Friday, July 18, 2014

Shhhhhhh...

And there goes another week. It's awfully quiet out there, folks. A few minor transfers conitnue to pop up, but it's pretty much a waiting game at this point. We are a day closer to the return of club football, thank God. Have you taken the time to examine the fixtures for the Premier League? Now might be a good moment to do just that. August 16 is that day it all kicks off. Serie A fixtures will be announced July 28. The top league in Italy doesn't get going until August 31. The dates in Spain have yet to be announced, but La Liga usually starts in late August as well. The 26th has been bounced around as a possibility.

Right! So...transfers? Well, Rio has moved from Manchester to London to be with QPR, Ba has moved to Besiktas, Michu has been loaned from Swansea to Napoli, Janmaat has transferred to Newcastle from Feyenoord, and Debuchy has moved from Newcastle to Arsenal. Let's get to it.


The World Cup is obviously a factor in terms of the transfer market. Here are Nine Players Who Made Themselves A Ton Of Money At The World Cup.

It's almost time for those pre-season U.S. tours to get going. Manchester United announced the group they'll bring over to Los Angeles today. These are the dudes: De Gea, Lindegaard, Amos, Johnstone, Rafael, Evans, Smalling, Jones, Shaw, Blackett, M Keane, James, Herrera, Cleverley, Fletcher, Young, Zaha, Kagawa, Mata, Valencia, Nani, Lingard, Welbeck, Rooney, W Keane.

At least there is some real soccer to watch. MLS is happening. Here's a preview for the weekend if you're into that sort of thing. And...here's another preview.

That's it. No, really. That's all there is.

Onward!

-SSN
Posted by The Editor at 10:27 AM 0 comments

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Blackpool, Kroos, Valencia, Luís, Aloysius Paulus Maria van Gaal, Judging Jurgen Klinsmann, Mike Magee's Day Off

Hello, Thursday! We took a little break yesterday because nothing is happening. Which is rather nice for a change. But we're back today to catch up on some transfer action and see what else is up. Enner Valencia has decided to terminate any chance of continuing his good World Cup form by going to play for Big Sam at West Ham. Oh, dear. Toni Kroos has decided that the chance to get close to Ronaldo is too exciting and has left Bayern Munich for Real Madrid. Chelski bought Filipe Luís from Atlético Madrid. The Louis van Gaal reign has begun at Old Trafford...like a rock. Here are all the rumors, speculation, lies, winks, and nods:


The window is wide open.
Speaking of Louis van Gaal, Jan Molby claims the biggest issue the big Dutchman must solve at United is one of...identity. Just who are you, Manchester United? And wait, their new manager's name is actually Aloysius Paulus Maria van Gaal?! Interesting...

Major League Soccer made a funny little video, people. Their marketing team is working overtime trying to tap into that World Cup fever. It's Mike Magee's Day Off! Enjoy!

Blackpool are a club in big trouble. They only have eight players on the books at the moment. Seriously. Go ahead and meet them. They have a match in 23 days. Good luck, lads. It looks like League One beckons.

The time has come to judge Jurgen Klinsmann. The consensus around SSN Headquarters is that The Diving German did a fine job in Brazil. Not great, but fine. Kind of like a lukewarm bratwurst. It could be better, but it's still a brat. ESPN FC's experts have gotten together and offer their judgements here.

Juventus. The Old Lady. They've been back to their dominate best in Serie A of late. So why did manager Antonio Conte bail? James Horncastle checks in on the odd situation in Turin.

And finally... Mesut Ozil has announced that he will sponsor the surgeries of 23 Brazilian children (about £350,000). Nice gesture, bruh.

Onward!!

-SSN
Posted by The Editor at 10:48 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Transfers & Rabotnički vs. Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi


It's Tuesday. Bleh. The Germans celebrated and the Brazilians have to clean up the mess that the world left behind. And it'll be a while before we enjoy any matches of value. Wait. KR Reykjavík play Celtic in Champions League qualifying today?! Sheriff host Sutjeska? Well, we spoke too soon, then, didn't we? At least we've got the Silly Season to carry us on. Let's get right to that, yes?


One transfer that's already gone down is Ashley Cole to Roma. Will it work out? Do we care? OK, OK, we loath the man but he's an amazing talent and has been for years. Serie A will probably suit him well at this point. And good on him for not going to the Middle East, Australia, or MLS. Here. 

It is Tuesday and under normal circumstances we'd feature the top scribes looking back at the weekend. Raphael Honigstein is one such scribe and he's chose to write about Bastian Schweinsteiger. Excellent. Jonathan Wilson is another scribe of note. He's got a rather interesting piece on World Cup expectation ratings. Number One? Costa Rica. Number 32? Spain. Enjoy.

The Worst of the World Cup? Iain MacIntosh hands those awards out here. 

That's really about it. We'll leave you with the Best Photos From The World Cup.

Onward!!

-SSN
Posted by The Editor at 10:43 AM 0 comments

Monday, July 14, 2014

Germany


It's all over, folks! The Germans take the trophy back to the Fatherland and deservedly so. Messi tried pretty damn hard, but the loss of di Maria was too much for Argentina to overcome. And, Germany are awesome. In the end, it was a pretty good tournament. The later stages didn't offer the same insanity as the Group Stage, but that's no surprise. The tension was there, and that's what matters. Let's get to the action, shall we? We'll begin with the match itself and then hit the tournament in general later.

Germany 1 - 0 Argentina
Gabriele Marcotti: Teamwork pays off
Amy Lawrence: Five Talking Points
Grant Wahl: Three Thoughts

Sadly, idiots in Buenos Aires disrupted a peaceful gathering of fans down by the Obelisk. There's always someone.


This is pretty great. Barcelona spent £75m on one Luis Suarez but they can't formally unveil him because he's banned for four months. Because he bit that guy.


Major League Soccer. Remember that league? The one in the U.S. that doesn't take a break for the World Cup? Well, Deuce and Yedlin were back in the Seattle lineup and their side won 2-0 over rivals Portland. In front of 64,207 people! Wow. And...Thierry Henry was AMAZING for New York. Check the wrap. And these Five Items from the weekend action Stateside.

World Cup 2014
Raphael Honigstein: What next for Germany?

And finally, from Wright Thompson, The Rio the World Cup didn't show. There's shit in the water, you know...

Onward!!

-SSN
Posted by The Editor at 11:11 AM 2 comments
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)