2010 WORLD CUP TEAMS
Portugal has a lot to prove.
Coming to the 2010 FIFA World Cup with arguably the most popular footballer since David Beckham, (yes, I’m referring to Cristiano Ronaldo people…) Portugal definitely has a chip on their shoulder.
Heck, Portugal wasn’t even seeded after finishing second in their qualifying group behind Denmark. That resulted in [...]

Portugal has a lot to prove.

Coming to the 2010 FIFA World Cup with arguably the most popular footballer since David Beckham, (yes, I’m referring to Cristiano Ronaldo people…) Portugal definitely has a chip on their shoulder.

Heck, Portugal wasn’t even seeded after finishing second in their qualifying group behind Denmark. That resulted in the Portuguese playing off against Bosnia and Herzegovina for a place in South Africa 2010.

However, they are a team loaded with quality and a world ranking of fifth speaks volumes about their ability. In addition, their poor results didn’t come in 2009. In fact, they were unbeaten during the year, playing 12 matches, winning eight of them and drawing the other four.

Portugal is coached by Carlos Queiroz, formerly coach of Bafana Bafana, which makes him familiar with South African conditions. While 2008 FIFA World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo is undoubtedly the star attraction and arguably the best player in the world at this time, he has everything in his locker. Pace, strength, deadly from set pieces and an incredible technical ability. For all of his physical strengths, his mental application has been questioned at times: he’s prone to being wound up by opposition and he has been shown to under-perform while under pressure.

Hilario – the Chelsea reserve goalkeeper plays second fiddle to Petr Cech for a reason. He’s simply not a ‘keeper of the highest class. He is an excellent shot stopper and he gathers the ball cleanly, but he could be a problem when claiming crosses or set pieces and he is reasonably error prone.

Portugal has a list of dynamic midfielders starting with…

For whatever its worth, he really really wants to.

Former England team captain David Beckham is eager to represent his country in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He got a deal with AC Milan, allowing him to stay in game shape in Italy over the next few weeks during Major League Soccer’s off-season.

England team manager Fabio Capello will decide whether or not he will name the Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder to his 23-man roster for this year’s World Cup in South Africa. Capello has publicly stated that Beckham must be playing first-team soccer at the highest level in the buildup to the World Cup to even be considered for the English national team this summer.

Beckham has made a handful of appearances for AC Milan and figures to be a regular starter for the Rossoneri as they attempt to chase down city rivals Inter Milan, currently in first place in Serie A, for the Italian league championship. But will that be enough to get him a spot in the England national team?

”He is a leader and an inspiration to his teammates. Equally, he is feared and respected by all of his opponents. He’s vastly experienced on the international stage. He’s a big-game player who doesn’t get intimidated by anyone,” CBC Sports soccer commentator Nigel Reed said.

David Beckham was sent to exile when he earned a red card during…

In case you didn’t know, Beckham was back in LA.

And it was only a matter of time before David Beckham played in his first home game with the Los Angeles Galaxy. The problem is, it was against the very team he wanted to save him from MLS soccer for good, AC Milan.

Five months ago, the Los Angeles Galaxy sent David Beckham on loan to AC Milan. It turned out to be a wrong move in LA’s part since it was then when Becks realized just how much better playing for Milan is than with the Galaxy in the MLS. When Beckham pleaded the Galaxy to make his move to Europe permanent, soccer fans from Los Angeles were not happy and they made sure Beckham will know just how unhappy they were last Sunday.

Playing in his first home game with the Los Angeles Galaxy against AC Milan, David Beckham got a somewhat hostile reception. Yes, Beckham was booed the whole time he was on the pitch. Heck, the jeering got worse to the point that Beckham confronted a fan at halftime.

Yup, the frequent booing and derisive banners clearly angered Beckham. With homemade signs that have messages directed at Beckham like, ”Go home fraud” with a red slash through his no.23 jersey number, ”23: Repent,” ”Hey Becks, Here Before You, Here After You, Here Despite You,” and ”Is evil something u are… or something u do,” Beckham has every right to be pissed.

Of course, Beckham can only blame himself and his…

Yep, in case you didn’t know, he’s back in L.A. after a five-month stint with AC Milan in Italy.

And while we all know David Beckham will be there just for show, (just like any other Galaxy game that saw Beckham in uniform…) what could be interesting here is how will Beckham and London Donovan co-exist inside the Galaxy locker room. You see, Beckham was having all sorts of issues with Donovan, one of the captains of the Los Angeles Galaxy, while he was still on loan to AC Milan.

Yes, despite the fact that Beckham was miles away from Hollywood playing alongside Kaka in Italy, they STILL found a way to still talk about the guy in Los Angeles and this time, the city has MLS veteran, Landon Donovan to thank for it.

Donovan actually called Beckham a bad captain, portraying him as stingy in an upcoming book. Now I don’t know if Donovan was just pissed about the fact that Beckham wanted to stay with AC Milan for good and leave him and his Galaxy teammates with nothing but the fact of the matter is, what Donovan said in his book was uncalled for.

That’s probably why NOBODY gives a flying fuck about them or soccer in general in the…

Holy shit. Apparently, Real Madrid really wants to win.

In what has been a chaotic series of events for football fans, Real Madrid just signed the two biggest stars of the sport. After signing Kaka to a whopping €67.2 million, the entire blockbuster deal involving the Brazilian is now yesterday’s news with the club now having finalized a deal involving Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United.

You read it, Real Madrid just signed Cristiano Ronaldo to a mind-boggling €80 million contract, eclipsing the deal Kaka just signed with the club. The ex-Milan ace, however, has no problems vacating the spotlight for the Portuguese and, if anything, he is looking forward to playing alongside the soon-to-be former Red Devil.

”I rejoice in the signing of Cristiano,” Kaka said when, upon touching down in Johannesburg, he was informed that his new employers had made an official bid for CR7. ”There’s no doubt that Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the best players in the world and he will help Real Madrid fight for every title next season.”

Kaka became the world’s second most expensive footballer following his switch to the Spanish behemoths, but he was soon demoted to the third spot on the list after Ronaldo’s mega €80 million transfer from Manchester United to Real Madrid went through.

As expected, questions have already been raised about…

Just when you thought you’ve seen it all in the world of soccer, this happens.

Real Madrid just confirmed the signing of Brazilian footballer Kaka. You read it, the Spanish football giants just came up with yet another blockbuster signing that could probably eclipse the deal the L.A. Galaxy pulled back in 2007 when they got David Beckham.

This deal Kaka has with Real Madrid is expected to set a new world record transfer fee although we still have no idea how much exactly did Real Madrid pay to get the Brazilian away from AC Milan.

There are rumors that claim AC Milan was paid around 68 million euros for Kaka. If that’s true, that means Real Madrid just broke their own world record when they paid Juventus 47 million euros for Zinedine Zidane back in 2001.

As far as Kaka is concerned, he says his heart will remain with AC Milan even though he is now a part of Real Madrid.

”I can officially say I’m a Real Madrid player. My professional link with AC Milan finishes now, but my sentimental link will never end,” Kaka said. ”Real Madrid intend to build a great team, with historic players such as Raul and Casillas. We will make history again, both in Spain and Europe. I guess the sport project is very good.”

Kaka also talked about Manchester City, when the…

Because soccer is just too boring to write about every single day.

FC Barcelona struck what may prove to be the decisive blow in the Spanish title race earning a 6-2 win at Real Madrid CF, with Lionel Messi and Thierry Henry scoring two apiece for the 2009 UEFA Champions League semi-finalists.

Josep Guardiola’s side’s once commanding lead at the top of the Liga had shrunk to just four points before kick-off at the Santiago Bernabéu, and they had reason to be nervous just 14 minutes into the fixture as an unmarked Gonzalo Higuaín headed Madrid into the lead. However, the Barça response was to be devastating, with Messi flicking a ball over the Madrid defense for Henry to level on 17 minutes before Carles Puyol headed them into a 20th-minute lead.

In another games, Olympiacos CFP completed a domestic double after a 15-14 penalty shoot-out win against AEK Athens FC capped an unforgettable Greek Cup final, with Antonis Nikopolidis the hero after the sides finished level at 4-4 after extra time. The two sides took 17 penalties each, with Olympiacos goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis, 38, finally emerging as the hero of the hour, saving Agustin Pelletieri’s spot-kick before stepping up to convert the winner himself. It was a fitting end to perhaps the most exciting Greek Cup final of all time, with Olympiacos recovering from going 2-0 down to prevail.

FC Internazionale Milano made another important step…

Because right now, Becks is still on loan to the Italian football giants from the L.A. Galaxy.

And in case you were living under a rock, AC Milan has been enjoying the services of David Beckham this 2009 Italian Serie A season, loaning probably the game’s most marketable star from the Los Angeles Galaxy.

And since David Beckham is finally seeing some ”real” football action in Italy after making the move to Los Angeles only to appear as a ”trophy” athlete, he is now admitting that he wants his transfer to the Italian football team a permanent one.

Yup, apparently, Becks has no more intentions whatsoever in returning to the Los Angeles Galaxy and waste even a minute of his aging career playing MLS soccer. After all, playing alongside football icons like Ronaldinho in AC Milan is an opportunity any football athlete should not let pass, especially guys like Beckham who is probably in the late stages of his career.

But since this aspired permanent move to Europe is out of his hands, he knows he’s still a property of the Los Angeles Galaxy until they relinquish him for good to the European football franchise.

”I’ve expressed my desire to stay here but at the moment…”

Yes, Becks made his debut for yet another team and THIS TIME, he actually played.

After making his highly anticipated debut with the Los Angeles Galaxy nearly two years ago, David Beckham was in the middle of yet another debut for an international football team and this time, he was with AC Milan, surprising football fans on how his ”new debut” turned out this time around.

You see, the last time David Beckham made his debut for a football team, it was with the Los Angeles Galaxy, fresh from his transfer from Real Madrid to the MLS. That one was more of a cameo appearance than a full-time playing appearance really, as Becks only played for 21 minutes as the L.A. Galaxy lost to D.C. United, 1-nil.

This time though, David Beckham was on the pitch for 89 minutes with AC Milan. He was solid too as he came up with probably one of the best performances he’s ever had since leaving Real Madrid for California.

AC Milan ended up with a 2-2 draw against AS Roma.

Beckham sure was fantastic. Although it does not compare with the performances he once had early in his career with Manchester United and Real Madrid, he was solid nevertheless. Hell, the guy was so good that he elicited boos from the AS Roma crowd as he exited the pitch in the 89th minute.

”I felt good in the game, very strong and I enjoyed it,” Beckham said. ”I enjoyed playing…”