News Smorgasboard: Tevez Deal Done?, The Babel Tower, USWNT Better Late Than Never...

World Soccer Transfers: Babel, Benayoun, Boulahrouz, Sagna, Dudek, Tevez

Manchester United's fourth signing of the window is most likely its' strongest. Carlos Tevez has passed his medical and will be introduced as a Man Utd player next week (says Soccernet.com). The deal will initially be a loan signing which could further segue into a permanent deal. The pricetag could be upwards of $60 million. Add that to the $50 million or so spent on Anderson and Nani and I'd have to say that the Glazer-owned Red Devils are firmly entrenched in the "I want to repeat" market.

The Ryan Babel and Yossi Benayoun to Liverpool transfers have been completed. Babel cost a cool $23 million, while Yossi fetched $8 million. Combine that with Fernando Torres' pricetag and you have a got the firm spending of a significant transfer budget handed to Rafa Benitez by new American owners Gillett and Hicks. Hopefully, we don't see an underperforming domestic year...again.


Khalid Boulahrouz, the catalyst of the Portugal-Holland World Cup red and yellow card bonanza, has been loaned out to Sevilla by Chelsea as Mourinho, though having a hand in his selection, could not deal anymore with his lack of discipline in the back and errant tackling. Think....the Facundo Erpen of the EPL. Boulahrouz is known for cleating Cristiano Ronaldo in the inner thigh during WC 2006 in Germany and leaving Ronaldo to operate at less than 100%.

Auxerre's standout defender Bakari Sagna is Arsene Wenger's newest recruit as he looks to build for the future (or so it seems, as none of these players - Eduardo, Sagna - have the qualities to bring the EPL title to Emirates now). The Frenchman has been compared to the likes of Emmanuel Eboue and will look to join Eboue on the starting backline. A figure of around $12 million has been reported.


Jerzy Dudek has left Liverpool and is off to serve as back-up to ironman Iker Casillas at Real Madrid. Casillas, in goal for Madrid since he was 19, has never really wavered in consistency and does not miss many games at all - so essentially, some could say Dudek is effectively retiring. One thing Dudek has done, however, is put in a good six solid seasons at Anfield.

Better late than never...taking some advice. A small analysis of the USWNT World Cup 2007 Roster.

2007 UNITED STATES WOMEN’S WORLD CUP ROSTER

Players	Pos.	Ht.	DOB	Hometown	College	Caps/Goals
Barnhart, Nicole	GK	5-10	10/10/81	Gilbertsville, Pa.	Stanford	3/0
Boxx, Shannon	M	5-8	06/29/77	Redondo Beach, Calif.	Notre Dame	66/14
Chalupny, Lori	M	5-4	01/29/84	St. Louis, Mo.	UNC	40/4
Ellertson, Tina	D	5-9	05/20/82	Vancouver, Wash.	Washington	22/0
Jobson, Marci	M	5-7	12/04/75	St. Charles, Ill.	SMU	14/0
Lilly, Kristine	F	5-4	07/22/71	Wlton, Conn.	UNC	327/123
Lloyd, Carli	M	5-8	07/16/82	Delran, N.J.	Rutgers	32/5
Lopez, Stephanie	D	5-6	04/03/86	Elk Grove, Calif.	Portland	20/0
Markgraf, Kate	D	5-7	08/23/76	Bloomfield Hills, Mich.	Notre Dame	159/0
O'Reilly, Heather	F	5-5	01/02/85	East Brunswick, N.J.	UNC	61/10
Osborne, Leslie	M	5-8	05/27/83	Brookfield, Wisc.	Santa Clara	40/2
Rampone, Chrstie	D	5-6	06/24/75	Point Pleasant, N.J.	Monmouth	164/4
Scurry, Brianna	GK	5-8	09/07/71	Dayton, Minn.	UMass	162/0
Solo, Hope	GK	5-9	07/30/81	Richland, Wash.	Washington	44/0
Tarpley, Lindsay	F	5-6	09/22/83	Kalamazoo, Mich.	UNC	69/15
Wagner, Aly	M	5-5	08/10/80	San Jose, Calif.	Santa Clara	112/21
Wambach, Abby	F	5-11	06/02/80	Rochester, N.Y.	Florida	92/74
Whitehill, Cat	D	5-5	02/10/82	Birmingham, Ala.	UNC	110/11

The USWMNT looks set to kick it off in September with a veteran-laden team, highlighted by none else then the invincible and never-younger Kristine Lilly who still averages a game almost every other game. The big goalscorer here, however, is Abby Wambach who has the scoring efficiency of a Mia Hamm except with the advantage of almost 4 extra inches. The other big-time veteran on this roster is Briana Scurry who has seemingly been in goal since the 1991 World Cup.
Two to watch as they continue their breakout - midfielder Carli Lloyd (a South Jersey product) and defender Stephanie Lopez who holds the esteemed title of youngest girl on the team (with 20 caps nevertheless). Another Jersey product, Heather O'Reilly will hopefully join fellow SEC grad Wambach on the front-line to reek havoc on North Korea, Sweden and Nigeria.
There will be three international friendlies against Japan, New Zealand, and Finland in an effort to put the pieces together and bring back the title to the USA. A full roster breakdown is available at USSoccer.com.

Enjoy that Thursday night game.

Even more to come...

English FA Cup

Middlesbrough 2, Manchester United 2

In a relatively even game, Manchester United almost bowed out of the FA Cup to a hard-working Middlesborough. Young and industrious Lee Cattermole and Dutchman George Boateng got the goals for M'Boro, while Wayne Rooney scored early and Cristiano Ronaldo saved Man U's Treble-driven asses with a penalty kick in the 68th minute. Man Utd played this game without Van der Sar in goal and Louis Saha up front. Gareth Southgate had his team, however, playing inspired football making Man Utd's survival a long ordeal.

MID: Cattermole (45), Boateng (47)
MAN: Rooney (23), C. Ronaldo PK (68)

Spanish Primera Liga

Real Madrid 3, Barcelona 3

This was Lionel Messi's game. No question, he single handedly kept Barca in this game. Especially when crap defender Oleguer (will a Barca fan tell me why he's on the pitch?) was sent off right before the half-time whistle. Even before that though, the score was 2-2 by the 28th minute with Messi and Ruud Van Nistelrooy trading goals back and forth. The game was certainly extremely pacy and dominated by individual skill and harsh physicality. The scoring pattern of Messi and R.V.N. was broken in the 73rd minute by young Uruguayan defender Sergio Ramos. He powered a header blindly to far post hitting the cross-bar and in. Messi was not to be done, however, as he eluded three Madrid defenders in a Maradona-esque fashion and buried far post a hard shot past Iker Casillas. All this in injury time.


RMD: Van Nistelrooy (5, 13), Sergio Ramos (73)
BCA: Messi (11, 28, 90)

Italian Serie B

Brescia 3, Juventus 1

Hah. I love this.
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*Michael Bradley got on for the last 5 minutes of Heerenveen's clash with RKC Waalwijk. My sources say he didn't have much of an impact.

*Delran grad and former South Jersey stud-ess Carli Lloyd is lighting up the international fields with the U.S. Women's National Team. At the Algarve Cup, Lloyd has two goals in two games. These games weren't 10-0 wins against Chinese Taipei either. One was a 2-1 win over China and a 1-0 win over Finland. Congrats Carli. The USWMNT play next on Monday, March 12th against Sweden.



*Another local player, Monmouth grad Hugh MacDonald was just signed by the New York Red Bulls. I could be wrong but I think this will be Monmouth U's first player in the MLS.


*John Terry, a Chelsea mainstay, has apparently asked for a 9-year extension to his contract. He wants a pay raise from 67 thousand pounds weekly to 121 thousand pounds weekly which is what Michael Ballack and Andrei Shevchenko earn. If you're comparing return on investment I'd say John Terry has an arguement, but that would give a central defender 60 million pounds over 9 years (roughly $120,000,000 or $13,333,333 /year). Good luck with fielding that request Peter Kenyon.

*According to Jesse's Toronto FC blog, TFC is in the process of finalizing the signing of Andy Welsh. 23-year-old outside midfielder Welsh has apparently fallen out of favor at Championship-side Sunderland. Roy Keane ain't keen on him (I'm sorry).

*Go here for a great interview with D.C. United's new back-up goalkeeper Jay Nolly.

*35-year-old French star Lillian Thuram apparently could be on his way to Fulham this summer. If you think Fulham has a strong American connection, their French connection is bigger. Steed Malbranque (now gone to Tottenham), Louis Saha (now at Man Utd), Sylvain Legwinski (now at Ipswich), and all plied their trade with Fulham. French internationals Frank Queudrue and former Marseille back Philippe Christanval still do. Clearly it has something to do with the fact that Jean Tigana, a French manager, coached the team from 2000 to 2003 before Welshman and former player Chris Coleman took over. Regardless, here's the source.


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* In other news, CASA Select beat PCOM today 4-3. Sloppy at times, with flashes of brilliance, it was certainly a good session. You don't appreciate the game soccer until you feel your body after a 2 hour game on a field with a strong resemblence to quicksand. Thanks to Cannons FC for putting that together.

* Next weekend is the start of the CASA Soccer League season, check out www.phillysoccer.org and instead of the Team of the Week this Wednesday I will be previewing the season. Sunday, March 18th, is the first competitive game of CASA Select. It will take place in Bridgetown, DE at the Sussex Technical High School. CASA Select will play Xelaju for the La Quetzalteca Trophy. Some time at the end of the week, there will be a preview of that game as well as a roster breakdown of CASA Select. Meanwhile, if anyone has played this so-called Xelaju, please share the wisdom.

So much to cover.

First comes first...

Man Utd 3, Reading 2 (FA CUP 5th Round Replay)

Hard-fought game and I was right Leroy Lita scored. Whoopdy-doo. Reading really should have actually won this game the way Man U played in the second half. Three goals in the first 6 minutes will make any team go silly though, even Man U. Leroy Lita had a pretty damn good game coming on as super-sub. The Royals made Alex Ferguson's life a living a hell. So much so that he eventually had to put Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo on the pitch. They essentially had been playing a 'B' squad before then. Man Utd will advance to play Middlesbrough in the 6th round.

Man U - G. Heinze (2'), L. Saha (4'), O. Solskjaer (6')
Readg - D. Kitson (23'), L. Lita (84')

Other result: Middlesbrough 1, West Bromwich Albion 1 (PK SO 5-4)

Now on to some quick news - any headlines missed can be found at Du Nord. Just visit the link on the right-hand side.

* Good young'un (19 years old) Robbie Rogers is having his contract mutually terminated by the Heerenveen Frisians. It's a shame as I think he could have done well over there given the time to progress. Regardless, he will be most likely coming back to the States to sign with an MLS team. This kid is a pacy, skilled attacking winger but no word as to who he might be signing with.


* Thomas Gravesen, the bald-headed midfield bull that quarterbacked Everton, Real Madrid, and Celtic in his days, could be on his way to the MLS according to Eurosport. He has been put on the backburner recently by Celtic manager Gordon Strachan. He is linked with the Los Angeles Galaxy but that would require a move for another DP slot or a completely reworked, cheap-ass contract coming from Alexi Lalas. Otherwise, we could see him negotiating with another MLS team or staying in Europe. Oh yea, and he's Danish.
TAKE: I like this move as Gravesen is only 30 and has several years left. I think however this might be too good to be true, just like Robbie Fowler who is now possibly resigning with his home team, Liverpool. I hope I'm wrong, but I think we'll see Gravesen back in the Premiership. Only time can tell.

*Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy were rightfully elected to the Soccer Hall of Fame. Joy Fawcett, however, did not and Kristine Lilly is about..hmm....53 and still playing. When she's done, however, she will most likely join Mia and Julie. There are five other women in the Hall of Fame? Who are they????
This comes on the heels of the announcement that a new women's soccer league will begin operation in April 2008. It will be loosely partnered with the MLS. Check it out here.

*By the way, the current player on Olympique Lyonnais who was actually born and raised in Lyon is: Eric Abidal, a French international left back. Strong, composed and very good. Nobody got this as nobody writes comments - come on now, do I have to completely make something up to get you people to respond?!??!