Appiah quits Fenerbahce !…

According to reports from Ghana, Stephen Appiah claims he has quit Fenerbahce after a fall-out with the club’s management.

‘I am a free agent,’ he told Accra radio station Happy FM at the weekend. ‘A few issues happened between me and the club so I no longer play for them.’

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Brazil on Prozac 3 - 0 China

Come back later for a full review. With such a boring match, I need to sleep now. The two goals by Thiago Neves are hidding his poor performance as a playmaker. And Diego, who just had a decent performance, might have been the best on the pitch. One good thing: Marcelo is the future on the left side.

Update:

Ok. A draw was going to qualify Brazil in first. That meant, the players did not need to run as much, and Dunga could use the match for a few experiences and save players with yellow cards. But, why being so lazy?

Dunga brought to the pitch Ramirez replacing Hernanes. Thiago Silva replacing Alex Silva (he had a yellow card), Ilsinho replacing Rafinha and Thiago Neves replaced Anderson. Giving how little our midfield created in the first two matches, the one replacement to watch was Thiago Neves. Pato and Ronaldinho were the forwards

In the first minutes, it became obvious that the mix of lack of commitment + lack of playtime was going to make this match difficult to watch. Diego and Thiago Neves were not the playmakers expected, and Ronaldinho left the attack to get the ball in the midfield. Too bad the number 10 established this match as the one he wasn’t going to run at all. This resulted in some booing by the fans still in the first-half. Indeed, very annoying even for those who are happy with whatever Brazilians deliver. With this, the midfield relied on long passes that did not work once. The only three times Brazilians put the arrogance to the side and exchanged a few passes, the opportunities appear. The first one ended on Diego’s feet, and he had no trouble dribbling the goalie and pushing the ball against the net. Pato and Ronaldinho, on the other hand, failed in similar situations for being over confident.

The fact that Diego is aware he never plays well for the national team at least made him to put effort. Pato was replaced by Rafael Sobis for lack of effort. Ronaldinho remained on the pitch in a clear effort to get him in shape. But somebody forgot to tell him, he had to run. In the second-half, little changed. Thiago Neves was a disappointment as a playmaker, even thought his final records suggest the opposite. In fact, many time sat Fluminense the same happens. He fails as a playmaker, but score from free-kicks and long ranges. And this is exactly what happened. Two very beautiful goals. At the end, Jô and Rafinha came in, but very little changed. Again, the player who impressed me the most was Marcelo, despite the general laziness of the team. I think we have a new number 6 for the adult team as well.

On the next stage, we will take on Cameroon. Despite the feeling for revenge for what happened in the 2000 Olympics, I’m a bit worried, given how we love to lose against African nations in this competition. Some things like repeating themselves (Brazil losing against France, Argentina being humiliated by Brazil, and so on…). I hope this time, this curse changes. In order for that to happen, a little less laziness would be great.

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Curtains For Ruud In Oranje

Call me cynical, but international footballers seem to have taken over for boxers and Green Bay Packers quarterbacks when it comes to calling time on their careers. The sound bites come off as genuine as a pitch on that gorgeous red coupe at the corner of the lot from Honest Hank, the used car salesman. And more often than not, their “retirement” lasts about as long as that red coupe which, coincidentally, has had a couple minor fender benders. Too many players to name, but let’s take a look at the 2006 World Cup France squad and call it a day.

So with that said….Ruud van Nistelrooy has announced his retirement from the Dutch NT. Again.

In fairness to Ruud his last retirement was more of a “you can’t quit me I quit you!” hissy fit/throwdown with Marco van Basten who had, along with Sir Alex, decided Ruud’s best days were somewhere back there. Well they were wrong. So after Ruud and Marco made nice and were back on civil terms, he reentered the international frame, doing quite well for himself in the process and helping the Oranje become the hottest team at Euro 2008 until they weren’t.

Now, though, it’s more of a physical decision because the man is just getting a bit too old (32) to juggle all that Real Madrid requires (quite a bit) as well as the Dutch WC qualifying campaign (ditto). Fair enough. We’ve seen the same happen with other prominent players in the past and we’ll see the same with plenty in the future.

“After I looked at the programmes of Real Madrid and Oranje, I came to the conclusion it is too heavy a burden because of the necessary physical effort,” he said. “I have no other choice.”

So that’s that….for now.

But say he decides in a year or two to go back to the rolling hills of Holland in order to see out his career - a common move for Dutch superduperstars - and finds that the requirements of the Eredivisie aren’t quite as demanding as those in Madrid. Much less demanding, in fact, and you can really, really relax when you meet up with those Ajax away fixtures, making everything that much easier. And then the World Cup comes rolling around and he picks up an itch…..that….he….just…..can’t….scratch.

We’ll see you in South Africa 2010, Ruud. You and Brett Favre.

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Youla moves to Eskisehirspor on loan

Souleymane Youla has moved from French side Lille to Turkish club Eskisehirspor on a season’s loan.

His previous clubs include Metz in France, Turkish sides Gençlerbirligi and Besiktas, and Belgian clubs Lokeren and Anderlecht.

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Spain may bid for 2018 World Cup

MADRID (AFP) - Spain may compete with England to stage the 2018 World Cup, Spanish media said Thursday, a day after a meeting of the country’s football federation.

The head of the federation, Angel Maria Villar, suggested Spain’s candidature during the meeting, and was backed by Secretary of State for Sport Jaime Lissavetzky as well as the president of Barcelona football club, Joan Laporta.

The next World Cups are to take place in South Africa in 2010 and in Brazil in 2014.

Only England has so far announced its candidature for 2018. But Belgium and The Netherlands have shown interest in a joint bid, and Russia, Australia and the United States have also been mentioned.

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