South Africa might lose the World CUP http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=554459&sec=world&&cc=5901
Good. They shouldn't have been awarded it in the first place. Now, let me add that I don't think they will lose it. I think Blatter came out with this with the goal of lighting a fire under the South Africans' asses. And I think it will probably do the trick.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter has spoken to three countries about hosting the 2010 World Cup if a natural catastrophe forces it away from South Africa. Lol....Yeah they might get them churning on those stadiums.
He didn't actually name the three countries, but I would bet heavily on two of them being the USA and England. (The third? No idea. Mexico? Italy? Spain? As I'll outline below, it probably doesn't matter.) They'd need countries who have stadiums and infrastructure in place to handle an event of this scale. This rules out 90% of the planet, and almost certainly all of Africa, even though Blatter desperately wanted an African World Cup. (It's worth noting that Morocco had originally bid on the 2006 World Cup, but backed out to support the South Africans. I don't know if they have the infrastructure to handle this on short notice. My guess is no, but it's worth mention.) They wouldn't use Japan/S. Korea, Germany or France, because they hosted the World Cup too recently. And they wouldn't use Brazil, because they're prepping for 2014. It's well-known that the 2018 World Cup is likely to boil down to a USA/England backdoor political slugfest. Blatter could probably broker a deal between them by giving one the 2010 Cup in exchange for their throwing support behind the other for 2018. My offhand guess would be that the USA would get the 2010 Cup, and in exchange, CONCACAF would throw their support behind England's 2018 bid. Or, it could be the other way around, and everyone would be happy that way too.
THey can't use Mexico... the infrastructure there is not good enough. Those stadiums where great in 1980 something, but now they are just old elephants, and they would not get enough investment to revamp them in just 2 years. It would have to be US or Europe...
Ronaldinho is close to signing with AC Milan. They will not go after Adebayor of Arsenal because of the Ronaldinho acquisition. Per Foxsoccer.com EDIT: Its official. Ronaldinho to AC Milan. He signs a three year deal. ESPN.
Dinho to Milan. The agreement with Barcellona is 25 mills plus extras which are related to how Dinho will play. Dinho got 3 years deal that pays him 6.5 mills per year. Tomorrow he will be in Milan for medical.
From the barcelona site http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/english/noticies/futbol/temporada08-09/07/n080715104937.html
I think he will, according to Berlusconi, even the fact that Arsenal did reduce the price, appear to be to much money still......or maybe is just a tactic by the Milan to get even a better deal.
I know Alen thats to funny, but I was just quoting what the Gazzetta was feeding us ......but man I'm happy now, finally Dinho is Rossonero!
Dinho to Milan shoulda happened for the last 2 years. It finally did!! Forza Milan!! I love this signing. Too bad we don't have any strikers - well, not enough of them at least. Kaka, Dinho, and Pato all play as a second forward pretty much. Guess we will have to keep Boriello, but he never really did anything in Milan. Hopefully he keeps his form from last year. Also, I heard Sheva is coming back. I don't really want him, but hey, if the price is right, why not?
According to FoxSoccer reports, it is VERY likely that Sheva will be back in a Milan uniform. I heard maybe on a free transfer.
Eh that was expected. He never liked England in the first place and the players weren't huge fans of him because of his constant yelling. I believe they expect Samir Nasri, who just completed his transfer to Arsenal, to replace him out on the wing. I hope he works out for us as he is a great talent.
Real pictures... Come on Alen, I'm not that good......yet Link to those pics: http://www.gazzetta.it/gallery/Calcio/vuoto.shtml?2008/07_Luglio/ronaldinho/02&1 It was on his presentation
Is going to be interesting if Seedorf will give him the #10, Dinho needs that number especially since he's R10, which he's promotional Company doing business all over the world. In case of no agreement with Seedorf, the # that the AC Milan will give him is #11.
Seedorf will be giving Dinho the #10. Why? Simple, because Dinho is branded “R10” by Nike, and that is a lot of money that Nike has invested. Remember, money is king. Both Seedorf and Dinho have a charity foundation in their name, and Dinho will be making a, I believe, substantial donation to the Seedorf foundation for the number. On a side note, Dinho really wanted to come to Milan man!! He gave up almost $40M to come here compared to the offer Man City put on the table. There is also a clause in the Spanish League that when a team sells a player, the player is entitled to 15% of the transfer fee. Dinho voluntarily gave that up as well. I guess that went towards the $2.5M that Barca owed Lyon upon dealing Dinho. He seems to really want to play here, and a motivated Dinho will make everyone forget about Christiano who?
The report was that Man City would be willing to give only $24 million euros which is why they had no shot at him.
http://www.goal.com/en-US/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=780116 Uhm.... interesting lol. I am not really sure what to say about the possible move other than that and wth.
City's deal was worth much more than Milan's deal. Francois - what's your take on David N'gog? Seems like he's coming to Liverpool from PSG for close to £2 million. Saw him score both goals for the u21's against England a few months ago and looks a talent.
Simon - He has that sinewy frame, and style of play that will remind you a bit of a young Trezeguet during his early AS Monaco days. He can hold the ball, be a mast in the air, and has surprising jets for a big man. A product of the Academy, he burst onto the scene during the Emirates Cup in '07 at only 18 years of age. Scored quite a few for the U-19 squad, had two very strong games against Nice, and Lorient. I wonder why he found himself on the wing at times, notably against Benfica in the Euro Cup and against Rennes in '07, but have renounced in light of Le Guen's tactical meanderings. Coming into '08, he was to be paired with Pauleta up front. Had a so-so season, could never find his legs, and wallowed on the bench. Just recently he wasn't called for a friendly against Clermont, which is akin to a slap in the face. He subsequently refused to sign a new deal. I reckon Laurent Viaud, ex player of Rafa, and current scout for yous, advised Rafa of the situation. All in all, he's a young man with promise, who's curve has been interrupted by Le Guen's bleating. Ten years ago, a bloke by the name of Anelka was sold by PSG to Arsenal, and whilst not the same player, you have to wonder at what point the organization will stop fudging with products of its Academy.
According to acmilan.com http://www.acmilan.com/NewsDetail.aspx?idNews=69526 DINHO: R80 IT WILL BE! Dinho will have the Rossonero shirt number 80, like his birth year. The announcement was made in today's press conference at Milanello, during which Galliani also explained that "there's no 150 million euro offer for Kaká."
Thanks Francois. I think with all the youth that Rafa is buying from across Europe, he's hoping to do much what Wenger is so successful at doing; buying players like Dani Pacheco, Kristian Nemeth, N'Gog and then selling them on at vast profits down the line. He made a significant gain with Antonio Barragan in a very short space of time and we now have 72 players in the first team squad alone.
Yeah, I don't know why they pick those numbers. (Ronaldo picked #99 ) IMO the "name" sell shirts, not the number
Yeah I agree that the name sells the numbers but its going to look so weird. I didn't like Ronaldo's 99 and I am not going to like Dinho's 80 but I still love them as players. Only downside is that I have an authentic Barcelona Ronaldinho jersey and now he's in Milan. My luck is terrible.