“Fabio Capello (born 18 June 1946) is an Italian football manager and former professional player. He is the current manager of the England national team, having started the role in January 2008 after the dismissal of Steve McClaren, who was sacked after England failed to qualify for Euro 2008. He is the second foreigner to have managed the England side, the other being McClaren’s predecessor, the Swede Sven-Göran Eriksson.” Wikipedia, Guardian
“The whole army of Spanish media outlets has been splashed with this bit of news, regarding the facebook page of suspected ETA members–ETA being, for those unfamiliar with Spain, the Basque separatist-terrorist group responsible for thousands of acts of violence since their establishment during the Franco dictatorship. From sports dailies such as AS to Marca, to dailies such as El Mundo and even regional papers like La Voz de Galicia, most everyone had a shot at this piece.” (Soccer Politics)
“From Arrigo Sacchi’s withdrawal of a legend to Bobby Robson’s match-winning switch, here are half a dozen inspired change… NB: the point of the Joy of Six is not to rank things, only to enjoy them. Also, this is not a piece about inspired substitute performances but inspired substitutions…” (Guardian)
World Cup 1954 in Switzerland
“The A to Z of the 1954 tournament… ” (midfielddynamo)
“Rangers and Celtic’s financial futures look a little bleaker today. Scotland will only have one entrant in the UEFA Champions League for the 2011-12 season, after falling below Belgium in the rankings used to determine each country’s qualifiers. Moreover, their champions will not advance automatically to the group stage, and will instead have to navigate through three qualifying rounds.” (Pitch Invasion)
Simon Kjaer
“Even attired in the soft pink tones of the Palermo uniform, Simon Kjaer cuts an intimidating figure on a soccer field. The sturdy 6-foot-2 frame of Kjaer, a Danish central defender, doubles as a canvas for a collection of tattoos (one likely to grow, he says) and is topped by a mop of platinum hair, which flops about as he patrols the ground and air around his team’s goal.” (NYT)
“… Where else to start but Manchester United’s impressive 3-2 win over AC Milan at the San Siro, which hands them a desirable advantage heading into the 2nd leg of their Champions League round of 16 knockout clash. United have become a truly masterful European outfit over the last three seasons, winning the tournament once and reaching two finals, and on the evidence of Tuesday’s game they look capable of making it all the way to Madrid for round three.” (Just Football)
“Kicked out of the near-earth-orbit studio by overrated Indie rockers Vampire Weekend and with a presenter still somewhere in the alpine wilderness, Football Weekly makes do with a broom cupboard and whoever Producer Pete could find five minutes before recording was due to commence. Luckily he found Paul MacInnes, Rob Smyth, Kevin McCarra and Paul Doyle at a loose end and they all agreed to do him a turn. The hastily assembled bunch waste no time getting stuck into the week’s Champions League action, including Lukasz Fabianski’s night to forget, a Rooney-inspired comeback at the San Siro and Bayern Munich’s ludicrously offside goal to beat Fiorintina.” (Guardian – James Richardson)
Scissors Kick 