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Friday Footie Link List, Dec. 21, 2007
2007-12-21 17:32:00
If there's one thing there is too much of in today's world it's awards and awards ceremonies. I'm not just talking soccer, either. The damn things are everywhere. At my day job, it seems I spend half the year preparing for one awards "gala" or another, just so the publishing monkeys can get their jollies and pad their bottom lines. So why do I care about the US Soccer Federation's accolades, as reported on American Soccer Daily and elsewhere? Because I have an agenda: I want soccer to become more popular in this country and will support programs that help it to attract attention. Even cheap ploys such as awards. Plus, I happen to think these guys genuinely deserve it (unlike the over-hyped stars who win FIFA World Player of the Year and Ballon d'Or awards or worse yet fat cats from various parts of world industry). Clint Dempsey and Abby Wambach were named USSF's 2007 Male and Female Athletes of the Year, with Heerenveen's Michael Bradley and UCLA Bruins striker Lauren Cheney receiving ...
Link 

The View From Blighty: Smoods Sounds Off On Capello Hire
2007-12-20 18:05:00
My workmate Smoods (an actual Brit!) had such a good time with his first article, he wrote me another. Actually, two more! But the second will have to wait until tomorrow. Here is the first:So for the first time in about, oh, 18 months, the English national team has a tactically astute foreign coach with a string of club successes on his C.V. This should be interesting.The most amazing thing about first Sven’s and now Fabio Capello’s hirings is the fact that otherwise jingoistic and xenophobic English soccer fans don’t seem to have a problem with it. These are the same fans who sing “I’d rather be a Paki than a Turk” when facing Turkey and who’s rioting led to the cancellation of a game against the Republic of Ireland. And yet there’s barely any protest at a move that screams surrender to Johnny Foreigner.And if the principle is hard to take, the reality should make even more refined fans wince. It used to be that foreign coaches were for the sport’s third-world coun ...
Sounds  View 

Schopp Calls It A Career
2007-12-20 04:00:00
One guy who won't be back in a (New York or Salzburg) Red Bulls jersey next year is Markus Schopp. The 33 year-old announced his retirement Tuesday, according to Austrian media reports (German-language only). Chronic back problems are cited as the cause. The former Austrian international (56 caps) only played in a handful of Red Bulls games in 2007 and seven total since 2006. Apparently the astroturf (or whatever it's called now) didn't help matters. "It was like concrete," he told the Wiener Zeitung.Schopp had a pretty long, successful professional career. He came up through the Sturm Graz youth system and broke into the first team in 1991. He switched to Bundesliga side Hamburg SV in 1996, returning to Austria two years later. His biggest successes came in '98 and '99 when he captained the Austrian national team at the World Cup in France and made the UEFA Champions League with his club side. He was signed by Brescia in 2001, returning to Austria--this time to Red Bull Salzburg in 2 ...
Career 

Copa Libertadores 2008: The (Nearly Complete) Draw
2007-12-20 00:48:00
The draw for this year's rendition of the Copa Libertadores (the "Champions League of the Americas," for lack of a better comparison) was made earlier today. Not the entire thing, mind you, because not all participants are known yet. This is thanks to different countries having different ways of determining the qualifiers. Why they would draw out not only the qualifying games but the tournament's group stage without having a complete list of either does not make all that much sense to me, but what do I know?Anyway, here are the qualifiers:1) Olmedo (Ecuador) vs. Lanús (Argentina)2) Cruzeiro (Brazil) vs. Cerro Porteño (Paraguay)3) Arsenal de Sarandí (Argentina) vs. Mineros de Guyana (Venezuela)4) 3rd Mexican qualifier vs. 3rd Bolivian qualifier5) Cienciano (Peru) vs. Montevideo Wanderers (Uruguay)6) 3rd Colombian qualifier vs. Audax Italiano (Chile)Group 1San Lorenzo de Almagro (Argentina)Real Potosí (Bolivia)Caracas (Venezuela)Qualifier 2 (Cruzeiro or Cerro Porteño)Group 2Estudian ...

New Red Bulls Head Coach Osorio Ready For 'Intense' Challenge
2007-12-19 01:01:00
The New York Red Bulls today officially introduced their new head coach Juan Carlos Osorio at a press conference in New York's Hotel Gansevoort. The now ex-coach of the Chicago Fire seemed genuinely happy to be here and presented himself as ready to roll up his sleeves and get to work. "It is without a doubt one of the proudest moments for me, to be back in New York," Osorio said. "The magnitude of the challenge is intense...but I can promise all of my efforts."A good deal of the press conference centered on what had transpired between the Fire and Red Bulls and internally at Chicago for the deal to happen. Osorio only spent a few months with Chicago and was under contract through next season (if not longer. Not sure of the specifics). Red Bulls Managing Director Mark de Grandpre said he first contacted Chicago President John Guppy about Osorio in November and was initially rebuffed. Osorio, determined to at least interview with de Grandpre, sought out Guppy himself. "I told him I wan ...
Challenge  Coach 

The World's Top 25 Soccer Clubs, Dec. 17, 2007
2007-12-17 06:06:00
A massive week for club soccer, with the conclusion of FIFA's Club World Cup, the end of the UEFA Champions League group stage and the Big Four showdown in the Premiership. How did it affect things in the Soccer Source Top 25? Read on and you'll find out:1. (1) Inter Milan. The world's undisputed #1 team beat Eindhoven in a meaningless Champions League game, then won at Cagliari yesterday. Up next: Reggina in a cup tie and AC Milan in the derby match Sunday.2. (2) Real Madrid. Beat Osasuna at the Benabeu yesterday and knocked off Lazio in mid-week CL action. Just how good is this team? We're due to find out, with a trip to Camp Nou lurking Sunday. Is that right? We get the Milan derby and the Clasico on the same day?!? Real visit Alicante for a cup tie at midweek first.3. (3) Arsenal. Won their meaningless Champions League game with Steaua Bucharest and topped Chelsea in a cracking match at Emirates yesterday. I'm not convinced this is England's best team and considered having them swa ...
Clubs  Soccer 

Marcus Storey Finally Set To Join German Team
2007-12-16 19:19:00
Updating an earlier post on B-List Yanks abroad, I finally have the full story (hehe) on Marcus Storey and his status with German Oberliga (fourth division) side TuS 1906 Hueslingen. The University of North Carolina grad was apparently acquired by Hueslingen at the start of the season but never joined the team.That will change next month, according to Storey's German lawyer/agent Bernd Floris Flor with whom I exchanged emails this week. Flor wrote that Storey will be eligible to play for Hueslingen starting in January. The club was late in submitting the proper requests with Major League Soccer, who apparently still held Storey's rights last summer? Can that be true? The Chicago native was the 20th overall pick in the 2005 SuperDraft by the Columbus Crew. He was traded to the Houston Dynamo prior to the 2006 season and then reportedly cut in the 2007 pre-season. ...
German  Team 

Saturday Soccer Summary, Dec. 15, 2007: Few Surprises On Eve Of Big Four Showdown
2007-12-16 00:19:00
There were few upsets across European leagues today as fans turned their sights to two massive Premiership showdowns and the final of the FIFA Club World Cup to be played Sunday. Okay, so maybe the Club World Cup has not received quite the same level of attention, especially in the U.K. Point is, there were not many upsets in today's games.One surprise did come from Portugal's bwinLIGA where Benfica lost only their second game of the year. Cross-town rivals Belenensus did the honors this time as Freddy Adu was not brought on soon enough to work his magic. I can understand Jose Camacho not wanting to play Freddy from the start due to match fitness concerns or whatever, but he really should be subbing him in sooner, especially if Benfica are down a goal. Today, Freddy was the team's third substitute.I wouldn't call this an upset, but Juventus scored an impressive away win at Lazio today on a brace by Alessandro del Piero. I say it wasn't an upset because Lazio look very much like a mid- ...
Showdown  Soccer 

Premiership Preview (From An Actual Brit)
2007-12-14 20:52:00
A workmate of mine was kind enough to write up a preview of this weekend's Premiership games. Smoods is a proper Brit, unlike me who just pretends to be one every once in awhile (for authenticity's sake, mate! Okay, I'll stop.) Here it is. Enjoy!Weekend previewHow much money is enough money? If you have enough brain cells to rub together then you know the answer is: it’s never enough. That’s the attitude of the Premiership’s overlords anyhow who, not content hoovering up millions of pounds in revenue every year, are eager to find more ways to add to their pile of filthy lucre. To these modern day Uncle Scrooges there is one answer: no such thing as too much hype. That’s right, folks. The fixture mavens at the FA have taken the hype machine to its logical conclusion and reserved a day exclusively for the top four teams. It’s safe to assume they think they’re being really clever--and the ratings will probably back them up. But then again, who thinks popularity equals smar ...
Premiership  Preview 

Preston Zimmerman Gets Contract Upgrade From Hamburg
2007-12-14 17:47:00
Nineteen year-old Pasco, Wash., native Preston Zimmerman has been signed as a so-called Lizensspieler by his team Hamburg SV, according to a statement by the Bundesliga club. I'm not entirely sure what this means. The literal translation is "licensed player" so perhaps this means he's now a member of the first team, or is eligible for first team action? I sent an email to HSV's flack. Maybe he'll get back to me with some more info. Or maybe somebody can explain it?Zimmerman has been at Hamburg since the start of the year and has played in 32 goals for the reserve team, scoring nine goals. He played for the U.S. Under-17 national team and was a last-minute addition to the U-20 roster at last summer world championships in Canada, though it doesn't look like he played at all. He's also been called into next month's camp for the U.S. Olympic team.Photo taken without permission from Hamburg's Web site. ...
Contract  Preston  Zimmerman 

Friday Footie Link List, Dec. 14, 2007
2007-12-14 12:59:00
The best MLS article I read this week was probably Glenn Davis' Houston Chronicle piece on what the league needs to do to connect with fans. Davis' point, that MLS suits should play to the strengths and diversity of the sport to market to media and grassroots constituents alike, is on the surface completely obvious. Yet very few teams--Davis' home town Dynamo happen to be one exception--are doing it with any kind of sincerity. (Surprisingly, the Dynamo are having sustained success at the box office and on the field. A coincidence?) The bottom line here is that the league's public and media relations efforts have been very poor. Remember how USsoccerplayers.com said they were going to reduce coverage next year as a result of the poor treatment they had received? That should have been a wake up call--but it probably wasn't. Will Davis' column do the trick? I'm not holding my breath on that one either. For some reason I just can't get past the impression that the league has straight-jacke ...
Link 

Kamani Hill Cast Out By Wolfsburg
2007-12-13 19:27:00
VfL Wolfsburg head coach Felix Magath is preparing to rid his team of Berkeley, Calif., native Kamani Hill and Portuguese defender Alex. As a first step, Magath has cleared the pair from practice requirements and allowed them to "do as they pleased," including finding a new club, according to German news wire newsclick.de. Magath cited lack of progress as the reason for his decision. The article adds that the pair's poor performance in a reserve game last week also played a role. Hill was yanked from the game shortly after half time.The 21 year-old forward joined Wolfsburg in October 2006, first on trial, then signing a two-and-a-half year contract. He hasn't played much for the first team--nine Bundesliga appearances as a sub, all of them last year. He's been capped by the U.S. men's national team twice (substitute appearances in friendly games, I think) and also played for the U-20 national team at the 2005 World Cup in South Korea. He has not played in MLS. Yet. ...

Red Bulls U-18 Forward Is 'Face In The Crowd'
2007-12-13 15:45:00
Walter Hines, a member of the New York Red Bulls' Under 18 squad, was a 'Face in the Crowd' in this week's issue of Sports Illustrated. The Franklin D. Roosevelt High School senior scored 10 goals, had 12 assists and was named to New York City's Public School Athletic League Exceptional Seniors Team this season. The Costa Rica-born Hines was a Parade All-America last year and was recently featured on si.com's high school section (from whom the photo was taken without permission).I think this is his first mention in the print issue of the magazine. Faces in the crowd is a long-running SI segment that details significant achievements by (usually young) amateur athletes. Famous past Faces include Tiger Woods, Greg LeMond, Carl Lewis and John McEnroe, to name just a few. Brad Friedel is probably the best-recognized soccer name to have been featured. ...

Poll Update: England Outlook For World Cup Qualifiers And Beyond
2007-12-13 04:50:00
With Fabio Capello reportedly set to take over the England manager job vacated by Steve McClaren, now is as good a time as any to close two concurrent polls Soccer Source has been running for the past fortnight. The polls asked readers to predict where England will finish in their qualifying group for the 2010 World Cup and inquired if the Three Lions "will win a World Cup or European Championship in your lifetime?"I originally intended the mini survey to gauge England fans' moods after their team's historic collapse against Croatia. But it soon occurred to me that this method was flawed on several levels: there was no way to limit participation to England fans and the "your lifetime" bit was by definition subjective--and potentially self-fulfilling, if particularly distraught fans decided to take their lives into their own hands in the near future (a very real concern, judging by what was portrayed in the country's media. Talk about self-fulfilling. How can you not contemplate suicide ...
England  Outlook  Poll  World Cup 

Champions League Roundup: Gers Go Down To Lyon, Miss Round Of 16
2007-12-12 22:57:00
Glasgow Rangers were unable to gain the single point that would have seen them through to the knockout round of the UEFA Champions League, instead losing 3-0 to Olympique Lyonnais at Ibrox tonight. Karim Benzema notched a second-half brace to seal the deal for the guests, after Sydney Gouvou opened scoring in the 16th minute of play. It's a bitter pill for Rangers, as Walter Smith's side had played well for most of the group stage. Gers even beat today's opponent at the Stade de Gerland--by the identical 3-0 score--and could have clinched advancement as early as Nov. 27. Alas, Rangers ended up losing at lame duck VfB Stuttgart that day--the first and only points the German champions gained during the group stage campaign. As the third-placed team, Rangers will be drawn into the UEFA Cup Round of 32. A nice consolation, but undoubtedly anti-climatic given how close the team was to advancing to the big-money elimination rounds.In the only other game of note, Fenerbahce managed to join t ...
Champions  Champions League  League 

Children Should Watch What They Pray For
2007-12-12 18:32:00
Liverpool's Castilian striker Fernando Torres, a.k.a. El Niño ("the kid"), is apparently desperate to draw Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16. According to Fox Sports ("Torres praying for Real clash"), the Spanish international told the Reds' official website: "I hope that we draw Real Madrid, that would be a great tie. We have a chance to play a team from Spain or Italy, but playing Madrid would be really good. "Torres has obviously not learned from the likes of Anthony Smith, who needlessly made himself bulletin board fodder by "guaranteeing" his team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, would beat the unbeaten New England Patriots last week. True, Torres' quote is not as egregiously idiotic as Smith's (by the way, why is Liverpool's official site broadcasting that quote? Have they learned nothing? I suppose they don't follow American football) but why needlessly motivate your opponents? Especially a team like Real Madrid, who--unlike Liverpool--are actually really good? (Fir ...
Children 

Bayern Bag Brazilian Back Breno
2007-12-12 15:22:00
Eighteen year-old Sao Paulo defender Breno is reportedly in Germany wrapping up details on a four-year contract with Bundesliga table-toppers Bayern Munich. So says Germany's kicker.de Web site. Breno Vinicius Rodrigues Borges (the lad's real name) has been tipped as Brazil's next great back by goal.com among others (Soccer Source listed him as "a player you'll be hearing about soon" in our Copa Sudamericana primer). World Soccer has him as one of the top 50 teens in the world, but that list didn't include Jozy Altidore which means it's basically worthless. Breno had previously been linked to Real Madrid, AC Milan, Fiorentina and Juventus, among others, but last month Bayern swooped in as the favorites. Thanks to Breno, the Sao Paulo defense was nearly impenetrable this season, at one point stringing together 998 minutes without being scored on. He can play both center and right back.Apparently Breno isn't the only Bundesliga-bound Brazilian. Zé Roberto, not to be confused with the g ...

Champs League Roundup: Liverpool Routs Marseille To Advance
2007-12-11 22:59:00
Liverpool pulled out an impressive victory at Marseille's Stade Velodrome tonight, beating down their hosts by a four goal margin to advance to the Champions League Round of 16. Steven Gerrard put in his own penalty kick rebound four minutes into the game and Marseille never recovered. Four different Reds scored in all as Rafa Benitez' side proved they belong among the final 16. The victory completes an impressive turnaround for Liverpool, who appeared in dire straights after losing their third match day game at Besiktas Istanbul. Stevie G and friends cranked out three straight victories after that, by a total goal difference of 16:1.No major surprises to report in the three other games of meaning that were played today; Porto, Schalke, Real Madrid and Olympiakos all won at home to advance. I am spared the embarrassment of having one of my Top 10 teams bow out (that would be #2 Real, #7 Porto or #10 Olympiakos, in case you're scoring at home). On the other hand, it may be time to make ...
Champs  League  Liverpool 

Buenos Aires Superclasico Set For May 4 At Bombonera
2007-12-11 13:03:00
If you were thinking of a spring time trip to Buenos Aires, you're going to want to book the weekend of May 4, which coincides with the 13th round of the Torneo Clausura and the superclásico between Boca Juniors and River Plate. The event in question was listed as one of the Guardian's 50 sporting events to attend before you die. And that's sports in general. For soccer fans, it's probably in the top 10--top five if the game is played at the Bombonera, which can realistically be viewed as one of the world's foremost soccer meccas. It's not for novices though. Passions run very high, there is occasional violence (though only once, in 1968, were there fatalities) and tickets are extremely tough to come by. SI.com sent a writer last year; here is his report. ...
Buenos Aires 

Osorio Set To Take Over Red Bulls, But At What Price?
2007-12-10 21:25:00
Chicago Fire's Colombian coach Juan Carlos Osorio is set to become the successor to Bruce Arena as head coach of the New York Red Bulls. So report Ives Galarcep and Steve Goff on their respective blogs. Individually, those guys are rarely wrong on anything. If they're both reporting the same thing I think it's pretty safe to lock it down. Expect an official announcement from the team shortly.Osorio just joined Chicago in July and has two years remaining on his contract, which necessitates a compensation agreement between the two teams. This is where things get interesting, because I don't doubt that Osorio is a great choice as coach in his own right. But if the team has to give up multiple draft picks and/or a young starter (Dane Richards' name has been bandied about) it becomes a little more questionable--especially if Osorio ends up leaving the team after a year or two (not a longshot considering he's already one of the up-and-coming coaches and would put himself in a good position f ...

The World's Top 25 Soccer Clubs, Dec. 10, 2007
2007-12-10 06:07:00
I made some adjustments this week because I noticed certain teams in the list were ahead of ones they trailed in their domestic league standings. While this is due to happen for a number of reasons, I felt it should be adjusted at this time, especially in the Premiership where all "Big Three" teams have done well in the Champions League and with one exception (Chelsea's loss at Old Trafford back on Sept. 23) have not played any decisive matches against each other. As a result, you may see some discrepancies with the way teams moved this week versus other weeks.1. (1) Inter Milan. Another impressive week for the nerrazurri, who won both games by a combined 7-0 score. Saw off Lazio on Wednesday and beat up on FC Turin yesterday. The undisputed number one team in the world has only lost once this season and that was way back on Sept. 19. Travel to Eindhoven for meaningless Champions League game Wednesday followed by another road game at Cagliari Sunday.2. (5) Real Madrid. Won the always d ...
Clubs  Soccer 

Cancun's Atlante Wins Mexican Championships
2007-12-10 02:55:00
Atlante won the Mexican Apertura championships thanks to a 2-1 win tonight against UNAM Pumas in the final leg of the home-and-away final series. The Cancun side clinched the game in the 86th minute on a Golazo from Clemente Ovalle. The 25 year old defender struck the ball from about 20 meters, sending it off the underside of the bar. Seventeen minutes earlier, Pumas had tied the game up after Atlante had struck first in the 59th minute. The first leg at Mexico City's Estadio Olimpico ended scoreless.I think this was Ovalle's third career goal, but undoubtedly the most significant. He didn't even play regularly until the final stretch of the Apertura season, entering as a substitute the final three games. His performance was enough to convince Atlante's coach, Jose Guadelupe Cruz, as Ovalle started every playoff game.The championship is Atlante's first since 1993 and only its third overall. The team entered the Apertura playoffs as the third seed and vanquished Cruz Azul in the quarter ...
Championships 

Michael Bradley Nets Heerenveen Hat Trick--In 25 Minutes Of Play!
2007-12-09 17:57:00
U.S. national team midfielder Michael Bradley has pulled off a dazzling feat, scoring three goals in 25 minutes of play in today's Dutch Eredivisie game between his club team SC Heerenveen and FC Groningen. The son of U.S. men's national team coach Bob Bradley scored in the sixth, 22nd and 40th minutes as his side won the game, 4-2. Videos of the goals have already been posted: here is his first, his second and his third. Bradley even did an interview--in Dutch!--after the game. He now has an impressive seven goals from 10 games played this season. If he keeps this up (or even if he doesn't) it's only a matter of time before a big-name club swoops in and buys him. ...
Bradley 

Olympique Lyonnais Is FT Case Study For Running A Successful Club
2007-12-09 06:38:00
This weekend's edition of the Financial Times has an article that should be required reading for soccer execs (and indeed anybody who runs a sports club) anywhere. In the Sporting Life column, Simon Cuper lays out the very simple yet logical formula Olympique Lyonnais has used for nearly a generation, with impressive results: l'OL has dominated competition in France, winning the last six domestic league titles, and has also made inroads in Europe against teams from "big three" leagues with several times its budget.I don't want to spoil the article for you, so I recommend clicking on the above link (or this one) to read it yourself. But the formula is really very simple, borrowing the basic principles of investing: spot and exploit market inefficiencies, buy low, sell high, stick with proven commodities and remove all emotion from the equation. (If you didn't know these were principles of investing, you aren't alone; one of the reasons successful investors are successful is because of t ...
Club  Study 

Soccer Saturday Summary: Reading Rips Reds And Other Upsets
2007-12-08 23:03:00
Several upsets went down in today's European league action, with Reading's impressive 3-1 victory over Liverpool the most interesting from an Anglo-American viewpoint. Royals American left winger Bobby Convey proved his worth--and hopefully secured a spot in the starting lineup--with a brilliant assist on Reading's third goal that sealed the deal. Liverpool did not play well at all, but you have to hand it to Steve Coppell's team for a gritty effort that earned them their first-ever victory over the Reds. It was also Liverpool's first Premiership loss of the season and does not exactly inspire confidence ahead of their decisive Champions League game at Marseille next week. Is Liverpool's season on the brink? The past couple of years the Reds have had better European campaigns than Premiership ones. Maybe an early ouster from Europe is what Rafa Benitez' team needs to get centered and make a sincere run at Premiership glory? Then again, maybe it won't be Benitez' team anymore if that ha ...
Soccer 

Combined Soccer/Ice Hockey Stadium Planned In Switzerland
2007-12-08 16:01:00
Swiss investment bank Credit Suisse has laid out plans for a combined soccer/ice hockey stadium in Zurich that would host the city's three biggest professional sports teams (that would be Grasshoppers, F.C. Zurich and ZSC Lions, for those of you not in the know). I don't think I've ever heard of anything like this before. There are renderings of what the place would look like here.They aren't envisioning a "hybrid" structure but actually two different stadia (along with a shopping center) under the same roof. Neither would be particularly large, but then Switzerland is not a particularly large country; 20,000 capacity for the soccer grounds and half that for the hockey rink.The idea is born out of necessity. Where Switzerland's largest city once had two separate soccer grounds and an ice hockey stadium, they now basically have no structures dedicated to either sport. Grasshoppers longtime stadium, the Hardturm, was torn down earlier this year and F.C. Zurich's has been converted to a t ...
Ice  Soccer  Stadium  Switzerland 

Soccer Quote of the Day, Dec. 8, 2007
2007-12-08 15:32:00
"It’s incredible, at 17 you’re more likely to get a call from Michael Jackson than Sven Goran Eriksson."--Gordon Strachan, on Wayne Rooney's rise to prominence. ...
Soccer 

First Leg Of Mexican League Final Ends Scoreless
2007-12-07 13:15:00
The first leg of the Apertura gran final between Mexico City's UNAM Pumas and Cancun's Atlante ended in a scoreless draw at Estadio Olimpico last night. The underdog home side dominated most of the run of play and had more--and better--chances but were unable to capitalize. Atlante's goalkeeper Federico Vilar was probably the man of the match, stepping in with several key saves, especially in the second half when Pumas seemed to be cutting off all of Atlante's escape routes. Other times, the host's forwards were unable to capitalize on their chances. The series now moves to Cancun where a winner will be decided Sunday night (7pm EST). ...
League 

Soccer Quote of the Day, Dec. 7, 2007
2007-12-07 07:08:00
"You get what you deserve in football."--Colin Hendry, here giving an opponent his just deserts from a game in 2001. ...
Soccer 

Friday Footie Link List, Dec. 7, 2007
2007-12-07 06:03:00
Worldclubrankings.com is by its own definition "no-frills," focusing on rankings it culls from a proprietary algorithm. I imagine this will continue to be the site's bread and butter (it's part of their URL, lest we forget) but they are expanding their "service offerings" (to delve into marketing-ese for a second. Vile, innit? My day-job editors would never let me get away with that. Not that I'd want to. Marketing people are evil). Where was I? Oh yes, worldclubrankings.com now has a handy schedule for its top 25 teams in action, complete with TV listings for a U.S. audience. I know from my own experience what a pain in the arse it is to pull this kind of data together, so I really appreciate their efforts--especially if they were smart enough to figure out a way to automate the process. Not only that, the site is taking suggestions for additional "frills" its readers want to see added. Be sure to check them out.Earlier this week, I decided that FIFA's Club World Cup was worth my time ...
Link