On Tuesday Arsenal started their league cup match with a team average age of 19 years old. Now, this is common in the league cup, to try out your young talent and see how they do in the spotlight. The youngest who started on Tuesday was Jack Wilshere who is only 16 years old. So, here’s the debate. If England can show off 16 year olds without the media going wild, why can’t America?

Sports recruiting in England is much different than what it is over here. Usually over here, if you’re a young gifted soccer player you have to go through years of travel teams, lame camps, and eventually play in High School. At that moment is where the deal breaker is. Your success in the future depends on your High School’s success as an athletic program. For example I played at a crappy High School with an awful athletic program. Our team was o.k at best but never good enough to garner attention from college coaches. I had to go after coaches instead of the other way around. And when I played in college I was just as good as some players who were heavily recruited and who received hefty scholarships. And you know why? Because they played at a high school that either had money or one that has had success in the past. Continue Reading »

A crazy story out of Congo…During the middle of a game between Nyuki and Socozaki, to try and change the way the game was going, Nyuki’s goalkeeper went to the middle of the field and began to use some sort of witch craft.

Players from the opposing side weren’t enamered with the goalie’s tac tics to voodoo his team back into the game so a brawl ensued. Police immediately tried to break up the fight which then led fans to start rioting. The commander of the police was hit in the head by an object thrown by the fans so police began firing into the air to try and calm the crowd down. It did anything but.

Fans then tried to exit the stadium all at once creating a stampede that trampled many, leaving 13 dead. Reports at the beginning of the day had the death toll at 11, but has increased to 13. Most of the victims were aged 11-16 years old. It’s estimated that 36 are injured due to the riot.

Today, many teenagers marched in protests through the streets of Congo demanding something be done. Sadly this isn’t the first time a situation like this has happened in soccer. It seems that every couple of months something is mentioned about a riot that either injured someone or killed someone. I think it’s time for the United Nations or FIFA to address this situation loud and clear.

The riot patrol and protocol is some of the rural cities around the world are just appalling. How is shooting a gun in front of hundreds of fans who believe they just saw a goalie perform witchcraft gonna calm them down? There should be a standard procedure implemented at all professional venues so that these embarrassing and deadly events can stop. Every time something like this happens it gives the sport of soccer a black eye and I don’t think the sport can take any more head shots.

He’s had it. Lukas Podolski of Bayern Munich and Germany, is tired of coming off the bench for his club team and has said it’s time to get out. He has had trouble getting into the starting lineup seeming that Luca Toni and fellow German Miroslav Klose are Bayern’s starting strikers. Here’s what Podolski had to say in his own words…

I wouldn’t have [signed] had I known that things were going to turn out like this,I would be a bad footballer if I contented myself with sitting on the bench. This is too much! I’m not making any progress here.

Lukas Podolski on his situation with Bayern Munich

With such a talented player, several teams have reportedly shown interest in the striker. So far rumors have circulated that Manchester City, Roma, and Fiorentina will all try to pursue Podolski. Manchester City has been adament on trying to get a big name player as a part of their squad but has failed to do so. During the summer, they tried to acquire Ronaldinho but failed to do so as he signed with AC Milan.

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Pretty funny story i just read…some guy in England placed a bet that Barack Obama would turn out to be the coach of West Ham by the end of the season. Sounds ridiculous, right? Well here’s what happened…

An unidentified bettor wanted to show his friends back in America a betting slip with Barack Obama’s name on it. Knowing He went to bookmaker William Hill and asked for the bet. Obama is a fan of West Ham after a trip he took to England five years ago and West Ham is having a lot of coaching problems with the resignation of Curbishley last week. So, The guy put 10 bucks (or pounds…whatever) at William Hill and they gave him 10,000 to 1 odds for a 100,000 pound win possibility, 260,000 in dollars.

So where did this idea come from? Well, Obama has family in England(his sister married an Englishman), and when he went to England 5 years ago he soon became a fan of West Ham. All his relatives are fanatics and I guess it rubbed off on him.

Obama hasn’t just been a fan in the past 5 years though as his campaign revealed that he is in fact an avid soccer fan and even played a lot as a student at Harvard Law School.

He never really followed it, though, until he was told all about the passion of West Ham fans by some of his English relatives. He’s always keen to find out how his adopted club are getting on.

Barack Obama Campaign Source on Obama’s Love of West Ham

So, who knows, maybe if Obama decides that this whole leader of the free world thing isn’t for him, he’ll take on the task of managing the Hammers.

And the winner is…Alan Curbishley! Beating Kevin Keegan by what looks to be a week!! We all thought Keegan would be the first casualty of this season’s firings, but it turns out that Curbishley has been the first to step out.

Blaming a “breach of trust and confidence,” Curbishley resigned today as West Ham United’s skipper and taking the prize of first coach leaving in the 2008 EPL season. Curbishley has been under enourmous pressure for the past few months and has been the favorite to be the first fired until last weeks tabacle with Kevin Keegan. But, not to be defeated Curbishley has taken the crown.

It seemed that if Curbishley could get off to a good start this season that this whole thing would just be forgotten. And sure enough he did leading West Ham to their best start in 9 season. Nevertheless Curbishley jumped before he was pushed off the plank landing in the seas of lost coaches.

For now Kevin Keen will take over West Ham as they search for a permanant replacement for Curbishley. Keen will now have to deal with what Curbishley has been complaining about. Curbishley said he was not involved in player moves and transfers and felt, rightfully so, that he should be considered when signing or releasing a player.

However, the club continued to make significant player decisions without involving me. In the end such a breach of trust and confidence meant that I had no option but to leave. Nevertheless, I wish the club and the players every success in the future.

Alan Curbishley on Leaving West Ham United

Now, we wait for Kevin Keegan’s turn, as it seems imminent that he and Curbishley will be swimming in the same waters soon.