Let's talk footie shall we?! :)

[Buzz]

I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread where fans like me could discuss the bueatiful game. LOL Now to start with...

- Manchester United signed two young Serbians Zoran Tosic and Adem Ljajic
- Rubin Kazan won the Russian championships and will be in next year's CL
- Everton will be without Louis Saha, he joins teammate Yakubu on injury list
- Liverpool leads the EPL and is in a position to win the title for the first time in a loooong time!
- Tottenham Hotspurs is on the bubble for relegation
- Liverpool's skipper Steven Gerrard got into trouble after a bar room brawl.
- 1st round K.O. of the CL starts on 24/02
- CL's top scorers so far are: Messi, Gerrard, Klose, Benzema
- David Beckham is on loan to Milan until March
- UEFA Cup also picks up in late Feburary
- UEFA U21 2011 qualification starts this year
- The rumours of an Arshavin transfer to Arsenal are heating up again
- Maurinho says Ibrahimovic is a better player than Ronaldo and deserved the golden ball award. LOL
- Inter Milan tops Serie A with 3 out the 5 teams accused of match fixing in 2005 standing just behind them in 2,3, & 4 places.

[BigB08822]

All I care about is David Beckham...naked...in my bedroom..or his..

[Buzz]

No accounting for taste.... LOL

[fragoletta]

- Liverpool leads the EPL and is in a position to win the title for the first time in a loooong time!

Isn't Man U 7pts behind but also 2 games less? Anyway, a lot of things can change in the spring, especially considering the CL/UEFA Cup matches - some teams will have more than one battle to fight and may get more tired than others. Personally, I expect Manchester to concentrate on the CL (they'll try to become the first team to win it back-to-back since it's called CL)...

- Liverpool's skipper Steven Gerrard got into trouble after a bar room brawl.

He is a real captain for his teammates on the field and I was when I found out...5 (or 6?) vs 1 person? It doesn't take a lot of courage ...

- David Beckham is on loan to Milan until March

I don't see any other reason for this than selling some t-shirts As a big fan of Milan I'm a little disappointed...I mean, when will we get a player who isn't in the retiring age?

- Maurinho says Ibrahimovic is a better player than Ronaldo and deserved the golden ball award.

It's Maurinho! Of course he'll say something like that! Man, I love his style...IMO Ibra is soooo overrated...plus he has a bad personality and football is a team sport...I would never want him in my team, no matter how good he is with the ball...I don't like C. Ronaldo much either but he deserved that golden ball - basically he pulled Manchester and lead them to the success all by himself.

- Inter Milan tops Serie A with 3 out the 5 teams accused of match fixing in 2005 standing just behind them in 2,3, & 4 places.

This year it's time for Milan to win the scudetto...and we are not even playing CL so no more excuses.

[KHenry14]

Buzz, the big news for us Yanks is Landon Donovan going out on loan to Bayern Munich. Donovan badly wants to play in Europe, so this is his big chance to impress. Especially since his time spent at Leverkusen was such a disaster. But one wonders how much playing time he'll see with the likes of Toni and Klose there already....

[Buzz]

Great news for him and I hope he knocks their socks off!!!

[Buzz]

Manchester City is making moves for Kaka but the Brazilian says he is not interested in leaving Milan.

[Buzz]

Micheal Essien, Didier Drogba, and Ahmed Hassan are amoung those who are made the short list for Confederation of Africa Football of the year.

[Buzz]

Manchester City's Robinho has been charged in England of sexual assault and has been released on bail. What a sad turn of events. Robinho is a very talented young man and I hope the allegation is not true.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/feedarticle/8330703

[Buzz]

Shay Given has joined Manchester City from Newcastle. Manchester City is on a spending spree following the team transfer of ownership to a Abu Dhabi based company. They have also signed: Craig Bellamy, Nigel De Jong, Wayne Bridge, but failed to sign Kaka. Meanwhile Brazilian striker Guilherme will go Dynamo Kiev. The transfer window closes on MOnday I believe.

[NeilJLeonard]

Shay Given has joined Manchester City from Newcastle. Manchester City is on a spending spree following the team transfer of ownership to a Abu Dhabi based company. They have also signed: Craig Bellamy, Nigel De Jong, Wayne Bridge, but failed to sign Kaka. Meanwhile Brazilian striker Guilherme will go Dynamo Kiev. The transfer window closes on MOnday I believe.

Monday at noon in the US, probably the same in Canada. There are rumors about doing away with the window concept & going to a 12 month/365 day window. We'll see if that comes to pass.

NJL (...and there is a persistent rumor that Miami will get an MLS franchise to begin playing in the 2010 season alongside a new, already accepted, Philadelphia franchise. The latest rumor, reported in the Spanish press, is that the outfit that will provide the management team, a group of Catalan unknowns called FC Barcelona, are reviewing a draft of a franchise contract now and an announcement about the MiamiMLS franchise should be made on or before February 15, 2009. The $40,000,000 franchise fee is being paid by Bolivian/Miami billionaire Marcelo Claure. He will be the franchise holder & Barca will manage the team. We'll see about this, too... ...)

[Buzz]

Good luck to them! Nice to see the MLS growing.

Just one more bit of transfer news and that is; Arsenal has finally signed Russian Andrei Ashavin. Arsenal is not doing so well right now. Manchester United on the other hand is once again on top and fighting them all the way is Liverpool. According to Goal.com Christiano Ronaldo has signed a contract with Real Madrid, and supposed to start playing with them next summer. If true I wish him all the luck. He truely is a very gifted young man.

[Buzz]

David Beckham is reportedly interested in staying with AC Milan. But he still has 2 years left on his contract with LA Galaxy.

[NeilJLeonard]

In CONCACAF Final WC 2010 qualifying:
USA 2 - 0 Mexico -
Yes, the USA has a thing about beating Mexico by this score in Columbus, OH. I think this is the 3rd or 4th time they've done it. USA starts off the 10 game hex with 3 points. I think they'll need about 20 points to insure a trip to South Africa in 2010. This is a very good start....

NJL (... ...)

ETA: Also -
El Salvador 2 - 2 TnT
Costa Rica 2 - 0 Honduras

The hex after round 1 is:

USA..................3 Points
Costa Rica..........3
El Salvador.........1
TnT...................1
Honduras............0
Mexico...............0

Only 9 more rounds to go....

[KHenry14]

Another 2-nil win for the USA over the Tri's... Somehow I think we should always play them in Columbus in February!

Now if we could just get a win in Azteca....

[NeilJLeonard]

Another 2-nil win for the USA over the Tri's... Somehow I think we should always play them in Columbus in February!

Now if we could just get a win in Azteca....

We'll get a win there when they get a win in Columbus...

[deltask8er]

David Beckham is reportedly interested in staying with AC Milan. But he still has 2 years left on his contract with LA Galaxy.

David Beckham is coming back to the Los Angeles Galaxy.

The English midfielder will return to the MLS team next month as scheduled after his two-month loan agreement with AC Milan ends despite his wish to stay in Italy.

http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/stor...alaxy?MSNHPHMA

Based on watching the first match with AC Milan, it looked like he truly was enjoying playing there. And Milan is a fashion capital, so I could see why his wife would like it there, too.

[4rkidz]

L I V E R P O O L

[NeilJLeonard]

(...and there is a persistent rumor that Miami will get an MLS franchise to begin playing in the 2010 season alongside a new, already accepted, Philadelphia franchise. The latest rumor, reported in the Spanish press, is that the outfit that will provide the management team, a group of Catalan unknowns called FC Barcelona, are reviewing a draft of a franchise contract now and an announcement about the MiamiMLS franchise should be made on or before February 15, 2009. The $40,000,000 franchise fee is being paid by Bolivian/Miami billionaire Marcelo Claure. He will be the franchise holder & Barca will manage the team. We'll see about this, too... ...)

There will not be a Miami team in MLS. FC Barcelona pulled the plug for financial reasons. Claure can't, or wont, go it alone. MLS has 5 or 6 other cities bidding, so, adios Miami.

The problem with all this is that MiamiMLS was the front runner until last week when FC Barcelona discovered that the USA was having a bit of a financial downturn and that FC Barcelona may not make the millions of $$$ they thought they'd make. This was after reps from both Barca & MiamiMLS had told local people that the franchise is in the bag. There are more than a few folks here that are very pissed at both Barca & Claure.

To make it worse, our minor league USL-1 team, Miami FC, may die on the 8th or 9th of March. Their Brazilian owners, Traffic Sports, requires that the team, that rarely draws 2,000 people to a game, come up with 5,000 season tickets sold by March 8th or TS will close down operations in Miami & either drop out of USL or move to another city next year.

Maybe the nice folks in South Florida will learn that you've gotta have local ownership. You can't depend on a foreign sugar daddy to carry you.

NJL (of course, if Marcelo Claure loves the sport & Miami as much as he says he does, maybe he'll help Miami FC survive...whatever that may cost him it has to be less that the $40,000,000 franchise fee that MLS was going to charge him, along with the $20,000,000 that would be needed to get the team up and running...but, for some reason, I do not think he'll do it... ...)

[Buzz]

I am sorry to hear that Miami will not be vying for that franchise because I think Miami is the best place for one. I know ottawa and cannot imagine there is room for another pro sports team, let alone a footie team since futbol is not very popular here.