The first name noticeable by his absence is of course David Beckham. I am deeply disappointed by this, but I’ve written my views elsewhere and don’t want to rant on about it any more!

Aaron Lennon, Joe Hart, Theo Walcott and Steven Taylor may be slightly disappointed to find themselves in the under 21 squad as they would have been hoping for a call up to the first team. Certainly Lennon would have expected to be in with a chance, particularly with Beckham being left out.

Joe Hart will have looked at the average form of the other England goalkeepers and wondered who might be chosen ahead of him. Walcott has shown no signs of form, and Steven Taylor is a fine player but finds himself playing in a position where England are blessed with many fine players.

Read the rest of this entry »

His name is Mario. Born in Palermo in August 1990 from Ghanaian parents, he is officially adopted by the Balotelli family at age 2. His height is 1m89, his weight 88kg, his touch & technique already reminiscent of the greats of football history. On Wednesday this week, he officially became the Inter Milan hero when the Nerazzurri knocked Juventus out of the Coppa Italia, thanks to two goals by the young striker and a penalty shot by Cruz. Some might say he is Inter’s response to a certain young Brazilian recently acquired by AC Milan, but Mario Balotelli is unique in his own way and this week, has proven that your name doesn’t have to be Alexandre Pato for everyone to say “A Star is Born in Milan”.
.
Read the rest of this entry »

Well, after a month filled with a few moves and a lot of speculation, we’ve finally reached the final day of the transfer window. I’ll be reporting later on all of the action from what should be a frantic day, but for now, here’s all of the latest from yesterday and the early part of today.

Read the rest of this entry »

In this week’s WagSnatch Roundup footballer’s shenanigans uncovered, Jermain Defoe likes to wear a bra instead of a hat, Ronaldo promised a pay rise if he scores, Thierry Henry is a do-gooder and Keegan gets snubbed time and time again.

Recent weeks have not been good for footballers and their WAG companions. Recent and not so recent shenanigans of some of the top England footballers are biting them on the ass and it is turning into a rather bad episode of Footballers’ Wives.

Read the rest of this entry »

Fabio Capello names his first England squad this weekend for the forthcoming friendly against Switzerland. There is eager anticipation to see which new players will be selected and which of the old guard will be left out.

However, not for the first time in relation to the national side, the name on everyones lips is David Beckham. Will his old manager at Real Madrid select him for this friendly?

Read the rest of this entry »

Emmanuel Adebayor scored his 19th goal of the season and three in a matter of four days against Kevin Keegan’s disappointing Newcastle side at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday. The win takes the North London side top of the Premiership table for atleast twenty-four hours as Manchester United could regain the spot with a home win against Portsmouth on Wednesday.

Read the rest of this entry »

Momo Sissoko can’t be too pleased that his Mali team got dumped out of the African Cup of Nations in the first round, but I imagine he might be skipping down the streets of Turin pretty shortly, as his transfer to Juventus has been completed. Sissoko wanted out of Liverpool, and now he’s out, with him signing a four and a half year deal to be reunited with Claudio Ranieri, his manager at Valencia. The 8.2 million pound fee will be paid in three installments, and the total fee could increase depending on how well Juve does.

Read the rest of this entry »

Allegations of match-fixing approaches and resigning coaches have stole some of the headlines in the African Cup of Nations over the last several days, but while all of that’s going on, there’s a pretty entertaining football competition to turn your attention to at the same time.

The four groups are in the midst of wrapping up their final round of group stage matches, and several sides are still mathematically in the running to qualify for for the quarterfinals.

Read the rest of this entry »

A tough tackling defensive midfielder, Mohamed Lamine Sissoko is seen by some as a future midfield star of European football, in particular Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez, who showered praise upon him when he arrived at Merseyside, saying Sissoko possessed “incredible ability for his age” and similar qualities to Frenchman Patrick Vieira. Sissoko’s early career (much like Vieira’s) had been marked with disciplinary problems (as the Malian player tended to pick up yellow cards for late or reckless tackles), but his fierce competitiveness was immediately effective for Liverpool, and he soon became something of a fan’s favourite (as shown in the tribute by Reds fans in the form of a large Mali flag with the Scouse phrase “Momo Is Boss” adorning it).

However it is now official: Juventus and Liverpool have finalized the negotiations for the arrival of Sissoko to the Serie A. The Malian midfielder has been acquired for a cost of €11.0m (£8.2m), and signed a contract of 5 years with the Bianconeri (i.e. until 2013). The transfer fee had been made payable in 3 yearly installments, and may increase by a maximum of €2.0m depending on the achievements of the player during his 5-year contract.

Read the rest of this entry »

It wasn’t a good day to be a Manchester City player. They were comprehensively outfought by a Sheffield United side that last week were comprehensively outfought by a Sheffield Wednesday side deep in relegation trouble. To add insult to injury, they returned from their humbling to find their dressing room had been raided by the most brazen of thieves, leaving the squad around £2000 light. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, for Michael Ball there was the additional shame of being nutmegged by a balloon for United’s opener. And that isn’t just a harsh euphemism for the oft-derided Jonathan Stead either.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been a busy month with far more speculation than actual moves, but with only a few days left in the January transfer window, you can expect to see a lot of movin’, shakin’, and possibly shankin’ in the next few days.

Read the rest of this entry »

There is going to be only one all-Premiership tie in the fifth round of the FA Cup, but they certainly pulled out a good one.

Manchester United and Arsenal are battling it out for the Premier League crown, and in a few weeks, one is going to knock the other out of the FA Cup, as the Big Two butt heads at Old Trafford in the tie of the cup so far.

Read the rest of this entry »

Newcastle United have agreed a compensation package with Leeds United to obtain the services of the current Leeds manager, Dennis Wise. The role he is going to undertake at Newcastle is as yet unspecified, but is believed to be an executive role, looking after transfers amongst other things. To all intents and purposes it appears that he will be Director of Football for the Tyneside club.

Two questions immediately spring to mind. Why would Wise want to leave a managers role in which he is doing well, to take on a less hands on role under Kevin Keegan? Why would Newcastle wish to appoint a young and relatively inexperienced manager to such a role?

The answer to neither of these questions is immediately obvious.

Read the rest of this entry »

CanBet.com is a Football Media advertiser.

Canbet has left the competition in its wake with the introduction of its new revolutionary live football betting service.

Punters now have access to Live ‘In-Play’ Football Betting on over 500 global games each week, as well as the most comprehensive selection of Asian Handicap markets in the world.

Canbet’s Live ‘In-Play’ Betting coverage extends across every niche of professional football competition, from all major leagues in Europe and the Americas to minor leagues in Japan and Mexico. The service is all encompassing, including a wide range of bet types.

Read the rest of this entry »

Soccerlens’s Hugo Steckelmacher looks back at the week gone by in the slightly crazy and always entertaining world of football.

Read the rest of this entry »

Real Madrid took a giant step towards winning their 31st league title this weekend when they beat Villarreal 3-2 in the Bernabeu after all their closest rivals had failed to win. There may still be 17 games to go but Madrid now have a nine point advantage and it will be very difficult for Barcelona, or anybody else, to close the gap on the leaders. Barça could do no better than a 1-1 draw with Athletic Bilbao in San Mames.

Read the rest of this entry »

Images courtesy of Andrés Cantor and Fútbol de Primera.

Soccerlens is extremely honored to have one of the most influential and respected figures in football journalism contribute to our column: Mr. Andrés Cantor.

Mr. Cantor, who gained notoriety in mainstream North America for his famous cries of “Gooooal” during World Cup 1994, is a man with a deep passion, appreciation, knowledge, and commitment to the international sport of football.

Read the rest of this entry »

Premier League sides have been dropping like flies in the last couple of rounds of the FA Cup, and two more fell on Sunday.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s a funny old game is football, full of omens, curses and clichés. No sooner had Tottenham got one monkey off their back by beating Arsenal for the first time in nine years, they turned their attention to ending a winless run at Old Trafford that stretches back more than twice as long. 1989 was the last time Spurs collected a win at Manchester Utd, their side that day featured the likes of Gary Lineker & Paul Gascoigne. Incredible eh? But United were in no mood to follow in Arsenal’s footsteps, even after falling behind to Robbie Keane’s first half strike. Cristiano Ronaldo took his frightening goal tally to 25 in 27 games this season, and Juande Ramos’ incredible cup run came to an end after three unforgettable years at Sevilla and, already at, Spurs.

Read the rest of this entry »

Fabio Capello has arrived in England to find the game in this country at its lowest ebb for many years. Failure to qualify for this summers European championships has left English football in the doldrums. He must have expected the worst when he started attending Premier League games in order to assess the talent he has available for selection.

This weekend Capello has watched the Premier League game between Aston Villa and Blackburn, and the FA Cup tie between Manchester United and Tottenham. He must have been pleasantly surprised, and wonder why everyone is so gloomy, and how a country with this much ability has contrived to fail to qualify for any tournament.

Read the rest of this entry »

When Paul Jewell announced he was leaving Wigan Athletic just twenty four hours after his side had won a last day relegation shoot-out at Sheffield United, few people criticised him. This, after all, was the man who had masterminded- with the aid of Dave Whelan of course- the club’s fairytale ascent of the Football League, and ensured they were more than just one season wonders in the Premiership, even leading the Latics to a League Cup final with Manchester United in the process. Jewell himself cited the pressures of battling relegation as one of the major factors in his decision to walk away from the JJB Stadium, although the common consensus is that he also felt he would be unable to take a club with such a limited fanbase as Wigan much further.

Read the rest of this entry »

As a sportsman he has already written a chapter for himself in German footballing history, and is widely acknowledged to be one of the finest strikers to have graced European football in the 1990s.

As a businessman he’s less known (neither Wikipedia nor the countless news stories covering his reign as Germany manager or the speculation on his management future after that include the name of his company) but equally effective; Klinsmann is vice president and partner in SoccerSolutions, a US-based sports marketing and business development firm, and has been nicknamed the ‘Rainmaker’ for his positive contributions to the company.

As a manager he has a limited CV (a role in the LA Galaxy management and 2 years at the head of the Germany national team) but like his career (football and commercial), he has tasted success wherever he has went. A strong showing in the 2006 World Cup cemented his place as a progressive and capable manager, and his next appointment - a 2 year contract (2008-2010) as Bayern Munich manager - is the perfect stage for Klinsmann to prove that he is as capable of delivering results with a football club as he was on the pitch, as a consultant and as a national team manager.

How then, do you describe Klinsmann?

Read the rest of this entry »

Saturday was packed full of FA Cup fourth-round action, and as was the case in the third round, things didn’t come easy - and for some, at all - for several Premier League sides.

Read the rest of this entry »

It might have been just the Carling Cup where Arsene Wenger tests out his future stars. Yet the midweek loss to great rivals Tottenham at their own backyard by an unthinkable margin did hurt the Emirates faithful, no matter how loyal one could be towards the Gunners.

It doesn’t matter that Spurs have broken the North London hoodoo in such devastating style against one of the Premiership contenders. Well, it had to happen someday. What has shaken the belief at Ashburton Grove is the very sight that two Arsenal teammates going against each other to make fools of themselves in front of the laughing White Hart Lane fans.

Read the rest of this entry »

What a rollercoaster ride that was eh? Thankfully, we managed to avoid the upset the BBC were hoping for, but only just.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mid transfer window, what could/should your team do to improve?

Already we are over midway through the January transfer market and despite this being the priciest ever window on record (an estimated £96M spent already) much of the pre-window speculation has failed to materialise (Berbatov to United anyone?).

Of course the media will do their utmost to recycle last summers rubbish or invent some audacious move. The likelihood is though many of the reports will go unsubstantiated.

As an Arsenal supporter I’m used to the window passing by with the minority of commotion, the exception being Reyes a few years ago. Its Wenger’s policy and us Gooners all trust Wenger don’t we….?

Read the rest of this entry »

More than 700 teams were entered into the 2007/08 FA Cup, and only 31 are still standing, after Barnsley upended Southend 1-0 on Friday.

Among the sides still aiming to lift the trophy at Wembley in May are 11-time winners Manchester United, 10-time winners Arsenal, 8-time winners Tottenham, 7-time winners Liverpool, and current cup-holders Chelsea, four-time winners of the competition. You can expect to see at least one of those sides in the final, unless something crazy happens.

Then, there’s south coast side Havant and Waterlooville, who will be Liverpool‘s opponents at Anfield today.

Who? Havant and Whatawhoville?

Read the rest of this entry »

In today’s Manchester United roundup - can Tottenham cause an upset, Fergie sticks it into Liverpool and Manchester City fans will need to behave themselves at Old Trafford.

Read the rest of this entry »

Jason Cronkhite owns Ziga Zoga - a serious footballers community for people who want to make a difference in and through football. He represented ZZ at the SuperDraft and this is a small segment of his coverage of the event for ZZ.

Yeah, yeah its been a week since the draft but I wanted to add some perspective to what has not been discussed as much about MLS and the SuperDraft. Being my third year out to the draft, this was the most exciting for me on a few levels.

For one thing, it was exciting to see the young fans out vicariously supporting their clubs. Many were loud, opinionated and sporting their club kit like true football fans do throughout the rest of the world. Yes, America is a young footballing country but, its youth is the future and I see the popularity shifting. Although, the sport still has a ways to go to catch up with the rest of the world, the future is looking bright.

Read the rest of this entry »

Sir Alex Ferguson has said that Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes are the best players he has had at Manchester United in his time as manager. Does this stand up to scrutiny?

There are several players who may have a justifiable claim to the title. Eric Cantona, Bryan Robson, Gary Neville, Peter Schmeichel, Roy Keane, Wayne Rooney, Christiano Ronaldo?

In Fergies time as manager Manchester United have won eighteen major trophies and within each of those teams there have been great players. So why does Sir Alex pick these two out as the very best?

Read the rest of this entry »