Iraq's fairytale run to the final had already brought joy to the strife-ridden country (and some sorrows), and the Asian Cup final was a chance to take that even further. Iraq are the new pitied nation du jour, and winning a prestigious tournament like this would give them a chance.

They did not disappoint, with captain Younis Mahmoud scoring the only goal of the game in the 71st minute. Iraq were by far the better team, and even 2 or 3-0 would not have been an unfair scoreline. They attacked well, and although they were wasteful, the Saudi 'keeper Yasser Al Mosailem was largely responsible for keeping his team in the tie.

Iraq have never been a particularly fancied football country, but they showed great strength and resolve to reach this final. Mind you, they are not short of technical ability - Younis Mahmous was player of the tournament, and Nashat Akram (a rumoured target for Premiership clubs) is an unbelievably inventive, skillful players - but they had to put in a whole lot of guts and determination as well. They beat much more fancied teams en route to the final, and this had a lot to do with their team spirit, and will to fight for their country. The Iraqis had to train and play all their qualifiers in neutral countries, many have lost friends and family in the fighting, and the coach had just 2 months to put the team together - it really is a fairytale story of triumphing against all the odds. What makes it so much more heartening is that the squad is composed of a mixture of Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds; it's what Iraq needs to see right now... its various factions coming together to progress.

Well... not madness per se, but again a great example of how British players just seem to cost so much more than they need to.

Dave Nugent has signed for Portsmouth for a fee of  just over £6 million. He joins from Preston North End, where he has played well enough to earn an England cap (and score a goal too).

The former Bury youngster is only 22, and has a bright future ahead of him, but the fee is still on the higher side, considering that he has no Premiership experience and that his record of 33 goals in 96 games for PNE is hardly prolific.

I think Nugent has chosen well with Portsmouth though. He could have signed for Sunderland, but at Pompey he doesn't have to have the pressure of relegation and expectation, and he's also got an experienced manager who knows how to get the best from his players. He'll have better players around him as well, and be in a settled team that is financially able.

John Utaka also signs for Portsmouth from Rennes. The fee is undisclosed, but is probably around the £3-4 million mark. This is a transfer that has been going on for ages, and Utaka let the media know a while ago that he was looking forward to joining his compatriot Kanu at Portsmouth.

Utaka is a good, but inconsistent player; very talented, but seemingly very raw at times. He's 24, and Redknapp will need to work on him a bit. Still, he's tall, strong, fast, and an exciting dribbler. He's skillful, although a hit-and-miss finisher, and is also not too bad in the air. This is going to be an exciting signing for Pompey fans, and it's nice that they have options in attack now.

Hopefully you cringed at that photo, I know I did. Well gimpy, chavvy, wannabe enfant terrible Craig "Bellers" Bellamy has signed for West Ham for a reported fee of £8 million. EIGHT! Somehow... Liverpool managed to sell Bellamy on for a profit. A player who signed for £6 million, scored just 7 league goals in 27 games, got arrested for hitting a girl in a nightclub, and hit a teammate with a golf club, has somehow been sold on for a profit. Lovely!

Bellamy is a serious talent - quick, tricky, left-footed and with a powerful shot, but he has the personality of a menstruating Satan. He first arrived in the Premiership at Coventry, as a replacement for the Inter-bound Robbie Keane. Since then, he's gone to Newcastle, Celtic, Blackburn, Liverpool, and now West Ham all in the space of 6 years (giving Anelka a run for his money). Anyways, good luck to West Ham, Eggert Magnusson and "Bellers".

Jason Koumas, has signed for Wigan for £5.3 million. This probably tops the list of ridiculously priced transfers, and furthermore the present Wigan manager Chris Hutchings has one of the worst transfer records ever. When Jewell left Bradford, it was Hutchings who stepped up from Assistant to Manager, and spent about £10 million (that Bradford couldn't afford) on awful players, got them relegated (and was sacked), and they are suffering in League One now. Wigan are a stronger side than that, and chairman Dave Whelan has money, but spending this much money on Koumas is wild.

Now don't get me wrong, Koumas is a talented guy, as he kid he was very highly rated and in West Brom's first season in the Premiership he had some great moments. He then went through a huge slump, and was out of favour and on-loan at Cardiff. But last year at the Baggies he had a great season, helping them to the playoffs, and was named the Championship player of the year. But he's 27 now, and has only really had ONE season at the top of his game, and that too in the Championship.

Carlos Tevez has been confirmed as having agreed to join Manchester United. The transfer fee is rumoured to be £20 million and it is expected that he will be signed and unveiled after Argentina's Copa America campaign is complete. West Ham are trying to do everything in their power to keep him, and will try to challenge this. Legally (technically, rather), they still own the player, but as was exposed by the Premier's League's investigation a few months ago, they really don't own or control him. Tevez has previously been seen showing up at a news conference in a Man United shirt, so it doesn't come as a huge surprise that if he had his choice of clubs, he picked United.

This leaves Manchester United with an army of attacking midfielders/strikers - Anderson, Tevez, Giggs, Scholes, Rooney, Saha, Nani and Cristiano Ronaldo, and it's thought that the last of those will finally be on his way to Real Madrid. All throughout last year Real kept chasing him and releasing statements about how they wanted him, and he in turn was completely non-comittal towards United. But he signed a new 4 year deal, amidst much celebration from the club, fans and the media. However, those with elephant-like memories might remember both his agent and Real Madrid making statements afterwards that went something like "one should never rule out a transfer". Well, this might still happened, or might have even already been agreed. It's possible the new contract was signed because they wanted full focus and as much high morale as possible to maintain their title run. It's possible also that they made an agreement with Ronaldo that he could leave (and maybe even with Real Madrid). Remember also, that Manchester United are financed completely by debt, and that they don't have Roman Abramovich to give them unlimited cash. The Glazers are money-makers, and on Tevez, Hargreaves, Nani and Anderson, they have spent a massive £70 million. Fake Ronaldo going the other way for £30-40 million would make the deficit more reasonable.

And lastly, Christian Chivu, who has been linked with both Barcelona and Real Madrid is quite possibly on his way. Real however are the more likely destination since Barcelona signed powerhouse left-back Eric Abidal (who can also play in the centre when needed). The Madridistas are also more in need of a solid centre-back than any other club, and Chivu would be perfect for them. Roma have spoken of late about how Chivu is not going anywhere, and how they don't want to sell him, but it's gone somewhat unnoticed that they've signed the excellent Brazilian international centre-back Juan from Leverkusen. Juan is not the kind of player that you keep on the bench, so unless they plan to let Philippe Mexes go (unlikely), they have already prepared for Chivu's departure.

... but of a different kind. Poor Sheffield Wednesday have had their stadium completely flooded because of the recent deluge of rain in England.

Wednesday, in the Premiership not-so-long-ago, and then fighting for promotion in League One not too long after, had finally stabilised themselves in the Championship. However, this will be a big blow to their fortunes... quite literally.

The flooding will cost the the Owls a massive £120,000 pounds in repair money! Fine, it's only a week's wages for Thierry Henry, but it's a big deal for struggling Wednesday. Let's hope that it doesn't affect them too badly, because they are one of the oldest institutions in English football.

Pictures courtesy of Soccer Investor Weekly:

After Liverpool have painstakingly gone ahead with meeting Atletico Madrid's massive transfer demands, they now have to face up to the prospect of meeting exorbitant wages for the increasingly diva-like Fernando Torres.

El Niño has apparently asked for a massive £31.2 million contract! He has allegedly demanded a 6-year deal, worth £100,000 per week, because those are the same terms that Inter Milan offered.

I have no doubt that Inter offered ridiculous wages, but were they even serious about signing Torres? They've already got Ibrahimovic, Crespo, Adriano, Julio Cruz, Alvaro Recoba and now David Suazo. Perhaps they offered Torres this ridiculous contract as a means of trying to coax him into making his situation with Atletico very sour, and thereby lowering the transfer fee? Who knows.

In any case, Liverpool will have to negotiate trickily with this one, because there are very few players in the history of the Premiership who have been on £100,000 per week or higher. Thierry Henry, Michael Ballack, Andriy Shevchenko, Steven Gerrard and Cristiano Ronaldo are all proven talents and performers, and even Frank Lampard and John Terry haven't been able to bump their contracts up to that level. Not only will Torres earning that much ruffle a few feathers, but given Torres' inconsistency and the fact that he is not yet at the top of his game, it will be quite a financial burden on the 'Pool.

Of course it could all just be paper talk. After all, only a week ago it was rumoured that Torres' had the words "You'll Never Walk Alone" on the underside of his captain's armband, and that he was desperate to join Liverpool.