Lille Defender Eyes Premier League Move | CaughtOffside

chris — Wed, 22 May 2013 07:37:43 +0000

Chedjou wants to play in England.

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Lille defender Aurelien Chedjou has admitted that a move to the Premier League would interest him as he prepares to leave the French club in the summer, according to Sky Sports.

Galatasaray, Newcastle, Valencia and Liverpool have all been mentioned as possible destinations for the 27-year-old and he is set to meet with club officials at Lille to discuss his future over the coming weeks.

“Nothing is done with any club. Yes, I want to move from Lille and get another experience of my life,” he said.

The Cameroonian international has been a key member of the squad since joining from minnows Rouen in 2007, making over 200 appearances and scoring 16 goals. This season he has turned out 45 times in all competitions as the northern club embarked on a n unsuccessful Champions League campaign. Lille are currently in fifth place in the Ligue 1 table, one point behind St Etienne with a single game remaining. The pair will meet each other this weekend to decide who will snag that final Champions League spot.

Liverpool are said to be monitoring his situation as they seek a replacement for the now retired Jamie Carragher, and Chedjou has admitted that the possibility of playing for the Reds would be too good to turn down.

“Liverpool could be great. An enormous club with fantastic fans and the Kop to add,” he said.

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Lille Defender Eyes Premier League Move | CaughtOffside

atletico de madrid – Spanish Football | Soccer | Sports Blog

chris — Wed, 22 May 2013 07:05:00 +0000

ATLETICO DE MADRID | WHO WILL REPLACE FALCAO ?

It seems clear that Atletico de Madrid forward Radamel Falcao will be leaving at the end of the season. What´s not confirmed is where but there are a few Clubs being mentioned, Monaco, Chelsea FC, Manchester City & Paris St Germain, with the first two more favourite than the others.

Atletico de Madrid obviously have to work – & have been – to find a substitute forward that will fill the “big” space that Falcao will leave vacant. Names are already been sounding & are appearing in Football press.

First name to hit the papers was FC Barcelona forward David Villa, but it seems that the Spanish International will go to the English Premier League with Tottenham Hotspurs or Arsenal FC battling out between themselves to convince the player.

Second name that is sounding is Luis Suarez of Liverpool FC, an old desire of Atletico de Madrid. Apparently there are negotiations going on but money maybe a serious obstacle.

Thirdly, Spanish International & Sevilla FC forward Alvaro Negredo has offered himself for next season as he desires to play in Champions League & is an option.

Lastly, the name of Brazilian International & Russian Club Zenit forward Hulk has appeared on the scene. The Brazilian is not happy in Russia & looks favourably a move to Liga. The big obstacle here is the 60M€ that Zenit paid recently for the player.

In conclusion there are two current viable options: Luis Suarez & Alvaro Negredo. Stay tuned!

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Dhaka Premier League to begin on July 1 – ESPN Cricinfo

chris — Wed, 22 May 2013 03:52:34 +0000

The Bangladesh Cricket Board on Tuesday announced that the Dhaka Premier League, the country’s most popular one-day domestic competition, would begin on July 1.

The decision was taken after BCB president Nazmul Hassan met with representatives of all Dhaka Premier League clubs.

“The player recruitment programme will take place on June 20 and the league will begin on July 1,” Hassan said in a press release. “This was a unanimous decision.”

The BCB has also revised the payment structure and will now follow a grade-based system in the 12-team league. “We are in the process of finalising the grades for the cricketers and it will be complete in 2-3 days,” Hassan said. “I agree that the grading could have an effect on the value of a handful of cricketers, who may earn less than they did last season, but the majority of the players will be benefit from this categorisation.”

In April this year, nearly 50 professional cricketers had staged a protest outside the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka over the delay in the scheduling of the league. The clubs had also refused to participate without national players who were then on the tour of Zimbabwe.

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Dhaka Premier League to begin on July 1 – ESPN Cricinfo

The Way This HS Goalkeeper Loses State Soccer Championship Is …

chris — Wed, 22 May 2013 01:41:00 +0000

You gotta feel for the kid.

Irmo High School was playing Lexington in South Carolina’s 4A high school state championship, and after two overtime periods, the game went to penalties. In the last round of penalty kicks, the score was 3-3. Irmo’s Mattison Gossett lined up to take the final penalty kick. If he scored, Irmo would win. If he missed, penalty kicks would go to sudden death.

Gossett struck a hard shot to the left, but Lexington keeper Jacob Parton guessed correctly, got down, and parried the ball. Parton looked to get both gloves on the ball, and he jumped in the air immediately to celebrate the clutch stop.

Meanwhile, the ball landed on the ground, bounced, and spun into the goal for the game-winning penalty. Irmo won the state championship in penalties, 4-3, and Lexington went home with nothing.

Parton will probably have nightmares about this for the rest of his life. We feel for you, kid. …Sucks.

h/t Tim

[WLTX]

The Way This HS Goalkeeper Loses State Soccer Championship Is …

New York City Football Club – NYC's New Major League Soccer …

Daily Football News — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:30:13 +0000

New Yorkers will not be denied anymore! After the demise of New York Cosmos in 1985, the Big Apple will finally get its very own Major League Soccer team. In joint press conference earlier today, officials from MLS, UK’s Manchester City Football Club, and the New York Yankees, announced the formation of New York City Football Club (NYCFC). A somewhat of unlikely partnership, Manchester City and its owner, Sheik Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan of Abu Dhabi, will have the majority stake in the new team, while its minority owner, the New York Yankees, will be able to provide considerable leverage in dealing with local politics and community outreach. In addition, the close proximity to the Meadowlands-based New York Red Bulls will create a fervent crosstown rivalry much like the one between Manchester City and Manchester United.

In a prepared statement, Ferran Soriano, CEO of Manchester City Football Club said, “New York is a legendary sports town, as well as a thriving global city with a rapidly expanding soccer fan base.” He added, “We are thrilled to contribute to the energy and growth of New York City soccer. In the Yankees, we have found the absolute best partner for developing a world-class sports organization and a winning team that will carry the New York City Football Club name with pride.”

To be based out of Queens and in a yet to be built soccer stadium within Flushing Meadows Corona Park, New York City Football Club will play its first game during MLS’ 2015 season.

Randy Levine (New York Yankees President), Don Garber (MLS Commissioner), Ferran Soriano (Manchester City CEO)

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New York City Football Club – NYC's New Major League Soccer …

A-League now soccer's backbone: Gallop

chris — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:52:34 +0000

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A-League now soccer's backbone: Gallop

Manchester City & New York Yankees announce MLS partnership …

Daily Football News — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:46:00 +0000

May 21, 2013 9:46:00 PM

The Premier League outfit have joined forces with the Major League Baseball franchise to acquire New York City Football Club – the 20th American club, set to commence in 2015

Manchester City

have confirmed they have formed an agreement with the New York Yankees to form a new club in Major League Soccer.

The new team, to be named New York City Football Club (NYCFC), will be the 20th MLS club and is expected to start playing in 2015.

“We proudly welcome two of the most prestigious professional global sports organizations to Major League Soccer,” said MLS Commissioner Don Garber in a statement.

“This is a transformational development that will elevate the league to new heights in this country. The New York area is home to more than 19 million people, and we look forward to an intense cross-town rivalry between New York City Football Club and the New York Red Bulls that will captivate this great city.”

City CEO Ferran Soriano will oversee the process of identifying and adding key personnel to NYCFC in the coming weeks.

“New York is a legendary sports town, as well as a thriving global city with a rapidly expanding soccer fan-base,” he said.

“We are thrilled to contribute to the energy and growth of New York City Soccer. In the Yankees, we have found the absolute best partner for developing a world-class sports organization and a winning team that will carry the New York City Football Club name with pride.”

The Premier League club also confirmed that they will be the majority owner of NYCFC, while the Yankees will be an active member of the ownership group.

City are also due to face Chelsea in a friendly match at Yankee Stadium on May 25.

Hal Steinbrenner, managing general partner of the Yankees added: “We are pleased to be associated with this major move by MLS to increase its presence in the New York market and to enhance the opportunity for New York soccer fans to enjoy high-level play in their own city.

“We look forward to the opportunity to work with Manchester City to create something very special for the soccer fans of New York.”

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg also added: “Soccer is one of the world’s most exciting and popular sports, and it should be played on the world’s biggest stage – in New York City.

“New Yorkers are the greatest sports fans in the world, and they will welcome a Major League Soccer franchise with the full-throated and loyal support they are famous for.

“Manchester City has a great reputation for both winning teams and serious community investment, and that will help them fit in well with the excellent leadership of New York City’s other professional sports teams.

“Increasingly, sports events and activities – from the NHL playoffs to the MLB All-Star game to the SuperBowl – are spurring economic growth, as our investments in new arenas and infrastructure are paying off.”

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Manchester City & New York Yankees announce MLS partnership …

David Beckham: How The Last English Winger Ordained Soccer In …

chris — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:45:00 +0000

When the world’s biggest sport’s most beloved, most important player is finally gone, we’ll all agree that David Beckham is far and away one of the most successful players to ever touch a soccer ball. Shortly after, we’ll argue: was Beckham truly one of the greatest players of his generation, or just a guy lucky enough to play balls to those who were?

On Sunday night, the final whistle will blow to mark the end of Paris Saint-Germain’s season, and with it, Beckham’s career. PSG has already wrapped up the Ligue 1 trophy. It’s his 10th league title with four different teams in four different countries, not to mention a Champions League title in 1999, a couple FA Cups, 115 appearances for England, 58 as team captain, and countless other minor trophies and awards and honors. But how do you separate the man from his team successes?

Beckham was the last traditional English winger: industrious, dogged, calculating. A tireless runner who wasn’t particularly fast, or strong, or elusive, but worked up and down the sidelines, again and again, until he found an opportunity to strike the ball. And it’s when he had time to strike the ball—usually peering through a sliver of daylight on the flank to whip in a gorgeous, guided cross to central players, or worse, when he faced down a wall 20, or 30, or even 40 yards from goal—that for a grand total of a few minutes over his 21-year career, Beckham was the most dangerous player on the planet.

Beckham was best known as a player for dead ball situations. He revolutionized how people attacked a dead ball, and he changed how people defended it. When he lined up for a kick, opposing goalkeepers would call for an extra man in walls to disrupt his accuracy, and often it didn’t matter. He still bent free kicks around, over, and sometimes under walls, through traffic, and into the back of the net or onto the path of streaking teammates. What’s insane about all this is that Beckham may not have even been the absolute best free kick taker of his era; others like Zinedine Zidane, Andrea Pirlo, Alessandro Del Piero, Juan Román Riquelme, and Ronaldinho were probably every bit as good, and all better players besides. But there is no one else who embodied a singular aspect of the sport as David Beckham embodied his.

One of “Fergie’s Fledglings,” Beckham was the breakout star of the legendary Manchester United youth mob that included Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, the Neville brothers, and Nicky Butt, and dominated the Premier League in the mid- and late-90s. Legendary United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said of the midfielder, “David Beckham is Britain’s finest striker of a football not because of God-given talent but because he practises with a relentless application that the vast majority of less gifted players wouldn’t contemplate.”

Beckham became famous on August 17, 1996, a year after his Premier League debut with Manchester United. They were playing Wimbledon in the first game of the season. Beckham received the ball in his own half, looked up, and saw the opposing keeper off his line. So he had a go:

He got his first call up to the national team the next month. United clinched their second-straight league title the following spring.

United won again in 1999, when they became the first team to win the English Treble: Premier League, FA Cup, and Champions League. And that summer, Beckham became a worldwide, household name when he finished as runner-up to Rivaldo for the FIFA World Player of the Year award and, perhaps more importantly, married Spice Girl Victoria Adams on July 4. He was Mr. Posh Spice, and teen girls the world over took notice. His hard-ass manager was less impressed. Ferguson was upset that Beckham had developed “this fashion thing.”

Beckham was already a national hero for his success at United, but being appointed England’s captain in 2000 took him global. In 2001, he sent England through to the 2002 World Cup in stoppage time of the final game with his trademark: a free kick from 30 yards out that he lifted over the four-man wall and bent with so much power and accuracy that the Greek keeper could only watch, frozen, as the ball struck the back of the net.

So by the time Real Madrid came calling in 2003, he was exactly what they were searching for. Madrid president Florentino Pérez wanted galácticos, the biggest names in soccer. Along with Beckham, Madrid signed Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, and Ronaldo, who joined Madridistas Roberto Carlos and Raúl. These men were some of the best players of all time, and Beckham didn’t quite fit. He couldn’t match the talent or genius these players brought to the pitch. But David Beckham was the third most-valuable sports figure in the world behind Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. And David Beckham was sexy as fuck.

He was beautiful. He always won. He had a pop star wife. He had a great body and a great butt and a great face that was somehow chiseled and masculine yet really, really pretty. He had tattoos. He had magical hair that grew faster than human hair was supposed to grow, and looked good draped over his face in curtains or cropped short or dyed blonde or tied back in a ponytail, and somehow didn’t sweat out when in cornrows or fall limp when gelled up. To be a galáctico, you had to be more than a great player. You had to be a brand. He was Adidas and Pepsi and Vodafone. He was the sport’s biggest star and a walking goldmine for Madrid.

As a player, Beckham probably didn’t belong at Real Madrid. He made a name for himself in England on the flanks, but this squad played a 5-3-2, with three central midfielders. Beckham had to adapt to life in the middle, next to Zidane, arguably the best central midfielder of all time. He struggled. The thing about soccer, though, is that there are 11 men on a team who defend and attack in tandem. There’s often enough room to hide players, particularly if that player brings a specific skillset to the side. A player who can reach the goalmouth from the sideline with a throw-in will often play on past the point of their holistic usefulness. Some of history’s greatest strikers were decent, or even poor, technical players, but had a preternatural, predatory knack for scoring goals. Beckham had one strength, ball placement, and when you can strike a ball with ethereal accuracy, you’ll always be able to play somewhere.

He largely underwhelmed at Madrid. As a squad player he was hardworking and diligent, but never truly stood out. Madrid underwhelmed, too, for the same reason every team initially underwhelms when you round up the sport’s biggest stars without regard to cohesion or style. But they finally got it right in the spring of 2007, when Real Madrid won La Liga. Call it a going-away present: Earlier that year, Beckham had announced he’d be joining the Los Angeles Galaxy on a five-year deal. Beckham was coming to America.

Beckham represented the third attempt to bring soccer to the country. Pelé was the first.

The greatest player to ever dribble a soccer ball came to the United States in 1975, in the twilight of his career, in an attempt to bring the world’s game to our shores. He failed. He retired from the New York Cosmos in 1977, and the North American Soccer League folded in 1984.

Ten years later, the USA hosted the 1994 World Cup. Romário, Baggio, Bergkamp, Batistuta, Klinsmann, an old, drugged Maradona, and the fans that followed soccer’s greatest players came to the country for a month. By the time they’d left, we’d had a taste of the fervor, the excitement, the money. Soccer in America would get another shot.

Major League Soccer began play in 1996. But the country was generations behind the world when it came to talent, development, infrastructure, and ultimately international relevance. Soccer was largely viewed as a niche sport, something inherently un-American. Among diehards, the MLS was laughable, a mockery of the European leagues. And outside of a few notable exceptions, the league’s best players spoke Spanish.

Then: Beckham. And maybe his coming had the whiff of novelty, but for a while in the summer of 2007, millions of men and women and kids who didn’t know grow up around soccer, didn’t care about the game, and didn’t give a damn about the MLS dropped what they were doing and, for the first time ever, watched. Sure, some were watching his butt, or his hair, or his pop star wife, but they were in front of the TV, or in the sold-out stadiums. They all tuned in to see the world’s biggest sport’s biggest star. His first goal came on August 15 against DC United, in the 27th minute. The day before the match, Donovan had given Beckham the captain’s armband. The goal, of course, came off a free kick.

Beckham carried on in Los Angeles as he had in Madrid: an unspectacular player, but still capable of isolated brilliance none of his teammates or opponents could match. And yes, he was still a star. In addition to being beautiful and sexy and famous and married to Victoria Beckham, he was white. He had the underwear deal. He spoke English. More importantly, he spoke it in an English accent. He embraced life here. He named his oldest son Brooklyn, and we kind of liked that. He bought a mansion in L.A.. He was to be the face of the league, but a funny thing happened once Beckham came over: the league changed.

Until Beckham, MLS had a hard salary cap. The league then introduced the Designated Player Rule, nicknamed the Beckham Rule, which allowed teams to sign players that would normally be too expensive under the cap. Teams could go after the better players in the world, and pay them somewhat close to their international market value. MLS could, for the first time, aspire to being a league based around stars.

Juan Pablo Ángel, Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Denílson and Freddie Ljungberg followed the Englishman. In 2010, the New York Red Bulls signed French striker Thierry Henry, one of the greatest players of all time. And after him came Irish legend Robbie Keane and Australian star Tim Cahill.

MLS was, and remains, seen as a retirement home for foreign stars past their prime to get one last payday. But while these players weren’t as good as they were (and some aren’t even much use at all), they, like Beckham, gave MLS clout. Since 2007, the league has expanded from 13 to 19 clubs, with a 20th announced just this morning. Match attendance now exceeds the NBA and NHL. MLS might still be an international cipher and a distant fifth in American sports, but it appears sustainable—something that was by no means clear when Beckham made the leap.

When Beckham retired from international play in 2010, he was replaced by a new breed of English winger, blindingly fast, wide goal scorers like Aaron Lennon and Theo Walcott. Elsewhere, there was Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Hulk, and others. They’re athletic freaks who can play anywhere across the front line. The was the wave of the future, and it’s unlikely we’ll see a player quite like Beckham ever again, an all-around average winger but for one outrageous skill who was still able to conquer the sport. But Beckham’s legacy endures in the notion of soccer player-as-celebrity. The next generation are also brands unto themselves, pop stars and sex symbols. Everyone wants to be Beckham in his underwear.

Maybe fittingly for a citizen of the world, the Englishman played his last home game in Paris. He captained PSG, and wept as he left the field. He raised another league trophy the week before. Even though he’s hanging up his boots, he’ll still be involved in the game. He recently toured China promoting the sport, and is rumored to have interest in owning an MLS expansion franchise.

It’s hard to think of America as a destination for “global ambassadors”—that’s for third-world countries. But this country remains an international soccer backwater, with millions of potential fans (and customers) ripe for the converting. And that’s exactly what David Backham was in the later stages of his career: a missionary, bringing the good word of the set piece. If some of his contemporaries achieved more in the sport, it’s hard to argue that anyone did more for it.

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David Beckham: How The Last English Winger Ordained Soccer In …

Yankees, Man City to co-own NYC MLS team – seattlepi.com

Daily Football News — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:15:44 +0000

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Yankees, Man City to co-own NYC MLS team – seattlepi.com

New York City FC is everything Major League Soccer has ever …

chris — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:46:16 +0000

MLS got everything they ever wanted in New York City FC. Now they have to hope that what they wanted was right.

The bright lights, big money and glamor of New York has always tantalized MLS. The city was the heart of its plans to bring soccer to the masses, but for 18 years it and everything that MLS has craved has teased the league, remaining just out of its reach.

Today, with New York City FC, the league is betting that it has finally lured its mistress — The Big Apple.

New York presents opportunities for MLS that no other city does, from the more than 8,000,000 people in the five boroughs alone to the country’s number one media market to the unmatched financial power that sits on the small island at the mouth of the Hudson River. But what New York really does is bring it all together under one bright spotlight.

MLS has struggled to capture that spotlight since its inception in 1996. The New York/New Jersey Metrostars were a ham-handed attempt to embrace the entire metro area — albeit an amusing one and now endearing reminder of MLS’s infancy. Everything from the name, to the empty seats at Giants Stadium was comical, and most of all, the club’s ineptitude on the pitch made them the butt of jokes around the league. New ownership, a new name and a move to gorgeous Red Bull Arena didn’t help either, as the club became property of New Jersey while New York remained blissfully ignorant of the MLS team carrying its name.

The league put its offices in New York and held events there, but without a team that resonated within the city limits, MLS would continue to be an afterthought to the millions of people and dollars that populate the city. And so began the quest for NYC2.

As MLS expanded, from 10 teams in 2004 to 19 in 2012, this mythical second team in New York followed the league everywhere it went. Dubbed NYC2, this expansion team would bring MLS to New York for first time, not just with a stadium inside the city limits, but with a team that would capture the hearts and imaginations of The Big Apple.

MLS insisted the next great step was always going to be New York

The creation of Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA in 2005 marked MLS’s first expansion since 1998 and set in motion the league’s new era of growth. The league went into Canada not long after and expansion in Cascadia brought the MLS its first great rivalry. With the league’s expansion came new TV deals, unprecedented growth and optimism. But through it all, MLS insisted the next great step was always going to be New York.

Don Garber promised that New York would get a second team, even as MLS was launching teams elsewhere on the continent. He later narrowed it down, saying New York would be the league’s 20th team. If 2005 brought about MLS 2.0, you would be forgiven if the league convinced you that NYC2 would be the start of MLS 3.0. This was the league’s holy grail.

But bringing MLS to New York wasn’t as easy as handing the city a team. It required an owner, and a deep pocketed one at that, with the cash to pay the $100 million expansion fee that the league slapped on the team as well as managing it like the mega-club MLS envisioned for NYC2. It required a stadium, one in the five boroughs that could wow its citizens and a worldwide audience the way the club is supposed to. It required knowledge of the city, and exactly how to tap into its many resources so it wouldn’t be New York in name only.

The league was all-in on New York. The Southeast remains without a MLS team, but it was never prioritized like New York. The New England Revolution and D.C. United desperately need new stadiums, but the league never took the lead in developing one in those cities like they did in New York. Shortcomings elsewhere on the continent be damned, New York was getting its team and it was getting it the way MLS wanted it.

For years, rumored swirled about NYC2. Where would the stadium be? Who would own the team? What would happen to the Red Bulls?

The answers were clear: In New York, whoever had money and know how, and ‘who cares?’

Manchester City and the New York Yankees, the new owners of New York City FC, finally came along.

Sheikh Mansour, the owner of Manchester City, is estimated to be worth $30 billion and his club has all the knowledge of the sport one could ask for, even if the oddities of the league create somewhat of a learning curve. The Yankees’ corporate contacts in the city are unmatched and they just finished developing, building and operating a stadium in the city. The stadium remains a work in progress, and the team will begin play in 2015 in a temporary home, but MLS has already made headway on a Queens stadium and it’s unthinkable that with the money, drive and experience in the ownership group that the team will be homeless for long.

MLS hit its jackpot.

Questions about New York City FC remain, from when the stadium gets done to whether association with Manchester City and the Yankees may turn off Manchester United fans and every non-pinstriped baseball fan. But those concerns are on the same level as an expansion team in the Southeast or D.C. United’s stadium — much lower on the totem pole than New York, money and the spotlight.

MLS bet on New York, and now it’s betting on itself. Their assessment of New York and everything it offers has to be right. Their faith in monied ownership and the brand has to be right. New York, Manchester City and the Yankees have to be MLS’s inroads to the city of its dreams. Because MLS got everything it ever wanted.

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