With two games remaining, Chelsea and Manchester United are now tied for the lead in the Premier League. A bad week for United ended with as they lost 2-1 to Chelsea, and now both teams are tied with 81 points in first place.

The week began on Wednesday when Manchester United tied with Barcelona in the Champion’s League. The game could have been won, but Cristiano Ronaldo failed to convert a penalty early in the game. He shot wide right as they keeper dove left and could do nothing but put his head in his hands. The poor performance could have stemmed from the league complaining about Ronaldo’s approach to the penalty spot, calling it questionable. Obviously concerned, Ronaldo choked with an opportunity to steal an away goal in Barcelona.

As for the weekend in England, Chelsea pulled out an important win that left them tied for first. Just weeks ago it seemed as if Manchester United was unstoppable and en route to the title. Surprisingly, Arsenal is still in the mix after a 6-2 thrashing of Derby County. Arsenal sit 4 points behind both Chelsea and Manchester United. Although improbable, Arsenal stealing the title would only prove that this season has been one of the most unpredictable. Cesc Fabregas of Arsenal still has hope for Arsenal and is picturing them taking the title…

Nothing is Impossible. We have to win the next two games and then we’ll see. We are not the favorites, but you never know.

You never know is right. Arsenal were running away with the title coming down the stretch and suddenly gave the title to the streaking United with a string of poor results. Chelsea surprisingly, have been hanging around and now have momentum coming into the final two games of the season. Despite several Chelsea trade rumors, which included its coach, Chelsea has overcome outside talk and have played solid soccer down the stretch. I expect Chelsea to walk away with the title with United falling one point shy of glory.

Silvio Berlusconi, President of AC Milan, has now admitted that the cost of Ronaldinho may be too high. This has led to Manchester City and AC Milan rival, Inter Milan, to get into the mix. With the cost of the 28 year old superstar is too high because there is a lot of doubt surrounding the star. The Ronaldinho trade to AC Milan has caused quite a stir, but now it seems he may be open to more clubs who are willing to spend a great deal of cash. Here’s what SIlvio Berlusconi had to say about the transfer of Ronaldinho…

We still want him and we know he wants to come to Milan. But Barcelona have asked for a price which we feel is excessive.

Ronaldinho has had his worst season yet as he riddled with injuries and his fitness level has not been up to par. The uncertainty of Ronaldinho playing throughout a season is the main concern. He has only played 13 of Barcelona’s 30 games this year and will me the rest of the games. Who would pay so much for only 13 games a season?

I think Manchester City will take the risk of bringing in Ronaldinho. With young Kasper Schmeichel in goal for the next couple of seasons, Manchester City could have a solid young team in their hands. An addition of a superstar like Ronaldinho could bring them up to the top of the premiership table.

Samuel Eto’o, striker from Cameroon, has added to Barcelona’s growing problems. He has now said that he will leave if Barcelona does not come up with a trophy by the end of next season. A loss of this magnitude will certainly send Barcelona down to the middle of the Spanish Primera Division. This is what Eto’o had to say…

If we continue not to win any trophies next year, then I will go somewhere else. I’ve done it all in Spain, I’ve reached the heights here and so if I do leave I will go to another league.

Eto’o, who comes off as a selfish player, proves that he is selfish off the field as well. He joined Barcelona in 2004 and has won trophies with the Spanish powerhouse. His team’s performance ended Barcelona’s dreams of winning the Spanish League as they tied 0-0 Espanyol, leading Eto’o to make remarks of possibly leaving the team. With only the Champion’s League trophy to win, Eto’o has become very anxious about his future with Barcelona.

Barcelona has done fairly well in the Champion’s League despite its poor play in Spain. They had a close call last round with Turkish squad, Fenerbahce, but overcame a first leg loss to win in the second leg and advancing to the next round. Barcelona find themselves in the final four of Europe’s most prestigious league matched up with a surging Manchester United team, who unfortunately for Barcelona fans, are playing their best soccer of the year. A loss for Barcelona could send fans into a deep stage of depression as nothing seems to be going right for Barca at the moment. The Eto’o situation is not helping coming into the first leg of the semi-final round and could hurt team morale.

Barcelona fans might not be able to endure another big name loss as earlier this month they learned that fan favorite, Ronaldinho, is more than likely heading to Italy, possibly a trade to AC Milan. Rumors of French superstar Thierry Henry heading back to England have also swirled. Luckily for Barca fans Vice President, Ferran Soriano, shot down those rumors. When asked if Henry will be headed back to the Premiership he had this to say…

I don’t think so. I spoke with him at length a week ago and he is happy in Barcelona. We were a bit disappointed because the team we have is the team to win all competitions and we are not doing very well in the domestic championship. But apart from that he is fine and I’m sure he is not coming back to the UK.

Henry isn’t the only one who has been rumored to leave Barcelona to go to the Premiership. Coach, Frank Rijkaard, has been rumored to be leaving Barcelona to head to Chelsea. Current Chelsea coach, Avram Grant, has been under fire this season and is likely out of Stamford Bridge soon. Rijkaard would be a perfect fit for Chelsea but all remains to be seen. When asked about Rijkaard’s possibilities of heading to the Premiership, Soriano refused to comment.

Barcelona face Cristiano Ronaldo and Manchester United on Wednesday as heavy underdogs. The 27 year old Eto’o, still has hope though to go to Russia for the Champions League final.

They are a step above us, but let’s see what happens on Wednesday…For me it is a big motivation that they are being classed as the favourites, that makes me even more keen to beat them.

Throughout my years as a soccer fan I have seen some pretty stupid things. Such as Arsenal blowing a lead by tying a bunch of games in row this year, but forget that for now. Also, I have heard some pretty dumb things. Below is my list of the top 10 dumbest quotes from the players you love to watch. Enjoy!

10. Ugo Ehiogu- “I’m as happy as I can be…but I’ve been happier.”

9. David Beckham- “My parents have always been there for me, ever since I was about 7.”

8. Lee Hendrie- “I took a whack on my left ankle, but something told me it was my right.”

7. Mark Viduka- “I wouldn’t be bothered if we lost every game, as long as we won the league.”

6. Les Ferdinand- “I was surprised, but I always say nothing surprises me in football.”

5. Mitchell Thomas- “All that remains is for a few dots and commas to be crossed.”

4. Stan Collymore- “I faxed a transfer request to the club at the beginning of the week, but let me state I don’t want to leave.”

3. Barry Venison- “I always used to put my right boot on first, and then obviously my right sock.”

2. Thierry Henry- “Sometimes in football you have to score goals.”

drum roll please….

1. Ronaldo- “We lost because we didn’t win.”

By Sean Connolly

In one of the most drawn out signings in recent memory, Ronaldinho has officially signed with AC Milan. It seems like such a long time ago when it was first said that Ronaldinho would be a part of AC Milan, and after several months and several teams getting involved it’s finally over with.

Many things have happened but in the end I have become a Rossonero player. I am happy to find so many Brazilians but also all the champions that wear the Rossoneri colors. I am really happy. After many years I am here. I am delighted to have arrived to AC Milan and I hope to be able to give a lot of joy to everyone.

Ronaldinho on Finally Signing With AC Milan

AC Milan’s new product will be shown off on Thursday as Ronaldinho will be welcomed with welcomed arms at the San Siro Stadium at 9:30 P.M. This tedious transfer hasn’t taken its toll though. Both Inter Milan, and Manchester City were very well involved in looking to pick up the once world’s greatest player. It has also affected other players who have been unsure where to go, with a portion of their decision in the hands of Ronaldinho. Emmanuel Adebayor seemed the likely choice for Milan but suddenly chose Ronaldinho over the Arsenal star. There has also been rumors that Frank Lampard and Ronaldinho wanted to join forces and that a trade could put those two together.

This transfer should open the flood gates for a lot of moves in the next week or two. It seemed like this and the Cristiano Ronaldo transfer seemed to be blocking the door for a lot of teams. Barcelona haven’t looked back on Ronaldinho as they themselves have signed Alexander Hleb to a 4 year deal from Arsenal.

Who are the losers in this move though? It has to be Manchester City. At one point it seemed imminent that Manchester City would in fact steal Ronaldinho from AC Milan and sign the star but even after offering more than the 21 million Euros that AC Milan will pay Ronaldinho, his heart is in Milan. Signing Ronaldinho looked like such a smart and promising move for Manchester City that would have garnered them much attraction and could possibly allow them to compete with Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, and Manchester United. Now, even after signing Brazilian Jo, things look bleak for Manchester City as they may need to pull out another blockbuster to bring them up the table.

What does moving to Serie A mean for Ronaldinho? Personally I think this is where it ends for the star. The league is way too strong defensively for Ronaldinho to pull out his magic and he will soon become an average player whose impact won’t reflect his paycheck. I think it’s time to bid Ronaldinho farewell as he will become lost in Italy as I said months ago in my earlier post…

April 13th 2008

Ronaldinho to AC Milan, and the Beginning of the End for the Star

With Ronaldinho headed to AC Milan in the best defensive league in the world, he will surely struggle again next season to find his form. His whole career has been offensive-minded, whether it be in Brazil or Spain, and changing his entire style of play to a defensive-minded atmosphere will be a total shock to the two-time FIFA World Player of the Year. His game will be slowed down not only by his own team but by others as the defensive patterns stress slowing down opponents’ midfield attack.

Ronaldinho, who up until this year has been considered the best player worldwide, will be headed to Italy when the season ends, as rules state that the season must complete for the transfer to be completed. AC Milan and Barcelona only have to agree on a few things and the deal should be done and Ronaldinho will be as Italian as spaghetti. OK, maybe not, but he will play in Italy nevertheless. Ronaldhino has had a tough season as he is out injured for the rest of the season, and before the injury that set Barcelona back to mediocrity, he struggled to find the fantastic form we are accustomed to.

This is a bad move for Ronaldinho. He will not be the Ronaldinho we saw cutting up defenses, making those who attempt to stop him fall flat on their face, and free-kicks hugging the edge of the wall and hitting the side-netting. We will see a semi-productive midfielder who can create chances for Kaka and others on AC MIlan, but he will not be the main fixture in Milan’s lineup. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Ronaldinho to become a 12th man for a majority of his career in Italy. But, that we cannot tell.

But, what if Ronaldinho does find his form again? If he does than AC MIlan will quickly, and easily become the most complete, dynamic, and talented teams in the world. If he and Kaka, last year’s player of the year award winner, can perform well together, who could possibly stop them in Italy, better yet, in all of Europe? Probably no one. But I fear that that is not possible, as Ronaldinho’s play has taken a toll on him and it looks as if these injuries may have a recurring role in Ronaldinho’s career.

Ronaldinho is a fantastic player, don’t get me wrong. He is one of the most exciting and entertaining players I have ever seen. But, I don’t see how going to a defensive-minded league will exacerbate his entertainment value. It will only hamper it. You will see him much more frustrated, as he attempts cutting passes that don’t make it pass the defensive third, leading him to play even worse and possibly create more injuries. There is nothing more that I would like to see than a little excitement to the monotonous, unexciting Italian league, but I don’t see it happening with Ronaldinho heading to AC Milan.

Quickly let me get some of my frustration out from today. Although I am fan of the English Premiership as a whole, I find myself as a fan of Arsenal more than any other team. This leads to my frustration today as Arsenal blew a 1-0 lead and lost to Liverpool 4-2 in today’s Champion’s League match.

As Arsenal continue to squander all of their chances for any sort of title, Arsene Wenger continues to coach poorly. He is incapable of handling these young players and is useless unless he coaches superstars. Therefore, Arsenal needs to make a drastic change and delete Wenger from the equation. This move would mirror that of the Yankees getting rid of Torre despite their winning ways in that winning the entire thing is more important than winning a lot of games and coming up short when it matters. But I digress. So, please make a big move and shake things up again Arsenal. For now I am stuck watching MLS, but after its start on Thursday it could become the main staple in my soccer watching diet.

 Written By Sean Connolly

What was the lead highlight on Thursday night’s SportsCenter? It was an MLS game. Can you believe it? Ten years ago it was a thought that was in nobody’s head, especially ESPN. But Beckham’s first goal in the MLS is exactly what fans have been looking for, and apparently ESPN.

His first goal ignited fans in the stadium and just watching the game led you to jump out of your seat. The atmosphere of the game was outstanding. Every time Beckham would touch the ball there was an immediate buzz that was audible to a viewer. Fans were always on edge, wondering what he would do next.

Beckham played his best game of his short MLS career as he had an assist as well, to go with his first goal. Beckham dropped a ball onto Landon Donovan’s foot. Beckham couldn’t make it any easier for Donovan as he easily put the ball in the back of the net.

Beckhams skill, even though it is diminishing, is far more superior than other players in the MLS. His vision is just amazing compared to his teammates and is a great change to the MLS. It seems that the American style of play of kick and run isn’t entertaining enough to Americans as first thought. The European style of play has been more welcomed and sought after in the MLS.

The win gave the Galaxy an excellent start to the season after its awful end to last season. Beckham adn the Galaxy’s exciting start will hopefully launch the MLS to its most successful season yet.

Written By: Sean Connolly

This week has been a very interesting one for English soccer teams playing in the Champion’s League. With four teams currently still in play(Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United, and Chelsea), the premiership is trying to prove that it is the most powerful in Europe. For the most part they have done so. Manchester United, led by the brilliance of Cristiano Ronaldo, took a 2-0 victory out of Italy as they beat AS Roma. Cristiano extended his amazing play from the premiership over the weekend to the Champion’s League on Tuesday. Cristiano has proved that he is the most electrifying player in soccer in the past year as he had yet again another brilliant game. His header for the first goal showed how much passion he plays with as he rose above a few Roman Defenders to finish in the back of the net. Over the weekend he helped United basically seal the premiership with only a few games left. He had total control of the game as he sent cutting passes throughout the game and led United to a victory. The way Ronaldo and the rest of United are playing they are with no doubt the favorite to win Europe and England.

As for Arsenal, they have chose the worst time to play like a rec league team. In only a month they have lost their spot atop England as they are now in third and need a miracle to take the title. They look as young as they are as they continually make childish mistakes that make them look absolutely awful. Today, Wednesday, they dominated the entire game against Liverpool at home but yet again failed to come away with a victory. After an amazing header from Adebayor from an equally amazing cross from Van Persie, Arsenal became flat and within 3 minutes, Liverpool’s Gerard cut the Arsenal defense up and put a pass right across Almunia for Kuyt to finish easily. Liverpool leaves North London with the ever crucial away goal as Arsenal and Liverpool tie 1-1. Although they tied Arsenal has to look at this game as a loss as they now need to go into Anfield and score at least one away goal. Despite being all but mathematically eliminated from winning the premiership, Liverpool seems to be doing everything right in the Champion’s League. As always they prove as a threat in Europe and could easily be the kind of team that could take down the streaking Manchester United.

The last team in England, Chelsea, had a rather upsetting day in Europe as they lost 2-1 to Fenerbahce in Istanbul. Chelsea couldn’t get anything going on offense and couldn’t score a goal themselves. Deivid of Fenerbahce, could not control a cross from Drogba and placed a ball perfectly in the back of his own net. That looked like that would be the end of Fenerbahce but they fearlessly came back and scored an equalizer. Then in the 81st minute Deivid went from goat to hero as he scored an impressive goal from 30 yards out into the top corner. Watching the first goal he scored on his own team you thought that he couldn’t finish any better, and ironically he showed that he is a true goal scorer as Fenerbahce leave with an impressive victory over a more talented team in Chelsea. Chelsea has has a tumultuous year since Jose Mourinho left. They haven’t been able to get over the hump in England as they are still out of first place. They did capitalize on Arsenal’s terrible play and now sit one spot ahead of them but they still need a lot of help in second place as Manchester are running away.

Unfortunately, or fortunately if you’re the Los Angeles Galaxy, it’s hard to talk about soccer in the U.S. without talking about David Beckham. That’s the price we all pay as part of Galaxy’s high-priced gamble to bring prime-time glitz to the sport.

David Beckham at Colorado – Photo: Getty/Steve Dykes

Of course, the debate continues about why Americans seem always to resist the world’s game.

In this week’s installment of the continuing conversation, Marty Mercado over at football.co.uk writes passionately about what we in the States are missing:

Moans are heard in Milan, Melbourne, and Moscow as an opportunity for a goal is missed. Liverpool, Lyon and Lisbon sing songs of victory as the final whistle is blown while Athens, Adelaide, and Aberdeen groan in defeat. Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Portland, however, remain silent. Not a peep is heard in Memphis, Miami, or Minneapolis. As the world watches twenty-two of the world’s greatest athletes partake of the “beautiful game” that is football, Americans refuse to pay any attention to another boring soccer game.

This is all true but what many soccer lovers forget is that Americans do care deeply about sports, it’s just the sport they’re moaning or cheering about is not soccer. Talk to a committed member of Red Sox nation, or a long-suffering New York Knicks fan: they’ll match their love/madness with the best soccer fan.

Mercado tries to figure out why it is Americans have taken to soccer. He’s got an interesting theory:

Soccer has never been a big sport in American culture and there seems to be a genuine dislike from most Americans towards the sport. This is because soccer is seen by Americans as a sport that stands for four things that they dislike: absence of big business, an overabundance of foreigners, homosexuals, and a lack of initiative.

Chelsea celebrates its victory over Arsenal

A bit contemptuous don’t you think? America – the country of immigrants. With its own smoldering – if most often underground -contempt for the very, very wealthy. If they were so beloved, would they have to live in fortified gated communities? Let’s give homophobia to Mercado.

Now maybe I’m missing something but isn’t Manchester United a shining example of big, big business. 330 million supporters worldwide, 5% of the world’s population, the second richest sports club.

Mercado does have another reasons that is a bit more compelling: the lack of opportunity for TV advertisers to peddle their wares. Every major sport that’s broadcast here in the States provides ample time for advertisers. The leagues have bent over backwards to transform the games to create TV timeouts to sell. If you’ve ever gone to the stadium to see a professional football game, you are treated to agonizing stoppages to allow the TV audience to see commercials they would love to skip. No wonder sports fans by the droves have become addicted to their TIVOs and digital video recorders – record the show, wait a half-hour or forty-five minutes after kickoff and watch your recorded version while blessedly missing the ads.

What works for baseball, football, and basketball just won’t work for soccer. You’d have to destroy to game to exploit it.
Given this dilemma, Beckham was worth a shot. When in doubt, use hype and celebrity. Unfortunately, Britney isn’t good enough and doesn’t seem to care. But Beckham, although lower on the radar than Brintey, is nevertheless a star, and U.S. sports teams have a history of throwing money at players. Witness the New York Knicks who have wasted a fortune assembling a team that just seems to get worse.

Beckham’s 100th cap vs. France

My guess is there is just no short-term answer. With time – and I may be talking decades – young Americans who play and love soccer will share their passion with others. In the meantime, let’s hope Beckham can help L.A. win.