Real Madrid signs 7-yr-old to contract: No, really, they did

Leonel Angel Coira

((ht: uk.eurosport.yahoo.com))

Really. A seven-year-old. And they say he's a possible "Star of the Future". Something that is so easy to determine when kids are that age. Right?

High profile soccer club Real Madrid apparently has signed 7-yr-old Argentinian second grader Leonel Angel Coira to a contract. And he will start training with the team in September. And he was being scouted by a rival club.

Seriously.

You can read this story on Yahoo Sport (UK/Ireland) if you don't believe me RIGHT HERE

Words escape us at the moment. Sure, we've heard about USC and a couple of colleges going after middle school aged kids. But 7-year olds? And we read another story that says he's not even the youngest kid to sign a deal.

Maybe this is something acceptable in the European world. But it reeks of exploitation. Or a PR stunt.

Does anyone really know how a 7-year-old will grow into a role? Or what their interests will be? Honestly, we're just shaking our heads.

Mia Hamm's Soccer Challenge makes people crazy...or something

Wow! This is certainly interesting. Apparently some guy in the stands at the Mia Hamm Celebrity Soccer Challenge yesterday in Washington D.C had a bit of a roid rage incident.

If you are wondering...and we were, the Soccer Challenge was a celebrity soccer game that featured stars like Kobe Bryant and U.S Women's Soccer team player Alex Morgan and of course her hubby Nomar Garciaparra.

Check out...and listen to the video here as Hamm is speaking to the assembled crowd and you hear some blood curdling, death screams.

The camera eventually zooms into to the guy creating the ruckus...and it took several "Event Staff" guys to get him under control.

Yikes!



Here's a story on the actual event from our friends at CSN Washington:

BREAKING: Dutch Soccer Stadium Collapse Kills 1, Injures 16

One person has died and 16 more have been hospitalized with injuries after one side of the FC Twente's Grolsch Stadium roof collapsed during off-season renovations.

Peter den Oudsten, mayor of the Dutch town of Enschede, says a total of 14 people were injured when the roof at the southern end of the stadium collapsed- cause unknown at present time. Three people were treated at the scene and released. The others were taken to hospital with varying injuries...

Here's a drive-by of the damage...
((HT: WouterNijland))


James Callow's story in the UK's Guardian has the injured up to 16 with all construction personnel accounted for.

From Callow...
Asked about the possibility of people still being trapped, the spokeswoman added: "Everyone is out to our knowledge. People are still searching with dogs and specialist camera teams, but that is as an extra precaution, a double-check."

The Guardian's video is hyah...

More when we know more...

Women's World Cup Has Its First Bad Call

((HT: FIFA/DWTV/youtube))

We finally have our bad call of the women's world cup...

Australia and Equatorial Guinea ((we used to call it Togo))...

The Matildas are up 1-nothing and coiuld have been up 2-nothing except for one of the most egregious non-calls of the tournament so far...

Here's the call...


The rational, the HQ thinks, is that the defender thought the call was offsides and just thought the play was dead... But the HQ never heard a whistle...

Safe to say the head referee won't be doing that for any more games of the tournament... actually, let's think about this in terms of FIFA and their international tourneys...

PROBABLY, won't be the head ref in any more games this tourney...
Oh, Australia held on 3-2...

ESPN analyzes from Germany their ownselves...
((HT: ESPN))

Mexico Takes Gold Cup In Pasadena, Howard Pissed At CONCACAF For Spanish Postgame

This just had a lot of bad things going wrong from the start...

Steve Cherundolo's injury led to some juggling for USMNT head coach Bob Bradley. A crowd of 93,000-plus at the Rose Bowl was mostly Mexican in their fandom and would greet the US National Team introductions with the word "Burro..."

Or "ass..."

Classy...

But the US pressed early and got a 2-0 lead after 24 minutes from Bradley and Donovan. It was all downhill from there as the visitors scored 4 unanswered to win 4-2 to take the Gold Cup and advance to the Confederations Cup the year before the 2014 World Cup.

Here's the highlights and the lowlights...
((HT: Univision/CONCACAF/youtube))


Alexei Lalas and Janusz Michallik analyze with Dari Knowkha...
((HT: ESPN))


But the larger issue was the post-game ceremony...
It was done in Spanish for a majority of the presentation... and the US goalie, Tim Howard, was understandably pissed...

"CONCACAF should be ashamed of themselves," Howard said. "I think it was a [expletive] disgrace that the entire postmatch ceremony was in Spanish. You can bet your ass that if we were in Mexico City, it wouldn't be all in English.

"It never ceases to amaze me all that stuff."

Ben Spencer, a spokesman for CONCACAF, declined to comment..
Of course, he did...

The HQ knows Howard is right and the USMNT should be pissed at CONCACAF for that stunt. It goes to show how they really don't want to step on anyone's toes...

We're simply being too nice these days...

Man City Takes Stoke's 148-Year Dream

((HT: youtube))

Stoke City hadn't been in an FA Cup final for 35 years, and hasn't won a title since the late-1800's. They had a chance to rectify that with a win over Man City.

Unfortunately, Man City got the best of them in the 74th minute

Here's the goal from Ya-Ya Toure


Let's hope for the sake of the Potters, it doesn't take another 35 before their next appearance... Man United clinched their 19th career Premier League title earlier in the day...

Man U One Point From Premier League Title

((HT: Premier League/youtube))

It took Manchester United all of 36 seconds to jump on Chelsea and hang on for a 2-1 win to put them within one point of clinching the Premier League title...

JS Park's pass deflected off Blues defender David Luiz and Chicharito capitalized with a shot in the low, left corner for the early advantage. Nemanja Vidic gave the Reds a 2-0 lead in the 23rd minute, and a Frankie Lampard goal got Chelsea close- but no closer.

Here's the highlights...


With two games left, ManU is at 76 points with Chelsea at 70. Arsenal is third at 67 points. The more interesting match-ups are at the bottom of the table where Blackburn, the Wolves, Wigan, Blackpool, Birmingham, West Ham, and the Rovers are all trying to save themselves from relegation... Six points separate all of them from heading to the NPower League where QPR is already heading north to the Premier next season.

Enjoy the finish...

At Least It Wasn't The Crystal Football...

((HT: telemadrid/youtube))

Okay...

Your team wins the biggest trophy you can in your country...
You have a celebration...

Naturally, everyone is excited...
Maybe a little TOO excited...

Sergio Ramos certainly was celebrating the Copa Del Rey...
He dropped it from the top of the bus he was in...


Oops...

Your EPL Update Of The Day

((HT: Barclays Premier League/Impulse FilmsHD))

The HQ, only recently, has gotten hooked into european football...
We look at it as us American-types do college football...

The Tottenham-Arsenal match-up was an instant classic as a 3-3 draw...
Here's why...

Fighting For An Audience... Battles On The Pitch

The HQ has always maintained that this is the best time of year...

Baseball starts, hockey is making its playoff run ((the best month of the year non-stop)), and every sport on the planet- even football in some form or another- is trying to find its audience during the spring time.

The HQ decided to take a look at soccer on the way home to see the end of the Frozen Four and UMD's overtime win over Michigan...

The HQ's southern frontier has both kinds of soccer... country and western...
Men's and women's...

The original incarnation of women's soccer had a double-blue version of the Atlanta Beat that made it to a few of the WUSA finals in Foxborough and San Diego- losing both...

The league had big corporate backers, but burned through the money in half the time they thought it would. After three years, the league went belly up, but they've been back at the stream-lined WPS league now...

Here's an interview with the Rowdy One, Julie Foudy, about the WPS from the beginning
((HT: womensprosoccer))


This new league has had its issues- the LA, St. Louis, and Chicago teams have folded in the last two years. And this year, had magicjack not taken over the Washington franchise and been given permission to move them to Florida Atlantic as a home base, they might not be around.

But Atlanta's Beat version 2.0 is still giving it the college try. They had close to 3,000 for their season opener in a 4-1 loss to Boston, but roster overhauls will do that for you...

Evidence from owner Fitz Johnson and this interview with radio station WVEE-FM/V103


The key for the Beat and their counterparts, the Silverbacks ((both men and women)), is finding their niche. The Beat are housed in one of the fastest growing communities in the metro Atlanta area. It will be up to them to make sure the moms can take their families to a local environment and give daughters the appropriate role models. And that's where they're marketing at present...

The Silverbacks are in a stadium that they built for themselves in a part of Atlanta that is mainly Hispanic in population- and they populate the games- no question. The men are in the NASL version 2.0, and they play underneath Hispanic billboards with Hispanic sponsors and specifically-marketed products ((beer, etc.))


They had 3,500 announced in a 5,000 seat barn that used to be the site of an old drive-in movie theatre- the HQ used to go there growing up...

The Silverbacks main stumbling block is the two years they took off to regroup financially... even in a teriffic location...

Will people remember...???
That's the question for both...
We'll keep you posted with highlights all season long...

Charlie Davies Return To MLS

((HT: MLS/CSwashington/youtube))

There's some synergy here...
The day after the sentencing for the woman who wrecked Charlie Davies' car and keep him out of soccer for two years, Davies returned to the pitch for DC United...

The results are below and couldn't be any better...

Ibrahimovic Gets 3 Games

AC Milan forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been suspended for three games for punching Bari's Marco Rossi in the stomach and will miss the match against second-place Inter Milan on April 3rd.

Ibrahimovic was given a red card for hitting Rossi in the 73rd minute of last week's 1-1 tie.

Milan holds a five-point lead over Inter in the Italian league with nine matches remaining. Ibrahimovic also will miss matches against Palermo and Fiorentina.

Here's the punch...it's pretty sneaky...
((HT: Serie A/onetv1channel))

Soccer Streaker Gets His, Tackler Gets A Red

((HT: TopFootballCenter))

And for this, we take you to Jolly Ol' England...

A man wearing nothing but a bright green thong and a curly black wig ran onto the field during a low-level game in England acting the fool and not even looking like Borat in a game with Dorchester and an opponent called "Havant & Waterlooville."

Dorchester's player-manager Ashley Vickers tackled the guy, very Mike Curtis-like, and Vickers was the one who got the red card...

See if that makes any sense...
Here's the tackle... and it is awesome...


"The funny thing was the stewards actually thanked me for it," Vickers said afterwards. "But the ref decided to send me off."

Where's the justice in that...???

Dorchester, which plays in the sixth tier of English soccer, lost 3-1.

Once again, the HQ asks about the justice in that...

Owl-Kicker Gets 2 Game Suspension

((HT: youtube))

The soccer player who kicked an injured owl off the field during a match in Colombia has been suspended for two matches and fined the equivalent of $560.

Luis Moreno, a defender for Colombian club Deportivo Pereira, kicked the owl after the injured bird landed in a corner of the field.

Here's the kick that set off an entire owl-loving nation...


The owl died of shock 30 hours later despite treatment at a local veterinary clinic.

The owl served as the unofficial mascot for Colombian club Atletico Junior, which defeated Pereira 2-1 over the weekend. Moreno apologized and said he was only trying to get the bird off the field and did not know it was a team mascot.

By punting it... right...

"This animal was a symbol for the fans from Barranquilla," Colombian officials said in a statement. "Given that the aggressive act took place in their home stadium and in the clear view of all the fans, this act can be legitimately interpreted as provocative."

Moreno admitted since: "I have received threats."

The HQ wonders if anyone threatened to kick Moreno like that...

Belmont, Gay Soccer Coach Break It Off

((HT: WKRN-TV))

Belmont University in Nashville is looking for a new women's soccer coach following Lisa Howe's "departure" this week. The university said Howe did not resign from her employment nor was she dismissed.

"Rather, there was a mutual agreement that it would be in the best interests of both Coach Howe and the university for her to conclude her employment as coach," the statement read.

Howe's departure from the Christian-based university comes after she told school highers-up and the team she and her same-sex partner were having a baby.

Her former players never believed, and still don't believe, anything from the university claiming it was a "mutual agreement" on any level.

Christine Maddela is on campus and caught up with players from Howe's squad...


The statement from the University is hyah...

Yeah, this doesn't smell like a lawsuit or anything...

Portugal skunks North Korea...reaction forthcoming....

The only explanation for this is that there was a cell phone tower outage. You'll need to refer to this story we did last week on the North Korean soccer team CLICK HERE...to understand why we say this.

It's the only logical explanation...isn't it?

Portugal pretty much put North Korea out of their collective misery today, by beating them...7-0 and returning them to the past glory of their 105th ranking.

Here is a brief article (the only one we could find other than the 4-letter) from noted soccer website current-movie-reviews.com CLICK HERE

((One of seven celebrations in the game//Courtesy: Oleg Popov/CSMonitor.com))

The barrage took a few minutes. Portugal actually only led 1-0 at the half. That's why we think the cell phone thing is the only explanation. The Portuguese went all Man-o-war on them in the second half, scoring 6 goals, with a crazy goal by star Christiano Ronaldo and two from Tiago (of the one name only Tiago's).

We would say we shudder to think what fearless leader Kim-Jong Il (Al Davis) is going to do to the national team of North Korea after this, but really we don't. Of greater concern is what did the 1000 paid actors playing North Korea fans do for the whole game? As we all know, actors don't sit still very well. Though we guess if we think about this....hmmmm...that would explain why the only story we could find at 9:45am eastern was from a Movie web site. Okay, maybe there is a strange conspiracy here. If the cell phone outage story is true (we hope so...even if we did make it up), then perhaps there was a reason that North Korea forgot there was a second half....

The video here isn't great, but it is as close as we are going to get for highlights of the massacre right now. Hopefully the link will stay up. Watch from darrenmong101 and You Tube:

The French Soccer team....Insert joke here....

For those of you following the World Cup, you may have heard about the bit of "Internal" strife that has overtaken France's soccer team.

Not that the land of fine food and fine wine has played very well, they haven't. But....they are making a name for themselves, not for their fine "vino", rather there "Whine". In no short order, they've dismissed their best player, the captain had to be restrained from the coach and the team themselves boycotted practice on Sunday.

More on the rolling over of the soccer team from the Wall Street Journal RIGHT HERE

((Your 2010 French National Team//Courtesy: AFP/Getty Images))

The amount of jokes generated by their refusal to practice and arguing with the coach has even NBA Basketball players laughing. No, there isn't any truth to the rumor that Allen Iverson's comeback will be with the French either.

Maybe on the good side, they are almost through with the opening round matches and the team can go home. Heck, they'll have 4 more years to get it right. Sadly, at one time, they were one of the better international soccer teams. Now, just wait until Monday, when Jon Stewart, David Letterman and all the other comedians on TV get a hold of them.

Here they are losing to Mexico a few days ago. Enjoy the narration. Thanks You Tube:

The Swiss go all Neutral vs. Spain....

Who says that the World Cup can't have unfathomable upsets. Most who follow soccer and in particular the World Cup pegged the team from Spain as the favorites. The guys who in the end would be your World Cup champions.

Well, that might not happen now. You see, the Spanish guys forgot that they needed to take care of business. They got beat. They got beat...by Switzerland, 1-0. Yes, that's right. The country known mostly for cheese, Roger Federer and their neutrality.

The only goal of the game. Scored in the 52nd minute by Gelson Fernandes. The Spaniards, they got nothing. No goal. No 2 points. And now no undefeated streak against the Swiss either.

For your game summary, we give you the Miami Herald RIGHT HERE

And for your video highlights, instead of the blathering on ESPN, we give you TECHNO-HIGHLIGHTS. Courtesy of the You Tube:

USA-England Lego Style

As Team USA prepares for its game against Slovenia, everyone is playing the USA-England game over and over in their minds and in their toy sets...

Like Legos...
Here's a representation of the game- and the tournament's seminal moment through the eyes of our friends at leedsunitedninetytwo and The Guardian
((HT: legofussball.eu))


Good to know the result didn't change...
Absolutely gorgeous...

The Buffalo Blitzers... No Joke...

FC Buffalo is one of those new soccer teams out there, and the HQ won't lie, there's a little bit of World Cup Fever going on in anticipation of the event in South Africa.

They were having a contest to determine their nickname... an online poll... all that stuff that would make a good impact...

Here's one of the finalists before the name was made official...
((HT: CNN/Jere614))


Here's their website, and we can't wait for the mascot unveiling...