Top Stories

Evening Ticker: Barcelona lands Villa, Argentina finalizes roster and more

David Villa

By TRAVIS CLARK

It didn't take long for Barcelona to jump head-first into the transfer market. With the offseason in its infancy, the Catalan club has already made a massive move with the acquisition of Spanish international David Villa.

The deal with Valencia, in the range of €40 million, comes with a four-year contract for the striker as Barcelona hopes to maintain its position at the top of La Liga.

Villa will arrive in Barcelona on Thursday evening, prior to undergoing a medical, and will be introduced on Friday.

Here are a few other stories for Wednesday evening:

Maradona names 23-man roster

After surprising some with his 30-man roster selection last week, Diego Maradona has wasted little time in whittling down his list of 23 players to take to South Africa. Leading the attack will be the usual suspects — Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain and Carlos Tevez. Argentina will play Canada on Monday, May 24 before heading to South Africa on May 28.

Juventus names new coach

A seventh-place finish in Serie A meant that massive changes were on the horizons at Juventus, and those began in earnest Wednesday as former Sampdoria coach Luigi Del Neri was named manager. Del Neri takes over for Alberto Zaccheroni, who acted as caretaker after Ciro Ferrera was fired in January. Del Neri successfully led Sampdoria to fourth place in Serie A this past season and a spot in Champions League qualifying.

Essien hopes to be healthy for World Cup

Ghana's midfield linchpin Michael Essien is fighting to be healthy in time for the opener of his country's World Cup campaign. The Chelsea midfielder, injured during the African Cup of Nations, hasn't played since January, and his fate could be determined over the next few days as the Ghana FA is expected to meet with Chelsea to determine his fitness. Ghana is in Group D with Australia, Germany and Serbia.

——–

What do you think of Barcelona's move for Villa? Is Fabregas on his way next? Can Juventus' new coach dig them out of the rut? What do you make of Maradona's roster? Can Essien get healthy?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. If you think we have a 20% chance of advancing, I advise you to find a bookie. The oddsmakers have the US at about a 50% shot to advance. That seems a little high to me, as well, but 20% is just absurdly low.

    Reply
  2. btw, I wasnt bashing other sports and leagues, I was just pointing out that your boy kfly’s idea that american sports are just simply more exciting than european soccer is ridiculous.

    Reply
  3. read the post dude. thats exactly what im saying, we knew that right off the bat so whats the difference between still cheering for Hull or Wolves and still cheering for the Nets?

    hm?

    Reply
  4. What do you think of Barcelona’s move for Villa?

    Ridiculous. They don’t need him. Valencia needs the money. Villa will love Barca, unless he finds himself backing up Bojan.

    Is Fabregas on his way next? If nothing, this makes it less likely. Their pockets are not bottomless. However, it would be interesting. The best team in the word would be Barca, and the second best team would also be Barca.

    Can Juventus’ new coach dig them out of the rut? No. Whatever happened to Benitez?

    What do you make of Maradona’s roster? I can make broach, a flower, a…where did you get that dress? It’s awful. Toto? Toto? There’s a sale at Penney’s.

    Can Essien get healthy? It’s certainly possible.

    Reply
  5. You think he sounds absurd,but UEFA itself is trying to find away to make it competitive, to introduce parity and strengthen the finances so that the smaller clubs have a chance.

    I will never understand why soccer fans in this country feel its necessary to bash other sports. You can watch other sports and like soccer too, its completly ok and If you didn’t know the nets couldn’t make the playoffs then I don’t know what else to tell you.

    Reply
  6. i think Barca keeps Ibrahimovic just b/c they gave up so much to get him. sorta like ManU forcing the issue with Berba.

    on a side note, this is just another sign that Henry is outta there this summer

    Reply
  7. goddamn just read this ridiculous post again. You sound absurd dude.

    “kfly said in reply to 123…
    But why would you even both being a fan of a team that has literally no chance to win?”

    Ummm, because they are your hometown f****** CLUB and theres no way you WOULDNT! it’s not always about winning, its having a club to support that’s your own.

    “Sure, the individual games are often exhilarating, but I could never get too interested in the title races, because by the 2nd month of the season, most of the teams have already been weeded out. ”

    Oh, right, because after two months of the NBA season this year I literally had no idea who the good teams were and who DIDNT have a shot at the title. What’s the difference dude? I certainly dont see one.

    Bottom line is you need to stop crying, because if it were boring, people wouldnt pack the stadiums every weekend.

    Reply
  8. I couldnt wait to read this. DAVID VILLA is a beast, has a nose for goal, hell do good and hopefully BARCA can win many titles in the years to come

    Reply
  9. Well Barca certainly has no need for Henry now. Can’t figure out why’d they be looking to replace him though…

    Reply
  10. But why would you even both being a fan of a team that has literally no chance to win? Here, we can be fans of teams that REALISTICALLY have no chance to win (like DC United), but there’s still some fraction of a percent of a chance. In Spain or England, you’re just not going to win. Period. End of story. So why bother caring, unless you’re Barca or Real or Man U or Chelsea?? One or two aberrations in the past few decades (Blackburn, Valencia, as Matt I mentioned) doesn’t make enough of a case to keep the current system. Sure, it’s great when the titans clash in the Champions League or whenever, but I would have rather seen the epic Man City-Tottenham match a couple weeks ago being played for the TITLE, not just for Champions League contention. That’s hardly a victory- just a prelude to an entire other tournament.

    Maybe it’s because I was raised on MLB, the NHL, and the NFL, but I just think parity in sports is necessary for it to even remain mildly entertaining. If you already know the ending, what’s the point in watching? Sure, the individual games are often exhilarating, but I could never get too interested in the title races, because by the 2nd month of the season, most of the teams have already been weeded out. Look at the EPL a couple years ago- Derby finished with what, 18 points? Meanwhile, the Champions, Man United, finished with over 90. Something isn’t right there.

    Reply
  11. Oh nevermind matt. I apologize. They have won the previously named best division in England…just not the FA Premier league.

    Reply
  12. …I would be willing to bet that they have definitely won the EPL…wiki says 18x. Maybe I am misreading your post?

    Reply
  13. You maybe right in that they don’t need him to win another domestic title but they certainly need him to win the CL. Champions League is where the glory and money is, not domestic cup or tile.

    Reply
  14. Uh did I say that the US is better than Germany? No. I was merely implying that with a finish of 2nd in the group, we will face the 1st place team in Group D, which I think will be Serbia. I didn’t say we are better than so and so, I was just stating what matchup I think is the best chance we have of surviving. As to your point about the US being behind in terms of talent, yes they are. But maybe you didn’t watch this team take on Spain, putting in 90 minutes of hard work with team defense and turning in two goals against the FIFA #1 team. If they play like that, who knows how far this team could go. Maybe you should wake up and realize the US has shown they can hang with the worlds best.

    Reply
  15. Not bashing Austraiia, but I don’t see them advancing. But in a group of death, who knows they might slip through with 4 points and a good goal differential.

    Reply
  16. Liverpool has never won the EPL. Blackburn was the only team to win that wasn’t Chelsea, Man Utd or Liverpool. That was 1995.

    Valencia won La Liga in 2004.

    I think Juve won Serie A in 2005 but it was stripped. I think their Scudetto from 2004 counts though.

    No one besides Celtic or Rangers has ever won the SPL (but that league is a terrible example it doesn’t pretend to have more than two teams)

    Reply
  17. This years German team doesn’t scare me as much as they have in the past, so I would rather face them than Serbia. Ghana without Essien is a matchup that I like, especially with the revenge factor being present. And I think we have superior players to Austrailia.

    Reply
  18. So…Barca needs him why, exactly?

    Oh, right- so they can win the title for the 279th time, hooray, how can life possibly get any more exciting than that?

    Europe needs a salary cap, bad. I’m sick of seeing the same 2-4 teams be in contention every year, and everyone else fighting to stave off relegation. MLS may be terrible quality, but at least the race is exciting every year. Real Salt Frickin Lake won last year, and the Columbus Frickin Crew won the year before. Could equivalent clubs in Europe ever do that? I think not.

    When was the last time:
    -Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal, or Liverpool did not win the EPL?
    -R. Madrid or Barca did not win La Liga?
    -Inter, AC Milan, or Roma did not win Serie A?
    -Celtic or Rangers did not win the SPL?

    This needs to change.

    Reply
  19. That’s the glory of having the foundation of your team built of homegrown players so that you can save up for pure quality in areas you need as opposed to other teams who have to buy in each position thus not having enough to spend on real quality and get stuck with mediocrity (Liverpool).

    Reply
  20. I got news for you: there is no one we want to play in the knock out round because no matter who we face-and I give us a 20% chance of even making it – will be more talented and deeper than us.

    We should be satisfied-no make that ecstatic-just to make the knock out round.

    Sometimes I wonder if most of our fan base is on drugs or they just don’t understand how far behind in terms of talent we are the rest of world. Add that to our penchant for own goals, red cards etc…..

    We had a nice 3 game stretch last summer and now you think Ballack’s injury makes us better then Germany????????????

    Look- I live and die with our national teams results but I sure as hell don’t live in a fantasy world about where we stack up vs. the world of elite international football.

    Reply
  21. Believe me, these roster decision are his decisions. Maradona is to prideful to stand by and let someone else make decisions about his team. Also, he is a larger than life figure down here ( on the level of only Che and Evita) and would not risk losing that love and worship by having someone else make the choices for him. He will fail or succeed with his players. For my part, I hope they do well, however I have serious doubts.

    Reply
  22. Villa is perfect for Barca. I say next year’s Barca is the best yet… If Fab also goes, I may have to stop rooting for them. I love watching them play, but this is getting kind of obnoxious.

    Reply
  23. I dont think Marquez will be there next year. He has passes his prime and at a team like Barca hi is just not good enough.

    Reply
  24. Villa was the ideal choice last summer, but Valencia weren’t ready to let him go. That being said, I think Ibra and Villa will give Barcelona very different yet impressive choices when it comes to that forward option.

    Barca now need someone to replace Yaya Toure in midfield, or else they will be punished physically.

    Reply
  25. But you would rather face Germany? Even without Ballack they are still a favorite to win it all and I am not sure I wouldn’t rather play Serbia than Ghana they are both tough.

    Reply
  26. See: Maxwell and Dani Alves (Brazil), Rafa Marquez (Mexico), Eric Abidal (France), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden), Gabi Milito (Argentina), Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast), Seydou Keita (Mali), Alexander Hleb (Belarus)

    Reply
  27. Watching Maradona as Argentina coach is like watching a car crash in slow motion. I can’t keep my eyes off it. Too bad Messi is in the backseat

    Reply
  28. Without a healthy Essien and Ballack, and no Ballack for Germany it is more likely that the US will play Serbia in the knockout stages. I’d rather not face them.

    Reply
  29. As if Barca’s roster wasn’t already ridiculous, they add Villa. It’s certainly scary, perhaps even downright unfair, but as long as it keeps them ahead of Real, I’m all for it. Too bad for Spain this didn’t happen a year ago, as the experience of Villa playing w/Iniesta and Xavi day-in and day-out would make for an even more formidable chemistry then they already have.

    Reply

Leave a Comment