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[daegan]

Here's the thing: there are millions of soccer fans in the States. MLS shouldn't try to get baseball fans or American football fans to like soccer. If they got soccer fans in this country to become MLS fans it would become a huge league. So soccer fans can appreciate his talents.

I don't have the quotes handy but Garber's been talking along these lines lately which makes me happy.

Now if I could just decide which MLS team to get behind... then again if Detroit had a sugar daddy and a stadium I wouldn't have to wonder.

Oh well, at least the Bucks might take the PDL championship for the second year. (And I get to watch it now, thanks to you guys convincing me to get FSC!)

 

[hadareud]

the league is starting today! finally, it's been too long and I don't think I've ever been anticipating the start of the season more than this year.

rumours:

TRANSFER RUMOURS

Chelsea will not break the bank to bring Seville's £20m-rated Daniel Alves to the club. (Daily Star)

Newcastle's Nolberto Solano wants to leave the club. (The Sun)

Kieron Dyer's move from Newcastle to West Ham could be back on - if Solano goes to Upton Park with him for a combined £8m fee. (various)

Newcastle striker Albert Luque is set to move to Spanish side Levante. (Independent)

Derby have agreed terms with Finnish midfielder Mika Vayrynen over a possible move from PSV Eindhoven. (Daily Mirror)

The Rams and Everton are also interested in Palermo's Polish striker Radoslaw Matusiak. (The Times)

Middlesbrough have beaten Sunderland, Birmingham and Fulham to the £6m signing of Tottenham's Egyptian striker Mido. (The Sun)

Portsmouth striker Lomano LuaLua is poised to join Greek side Olympiakos for £2.8m. (The Sun)

Stoke are considering signing ex-Everton defender David Unsworth, who is now a free agent. (The Sun)

Toffees boss David Moyes is set to step up his efforts to sign Middlesbrough striker Yakubu. (The Guardian)

Bolton boss Sammy Lee is set to sign Portsmouth defender Andy O'Brien for £1.2m. (Daily Mirror)

OTHER GOSSIP

David Beckham has told England manager Steve McClaren he will be fit for this month's friendly against Germany. (Daily Star)

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez admits his £50m spending spree may not be enough for the club to end their title drought. (Daily Star)

F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has revealed his interest in buying Arsenal. (The Times)

Renault managing director Flavio Briatore has played down claims he is on the verge on taking over QPR. (Daily Mirror)

Or, Briatore has confirmed he is in the early stages of talks to buy the Loftus Road club. (Telegraph)

Premier League stars are heading for £200,000-a-week wages before the end of the decade. (Daily Express)

Fulham boss Lawrie Sanchez has written off Arsenal in the title race. (Sun)

Premiership referees have been ordered to keep as low a profile as possible this season. (The Guardian)

Manchester City boss Sven-Goran Eriksson says not one Premier League boss has called him to say 'good luck'. (Daily Mirror)

Inverness boss Charlie Christie is set to sign a new contract. (Daily Record)

AND FINALLY

Bolton's Kevin Nolan has revealed how Sam Allardyce's decision to leave the club last season drove him to drink. (Daily Star)

Chelsea's new fluorescent yellow kit has been voted this year's ugliest by fans. (Daily Star)

Kasabian frontman Tom Meighan upset Match of the Day host Gary Lineker by drunkenly asking him to manage Leicester City. (Daily Star)

Chelsea's Claudio Pizarro was so keen to watch his new horse race at Haydock on Thursday that he took a 200-mile helicopter trip after training. (The Sun)

Rangers' new French signing Daniel Cousin has promised to go on a crash course to master English. (Daily Record)

Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan is working on a film about legendary music producer Joe Meek. (The Sun)

Wigan boss Chris Hutchings says he may have a cheeky bet on himself to be the first Premier League manager to be sacked - after being told he was favourite. (The Sun)

Rangers have been sent a £500 bill by Zeta, who claim the Ibrox club did not return footballs they were lent for a training session last week. (Daily Record)

Story from BBC SPORT:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport1/hi/football/gossip_and_transfers/6941604.stm

Published: 2007/08/11 06:43:14 GMT

© BBC MMVII

 

[Steroyd]

Ah nothing like waking up in the morning knowing the premiership starts today.

Well it's nearly the afternoon but still...

 

[psycho_snake]

I hate the wait an hour or so before the game starts. It goes so slowly. Its like going for dinner with a date and you just wait for the dinner to finish so that you can take your date back to your house and sleep with her.

 

[Ronok]

1. Are you of any European descent? If yes where abouts?

North West London......

 

[psycho_snake]

Not really. I think of him as a gateway drug - get people into the stadium and watching matches. If they like what they see, they'll come back for more.

But the people watching will get bored if they're watching an average game. No matter how popular beckham is, I dont think many people will want to watch a dull game and see beckham make a couple of amazing passes. People wont come back if the games are dull, even if beckham is playing

 

[Steroyd]

Doesn't help when you look at the clock watching...the...seconds...tick....by...slowly.

Liverpool's match starts 5:15 jeez the wait for the first match is hard enough.

 

[Wes]

Which of the p2p streams usually have the best/least latency?

 

[psycho_snake]

I'm currently watching the build up to the premiership. I'm usually not interested in hearing what pundits have to say before each game, but I love watching it before the start of the EPL.

 

[Blablurn]

2 hours to go!

 

[Wes]

I'm listening to the preview on Radio 5 Live. Their commentary and analysis is the best there is in my opinion.

I'm also reinstalling Football Manager 2007 as the football fever hits me again

 

[painey]

I'm also reinstalling Football Manager 2007 as the football fever hits me again

I was about to do the same thing Decided to just wait for the 2008 version. Every year I do the same thing, play it for a month, stop, come back 5 months later, stop, want to play again but just wait for the new version.

 

[Wes]

I was about to do the same thing Decided to just wait for the 2008 version. Every year I do the same thing, play it for a month, stop, come back 5 months later, stop, want to play again but just wait for the new version.

I'm going to just vacation a year and then start with a lower league club. Can't be bothered to do all the proper transfers and such! Just need some footy!

 

[Mama Smurf]

Sidwell just said the best transfer of the summer is Hargreaves. That'll go down well.

Keane and Berbatov starting up front for Spurs.

 

[psycho_snake]

I'm also reinstalling Football Manager 2007 as the football fever hits me again

I started playing it a week ago. I somehow won the league cup, fa cup and uefa cup in my first season with spurs!

 

[Wes]

And we're off!

 

[hadareud]

with spurs!

 

[hadareud]

Spurs are not having an easy time.

Come on Sunderland!

 

[Wes]

Just had a little look at the other people's teams in the fantasy league...

WTF YOU CAN CHANGE FORMATIONS?! :cry

 

[Ronok]

OMG MURPHY! How did you not score?

 

[Blablurn]

1 hour to go!

Goo Baaaayeeeeern!

 

[Aegus]

Well that was random. Someone just changed the channel on the SopCast Sky Sports stream.:lol

 

[rostocker]

Sorry Blaburn, but Bayern will lose

 

[Mama Smurf]

Well that was almost exciting in the last 10 minutes.

Spurs should send on Bent for Tainio. Keane's practically playing in midfield half the time anyway, Tainio's doing nothing and Bent's power and pace could open up this Sunderland defence.

As for Sunderland, they've done well defensively but there balls into the box and corners and free kicks have been rubbish. You've gotta work on that, that's the sort of situation where you can go head to head with the big teams. And I'm surprised Chopra's not playing.

Was that Niall Quinn's wife sitting by him? It can't be, surely. If it is, how the fuck did he manage that?

Also I barely recognise Chimbonda with his new hair.

 

[hadareud]

Niall is popular with the ladies. My girlfriend blushes when she sees him, apparently he's "a real sweetheart".

Quite pleased with the game so far, it got really better in the end. Hopefully Spurs lose.

 

[Blablurn]

Sorry Blaburn, but Bayern will lose

Get lost

 

[Manager]

That Daryl Murhpy need to start learning how to score when you're one on one with the goalie.

 

[Mama Smurf]

Just looked through the fantasy teams, some good selections. Some strange ones too, but interesting. I think Ghost is leading right now as a few of us have 1 point for Berbatov, but he has 2 becaus ehe made him captain.

 

[psycho_snake]

Looks like I wasnt the only one who was wonder who that hot women sitting next to quinn was. That glimpse of quinn and her was the best part of the first 30 minutes of that game.

The game only started to get good in the last 10 minutes where both teams started to create some chances. Berbatov had a really good chance when he lobbed the ball over gordan, but he lost his balance. Wiley made the right decision there, it wasnt a penalty. Sunderland had some chances too. Murphy had a brilliant chance to score, but he looked nervous and he spent too long on the ball.

I've been quite impressed with sunderland, but spurs have been quite disappointing. I would have expected more from them. I expect to see improvement in the second half. It would be great for the game if sunderland could score first. that should wake tottenham up.

 

[painey]

what a shitty match to start the season with.. Keane over Defoe/Bent is crazy.

 

[Outdoor Miner]

Boo I forgot to sub Cahill this week.

I do like the fact that the system tells you itself who is and isn't injured. Much better than Yahoo.

 

[hadareud]

Just looked through the fantasy teams, some good selections. Some strange ones too, but interesting. I think Ghost is leading right now as a few of us have 1 point for Berbatov, but he has 2 becaus ehe made him captain.

yeah, interesting teams. It's very hard to tell who's gonna win this one. Could be very close.

I'm quite pleased with mine, maybe I should have gone for a 3-4-3 though, who knows.

 

[Outdoor Miner]

Is it too late to change lineups (if I don't have Spurs/Sunderland players)? I was able to make some changes just now, but it's probably for next week isn't it?

 

[Mama Smurf]

Spurs should send on Bent for Tainio. Keane's practically playing in midfield half the time anyway, Tainio's doing nothing and Bent's power and pace could open up this Sunderland defence.

I'm a genius.

 

[Blablurn]

Our Line-Up for today:

Kahn - Lahm, Demichelis, Lucio, Jansen - Ze Roberto, van Bommel, Schweinsteiger, Ribery - Klose, Toni

Sounds good!

 

[Ghost]

:lol spurs, i know its difficult to play the promoted sides and everything but damn they look crap.

 

[Aegus]

Man Richardson is rubbish. Has he been able to get past anyone today?

 

[Mama Smurf]

Spurs are always crap away from home, though they're missing some key players on top of that.

You have to worry about Sunderland's ability to score goals. Spurs are weak defensively, and this isn't even close to their first choice back 4, and they're even worse away from home...yet they're really not creating anything. Ask Watford how well it went playing decent football all season and not scoring.

Man Rochardson is rubbish. Has he been able to get past anyone today?

He is playing against Chimbonda to be fair, one of the best and certainly one of the fastest right backs in the league.

 

[Steroyd]

catching this match in bits the first 20 had one attempt on goal is this the trend thus far?

 

[psycho_snake]

What a chance for sunderland. Good save from robinson

 

[Wes]

CHOPRA SCORES!!!!!!

SUNDERLAND WIN!!!!

 

[Aegus]

WOOOOOO

 

[Manager]

YES! Jol, ahahah!

 

[celestial body]

oh thnapples.

all 4 strikers played at some point or another for spurs yet they couldn't even get one shot on target between them.

 

[navanman]

YESS!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHA.........

 

[hadareud]

hhuuuuahahahahahahauuhaa

lol spurs lol

 

[navanman]

Looks like Sky Sports got ahead of themselves and have wriiten match report as 0-0 draw.

 

[psycho_snake]

Well done sunderland!

 

[Mama Smurf]

Well done Sunderland. Although slightly annoyed my multiple has failed first game of the weekend.

Pretty rubbish game overall, though the end of both halfs were good.

Spurs lacked width, but I don't really blame their wide players for the way they played. They knew they'd lack width before the game even began with players like Bale and Lennon out, so the onus was on the central midfielders, who I do blame. They just created nothing, forcing Keane back into midfield in the first half and Berbatov the second, leaving Berbatov and Bent respectively pretty much alone up front against 4 defenders.

 

[Blablurn]

1:0

Goal by Luca Toni!