Stephen Hawking's Football Boots

The Weekend that Was

2007-09-10T07:25:00.001-07:00

Saturday was a football extraveganza. Was at The Globe to watch the England v Israel match. Also saw parts of the Russia v Macedonia match. While those were going on I popped to the front to catch some England v USA rugby. After all that it was a few more beers and then Slovakia v Ireland in the back and Italy v France in the front.

Nothing really took me by surprise while I was watching the matches. Russia did good to hold on and then score another after their keeper was sent off. England looked good against Israel in a must win match. And that is that.

Time for another International Break

2007-09-07T08:48:00.000-07:00

Steven Gerrard has been passed fit for the match again Israel tomorrow. This is a huge boost for an injury decimated England squad. I wouldn't worry though, McSven will probably put Gerrard in the wrong position.

This match is huge for England. I'm going to be Captain Obvious and say that if they don't get 3 points then qualification is going to be a lot tougher. With a match in Russia in the midweek it is imperitive that England get all 3 points from this one. Not sure if I am going to watch it, since I don't want to pay $20 and it is on at the same time as England v USA at the Rugby World Cup.

Israel are sitting pretty in the group, but they have also played an extra game compared to the other top teams. It is going to be a scorcher in London on saturday.

Scotland also have a huge match. They are in the group of death for these qualifiers and they are in 3rd behind Italy and France. A win is needed in order to keep pace with the leaders. They host Lithuania, so hopefully they can get all three points.

Should be noted that since the tourney is being hosted by Austria and Switzerland (who therefore recieve automatic bids) so the teams finishing 1-2 automatically qualify as opposed to the last time around when all 2nd place teams were in a two-legged playoff.

Moving On

2007-09-06T06:26:00.000-07:00

It appears that Arsene Wenger has signed a 3 yaer contract extenstion that will keep him in North London until 2011. Eat it TH14. Now that this is done, let's move onto something else, shall we?

Has anyone else been shocked at the lack of playing time for Shevchenko? Yes he was injured, and may still be injured, but is it really that bad? He did play in a charity match in the Ukraine this past week, so maybe he'll be back soon. Seems odd to me to not play a 30 million pound player if he is fit.

Picks, Picks, and more Picks

2007-09-05T16:49:00.000-07:00

At some point I'll write about the crap I watched this past weekend. in the meantime, for any readers....

Bolton 1 - 2 Everton
Fulham 1 - 1 Spurs
Pool 3 - 1 Derby
Boro 1 - 1 Brum
Newcastle 2 - 1 Wigan
Reading 1 - 1 West Ham
United 2 - 0 Sunderland
Arsenal 2 - 1 Pompey
Blackburn 1 - 1 City
Villa 1 - 2 Chelsea

5 right, including 1 perfect score

Champions Leauge Draw

2007-08-31T06:01:00.000-07:00

Group A
LIVERPOOL
Porto
Marseille
Besiktas

Group B
CHELSEA
Valencia
Schalke 04
Rosenborg

Group C
REAL MADRID
Werder Bremen
Lazio
Olympiakos

Group D
AC MILAN
Benfica
Celtic
Shakhtar Donetsk

Group E
BARCELONA
Lyon
Stuttgart
Rangers

Group F
MANCHESTER UNITED
Roma
Sporting Lisbon
Dynamo Kiev

Group G
INTER MILAN
PSV Eindhoven
CSKA Moscow
Fenerbahce

Group H
ARSENAL
Sevilla/AEK Athens
Steau Bucharest
Slavia Prague

I think Group B is definetly the "Group of Death" but the two top teams will make it out. Oh, the teams in bold are the top seeds in each group.

You have 1 day

2007-08-30T06:13:00.000-07:00

Jose Mourinho, well at least according to The Sun, is willing to pay a rather large sum of money to his old club for Ricardo Queresma. This would be a good move for them, in my opinion. They have lost Arjen Robben, and if more injuries pop up they won't have enough players to play the prefered 4-3-3. I think it is really just a question if they can get this settled by tomorrow night.

Goodbye Nuge

2007-08-29T06:10:00.000-07:00

David Nugent, who only just joined Pompey something like 48 days ago, might be on his way to Derby County. Anyone else confused by this? I know that the current gaffer at Derby used to be at Preston North End, but come on, less then 50 days?

seems a bit, strange, if you ask me.

Scary stuff....

2007-08-28T06:15:00.000-07:00

We here at SHFB are going to take a step back and talk about a serious issue. This past weekend Antonio Puerta of Sevilla suffered a heart attack in the dressing room after collapsing on the pitch and swallowing his tongue. I was watching the match and was kinda confused as to what was happening. Puerta was walking towards the touch line near his own goal, his keeper had just picked up the ball, and he stopped, put his hands on his knees, and collapsed. The keeper and another Sevilla player rushed over and one of them frantically tried to pry Puerta's jaws open and shove his fingers in to get his tongue out. Full credit to the physio of Sevilla who ran over as fast as he could.

Well, it turns out that Puerta's condition has deteriorated. He may never be able to play again. He suffers from a condition that thickens the lining of the heart, and I believe it is the same thing that led to the death of Mark Vivian-Foe.

UPDATE: Anthony Puerta has passed away due to a heart attack. RIP

The One I watched, 8/25

2007-08-27T06:16:00.000-07:00

This past saturday was the first time I was able to watch a live Arsenal match on TV. Thank the lord.

Headed up to The Globe Pub and was ready for kickoff. I was unsure how City were going to play. Was it going to be the open play against West Ham, or the 10 men back against United? It was more of the 10 men back play, with about 5 minutes of flowing attacking play. I could tell that City were going to go for the draw on this one, I don't think Almunia had to make a save until the end of the match.

Arsenal on the other hand, were knocking on the door for most of the game. Van Persie's missed penalty had everyone down, but then Cesc latched onto a Hleb throughball and blasted it into the net. Great to see him scoring yet another goal. 3 points is 3 points, I don't care who you are. CL Matches this week. sweet. and before I forget, here were my picks. pretty good, i think.

Sunderland 0 - 2 Pool
Arsenal 2 - 1 Citeh
Villa 1 - 0 Fulham
Bolton 1 - 2 Reading
Chelsea 3 - 1 Pompey (banker)
Derby 2 - 2 Brum
West Ham 1 - 1 Wigan
Everton 2 - 0 Blackburn
Boro 0 - 1 Newcastle
United 1 - 0 Spurs (insurance)

It is called fact checking

2007-08-24T11:33:00.000-07:00

I don't think this website gets alot of readers, and they certainly don't know how to check their facts. It appears that FC Dallas has signed Denilson. NOT the Denilson who is in the picture, the one who is like 18 and plays for Arsenal, but the one who is 29.

This site needs to find a new picture, or players in Brazil need to come up with new nicknames.

No Rest for the Weary

2007-08-24T07:07:00.000-07:00

Looks like the LA Galaxy may pull David Beckham from some England friendlies over concern about jet lag and the travel times/distance. Can't say I blame them. They want their player, who they pay the wages for (ok not really them, but you get my point) to be fresh.

What I don't get is the fact that this isn't a person who is going to be flying Coach. Or even first class. He probably has a private jet that can take him anywhere in the world. So it isn't like he can't just sleep and relax on the plane and get as comfortable as possible. Instead of being wedged into a seat between two people who don't really fit into there seats and therefore should have to buy two tickets.

Yankee Doodle Dandy

2007-08-23T09:36:00.000-07:00

wait for it. wait for it. wait for it.

Fulham have signed yet ANOTHER American. This time it is goalkeeper Kasey Keller. They should just drop out of the Premiership and join the MLS already :-P

I could go on and on right now about Fulham, but in reality I dont' know much about them. I know that David Healy is a goal scoring machine, I know that Lawrie Sanchez will fess up if he makes a mistake, and I know they have a lot of Americans.

This will make Martin Jol sleep well at night

2007-08-22T08:13:00.000-07:00

Turns out Juande Ramos turned down a "dizzying" offer from Tottenham Hotspur to be the gaffer.

As if that team already didn't have enough problems, now they have to worry about if Martin Jol is still going to be around.

I do have to say that I am happy that Ramos turned down the offer. "An Martin Jol's mother is a whore..." has such a ring to it.

Waa Waa

2007-08-21T08:25:00.001-07:00

already did this once and it didn't work. Better work this time. So C Ronaldo is moaning that he shouldn't have to serve a three match ban for his red card. Anyone have a good video of the incident? And I don't think Ronaldo was too worried about the player in this red card....

Eat it Pundits

2007-08-20T09:01:00.000-07:00

here were my picks for the past weekend's action:

Pompey 2 v 1 Bolton
Brum 2 v 0 West Ham
Fulham 1 v 1 Boro
Reading 0 v 1 Everton
Spurs 2 v 0 Derby
Wigan 1 v 0 Sunderland
Newcastle 2 v 2 Villa
City 2 v 3 United
Blackburn 1 v 1 Arsenal
Liverpool 1 v 1 Chelsea

As you can see, I got 6 correct scores, with 2 perfect ones. Eat it.

and Arsenal lose Gallas for 3 weeks. great. I'm thinking Sagna will now slot over to CB with Eboue moved back to RB and Hleb will probably have to be a winger as opposed to the withdrawn striker role.

The Half I Watched 8/19

2007-08-19T11:45:00.000-07:00

Since I'm heading to California for work this evening I am not able to watch the Arsenal match. Instead, I followed online and then caught the second half of the Liverpool v Chelsea match.

and what can I say. Lots of talking points. First of all, great goal by Torres. Yes it was the first half, but I did see the highlight of it. Great finish. Moving on, I'd say the first major talking point will be the penalty decision by Mr. Rob Styles. Believe me, it was a horrendous one. I don't think anyone on the pitch thought it was going to be a penalty. What happened was Malouda goes airborne to, I guess dummy the ball to Drogba, and him and Carragher collide with the ball about a foot behind Malouda and the ref points to the stop. Fat Frank made no mistake and Pepe Reina guessed wrong.

So later on Torres tries to get around Ben Haim. He hits the ball forward and moves to his left and Ben Haim is kinda blocking him and he hits the ground (quite easily I should add). The ref blows for obstruction, Ben Haim protests, John Terry protests and gets booked, then Michael Essien gets booked. But wait, it was his second yellow card, and no red card was shown. Way to blow that one ref. Two yellows equals a red. Styles must have graduated from the Grahm Poll School of Refereeing.

Ended 1-1, which was my pick.

Pot, Kettle, Black

2007-08-17T07:27:00.001-07:00

Sir Alec Ferguson has called for referees to protect C Ronaldo. He states that

"My fear is, and I don't whether there is a directive, but maybe referees are a bit more tolerant of the physical contact," he said. "I've noticed this in the last few months - late challenges are going unpunished. I thought these things were black and white: late challenges are not allowed. We saw it again on Wednesday night, the referee letting it go unpunished time and time again. If you have got weak referees then you are going to be suffering. There is a concern players like Ronaldo are going to be the victims ... because it will end up with someone getting a serious injury."

So, he wants refs to call more fouls on players that foul Ronaldo. Don't think he has a problem when his team kicks players around the park.....

New Shirt Sponsor for Sp*rs

2007-08-16T08:42:00.000-07:00

Reports have surfaced from the Shanghai Tribune stating that Mansion House, the shirt sponsor for Tottenham Hotspur, have pulled out of their agreement citing Spurs' start to the season. Spurs have released a new version of thier kit which can be picked up at the team shop at White Hart Lane starting today.

Random Thoughts

2007-08-16T06:09:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this week in the prediction league, I didn't do so hot. 3 right, 4 wrong. Oh well, probably still better then some pundits out there who get paid to do this.

Arsenal got two vital away goals in Prague. I wasn't expecting much from this match and it looked headed that way until Gael Clichy made a great run and laid the ball off for Fabregas to bury it home. Hleb then finished a glorious counterattack started by a Lehmann pass to Sagna on the left wing and made it 2-0 Gunners. I'll take it.

Nothing to surprising elsewhere, oh wait, United dropped points, again. Now dropping points at the fortress that is Fratton Park is nothing to be ashamed about (I'd bet money that Chelsea, Liverpool, and or Arsenal all drop points there) but they are under the microscope more now, since they won it all last year. City picked up all 3 points, which means this weekend's Manchester derby is going to be even better then usual, I hope.

have fun at work people, i know i won't.

All rise for the judge

2007-08-14T07:02:00.001-07:00

The new owner of Manchester City, the former Prime Minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra, is about to have the first of case of his corruption trial/charges brought against him.

Anyone else waiting for the time when he is proven guilty and all his assests are frozen (not just his ones in Thailand) and City go bankrupt? I know I am.

Next stop, SW London

2007-08-14T06:13:00.000-07:00

Daniel Alves is not playing in the CL qualifying round this week. He was quoted as saying he

He told me he was not in the right condition to play and I have informed the club about the situation.
Influential
I don't know if he has agreed this with someone else in the club because they are in talks, but we knew this might happen. I expected something like this.

So he was not in the "right condition" to play? What the heck does that mean? Don't say he wasn't fit, because he is fit enough to play. As OOWK told me just a few minutes ago, we think he's on strike.

He's Baaaaaaack

2007-08-14T06:07:00.001-07:00

Michael Owen has declared himself fit to play for England have playing 60 minutes in a friendly against a local Geordie side. Haven't we seen this before?

In other news, there are matches today, and so I put up my picks. have at it...

Spurs 1 v 1 Everton
Brum 1 v 2 Sunderland
Fulham 2 v 0 Bolton
Man City 2 v 0 Derby
Pompey 0 v 2 Man Utd
Reading 1 v 3 Chelsea
Wigan 1 v 2 Boro

For those playing along, last week I got 4 results right and 1 perfect score, which is the same as Lawro at the Beeb, and he gets paid for this.

The Cup that no one cares about

2007-08-13T13:26:00.000-07:00

so it is 3:30 and I'm bored out of my mind at work.

I was perusing the beeb for any news on one Curtis Davis of West Bromwich Albion. Seems to me he was the hot transfer for pretty much every team in the Prem when WBA were relegated, but after yet another off-season he is still a Baggie. Anyone know what this is?

Onto the title of this post. The Carling Cup kicked off today, at least I think it kicked off, this could very well be the 2nd round and I just haven't paid any attention.

Petersbrough are currently up 2-1 at home to Southampton. Got to love a League 2 sticking it to a Colaship team.

Here's hoping that the might Hatters of Stockport County can get past Tranmere tomorrow.

And thank god for midweek fixtures.

The One I Watched, August 11th

2007-08-13T06:11:00.000-07:00

This past saturday I got my butt out of bed and laid down on the couch to watch the West Ham v Manchester City match. Wasn't really sure what to expect from this one. City have a new gaffer in Sven Goran Erickson, and West Ham are without Carlos Tevez. It was a pretty one sided affiar for almost the whole match. City dominated long stretches of the opening and were rewarded with a nice goal. West Ham tried to claw back into the match but they just couldn't muster up the possession and shots. I don't think that the City keeper had to make one save in the first half, let alone 2 or 3 for the entire match.

In the second half City were on the back foot at the beginning. West Ham looked to be controling the game, and then City went and scored another one to seal the 2-0 win and all 3 points. It kinda looked like West Ham were looking for another player to step up and deliver. I wonder who that could be. Carlos Tevez maybe? Too bad they lost him, he probably was factored into some plans for this season and now those have gone down the crapper.

I did ok at IKTS this week. Changed my Villa v Pool prediction to 1-2 at the last minute, which was the correct score line. got my banker bonus and 30 points. It'll do.

And So it Begins...

2007-08-10T06:14:00.000-07:00

And with the dawn of the day tomorrow the Football season for 2007/8 will begin. A few new features. One, I will be posting my picks for the week before the matchdays. Also, since I really have no life I will be watching a lot of footy this season. I'm going to be watching a full match, if not more every weekend and will post about it under the name "The Match I Just Saw" or something far wittier and funnier if I think about it. Now this could be a Premiership game, a French Ligue 1 game, Serie A, La Liga, or Bundesliga, since I now have GOl TV. Anyways, picks for the first matches....

Sunderland 1 v 1 Tottenham
Bolton 2 v 1 Newcastle
Derby 1 v 3 Portsmouth
Everton 2 v 0 Wigan
Boro 1 v 1 Blackburn
West Ham 2 v 1 City
Aston Villa 1 v 1 Liverpool
Arsenal 2 v 0 Fulham
Chelsea 2 v 0 Birmingham
Manchester United 4 v 1 Reading

so there you have it. hope that isn't too hard to read. we'll see how awesome or bad, i do.

Keep Passing the Buck

2007-08-09T06:33:00.000-07:00

David Davies says that English football must tackle some serious issues, among them the influx of foreign managers, players, and owners. He goes onto call English academies as finishing schools for foreign talent.

Dear, Mr Davies. Please take a step back. Maybe you should talk to some people you know and tell them that English players are not worth the prices they are going for on the transfer market. Why spend 10 million on an ok player who happens to be English, when there are foreign players who are way way way cheaper and actually better. The first thing that will make English players better is when they realize they are not all god's gift to football and they have to try hard and play hard. When they realize things aren't given to them for free they will be much better. Hell, the English National Team seems to think they are the best in the world, yet they seem to not really do much at any tournement.

Wait, it starts on saturday???

2007-08-08T08:11:00.000-07:00

Holy hell, the new season is starting on saturday. If anyone was around last year they might remember the awesome in-depth season previews that we wrote. Well, not this year. Basically beacuse we are lazy. but anyways, here is how I think everyone will finish. Not sure if my esteemed co-writer will post picks, I'll just keep bugging him to.....

Chelsea
Manchester United
Arsenal
Liverpool
Everton
Newcastle United
Tottenham
Blackburn Rovers
Aston Villa
Sunderland
Reading
Bolton
Portsmouth
Middlesbrough
Manchester City
Fulham
West Ham
Birmingham City
Wigan
Derby County

Think I'm nuts? leave a comment or two.....

Return of the Sol

2007-08-08T06:06:00.001-07:00

Apparently Sol Campbell would "relish" the opportunity to play for England again, at least according to the beeb.

Basically, the only reason his name has resurfaced is because of injuries to John Terry, Ledley King, and Jonathan Woodgate.

Oh, the reason he hasn't played for England in a while? Well, let's see, he lost his head playing against West Ham and left at half time (i was there) in early 2006. So he didn't play much for Arsenal at the end of that season, except scoring the goal in the CL Final. He did play in the World Cup in 2006 but was dropped when McSven took over, i guess with the whole "regime change" thing.

No Soup for You!!!

2007-08-07T06:11:00.001-07:00

Ok, so sorry for the no posts. Was at Lollapalooza all weekend and then had stuff going on yesterday. Anyways, lets take a step back to saturday when we all found out that Leeds United have to start their first season in League 1 with a 15 point deduction. Well ain't that just a kick in the balls. This whole situation is reminding me of the Soup Nazi episode of Seinfeld. Costanza has just ordered his soup and wants bread and starts asking for bread and after he whines for a bit the Soup Nazi says "3 dollars" to which Constanza is noticably upset. After whining somemore the soup gets taken away. Ken Bates is George Constanza.

Macaulay Culkin ain't got nothing on this kid

2007-08-02T08:16:00.000-07:00

Manchester United have just signed a 9 year old. yes you read that right. I guess signing isn't the best word, but they have allowed him into their academy. The child in question is Rhain Davis, from Australia. His Grandpa sent United a tape and they offered him a spot. Including buying his family a house within 70 miles of Carrington, Untied's training ground, in order to comply with league rules involving Academy players. Check out the kid for yourself...

I'm sure they are hoping he is more of a Tiger Woods then a Sonny Pike, who joined Ajax at the age of 7 and was out of football in 2000 with mental issues.

Oh Sven......and other stuff

2007-08-02T06:27:00.001-07:00

I would like to hear from Citeh fans on how they think their team will do this season. After all, they just completed their 3rd move in 24 hours.

Of course, their gaffer is still one Sven-Goran Eriksson. God, I can't wait to keep track of the blue half of Manchester, just for comic relief.

oh, and Alan Smith might be off to Newcastle. The Geordies and United have agreed a fee. Good move for Smith, since his career had United has been anything but stellar. That horrific knee injury sticks in my head. But, I digress. there is really is only ONE Alan Smith....

Bye Bye Rossi

2007-07-31T11:04:00.000-07:00

Giuseppe Rossi has been sold to Villarreal for an undisclosed fee. Not really surprised by this. He wasn't going to get much first team action at Old Traffod. Now, if he only wanted to play for the USA instead of trying for Italy, everything would be good.

sorry for the late post. network at work was down, and i actually had to some work.

and why they heck are there two Rs in Villarreal?

Robben Out?

2007-07-30T05:58:00.001-07:00

The vocal trumpetings from Real Madrid are getting louder and louder. They obviously really want their man here. But will they get him? Not sure, but if they do I for one think they will be a much better team. Robben has this ability to change games when he comes on as a sub, heck even when he starts. It is like the defense has already decided that they don't know how to deal with him and they are just going to let him run at them.

Please take a number

2007-07-27T07:43:00.000-07:00

Kieron Dyer is unsettled at Newcastle United and appears to be headed (or wants to head to) Tottenham. hmmm. take a number Kieron.

With Robbie Keano, Berbatov, Defoe, and Bent all on the team sheet, it is going to be hard for Dyer to get a game up front, so he'll have to play in Midfield. I'll be the first to admit I have no clue what Dyer's natural position is and I know less about the Spurs midfield. Lets just say this sounds like a dumb move for him.

Dyer to Spurs? (bbc.com)

Oh, and he's 28 years old? good lord, i thought he was like 22.

It is called a knee jerk reaction

2007-07-26T06:02:00.000-07:00

So I was perusing the bbc.com website this morning, per usual, and stumbled upon this on the 606 message boards. I guess for some teams it starts in the pre-season....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A25175289

The New Anfield

2007-07-25T06:14:00.000-07:00

Liverpool have officially unvieled their new stadium plans. Is this the New Anfield? or will it be called Stanley Park? what are the odds that some huge corporation comes in and offers some cash for naming rights?

I think it is fugly.....

Liverpool unveil new stadium (Liverpoolfc.tv)

Fire v Celtic

2007-07-24T07:47:00.000-07:00

I was able to attend the Fire v Celtic friendly at Toyota Park on Sunday. Celtic looked dazed and confused for pretty much the first 70 minutes. It was only near the end that they looked like scoring, which they did. Blanco played well, and it was great to see his debut. I tried to hotlink some of this pictures, but that didn't work, so go here to check them out.

Fire v Celtic Pictures

FIFA: The Buck Doesn't Stop Here

2007-07-24T07:41:00.000-07:00

Today, FIFA showed everyone in the world how ineffective they are and passed the ruling on the Tevez to Manchester United situation to the Court for Arbitration of Sport or CAS.

FIFA says no way (bbc.com)

So basically, they showed they don't have any balls and aren't going to make a ruling. Not sure how long CAS will take, but it is usually a long process, like 6 to 12 months.

That being said I do think that United will get their man. They basically just need to know who to send the money to. Weather it be West Ham or MSI. If West Ham are going to get 30 million pounds, they will be mighty happy. All United want is Tevez, I don't think they really care who they pay. Here is how I think it'll end. CAS rules that United must pay West Ham the entire transfer fee. MSI will take West Ham to court and West Ham will offer them some of the money from the transfer fee in a sort of "fine". MSI will take their money and Tevez will be a Manc.

The CL Final

2007-05-23T06:11:00.000-07:00

well, today is the day. the last day of the season. Only Liverpool and AC Milan are left. Kinda funny actaully. AC Milan shouldn't even be in the CL because of the whole scandal in Italy last year, but since the Italians are spineless, Milan plays on. Then you have Liverpool who finished a respectable 3rd in the Premiership last year. Yes, 3rd. I thought this was the Champions League. Again, I think the CL should only be for the CHAMPIONS of their respective countries, but I digress. I hope it is as entertaining as the last time these two teams met in the final.

Time to face the music....

2007-05-22T06:51:00.000-07:00

ok, so back at the old blog we made some season predicitions. Feel free to call us out on them right now.....

Chelsea
United
Liverpool
Arsenal
Spurs
Bolton
Newcastle
Blackburn
West Ham
Charlton
Fulham
Everton
Manchester City
Reading
Portsmouth
Boro
Sheffield United
Villa
Watford

hmmm, not that bad. really. not that bad.

ok, we suck

Robbo to the Blades

2007-05-22T06:39:00.001-07:00

Bryan Robson has joined Sheffield United as their new gaffer. He really enjoys life in the Colaship, doesn't he? Did he leave WBA or did they fire him? Pretty sure it doesn't really matter since they are in the playoff final.

and i guess we can start posting more. we're lazy. sue us.

Shut it down, shut it down

2007-03-09T09:21:00.000-08:00

TH14 is done for the season. Sounds like it might be a sports hernia. This is a good thing. He is obviously not playing his best and hasn't had a rest in a long long long time. Of course it doesn't help that the gaffer of the French team plays TH14 for 90 minutes and leaves like 3 subs on the bench in a friendly.

This is not good

2007-03-08T08:40:00.000-08:00

With Henrik Larsson's loan spell coming to an end, United will not like the news that Louis Saha is going to be out for 4 weeks.

This not good for them. I think Solskjaer is out injured as well, and this will leave them a little short up front. With the championship no lock for them, it is going to be a tough end to the season. Chelsea are going to keep pace, so 3 points from every league match is a big deal.

Two weeks of Hell

2007-03-07T16:42:00.000-08:00

ugh.

really dissapointed. same Old Arsenal, never winning. Loads of chances and no goals. sad really.

still the CL spot to play for and a very tough schedule coming up. At Villa, at Everton, at Liverpool, Chelsea at Home, at Spurs, and at Pompey. definetly not going to be easy.

my esteemed partner is watching United and then Bayern v Madrid later tonight, so maybe he will actually post something, since this is HIS blog after all.

This again

2007-03-07T09:00:00.000-08:00

Lord Stevens, while researching his bung probe, has reported that 50 transfers involving Premier League clubs breached rules in some way.

Here is my prediction. He investigates this 50 further and in three months time the number is down to 20 and then after another 3 months the number is down to like 10 and then after another 3 months there are 5 and we will find out that nothing bad actually happened.

That is just how things seem to work with Lord Stevens.

Pressure, what do you know about Pressure?

2007-03-07T08:30:00.000-08:00

Props to anyone who can name the movie quoted in the title.

The gaffer of PSV, Ronald Koeman has attempted to pile the pressure all on Arsenal ahead of the 2nd leg tonight at the Grove. Really? your team is up 1-0 numbnuts, of course all the pressure is on Arsenal. hello Captain Obvious. All PSV have to do is keep 10 men behind the ball and if they can nick a goal then Arsenal have to score 3 to win it, so yeah, I guess the pressure wasn't on Arsenal until you said so.

In other news, UEFA has charged both teams in the fracas at Valencia mentioned in the post below this one.

Handbags and Gladrags, again

2007-03-06T15:48:00.000-08:00

So what becomes of you my love. when they have finally stripped you of. the handbags and the gladrags that your dear old grand dad had to sweat to buy you....

oh sorry, got carried away there with Mr Rod Stewert. The picture above is from the Champions League match between Valencia and Inter Milan in Valencia. The one doing the punching is bench player for Valencia and I'm not sure who the one getting his nose broken is. The funniest part? Check out the video below. The puncher starts running and two Milan players try to slide tackle him and take him out. I'm surprised he didn't take a dive and go down, since this is Spain after all.

Wonder UEFA will do about this?

Where are We?

2007-03-06T13:52:00.000-08:00

using the royal "we" here.

i'm in California for work and busy as hell.

OOWK is just fat and lazy.

needless to say, i'll probably get some posts up tonight, but it'll be real late on the east coast by then.

Real Betis has WMDs

2007-02-28T19:31:00.000-08:00

Today in a Copa del Rey tie between Seville and Real Betis (a local derby for those not in the know), the gaffer at Seville was knocked unconcious by an object thrown by a fan.

I call it an object, but the english love to call it a missile. Note to England, a missile is something that is shot from a missile silo, airplane, or boat. It is NOT an object thrown at someone. An object thrown at someone is whatever that object is followed by the word thrown. Learn how to speak English people.

They should talk to their fans....

2007-02-28T07:20:00.000-08:00

After watching the Manchester United Board on Big Soccer go from "we're going to wembley" to "oh my god we have no depth" one would think that United is not a team with a huge bench. Almost giving up a last minute equalizer after being up 3-0 inside 6 minutes is not good, and the fact that United don't have a ton of depth at key poisitions (defense, and some would say midfield) as to be a cause for concern. I guess not to Rio Ferdinand.

"A lot of the lads had not played for a while, Gaby (Heinze) has not played for almost a month and there are a lot of lads who have not been playing regular football and that shows the depth we have got in the squad at the moment," said Ferdinand.

Really Rio? If the Reading keeper knew how to stop a shot that was right at him Reading might have actually won this one. Just a thought

Good Luck figuring out what he meant

2007-02-28T06:37:00.000-08:00

Vladimir Romanov, the owner of Hearts, has been asked to explain the quotes attributed to him in a Russian football magazine.

I really hope he drops a another reference to Mowgali.

It's Finished!

2007-02-28T06:33:00.000-08:00

BBC.com takes you inside the new Wembley here.

My favorite line:

The reality is a kind of Tardis in reverse. To the naked eye it doesn't appear much bigger than the Emirates - capacity 60,000 - even though it has taken twice as long to build, and at twice the cost.

Twice the cost and twice the time. Pathetic. And the FA is now starting to piss and moan about the academy system. Dear FA, if you hadn't spent double the money on the new Wembley maybe you would have some funds to built an England Academy like you were supposed to do.

Vladamir Romanov hates referees

2007-02-22T14:52:00.000-08:00

Now now, i know the above comment isn't as incendiary as the one Mr Tim Hardaway made last week, but whatever. Romanov is again sounding off on referees.

He said, and I quote:

"Today I will express my opinion in English about refereeing in order that your Mowgli will not make you tell lies."

what the hell does that mean? Am I too smart to figure this out? I know who Mowgli is but how the hell does that fit in this context? A feral child, brought up by animals? huh? I hope something is lost in translation.

oh and Sheva scored for Chelsea yesterday, bringing his total of goals up to 10! double digits. Nice job Sheva

But wait, there's more

2007-02-22T08:21:00.000-08:00

As if Lerner, Gillette, Hicks, and Glazier weren't enough, there might be another American owner of a Premiership side. The winners this time around?

Manchester City

Again, rich people get bored and buy football clubs. I get bored and look at porn on the internet

Lets just burn all the bridges

2007-02-19T15:43:00.000-08:00

The new Icelandic Chairman of West Ham, I am too lazy to look up how to spell his name so I shall call him Eggy, has sad that Alan Pardew was bad for the team and it was Pardew's fault that the team was doing bad.

While I think Pardew should take some of the blame (and believe me, I don't like the guy) I think some of the blame should be placed on the back room turmoil that faced West Ham at the beginning of the season and seemed to rear it's ugly head with the dubious signing of the two Argentines and then went away with Eggy's purchase of the team.

It's Karaoke Bitches

2007-02-19T10:30:00.000-08:00

Note to self, if Craig Bellamy asks you to sing karaoke, you better say yes. Apparently John Arne Riise didn't get the memo and when ole Craigers couldn't get to sleep that night he took a putter and started wailing on Riise's legs because he felt disrespected when Riise declined an inviation by Bellamy to sing some karaoke. Rafa Benitez has declared a full investigation.

A little slow on this news and not too many posts recently. I'll start bugging my co-author to get posting. I wish I had posted this yesterday but I was on a plane flying out to CA, where it is 70 and sunny, so everyone in crappy weather can suck on that.

Time for Tea and Scrumpets

2007-02-15T07:07:00.000-08:00

The Queen and the Arsenal football team will be sharing tea time today.

I guess she couldn't make the opening of the new stadium because of a back problem, so she is having the lads around for a spot of tea at the Palace.

Keep her away from Mad Jens. Lords knows what he will do. Of course, the Queen is German, so maybe they will have a lot to talk about.

Dr Marvin, Dr Leo Marvin

2007-02-15T06:41:00.000-08:00

Now, we're not ones to toot our own horn, oh hell, yes we are. It turns out that the FA has agreed to drop 2 friendlies from the England schedule over the next two years, by playing 18 instead of 20. I think this is a great idea. Less friendlies mean less pointless friendly breaks, which means less times that the gaffer of the French National Team will play TH14 for a full 90 minutes while not using all his subs, which means that the players will be more rested and ready to go. Is Sepp Blatter going to stand for this? That guy is nuts, so who really knows. He'll probably make England play 22 friendlies, just because he can. But, baby steps. SHFB is changing the world, even if it is just two less friendlies.

The article I linked to is from the BBC, which is where most of the stuff we get comes from. Anyone else loves how they quote people from their own message boards on the sides of the articles? Do these people even know what they are talking about? The best example of this was on transfer day a few weeks ago. The minute by minute updates were sprinkled with "gossip" from the message boards and had the most outrageous rumors ever. The BBC did say that the info was from the message board, but come one now, you don't have to put it on the offical transfer rundown.

Jinx, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, buy me a coke

2007-02-14T08:00:00.000-08:00

Derby County, currently sitting atop the Colaship table, have called in the PFA to help with a dispute about player bonuses should the team reach the Premiership.

Anyone else think they are jumping the gun? Yes they are in first place, but Birmingham have 3 games in hand and are only 6 points behind, so that could change quickly. Yes, two teams ge promoted, but if Derby drop to 3rd they are in the crap shoot known as the playoffs and all bets are off.

After appeal it'll just be a slap on the wrist

2007-02-14T07:02:00.000-08:00

The joke that is Italian football might be turning a corner. Catania, the team whose fans decided it would be a good idea to riot, have been punished.

The punishment is playing the rest of their home matches behind closed doors or at a neutral venue. No doubt, since this is Italy, that this will be appealed and appealed and appealed until Catania are hosting the Italian National Team.

Interesting point at the end of the article. Turns out that in September of 2006 Catania had to play two matches behind closed doors after their fans clashed with fans of Palermo and Messina.

Guess he got Bored

2007-02-13T11:49:00.000-08:00

Milan Mandaric has completed his takeover of Colaship side Leicester City (pronouced like the name Lester, say it with me my fellow Americans, not Lie-chester). I'm guessing that he got bored with doing nothing after he sold Pompey. Rich people, seriously. When I get bored I decide to surf the internet for porn.

Are you having a laugh?? Obviously

2007-02-09T15:47:00.000-08:00

I know it's about 6 months after the fact, but I have discovered who to blame for England's World Cup loss....Ricky Gervais. Hilarious. I especially love Ian "Shaun should leave Chelsea" Wright's comment at the end.

Pele, he's good.

2007-02-09T13:08:00.000-08:00

It's kind of a slow day, so I figured what the heck, why not post some videos. It's such a cop-out, but I don't really care. Me head's done in with all the addition and dacie rolling from earlier. I figured I'd give some love to Edson Arantes do Nascimiento.

First, the best dummy ever. E-V-E-R.

Second, that Pele, he's a great actor, and modest too.

Return of the Project (part 1)

2007-02-09T10:54:00.000-08:00

As we've discussed here before, we (me, I) have way too much time on our hands so we we're gonna do a project to figure out just what was going to happen the rest of the season in England. Well the results are in for the Prem. Happy, happy, joy, joy, for some, not so much for others. Enjoy.

Manchester United (80)
Chelsea (69)
Liverpool (66)
Arsenal (63)
Reading (63)
Portsmouth (58)
Bolton (58)
Aston Villa (54)
Blackburn (54)
Everton (51)
Sheffield United (50)
Manchester City (49)
Tottenham (47)
Newcastle (45)
Middlesbrough (44)
Charlton (44)
Fulham (43)
Watford (38)
Wigan (36)
West Ham (29)

Arsenal grab the last CLeague spot on goal differential by grabbing a point the last day of the season. Pretty crazy stuff at the bottom of the table, West Ham get 3 points from their last 9 matches to finish dead solid wooden spoon last, and by 7 points nonetheless. Scary stuff for you Watford supporters, the second best point tally of any squad (next to Charlton, who went on a tear to stay up and save Pardew's job) and still finished 5 points from safety.

Put him in a bodybag

2007-02-09T06:53:00.000-08:00

QPR and The Chinese U23 team decided to play a friendly. here is what happened:

Come on you RRRRRRRRRs. Serioulsy, how does something like this happen? Did the gaffer yell "sweep the leg" to anyone on the pitch? In response to it, China has sent 7 players home. I don't know if this was the first team for QPR or not, but they put up more fight then they did when I saw them play Leicester City last winter. The FA should take action in this or at least QPR should take action on this.

Introducing your 2010 WC Champions

2007-02-08T06:00:00.000-08:00

Last night the USA defeated Mexico 2-0 in Glendale, AZ.

I thought the US played ok, not great, but ok. My esteemed collegue seems to think that it was the worst he's ever seen a team play and win 2-0, so there you go. I have to say that the University of Phoenix Stadium looked good, but the camera angles were crap. The default camera was too far back and I didn't like the use of the "sky-cam" one bit, it was weird, as were the cameras for the corner kicks. It just didn't seem right.

Since the USA is now 2-0 under Bob Bradley, the calls have already been made to remove the interim from his title and make him the head coach. I'm sure the soccer press in the USA today will be all over this saying the future is bright blah blah blah....

'Mommy Mommy look at the Elephants'

2007-02-06T11:49:00.000-08:00

Get your tickets here, get your tickets now, because if you live an MLS city the Circus is coming to town this season. The 2007 MLS Schedule came out, and surprise surprise, once David Beckham makes his transfer in July, The Galaxy will visit every MLS team, at least once. MLS braintrust (I use that term ever so loosely) has determined that it'd probably be a good idea for their showcase player to make it to every stadium to boost ticket sales, if only for a solitarily match. Quite frankly, I think it's a pretty smart move. Once the schedule came out, they pretty much said, "hey we made some changes to accomodate Becks," and no one can really blame them. If they are indeed going to maximize their return on investment, they need to get him in front of the largest number of people possible in about half a season. Might as well just front load LA with home games early on, and send them on the Nationwide Tour in the fall. I have no doubts attendances will be up significantly on those road dates for the Galaxy, but the question is how many people come back immediately following his departure, that's where you can determine his overall effect on attendance/viewership, and those are the numbers that other clubs are counting on.

USA USA USA USA

2007-02-06T08:24:00.000-08:00

There are new owners at Liverpool FC and they just happen to hail from the United States of America. George Gillett and Tom Hicks have joined Malcolm Glazier and Randy Lerner has owners of Premiership teams in England. Gillett owns the Monteral Canadiens while Tom Hicks is the owner of the Texas Rangers and the Dallas Stars. So basically, teams in the Prem are becoming play things for rich Americans. Just wait until I win the lottery.

Gilette, out for world domination.

2007-02-05T09:24:00.000-08:00

I'd love to be a fly on the wall in that room. For those who haven't heard, TH14, Roger Federer and Tiger Woods are going to be in Gilette commercials all over the world. I am kind of in awe of that picture to be honest, in the middle you have the "worst" one of the bunch (relatively of course), nothing like Winning a World Cup, a European Cup, a couple of league titles, 3 FA Cups, finishing runner-up for World Player of the Year, twice, leading your league in scoring 4 of the last 5 seasons and be on the low end of the totem pole, in a razor commercial. I mean that's pretty bad, unless of course you consider that the people sitting on either side of him, happen to be, oh I don't know, the two most dominant athletes in their respective sports. EVER. That's got to be a real killer for your self confidence, of course none of the others have a commercial where their sole responsibility is saying "Va-Va-Voom".

I Hate Ron Turner

2007-02-05T06:21:00.000-08:00

For those you not in the know, both OOWK and I are Bears fans. We watched the game at his old man's place last night and it was like a repeat of every bad Bears offense we've seen in the past 10 years. 3rd and 7? Let's run a 5 yard pass play and then punt it. Thanks Ron, you ruined Illinois and now you've probably ruined the Bears. I can't wait another 21 years for them to get to the Super Bowl.

On a footy related note, my team drew 1-1 on a dodgy penalty (red card was justified, but contact was negligable and outside the box) and his team won 4-0 and took the lead on a dodgy penalty (be honest you Mancs), so United are stil in first and Arsenal lose more ground. At least Liverpool couldn't get all 3 points in the Merseyside derby.

Italian Football is a Farce

2007-02-02T15:20:00.000-08:00

This weekends Serie A and Serie B matches have been postponed because a police officer was KILLED before a match. This is insane. Italian football is in shambles. It is a joke. All you hear about in the press is England fans and all that crap and then something like this happens. Maybe the media should open their eyes.

You damn dirty metatarsal!!!!!!

2007-02-02T09:00:00.000-08:00

So the infamous broken metatarsal has once again struck an England International, what's this about the fifth time (Beckham, Scott Parker, Gaz Neville, Wazza)? This time the victim is Ledley King, he of the awkward Klingon-style, bump in the head, mohawk. He's expected to miss about 8 weeks, so by the time that elapses and he gets back to match fitness, there may not be much of the season left. Not sure how many Euro qualifiers, if any he will miss, but Spurs will definately miss him in the UEFA Cup Round of 16, after they beat the shite out of BYE in the Round of 32. Seriously, this is getting ridiculous, with all of these metatarsal injuries lately, anybody think about, oh I don't know, maybe changing the type of uncomfortable-ass boots they wear. I suggestfuzzy bunny slippers.

(define irony: I am wrtiting on Stephen Hawking's Football Boots while watching the episode of The Office that inspired the name. Is that irony, or is it just art imitating life imitating art, I never know which is which, of course neither does Alanis Morisette)

We got Owen

2007-02-02T06:19:00.000-08:00

The above slogan is a popular t-shirt for Chicago Cubs fans, but instead of Owen, it says "We got Wood". Childish I know, but that is what you get when you haven't won a World Series in almost 100 years. Moving on, the comparision is a good one because Michael Owen is pretty much the Kerry Wood of the Premiership. He is very good on his day and was projected to be a savior of sorts, but when it comes down to it he is injured and can never play. Then all the supporters clamor on about if he wasn't injured, and if he was playing, blah blah blah. Well, keep clamoring because it looks like it ain't going to happen this year.

Arsenal Colorado?

2007-02-01T14:02:00.000-08:00

No, the North Londeners aren't the latest team to pack up shop and move to another area, I'm look at you MK Dons, it turns out that the Colorado Rapids are being rebranded Arsenal Colorado. This is LAME. Not just because I am a Gooner, but because MLS team names are lame. Either go with something like Toronto FC which is fine, because we speak english here, instead of FC Dallas, Real Salt Lake, or Houston Dynamo. DC United is a good name to. I can't find any articles on this, but I saw it on Big Soccer. www.arsenalcolorado.com has gone inactive, but there is stuff on it at Wikipedia.

Who are Ya?

2007-02-01T08:08:00.000-08:00

I guess Theirry Henry wasn't a house hold name when he arrived at Arsenal from Juventus. Not surprised, he wasn't really that well known, just look at the price that Arsenal paid.

They Call Me Tel or Telboy (The Sun)

Although it is kind of nice to know that players can go out in the world and not get bothered by too many people, of course with the British press going ga-ga over other celebrities, some footballers fall by the wayside.

If anything I'm watching more England U-21 matches

2007-02-01T06:16:00.000-08:00

Steve "Psycho" Pearce has taken over officially as the new gaffer for the England U-21 team.

This should up the entertainment value of these matches by at least 10. However, what of City? Pearce is now the gaff at both places. I wouldn't be surprised to see him leaving City in the near future if things with the U-21 go well and things with Steve McLaren's England squad head south.

On a completly unrelated note, I'm reading Left Foot in the Grave by Garry Nelson, recommended and given to me by OOWK, which is about Nelson being the assistant coach/player for Torquay during the 95/6 (i think) season. Good book, I would recommend it to anyone who likes watching football

Ten men to bed, went to bed with Ashley

2007-02-01T06:11:00.000-08:00

Ok, so the above song is about as mean as I would get towards Ashley Cole. His injury yesterday looked very very painful. I think he is going to be out for a while, and so does the Special One.

Here is the video. It isn't as bad as watching Joe Theismann get is leg broke out from under him. It kind of reminds me of Willis McGehee's injury in the Fiesta Bowl a few years back (the way the leg moves) except no one tackles Ash.

I give him an 8.5 for performance and 8.1 for technique

2007-01-31T08:34:00.000-08:00

Marco Matterazzi, the Italian who took the full force of Zinadine Zidane's forehead on the chest, is the victim of another headbutting. Yes he gets touched, but way less then the one from teh World Cup, and he goes down like he just got clocked in the face. See for your self:

He's Fat, he's round...

2007-01-30T13:25:00.000-08:00

Fat Ronaldo has been shipped off to AC Milan for a bargin price of about 4 million pounds, much less then his fee of 20 million which Real Madrid paid to Inter Milan. It really is the end of the Galacticos era at Real Madrid, with Zizou, Ronaldo, and Mr Posh Spice all gone.

Does anyone actually read this? anyone? we got some love on deadspin which gave us more views in one day then we had had in like a month, but it doesn't look like anyone stuck around. post some comments if you want people!

Sunglasses at Night

2007-01-30T08:05:00.000-08:00

Does anyone wonder if Edgar Davids wears his sunglasses at night? I've thought about this for a while and think he does, even when he isn't playing. Are the glass like Rip Hamilton's face guard? He had to wear them at one point in his career and got so used to them that he can't play without them, or is there a valid reason that he wears them? After a quick check of wikipedia, turns out he has got glaucoma.

Anyways, turns out Davids will not be plying his trade with FC Dallas, which was the talk of everyone when Mr Posh Spice signed with the Galaxy. Instead, he will return to Ajax, a club with which he won the Champions League.

Hmm, glaucoma, Amsterdam, "coffee" shops, hmmm...............

$%^&@ her on her plastic covered couch

2007-01-29T08:01:00.000-08:00

Turns out Andy Stitzer (yes that is his name, thank you imdb) isn't the only one trying to pork a lady while she watches "Murder She Wrote". I guess Wayne Rooney was accused of having sex with a grandmother of 16 at a brothel in Liverpool, it was printed by the Sun in 2004. Well, said grandmother sued the sun, but the case was thrown out.

Judge Dismisses Libel Case over Wayne Rooney Sex Claim (The Guardian)

Here is some background:

Rooney Admits Prostitute Visits (BBC)
Woman Sues Rooney Over Sex Claim (BBC)

Shevchenko Goal Watch

2007-01-29T06:19:00.000-08:00

Our favorite Ukrainian notched another goal this weekend. Maybe he should just play lower league teams all the time.

9 goals at 3,333,333.33 quid per goal

I think Roman just found his new investment strategy

Things I've learned today.

2007-01-27T11:20:00.000-08:00

It's an FA Cup Saturday, a perfect day to learn things about, well anything. What have I learned today? Several things. Where to begin?? Firstly, I think it's seriously time to start considering video technology, even if it is for incidents involving goals (ball over the line). Let me just say that my mind was made up long before today, in fac tmy mind was made up during an incident where video technology would have hurt United (Carroll's folly against Spurs a few years back), ironically it was Pedro Mendes who had his goal dissallowed that day, and was the one who (didn't) clear Vidic's header off the line in their FA Cup tie today. Secondly, Wayne Rooney's slump is over, another 2 goals today (the second being the stuff of magic, hopefully video to follow later today) in 30 minutes on the pitch, to go along with his goal last weekend against Arsenal, and I think it's safe to say that Wayne is starting to find his form again, look out. Thirdly, the hottest team in the UK right now is Bristol City. They came back from 2 goals down against Middlesbrough to earn a nice pay-day replay at the The Riverside. The draw extended Bristol's unbeaten run to 18 matches, and I would not be shocked at all to eventually see them comeout on top in this tie, when all is said and done. Lastly, Glen Johnson is abslutely brutal, and will find himself in the Championship inside of two years. He gave the ball away on too many occasions, allowed everybody he went up against today to get on the wrong side of him, and just generally looked like he didn't want to be anywhere near the pitch today.

It's Project Time!!!

2007-01-26T08:13:00.000-08:00

Seeing as I have too much time on my hand's today (when don't I), I decided it'd be a good idea to come up with a project, and that project is to determine what will happen over the rest of the campaigns in the Prem, Colaship, League 1 and League 2. How am I going to make these determinations you ask? Why dice of course. Just one simple six-sided die, and a fixture list is all I need to predict what is going to happen over the next 4 months. Who knew? Using the die I can figure out the scores for the remaining fixtures. A roll of 1 or 2 is equal to 0 goals. A 3 or 4 is equal to 1 goal, 5 is qual to 3 goals and 6 is equal to 3 goals. How did I come up with this earth shattering formula? By taking a look at the results over the last couple of years, it's been a lot more likely to see 1 goal or 0 goals than any other number, so thus we make it twice as likely to have those numbers be in the scoreline. And yes, I'm well aware that I am setting scientific method back about an entire millenia, but what do you want from me, I have a history degree. Stay tuned to this site over the next couple of days (most likely monday and tuesday) to see the ending tables from all leagues. God bless days off.

Easter for Wales

2007-01-26T07:38:00.000-08:00

We here at SHFB would like to congratulate Jermaine Easter for his first call up to the Wales National Team.

We just really really really wish he was back at Stockport County and not scoring bags of goals for League 2 rivals Wycombe.

All the news that's fit to print (Jan 26th)

2007-01-26T07:36:00.000-08:00

Stories to follow as you ponder food poisoning from bar food.

God hates AFC Wimbledon. [BBC]
Hands off the hand-bag carrying midfielder. [Setanta]
Gotta love that KGB. [London Times]
An excuse to type Kabba. [ESPNSoccernet]
Get your shares quickly, before next round of CLeague. [Foxsoccer]

Enjoy

Sepp Blatter Part Deux

2007-01-26T07:31:00.000-08:00

Now that Michael Platini has been elected as the head of UEFA, it is safe to say that there will be twice as many crazy ideas being suggested on how to fix world football. Here are his ideas:

Gaining recognition of football's special status in European law
Developing all Uefa competitions, including Intertoto Cup, youth and women's championships
Combating racism, xenophobia and fraud
Correcting inequalities and establishing equal opportunities
Reducing the maximum number of teams per country in the Champions League to three
In creasing co-operation with Fifa
A hands-on presidency and more decision-making by Uefa executive

Some of them are good and not that crazy. Racisim is obviously a bad thing and needs to be out of the game of football and a tougher stance is needed. I also agree with less teams in the CL. I am in favor of having 1 team from each country in the CL with the money being distributed to the leagues as a whole and the team representing that country getting a bigger share. It is, after all, a CHAMPIONS league.

Not mentioned above, but still important is Platini's wish to have 4 linesman. I think this is a dumb move, if anything they should just use video replay. It shouldn't take that long to make a video replay descision, like 30 seconds at most. Either a goal is a goal or it isn't. Either a player is offsides or he is not. It isn't that hard.

Everyone, includng my mother, offered Zizou a contract

2007-01-25T12:43:00.000-08:00

Imagine my surprise when I pull up bbc.com and see an article about my local club offering Zidane a contract .

I was shocked that the Chicago Fire would do something, but when I read the article, it says that EVERY MLS club offered Zizou a contract and that he turned them all down. Some hack at the beeb must've had a dartboard with a map of the USA on it and landed his dart near Chicago. Or, it could be that John Guppy, the much maligned Club President (or whatever he calls himself these days) is a Brit and probably dropped to some friend who told someone else and on and on and on that the Fire had offered Zizou a contract.

Man-Love, it's what's for dinner.

2007-01-25T11:28:00.000-08:00

Is it ok to say that you love another man, who you have no relation to, and have it not be a bit gay? If it is, then I love Jaime Trecker. If not, then I never wrote that last sentence and will deny it when the men with the white coats come and take me away. Who, ask is this object of my affection? He's one of the only level-headed footy writers I've found, especially when it comes to writing about the future of US footy. I've found that whenever any level (U-20, U-17) of the US gets a result, writers everywhere start banging the jingoistic drums, and sounding the "future is now" trumpets(Greg Lalas, I'm talking to you), but in the end it's just a bunch of noise. One result, does not a World Cup winner make. Boro gave Bolton a 5-1 beatdown last week, I don't see anyone making the case for the Premiership title to reside at The Riverside soon. The US got a real easy qualifying pool, I mean who knew that Hate-ians had football, and took advantage of it, but let's not go giving them the trophy for this summer's U-20 World cup just yet, and when it comes to predicting the future from these results remember this...

"It's a better predictor of eventual stardom than the FIFA Under-17 show, but even that one offers a point of comparison. In 2005, the player of the Finland-hosted tournament was Cesc Fabregas, and everyone knows where he is today. I don't think anyone would suggest that best player the Americans have, Adu, could jump into — much less steer — a top European club.
That alone should tell you how much work U.S. Soccer has to do to reform their youth teams programs. Right now, it's too easy for the USA to get into a major FIFA youth tournament."

All the news that's fit to print (Jan 25th)

2007-01-25T07:39:00.000-08:00

Stories to follow as you ponder how to make it through another day bored at work.

Warn the town the Beast is loose, Ahhhhha Ahhhhha. [Foxsoccer.com]
Yankee go home!! [ESPNSoccernet]
Easiest win Spurs will ever get. [Setanta]
Pick me, pick me. [ESPNSoccernet]
People are gonna start to ask questions. [CNNSI.com]

Enjoy

Give me something to break

2007-01-24T10:18:00.000-08:00

See that mug to the left right there, that's the face of Greg Lalas, footy writer for CNNSI.com, Greg suffers from an in-cureable disease, it's called stupidity. As much as we here at SHFB have tried, we have yet to come up with a cure, which means that people like Greg, will have to continue to go through life displaying all their symptoms and generally annyoing the hell out of me. How, you ask, do I know that Greg has been afflicted with this most common affliction ('what condition my condition was in)', well he wrote this garabge, for starters. For those of you that want to avoid wasting 3 minutes of your life, and feeling compelled to scream at your computer screen, let me give you the short version. Greg's basic premise is that he watched the US beat Denmark on Saturday, and based on the results has come to the conclusion that:

...these kids -- the average age of 18-man roster was about 25 -- have confidence in their abilities, their first touch, their gumption, that has never existed in so many American players at the same time. Mark my words, the United States is going to cause all kinds of havoc at the 2010 World Cup and is going to challenge for the World Cup trophy in 2014.

Let me give you a minute to catch your breath, or in some cases regain consciousness. That's right folks, the US, who with it's "best team ever", didn't even qualify for the knockout stages (and actually finished tied with Trinidad & Tobago and Iran, powerhouses them, in 26th place) is going to seriously challenge for the World Cup in 2014. Riiiiiight. You're probably wondering, just exactly who are those players that are going to take us to the promised, why its Justin Mapp, Jonathan Bronstein, Ricardo Clark and Kenny Cooper of course. Yep, the very same Kenny Cooper who couldn't hack it in Manchester and high-tailed it back home to Dallas (landy cakes, anyone?), is going to help us lift the World Cup. Sorry Greg, but when it comes to evaluating talent, I think I'll trust the staff that brought us Scholes, Giggs, Neville, Butt, and Beckham, over you.

While I'm at it, you know what else is ridiculous, the fact that this may not even be the gaffer to lead the side into 2010, let alone 2014. Bradley only has a few moths left, and I sure wouldn't bet the farm that he gets the gig full time, how do we even know that any of these players would be even be in another coaches side.

All the News that's fit to print (Jan 24th)

2007-01-24T06:36:00.000-08:00

Stories to follow as you ponder how you're gonna come up with 5 stories on this slow news day.

Watford loves them some Rocky Balboa. [ESPNSoccernet]
Say you'll stay, don't come and gooooo like you do. [London Times]
Wax that ass. [Foxsoccer]
Captain Obvious, to the rescue. [Setanta]
That sound you here is a standing ovation. [BBC]

Enjoy

Shevchenko Goal Watch

2007-01-24T06:05:00.000-08:00

If anyone was paying attention yesterday, Sheva scored twice in Chelsea's 4-0 win over League Two side Wycombe in the 2nd leg of their Carling Cup Semi. This beings Sheva's totals for the season to:

8 goals at 3,750,000 quid per goal

It was his 46th appearence (as a starter or sub, i don't feel like doing all the math) at 652,174 quid per appearence.

I want his job.

League Cup Memories

2007-01-23T16:46:00.001-08:00

Here's some good Arsenal v Spurs League Cup memories

All the news that's fit to print

2007-01-23T09:20:00.000-08:00

Stories to follow as you ponder Illinois v. Indiana tonight.

Radoslaw Matusiak is too cool for school. [BBC]
No more Horse Face for Holland. [FoxSoccer]
Keith Gillespie, naughty, naughty. [Setanta]
That's why they call him Big Ron A., he's back, he's back. [ESPNSoccernet]
'Who are ya?' West Jesmond FC, of course. [BBC]

Enjoy.

The 30 Million Pound Man

2007-01-23T06:15:00.000-08:00

Andriy Shevchenko may get to finally start a match again today in the 2nd leg of Chelsea's Carling Cup Semi-final against Wycombe at Stamford Bridge. The picture to the right is a little small, but deal with it. It is al I could find on google images. I think the best part of the article is this:

Shevchenko, 30, has only scored six goals in 30 appearances since his £30m summer mover from AC Milan.

Wow, 30 appearances, so 1 million per appearance, and only 6 goals to show for it. Good buy right there Roman.

Brazil Football is Shite, seriously.

2007-01-22T18:35:00.000-08:00

It's absolutely true and there's no disputing it, it is a fact, when Brazil turn out for their friendly with Portugal at the Emirates stadium, they're side will resemble, nay, be covered in shite. Think I am kidding? Take a look at the team sheet. Not only will the midfield be patrolled by Kaka, but coming of the bench in support will be Dudu. I tell you what, no matter how you look at that, it's pure shite. Brazil is starting to dissapoint me, they have always had the great one name players, Ronaldo, Pele, Ronaldinho, Adriano, Romario (that's a shite load of vowels), and now we've been reduced to this. But I guess it shouldnt' be a surprise when you realize that Dung(a) is picking the side.

Get your tickets to South Africa 2010 folks.

2007-01-22T14:13:00.000-08:00

There's been a lot of chatter recently about the upcoming (I use the term loosely, seeing as upcoming in this instance is referring to 3 and a half years from now) World Cup in 2010, and that chatter centers mainly around whether or not South Africa, the country chosen to host, will actually be allowed to do so. About a month after this past World Cup, there were several rumors floating around that, South Africa would have its WC taken away and it would be given to either Germany or the United States, due to the lack of progress on several fronts, most notably the lack of progress on the building of stadia, and the problems with the infrastructure (transportation, most notably). FIFA of course came out and gave the old "there's nothing to see here people, move along" vote of confidence and said that the rumors were rubbish. I of course never believe anyhting that come out of FIFA's mouth, and anyone that thinks that South Africa 2010 is set in stone need only read the account below. It comes from one somebody I know, we'll call him 'Chico' (just cus it sounds funny ), who just spent a significant amount of time over there. Let's just say I won't be getting tickets soon.

"Finally, the World Cup 2010 in South Africa. There's a pretty good chance it'll be a bloody disaster. People there are obsessed with it, but there's now a lot of fear even within the country that it'll get moved to Germany or the U.S. becasue S.A. isn't going to be ready. They don't really have any of the big stadia (solid plural) built or remodelled yet. In Cape Town, there's an ongoing legal battle with residents of Green Point (the neighborhood of the proposed stadium) about the construction plans being completely environmentally irresponsible. This is still being fought about, even though construction was already supposed to have started. I think if they get the stadium built, Cape Town is cosmopolitan enough to handle a big event like that, though. Johannesburg (and, to a lesser extent, Durban) is a freaking mess, though. The transportation there is almost non-existent. They have plans to build a subway system by 2010, but haven't even broken ground on it yet. Nobody there actually believes it will get done. The government is so damn corrupt there, they just pocket all sorts of money and rarely do what they're supposed to do with it. The biggest problem in Jo'burg and nationwide, though, will be crime. With all of those tourists there, it's going to be a fuckin' free-for-all. The cops, like the government officials, are utterly useless. The country will claim that crime stats are dropping leading up to 2010. That's only because nobody even bothers to report crimes to the police anymore. When I was mugged, the cops did everything in their power to dissuade me from filing a report. I guess we'll see what happens. There are still 3 years left, so you never know, but I'm not optimistic. SA is really very Western in a lot of ways, but also very much a developping nation in a lot of other ways. For the sake of the country, I hope it works out because it would be a huge boom to their economy and to SA's international reputation."

I have to agree with him on the last part, I understand how important it would be for the economy, in particularly its tourism, but I guess the question has to be asked, which would be worse, not hosting it at all, or hosting it and having it be a disaster?

Now isn't that a sticky wicket...

2007-01-22T11:50:00.000-08:00

Apparently, Cricket Australia and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are trying to iron out a deal to play a 7 match One-Day International Series in either New York or Toronto this year.

Now, don't count me as the voice for America, but there is no way that cricket will ever be popular here. At least with born and raised Americans. Even with the super short Twenty20 version of the game, cricket would struggle to gain a foothold in the American sports landscape. Americans will never be able to appreciate a sport that takes a break for lunch and tea and where you might be out in the field for EIGHT hours. Most Americans don't like sitting through a boring baseball game, and I doubt they would want to see some crappy spin bowler put down 10 straight dot balls.

I'm sure most of the people reading this don't understand any of the jargon. Oh well, it really is a shame. Cricket is a fun game to watch and gives me something to do at work in the morning, when I don't feel like working.

Can he show himself a Red Card?

2007-01-22T09:01:00.000-08:00

So Uriah Rennie might be demoted for his huge gaff this weekend when Scott Parker was not offsides even though he was interfering with the play.

The offsides rule is a complicated one, but it shouldn't be that hard to tell if a player is interfering with play. Rennie is a horrible official and should be demoted. He shouldn't be allowed to ref in the Premiership again.