Barcelona defender Maxwell believes Saturday’s home match against Almeria is vital if they are to retain the La Liga title this season.If Barca defeat Almeria and Real Madrid lose against Athletic Bilbao, the reigning champions could go as much as 11 points clear of second place.
Almeria have conceded 16 goals over three previous meetings with Barca this season, losing 8-0 at home in the league, before suffering defeats of 5-0 and 3-0 over two legs of the Copa del Rey semi-final.
And Brazilian fullback Maxwell wants Barca to record yet another win over Almeria ahead of the showdown at second-placed Real’s Estadio Santiago Bernabeu on April 16.
“It is a vital game,” Maxwell said.
“Three points that we can’t afford to drop. We want to get to the Bernabeu with an eight-point advantage – or more. But we will play our own game.”
“I think that Almeria have good players and a new manager (Roberto Olabe) who can motivate the team. We have to be alert to their strengths and try and take three more points.”
Barca thumped Shakhtar Donetsk 5-1 in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday.
Maxwell believes the Ukrainian champions were undone by their insistence on taking the game to their hosts at the Camp Nou.
“They are a very strong team, very physical and run a lot,” Maxwell said.
“People might have thought that it would be easy, because they don’t recognise the names, but we knew that it would be very tough, and that everyone would give their all.”
“I think that they came out to attack so strongly that we were able to get such a comprehensive result.”
Real lead Tottenham 4-0 in their Champions League tie, and with Barca also firmly in control, a Champions League semi-final between the bitter rivals is now a distinct possibility.
Nevertheless, Maxwell insists Almeria’s visit remains the priority.
“You always look at what might be ahead, but you can’t not focus on the match at hand,” Maxwell said.
“It doesn’t benefit us to look too far ahead. We have the Almeria game and the Champions League second leg, and then we will look at the next game.”
I’ve heard a lot of names bandied about for the West Ham job since Avram Grant got the tin tack last week. Martin O’Neill, Sam Allardyce, Steve McClaren, the usual suspects, and then there’s Neil Warnock, Dave Jones, Chris Hughton and Paul Lambert, to name but a few. If it were up to me, though, I’d tell David Gold and David Sullivan to forget that lot, even if the boy Lambert does fit the young-and-smart bill I’d be looking for.
Now I understand why he is tickling their fancy – he’s done a phenomenal job at Carrow Road and had two great years. But if I was him I’d want to see that job through and give at least one season to having a crack at the Premier League. I’d miss Delia’s cooking, too. That’s why my choice for West Ham would be Neil Lennon.
I was up in Scotland at a function with my old pal Saint last week and, from what I picked up, it’s going to be very hard for Celtic to hang on to him the way things are going. And whatever you think about Lennon, the one thing everybody agrees on is that he has a tremendous attitude and fantastic drive. It certainly wouldn’t be a case of the same-old, same-old that West Ham need to avoid.
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A complete overhaul and change of image is what my old club needs now. They’ve won three FA Cups and a Cup Winners’ Cup in the last 50 years and that doesn’t show any ambition. It’s why the move to Stratford is vitally important and so, too, is getting the right manager. Lennon has proved he’s up for the fight, so why not get him out of his situation?
Things are going to be very, very awkward for him and everybody else in Scotland, and it’s not going to get any easier. So get Lennon, get a new stadium… and maybe even a new strip. Keep the claret and blue, of course, but make it claret and blue stripes. West Ham need something that’s going to make the team look radical. They have to say, ‘Right, this is us, we’re a Championship side now’, and then concentrate on getting back to the Premier League.
They’re also going to need new players to do that. I’d move Heaven and Earth to keep Scott Parker, even though it won’t happen, and I’d let the rest go. Why not buy the entire QPR team? They did it this season and a lot of them won’t now get a look-in. West Ham’s a great club but they can’t live on their past any longer.
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The five most identifiable players remain Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters, Trevor Brooking and Billy Bonds … and Bonzo, the most recent of the lot, hasn’t kicked a ball for the club for 23 years. My old mate Mooro would look at the current situation and, just like everyone else who’s ever played for them, shrug his shoulders and say, ‘Well, that’s West Ham’. But that’s how everyone else sees it as well and it’s an image that needs to be changed.
Arsenal and Tottenham fans have been moaning about ticket prices, their teams and their managers… and they’ll both finish in the top six and have seen European football next season. West Ham fans don’t moan like that, they’re phenomenal. They just say, ‘Right, what you having, pint of Guinness?’ And my bet is a few of them will say they’re looking forward to the Championship because at least they might win a few games.
Gold and Sullivan know what they’re doing, and I don’t think a lot of people give them credit for that. I know Gold, he’s a very nice bloke, although there are mixed feelings about the two of them because of how they make their money. Sure, some people look on it as immoral because it’s the pornographic scene. But they’re two genuine guys who obviously have an eye for a market and good luck to them – I wish I’d been with them when they were starting out.
Japan’s winning FIFA Women’s World Cup team has received thanks from the nation’s prime minister upon their return home.The players and coaching staff flew into Narita International Airport after beating the United States 3-1 on penalties in the final in Frankfurt, Germany on Sunday.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan thanked the side as the nation continues to recover from the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck in March.
“This has given the whole nation – but especially those in the disaster-affected north – courage, and I would like to thank them deeply from the bottom of my heart for this,” he said.
The players and staff met the Prime Minister and presented him with a signed jersey at the airport.
Coach Norio Sasaki said it was a huge achievement for his team, who became the first Asian nation to win the competition.
“I think the fact that they are here and invited by the prime minister is a reminder of what they have done,” he said.
“They have, for the first time in the history of women’s soccer in this nation, given so much courage and touched so many people – that is why they are here.”
Next up for Japan is the final stages of qualifying for the 2012 Olympics in September, when they will meet China, North Korea, South Korea, Thailand and Australia.
Portsmouth have confirmed the appointment of Steve Cotterill as their new manager.
Cotterill has agreed a three-year contract at the recently relegated Premier League outfit after deciding to leave former club Notts County last month.
The 45-year-old former Cheltenham Town and Burnley boss helped guide the Magpies to promotion from League Two but left after just four months at the helm.
Portsmouth were on the lookout for a new manager after Avram Grant left at the end of the Premier League season to take the reins at West Ham United.
"Steve is the perfect fit for the rebuilding job we want to do here," Pompey chief executive David Lampitt told the club's official website.
"He's talented, ambitious, energetic and positive, with a very good footballing CV, coming here on the back of a great achievement at Notts County.
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"We've got lots of challenges ahead and like the rest of us here at the club Steve is ready to tackle them head on to bring stability and long-term success to Pompey."
Cotterill's appointment comes just one day after the club moved a step closer to coming out of administration after creditors voted in favour of accepting the terms of a Company Voluntary Agreement.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
England goalkeeper Joe Hart is bracing himself for the inevitable backlash which will hit him if he suffers a dip in form.
The 23-year-old Manchester City man has become first-choice for both club and country this season and is poised to start for England against Montenegro at Wembley on Tuesday evening.
However, the former Shrewsbury Town youngster is aware that criticism will be heading his way if he makes an error.
Hart told the FA's official website:"I am well aware that the pressure is there.
"People build you up and as soon as anything does go slightly wrong, then they are hard on you.
"But that is the nature of the game and if I want to be at the top level, then I think you've just got to be prepared for things like that.
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"It is another thing you need to work on. Another thing you need to be good at is taking criticism."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
I have always felt that agents were the lowest of the low in football and nothing has made me changed that view after picking up the paper and reading we have been linked with a certain Didier Drogba.
If ever there was a blatant attempt at Manchester City’s name being used to broker a deal elsewhere then this is it and thankfully the words of Thierno Seydi have been dismissed by a spokesman at the football club. Drogba is an exceptional footballer and there is no club in the world that wouldn’t want him, but realistically there is no chance of him leaving Chelsea, or Ancelotti letting him leave, so what was the agenda here apart from alerting the money men of Chelsea? If Drogba wants a new deal then approach Abramovich himself, instead of dragging our name into the equation.
“Today he’s at Chelsea. Maybe there will be surprises before August 31,
“I haven’t spoken to just anybody. The only contact I’ve had directly was with City,
“At his age I can no longer hide the financial aspect. The club that want Didier will have to meet the price.” (Sun)
Unfortunately the use of the name Manchester City has been used far too often for my liking of late and it is getting rather tiresome. From being a contributor to England’s failings this summer (believe it or not), to ruining the make-up of football (even though clubs like Chelsea and United have spent millions upon millions in the last decade), we are now a plaything for agents so they can tout their clients, or in this case attempt to get an improved deal at their respective football clubs.
Written By Don Thomas
Click on image to see a gallery of the BEST BABES at the World Cup this summer
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The youngest player ever to play for the USA national side, Freddy Adu was touted as one of the hottest youngsters in the footballing world. However, just a few years since gracing the international stage for the first time, it’s fair to say things have taken a turn for the worse for the boy from Ghana.
After growing up in Tema, Ghana, Adu was already showing a sign of things to come when he started playing against men three times his age. However, his biggest piece of luck came just after he turned eight and his mother won the lottery. She decided to uproot and move her family to Maryland in the USA.
Adu settled in the USA and started at school. During his time at school, he joined the football team and helped them to several honours whilst playing for them.
His next break came whilst playing with the U.S Olympic Development Programme, an under-14 tournament that attracted Italian sides such as Juventus and Lazio. 10-year-old Adu impressed at the tournament and, as well as his team winning, he finished as top goalscorer and was voted MVP. His performances prompted Inter Milan to make a six-figure offer for his services – an offer that, at the advice of his agents, his mother turned down.
Break into the MLS
In January 2002, he joined the IMG Soccer Academy, U.S soccer’s full-time academy. His development here allowed him to be included in the 2004 MLS Superdraft. Although Dallas Burn owned the top pick, he was allowed to move the DC United to allow him to play closer to home. The move, in November 2003, took place a couple of months before the official draft. At the age of 14, he was officially the youngest U.S athlete in 100 years to sign a major league professional contract in any sport.
On April 13 2004, he made his debut for United in a game against the San Jose Earthquakes – making him the youngest professional sportsman in the U.S since 1887. A few weeks later, he hit is first goal during a 3-2 defeat to Metrostars.
His first season was a successful one for such a young player. He scored five times, provided three assists and appeared in each of the 30 regular season games for United. He also helped them win the MLS Cup.
Globe trotting didn’t pay off
His second season was also successful, as he continued to find himself regularly involved in first team duties. Before 2006/07 season, he was allowed to join Manchester United on loan. However, as he was unable to gain a work permit, he was only allowed to train with the first team, rather than play in matches. He returned to DC United after his loan expired and continued to impress in the first team.
His performances here earned him a call up to the national side, where he became the U.S’s youngest capped player at 16 years and 234 days in January. He has gone on to earn 15 more caps for the national side, scoring twice in the process, appearing in the 2008 Olympics, 2010 World Cup qualifiers and against England in a friendly.
In December 2006, he moved to Real Salt Lake as part of a swap deal for goalkeeper Jay Nolly. He made his debut on the opening day of the 20007/08 season against FC Dallas. During his time at Real, he captained the under-20 U.S national side at the 2007 FIFA Under-20 World Cup. During the tournament, he scored a hattrick during a 6-1 win against Poland.
His performances here prompted Portuguese side Benfica to make a $2 million offer in July 2007, which was accepted by Real. He made his debut in European football in a Champions League qualifier against FC Copenhagen in August 2007. However, this was a very rare high point of his career – this is where it all began to go wrong.
Despite paying a nominal fee for his services, Benfica did not give him as many games as I’m sure he would have liked. He was reduced to mainly substitute appearances and only started twice during the 2007/08 season.
Playing the “loan” role
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He was sent out on loan to French side AS Monaco at the start of the 2008/09 season, with the option of a permanent deal available. However, he was to suffer the same fate and struggled to break into the side. He returned to Benfica in July 2009.
With Benfica still unwilling to give Adu a chance in their first team, they agreed to loan him out again, this time to fellow Portuguese side Beleneses in August 2009. Yet again, it didn’t work out for him, and he was back at Benfica just after Christmas 2009.
Just a month after returning, he was off out on loan again. He signed an 18-month loan deal to Greek side Aris, where he linked up with fellow American Eddie Johnson, who was there on loan from Fulham. You can probably guess what happened next. After a decent start, he began to be phased out of the squad and left the club in the summer.
Despite trials with Swiss side Sion and Danish side Randers, he was unable to earn a loan deal. Recently, on February 1 2011, he joined Turkish second division side Caykur Rizespor on loan.
You can’t help but feel sorry for Adu who, at 21, is still young in footballing terms. Was it all the football at an early age that halted his progress, or was it the ill-fated move to Benfica that was to blame? You can’t help but think ‘what if he had been allowed to play for Man United?’ Would Fergie have been able to nurture yet another young superstar?
Wojciech Szczesny has stated that Arsenal are not over-reliant on Robin van Persie, and despite his goalscoring prowess are not a one man team.
The Netherlands international has been in red hot form this season, and has scored 31 goals in his last 30 games.
Despite the attacker playing a key part in the North London club’s revival from a slow start this campaign, the Polish stopper feels that the Emirates Stadium team have a lot more to offer than one in-form striker.
“I don’t think we are over-reliant on him,” the keeper told The Sun.
“We’ve got some fantastic players in this team and we work as a team. The whole team stuck together when we went 1-0 down against Fulham, we stuck together well.
“I don’t think we are a one-man team — we are a great all-round team,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, Arsene Wenger has admitted that he will field a number of fringe players against Manchester City in the Carling Cup on Tuesday night, resting the likes of Van Persie.
“I believe that some players are on the fringe of being really limited. I will rest some players, but I still want to play a team that has a chance to win the game,” the French coach told Arsenal Player.
“Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Emmanuel Frimpong will play, but I consider them to be first-team players.
“Park Chu-Young is adapting to the level he is facing here and he has another opportunity against Manchester City to show that he can do it.
“Yossi Benayoun has been absolutely fantastic, but we have so much choice in midfield and we play with three strikers. The chances for the midfielders are not so big and that is why he has not played as much as he deserves.
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“The attitude of all the players that came in has been great, everybody helps focus the team to win and he does that as well,” Wenger concluded.
Manchester City will do everything they can to stop Real Madrid enticing Carloz Tevez to the Spanish capital.
Argentina international Tevez is believed to be the subject of a £40million bid from Real, just 12 months after City persuaded the striker to move to Eastlands rather than remain at Manchester United.
Real signed Tevez's international team-mate Angel di Maria on Monday and The Sun reports that they have now turned their attention to a player who scored twice in Argentina's 3-1 victory against Mexico in the last-16 stage of the World Cup on Sunday.
However, a club source was quoted in the newspaper as saying: "Carlos is going nowhere. He's happy here and we're looking forward to welcoming him back next month."
City have already snapped up Hamburg star Jerome Boateng this summer and are set to confirm the captures of Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure and Valencia winger David Silva.
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Tevez found the net 29 times in 43 appearances for City last term.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Desperation drives people into committing acts of mind boggling lunacy. In it’s most extreme form it can range from robbing a bank to scrimping for lost pennies that have fallen down the back of the sofa cushions. In football terms it equates to paying £6 million for Bobby Zamora. Or maybe it’s plying Joey Barton with £70,000-a-week to quote famous philosophers and become embroiled in twitter wars with everyones favourite former news editor Piers Morgan. QPR are guilty of both. The R’s have navigated the last two transfer windows like a 12-year-old would on a fresh Championship Manager save. Keeping your finger pressed on transfer fee until the offer is irresistible. Contract negotiations operate with a similar surrendering mentality. Every players’ demands are met without dispute to ensure they sign on the dotted line. No strategy is employed whatsoever. However it’s a naive blueprint that could come back to haunt the R’s should they fail to secure Premier League football next season.
Like every team promoted from the Championship QPR had only one objective; to survive. At the beginning of the campaign they were the favourites to achieve that goal ahead of rivals Norwich and Swansea who were perceived to have weaker squads. The arrival of owner Tony Fernandes at the backend of August was followed by an influx of signings concluded before the summer deadline snapped shut. Seasoned top flight performers Barton, Anton Ferdinand, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Luke Young all arrived at Loftus Road to offer strength to the belief that the Hoops would achieve their survival goal. It never transpired and ultimately cost Neil Warnock his job with replacement Mark Hughes adopting a similar panic buying philosophy. Djibril Cisse, Nedum Onuoha and Zamora all joined the club during the final week of January but have failed in their mission to lift Rangers out of the relegation zone. However with the prospect of a return to the Championship now very real with 10 games to play their guileless recruitment system could cripple them financially.
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It was revealed during the week that the club have reportedly failed to insert relegation clauses into the contracts of their recent purchases with a majority of them earning between £50,000 and £60,000-per-week. Should the club find themselves back in England’s second tier all the players signed to those deals would still be entitled to that sum putting Rangers in a very precarious position. Usually the custom for a club in their position is to stipulate that in the event of relegation wages be sliced by between 33 to 50 percent. QPR’s reported failure to implement that would see them take on the burden of paying around £3 million-per-year to six or seven players they’d find difficult to move on.
Could you see a Premier League club matching the demands of Barton or 30-somethings like Wright-Phillips and Zamora who have performed way below expectations?
The outlook does look bleak. Ever since taking over from Bernie Ecclestone as chairman in August Fernandes has been signing cheques like it’s going out of fashion in attempt to preserve the clubs top flight status. Newcastle are the most recent example of a club failing to insert relegation clauses into the contracts of their players. When they suffered the torment of demotion it left their finances in an apparent state of disrepair. Luckily for them they were able to move on a majority of their squad whilst also having the infrastructure to soften the substantial blow their accounts took. Unfortunately for QPR they don’t have a 52,000 capacity stadium that would contribute to a major part of their revenue. Whilst £18 million worth of parachute payments will be forthcoming it isn’t enough to sustain a wage bill that pales in comparison to that of Norwich and Swansea. Losses in TV money will also hit them hard in the pocket. To cut a long story short the club could follow a path tread by Leeds United and Portsmouth – two clubs who have paid the price for over spending.
All the signs point towards an apocalyptic financial meltdown that would take the R’s years to recover from. The sustainability of their current squad would make it difficult for them to operate in an economy that now prides itself on prudent spending. The arrival or Fernandes was expected to herald a bright to new era at Loftus Road. However quite the opposite now appears to be on the horizon with a badly organised transfer master plan owing heavily to their demise. Should relegation occur supporters should be very worried. In fact they should be on tenterhooks fretting over whether their club can survive outside of the Premier League as they continue to burn money at a rate of knots.
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