Lord Triesman has thrown around accusations concerning Spain possibly bribing Russian officials in return for Spain's support for a 2022 World Cup bid. Right now I have no idea what this all means for the '18 and '22 bids. There has been speculation that that the 2018 bid was likely to go to England, but now after Triesman has decided to step down as chairman of the Football Association and England's World Cup bid team, everything is up in the air.
Germany will be without Michael Ballack for the World Cup
Not really a big loss for Ze Germans. Not only is the 33-year old a red card waiting to happen, his best playing days are far behind him. Sure, he brought valuable experience but the Germans have plenty of other options in the mid-field. This only confirms that Bastian Schweinsteiger will simply be the man for Germany this summer.
Chelsea making a push for El Niño??
After failing to secure a Champions League bid, Liverpool is in a world of hurt as far as financial problems are concerned. So obviously we will be hearing plenty of transfer rumors concerning goal-machine, Fernando Torres. I have seen him linked to Manchester City, and Chelsea. While an attack of Drogba and Torres would just be unfair to the rest of European clubs, can both egos work together? Personally I don't see it happening. The Liverpool chairman has been adamant about keeping Torres and Gerrard as they are the nucleus of the team. Liverpool managed to hover around the 4th spot all year only dropping considerably at the end of the season. If Torres can stay healthy, and if Liverpool can find a new owner it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect Liverpool to begin a spending frenzy akin to Man City or Chelsea following next season. Besides, it looks like Chelsea is also making a strong push to bring in Sergio Aguero at a much lesser cost.
Lampard to finally follow Mourinho? And if so will it be with Internazionale or Real Madrid?
For the last 2 years Frank Lampard has been rumored to join former Chelsea manager José Mourinho at Inter Milan. Carlo Ancelotti insists that Frank Lampard will rema
in in Chelsea going as far as to call the rumors of his leaving to follow Mourinho (wherever he may be next year) a "joke". Both Lampard and Mourinho are also rumored to be coveted by Real Madrid as a package deal of sorts. Along with everybody else it seems. Thats just what Real Madrid does.Lets take a moment to honor some of the major champions from Europe from this past year:
English Premier League - Chelsea
La Liga - Barcelona
Serie A - Inter Milan
Bundesliga - Bayern Munich
French Ligue 1 - Marseille
Scottish Premier League - Rangers
Europea League - Atlético Madrid
FA Cup - Chelsea
Carling Cup - Manchester United
And of course we are days away from the big one this Saturday as Bayern Munich takes on Inter Milan in Madrid, Spain for the Champions League Final.
Speaking of the Champions League Final, Bayern Munich will definitely be without their star winger Franck Ribery, who lost an appeal of a 3-match ban after being issued a red card during the first leg of the semifinals against Lyon.
Now lets talk a little USA soccer:
A week ago Bob Bradley announced his 30-man preliminary roster. Bradley will have until June 1 to decide which 23 men will make the journey to South Africa. The starting lineup is all but set, but there will be a few positional sub battles that should take place in the next few weeks to decide the final spots on the 23-man roster:
Left back sub: Jonathan Bornstein / Heath Pearce
Final center back sub: Chad Marshall / Clarence Goodson
Wing sub: Robbie Rogers / Alejandro Bedoya
Center Mid sub: Jose Francisco Torres / Sacha Klejstan
Foward sub: Eddie Johnson / Robbie Findley / Edson Buddle / Herculez Gomez
I feel like Brian Ching should also be on this list, but I am convinced he has something dirty that he is hanging over Bob Bradley's head that prevents him from ever not being on the National Team.
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