Hey look! It's politics & soccer!

A reader* wrote in with the suggestion that I post something about the U.S. government's takeover of AIG, since AIG sponsors Manchester United. I originally didn't want to because I don't really understand the whole AIG/giant economic meltdown. But Kevin Drum doesn't understand soccer and still posted on it, so I suppose I will write something. Here it is:

HA HA HA HA HA.

A lot of Manchester United fans were actually boycotting their club after it was bought by an American, Malcolm Glazer (owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and from Rochester NY!). Fans didn't only boycott because Glazer's an American, but also because he's (supposedly) a soulless businessman and bought Man Utd by giving them $850 million in debt (via financial hijinks that I also don't understand). Perhaps the debt argument stands, but these Manchester United fans weren't protesting in 1991 back when Man Utd was put on the market and thus became "for sale", only when it was bought by an American.  However, now not only is their club owned by an American, but their jersey sponsor is owned by the United States government!  Suckers.

*I won't lie, it was my mom, but my blog sounds more important if I pretend people read it who aren't obligated to.

English Premier League kicks off

Chelsea won in style, and Manchester United couldn't beat Newcastle at home. Looks to be a fine season! Video beneath the cut.

Chelsea beats Arsenal!

Unfortunately I didn't get to see the game. Chelsea went down 1-0 with twenty minutes left, but Drogba fought back. Highlights are here, 13 minute highlights embedded under the fold.

I had written the season off for Chelsea in terms of trying to win the league. With this win and Arsenal's bad streak (6 games without a win), Chelsea are now five points behind Man Utd., with seven games left. On April 26th, Man Utd. travels to Chelsea for the third-to-last game of the season - it could decide the title.

Soccer stuff

Klinsmann to coach the Galaxy?

Beckham arrived, the Galaxy are still terrible, and people are getting frustrated.

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Bigoted chants from Newcastle fans towards Ahmed Mido, an Egyptian striker playing for Middlesborough:

"I just think this was ridiculous. Maybe some of them were drunk," the 24-year old Mido said. "It made me want to score goals. I was very delighted to score once and wanted another."
The Egypt striker ran toward the Newcastle fans after he scored, motioning toward them to be silent. He was yellow-carded for the celebration.

I saw Mido score for Tottenham against Middlesborough back in 2005, when my father and I went to White Heart Lane (we went because we couldn't get tickets to the Chelsea game). We had to sit in the away section because those were the only tickets we could get, and Middlesborough lost 2-0. Everyone around us was depressed and drunk, aside from some tourists like us (Chinese and clueless). I remember Mido's goal - he took a shot from the corner of the 18-yard box and slipped it under keeper Mark Schwarzer, who really should have stopped it. Jermaine Defoe scored an excellent goal that game, dribbling it on a counterattack and scoring from about 25 yards. I found the video of the two goals - between 30 seconds and 40 seconds in this video.

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Anger over 'blasphemous' balls, BBC.

Americans gave soccer balls to Afghan kids. Problem - the soccer balls had flags of different countries on them, including the Saudi flag. The Saudi flag has the name of Allah on it. The perception was that Americans were telling Muslim children to kick Allah:

Afghan MP Mirwais Yasini said: "To have a verse of the Koran on something you kick with your foot would be an insult in any Muslim country around the world."

Cultural ignorance - somebody didn't do their homework.

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Soccer: Paradox of sport - It's good for you, yet it kills - IHT

Antonio Puerta, a Sevilla midfielder, collapsed during a game and died shortly thereafter. When this happened I remembered Marc-Vivien Foe, the Cameroonian player who collapsed and died during the Confederations Cup in 2005. My dad sent me an article in the International Herald Tribune showing that this apparently is not an uncommon occurrence.

Dempsey scores

Clint Dempsey scored his first goal of the year for Fulham today, against Aston Villa. Unfortunately Fulham lost 2-1, the winning goal coming in the dying seconds of the game.

The English game

The classic English football game - played during a downpour, terrible conditions, bad defending, scrappy, exciting, and an enthusiastic crowd (the empty seats in the front are because all the fans get into the higher seats which are covered by the stadium roof, but you can still hear them).

Fulham vs. Bolton, highlights at Footytube.