Not surprisingly the pace of transfer and loan moves has accelerated in the last forty-eight hours. If the story is confirmed by the Hammers then pride of place has to go to West Ham who looked to have pulled off the biggest double move since Ossie Ardilles and Ricardo Villa moved to Spurs after the 1978 World Cup. It is being reported that Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano are to move to Upton Park on a season long loan with an option to make permanent. No one saw this one coming - an absolute stunner.
Some other moves that have been confirmed.
Ricardo Oliveira from Real Betis to Milan with Johann Vogel moving in the opposite direction.
Juan Pablo Sorin to Hamburg from Villarreal.
Andy Cole joins English club number 8 as he leaves Manchester City for Portsmouth. Harry Rednapp seems intent on building football's version of Dad's Army at Fratton Park.
Jonathon Woodgate on loan to Boro from Real Madrid.
Steed Malbranque - Fulham to Spurs with Wayne Routledge on loan to Fulham for a season.
Tommy Smith from Derby County and returns to Watford.
Nacho Novo to Coventry, from Rangers
Rangers have signed Sasa Papac from Austria Vienna
Aberdeen has let Stevie Crawford move back to Dunfermline.
Dwight Yorke to Sunderland from Sydney FC.
Some deals rumoured to still be in the works at 9:30EST
Chelsea and something big - yes bigger than Robert Huth to Boro from Chelsea.
Jose Antonio Reyes and Julio Baptista swithching clubs (Arsenal / Real Madrid)
Kevin Kilbane - Everton to Wigan
Graham Kavanaugh - Wigan to Roy Keane's Sunderland
Damarcus Beasley from PSV to Manchester City (consider this one as unsubstantiated)
James Milner to Aston Villa from Newcastle
Patrick Kluivert to PSV from Valencia.
Florent Sinama Pongolle on loan to Recreativo de Huelva from Liverpool.
Highly speculative.
Ronaldo from Real Madrid to Inter Milan with Adriano going in the opposite direction.
Ivan Helguera and Roberto Ayala a swap between Real Madrid and Valencia.
Sepp Blatter thinks that this is the best ever World Cup – but there again he would.
Meanwhile a number of columnists, commentators, and bloggers have already taken this World Cup to the garbage dump. Maybe it is premature either way given that we are only at the quarter final stage.
My first vivid memories of a World Cup was 1966 and here is how I would rate the past editions (best to worst):
1974 - Memories - The Dutch and Cruyff.
Outstanding games - Brazil vs. Scotland, Poland vs. Argentina, Netherlands vs. Argentina, West Germany vs. Sweden, West Germany vs. Netherlands.
1986 - Memories – Maradona, Peter Beardsley.
Outstanding games - Denmark vs. Uruguay, Denmark vs. Spain, England vs. Poland, Denmark vs. Spain, Argentina vs. England, Brazil vs. France, Argentina vs. W. Germany
1970 - Memories – Brazil, Bobby Moore, Uwe Seeler, the first British TV panel of experts on ITV.
Outstanding games - England vs. Brazil, W. Germany vs. England, W. Germany vs. Italy, Brazil vs. Peru.
1982 – Memories – Northern Ireland, the French midfield, Paulo Rossi, Falcao.
Outstanding games – England vs. France, Northern Ireland vs. Spain, Brazil vs. Scotland, Italy vs. Brazil, W. Germany vs. France.
1966 - Memories – North Koreans, Eusebio, Beckenbauer and Geoff Hurst.
Outstanding games W. Germany vs. Switzerland, Portugal vs. Hungary, Portugal vs. Brazil, North Korea vs. Italy, Portugal vs. North Korea, England vs. West Germany
2002 – Memories – South Korean fans, Oliver Kahn, and Ronaldo.
Outstanding games – France vs. Senegal, Senegal vs. Uruguay, Costa Rica vs. Brazil, Argentina vs. England, USA vs. Mexico, South Korea vs. Italy, England vs. Brazil.
1994 - Memories – Romario and George Haghi.
Outstanding games - USA vs. Colombia, Spain vs. South Korea, Nigeria vs. Bulgaria, Bulgaria vs. W. Germany.
1998 – Memories – Laurent Blanc, Marcel Desaily, Dennis Bergkamp.
Outstanding games – Nigeria vs. Denmark, Argentina vs, England, Netherlands vs. Argentina, Brazil vs. Netherlands, France vs. Brazil.
1978 - Memories - Ossie Ardilles, Mario Kempes and Leopoldo Luque.
Outstanding games - Italy vs. France, Italy vs. Argentina, Sweden vs. Brazil, Netherlands vs. Scotland, Netherlands vs. Italy.
1990 – Cameroon and Group F (F for frigging awful, 7 goals in 6 games).
Outstanding games – W. Germany vs. Netherlands, Republic of Ireland vs. Romania, England vs. Cameroon.
Henry Winter says that Alan Shearer will be Steve McClaren’s assistant.
Argentine World Cup winner Ossi Ardilles believes it is time to drop David Beckham. An idea that I think is absolutely daft but perhaps more on that later.
I am the soccer analyst for the Fox Soccer Report and appear twice a week - every Monday and Friday at 10:00 EST. I have also been a regular contributor to the Fox Soccer Channel website since the summer of 2004. Over the last twenty years I have contributed to various radio and television programs throughout North America as well writing about the game for newspapers, magazines and websites.
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