Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012

There is a fair chance that Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczesny will play a massive part for co-hosts Poland at the upcoming Euro 2012 tournament.

Szczesny did not start Poland’s 1-0 friendly win over Latvia on Tuesday evening with Arsenal team mate Lukasz Fabianski preferred instead – presumably to give the latter playing time.

Video has emerged from the Poland training camp in Lienz yesterday of the Arsenal number one mucking about in training and Szczesny scores a brilliant rabona goal – albeit with no one in goal.

So good is the goal, that Szczesny checks to see if it was caught on camera and thankfully for us and all Gooners across the globe it can be seen on the video below.

Related video: Wojciech Szczesny juggling in Poland training.

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012

“I am very happy to be a Newcastle player. I have seen a bit of the city already and it is a change from France but one I am really looking forward to. When a club like Newcastle wants you to play for them it can only be a good thing. I have taken the opportunity to play in the Premier League and cannot wait to get going.” - Romain Amalfitano.

On the face of it, Newcastle appear to have secured another coup from France with their latest shrewd transfer from across the Channel.

Romain Amalfitano arrives on a free transfer from Reims where his contract expires at the end of June and he should be in good spirits having helped his former club to promotion from Ligue 2.

The 22-year-old, whose brother Morgan plays for Marseille, can fill in all across midfield and will give Newcastle boss Alan Pardew more options, especially with a Europa League campaign coming up.

During each of his three seasons in professional football, Amalfitano has chipped in with three goals.

Video evidence of Romain Amalfitano can be seen here.

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012

Having watched Shinji Kagawa impress during the DFB Pokal final earlier this month, Sir Alex Ferguson has been strongly linked with the Borussia Dortmund playmaker.

According to the transfer gossips, Kagawa is keen on a move to the Premier League with Manchester United and Arsenal his current suitors.

The latest news surrounding the transfer from Dortmund has been that they will demand a big transfer fee, even if Kagawa forces a move to Manchester United.

Subsequent rumours doing the rounds suggest Kagawa has met with Manchester United to complete the deal before flying off to Japan for a couple of post season international friendlies.

The first of those was today and Kagawa bagged a classy opener in Japan’s 2-0 win over Azerbaijan before he was substituted in the 61st minute for Arsenal winger Ryo Miyaichi.

His goal came two minutes before the break and suggests Manchester United would be well worth stumping up 20 million euros for his signature.

Shinji Kagawa’s classy goal against Azerbaijan is on this video.

Related link: Shinji Kagawa best skills 2011/2012.

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012

Officially timed at 123km/h (approximately 75mph). Via reddit Soccer.

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012

Love him or loath him (as we suspect many of you do), Ashley Cole produced one of the finest full back performances ever in Chelsea’s Champions League final win over Bayern Munich.

Much like his former team mate Didier Drogba, Ashley Cole is a big game player that seems to relish the opportunity to take on the world’s best wingers.

At the Allianz Arena, Cole was up against Arjen Robben and coming from deep Phillip Lahm. Roberto Di Matteo was so worried about the Bayern right hand side, he brought in Ryan Bertrand for his first Champions League appearance.

Cole produced an epic display. Particularly in the second half where he tracked back brilliantly and also foiled some dangerous attacks with well timed tackles in the box.

To cap it all off, Ashley Cole also dispatched a confident penalty past Manuel Neuer in the shoot-out.

Ashley Cole’s performance v Bayern Munich can be seen here.

After the match, the Chelsea left back continued to be assured (cocky?) in a post-match interview where he was told: “The Germans never lose on penalties…”

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012

The relegation battle at the bottom of the Chile Primera Division Apertura between Antofagasta and Rangers on Sunday featured one of the angriest reactions to a substitution you will ever see.

Unfortunately there does not appear to be evidence of why Giovanni Narvaez was hauled off but his reaction was so bad that he was subsequently sent off.

First off Narvaez takes off his shirt and kicks it into the air on his way off the pitch. Then the midfielder makes obscene gestures to his own bench.

As he is led off the playing surface, Narvaez then goes for a running jump attack on to the billboards around the pitch.

Giovanni Narvaez’s angry exit from Antofagasta’s 1-0 defeat to Rangers is here.

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012

“It’s a disgrace. When you look at what Robben has achieved in his career. He led Bayern to the final at Madrid and is so important to the club. Bayern should be really happy to have a player like him.” - Mark van Bommel.

“Bayern Munich should be ashamed. We expected no such thing. It’s embarrassing.” – Rafael van der Vaart.

It may well have been the worst timed friendly ever and it is a surprise 33,000 people turned up but it could all have been so different had Arjen Robben stuck that penalty away against Chelsea in extra time of the Champions League final.

As it was, the Dutch flyer was forced to make an appearance for Holland late on in their 3-2 friendly defeat to Bayern Munich on Tuesday evening.

Robben came on late in the game and was booed when he did touch the ball as is evidenced by the video below.

There were some Bayern fans looking to cheer up the grumpy winger but this summer could be an interesting time for Robben despite recently signing a new three-year deal at the Allianz Arena.

It should also be pointed out that Robben didn’t just miss a crucial penalty against Chelsea but also a huge spot kick against Borussia Dortmund last month in a big moment in the Bundesliga title race. Both penalty misses are on this video.

Video of Arjen Robben being booed by Bayern Munich fans is here.

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012

Both The Sun and The Times claim today that Arsenal have switched their attention from one French defensive midfielder to another.

For close to a year now, the transfer gossips have been telling us that Rennes midfielder Yann M’Vila was heading to the Emirates and was Arsene Wenger’s first choice to partner Alex Song in front of the defence.

But today, both of Rupert Murdoch’s papers say Wenger is not so keen on M’Vila with a reporting asking price of £22.5million and interest from the likes of Manchester City and Inter Milan.

Unlike M’Vila, Capoue is not heading to Euro 2012 with France and is yet to play for the national team despite appearances at youth level.

Whilst M’Vila’s robust tackling and clever use of possession will be a feature of the upcoming international tournament, Capoue’s asking price is unlikely to alter – likely to be hover around the 10-12 million euros mark.

Capoue has established himself as one of the most promising defensive midfielders in Ligue 1, clocking up over 100 appearances and he is still relatively young at 23.

Interestingly, whilst some Arsenal fans will be fuming over Arsene Wenger’s lack of ambition and refusal to splash the cash, there is no mention of any Gunners interest in Etienne Capoue in the French press this morning.

Video evidence of Etienne Capoue is here.

And for comparison, here is a video of Yann M’Vila.

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012