Navarro who?

English Premiership

Manchester City 0, Chelsea 1

Man Citeh continues their slide, but hey, at lease their consistent...in losing. Damarcus Beasley didn't even dress. You really would expect a tad more roster turnover considering their current one is clearly NOT working. Stuart Pearce either has loyalty in his squad or a severe case of stick-up-his-ass. I guess when you have a 17 year old as your most effective defender, your only play is blind faith. The worst part is Chelsea has played terrible the whole game managing 2 shots in the first 73 minutes and relying on a Frankie Lampard PK to get ahead. The question is, which relegation battler can benefit from this?!

MCY: NONE
CHE: Frank Lampard (28 pen)

Aston Villa 0, Arsenal 1

Young'un Vassiriki Diaby's 10th minute strike gave Arsenal the win in a fairly even match-up. A much needed win for the down and out Gunners, although Aston Villa ain't doin' too much themselves lately.


AVI: NONE
ARS: Diaby (10)

Other News:

- The penalties were doled out to Inter Milan and Valencia players after their fantastic brawl a week ago. David Navarro, the Valencia defender who broke Nicolas Burdisso's nose with a sucker forearm punch, will be banned from UEFA Competition for 7 months. UEFA, however, is trying to get that to apply to international matches as well. Burdisso, meanwhile, added to his a broken nose a 6-game ban. Same with former Monaco middle-man Maicon. 3 games suspension to Inter player Ivan Cordoba and 2 games to Julio Cruz. Maicon, Cordoba, and Cruz were all involved in the aftermatch of the punch. They chased Navarro and lunged at him several times. Cordoba and Cruz attempted but Maicon connected, hence the heightened sentence. The only other Valencia player to be suspended was defender Marchena got 4 games. Both teams were fined 106,000 euros and no stadium ban will be implemented (shows the economic drive of the game these days as Valencia plays Chelsea next). Here's the brawl.

- There is a heavy rumor that Ronaldinho will be joining AC Milan in the summer. Read about it here.

- A guy in contract/playing time limbo that the MLS should be pursuing is in fact on the trading block: 31 year old Colombian forward Juan Pablo Angel was displaced at Aston Villa with the purchases of John Carew (Yohn Carev is the pronunciation) and ex-Watford young'un Ashley Young). He recently was looking at West Brom on year end loan, but that fell through. Now, he is linked to River Plate in Argentina. Anybody know if there is any contact with him?


- I put it up as a link, but haven't introduced it. Red Bull Arena Webcam is a live look at the ongoing construction at the Arena's Harrison, NJ site. Go and check it out. Best webcam out of the many that have been used over the years.

- There has been a small exodus of MLS castoffs to the USL which is a good sign in my opinion. Kevin Novak, a starting right back for Real Salt Lake last season, will be plying his trade with the Virginia Beach Mariners. Great for them to get such a decent defender. Maybe it'll actually up their attendance figures for the season. The Portland Timbers have gathered the signature of defender Leonard Griffin, formerly of the Chicago Fire. The Mariners also snapped up Jared Montz of the Chicago Fire. Montz was a reserve team starter and veteran. Good luck to you boys in your new setting.