“As the only white player in South Africa’s starting line-up, Matthew Booth accepts he “sticks out like a sore thumb” every time they play. This led some foreign observers to assume he was being booed by the predominantly black crowds at this summer’s Confederations Cup, when in fact the complete opposite was the case. The 6ft 6in central defender is a firm favourite with the fans of Bafana Bafana, who greet his every touch with loud cries of ‘Booooth!'” (BBC)

“Every football season begins with a ‘clampdown’. Traditionally this involves referees acting on new directives to punish foul play. The result is a spate of bookings and dismissals in the early months of the season, accompanied by an outcry from managers. Referees then loosen their interpretation of the rules a little – often after a meeting with managers at which ‘robust views’ are exchanged – and we end up roughly back to how things were before, except that at least one match official will have been maligned in highly personal terms.” (WSC)

“The world’s biggest party is fast approaching. In less than 12 months, throngs of joyous fans will journey to South Africa, bringing the World Cup to Africa for the first time. Aficionados without tickets will snuggle up to the TV: More than 715 million viewers watched Italy’s dramatic win over France in the 2006 final in Germany. To put that into perspective for U.S. fans, about 151 million took in this year’s Super Bowl.” (ESPN)

“The news that Tomas Rosicky is out for six weeks comes as little surprise yet is still saddening nonetheless. The Czech international tweaked a hamstring in training yesterday, another aspect which is totally unsurprising having been out for so long. Echoes of Eduardo’s recovery resound around this incident. As far as the squad goes, it is obviously a blow when combined with the absence of Samir Nasri yet it would have been surprising if Rosicky had reclaimed a place in the starting XI immediately having been out for so long.” (A Cultured Left Foot)

“If Steven Gerrard is the heart of Liverpool then Xabi Alonso was one of the lungs. So Liverpool just lost a lung. It’s lung-wrenching. I know they have a potential organ donor lined up (AS Roma) and that a new lung (Alberto Aquilani) could be on the way already, but what if the operation doesn’t take? They won’t know until the season gets going.” (EPL Talk)

Liverpool agree fee for Aquilani
“Liverpool have confirmed they have agreed a fee with Roma for Italian midfielder Alberto Aquilani. The transfer is reported to be worth £20m and is subject to a medical being completed later in the week. ‘Alberto has a winning mentality and great experience in both Serie A and the Champions League,’ said Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez.” (BBC)

Alonso saga? Done
“Another morning, another celebration in soccernet towers that we can put another drawn out transfer saga to bed. The Telegraph pitch it right by declaring we can all ‘move on’ now Xabi Alonso is about to become a Real Madrid player, for the princely sum of £30m.” (ESPN)

“The itch, the burn, the fire, nothing has stirred the pot like the exorbitant City sums in this summer’s transfer market. A club outside the top 4 has a wealthy, solvent, and interested investor. He has purchased several quality players. What’s the problem?” (futfanatico)

“There’s a dark cloud hanging over Scottish football right now. It’s a bit grim up north and that’s before the domestic action has even started. Budgets have been slashed and squads have been severely cut as the credit crunch really starts to bite. Celtic, Aberdeen, Motherwell and Falkirk all appointed new bosses during the close season only for all three to suffer disappointing European defeats to further increase the doom and gloom.” (ESPN)

“I really tried to care about the Gold Cup. After the group stages, I got pumped up; I told myself I was going to have the best Gold Cup commentary on the Internet. Then the United States played Panama in the quarterfinals and I fell asleep in about the 20th minute. Then the U.S. played Honduras is the semifinals and I fell asleep in about the 30th minute. Gold Cup matches were like taking NyQuil is visual form.” (Intelligent Soccer)

“In the fashion of a heavyweight champion from the time when boxing fans cared about multiple titles, FC Barcelona flashed the hardware of its fearsomeness. Arrayed below the news conference podium Monday at a downtown Seattle hotel were trophies representing the 2008-09 championships of Spain’s first division, the nation’s Copa del Rey tournament and the European Champions League — the first Spanish team to win all three in a single season.” (SeattlePI)

“Jozy Altidore seems to be handling this Twitter thing a little better than Darren Bent. While Bent tossed his toys out of the pram in 140 characters or less, the teenage American striker calmly tweeted to his followers: England early in the morning so im going to get some sleep ill tweet all day tomorrow on my bb and let you guys know whats going on! He then thanked his followers for their support. I would check to see if Bent has ever done.” (EPL Talk)

“Fifteen years ago last month, the U.S. played host to an important moment in soccer history. Of all five of Brazil’s World Cup wins, USA 1994 was probably the least glamorous. The team didn’t play with the style and swagger of 1958 or ’70, and for all the superb strike combinations of Bebeto and Romário, there was no one to touch the heights of Garrincha in ’62, or to match Ronaldo’s magnificent and touching comeback 40 years later.” (SI – Tim Vickery)

“It’s all in the timing. The BBC couldn’t have chosen a better time to run a special report on the state of finances in English football. The eve of the new English season is a time of optimism at most clubs, but in an interview with Radio5’s Dan Road, the UEFA general secretary David Taylor expressed concerns about many aspects of the way that Premier League clubs in particular are running themselves, singling out the saddling of clubs with debt and the transfer activity of some (hello, Manchester City) as having a destabilising effect on the health of the transfer market.” (twohundredpercent)

“With less than a year to go until the World Cup, England are sitting pretty in their World Cup qualification group. With qualification all but assured, now attentions will turn to who could be in England’s plans for South Africa. English World Cup squads have a history of featuring late-comers to their squad who go on to play starring roles in their respective tournaments.” (Soccer Lens)

“The 2009-10 German Bundesliga season is set to begin on Friday August 7, 2009 as Wolfsburg look to defend the league trophy. The Bundesliga was very competitive last season with the gap between the top 6 teams at only 10 points. Bayern Munich finished a disappointing 2nd but will be looking to regain the league trophy as they have retained most of their top players. Here’s a preview of the upcoming season along with predictions (which will likely be wrong but its worth a shot to try).” (The 90th Minute)

“At the beginning of every season, as the kick-off edges ever closer, my anticipation of the excitement to come can rarely be contained and I am compelled to make my predictions for the coming season, in the vain hope that it will bring the start just a little bit closer.” (Three Match Ban)

“After all, Burley was the last player to score for Scotland in the finals of a major tournament – in the 1-1 draw against Norway at France 98 – and, on top of having been enlisted by ESPN as a match analyst for their SPL coverage next season, he is also the nephew of Scotland’s current manager, George Burley.” (Telegraph)

“Roy Hodgson discusses the most popular of formations.” (uefa 4-4-2), (uefa 4-4-2 Diamond), (uefa 5-3-2), (uefa 4-3-3), (uefa 3-4-3), (uefa 3-5-2), (uefa 4-5-1)

“Roughly two years ago, Alessandro Rosina was all the rage on the peninsula. His dribbling, running, tenacity, circus midget size and male-pattern baldness endeared him to men, women and children alike. His nickname, Rosinaldo, was both self-explanatory and deserved. Any team would’ve been chuffed to bits to have him. The lone star on a once-great team which had few reasons for optimism in its stable, shone brightly across the Italian sky.” (The Offside)

“With five days left until the start of the new season, at least some of the television schedule still seems to be in a state of flux. The Football Conference is reported to still be in negotiation with a broadcaster (rumoured to be Eurosport) regarding a package that is said to be worth £70,000 per club, although Blue Square North and South clubs are now likely to be missing out on the £15,000 that they had been receiving from Setanta. More significant, however, is the final unveiling of the coverage that the BBC will be giving The Football League, as they take over from ITV as the secondary broadcasters of the world’s oldest league competition.” (twohundredpercent)

“It has been a rollercoaster week in Irish football, a week of spectacular highs and incredible lows. But yesterday Cork City FC lived up to their nickname of the ‘rebels’ by winning their battle against the Revenue Commission to avoid a winding up order, which would have relegated the club from the League of Ireland after a 25 year exsistance.” (Two Footed Tackle)

“It pains me to say it, but Tottenham have never really hit the big time with me as a fan. My older Lillywhite friends tell me that we used to win European trophies (1963 Cup Winners Cup, 1972 Uefa Cup) and that we always had a good cup run in years ending in a one. More recently though, accolades have been a little harder to come by, but I think Spurs do have some outstanding achievements. We are exceptional in the Milk Cup. We love buying average players for £15m. And we adore acquiring slightly weird foreign players. The oddballs of European football. Personal favourites include Nicola Berti, Willem Korsten, Moussa Saib, Jose Dominguez and the star of the wolf-pack, Ilie Dumitrescu.” (Three Match Ban)

Raft of the Medusa – Theodore Gericault 
“As England prepare to take on the hosts Ukraine in the final of the Under-19 European Championship in Donetsk tomorrow, Jonathan Wilson chooses the ten best players of the tournament and considers their prospects for the future” (Independent)

“Romeo and Juliet they might not be, but Laurent Blanc and Didier Deschamps could – almost – be the stars of a footballing remake of William Shakespeare’s classic tale of tough love. The two former international team-mates may not be devoted to each other in the carnal sense, but there is more than a mutual respect between the two men who hung up their international spurs together after the European championships in 2000.” (ESPN)

“In comments yesterday, George Szirtes enquired rhetorically about why Bobby Robson was so loved, and he answers his own question magnificently here. ‘The right sort of sportsman’, in other words. Most of the great football clubs of England were founded by firms or by churches to provide godly uplifting activity and entertainment to men in what were supposedly the morally-dangerous surroundings of the urban industrial north.” (More Than Mind Games)

“Gold Cups, disgruntled players trading places, this week was chock full of action on both the European transfer front and in North America. Here is a recap of the goings-ons and what-have-you’s. In the Nou Camp, Barcelona finally got rid of their perpetually disgruntled yet brilliantly prolific striker and they only had to pay Inter a mere $45 million Euros! The best part – Barcelona did not have to borrow one cent to pay Inter. Oh, and they also signed Ibrahimovic.” (Futfanation)

“The summer gravy train has run two-thirds of its journey from June through August, and Franck Ribéry is not yet aboard. When the transfer season in human potential began, the five most coveted soccer players in the world were Cristiano Ronaldo, Ricardo Kaká, Lionel Messi, Fernando Torres and Ribéry.” (NYT)

“Do you trust Sir Alex Ferguson when he tells you something? Well, the papers have probably got their fingers burned one too many times and are now totally sure that he’ll spend some of the Ronaldo cash before the end of the season, despite saying he won’t. Three papers. Three different potential transfer targets . And we’ll start with the News of the World who think that Valencia’s David Silva is the man to fill the United midfield with some proven quality.” (Paper Round)

“Atletico were beaten eventually by Andrei Arshavin’s late double strike, leaving Arsene with enough food for thought for the upcoming campaign. Not too much should be read into anything at this stage since there are still two weeks to go before the Premier League season begins. Even so, Wenger will have been relieved that the good work culminating in Arshavin’s opener was not left undone by a poor equaliser to concede, minutes later.” (A Cultured Left Foot)

“You don’t run into a lot of Irish folks in Africa. Lots of Canadians, Norwegians, Japanese, and Australians but very few Irish. Maybe that helps to explain why Sport Against Racism Ireland was among the groups who, during June’s Confederations Cup in South Africa, were quick to assume that predominantly black crowds were booing the lone white player on the South African national team Matthew Booth.’ In fact, the crowd was celebrating Booth by enunciating and elongating his name: ‘BOOOOTH.’ The sounds are certainly easy to confuse. But the meanings could only be confused by anyone who hasn’t spent much time in Africa.” (Pitch Invasion)

“I’m probably the most unlikely soccer/football fan in the world — probably because I’m from rural Mississippi. I studied international politics at Georgetown University, and did some research on the World Cup and sports diplomacy. I’ve never played competitively, but I’m a world traveler and have a habit of playing in pickup games in the strangest places, like in the courtyard of a castle in Slovakia and at a bus stop in Cambodia.” (NYT)

“Something new for you now on SPAOTP. Here’s Sp3ktor with the first in a regular series of round-ups on Italian football – and what better way to start than a look at each of the twenty participating clubs.” SPAOTP

“A fair few, would be the short answer, and we have already covered testimonials gone bad in the Knowledge before, but a few stand-out examples do spring to mind and none more so than QPR’s fracas with China’s Olympic team in 2007. China had been holding a two-week training camp in England, but seven players had to be sent home after a brawl that involved almost every player on the pitch plus a number of coaches and bystanders.” (Guardian)

“Ah, Sir Tom Finney, one of the finest exponents of footballing skill ever to wear the shirt of England is a living legend. A gentleman and a true star of the post war game, Finney epitomises everything that was great about those halcyon days of English football. Born in Preston, in 1922, Finney is a rare breed of footballers that saw active service in the Second World War and continued playing up to 1960.” (EPL Talk)

“Here’s the latest European Transfer News on Liverpool player Xabi Alonso and his intention to transfer to Real Madrid. Alonso transfer to be decided on Monday – Xabi Alonso is due to fly back to Spain with Liverpool on Saturday as the negotiations over his possible transfer drag on.” (The 90th Minute)

“Gordon Strachan claimed in the aftermath of Celtic’s 5–0 defeat to Artmedia Bratislava four years ago that his new club could still win the tie by virtue of an astonishing second-leg reversal. ‘Maybe you’ll want to put a dunce’s hat on my head, but that’s what I believe,’ said the manager. ‘Happy to oblige, Gordon’ read the sub-headline in a Scottish tabloid; Strachan had briskly realised, as he later and colourfully acknowledged, that judgments move on to a different level where the Old Firm are concerned.” (Guardian)

“Romario celebrates scoring for Brazil against Cameroon at the 1994 World Cup. It’s one of the disputed 1,000 or so that he has scored.” (Guardian)

“Welcome to rock bottom. It couldn’t possibly get worse, could it? That question can’t help but escape fans of Serie A. It’s not just the fact that the Italian league lost arguably its two biggest stars this summer — Kaká, who went from AC Milan to Real Madrid, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who joined Barcelona from Inter Milan — it’s the general paucity of big transfers, particularly from abroad.” (SI)

“As the upcoming Mexico-USA clash hogs the headlines, 12 August will offer football fans yet another classic in the much-anticipated Clasico Centroamericano between Costa Rica and Honduras. Rodrigo Kenton’s high-flying Ticos travel to San Pedro Sula hoping to keep hold of first-place in the hexagonal, as well as lay hands on bragging rights in the traditional meeting between Central America’s top two teams.” (FIFA)

“£3.5 million for Arvalro Arbeloa? That’s all? Seriously? I mean, I know that’s probably what his services are worth but that’s not the issue. When Real Madrid have their checkbook out and are licking the tip of their bottomless ballpoint pen there is no call to stop at £3.5 million. Real have made the market insane and now they want to go back to normal prices? I’m sorry. No. Why be reasonable?” (EPL Talk)

“Bobby Robson’s playing career sees him make his debut for Fulham in 1950 before he moves to West Brom in the spring of 1956…” (BBC), “Ten moments from Sir Bobby’s football life” – (ESPN)

“This month the city of Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan hosted the eighth edition of the World Games, a summer sports festival for events not on the Olympic program. The center piece of the games were not the sports themselves, but the 55,000-seat main stadium named for the event. The World Games Stadium was designed by renowned Japanese architect Toyo Ito. The stadium, which has a legacy capacity of 40,000 and opened in May, is notable for the fact that it’s snaking roof — meant to invoke images of a dragon — is completely covered in solar panels that generate enough energy to not only power the stadium, but allow the stadium to sell excess power back to Kaohsiung.” (Pitch Invasion)

“It has been a curious summer for the ‘club across the water’. Tranmere Rovers, just over the River Mersey from Liverpool and Everton, ended last season having just missed out on a play-off place in League One after dropping two points at home to Scunthorpe United on the final day season. They sacked manager Ronnie Moore at the start of June and replaced him with John Barnes, and one might have expected them to have had a quiet summer working on how they could improve on their league position this time around.” (twohundredpercent)

 
“At the risk of sounding naïve—actually, check that. Embracing naïveté with two magnificently clenched thighs, riding naïveté down through the upper atmosphere like the bomb in Dr. Strangelove, I can’t understand why I’m supposed to accept that “the point” of the Gold Cup was to audition players for South Africa. Why wasn’t the point of the Gold Cup to, you know, win the Gold Cup?” (The Run of Play)

“The US national team beat European champions Spain in the Confederations Cup and give Brazil a scare in the final. In the NFL heartland of Baltimore, 71,000 turn out to watch Chelsea v AC Milan. In Pasadena, Chelsea v Inter Milan pulls in 81,000. David Beckham gets booed and jeered on his return for L.A Galaxy and the American sporting public laps it up – top sports talk shows, which usually ignore soccer other than to mock the game occasionally, lead their bulletins on the issue.” (Reuters)

“If this summer’s transfer window is any indication, we can look forward to one of the most exciting European seasons in decades. With the three most expensive transfers in the history of the game recently made for amounts previously unimaginable, the stakes are higher than ever.” (SI)

“Paulino Alcántara Riestrá (October 7, 1896, Iloilo City, Philippines — February 13, 1964, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain) was a Filipino football player and manager who spent most of his playing career at FC Barcelona and was the first Filipino and Asian player to play for a European club.” Wikipedia, YouTube, What’s New Futball

“It was surely no coincidence that Share Liverpool FC chose their relaunch on the day that the club itself confirmed the details of a refinancing deal that was the financial equivalent of using a used sausage roll packet as a form of birth control. The vultures have been circling at Anfield for some time now, but while Gillett and Hicks have managed to defer the very worst that could happen for them, but serious questions remain over their medium to long term future.” (Twohundredpercent)

“This hot on the heals of City’s scoop of Kolo Toure from new rivals Arsenal. Now, as respected as Martin may be in the game, that might be taking things a tad far. However, it’s plain as day that without Europe to worry about (pesky bastard that it is), Citeh have a real chance to break up the Big Four hegemony this season. Or are they just another Tottenham – good on paper, mediocre at best everywhere else?” (The Offside)

“The ‘Anfield Rap’ was a song released by members of Liverpool F.C. before the 1988 FA Cup final against Wimbledon FC. The song reached #3 in the UK singles chart.” Wikipedia, YouTube, The Anfield Rap (Craig Johnston), Discogs

“When a new manager joins a club it can sometimes take time for them to bed in and make the impact that they had envisioned when they first joined. However, in France, there is a clinically efficient process occurring at Marseille. Out with the old, in with the new. With Eric Gerets gone, new boss Didier Deschamps has wasted little time in making it quite clear which players he sees as having a future at the club. And those who don’t have been told in no uncertain terms that they should look for employment elsewhere for the 2009-10 season.” (ESPN)

“The summer is far from over and we haven’t even got close to seeing the end to the transfers for the Premiership, but who are the early favourites for the league title next season?” (EPS Talk)

“I know it’s only July… I know the first round proper is months away… But I’ve decided to give some extra love to the FA Cup this season. Lately the top clubs have been treating the world’s oldest football competition like the red-headed step-child of trophy runs. Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, and United refuse to devote themselves as fully to a domestic cup with League and continental priorities weighing heavily on their minds and competitive well-being.” (EPL Talk)

“Derby County manager Nigel Clough paused and momentarily collected his thoughts before commenting on the arrival of former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson as director of football at nearby Notts County. ‘I hope Ian McParland is happy with it because after all he is the manager,’ Clough eventually told me as we talked football in the comfortable surrounds of his office at his club’s Moor Farm training facility.” (BBC)

“My recent trip to England revealed a few interesting tidbits of info, c/o of some seasoned overseas football writers with whom I had a nice stout-soaked chat. Perhaps the most interesting was the revelation that it is near impossible to watch a full, live, 90 minute MLS match in the UK.” (A More Splendid Life)

“This summer has been one of continued transfer speculation surrounding the top players at the club. One did find the sums of money on offer elsewhere too much to resist but so far, that is it. Nothing unusual in that, after all since the turn of this century we have witnessed an endless stream of media gossip about who is going where and when, for how much and 99% of it has turned out to be baseless. Rarely has the club commented. The Reyes debacle probably offers as good a reason why as any other.” (A Cultured Left Foot)

“When it comes to sports, one of the stubbornest examples of American exceptionalism is the use of the word ‘soccer.’ Some six billion people around the world have chosen to call it ‘football.’ We don’t care. But in recent months, this sport—the one with the ball and the net—has taken a few steps forward. As Major League Soccer, the leading American professional league, holds its All-Star game Wednesday at Rio Tinto Stadium in Utah, there is growing evidence that America’s parochial attitude toward this game is quickly fading.” (WSJ)

“There is no question as to which team has been the star of the 2010 World Cup qualifying tournament in South America. It’s not Brazil or Diego Maradona’s Argentina but Chile, whose national side is undergoing a revolution. The team are second in the table with four matches to go. They have won more games than anybody else (eight) and boast the second best attack and goal difference behind Brazil.” (WSC)

Looking back, looking forward (That’s On Point)
“Guess I missed the memo. Somewhere along the line, the summer was supposed to be the slow part of the year in terms of soccer, well, aside from MLS. Then something happened making this year absolutely crazy. The soccer slate in America was more jam-packed than James Gandolfini trying to squeeze his way into wardrobe in the final seasons of ‘The Sopranos.'”

Frugal Rangers having to face the hard facts (TimesOnline)
“It must be years since Rangers last found themselves in their current position, having not made a single summer signing with the new football season imminent. In times gone by three, four or five new recruits would have been wheeled into Ibrox by now, and some of those such as Brian Laudrup or Paul Gascoigne caused huge excitement across the Scottish game.”

Top 5 Premier League transfers so far (twofootedtackle)
“The pre-season programme is well underway and the 2009/10 Premier League campaign is fast approaching. In the era of the transfer window, of course, the summer becomes a whirlwind of transfer speculation: the ins, outs, maybes and sagas.”

Cork’s team sinking again (WSC)
“The voluntary stewards have been told to turn up as usual for Cork City’s next home game against Bray Wanderers, but they may yet have this, and every other Friday, off. At the High Court in Dublin yesterday, Judge Mary Laffoy ordered the winding-up of Cork City FC Investments Ltd, should an outstanding estimated debt of €360,000 (£310,900) not be paid to the Revenue by Friday. It is the latest in a long line of disappointments for supporters of the club; for older football fans in Ireland’s second-biggest city, it is the latest in a long line of clubs folding.”

Normal Rotation Could Put World Cup in United States in 2018 (Washington Post)
“The United States has a good chance of hosting the 2018 World Cup if soccer’s governing body adheres to its principle of rotating the massive sporting event continent to continent, FIFA President Sepp Blatter said Monday.”

Pro Vercelli: A Vine That Keeps Climbing (The Run of Play)
“My assistant manager quit. I have no idea why. He just stood there in the doorway, gingerly holding his resignation letter, muttering something about becoming the coach of Sorrento.”

“Thomas Kahlenberg (born March 20, 1983 in Hvidovre) is a Danish professional football player, who plays as a midfielder for German club VfL Wolfsburg. He has played more than 20 matches and scored two goals for the Denmark national football team, and was the youngest member of the Denmark squad for the 2004 European Championship.’ Wikipedia, YouTube, ESPN

Fragment from the Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace)
“Ah, summer soccer in America. When we can finally kick back, crack an ice cold Miller Lite, and take in some of that industrious Major League Soccer all of these scallywags have been talking about … oh you’ve got Stella? Wait, Barca’s playing? Maybe next year….” (Foot Smoke)

Football For Breakfast (EPL Talk)
“On five hours of sleep, I pull myself from my bedroom, cross the hall to the living room and land on the couch. It’s a journey of maybe 20 feet, but it feels like Stage 20 of the Tour de France. I am a zombie on NyQuil dragging bags of concrete behind me. Liverpool FC face Singapore in a friendly 7am: Eastern. Standard. Time. No sane person would get up after so little sleep merely to catch a match where nothing was at stake. But I am not a sane person. I am a football supporter.”

7 Things We Learned About The World Football Challenge (EPL Talk)
“Chelsea’s squad returns to London today after an incredibly successful 10-day tour of the United States. While they were in the States, the club won the World Football Challenge, played in front of an average attendance of 68,687, demonstrated a renewed sense of enthusiasm and playing ability under new manager Carlo Ancelotti, and managed to wade off Manchester City’s advances toward captain John Terry.”

Szetela facing long road back for U.S.; Alvarez ready to switch sides (SI)
“From Olympic-team starter to Serie B bench-warmer in less than 12 months, Danny Szetela may be one of the few American players whose move to Europe actually set him back in the national-team pool. When Major League Soccer sold the former Columbus Crew starlet’s contract to Racing Santander of Spain’s La Liga in August 2007, Szetela was an up-and-coming player in the U.S. midfield rotation and already was a veteran of U.S. youth teams with loads of international experience.”

Spanning the South American age spectrum (BBC – Tim Vicker)
“It’s not often that Bolivian football makes headlines all over the world, but that’s what happened last week after a player made his first division debut a few days before his 13th birthday. Mauricio Baldivieso came off the bench for the last few minutes of Aurora’s match against La Paz. He had made a shrewd choice of father – Julio Cesar Baldivieso is not only one of the recent greats of the Bolivian game, he was also Aurora’s coach. But not any more.”

Roll on the footy! (BBC)
“I think I’ve had my fill of summer sport now, ta. By and large I enjoy a bit of football respite. But the pre-season friendlies have never done owt for my footy cravings. Vegetarian sausages, alcohol-free lager, silicone implants, football friendlies… all one and the same to me. I just want it to get under way and get a bit of order back into my life!”

Hicks & Gillett complete deal on Liverpool loans (ESPN)
“Liverpool’s American owners have concluded a deal to re-finance the bank loan they took out to buy the club in 2007. Co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett are not expected to issue a statement, but the deal is believed to be for another year and will involve them paying back £60m of the original debt.”

Top soccer official to invite Obama to World Cup (AP)
“FIFA president Sepp Blatter has specific ideas on upgrading the popularity of soccer in the United States. He hopes he has an eager listener in President Barack Obama. Blatter plans to extend a personal invitation to Obama to attend the 2010 World Cup in South Africa when the two meet at the White House on Monday.”

“If it wasn’t for Florentino Perez and his early transfer window ‘shock and awe’ superstar shopping spree, a shopping spree which has seen the triple trophy winning exploits of Joan Laporta’s men at the Camp Nou quickly forgotten by anyone not from Catalunya, then what must be regarded as the summer’s most ludicrous deal to date would surely never have come to fruition.” (Soccer Lens)

Local Boy Returns Home With Soccer Royalty (The Washington Post)
“Oguchi Onyewu began playing soccer with his boyhood buddies at St. Andrew Apostle Catholic School in Silver Spring. Weekends were consumed by MSI, the iconic youth program of Montgomery County, and the group remained largely unbroken through eighth grade.”

Cult of celebrity is destined to produce fallen idols (Guardian)
“The drinking-football season has kicked off in style again, with Steven Gerrard and David Beckham playing blinders in a couple of friendlies, and the rest of us left wondering if we do actually inhabit the same planet.”

When the Goal is Peace (allAfrica)
“Delivering his first state of the nation address in June 2009, South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma described sport as ‘a unifying force’ that people must use to live together. A social soccer club in Cape Town’s informal settlement of Masiphumelele is taking his challenge seriously: Kanana Football Club has recruited foreigners as a gesture of goodwill and harmony.”

Kalou, Boots And Money Men Getting Antsy? (A Cullture Left Foot)
“Sunday morning brings the usual suspects as transfer targets and a new boy to boot. Wellington – a headline writers dream if ever there was one – is the latest Wunderkid to be linked with a move to The Emirates, seemingly ready to pick Arsenal ahead of Manchester United, Real Madrid and Chelsea. Until Manchester City come in and offer him £250k per week, that is.”