Good morning folks. Today seems like a relatively light news day as the European Soccer community prepares for today’s UEFA Cup final between Zenit St. Petersburg and Glasgow Rangers. I’ll post on that match later this morning.
For now, here are some stories from late last night and this morning to get your day started.
Beckham shines, Galaxy loses
Los Angeles Galaxy star David Beckham put on a good show for the folks in Edmonton, assisting on a goal and smiling for the cameras. Unfortunately for Beckham, he still plays for the Galaxy, which lost its exhibition against the Vancouver Whitecaps, 2-1, in Alberta, Canada. Landon Donovan missed the match with a strained calf.
Drogba dreams of Milan
From the "You bring this up now?" department comes reports quoting Chelsea forward Didier Drogba as stating his dream is to play for AC Milan.
What?
Yes, Chelsea is set to play in a Champions League final in a week and Drogba is talking about what team he’d like to play for. Between that and his well-documented tantrum when Michael Ballack wouldn’t let him take a free kick, you have to wonder just how crazy Drogba is. I say this because he clearly has his mind on other things but still manages to produce moments of brilliance.
Another Toure for Arsenal?
From the "It makes too much sense not to happen" department comes word that Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure would love to join older brother Kolo Toure at Arsenal. Let’s see, Barcelona is preparing a fire sale and Arsenal just lost Mathieu Flamini to AC Milan. Considering I rate Toure as a better player that Flamini I think Yaya Toure would be the perfect replacement and ideal player to sit in front of the defense and in support of Cesc Fabregas.
One more year for Maldini
Just when you thought Paolo Maldini was ready to ride off into the sunset comes word out of Italy that the AC Milan legend is ready for another season. It isn’t as if he can’t still play. I just wonder how psyched up he will be for Milan’s UEFA Cup run next year.
Share your thoughts on these stories, and any other stories from the morning, in the comments section below.
**being younger and faster at Milan means being 30.**
uefa cup? uefa cup?
MILAN WILL MAKE THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE, I GUARANTEE!!!
i hope drogba does go to AC Milan, they need younger/faster players.
KingSnake- if they want to avoid injury and not play in games like the all-star game, deny the roster spot so that someone who would want to can go and play instead
It’s an exhibition. It meant no more to the Galaxy than the 2007 All-Star match meant to Celtic. All they want to do is avoid injury …
Barcelona would be IDIOTS to sell Yaya Toure (or is it Toure Yaya?) He was the lynch pin of the team. It’s not like they have huge debts and have to sell. What I was actually hoping was going to happen at the end of the season was a giant swap. Arsene Wenger going to Barca with Cesc in return for Frank Rikyaard and Ronaldinho going to Arsenal. I don’t think it would be a bad swap for either team.
Cesc is going back to Barca. Hopefully this summer. But most likely in ’09.
All this talk about Barca’s fire sale and hardly any about who they’re going to replace these players with….
blow.
Houston’s Eddie Robinson,Tony Caig and Ricardo Clark
for
LA’s Donovan and Cronin
find a way to get Conde from the Fire.
Do it when Ruiz gets back!
I’m sure this is Crazy but ask yourself has Lalas ever thought of anything this good.
Yaya to Arsenal — yes please!
The problem with the idea of Yaya joining Kolo at Arsenal is that even though Barca is going to have a fire sale this off season, Yaya was one of the pieces out there that worked. Barca’s not going to want to get rid of all their players and bring in a bunch of new kids to develop over the course of a few years. They’re going to want a team that can win La Liga next season. They have lots of very talented players that weren’t playing well last season to sell, but they’re going to need to keep the few players that worked (I’d say it will be a short list that includes Yaya, Messi and Poyul, and maybe Eto’o). Most of the rest of the team is likely to be made available (and replacements looked for) and they’ll likely get a LOT of money from those sales but the parts that were working I think Barca is likely to keep (or at least try to).
This is completely absurd, but the only way the Galaxy could get better is by trading Landon Donovan for parts. For example, Houston and or Salt Lake have good role players that could make a decent team in L.A. Don’t forget a hefty allocation and a partial sum for Donovan’s possible future transfer!! But it will never happen. GO Red Bulls!
Abel Xavier and Vanney are a joke! They were getting outrun and outworked by the WHITCAPS! You got to be kidding me! Mike Randolph (who I thought was supposed to be fast?) was also getting outrun! What is Lalas’ fascination with old, slow defenders?
Alexi Lalas, please cut these guys and bring in someone else. Bring in Conde or Brunner, or anybody really.
What is the record for goals allowed in a season? I think the G’s have a good chance of breaking that this year.
im sure LD’s “strained calf” was bad 😀
“It isn’t as if he can’t still play. I just wonder how psyched up he will be for Milan’s UEFA Cup run next year.” Oooh! Burn! I HATE AC Milan! Nice work Ives!
with regards to the arsenal situation, i read somewhere (here, maybe?) that wenger would be looking for a young, relatively cheap central midfielder with a defensive mindset, and my first thought was that michael bradley would be a perfect fit. crazy, i know, although he’s not english, so he has that going for him. as for the us roster, i’ve given up on learning the names more than three days before the match. even though they’ve had months to pick this team and probably have the decisions made, they wait until the last second for whatever reason. it’s the equivalent of having the first pick in the nfl draft and using all ten minutes to announce your choice. kind of ridiculous, really.
Drogba–in his entire career–has had ONE season as a prolific striker. ONE. And he acts like he’s a god. No offense to Chelsea fans here, this is about hte player. He is the Chad Barrett of premier football. A billion times better than Barrett, but his equivalent in a top league (except for last season). If you’re 30, and you’ve had one good season EVER, maybe you should be a bit more humble.
I’m also wondering how long it’s going to take for Beckham to realize he’s never going to win ANYTHING in L.A. and either demand a trade or flee back to Europe. The Galaxy are one of the worst teams in MLS history. When they do win it’s because of two guys. They don’t have a chance in hell of winning anything when they are devoting their entire salary cap to three guys (with the aid of the league, obviously, because they are permitted 3 DP players despite their one DP slot).
Anyone have any insight on the Parkhurst to Ipswich rumor?
Becks would have a bigger impact in the U.S. if he played on the east coast!
LA is a disgrace!
Think about Shep breaking down the Becks cross into the box for an Angel header!
30 Goal season for Angel and Cups for the new Cosmos! LOL!
Yves… Drogba is certainly nuts we all know that. What I really want to know is when is Bob Bradley gonna name the US team for the game at Wembley?
“Unfortunately for Beckham, he still plays for the Galaxy” – LOL! Thanks for the chuckle Ives!
You know, growing up, Paolo Maldini was one of my favorite players. I played the same position (left back) and wanted to model my style after him – far, far worse role models for playing. I could’ve retired from pro sports by now, and he’s looking at one more year… geez.
Go Paolo!
I almost screamed out loud when I read the Yaya article. Wow it does make to much sense not to happen. My only concern is that Yaya could fetch more than 10 million pounds if that is actually what Wenger wants to spend.
Either Barcelona won’t budge for anything less than 15 million pounds or another club like Inter steps in and ponies up the money. Hell Hotspur could even offer up 15 million, seeing as they’ve given up so many goals this year.