Soccer Thread 2007-08 {R}

[Mr. Wednesday]

Originally Posted by Ryan S

The Chelsea complaint was not about the amount of injury time, it was down the fact that two minutes were signaled, and nothing happened in the first two minutes of injury time to warrant another 30+ seconds.

Which just goes to show that they don't understand the stoppage time signals. A signal of two minutes doesn't mean it will be exactly two minutes, it will be something ranging from two minutes to three minutes. If time was blown at 2:30 or 2:45, that's still consistent with a signal of two minutes.

[Mr. Wednesday]

Dola, and the mistake was not in sending off Mikel, it was in NOT sending off Cole, but the ref probably wimped out because Chelski were already on ten men.

[Mr. Wednesday]

The Solo situation has devolved into the absurd. Yeah, she should have kept her mouth shut after the game and let the press make her point for her (instead of speaking while still emotional and doing collateral damage to Scurry in her assault on Ryan). But the response has been ridiculously vindictive, to the point where I (and some other observers) were half hoping for the team to be embarassed by Norway to force some changes.

[dacman]

Greg Ryan should thank his lucky stars Solo has a mouth and spouted off. Because of her, one of the most bone-headed moves I have ever seen has been buried by the aftermath of Solo's moment of verbal diarrhea.

Imagine if you will that the Dallas Cowboys continue their winning ways this season -- they win most of their games -- and Tony Romo has a great season. They get to the playoffs. They win a couple of games and now they are in the NFC Championship game. Suddenly Wade Phillips has a thought --"you know, Brad Johnson has 'super bowl experience' so I think we'll play Brad in the NFC Championship game instead of Romo." THAT is how ridiculously stupid Greg Ryan's move was. And now, all anyone can talk about is what Hope said in the aftermath. I hope the USSF can see through all of the mud, but given their track record, I have my doubts.

[Big Fo]

Originally Posted by dacman

I hope the USSF can see through all of the mud, but given their track record, I have my doubts.

I was reading some article about the controversy where Gulati was quoted as saying roughly equivalent to "well one thing that is nice is it shows that people care."

So yeah, don't get your hopes up.

[Critch]

Tottenham v Aston Villa. Wow, what a game.

Is there a single player in the EPL more over-rated than Paul Robinson? England goalkeeper my arse.

[Big Fo]

Originally Posted by Critch

Tottenham v Aston Villa. Wow, what a game.

Is there a single player in the EPL more over-rated than Paul Robinson? England goalkeeper my arse.

Yeah, he's not good at all. Nobody comes to mind as being half as overrated as he is, not even Steven Gerrard.

Perhaps it's my bias but I think Gary Neville could be the most underrated player in the league, he's been one of the world's best at his position for a decade. A few years ago it might have been Robert Pires, that guy was awesome but people never seemed to talk about him all that much even though he did win the Football of the Year award once.

[daedalus]

sorry but i don't see robinson enough to know this (what? watch the spuds? inconceivable!) but what's so bad about robinson? like, what are the weakness in his game that are dragging him down? i remember hearing a lot of positives at the start of his spuds career (1-2 years, i think?).

if not robinson, then who? green? stay with james?

please, big fo . . . don't associate le bob with a neville. it hurts our feelings.

[Critch]

The bad about Robinson is that he's prone to errors, flaps at crosses (or just plain drops them, like he did last night) and he seems to regularly find himself out of position on long shots. The good is that he's a good reaction keeper, although he never seems to hang onto a shot. Not a bad keeper, but not international class. The commentators last night mentioned that Spurs have had 3 clean sheets in the last 36 games, I know their defense isn't the best but even so that's not England number 1 standard.

If not Robinson, I don't know. Green and James don't seem much steadier than Robinson. Maybe they can just cross their fingers and hope Carson, Foster or Kirkland works out ok?

Or maybe they can clone Clemence or Shilton. They haven't had a top class keeper since that pair retired.

[law90026]

Originally Posted by Critch

Or maybe they can clone Clemence or Shilton. They haven't had a top class keeper since that pair retired.

Hey hey, David "porn moustache" Seaman wasn't too bad, so long as you didn't allow other players to shoot from the middle of the park.

[Critch]

Originally Posted by law90026

Hey hey, David "porn moustache" Seaman wasn't too bad, so long as you didn't allow other players to shoot from the middle of the park.

My memory is going, I completely forgot about him. There was always a chance of a 1-0 win when you saw Seaman on the team sheet.

[Big Fo]

Originally Posted by daedalus

please, big fo . . . don't associate le bob with a neville. it hurts our feelings.

"Gary Neville is a red, he hates scousers"

In one game he wasn't just content to merely help end Arsenal's unbeaten streak, he took the liberty of kicking Jose Antonio Reyes back to La Liga. Add to that his pretentious newspaper columns and refusal to sing "God Save the Queen" before England games as a socialist protest and you can see what a true hero he is.

I can't wait to see him back in the side, he's so much better at crossing and overlapping than Wes Brown, he might help us actually score more than once in a game.

[Critch]

I didn't know that about Gary Neville and The Queen. Until now I'd thought the most interesting thing about Gary Neville was that his dad is called Neville Neville. The kind of unimaginative name you see pop up in FM every now and then, but rarely in real life.

[SirFozzie]

Wrote this reply to the "rumor" of Sunderland trying to arrange for a Beckham loan and the discussion it generated on a Fulham Messageboard ..

Every two weeks, one of these rumors pops up, created by an English tabloid out of an out of context quote, or quite frankly, pulled out of their ass (or Arse). This is cuz the tabloids can't stand seeing one of their favorite targets play for a league they mock and a league that quite frankly doesn't play on English TV well (due to time differences, unlike the rest of the European Leagues..)

tabloid A's editor: "Beckham hates america. I know he does! He's going to play with.. *throws a dart at a dartboard*: Blackburn (writes rumors article saying its happening)

LA Galaxy: Beckham has a contract with us, and we're not interested in selling him, and he's not interested in leaving

Beckham: That's Right I wouldn't dare dream of leaving LA at this stage of my career. I'm dedicated to bringing the usa soccer fans the best soccer possible

Tabloid B: (Posted in 48 point screamer Text) BECKHAM SAYS GET ME OUT OF HERE.. (underneath) Beckham "I..dream of leaving LA".. rumored target: Reading

LA Galaxy: Wait, what? No No you got it all wrong. I know this is a rough season with injuries for David but, we have no desire to see him leave.

Tabloid C: (screamer) "Galaxy to Beckham: Piss off!" (quote underneath "Rough Season for David, we desire to see him leave).. Beckham deciding between Fulham and Sunderland..

LA Galaxy: Fine. We're not playing that game any more. (storms off)

Tabloid D: "Galaxy management storm out of press conference due to settle rumors that he is heading to Crystal Palace.."

[bulletsponge]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Wrote this reply to the "rumor" of Sunderland trying to arrange for a Beckham loan and the discussion it generated on a Fulham Messageboard ..

Every two weeks, one of these rumors pops up, created by an English tabloid out of an out of context quote, or quite frankly, pulled out of their ass (or Arse). This is cuz the tabloids can't stand seeing one of their favorite targets play for a league they mock and a league that quite frankly doesn't play on English TV well (due to time differences, unlike the rest of the European Leagues..)

tabloid A's editor: "Beckham hates america. I know he does! He's going to play with.. *throws a dart at a dartboard*: Blackburn (writes rumors article saying its happening)

LA Galaxy: Beckham has a contract with us, and we're not interested in selling him, and he's not interested in leaving

Beckham: That's Right I wouldn't dare dream of leaving LA at this stage of my career. I'm dedicated to bringing the usa soccer fans the best soccer possible

Tabloid B: (Posted in 48 point screamer Text) BECKHAM SAYS GET ME OUT OF HERE.. (underneath) Beckham "I..dream of leaving LA".. rumored target: Reading

LA Galaxy: Wait, what? No No you got it all wrong. I know this is a rough season with injuries for David but, we have no desire to see him leave.

Tabloid C: (screamer) "Galaxy to Beckham: Piss off!" (quote underneath "Rough Season for David, we desire to see him leave).. Beckham deciding between Fulham and Sunderland..

LA Galaxy: Fine. We're not playing that game any more. (storms off)

Tabloid D: "Galaxy management storm out of press conference due to settle rumors that he is heading to Crystal Palace.."

LOL, are the tabloids really that bad?

[SirFozzie]

worse.

Here's an ESPN Soccernet story about the rumor brigade.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns...t=mls&&cc=5901

[AlexB]

A perfect example of the reason why I barely watch European or international football any more... yes the fan shouldn't be there, but Dida's reaction was embarrassing, and summed up the Italians tactics all 2nd half - fall to floor and feign injury. I love it when teams try and cheat their way through a game, and because they've wasted so much time there's none left for them to try and get an equaliser to a late goal

Celtic will get punished (rightfully so), but so should Dida, and hopefully the punishement will be financial. If they let him get away with that people will fall over randomly towards the end of games when they are losing claiming to be hit by coins, etc just to try and get the match abandoned / replayed / awarded to them.

Fan 'attack', my arse.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...pe/7027114.stm

[daedalus]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

In one game he wasn't just content to merely help end Arsenal's unbeaten streak, he took the liberty of kicking Jose Antonio Reyes back to La Liga.

it wasn't that game that made JAR cried like a little bitch and want to go back. i believe it was a prior game to that. he'd started well, got kicked around real well by neville and never recapture much in the way of nerves. but that game [that ended the streak], he was already done.

Originally Posted by Big Fo

I can't wait to see him back in the side, he's so much better at crossing and overlapping than Wes Brown, he might help us actually score more than once in a game.

if i was a united fan [ewwwwwwwwwww, i need a shower after saying that], i'd be nervous with brown at fullback for an extended period. he does not inspire confidence in any way, shape or form in the games i've seen him at fullback.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by Jari Rantanen's Shorts

A perfect example of the reason why I barely watch European or international football any more... yes the fan shouldn't be there, but Dida's reaction was embarrassing, and summed up the Italians tactics all 2nd half - fall to floor and feign injury. I love it when teams try and cheat their way through a game, and because they've wasted so much time there's none left for them to try and get an equaliser to a late goal

Celtic will get punished (rightfully so), but so should Dida, and hopefully the punishement will be financial. If they let him get away with that people will fall over randomly towards the end of games when they are losing claiming to be hit by coins, etc just to try and get the match abandoned / replayed / awarded to them.

Fan 'attack', my arse.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...pe/7027114.stm

I don't think so. We should be talking about the moron who probably calls himself a Celtic fan, and in his so-called love for that club decided to risk expulsion from the Champions' League. It was a loss-loss situation for Dida from there on, he was clearly hit and basically had two choices: chase that moron and risk a punishment for attacking a 'fan' (Eric Cantona anyone?) or go down overwhelmed by something unexpected happened.

Precedent has been set, if Michel Platini wants to avoid being inconsistent, Celtic will have to be taken out of the tournament and suspended for the 2008/2009 season.

[Big Fo]

Fans just don't like Dida or something, he was hit with a flare a few years ago when the two Milan clubs were playing in the Champions League. From the descriptions I need to find some video of his dive after the fan touched him, it sounds pretty funny.

Michael Carrick is out six weeks with a broken elbow apparently, not good news with Owen Hargreaves and Darren Fletcher still injured. Anderson and Scholes are too attacking to play together in the middle, so I guess we'll be stuck with John O'Shea in midfield for a few games. Gerard Pique played some in midfield when he was on loan at Zaragoza last season, I'd like to see him get a chance versus Wigan on Saturday. Save O'Shea for when we need a last minute goal.

[AlexB]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

I don't think so. We should be talking about the moron who probably calls himself a Celtic fan, and in his so-called love for that club decided to risk expulsion from the Champions' League. It was a loss-loss situation for Dida from there on, he was clearly hit and basically had two choices: chase that moron and risk a punishment for attacking a 'fan' (Eric Cantona anyone?) or go down overwhelmed by something unexpected happened.

Precedent has been set, if Michel Platini wants to avoid being inconsistent, Celtic will have to be taken out of the tournament and suspended for the 2008/2009 season.

I'm sorry MIJB, you seem a good guy from the couple of years worth of previous posts, but eveything I've italicised & bolded is tripe. He was not 'hit', at worst it was a slap, and it wasn't even that - there was no back swing. Dida had a third choice - not to go down, not to pretend he had been hit by an iron bar and not to get stretchered off from the type of contact that you give to a mate when you're trying to say 'cheer up' or 'cheeky monkey'. He was pathetic.

However, I do agree with everything you say that I haven't italicised, especially the bit about not carrying on chasing the guy - that would have been bad all round for Dida.

[AlexB]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

Fans just don't like Dida or something, he was hit with a flare a few years ago when the two Milan clubs were playing in the Champions League. From the descriptions I need to find some video of his dive after the fan touched him, it sounds pretty funny.

If it weren't so tragic, it would be funny. The closest situation I can think of that we might find ourselves in is if you were with a group of mates in amongst a policeman's convention, and someone you didn't know came up and gave you a cheeky touch on your cheek...

You wouldn't chase them and give them a hiding because you know you'd be arrested, but would you really fall to the floor and ask to be stretchered to a medical tent while holding an icepack to your jaw? You'd be laughed out of the place. Most people would ignore it, some might report to the police, and if you're the sort of person who would 'go down overwhelmed by something unexpected happened' then you really shouldn't be allowed out in the general public without a reponsible adult.

Again, it must be a British/European thing - my take is obviously world's apart from MIJB's - jumping out of the way of a challenge I can understand, you shouldn't have to suffer an injury for a foul to be given, but to feign injury is just weak - some people need to grow a set.

[MIJB#19]

I don't think a random bar is a very good comparable situation of what should be a piece of turf decently secured from invaders. That moron that hit Dida (I saw the 'action' on tv in slowmotion-replay, how big the impact of the hit was really shouldn't matter what Celtic concerns, now, it would for personal charges) embarresed the Scottish police/security and hurt Celtic. Dida's expectations to not get hit by a total stranger should be even lower than they are when you are in a bar.

I'm not defending Dida's act in a sense of saying it's a good thing. You have to keep in mind that it's a sport where people are taught they need to go down to get the attention from the referee (heck, most of the time he's 50 yards away and looking the other way). Never mind that you could expect him to be pumped with adrenaline, meaning he could have easily felt nothing for the first second or two.

And no, I don't think Celtic deserves getting kicked out. Get that 'fan', throw him in jail or send him the bill of the costs it will be to Celtic (estimation, a bunch of millions). UEFA is very strict and the last few seasons have thrown clubs out of competitions for similar things and Platini has been vocal in being even stronger opinion about punishment of clubs instead of 'fans'.

And no, I do not voice the opinion of Brittain or Europe. I'm MIJB and only reflecting my own opinion.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

Fans just don't like Dida or something, he was hit with a flare a few years ago when the two Milan clubs were playing in the Champions League. From the descriptions I need to find some video of his dive after the fan touched him, it sounds pretty funny.

This is probably where JRS and I disagree. Taken out of context, Dida's actions are funny. Put back into context, I don't think there's anything funny about what happened.

[MIJB#19]

Watching the incident again, I have to admit that Dida looks really silly in his action. Doesn't take away that he shouldn't have been put in that situation to do that in the first place...

[Big Fo]

Just to clarify, I don't find fans running onto the field and coming after players to be funny, but I've seen so many bad dives after watching soccer for years that I now find them humorous unless they get a call against a team I'm rooting for, I've stopped getting upset at them.

I just watched a video of the incident. Dida was smart not to continue after the fan, stupid to fall and make such a big deal of it, Celtic shouldn't have to play behind closed doors or anything but UEFA should and will give them a fine. After reading the discussion about it, I was actually a bit disappointed. I thought it might have been a Rivaldo in the World Cup level dive but it was just your standard theatrics.

[Calis]

You know, it was so blatantly bad I went from aggravated to amused. I'd really like to see Dida punished for this, they need to start doing something. I think Celtic should get away with a fine here, I think anything more is unnecessary, and I think Dida ruined much chance of anything worse happening by those theatrics.

But enough about that, lets talk about the fact that the Hoops beat Milan! They really needed those points there, and once again proved that they are completely hopeless away from Celtic Park, and very very tough when there.

How about Liverpool/Marseille as well? I was incredibly impressed with Marseille in this game, they played their hearts out and showed some beautiful passing. A well deserved win for them.

[BishopMVP]

Video of Dida - http://deadspin.com/sports/soccer/ma...urt-307047.php

A complete joke, making a mockery of the sport. Celtic should be fined for having a fan run on the field, but Dida should be suspended for what he tried to pull.

[AlexB]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

Watching the incident again, I have to admit that Dida looks really silly in his action. Doesn't take away that he shouldn't have been put in that situation to do that in the first place...

I 100% agree with this

[Ajaxab]

I agree with Jari on the third option. What is Dida thinking going down like he's been knocked unconscious? Stand there. Point angrily at the guy who ran onto the field. Look upset. Do anything but crumple to a heap. Do anything but call for the icepack so you can apply it to the side of your face. Do everything to keep the stretcher from being called out. Seriously...it's the equivalent of calling an ambulance because you cut yourself shaving.

[bulletsponge]

what a little bitch! LOL

im refering to Dida of course

[SirFozzie]

BTW, the first US Trophy of the year was decided and it was my boys, the NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION.. who beat FC Dallas 3-2 (At Dallas, even!) in the Final to take their first silverware in 5 finals (3 MLS Cup Finals, and 2 US Open Cup Finals)

[daedalus]

anyone remember rivaldo and his antic at that WC to get that guy carded?

[AlexB]

At least Dida's being charged for his actions - no doubt he'll get off with a slap on the wrist (he'll probably come back with his arm in a sling afterwards ) but at least they've acknowledged his reaction was disgracefu.

[TroyF]

Glad to see he's being charged. What happened to Celtic? Has their punishment been decided?

[Critch]

Punishment hasn't been decided yet, but since their stewards and police let somebody invade the field, slap the opposing keeper, then vanish back into the stand without arrest they can expect a good sized fine and maybe even being forced to play a game in an empty ground or with a stand closed.

[Big Fo]

Freddy Adu is back in the national team squad for their game against Switzerland. Seven players got their first call-up:

Preston Zimmerman
Sal Zizzo
Robbie Findley
Maurice Edu
Danny Szetela
Steve Purdy
Tally Hall

I don't think I've ever heard of Purdy, Hall, or Zimmerman. Could be an interesting game next Wednesday.

Goalkeepers: Marcus Hahnemann (Reading, England), Tally Hall (Esbjerg, Norway), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake)

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham, England), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover, Germany), Dan Califf (Aalborg, Denmark), Jay Demerit (Watford, England), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege, Belgium), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock, Germany), Steve Purdy (1860 Munich, Germany)

Midfielders: Freddy Adu (Benfica, Portugal), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland), Michael Bradley (Heerenveen, Netherlands), Maurice Edu (Toronto), Benny Feilhaber (Hamburg SV, Germany), Eddie Lewis (Derby, England), Danny Szetela (Racing Santander, Spain)

Forwards: Clint Dempsey (Fulham, England), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake), Preston Zimmerman (Hamburg SV, Germany), Sal Zizzo (Hannover, Germany).

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

Watching the incident again, I have to admit that Dida looks really silly in his action. Doesn't take away that he shouldn't have been put in that situation to do that in the first place...

This describes it best.

Celtic have to be punished, because you can't allow what is a potentially dangerous situation to occur.

Dida has to be puinshed, because he clearly was praying the ref would decide to abandon the match, and that is an incredibly unsportsmanlike action (and hilarious when you see the replay)

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

Freddy Adu is back in the national team squad for their game against Switzerland. Seven players got their first call-up:

Preston Zimmerman
Sal Zizzo
Robbie Findley
Maurice Edu
Danny Szetela
Steve Purdy
Tally Hall

I don't think I've ever heard of Purdy, Hall, or Zimmerman. Could be an interesting game next Wednesday.

Goalkeepers: Marcus Hahnemann (Reading, England), Tally Hall (Esbjerg, Norway), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake)

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham, England), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover, Germany), Dan Califf (Aalborg, Denmark), Jay Demerit (Watford, England), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege, Belgium), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock, Germany), Steve Purdy (1860 Munich, Germany)

Midfielders: Freddy Adu (Benfica, Portugal), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland), Michael Bradley (Heerenveen, Netherlands), Maurice Edu (Toronto), Benny Feilhaber (Hamburg SV, Germany), Eddie Lewis (Derby, England), Danny Szetela (Racing Santander, Spain)

Forwards: Clint Dempsey (Fulham, England), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake), Preston Zimmerman (Hamburg SV, Germany), Sal Zizzo (Hannover, Germany).

All the new players (plus Adu/Bradley/Seitz/Feilhaber/maybe Pearce) will make up the bulk of our U-23 Olympic team next year, with Altidore and a couple other defenders. I hope we see a lot of the youngsters, particularly Adu and Zizzo. Since we're not bringing any real forwards, we might as well play 3 AM's across, and those two have good chemistry.

[Blade6119]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

Freddy Adu is back in the national team squad for their game against Switzerland. Seven players got their first call-up:

Preston Zimmerman
Sal Zizzo
Robbie Findley
Maurice Edu
Danny Szetela
Steve Purdy
Tally Hall

I don't think I've ever heard of Purdy, Hall, or Zimmerman. Could be an interesting game next Wednesday.

Goalkeepers: Marcus Hahnemann (Reading, England), Tally Hall (Esbjerg, Norway), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake)

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham, England), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover, Germany), Dan Califf (Aalborg, Denmark), Jay Demerit (Watford, England), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege, Belgium), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock, Germany), Steve Purdy (1860 Munich, Germany)

Midfielders: Freddy Adu (Benfica, Portugal), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland), Michael Bradley (Heerenveen, Netherlands), Maurice Edu (Toronto), Benny Feilhaber (Hamburg SV, Germany), Eddie Lewis (Derby, England), Danny Szetela (Racing Santander, Spain)

Forwards: Clint Dempsey (Fulham, England), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake), Preston Zimmerman (Hamburg SV, Germany), Sal Zizzo (Hannover, Germany).

Hall played at san diego state before going to europe, and zimmerman was a real hot commodity after the U-17 WC a ways back. Hall is not NT quality in my eyes, but zimmerman could be in time. This camp seems simply a check up on the depth in europe, nothing more in my eyes.

[oykib]

What do you think of this?

FIFA announced 30 nominees list to select 2007 World Player of the year. Nominees were selected by football experts from the FIFA Technical and Development Committee. Italy has 5 nominees while England and France have 4 players each. Barcelona is the most dominant club with 7 players while Chelsea has 5 and AC Milan has 4 players in the nominees. 10 players are from English premiere League and 9 nominees are from Spanish league while Italy Series A was represented by 6 players.
FIFA will announce winner on 17th December in Zurich at FIFA World player gala. Top 3 players will be announced at the beginning of the December. Captains and coaches of national teams will vote to select world player of the year.

Most surprising aspect is not even a single layer was selected from non-European club. FIFA committee failed to find a single world class player from non-European clubs. FIFA always do injustice to talented players from African and Latin American clubs until they were recognized by rich European clubs.

Who is hot favorite to win this year?

Lionel Messi is a strong favorite followed by Kaka.

Who missed the nominee list?

Francesco Totti – Is Lampard a better player than Totti?

FIFA nominees for World player of the year:

Wicket keepers:

Gianluigi Buffon (Italy and Juventus) and Petr Cech (Czech Republic and Chelsea).

Defenders:

Fabio Cannavaro (Italy and Real Madrid), Lilian Thuram (France and Barcelona), John Terry (England and Chelsea), Alessandro Nesta (Italy and Milan), Rafael Marquez (Mexico and Barcelona) and Philipp Lahm (Germany and Bayern Munich).

Midfielders:

Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal and Manchester United), Deco (Portugal and Barcelona), Michael Essien (Ghana and Chelsea), Patrick Vieira (France and Internazionale), Andrea Pirlo (Italy and Milan), Franck Ribery (France and Bayern Munich), Juan Roman Riquelme (Argentina and Villarreal), Frank Lampard (England and Chelsea), Kaka (Brazil and Milan), Steven Gerrard (England and Liverpool) and Gennaro Gattuso (Italy and Milan).

Forwards:

Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast and Chelsea), Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon and Barcelona), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Holland and Real Madrid), Fernando Torres (Spain and Liverpool), Carlos Tevez (Argentina and Manchester United), Ronaldinho (Brazil and Barcelona), Wayne Rooney (England and Manchester United), Lionel Messi (Argentina and Barcelona), Miroslav Klose (Germany and Bayern Munich), Thierry Henry (France and Barcelona) and Juninho (Brazil and Lyon).

Fabio Cannavaro was selected as world best player last year for his superb performance in 2006 Germany world cup.

[oykib]

They were going on and on during World Soccer Daily about how Totti missed the list despite winning the European Golden Boot. That and the fact that two or three of these guys spent more than half the season in the trainer's room.

Almost as bad as Donovan winning the Honda player of the year.

[BishopMVP]

Name me a player who doesn't play in Europe that deserves to be on the list. The richest clubs buy all the great players before they're established elsewhere.

I dislike Donovan as much as the next person, but the Honda award is for performance for the US national team, and Donovan is probably the best there the past year. Maybe Howard deserved it over him, but there really weren't a lot of options.

[MIJB#19]

Hmmm, maybe they could have kicked Vieira off the list in favor of Totti? Anyway, I think publishing a shortlist 3/4th into the calendar year and 2/3rd into the number of games in 2007 is a bit too early. Klose (for example) wouldn't have made the list without his performance this September, so why eliminate players who have a great October, November and December?

I'm not sure the absence of non-European club players is a real surprise. Granted, on a list of 30 players, one might expect the best player from the South American continent, but glaring over the list (Riquelme, Tevez, Ronaldinho, Juninho, Messi, Kaka), the best players of that continent are listed, as are the best African players (Drogba, Essien, Eto'o). I wouldn't even be shocked if they picked Marquez purely to please the CONCACAF zone. I really have a hard time thinking a FIFA Committee would be Euro-biased, given the hostility between FIFA and UEFA, not to mention FIFA/UEFA and G-14.

Who I think is going to win? Kaka over Cristiano Ronaldo and Eto'o.

[Big Fo]

If the winner is anyone other than Kaka or C. Ronaldo this thing is a joke, and it really should be Kaka.

Players like Thuram and Gerrard only got nominated because of their big names, nothing new. Defenders again got the short end of the stick.

Replace Cannavaro and Thuram with Rio Ferdinand and Ricardo Carvalho (was better than Terry last season)

Lampard and Gerrard over Paul Scholes is a travesty, Scholes and Essien were by far the best center midfielders in the league last season.

I have a feeling they'll at least get the winner right.

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by oykib

Almost as bad as Donovan winning the Honda player of the year.

How is this a bad decision? It's for nothing but natioal team performance. Who would you have selected?

Donovan is the total key to our offense, whether anyone likes it or not.

[Calis]

Originally Posted by oykib

They were going on and on during World Soccer Daily about how Totti missed the list despite winning the European Golden Boot. That and the fact that two or three of these guys spent more than half the season in the trainer's room.

Almost as bad as Donovan winning the Honda player of the year.

I was pretty shocked Totti wasn't on that list. I have no idea why he didn't make it and someone like Henry does.

It's also pretty odd seeing Buffoon on there who played in Serie B for over half the year.

I think they will give the award to Kaka.

Pretty big joke regardless.

[Critch]

Originally Posted by oykib

Most surprising aspect is not even a single layer was selected from non-European club. FIFA committee failed to find a single world class player from non-European clubs. FIFA always do injustice to talented players from African and Latin American clubs until they were recognized by rich European clubs.

Riquelme is listed as Villareal, but he spent the whole year on-loan to Boca Juniors and he's on the list because of performances in Boca's Copa Libertadores win last season. Pretty good dark horse to win the award too, would have been an even better bet to win if Argentina hadn't lost the Copa America final to Brazil B.

[AlexB]

Early reports are Celtic fined £25,000, which I think is very light (although as the biggest fine for racist chanting is I believe £8k, it shows how 'tough' UEFA are), and Dida banned for 2 matches for the 'Touch of Death' incident as I heard it referred to today!

2 games strikes me as about right tbh.

[I. J. Reilly]

I agree that two games is fair, but completely out of proportion to Celtic’s fine. I think that Celtic has to receive the harsher punishment. Their slack-ass security is what caused the whole thing, and they get a small fine while the player is ruled out for two matches?