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Tuesday Kickoff: Dempsey left off Fulham trip, Bale injury not serious and more

Dempsey (Getty Images)

With the transfer speculation surrounding U.S. national team star Clint Dempsey, the latest development involving him and Fulham is sure to raise a few questions.

Dempsey was left off of Fulham's training roster for a preseason camp in Switzerland, reportedly after having talks with manager Martin Jol and agreeing that it is best that he stays in London and continues his preseason with the club's youth team. 

Despite reported rampant interest from Liverpool, Fulham has maintained a stance that it won't field transfer offers and that it has not received any for Dempsey, who is entering the final season of his contract with the club. The club also claimed that Dempsey did not demand to stay behind and that it is just a matter of him regaining his fitness. New Fulham striker Hugo Rodallega was also left out of Fulham's trip.

Here are a few more stories to get your day going:

BALE INJURY NOT SERIOUS

Tottenham star winger Gareth Bale was on the receiving end of a rough challenge from Liverpool's Charlie Adam in their friendly in Baltimore over the weekend, but it appears as if he has escaped a serious ankle injury.

Bale has returned to training and is reportedly in contention to play in Tottenham's friendly against the New York Red Bulls Tuesday night at Red Bull Arena despite leaving Baltimore's M&T Bank Stadium on crutches after a tackle from Adam that caused him to call the Liverpool midfielder a coward.

Tottenham manager Andre Villas Boas publicly asked Adam to issue an apology to Bale, who has come under scrutiny for playing in general for Tottenham during their North American tour after pulling out of the Team Great Britain Olympic squad because of a back problem.

PUYOL CLEARED TO RETURN

Barcelona captain Carles Puyol has been cleared to return to the playing field following May knee surgery that forced the Spanish defender to miss the end of the 2011-2012 season and the entire Euro 2012 tournament. 

Puyol is entering the final year of his contract with Barcelona, the club at which he has spent his entire professional career, which began in 1999. The veteran centerback is also a product of the La Masia academy.

RANGERS OFFICIAL NEW NAME

Rangers Football Club is no more. From now on, it is The Rangers Football Club Limited.

The Scottish club changed its name as part of the move to a new company in the long process of getting out of financial turmoil and building its way back to the top tier of Scottish soccer. The Rangers Football Club Limited is slated to recieved its Scottish Football Association license on Friday that will allow it to commence playing in the fourth tier of the sport in the country. The club already played its first competitive match as a new company in a cup competition on Sunday.

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Are you reading anything into Desmpey being left out of Fulham's training trip? Hope to see Bale play against the Red Bulls? How big of a return is Puyol to Barcelona? Still planning on just calling the former Scottish power "Rangers"?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Going down a roster list like that is sort of pointless. Soccer is not a strict one on one sport. Liverpool and Fulham have relatively equal talent bases at right now.

    It is all about the sum of those parts.

    Liverpool is now an underdog and Rogers did a pretty nice job of that with Swansea.

    Jol does a solid job with what he has had as well.

    It remains to be seen whether he can do a better job with his guys than Rogers does with his.

    What will probably be the difference is when January rolls around , if both clubs are doing well, I’ll bet Rogers will have more transfer money than Jol.

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  2. Also… Clint Dempsey was not a super-star until about 27… and some still don’t think he is.. mark my words… Ruiz scores 10+ this season

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  3. Craig Bellamy…expecting to leave for Cardiff… Skrtel has been injury prone… and still not as good as Hangeland… JA Riise is just as good as Agger, maybe not as good as Glenn Johnson… Schwarzer is every bit as good as Reina… Jordan Henderson is nowhere near as good as Dembele…

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  4. Some fine cherry-picking and homerism there. What about Craig Bellamy, Pepe Reina, Martin Skrtel, Daniel Agger, Lucas Leiva, Jordan Henderson..27-year-old Bryan Ruiz is a superstar in the making? I’m with Peter.

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  5. I don’t think we should ignore the prior tackle, but I don’t think Adam went out to injure Bale just because he did a few years ago.

    I think your second paragraph hits the nail on the head. I’m a huge Liverpool fan, and I think Adam is pretty much useless on the defensive end. He constantly mistimes tackles by a solid 2 seconds. I don’t think its malicious, I just think it’s a case of Adam sucking defensively.

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  6. When it happens again? Sure. A season ending tackle is plenty of history when the same two players are involved in another bad challenge. Think of it this way – to ignore the prior tackle would be absurd.

    Also an inexorable part of the context is that Charlie Adam in general is reckless and has made a habit of coming in late and with his studs up to injure players. Plenty of Liverpool fans have admitted this, and that this tackle in particular was awful. Oh, and by the way, this was a preseason friendly. No one else in the game attempted a tackle remotely like that one.

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  7. I think the most telling stat about Bale was that he was involved (started or subbed in) in 24 straight games with Spurs in which they did not win.

    He took apart Maicon over two games, but Maicon hasn’t been the same since – perhaps he was starting his downward spiral, and let’s not forget that Brazilian fullbacks aren’t exactly known for their defending.

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  8. The “history” consists of one tackle three years ago that put Bale out of action for a few months. So anytime someone tackles another player, there is automatically a “history” that should be discussed? I think that’s a bit ridiculous, no?

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  9. Oh… and that Clint Dempsey guy… the one who scored more goals as a midfielder than anyone in the league…

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  10. How…. apart from Suarez being a very good player… what makes you think that?

    an injury prone 32 yr old Steve Gerrard

    a new manager who is completely overhauling the way the team plays

    a striker who could not cut it at Chelsea (Borini)

    a returning mid field player who is all tricks with very little substance (Cole)

    People refuse to look at the actual team and instead look at names and past club history…

    Fulham while not full of flashy names actually has a load of talent… Hangeland is a better central defender than anyone on Liverpool’s roster… Dembele is a super-star in the making.. so is Ruiz…

    Rodallega is a total wild card of a player who was very good at Wigan.. imagine him with better players..

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  11. You are aware that he is currently still receiving significant daily treatment on his hamstring injury that forced him to miss the end of Fulham’s season and a few friendlies before the qualies right?

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  12. Ok… just an update for all the ILL-INFORMED on here about Dempsey…

    1. He stayed behind because the facility in Switzerland is not equipped to continue treating his hamstring injury in the manner that the Fulham medical staff wish… same with Rodellega

    2. Anyone that thinks Liverpool is anywhere near ready to for CL football in the coming years is pretty clueless… for the record Fulham beat them home and away last season…

    3. Fulham have not brought in players to replace Dempsey as the article alludes to… they have brough in 2 strikers thus far to replace… Zamora, Andy Johnson and Pogrebnyak…

    4. Fulham have show Clint the money… he has been offered at 3 contract (with a 4th year option) with a reported 70K (GBP) a week which is almost double the most Fulham have ever been willing to pay any player in their history…

    If I was Clint.. I would play the season out… score more goals and wait for someone to take him on a free if he still feels he needs CL football… Fulham have about just as much chance of getting there as Liverpool at the moment..

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  13. Given Adam’s history with Bale, you’ll have to excuse me if I see that tackle as malicious.

    Bale does flop too much, but this outrage over him missing the Olympics is silly. He’s Welsh. I don’t think he or anyone else grew up with dreams of playing for Great Britain. He wanted to train with his club. Whatever. Players choose club over country all the time. Yeah, the lie is lame, but at the end of the day I see no reason to have a problem with his choice.

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  14. I think Dempsey has already stepped beyond the point of no return. I don’t see how he can return to Fulham after his statements of wanting to play for a bigger team and his refusing to sign the Fulham contract extension. Plus, Jol has already brought in several news players getting ready for Dempsey’s departure. And Dempsey staying home instead of going on the team trip can only mean that he is history at Fulham. It is just a questions of where, when and how big the transfer fee is going to be. There is one news story out that Everton and Ashton Villa are expressing interest. So if not Liverpool, Dempsey will end up at another team. I would be very happy to see him playing with Luis Suarez at Liverpool, but am still hoping for a last minute move to Germany or Spain.

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  15. post the link! i haven’t seen anything, but…

    – I wouldn’t be surprised to Chicarito after his Olympic call up was nixed
    – Ochoa and Dos Santos’ clubs don’t care both are on the way out.

    can’t speak to the others but i would hope that Klinsy has as much authority in Europe as de la Torre.

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  16. Completely agree with you. And while Bale is a very good player, I think he’s quite overrated. Dude has been living off of those performances against Inter a couple years back, but hasn’t played like that since. He’s young and will probably improve, but I think people have given him a pass.

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  17. The FMF posted a list of Euro-based players called in for the friendly…

    I’m a bit confused, partially due to my elementary Spanish, partially due to the timing (Is this an official FIFA date? Are clubs required to release players if called? Or can they (Looking at you, AZ…) tell the national fed to piss off?

    Anyway, here’s the Mexico list…

    Jugadores
    Andrés Guardado
    Javier Hernández
    Giovani Dos Santos
    Héctor Moreno
    Guillermo Ochoa
    Francisco Javier Rodríguez

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  18. Hopefully Dempsey can move to a contender, but I wouldn’t be shocked if he doesn’t want to go on the trip demanding to be moved.

    Landon has to be laughing at all the fools who absolutely knew what was best for LD and posted such on soccer blogs.

    He has to be.

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  19. Bale is ridiculous – I can’t stand him as a player. He flops too often, and he’s not getting anywhere near the backlash as he should get for missing the Olympics with a back injury just to play 4 days later.

    Oh, and the tackle? Mistimed, late….not malicious.

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  20. Na, he will move to Qatar where the club Al-Saad will change there name to “Barcelona Saad FC” so Puyol can always stay with Barca.

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  21. I’m a bit biased being a Reds fan, but having watched most of their games last year, Dempsey is exactly what they were missing.

    A good finisher, a guy who will crash the box looking for a cross or a rebound, guile and attitude. He could’ve earned them quite a few more points.

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  22. I should have typed *sarcasm* at the end. I was completely joking. I can’t see him playing for anyone other than Barca, either.

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  23. Apparently you have to be a journeyman to come to MLS ?

    Keane and Henry still had enough in them go on loan and play well in the premier league, are they journeymen ? And I’m sure both could’ve made plenty of money still in Europe.

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  24. what if Dempsey had been allowed to move to Charlton back in summer 2006? would they still have been relegated? how would that have affect him? Face it, it’s FATE. Dempsey and Fulham.

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  25. I don’t think so. Dude will end his career at Barca. He’s no journeyman, hardly needs a final “paycheck”, and is far too loyal to do anything else. Just my opinion.

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  26. I would love to have him with the REDS but they won’t play in the CL for maybe 2 years. So hoping Arsenal grabs him. More money, more prestige, more competition.

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  27. RE: Dempsey to Liverpool

    It isn’t going to happen unless Liverpool unload Andy Carroll. He just vetoed a move to West Ham, so he’s going to be really hard to move.

    Therefore, Dempsey moving=not likely.

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  28. What the heck is going on with Dempsey? The season ended 2.5months ago. He should have had a transfer already to Arsenal or Liverpool or a foreign CL team

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