Gotta love the Associated Press. Post World Cup they have been pumping out every single tidbit imaginable going on with Club teams and National teams of the like. Being as how we work at a newspaper, the AP stuff is free reign for us to view at our discretion. So now I share with you football news that has nothing to do with Italy’s win or Zidane’s head butt.
Ronaldo’s being a bit of a baby, claiming he feels the criticism of Brazil’s play at the World Cup is too harsh. "I’ve seen and heard the criticism, and it all seems very exaggerated," Ronaldo said Tuesday, yet it’s hard for me to jump on that bandwagon considering the teams they beat were Croatia, Japan, Australia and Ghana.
In the land of the MLS, recent World Cup coverage has overshadowed a 12 game winning streak by D.C. United.
Wigan Athletic, who was promoted to the EPL last season from relegation, just signed former Liverpool keeper Chris Kirkland on a 6-month loan. Last year was the first season Wigan played in the EPL, and they will get at least 1 more as they fought off relegation in ’06.
UEFA president Lennart Johansson wants one more four-year term as head of European soccer’s governing body. He’s 76 and wants this to be his last one. I have no problem with that, you?
Dutchman Leo Beenhakker becomes the first foreigner to coach Poland. The 63-year-old Dutchman, who took Trinidad and Tobago to its first World Cup this year, replaces Pawel Janas as of Wednesday, Poland’s soccer federation said. Poland’s already probably better through osmosis.
Ivorian Saloman Kalou got his work permit so he could go to England and practice with Chelsea. The 20-year-old made the move from the Dutch club Feyenoord for an undisclosed sum, and no matter how good he is he’ll probably sit the bench until he gets transferred to another squad. He is on Chelsea after all, where some of the best talent in the world rots on the bench.
Juergen Kiessling, the man who coordinated the “Fan Mile” in Berlin, a place where thousands watched matches on big screen TVs, shot himself in the head in an apparent suicide attempt after Sunday’s final. Amazingly the guy survived, and being as Germany didn’t even lose in the final, he must have had to go home to a French wife.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, or as Jeff would call him soccer’s Terrell Owens, signed with Charlton after being released by Middlesbrough. Let’s see if he’ll actually finish the season, anywhere.
Finally, former German midfielder Dietmar Hamann signed with the Bolton Wanderers then changed his mind a day later. Bolton is going to let him go, and the former Liverpoolian is being linked with Man City, where he can chill with Claudio Reyna, and they can trade old war stories about things people never cared about.