In the upcoming days Real Madrid’s legendary Raul Gonzalez could become the latest superstar to move to the USA. LA Galaxy are looking to replace Premier League bound Landon Donovan and the world class striker is seen as the perfect replacement who would arrive on a free transfer. Raul is eager to join up with former Real team-mate and good friend David Beckham in Los Angeles.
Benfica’s midfielder Ramires is wanted by Europe’s top clubs with Chelsea and Manchester City leading the race for his signature. After a strong season for the Portuguese champions and Brazil, his departure is highly likely. However, many clubs aren’t prepared to pay the €30m release for clause. For City, money is not a problem, but Chelsea offer Champions League football which has put them in pole position, a move could be announced by the end of the week.
João Moutinho’s transfer from Sporting to FC Porto was completed 3 weeks ago and the move will never be forgotten in Portuguese football. It is extremely rare that a player moves from Sporting to Porto or vice versa, especially the team’s captain! Moutinho wanted to leave Sporting who he had represented since the age of 14 and Porto offered the best deal. Everton had been tracking the midfielder for 2 years but never made a tempting offer for the Lisbon based side.
After a strong season for FC Porto and World Cup for Portugal the interest in the Bruno Alves has boomed. The experienced and commanding Porto captain has been linked with moves to several clubs, however Zenit Petersburg have offered €15m and the clubs are negotiating the transfer.
By Dominic Vieira, Writing from Portugal
It wasn’t easy selecting the best XI from the World Cup, especially because many players performed at such a high level. This squad plays under the 4-3-3 formation, the winning tactic used by the Spanish national team and its not a surprise that the team is dominated by them.
By Dominic Vieira and Eric Beard
The 
World Cup has come and gone, so it’s time to give credit to those who deserve it. All behold AFR’s 2010 World Cup awards!
The Zidane Aggression Title: De Jong (Netherlands)
Top Team: New Zealand… they didn’t lose a match did they?
Best Pitch Invasion: (tie) Jimmy Jump trying to put a hat on the World Cup and Mario Ferri telling Marcello Lippi that he should have brought Cassano to South Africa.
Top Goalkeeper: Luis Suarez (Uruguay)
Star of the World Cup: Paul the Octopus
World Cup Circus Clown: Raymond Domenech
Anti-Football Trophy: The Vuvuzela
Most Solid Defence: England
Best Haircut: Tshabalala
Expected to be Player of the Tournament: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
Greatest Disappointment: If Argentina won the World Cup, Maradona promised to run through the streets of Buenos Aires naked. If only…
By Dominic Vieira, writing from Portugal
Spain may have grabbed most of the headlines at South Africa this summer as they rightfully won the World Cup, but two stars who constantly shone and played at an exceptionally high level were Diego Forlan and Thomas Muller. The Uruguyuan striker was elected as the best player of the tournament by a panel of journalists. The latter won both the Golden Boot and Best Young Player awards.
Ten players were nominated to win the Golden Ball; Villa, Xavi, Iniesta, Robben, Sneijder, Oezil, Schweinsteiger, Gyan, Messi and Forlan. The competition was fierce, however, Forlan fully deserved it. He was the key driving force for Uruguay, leading the team many times as the captain Lugano was injured. He scored crucial (and beautiful) goals as well as took part in creating goals. This was Diego Forlan’s World Cup, and despite not reaching the final, he was the pioneer of the team’s best WC performance in the past 40 years.
The striker dedicated the award to Uruguayan football, a small nation, but one with a die-hard passion for football. The 31-year-old may not play at another World Cup, but he certainly left his mark in South Africa. I wonder if Sir Alex is regretting selling him at the moment?
By Dominic Vieira, writing from Portugal
The world has been painted red and yellow! Andres Iniesta made history last night scoring the winning goal in the grand final against the Netherlands in front of 94,000 at Soccer City, Johannesburg. The 26-year-old majestically controlled a sublime Fabregas pass in the 116th before blasting the ball in the back of Stekelenburg’s goal. It was a very close battle between two strong, organised, and collective European sides.
By Dominic Vieira, writing from Lisbon
There is a whole new side to the World Cup final between The Netherlands and Spain. Both nations play football at it’s highest level under a unique, but similar philosophy. The driving force behind The Orange is Ajax and in La Roja is FC Barcelona. But what exactly does this mean?
Ajax and Barcelona possess quality football academies, if not the best in the world where technically talented and intelligent players are constantly produced each year. They both believe in the concept of “Total Football” - where any outfield player can seamlessly assume the role of any other in the team.
The concept was introduced and created by Rinus Michels, a Dutch manager who was successful for Ajax, Barcelona and the Netherlands. Johan Cruyff was one of the talented players who was coached by Michels, he’s viewed as the pioneer and icon of ‘Total Football’.
When Cruyff retired to become a manager he adopted the philosophy, furthermore he adapted and expanded it. He took it to the next level, focusing on the movement of the players - where they should be running and not running to on or off the ball.
By Dominic Vieira, writing from Portugal
The whole world stops on Sunday the 11th at 19:30PM GMT to turn their attention to one nation. One nation which has represented a unique continent filled with a myriad of passion, happiness, colour, music, love and devotion for the most popular sport on earth, football. The World Cup final kicks off where the competition started; at Soccer City in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Not a soul will want miss the clash between European giants Netherlands and the almighty Spain. Neither of the teams have won lifted the World Cup, Spain are playing in their first final where as the Netherlands are aiming to make it 3 times lucky after losing consecutive finals in 74 and 78. Either Casillas or Van Bronckhorst will be holding the most desired cup and making history as they as part of the first European nation to win the tournament outside of Europe. Can this final get more exciting?
By Dominic Vieira, writing from Lisbon
The first semi-final kicks off tonight After a two day break, the remaining South American side Uruguay takes on an organised and effiicent Netherlands. The match between the blues and the oranges kicks off at 19:30PM GMT in Cape Town.
By Dominic Vieira, writing from Lisbon
It was not Spain’s best performance, even their manager Del Bosque recognised that. David Villa made the difference tonight scoring the only goal in the 82nd minute which put Spain in the semi-finals for the first time in their history!
It was an encounter with few scoring opportunities, where tactics and strength played a major role. Spain’s offensive plays were continuously broken down by a solid Paraguayan defence, they were finding it incredibly hard to pass the ball in the final sector of the field; the frustration was clear amongst the Spanish players. The emotion and intensity was high throughout the match, both teams wanted to win from the first to final whistle.
Despite Spain’s dominance, Paraguay had the chance to open the scoring in the 58th minute after Pique pulled Cardozo’s arm in the box. The Benfica striker is a specialist in penalties, but Casillas defended it. After the match the Spain captain confessed Reina told him which side Cardozo shoots his penalties.
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