yet I barely have enough points for socks.

Just checked for lol's sake. I've cashed in points maybe twice, & yet I only have 149 accumulated.

WTF, Eurosport?!

I'm going to take a picture of my jersey collection tonight. 75% of them were bought via Eurosport/soccer.com.

(I figure I'll show off the collection now as I'm still young enough that having a bunch of team kits isn't lame or creepy.)

Post up yours, doods.

lol, cow...let's just say i hit the paydirt when i supported my little brother's soccer team by buying all of their gear with my goal club card...:) didn't pay for everything obviously but racked up the points.

BARELY enough to get me something nice haha.

I get a lot of my jerseys from Eurosport, but I also get a few from Classic Football Shirts : retro vintage soccer jerseys .. Its a great place to shop for kits that have been discontinued, or if you're looking for hero shirts, like an Henry kit from 2003.


Speaking of which, does anyone else think that France's new away kit is hot?

http://www.football-marketing.com/wp...away-shirt.jpg

Lol you lucky bastard! I'm going to go find an AYSO team to coach just to get some free schwag.
Awesome! Thanks for the tip! Their selection is fantastic. I'm definitely going to get something.

Today felt like a "remember the good times" day, so I'm rocking a 1996 Zidane Juventus home strip. I've got to say, though, new jerseys are a less "itchy."

Hell yeah I do. I fcuking LOVE it. I've got mine preordered through soccer.com (got like two Goal Club points for it :rofl2:).

I kind of want this kit.

http://www.classicfootballshirts.co....mage_14780.jpg

Tamoil was Juventus' 2004 season Champions' League sponsor, but you couldn't get the kit from an American vendor as the company is based in Libya & America has an embargo against the country. I'm sure I could have acquired it if I'd tried, but it wasn't a huge deal; that said, I think it'd be neat to own the strip because of that weird little piece of trivia.

Not sure if I'll get it, though, because I have the same year's Serie A kit & never take it out my closet because I hate the way it fits (it bunches under my arms).

Back on the France kit, I was thinking about kits I've loved over time & this is probably my favorite strip ever. Home & away are both fantastic & the goalkeeper shirt is great too.

http://www.maillotsdesport.fr/images...mandanda-3.jpg

I have the home & goalkeeper shirt so far (like I said, the away is pre-ordered) & I feel like I could wear any of them normally if there were no number & people wouldn't think "soccer shirt." They're so damn classy.

(I was thinking about this at work-- it's a wonder I've still got a job. *runs to touch wood*)

looks okay to me.

lol so i went to shoot around on the bball court yesterday. unplanned, was just going to lift weights, but i had my usa soccer shirt on. damn, those sleeves give NO play whatsoever. could barely get my shot off correctly, they kept pulling my arms downwards haha

oh WOW, that site has J-league shirts! too bad my 'hometown' Urawa Red Diamonds come only as large as 'M'...ugh!

it's so hard to get J-league shirts outside of Japan.

i should totally dork out and grab this:
http://www.classicfootballshirts.co....mage_28591.jpg


and LOL oh dear. we won the double, but god i hated this kit:
http://www.classicfootballshirts.co....ay-NEW_1_3.gif

the electric banana!

Classic Football Shirts has everything, I've been ordering from them for some time now. They have international teams as well as club teams on the site. It takes a while to get the shirts here using Royal Mail, but it's worth it to have a rare shirt that you can't find anywhere else.

Your FA winning season shirt, what a dreadful kit that was. The 90s had some of the most abysmal shirts.

My next purchase:
Glenn Hoddle, Mark Hughes and Ruud Gullit era Chelsea :tup:

http://www.classicfootballshirts.co....-94-home_2.jpg

I need a Zidane France 98 kit & a Euro 2000 kit.

I don't see a Zidane kit from that year. Is there an "add name" option?

i don't think they do custom at that shop. they just have a humongous inventory of rare shirts.

debating grabbing one of hte highbury memorial shirts...

Do they have an Henry large? I know I could check for myself, but you know...

I've got that one in XL, but it's huge on me so I rarely rock it.

they have ljungberg

Hrmmm....

Collection time!! *

It's funny looking at these as, by looking at the kits, you can tell the time period I stopped buying them for a while & then picked up the "habit" again.*

Sorry for the crap quality of some of these pictures.*

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...e/4048d612.jpg

The bottom three are knockoffs. The left one is from Little Italy & the middle & right are from eBay-- I got the middle one first & threatened the guy with negative feedback if I didn't get a better fake (look at the scudetto badge-- it's backwards).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...e/edbab74a.jpg

I always seem to shoot my load off pre-ordering new France kits & somehow get something slightly jacked up about them.*

The top middle left is the 2006 WC strip, but the number isn't the same design as the match-worn ones. Same for the current one (bottom center). Also, the current one doesn't have a number on the front, but, being I pre-ordered it.... (I may buy a new one-- at least I'll get the Goal Club points.) *The two white 2010 WC kits I got because, as always, I pre-ordered the shirt & Ribery was still wearing #22, then when the squad was announced, he'd switched to #7. *Fiancee got the right one for my birthday.*

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...e/cff08b83.jpg

La Liga collection-- not a Real Madrid fan, but I wanted a Zidane strip, so I bought one. I have the same Barca one twice, but one's long-sleeved & has Iniesta on the back. The other was a gift from NikeTown in Seattle. *I love the color of the jersey-- it's so ugly it's awesome.*

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...e/4641a6ac.jpg

miscellaneous others:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...e/95ee84d6.jpg




Again, sorry the picture quality is so crap. *Had I more time, I'd have used my DSLR.*

holy ****, puts mine to shame. i have like....5. i honestly on got the cash to splurge on things like this recently.

I was on full scholarship in college, so I had money to burn. Lol.

For some reason, I decided to check FIFA.com & this was the cover story:

Zinedine Zidane - FIFA Classic Player

zizou!!!

think nasri really is the heir to zidane? he dazzled the first part of the season but fell off recently.

Nasri hasn't been scoring goals of late, but he's still been playing well & facilitating others.

He's definitely not on Zidane's level yet-- no one I've seen in my life is. Messi scores tons of goals, but I credit a lot of that to the system combined with his individual brilliance. Really, Xavi is the only player currently able to control a game like Zizou, but he doesn't really "carry" a team.

Zidane just looked so god damn effortless. I really miss watching him.

It's hard to quantify "best player" arguments. As soon as I posted the above, I remembered that in the past three seasons, Messi has scored like 474847574747574828373 goals.

Well put. It bothers me when people compare Messi to Zidane or Maradonna in their prime. As you mentioned before, Zidane in particular was one of the best on field tacticians to ever play the game. The way he could read and adjust to the game was absolutely astonishing. Both his left and right feet were exactly the same, and he could punish you with either one (Who can forget that volley during the champions league final against Bayer Leverkusen) Nasri's on his way, although he tends to drift out to the wings more than Zidane did, but I credit that to Arsenal's flowing style of play, where any of the players can pop up out of position, but still be just as effective. I think the closest we have to Zidane is the highly underrated Wesley Sneijder of Inter. I've been a fan of him since he was a kid at Ajax, and his abilities were on display during the Champions League run last year as well as the WC Final. As good as Sneijder is, I don't think there will ever be another Zidane.


On a more disturbing note:
Explosives found near Dortmund stadium - ESPN Soccernet

Sneijder reminds me a lot of Francesco Totti when he was at the peak of his powers.


I saw that. I'm really glad everything was caught.

I wonder what the motive was, though.

i'm glad they noticed. the guy who did it is apparently in custody already.