There Is Only One Sinnacle

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

No Manchester United vs Real Madrid but Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Samuel Eto’o will make a highly anticipated return to their former clubs. Below are the complete group listings.

Group A

Bayern Munich
Juventus
Bordeaux
Maccabi Haifa

Group B

Manchester United
CSKA Moscow
Besiktas
VfL Wolfsburg

Group C

AC Milan
Real Madrid
Marseille
FC Zurich

Group D

Chelsea
FC Porto
Atletico Madrid
APOEL

Group E

Liverpool
Lyon
Fiorentina
Debreceni

Group F

Barcelona
Inter Milan
Dynamo Kiev
FC Rubin Kazan

Group G

FC Sevilla
Rangers
VfB Stuttgart
Unirea Urziceni

Group H

Arsenal
AZ Alkmaar
Olympiakos
Standard Liege

Do or die time now for Portugal as they go up against group leaders Denmark on the road then four days later they play Hungary on Sept 9th. Portugal needs to take 4 points out of these two games to even have a faint lifeline. Anything less than that and it will be a long depressing summer for me in 2010.

Interesting to see Maniche make his way back into the Portugal squad after spending the majority of the last two years on the sidelines. In a desperate move given their shocking lack of goals during World Cup Qualifying, Brazilian forward Liedson who plays for Sporting has been called up to the national squad after acquiring Portuguese citizenship last month. No pressure there for Liedson considering the importance of these games and the fact some of the national team will not welcome his arrival.

Goaltenders: Eduardo (Braga), Beto (FC Porto), Rui Patricio (Sporting)

Defenders: Pepe (Real Madrid), Bosingwa (Chelsea), Miguel (Valencia), Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea), Bruno Alves (FC Porto), Rolando (FC Porto), Jose Castro (Deportivo)

Midfielders: Deco (Chelsea), Tiago (Juventus), Raul Meireles (FC Porto), Veloso (Sporting), Joao Moutinho (Sporting), Maniche (Cologne), Duda (Sevilla)

Forwards: C. Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Nani (Man United), Liedson (Sporting), Nuno Gomes (Benfica), Simao (A. Madrid)

Robben to head to Munich for Bayern medical?

The Dutchman is believed to be on his way to Munich on Thursday to undergo a medical and sign a contract in a deal worth in the region of €25m after Bayern general manager Uli Hoeness reportedly flew to Madrid on Wednesday for talks with Real president Florentino Perez.

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Some people are already saying this Robben deal makes way for the bigger transfer of Franck Ribery to Real Madrid next summer. Don’t exactly pay into this theory. With Bayern Munich having yet to win this season it’s more likely Bayern Munich have decided to spend the cash to sign Robben in order to reverse their slow start to the season.

Bayern offer free beer to suffering fans

The Bavarian club are to give away more than 7,000 litres of beer before the game as part of a sponsorship deal with a Munich-based brewery. The same deal also saw the players and coach Louis van Gaal dress up in traditional Bavarian costume, including lederhosen, for a photo shoot this week.

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Well this is quite the interesting story. Also a unique way to get the fans back on board. I’m sure both club and fans wish Bayern Munich would of won at least two out of the first three games this season however.

Everton have been knocked back in their efforts to replace Joleon Lescott with Benfica’s Brazilian central defender Luisao. (Portuguese media)

Mentioned in my Lescott post that English players are like Cuban baseball players, overvalued based on geography. Here you have Luisao who is a Brazilian international yet like Lescott as an English international neither are in the starting eleven. Luisao could be had for nearly half the fee Everton got for Lescott however.

Middlesbrough defender Robert Huth is set to join Stoke for £6m. (Sky Sports news)

Considering Stoke were not able to sign James Collins from West Ham, Robert Huth would make a great fall back option.

Ipswich manager Roy Keane is to raid his former club for four players with Carlos Edwards, Grant Leadbitter, Daryl Murphy and Nyron Nosworthy set to leave Sunderland. The Mirror

Considering Roy Keane hasn’t had the best of starts with Ipswich as they have yet to win a game this season it’s doesn’t shock me if Keane pushes the panic button.

Striker Andriy Shevchenko finally looks set to leave Chelsea after he was left out of their Champions League squad. The Mirror

Must admit did take it with a grain of salt when Carlo Ancelotti said last week that Shevchenko still has a role to play.

Chelsea are set to re-ignite their interest in Feyenoord forward Jonathan de Guzman. The Mirror

His two goal performance on the weekend against Roda JC didn’t hurt.

Bolton have launched a bid to re-sign midfielder Kevin Nolan from Newcastle United. The Mirror

Or Bolton has launched a bid to re-sign Kevin Nolan on loan depending on who you believe. Even if he is currently playing in the Championship not so sure Nolan will want to go back to Bolton considering they got rid of him in January.

Birmingham are set to sign Middlesbrough forward Tuncay for £5m. (Daily Mail)

Been surprised with only a couple days left in the transfer window Tuncay is still playing in the Championship. There are a lot of first division clubs across Europe who can use his services.

Former England manager Glenn Hoddle believes David Beckham should pursue a move to Chelsea to keep alive his dream of playing at next year’s World Cup. Daily Star

Beckham has just as much of a chance to play in the World Cup going to A.C Milan. The reality of it is anywhere but Los Angeles should be enough for Fabio Capello to pick him next summer.

With the Champions League drawing talking place tomorrow below are the seeding for the group stages. A couple of notes two teams in the same country can not be in the same group. You won’t be seeing Manchester United vs Liverpool in the same group. Also the bracket will be set up so that two English teams will play in the Tuesday grouping of games and the other two Wednesday.

First seeds

Barcelona
Liverpool
Chelsea
Manchester United
AC Milan
Arsenal
Sevilla
Bayern Munich

Second Seeds

Lyon
Inter
Real Madrid
CSKA Moscow
FC Porto
AZ Alkmaar
Juventus
Rangers

Third Seeds

Olympiakos
Marseille
Dinamo Kiev
VfB Stuttgart
Fiorentina
Atletico Madrid
Bordeaux
Besiktas

Fourth Seeds

VfL Wolfsburg
Standard Liege
Maccabi Haifa
FC Zurich
Rubin Kazan
Unirea Urziceni
APOEL Nicosia
Debrecen

Baptista agent in talks with Mourinho’s Inter

The former Arsenal forward is out of favour with Luciano Spalletti’s Roma and there has been speculation over a possible deal with Inter.

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The first thing Inter fans would be thinking is that any move for Baptista goes better then the last time they purchased a player from Roma. That being Mancini. Could see why Mourinho may like Baptista who scores big goals in big games but usually when an agent floats a rumour it’s mainly due to him trying to drum up interest in his player.

Minutes after I wrote news news is breaking that Wesley Sneijder has indeed signed for Inter. Considering the yo-yo natural of his transfer saga I’ll believe when I see him in an Inter uniform.

Pavel Nedved Confirms Retirement From Football

The former Juventus midfielder has decided he will no longer continue as a footballer as he announces his retirement from pitch activity on his official website…

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Part of me is sad Nedved didn’t come state side to play for an MLS side team. Despite that at the end of the day couldn’t see Nedved wearing another jersey after playing for Juventus for so long. Glad to see Nedved seems comfortable with this decision as he left the game on his own terms.

Spartak Moscow are willing to pay Tottenham £10m to take striker Roman Pavlyuchenko back to Russia. (Press Association, 1617 BST)

Pavlyuchenko and his agent should not of waited until the final week to express his desire to leave. Pavlyuchenko should of read the tea leaves when Harry Redknapp purchased Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane and Peter Crouch in the last six months.

Aston Villa confirm they are in discussions with Blackburn over defender Stephen Warnock. (1307 BST)
Full story: www.avfc.co.uk

Blackburn and Tottenham agree a fee in excess of £2m for Spurs full-back Pascal Chimbonda. (Sky Sports News, 1120 BST)

Never been the biggest fan of Chimbonda but if I’m running a club who counts it’s pennies like Blackburn I’d be happy selling Warnock for £8-10 million, buying Chimbonda for £2 million and pocketing the rest for a rainy day.

Everton are set to pip Aston Villa to the £5m signing of Portsmouth defender Sylvain Distin. The Sun

£5 million for a player about to turn 32 before the end of the year isn’t the worst piece of business ever done.

Villa have agreed a £6m fee to sign Manchester City centre-half Richard Dunne. Daily Mail

With Lescott on his way the rumours of Dunne’s departure will increase. Could see Villa signing Distin or Dunne but not both of them which is way Everton may pip them.

Manchester United will launch a deadline-day bid to sign former Chelsea winger Arjen Robben from Real Madrid. The Sun

Don’t know if Robben would be happy moving back to England. He may not start right away for Real Madrid but he is one of those players who can fight of his place on the team. Stranger things have happen on deadline day but just don’t see Robben becoming a Manchester United player.

Arsene Wenger believes the impressive form of defender William Gallas proves the Arsenal manager was right to strip his fellow Frenchman of the captaincy last season. The Sun

Why didn’t Gallas get lucky goals right away once the captaincy was stripped instead of it happening the next season then? Or you can say giving Gallas the captaincy to begin with was the wrong move.

Manchester United striker Michael Owen is set to miss out on a place in England’s squad for the forthcoming friendly against Slovenia and the World Cup qualifier against Croatia after failing to impress the coach of his national side Fabio Capello. The Sun

Michael Owen has a long hill to climb if he even wants to earn a seat on the bench to watch the England team play next summer.

United have opened negotiations with Park Ji-Sung over a new four-year contract worth £65,000 a week . Daily Telegraph

Park Ji-Sung should close negotiations right away and put pen to paper on that contract is United is offering him £65,000 a week.

Lescott completes Man City move

Lescott completed his medical and agreed personal terms on Monday after City had a bid, reportedly worth £22m, accepted by Everton on Sunday but there was a brief delay to the England star’s transfer going through as a minor wrangle was resolved.

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Two ways you can look at the whole drawn out Joleon Lescott transfer saga. One is David Moyes gambled and lost hoping he could convince Lescott to stay. All you need to do is look at the start Tottenham had last season when it was clear Dimitar Berbatov wanted to play for Manchester United yet only came to its conclusion on the final day of the process. In the process Tottenham never got out of the gate to start the season and it was only until the new year when Tottenham pulled themselves out of the regulation places. On the other hand if you are an Everton supporter you can make the claim by Moyes dragging it on he was able to increase the price Manchester City paid for Lescott.

When rumours of a Lescott to City switch became public the figure quoted was £15 million, then £18 million, after that £20 million and finally £22-24 million depending on which paper you read? £24 million for Joleon Lescott? English football players are like Cuban baseball players, over valued purely based on geography. It was only five years ago Manchester United paid £25 million for Wayne Rooney and he was a sure thing. Now £22 million buys a player who can’t crack the England starting eleven. Lescott is a fine defender and lucky for him, he won’t need to defend the over the market transfer fee paid considering the other big money purchases Manchester City made. All Lescott needs to do is clear his lines and chip in a few goals up front from set pieces to be adored by Manchester City fans.

For the few people who may not know who Bill Simmons is he’s a highly influential writer and all around ESPN personality. Judging from the 650000 twitter follows he is an immense voice in the U.S sporting landscape which even his detractors must admit.

After giving soccer a brief fling during the 2006 World Cup and even writing a great article about picking an EPL Team. Sadly it was not to last as Bill Simmons interest in soccer took a back seat to family matters until this past summer.

Thanks to the U.S run in the Confederations Cup it appears his candle has been rekindled towards soccer. Simmons has already mentioned the allure of watching soccer in HD and even going to Mexico to pen an article about his experience watching the U.S-Mexico world cup match at the Azteca stadium. Right at this moment I’m listening to his B.S report podcast talking soccer with Alexi Lalas

Minus the jersey sales this is almost as bigger then David Beckham’s arrival in the United States. Here you have a columnist read by millions displaying an interest in the game, something rare with U.S sports columnists. It’s about time as far as I’m concerned. The big difference now between soccer’s growth today and previously where there was always this promise of a soccer explosion which never came to pass is television coverage. If it wasn’t a World Cup highlight the only soccer clip you’d see is something stereotypical like Dida’s dive against Celtic, Rivaldo grabbing his face when it’s clear the ball didn’t come close to touching him and crowd violence.

Now you catch a handful of EPL and Champions League games with most cable packages. Anyone who would have an open mind towards soccer can judge for themselves by being able to catch many of the biggest games on TV. Once you catch a game in HD and see two teams of the highest quality play with the passion which soccer can offer it’s something no sport can match.

David Beckham brought more publicity than American soccer could ever dream of but Bill Simmons may start a trend soccer in the United States has long been seeking. Respect.