Soccer’s International Trade

Major League Soccer

There has been a lot of talk in recent years about successful and yet past-their-prime players moving to the United States to earn the big bucks and to continue their career in the American limelight. This began with David Beckham moving to LA Galaxy, with much of the commotion surrounding his wife, Posh Spice’s desire to hang out with Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise.

This sparked a hoard of moves from players who have made their presence felt in English teams, but who are no longer fit to keep their place on the field in the top teams. Freddie Ljungberg joined the Seattle Sounders in 2008, Landon Donovan returned home to play for LA Galaxy and Robbie Keane moved off to join him.

Interestingly though, when the MLS took its winter break both Keane and Donovan made short-term loan moves back home. Donovan’s returned to Everton and Keane has made his move to Aston Villa. There have even been rumours of Beckham making a return to Premiership, if even for a month or two.

Most surprising was the return of Thierry Henry to Arsenal for a two-month contract from the New York Red Bulls. In his first performance with the Gunners, he came on as a substitute against Leeds in the FA Cup. In a scoreless draw Henry arrived and, as if scripted, he controlled the ball and slotted it into the far corner in trademark fashion. The game ended 1 – 0, Henry’s goal the winner, sending Arsenal through to the fourth round.

This in a game when Arsenal had limited impact until the 68th minute when the Emirates lit up on Henry’s introduction. 12 minutes later he had scored the winner.

Not only is it nice to see the old favourite score another goal in the red and white, but it begs the question; if Henry is the game-changer in such a game, couldn’t he be a factor on a grander scale in a top team?

What is surprising is that the bigger teams aren’t attempting to reel in the old reliables. Top tier teams could obviously do with the experience to help their young guns mature and develop their skills. And surely nostalgia if nothing else will be a strong draw for these players to return home.

So will we see a return of some of these players on a permanent basis?

In a word, no.

Why would they? They get the Californian weather, which they could get in Europe but this way they don’t have to conquer the Spanish language. As well as that, they get the spotlight with the media swarming their relatively large sums they’re receiving. And last but not at all least, since the MLS league is of a lower standard to the Premiership, they get to strut around the field knowing that they have experience and superior ability on their side. While such things as friendships and nostalgia must be factors, these treasures don’t compare to such things as wealth, fame and endorsements.

For now – especially if you’re an Arsenal supporter – be glad to see the veterans back on English soil, if only for two months.

This has been a guest post contributed by Liberty Games, England’s largest supplier of football tables and other boys toys and gadgets.

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Top 20 Highest Paid Footballers

This is a 2011 list of top 20 highest paid soccer players in the world.

RankPLAYERSCLUBSMONTHLYANNUAL
1Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid€ 1,000,000€ 12 million
2 Lionel MessiFC Barcelona€ 875,000€ 10.5 million
3 Fernando TorresChelsea€ 833,000€ 10 million
4 Yaya Toure Manchester City € 833,000€ 10 million
5 Wayne Rooney Manchester United € 791,000€ 9,500,000
6 Ricardo Kaka Real Madrid € 750,000 € 9,000,000
7 Zlatan Ibrahimovic AC Milan€ 750,000€ 9,000,000
8 Emmanuel Adebayor Real Madrid € 708,000€ 8,500,000
9 Carlos TevezManchester City€ 666,000€ 8,000,000
10 Samuel Eto’oInternazionale€ 666,000€ 8,000,000
11 Frank Ribery Bayern Munich € 666,000€ 8,000,000
12 John TerryChelsea€ 625,000€ 7,500,000
13 Frank Lampard Chelsea€ 625,0007500.€ 000
14 Steven GerrardLiverpool € 625,000€ 7,500,000
15 XaviFC Barcelona € 625,000€ 7,500,000
16 Anders IniestaFC Barcelona€ 583,000 € 7,000,000
17 David VillaFC Barcelona€ 583,000 € 7,000,000
18 Daniel AlvesFC Barcelona€ 583,000€ 7,000,000
19
Edin DzekoManchester City€ 541,000€ 6,500,000
20Rio FerdinandManchester United€ 541,000 € 6,500,000
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Alexander Ferguson

Alex Ferguson
Photo all rights reserved by tbirdshockeyfan

Manchester United’s long serving manager is considered to be one of the best in the world. He is at the helm since 1986, and presently has no signs of retiring.

Alexander Chapman “Alex” Ferguson currently has 12 Premier League championships, and helped beat Liverpool’s 18 league championships in 2010-11 season.

Fergie as he is fondly called, was born on December 1941, Govan, Glasgow, Scotland.

Alex Ferguson was a former player, he was forward. He was quiet good, scored goals in good numbers. The clubs that he played for was Queen’s Park, St. Johnstone, Dunfermline Athletic, Rangers, Falkirk, and Ayr United.

Prior to managing the Red Devils, he was a national team manager of Scotland for a year.

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Aston Villa 2011-2012 Lineup


Photo credits to cfletcher86

This Aston Villa squad list was taken from the official Premier League website.

Yes – English or Welsh
No – Import

1 Agbonlahor, Gabriel Yes
2 Albrighton, Marc Kevin Yes
3 Bannan, Barry No
4 Bent, Darren Ashley Yes
5 Beye, Habib No
6 Clark, Ciaran Yes
7 Collins, James Michael Yes
8 Cuellar Jimenez, Carlos Javier No
9 Delph, Fabian Yes
10 Dunne, Richard Patrick Yes
11 Given, Shay John James Yes
12 Guzan, Bradley Edwin No
13 Herd, Christopher Yes
14 Heskey, Emile William Ivanhoe Yes
15 Ireland, Stephen James Yes
16 Lichaj, Eric Joseph Yes
17 Lowry, Shane Thomas Yes
18 Marshall, Andrew John Yes
19 Petrov, Stiliyian Alyoshev No
20 Warnock, Stephen Yes
21 N’Zogbia, Charles Yes
22 Jenas, Jermaine Anthony Yes
23 Hutton, Alan No

Aston Villa – Under 21 players (Contract and Scholars)
Baker, Nathan Luke
Barrett, Calum Alastair
Barton, Joshua
Bateman, Liam Vere
Bryan, Richard
Burke, Graham Dylan
Caira, Reece
Cameron, Courtney Lee
Carruthers, Samir Badre
Coton, Matthew James
Darkin, Darious Paul
Delete, Z
Delfouneso, Nathan
Devine, Daniel Patrick
Drennan, Michael Joseph
Eminoglu, Umit
Gardner, Gary
Graham, Jordan
Hill, Craig Dennis
Jenkins, Sebastian Stephen
Johnson, Daniel Anthony
Kinsella, Lewis
Lampkin, Jason Severiano
Lewis, Bradley
Melvin, Malcolm Graham
Nelson, Michael
Nelson-Addy, Ebby
Parish, Elliott Charles
Robinson, Callum Jack
Serrano De La Cruz Vidal, Juan Jose
Siegrist, Benjamin Kevin
Steiber, Andras
Stevenson, Oliver
Taylor, Connor
Ward, Charles Patrick
Watkins, Mason Bradley
Watkins, Bradley
Webb, Joshua John
Weimann, Andreas
Williams, Daniel Ashley
Williams, Derrick

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Arsenal 2011-2012 Lineup

This squad list was taken from the official Premier League website.

Yes – English or Welsh
No – Import

1 Almunia, Manuel No
2 Arshavin, Andrey No
3 Arteta Amatriain, Mikel No
4 Benayoun, Yossi No
5 Chamakh, Maroune No
6 Diaby, Vassiriki Abou No
7 Djourou-Gbadjere, Johan Danon Yes
8 Fabianski, Lukasz No
9 Yao, Gervais Kouassi No
10 Gibbs, Kieran James Ricardo Yes
11 Koscielny, Laurent No
12 Mannone, Vito Yes
13 Mertesacker, Per No
14 Park, Chu Young No
15 Rosicky, Tomas No
16 Sagna, Bacary No
17 Clarindo Dos Santos, Andre No
18 Song Bilong, Alexandre Dimitri Yes
19 Squillaci, Sebastien No
20 Van Persie, Robin No
21 Vermaelen, Thomas No
22 Walcott, Theo James Yes

Under 21 players (Contract and Scholars)
Afobe, Benik
Alves da Silva, Wellington
Aneke, Chukwuemeka Ademola Amachi
Angha, Martin Yves
Ansah, Zak Andy
Bartley, Kyle
Bihmoutine, Samir
Boateng, Daniel
Brislen-Hall, George
Bunjaku, Alban
Campbell, James Andrew
Campbell, Joel
Charles-Cook, Reice Jordan
Coquelin, Francis
Eastmond, Craig Leon
Ebecilio, Kyle Stephen Joel
Fagan, Zachari Freddy Casey
Freeman, Luke Anthony
Frimpong, Emmanuel Yan
Galindo, Samuel
Glasgow, Benjamin Luke
Hajrovic, Sead
Hayden, Isaac Scot
Henderson, Conor Alan
Hoyte, Gavin Andrew
Jeffrey, Anthony Lamar Malcolm
Jenkinson, Carl Daniel
Lansbury, Henri George
Martinez, Damain Emiliano
McDermott, Sean
Meade, Jernade Ronnel
Miquel-Pons, Ignasi
Miyaichi, Ryo
Monakana, Jeffrey
Monteiro, Elton Almada
Murphy, Rhys Philip Elliot
Oldfield Spence-Neita, Nigel Paul
Oxlade-Chamberlain, Alexander Mark David
Ozyakup, Oguzhan
Ramsey, Aaron James
Rees, Joshua David
Roberts, Philip James
Shea, James
Szczesny, Wojciech Tomasz
Watt, Herschel Oulio Sanchez
Webb, Callum Taylor
Wilshere, Jack Andrew
Wynter, Jordan James Cecil
Yennaris, Nicholas

Posted in English Premier League News | Tagged | 1 Comment

John Flanagan

John Flanagan is Liverpool born youngster currently playing for Liverpool FC.

Flanagan emerged as his club’s Reserve Player of the Year due to his decent performances in the Reserve games and in the first team.

His first game was a 3-0 win against Manchester City on April 11, 2011.

Originally, a right back, he played on the left against Fulham.

Quick Profile:
Position: Right Back, Left Back
Birthdate: January 1, 1993
Height: NA
Birthplace: Liverpool, England
Clubs: Liverpool

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David Ngog for Sale

Liverpool striker David Ngog is available for sale this summer for a fee of £8  million. He was a Rafael Benitez signing.

Ngog was bought for £1.5 million from Paris St. Germaine in 2008.

Highlights of his Liverpool career was when he scored against Manchester United and Arsenal, games ended in a win and draw respectively.

I think the price is a bit steep for his stature.

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English Premier League Prizes

Each end of the season in the Barclays Premier League gives prize funds to each of the football clubs. The amount depending on the club’s ranking.

For the 2010-2011 season prize funds:

Manchester United – £15,120,000
Chelsea – £14,364,000
Manchester City – £13,608,000
Arsenal – £12,852,000
Tottenham – £12,096,000
Liverpool – £11,340,000
Everton – £10,584,000
Fulham – £9,828,000
Aston Villa – £9,072,000
Sunderland – £8,316,000
West Bromwich Albion – £7,560,000
Newcastle United – £6,804,000
Stoke City – £6,048,000
Bolton – £5,292,000
Blackburn Rovers – £4,536,000
Wigan Athletic – £3,780,000
Wolves – £3,024,000
Birmingham City – £2,268,000
Blackpool – £1,512,000
West Ham United – £756,000

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Argentina National Football Team 2011 Schedule

Argentinian football players such as Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain, Angel Di Maria can be witnessed by fans this year. Although national team coach Sergio Batista has dropped Carlos Tevez from the lineup for tactical reasons.

Argentina National Football Team 2011 Schedule:
July 1-24 – Copa America
June 1 -Friendly against Nigeria in Abuja
June 5 – Friendly against Poland in Warsaw
June 20 – Friendly against Albania in Argentina
August 10 – Friendly against Romania in Bucharest
September 2 – Friendly against Venezuela in Calcutta, India
September 6 – Friendly against Nigeria in Bangladesh

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The UEFA Referees are Rooting for Barcelona

Champions League

Manchester United can beat Barca, but the match officials, also known as the referees are rooting Barcelona.

We have seen the ref’s questionable decisions in the semi-final match between Chelsea and Barcelona years ago. There were obvious calls for penalty that fell on deaf ears. Clear handballs by Barcelona players inside the penalty box.

During the Champions League quarter-final match just recently, the bright referee handed controversial double yellow cards on Arsenal’s Van Persie.

Just last week, the ref had a soft spot on Barcelona players. He ejected a Real Madrid player, after Alves theatrically went down, faking an injury.

Congratulations to Barca in advance. They are the 2011 Champions League Champions!

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Sergio Ramos Drops Copa Del Rey Trophy

So the rumor of him playing for another team would surely come into reality after this.

Here is the video of Sergio Ramos dropping the trophy:

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Nickname of Indonesian National Football Team

The National Football Team of Indonesia is called by several nicknames:

Timnas – Tim Nasional, National Team in English
Merah Putih – Red and white
Tim Garuda – the Garuda Team, garuda is a mythical bird of Hindu origin.

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