SAF: Becks can't succeed...

Can David Beckham change the attitude of an entire country? Fergie doesn't think so and makes some valid points:

Manchester United boss Ferguson says his former superstar can’t hope to succeed where legends like Pele and Johan Cruyff have already failed.

“David Beckham himself can’t change the whole country,” was Ferguson’s blunt verdict on the injured England star’s £128m move to Los Angeles Galaxy.

Galaxy’s massive investment is geared at not only upping their ­fortunes but also giving US soccer a facelift.

Ferguson, who sold Beckham to Real Madrid four years ago, said: “In the late 1970s I went to America with Aberdeen and there were guys like Teofilo Cubillas and Peter Shilton there.

“Before that, there was Pele, Cruyff, Beckenbauer. It is difficult with David going there. I don’t know what kind of impact he can make.

“The size of the country makes it difficult. In Europe, and especially in Britain, you can travel easily.

“If you are in Boston and need to go to Los Angeles, it’s a six-hour flight.

“Supporters don’t travel so you are missing that rivalry between fans.

“So you have a problem. To make it substantial you could have to go regional but there’s not enough teams to have four strong leagues.”

Ferguson also feels the MLS is undermined by an exodus of young, homegrown talent.

He added: “What you have in the States is a lot of kids playing football but with nowhere to go.

“The best American players go to Europe very early, like Brad Friedel at Blackburn and Brian McBride and Clint Dempsey at Fulham.

“So that situation doesn’t help the American game.”

Before the window closes...

The latest rumors leading up to the closing of the transfer window:

England international forwards Jermain Defoe and Shaun Wright-Phillips could swap clubs while Nicolas Anelka could leave Bolton Wanderers for either Manchester United or Manchester City.

Defoe has yet to commit himself to a new deal at Tottenham Hotspur while Wright-Phillips has failed to fully establish himself at Chelsea since moving there from Manchester City two years ago.

Manchester United could move for Frenchman Anelka to ease their striking problems, while City would be keen to boost their vibrant new squad.

Chelsea's interest in Barcelona's Brazilian Ronaldinho was still being widely reported even though Barcelona president Joan Laporta says he will not be leaving the Nou Camp.

More on the possible moves by Man U:

As well as Saha being on the verge of a comeback, Brazilian new-boy Anderson could also feature for the first time after overcoming a niggling hamstring complaint picked up during pre-season combat in Doncaster.

The potential availability of that duo is likely to mean there will be no late deadline-day arrivals at Old Trafford, even though the names of Dimitar Berbatov and Nicolas Anelka continue to be linked with a move to the champions

Quick hits: Heinze free - Yakubu to Everton - Ramos for Jol

The disgruntled Argentine defender has been shipped off to join Thierry Henry in the Spanish leagues:

Real Madrid have agreed a deal to bring Manchester United defender Gabriel Heinze to the Bernabeu, the Spanish champions announced tonight.

Real confirmed the news in a statement on their website, which read: "Real Madrid and Manchester United have reached an agreement for the transfer of Gabriel Heinze.

"The Argentinian, 29, will sign a contract for the next four seasons and will be immediately incorporated into Bernd Schuster's squad." No fee has been confirmed for Heinze, although reports in the Spanish media suggest he will cost Real around €12m (£8.1m).

Everton and M'Boro agree to a fee for Yakubu:

Boro had been looking for £12million the 24-year-old - but they have relented and accepted a deal worth just over £11million.

Yakubu, who trained with Middlesbrough on Wednesday, is now due on Merseyside to discuss personal terms and undergo a medical.

The Nigerian will become Everton's record signing and if all goes according to plan he should be available to make his Toffees debut against Blackburn on Saturday.

Juane Ramos claims Spurs made him a dizzying offer; Spurs official denies:

Juande Ramos today contradicted Tottenham Hotspur by claiming the club made him a "dizzying" offer to succeed Martin Jol as manager.

Spurs released a statement this morning saying that "no individual was or has been offered the position of manager/coach at this club while that position has been held by Martin Jol." However Ramos, who has one year left on his contract with Sevilla and insists he will serve it out, told a news conference in Spain: "They made an excellent, dizzying offer, but I'm under contract to Sevilla and my decision is to fulfil it.

Heinze's bid for freedom denied...

Looks like Heinze will be staying at Old Trafford as his appeal to the arbitration board was denied:

United disputed claims from Heinze, 29, who said the Red Devils gave him written permission to pursue a transfer to another club for a fee of £6.8m.

But a Premier League arbitration panel concluded that the permission "was unambiguous in that it envisages only an international transfer".

The defender is set to appeal against the panel's decision.

However, with the transfer window scheduled to shut on 31 August, he is short of time if he wants to leave Old Trafford.

The arbitration panel's verdict read: "The Premier League Board-appointed panel have heard submissions of evidence from both parties and has ruled to dismiss the player's case.

"The hearing concluded that nature and intention of the disputed 13 June 2007 letter, especially when taken in context of verbal discussions and Manchester United FC's transfer policy, was unambiguous in that it envisages only an international transfer.

"Furthermore, the hearing finds the letter constitutes an 'agreement to agree' and did not create an obligation or binding agreement for the club to transfer the player to any particular club."

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and chief executive David Gill travelled to Monday's hearing in London to put their case and will be happy with the verdict.

A Manchester United spokesman said: "We are pleased that the panel has endorsed our case."

Too bad mate, but to me the move never made much sense in the first place but I will be interested to see how this will affect his happiness and his form if Fergie plays him. This ruling has led to the Free Heinze campaign, coming to a t-shirt store near you:

Newcastle braces for Martins bids...

With Martins contract coming to an end soon Newcastle will probably be forced to take the highest bid or else lose the Nigerian national for next to nothing:

Newcastle were today bracing themselves for an approach for striker Obafemi Martins as speculation mounted that Manchester United could seek cover for Wayne Rooney. The 22-year-old is one of a number of frontmen to be linked with the Premier League champions, who have taken just two points from their first three games. United have scored only one goal - Paul Scholes' strike at Portsmouth - to date this season and with Rooney out for around seven more weeks with a fractured metatarsal and Louis Saha struggling for full fitness, manager Sir Alex Ferguson is being tipped to invest once again in an effort to plug the gap. Martins, along with Bolton's Nicolas Anelka and Tottenham's Dimitar Berbatov, has been touted as a potential target and the fact that the Nigeria international has a £13million release clause in his contract at St James' Park means the Magpies would be powerless to prevent him leaving the club.

While I think that Anelka would be a better fit for Man U, Martins potential is immense and Man U might make an attractive enough bid for Newcastle to take.

Monday Quick hits

Newly signed Man City striker Bojinov out 5 months with ligament damage.

Ref dropped from the Premier League after horrendous call against Liverpool.

Man U only has 2 points after losing the Manchester derby but Fergie isn't panicking (yet.)

After 3 games Man U are already facing a must win against the Spurs.

Diouf wants to wander away from Bolton.

Alan Shearer might buy Newcastle with help from some Icelandic friends.

American spare part Eddie Lewis is signed by Derby from troubled Leeds side.

For US viewers -- top goals in the Premier League last weekend.

Brazil scores a goal in the first 9 seconds of the U-17 World Cup.

Sven says the Citizen's aren't a top table side yet.

Martin Jol can't take the pressure.

Gerrard, Hargreaves and Bent are out of the English friendly.

Roy Keane blasts Sunderland after Wigan whoops his lads.

Week 3 Wrapup

From Thatsonpoint:

Premier League round three in the books...and we don't know anything.

Manchester City beats Manchester United.

Wigan Athletic has won two in a row.

At least Blackburn rallied to draw Arsenal. Jens, Jens, Jens.

Instead of all that, we'll start with Liverpool/Chelsea and a 'dodgy' penalty call by Robbie Stiles. That's not to say there wasn't contact between Steve Finnan and Flourent Malouda, but of all the things that aren't called penalties this was suspect.

Then of course, the draw helps Manchester United, who are now only five points behind Chelsea, instead of seven. In either event, United's margin of error is next to nothing for the time being.

And again, credit to City for a shocking debut, nine points from three games. Who'd have thought.

Elsewhere, it seems when anyone from the midtable play, anything can happen.

Week's stars

1. Geovanni, Man City -- If YouTube didn't became fascists, the I could link you to the Brasilian's curling tally. It was pretty damn impressive. (Thanks to a reader, got a link...be warned you don't want Scotland Yard on your ass.

2. Andre Bikey, Reading -- Cameroonian was immense in the back for Reading in their first victory of the season.
3. Lee Cattermole, Middlesbrough -- Academy product fires a late winner to get 'Boro its first points of the year.
4. Steed Malbranque, Tottenham -- Belgian/French dude scores twice in the first half to get Spurs season back on track vs. Derby County (who just added Eddie Lewis, yay!).
5. Kanu, Portsmouth -- Nigerian was all of the place in Pompey's 3-1 win.

Baked

Fulham's American captain Brian McBride had to be stretchered off after twisting his ankle in the 20th minute of his team's 2-1 loss to Middlesbrough. Very disappointing. Sounds like the longtime US international will be gone a while. More information likely during the week. Doesn't sound good.

Play Now Sports

I've used this comparison before, but I'll do it again. Wigan Athletic are George Costanza, the rest of the league is Play Now Sports. Nobody wants Wigan or Costanza, but like a 'weed in Hitler's bunker' they're tough to get rid of.

Lookalikes

Reading's goalscoring hero (and bane of Petr Cech), Irishman Stephen Hunt and late AC/DC frontman, Aussie Bonn Scott. Hopefully Hunt doesn't choke on his own vomit after a night of Guinness.



Sorry for a brief recap, lot of other stuff going on.

Adios.

Wayne Rooney is amazing...

Thanks to the Soccernista for finding this gem -- I don't think this behind the scenes footage is fake as he surmises though...

A must watch.

Tuesday/Wednesday Wrap Up...

From the blog Thatsonpoint:

What we know

1. Manchester United is in trouble. As Steven Gerrard so elegantly in his Scouse accent stated on the Prem preview show, you can't win the league in August, but you can lose it. In two games, Manchester United has dropped four points and already chase Chelsea.

It would easy to say this isn't a big deal and its no reason to panic, but consider United has already lost Wayne Rooney for two months and now loses Cristiano Ronaldo to suspension for retaliating late in the game with a headbutt. Guess he didn't mind messing up his much lauded locks, eh?

Of the two draws from United the opening day 0-0 vs. Reading is probably more concerning. For whatever reason the team has its problems at Fratton Park against Portsmouth.

You just wonder, on paper United looked capable of setting all sorts of goal-scoring records and through two games they've netted one. At least Carlos Tevez made an impact.

Looking ahead the next couple weeks don't get easier for United, beginning with Sunday's trip to the City of Manchester Stadium. After that it's: v. Tottenham; v. Sunderland (Roy Keane alert); at Everton; v. Chelsea (could be a must-win); at Birmingham. Then it gets much easier in October: v. Wigan; at Villa; v. Middlesbrough.

Does SAF have one more ace up his sleeve in the transfer market?

2. City probably won't get relegated, as I guessed. Sven's men have already grabbed six points from two games. What that means, assuming 40 points assures safety that the boys in sky blue are 15 percent of the way home. If they nick anything from United this weekend, I may even eat my hat. Though, let's not start doing back-flips over a 1-0 win over promoted Derby County.

3. Sunderland 2007/08 is not Sunderland 2005/06. Two years ago the Black Cats tallied 15 points on the whole season, after two game this year they've got four.

4. Lower league buys paying dividends. Two games in and buys from the Championship David Healy (Fulham from Leeds) and Michael Chopra (Sunderland from Cardiff City) have netted twice. Also scoring in each game are everyone's favorite bald Frenchman Antoine Sibierski, Zimbabwe zensation Benjani and Everton's Leon Osman.

5. Parity? Through two games we have three teams to win both -- Everton, Chelsea and Man City and three winless clubs -- Middlesbrough, Bolton and Tottenham(mered). Likely by the end of October we'll have some separation, but perhaps the league is more balanced that I give it credit for.

6. Chelsea are going to miss Michael Essien at the African Cup of Nations (duh). Without the Ghanaian bulldog, the Blues were pretty pedestrian in the first half vs. Reading. Credit Jose Mourinho for seeing this early and tinkering with his lineup, bringing on Claudio Pizarro and Jon Obi Mikel at halftime for Paulo 'Portuguese for pitiful' Ferreira and Steve Sidwell, thus ending his homecoming. I guess credit goes the Chelsea's main two goal scorers, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba for rescueing the team from its snooze at the Madejski. Typical, ruthless, efficient Chelsea. (And I'll say it again, who the hell chose the Chelsea away shirts? Did they sign a contract with Boby Glove or something? Dreadful!)

7. Reading is going to be a team no one wants to play. Two red cards in two games against arguably the league's top two contenders. Credit Steve Coppell's men for being organized and intelligent. They get tri-leaders Everton Saturday.

8. One nice thing about Bolton.
The new black Reebok away shirts look pretty good. (Yank alert, Carlos Bocanegra booked again in the 90th minute of Fulham's 2-1 win at Craven Cottage.)
What we don't know

1. Is Daniel Alves going to Chelsea? Protracted deals are nothing new, but this one might not happen. The Brasilian right back, even if he is reckless getting forward, should slot in perfectly in West London.

2. Can I keep my guessing rate up? Not to pat myself on the back (who am I kidding?) of the three games I guessed correctly, I got the score right in each game, bringing my season total to 8-8.

3. Can Man City keep this up and conversely can Tottenham continue to stink up the joint? We'll see.

4. Can Sammy Lee survive until Christmas? With, let's call it, an eclectic group of talent the ship might sink rather quickly in Trotters territory.

Champions League-ing

Nothing to crazy in the final leg of Champions League qualifying aside from Ajax dropping 0-1 at home to Slavia Prague. Meanwhile, at the Czech capital Alexsandr Hleb and Cesc Fabregas ensued Sparta Prague is in a heap of trouble. Liverpool took care of business against Tolouse, winning 1-0 on a goal from Andriy Voronin. The boys in Green, Celtic got a first half goal from Paul Hartley and drew Spartak Moscow 1-1.

Return legs are Aug. 29.

Ronaldo's three game ban definitely is the story of the week thus far. As is Bolton's struggles with Sammy Lee, who certainly appears to be headed out the door before the season really got underway.

Tevez debut set for Wednesay...

With Rooney out indefinitely after fracturing his foot against Reading, all eyes will fall on Carlos Tevez during Manu U's match against Pompey:

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson said Carlos Tevez is likely to make his debut for the club in Wednesday's league game at Portsmouth.

The 23-year-old completed his move to United last Friday and may even start the game as a result of the recent injury to fellow forward Wayne Rooney.

"He trained very hard at the weekend and will be doing light training until the day of the game," said Ferguson.

"We will now be getting Carlos ready for Wednesday's match."

Whether your a Red Devil supporter or not it should be interesting to see how the brilliant young Argentine striker will fare in his debut for Fergie's side.

Tevez deal finally done...

United supporters can breath easier as the Tevez transfer is finally complete:

A mere 35 days after it was announced that he had agreed personal terms with Manchester United, Carlos Tevez finally completed his transfer to Old Trafford today. United officially confirmed this afternoon that Tevez has joined on a two-year loan.

Though he has been training with United throughout this week, he is extremely unlikely to be involved in United's opening game of the season, against Reading on Sunday. United are instead aiming to give him his debut in next weekend's derby with Manchester City.

After adding Tevez to a line-up that already featured phenom's Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, Man U seem to be the odds on favorites now to top the tables.