Moussa Sissoko: France’s next Patrick Vieira?

Last year, not many people heard of Toulouse’s prospect Moussa Sissoko. And, so far this year, very few people have heard of him outside the Ligue 1 circles. If you were able to watch the last two World Cup qualifying matches against Austria and the Faroe Islands, you might understand what all the talk is about.

When watching Sissoko, you can see shades of Patrick Vieira, a skillful box-to-box player. He has the offensive talent to put the ball in the back of the net, like he has done four times this season for Toulouse already. He also has a nack for falling back and playing more of a defensive role, which was originally his role with the Toulouse youth team.

A few weeks ago, I said that I felt that Franck Ribery wasn’t being played as much in the French lineup because of the new type of style that Raymond Domenech is playing (with or without injury). As of right now, there is no need for a central attacking midfielder, as Sidney Govou and Thierry Henry have done a great job on the flanks.

USL/TOA Saga……the Latest

As our friend Brian Quarstad at Inside Minnesota Soccer reported yesterday, posturing and retractions were the items of the day.

Here is what I can report today:

The inevitability around a breakaway league is building. But not all eight clubs that were on the initial TOA release are guaranteed to split from USL and join a new league.  Also, the possibility of more current USL-1, USL-2 or PDL sides joining a new TOA league is still in play.

I am told though that Vancouver and Miami in particular have already begun preparing for the inevitability of a new league. The dueling press statement of yesterday would confirm what I have learned about the Whitecaps even if they tried to walk it back slightly later in the day.

A new league could be strong because of the markets represented, if the TOA can keep each of the eight markets on the initial press release of August 31st. Miami and Atlanta are both top 10 US metropolitan areas, while Montreal and Vancouver are the 2nd and 3rd largest metro areas in Canada. Tampa, St Louis and Minnesota also represent top 25 metropolitan areas in the US. The TOA markets have great potential TV upside, something I have been assured the owners seek to exploit.

If the USL loses Miami, Montreal and Vancouver, it’s largest remaining exclusive market would be Cleveland. (Keep in mind USL-1 will be in New York city next year but that is a shared market with MLS)  However, the USL may move a PDL or USL-2 team from similarly large or even larger markets up to the First Division to replace the outgoing teams.

I can also report that MLS Commissioner Don Garber has played a supportive role in the TOA’s attempts to have their grievances dealt with favorably by the USSF. I am told Garber was perfectly objective in the “summit” meeting called by Sunil Gulati earlier this month, but left the meetings persuaded by the TOA point of view.

Rumors have been abound in the last few days that the TOA is setting up to either be MLS2 or a new MLS Reserve League. The indications I have been given would rule this possibility out for next season, although with Garber now taking an active interest in the TOA’s dispute with USL, some sort of working relationship between a new league and MLS seems likely.

 

The NFL in London: Eye Opener

I grew up with the NFL. So obsessed with the league was I as a kid, that I had wallpaper with the then 28 NFL helmets and cried in my third grade class the day the 1982 players strike began.

But, today I could not even name half the coaches or starting QBs in the NFL. The same goes for my ignorance of Major League Baseball and the NBA. My sporting life is dominated by World Football (what many Americans call Soccer) and College sports. College athletics contains the fan passion, traveling supporters and ruckus crowds that make World Football so appealing. From my vantage point, American Professional sports are sanitized games for the elite in society, much like Cricket is in the UK, and where the Premier League may be heading. This personally, does not appeal to me.

I happened to be in London this weekend, not because the NFL was in town (in fact I did not know the NFL was in town until arriving) but to cover the other football, and more specifically the Premier League for EPL Talk.com.

What struck me about the coverage of the NFL at Wembley was that the British press treated it, the way the American press treats the sport called Soccer in North America. Ignoring the large numbers of fans who are interested in the NFL, mostly from outside London (something I will touch upon shortly), the sports pages of the Independent and Guardian, my two preferred British papers (because I am a liberal and those are the two papers I read.) reduced the NFL game to a small pre game story on Sunday and a photo spread towards the back of the sports section on Monday.

Much like the way US qualifiers that get more viewers than mainstream American sports are handled in the local press stateside, the British press seemed to want to relegate what was perceived a foreign invasion to the back pages. Since much of my perspective on the relative popularity of sports comes from reading the foreign papers, and seeing what is on TV when I travel (The EPL, La Liga and NBA are far and away the biggest worldwide sporting leagues from what I have gathered,) I simply assumed every NFL fan attending the Wembley game would be from the states.

Manchester City 5:1 Scunthorpe – Post Match Reaction

Viewed within the context of the pathetic recent history of City in the League Cup, this year’s run and especially tonight’s victory are remarkable. Also from a squad building perspective this was an important match. Tonight saw Roque Santa Cruz open his Manchester City account, Sylvinhio get a run out, Vladimir Weiss play a key role late, and Benjani return to the pitch after months of injury.

Continue Reading at Man City Blog

Turkish Cup – Turkish Cup gets a new name.

The Turkish Football Federation announced on October 27th that the Turkish Cup would be getting new sponsorship.  It was also announced that broadcasting rights were won by another television network.  Ziraat Bank will be the new sponsor of the now named Ziraat Turkish Cup (formerly the Fortis Turkish Cup) for at least the next two years.  It is reported that Ziraat Bank paid $34.2 million for the naming rights, which will be distributed to the participating clubs.  State television network TRT (Turkish Radio and Television) now have the rights to broadcast Turkish Cup games, making the cup matches available for free to the general public for the first time in 20 years.  It was also announced that the number of teams participating in the Turkish Cup was increased from 54 to 71 clubs.

Manchester United’s London Support: Entitlement Oriented?

As our readers are aware, I was in the United Kingdom the past few days and got an opportunity to take in as much of the football culture as I possibly could (although American Football coming to London affected it somewhat- more on that later this week.)

With Liverpool-Manchester United taking place, the ultimate derby in English football, I could scarcely think of a better weekend to be in London.

Turkcell Super League – Week 10 – The Fenerbahce-Galatasaray derby

Considered one of the great derbies in the world, the Fenerbahçe vs. Galatasaray derby had its 361^st meeting between the two top clubs in the history of Turkish football.  The match would have great implications for both teams.  Fenerbahçe looked to consolidate its position at the top of the table.  Galatasaray looked to leapfrog Fenerbahçe for the top of the table in the Turkcell Super League.  The match took place at Fenerbahçe’s Sukru Saracoglu stadium, where Galatasaray has not won in nine years.

French transfer news: October 25th

Vieria heading back to east London?

As was posted on here a few days ago with Franck Ribery, the transfer market talk is already starting up.

Update on the Ribery situation, Sky Sports reports that Robinho is no longer being target by Barcelona. That is according to the Spanish club itself.

Manchester City manager Mark Hughes gave Barca a ‘hands off’ warning in regards to Robinho back in the summer. And Barca say that they have not worked with Man City on any offer for the Brazilian since that warning. And according to Sky Sports, Hughes insists that Man City still have no intention on moving the striker, even though Robinho said to the press recently that he would like to see a move to Barcelona.

This gives more meat to the report that Franck Ribery is looking more toward a transfer to a Spanish club. Barcelona have already stated that they are interested in Ribery, trying to beat Real Madrid to the Frenchman.

Toulouse FC-FC Shakhtar Donetsk Preview

From my Toulouse FC Blog.

After an impressive win against Paris Saint-Germain at the Stadium Municipal on Sunday, Toulouse look to take their winning ways to The Ukraine to take on current UEFA Cup holders FC Shakhtar Donetsk in their first ever meeting.

UEFA Champions League – Beşiktaş looks like they have life.

Beşiktaş had their UEFA Champions League dreams look like a nightmare, at least in the first two games.  Although they had played well against Manchester United, and were average against CSKA Moscow, they could not find ways to win, or even get a draw.  The Black Eagles travelled up to Germany to take on defending champions of the Bundesliga, VfL Wolfsburg.  It looked like a mismatch, considering that when Wolfsburg was in pot 4 of the Champions League draw, they were the team everyone wanted to avoid.  It wouldn’t quite turn out that way.