Finally, a Match

photo by notsogoodphotography	via PhotoRee

He's Good, But is He That Good?!  Ryan Giggs came out recently and said that Nani has become the new Cristiano Ronaldo, filling a void that United has felt since CR7's departure two years ago. Based on current playing form, Nani may indeed be able to hit Giggs' formidable target of 20 goals scored and 20 more created, although by my reckoning those two totals combined would still fall short of Ronnie's record 42 goal haul a few years back. I agree with Giggs' overall sentiment, though, and if Nani can become more clinical in the final third of the pitch, there may be no stopping him.

So Charlie Davies May Not Actually Be a Speed Merchant, Just a Liar.  I don't know which makes you want to question this guy's judgment more: that Charlie Davies was caught speeding 125 MPH last week in France a year after almost dying in a car crash that seriously derailed his soccer career, or that Davies now says a teammate was driving the car that got pulled over, and he switched places with him at the last minute so his teammate could avoid the infraction. If this latter story is true, it's even more amazing, as Davies was a passenger in the car that wrecked outside DC last October, so you'd think he'd be even more sensitive to riding shotgun in a car streaking through France at roughly the speed of light. Guess again. If you're the coach (are you reading this Bob Bradley?), one would think you would seriously question this guy's decision making process.

Speaking of Coach Bradley and the US Mens' National Team, they were in action last night in Chicago, playing the Polish National Team (hold your jokes), and drawing 2-2. Although I only managed to eke out second half viewing, several thoughts jumped out at me while watching:

Jermaine Jones Could Be Good.  Very good, in fact. Although he previously played some friendlies for the German National Team, because he was never capped in a true international Jones was allowed to switch his allegiance to his mother country from der faterland and join the Stars and Stripes. Based on his perfomance last night, the move agrees with him. Jones' sharp, incisive, and often long, pinpoint passes, which the US has lacked in recent years (let's be honest: forever), led to several scoring opportunities and at leat one goal. Well done, Jermaine.

Jozy Altidore is Not Sharp Right Now, But it's Not His Fault. Altidore did a nice job holding up the ball and imposing his physical style on the Pole's central defense, but he missed finishing several clear cut chances in front of goal. Unfortunately for the USMNT, Altidore is not appearing regularly (in fact, I think that's stretching the truth: I don't think he's appeared at all in La Liga) for Valencia, so he can't expect to be clinical with his finishing right now.  The chances last night were probably some of the first real "game condition" opportunities he's had since the World Cup. Playing in Europe may be great for Altidore's development IF HE ACTUALLY PLAYED, but if he's not in a regular lineup he should seriously consider coming back to the US and playing over here. At least he'd know what to do with the ball when he gets it.

Maurice Edu Played Out of Position Last Night, But Still Managed to Look Impressive. His regular football with Rangers in the Scottish Premier League must be helping, as Edu's fine World Cup form seems to have carried over into the Fall. I still look back in disbelief that Bradley started Ricardo Clark (are you kidding me?) over Edu in the fatal game against Ghana last June. For that mistake alone he probably should have lost his job.

Stu Holden Had a Nice Game. In addition to being a regular Tweeter (@stuholden), Stu has developed into a nice taker of US corner kicks. The second goal last night resulted from a dangerous Holden kick into the box, and he almost repeated the feat in the game's dying seconds. With deleiveries like that, did we miss @LandonDonovan last night?  Methinks not too much.

And finally, there's this bit of news:


Wayne Rooney Wants a Mid-Winter Break in the Premier League. And he probably wants it right now, so he can avoid the media spotlight a bit longer.

A glare that I'll gladly take from him. And that's farlieonfootie for October 10.

United Bleeds Red

A Shout Out to My Friend James, who emailed me last night (ok, it was actually a text, but let's not let certain facts distract us from the larger story) about how depressed he was that there was no EPL football this weekend. I hear ya, bruddah. Man, am I getting tired of these news compilations, and dying for some actual footie to watch. I know there were international games available for viewing yesterday (Spain, Italy, Ireland, and Portugal, among others, all in action) but this pesky little thing called work interfered with my ability to sit back and watch them. I hope to see some actual live games this weekend and get back to the usual cutting-edge gameday analysis and insight you've come to expect. Or at the very least, display our shocking naivete and inexplicable fascination with less important parts of the game, mixed with clever bon mots and witty tongue twisters from our interchangeable cast of intrepid analysts here at farlieonfootie.com.

So, without further ado, let's plunge into the stories making news this morning:

Maybe He Forgot to Invite Fergie? Wes Brown's time at United could be coming to an end in January, according to the UK rag The Sun. Apparently, Brown and Fergie had a "blazing row" during the Red's pre-season visit to North America, during which SAF forbid Brown from joining his teammates for a night on the town (maybe that explains their insipid performance the night I saw them in Philadelphia). SAF in particular was described as being "incandescent" during the argument. Regardless, the end result is readily apparent: no league starts for Old Wes, who's had to settle for appearances against Scunthorpe and Rangers to date. The article make sense if you take a look at the United defense this year prior to Rio's return: I couldn't figure out why Evans, O'Shea, Rafael, and Fabio were getting playing time and Wes wasn't despite all the problems we've had in the back. Now I know.....

Some Guys Never Learn. So US Mens' Team forward Charlie Davies was pulled over last week for driving 125 MPH in the Jura region of France.  No big deal that, just another athlete-driving-an-expensive-car-too-fast story, EXCEPT FOR THE FACT that this is the same Charlie Davies who almost died in a car crash just about a year ago, and was just touchingly portrayed in an ESPN the Magazine article that diligently documented his difficult road back to top flight soccer. Hello?  Charlie?  Anyone home inside that head of yours?  If so, please keep the driving a bit more sensible, and try to showcase the speed when you're on the pitch, not behind the wheel of your Audi Q7.

photo by scmikeburton	via PhotoRee

Oh, Yeah; and Then There's This Small Item:  United made an operating profit of £100 million this past fiscal year. Now that's some serious coin...!  Straight from the team's most recent release of financial results, it appears that Manchester United produced record revenue of almost £300 million this past fiscal year, and an operating margin of an envious 30-plus percent.

Pay no attention to the almost £550 million in debt sitting on the club's balance sheet (net of more than £150 million in cash that is "earmarked" for player purchases, LOL), and the related interest on which led to a net loss of £80 million for the team. In the verbage of Drexel Burnham, I'm "highly confident" there's a banker somewhere who can explain away all this debt as being at a "prudent level" for a club the size of Manchester United, and how the loss was brought about by "exchange rate fluctuations and costs associated with the team's bond issuance," so don't give it a second thought. Seriously. I mean it. You remember those bankers, don't you?  They're the same guys who brought us collateralized debt obligations and subprime mortgages......  And those worked out really well, so it should be full steam ahead and clear sailing for the SS Manchester Titanic.

 clear bit of bum smooching, Villa defender Luke Young spoke about how much the Villain lads are enjoying the new regime, and how it's exactly what he would have done if he was the coach. Apparently, under former coach Martin O'Neill, the Villa players rode around on motorized scooters for the second half of matches, while Houllier is trying to get them to actually run around the pitch for the full 90 minutes. As if that's their job, or something....

That's all for now -- and all for farlieonfootie for October 9th.


Villa Boss Introduces Double Training Sessions. In a move that proved highly popular at Eastlands last year, double training sessions have been introduced at Villa Park by new boss Gerard Houllier.  In a

Around The World in 80 Keystrokes

Getting pretty thin here in advance of the coming weekend's internationals.  Saw that Brazil beat Iran 3-nothing earlier today, although I don't believe that actually qualifies as news.

Lost in Translation.  Kiko Macheda was quoted today in famed Italian sports mag Gazzetta dello Sport as calling teammate Wayne Rooney "crass and vulgar."  Elsewhere, Macheda's remark were translated as calling Rooney a "chav."  I'm not sure either of those translations are correct, or furthermore what the latter term even means.  I highly doubt Macheda actually used the term "crass" or "vulgar," as only a true englishman would use such formal language to describe a fun-loving rogue like Rooney, and I refuse to believe that the term "chav" is actually English.  Sounds more like Italian to me.....  I think the actual term that Macheda used was "coatto," but as you'll recall that I am still searching night and day for a suave Italian correspondent who can sit idly by while wearing a sleek black Armani suit, smoke cigarettes in a bored-with-the-world type manner, and sleep with American women while reading Gazzetta dello Sport and translating Italian football interviews for farlieonfootie, I don't have a definitive handle on the story at this juncture.

Great Football Story, Even Better Personal Story.  ESPN the Magazine features a great story this week on the comeback of US Mens' National Team forward Charlie Davies.  Chronicling his remarkable recovery from a life-threatening crash almost a year ago, the story is an uplifting read on the powers of belief and determination.  Nothing funny to add here, but definitely worth your time to read.

photo by mikebrown59	via PhotoRee

The Man United Goal is Becoming a Crowded Place.  Here's another name to add to the list of the many goalkeepers United is supposedly "keeping tabs" on: Gigi Buffon.  Don't know where he's going to fit, as United has already "earmarked" David De Gea of Atletico, Igor Akinfeev of CSKA's Army Men, and Aalesund's Anders Lindegaard among others to replace current starter Edwin Van der Sar, who appears ready to retire at season's end.  Not that any of those rumors will sit well with the present heir apparent, Thomas Kuszczak.

Calling Albert de Salvo to the Witness Stand, Please; We Need a Character Reference on David Berkowitz.  The latest player to stand up in defense of Nigel De Jong is none other than legbreaker Ryan Shawcross of Stoke City, one of the kings of the au courant "stuck in" style of defending.  Aaron Ramsey of Arsenal would have been happy to stand up for De Jong, too, if only Shawcross' shocking tackle that ended his season last year made it hard for Ramsey to stand up for much of anything at all these days.  For good measure, Shawcross also backed  Wolves' Karl Henry in the same interview.  Henry, you'll recall, not only broke Bobby Zamora's leg a few weeks back, he was involved just this past week in this lovely little piece of defending.   Can you imagine the bloodshed that would occur if these three ever played on the same team?

And that's farlieonfootie for October 8.