A Football Report

Raúl signs with Schalke and is making Germany go mental!

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:59:51 +0100

With rumours spanning from the Premier League to the Los Angeles Galaxy, Raúl has finalised his transfer to German club Schalke. The Royal Blues are set to officially unveil him at the Veltins Arena on Wednesday, a day earlier than expected. For Raul to get his beloved number 7, former wearer Hao Junmin had to discreetly give it up.

Some 50,000 Schalke shirts with Raul’s name and the number seven have been ordered by the Champions League participants for the game against Hamburg. The club’s website crashed on Monday when BILD first broke news that the transfer deal was done. It’s safe to say that Germany is catching Raúl fever.

A Football Report turns one year old today! To celebrate we’re...

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:00:00 +0100

A Football Report turns one year old today! To celebrate we’re going out for a night on the town… But we’re also going to highlight some of our favourite posts from the past year that are in our archives. One post a day until Chelsea takes on Manchester United in the Community Shield on August 8th. Don’t worry, we have a healthy dose of nostalgic brilliance is in store. We’re so proud to have such a great readership, and we’re just as proud (if that’s possible) to have developed such a great, diverse team of writers.

From the Archives: Can’t tell which is better the original with Wenger, Fabregas and Ronaldo or the FA’s with gritty Brits.

Mario Balotelli and Roberto Mancini: the same side of talent

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:05:52 +0100

Mario Balotelli is Italy’s most talented footballer nowadays. Pick anyone in the streets of the Belpaese and eveybody will agree with that.

Problem is that talent is difficult to manage 90% of the time and even more difficult to manage when it is not assisted by the right attitude you expect from a youngster: the will to improve, the will to learn, the will to work hard.

You may say this is something easier to find in less talented players: they have to balance the lack of quality with intensity, pressing, quantity in their plays. True.

Més Que Un Debt?

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:00:00 +0100

By Eric Beard, writing from Boston

According to the BBC, Barcelona’s debt is 442 million euros (£369.5m) after a loss of more than 77m euros (£64.36m) last season. The club’s costs in the 2009-10 season rose to £400m, with their income at £341.7m.

Operating costs of £400m? To run a football club? As they say, Barcelona is Més Que Un Club, or more than club. But even so, this appears to be more than your average debt.

Bolton bags young Galactico Marcos Alonso

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 10:16:48 +0100

Owen Coyle is the happiest man in Bolton tonight as he was able to add to his side’s squad depth by signing 19-year-old Marcos Alonso from Real Madrid. Alonso, who plays left back, realised that he was unlikely to get regular first team football in Madrid, which led him to pursue his options elsewhere. Bolton has signed the talented youngster on a three-year deal.

As if being one of the richest clubs in the world isn’t enough,...

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 09:49:14 +0100

As if being one of the richest clubs in the world isn’t enough, Dolce & Gabbana, the Italian designer label, has signed a three-year fashion partnership with Chelsea Football Club. D&G will dress the English club off the pitch, as the players will be provided with dark blue, three-piece suits, with matching shirts and ties. Adidas, you’ve been outdone.

View the full photo gallery of the designs here

Sol Campbell heading north to Newcastle

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 09:45:59 +0100

No, his career will never be over. In fact, Sol Campbell was quite the hot item this summer, and Newcastle United have made the most attractive offer to the 35-year-old defender, beating out Sunderland and Celtic. So what was the deal? Well, a reported £35,000-a-week. But the big question that remains is whether Sol will be fit come mid-August. Campbell turns 36 in September and has missed much of pre-season training having returned from his honeymoon only at the weekend.

Puma and Women's Pro Soccer unite against Breast Cancer with #ProjectPink

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 03:53:10 +0100

By Eric Beard, writing from Boston

PUMA has announced an initiative that links the WPS with support for the fight against breast cancer. The name of the project? Well, Project Pink of course.

Launching July 31 at wps.pumafootball.com/projectpink you can nominate breast cancer charities with nonprofit status and vote for the winner, who will receive a donation consisting of 100% of the profits from the sale of PUMA Project Pink product. The nomination period will open on August 7; voting will begin on September 13. The winner will be announced and the donation made in late October.

But beyond that, Puma has launched a pretty awesome Twitter-based way to support breast cancer. For every tweet using the hash tag #projectpink from July 31 through October 18, PUMA will donate an additional $1 to the Project Pink cause, up to a maximum of $25,000. PUMA will count one tweet using the hash tag per user per day.

If goals were songs: Sergio Canales, Yo Voy!

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:25:03 +0100

Spain defeated England 3-1 in the semifinals of the EURO U-19 tournament, and there was nothing better than Sergio Canales’ goal to take the scoreline from 2-1 to 3-1 to cap off yet another great win for La Furia Roja. Just like Canales took Spain into the final with style, finishing off a wonderfully executed set piece, Novalima’s “Yo Voy” has this sequence captured. Listen to it while watching the video, si es posible.

Philipp Lahm's performance against Ghana was the best of the World Cup. Wait.. what?

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:38:00 +0100

One might think that Andrés Iniesta’s volleying the World Cup-winning goal with his Nike CTR360 boot, David Villa with his Adidas Adizero scoring match-winner after match-winner, or Diego Forlan leading Uruguay to victory after victory might be enough to garner a performance of the tournament award. However, according to the Castrol Index Rating that has been endorsed by FIFA, Philipp Lahm’s performance in Germany’s 1-0 win against Ghana in the group stage has been deemed the best (9.72 out of 10). Makes just about as much sense as the FIFA rankings. Another fairly comprehensible Castrol ranking is Luis Suarez’s infamous match against Ghana where he handled the ball in the 120th minute and was sent off. Well, he was given a 9.65 rating.

Below are all of the performance rankings of a player in a single match that were above a 9.00.

Igor Akinfeev looks to England

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:19:40 +0100

CSKA Moscow goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev seems set to move to a top English club after spending seven years in the Russian capital. Since finishing third in Euro 2008, Akinfeev has been at the top of many clubs’ lists across Europe but only after his great performances in last season’s Champion’s League have clubs begun to seriously pursue the 24-year-old. Manchester United, a side looking to line up a replacement for the aging Edwin van der Sar after offloading Ben Foster to Birmingham city, and Arsenal, who need to sort out their goalkeeping situation after several seasons with a lack of confidence between the sticks, are the front runners in race to sign the Russian international who is valued at £8 million.

Laurent Blanc blasts World Cup flops

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 07:27:10 +0100

By Ulysse Pasquier, writing from Montreal

Laurent Blanc and the French Football Federation have announced none of the 23 players that went to South Africa would be part of the squad facing Norway, Blanc’s first friendly in charge of Les Bleus. This rather shocking news could be the first of many sanctions that await the “mutineers of Knysa” who refused to train following the Nicolas Anelka incident during the World Cup group stages.

This is the first important move Laurent Blanc has made as coach of the French team and it could set the tone for what we can expect in the future. This shows Blanc is trying to differentiate himself and the team from the World Cup fiasco. I believe he has understood that French Football is suffering from deep-rooted issues and I don’t think many people will criticize him for the steps he takes, as drastic as they may appear to be.

The match, which will take place in Oslo on August 11th, is of course only a friendly but it will be interesting to see some new faces as well as a different dynamic. The French team needs a new identity after what happened in South Africa and we can expect Blanc to mix players from the 23 and the ones who will play against Norway to create a solid team for the 2012 Euro.

Quite a nicely taken penalty but the celebration is what makes...

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 07:24:34 +0100

Quite a nicely taken penalty but the celebration is what makes this video worthwhile. What else have we been missing in Icelandic football?

Recommend A Football Report this week!

Real Madrid Says Good-bye to a Legend

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:44:29 +0100

By Elizabeth Hanchett, writing from New York. Elizabeth is an FC Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao and Spain NT supporter from the United States, although she has spent most of her life in Spain. She has been following La Liga off-and-on since 1997 (on since around 2007).

After a press conference held yesterday in Madrid announcing that Real Madrid’s Guti was leaving the team, it was announced that there would also be a press conference with Madrid and Spanish legend Raúl to discuss his future as well.

And today, Real Madrid bade him farewell, and Raúl said good-bye to the fans. It was the final moment of a career which began in 1994, of a player who made his first cap for Spain in 1996, and since then has scored 323 goals on the club level in all competitions, and who is currently the leading goalscorer for the Spanish national team, with 44 goals.

Royston Drenthe announces move to Liverpool via Facebook

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:34:46 +0100

Roy Hodgson has really done well since he has taken charge of Liverpool, and he seems to have pulled another coup by signing Real Madrid’s pacy Dutch defender and winger Royston Drenthe. Though Liverpool have not yet announced the terms of the transfer, Drenthe announced “I will soon be joining Liverpool FC. Hope I will have a good season there :)” on his official Facebook page.

Out-of-touch Fernando Torres wants out of Anfield?

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 04:56:14 +0100

It seems absurd to say that it has not been a good year for Fernando Torres, as there is no greater moment in a footballer’s career those hoisting the World Cup. But it really hasn’t. Sure, he had moments of brilliance with Liverpool such as injury time game-winner vs. Aston Villa, but let’s all be honest, the real Fernando Torres has not been with us in months. Maybe it was a nagging injury or maybe it was Rafa’s rotation policy, but either way the Spanish striker now has supposedly decided that Liverpool isn’t the right place for him anymore, and there doesn’t seem to be anything Roy Hodgson can do about it.

If goals were songs: Ross Turnbull, I'm Not Yours

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 21:27:38 +0100

Chelsea’s back-up goalkeeper Ross Turnbull came no closer to surpassing Hilario for the starting spot for the beginning of the season (seeing as Cech is injured) during yesterday’s friendly with Ajax at the Amsterdam Arena. Mid-way through the first-half, with the scores tied one a piece, the 25-year-old Englishman handed the Dutch the go-ahead goal. Turnbull chased down a long ball from his counterpart and tried to caress the ball down into his arms. However, at the last moment, realizing that he was nearing the edge of the box, he tried to keep the ball within the box with one slick and indecisive hand. The lyrics of “I’m Not Yours” by Australia’s Angus and Julia Stone do a great job explaining a Chelsea supporter’s stern view of the faulty ex-Middlesbrough man.

Manchester City play street football against NYC's local talent in Umbro advert

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 21:22:59 +0100

While Manchester City aren’t the New York Yankees of football, they certainly get paid like the best in the world. Before their preseason friendly against Sporting Lisbon at the Red Bull Arena, the lads living in luxury took a trip down to the lower east side of Manhattan to play with the locals. From Adebayor’s awkwardness to Shaun Wright-Phillips’..um.. smallness, a group of local footballers had a chance to play against some of the world’s best players. The full group was Joe Hart, Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Adebayor, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Wayne Bridge, Micah Richards, and Dedryck Boyata. Like you would expect, the Mancs won, but I have to say that I was impressed by the American talent on show. Just look at that faux rabona performed by the anonymous kid around the 44 second mark.

Philosofooty is here! Behold the beautiful game's new home for thought!

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 09:16:00 +0100

Football is more than a game. For some, it’s a lifestyle. And with a lifestyle naturally comes morals, philosophies, and values. We’re here to whole-heartedly embrace that notion with Philosofooty. As usual, we’ll provide you with educated, well-postulated pieces with perspectives from students and scholarly #10s alike.

We’ll be having a poll of the month and we’ll also be open to answer any questions you choose to ask us! But beyond that, we’ll be splitting up our posts into six categories: Questions, Analysis, Critiques, Perspectives, Summaries, and Outside the Box.

Questions: These tend to arise in football, so we’ll do our best to address or enquire about them as they come along.

Analysis: Will Barça continue to dominate in Spain? Who will win the Manchester Derby? Here we’ll break down issues of that sort.

Critiques: Why did France and Italy fail to shine in South Africa? Here’s where we’ll focus on trying to reason why certain sides or individuals fell short of success. We’ll also be providing some constructive criticism, when possible.

Perspectives: We’re from all over. So here’s where we’ll embrace our own voice and speak our minds.

Summaries: Trying to make sense of say… the Argentina-Germany match? Well, here’s where we’ll provide in-depth analysis on what happens on the pitch.

Outside the Box: From the United Nations to eco-friendly football, you’ll find very, very unique football-pertinent pieces here.

So that’s it. We’re excited to showcase the best writing from our team of football enthusiasts, and we hope that you’ll join us in the upcoming season. We hope Philosofooty will be magical, like Rafa Benitez’s right hand.

The great Eric Cantona said, “When the seagulls follow the trawler, it’s because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea.”

So you can: 1) wait and see what will happen year after year or

2) try to understand why these things are happening in the world of football.

We prefer the latter. After all, can you truly appreciate what you don’t understand?

“Matchday 360 - Thierry Henry” Follow Thierry Henry’s first ever...

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 22:59:18 +0100

“Matchday 360 - Thierry Henry” Follow Thierry Henry’s first ever match with the New York Red Bulls, as he and his new teammates take on Tottenham Hotspur.

I know we’ve been following Henry’s every move since the World Cup ended. So from here on we’re not going to do that, unless he scores a goal that reminds of his Highbury days. But honestly, this is a great compilation done by the media department over at MLS. The best part is Henry trying to pretend that he doesn’t dislike everyone on Spurs, but we all know he does. Well, maybe not Modric, as he actually swapped shirts with him after the match. Anyway, enjoy!