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Evening Ticker: Dream debut for Aguero, San Jose signs new striker on loan and more

Aguero - Getty

By CALEB SONNELAND

Sergio Aguero is already beginning to look good for his money.

Despite reportedly not being 100% fit, Aguero came in as a second-half substitute for Manchester City and notched two goals and an assist in a 4-0 rout of Swansea.

Aguero replaced Nigel de Jong three minutes after the hosts were put 1-0 thanks to Edin Dzeko in the 57th, and it took only eight minutes to mark his debut with a goal — a cool finish following a low Micah Richards cross at the far post. 

But the Argentine star wasn't finished as he thumped home his second of the evening from long-distance to give Swansea keeper Michael Vorm no chance at keeping out the effort as it crashed safely into the far post.

Just minutes prior, Aguero grabbed an assist when he craftily latched on to a through ball, brought it back off the goal line and teed up David Silva, who made no mistake from 10 yards out.

Speculation had been made immediately following Aguero's arrival in Manchester as to whether the young striker was worth the money, but the Argentine phenom responded with a resounding "yes" in his first taste of the EPL.

Here are some other stories to keep your Monday rolling along:

EARTHQUAKES INK STRIKER ZURA

The San Jose Earthquakes has signed Ecuadorian forward Edmundo Zura from El Nacional on loan until December.  Should the club be impressed with Zura's form, it can sign him permanently when the loan deal expires at the end of the year.

The 28-year-old has so far enjoyed a 10-year career at a professional level, but has been hopping clubs the last few years before settling in MLS.

The striker has 11 caps for the Ecuadorian National Team, finding the back of the net once in 2007 against Sweden.

Zura will add some depth up front for Chris Wondolowski, Steven Lenart and Alan Gordon in the club's quest to lock down a playoff spot.

U20 WORLD CUP SEMIFINALS SET

Four heavy-hitting youth national teams comprise the remaining four contenders for the U20 World Cup in Mexico, France, Brazil and Portugal.

The Brazilians advanced at the expense of Spain after topping the Europeans 4-2 in a dramatic penalty shootout, having been held to a 1-1 draw in regulation and 2-2 extra time.  

France ousted Nigeria 3-2 in extra time, thanks to a brace from Alexandre Lacazette (including the game-winner) and one from Gueida Fofana after the two sides couldn't be separated from a 1-1 draw after 90 minutes.

Portugal was the third team to seen its future undecided by regular time and was forced into a penalty shootout with Argentina to determine the victor.  The Europeans topped the South Americans 5-4 and booked their place in the next stage of the competition.

Mexico, the only semi-finalist to have won outright in 90 minutes, showed hosts Colombia the exit with a 3-1 victory with second-half double from substitute Edson Rivera sealing the deal for Mexico.

The semifinal matches will take place (Brazil v Mexico, France v Portugal) on the 17th and the final two contenders determined.

FABREGAS PRESENTED TO MEDIA, TRAINS WITH BARCA

Fabregas was presented to the media Monday in a Barcelona shirt (VIDEO) for the first time in eight years since leaving the club as a teenager.

After completing his big £35 million move from Arsenal, the Spaniard has declared his joy at the switch, claiming he'd waiting "days, months and years" for this chance.

Fabregas participated in his first training session with the club later on Monday and could be thrust immediately into action this weekend against Malaga in Spain's Primera Liga.

MONTAÑO LOANED OUT TO MONTREAL

Seattle Sounders winger Miguel Montaño has been loaned out NASL club Montreal Impact starting immediately and lasting the duration of the 2011 season.

The 20-year-old Colombian was in the midst of his second season with Seattle, making two league appearances and notching a start in the US Open Cup.

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Think Aguero can keep this form up?  What do you think about the latest San Jose addition?  Who do you like to win the U20 World Cup?  

Comments

  1. It sounds like you aren’t quite familiar with how difficult it is to build ANYTHING in San Francisco.

    SF already has a stadium site in the middle of the City (Kezar Stadium), which is very small (Quakes played Dynamo there once in an exhibition match several years ago). If a larger stadium can be built on the same grounds, it would have had a very Euro feel — middle of a city, accessible by public transport, etc.

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  2. City do look really good (albeit against Swansea at home), but once Tevez is back, I really don’t see how they can keep all the players happy. They already took De Jong out to put in Aguero, and I seriously doubt he was too happy about that. Balotelli and Dzeko will be resigned to the bench to make way for Tevez, a player who doesn’t even want to be at the club, and if Nasri signs, how are they going to keep the midfield happy with Barry, Milner, Silva, Toure, Nasri, Johnson, and De Jong all fighting for spots? I think City will be very strong at the beginning of the season, but once players start resenting each other, it could be their downfall. Balotelli in particular…

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  3. Mexico is on the brink of a historic rise to power. They have consistently been a top 16-20 team in the world, but now I really feel they will break into the top 8. We have a lot of catching up to do.

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  4. NEWS ALERT!!!!!!! Some news items in the German press that are quoting news items in the Dutch press says that Michael Bradley is in talks with Dutch club FC Utrecht. One news item says that Borussia Mönchengladbach during the summer was asking a 3.5-million-euro transfer fee, calling the talks between Gladbach and Utrecht a “poker game.” Another news item says that Bradley’s salary at Gladbach is among the highest. My interpretation would be that if Gladbach is not going to use him, they sure as heck do not want to pay him for not even suiting. Here are the links for any German readers

    http://www.ligablogger.de/borussia-monchengladbach-michael-bradley-in-gesprachen-mit-dem-fc-utrecht/

    http://sport.freenet.de/fussball/bundesliga/news-und-geruechte-hertha-bsc-friendberater-kritisiert-babbel_2855006_489262.html:

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  5. Wondered what seasoned Earthquakes watchers think of this. Considering the success of quote unquote “hip” cities like Seattle and Portland in supporting MLS sides, wouldn’t San Francisco be a great MLS city? If you could get a great stadium site close the Bay area, I’d have to think that would be more appealing than San Jose. I know it has a large Hispanic population, but that franchise is floundering. Plus, I’d have to think big-time DP targets would jump at the chance to live in San Fran, whereas San Jose is just a blip on the radar not only to Euros, but Americans as well.

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  6. It might be possible to project some U-20s unto the full national team, but the U-17s are too young to tell if any of them really has what it takes to compete at the senior international level in a few years. So much of youth soccer is related to physical maturity, it is just impossible to tell.

    Still, if you have an excellent youth national team, it can’t hurt if only because it raises the bar for all the other players. And, given a choice, I would rather have a good youth national team than not.

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  7. Barca and Real are run and financed by something we don’t have in this country, a registered association;

    From Wikipedia:

    “In 2010, Forbes evaluated Barcelona’s worth to be around €752 million (USD $1 billion), ranking them fourth after Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Arsenal, based on figures from the 2008–09 season. According to Deloitte, Barcelona had a recorded revenue of €366 million in the same period, ranking second to Real Madrid, who generated €401 million in revenue.

    Along with Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, and Osasuna, Barcelona is organised as a registered association.

    Unlike a limited company, it is not possible to purchase shares in the club, but only membership. The members of Barcelona, called socis, form an assembly of delegates which is the highest governing body of the club. As of 2010 the club has 170,000 socis.

    An audit by Deloitte in July 2010 showed that Barcelona had a net debt of €442 million, currently 58% of net worth as evaluated by Forbes. The new management of Barcelona, which had ordered the audit, cited “structural problems” as the cause of the debt. News had emerged that the club had recorded a loss of €79 million over the course of the year, despite having defended their La Liga title.

    ESPN reported that for 2011, Barcelona’s gross debt stands at around €483m and the net debt is at €364. Barcelona was found by ESPN to have the highest average salary per player of all professional sports teams in the world, just ahead of rival Real Madrid.”

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  8. Mexico will beat Brazil and then win the final. They will go to WC 2014 with the 17 and 20 WC titles in hand. They should surely be a top 5 side by then.

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  9. To be fair, it was the City of Madrid (and Banco Santander) but then the government of Catalonia has funded Barca as well. Debt only matter if you can’t keep refinancing it. You think the director of a Catalan bank is going to call in Barca’s debt? He’d be run out of town on a rail.

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  10. you made my point for me, yaya was running their offense and getting off horrible shots, he looked like a baby elephant kicking a huge soccer ball.

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  11. Wasn’t Pappa joining Colo Colo? I did hear rumors that New Castle was interested in his service. I would like to know if there was any truth to that.

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  12. Haha you need to get your glasses checked. Besides maybe Dzeko and Johnson, Yaya was the only other offensive spark until Aguero came on, just couldn’t finish today. Yaya is a playmaker and was trying to carry City. He probably shouldn’t be the one taking the shots though.

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  13. …to correct myself, this year. In the past they just ran up more debt until they needed a bailout…so put the QF on speed dial.

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  14. Also, they should let Silva be a the center of everything, which he sort of does anyway, but Mancini is kind of crap. With all the attacking talent at his disposal, all you really need is De Jong in front of the backline, yet he insists on giving Barry minutes for some unfathomable reason.

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  15. did you see the game? he was lumbering forward with the ball taking horrible shots. they played better in the 2nd half once the other players started to spearhead the attack…

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  16. The government of spain bailed out Real Madrid, Barca makes revenue from merchandise and playing all of those summer friendlies in big American stadiums each year.

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  17. Serious question: How do Barca and RM stay afloat financially? Barca is 350m euros in debt — is their total income really great enough that they can make payments on those loans, cover player salaries, AND splash 75m euros on new players every year?

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  18. What a masterclass of a debut performance.

    If he can replicate that intensity and class throughout the season then he will be a shoe in for the Golden Boot.

    Reply

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