Soccerati.net - The World Cup

I could imagine how players felt after John went down the field. I am just happy it turned out fine.

Jose Mourinho is looking at winning against Liverpool in the hope of closing their gap against leading Manchester United.

The win of Manchester at Fulham was criticized by Jose saying that they didn’t deserve to win. He noted that sometimes that happens and the timing is working in favor of Manchester United.

Manchester is now leading by 9 points and a win against Liverpool could close the gap within 6. That doesn’t still look good, but it’s definitely better than their current position.

Rafa Benitez is keeping Robbie Fowler and a new deal would be offered to him.

Benitez says: If we create chances for him, we know he’s a very good finisher, the best we have.

But if he’s not with us next season then we will need to look for another one like him.

AC Milan helped their cause to continue their winning run by squeezing a goal from Andrea Pirlo with ten minutes left before break time.

A 66th minute goal from forward Rolando Bianchi gave them a chance to live but Milan’s Gilardino made sure they seal the victory. A play description below came from Sporating Life:

MILAN WIN AGAIN
AC Milan clinched their third win in a row after beating strugglers Reggina on Sunday afternoon to kick off 2007 on the right foot.

A sixth minute free-kick from former Reggina midfielder Andrea Pirlo put Milan in front before Clarence Seedorf doubled his team’s advantage 10 minutes before the break.

Reggina forward Rolando Bianchi re-opened the contest with an impressive 66th minute strike before Alberto Gilardino made sure to kill the game off shortly after.

The result sees the Rossoneri climb to ninth in the standings and reduce their deficit with fourth-placed Catania, who hold the last Champions League qualifying spot, to just three points.

Catania lost 2-1 at Chievo on Sunday.

Carlo Ancelotti’s men showed a better image in their first game of 2007 than in recent months despite having to do without six regular players, including Brazilian midfielder Kaka.

Opponents Reggina travelled to the San Siro desperate for a win which could see them move out of the relegation zone for the first time this season, but offered little opposition to the Rossoneri.

Carlo Ancelotti’s men enjoyed a good start and were soon rewarded for their efforts.

Pirlo’s curling free-kick towards the far post beat goalkeeper Ivan Pelizzoli.

Reggina attempted to react and Giacomo Tedesco’s effort from the distance went wide of Zeljko Kalac’s near post.

Milan were quite happy to sit on their lead and hit Reggina on the counter-attack.

Reggina were unlucky not to level the score midway through the first-half with Giandomenico Mesto’s close-range effort rebounding off the far post with Kalac already beaten.

Just when the visitors were playing at their best, Milan struck again.

In the 35th minute, Seedorf played a one-two with Marek Jankulovski before firing past Pelizzoli to make it 2-0.

Reggina showed more aggresiveness after the re-start, with Nicola Amoruso’s central effort from the distance forcing Kalac to make a fine save.

Shortly after, Bianchi missed a golden chance to reduce the deficit with his close-range strike from Modesto’s inviting cross going wide off Kalac’s far post.

David Beckham is receiving $250 million dollars in a league where a lot of players receive the minimum salary of $11,700 and majority of players receiving $100,000 in annual payments.

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Owen Hargreaves insists the amount is too high and he is dumbfounded on the $25 million valuation given to him.

He says all he wants is to heal, become fit once again and he doesn’t want to think about his value.

He definitely needs to recover otherwise his valuation is going to drop. Good thinking kid.

Arsenal is selling midfielder Freddie Ljungberg and is targeting either Seville or Valencia. They are expecting him to cut his pay demands from £70k per week to something smaller if he is going to move out of Arsenal.

The spurs are reported to make an offer for the Swedish but their rivalry makes not make the deal push through.

Tomas Rosicky made sure Liverpool went down this season with a double header in the first half of the game giving them a 2-0 lead. Dirk Kuyt gave Liverpool some hope by scoring a close range header in the second half. Thierry Henry however sealed their fate six minutes before end time.

This is destruction by Arsenal on Chelsea who has defeated them twice this season already and is looking for a third one this coming Tuesday.

Rosicky who scored twice in the final 8 minutes of the first half made a 20-yard kick and a 12-yard exciting goal by beating out Luis Garcia, Dirk Kuyt, Steve Finnan and Steven Gerrard.

Arsenal is riding high in confidence and is expected to down Liverpool three in a row.