Champions League
+ For the sixth successive season, Real Madrid have been eliminated at the first knockout stage of the Champions League after only managing a draw at home to Lyon.
+ Real Madrid coach Manuel Pellegrini has dismissed any suggestion he might step down in the wake of his side’s Champions League exit at the hands of Lyon.
+ Real Madrid director general Jorge Valdano gave under-pressure coach Manuel Pellegrini a vote of confidence in the wake of Wednesday night’s Champions League exit at the hands of Lyon.
+ José Mourinho is top of Florentino Pérez’s managerial shopping list.
+ Bosnian teenager Miralem Pjanic has revealed that Real Madrid’s bold statements in the press acted as a spur to Lyon.
+ Diogo Kotscho, an advisor to Kaka, used his personal Twitter account to accuse Pellegrini of "trying to take the focus off [his] own incompetence" with the substitution of the player who joined Real for €65m (£56m) from Milan in the summer. Kaká was replaced by Raúl with 13 minutes to go.
+ Wayne Rooney scored twice as Manchester United crushed AC Milan 4-0 to advance to the Champions League quarterfinals.
+ David Pleatt: How ageing Milan were squeezed into submission by Manchester United.
+ Kristian Jack: United’s European success comes full circle.
+ David Beckham attempted to distance himself from the campaign to oust the Glazer family from Manchester United despite leaving the pitch wearing one of the green and gold scarves that have come to symbolise the fans’ protests against the club’s owners.
+ Wayne Rooney’s astonishing current form has put him in sight of Denis Law’s club record of 46 goals in a season.
North America
+ Mo Johnston confirmed Carl Robinson has been dealt to New York in exchange for a fourth-round pick in the 2011 MLS draft.
+ Assistant coach Nick Dasovic confirmed there will be more trialists joining the team in Charleston.
+ Duane Rollins: Preki – Promise, or Problem?
+ Major League Soccer’s simmering labour dispute heated up Wednesday as Toronto FC defender Nick Garcia said he expects the players to strike if a new collective bargaining agreement is not negotiated before the start of the regular season — in two weeks.
+ Soccer Montreal: The top 10 moments in Impact history.
+ The Chicago Fire has reached a tentative contract agreement with Collins John, the Dutch forward who on Tuesday had considered ending his trial and pursuing opportunities in Europe.
+ The Red Bulls have been linked with a pair of European-based players supposedly coming in on trial, striker Ibrahim Salou and midfielder Evgeniy Levchenko.
+ Chivas USA midfielder Sasha Victorine has retired because of injury.
+ The Galaxy defeated Costa Rican side Puntarenas 1-0.
England
+ David Nugent’s equalizer earned Burnley a point with a 1-1 draw against Stoke at Turf Moor.
+ Petr Cech is confident of returning to the Chelsea first team ahead of schedule for their Premier League game against Blackburn Rovers in nine days’ time.
+ Portugal playmaker Danny hopes to prove Chelsea he is still worth a £25million move after recovering from a career-threatening knee injury.
+ The battle for control of Manchester United has taken another twist following confirmation that a leading global investment bank has agreed to advise on a possible acquisition of the Old Trafford outfit by the Red Knights group.
+ Owen Hargreaves, Manchester United’s injury-plagued midfielder, has suffered another setback after being pulled out of his comeback match in a move that significantly damages his already slender and rapidly diminishing hopes of a late call-up to England’s World Cup squad.
+ Arsenal are ready to sign Brazilian starlet Wellington Silva - but the forward’s club Fluminense are pleading to keep him till 2012.
+ Portsmouth expect to be told today that Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs accept the club have entered administration legitimately.
+ Portsmouth’s administrator moved to cut costs at the stricken club by sacking close to a quarter of the staff, though chief executive Peter Storrie, the highest-paid employee, was not among them.
+ Fulham striker Erik Nevland will leave the club on a free transfer at the end of this season to join his former team Viking Stavanger.
+ Newcastle players will be asked to take a pay cut if the club wins promotion after owner Mike Ashley was forced to pumped £10m into the club to get them through the season.
+ Derby midfielder Robbie Savage was left to take the goalkeeper’s gloves as his side lost 4-1 at Reading.
+ The England team hotel was infiltrated by two of Britain’s most notorious pranksters last week, Sportsmail can reveal, leading to concerns about the effectiveness of the FA’s security arrangements.
Spain
+ Barcelona presidential front-runner Sandro Rosell has admitted he would consider controversially selling shirt sponsorship for the first time in the club’s 111-year history.
Italy
+ Juventus are looking to reinforce their midfield this summer with the signing of Sao Paulo’s highly rated young star Hernanes.
+ Fiorentina will approach Brazil coach Dunga if Cesare Prandelli leaves for Juventus in the summer, according to La Repubblica
France
+ Bordeaux’s grip on the Ligue 1 title loosened just a little as Auxerre came from behind to win 2-1 at Stade Chaban-Delmas.
Ivory Coast
+ Dutch national broadcaster NOS says that Guus Hiddink has agreed to coach Ivory Coast in this year’s World Cup.
OR
+ Ivory Coast have turned to the Frenchman Philippe Troussier to take charge of the side for this year’s World Cup in South Africa.
UAE
+ Henk ten Cate offered to resign as boss of Dubai’s Al Ahli after little more than a month in charge following today’s 5-0 home defeat to Qatar’s Al Sadd.
i’m so not excited about the upcoming MLS season and I almost hope they strike and I get my money back. With Mo I just see a revolving door of mediocrity and and dysfunction — no real sign that this is gonna change.
Pellegrini made the right call putting uber-goal-scorer Raul on. Actually, he would have been lambasted if he didn’t.. Good match, they had their chances but missed too many and spent themselves trying. Lyon and Lloris did a great job.
Ahhh Guus Hiddink; must feel good to be so universally desired.
I agree, if i wasn’t so down about TFC’s chances i’d be excited for the season to start. As it stands… not really. Good time for the players to strike so the overall quality of the league can go up.
I think Real played the game they had to in order to win yesterday. Obviously when you push so much it leaves you open at the back.
The problem with their squad has always been that it’s a collection of great individual players who’s sum is less than the pieces. There’s a difference between having 11 star players and 11 star players that always want the ball … Real is the second one.
I wouldn’t make any assumptions about the quality of MLS improving if the players strike. The loss of a season will likely hurt the teams, both in terms of the lost revenue and lost fans (for an example of this; the Montreal Expos).
And if so the full season gets cancelled, I can’t see the owners wanting to give up that much on their current demands, so why would it improve?
The only possibility that I can see is if the owners get scared by the strike and give in to some demands early on, in the first month or two of the season. But if the whole season gets eliminated, I doubt it’ll improve the quality of the league.
After a crazy long day of driving to the Windsor area and back yesterday for work, going to a viewing until 10pm and then trying to get my kid asleep last night I’m dead tired this morning as I’m in the Oakville soccer centre paying for my upcoming season just as the entire TFC lineup start walking through the door to use the giant indoor field there. Most of them fly past as I’m doing the VISA bill but Julian DeGuzman makes eye contact and I say “hey DeRo, is there going to be a season this year?”
with a pause, obviously thinking “who is this racist cracker, and why does he think everyone on this team with kinky-hiar is DeRo?” he says “DeRo’s over there” (but in a very nice way), I quickly say “sorry man, dead tired, with a cranky 2 year old, etc..” and instead booking off and being all I’m an all-star and you should know who I am he says “Don’t know, but I really hope so” gives me a big smile and heads into the field with no attitude what-so-ever.
Hope someone gets a laugh out of this, as I felt like Fred Flinstone when he turned into a giant heel at the time. Also thanks to JDG for being very cool in an awkward situation, and one that even my dead tired brain still can’t wrap itself around. Boo-urns.
Nice to know Julian played it cool!
The “de” in their last names makes the mixup understandable — from a tired father.
MLS That goose might only be laying tin foil eggs, but it’s still a goose!
Strike = more dead than Milan’s CL hopes for MLS. Can’t do it.
BTW – you won’t get your $$$ back. MLSE will hold it as a down payment on the NEXT season’s season tickets, which they’ll assume is what you meant; next season’s tickets, not necessarily 2010, right?
SB
It explains nothing! My brain does this all the time, I’ve introduced girls by the wrong name (that goes over well), called my future wife the wrong name on our 2nd date, and have brain cramps all the time…time to see a specialst or something. But yes, JDG was really nice, and no attitude what-so-ever.
In a side note it was weird seeing Dichio in a trainer’s/coach tracksuit instead of the uniform. But I was already feeling like an idiot so I just kept walking…
Regarding Hargreaves, I’m still optimistic. England and Utd do need him.
Pellegrini is done! I’m laughing at Madrid. To rub salt in their wounds, a fitting end to them trying to buy a European Cup would be a Barca v. Utd final. If Barca win, they will do it in Madrid’s stadium and if Utd win, Ronnie’s “dream” will become a nightmare. Only God knows the future. lol
MLS absolutely cannot afford a strike. Baseball survived thanks to a pair of juiced-up superstars drawing the fans back to the park to chase the most iconic record in North American sport. Hockey survived because by the time they came back, the Canadian dollar had corrected and suddenly league revenues were through the roof.
MLS has neither of those positive factors going for them, and their two marquee players are quite happy in Europe right now.
I don’t think it’s possible for a strike to kill the league outright, but I’d bet you do see a lot of franchise relocation. Which, honestly, wouldn’t be so bad from a Canadian perspective because you’d see Montreal in for sure.
And if so the full season gets cancelled, I can’t see the owners wanting to give up that much on their current demands, so why would it improve?
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Well that’s a strong IF. Players getting some measure of improved working conditions it will improve quality. Quaranteed contracts are a big deal when comparing working here to other leagues.
Funny how short memories can be. NASL didn’t die because of a salary explosion, it died because they let a bunch of deadweight teams drag down the parts that were actually profitable. The current structure of MLS basically does the same thing.
Maybe somebody can quantify how this strike is going to kill soccer. The product is ultimately the players and this isn’t millionaires fighting for extra Bentley’s here… it’s guys earning a reasonable wage fighting for security. That makes the owners look bad but spares the guys on the field.
The lagging markets have been stuck in neutral for a long time, they are going nowhere but sideways or down unless the ownership gets it together (highly unlikely). You stunt player salaries, you’re stunting growth in the only markets that are profitable, which will ultimately hurt the league as a whole.
If MLS wants TV ratings, more sponsorships, etc… it needs to put something better on the field. And there is a HUGE middle ground to explore that without being financially irresponsible. The current path we are on is just death by under investing in your business.
the mls sounds like ttc more and more every day. mls is inflexible on the north american sporting model that dosnt really work for soccer. a game that has many leagues around the world
Liverpool fails again. Eden “The Duke” Hazard strikes…sign him up, Arsene!!!!!
‘mls is inflexible on the north american sporting model that dosnt really work for soccer. a game that has many leagues around the world’
Only one of which is more successful than any North American league [EPL has higher revenues than the NHL.]
As I’ve said many times, guaranteed contracts and true free agency are probably helpful and don’t hurt the owners much if you tweak the cap rules. The catch is that I’m pretty sure that’s not what they’re fighting about, and we’ve already seen some of the goofier demands by FIFAPro like complaining about player trades.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlEe7eFXzm8