The silent soccer site

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Sweet vengence

Group F:
Benfica 0-1 Manchester United
Celtic 1-0 FC Copehegen

Louis Saha scored the only goal of the game as united win their first away champions league game since Forlan scored in their 1-0 win over Panathiakos 3 years ago. Cristiano Ronaldo, who was taunted by the crowd since he was a former Sporting Lisbon player, delievered the pass for Saha's spectacular left footed curler. United were outplayed in the first half but did well to come back stronger in the second half.

Miller's Penalty help Celtic move behind united on three points.

Group E:
Euro goal kings continue scoring

Real Madrid 5-1 Dynamo Kiev
Steaua Bucharest 0-3 Lyon

Ruud van Nistelrooy and Raul, the top two European scorers added 2 goals each in Spain. Raul, who lead the Euro goal chart ahead of van Nistelrooy showed that the team stood a good chance of Champuions League glory this season. Ruud on the other hand was celebrating being a father after his wife gave birth earlier. Reyes' superb goal was sandwiched between the 2 goal heros as Real flex their muscles.

Group G:
Arsenal 2-0 FC Porto
CSKA Moscow's 1-0 Hamburg SV.

Arsenal beat former champions Porto at the Emirates stadium with henry creating one and scoring his first headed goal.

Group H:
Winner-less

Lille 0-0 AC Milan
AEK Athens 1-1 Anderlecht

<--Matthew Matthias Tay--> Red Devil entered entry @ 7:24 PM

Monday, September 04, 2006

Football talk:

Brazil 3-0 Argentina

Tevez, Maschrano signed fror West Ham cause they were unwanted
Corithians has said that they have offered the services of the two Argentine players to a host of big clubs but no one accepted their offers. It has been said that both Wenger and Ferguson spurred their chance of signing the players. West Ham United will give them a good oppotunity for first team football.

Manchester United to continue Owen pursuit
Despite failing to sign englishmen Owen Hargreves, David Gill has said that they have not given up hope of signing Owen Hargreves. The next oppotunity will come in the January transfer window. Owen would probably be cup tied for UEFA champions League by then if he plays for Bayern Munich. But the asking price would be lowered due to that commitment. However, with United still firm in their bid, Bayern would be unlikely to reduce their price. Owen performed well in England's 5-0 demoltion of Andorra. He hit the post three times and has drawn praises from his Central midfield partner, Frank Lampard.

No pressure on Pardew to play new stars
West Ham boss Alan Pardew has been assured he will not be obliged to select new signings Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano for every match this season. Reports had suggested that, as part of the deal which brought Tevez and Mascherano to Upton Park, Pardew would have to pick both Argentinians providing they were match fit. However businessman Kia Joorabchian, who engineered the transfers of both players from Corinthians, told the Guardian: 'There is no clause for them to play or not to play. 'That is totally the manager's choice. If Alan [Pardew] doesn't think they are good enough to play any game, or for tactical reasons, then that is his choice.'

<--Matthew Matthias Tay--> Red Devil entered entry @ 5:06 PM

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Cole not meant for Chelsea
David Dein, Arsenal's chairman, was quoted in saying that Ashley Cole was told that they wanted him to stay, but due to his desire to leave, they wanted to sell the english defender to another club, not chelsea. "I wanted to sell him to Manchester United or newcastle." But with United having four players that can play at left back(Heinze, Evra, Silvestre & O'Shea). It was not possible.

Maschrano relieved at move
Javier Mascharano is relieved he has finally moved to a big club with a 100 year history. He is ready for the challenge of the premiership. Portsmouth, Manchester United and Arsenal were in contact for his signature but MSI, who owned rights to the player, decided to sell him to West Ham for close to nothing.

Tevez chose Hammers move for 'experience'
Carlos Tevez chose West Ham United over bigger English clubs because he could get more regular football with them, the Argentina forward said on Saturday. 'West Ham is a team where I can get a rhythm of playing, see what English football is all about,' the World Cup striker told a news conference on the eve of Argentina's friendly against Brazil at Arsenal's Emirates stadium.
He said he was not looking any further than West Ham despite media speculation the move was simply a stepping stone to bigger things in England or Europe. 'First I want to do well for West Ham. I'm not concerned about playing in a big club. I just want to play,' said Tevez, who along with Argentina team mate Javier Mascherano joined the Premier League club from Brazilian side Corinthians on Thursday. 'It's going to do me a lot of good to play in this league.' West Ham's bigger London rivals Arsenal and Chelsea were interested in Tevez and holding midfielder Mascherano but the striker said the West Ham option was the best. 'The two (others) were interested but they had three or four forwards in my position. What I need is to play, get rhythm,' Tevez said. 'From the moment I arrived (on Thursday) the most concrete thing was West Ham and the most convenient for me.' He said he was not putting a time on his stay at West Ham, saying he needed to adapt to English football which he described as 'not easy'.

Euro 2008 qualifiers(Selected):

World champions held 1-1 by Lithuania
England hammer minnows Andorra 5-0
Moldova 0-1 Greece: Champions steal win
Luxembourg 0-1 Netherlands: Holland unconvincing
Czech Republic 2-1 Wales: Brave Wales falter
Germany 1-0 Ireland: Germany gain 3 points
Northern Ireland 0-3 Iceland: NI frozen
Scotland 6-0 Faroe Islands: First-half salvo
Georgia 0-3 France: World cup runners-up impress
Spain 4 - 0 Liechtenstein: Torres, Villa finds net

<--Matthew Matthias Tay--> Red Devil entered entry @ 9:04 AM

Friday, September 01, 2006

Transfer Deadline moves:

Tevez, Mascherano in shock hammers move
West Ham United has 'beaten' of football giants to sign Tevez and Mascherano. The Argentinan pair, who's rights belong to MSI, signed for West Ham United yesterday. Though details of the move is undisclosed, it is almost certain that the move is not completely football. MSI, who are bidding for a takeover of West Ham United, probably had a big hand in the transfer to win the fans and the board at Upton Park to make them favourites for the takeover.

It would seem unlikely that Coritihans would sell the Argentine pair to West Ham as they could recieve more by selling Tevez and Mascherano to Arsenal and Manchester United respectively. However, doubts have shadowed that they will not stay for very long since all details are undisclosed. If there is a minimum release clause, which is almost certain to exist, it is no wonder all details of the transfer is undisclosed.

1 happy Cole, the other, not so
It is the story of the 2 Coles. While Andy Cole is delighted to join his former colleague, David james at Portsmouth, Ashley Cole's move has not been confirmed at the shut of the transfer window. Andy Cole signed for 500,000 pounds with additional payment depending on his appearance at Pompey. Ashley Cole, on the other hand, has no idea is he is staying or going. Reports has said that Arsenal has excepted a 5 million pound plus William Gallas offer but was not confirmed to have succeeded.

Reyes/Baptista switch completed
Arsenal has completed the loan signing of Julio Baptista with Jose Antonio Reyes going the opposite direction. Both have signed a 1 year loan deal.

Highly rated Beastley move to City
American DeMarcus Beastley has moved to Manchester City on loan after Sibierski moved to Newcastle United. newcastle, who has also signed United's Rossi on a half season loan, will have their striking options boosted greatly.

Shopping Wigan
Wigan has signed Kevin Kilbane from Everton on a three year deal and loaned Portsmouth Todorov. TYodorov has a proven goal record at Portsmouth but with the number of forwards at the club, Todorov was loaned out for a bigger challenge. Wigan has also signed Cotterill for 2 million pounds. The highly rated Welsh signed from Bristol City after rejecting Norwich in the last minute when he found out Wigan wanted to sign him. He decided to have a go at top flight football instead of the championship where he has been a season ago.

Krompkamp moves to PSV
Dutch defender Jan Krompkamp has returned to Holland with fellow countrymen Kuilvert after signing a five year contract. he has failed to make it in both Spain and Liverpool and decided to return to his homeland.

Kranjcar joins Cole at Pompey
Portsmouth completed a deadline day double deal by signing Croatian midfielder Niko Kranjcar for £3.5million deal on the back of a £500,000 move for former England striker Andy Cole. Cole, 34, has signed a two-year-deal after leaving Manchester City, and the fee could eventually rise to £1million depending on his number of first-team appearances. He will add much-needed firepower to an attack which currently lacks injured Lomana LuaLua. However manager Harry Redknapp's most exciting signing could prove to be that of 22-year-old Kranjcar. He signed a four-year deal after Portsmouth's medical staff were flown out to Zagreb to supervise his outine physical examination. Kranjcar, the son of Croatia's World Cup coach Zabo Kranjcar, is with his national squad ahead of this weekend's European Championship qualifier against Russia.

Tottenham clinch Chimbonda deal
Tottenham took their spending to around £12million inside a week after they finally completed the signing of Wigan full-back Pascal Chimbonda on Thursday night. Earlier, Tottenham added Fulham's Steed Malbranque to their ranks. Tottenham, who completed the signing of Egyptian striker Mido on a permanent deal worth £4million earlier in the week, will pay around £2million for Malbranque and an estimated £6million for Chimbonda.

Cygan set for Spain
Arsenal defender Pascal Cygan on the brink of signing for Spanish side Villarreal.
Villarreal announced they had agreed a fee with Arsenal - reported to be £2million - and that the transfer would go through providing the French centre-back passed a medical.
Cygan, formerly of Lille, has agreed terms on a two-year contract and will be reunited with former Arsenal winger Robert Pires at El Madrigal.

Saviola to stay and fight for Barca place
Argentina striker Javier Saviola wants to stay and prove his worth at Barcelona, although the club have made it clear he is surplus to requirements. 'I have had offers that promised more money than I receive at Barca but I have made my decision. I want to stay and fight for a place,' Saviola told a news conference on Thursday. 'I will play out the last year on my contract here and hope that when it comes to leaving I leave on a high note.' Saviola would be allowed to talk to other clubs for a pre-contract move in january if Barcelona fail to offer him a new contract.

<--Matthew Matthias Tay--> Red Devil entered entry @ 11:26 AM