Former Virginia Tech assistant Matt Gwilliam has been named the new head coach for Temple’s women’s soccer program. Good luck, sir!
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the Union have signed Bimbo Bakeries as a shirt sponsor. The deal is worth $12 million over 4 years, and also makes Bimbo a league sponsor, which opens up other advertising opportunities for the company, including stadium ads. The Inquirer story opens with this lede: “The Philadelphia Union is getting hitched to Bimbo. No, the team has not signed a promiscuous, dull-witted semi-celebrity to play midfield.” And this gives us bloggers a chance to say: Stop. Just stop. Terrible puns and awful humor are the domain of the unpaid blogger (hi!), not the salaried reporter. This story could have been framed any number of ways, but a marriage between a soccer team and a dumb woman? Come on. But then you go on the explain the joke, as if anybody out there was furiously tweeting their friends about this preposterous engagement. Just. Stop. Thank you for the story, now please spend your time tracking down corruption or something. Just stop “pun”-ishing me with this crap.
Oguchi Onyewu, the tower of strength often found in the wrong place at the wrong time on the field, finally realized he was at the wrong club. Gooch completed a loan move to FC Twente for the remainder of the season. For all the flack it gets as a boring league, Serie A does feature great tactical defending. And if anybody not named Mourinho starts teaching the midfielders how to play the modern game soon ,Italy might not lose its coveted fourth Champions League place to Germany.
MLSTalk thinks Edson Buddle leaving for Ingolstadt is a huge loss for the league. While their argument centers around where certain players should excel and their intrinsic value to the league, I would say the biggest loss is the revenue MLS could have made from Buddle. Look, if he’s going to go test the waters as a free agent just deal him six months before that. Use the money you make to sign a big name or invest it in the contract of another that might think of leaving the US when his deal is up (coughOmarGonzalezcoughcough).
Notes from the MLS combine from Houston11soccer.com.
The Shin Guardian got Eric Lichaj on the phone for an interview. He was none too happy with his Manchester City performance.
The MLS SuperDraft is deconstructed by In Bed With Maradona. Conclusion: It is good.
Lionel Messi won his second straight Ballon d’Or. Marta won her fifth in a row. Xavi set a record by passing the hoeur d’oeuvres more times that the rest of the attendees combined.
The Equaliser has a good piece on the Wunderteam and their star, Mattias Sindelar. I have never seen Sindelar play, but I really wish I had. I also wish he was in FIFA 11 so I could hear the Italian commentator say his name. SHEEN-de-laaaaaahhhhr!
11Tegen11 asks how we should measure a footballer’s performance. The Castrol ranking index seems like a good place to start.
John Leicester thinks FIFA is arrogant for assuming that a winter World Cup would work.
And this one is for Eli: Tottenham are looking into signing Phil Neville. Apparently their transfer needs include wild slide tackles and frosted tips. Although Beckham might already cover the second one.
Img via Ryan Babel
I feel like Harry is just lining up all these old england internationals to further his claim to being the next england manager. tomorrow’s transfer rumor involves a 50 million pound move for alan shearer.
have you ever seen a team win their champions league group and then ravenously pursue failure like this?
Especially in January! You’re guaranteed to pay more than you would in the summer. With Bale on the wing, I would think the only Everton player worth paying for would be Cahill.