England Walloped by Germany

England's U-21 hopefuls were hammered by Germany in the European U21 Championship final in Malmo, Sweden. Germany scored first when Mesut Ozil went past Martin Cranie and cleverly found Gonzalo Castro, who slotted home.Not long after half time, England's goalkeeper misjudged Ozil's free kick and palmed the ball into his own net.

After England's Lee Cattermole hit the bar, Sandro Wagner collected Ozil's pass and fired through Loach's legs, and Wagner curled the ball in for Germany's fourth.

The outstanding player for the German's on the night was Ozil, acting as the chief tormentor, even though it was Wagner's late double that sank England. The magical Werder Bremen player produced moments of class and was always looking dangerous on the counter-attack but England struggled without the suspended strikers Agbonlahor and Campbell who were very much missed. Because of the missing strikers, Theo Walcott was moved in from the left side by manager Stuart Pearce and had to operate as a lone striker.

England started off strong with Craine heading Adam Johnson's free-kick wide and Theo Walcott had a shot but it went wide of the post. England's lack of firepower was always evident as Germany, despite having less possession, looked the far better attacking team. Germany went ahead when Castro, who scored in a 1-1 draw against England in the group stages, made no mistake after Ozil's fine pass. Ozil was a constant tormentor to England and wasn't far from scoring with a 25 yard free-kick before the break that hit Craine and flew over the bar. But there was no escape for England three minutes after the interval. Ozil tried his luck with a free-kick from a much greater distance that was hit straight at Loach.

The Watford keeper ought to have made a routine save but was badly positioned and inexplicably allowed the ball to roll into the net. It was an awful moment for Loach, who had been given a chance by Pearce, ahead of Peterborough United's Joe Lewis to replace the suspended Joe Hart.

Cattermole struck the top of the bar with a fierce shot as England tried in vain to claw their way back into the game, but their cause wasn't helped when Johnson missed the target from close range after great work on the right by James Milner. Worse was yet to come for England after Ozil again reaped havoc and feeding a perfect pass through to Wagner, whose cool finish effectively sealed Germany's victory. Their win was rubber-stamped six minutes from the end, when Wagner sent a right-foot shot beyond Loach and into the far corner.

It only took a year

So he's finally going. Cristiano Ronaldo IS leaving Man UTD and heading for Real Madrid. After a year of speculation, it is Cristiano's wishes to leave the club that made him famous and set a new world transfer record of £80M. Sir Alex will be delighted about the money part of this deal, and in my opinion it's about time that the Portuguese primadona packed his bags. I'm not denying that he's a talented player, but he's still a kid, a kid that needs to grow up if he ever wanted to stay with United.

Ronaldo has been a target for the Spanish giants for more than a year now, in which they started this transfer process off by unsettling Ronaldo in the media this time last year, but at the time Sir Alex insisted that the player wasn't for sale and lodged a complaint to FIFA about Real Madrid.

Ronaldo was the top scorer last season with 26 goals bringing his tally for his time at Man UTD to 118 goals in 292 appearances. Not bad for Ronaldo, who was voted
best player in the world for 2008 and European Player of the Year and FifPro World Footballer of the Year.

If this deal finalizes, which is expected to by the end of June, Sir Alex will need to do some thinking as far as replacing Ronaldo, but as always, Sir Alex always replaces the best. I was disappointed when Real Madrid bought Kaka from AC Milan for then a record £56M because Kaka seemed to belong at Milan, plus he lied to the fans.

In my eyes, Ronaldo will join the list of the other greedy fuckers who are willing to leave something great, thinking that they ARE that team for some money.......Beckham, Kaka.
I'm sorry Mr. Ronaldo, but you didn't make UTD, Man UTD made you.

Gillett to sell assetts for Liverpool funding

It was announced today that Liverpool Co-Owner George Gillett is to sell one of his assets, a stake in NHL's Montreal Canadiens for a whopping $550m (£332.9m). Liverpool owners Hicks and Gillett have until July 24 to repay £350m they owe to RBS and Wachovia. Kop Holding's, the parent company of Liverpool lost £42.6m in the year to August 2008 but interest payments on loans of £36.5m accounted for Kop's losses.

Mr. Gillett is so desperate to save Liverpool that earlier in the year he put up for sale the Bell Arena, along with the Gillett Entertainment Group, and Montreal Canadiens in which Gillett's 80% satke of the NHL team is being bought by the brewing giants The Molson Family who already have the remaining 20% share.
Mr. Hicks has been busy too, trying to sell his assetts which include Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers and the Dallas Stars from the NHL.

The Dynamic Duo (hardly) bought Liverpool back in February 2007, since then they have argued and fought between themselves like 7 year old school kids on the play yard which has resulted in alienating The Kop faithful and backing out of a much needed new stadium. And because of this schoolboy bickering, future sales of Liverpool have dwindled away.

The bottom line is Liverpool were the greatest English team in the late 70's and through the 80's and it saddens me to watch such a fantastic club windle away to the usual 3rd's and 4th's in the Premier League table every year. I don't think Liverpool have the right manager because every time i see him on TV he whines. I wish Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness or a former Liverpool great would come along and snap this giant club up and send these people packing.
Liverpool have 18 championship titles (Premier League and old Division 1), which has now been equalled by Sir Alex Ferguson's Man UTD.

Whatever happens in the near future, i hope the Premier League chiefs get their act together and stop these football club tycoon wannabes from buying Premier League clubs with no "real" money in their pocket, realizing that there's more to football than just watching your club on TV, fucking off the fans and then reaping the so called rewards (if any) then moving on and selling the club.

A message to Sir Dave Richards and his cronies: WAKE UP!!!

Johnson agrees to Liverpool move

Portsmouth and England defender Glen Johnson is moving to Liverpool for £17.5M. Chelsea and Man City were also looking to buy the 24 year old from Portsmouth, but decided that Liverpool was the place to go. The former Chelsea player had limited outings during his time there but after a move to Portsmouth in he established himself in Fabio Capello's England setup. It is understood Pompey still owe Liverpool £7m from the deal that saw them buy Peter Crouch last summer.

A Liverpool statement said: "We have reached an agreement with Portsmouth and Glen Johnson for the transfer of the player to Anfield."

Johnson is Liverpool's first signing this summer and due to Liverpool operating under financial restrictions, boss Rafa Benitez will be ready to sell Andrea Dossena to help fund the transfer.
Portsmouth paid £4M for 24-year-old defender Johnson who has emerged as Benitez main target after having top notch performances throughout the year at Fratton Park last season. Spaniard Alvaro Arbeola could also be going out of Liverpool to raise money for the Johnson deal, with Real Madrid being in the forefront of an £8M bid.

Johnson had signed a new four year deal at Pompey at the start of the year, but club officials conceded that they would not stand in his way if bigger clubs came knocking for his signature. The move to Liverpool will assure that Johnson plays Champions League football next season.

Barca and Man UTD win big

So it's congratulations to Barcelona who nabbed the Spanish title away from Real Madrid in style. With players like Messi, Eto'o, Xavi, Iniesta and Captain Marvel Puyol, it's hard to believe when you read the team sheet that this side will lose to anyone. I think there would be only a handful of European teams that could win Barcelona this season, and maybe that will be Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League final tonight.

Congratulations also to Manchester United with their Premier League title, matching Liverpool's record of 18 Premier League/Division 1 titles. Manchester United doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon, so expect Sir Alex to be getting the cabinet ready for more trophies next season.

Whoever wins in the Champions League final, i hope both teams do not sit back and just look for the single goal and then kill the game. I know it's football and this is a major trophy to win, but for a neutral like meI would like to see a good game without the usual playacting that comes with football today.

Good luck to both teams.

Premier League D-Day

Today is the Premier League D-Day for Hull City, Newcastle United and Middlesborough. West Brom have already been relegated to the Championship for next season. While Manchester United can sit back and celebrate on another fine season, these 3 teams are anxiously biting their nails and eagerly wanting to get on the field and fight for their Premier League existence.

Alan Shearer's luck at Newcastle has gone in the way of his team....way down. Gareth Southgate has been constantly been pulling his hair out with his team over last 3/4 months, and Phil Brown must be wondering what went wrong with his Hull side, 4 months ago they were flying high and now they could be relegated. Hull haven't won since March 4 away to Fulham. Newcastle's last win was at Middlesborough on May 11, and then way back on Feb 7 away to West Brom.
Whatever happens today at the bottom of the Premier League, as usual the big 4 won't be losing any sleep on Monday morning.