Fabio Capello has his problems, of course. I don’t like him as coach, particularly. But he is right about Robinho. The boy (??) is still in debt with great football after 18 months wearing Real's number 10.

Even worst. Now Robinho thinks he is not playing because of Capello. But he was a starter in 3 from the last 6 matches and last game, against Bayern, he couldn’t perform at least one right play for more than 30 minutes. He actually screwed two important chances to open 4 x 1 during the second half.

Before Ronaldo faced Capello, he had a career, titles, prizes and maybe he needed another challenge to get some motivation. But Robinho has nothing but a great start in Santos and needs to stop crying around and show some football not just for Capello, but for everybody else, including himself.

Barcelona x Liverpool

Liverpool will beat Barcelona in both games. After loosing the Fifa Club WC, Barcelona will be kicked off Champions League and the Rijkaard-Ronaldinho-Eto’o era in Cataluña will be over.

Porto x Chelsea

The same crisis for Barcelona, I see in Stanford Bridge. Mourinho will loose to his Porto and will be forced to quit Chelsea. Porto, with Pepe and Lucho Gonzales in a great moment, will win one game and draw the other.

Celtic x Milan

Milan without Ronaldo have no other choice than playing a great Italian-ole-style defense in Glasgow tonight. They will qualify after two draws in penalty kicks with half of the crowd only at San Siro.

Lille x Manchester United

No questions on this, right? Man United will win both games, probably pretty easy ones.

Internazionale x Valencia

I think this will be probably the most difficult game of all. Internazionale is in a really good moment in Serie A, but, let’s face it, in Champions they couldn’t qualify first place in an easy group with Bayern in a bad moment. So, Valencia seems to be the greatest challenge for the Nerazurri so far. I think Inter have more chances because of the individual abilities of the players, especially Ibrahimovic, who is still in debt with Inter fans.

Real Madrid x Bayern

The question is probably if Capello will be fired after the first or the second game. I don’t think Real Madrid can beat Bayern. Both teams are in bad football moment, but mentally, nobody beats Merengue’s mess.

Roma x Lyon

Another great game. But I think Lyon can win this time. If the guys from France are in a confident day, they can end the draw in the first game as they are so dangerous playing away with Juninho and his friends.

PSV x Arsenal

No questions here too. Although PSV tops the national league and Arsenal don’t, the Gunners are in much better shape and they are confident with focus in Champions League.

Ronaldo played 90 minutes for the first time for Milan and helped the team to beat Siena away, 3 x 4. He scored his two first goals for Milan, including a head in the first half. He also assisted Oliveira to score Milan's segond goal.

Milan won the game just in the injury time, after a own goal. Without Ronaldo, the Italians will face Celtic in the Champions League next Tuesday.

Brazilian clubs seems to be motivated to keep the title of Copa Libertadores in the country. After 8 games in 1st and 2nd rounds, they have 5 wins (four as visitors) and three ties. Last night, Gremio beat Cerro Porteño at Paraguay for 1 x 0. The Gaucho Team has now 7 games with 7 wins this season (including State Championship) and their defense line didn't suffer any goals until know.

Parana Clube also won their game at Maracaibo (venue for Copa America's next final match) by 2 x 4 against the local Maracaibo team. The club plays the Libertadores for the first time and has already 2 wins (both away) and 1 tie in the competition.

São Paulo and Flamengo tied games away against Audax Italiano from Chile (0 x 0) and Real Potosi (at 4000 meters high by 2 x 2).

Santos, who won both two games in the 1st round includin a 5 x 0 at home, will debut next week at the 2nd stage against Deportivo Pasto (COL) as well as Internacional, title holders, will face Nacional from Uruguay, both away.

Oscar Niemeyer, 99 year-old right now but still working, said that it was just a coincidence. Foster says he never saw the Brazilian project. See for yourself:



Read more here

Conmebol defined the draws for the 12 National teams that will battle in Venezuela. The first game will be between host Venezuela and Bolivia, June 26. The first game for Group B is Brazil x Mexico and in the last group, Argentina will face USA. Group A will play its games at San Cristobal and Mérida. The venues for the Brazilian group are Puerto Ordaz, Maturín and Puerto La Cruz. And Argentina, USA, Paraguay and Colombia will play at Maracaibo, Barinas and Barquisimeto. Venue number 9, Caracas, will have two games at the semifinal and Third Place game.

The first two teams in each group and the best two of the third-place holders will advance to the second round.

GROUP A
Venezuela
Bolivia
Uruguay
Peru

GROUP B
Brazil
Mexico
Ecuador
Chile

GROUP C
Argentina
United States
Paraguay
Colombia

Matches and Venues:

26/06/2007
Venezuela x Bolivia, San Cristóbal
Uruguay x Peru, Mérida

27/06/2007
Brazil x Mexico, Puerto Ordaz
Ecuador x Chile, Puerto Ordaz

28/06/2007
Argentina x USA, Maracaibo
Paraguay x Colombia, Maracaibo

30/06/2007
Venezuela x Peru, San Cristóbal
Bolivia x Uruguay, San Cristóbal

01/07/2007
Brazil x Chile, Maturín
Mexico x Ecuador, Maturín

02/07/2007
Argentina x Colombia, Maracaibo.
USA x Paraguay, Barinas.

03/07/2007
Venezuela x Uruguay, Mérida
Bolivia x Peru, Mérida

04/07/2007
Brazil x Ecuador, Puerto La Cruz
Mexico x Chile, Puerto La Cruz

05/07/2007
Argentina x Paraguay, Barquisimeto
USA x Colombia, Barquisimeto

Quarter-finals
07/07/2007
(19) Best 3rd x Runner-up Group B, Maracaibo.

(20) Winner Group A x 2nd best 3rd place, San Cristóbal.

08/07/2007
(21) Winner Group B x Runner-up Group C, Maturín.

(22) Winner Group C x Runner-up Group A, Barquisimeto.

Semifinals
10/07/2007
(23) Winners 19 x 20, Caracas.

(24) Winners 21 x 22, Puerto Ordaz.

Third Place
14/07/2007
Loosers 23 x 24, Caracas

Final
15/07/2007
Winners 23 x 24, Maracaibo

Champions Internacional appear to be the favorite team in this beginning, although some of the traditional powers of the tournament such as Boca, River Plate, São Paulo, Santos and Grêmio are ready to fight back for continent hegemony.

Internacional lost some of the key players from last year’s title, like Rafael Sobis, Inga, Jorge Wagner and Bolivar. They also lost Fabiano Eller, the best player in Internacional defense during the Fifa Club WC. The player joined Atletico Madri during the winter transfers in Europe. But Internacional has a strong group wth players like Fernandão, Yarley, Adriano, Luis Adriano, Christian and bets that 2007 will be actually the first for Alexandre Pato, who still has played only three professional matches but is already considered the most fantastic young player in the country.

Boca Juniors repatriated Juan Roman Riquelme and has a really strong offensive line with Riquelme, Palermo and Palacio. River Plate is trying to regain its good results in the Continent but two consecutive victories against Boca in the summer could bring confident back to the clube.

Among the other Brazilian clubs, São Paulo is the strongest. Although they lost Mineiro for Bundesliga, they brought Jorge Wagner. Santos, coached by Wanderley Luxemburgo, had a great start this year and the team, that tops the Paulista League, is by far in best shape than the others right know. The same to Gremio, two times Libertadores Champions, that played and won it all their seven games this year and nobody could score against them yet.

Flamengo, the most popular team in the country, is back to Libertadores. They signed Juninho Paulista to try to repeat the campaign of the 80s, when they won the title. At last, Parana Clube plays the competition for the first time in its short history. Founded in the 90s, the club tries to get into second round of the competition.

Besides Velez Sarsfiled, Banfield and Ginminasia de La Plata, other teams to watch are America, Necaxa and Toluca, from Mexico, Colo Colo from Chile, Cerro Porteno from Paraguay and Tolima from Colombia and maybe Nacional, from Uruguay. And, of course, upcoming surpises are always welcome.

Click here for Copa Libertadores draws and results

10 - A bela camisa preta do Athletic Bilbao;

9 - O Ba-Vi 1 x 1, o Atletiba 2 x 2 e Flamengo x Botafogo 3 x 3;

8 - O Galo acabando com a banca do Cruzeiro já no primeiro clássico em ano de volta à Primeira Divisão;

7 - Grêmio com seis vitórias em seis jogos no Gauchão;

6 - A Inter de Milão fazendo 15 vitórias seguidas com um belo gol de Adriano (ver gol aqui);

5 - Ronaldinho marcando os dois gols da vitória do Barcelona, mais líder do que nunca;

4 - Ronaldo voltou/estreou razoavelmente bem. Deu três chutes a gol, movimentou-se bem mesmo isolado lá na frente com o esquema 4-4-1-1 de Ancelotti após as saídas de Seedorf, Oliveira e Gilardino. Detalhe é a mudança de atitude. O jogador já estreou mais magro, mais contente e com mais vontade (melhores momentos do jogo em em vídeo aqui);

3 - Capello tendo que engolir o Beckham!

2 - O São Paulo com uma superioridade gritante em relação ao Corinthians. Os jogadores parecem mais fortes, mais rápidos e com a cabeça mais no lugar. Se o time do Morumbi aliasse a sua força um pouco mais de inspiração (Aloísio foi o mais habilidoso na partida para se ter uma idéia) é provável que goleasse o rival. Fora o olé;

1 - Romário marca três gols, sendo nenhum de pênalti. Independente de sua lista furada de 1000 gols, não é para qualquer um. O Baixinho sabe tudo dentro da área;

Bonus - E que venha a semana de Libertadores!

Click here to see the picture of them

The top 100

1º Stacey Cooke - Ryan Giggs (Man. United)
2º Carly Kent - Ryan Semple (Lincoln City/ING)
3º Bianca Kajlich - Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy/EUA)
4º Cheryl Cole - Ashley Cole (Chelsea)
5º Giorgia Palmas - Bombardini (Atalanta)
6º Alessia Fabiani - Tacchinardi (Juventus)
7º Federica Ridolfi - Giannichedda (Juventus)
8º Kerry Fowler - Robbie Fowler (Liverpool)
9º Ivona Zivkovic - Boris Zivkovic (Stuttgart)
10º Abigail Clancy - Crouch (Liverpool)
11º Bernadien Robben - Robben (Chelsea)
12º Federica Villani - Iuliano (Messina)
13º Raquel Garcia - Luis Garcia (Liverpool)
14º Louise Owen - Owen (Newcastle)
15º Raica Oliveira - Ronaldo (Milan)
16º Adriana Karembeu - Karembeu (ex-jogador)
17º Alena Seredova - Buffon (Juventus)
18º Eva Gonzalez - Casillas (Real Madrid)
19º Lorena Bernal Pascual - Arteta (Everton)
20º Elen Rives - Lampard (Chelsea)
21º Alice Bregoli - Gilardino (Milan)
22º Anine Bing-Svensson - Anders Svensson (Efsborg/SUE)
23º Kimberly Mills - Bentley (Blackburn)
24º Helen Svedin - Figo (Inter)
25º Claire Bellamy - Craig Bellamy (Liverpool)
26º Carly Zucker - Joe Cole (Chelsea)
27º Magdalena Hedman - Magnus Hedman (Chelsea)
28º Mamen Sanz - Raúl (Real Madrid)
29º Nicole Henry - Henry (Arsenal)
30º Keira Morrison - Elliott (Millwall/ING)
31º Manuela Arcuri - Francesco Coco (Internazionale)
32º Martina Colombari - Costacurta (Milan)
33º Adriana Fossa - Paolo Maldini (Milan)
34º Alex Curran - Gerrard (Liverpool)
35º Martina Cech - Petr Cech (Chelsea)
36º Cheryl Plaza - Vieira (Inter)
37º Rachel Perry - Clint Mathis (Bayern)
38º Radka Kocurova - Rosicky (Arsenal)
39º Janelle Khouri - Hargreaves (Bayern)
40º Cassie Summer - Essien (Chelsea)
41º Beatrice Trezeguet - Trezeguet (Juventus)
42º Verena Kerth - Kahn (Bayern)
43º Coleen McLoughlin - Rooney (Man. United)
44º Vanessa Perroncel - Wayne Bridge (Chelsea)
45º Sabrina Keogh - Jenas (Tottenham)
46º Yolanda Reina - José Reina (Liverpool)
47º Claudine Palmer - Robbie Keane (Tottenham)
48º Rebecca Ellison - Rio Ferdinand (Man. United)
49º Sonia Amouruso - Del Piero (Juventus)
50º Gisela Molinero - Mark Gonzalez (Liverpool)
51º Jamelia - Darren Byfield (Millwall/ING)
52º Kelly Maguire - Gillespie (Reading/ING)
53º Sheree Murphy - Kewell (Liverpool)
54º Simone Ballack - Ballack (Chelsea)
55º Gemma Atkinson - Cristiano Ronaldo (Man.United)
56º Jessica Lemaire - Robert Pires (Villarreal)
57º Victoria Beckham - Beckham (LA Galaxy)
58º Franca Gudjohnsen - Gudjohnsen (Barcelona)
59º Ilary Blasi - Totti (Roma)
60º Noemi Lenoir - Makelele (Chelsea)
61º Charlotte Mears - Defoe (Tottenham)
62º Kirsten Pazik - Shevchenko (Chelsea)
63º Sylvie van der Vaart - Van der Vaart (Hamburgo)
64º Graciela Ricksen - Ricksen (Rangers)
65º Toni Poole - Terry (Chelsea)
66º Vicenza Cacace - Pancaro (Torino)
67º Francesca Lodo - Coco (Livorno)
68º Jadene - Bircham (Queens Park Rangers)
69º Sarah Maxwell - Brennan (Southampton)
70º Rachele di Fiore - Montella (Fulham)
71º Melanie Slade - Walcott (Arsenal)
72º Jude Litter - Cisse (Olympique)
73º Olga Zenden - Zenden (Liverpool)
74º Kimberly Green - Brocchi (Milan)
75º Malene Holst - Traore (Portsmouth)
76º Joanna Taylor - Murphy (Tottenham)
77º Elena Santarelli - Corradi (Man. City)
78º Kira Eggers - Gravesen (Celtic)
79º Nicola Tappenden - Zamora (West Ham)
80º Michaela Henderson-Thyne - Downing (Middlesbrough)
81º Alessia Rossi - Crespo (Milan)
82º Alessia Marcuzzi - Cudicini (Chelsea)
83º Arancha de Benito - Guti (Real)
84º Dawn Ward - Ward (ex-jogador)
85º Giselle Santa Cruz - Roque Santa Cruz (Bayern)
86º Linda Evangelista - Barthez (Nantes)
87º Pamela Diaz - Neira (Hapoel Tel Aviv)
88º Louise White - Owusu (Brentford)
89º Emma Hadfield - Gary Neville
90º Elisabetta Canalis - Vieri (Atalanta)
91º Michelle Marsh - Hanning (Oldham)
92º Petra Frings - Frings (Werder)
93º Sofie Candela - Candela (Siena)
94º Auralie Saha - Saha (Man. United)
95º Candy McCulloch - Pennant (Liverpool)
96º Julieanna Petta - Petta (Adelaide United)
97º Susana Saborido - Joaquin (Valencia)
98º Lena Borowski - Borowski (Werder)
99º Manuela Toldo - Toldo (Internazionale)
100º Alessia Merz - Bazzani (Sampdoria)

This is good for the football in Argentina that has just lost players like Gago, Higuain and Gallardo bet even better for the tournament.

Here some of the player to watch during the competition (I swear I will work in better profiles later). I just got the Brazilian and Argentinean’s ones for the moment, although the Mexican are also strong forces this year as usual. Some of them are well known as you can see.

Alexandre Pato (Internacional)
Dinélson (Paraná)
Ernesto Farias (River Plate)
Lucas (Grêmio)
Obina (Flamengo)
Riquelme (Boca Juniors)
Rogério Ceni (São Paulo)
Zarate (Vélez Sarsfield)
Zé Roberto (Santos)

Dunga wears everything his daughter, a fashion student, tells him to. The most polemic Argentina’s newspaper, Olé, in its cover today couldn’t avoid the joke.

They say that Brazil was embarrassed by Portugal’s football and also by the unbelievable shirt Dunga was wearing at Emirates Stadium bench.



Ps.: Let's see how Argentina will be doing tonight.

Brazil was undefeated in friendly matches since 2003. At that time, Scolari was beginning his job as a manager for Portugal and Deco and Ricardo were polemic calls from the 2002 World Cup winner coach. Portugal won 2 x 1.

Four years later, Big Phil is a legend in Portugal and the European team beats Brazil again, 2 x 0. It was the first loss for Dunga in National Team’s command. Brazil tries to recover from 2006 WC failure.

Brazil didn’t played that bad and Portugal was not that superior. But as Fred, Rafael Sobis and Adriano were not in a good evening, the Team couldn’t score. At the second half, they couldn't even shoot at least once even if they had the control and the possession of the ball.

Tough night for Dunga. And a great journey to Scolari (as usual).

A resposta certa é Buenos Aires. Atualmente, a cidade conta com 7 equipes na primeira divisão argentina enquanto "apenas" seis times londrinos disputam a Premier League. Para efeito de comparação, a cidade brasileira com mais clubes na primeira divisão é o Rio de Janeiro, com quatro times. Veja a lista:

Buenos Aires
Argentino Junios
Banfield
Boca Juniors
Nueva Chicago
River Plate
San Lorenzo
Velez Sarsfield

Londres
Arsenal
Charlton
Chelsea
Fulham
Totthenham
West Ham

10 melhores (e piores) do final de semana

10 - A violência da sexta da Itália e a suspensão da rodada por lá parecia presságio (dos piores) para o que se viu após Palmeiras x Santos e durante Vila Nova e Cruzeiro. Selvageria de todos os lados.

9 - A piaba (ou biaba?) que o Manchester United meteu no Tottenham, 0 x 4, em Londres, mantendo a liderança com seis pontos de frente e Cristiano Ronaldo marcando seu 15º gol sendo artilheiro da liga com Drogba. O português é fogo para não usar outra palavra. Cavou um pênalti (não foi, mas eu também daria tamanha a perfeição da cena no ângulo do juiz) e fez uma jogada de Garrincha no terceiro gol. Melhores momentos aqui

8 - O primeiro técnico de Fernandão nas divisões de base do Goiás, Alan Kardec, que disse que o atacante sofria preconceito no clube por ter uma origem de classe média. A história depois foi citada pelo presidente Lula no prêmio da TV Gazeta ao dizer que só no futebol seria possível um rico ser discriminado.

7 - O Tuta e o Grêmio 100% que vai dar trabalho na temporada. O Inter que comece a colocar o time titular para 'treinar' também.

6 - As vaias para Capello que perdeu em casa para o Levante. A enquete no As em que 77% da torcida pede a sua demissão e um artigo que linko aqui para vocês dizendo que Capello quer transformar o Real Madrid no Catania. Só para constar, o último Real x Levante no Bernabeu tinha sido 5 x 0, com dois de Ronaldo, um de Figo, um de Owen e o último de Beckham. Clique e leia - em espanhol

5 - Luxemburgo, na mesa redonda da Band, chamando o agora comentarista Marcelinho de 'moleque e safado', dizendo que ele se esconde atrás da religião e que tirou 'mulher do quarto do jogador em concentração'. Tudo isso ao vivo, para constrangimento de Neto, Mueller e o jogo de cintura de Datena.

4 - Provavelmente o mais várzea de todos os SuperBowl que assisti na vida. Vários erros bisonhos, um dilúvio em Miami, mas nem por isso deixou de ser uma grande festa com a vitória do Colts. Destaque para a transmissão da Espn com a sensacional dupla no estúdio e André Kfouri ao vivo no estádio.

3 - Dentro de campo, o clássico Palmeiras 3 x 3 Santos. Belo jogo de futebol, com um ótimo clima nas arquibancadas num fim de tarde ensolarado em SP.

2 - O gol do Liedson pelo Sporting. Chapéu de letra em velocidade é sacanagem. Isso depois de bater (e errar) um pênalti absolutamente ridículo. E mais os quatro gols de Bueno (que não é o da Folha). Veja aqui

1 - O gol do Mineiro. Mais que o golaço, a estrela de arriscar de tão longe, no final, com o jogo empatado, na estréia. Mostrou a que veio.