Happy Thursday, Spursland! I am just going to toss this out there: Am I the only one weirded out by the number of Chelsea players we are being linked with this summer? And like none of them suck, this has to be a trick. I feel like Reek when he gets offered that bath (GoT).
And now the "news"
Nicola Cortes Says Southampton Must Do Utmost To Keep Poch- Guardian
By utmost I bet he means not selling Shaw or Lallana or any of the other players that the board is already salivating at offloading so they can get a new espresso machine. I guess another step would be to make Southampton be as cool as London; I specifically looked up pictures of Southampton to confirm this and it sucks. Unless you are an adjunct professor in Medieval history, this it's mildly interesting.
Sandro's Agent Says He Could Leave- Sky Sports
I doubt any Italian club will pay what Levy wants for a player hurt as often as Sandro. I mean, when he is actually on the pitch he smashes people in a way that is unbelievable for someone whose body seems to be held together with paper mache. Then again the Italian banking industry barely exists other than to launder mob money so maybe nobody there would notice a team taking out the loans.
Italy Prepping For Brazilian Weather With Sauna Training- SB Nation Soccer
The humidity equivalent of high altitude training gang, genius if this works.
How Soccer Can End Violence In Brazil- Barca Blaugranes
Or a functioning economy that facilitates growth from the bottom up and doesn't keep all profits at the top of the system along with basic social services and housing. Or we could go with the soccer idea, that too is a viable option.
Kosovo Score First International Goal- SB Nation Soccer
I really think this should be considered the crowning achievement of the Clinton presidency's foreign policy.
He Only Had To Tap It In From 3 Yards And Missed- SB Nation Soccer
Look everyone makes mistakes sometimes, and it isn't nice to belittle someone for making them, even when it is on a large stage. Shame on you, Ryan Rosenblatt. I didn't think anyone on staff here could do something so mean spirited.
Hey guys, many of you who have been around a while might recognize the name Brendan Darr. He is a swell guy and a long time CFC reader, freelancer for the Wasngtion Post, college football correspondent for 106.7 The Fan in DC, he also dabbels in work for the Mid Atlantic Sports Network and produces the Grant and Danny show on 106.7 The Fan. It's the best mid-day show in the market ever, with the exception of the one Brendan interned for a few years ago. Fun fact, at one point that show had him pick out all the M & M's in a giant bowl that weren't yellow and when he was done, dumped the bowl on the ground in front of him. He didn't retaliate in anyway and just sat there and took it. What a man's man right?
Well, Brendan got an assignment from the Big time Paper in town, a national paper really. My journalism professor in school refereed to it as a paper of record on the level of the New York Times and Wall Street journal, so I'm sure he wanted to do killer job writing up the five players most likely to light up the scoreboard at the World Cup, and a bang up job he did. I mean who wouldn't like Miroslav Klose above Suarez, Ronaldo and Messi? Oh excuse me "Suarez/Forlan" because Suarez is totally going to be really leaning on Diego "I'm 34 and only scored 6 goals in the J League this season" Forlan for offensive help. Keep up the great work, Brendan!
Aside from the many places I've already names you can find the fine content of Mr. Darr at a number of other fine outlets. He also contributes to SB Nation's University of Maryland blog Testudo Times, and he is the host of the Upper 90 Soccer Show. Brendan is a personal friend of mine and he is awesome so whatever you do respect him and don't tweet Brendan to let him know what you thought of this article. Don't do that, it's not cool.