Can Bielsa figure it out before it’s too late?

Athletic Bilbao finished last season on the uprise. They made it to two finals: the Europa League against Atlético Madrid and the Copa del Rey against Barcelona! On the road to this point, they finished at the top of their group in the Europa League, defeated Manchester United in Old Trafford, and steadily stole the hearts of everyone who watched them play with their incredible work rate. Bilbao was becoming everyone in Spain’s “second favorite” team and also a favorite of many English supporters. They’re not my favorite team but I loved watching them play because it just felt like I was watching something special.

If you look at them today, just one quick glimpse will tell you something’s gone wrong at the Basque club. They are 1 point off the relegation zone in La Liga and ranked 16th. In the Europa League, they’ve only managed to get a single point after three matches in group play. I’ve noticed the slow slide all season, but I was never sure why it was happening. Until yesterday when this article came out. As it turns out the summer transfer window drama may have affected the club more than anticipated.

First, Javi Martínez left Athletic and signed for Bayern Munich without the Basque club’s permission. Then, star striker Fernando Llorente decided he did not want to extend his contract and started looking for a transfer to Italian powerhouse Juventus. That didn’t work out and now Llorente will leave Bilbao at the end of the season on a free transfer. This is still a sticky issue as manager Marcelo Bielsa seems reluctant to play Llorente consistently.

Athletic Bilbao seems on the verge of self-destructing and it breaks my heart to watch. They went from an exciting, inspiring team to a dysfunctional mess in such a short time. If you compare the stats from this season and last season, things don’t really look that bad on the surface: 8 points from 9 matches in league play versus 9 points at the same time last year. The worrying fact is that there doesn’t seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel right now. Plagued with injuries, mistrust, and fatigue, it may take a bit of a miracle to revive one of the hardest working and most heart-lifting teams from last season.

Around the league, Falcao has now scored in 11 consecutive games. Wow! Now the question is how long he’ll last at Atlético Madrid before a larger club snaps him up. Both Barcelona and Real Madrid won 5-0 away from home. (I saw a rumor that, after Barça smashed Rayo Vallecano, Tito Vilanova said Real Madrid should learn to travel away and win 5-0…which they did the following day in Mallorca. I kind of hope that’s true because it would be hysterical.) Real Zaragoza won a 2-1 stunner against Sevilla on Sunday. Zaragoza, almost relegated at the end of last season, now sits in 9th place. Good for them! Here are the rest of the results from the weekend:

Saturday:
Espanyol 0-0 Málaga
Real Betis 1-0 Valencia
Celta Vigo 1-1 Deportivo La Coruña
Rayo Vallecano 0-5 Barcelona

Sunday:
Real Zaragoza 2-1 Sevilla
Levante 3-1 Granada
Athletic Bilbao 1-2 Getafe
Atlético Madrid 3-1 Osasuna
Mallorca 0-5 Real Madrid

Monday:
Valladolid 2-2 Real Sociedad

Of the UEFA midweek fixtures, Real Madrid was the only Spanish team in the Champions League to not win. It was heartbreaking, but they were outplayed sadly. Barça just managed to squeeze a win past Celtic in the dying minutes of the game and Málaga continued their unbeaten streak in spectacular fashion. Here are the full results:

Champions League:
BATE Borisov 0-3 Valencia
Barcelona 2-1 Celtic
Málaga 1-0 AC Milan
Borussia Dortmund 2-1 Real Madrid

Europa League:
Atlético Madrid 2-1 Académica de Coimbra
Lyon 2-1 Athletic Bilbao
Levante 3-0 Twente Enschede

El Guaje demonstrates the frustrations of his team

 Midweek UEFA fixtures saw some pretty tough battles for both Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona.

In the Champions League, Madrid managed to come away with a narrow 3-2 victory after about 68 minutes of dullness against Manchester City. The match ended in a whirlwind of goals. Málaga, on the other hand, easily dispatched Zenit 3-0 in La Rosaleda. The convincing win was particularly satisfying given their crazy offseason with debt problems and players leaving.

Barcelona managed to scrape a win 3-2 at home against Spartak Moskva after losing Piqué early on to injury and an atrocious own-goal by Dani Alves. (Please watch it if you haven’t already. Painful if you’re a Barça fan, but kinda entertaining if you’re not.) Valencia went down early away against Bayern Munich, but managed to come away with one goal against the home team in the 2-1 loss.

In the Europa League, Athlético Madrid easily won 3-0 over Hapoel Tel Aviv, Athletic Bilbao fought to a 1-1 draw with H. Kiryat Shmona, and Levante beat Helsingborg 1-0. I’m not surprised Athlético won 3-0 away; they’ve been on fire lately. Athletic disappointed me though. They played at home in the San Memes against the little known Israeli side (meaning I’ve never heard of them before), and could only manage a draw. Even bringing on Fernando Llorente early in the second half didn’t give them enough of a spark to win.

Champions League Results:
Málaga 3-0 Zenit
Real
Madrid 3-2 Manchester City
Bayern Munich 2-1 Valencia
Barcelona 3-2 Spartak Moskva

Europa League Results:
Hapoel Tel-Aviv 0-3 Atlético Madrid
Athletic Bilbao 1-1 H. Kiryat Shmona
Levante 1-0 Helsingborg

Week 5 of La Liga was rather quiet in terms of results, without any huge upsets. Mallorca is still winning and ranked 2nd while Valencia sits deep in the table at 15th followed closely by Athletic in 16th. Newcomers to the top flight Deportivo and Celta aren’t doing too badly at 10th and 11th. The most talked about games of the weekend, of course, come from Barça and Real Madrid.

On Saturday, it took a moment of brilliance from Xavi in the 86th minute for the Catalans to finally score against Granada, who had looked the most likely to score for a better part of the game. Toño (Granada’s goalkeeper) had one hell of a game, making one incredible save after another. Even though Barcelona keep winning, they’re not winning well or convincingly, showing signs of frustration on the pitch. Nevertheless, a win is a win.

Which is probably also what Real Madrid thought Monday night at Vallecas after their win against Rayo Vallecano. The match was originally scheduled for Sunday night, but the cables to the floodlights in the stadium were cut and the game was pushed to Monday. Why or by whom is unclear, but sources speculate it was done in protest to the raise in prices at the Vallecas stadium. Weird stuff, I know. The game wasn’t as comfortable a win as Madrid would’ve liked as Rayo continued to attack even when they were two goals down. Casillas, and even Xabi at one point, had to come up with some pretty awesome saves to keep Rayo off the scoreboard.

Point of interest: right now at this early stage in the season, the race for the Pichichi award looks like a battle between Messi and Falcao, with 6 and 5 goals, respectively. (Ronaldo only has 3 goals so far.)

Saturday’s Results:
Real Zaragoza 3-1 Osasuna
Celta Vigo 2-1 Getafe
Real Betis 1-0 Espanyol
Barcelona 2-0 Granada

Sunday’s Results:
Mallorca 2-0 Valencia
Levante 2-1 Real Sociedad
Atlético Madrid 2-1 Valladolid
Athletic Bilbao 0-0 Málaga

Monday’s Results:
Rayo Vallecano 0-2 Real Madrid
Deportivo La Coruña 0-2 Sevilla

*Photo credit: LigaBBVA

We’ve got news from the USMNT ahead of tomorrow’s friendly, as well as a sneak peak at USWNT goalkeeper Hope Solo’s new memoir.  We’ll also take a trip to Europe to scope out the best players in UEFA, and finish up back in MLS with another possible signing for the New York Red Bulls.  It’s all in today’s Daily Kick Around!

USMNT

Tales of intrigue and espionage from inside the US men’s national team?  Not quite, but Jurgen Klinsmann is relying heavily on players who ply their trade in Mexico when the U.S. men take on El Tri at Estadio Azteca Wednesday night.  No doubt they’ll be able to provide some inside information on what to expect from some of their club teammates and opponents.

Speaking of which, how does everyone feel about this FIFA date?  We’ve already heard from the likes of Landon Donovan, who was pretty clear that he wasn’t a fan.  All in all, it seems that everyone agrees that playing international friendlies immediately before the season starts or, in the case of MLS, right in the middle of the season, does not make sense.

USWNT

Hope Solo, Hope Solo!  You may not always agree with how she handles herself, but at least you always know where she is coming from!  Her book, “SOLO: A Memoir of Hope,” went on presale today.  Everyone knows about her infamous 2007 benching and subsequent interview.  Read her side of it in this excerpt from her book.

UEFA

Surprise surprise, guess who is on the short list for the 2011/2012 best player in Europe award!  If you said Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, you are correct.  Also in the top 5 are Andres Iniesta, Andrea Pirlo, and Xavi.  The winner will be decided by a vote during the Champions League draw Aug. 30.

MLS

So you thought the New York Red Bulls were finally done wheeling and dealing?  No way!  Manager Hans Backe confirmed today that his team will try to sign former England U-20 winger Lloyd Sam who has been on trial with them during the past week.

Image courtesy of mlssoccer.com/Getty Images.

Good Monday to you all! I hope you had great weekends! Today’s headlines are packed with US Soccer news, and big news from the English Premier League, including John Terry’s ban. It’s your Monday Daily Kick Around!

U.S. Men’s National Team

The USMNT are in Mexico for the first time since 1984. The game, set to kick off at 7 p.m. ET Wednesday, will definitely be entertaining. It is US v. Mexico after all! Yesterday, head coach Jurgen Klinsmann named a 23-man roster to take to the match. The biggest snub I think would be D.C. United’s Chris Pontius. Chris has been on fire for D.C. this season and definitely deserves the call up.

Major League Soccer

The SuperClasico kicked off last night in LA between the Galaxy and Chivas USA. And make no mistake, it definitely was a show from the Galaxy. They stomped Chivas 4-0.

Other scores:
Philadelphia 1 – Chicago 3 
New England 0 – Montreal 1 

La Liga

Saturday marked a big day for Barcelona forward David Villa as the club took on Dinamo Bucharest. He played in his first game since his broken leg last season. And he told media after the match, which Barca won 2-0, he felt “very pleased” and good on the pitch; he intends to come back better than ever this eason.

English Premier League

Well John Terry has the luck of someone on his side, that’s for sure. After being found not guilty of racial abuse to Antoin Ferdinand this summer, it seems the UEFA is reducing his three-match ban from the red card he received during the Champion’s League second-leg semi-final match. ESPN is reporting Terry’s ”final match of his suspension was deferred for a probationary period of three years.” If that isn’t lucky, I don’t know what is considering Terry’s track record.

Manchester United’s ploy to go public with its shares is sort of blowing up in their face. Some headlines are even comparing it’s demise to that of Facebook’s recent stock fall.

PrivCo, an independent financial analyst, said United’s stock price could plummet further – and gave the shares a value that would mean the club is worth less now than when the Glazers bought it in 2005. 

World Soccer

Some times things happen during matches when players’ tempers get out of control. One ref is hitting back at a player who he claims purposely attacked him on the field. During a friendly match yesterday between Portuguese side Benfica and German side Fortuna Dusseldorf, Benfica’s Luisao allegedly knocked over ref Christian Fischer on purpose. And Fischer plans to sue Luisao because of it.

Fischer, who refused to restart the Esprit Arena game after the 38th-minute incident, told the Express he would be taking legal action, adding: “As proof, I got hold of the TV recordings. Thus he [Luisao] can say whatever he wants. It just makes his statements even more ridiculous: everyone saw what happened.”

Okay, we don’t know about you guys, but the Euro 2012 have not only fired us, but our computers decided it would be cool to just, you know, not work too. But now we’re back! And we’re pretty excited because there has been SO much going on in the footy world. Mangers are coming and going in the EPL, Euro 2012 is battling racism unfortunately and tons more. Here’s your Thursday Daily Kick Around!

Grygoriy Surkis, president of the Ukraine soccer body, said the racism threat was overblown in Ukraine and urged everyone to turn their attention from politics to sports.
“There can be individual cases of racism in Ukraine stadiums and that needs to be stopped,” Surkis said Tuesday. “But it is important we focus on the most important thing – football … We should not keep talking about racism in Ukrainian football. The tournament is about football, not politics.” 

I’m mixing up today’s DKA a little bit. Instead of running through highlights from around the leagues, I’m going to concentrate on just three stories that really caught my eye in the last couple days.

As a soccer fan, what I love about the sport is how it appears to break down barriers and unite people all across the world. We have small countries like Antigua and Barbuda playing the United States to qualify for the 2014 World Cup. We had an African nation host the World Cup for the first time in 2010. We saw the women’s national team of Japan knock out Germany, Sweden and the mighty U.S.A. on the world’s biggest stage in women’s soccer, claiming the World Cup title by defeating a team that they never had before. But for all the ways that soccer seems to breed unity across nations, there’s also a dark side to the sport, that of its inequality across gender, race and class lines.

If we had a Friday Fail feature like our counterparts over at The Pulse, FIFA would hands-down get our nod this week. That might not be very surprising, but what you’re about to read … well, it’s just mindboggling. The governing body for  world soccer has already been accused of corruption within its ranks, and criticized for its slow response to investigation. So President Sepp Blatter set up the Independent Governance Committee, consisting of eight members, to investigate. The committee nominated four women as investigators, only to be told by FIFA officials that women would not be allowed to participate:

Alexandra Wrage, an IGC member, said she was told at the lunch the nomination of any female candidates was “entirely unacceptable.”

Ms. Wrage told the Financial Times: “They sat down next to me, two senior Fifa  executives. They said, ‘you are pushing too hard, leave this for another time.  You’ve made a lot of progress, you should be content.’ It was so clear-cut, it  was expressly stated.”

Ms. Wrage, who advises companies on anti-bribery compliance, declined to  reveal the identity of the officials who, she said, had created an atmosphere of “unapologetic chauvinism.”

She added: “I was gobsmacked. We were making progress in this environment. I  guess you have to admire their candour.”

I’m not sure that I admire their candour. In fact, I despise it. And it does nothing to help FIFA and its image around the world — it only creates another black eye on the face of the world’s most popular sport.

U.S. central midfielder Shannon Boxx is one of only two players of color on the Olympic roster.

Another story that caught my attention this week was an ESPNW feature by Tom Farrey on the inequality across gender and class lines within women’s college and professional soccer in the U.S. Farrey discusses the lack of color in the professional ranks, pointing out that only two members of the current national team squad named to the Olympics, veteran Shannon Boxx and rookie Sydney Leroux, are biracial.

But it’s the socioeconomic gap in women’s soccer development that Farrey really highlights, where the majority of those scouted for college scholarships and the youth national teams have had the benefit of parents who can afford to send them to private clubs or learn from professional coaches. Anthony DiCicco, son of former U.S. WNT coach Tony DiCicco, discussed the disparity and how it’s affected U.S. women’s soccer on the national stage:

It’s a system, he argues, that misses many of the best athletes. U.S. Soccer provides no scholarship funds to train promising, underprivileged girls, as it does with boys. Nor, of course, do NCAA universities, the chief beneficiaries of a system that develops talent at no cost to them. So the burden falls to the clubs, which are underwritten by parents and must cater to those with the means to pay. Some clubs might waive or discount the fees of a talented teenager, but it’s cherry-picking at best.

And yet, that doesn’t stop the underprivileged from dreaming. Eleven-year old African-American Wayneshia “Treece” Daily from College Station, Texas, said that not seeing anyone of her color on the national team made her want to play. Thirteen year old Mexican-American Maria Parrales of South Central Los Angeles, who has never heard of WPS or even Marta, the five-time FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year, dreams of playing professionally.

How can we make women’s soccer more equal and help these girls to realize their dream? Dianne Koller, director of the Center for Sport and the Law at the University of Baltimore, has an idea:

“I don’t think we should get rid of Title IX, but we do need Congress to say that making sports accessible to all kids is important,” Koller says. “We need to define what education-based sports should look like, that it should be based on a participation model and on health and wellness. Right now, we just let athletic directors and coaches draw up programs as they see fit.”

The final article I want to highlight today comes from ESPN’s coverage of Euro 2012, where reports of racism toward black players and security personel in the stadiums have been surfacing:

Racism marred the Netherlands’ preparations for its opening match Saturday against Denmark after spectators made monkey noises at players during a squad practice in Krakow, Poland, which was attended by 25,000 people.

This coming in a country where three million people died in a religious and ethnic genocide. Where are the history books hiding?

But it’s not only Polish fans:

The reported incidents came in the second match of Euro 2012, which kicked off Friday amid concerns of potential racist situations involving fans in co-host nations Poland and Ukraine.

However, Russia’s fans are under scrutiny after UEFA linked up with FARE to appoint a 31-member team of expert anti-discrimination spotters.

Two monitors, mingling with fans of each team at a match, will work to identify offensive banners, chants and behavior in stadiums, and report to UEFA within 24 hours.

UEFA has pledged zero tolerance of discrimination at the three-week tournament.

I certainly hope UEFA acts swiftly and harshly. People like that don’t deserve to be fans of the beautiful game.

Happy Thursday? Are you still nursing hangovers from those Champions League games? I ate a bowl of ice cream to try to over come the feelings. But it’s games like those that remind us why we love this game! Today, we’ll talk a bit about the Champion’s League Real Madrid v. Bayern penalty shootout, Pep Guardiola possibly taking a football hiatus and a west conference MLS team signs a big Brazilian name. Here’s your Daily Kick Around!

Champion’s League

Just as we were starting to get over the fact that Chelsea pulled a great win over Spanish giants Barcelona, we got hit with another stunner yesterday as Bayern Munich and Real Madrid faced off in what was guaranteed to be a fight to the end. I don’t know about you, but I knew Real would have a hill to climb with Bayern. And just as Madrid went up two goals thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo, Bayern had a strong answer.  Alas, it was the end that killed us. After extra time and a tied aggregate score, the game went into penalty kicks. Manuel Neuer really stepped up for his team, pulling out some great saves against Ronaldo and Kaka. A sky-rocket from Sergio Ramos and a cool hit from Bastian Schweinsteiger later and it was all over – Bayern was in and Real was headed home.

So, now the focus is on the final between Chelsea and Bayern – each with a handful of players banned from playing the game due to card suspensions. International players’ union FIFPro appealed to UEFA to lift their cumulative yellow-card bans on the players, stating it was unfair they couldn’t play because they had too many yellow cards. UEFA wouldn’t back down though, and told the union they would not allow the players special privileges. I honestly am glad they aren’t playing – you did the crime, now do the time.

Major League Soccer

Annnnnnnnnnnnd the retro bans continue. So we might as well get use to the idea. Oh and look out coaches and staff, you could be next too.

The Colorado Rapids are getting an exciting addition to their team in the form of Brazilian forward Edu. He’s played in La Liga and Champion’s League competitions and will start with the Rapids as soon as his visas clear. Congrats Colorado!

FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake faced off last night in a not-so-pretty 1-1 draw. Get the run down of the match here.

La Liga

Could this be the end of the Pep Guardiola/skinny ties empire of Barcelona? Media reports are literally swarming today as the talk is Pep will pass on renewing his contract with the Catalans. Apparently he would like to take a year out from football, and who could blame him? Either way, we wish you and your stylish wardrobe the best, Pep!

English Premier League

I know some Liverpool fans that are going to be pumped for the summer. Not only is the popular English club touring the States this summer, but cameras will be following them around, providing an exclusive glimpse behind-the-scenes as they tour America. Sounds pretty awesome!

Finally on today’s DKA, you have got to check out this amazing article I found through The Shin Guardian. It’s a story from Chandrima Chatterjee – director of Street Soccer USA – talking about her time working with Yuwa, a football program based in India that is changing many lives of young women there. It’s definitely a great read!

Hello footy fans! It’s Thursday and I, like every other US Soccer fan, am still all smiles from yesterday’s games. It was a great day for international soccer. We’ve got those headlines, plus the floundering Chelsea, MLS’ newest player and how the UEFA answered the outcry about overpriced tickets. It’s all here in your DKA!

U.S. Soccer

Not only did the USWNT dominate with a win yesterday over Denmark in the Algarve Cup, but the USMNT pulled out a great shocker against Italy. If you missed Clint Dempsey’s strike yesterday, check out my recap here!

The U-23 USMNT also played yesterday in a friendly against Mexico’s U-23′s. If you are a USMNT fan, you are more than familiar with the phrase “Dos A Cero!” And yesterday’s game was just another notch to add to the 2-0 victories against Mexico. Congratulations to all teams!

English Premier League

It’s troubled waters and choppy seas in Chelsea. Apparently instead of solving problems, players and staff are playing the blame game.

Our first instance, the curious case of Fernando Torres. Ever since his startling transfer from Liverpool to the London team, he’s had two goals in 21 starts. Just two! It’s hard to deny that the once star Spanish striker is in more than a rough patch. But why is that exactly? Torres’ mentor Antonio Sanz would like to blame the club and Andre Villas-Boas for Fernando’s woes.

And that isn’t the only problem in the dressing room for the Blues. Frank Lampard – yes, he still plays for them – has been vocal about his displeasure of being left out of the Chelsea starting line up. Apparently things are “not ideal” between the English player and AVB. And it doesn’t look like ol’ Frank is getting any sympathy from his teammates either. In fact, defender David Luiz has told Frank to suck it up and get over it. Fall in line, Frank!

Major League Soccer

While MLS fans are used to seeing top American players head off to European teams, we’re starting to get used to the fact that European players are coming over here! It was announced today that after a trial period, Montreal Impact are signing former Italian international Matteo Ferrari. While some are already critical of Ferrari’s age, I personally think he can bring a lot to this MLS team. Congrats to Ferrari and the Impact!

Serie A

A.C. Milan are going to have to mark Pato off their starting line up for their upcoming match against Palermo. The Brazilian striker – who has suffered through one injury already this season – has picked up another muscle injury last week during the team’s match against Juventus.

Champion’s League

Last year’s final of the Champion’s League in Wembley brought many negative headlines regarding the ticket prices. General sale tickets were 150 pounds! After the outcry from the public about such outrageous prices, UEFA apologized and decided to slash the prices – but don’t get too excited. Tickets for this year’s final in Munich will be 75 pounds, plus a booking fee. Oh, and don’t forget to factor in that exchange rate.

La Liga

Missed the Midweek Muscles post yesterday? Well, you might want to go check it out. Our own Tamara Reinhart shows you why Cristiano Ronaldo is definitely worthy of a MWM post.

Good Thursday to you all! Today’s DKA is chalk-full of news from all over. San Jose is getting their stadium, team rosters are getting released, Benny Feilhaber’s amazing bicycle kick and NASA has found particles in space shaped like… soccer balls! We’ve got it all in your Daily Kick Around!

World Soccer

God is a soccer fan, you guys. Scientists too. NASA stated today that astronauts have found solid soccer-ball shaped molecules – which they call buckeyballs – in outer space that will help them understand the structure of matter and, quite possibly, life in outer space. That’s pretty cool if you ask us! Now soccer is just not a beautiful game on Earth, but in the cosmos too! (okay, that was corny, I’ll admit.)

So, did you guys miss our weekly Midweek Muscles post? You did? Oh my… then you miss hottie Euan Holden. Don’t know Euan? Go over and check it out!

Major League Soccer

Congratulations are in order for San Jose Earthquake fans! You get a new stadium!! How exciting is that?

Pre-season games are starting to kick off in Arizona and the New England Revolution had a great win last night over the L.A. Galaxy. The best part of this game, though? The absolutely beautiful bicycle kick from Benny Feilhaber. I’ve watched it several times, you will too.

Europa League

People are starting to crack down on offensive chants, folks. Porto FC announced they plan to file a complaint with UEFA over Manchester City fans chanting “You happen to be not outstanding” to Porto player Hulk during the match Wednesday. It would be interesting to see how this plays out.

National Teams

It seems the thought of some change coming to England’s squad has slipped away. The only big surprise the new Three Lions manager Stuart Pearce made was bringing in 25-year-old sensation Fraizer Campbell. Hmm. Seems like the winds of change are NOT happening in England.

Jurgen Klinsmann had no big surprises in his USMNT roster. The men in red, white and blue will take on Italy next Wednesday. Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan will be paired up, which is exciting. For me the biggest snub was to midfielder Sacha Kljestan, who has been rocking it lately.

La Liga

Real Madrid fans were dealt some bad news today. Karim Benzema will be out for a total of three weeks after picking up a muscular injury against the club’s game against CSKA Moscow this week. He’ll miss a total of four Real Madrid matches and the upcoming France friendly. Get well soon Karim!

Happy Fat Tuesday everyone! Now before you stuff yourself with alcohol and try to find the toy in the King cake, sit back and enjoy today’s DKA featuring Arsene Wenger’s surprising comments on his future retirement, Pep Guardiola’s unforeseen future and Thierry Henry’s weird house renovations!

English Premier League

Argentine legend Diego Maradona says that Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini is “too defensive” meaning that MCFC could stumble in the Premier League title race. Maradona, whose son-in-law is Sergio Aguero, still think they have a chance of winning the title because of the talent of the players. Make up your mind Maradona!

Tomasz Kuszczak is leaving Manchester United for a loan to Watford. The Poland international hasn’t made an appearance this season for the red devils, but with this loan, he could see more playing time at Vicarage Road.

Nice try West Ham. The Irons attempted bids on Chelsea’s Fernando Torres and Man City’s Carlos Tevez in the January transfer window. Both failed. Apparently Chelsea told West Ham co-owner David Sullivan that the moment wasn’t right in terms of letting Nando go. As for Tevez, Man City said “no chance.”

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger isn’t giving up on his club and has no plans to resign anytime soon. Arsenal hasn’t won a trophy in 7 years and the Frenchman has been ridiculed, especially after their 4-nil loss to AC Milan, knocking them out of the FA Cup race. Let’s just say, Wenger’s statement is a little….brash.

“There has been a lot of conversation about whether I will remain with Arsenal or leave,” Wenger told reporters. “But I will tell you that I am still committed to this project. So committed that I will continue to manage Arsenal until the day Theo Walcott wins the Ballon d’Or or the day Andrei Arshavin scores four goals in a Premier League match again. Whichever comes first. Or at all. Only then will my work here be complete.”

La Liga

Barcelona is at it again. Vice President Josep Maria Bartomeu says the Catalans won’t pay “mad sums” of money for star players this summer transfer window. EPL stars Robin van Persie and Garreth Bale have been linked with moves this summer but their clubs, Arsenal and Tottenham, refuse to let them go without a fight. I’m just going to say this: Barca has stolen one star player before, what makes us think they won’t do it again?

Dear Pep Guardiola, where does your future lie? Well, the problem is, no one (not even Pep) knows. Barcelona sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta is giving Guardiola all the time he needs to figure out what his future plans will be. Pep’s contract ceases to exist after this summer after stating he’ll only sign one-year contracts since his tenure with the Catalans. Rumors have it that Pep could head to a club in Serie A, EPL or even the Middle East.

UEFA Champions League

Matches for today’s 1st leg of Round of 16 are between Real Madrid-CSKA Movska and Chelsea-Napoli. Real Madrid had their 1-0 win snatched from them when CSKA scored a late game goal, tying up the score 1-1. Chelsea and Napoli will kick off shortly!

One question. How many of you would put a 40 ft aquarium in the middle of your house? I can only think of one person who would. Thierry Henry. Check out the crazy diagram of the floorplans for his new place. I am at a loss for words.