Soccer By Ives

The Special One: The Roy Keane Exclusive

The always hilarious I'm on Setanta Sports comes through with the first "exclusive" interview with Roy Keane since his departure from Sunderland. Enjoy:

Top Lines of the clip:

"It's the Gene Hackman."

"He's big, he's red, he's jolly, and he's usually gone by Christmas. It's Rafa."

"You are teetering on dee precipice voyeur."

"Chelsea lose to everybody at home."

"We used to call him 50 Cent. 'Because of his resemblance to rapper?' No, cuz that's all he's worth, to be fair to the boy."

"My dog's Bonio, trivial?"

Let's face it, there were more good lines in that clip. Share your favorites, and your thoughts on the clip below.

Ten MLS players who are European transfer targets

 

                                                       Photo by ISIphotos.com

For those of you who missed it, here is a piece I wrote for ESPN.com this morning on ten top MLS transfer targets this winter. It is a group of ten MLS players who European clubs could and very likely will make moves for when the January transfer window opens up.

The list isn't based strictly on talent, it's not meant as a "Top 10 most-deserving transfer targets", but rather a list that takes into account performance, contract status, reported interest from abroad and interest from abroad that I have heard about through the MLS grapevine.

Will all 10 players that I mention leave MLS? That would be disastrous and very unlikely, but I do think we could see at least half of that list depart this winter. Any more than half would make it a terrible winter for MLS. That said, there isn't a player on that list whose departure would surprise me.

What do you think of the list? What MLS player or players do you see leaving for Europe this winter?

Share your thoughts below.

Your last chance to vote for the U.S. Soccer "Best of" Awards series

In case you haven't had a chance to vote, if in case you didn't realize you can vote once a day until the deadline, here is a reminder that today is the last chance to vote in U.S. Soccer's "Best of" series, honoring U.S. Soccer's best in every category from Best Soccer Bar to Best Soccer Blog to Best Male and Female Athletes.

Get all your votes in while you can.

Marshall on trial with Mainz 05

2008 MLS Defender of the Year and newly-minted MLS Cup champion Chad Marshall is out of contract, and is taking full advantage of being a free agent.

The imposing center back has turned up on trial at Bundesliga 2 side Mainz 05, the same club that Neven Subotic played for last year, and the same club Colorado Rapids striker Conor Casey once played for.

Juan Pablo Angel discusses his future, reaching MLS Cup and the second DP slot

 

                                                                                 Photo by ISIphotos.com

As the steady flow of fans walked up to Juan Pablo Angel at an autograph signing session at Premier Soccer Shop in Hoboken, you could see a player enjoying the off-season. Sporting a beard and his trademark smile, Angel greeted his fans as he stole peaks of the big-screen TV showing Jozy Altidore play in Spain.

Angel's demeanor went from relaxed to clearly excited when asked about the Red Bulls and their prospects going forward into 2009. In an exclusive interview with SBI, Angel sounded like a man intent on returning to the Red Bulls in 2009 and one who sources say wants to stay with the club beyond 2009.

Morning Ticker: Still no deal for Podolski, Diarra out for season, Three-way tie in Argentina

 

The long and drawn-out Lukas Podolski transfer saga rages on, with no transfer in sight and still no official word on what it will mean to Landon Donovan's potential move to Bayern Munich.

The German champions rejected an undisclosed offer for Podolski from Cologne, Podolski's old club. Bayern Munich wouldn't reveal what the offer was, saying only that it was well below the $12.7 million Bayern Munich paid for Podolski in 2006.

As far as Donovan is concerned, neither Bayern Munich or MLS has made any official statement regarding the expected loan move he is set to make this January, with Bayern only going as far as to say that the club is in talks with MLS about a longer-term deal than a potential two-month stay.

Something tells me Bayern Munich won't pull the trigger on a Donovan offer until and unless the club succeeds in selling Podolski for the right price.

Here are some other stories to get your day started:

Monday Morning Center Back: Can an MLS team succeed with two DP slots?

(Good morning all. It has been a long time coming, but the weekly SBI series Monday Morning Center Back is and I will be looking to keep it as permanent weekly fixture in the post rotation. The MMCB will be a weekly piece on pressing topics of the day as I give my take on issues relating to MLS, the U.S. national team and international soccer. Today's subject is the designated player slot and the question is whether teams can really succeed with two designated player slots.)

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When is having two expensive stars not better than having one? When you are in Major League Soccer and you are a team trying to build a team using the league's modest salary guidelines. Only one team, the New York Red Bulls, has signed two designated players before (D.C. signed a DP and upgraded a player to a DP slot) and now that club is facing the very difficult question of whether to trade a slot in order to add some depth, or keep the second slot and try to sign a foreign star this summer.

Americans Abroad: Weekend Rewind

 

Jozy Altidore didn't score a goal, nor was he one of the standouts for Villarreal against Getafe on Saturday, but the fact is the young American striker played 90 minutes in a crucial La Liga match and didn't look out of place.

Altidore didn't score in his second straight league start, but he did have a header that forced a save and eventually led to Villarreal's first goal as the 'Yellow Submarine' rallied back from a 3-0 deficit to salvage a 3-3 tie.

It was a mixed week for Americans Abroad, with Altidore's start among the bright spots. Another of the bright spots was U.S. national team defender Frank Simek making his first start in 14 months after being sidelined by major ankle surgery. He got beaten for a goal but settled down and played a strong game for Sheffield Wednesday in a 1-1 tie against Southampton.

Brad Friedel got the better of Tim Howard in the battle of America's best goalkeepers as Everton's defense left Howard out to dry in a 3-2 Aston Villa victory that included an unbelievable ending.

Other positives including DaMarcus Beasley earning the start in a Rangers blowout, Freddy Adu getting off the Monaco bench for some minutes in a weekend loss and Luis Robles recording the shutout for Kaiserslautern in a scoreless draw vs. Duisburg.

Here is how the rest of the Americans Abroad did this weekend: