Mancini is in a real situation. If he sells Balotelli (undoubtedly at a loss) questions will certainly be raised regarding his dealings in the transfer market (his other 'big' signing, Dzeko, although by no means a diaster, hasn't been the massive success Mancini hoped for, either) but how long can he continue to be embarrassed by Balotelli in this way?

Man City have a real problem this season in that, of the three forwards they have, one is yet to really find his form (Dzeko), one wants out (Tevez) and the other is a loose cannon (Balotelli). The owners have the money and probably need to spend uber bucks on two top name replacements but will they trust Mancini to spend it? I know I wouldn't.

Tevez hasn't left and one thing you can count on with him is he won't embarrass himself or the team out there and I thought that Dzeko start to come on late in the year. Maybe he was hurting earlier or having a hard time catching on to Mancini's system. I'd give him a chance or anyone else before I'd let Mario on the pitch again.

Brave Mario took it from Emirati player Theyab Awana, who tried and did mock a goalkeeper scoring from the spot.
His coach replaced him too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcSY-MVE6ZU

I love Balotelli, he's had a tough life (til he became a multimillionaire, obviously). You can tell he has the emotional maturity of a 12 year old, and i mean that literally, he flounces around as though the hormones have just got started. But he does seem to have his heart in the right place and i hope he makes a success of himself, he's one of the few top level European players who's had to deal with really heavy racism as well

Yep, he's behaved strangely on the good side of things.
Saving a boy from being bullied last year.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/100520...-bullying.html

And, well, no, this interesting link is not brought to you through Tesla.com, but it could have

INTERESTING! :D

I reckon that incident made the kids life worse rather than better, but it shows the guy has a heart even if he doesnt have much good judgement

fuckin shit, nobody here watched the Copa América?

you missed the fun of seeing Argentina get spanked while being host to the tournament.

With most other teams I'd agree but the pressure on Mancini this season is immense and I look at that Man City team as is and they just don't look strong enough. I'd agree with you about Dzeko but think Tevez, so long as he remains a puppet for his agent, is becoming untennable for any club with serious ambitions for the future. He maybe hard working and talented but he's never at a club long enough for them to build around him. Balotelli is clearly a disasterous signing. I love the whole circus around him but I'm sure most Man City fans just want him gone. There is something strangely compelling about him, though. A strange blissfull tranguility while everything's going mental around him.



There was an interview on the radio today with someone who works at Man City who described Balotelli as completely unmanagable. I wouldn't want him fucking things up for my team but from the outside looking in he's brilliant entertainment, especially compared with the ultra media groomed bores who now dominate the prem. Could you imagine Steven Gerrard wearing a glove hat? No.

I kept up with the results but never saw any actual games. I was really glad Uruguay won, if only because of my undying love for all things Suarez.


Anyway, some more classic Mario:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50bBHPXSjJ4

that makes two of us. My favorite player in the world.

I do agree that Mario is highly entertaining and I would miss him. As a coach or a player I wouldn't want this guy on my team no matter what. I'm sure he's had a tough life and done some great things off the pitch but on it he's a nightmare and a disaster waiting to happen.

Big news today is that Man City has just signed Sergio Aguero to replace Tevez

Wonderful.
The comments are cool, the way they hesitate before chuckling.

Absolutely love him, although my favourite player right now is probably Xavi, but it seems almost silly mentioning a Barcelona player at the moment.



I don;t know much about Aguero but I think a replacement was needed for Tevez even if he did decide to stay. Like all clubs, Man City need stability and regardless of what he did on the pitch, that's one thing Tevez could never offer.

my favorite player from Barcelona is Andres Iniesta.

yes, suarez was great, especially in the final game against paraguay.

forlán also broke his unlucky streak after over a year without goals while playing for uruguay. took him the whole tournament to change his luck. he was apparently distraught at being dumped by this hot bitch:



(too skinny for my taste, but i can see how one could have a meltdown by being denied... ahem... "access." magical realism!)

i saw you mentioned tevez and you might already know he fucked up at the tournament. i understand he's going to brazil, at least he'll be eating better now-- ha!

preliminary draws for the next world cup tomorrow!

i have nothing to say about your english fútbol, i don't get to watch it much :(

^^^^^
I'd be broken up too but no woman devastates me to the distraction of my duties!

tonight on ESPN2 at 7:00 pm EST Man U. vs. Barcelona....

finally a quality game on US TV. Sorry USA but MSL doesn't float my boat.

oh yeah, that's going to be fun-- luckily it will be 5pm here, early enough to stay home & watch. messi is on vacation with all the rest of south americans and chicharito got a busted head and other players are missing, but it should be great still.

and agreed on the MLS-- it's fucking boring! this "draft" system borrowed from other sports really fucks the dog here. teams can't develop their own players. and the college thing is-- fucking stupid. fútbol is never going to be great here until you can go pro at age 16. can you imagine messi wasting his life in college? he was recruited by barcelona when he was 12 for fucks sakes. ok, rant over. enjoy the game.

I forgot about it last night dam it. Fortunately I'm watching it on ESPN3 replay Michael Owen just scored in the 76 th minute to put Man U up 2-1.
Nani earlier in the first half on a beautiful breakaway and just a few minutes earlier Thiago scored to even it up on a wickedly curving ball just outside the box. Unfortunately I heard earlier on Sportscenter that Man U will hold on to win it.

Big news from yesterday is the USA has a new head coach Jorge Klinsmann a German player/coach of note. While it's certainly a lack of overall talent that holds USA back I'm still rather happy to see Bradley replaced. He was too stiff/defensive minded for me.

That could be a really interesting appointment. He's generally quite an offensive-minded coach which may well lead to the USA adopting a more attractive style, certainly more than the one they had under Bradley (who I thought was good but probably not someone capable of taking the US to that next level). The only negative thing I've heard about Klinsmann is that he's not that great tactically but, again, I'd still say he's a better option than Bradley, who seemed to me all about discipline and work rate but little else. Although I still think a helluva lot of credit should go to Bradley, who may have had his limitations but did at least turn the US from the also rans that they were under Arena, into a genuinely credible team. I just hope Klinsmann builds on what Bradley did rather than feel the need to start from scratch. As you say, there is a relative lack of world class talent in the US team but I think Bradley's quite conservative style allowed them to work to their strengths. The worst thing that Klinsmann could do would be to undermine that sense of discipline that Bradley brought to them and try and turn them into Spain. That would be a real step backwards.

yessss! kilnsmann!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i did a fucking celebratory dance yesterday to commemorate the replacement. a few broken vases, nothing major.

fucking bradley learned to coach fútbol from a book. his system was utter shit and could be summarized thus: kick and run, kick and run, kick and run. pant. kick-run, kick-run, more kick, more run. pant. oh you fucking dumbfuck. any PE teacher can do that. at least bruce arena emphasized possession, even though our players lack the talent to overwhelm many others that way. at least he had some ideas.

discipline, etc.? sure demoño but he could have taught the players something-- the thing is, he couldn't, because he doesn't know. a good coach will get the best out of you and teach you new things, and klinsmann should be better than anything the MLS has to offer. he was a world champion for fucks sakes. at least he knows how that feels. and yes he may be a bakehead californio at this point but at least he didn't learn to play from a manual. no, bradley learned at fucking princeton--- princeton? fuck that shit. seriously. fucking princeton. varsity sports! you can only take that shit so far.