Milan, Juve and Inter well represented at ‘worst player’ ceremony
Serie A’s least coveted award has revealed its ten player shortlist.The Bidone d’Oro (Golden Bin) award annually recognises the terrible efforts of some of Italy’s worst performers. Past winners include Christian Vieri, Adriano and Rivaldo.
Most of the 2009 list will read like a who’s who of dodged bullets for Premier League clubs.
Last year’s winner, Inter Milan and Chelsea reject Ricardo Quaresma, is back in contention, along with Arsenal’s summer target Felipe Melo. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who Spurs are currently eying up, continues to have the worst year of his life and there’s a customary appearance from the world’s biggest disappointment, Ronaldinho.
The Spoiler has no idea what is going on here, but Francesco Totti’s mullet is nice
How have Capello’s England done against the world’s best so far?
[Guardian]
Fans of being laughed at should get John O’Shea’s new signature boots
[Off the Post]
Eduardo is tired of collecting splinters on the bench
[Caught Offside]
Remember Freddy Adu? Of course you do. Next, we want to know where Cherno Samba, Tonton Zola Moukoko, Andri Sigporsson and all the other Championship Manager faux-legends ended up
[BBC Sport]
Kaka wants Beckham at WC2010. So he can run rings around him in a quarter-final
[The Sun]
Ben Foster refuses to accept his own rank mediocrity
[Telegraph]
English clubs get the bitter taste of defeat in Europe…
Roma 2/ Fulham 1 Fulham lead the game for 50 mins after being put 1-0 up through a Diomansy Kamara penalty. John Arne Riise arrowed in a shot (deflected off of his younger brother, Bjorn Helge) to restore parity before Stefano Okaka Chuka completed the reversal 15 minutes from time. Fulham need to win both their remaining games (CSKA Sofia at home, FC Basel away) to stand a chance of getting through the knockout rounds.
Everton 0/ Benfica 2
The Toffees were once again well and truly served by Benfica, two weeks after their 5-0 humping in Portugal. Former massively-disappointing-Argentine Javier Saviola and the free scoring Oscar Cardozo racked up a goal a piece, leaving Everton second in Group I, three points behind the leaders. A win against AEK Athens next month will see Moyes’ men through comfortably.
Not many British centre-backs could do this. It was late, it was undeserved, but Marco Andreolli’s chest-volley combination was fitting of any occasion.
Much has been made of Emmanuel Adebayor’s irresponsible reaction to the torrent of abuse he received from Arsenal fans at the weekend, but Roma’s Daniele De Rossi was also subjected to offensive chants on Sunday. The Italian, however, dealt with the crowd banter a little differently.
After a mistimed tackle, Siena fans started singing a song about his father-in-law (i.e. the daddy of his not-unattractive WAG Tamara), who was apparently executed in a mafia hit last year. When the whistle blew, the midfielder’s reddened eyes quickly turned into full-on waterworks, as his teammates tried to console him.
Siena manager Marco Giampaolo offered an apology on behalf of the callous fans:
“To De Rossi, I express my solidarity as a man and as a footballer for what has happened.”
An Italian involved in corruption - who’dve thought it?
To most Britons, Fabio Capello is known as a saviour of English football, who enjoys the occasional televised lapdance. To the Italian treasury, however, he is renowned for a lengthy history of tax evasion, financial deceit and eyebrow-raising offshore bank accounts.
Capello’s battle with the Italian authorities dates back to 1999, when he claimed to be a resident of a Swiss tax haven called Campione d’Italia. When he failed to recall the address of his studio flat in court, he signed a false residency declaration and paid a €2,300 fine.
The authorities’ suspicions were aroused once again towards the end of his spate with Roma, when the club paid €2m to a company named Sport 3000 for a range of Fabio Capello fragrances, scarves and designer items.
Sport 3000 turned out to be a subsidiary of the ‘Capello Family Trust’, an offshore holding company based in tax-friendly Guernsey and owned by England’s current manager. The items were kept under lock and key by customs officers for two years, and eventually destroyed. It was discovered that Roma agreed to purchase the smellies and designer tatt from Capello as a means of giving him a ‘low tax’ bonus on his salary
Is a two-window transfer ban disproportionate to the Blues’ crime?
Chelsea have said that they will “mount the strongest appeal possible” against FIFA’s decision to ban the club from transfer activity until January 2011. Evidently, they feel that the punishment does not fit the crime of coercing French teenager Gael Kakuta into breaching his contract.
Most newspapers seem to be revelling in the ruling (”JUSTICE AT LAST”, declare The Sun) reasoning that Chelsea are finally receiving comeuppance for years of tapping up and dodgy transfer dealings.
On the other hand, it can also be argued that they are being made an example of by football’s governing body. Much like Eduardo, they find themselves singled out for a problem that is apparently rife in the beautiful game.
We won’t be surprised in the least if Chelsea have their punishment reduced (Roma and Swiss side Sion have had similar transfer bans imposed on them in recent years, and had them reduced and frozen respectively), but as things stand, is the punishment too harsh? Let us know your thoughts below…
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