Ugh.

Frustrated with the sports blogging world today, so I'll just say I wish this were real.

Oh, and also, if I hear another comment about how lame women's soccer is, yeah. It'll be way too soon. And I'll think you're an asshole.

Schadenfreude!

I have to say, I'm loving the Chelsea implosion. It's probably setting me up for all kinds of bad karma when Rafa leaves Liverpool (whenever that may be), but god, what a little bitch John Terry is.

Seriously.

Midway through the first half Rosenborg scored, after Miika Koppinen beat Terry at a set piece. When Mourinho then directly criticised the centre back's defending at half time, Terry refused to accept responsibility for the goal or even to respond to his manager. . . . The club subsequently asked Mourinho for his resignation, which he refused to tender, but ultimately settled on dismissal by 'mutual consent'. Later on Wednesday, Mourinho sent Terry a text message sarcastically thanking him for talking to the club's hierarchy.

Again, really.

Mourinho made a final trip to the training centre at Cobham to pick up his possessions and say goodbye to his squad. There was a message in each farewell. For most there was a Latin embrace and warm words of thanks. For Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard the emotions were so strong that both men were reduced to tears, Lampard retreating to the shower room in an attempt to hide his. For Shevchenko and Terry there was nothing but a handshake that, in the words of one observer, could have 'frozen a mug of tea'. No one was in any doubt about who he considered the true captains of his team.

McClaren better watch his back. Not that he doesn't deserve to be fired, but you know. You'd think your captain would be on your side, right?

LOL Chelsea

Goodbye, Mourinho. I guess this means Rafa wins? (And I'm pretty sure it means Chelsea's out of the title race this season.)

And if I didn't love the Guardian forever, this slideshow would seal the deal.

What I've been reading

A few blogs I've been meaning to link, but haven't. Because I'm lame. But I really enjoy making lists in HTML, so here we go.

1. First of all, a newish women's soccer blog, Kickster. British, and seems to be in the Who Ate All the Pies family of blogs. Georgina Turner, who I've missed a lot at The Guardian, is writing there, and so far I really like it. It's one of my perennial resolutions to pay more attention to women's soccer, so I'm definitely going to be reading this one.


2. Another new blog, Dying Midseason, from a friend of mine. Liverpool-focused, but also has some American football and Argentina and Spain, too. I have to say, I don't care about the NFL, but this is good stuff.


3. I already linked the US Women's blog this morning, but I would be remiss if I didn't link the US Men's blog as well. They're both mostly active when the teams are in camp (obviously), but they're pretty great then. I'm always in favor of team blogs, and the USMNT one is particularly cute. It's kind of refreshing to read about a national team where the recreation is Playstation and marathon keep-up, not, you know. Partying with hookers.

International round-up

• England 3 - Israel 0. I'm not feeling the England love lately, and I had an elsewhere to be, so I didn't watch this one. (Remember how I said school was kicking my ass this semester? Still true.) Since I was absolutely convinced that England weren't going to qualify, though, this is kind of good to see. And it's especially good to see Michael Owen score again, especially when he doesn't break something immediately after doing so. A lot still depends on Russia, but this is fairly encouraging. I do wish I believed that Steve McClaren had even the slightest clue about what he was doing. I feel that as soon as Lampard's fit, he's back into the lineup, and that's just a bad plan for everyone.


• Brazil 4 - United States 2. I did watch this one, and the score is flattering to the Brazilians, honestly. Their first goal was an own-goal, and the US was unlucky to concede a penalty while getting at least two penalty calls against Brazil denied. I thought the US played pretty well overall -- the usual striker problem continued, though. Dempsey's goal was solid, but Wolff should have done better. The midfield was pretty solid, I think, and by the midfield I mean "Michael Bradley." I think I've already talked too much here about my thoughts on him, but he was absolutely everywhere in this game, and totally unafraid to take on Ronaldinho or Kaka, which is great. Well, great for most of the game -- just like it happened in the Gold Cup semi, he made a bad tackle in the last few minutes and became a liability, conceding that penalty for Brazil's last goal. Feilhaber and Donovan disappeared for large parts of the game, which wasn't unexpected (especially for Donovan), but was a little disappointing. The defense seemed overwhelmed for a lot of the game -- there were a lot of panicky clearances -- but even with that, they did pretty well, the own-goal excepted. (Yeah, I'm still not an Onyewu believer. You need more than being massive to be a good defender.) And then there's Tim Howard. While I would have liked to see Chris Seitz get capped, this wouldn't be the ideal first game, and you've got to respect Tim Howard for playing with a dislocated finger. Pretty awesome. I mean, Brazil was Brazil, and I never thought the US was going to win. But they made a good strong showing, and it's nice to see them not get intimidated. (Also, dear Kaka, I don't think Jesus likes it when you claim an own-goal as yours. Shut up, darling.)


• And finally, the Women's World Cup starts today in China. The US are the favorites here, and while they haven't gotten a ton of media coverage, the games are being shown live on ESPN/ESPN2 -- admittedly starting from 5:00 to 8:00 in the morning, but still. Also, they blog. The other team I'll be paying attention to is England. Unlike the men, the women aren't favorites here, and they definitely don't make $200,000 a week (or even a year). I can't pretend to know a whole lot about most of these players, but I am pretty much always pro-Rachel Yankey. Though not as much as I am pro-Kristine Lilly. Just saying.

Hi.

So, Footie Girl is currently pestering me to update, and I admit it's long overdue. My problem, along with the start of school completely kicking my ass, is that Liverpool are top of the table for just about the first time since I've been following them, and I don't really know what to say, to be honest. Torres isn't choking, we're beating up on newly-promoted teams (and Villa), and ... I really can't complain. Which doesn't leave me with a lot to say.

So instead I'll hit and run with this link I've had saved for a couple of weeks -- apparently it should be mangoes at halftime and not oranges. The FA, tackling the important issues since never.

Friday linkpost

• Liverpool/Chelsea this weekend. While this almost always means a lackluster game, it always means managerial sniping. Which was fun a few years ago, but guys, seriously. Just kiss already. You know you want to. That said, though, "Abramovich has done a really good job"? BURN.


• England squad named for Germany friendly. Calling up injured players because you don't want to try new things? It's like 2006 all over again! And seriously, did Scott Parker run over someone's puppy?


• Speaking of stories we've been seeing for years, Michael Owen is almost fit again. Until he actually plays a game, that is. He used to be one of my favorites, but man. It's been a long time.


• David Beckham scored, and no one was there. Except 17,000 for a midweek game, especially a non-league one, isn't that bad. Especially when no one thought he was going to play, let alone start, let alone score. Ooops. I know the backlash has begun in earnest, but is anyone pretending that most fans 1) know or 2) care what the Superliga is? Because, no.


• And finally today, another American goes to a doomed Premiership team. I like Benny Feilhaber -- yeah, that's not a secret -- but I still don't think Derby has a chance. Maybe he can commiserate with the three Americans at Fulham.

What about Graeme Souness?

Apparently Rafa's a trendsetter.

I'm surprised they're even giving odds on Torres growing a mustache. Skinny thing that he is, I sort of doubt he can grow stubble, let alone a full-on goatee.

He's still better than Dave O'Brien

So, if soccer is on ESPN, I'll pretty much watch it. For most of the good stuff (at least until the Champions League starts), you have to go to FSC or Univision, but I want to encourage ESPN to show soccer, so I watch the random internationals and MLS games.

It's all good, but I've decided my favorite part is the halftime "other soccer news" report that ESPN News does. The value of this isn't really in the news they deliver -- it's usually stuff I already know. The amusement value comes from two things: 1) trying to guess how they'll shoehorn David Beckham in, and 2) waiting for the mispronunciations to begin. In the last two games I've watched (Galaxy/United and US/New Zealand), the poor ESPN newsguy has mispronounced:

• Feilhaber
• Derby
• Hleb
• Birmingham
• Ballack

Somehow he got "Szetela" and "Essien" right, though, both of which I would have thought were more difficult than, you know. Derby. I feel there's a drinking game in the making here, but it needs a little more thought.

In other news, Kristine Lilly continues to be absolutely badass.

Friday linkpost

• Some guy named Beckham came on as a sub for the Galaxy last night. Apparently he's kind of a big deal? I watched this game, and it was ... a typical MLS game, really. Except for the part with the opposing fans taking pictures of the Galaxy subs warming up. And the Beckham-cam.


• The season starts tomorrow, and Xabi Alonso is happy with the squad. Right now, I am too, but another opening-day away draw and I may change my story.


• Another summer, another interminable Tevez transfer story. At least this one's finally over. And I'm also happy the deal didn't go through yesterday, so I could buy Tevez for my fantasy team (Your Mom FC) without breaking my "no United, Chelsea, or Everton players" rule. God love technicalities, and it seems fitting with this story, right?


• And finally, Football Weekly is back, and I couldn't be happier. My bizarre crush on Sean Ingle grows.

Pre-season preview

Once again, Sven asks the questions, I answer them. Including where I would get a Liverpool tattoo, for all you pervs reading.

And so there's actual content here, I'm not sure Rafa's goatee is the answer to all Liverpool's problems. I think it's mostly a fairly harmless midlife crisis.

Fight test

It's supposed to be a friendly, boys. Not a fight.

I shouldn't be this amused, but I am. I kinda love my dirty little team.

*snerk*

United Dong longs to prove critics wrong

The bored Soccernet headline writer strikes again!

Friday linkpost

• Liverpool win their fourth preseason friendly. Interesting, though, that (I believe) Torres hasn't scored yet. Hopefully this is just him taking a little bit of time to warm up.


• Dudek's really going to Real. I have to say, I don't understand this deal at all. I know he was basically the Cup keeper last season, but he didn't really do well when he did get to play. Whatever; he's finally gone. He burned through his Istanbul credit really fast for me, and I think he should have probably gone in January 2006.


• Totti retires from international play. I don't know how much they'll miss him -- he's always been a better club player than international, but I do like him.


• And two stories I am sick of: Beckham not likely to play against Chelsea tomorrow, and no one knows who controls Carlos Tevez's contract. Ugh. I feel like we've been hearing about these since last year. Over it.


• And finally today, this is perhaps the most clueless marketing I've ever seen. Soccer is hard! Boys are cute! Um, which US team has won the World Cup again? (Thanks to Jen for the link.)

Speaking of the shallow end

Quiz time! Here we see:

a) a farmer-tan convention
b) the US Copa team