Football Fantasy

Ballack Could Make The Difference For Leverkusen This Season. Michael Ballacks return to the Bundesliga has so far been nothing to write home about. The midfield general has been plagued by injury, and hes rarely had a chance to showcase the phenomenal talent we all remember him for. Finally, though, Ballack has returned to first-team training and it could be at the perfect time for Bayer Leverkusen. Leverkusen are currently third in the race for the Bundesliga title, but its still a lot farther than it sounds. Borussia Dortmund, who currently lead the pack, are a whole 11 points ahead of Ballacks side, but if anyone can help make up the difference its the veteran midfielder. The reason, I think, that Leverkusen are still so far away from the summit is because of their home form. Its not been as strong as it should be, and that could be down to Leverkusen not scoring enough in front of their home support. Just 11 goals in 7 home matches isnt good enough, especially when a goal or two e...

I was listening to the EPLTalk Podcast Weekend Review this morning on the way to work (and it probably isnt said enough, thank you to Richard, Laurence, Kartik, and the Gaffer for this valuable resource!). Richard and Kartik discussed an impact game this weekend in the nPower Championship between Queens Park Rangers and Cardiff City, which was taken by QPR 2-1. And with all of the controversy surrounding Major League Soccers struggles to find identity in a crowded American sports scene, this concept of reward/punishment becomes an enigma to the fan who newly embraces European soccer. QPR now leads the Championship by 5 points. In the process of deciding to write this article, I actually came up with a number of unique, intriguing aspects of Premier League football that appeals to the American.Now I know that this is probably a rehash to an extent. I also know there are a few other 2010 WC Babies out there, if I may have license to coin this term for those of us who developed our love f...

October ended with Chelsea looking imperious and pulling away from the chasing pack at the top of the Premiership. The side seemed to playing with such verve and spirit that I simply couldnt see where any worthy challenge could come from. Manchester United were struggling to hit any real form, but continued to pick up points other sides would lose. Arsenal being Arsenal, looked amazing one week and then lost a game from nowhere. Manchester City continued to play as if expression was something to be feared. Liverpool and Aston Villa were struggling to cope with the hangovers from summers of upheaval and Tottenham are still getting used to being involved at this end of the table. Then from nowhere, Chelsea hit the skids and suddenly, we have a title race again. November has been a hellish month for the Blues, with the Wilkins situation, Lampards continued absence, Terry and Alex both struggling, Essien suspended and Drogbas illness sapping him of his strength and power. Then from nowhere...

Former England captain David Beckham will not be joining Everton despite Toffees boss David Moyes being keen on the idea.Beckham has enjoyed loan spells at Italian giants AC Milan during the MLS off-season over the past two years and a number of clubs are thought to be keen to sign the 35-year-old midfielder on a similar deal.However, Beckham insists he could not make the move to Goodison Park out of respect for old club Manchester United .Asked if he could make the move to Everton , Beckham told Sky Sports News: "No, I spoke about this few a few days ago when I was in Australia."It is always great to be wanted by different managers and different teams even if it's on loan or a more permanent spell, it's always nice."I have got great respect for David Moyes from playing with him at Preston."I think he has done an amazing job at Everton , but I am a Man Utd fan it's too close to home." Need your Ever...

Josep Guardiola, known for his cool demeanor inside and outside of the technical area, channeled his feelings for all things Madrid when he refused to give Cristiano Ronaldo the ball for a throw-in on the half-hour mark. Unlike his outspoken and demonstrative counterpart Jos Mourinho, Guardiola usually keeps to himself, shouting and dictating to his players on the pitch on rare occasions. Monday night's match was El Clsico, however, and normal circumstances and situations have little bearing. The ball had gone out of play, and Ronaldo wanted to take a throw-in quickly to continue what little momentum Real Madrid had going forward. The ball fortuitously came to Guardiola, and in one of his less sporting moments, he held the ball away from Ronaldo and then eventually rolled it away from him. Ronaldo took exception to such behavior and shoved him in the chest, starting a little fracas as the Bara players came to defend Guardiola while the Real players took Ronaldo's side. Mentioni...

Somewhere in the corridors of Fox Soccer Channels headquarters in Los Angeles, California, an executive or two must have wondered whether Fox should consider adopting ESPNs approach to Saturday morning Premier League soccer. While Fox has continued its same proven formula for several years, ESPN raised the bar significantly this season by hiring pros Ian Darke, Steve McManaman and others to bring an English production exclusively to an American audience. The consistency of Darke being the familiar voice each Saturday morning is comforting as well as the pre-match interviews with the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson, David Ginola, Gerard Houllier, Ray Parlour and others. Then you have the post-match wrap-up, the half-time segments with Rebecca Lowe and so much more. ESPN has really pulled out all the stops to bring a top-notch production to viewers in America. Its almost as if this is the dress-rehearsal for when ESPN may one day in the future usurp the TV rights for the Premier League in the...

Arsenal V Wigan (Tonight 7.45pm) Back over 1.5 goals In ties involving the Premiership teams in this years Carling Cup, only Bolton and West Ham have played in games with less than two goals in 90 minutes, and in the last round all the games went over the 1.5 goals line. Arsene Wenger fielded strong teams in the 4-1 win over Spurs and the 4-0 win over Newcastle has promised to do so again. Arsenal are great going forward and can be very open at the back. Their seven home Premiership games average of 3.7 goals per game and they will go for it tonight. The Ashes Lay Australia Englands cricketers passed what was in my opinion their sternest Test in Brisbane, where the Aussies have not lost since the 1980s. I said all along that the time to lay Australia was after the first Test and I see no reason to change my mind. England come out of the Test with the greater confidence and Australia with the doubts. The remaining Tests will suit Englands best bowler, Graeme Swann, much better than the...

In a display of much beauty and delight, Barcelona despatched Real Madrid with a good 5-0 thumping that left us breathing heavily and completely flushed at the sheer art of their tapestry. It was just one of those nights when you were glad you preferred sticking to the television set than move over to the bedroom. On a chilling Monday night, Barcelonas football effused such warmth that you wanted to lie in its armsand snuggle upto it, wishing the moment would never end. There was mild flirting at the beginning, a few playful glances exchanged, the hands brushing together and then Barca took us all home.We like gleeful voyeurs sat and watched them strip Real Madrid of every garment, taking in the irony that thesheerbeautyof the act came from a team dressed in blue and violet and not the one in white. As you saw the sleek passing,the flicks, the dribbles, the feints, the mazing runs, the pinpoint vision and the understanding of the team-mates on the field, you realised that football may ...

The race is on to see who will win the 2018 World Cup bid. The winner will be announced on Thursday at the FIFA headquarters. Will it be England, Russia, Spain/Portugal or Holland/Belgium? Vote below in the poll to let us know who you think will win. And then add your comments in the section below regarding who you think deserves to win. Also, be sure to come back this Thursday at 9:30am ET to EPL Talk homepage for a live blog of the FIFA announcement. Whether youll be at home or at work, join soccer fans around the world as we debate the decision while EPL Talk blogger Jonathon Feyerherm blogs away. View Poll Related posts: Poll: How Will the Premier League Be Affected By Englands World Cup Exit? World Cup Poll: Who Will Win, England or United States? Poll: How Far Are You Away From Your Nearest Professional Soccer Club? Football Betting Tips, Odds, Asian Handicap, Picks, Preview & Prediction

Days after David Beckham agreed a pre-contract with LA Galaxy , Real Madrid attempted to buy the England ace back.Real president Ramon Calderon knew he had gaffed and made a bid - in vain - to rescue a looming black hole in the club budget created by Beckham's departure.How big? It was of record proportions, as LA Galaxy president of business development Tom Payne revealed to tribalfootball.com.In the first year we had David Beckham we sold 600,000 shirts which is by far the largest-selling jersey in any sport in the world at that time," recalled Payne."At the end of the day its the franchise value thats sort of grown the most. On top of that theres the technical side, the competitive side. When international players talk about coming to the States they talk about coming to the Galaxy first and foremost."Part of that is because we are in LA and the other part is because they know who we are. Part of that is because of...

Tonights game promised to give one of the closest indications so far of who could become European champions this year, but in truth, nobody couldve predicted what followed. Barcelona dissected their rivals with precise, incisive play that arguably would have torn absolutely any team in the world apart. In doing so, they confirmed their status as absolute favourites for the Champions League once again, and itd take a brave man to doubt them. With 13 goals in their last 2 league games, they are beginning to look even more menacing than they ever did in their historic 2008/09 season, and their form will be striking fear into managers across the continent. Regardless of tonights result, however, it would still be nave to completely write off Real Madrid at this stage. They will have learnt a great deal from tonights events, and in particular, Mourinho will now have a far better understanding of his teams strengths and weaknesses, and possibly even his own managerial weaknesses. The biggest...

A Man Under Fire: Felix Magath. Felix Magaths side pulled off an impressive 30 win at home against Olympique Lyon in mid-week to secure their place in the Champions League round of sixteen. Finally, things were beginning to look up for the Konigsblauen. A weekend fixture away to Kaiserslautern was never going to be easy based on the home sides form, but no one anticipated a 50 drubbing. I wonder what the odds were on that happening? Schalkes president, Clemens Tonnies, spoke to Bild about the disastrous result and the overall campaign so far: I am absolutely shocked by this result. For all the euphoria from the Champions League to be shattered by a newly-promoted team, that is a hammer blow. The coach and manager Felix Magath now has to explain how we get out of this.?We are talking about the performance of the team. I have no worries about Schalke getting relegated. But I had and have a much higher expectation in Felix Magath than just survival. And who didnt have much higher expectat...

Deflection king Frank Lampard has regularly benefited from the committee in the past One of the more strange departments of the Premier League, the Dubious Goals Committee is a group surrounded in secrecy. But how does it work? And more importantly what does it actually do? In a report that has the potential to be as earth shattering as the BBC Panorama documentary exposing FIFA bungs, lets see if we can dig a little deeper in to the Premier Leagues Dubious Goals Committee. Okay, I may have over hyped this article a little, but the panel responsible for deciding which player is awarded a disputed Premier League goal, really is amongst the most secretive in football. Scour the internet and you will find very little on who sits on the panel. What you will find is countless accounts on how they work. According to several sources they typically meet around four times a season and review a series of goals where the goalscorer is debated. However they only consider matters where they have to...

Phil Neville is refusing to join in the hype surrounding David Beckham 's link with Everton .Toffees boss David Moyes recently admitted that he would welcome the opportunity to bring the former England captain back to England on loan, with his commitments with MLS outfit Los Angeles Galaxy over for another season.An eagerly-anticipated switch to England, where he has not played on a full-time basis since leaving Manchester United in 2003, has been widely touted, with Everton mentioned as one of the sides in the running.Club captain Neville would obviously welcome his former United team-mate to Goodison Park but is wary of allowing such talk to spiral out of control, with Beckham yet to make any decision on his short-term future."Obviously you would want a player of that ilk to come to your club, but he's an LA Galaxy player and until we hear otherwise we will respect that," he told Sky Sports News. Need your Everton n...

Roberto Martinez is hoping to emulate the work undertaken at Arsenal and nurture more stars of the future. The Wigan boss is aware that a strong academy structure can be a useful asset, potentially saving clubs millions in transfer fees.He believes the Latics can buy into that philosophy, with more emphasis being placed on bringing young players through the ranks.The Spaniard admits North London giants Arsenal currently set the benchmark for youth development, but he hopes he can follow Arsene Wenger's lead and achieve similar success at the DW Stadium."I think developing players is key for a football club and, as we all know, for the nation," said Martinez."And I think it's a clear model that has produced outstanding talent and is carrying on doing that."That's been a great example throughout football and for many people to follow. Benefits "To have the ideas very clear, to have those strong beliefs, they bring you success."It's quite clea...

His Best Days Have Passed Him By. Daniel van Buyten and Martin Demichelis were never the most sturdy center-half pairing in the Bundesliga. More of than not, there have comical mix-ups that lead to a goals for the opposition, and things have only gotten worse with age. This weekend, van Buyten allowed Frankfurts Theofanis Gekas who is at least four inches shorter than the Belgian to not only beat him in the air and force a header goalwards, but to then beat him to the rebound and score the goal. After his mistake, van Buyten was subbed off and probably given the hairdryer treatment. With Martin Demichelis forced out of the side by Holger Badstuber, maybe its time Daniel van Buyten takes a place on the bench as well. But who will replace the big Belgian? Its not like Bayern Munich are especially deep in defense, I mean they havent even got a proper left-back! They do have one player though who could do the job in the center of defense with real authority. Its not Anatoliy Tymoschuk, a...