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Mid-Day Ticker: Forlan signs in Brazil, FIFA defends rankings & more

Forlan (Getty)

Any hopes of Diego Forlan coming to MLS in the near future have been dashed.

The Golden Ball winner at the 2010 World Cup has signed with Brazilian club Internacional, the team announced. The deal will keep the 33-year-old Uruguay veteran with the club through July 2015.

The striker had played with Inter Milan since transferring from Atletico Madrid in 2011. Forlan previously had stints playing for Manchester United and Villareal.

Here is some more news to keep your Friday rolling:

FIFA DEFENDS 'NOT VERY LOGICAL' RANKINGS

FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke has defended the governing body's controversial world rankings, although he did acknowledge they at times can be "not very logical."

Valcke's comments came after England rose to No. 4 in the most recent rankings despite a quarterfinal exit at Euro 2012. The move up the ladder was triggered because the nation's failure to qualify for Euro 2008 was finally removed from the equation, which factors in results from the past four years.

Brazil, on the other hand, dropped to No. 11 because the country, as host, has no 2014 World Cup qualifiers to compile points with.

"There are teams who are playing more friendly games than other teams and you can see a difference which is not very logical, but the ranking I would say is clearly still a good picture of the level of international football," Valcke said.

BRIDGE ON LOAN TO BRIGHTON

After spending the past two years on loan to West Ham and Sunderland, Manchester City left back Wayne Bridge is again on the move, signing with Championship side Brighton on another season-long loan deal.

Bridge, a onetime England national team regular, has fallen out of the picture with City under manager Roberto Mancini.

VERRATTI NEARS PSG TRANSFER

Pescara playmaker Marco Verratti is on the verge of signing with French side Paris Saint-Germain, according to his agent. The transfer fee for the 19-year-old is reported to be about $17 million.

Verratti, an Italian under-21 international, has made 74 appearances for Pescara since debuting at age 16.

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What do you think of Forlan signing with Internacional? Do you think FIFA should create a new ranking system? Will Bridge thrive with Brighton?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I think not many people are using Fortran anymore; in most parts of the world I think C++ dominates as the most efficient language, although in terms of friendliness perl and java have their usages

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  2. I agree the Brazilian league will only start getting better as their economy improves and they’ll be able to keep their players longer instead of selling them to Europe. I also think Brazil should start actively recruiting more Europeans into their league to give it more international exposure. It’s already the number one destination for Portuguese and Spanish immigrants, with Italian immigration also rising in recent years, so it wouldn’t hurt to start scouting these countries to add to their rosters.

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  3. funny I was just going to post the same question. He was one of the hottest strikers headed into this season and I remember hearing absolutely nothing about him

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  4. Its already better then France and given how seria A has been lately its not a stretch to say its on par with Italy. Brazilian teams dominate the libertadores there is no doubt its the top league in the Americas and I wouldn’t sleep on Corinthians beating Chelsea in the club world cup.

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  5. Brazil’s league is looking very promising in the coming years as their economy improves. It was already at a very high level but now it you can start to argue it is among the top 3

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  6. FIFA’s best defense for something defies any type of logic would have been to use the infamous and most highly effective “Chewbacca Defense.”

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  7. Those damn FIFA rankings almost got me fired from my Brazil job in Football Manager, where I was undefeated and dropping like a stone! Total BS!

    Reply

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