The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

1:06 PM Unknown 0 Comments

Thank you to my friend Parsa Salehi for contributing to my blog this week. Enjoy his post, and please leave comments as you like!

July, the start of a wonderful time for football fans, where clubs are on the hunt for some of the world's most talented players. Some of these players are highly sought after, while many are nobodies trying to get picked up by a first division side.
   However, with every window comes a saga, that, no matter how hard you try, cannot go away, as professionals are always trying to bring money into their own pockets. A prime example of this lies in last summer's "Arturo Vidal to Manchester United" saga, which got annoying.
   Without further ado, here are some of the transfer sagas to look at over the course of the summer.
  • MANCHESTER UNITED- It isn't a transfer window these days without the daily star and the metro reporting about possible Man Utd transfers, now is it? One day the papers will report that De Gea has said goodbye and the next, it will say that he is staying. Honestly, as a United fan, these rumors make me sick and I want clarification regarding the spaniards future. Reports have recently emerged that De Gea will stay at the old trafford based club, as long as Iker Casillas is at the club. But, should these rumors like all others be false, United need a plan. They can either stick with Valdes, who is still a fantastic keeper, and showed exactly that against Hull in the drab 0-0 draw, or sign a keeper looking for Champions League football: Hugo Lloris. The 29 year old Frenchman has been a pivotal player in Spurs season, keeping them in many games, with the standout being against United in December. He would be a fantastic player to have, as he is a leader, and is a very vocal player. The cameras will be on Louis Van Gaal during the summer to see how he does his deals.
  • PAUL POGBA- The former Manchester United prodigy is being hunted by every big team in the world after yet another fantastic season for Juventus, in which he totaled 10 goals and 6 assists for the Old lady in all competitions. But it's not just his godly long range strikes or his pinpoint passing(which has an average accuracy of 83.9%), it is his large body and silky footwork that makes him so dangerous. Pogba completed an average of 2.6 dribbles a game, which makes him hard to stop. Pogba has been linked with Barcelona more recently, but with the current Treble winners receiving a ban until 2016 that prevents them from buying players, Pogba's best bet would be moving to Real Madrid. He would easily fit into an ageing and injury-prone midfield, especially with Luka Modric turning thirty in a couple months. This saga will be one to watch, with the frenchmans future laying in the hands of paying suitors.
  • ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC- Call it a saga if you would like, but Ibra has been linked with a return to Milan, or to experience the Premier League with Arsenal. In my honest opinion, Arsenal would not be the greatest option for Zlatan. While it is true that the gunners need a dynamic striker that brings back the deadly finishing of Robin Van Persie(who I will cover later), they have a pretty deadly strike force, with Giroud, Welbeck, and Walcott all fighting for the number 9 spot on Arsene Wegner's team. Comparing Zlatan this season to Giroud, Zlatan offers much more in the goals department, with 29 goals compared to Giroud's 19 in all competitions. However, with Arsenals current system having the two wingers play almost as strikers, the big Frenchman is a better support player, with 3.9 aerial duels won per game compared to Zlatan's 2.3. In addition to that, Zlatan is almost 34, while Giroud is almost 29. Big difference. Milan need the swede to help them regain some much needed confidence and to help put them back as one of the biggest clubs in football.
  • ROBIN VAN PERSIE- As a Manchester United fan, losing Robin Van Persie would sadden me. Although he had a relatively poor season, only scoring 10 goals, creating 2 ,throughout and missing some clear-cut chances(West Brom at home), Van Persie is still a very important player. He has popped up with some vital goals that has saved United points, like in the games against Chelsea and Southampton. Lazio's sporting director has reportedly cooled speculation linking Van Persie with the Rome-based club, but a move to the Serie A would do him well. Louis Van Gaal needs a twenty-goal-a-season striker and, unfortunately, Robin Van Persie doesn't quite fit the bill.(I still remember the day I heard we signed him).
    Well, with many weeks left until the window shuts, there will be many ups and downs in every saga. There are some special sagas that do need recognition:
  • Kevin De Bruyne- Manchester City and Manchester United
  • Petr Cech-Arsenal and Manchester United
  • Patrick Bamford-Newcastle and Sunderland
  • Raheem Sterling-Real Madrid, Manchester United, and Manchester City
  • Arturo Vidal-Arsenal
  • Ïlkay Gündogan-Manchester United, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich
  • Bastian Schweinsteiger- Manchester United

    I would like to thank Cameran Alavi for allowing me to write for his blog. Follow his blog on Twitter @FightingBlog, and also check me out on Twitter(@Parsa_Salehi10) and on my blog(thetitlerace).

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Twinsies, Pt. 2

6:15 PM Unknown 0 Comments

About a year ago, I began noticing that a lot of my favorite footballers looked a lot like my favorite celebrities, so I wrote a blog post about it. Since then, I have discovered many more, and decided to share them with you. Enjoy!

1. Chicharito & Bruno Mars (singer)


2. Michael Ballack & Matt Damon (actor)



3. Karim Benzema & Shia LaBeouf



4. David Luiz & Sideshow Bob (animated character)



5. Lukasz Fabianski & Matt LeBlanc (actor)



6. Joe Hart & James van der Beek (actor)



7. Niko Kovac and Joseph Gordon-Levitt



8. Andrea Pirlo & Sandor Clegane (actor)



9. Sami Khedira & Sacha Baron Cohen (actor)



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A Deserved Winner?

4:10 PM Unknown 1 Comments

As much as I hate to say it, Barcelona has been the best team in world football this season. Yesterday, they reiterated this claim with a relatively comfortable victory in the Champions League final against Juventus. 

Lionel Messi, not even 28 years old yet, had an incredible season, as we have all come to expect (he is pictured below with his adorable son, Thiago, and the Champions League trophy). Gerard Pique, somehow not getting distracted by his gorgeous wife and kids, led the Barça defense to its best season in a decade. Last but not least, Luis Suarez had an immaculate first season at the Camp Nou, and teamed up brilliantly with Neymar and Messi to form an attack that could even scare Chuck Norris.

But here's my question: Supreme talent level aside, did Barcelona truly deserve the title?

I would have to say no. In the same way that FIFA has tarnished the sport, Barça's antics have tarnished the sport. Growing up in a country where even a young boy crying for too long is frowned upon, maybe I don't truly understand why these grown men insist on constantly whining and complaining, but for me, it reflects badly on the entire game of soccer. Any time this season I had the displeasure of watching a Barcelona game in which they were in the lead, the last 15 minutes were always an absolute struggle to watch. With every little contact, the Barça players would fall down screaming and rolling around. With every opportunity, they would all circle around the referee like sharks who smelled blood, sometimes even bumping him or putting their hands on him (if you want to nit-pick, the team captain is technically the only one that's allowed to speak to the referee, but I digress). In general, it is just embarrassing to watch as a die-hard supporter of the sport.

Don't get me wrong, I completely understand the importance of diving to the ground and how it can be used as a legitimate strategy to draw fouls, but the rolling, arm flailing, begging, and verbal abuse is an absolute disgrace. 

And the Champions League final showcased more of these Catalonian catastrophes. Imagine you are a huge baseball fan. You've never watched a game of soccer in your life, and you think it's such a stupid, girly sport. Now imagine you tune into Barcelona/Juventus at about the 70-minute mark. What do you see? Aside from Neymar's late goal, there is no beautiful soccer being played while you're watching. All you see is Dani Alves, Luis Suarez and co. rolling around on the ground, and you're thinking to yourself "No wonder this sport sucks, all these idiots do is waste time."

Again, I truly understand why the players are doing what they doing. They have the lead, and they want to make sure the game slows down and that Juventus doesn't have a chance to equalize. But just because I understand why, doesn't mean I have to support it. What kind of self-respecting player would voluntarily morph into a fish out of water when he knows that literally one billion people are watching him?

Barcelona is the most talented team the footballing world has seen in years, but I am absolutely sick of their players embarrassing themselves and the sport as a whole. Even if you are a Barcelona supporter, you must recognize that the behavior of your players is a large source of this embarrassment, and stop encouraging it. 






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