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Wednesday Kickoff: Atletico names Falcao price, Busquets receives ban and more

Radamel Falcao (Getty Images)

By FRANCO PANIZO

Radamel Falcao is one of the strikers who is most in demand right now, and Atletico Madrid has set the amount that it will take for someone to pry him away from them.

Atletico Madrid GM Miguel Angel GIl Marin put a price on Falcao on Tuesday, saying the team will not be able to afford the Colombian striker if they do not qualify for the UEFA Champions League this season. Gil Marin put the price tag at €60 million ($77.2 million), but insisted that Falcao and all the players that the coach wants will stay if they can secure a berth into next year's competition.

Falcao currently has eight goals in six games for Atletico Madrid. The Spanish club is currently tied with Barcelona for first place in La Liga with 19 points from seven games played. The top three clubs in La Liga earn an automatic berth into the Champions League while the fourth-place finishers go into the tournament's qualifiers.

Here are more stories from around the world of soccer:

BUSQUETS HANDED TWO-GAME SUSPENSION

Sergio Busquets will have to wait until at least November before he can participate in Barcelona's UEFA Champions League run again. UEFA banned Busquets two matches after he was ejected from the club's 2-0 win over Benfica last week because of violent conduct, and he will miss the home match against Celtic on October 23 and the return leg in Scotland on November 7. The Barcelona midfielder can appeal against the ruling within three days.

ROMA ANNOUNCES NEW STADIUM PLANS

If AS Roma have their way, they will be playing in a new 60,000-seat stadium by 2016. Roma president James Pallotta said the club has a list of three sites for a new stadium and that the investment could be worth more than $258 million. Roma, who currently share Stadio Olimpico with city rival Lazio, want their own stadium to increase revenue. The most likely location for a stadium is Tor di Valle, in the southwest of the city.

ROONEY SET TO BE ENGLAND CAPTAIN ON FRIDAY

Wayne Rooney has accomplished a lot from an individual standpoint in his career, but this Friday will mark a first for him. Rooney is set to be England's captain in a competitive game for the first time when the Three Lions battle San Marino in a World Cup qualifier on Friday. First-choice captains Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard are expected to miss the game due to injury and suspension, respectively.

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What do you think of the price Atletico put on Falcao? Agree with Busquets getting a two-game suspension? Think Roma will get a new stadium by 2016? Do you see England winning with Rooney as captain?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Harshly put, but I tend to agree. Coming into soccer as a Barca fan from the early Dinho days, I find myself hard-pressed to follow the club as closely with the likes of Busquets and Pedro in their lineup.

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  2. oh man, i see that now after klicking to enlarge the photo. i guess we will know soon as SBI is probably hot on this news story 🙂

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  3. Guys, are we talking about the dude in red boots? Fabian Johnson has a tattoo on his left arm that goes all the way to his hand. The tattoo on the guy in the red boot’s arm stops mid arm–like Geoff Cameron’s does. Unless Johnson had his tattoo flawlessly removed, it’s not him.

    Johnson’s Tattoo:
    http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8tk3bQ7yQ1rxo7svo1_500.jpg

    Cameron’s Tattoo:
    http://www.stokecityfc.com/cms_images/player/cameron4x3226-336541_478x359.jpg

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  4. that does indeed look like Fabian Johnson suited up and ready to go. that is a relief. thanks. Looks like Kicker got it wrong. Actually, it would have been strange for Kicker to have such a story before the American soccer press.

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  5. Geoff Cameron looks so much Cristiano Ronaldo that they could be brothers.

    NE Matt: That’ guy in the red boots is Geoff Cameron I think–you can tell by the tattoo on his left arm and his high hairline and big forehead.

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  6. it’s okay. we can plug the hole in our lineup by inserting Klinsman’s ego. hell, we could probably play with Klinsman’s ego and 9 men.

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  7. Haha, I was writing my comment in between working for like 20 minutes before I finally got around to posting it.

    Yeah, I’m just about to throw my hands up in the air and say GAH. Klinsmann is seriously unlucky.

    Gatt gets injured the moment he calls him up. Donovan is like walking death. Dempsey goes through his worst run of form in like a decade. Bradley gets injured.

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  8. Ha-ha. I was amazed, Liga, to see that you ignored the Fabain Johnson bombshell and posted your comment about Falcao. I kind of though-huh? yeah, this is a huge, huge story (if true) with huge implications.

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  9. 60 million euros seems about right for the best striker on the planet.

    This past decade has been like striker training school at AM. They always seem to have a top 5 or 10 striker.

    Vieri
    Hasselbaink
    Torres
    Forlan
    Falcao

    It seems if you want a huge club to buy you as a striker you should go to Atl. Madrid.

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  10. Folks, I think we got problems–big, big problems if a news story in Germany’s Kicker is true. Kicker is reporting that Fabian Johnson has the flu and will not be able to play Friday and his status for Guatemala on Tuesday is questionable. Murphy’s Law seems to have kicked in for these next two crucial games. Last week several Bundesliga players missed games because of the flu. Here is the link to the Kicker story, with Fabian’s illness mentioned near the bottom.

    http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/intligen/startseite/576001/artikel_endspiele-fuer-ein-bundesliga-trio—donovan-faellt-aus.html
    

    Reply

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