With a day or two to catch our breath before U.S. v. Spain on Wednesday -- aka Bob of La Mancha (the impossible dream) -- let's discuss a couple other things floating around the world these days with a nice quickee post.
1. Carlos Tevez leaves Manchester United. Carlito was a weird case study at Old Trafford. He didn't start, but it seemed every one of his 18 goals were important or came at critical times.
That said, was it worth Sir Alex breaking the bank for Hulk Hair? Not sure. The Red Devils do have some young forwards in the pipeline -- Macheda and Welback -- and can now move Wayne Rooney to a more traditional forward role.
In short, the player of Tevez can easily be replaced, but the intangibles are another story.
Where Tevez ends up? If I'm Rafa Benitez I do everything in my power to add Tevez to Liverpool, but tell him up front he might not be a week-in, week-out starter. Tevez might finally offer some cover for those two or three times Fernando Torres picked up those niggling injuries during the season.
Manchester City already signed Roque Santa Cruz, so that wouldn't seem like a destination for Tevez. There's always Spain or Italy, though.
2. Every star player is leaving Serie A. Yeah, speaking of Italy it seems like big name players are running away from the 'boot' faster than audiences from Will Ferrell's 'Land of the Lost' movie.
Zlatan Ibrahimović, Andrea Pirlo, Maicon, etc. seem to be following the Kaka to greener pastures.
My only question here, who is running the books for these clubs? Or is the Italian structure so messed up its why Serie A broke away from the Italian FA?
Suffice to say, Jose Mourinho better figure out a way to get Inter to at least the Champions League semifinals this upcoming season, even with a player exodus.
3. Television merry-go-round. Monday ESPN acquired some rights to air La Liga matches in America. Mostly it'll be on ESPN360 and ESPN Deportes.
To me, this is a good thing since GolTV (which will still air matches) looks like it's being produced out of a shed in the Florida Everglades. Plus, I'm not a member of the Cult of Roy Hudson, who makes me want to turn the game off more than anything else. Then again, if it's Tommy Smythe involved on ESPN, well, that's a push ... and a push for the mute button too.
Also, apparently even if Setanta lost its rights to air the Premier League in the UK, it's contract in America is still valid, at least for now. (ESPN's UK channels added about 46 games, Monday.)
Expect ESPN to make a run at the rights starting with the 2010-2011 season, hopefully sharing them with FSC. So long as ESPN doesn't louse it up and add sideline reporters, I won't mind.
Obviously, stay tuned.
(More stuff on Spain/US Tuesday.)
1. Carlos Tevez leaves Manchester United. Carlito was a weird case study at Old Trafford. He didn't start, but it seemed every one of his 18 goals were important or came at critical times.
That said, was it worth Sir Alex breaking the bank for Hulk Hair? Not sure. The Red Devils do have some young forwards in the pipeline -- Macheda and Welback -- and can now move Wayne Rooney to a more traditional forward role.
In short, the player of Tevez can easily be replaced, but the intangibles are another story.
Where Tevez ends up? If I'm Rafa Benitez I do everything in my power to add Tevez to Liverpool, but tell him up front he might not be a week-in, week-out starter. Tevez might finally offer some cover for those two or three times Fernando Torres picked up those niggling injuries during the season.
Manchester City already signed Roque Santa Cruz, so that wouldn't seem like a destination for Tevez. There's always Spain or Italy, though.
2. Every star player is leaving Serie A. Yeah, speaking of Italy it seems like big name players are running away from the 'boot' faster than audiences from Will Ferrell's 'Land of the Lost' movie.
Zlatan Ibrahimović, Andrea Pirlo, Maicon, etc. seem to be following the Kaka to greener pastures.
My only question here, who is running the books for these clubs? Or is the Italian structure so messed up its why Serie A broke away from the Italian FA?
Suffice to say, Jose Mourinho better figure out a way to get Inter to at least the Champions League semifinals this upcoming season, even with a player exodus.
3. Television merry-go-round. Monday ESPN acquired some rights to air La Liga matches in America. Mostly it'll be on ESPN360 and ESPN Deportes.
To me, this is a good thing since GolTV (which will still air matches) looks like it's being produced out of a shed in the Florida Everglades. Plus, I'm not a member of the Cult of Roy Hudson, who makes me want to turn the game off more than anything else. Then again, if it's Tommy Smythe involved on ESPN, well, that's a push ... and a push for the mute button too.
Also, apparently even if Setanta lost its rights to air the Premier League in the UK, it's contract in America is still valid, at least for now. (ESPN's UK channels added about 46 games, Monday.)
Expect ESPN to make a run at the rights starting with the 2010-2011 season, hopefully sharing them with FSC. So long as ESPN doesn't louse it up and add sideline reporters, I won't mind.
Obviously, stay tuned.
(More stuff on Spain/US Tuesday.)
Labels: Liverpool, manchester United, raf, Soccer
Tevez leaving was probably a sound financial move for United. I know that all the Ingerland fans cannot stand Berbatov because he doesn't run around enough, but with the young Fs you mentioned as well as Rooney and The Continental - United will be fine at striker/forward. And if energy is needed they always play Korean Kuyt instead of Argie Kuyt.
With Rooney, CRon and Tevez - United often attacked with shifting players pushing forward from midfield and others dropping back to vary the attack. I would assume they play it more 'traditional' next season now that CRon and Hulk Hair are gone.
If espn is running 20 La Liga games next year - how many will *not* have either Madrid or Barca?
Three dermabrasion clinics in Manchester have already gone bust since the Tevez news broke.
Surprised you aren't a fan of Ray Hudson. I find him hilarious and he isn't overbearing. He knows his place to talk and when to let his play-by-play partner take the reigns. GolTV does lack any half-time show, but that doesn't bother me in the slightest. It's also the only place where I can get the Bundesliga so of course I love it.
Anyways, seems like good news for Americas with Premier league now on FSC and ESPN. Only thing better would be the timely removal of Tommy Smyth and his stupid "onion bag" and giving it a "lash."
Does anyone have a link to that website that tells you which channels show what leagues in the US?
I just bought a house and am in the process of switching everything over there. I had planned on switching from Time Warner to Direct TV prior to Setanta shitting the bed. I'd prefer to keep TW if at all possible but my area does not have GolTV. The key thing is that I want to watch as many Premier League, FA/Carling Cup, and Champions League games as possible, and I'd like to know if I'm missing out on pay channels that won't be available to regular cable.