Village Idiot

That's unfair. I wasn't the only one who said that

Second shortest in the tournament, beaten only by you know who. Us?

Come, just one more and will have as many disallowed goals as proper ones in the WC so far.

Eto'o

I'm not Ghanaian, just so you know.

Pretty sure he's said it before. Or that he was African at the very least.

Like Mole said though, I think he should've been playing further up the pitch. He will. For us.

http://www.fcbarcelona.com/football/first-team/detail/article/cesc-fabregas-three-years-in-numbers That's always been the main criticism he's faced here. If he kept his performance throughout the season, he'd been one of the world's best, but he always went missing at the business end of the season, when we needed him most. Still not sure about letting him go, mind.

Just to make Kaka feel a little bit more miserable. FIFA mixed up Nigeria's flag with Niger's during the opening.

Bernard, loved this fella the few times I've seen him play.

It's like they've actively avoided passing to him. They'd do the same with Hulk but he would chokeslam them.

Man, Hulk is such an oaf.

Oscar's being Brazil's best. I hope he leaves Chelsea now that Cesc () is there.

Marcelo

Wasn't aware Eduardo was still alive.

Heh, Wonga sponsors the Spanish WC broadcast.

You yanks will be my #2 team in this. Can't wait. http://i.imgur.com/RHLlLJ6.gif

Mourinho and Costa together is like a master-apprentice Sith duo.

Football is proper nuts, it's never "You earn £50k a week, we'll off £70k", it's always "You earn £50k a week, will £130k persuade you? Reminds me of the Leeds Seth Johnsons story or even us offering £16m for Owen when Liverpool wouldn't budge over £8m. There never seems to be a middle ground I posed the question earlier though is this figure not pre-tax?... If paying 50% tax in UK (in theory) or very little in Spain then to get your pay rise the figure needs to be substantial... Tax rate in Spain is 52% now according to this article. http://money.uk.msn.com/features/how-much-tax-do-the-world%E2%80%99s-best-footballers-pay Football is proper nuts, it's never "You earn £50k a week, we'll off £70k", it's always "You earn £50k a week, will £130k persuade you? Reminds me of the Leeds Seth Johnsons story or even us offering £16m for Owen when Liverpool wouldn't budge over £8m. There never seems to be a middle ground I posed the question earlier though is this figure not pre-tax?... If paying 50% tax in UK (in theory) or very little in Spain then to get your pay rise the figure needs to be substantial... Tax rate in Spain is 52% now according to this article. http://money.uk.msn.com/features/how-much-tax-do-the-world%E2%80%99s-best-footballers-pay Then I'm clearly talking s***... There was a tax-cut available to foreign-born footballers (and thus Fábregas wouldn't have been eligible) that was removed when the sovereign debt crisis began. It halved the taxes those footballers paid. Cronaldo for example was benefiting from it until he signed his new contract, since his old one had been grandfathered. The tax cut was aimed to attract foreign managers to Spanish companies and make them more competitive, it ended up being used to bring in rich footballers

Have in mind that this is La Liga, not the PL. Every season two CL spots are up for grabs to any team that does things well, and if Simeone's Atlético can stake a claim to one of these spots on a consistent basis, it will be a great platform to develop the club.

To be honest, if this helps save the club from financial ruin, it won't be too bad. They really need money. I think they probably can afford to keep Koke now, though.

I like Rakitic a lot, but not sure it'll make up for Cesc leaving

It's sad man, the MLS is barely acceptable, but he has no business being in the Australian league. That horrific leg injury hastened his decline, sadly.

Villa will play for Melbourne to keep sharp until New York City's debut in the MLS next year. Yes, the Australian league.

We gotta have one of the worst transfer records around among big clubs. We've been bailed out by our academy*, really. Anyway, I'm off to bang my head again. *Although we've become able to screw this up too. See Thiago.