I Want My Friends To Read The News

-And just like that, AC Milan fills a hole at forward with a very promising player as they acquired Italian Alberto Gilardino from Parma. Gilardino scored 23 goals last season and the season before. He is the real thing. Like Coke.
-In today's New York Times, Jack Bell says that Guus Hiddink has been made coach of Australia. That is news to me. I had heard that they would like him to be their coach. But he is still firmly in charge of PSV today. The PSV website makes no mention of any of this stuff.
-Real Madrid totally dominated LA last night. Big surprise there (ha ha). Final score was 2-0. It was fun to watch though, & interesting seeing how one of OUR squads matches up in the real world. LA even had their moments. I can't wait to see more of this in the future. My pal Joe in West Hollywood sent along this comments on the match:
no, i didn't go. nick mann didn't return my call. heh.
i was actually on the edge of my seat expecting the galaxy to net one.
but real's just too cool. mad skills - every pass perfect and always well timed - i think with the starting group only one ball was lost out of bounds. they, indeed, play the beautiful game. zidane is the shit. he was great in wc 1998... oh, and they don't really foul - which is a hallmark of those terrible south american squads and most mls too. though salgado? and gravesen seemed to be the thugs for madrid.
but the galaxy were scrappy and tried their best. however, they tried to get too cute at times. Herculez's quick shot from outside the box that just went wide was more what they needed. jovan's shot was good, but too low, that needs to be faster or in the upper corner. la needed more first touch shots, less 'let's watch me dribble around real' - but then, well, real's defense dropped back nicely every time, and they were always ready to counter.
i am very sore at arena that landy cakes wasn't there. even for 30 min. isn't copa oro considered a bunk tournament anyway? honduras?
also, hartman complained just a touch about the adidas ball. said it reacted different from a nike or puma ball. then again, with knuckle balls with no movement off of roberto carlos' feet, i think he could stop the spin on any ball he wanted...
-From MLSnet: 5 keepers starting in MLS right now are from UCLA. Brad Friedel was from UCLA too. That is very impressive.
-Minnesota Thunder got bulldozed by a mean, tough, talented Rochester squad. The 3-1 score did not tell the complete story. Rochester put tons of pressure on the ball no matter where it was on the field, & it looks like they are really rounding into a good form. Sadly our team is not. They are maddeningly inconsistent and appear to lack any real leadership on the field. Someone is going to have to step up for the Thunder and take charge out there. On a good note: Tighe Dumbrowski has come in on loan from San Jose and it looks like he has a great touch. I hope he adds some more spark.
-MLS leading Goal Scorers:
9 - Jeff Cunningham COL, & Taylor Twellman NE
8 - Christian Gomez DC, Jaime Moreno DC, & Pat Noonan NE
7 - Nate Jaqua CHI, & Carlos Ruiz DAL
-Rob Hughes, International Herald Tribune: Summer of sales and regrets
-A translated story from yesterdays edition of El Pais about Real Madrids two stops in the USA: Real marvels at US welcome
-Inter keeper Francesco Toldo cut all his hair off. I didn't recognize him. He looks like a POW with a big grin.
-In thinking more about this whole Sean Wright Phillips signing with Chelsea, I guess the one guy who should be looking over his shoulder is Damien Duff.
-Did you see where Sunderland got punched right in the nose (hard, 3-0) by Vancouver of the USL First Division on Sunday night in a friendly as part of Sunderlands preseason. Sunderland is going to have a very very long year in the Premiership if this is garbage they have to offer.
-A Galaxy fan got his ass kicked by a hoard of Chivas USA punk ass bitches following last Saturday nights derby. Welcome to futbol dude.