The Highlights:
Joe Cole Joins Liverpool
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1295951/Joe-Cole-signs-Liverpool-Chelsea-ace-snubs-Arsenal-Tottenham.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1295951/Joe-Cole-signs-Liverpool-Chelsea-ace-snubs-Arsenal-Tottenham.html
FIFA Going Backwards On Goal-Line Technology
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1295909/FIFA-farce-backtrack-goal-line-technology-summit.html
Beckham Wants Ronaldinho In LA
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1295909/FIFA-farce-backtrack-goal-line-technology-summit.html
Beckham Wants Ronaldinho In LA
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/18072010/58/serie-beckham-wants-ronaldinho-galaxy.html
Barca Back In For Fabregas
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=809323&sec=transfers&cc=5901
This past Friday night at Toronto's Rogers Centre, formerly the Skydome, Manchester United played Celtic as part of their North American tour before they head back to England to embark on their domestic campaign. Many Toronto MUFC fans were delighted to have the opportunity to watch some of their heros play in their own background, granted in the concrete jungle of Rogers Centre, but nevertheless Manchester United were playing in Toronto.
Approximately 39000 fans attended the match with tickets for the game ranging from $250 to $100 for the exhibition. The quick math says that the match generated $8M in ticket sales, and let's assume another $2-3M in concession sales. Not a bad day's work for a football match. I have no problem with the North American tours and people paying high prices for tickets to see their favorite team, but I cannot justify the exorbitant prices considering the talent on the field. Let's take a look at the starting line-ups for Man. United:
Manchester United Starting 11
Edwin Van der Sar
Rafael
Chris Smalling
Jonnie Evans
Fabio
Ryan Giggs
Darren Fletcher
Paul Scholes
Gabriel Obertan
Mame Biram Diouf
Dimitar Berbatov
Basically the team sheet looks the same as one used at Carling Cup third round tie against Rushden & Diamonds. Granted Giggs, Scholes and Van der Sar are fantastic players but all are at least in the late 30s and both Giggs and Scholes played only 45 minutes in the match.
Here are the MUFC players that were missing:
Manchester United Missing Players
Wayne Rooney
Park Ji-Sung
Anderson
Michael Carrick
Patrice Evra
Nemanja Vidic
Javier Hernandez
Rio Ferdinand
Owen Hargreaves
Michael Oven
Gary Neville
Antonio Valencia
But if you are telling me it is a meaningless friendly and really who cares if Manchester United is playing with their B or C team instead of the usual cast of characters that don the red and white, I am just trying to play the other side here. The other side, that paid $250 a ticket for a family of four, coupled with beverages for all. I am sorry but for $1000 I do not want to watch the Brazilian brothers, Fabio and Rafael man the wings for the glorious United. This is one persons' opinion, but at the current prices, international tours are a complete waste of time for the average fan. Furthermore, don't expect me to be at Rogers Centre in a couple weeks time to see Inter Milan - Panathinaikos. Oh yeah, Manchester United won 3-1.
Goal Of The Week
Denis Kolodin - Dynamo Moscow
Yellow Card
Fabio Capello - England Manager
"England manager Fabio Capello is sorry for the upset caused by his endorsement of a World Cup player ratings index that bore his name. Ratings were released last week of the England players' performances in the World Cup. Capello had declared that he was angry about this, having not seen the content before it was posted on the Capello index website." - Goal.com
As Alex Ferguson said in Toronto the England job is a 'poisonous chalice' and even Don Fabio, a fantastic domestic manager, seems to have been affected by the vile of being in charge of The Three Lions. Fabio should quit while he is still is ahead, because all I can see moving forward is more shame to his wonderful career for leading England to another failure. Consider this your warning, Don Fab!
Red Card
Sepp Blatter - FIFA President
This man is an idiot, plain and simple. The entire world sees Frank Lampard's shot go in against Germany, and at the time he acknowledges that it is time to look at goal-line technology in order to advance the game. However, in the past couple of days, the summit that was supposed to discuss goal-line technology has removed that topic off the agenda. Back-tracking Blatter will continue to be a buffoon until he manages to resolve the situation. Automatic ejection!
One Cup!
-PBP
Barca Back In For Fabregas
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=809323&sec=transfers&cc=5901
Debate Of The Week:
Are international tours for teams like Manchester United, Barcelona, Celtic, etc. a complete waste of time and money for fans?
This past Friday night at Toronto's Rogers Centre, formerly the Skydome, Manchester United played Celtic as part of their North American tour before they head back to England to embark on their domestic campaign. Many Toronto MUFC fans were delighted to have the opportunity to watch some of their heros play in their own background, granted in the concrete jungle of Rogers Centre, but nevertheless Manchester United were playing in Toronto.
Approximately 39000 fans attended the match with tickets for the game ranging from $250 to $100 for the exhibition. The quick math says that the match generated $8M in ticket sales, and let's assume another $2-3M in concession sales. Not a bad day's work for a football match. I have no problem with the North American tours and people paying high prices for tickets to see their favorite team, but I cannot justify the exorbitant prices considering the talent on the field. Let's take a look at the starting line-ups for Man. United:
Manchester United Starting 11
Edwin Van der Sar
Rafael
Chris Smalling
Jonnie Evans
Fabio
Ryan Giggs
Darren Fletcher
Paul Scholes
Gabriel Obertan
Mame Biram Diouf
Dimitar Berbatov
Basically the team sheet looks the same as one used at Carling Cup third round tie against Rushden & Diamonds. Granted Giggs, Scholes and Van der Sar are fantastic players but all are at least in the late 30s and both Giggs and Scholes played only 45 minutes in the match.
Here are the MUFC players that were missing:
Manchester United Missing Players
Wayne Rooney
Park Ji-Sung
Anderson
Michael Carrick
Patrice Evra
Nemanja Vidic
Javier Hernandez
Rio Ferdinand
Owen Hargreaves
Michael Oven
Gary Neville
Antonio Valencia
But if you are telling me it is a meaningless friendly and really who cares if Manchester United is playing with their B or C team instead of the usual cast of characters that don the red and white, I am just trying to play the other side here. The other side, that paid $250 a ticket for a family of four, coupled with beverages for all. I am sorry but for $1000 I do not want to watch the Brazilian brothers, Fabio and Rafael man the wings for the glorious United. This is one persons' opinion, but at the current prices, international tours are a complete waste of time for the average fan. Furthermore, don't expect me to be at Rogers Centre in a couple weeks time to see Inter Milan - Panathinaikos. Oh yeah, Manchester United won 3-1.
Goal Of The Week
Denis Kolodin - Dynamo Moscow
Yellow Card
Fabio Capello - England Manager
"England manager Fabio Capello is sorry for the upset caused by his endorsement of a World Cup player ratings index that bore his name. Ratings were released last week of the England players' performances in the World Cup. Capello had declared that he was angry about this, having not seen the content before it was posted on the Capello index website." - Goal.com
As Alex Ferguson said in Toronto the England job is a 'poisonous chalice' and even Don Fabio, a fantastic domestic manager, seems to have been affected by the vile of being in charge of The Three Lions. Fabio should quit while he is still is ahead, because all I can see moving forward is more shame to his wonderful career for leading England to another failure. Consider this your warning, Don Fab!
Red Card
Sepp Blatter - FIFA President
This man is an idiot, plain and simple. The entire world sees Frank Lampard's shot go in against Germany, and at the time he acknowledges that it is time to look at goal-line technology in order to advance the game. However, in the past couple of days, the summit that was supposed to discuss goal-line technology has removed that topic off the agenda. Back-tracking Blatter will continue to be a buffoon until he manages to resolve the situation. Automatic ejection!
One Cup!
-PBP
great post panos! :) -mike
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