footballspectator

Manchester United are apparently interested in 6 Juventus players: Gianluigi Buffon, Gianluca Zambrotta, Patrick Vieira, Fabio Cannavaro, Emerson and Lilian Thuram. Alex Ferguson said, “We were waiting to see what the situation with Juventus was. Now we know in which direction to go in terms of inquiries and, possibly, definitive offers for one or two players“.

However, according to AS, Ferguson may be too late for at least three of these. Real Madrid’s Sporting Director Predrag Mijatovic is in Turin to finalise the signings of Cannavaro, Emerson and Zambrotta. He will meet with Juve officials tomorrow to negotiate the final price - Juve are asking for €40 million and Real’s current offer is €30 million for all three. Mijatovic may also pick up Cristiano Zanetti, a favourite of Capello. These players may be joined at Real by Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Kaka.
To add a further twist Zambrotta’s agent says that his client would rather stay in Italy with AC Milan his destination. He may be joined there by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who Carlo Ancelotti believes is the ideal partner for Alberto Gilardino.

Inter have had a €38 million bid for Fernando Torres rejected by Real Madrid. Torres is also wanted by Manchester United to replace the outgoing Van Nistelrooy. But new coach Javier Aguirre has insisted that Torres is not for sale. Marseille chairman Pape Diouf has issued similar statement regarding World Cup star Franck Ribery.

Javier Saviola’s agent has said that his client will either stay at Sevilla or move to Panathinaikos after Arsene Wenger declared yesterday that he was not interested in signing the player. Saviola spent last year on loan in Seville from Barcelona who are keen to offload the Argentine. Other players on the way are Jared Borgetti from Bolton to possibly Racing Santander and Liverpool duo Jan Kromkamp (a PSV target) and Djimi Traore who may go to Bolton or Charlton.

Finally tow players who completed moves today were Holland’s Denny Landzaat who joins Wigan from AZ Alkmaar and Croatian World Cup playmaker Niko Kranjcar who is moving to Celta Vigo from Hajduk Split.

FIFA must have been hoping that Graham Poll’s comical performance in awarding Simunic 3 yellow cards would be the last refereeing disaster of this World Cup. Step up referee Valentin Ivanov who secured his own place in the limelight by setting two World Cup records: sixteen(!) yellow cards and four sending offs - Deco, Costinha, Boulahrouz and Van Bronckhorst. Luis Figo was extremely lucky to escape being the fifth when he received only a yellow card for head-butting Van Bommel. FIFA then compounded the mistake by declaring that Figo’s punishment was sufficient today.

The match was an ill-tempered affair but Ivanov’s trigger happiness made it worse. Van Bommel had already hacked down Ronaldo before Boulahrouz stuck his studs into Ronaldo’s thigh and should have received more than a yellow. Ronaldo had to be replaced as a result of the challenge and may miss the quarterfinal with England. As the cards began to flow from Ivanov’s pocket, things gradually got worse. Players started to take advantage, exaggerating their dives in order to ensure Ivanov would book the offender. He obliged.

The only goal of the game was scored by Maniche, who combined well with Deco before beating two players and smashing the ball past Van der Sar. Holland had chances to equalise but were denied either by Ricardo or the woodwork. The match also completed Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s remarkable fall from grace this year with Van Basten benching him in favour of Dirk Kuyt.

Here’s Maniche’s goal:

The Dutch beat the Ivory Coast in Stuttgart 2-1 to ensure qualification to the last 16. Holland now play Argentina to decide who tops the group and must be glad that they do not have to win to progress given the form that Argentina have displayed.

Robin van Persie opened the scoring with a great free kick which he powered into the top left hand corner. Ruud van Nistelrooy doubled the lead shortly afterwards. But the Ivorians never give up. Didier Zokora’s long range effort cannoned off the bar before Bakari Kone, an impressive substitute in the first game, scored an excellent solo goal to reduce the deficit at half-time. The Ivorians pushed the Dutch hard in the second half and needed Van Persie’s clearance on the line to keep out Drogba’s header.
Holland looked good going forward, but with Robben once again way too selfish could not increase their lead. However their defence struggled to cope with the direct running and ability of the Ivorians. The Ivory Coast must be the unluckiest side in the tournament. They have played extremely well in their first two matches but the draw did them no favours. Hopefully, they will get the win they deserve against S&M.

Arjen Robben gave Holland a 1-0 victory over Serbia & Montenegro in Leipzig this afternoon. In a tight encounter, Robben ran on to Van Persie’s flicked pass to coolly slot past keeper Jevric in the 18th minute. S&M created a few half chances mainly through the dangerous wing play of Olympiakos’s Predrag Djordjevic, and Ognjen Koroman added some impetus with his introduction shortly before half-time.

In the second half, Nikola Zigic, the tallest outfield player in the tournament replaced Savo Milosevic, but saw little of the ball as S&M almost seemed to accept a 1-0 defeat as a good result. Ljuboja brought more energy, but Holland always looked dangerous on the break and had Robben not been so selfish and passed to better placed team-mates rather than shooting on several occasions, Holland might have increased the margin of victory. The match reaffirmed our belief that Group C will be extremely tight.