Author: therightliberal

Rooney Come Back!

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Wayne Rooney has a tendency to get upset sometimes. For those who don’t know, Rooney is an English footballer who plays for Manchester United. He is known for his knack of scoring goals and his fiery attitude.

Wayne Rooney

But at this moment in time, he is scaring me. Rooney has played for the greatest team in the world, Manchester United, for a number of years now. He has been loved by the fans and by his teammates. But it seems as though he has decided that his home is no longer the place for him due to a recent row with his manager, Sir Alex Ferguson.

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Good ol England

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Today a great thing happened in the world of football. First a little background for any of you non-soccer fans (tisk tisk). England is the most cocky and absolutely unbearable country when it comes to soccer.

It has won the World Cup only once and that was when it was played at home in 1968. And yet every year the English speak of how great their team will be, and yet, almost every year they suck.

I will not deny it, they have the best club league in the world. But their international team is really not that good. In fact, the US national team finished ahead of them in the last World Cup in south Africa. The thing about the English team is that none of their players, not one, plays outside of England. This is terrible for their team and for their country.

So here is the great news: The self-titled “Greatest team ever” tied the country of Montenegro today.

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Lost Liverpool

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The soccer headlines have been dominated by the news that Liverpool and their owners George Gillet and Tom Hicks are at war. The American owners are in about £237 of debt which in about 376 million dollars. That means that Liverpool cannot buy players and because of that they are suffering.

They are in the relegation zone (or for you non soccer fans, the bottom three teams that get knocked down to the lower division at the end of the year). This has caused a major rift between the fans, coach, players and the owners. The American boys want to sell the club but they have to act quickly because the Royal Bank of Scotland, which holds the debts, will seize the club if the debts are not paid off by October 15th.

File:Liverpool FC.svg

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Crackdown

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Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk dropped Nigel De Jong for two games due to his latest dirty tackle. This weekend while playing for Manchester City in a game against Newcastle United, De Jong went in way to hard on a tackle and broke Hatem Ben Arfa‘s leg. This is the second hard challenge that he has committed recently and gotten away with.  The first was in the final against Spain where he karate kicked Xabi Alonso in the chest and got away with only a yellow card. Nigel de Jong plants his studs into Xabi Alonso's chest

This time he goes in, breaks a player’s leg and doesn’t even get a foul called. But Van Marwijk made up for the refs mistake.

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R-E-S-P-E-C-T

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This Saturday I refereed 3 soccer games. I recently passed my licence test for my level 8 refereeing licence. I wanted to become a ref for the money but also for the good of the game. As I found out, refereeing is much harder than a player or a fan may think. I was refereeing girls club games, not exactly the highest level of soccer. But after 3 games of chasing the game around the pitch, making dead out sprints as well as standing around, I gained an appreciation for refs. Although I now have more respect for them, chances are I will still harass them and get red cards. But I will at least be able to acknowledge (after I have cooled down) that they were just doing their job. So many refs nowadays are looked at as being pathetic old men. This is partly true because most are old men. But without them we cannot play. We don’t have to like what they do or how they do it, but lets show them some respect for them taking all of our abuse. Any soccer player, football player or basketball player can tell you all the times they have yelled at the top of their lungs at an official. We have all had refs who don’t know which end of their whistle to blow. But without them standing out their (they don’t usually run) we don’t get to play. So let us thank them for their service, and then continue yelling at them.

What Soccer Needs

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Recently I was asked by a reader to write about why so many kids play soccer in the U.S. and yet by the time they are in their late teens it seems like no one plays. Well today we will dive into that.

This is a subject that I have tried to figure out many times and here is what I have come to conclude. In the U.S., we have more kids playing soccer up to U-15 than any other country in the world, which is quite impressive. In fact, no one come close to us. But after U-15 we lose that top spot, by a lot.

First lets talk about why so many kids play soccer. Soccer is an easy game that does not have that many rules or exceptions unlike football and baseball. It comes naturally to many kids because the motions in the beginning are not miniscule and complex like in other sports. It gives them a oppertunity to run around and whack a ball at their friends.

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Futbol and Football

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The shock news today was that Arsenal tied Sunderland after getting an early lead. Arsenal went up 1-0 in the 13th minute but gave up the win in the 95th minute when Sunderland’s Darren Bent scored the equalizer. Everton continued their abysmal start, losing 1-0 against Newcastle United. Everton has a talented squad but cannot put together a good team effort on the pitch. Tottenham Hotspurs were able to pick up three points, coming back to beat Wolverhampton 3-1.

For a complete round-up of todays Premier League games go to http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=824365&sec=england&cc=5901

North of England, in the Scottish Premier League, Rangers walked all over Dundee United, winning 4-0 to stay  at the top of the league. In Germany Stuttgart destroyed Borussia Monchengladbach 7-0, a surprising scoreline. 

For the game summary of the Stuttgart game go to http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=297101&cc=5901&league=GER.1 

The trash talking continued ahead of tomorrows clash between Manchester United and Liverpool F.C. Sir Alex Ferguson came out today and said that Liverpool’s recent decline is due to former coach Rafael Benitez, not due to the owners. Benitez last season blamed their 7th place performance on the lack of available funds for buying new players. Liverpool look to show that their new coach Roy Hodgson is the man for the job tomorrow when they take on their red rivals.

Go to http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=824163&sec=england&cc=5901 for more

Although real football is usually he focus on my blog, today I read an article that I thought deserved some attention. The news came out today that Washington Huskies coach and former USC coach Steve Sarkisian thinks that Reggie Bush’s returning of the Heisman Trophy was not enough. Sarkisian claims that Bush should have apologized and that he “just looks like an idiot again.” Bush was asked to return the Heisman because he and his parents were caught accepting  gifts from people associated with the USC football program while he was in college, which is strictly against NCAA rules. This one story has been the focus of sports articles and programs for long enough. Reggie Bush might have taken gifts but in my mind it did not affect his immense talent. Yes this is the first time the Heisman has been returned but this should not overshadow the amazing talent the Reggie Bush showed during his time in college.

In Today’s World of Soccer…

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Todays big news was Jose Mourinho, the current coach of Real Madrid F.C., was asked to coach Portugal in the qualifiers of the European Cup. Portugal dismissed their last coach, Carlos Queiroz, and now need a new one. Portugal is really in need of some victories. They have not been playing at all recently. I got the chance to see them play Brazil in the world cup and although they have real talent in the back and in the midfield, they lack a striker who scores goals. In Portugal’s First two qualifiers they had very poor results, tying the tiny island of Cyprus 4-4 and then losing to Norway 1-0. For a country with as much talent and history as Portugal, this is unbelievable. But is “The Chosen One” the answer? Jose Mourinho has won every place he has been however, being thrown into the coaching position of a team which is in total disarray, that might ruin his track record. I believe he could do well with the team but it is not in his best interest to potentially ruin his outstanding track record. None of this matters though because ultimately Real Madrid holds his contract and with the season in full swing and Barcelona playing so well, they wont let him go anywhere. 

Go to http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=823713&sec=euro2012&cc=5901 for more.

In other news, Liverpool beat Steaua Bucharest 4-1 at home. This was expected but it will be worrisome to Manchester United fans like myself that Liverpool have some momentum. This weekends clash looks to be a classic. Both teams now have 18 league titles and Alex Ferguson wants that last one before he hangs up his coaches jacket. As always there will be plenty of drama and hard tackles. Manchester United’s Darren Fletcher said today that the rivalry with Liverpool in still the biggest of the season. This will be the first time United face a Liverpool side managed by Roy Hodgson. I have a feeling that whoever wins this game will finish above the other come the end of the season. With that being said, my money is on United. Rooney should be energized and the team will be looking to prove that they still have the spark after a disappointing tie with Rangers on Tuesday.

For the upset of the day I will turn to the shocking defeat of the reigning UEFA League Champions Athletico Madrid at the hands of Aris Salonika. This will be a wake-up call to the European Super Cup trophy holders. If they are going to lose to a relatively small team from Greece, they will be in for a long season. If they want to have any chance of a repeat they need to get Sergio Aguero healthy fast so they can start scoring some goals.

For the full game report go to http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=307645&cc=5901